Paul McCartney's magpie music

Nov 28, 2008, 9:40 GMT

Sir Paul McCartney is inspired by magpies.

The former Beatles star, who has penned several songs about birds, spends hours watching his black and white feathered friends when they flock to his garden.

He said: "The only thing I'm superstitious about is magpies. I see a lot of them and when you do, you spit or salute and I happen to spit.

"I love it when you see two for joy. They're not supposed to be good for other songbirds and a lot of keen gardeners don't like them, but I do. I've got lots.

"To me, it's double joy or triple joy. I'm very inspired on a spring morning if I see a crowd of eight.

"Someone pointed out that I've written a lot of bird songs, so recently I've become more conscious of it."

Despite his love of birds, the musician insists his lyrics about them are not meant literally.

He added to Britain's The Sun newspaper: "I've always liked birds. It's a theme of mine. I think they're symbolic of freedom or flying away."

In his career, Paul has penned 'Blackbird' while in The Beatles, 'Bluebird' for Wings, 'Jenny Wren' on his solo album 'Chaos and Creation in the Backyard' and his new album with his side project The Fireman features a track called 'Two Magpies'.