Paul McCartney has recalled his final phone call with John Lennon and the moment he learnt his fellow Beatles band member was murdered.
He wrote about it in his book
McCartney, 83, recalled the moment he learnt that John Lennon was murdered in his new oral history book, Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run.
He shared that his manager was the one to deliver the news that his Beatles bandmate was gunned down on December 8, 1980.
McCartney recalled how he felt
“It was just too crazy,” McCartney wrote. “We just said what everyone said; it was all blurred.”
“It was the same as the Kennedy [assassination]. The same horrific moment, you know. You couldn’t take it in. I still haven’t taken it in. I don’t want to.”
The members went back to the studio
McCartney shared that he and his fellow Beatles, Ringo Starr and George Harrison, all went back to the studio following Lennon’s death.
“Nobody could stay home with that news,” he said. “We all had to go to work and be with people we knew. Couldn’t bear it. We just had to keep going. So, I went in and did a day’s work in a kind of shock.”
They had made amends before Lennon died
Although the Beatles broke up in 1970, McCartney pointed out that he and Lennon had made amends before his death.
“That is a nice thing, a consoling factor for me, because I do feel it was sad that we never actually sat down and straightened our differences out,” he wrote.
He remembered the last phone call
“But fortunately for me, the last phone conversation I ever had with him was really great, and we didn’t have any kind of blowup,” McCartney said.
“One of the great blessings in my life is that we made up,” he added.
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The pair felt like family
“We’d loved each other all our lives, and we’d had our arguments and we’d called each other names,” McCartney wrote.
“But it had never got any more serious than two brothers in a family,” he said, adding that the pair had a ‘very happy conversation’ about their families before Lennon died.
McCartney’s daughter also shared her memories
McCartney’s daughter, Stella, 54, also shared her perspective on the day of Lennon’s death in her father’s book.
“I remember the biggest reaction I’d ever seen from a phone call, and him leaving the kitchen and going outside,” she said.
She’s still heartbroken about it
“I admit it breaks my heart to this day. That was truly heartbreaking to see,” Stella added. “I’ve got that footage in my head for my life.”
“I’ve captured in my head the moment Paul McCartney found out that John Lennon had been murdered.”
