John Lennon Called Paul Simon a ‘F***in’ Twerp’ During a Contentious Night Together
In the 1970s, John Lennon invited Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel to play music with him. By the time they arrived, Lennon was drunk, which did not set the group up for an enjoyable evening. Lennon grew frustrated with Simon, and things escalated into an argument. Before Lennon’s friend Harry Nilsson threw them out, Lennon insulted Simon.
Paul Simon had a mixed opinion of John Lennon
In a 1972 interview with Rolling Stone, Simon spoke about Lennon’s politics. He had become very outspoken, but Simon didn’t necessarily trust his motivations.
“First reaction, he strikes me as being very interested in being seen or heard,” Simon said. “Then I have to think, ‘What is he doing? What is the purpose of it? Is his purpose to get publicity for himself? Is his purpose to advance a certain political thought?’ I don’t know what his motivations are. Many things he’s done, I think, have been pointless. Some have been in bad taste. Others have been courageous. I think he’s generally a well-intentioned guy. I don’t know, it’s not my style.”
He spoke specifically about Lennon’s song “Power to the People,” which he called “condescending.”
“It’s a poor record, a condescending record,” he said. “Like all of these cliché phrases, they’re dangerous. What does that mean — power to the people? And who is he saying it to? Is he saying it to people who have any idea what it means?”
The two musicians did not get along at a jam session
Lennon once invited Simon and Garfunkel to jam with him, but by the time they arrived, he was drunk. It made him more irritable. He felt that Simon was jumping in too early in the song they were playing, and he eventually told him to stop playing altogether. Simon walked out of the room in frustration.
“He went into the f***in’ control booth, and I could see him f***in’ around in there,” Lennon told his girlfriend May Pang, per her book Loving John. “I could see him mumblin’ to himself. Dennis [Ferrante] told me he was so pissed off, he says, ‘He may be one of the Beatles, but I’m Paul Simon.'”
Lennon’s attempt to fix things only made it worse.
“I f***in’ went in there because I could see Dennis gettin’ a little uptight and I could see Paul gettin’ uptight, and I wanted to smooth it out — to clear the air — and I asked him what was wrong,” Lennon said. “The man was just fumin’. He said, ‘I’m not doing anything.’ Then I told him he was a f***in’ twerp!”
Nilsson told Simon he had to leave, which reportedly prompted a screaming match. Eventually, though, Simon and Garfunkel left.
May Pang said Paul Simon was too secure in himself to allow John Lennon to mistreat him
Pang could tell that Lennon still felt frustration when he recounted the story of his argument with Simon. She wondered if he was actually upset about his inability to control Simon.
“John was still irritated by Simon’s behavior, realizing, perhaps, that Paul Simon, unlike almost everyone who entered John’s orbit, had a powerful sense of himself and could actually refuse to be treated badly,” Pang wrote.
