Paul McCartney opens up about his reconciliation with John Lennon

5 June 2026, 12:55

Paul McCartney and John Lennon in The Beatles. Picture: Alamy

By Mayer Nissim

Paul McCartney and John Lennon were bitter rivals after The Beatles split but eventually made up.

Loading audio...

Paul McCartney has just released his 20th solo album The Boys of Dungeon Lane and after the quirky future-forward experimentalism of its predecessor McCartney III it's a much more nostalgic look back at his past.

With its references to his growing up in Liverpool and duet with Beatles bandmate Ringo Starr, the release has prompted plenty of questions about his relationships with the rest of the Fab Four, including John Lennon.

Paul and John's songwriting partnership was at the heart of The Beatles, but a falling out over Allen Klein's management of the band was a key factor in the group's split.

In the half decade after the band broke up, the pair exchanged barbs in the press and in songs, but they later reconciled, though they never performed in public together again.

"At the time, it was very hurtful, like sticking little daggers in me," McCartney told the NME of Lennon's insults.

How Do You Sleep? (Takes 5 & 6, Raw Studio Mix Out-take) - John Lennon & The Plastic Ono Band

"It was just annoying, because you thought, 'I've got to answer him back, what am I going to do?'.

"But I suddenly realised, 'Wait a minute, this is John. This is the guy I’ve known since I was 16. That’s just what he does.' It didn't sting so much once I realised it was just John being John."

Of their reconciliation in the mid-1970s, Paul said: "I was lucky because we’d been separated because of the business trouble and stuff, and John eventually came round to my way of thinking that the guy they wanted to bring in was a crook, and I’d suffered because they all thought I was the nutter, I was the crook.

Paul McCartney - Days We Left Behind (Lyric Video)

"So, when it turned out that I was right, it was good to hear John say, 'I think Paul might have been right' – begrudgingly. He wasn’t one to say, ‘Yeah, you know what Paul told me…!’

"He was like, 'Yeah, he was right'. So that made it much better. Even though it was a painful period, we kinda had to go through it, or someone would have robbed us."

McCartney, who returns to the UK next week for a one-off show to celebrate his new album, recently said that he doesn't know if he'll ever retire.