Paul McCartney reflects on Lennon’s 1980 death in his new book. McCartney recalls their last conversation as positive and without conflict.
He describes working in shock after learning about Lennon’s murder.
Beatles icon Paul McCartney is reflecting on the 1980 death of lifelong friend and former bandmate John Lennon in his new book Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run.
“It was just too crazy,” McCartney, 83, recalled. “We just said what everyone said; it was all blurred. It was the same as the Kennedy [assassination]. The same horrific moment, you know. You couldn’t take it in. I still haven’t taken it in. I don’t want to.”
Although the Beatles split in 1970, a decade before Lennon was shot and killed outside his New York City home, McCartney revealed he and Lennon were on good terms at the time. “That is a nice thing, a consoling factor for me, because I do feel it was sad that we never actually sat down and straightened our differences out,” he continued. “But fortunately for me, the last phone conversation I ever had with him was really great, and we didn’t have any kind of blowup.”
According to McCartney, he received a call from his manager “early in the morning” informing him of Lennon’s December 8, 1980, murder.
Lennon was shot in the back while entering his New York City home with wife Yoko Ono, after a day in the studio. He was pronounced dead at the hospital. Lennon was just 40 years old. “Nobody could stay home with that news,” he added, explaining that he and former Beatles Ringo Starr and George Harrison headed to the studio after learning the news. “We all had to go to work and be with people we knew. Couldn’t bear it. We just had to keep going. So, I went in and did a day’s work in a kind of shock.”
Source: Kayla Aldecoa/parade.com