Paul McCartney says that it's upsetting to him that the 1980 murder of John Lennon made him a martyr. Speaking with Esquire, Macca said Lennon's death obscured his role in the Beatles.

"When John got shot, aside from the pure horror of it, the lingering thing was, 'OK, well, now John's a martyr. A JFK,'" he began.

"I started to get frustrated because people started to say, 'Well, he was the Beatles.' And me, George and Ringo would go, 'Er, hang on.

It's only a year ago we were all equal-ish.'"

"John was the witty one, sure," he continued. "John did a lot of great work.

And post-Beatles he did more great work, but he also did a lot of not-great work. Now the fact that he's now martyred has elevated him to a James Dean, and beyond."

"So whilst I didn't mind that - I agreed with it - I understood that now there was going to be revisionism. It was going to be: John was the one."