• Paul McCartney talked openly about the pain he felt.
• The tragic incident served as the song’s inspiration.
• The opening chords to “Here Today” were first played by McCartney.

Paul McCartney talked openly about the overwhelming pain he felt in the wake of John Lennon’s passing and how it inspired “Here Today.”

In a recent interview on SiriusXM’s The Beatles Channel, the singer-songwriter took listeners track by track through the recording process of his 1982 album Tug Of War. The tragic incident that served as the song’s inspiration—John Lennon’s murder in 1980—came to mind as McCartney talked about the recording of “Here Today,” his heartfelt acoustic homage to his deceased comrade.

“When John died, it was so difficult,” McCartney told host Tom Frangione. “It was difficult for everyone in the world because he was such a loved character and such a crazy guy. He was so special.”

The death of his Beatles bandmate, McCartney, 80, continued, “struck me so badly that I couldn’t really talk about it.”

“I remember getting home from the studio on the day that we’d heard the news he died and turning the TV on and seeing people say, ‘Well, John Lennon was this and what he was this,” the “Maybe I’m Amazed” singer recalled. “It was like, I don’t know, I can’t be one of those people.”

“I can’t just go on TV and say what John meant to me,” he explained. “It was just too deep. It’s just too much.”

“I couldn’t put it into words,” he added.

The lead singer of the Beatles claimed that he went to his recording studio, or, more precisely, the “two of little empty rooms,” that eventually became his studio, “once the emotions had sort of subsided a little bit.” The opening chords to “Here Today” were first played by McCartney, who remembered, “I found a room and just sat on the wooden floor in a corner with my guitar and just started to play.”

The legendary musician went on to describe an event that is mentioned in the song: “The phrase “the night we cried” refers to a period when we were in Key West, Florida. Due to some delay (I believe it was a hurricane), we were unable to play for a few days, so we checked into a little motel. What would we do then? We would drink, and then we would become inebriated.”

“We got drunk and started to get kind of emotional,” he continued. “On the way to that, there was a lot of soul-searching. We told each other a few truths, you know, ‘Well, I love you,’ ‘I love you man,’ ‘I love that you said that,’ and we opened up.”

“So that was kind of special to me,” McCartney said. “I think that was really one of the only times that ever happened.”

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