It was going to take a long time before John Lennon and Paul McCartney could truly make up after The Beatles split. They were far from enemies behind the scenes, but given the jabs that Lennon put into a song like ‘How Do You Sleep’, it’s safe to say that he wasn’t exactly a fan of the kind of syrupy muzak that Macca was putting out during the final years of the group. McCartney did have an experimental side, though, and Lennon thought that ‘Coming Up’ was one of the most interesting things that McCartney had done when he started dipping his toes into music again.
Because for a few years, it looked like the former leader of The Beatles had decided to check out of the business. He had his ups and downs as a solo artist and had gone on a true binge of excess in Los Angeles for months, making his Rock ‘n’ Roll album, so getting back to domesticity was probably just the thing he needed.
Once his son Sean was born, though, Lennon took a significant break from music, stepping out of the limelight for five years and becoming a house husband while Yoko Ono took care of their finances. Considering this was the same man known for sticking his neck out for peace and not being afraid to let loose in his music, seeing him suddenly learning to bake bread and taking his son for a walk around Central Park was the moment when the collective 1960s generation grew up.
At the same time, McCartney was arguably getting more lighthearted by the day. Although Band on the Run gave Wings credibility as one of the finest live acts of the 1970s, records like London Town and Back to the Egg tended to rely too much on sentimental songs. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s hard to really get that excited about hearing a song like ‘I’m Carrying’ or ‘Arrow Through Me’ in concert.
After getting a major slap on the wrist after being charged with drug possession in Japan, McCartney went in a different direction on his second official solo album, McCartney II. Being the first time he credited only himself on a record since his self-titled debut, a song like ‘Coming Up’ was transformed from a jaunty Wings live number into something that fit right in with new wave.
Complete with a Talking Heads groove, McCartney was once again at the cutting edge of music, and no one was more impressed than Lennon, initially exclaiming, “Fuck a pig, it’s Paul” when he heard it on the radio. Despite not caring for much of his mate’s solo work, he loved the track, stating, “I thought that ‘Coming Up’ was great, and I like the freak version that he made in his barn better than that live Glasgow one,” adding that “if I’d have been with him, I’d have said, ‘That’s the one to do.’”
While Lennon was never trying to compete with McCartney in terms of sales, a lot of the material on his comeback Double Fantasy did have a few nods to McCartney’s new single, including the new wave style of guitars on tracks like ‘Cleanup Time’ right alongside retro Beatles-style songs like ‘Woman’. The partnership they shared in The Beatles was long gone, but it’s nice to know that Lennon was starting to come around to McCartney’s music before his death.
