John Lennon Took Aim at Paul McCartney’s Music After the Beatles Fell Apart — Decades Later, Paul Reveals What He Believes Was Really Behind Those Cutting Remarks From the Man Who Had Once Been His Closest Creative Partner

Paul McCartney Opens Up About John Lennon’s Harsh Criticism — ‘I Loved John and Love Him to This Day and Always Will’

Paul McCartney has revisited one of the most complicated chapters of his relationship with John Lennon, reflecting on the criticism his former Beatles bandmate directed at him after the group broke apart.

Speaking after a Los Angeles screening of the Wings documentary Man on the Run, McCartney joined director Morgan Neville and moderator Judd Apatow for a wide-ranging discussion about his life after The Beatles.

That period wasn’t easy.

McCartney suddenly found himself without the band that had defined virtually his entire adult career, while Lennon publicly criticized some of the music he was making next.

More than five decades later, however, McCartney’s feelings toward his old friend remain remarkably clear.

“I loved John and love him to this day and always will,” he said.

‘Maybe He Expected More From Me’

Following The Beatles’ breakup, McCartney began making music with his then-wife Linda.

The pair released Ram before McCartney formed Wings, beginning a new chapter that initially struggled to escape the enormous shadow of his previous band.

Lennon wasn’t always impressed.

Looking back, McCartney offered a possible explanation for why his former songwriting partner reacted so critically.

“I think maybe he expected more from me,” McCartney said. “He expected something different from me, and I wasn’t doing that. I was just doing ‘madcap.’”

McCartney acknowledged that he couldn’t truly know what Lennon was thinking.

He “wasn’t privy” to his former bandmate’s private thoughts, but recalled being relieved when Lennon’s attitude toward his work eventually softened before his death.

McCartney Says Lennon’s Criticism Never Changed His Love for Him

The public tension between the two former Beatles became one of the most scrutinized relationships in rock history.

But McCartney said Lennon’s words never erased the friendship that existed underneath it.

Their history stretched back to McCartney’s teenage years.

“I’d known him since I was 15,” McCartney explained, describing Lennon as the “mad guy” he had grown up knowing and someone he deeply admired.

“I always thought John was very cool, and I still do,” McCartney said.

That affection didn’t mean he viewed Lennon through rose-colored glasses.

“He could be a complete idiot, over some things,” McCartney added.

Yet his memories remain grounded in affection.

“He was a lovely guy.”

McCartney Looked at Lennon’s Life With Compassion

McCartney also reflected on the painful experiences Lennon endured, suggesting they helped him understand some of his friend’s behavior.

“If you look at his life, there’s reason for him to be crazy,” McCartney said. “A lot of bad things happened to him.”

“He had a lot of stuff to get out,” he continued, before contrasting Lennon’s experiences with his own. “And comparatively, I was very lucky.”

It’s a striking perspective from someone who was once on the receiving end of Lennon’s criticism.

Rather than allowing those attacks to define their relationship decades later, McCartney continues to frame Lennon as the complicated friend he knew long before either man became famous.

Wings Was Paul McCartney Trying to Start Again

McCartney has also reconsidered his feelings about those difficult post-Beatles years.

Today, he remembers the period with considerably more affection.

“I like that period,” he said. “It’s a fond memory.”

At the time, however, there was no obvious roadmap for what came after being a Beatle.

“What do you do after the Beatles?” McCartney recalled wondering.

The group had been the only real career he’d known. Suddenly, it was gone.

“It’s like you got sacked,” he said.

Wings became his answer.

“So that was Wings, trying to figure it out.”

The project gave McCartney an opportunity to build something again without simply attempting to recreate The Beatles.

It also became a period he can now revisit without allowing the old tensions to overshadow everything else.

Lennon had criticized him. Their relationship had become difficult. Their musical partnership was over.

But for McCartney, none of that erased the teenager he first met, the musician he admired or the friend he never stopped loving.

More than four decades after Lennon’s death, McCartney can remember the arguments and criticism without letting them become the final word on their relationship: “I loved John and love him to this day and always will.”