Before they were worldwide sensations, The Beatles traveled between gigs at dive bars in Hamburg, Germany, in a rattling old van with a broken window.

“It was icy and winds were gushing in,” Philip Norman, author of Paul McCartney: The Life, tells Closer. “They would literally lie on top of each other so the one at the bottom would keep warm for a while. They shared body heat, that’s how close they were.”

john lennon paul mccartney getty images

John and Paul in 1963.

In last week’s issue of Closer, we detailed Paul McCartney’s many loves and how they shaped his life. But perhaps his most intense relationship was with John Lennon.

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While it’s true they were best friends who understood one another implicitly, there was also a sibling-like rivalry to Paul and John’s friendship. The same impulses that propelled them to write some of the world’s greatest songs built a wall between them in the bitter aftermath of The Beatles’ breakup — a wall that had only started to come down just before John was killed in 1980.

To read the full story on John and Paul, pick up the new issue of Closer Weekly, on newsstands now!