Paul McCartney says he never told John Lennon he loved him: ‘It just wasn’t done’

McCartney compared his childhood with Lennon to ‘walking up a staircase and we both went side by side up that staircase’

(Getty Images)

Paul McCartney has admitted that he never told John Lennon that he loved him.

On Friday (5 November) night, the 79-year-old appeared at his first in-person event in two years at the Southbank Centre to promote his new book The Lyrics.

During the event, McCartney spoke to host Sara Ahmed also spoke about “growing up together” with Lennon in Liverpool.

“You know, as 16-year-old, 17-year-old Liverpool kids, you could never say that, it just wasn’t done. So I never did,” McCartney said, when asked if he’d told Lennon that he “loved” him while he was alive.

“I never really just said, ‘John, love you man.’ I never got around to it… So now it’s just great to realise how much I love this man.”

McCartney also compared his childhood with Lennon to “walking up a staircase and we both went side by side up that staircase”.

He added: “I just remember how great it was to work with him and how great he was. Because you are not messing around here, you are not just singing with Joe Bloggs. You are singing with John Lennon.”

Elsewhere in the event, McCartney shared his thoughts on Rishi’s Sunak’s recent budget pledge that £2m would go towards making another Beatles museum in Liverpool.

“I don’t mind because I know that people from Japan, America, South America, all know The Beatles,” McCartney said.

“So I’m quite happy that they’re recognising that it’s a tourist attraction, but I think they could also spend the money on something else.”