Paul McCartney Shares The Song He Wrote Asking John Lennon To Reconnect After The Beatles’ Breakup

Paul McCartney recently discussed his first album with the Wings following the Beatles’ breakup during a Q&A session with his official website. The musician admitted that he recently listened to the album’s closing track and welled up as he had written it to convince John Lennon to patch things up with him.

John Lennon and Paul McCartney are undoubtedly among the most famous duos in rock history. The pair’s relationship dates back to their high school years, and although Lennon was older and already in a band, McCartney managed to impress him with his guitar playing and even taught him some tricks. The two soon started playing together, formed the Beatles in 1960, and established the most successful music collaboration with the Lennon-McCartney songwriting partnership.

However, the more success the Beatles gained, the harder it became for the two Beatles to preserve their friendship and stay on good terms. The band had started struggling to cooperate towards the end of the ’60s, and they released their last album, ‘Let It Be,’ in 1970. Following their breakup, both Lennon and McCartney claimed sole-authorship of some of the greatest Beatles hits, and the tensions continued to rise.

Wings’ debut studio album ‘Wild Life’ was recorded in eight days and released in December 1971, just some months after the Beatles’ breakup. Although the band members ended things on bad terms, McCartney recently revealed that he truly wanted to reunite with his childhood friend and former bandmate. Although he was embarking on a new adventure with another band, the closing track of their debut album was a tribute to John Lennon.

In ‘Dear Friend,’ the speaker calls out to his friend asking if they have reached the borderline in their relationship and whether he feels afraid or it is true that he is much happier now. The song’s line ‘Really truly, young and newly wed / Are you afraid, or are you blue?’ seems like a comment on Lennon’s decision to commit to Yoko Ono and work on his relationship with her. It is known that McCartney had mixed feelings about their relationship since he understood that Lennon loved her but was uncomfortable with how involved she was in the Beatles’ professional life.

In his recent Q&A session, McCartney admitted that ‘Dear Friend’ was a way of talking to John Lennon after their disputes and the Beatles’ breakup. He confessed that he recently listened to it during the remastering process of the record, and it made him choke as he feels very emotional when thinking about all they have been together. Paul then said that he’s grateful that they got a chance to work things through before John Lennon passed, as it would have been devastating to part on such bad terms.

Paul McCartney said the following about the song he wrote for John Lennon:

“‘Dear Friend,’ that’s sort of me talking to John after we’d had all the sort of disputes about The Beatles break up. I find it very emotional when I listen to it now. I have to sort of choke it back. I’m not going to cry in front of all you lot, though! But, for me, it is a bit like that. I remember when I heard the song recently, listening to the roughs in the car. And I thought, ‘Oh God.’ That lyric: ‘Really truly, young and newly wed.’

Listening to that was like, ‘Oh my God, it’s true!’ I’m trying to say to John, ‘Look, you know, it’s all cool. Have a glass of wine. Let’s be cool.’ And luckily, we did get it back together, which was like a great source of joy because it would have been terrible if he’d been killed as things were at that point, and I’d never got to straighten it out with him. This was me reaching out. So, I think it’s very powerful in some very simple way. But it was certainly heartfelt.”

You can have a listen to ‘Dear Friend’ below.