Elliot Mintz Reveals John Lennon Was ‘Insanely Jealous’ of Paul McCartney’s Wings Era Success: ‘They’re Not Embracing Me…

John Lennon’s close friend Elliot Mintz has revealed that the legendary musician struggled with feelings of jealousy toward Paul McCartney during the 1970s, particularly as McCartney’s band Wings soared in popularity while Lennon stepped away from music to focus on fatherhood.

Appearing on Billy Corgan’s The Magnificent Others podcast on July 30, Mintz shared insights into Lennon’s emotional state during the years following the Beatles’ breakup in 1970. Though Lennon spoke warmly of McCartney in private, Mintz said that his admiration was complicated by envy during McCartney’s post-Beatles success.

“John spoke so lovingly of Paul,” Mintz said. “But when he wasn’t making music between 1975 and almost ’80, and Paul was having these massive hits with Wings, John became insanely jealous. He envied the attention, the accolades, and the fact that Paul was filling stadiums.”

While Lennon released several solo records, including Imagine, he stepped back from the music scene in 1975 to raise his son Sean with wife Yoko Ono. Meanwhile, McCartney, now 83, found critical and commercial acclaim with Wings through hits like “Jet” and “Listen to What the Man Said.”

Mintz, 80, recalled that Lennon would often confide in him about his mixed feelings. “He’d say to me, ‘They’re not embracing me the way they are him.’ And I’d say, ‘John, you’re not on a concert stage. You’re not making music.’ But he’d reply, ‘You’re missing the point. They’re embracing his genius — have you heard ‘Silly Love Songs’?’”

Despite Lennon’s critiques, Mintz often defended McCartney’s work, reminding Lennon that Wings had far more to offer than just light pop tunes. Still, the tension between the two former Beatles persisted, even bleeding into their music.

In 1971, McCartney’s song “Too Many People” appeared to take a subtle jab at Lennon, prompting a scathing response in Lennon’s “How Do You Sleep?”, which included the line: “The sound you make is Muzak to my ears.” Lennon later admitted the song reflected his lingering resentment toward his former bandmate.

“It was like two high school kids arguing on Instagram,” Mintz quipped. “We had many talks about Paul, and John’s thoughts about him really varied.”

Despite the occasional bitterness, moments of warmth and nostalgia remained. Mintz recalled a touching Christmas visit in 1978, when McCartney and his wife Linda dropped by the Dakota, the New York City residence Lennon shared with Ono. The group dined at Elaine’s, unimpressed by the menu, and ended up ordering pizza instead — Linda’s idea. Back at the apartment, Lennon and McCartney looked out the window together as the sun set over Manhattan and Christmas lights sparkled across the city.

Reflecting on that moment, Mintz imagined what could have been. “Paul said, ‘I’m always making music. I make music every day of my life.’ And I thought, what if John had taken the bait? What if he’d said, ‘I’ve got a couple guitars in the other room, want to jam?’ They could’ve sat in that living room and changed the face of music again.”

Mintz, who wrote the memoir We All Shine On about his years with Lennon and Ono, emphasized that Lennon and McCartney’s relationship was layered with both conflict and deep connection. “They went through a whole mess of stuff together,” he said. “They even wrote songs about each other.”

To this day, McCartney continues to honor his former bandmate. On Lennon’s most recent birthday, he posted a photo of himself performing in front of an image of Lennon, captioned: “Happy Birthday John. Thanks for being there.”