John Lennon confidant says he was jealous of ‘attention’ Paul McCartney got in the ’70s

John Lennon took himself out of the spotlight for five years in the 1970s to raise his son Sean Lennon, but during that time he was “insanely jealous” of his former Beatles bandmate Paul McCartney‘s musical success. That’s according to longtime Lennon friend and confidant Elliot Mintz.

While appearing on Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan‘s podcast, The Magnificent Others, Mintz said that Lennon would speak “so lovingly” of Paul. But Mintz claimed Lennon was “insanely jealous” of all the “mega hits” that Paul was scoring with his band Wings. 

“He was jealous of the amount of attention and accolades, and the fact that Paul was filling stadiums,” Mintz claims. But when Mintz would argue that Lennon wasn’t even making albums or doing concerts, he says Lennon would tell him, “You’re missing the point. They’re embracing his genius, but have you heard ‘Silly Love Songs’?”

Mintz says he would respond, “Look, let’s be fair. He’s done things other than ‘Silly Love Songs.’ But that would go nowhere.”

He recalls that for Christmas in 1978, Paul and wife Linda McCartney came by John and Yoko Ono‘s New York City apartment and everybody got along fine. According to Mintz, Paul asked John if he was making any music, and John said no. When John asked Paul the same question, he responded, “I’m always making music. I make music every day of my life. I can’t stop making music.”

Mintz says at the time he thought to himself, “What would have happened if John [took] the bait and said, ‘I got a couple of guitars in the other room. What if I bring them out just for the hell of it?’ And the two of them could’ve sat in the living room and changed the face of contemporary music.”

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