Paul McCartney Recalls ‘Horrific’ Moment He Learned John Lennon Had Died

Paul McCartney opened up about the tragic moment he discovered John Lennon had died.

In his new oral history book Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run, which was released Tuesday, Nov. 4, the “Maybe I’m Amazed” artist recalled discovering Lennon was shot and killed by Mark David Chapman in New York City on Dec. 8, 1980.

Paul, 83, wrote that he discovered the news from his manager early in the morning that day. “It was just too crazy,” he said of Lennon’s death.

Comparing it to “the same horrific moment” as John F. Kennedy Jr.’s assassination in 1963, the “Riding to Vanity Fair” artist wrote that everything had “blurred.”

“You couldn’t take it in. I still haven’t taken it in. I don’t want to,” Paul wrote.

After Lennon died, he recalled heading back to the studio with his Beatles bandmates Ringo Starr and George Harrison.

According to Paul, the band didn’t want to stay home after discovering the news.

“We all had to go to work and be with people we knew,” he wrote, noting that they “just had to keep going.” Ultimately, Paul wrote that his “shock” fueled him doing a day’s worth of work.

Paul also reflected on making amends with Lennon ahead of his death following the Beatles’ public breakup in 1970.

While he regretted not being able to sit down with Lennon and get on the same page again, he’s grateful that the last phone call the duo had was amicable and didn’t include a “blow-up.”

Paul called making amends with Lennon “one of the great blessings in my life.”

While he wrote that the pair had arguments that included name-calling, it was nothing more serious than two brothers fighting.

Paul’s new book Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run, documents the rock icon’s time in his famed post-Beatles band.

It also features 40 hours of new and archival interviews with Paul, his late wife Linda and other band members, including Denny Seiwell, Henry McCullough, Jimmy McColluch, Joe English, Steve Holley, Geoff Britton and Laurence Juber.

The book also includes interviews with George Martin, Sean Ono Lennon, Stella McCartney, Mary McCartney, Chrissie Hynde, and more.

Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run is out now.