Paul McCartney is getting candid about John Lennon, and he is not dressing it up for nostalgia.
The 83-year-old Beatles legend opened up in a new NME interview while discussing his introspective album ‘The Boys Of Dungeon Lane.’ The conversation turned to Lennon, George Harrison and the complicated bond that shaped one of music’s most famous partnerships.
McCartney said he does not feel the need to treat Lennon like a distant icon.
Paul McCartney Talks About John Lennon
“I don’t feel like I have to be respectful,” McCartney said. “He’s just a mate.”
For McCartney, Lennon remains the friend he met as a teenager, not just the legend fans built up after his death.
“It’s just this guy who I met, and we wrote songs together,” he said.
McCartney said his new song ‘Days We Left Behind’ nods to that private bond. One lyric, “We wrote a secret code to never be spoken,” reflects the creative language he and Lennon shared.
Lennon’s Words Once Cut Deep
McCartney also admitted that the end of The Beatles was painful.
“You know, I have wonderful memories of John and George,” he said.
Still, Lennon’s criticism during the band’s final stretch hit hard.
“John was really laying into me,” McCartney said. “At the time, his words cut deep, like little knives.”
Eventually, McCartney said he learned to separate the pain from the person.
“Hold on, this is John we’re talking about,” he remembered thinking. “The same guy I’ve known since we were teenagers.”
That realization helped him take Lennon’s sharper moments less personally.
Business Fights Strained The Beatles
One major source of tension involved the band’s management before their 1970 split.
McCartney wanted entertainment lawyer Lee Eastman, his father-in-law, to represent the group. Lennon, Harrison and Ringo Starr supported businessman Allen Klein.
The band went with Klein. McCartney said the decision caused years of hurt because the others thought he was wrong.
But according to McCartney, Lennon later came around.
“I think Paul might have been right,” McCartney recalled Lennon admitting.
For McCartney, that mattered. It did not erase everything, but it softened the old wound.
After all these years, his memories of Lennon are not polished into perfection. They are messier, funnier and more human. Maybe that is why they still hit harder.
