May Pang Said Paul Simon Wouldn’t Deal With John Lennon’s Mistreatment Because He Had a ‘Powerful Sense of Himself’

In the 1970s, John Lennon and Paul Simon were at the studio together when things took an uncomfortable turn. After Lennon snapped at Simon for his timing, they began arguing. Tensions escalated until Lennon’s friend Harry Nilsson threw Simon and Art Garfunkel out. Lennon’s girlfriend, May Pang, noted that Lennon seemed very upset by the encounter. She wondered if it was because Simon didn’t allow himself to be treated poorly by Lennon.

Paul Simon and John Lennon clashed during a jam session 

In the 1970s, Lennon invited Simon and Garfunkel to the studio with him. He had been drinking before they arrived, and his temper was more easily triggered than normal. When they started playing, he wanted to give the signal to Simon to start playing his guitar. Simon wasn’t waiting for Lennon’s signal, though, and jumped in almost immediately. Eventually, Lennon told him to stop playing altogether and Simon left the room in frustration.

“He went into the f***in’ control booth, and I could see him f***in’ around in there,” Lennon told 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 followed Simon into the control booth to try to smooth things over.

“The man was just fumin’,” Lennon said. “He said, ‘I’m not doing anything.’ Then I told him he was a f***in’ twerp!“

May Pang wondered if Paul Simon’s sense of self irritated John Lennon

Unsurprisingly, Lennon’s comment didn’t land well with Simon. Things escalated until Nilsson asked Simon and Garfunkel to leave, prompting a shouting match. Eventually, though, they left. The following day, when Lennon told Pang about the altercation, she could tell that he was still frustrated. She wondered if this had more to do with the fact that he’d been unable 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. 

Paul Simon later referenced John Lennon in a song

Simon and Lennon didn’t always get along, but Simon still respected Lennon as an artist. Not long after Lennon’s death in 1980, Simon wrote the song “The Late Great Johnny Ace.” The song references the blues singer Johnny Ace who died in 1954. 

Later in the song, Simon sings about Lennon’s death.

“On a cold December evening/ I was walking through the Christmas tide/ When a stranger came up and asked me/ If I’d heard John Lennon had died/ And the two of us/ Went to this bar/ And we stayed to close the place/ And every song we played/ Was for the Late Great Johnny Ace.”

He released the song in 1983 on his album Hearts and Bones.