Paul McCartney reveals how John Lennon continues to influence him

Macca, 81, admits he changes the lyrics if Lennon would think they are ‘too soppy’

Sir Paul McCartney has shared how John Lennon continues to influence his songwriting, adding that the process was “much easier” working alongside his Beatles bandmate.

In a new podcast, McCartney, 81, deconstructs some of rock band’s most iconic songs – including “Let It Be“ and “Eleanor Rigby” in profound conversations with Paul Muldoon, the Pulitzer-winning Irish poet.

Muldoon edited the musician’s 2021 autobiography The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, in which McCartney examines his life within the context of 154 songs from different points in his decades-long career.

Their conversations are presented as 24 episodes across two seasons of a new Pushkin podcast McCartney: A Life in Lyrics, in which the celebrated musician breaks down the people, places, and memories that inspired his songwriting.

In a recent episode, McCartney tells Muldoon how Lennon, who was assassinated when he was 40, still shapes his work, explaining he’ll change anything the music icon would have deemed “too soppy”.

“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 says, as reported by The Mirror.

He also says songwriting was a “much easier” job, working alongside Lennon, because “there were two minds at work”.

McCartney continues: ”That interplay was miraculous. You don’t have this opposing element so much [now]. I have to do that myself.”

Elsewhere, while discussing the band’s then-imminent breakup, McCartney said Lennon insisted Yoko Ono, who he had just started seeing, be present in the studio during The Beatles recording sessions.

Macca said that while other members agreed to his condition “out of deference” to Lennon, none of them “particularly liked...the interference in the workplace”.

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Last month, a massive search was launched for McCartney’s original Höfner bass guitar after it was reported missing in 1969.

The hunt was launched in September by The Loss Bass Project, describing the instrument “the most important bass in history”.

McCartney, who bought the guitar in 1961, urged its makers to trace it – prompting a global hunt for the Höfner.

Earlier this year, Britain’s National Portrait Gallery showcased photographs McCartney took during the height of The Beatles’ success, giving fans intimate access to the rock band and its “Fab Four” members.

“It was a crazy whirlwind that we were living through,” McCartney wrote in a note at the exhibit. “We were just wondering at the world, excited about all these little things that were making up our lives.”

New episodes of A Life in Lyrics are released every Wednesday.