McCartney: 'Holding back the tears no more'

Writing poetry is different than writing lyrics, Paul McCartney told Larry King on Tuesday's "Larry King Live"

By Jamie Allen
CNN

(CNN) -- He misses Linda and John. He still longs to write one more great song. And he likes the music of controversial rapper Eminem.

In a rare interview -- on CNN's "Larry King Live" -- former Beatle Paul McCartney talked of these and many things. The hour-long show was telecast on Tuesday night.

The interview with King touched on a broad range of topics, from the 1998 breast-cancer death of McCartney's wife Linda to his feelings on the 1980 murder of fellow Beatle John Lennon and the bitter breakup of the band -- and to his recently released book of poetry, "Blackbird Singing" (W.W. Norton).

Near the end of the show, McCartney's companion -- activist and former model Heather Mills -- joined him on the show to talk about their efforts to clear millions of landmines left over from wars in parts of the world. The couple rebuffed King's efforts to learn more about their relationship.

And that frequently asked question was also broached: Will the remaining Beatles -- McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr -- reunite, despite the loss of Lennon?

"Certainly, for me, if we were ever on stage, the three of us, there'd be someone missing," McCartney said. "I'd look over there and there'd be someone missing and that'd be John."

'You're going to grow up'

McCartney, 58, admitted he has mixed feelings about Lennon. He says he still has fond memories of their work and friendship, from the time they formed a band in Liverpool, England, through the years when they launched Beatlemania and became the most famous band in the world, helping to define the 1960s with songs ranging from "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" to "Strawberry Fields" to "Yesterday" to "All You Need Is Love."

But the break-up of the Beatles in 1970 built a strange wall between them, he says.

The Beatles broke up because "it was time," McCartney said

"Toward the end, when we had these business troubles, it got strange, but it wasn't strange otherwise," he says. "It was very close."

He maintains that it was time for the Beatles to break up when they did, despite the fact that it broke the hearts of their millions of fans and ended collaboration between members of what was arguably the world's best rock band.

"I always remember the old song, 'Wedding bells are breaking up that old gang of mine,' " McCartney says. "You're going to grow up. You're going to get married. You're going to get girlfriends and have babies and things, and you don't do that in a band."

John Lennon's death

Since the Beatles' breakup, McCartney formed the band Wings with wife Linda in the 1970s. A two-disk compilation of the band was released by Capitol Records last month. He has written in classical genres -- "Standing Stone" and his "Liverpool Oratorio" -- despite the fact that he can neither read nor write music.

He was knighted in 1997 -- Sir Paul says he still talks regularly to Harrison and Starr. And he continues to record pop music: A new album of original tunes is due later this year.

But his life has also been marked by tragedy. He recalled Tuesday for King the moment he heard about Lennon's fatal shooting by a deranged fan outside his New York apartment building.

"My manager rang me and Linda had just gone to drop the kids at school," he said. "He said, 'You better sit down, I have some really bad news.' And then Linda came back, and she said, 'What's wrong?' because she could just see that I had just gone pale."

On the program, McCartney -- who previously has been criticized about how he dealt with Lennon's death -- took time to read lyrics from his 1982 song, "Here Today," which reveals his feelings about the death of his friend:

"I still remember how it was before
and I'm holding back the tears no more
I love you."

Linda McCartney's death

McCartney also spoke about the cancer death of his wife, to whom he'd been married for 30 years.

"We knew it was coming, but we tried to pretend we didn't know it was coming," McCartney said. "I don't know. It's just impossible to talk about.

"I cried a lot ... Sometimes I'd be sitting around people and just burst out crying," he said. "And instead of doing the manly thing and saying, 'I'm sorry, I shouldn't do it,' I would just go, 'Oohhh,' and just cried a lot."

King asked McCartney if he worked to keep alive her memory as a friend and animal activist.

"Well, I don't really have to," he said. "She's all around me, you know. And everybody I know knows her and remembers her. And so I talk a lot about her."

McCartney on Eminem

McCartney might've raised some eyebrows when he talked about what kind of music he likes these days. He mentioned Eminem, rapper Marshall Mathers, who has caused a stir with coarse lyrics targeting homosexuals and deriding women.

"It's kind of clever," he said. "I like the rhythm, I like the attitude, and I can imagine if I was a young kid now, I'd like that."

These days, McCartney says he spends a lot of time painting, writing poetry and visiting with family in his hometown of Liverpool, England.

"To them, I'm just, 'our Paul,' " he said.

And he says he continues to write music, searching for the next moving collection of chords and lyrics.

"I'm still looking to write a great song," McCartney said. "You always are. You know, you never think, 'Well, that's enough ... that's good enough.' "