Paul Mccartney talking about his relationship with John Lennon in an interview with Michael Parkinson, 1997
MICHAEL: Was it always though, a spiky relationship? I mean, you said you loved him-
MICHAEL: -and that love comes through in the book. Did he love you?
PAUL: Yeah, I donāt think he was- Yeah I think he did actually. Weāll check- Excuse me for a moment, John come on baby did you? Yes. Um, no I think he did yeah. It wasnāt actually a spiky relationship at all, it was very uh warm very close very loving I think uh- All the Beatles, we used to say, I think we were amongst the first sort of men to come out openly causeā remember yāknow it was quite strange in those days. Weāre talking about a long time ago now, homosexuality was still sort ofā¦ largely illegal. We used to say, āI love himā on interviews and the interviewers would get slightly taken aback- a man saying he loves him. And I think, quite genuinely, I think we really- did, and I still do.
This has to be one of my favourite Paul interviews ever, itās certainly the most open Iāve heard him be about his and Johnās relationship. Heās relaxed throughout the entire interview.
BUT, he gets noticeably irritated when asked if John loved him. I mean, his āYeah I think he did actually.ā is so deadpan and sounds almost incredulous, like did you really just ask me that?
Thatās not mentioning the sarcastic āWeāll check.ā thatās both heartbreaking and so revealing. You can hear Parkinson sort of fumbling in the background, laughing along to try and ease the sudden tension.
āJohn come on baby did you?ā *sobbing* not even gonna talk about itā¦
Paul seems to kind of snap out of it right around when he says, āAll the Beatlesā, as is typical of him to speak in general terms when heās really talking about him and John.
Now, I understand what heās getting at with the whole homosexuality bit, that healthy male friendships were seen as strange back then. However, itās interesting how his mind instantly goes to homosexuality and the negative perceptions of their displays of affection- Paul cares so much about his public image, no wonder heād pay such close attention to how the press would react to him and John.
This interview was mainly done to promote his biography, Many Years from Now, and he talks about the book being his way of setting things straight. Canāt help but think that the reason heās so honest in this interview is because heās finally pushing back against those negative perceptions, ending with that āand I still doā as a fuck you to all those interviewers.
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