Last week, The Sun newspaper claimed the former Beatle was to give up touring next year following a series of farewell concerts.

But Sir Paul has played down the claims and said he plans to tour as long as fans want to see him.

“I was thinking this morning that it was five years ago that this same rumour went around,” he told the Boston Herald.

“All I can say is that I’m not retiring.”

The singer compared the latest reports to previous claims in 1966 that he had died.

He said: “It’s like, 'Paul is dead'. 'No, I’m not,' is all I could say.

“I did talk about retirement in one sentence in one story and only to say, 'No way Jose'. But someone must have only read part of that one sentence.

“As long as people want to come and hear me, I’ll probably be doing this. It’s just so easy to star rumours.”

The former Beatle is currently in the middle of a brief US tour, which included a headlining show at Citi Field in Queens last month.

(by Jason Gregory)