Paul McCartney and John Lennon were members of the Beatles, one of the most famous, beloved, and successful bands in music history, They will forever be intertwined in our hearts and minds. But Lennon's life was brutally cut short on December 8, 1980.
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He was fatally shot outside the Dakota, the landmark building in New York where he lived. The grief that his death occasioned reverberated around the world. No one could - or wanted to - believe it. This sublime troubadour of an era was abruptly gone at 40 years old. Lennon was the husband of Yoko Ono and dad to sons Sean (with Ono) and Julian (from his first marriage).
McCartney, 83, is now looking back on that painful time of tragic loss and grief. His reflections are part of what he wrote in his new volume titled Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run.
McCartney Mused About Learning of Lennon's Death
Per the New York Post via Wings, he said his manager broke the grim news to him that Lennon had been murdered. McCartney wrote in the book, "It was just too crazy. We just said what everyone said; it was all blurred. It was the same as the Kennedy [assassination]. The same horrific moment, you know. You couldn't take it in. I still haven't taken it in. I don't want to."
He acknowledged that and former bandmates George Harrison and Ringo Starr found solace in work. Being busy kept the anguish at bay. "Nobody could stay home with that news," according to McCartney. "We all had to go to work and be with people we knew. Couldn't bear it. We just had to keep going. So, I went in and did a day's work in a kind of shock."
McCartney's Daughter Stella Remembered Her Dad Getting Word of Lennon Being Slain
McCartney was reeling after finding out that Lennon was dead. His daughter, Stella, said per the outlet, "I remember the biggest reaction I'd ever seen from a phone call, and him leaving the kitchen and going outside. I admit it breaks my heart to this day. That was truly heartbreaking to see."
She went on, "I've got that footage in my head for my life. I've captured in my head the moment Paul McCartney found out that John Lennon had been murdered."
He and Lennon Finally Mended Their Relationship
The two reportedly had a tumultuous friendship. They were brilliant collaborators who sometimes verbally wrangled with each other. However, McCartney says that they found peace before he passed away. Per the Post, he wrote in the book, "One of the great blessings in my life is that we made up. We'd loved each other all our lives, and we'd had our arguments and we'd called each other names. But it had never got any more serious than two brothers in a family."
