Even after The Beatles broke up more than 50 years ago, John Lennon and Paul McCartney are still the most renowned songwriting duo in popular music. That shouldn’t be shocking, considering that the two are behind some of the greatest and most enduring songs to ever hit the radio. However, McCartney acknowledged that even after Lennon’s untimely death in 1980, his former bandmate continues to make an impact on his songwriting.
Since the band’s 1970 breakup, the Beatles bassist released an enormous amount of music. He also created Wings, worked on solo projects, and collaborated with a plethora of other musicians. Such as Stevie Wonder, Elvis Costello, and Kanye West.
McCartney stated on the podcast McCartney. A Life in Lyrics that he still considers John’s influence on his songwriting even though their collaboration ended with The Beatles. “Often I’ll sort of refer… ‘What would John think of this? I will alter it because he would have thought it was too sentimental.
The 81-year-old songwriter has frequently discussed his collaboration with John Lennon. And how their approaches to writing lyrics were drastically different, often at odds. He claimed on the podcast that “mine would be doing this. His would be doing that, and the interplay was just miraculous”. The explanation for why people are still enjoying the songs they wrote. McCartney, post-Beatles breakup, sought to preserve that feeling by independently infusing his works with John Lennon’s influence.
After Liverpool’s greatest group dissolution, Lennon was frank in criticizing McCartney and his songwriting, contrary to expectations. When the Lennon-McCartney collaboration ended, John acknowledged that he “never actually felt a loss”. This revelation came in an interview with David Sheff for the book All We Are Saying in 1980.
“It’s easier to say what my contribution was to him than what he gave to me,” he continued.
The words of John Lennon’s caustic 1971 song “How Do You Sleep?” echoed the sentiment of that 1980 interview. The song refers to The Beatles’ “Yesterday” and declares that “the only thing you [McCartney] done was yesterday.” Although it’s reasonable to assume that the song was written during a period of high tension between the ex-bandmates as a result of their recent breakup, McCartney stated in a GQ interview that he found this particular line in the song to be especially “hurtful.”
Even though they had public arguments in the early days after the Beatles, McCartney is obviously still very fond of his former songwriting partner. He talked to The Times about the passing of Lennon and Harrison following the release of the final Beatles song, “Now and Then”. The song was created with AI’s assistance by restoring an old demo tape. When someone dies, people frequently say, “You don’t want to let go even though they go.” This is especially true when it’s a relative. They live on in your heart and in your memory. That is undoubtedly true of the boys and me, too.
