Sir Paul McCartney has revealed how one experience with drugs during The Beatles’ heyday led to him seeing “God”.

Speaking about his spiritual beliefs, McCartney said in an interview with the Sunday Times that he believed there was “something higher”, and linked it to his experience of taking Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) with a group of people including art dealer and gallery owner Robert Fraser.

“We were immediately nailed to the sofa,” he recalled. “And I saw God, this amazing towering thing, and I was humbled. And what I’m saying is, that moment didn’t turn my life around, but it was a clue."

“It was huge,” he continued. “A massive wall that I couldn’t see the top of, and I was at the bottom. And anybody else would say it’s just the drug, the hallucination, but both Robert and I were like, ‘Did you see that?’ We felt we had seen a higher thing.”

DMT became popular in the 1960s as a faster-working alternative to more widely-known hallucinogenics such as LSD and magic mushrooms.

Talking about this vision of God as “a clue”, McCartney went on to describe a “thrilling” moment which later occurred following the death of his first wife, photographer and activist Linda.

While grieving, he spent time in the countryside, where he saw a white squirrel which he believes was “Linda, come back to give me a sign”.

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McCartney releases his first full-length album in five years, Egypt Station, on 7 September.

“I liked the words 'Egypt Station',” he said of the title in a statement. “It reminded me of the 'album' albums we used to make...