Paul McCartney has opened up about the making of his new solo album during lockdown.

Dubbing the period spent at home recording “rockdown” in a new interview with The Sunday Times, the former Beatle star said he tried to remain optimistic writing the album, which is set for release on December 18.

“Well, I am an optimist,” McCartney said. “Generally speaking I do believe things are good, and we screw them up. In fact, a lot of people during lockdown would say, ‘Oh God!’ And I’d say, ‘Yes, but there’s a silver lining.’ It was a phrase I used a lot. I was loath to say it because a lot of people had it bad, but suddenly we saw more of the family than ever, and I was able to do recordings. That was my silver lining.”

He continued: “It’s so easy to fall into the trap of thinking things are bad and getting worse. Which, I don’t know, may be true, but I know I’d then be bummed out by that, so I say to myself, ‘Well, it’s not that bad. Think about the other day. That was good!’ I am always trying to find the good in things.”

Elsewhere in the interview, McCartney went on to discuss his thoughts on John Lennon and whether or not The Beatles would have ever reunited.

McCartney said: “We made a decision when the Beatles folded that we weren’t going to pick it up again. So we switched off from the Beatles. You talk about something coming full circle that is very satisfying; let’s not spoil it by doing something that might not be as good. It was a conscious decision to leave well enough alone, so I don’t really think we would have. But who knows? We could have.”

Going on to speak about a potential reunion in light of his repaired friendship with Lennon, McCartney then added: “We had certainly got our friendship back, which was a great blessing for me, and I now will often think, if I’m writing a song, ‘OK, John — I’ll toss it over to you. What line comes next?’ So I’ve got a virtual John that I can use.”

McCartney recently delayed the release of his upcoming solo album due to “unforeseeable production delays”.

The record is the long-awaited final part of the ‘McCartney’ solo album trilogy, following on from ‘McCartney’ in April 1970 and ‘McCartney II’ in May 1980.

After previously setting a December 11 release date, ‘McCartney III’ will now arrive a week later on December 18.