Paul McCartney says he was John Lennon’s “priest”

During his lifetime, John Lennon said some nasty things about Paul McCartney and his songs, but according to Paul, he’s the one John would turn to when he needed reassurance that he was truly talented.

In a new episode of his McCartney: A Life In Lyrics podcast, Paul discusses writing his 1982 song “Here Today,” which he describes as “a love song” to Lennon. In the course of the conversation, he says John was sometimes very insecure.

“I remember him saying to me, ‘Paul, I worry about how people are gonna remember me when I die.’ And it kinda shocked me. I said, ‘O.K., hold on. Just hold it right there. People are going to think you were great. You’ve already done enough work to demonstrate that.'”

“So I was like his priest, often,” Paul continues. “I’d have to say, ‘My son. You’re great. Don’t worry about,’ or whatever. And he would take it! It’d make him feel better.”

Also in the episode, Paul recalls the “Here Today” line: “What about the night we cried,” which he says was specifically inspired by an incident with John that took place in Florida in the sixties.

“In Key West, there was a hurricane coming and we had to lay low for a couple of days and for some reason, they chose Key West,” Paul explains. “So we were in our little motel room, so we got very drunk and cried about, y’know, I dunno — how we loved each other, or something, I dunno.”