Beatles fans believe they have finally ‘figured out’ why John Lennon got so mad at his Beatles bandmate Paul McCartney’s song Too Many People after five decades
It has taken Beatles fans 54 years to realize why Paul McCartney’s hit 1971 track hit such a nerve with John Lennon.
The popular band, formed by John and Paul, as well as Ringo Starr and George Harrison, found success first in the U.K. in 1963 and then internationally in 1964. However, they decided to break up six years later in 1970.
Things between the Fab Four were far from amicable, sparking a so-called song war between John and Paul. While it only lasted just two albums, it was enough to inflict damage on the pair’s friendship that dominated headlines.
READ MORE: Astronomer breaks silence on CEO at Coldplay concert and fake AI-generated statementREAD MORE: CNN interrupts show for breaking news announcement in ruthless blow to Donald Trump
In the years that followed, the duo took spiteful jabs in the form of interviews and songs. One memorable time saw Paul hit back at John’s comments by writing a piece for Ram, which left him infuriated.
The Imagine songwriter replied to the Ram track by publicly thanking controversial Beatles manager Allen Klein in an issue of Crawdaddy Magazine. He went on to write a song as a direct reply to the Ram classic – and it’s fair to say John was not best pleased.
While the Ram song Too Many People does not name-drop John or his wife Yoko Ono, it does hit out at the “lucky break” The Beatles had afforded the singer.
Paul sings of John making his “first mistake,” which he said was taking his “lucky break” and breaking it in two. In response, the now late musician told Crawdaddy Magazine, “I heard Paul’s messages in Ram – yes there are dear reader! Too many people going where? Missed our lucky what? What was our first mistake? Can’t be wrong? Huh!”
“I mean Yoko, me, and other friends can’t all be hearing things. So to have some fun, I must thank Allen Klein publicly for the line ‘just another day’. A real poet! Some people don’t see the funny side of it. Too bad. What am I supposed to do, make you laugh? It’s what you might call an ‘angry letter’, sung – get it?” he added.
More than five decades on, fans are only just realising why John got so mad over the song. Taking to Reddit, one user sparked up the debate asking, “Why did John Lennon get so mad at Paul’s song ‘Too Many People’?”
In a response, someone suggested, “Paul was telling him to p–s off, that he was preaching too much to people, that he ruined a good thing and broke up the Beatles, and that he didn’t need John anymore cause he had Linda.”
This sentiment was seconded by another who penned, “Because the song was Paul’s way of telling John to f— off.” As another user pointed out, “John may have been overt in his comments about Paul but Paul was far more sneaky and covert and John knew it,” which prompted a fourth fan to agree.
The user said, “I think you’ve really touched on it. John was blunt and open about his anger toward Paul, but that’s just not Paul’s style. John knew immediately the song was about him, but I think he was also extremely annoyed at the way Paul said it, like he felt he was getting away with something. I think John thought of himself as an open book (even at times when he truly wasn’t), and Paul always made it a point to hide behind his public persona.”
While a fifth user argued, “I mean, the cover of Ram has a picture of one beetle fucking another, so the message is pretty clear.” Though the song wars would end there, Paul said he had a planned response to his former band mate, called Quite Well, Thank You. He also said the song was meant as a knock at Lennon and Ono’s preachy political stances.
Click here to follow the Mirror US on Google News to stay up to date with all the latest news, sport and entertainment stories.
