"He Could Be a Complete Idiot": Paul McCartney Opens Up on Post-Beatles Friction With John Lennon

Sir Paul McCartney has openly confessed that his late Beatles bandmate John Lennon “could be a complete idiot” as he looked back on their famously turbulent early-70s years.

During a candid conversation with director Judd Apatow, McCartney was asked why Lennon seemed irritated by his post-Beatles direction. The filmmaker asked: “Was it a joyfulness to it while he's doing primal scream and you're having fun? What do you think got under his skin about it?”

McCartney replied about his Wings era: “Well, I don't know. I think maybe he expected more from me. He expected something different from me, and I wasn't doing that. I was just doing ‘madcap’.”

He didn’t mince words:

“I always thought John was very cool, and I still do. But he could be a complete idiot.”

Despite the clashes, McCartney said Lennon’s behaviour never changed how he viewed him: “It wouldn't matter, as it didn't matter, what he said or did, because I'd known him since I was 15, and so he was like this mad guy I knew, and I really looked up to him.”

At 84, McCartney formed Wings in 1971 alongside his then-wife Linda McCartney and Denny Laine, only a year after The Beatles’ swan song, Let It Be. Wings soared to release seven albums, including the celebrated 1973 LP Band on the Run.

Lennon was quick to dismiss McCartney’s early solo efforts, famously declaring in 1971 that he couldn’t picture collaborating with him again. McCartney would later reveal that several lyrics on Ram, especially in Too Many People, were pointed jabs at Lennon.

By 1975, Lennon was praising Band on the Run, saying: “Wings keeps changing all the time. It's conceptual. I mean, they're backup men for Paul. It doesn't matter who's playing. You can call them Wings, but it's Paul McCartney music. And it's good stuff.”

Read More on The Beatles: THE SECRET SAUCE OF LENNON: THE DRAMATURGY OF “HELP!"

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