I’ve interviewed Paul McCartney more than a dozen times over the years, and in the course of that time his relationship with The Beatles has changed substantially. Even during the 80s, he was reluctant to revisit the past, but the older he got, and the farther away from the 60s, he not only started to change the way he talked about The Beatles, but he even started initiating the conversation. And it was during our 90-minute interview in 2020 that he veered off unexpectedly into a lengthy soliloquy about what he and John Lennon had got up to as boys. It was extraordinary.
At one point, he told me about a recent dream he’d had about Lennon, something that happens to him repeatedly. “I find that dreams are often related to a gig or getting ready for a gig or being in a recording studio,” he said. “So, often, John or George will be there. And the good thing is you don’t really think anything of it. It’s just normal, like, ‘Oh, yeah?’ And you’re just chatting away. So he’s often there, I’m glad to say. And it’s normally very pleasant, you know? I love those boys.”
We spent another 40 minutes discussing his relationship with Lennon, especially leading up to his death, and when they first met.
