Music
Paul McCartney defended The Beatles more than John Lennon did. Still, he admitted he once felt negatively about the band.
After The Beatles broke up, Paul McCartney and John Lennon didn’t have much to agree on. Lennon insulted McCartney’s solo music and they clashed endlessly over the band’s contractual agreements. Ultimately, these constant clashes made them agree on one thing. McCartney admitted that the bitterness in the aftermath of The Beatles’ breakup tainted his view of the band for a time.
Paul McCartney said he felt as negatively about The Beatles as John Lennon for a time
After The Beatles broke up, Lennon often spoke derisively about the work they did together as a band. He dismissed some of the songs they released and said they were con artists. McCartney admitted that navigating the messy band dynamics after their breakup made him feel the same way, at least for a time.
“Through all that kind of bitterness I tended to think like John a bit, ‘Oh, the Beatles … naww … Crap,’” he told Rolling Stone. “But it really wasn’t. I think it was great.”
He hoped to see the band work together in the future
While McCartney looked back on The Beatles with fondness, he didn’t anticipate them getting back together.
“I don’t see gettin’ the Beatles back together – there’s certain things we could do quite quietly and still produce some kind of ongoing thing,” he said. “I don’t think you’ll ever get anyone to give up all their individual stuff now; everyone’s got it going too well now.”
He hoped that they could work together in some way moving forward, even if it wasn’t a full reunion.
“So I’m very proud of that kind of stuff and consequently I wouldn’t like to see my past slagged off,” he said. “So I would like to see more cooperation … if things go right, if things keep cool, I’d like to maybe do some work with them; I’ve got a lot of ideas in my head what I’d like, but I wouldn’t like to tell you before I tell them. We couldn’t be the Beatles-back-together again, but there might be things, little good ventures we could get together on, mutually helpful to all of us and things people would like to see, anyway.”
Paul McCartney and John Lennon were on friendlier terms before Lennon’s death
While McCartney and Lennon spent years disagreeing, they were able to reestablish a friendly relationship before Lennon’s death. When they avoided speaking about business affairs, they got along. McCartney said that one of their final conversations was about baking bread.
“I was baking bread and got quite good at it,” he told Howard Stern on Sirius XM. “So when I heard John was doing it, it was great. We could just talk about something so ordinary.”
He was grateful that they were on better terms by the end of Lennon’s life.
“It was really nice, and I was so glad that we got back to that relationship that we always had,” McCartney added. “We’d lived in each other’s pockets for so long that it was great to get back to that.”
