Paul McCartney’s Favorite John Lennon Song Was About a Woman They Both Loved
The songwriting partnership of Paul McCartney and John Lennon is one of the best in musical history, producing timeless and enduring rock and pop tracks that ranged from romantic to revolutionary to eccentric and plenty in between. Despite the personal and artistic differences that contributed to the Beatles’ eventual demise, the respect each musician had for one another was clear—as was their friendship that started in their childhood.
Thus, when Paul McCartney took the time to pinpoint his favorite song that his late friend and bandmate had ever written, it was unsurprising that he picked one with ties to their Liverpudlian roots all those decades ago. McCartney’s favorite Lennon song, he mused in a 2020 interview, was about a woman they both loved.
Paul McCartney’s Favorite John Lennon Song
Compared to Paul McCartney, John Lennon had few solo compositions and performances in the Beatles’ discography. “Julia” was an exception to the norm. The Fab Four included Lennon’s touching, whimsical solo track as the A-side closer to their 1968 eponymous release, also called the “White Album.” This one-off track has always been a favorite of McCartney’s.
“I love “Julia,” which is about the mom he couldn’t live with,” McCartney revealed during a 2020 interview on the Adam Buxton Podcast. “I love the poignancy of that because I’d been with him round to Julia’s house to visit her, and I knew how deeply he loved her. So, “Julia,” I would go with [as my favorite Lennon song].”
Speaking of the song in Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now, the ex-Beatle wrote, “It’s very sad because he really did dote on his mum. Julia was the light of John’s life. He idolized her. She was a beautiful woman with long red hair; she was fun-loving and musical, too. She taught him banjo chords, and any woman in those days who played a banjo was a special, artistic person.”
John and I were both in love with his mum,” McCartney continued. “It just knocked him for six when she died. I always thought it was bad enough my mother dying and what I had to go through, but that was an illness. So, there was some way you could understand it. But in John’s case, the horror of reliving that accident. Oh, my God! That always stayed with me.”