Paul McCartney on Beatles music John Lennon wrote when band was ‘disillusioned’

This week’s podcast episode of A Life in Lyrics sees Paul McCartney wanting again on the Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band observe, A Day within the Life.

The Beatles‘ basic 1967 observe is attributed to Lennon-McCartney however was primarily written by John Lennon with Macca contributing to the music’s center part.

Reflecting on the opening lyrics a couple of “lucky man who made the grade”, McCartney questioned if the phrases have been impressed by Lennon’s personal struggles.

The 81-year-old mentioned: “When John would bring these things in, it’s only these days that I would say, ‘Was he talking about himself? Was there some sort of psychological aspect where he’s a lucky man who made the grade?’

“And John did, around about this time, get a little bit out in Weybridge doing drugs. And we were a little disillusioned because we’d sort of given up playing live. So him bringing that in, I would just go with the picture that he was painting.”

McCartney additionally shared how the pressures of Beatles fame impressed Sgt Pepper’s: “Here’s the idea. We are these four space cadets. We’re just these four people in this slightly weird band. But what it’s going to do is. Going to free us up. 

“So we’re not going to be the Beatles, which we are now getting a little bit sort of inhibited by, having to be those boys. We’ll now just chuck all that away and we’d be these guys.”

Macca additionally spoke of Lennon’s love of historical past and Churchill when reflecting on the lyrics “I saw a film today, oh boy/The English Army had just won the war”.

McCartney added: “John was quite a World War II buff. He had the works of Winston Churchill. He was a big Winston Churchill fan, I think, till later. I think he’d read a lot about it. I’ve not read any of his stuff. John had. They had the complete set. I remember it’s like a set of encyclopaedias.”

Paul McCartney: A Life in Lyrics is co-produced by iHeartPodcasts and Pushkin.