MASTER SONGWRITER'S MAGICS : GLOBAL PRECIS HONOURS

PAUL McCartney's zeal for creating music is as unquenchable as ever. For Paul McCartney, songwriting isn't only a job, a craft and an occasional outlet. It's a compulsion and a craving.

People say, '' Why do you still write songs ? " And it's just because I love it. I'm addicted,'' he said in an interview last month at Boulevard Carroll, a warren of recording and rehearsal studios on Manhattan's  Far West Side, where McCartney, 83, had just wrapped up an afternoon of band practice for the season finale of :

'' Saturday Night Live.''

'' Out of the black hole comes forth milk and honey. And it's so great, the feeling.''

Prolific as he has been - through the Beatles, Wings and solo albums - McCartney doesn't follow any songwriting discipline or routine.

'' I'll just be somewhere, and with some time to spare, and my guitar will be there, or I'll be near a piano. And the urge will take me,'' he said.

'' Whenever I've hit something, it's just like, ooh, wow. The whole creative thing is a great thing. I say it beats working.''

!WOW! thanks Jon Pareles.