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The Aftermath of John Lennon's Death

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On December 8, 1980, the music world ground to a halt when John Lennon was murdered. His death was one of the defining moments of the 20th century, and culturally, we're still dealing with it. This article, and others about Lennon's life and legacy, are included in a new Newsweek Special Edition celebrating the 75th birthday of the legendary Beatles co-founder.
Three and a half decades have come and gone since John Lennon's passing, but the details of the murder-it's been called an "assassination," but the word assassin gives too much credit to the raving madman who pulled the trigger-are still painful for those of Lennon's fans who are old enough to remember the event. Shortly afterward, Pete Hamill wrote of Lennon's murder as ripping him back to the 1960s in the worst possible way. "Because it was a man with a gun, we fell back into the ritual," Hamill wrote in his New York magazine article "The Death and Life of John Lennon." "If you were there for the '60s, the ritual was part of your life. You went through it for John F. Kennedy and for Martin Luther King, for Malcolm X and for Robert Kennedy.... Except this time there was a difference. Somebody murdered John Lennon. Not a politician. Not a man whose abstract ideas could send people to wars, or bring them home; not someone who could marshal millions of human beings in the name of justice; not some actor on the stage of history. This time, someone had crawled out of a dark place, lifted a gun and killed an artist."

The 20th century had more than its fair share of senseless murder, and a worrying amount of it had begun to be directed toward public figures as it pushed onward. But the targets of such senseless crimes had, until Lennon's murder, been those whose power was the concrete stuff of governmental halls, not the ethereal connection of the musician to his public. One only needs to look at Paul McCartney's horrified face as he addresses the media after his former bandmate's death to understand the hateful precedent that had been set when Mark David Chapman shot John Lennon in the back. As McCartney struggles to gather his thoughts into a coherent statement, "Am I next?" is as clearly written in his features as if inked there. Fear surely extended to all famous artists that day, but none felt it as clearly as the remaining three Beatles. As Hamill put it, "This was something new. The ritual was the same, the liturgy as stale as ever, but the object of attack was a man who had made art. This time the ruined body belonged to someone who had made us laugh, who had taught young people how to feel, who had helped change and shape an entire generation, from inside out. This time someone had murdered a song."

On December 8, 1980, John Lennon was returning to his home at New York's Dakota, a massive Victorian apartment block on Central Park West, shortly after 11 p.m. He and Yoko Ono were arriving after a day of work in the recording studio-without stopping for a meal at the Stage Deli as they had planned. After five years out of the studio, Lennon was used to being what he called a "househusband" and was anxious to get home to his 5-year-old son Sean.

Because of his habit of meeting fans outside the Dakota-"People come and ask for autographs, or say 'Hi,' but they don't bug you," Lennon said of the revelers who sometimes waited all day for a glimpse of their idol-Lennon pulled up to the Dakota at the sidewalk rather than using the building's secluded courtyard. As he made his way through the crowd of fans to the lobby of his home, a 25-year-old man in a black trenchcoat got his attention with the simple words "Mr. Lennon." Lennon stopped, but before he could turn to address Mark David Chapman, the young man had shot Lennon in the back. He was rushed to the nearby Roosevelt Hospital. Chapman sat handcuffed on the sidewalk outside the Dakota, his copy of The Catcher in the Rye on hand. In his madness, Chapman had channelled Holden Caulfield's angst-filled rants into an unshakable obsession that Lennon was one of J.D. Salinger's hated "phonies." At the hospital, Lennon was opened up by surgeons, who tried desperately to bring him back from the brink. "We tried to save him," Dr. Stephan Lynn said at the time. "We opened his chest and massaged his heart, but he was virtually dead when they brought him in."

It's knowing these kinds of details that makes Lennon's death difficult to deal with even more than three decades after the fact, even for those of his fans too young to have been around to feel the raw wound of his loss. In our knowledge of the minutiae of Lennon's last day, we are almost forced to imagine: What if, on his way back to 72nd Street and Central Park West from the Times Square studio where he did his last day's work, Lennon had insisted on stopping at the Stage Deli-taking just long enough that Chapman went home for the night? What if Lennon had stopped at a hot dog cart instead-would the five extra minutes have meant a different position for Chapman, a different angle of fire for his pistol and a nonfatal wound for Lennon? What if Lennon had, tired from a full day of interviews, photo shoots and recording, pulled up to the Dakota's courtyard instead of taking a few minutes to appease his fans? What if Chapman had been touched by A Confederacy of Dunces instead of The Catcher in the Rye? Lennon's unrivaled celebrity, among the first of a new breed from whom fans demanded constant knowledge, meant these informational tidbits were destined to be recorded and their attendant "What Ifs?" neverending. But all this would come in the ensuing days-on the night of December 8, there was only shock.

Much of America learned of Lennon's death as they watched the New England Patriots and Miami Dolphins square off on Monday Night Football. With the game tied at 13 in the fourth quarter, the commentator pairing of Howard Cosell and Frank Gifford were given a bulletin informing them of Lennon's death. Though Cosell handled the situation with trademark professionalism, ABC's reporting the news when it did was the result of a tragic coincidence. As Lennon was rolled into Roosevelt Hospital on a stretcher, an ABC news producer was in the emergency room following a motorcycle accident. Though Yoko Ono had asked that she be given time to tell Sean Lennon of his father's death before it was announced on television, the word spread like wildfire through the ABC ranks, eventually landing in the commentary booth at Monday Night Football. "I don't care what's on the line, Howard, you have got to say what we know in the booth," Frank Gifford told his co-star, fully aware that the information currently in front of them would shatter the fabric of popular culture.

"Yes, we have to say it. Remember this is just a football game, no matter who wins or loses," Cosell replied. "An unspeakable tragedy confirmed to us by ABC News in New York City: John Lennon, outside of his apartment building on the West Side of New York City, the most famous, perhaps, of all of The Beatles, shot twice in the back, rushed to Roosevelt Hospital, dead on arrival. Hard to go back to the game after that news flash, which, in duty bound, we have to take." For 35 years, fans of Lennon have been attempting to keep him alive, something Mark David Chapman made it impossible for surgeons to do on the night of Lennon's death. We might be separated from John Lennon the man by three and a half decades, but his work and his messages still resonate more than ever.

This article appears in Newsweek's Offical Collector's Edition, John Lennon: 75 Years-Celebrating His Enduring Legacy, by Issue Editor Tim Baker.

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35 Years Later: The Aftermath of John Lennon's Death

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On December 8, 1980, the music world ground to a halt when John Lennon was murdered. His death was one of the defining moments of the 20th century, and culturally, we're still dealing with it. This article, and others about Lennon's life and legacy, are included in a new Newsweek Special Edition celebrating the 75th birthday of the legendary Beatles co-founder.

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Lennon's Death Remembered 40 Years Later...

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"You just threw your whole life away!"

They were the words roared by NYPD Officer Peter Cullen to Mark David Chapman, moments after he fatally shot John Lennon on Dec. 8, 1980.

Cullen and his partner, Steve Spiro, were the first to arrive at the ritzy Dakota Building on Manhattan's Upper West Side that fateful Monday night in New York City.

Nearly 40 years later, the responding officers and the surgeon who tried to save the legendary Beatles musician's life are telling InsideEdition.com how the events of that frantic night unfolded - and its lasting impact on their lives.
'Sometime in New York City'
In 1975, John Lennon and Yoko Ono had their first child, Sean, and left the bohemian lifestyle they were living in Manhattan's West Village for the majestic Dakota Building in the more conservative Upper West Side, across from Central Park.

"It was a different era - there was a lot of crime [in New York City] but you could get lost as a celebrity, which is why they were loving life there," Cullen told InsideEdition.com.

The British artist and his family were known in the neighborhood. They were often seen walking around Central Park and the Upper West Side. At this point, New York City wasn't just a place where Lennon lived - it became his home.

"He never had bodyguards and people respected his privacy," retired NYPD Officer Herb Frauenberger told InsideEdition.com. "People always hung outside the Dakota."

In November 1980, Lennon returned from a musical hiatus with the acclaimed Double Fantasy album that he recorded with his wife. But just weeks after its release, he was dead.
'Out of the Blue'
Dec.8, 1980 started off as nothing out of the ordinary for Officer Frauenberger.

"It was a typical December night, a cold and clear night," he recalled. "It is normally pretty slow."

But it was busy for Lennon, 40, and Ono, then 47. That morning, they welcomed Rolling Stone photographer Annie Leibovitz into their apartment for a photo shoot for the magazine.

Later that afternoon, at about 4:30 p.m., Lennon and Ono exited the Dakota and were met by a man who asked to have his copy of Double Fantasy signed. This was nothing out of the ordinary, as Lennon often interacted with fans who gathered outside his home.

Lennon asked the man if he wanted anything else, but the fan just wanted the record signed, according to reports. Lennon and his wife headed to the Record Plant in Midtown Manhattan to work with producer Jack Douglas, who produced Double Fantasy, on Ono's disco single, "Walking on Thin Ice."

Several hours later, after 10 p.m., the couple headed home. As they exited their car in front of the Dakota, Ono asked her husband if he wanted to get something to eat at the nearby deli. He declined, saying he would rather tuck 5-year-old Sean into bed and let their nanny head home for the night.

As they neared the building, the same fan he'd greeted earlier approached. But this time, he shot Lennon four times in the chest. Three of the bullets from the stranger's Charter Arms .38 exited through the singer's back.

"It was just a very sudden thing," Ono told Inside Edition in 1997 of her husband's murder. "It was so sudden that it was very difficult to me."

The gunman, later identified as 25-year-old Mark David Chapman, stayed at the crime scene and police were called within seconds.

"When we got the call, we thought it was fireworks and not gunshots because it was also Chinese New Year," Cullen recalled.

He and Spiro were the first to arrive at about 10:30 p.m. Cullen says that Dakota doorman, Jose, pointed at Chapman, who was in an overcoat, and identified him as the man who had fired the shots.

"Lennon was already in the vestibule and people were standing around him," Cullen said. "Everyone was frozen."

They found the victim bleeding from the mouth and chest but incredibly, he had a pulse.

Chapman, meanwhile, had his hands over his head with a copy of The Catcher in the Rye in between. Spiro pushed him against the wall, read him his Miranda rights, and handcuffed him. Chapman didn't resist.

Cullen tended to Lennon. "The rest of the night was Bedlam," he said.

Soon after, another NYPD radio car carrying officers Herb Frauenberger and Tony Palma arrived.

"When you hear something in the Dakota - there is something to it," Frauenberger said. "We were down there in less than a minute and arrived with weapons drawn."

At first, the four policemen did not realize who the victim was. Palma remembers hearing a woman screaming.

"I turned his head and something in my mind said, 'I know this guy,'" Palma said. "We had seen him before; he was a visible figure in New York City. As I turned his head, the doorman said, 'This is John Lennon.' It hit me like a ton of bricks."

They got to work - fast.

"We treated it like a cop was shot," Palma said.

The radio dispatcher told the officers that an ambulance was 10 minutes away, but they knew they couldn't wait that long.

"If you see someone bleeding out like that, you don't want to leave them there," Palma said.

Another radio car with officers Bill Gamble and Jim Moran arrived on the scene. Frauenberger and Palma put Lennon in that vehicle and they sped to Roosevelt Hospital, located 13 blocks away.

"[Gamble and Moran] radioed that they had a gunshot wound and I said, 'Don't say it is John Lennon, we don't want a zoo at the hospital,'" Frauenberger said.

According to reports, Gamble and Moran tried to speak to Lennon while he was in the back of their patrol car. The musician was conscious and reportedly nodded in response to basic questions.

The trauma staff at Roosevelt was waiting for them. On duty that night was Dr. David Halleran, then a 29-year-old-third year general surgeon.

"In those days we had beepers," he told InsideEdition.com. "They paged me and said, 'We have a gunshot wound to the chest.' They never said it was Lennon."

But Dr. Halleran suspected something was amiss.

"He arrived by police car," he said. "That was different."

Back at the Dakota, Cullen and Spiro put Chapman in their car and took him to the 20th Precinct.

As they were bringing him to the station, Cullen turned to Chapman. "Are you out of your f***ing mind?" he asked him. "You just threw your whole life away!"

Chapman said something Cullen will never forget.

"He said there is a little person inside of him, a big person, and that night, the little person won," Cullen said.

Meanwhile, Frauenberger and Palma brought Ono to the hospital.

"She was in shock," Frauenberger remembers of Ono. "She wasn't hysterical. She was traumatized. She kept asking if he was going to be alright and we tried to reassure her, but I knew it was serious."

Inside the operating room, the team of surgeons, doctors, and nurses stripped Lennon of his leather jacket with fur lining, his red shirt, and denim pants.

"It was like a rugby scrum - who cut off his clothes, who took his pulse, who began to open his chest," Dr. Halleran recalled.

At that point, Lennon had lost so much blood that he had no pulse.

To try to get it back, Dr. Halleran held the British singer's heart, pumping and massaging it. At first, he had no idea whose heart was in his hands.

"Someone says, 'That looks like John Lennon,'" Dr. Halleran recounted. "Someone went through his wallet and found his gold AmEx card. He had photos in his coat pocket."

In the waiting area of the hospital, Ono asked Officer Palma for a quarter so she could call someone. She called their friend, record executive David Geffen, who rushed to the hospital.

"She got off the phone and I took her to a back room in the hospital," Palma said. "I stayed with her for a half-hour while they worked on him."

Palma recalled how he "tried to calm her down" as she processed what was happening.

As the doctors and nurses treated Lennon, they were soon faced with the worst outcome.

"It looked like we weren't getting anything back," Dr. Halleran recalled. "We weren't getting a pulse back, we weren't getting a blood pressure back, we weren't getting pupil response back. He was very much gone."

Palma remembers the moment a doctor came into the room to deliver the devastating news to Ono, who was overcome with emotion.

A reporter who'd been hit by a car while riding his motorcycle happened to be getting treatment at the hospital at the same time. That reporter caught on to what was happening around him and called ABC News.

Soon, the news reached Howard Cosell, the host of Monday Night Football. During his broadcast, he revealed John Lennon's death to American audiences for the first time.

Later, hospital ER director Stephen Lynn held a press conference to make the official announcement.

"I wanted to hide under a rock," Dr. Halleran said. "I didn't feel good. I just wanted to go home."

Halleran said that he and his team did everything they could to save Lennon.

"You do this for anybody," he said. "They brought in a mortally wounded patent and you go for it. I wish we had a better outcome."

Frauenberger and Palma brought a somber and quiet Ono and Geffen back to the Dakota, which by that time, was packed with mourners and press. The two officers called additional officers to the building for crowd control.

The news swiftly traveled around the globe. "It was like the first shot heard around the world," Palma said.

After leaving Geffen and Ono at the Dakota, Frauenberger and Palma returned to the 20th precinct to file paperwork and meet up with Cullen and Spiro.

***

Chapman had traveled from Hawaii to kill Lennon in New York City. The married Christian loved The Beatles but felt inspired by Holden Caulfield, the protagonist in The Catcher in the Rye, and believed Lennon was a phony who had sold out his humble roots.

Palma said that he took Chapman to the bathroom in the precinct after they called his wife. The gunman began getting nervous.

"I asked him, 'Do you know what you just did?' He said, 'I am John Lennon. I killed myself,'" Palma recalled.

The police officers who first arrived at the scene were enraged by Chapman, as each had fond memories of The Beatles' and Lennon and how their music impacted their lives.

"[Cullen] wanted to throw him out the window," said Palma, who admitted that he "fell in love with my first wife to all of The Beatles songs."

Years earlier, as rookie NYPD officers, Cullen and Frauenberger worked security for The Beatles when they stayed at the Warwick Hotel in Manhattan in 1964.

Frauenberger says it is "ironic" how he started his career as a police officer guarding The Beatles but decades later, "I would be with the death of a Beatle."

Chapman told the cops he used hollow point bullets on Lennon because they're more lethal.

"The thought came to me - wouldn't it be something if I killed him?" Chapman told the parole board in 2016. "Once I had that thought, I couldn't get rid of it. It became an obsession."

He said he had planned on attacking Lennon sooner, but each previous attempt had failed.

Chapman was charged with second-degree murder and pleaded guilty to the crime. In August 1981, he was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison.

From 1981 to 2012 he was held inside New York State's Attica State Prison before being transferred to Wende Correctional Facility near Buffalo, where he remains.

Since 2000, he has been eligible for parole every two years and denied every time, most recently in 2016.

"I have to really be concerned about the safety of Julian, and Sean, and myself," Ono told Inside Edition of Chapman's first parole hearing 17 years ago.

Chapman is up for parole again in 2018.

"As long as she is alive, I don't think he is ever getting out," Cullen said. "I think someone will kill him if he gets out."

Frauenberger echoed the sentiments, saying, "I bet my life" that Chapman will never get out.

"Lennon still has a family," he added. "You have to be concerned about them. Do you want to take that chance with Yoko and the kids still alive?"
'Working Class Hero'
"I think in the end, the fact that he was too honest may have offended some people and may have really shortened his life," Ono told Inside Edition in 1997 of her husband. "I think that sometimes you have to pay a high price and he did it and he gambled on it."

In the years that followed Lennon's death, Ono has kept a strong hold on her late husband's estate and legacy.

"You never get over it - you just have to go on, I suppose," she told Inside Edition in 2000. "We thought that we were going to be together forever... John's spirit in a way is still alive in people's hearts - the statements he made, the music he made, it is still going around the world. It is like he is still alive in a way."

After Lennon's murder, Double Fantasy shot to No. 1 on the Billboard chart in America. It would later win Album of the Year at the 1982 Grammy Awards.

Today, Ono remains outspoken about gun control in America.

Following the October 2017 massacre in Las Vegas, where nearly 60 people were gunned down at a country music festival, Ono took to Instagram to call for peace.

"Over 1,186,000 people have been killed by guns in the U.S.A. since John Lennon was shot and killed on December 8, 1980," she wrote in a post accompanying an image of her husband's signature eyeglasses, bloody and broken, on a mantle overlooking New York City.

She still lives in the Dakota.

"The Dakota is a place that we lived together and we had a very good time, it was a very sweet time for the family," she told Inside Edition in 1995.

In 1985, Ono and then-New York City Mayor Ed Koch dedicated a small portion of Central Park to John Lennon called "Strawberry Fields." The teardrop-shaped area with a circular mosaic that reads "IMAGINE" is across the street from Ono and Lennon's apartment.

It means she can look down from the windows of their home to see fans lay flowers, light candles and sing his songs.

"People loved John," Palma said. "They loved the music. He was an icon. Think about all the music he could have written and what he could have accomplished."

"Someone once told me that the music never dies," Cullen echoed. "It is very true."

Lennon was cremated. No funeral service was held.

While Lennon's murder broke hearts across the world, the events of that day affected the arresting officers and the surgeon in a way no one will ever truly understand.

Frauenberger retired from the force in 1984 and lives in upstate New York with his wife.

He still calls the incident "crazy." He is still close friends with Palma and, for a period, all the officers kept in touch.

"This is one of those things that will never die," Frauenberger said. "To this day, you get reminded of it with all of The Beatles songs. They are still everywhere."

Palma retired in 1985 and now splits his time between homes in New Mexico and Mexico. He says he still gets calls from all over the world about the night. "People still talk about it," he said.

Cullen retired to Florida after 25 years on the force.

"That was a night in history and I was a part of it," he said.

Dr. Halleran, still is a practicing physician in Syracuse, N.Y., says in the days that followed Lennon's death, he couldn't bring himself to do much.

"This is one of those fishbowl cases where I have lived this out over and over," he said. "I couldn't listen to a radio, read a newspaper, watch TV for three days after that night."

Now 37 years later, the doctor, can reflect on the night he became forever linked with a music icon.

"It is a very 'time and place' story," he said. "Any other night, I could have not been there."

The doctor, a fan of Lennon and The Beatles, said he tries to imagine what Lennon would be doing today in his 70s.

"It would have been nice to see what he would have done at 75," he said. "The fact that I am talking about this is even more impressive. What we did was a fly speck of history."

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Cops and Surgeon Who Tried to Save John Lennon's Life Recall Night of 'Bedlam,' Nearly 40 Years Later

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"You just threw your whole life away!" They were the words roared by NYPD Officer Peter Cullen to Mark David Chapman, moments after he fatally shot John Lennon on Dec. 8, 1980. Cullen and his partner, Steve Spiro, were the first to arrive at the ritzy Dakota Building on Manhattan's Upper West Side that fateful Monday night in New York City.

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Was John Lennon Murdered by the CIA?

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On what would have been the star's 77th birthday, an explosive book suggests the Beatles megastar was murdered by US intelligence agencies in a chilling attempt to halt Lennon's support of "leftist" and "radical" politics.

John Potash's Drugs as Weapons Against Us states that crime agencies allegedly tracked various high-profile pop stars before their untimely deaths, claiming their huge influence effectively brainwashed young Americans to follow a "leftist agenda".

Huge stars such as rapper Tupac Shakur and Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain died due to involvement by US law enforcers, the publication suggests.

And none more so than Lennon, who was one of the world's most recognisable musicians.

The Liverpool-born songwriter was murdered aged 40 outside his New York home by crazed fan Mark David Chapman in December 1980.

It was one of the most shocking news stories in history, with millions able to recount where they were when they heard the Imagine singer was killed.

Chapman, then aged 25, was sentenced to 20 years to life in jail after pleading to second-degree murder

But what if there was more to the case than previously reported?

Conspiracies have surrounded Lennon's death ever since.

Yet Drugs as Weapons Against Us details an investigation by former Sunday Express legal correspondent Fenton Bresler, who obtained classified documents from the FBI and CIA that claim Lennon was being tracked by the intelligence agencies during the 1970s.

The book alleges the singer developed "radical leftist politics" after allaying his drug use, which led to him holding anti-war events and even a benefit concert to free imprisoned activist John Sinclair.

His album Some Time in New York City focused on political themes, including feminists, Irish nationals and Black Panthers, leading to increased scrutiny from the US government, the book claims.

Lennon also said in an interview: "In my case I've never not been political, though religion tended to overshadow it in my acid days."

Potash writes the US intelligence agencies were becoming more concerned with Lennon after he moved away from drug use and towards activism, and was just one month away from becoming an American citizen at the time of his death.

The FBI and CIA ordered agents to keep Lennon under surveillance, according to the book, while Bresler's documents show the star's arrest for drugs use in 1972 was "to neutralise and disrupt" Lennon's activities.

In a bombshell claim, Lennon's assassin may have been trained in war-torn Beirut to become a hitman when the CIA held a heavy presence during the 1970s.

Author Phil Strongman, in the book John Lennon: Life, Times and Assassination, explores the idea Chapman was programmed to carry out the killing, with the novel The Catcher in the Rye acting as the trigger.

Postash's book claims Chapman waited for Lennon to arrive home on the fatal night, kneeled down in a combat stance and shot the star four times in the back from 20ft away.

Potash writes: "He could have escaped but instead took of his coat, folded it up and tok out Catcher in the Rye out of his pocket."

Lennon later died in hospital after losing 80% of blood.

In an interview with Bresler, NYPD lieutenant Arthur O'Connor said: "Chapman looked like he could have been programmed and I know that you are going to make of that word. That was the way he looked and that was the way he talked."

Such was Lennon's global status, millions mourned his death, with a memorial service at New York's Central Park attracting 100,000 people.

It was this influence, the book alleges, that worried the intelligence services.

Potash added: "This exemplified the international interest and influence of Lennon, underscoring why his leftist activism was a threat to the CIA and the oligarchy."

It comes as The Beatles' seminal eighth album Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band marks its 50th anniversary on June 1.

Daily Star Online has approached the CIA for comment.

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SHOCK CLAIM: John Lennon 'murdered by the CIA'

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On what would have been the star's 77th birthday, an explosive book suggests the Beatles megastar was murdered by US intelligence agencies in a chilling attempt to halt Lennon's support of "leftist" and "radical" politics.

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Paul McCartney Reflects on John Lennon's Death

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During a recent appearance on The Jonathan Ross Show, Paul McCartney recounted how he found out about the death of John Lennon. The Beatle was murdered outside of his New York City apartment 34 years ago today.

"I was at home, and I got a phone call," McCartney told the talk-show host. "It was early in the morning.... I think it was like that for everyone. It was just so horrific that you couldn't take it in - I couldn't take it in. Just for days, you just couldn't think that he was gone. So, yeah, it was just a huge shock and then I had to tell Linda and the kids. It was very difficult. It was really difficult for everyone. That was like a really big shock, I think, in most people's lives. A bit like Kennedy, there were certain moments like that."

Ross then related that it was a shock for him as well, but that he didn't know him. "Yeah, for me it was just so sad that I wasn't going to see him again, and we weren't going to hang out," McCartney said. "And, for me, the biggest thing was that the guy who took his life, the phrase kept coming to my head, 'Jerk of all jerks.' It was just like, 'This is just a jerk.' This is not even a guy politically motivated. It's just some total random thing, some guy going, 'Hey,' bop."

In a lighter moment on the show, McCartney also told a story about reliving the iconic, street-crossing cover of the Beatles ' . "I've always wanted to recreate it, and I do often think, you see some Japanese fans, I think, 'I'll just hop out,'" he said. "But this Halloween, we'd been to a Halloween party at my daughter Mary's, and I had this amazing werewolf mask that scared the little grandkids and I had to take it off for them. Anyways, I'm going home and I've still got this big mask on. And we got to the crossing, so I got, 'We've got to do it.' And it's like 11 o'clock."

McCartney's wife Nancy got her camera and the former Beatle held up traffic to take a shot. "I'm there with the werewolf thing and this guy looking very annoyed [in a car]," McCartney said.

In other McCartney news, the singer recently made a video for his song "Hope for the Future," which appears in the video game Destiny. It features the singer-songwriter as a hologram appearing around the galaxy depicted in the game. McCartney also recently put out a 3-D video of his song "Live and Let Die," which he recorded during his concert at San Francisco's Candlestick Park.

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Paul McCartney on Lennon's Death: 'It Was Just So Horrific'

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During a recent appearance on The Jonathan Ross Show, Paul McCartney recounted how he found out about the death of John Lennon. The Beatle was murdered outside of his New York City apartment 34 years ago today. "I was at home, and I got a phone call," McCartney told the talk-show host.

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"I Just Shot John Lennon"

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The Death of John Lennon