Paul McCartney Said He and John Lennon Were ‘Weaponizing’ Songs
John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s famously complex decades-long friendship was full of ups and downs. The tensions between the two came to a head following the shocking breakup of the Beatles. McCartney and Lennon proceeded to take jabs at each other through their solo records in the early ‘70s.
According to McCartney, he and Lennon publicly aired their dirty laundry by “weaponizing” their music, something the 18-time Grammy winner said he’s thankful they “got over” before Lennon’s untimely death in 1980.
What Paul McCartney had to say about his years-long feud with John Lennon and the other members of the Beatles
During a 2018 interview with Howard Stern, via Youtube, McCartney revealed the person who broke up the Beatles: Lennon. However, he attributed his former bandmate’s decision to the fact that he was very much in love with Yoko Ono, and was up-front about telling the remaining members when it came time for him to leave in 1969.
Tensions between McCartney and Lennon started to grow around the time of the Beatles’ final album: Let It Be. Starr, Lennon, and Harrison were allegedly furious that McCartney planned on releasing his self-titled debut solo record right before Let It Be. They even wrote him a letter demanding he postpone his new album release until after the Beatles’ last record hit shelves.
“It was bad enough that we were splitting up; it was bad enough that all that money we’d earned and all that fame was going down the pan,” McCartney explained. “And there was this guy who was going to take it all, and it was that close. I was having to fight him, ‘no guys, we can keep it, we don’t have to give it to this guy,’ and there’s Ringo delegated to come around to me.”
Things got even messier when the business side of the Beatles turned sour following the dissolution of the group, leading to a messy legal battle. As reported by History, Lennon, Harrison, and Starr favored Allen Klein to become the band’s manager following the untimely death of Brien Epstein in 1967, while McCartney rallied behind Lee and John Eastman, the father and brother of his soon-to-be wife Linda.
Paul McCartney: ‘We were writing songs at each other’
This was just the start of what would lead to several problems with the group, all of which weren’t helped by the introduction of Ono. She became the center of blame for the Beatles’ split. Lennon and McCartney started to drift apart in the early ‘70s, with their very public, post-Beatles feud making headlines worldwide.
The former songwriting duo took shots at each other through their music, something McCartney touched upon while speaking with Stern. “We were writing songs at each other,” McCartney said. “Like weaponizing songs.”
The song Stern was specifically referring to is McCartney’s 1977 track “Too Many People,” which was part of McCartney’s record, Ram. In the song, he not-so-subtly bashed Lennon and Ono for their new identity as political figures in the wake of the ongoing Vietnam War, which they both famously opposed.
Some lyrics read, “You took your lucky break and broke it in two / Now what can be done for you? / You broke it in two,” referring to Lennon’s big break thanks to the Beatles.
Lennon viciously hit back with his own track: “How Do You Sleep?” In the song, Lennon writes, “The only thing you ever did was ‘Yesterday,’ and since you’re gone you’re just ‘Another Day,’” comparing a recent McCartney single to his legendary Beatles classic.
Paul McCartney and John Lennon eventually made up before John’s death
Thankfully, McCartney and Lennon were able to bury the hatchet before Lennon’s tragic death in 1980 — something McCartney says he feels “very blessed” about today.
“We got over it, luckily,” he said. “I feel very blessed we got over it, because if we hadn’t, and then John goes and gets killed, I don’t know how I would’ve dealt with that.”
McCartney continued: “I was very lucky because we sort of got it back together, and it was beautiful. I would ring him or go see him in New York.”
