Paul McCartney on His Falling-Out With John Lennon: 'It Was Very Hurtful, Like Sticking Little Daggers in Me'

The legendary frontman has opened up about his turbulent falling-out with John Lennon during The Beatles' final years, revealing how a business dispute nearly destroyed their friendship — and how Lennon's grudging admission ultimately brought them peace.

Paul McCartney has looked back on a turbulent patch in his friendship with former Beatles bandmate John Lennon. The pair infamously feuded during the band's final years, partly due to a bruising business dispute that would fracture the band from within.

During an interview with NME following an intimate listening event for his new album, "The Boys of Dungeon Lane," McCartney was asked whether he felt a responsibility to honor Lennon in the right way — and the frontman was quick to push back on the idea.

"I don't feel like I have to be respectful. He's just a mate – it's just this guy who I met, and we wrote songs together, so I don't feel a sense of responsibility," he explained. "I hope it is responsible."

"The thing is, I have very good memories of the guys, John and George, even though towards the end of The Beatles, John was slagging me off a lot," he continued. "At the time, it was very hurtful, like sticking little daggers in me."

The rift between the two stemmed from a bitter disagreement over management. While McCartney backed his father-in-law, entertainment lawyer Lee Eastman, the rest of the band threw their support behind businessman Allen Klein.

McCartney ultimately refused to sign Klein's contracts, convinced the terms were unfair — a stance that deepened the tensions and contributed to the band's eventual breakup.

Despite the acrimony, McCartney eventually found a way to make peace with Lennon's cutting remarks.

"It was just annoying, because you thought, 'I've got to answer him back, what am I going to do?' But I suddenly realised, 'Wait a minute, this is John. This is the guy I've known since I was 16. That's just what he does,'" he said. "It didn't sting so much once I realised it was just John being John."

The rock legend stressed how much it meant to him that the two managed to repair their friendship after everything that had unfolded.

They reconciled around 1975, shortly after the birth of Lennon's son, Sean Ono Lennon, rebuilding their bond through everyday conversations about family, parenting, and even baking bread.

McCartney said he felt fortunate that it was a business dispute — rather than something more personal — that had come between them, and that Lennon eventually came around to his view that Klein had been dishonest all along.

"So, when it turned out that I was right, it was good to hear John say, 'I think Paul might have been right' – begrudgingly. He wasn't one to say, 'Yeah, you know what Paul told me…!' He was like, '[mumbles] Yeah, he was right.' So that made it much better," McCartney said.

"Even though it was a painful period, we kinda had to go through it, or someone would have robbed us."

McCartney recently announced a special live conversation event centred on his latest album, released on May 29, set to take place at Camden's Roundhouse in London on June 10, 2026.

Alongside stories from the making of the record — which revisits his youth in Liverpool and the early days of The Beatles — he will discuss his first meeting with producer Andrew Watt in 2021, the album's creative development, and what it was like recording a duet with former bandmate Ringo Starr.