Paul McCartney Admits That John Lennon Only Complimented Him Once

On Sunday, Paul McCartney was the subject of a special episode of 60 Minutes originally produced last fall. During correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi’s time with the Beatles legend, she asked if he and John had been competitive with each other.

He thought a bit and then said, “Yes, we were competitive.”

McCartney qualified his statement by saying that the two were not “openly” competitive. He then admitted that when John discovered Paul had written “a good one,” Lennon realized he “better get going.”

John Lennon was not known for giving out compliments very easily. In fact, as far as Paul McCartney was concerned, that other artist from Liverpool only gave the cute Beatle one compliment during the decades they made music together.

“Here, There and Everywhere” was one of Paul’s songs on The Beatles’ Revolver album. When John heard it for the first time, he handed over the only compliment he ever offered his bandmate.

He said, “That’s a good song, that.”

Apparently, this admission was a big deal to Paul because he remembered precisely when the iconic moment happened in the summer of 1966. McCartney called the fact that this memory was so easy to call up “pathetic, really.”

Paul McCartney said that he did heap praise on John Lennon every once in a while.

However, he admitted, “You had to be a little bit drunk. It helped.”

Around the same time that his 60 Minutes interview was being produced, Sir Paul sat down with GQ to answer questions about his life and his work. He told many stories about the way he and John approached their music.

One song came out of a dream McCartney had in which his late mother advised him to generally get over himself but in a nice way.

She said, “Let it be,” and with that, one of the Beatles’ favorite anthems was born.

McCartney admitted to Alfonsi during their conversation for 60 Minutes that he still needs to “prove himself” the same way he did when the Beatles’ first album initially was introduced more than a half-century ago.

“It doesn’t matter how elevated you get or your reputation gets, you still worry about things,” McCartney told Alfonsi.

“I think if you care about what you’re doing, if you really want to get it right, then you’ve got to deal with insecurities. It’s what makes it right.”

But Paul wasn’t the only Beatle who felt insecure. During one of those nostalgic moments when he was reminiscing about his life, John Lennon said he worried about “how people” were going to remember him.

Paul answered back to his bandmate, “John listen to me, look at me. You’re going to be remembered as one of the greatest people.”

McCartney told GQ that after Lennon died, the talk turned to whether or not the two musicians got along together. Although the rumors were that they did not, Paul said he almost bought into them.

But, after thinking about, the 77-year-old legend admitted, “You know what? We had a great relationship.”

Then he declared that “in the end,” John Lennon and Paul McCarthy really “loved each other.”

Paul McCartney can be seen in concert in Los Angeles on July 13 at Dodger Stadium.