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"I think it's time to smoke the pipes of peace and to just, you know, put away your hatchet because I think it's a show of friendship," McCartney said on Radio-Canada.

McCartney tried to deflate the political rhetoric around Sunday's show on the Plains of Abraham, site of the pivotal 1759 battle between British General James Wolfe and France's Marquis Louis-Joseph de Montcalm.

"The kind of thing I read about in the schoolbooks when I was a kid was ... who was General Wolfe?" he said jokingly. "I still haven't figured it out."

Since the celebrations of the city's four centuries of uniquely French culture kicked off in July, Francophones criticized elements of the festivities they feel are too English.

The ex-Beatle said he has been working on expanding the few lines of French he used in the 1965 hit "Michelle."

"Come on Quebece-ins (Quebecers), love me baby," said McCartney.

The open-air concert is his only scheduled appearance in North America this year. Organizers are expecting a crowd of around 200,000.

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