Paul McCartney is reflecting on his infamous feud with John Lennon that led to a very public falling out.
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McCartney discussed his friendship with Lennon in an interview with NME. The two's friendship soured over the Beatles' management. McCartney wanted his father-in-law to manage the band and refused to go with the rest of the group.
"In one of the songs, 'Days We Left Behind,' I talk about 'we met at Forthlin Road,' which is where I used to live in Liverpool, and 'we wrote a secret code to never be spoken,'" McCartney told NME.
McCartney doesn't feel beholden to protect Lennon's legacy. "I don't feel like I have to be respectful," he said. "He's just a mate - it's just this guy who I met, and we wrote songs together, so I don't feel a sense of responsibility. I hope it is responsible."
However, McCartney admits that Lennon wounded him in a lot of ways.
John Lennon and Paul McCartney
"It was very hurtful, like sticking little daggers in me," said McCartney. "It was just annoying, because you thought, 'I've got to answer him back, what am I going to do?' But I suddenly realized, '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 realized it was just John being John."
Finally, in 1975, McCartney and Lennon were able to bury the hatchet and became friends once more. They started talking again almost daily.
"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 [Allen Klein] was a crook," McCartney recalled. "I'd suffered because they all thought I was the nutter, I was the crook."
McCartney says that Lennon eventually told him that he was right.
"It was good to hear John say, 'I think Paul might have been right' begrudgingly," McCartney said. "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."
