McCartney also discusses his relationship with Yoko Ono and reuniting with Ringo Starr

Paul McCartney has opened up about his relationship with John Lennon; how he feels about Yoko Ono and if he would ever tour with Ringo Starr.

2016 marks the 50th anniversary since The Beatles last tour, which ended at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park in August 1966.

Speaking to Rolling Stone before gigs in both London and Philadelphia, McCartney commented on his relationship with John Lennon, claiming it to be “irreplaceable”. “We were kids growing up together, in the same environment with the same influences: He knows the records I know, I know the records he knows. You’re writing your first little innocent songs together,” he said.

Recalling an encounter with Lennon a few years after The Beatles broke up, McCartney said: “He hugged me. It was great, because we didn’t normally do that. He said, ‘It’s good to touch.’ I always remembered that – it’s good to touch.”

He also discussed his relationship with Yoko Ono, saying that the band were “threatened [then]” as she was “sitting on the amps” as they recorded. “Most bands couldn’t handle that. We handled it, but not amazingly well, because we were so tight,” he continued. “We weren’t sexist, but girls didn’t come to the studio – they tended to leave us to it. When John got with Yoko, she wasn’t in the control room or to the side. It was in the middle of the four of us.”

He continued to say that they’re relationship now is “like mates”. “I realised any resistance was something I had to overcome,” he stated.

When asked if he would ever tour with Ringo Starr, McCartney concluded, ” I don’t think either of us have ever thought why do it, or why not. It’s just that our roads are parallel, with intersections and diversions. He’s a great drummer, man. That’s the thing about Ringo. He has a feel that nobody else has. As to going out on the road, it might be complicated.”