John Lennon‘s former assistant Dan Richter is opening up about the rivalry between John and his Beatles’ bandmate Paul McCartney. Dan worked for John in the late ’60s and early ’70s and even lived with John and his wife Yoko Ono. Now, the 83-year-old shares his experiences in a podcast.
Dan recalled, “John got somebody to make a list of all the Beatles’ songs and then we had to say which were his and which were Paul’s.” He believes that Paul brought out John’s jealous streak more than any of the other band members.
Inside the feud between Paul McCartney and John Lennon
He continued, “It bugged him that Paul could write those sweet melodies like Yesterday and Hey Jude. He couldn’t do that. He was just too acerbic, or too intelligent…” So, when John was able to create his own solo album, he went all in.
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Dan shared, “John wanted to show that he could do a big mainstream album with a big number one kind of hit on it. And that’s what Imagine was going to be. At that point you have to remember, the Plastic Ono Band albums, that are now considered masterpieces, were doing well in Britain but weren’t doing that well at all in the States. People were thinking, ‘What’s happened to John?’ This was John saying, I Am John Lennon and I offer you this masterpiece.”
Paul still says that he did not instigate the break up of The Beatles but it was John who said he was leaving. Sadly, John was assassinated in 1980 so the world never got any more tunes from him.
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