Paul McCartney has said that John Lennon still influences his approach to writing song lyrics.
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The soloist and former Beatles member spoke about his late bandmate on the latest episode of his new 12-part podcast series, McCartney: A Life In Lyrics.
“Often I’ll sort of refer… ‘What would John think of this? He’d have thought it was too soppy’. So I’ll change it,” McCartney explained (via Music News).
Speaking about the creative chemistry the duo shared, he went on: “That interplay was miraculous. You don’t have this opposing element so much [now]. I have to do that myself.”
The legendary musician also opened up about what sort of person Lennon was before he was shot and killed in December 1980, aged 40. McCartney remembered his former songwriting partner as a “sarcastic” and “witty” man who used his humour and insults to guard his true personality.
“John’s persona was very guarded, hopelessly guarded,” he recalled. “That’s where all his wit came from. Like so many comedians, it’s to shield themselves against the world.”
McCartney continued: “John having a very difficult upbringing – his father leaves home, his uncle dies and his mother gets killed – he could be very sarcastic. We all could, it was my way of dealing with my mother’s death.”
“There would often be a very witty put-down. It wouldn’t always be a put-down but it was always a very quick answer, and he’d trained himself to do that. That was one of the attractive things about him.”
He added: “I remember him saying to me, ‘Paul, I worry about how people are going to remember me when I die’. It shocked me and I said, ‘Hold it right there. People are going to think you were great’. I was like his priest. I’d say, ‘My son, you’re great.’ It’d make him feel better.”
You can listen to the full episode via Spotify above, or through alternate streaming platforms here.
The first edition of the ongoing podcast series saw Macca break down The Beatles’ classic tune ‘Eleanor Rigby’.
McCartney: A Life In Lyrics was co-produced by Pushkin Industries and iHeartPodcasts. Fans can binge all of the first season immediately with a Pushkin+ subscription. A new episode will otherwise be released every week.
Last year saw McCartney duet virtually with Lennon on ‘I’ve Got A Feeling’ during his headline show at Glastonbury Festival.
Macca later talked about the difficulties he faced in processing the singer-songwriter’s tragic death, saying that he was partially able to do so through writing his 1982 solo track ‘Here Today’.
In other Beatles news, McCartney and Ringo Starr are set to release the “final” Beatles track to feature all four members. The title of the song remains unannounced for now, however, Macca did confirm that he enlisted help from AI technology to work on the track, which allowed him to “extricate” demo recordings from late members.
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