In a heartfelt interview in late 2023, Paul McCartney spoke emotionally about a dream that had shaken him. He said he saw John Lennon in the dream, alive, laughing, and speaking to him like old times. The encounter felt so real that he woke up in tears. While talking on the podcast McCartney: A Life in Lyrics, Paul revealed, “It was one of those vivid dreams where John was there. We were just sitting across from each other and I remember saying, ‘John, it’s so good to see you again.’” His voice cracked slightly during the recounting.
This memory came as part of Paul’s promotion for the 2023 release of the final Beatles song Now and Then, which used a vocal demo from John originally recorded in the late 1970s. With the help of AI technology developed by Peter Jackson for the Get Back documentary, the scratchy home recording was cleaned up enough to allow Paul and Ringo Starr to add bass, drums, and harmonies, giving the track the emotional power of a real Beatles reunion.
What moved Paul deeply was the process of recording around John’s voice as if he were in the room again. “It was incredibly touching,” Paul said during a BBC interview in November 2023. “When I heard his voice clear as day in the studio speakers, I had to take a minute. It wasn’t just music. It felt like a message.”
During an interview on The Tonight Show, Paul recalled the early writing days with John. He mentioned how, even in their youth, the connection had a depth that went beyond collaboration. “We’d sit across from each other with our guitars and just look into each other’s eyes as we figured the lyrics. It was a strange, beautiful sort of unspoken trust.”
But one of the most unexpected revelations came when Paul spoke about a 1980s moment that haunted him. After John’s death, Paul would often write letters to him. Letters that were never sent, just tucked away. In an emotional passage from his 2021 book The Lyrics, Paul included a portion of one note: “Would you believe me if I said I still hear your voice in the harmonies?” He admitted he sometimes sang along to old Beatles songs at home, imagining John beside him.
During the making of Now and Then, Paul said he looked to John for guidance. “I kept thinking, ‘Would John approve of this part? Would he like the string arrangement?’ That’s how present he felt,” Paul explained during the SiriusXM Town Hall session. “It was like he was in the control room with us, nodding or raising an eyebrow.”
A particularly touching moment came when Paul recalled a studio exchange with Ringo while they were finishing the song. They were sitting in silence after laying down the final tracks. Paul turned to Ringo and said, “Do you feel him here too?” Ringo replied, “I do. It’s mad, isn’t it?” That moment, Paul said, was among the most emotional of his recent life.
In a quiet revelation during his conversation with Rolling Stone, Paul shared a short anecdote involving a cassette player he still keeps in his study. The tape inside it carries one of the last audio letters John sent to him in 1979. “He was being silly, doing voices, making jokes… I’ve never had the heart to rewind it past that message. It’s frozen in time, just like him.”
Paul also touched on their complicated past. “We had our fallouts, sure. But I never stopped loving him. I don’t think he ever stopped loving me either,” he said. Then he added a line that stunned the room silent: “I still write with him. Not every day, but when I’m stuck on a song, I ask him what he thinks. And sometimes, I hear the answer.”
Now and Then topped charts globally, but to Paul, it meant something no chart could measure. “It gave us one last chance to sing with John,” he told the crowd at an intimate event at Abbey Road Studios.
Even after all these years, Paul’s voice trembled slightly when speaking about John. He ended one appearance by simply saying, “We started off as kids with guitars, and somewhere in the music, I still find him.”
Author: Anita’s Analysis
