Sir Paul McCartney has revealed John Lennon still inspires his songwriting and finds it much harder to pen lyrics without him.
The singer, 81, delved deeper into his songwriting process and said he will ditch lines if John would ‘have thought it was too soppy’.
Sir Paul and John formed The Beatles in 1960s who are regarded as one of the most influential bands of all time.
In December 1980, John was tragically gunned down by crazed fan Mark David Chapman as he and Yoko Ono returned to their Upper West Side apartment in NYC.
In Sir Paul’s A Life In Lyric podcast, the musician spoke of how John’s incredible talent for songwriting still influences his music today.
Sorely missed: Sir Paul McCartney has revealed John Lennon still inspires his songwriting and it is much harder to pen lyrics without him (John left and Paul right pictured in 1963)
Always with him: The singer, 81, delved deeper into his songwriting process and said he will ditch lines if John would ‘have thought it was too soppy’
The Mirror reports he said: ‘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.
‘Writing with John was much easier [than now] because there were two minds at work.
‘That interplay was miraculous. You don’t have this opposing element so much 1697104028. I have to do that myself.’
Paul also spoke about how John’s childhood shaped him and that he would often turn to comedy to ‘shield himself against the world’.
He said: ‘John’s persona was very guarded, hopelessly guarded. That’s where all his wit came from.
‘John having a very difficult upbringing – his father leaves home, his uncle dies and his mother gets killed – he could be very sarcastic.
‘We all could, it was my way of dealing with my mother’s death. There would often be a very witty put-down. It wouldn’t always be a put-down but it was always a very quick answer, and he’d trained himself to do that.’
‘That was one of the attractive things about him. I remember him saying to me, “Paul, I worry about how people are going to remember me when I die”.
Band: The Beatles are regarded as one of the most influential bands of all time Ringo Starr, George Harrison, Paul McCartney and John Lennon in 1964
Opening up: Sir Paul added how he ‘sat on the floor with my guitar’ and expressed his grief about losing John, and came up with the opening chords for his 1982 song Here Today
‘It shocked me and I said, “Hold it right there. People are going to think you were great”. I was like his priest. I’d say, “My son, you’re great”. It’d make him feel better.’
Last year, Paul said he ‘couldn’t talk about’ John’s death after his murder in 1980.
Sir Paul detailed how he returned home from the studio the day of his friends death and turned on the TV to see people reflecting on ‘what John meant’ to them.
He said: ‘When John died it was so difficult. It had hit me so much that I couldn’t really talk about it.
‘I remember getting home from the studio on the day that we’d heard the news he died. Turning the TV on and seeing people say, “Well, John Lennon was this” and “What he was, was this” and “I remember meeting him”.
‘I was like, “I can’t be one of those people. I can’t go on TV and say what John meant to me.” It was just too deep. I couldn’t put it into words.’
Sir Paul added how he managed to express his grief about losing John in his 1982 song Here Today.
The artist revealed her ‘sat on the wooden floor in the corner with my guitar’ and came up with the opening chords to the track.
Sir Paul also added that the line “the night we cried” referred to when he and his late pal, who was killed over 40 years ago, had a drunk heart-to-heart and ‘told each other a few truths’ and how much they loved each other.
