Ex-Beatle Sir Paul McCartney says he often agrees with people ‘damning’ him
He also addressed former bandmate John Lennon’s diss track How Do You Sleep?
Former Beatles star Sir Paul McCartney has said he often agrees with people “damning” him.
The 83-year-old said that outlook had lead him to believe he was responsible for the 1970 break-up of the Fab Four in a new documentary about Sir Paul’s post-Beatles life and career, directed by Morgan Neville, named Man On The Run.
In the film, Sir Paul says: “Whenever I hear someone damning Paul McCartney, I tend to agree with them.
“So when everyone was saying I broke up the Beatles and I was just overbearing and all of that, I kind of bought into it.
“I thought that’s the kind of bastard I am, it leaves you in this kind of no man’s land, but the truth, John (Lennon) had come in one day and said he was leaving The Beatles, he said, ‘it’s kind of exciting, it’s like telling someone you want a divorce’.
“But I was thinking, ‘what do I do now?’, because it’d been my whole life, really, you know, I’d had growing up, going to school and then becoming The Beatles, it was a puzzle I had to kind of unravel.”
The documentary also saw Sir Paul reflect on Lennon’s diss track about him following their break-up, How Do You Sleep?, which featured on 1971’s Imagine album with the Plastic Ono Band.
Sir Paul said: “The only thing you did was Yesterday (one of the song’s lyrics), was apparently (former Beatles manager) Allen Klein’s suggestion, but (at) the back of my mind I was thinking, ‘but all I ever did was Yesterday, Let It Be, The Long And Winding Road, Eleanor Rigby, Lady Madonna, f*** you, John.
“How do I sleep at night?
“Well, actually, quite well, but you’ve got to remember, I’d known John since he was a teenager, and that’s kind of what I loved about John.
“He’s a crazy son of a bitch, he’s a lovely, lovely, crazy guy.”
The Beatles co-chief songwriter and bass player goes on to say that he did not play that band’s songs during his solo concerts and performances with later band Wings for a number of years as he said it was “too painful” and added it was “too much of a kind of trauma”.
Sir Paul goes on to say that making up with Lennon prior to his murder in 1980 was one of the most important things he had done in his life.
He explained: “One of the great blessings in my life is that we made up, it’s beautiful and it’s sad at the same time, you know, we’d loved each other all our lives.”
Formed in 1960 and made up of Sir Paul, Lennon, Sir Ringo Starr and George Harrison, The Beatles are the best-selling musical act of all time and one of the most influential groups in the world, having achieved 18 UK number one singles and 16 UK number one albums.
Four films directed by Sir Sam Mendes about the band are currently in the pipeline starring Paul Mescal as Sir Paul, Barry Keoghan as Sir Ringo, Harris Dickinson as Lennon and Joseph Quinn as Harrison.
Following The Beatles break-up Sir Paul formed Wings, who achieved 12 UK top 10 singles including a number one with Mull Of Kintyre, and had eight UK top 10 albums including two number ones.
The band is best known for songs such as Jet, Silly Love Songs and Live And Let Die, the theme to the 1973 James Bond film of the same title.
Paul McCartney Man On The Run airs on Prime Video on February 27.
