Billy Corgan’s The Magnificent Others podcast has recently featured intriguing stories from rock legends. Among the standout moments, Gene Simmons recounted how Ace Frehley borrowed a guitar solo from The Doors for a Kiss song. Zakk Wylde shared how an opportunity with Guns N’ Roses diverted his career path from Ozzy Osbourne. Yet, none have stirred as much excitement as the revelation from Elliot Mintz, a close friend of John Lennon and Yoko Ono.
The Last Meeting, or Not?
Mintz is challenging the long-established narrative that John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s last meeting occurred on April 25, 1976. The accepted version tells a rather melancholy story in which McCartney appeared unannounced at Lennon’s Dakota apartment in New York, only to be turned away because Lennon was busy with his son, Sean. The myth suggests that the two never reunited after that day.
However, Mintz asserts that Lennon and McCartney actually crossed paths two years later, during the Christmas season. He knows this firsthand because he was invited to celebrate with John and Yoko.
A Christmas Reunion
“They invite me to Dakota to spend one of the Christmas days with them,” Mintz recalls during his conversation with Corgan. “I go up to the Dakota, and I notice in the living room, there’s a vase with a single branch of a tree. That’s their Christmas decoration.”
Sitting on their white couch, Mintz indulged in small talk when a knock at the door turned into the unexpected arrival of Paul and Linda McCartney. “Lennon opens it, and Paul and Linda McCartney walk in,” Mintz says, marking the moment as significant as it is surprising.
Interactions Between The Beatles
This meeting was an important first for Mintz, who had become friendly with Lennon over the years but had never met his other half in the legendary Lennon-McCartney songwriting duo. “We sat and we talked for a while. It wasn’t overly jubilant. It wasn’t icy. It was just correct,” Mintz describes the atmosphere during their interaction. The McCartneys suggested heading to the trendy Manhattan restaurant Elaine’s, known for its celebrity clientele but infamous for its lackluster food.
“Elaine’s had a reputation,” Mintz remarks. “I mean, you walk in and there’s Woody Allen, Gore Vidal, and there’s Tom Wolf and all those people. But the food was miserable, and everybody knew it.” Mentions of the menu inspired little enthusiasm until Linda suggested, “You know, there’s a great pizza place not far from here. Really thin-crusted pizza. Do you think you could get a pizza delivered here?”
A Creative Solution
Tasked with this unconventional mission, Mintz facilitated the order of a pizza and arranged for it to be discreetly delivered through the back door. “It was taken out of the cardboard box, put on Elaine’s beautiful plates, and brought out so a casual observer would think it’s a dish that they hadn’t seen yet,” he explains. With the sun setting, they returned to Lennon’s spacious living room.
While Mintz stayed on the couch, he could only catch snippets of conversation between the two Beatles. “It was small talk,” he recalls. “But I do remember Paul asking John, ‘So, are you making any music these days?’, and John replying, ‘No. My time is with my baby,’ referring to Sean. ‘What about you?’”
“And Paul says, ‘I’m always making music. I make music every day of my life. I can’t stop making music,’” Mintz recounts, highlighting the contrasts in their lives and careers. While Lennon was focused on fatherhood, McCartney was continual in his creative pursuits.
A Missed Opportunity
Mintz believes that had Lennon engaged more deeply in their conversation that day, the two could have sat down and once again influenced contemporary music. “They could have changed the face of contemporary music one more time,” he reflects wistfully. However, the McCartneys departed within the hour, leaving behind what Mintz acknowledges as an anticlimactic but nonetheless poignant final moment between the two legendary figures.
