Paul McCartney Opens His Heart: On Loss, Lennon, and the Dream That Became ‘Yesterday’
There are rare moments in television when time seems to pause, when the walls between performer and person fall away. One of those moments came when Paul McCartney sat down with Stephen Colbert to reflect on his childhood, the death of his mother, his bond with John Lennon, and the mysterious dream that gave birth to one of the most beloved songs in music history: “Yesterday.”
Losing His Mother at 14: A Quiet Wound That Echoed in Song
Paul McCartney was just 14 when his mother, Mary, died of cancer. It was a devastating moment in the life of a boy growing up in Liverpool, trying to make sense of the world. In the interview, Paul speaks with calm honesty about those early years:
“To lose your mom at 14 is not easy… it was just very difficult for a few years just trying to come to terms with it. But then I found music.”
He didn’t consciously connect the loss to his songs until much later, when others began pointing to the emotional undercurrents in lyrics like:
“Why she had to go, I don’t know, she wouldn’t say…”
Paul admitted he hadn’t written “Yesterday” about his mother directly—but also admitted that maybe, unconsciously, he had.
John Lennon: Dreams, Guilt, and a Photo That Told the Truth
Colbert then shifted the conversation to McCartney’s friendship with John Lennon, showing him a black-and-white photo of the two Beatles writing together. Paul’s voice softened, eyes glinting with emotion.
“That’s a very special photo for me… when the Beatles broke up, a lot of people saw me as the villain… I kind of bought into it.”
He reflected on the confusion and pain that followed the band’s split—questioning whether he and John had truly stayed close. But that photo, he said, reminded him of the truth.
“Yes, we were friends. And it’s a beautiful photo for me because it just reminds me of us working together, and how cool it was.”
Then, almost in a whisper, he shared something deeply personal:
“I dream about him… I often have band dreams. I’m often with John, just talking about doing something. And I love it when people revisit you in your dreams.”
A Song from a Dream: How ‘Yesterday’ Came to Be
In what might be the most astonishing moment of the interview, Paul revealed that “Yesterday”—arguably the most covered song in music history—came to him in a dream.
“I woke up one morning, and there was this tune in my head. I happened to have a piano by the bed… I thought, it’s just an old tune my dad must have played.”
He played it for everyone—John Lennon, George Martin, friends—asking, “What’s this song? Where have I heard this?” But no one recognized it. Finally, after a few weeks, Paul realized:
“It was mine.”
A melody from a dream. A song that felt like it had always existed. And somehow, born from silence, it became a global anthem of longing and love.
‘Yesterday’: Not Just a Song, But a Message
As the conversation drew to a close, McCartney reflected on the film Yesterday—a movie that imagines a world where the Beatles never existed. He watched it quietly, with his wife Nancy, sitting in the back of a cinema—not at a fancy premiere, but among everyday people. He smiled, describing how surreal it felt to watch himself fictionalized on screen.
“Even in a world where no one’s heard of the Beatles,” Colbert said, “just the music itself moves people.”
Paul agreed. Because for him, and for so many of us, the music of the Beatles was never hype—it was heart.
A Final Note: Dreams That Never Die
Paul McCartney’s conversation with Stephen Colbert was more than an interview. It was a window into the soul of a man who helped define generations, and who—despite fame, loss, and the weight of legacy—remains deeply human.
Through grief, he found melody.
Through dreams, he found memory.
And through music, he gave us a piece of his soul that still sings.
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