John Lennon Revealed Paul McCartney Tried Copying Simon & Garfunkel

John Lennon was known for his quick wit and sharp tongue. Post-Beatles, he’d been an avid critic of his previous work, as well as his previous bandmates; most of all, Paul McCartney.

Inside the Let It Be sessions; Lennon wasn’t much of a fan because they had to film the documentary right where they were making music. In reality, the recording was deemed hard to follow through and showed signs that The Beatles were on the verge of breaking up.

In an interview with Rolling Stone’s Jann S. Wenner, Lennon reflected on what he felt during the recording of the aforementioned album. “Paul [McCartney] had this idea that we were going to rehearse or… see it all was more like Simon & Garfunkel, like looking for perfection all the time,” Lennon said. “And so, he has these ideas that we’ll rehearse and then make the album. And of course, we’re lazy fuckers and we’ve been playing for 20 years, for fuck’s sake, we’re grown men, we’re not going to sit around rehearsing. I’m not, anyway. And we couldn’t get into it.”

Moreover, a 1980 interview from All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono had Lennon explaining that the song “Let It Be” was Paul trying to mimic Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” albeit, in reality, this wasn’t the case. McCartney dreamt of his mother one night, who told him not to worry much about this and to just let things be. The next morning, it got him writing the song which will become symbolic in the many years to come.

Lennon’s words may not have any value according to the truth, but it’s important to point out that he only had to mention it since he didn’t want to lose the authenticity that only the fab four could pull off.