Many Years From Now

Contemporary perspectives

Many Years from Now attracted criticism from some readers for its focus on songwriting credits and McCartney's attribution of percentages to determine the extent of his and Lennon's respective authorship of a Lennon–McCartney composition. Others objected to the apparent rewriting of history and McCartney's determination to be recognised as the Beatle who first embraced the avant-garde. In a January 1998 interview, Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, responded to McCartney's claims, saying that while McCartney may have led the Beatles' late-career projects by "[making] the phone calls", Lennon's leadership was more inspirational and "very high level, on some kind of magical level". Ono also said that in the way that he had challenged her late husband's legacy, McCartney had placed himself in the role of the envious Antonio Salieri to Lennon's Mozart.