Sir Paul McCartney has admitted that he “couldn't talk about” former Beatles bandmate John Lennon following his tragic murder.
The musician, 80, was left devastated when Lennon was shot outside his New York City apartment in 1980.
Sir Paul has told how he found it “so difficult” after losing John and revealed how he got home from the studio the day of his friend’s death and turned on the TV to see people reflecting on 'what John meant' to them.
The Beatles legend recalled how he was not able to “put it into words” as the loss of John was “too deep” and affected him so catastrophically.
Remembering that heartbreaking day, Sir Paul said: “When John died it was so difficult. It had hit me so much that I couldn't really talk about it.
“I remember getting home from the studio on the day that we'd heard the news he died. Turning the TV on and seeing people say, ‘Well, John Lennon was this’ and ‘What he was, was this’ and ‘I remember meeting him’.
“I was like, ‘I can't be one of those people. I can't go on TV and say what John meant to me.’ It was just too deep. I couldn't put it into words.”
In an interview with SiriusXM’s The Beatles Channel about the making of his 1982 solo album Tug Of War, Sir Paul went on to describe how, after some time, “once the emotions had sort of settled a little bit” he started to process John’s death through writing Here Today.
He said of the song's writing process: “I was in a building that would become my recording studio, and there were just a couple of little empty rooms upstairs.
“So I found a room and just sat on the wooden floor in a corner with my guitar and just started to play the opening chords to Here Today.“
The song includes some touching lyrics referencing a night he spent with Lennon that had never been spoken about before.
The lyrics include: “What about the night we cried
“Because there wasn't any reason left to keep it all inside? Never understood a word
“But you were always there with a smile.“
