On the 34th anniversary of John Lennon's murder, his former Beatles bandmate and songwriting partner Paul McCartney says he's grateful that the pair patched up their rocky relationship before Lennon died.

"The story about the break-up, it's true but it's not the main bit, the main bit was the affection," McCartney said Saturday on "The Jonathan Ross Show," a British TV program. "I'm so glad because it would have been the worst thing in the world to have this great relationship that then soured and he gets killed, so there was some solace in the fact that we got back together. We were good friends."

Watch McCartney speak about Lennon here:

Mark David Chapman shot Lennon on Dec. 8, 1980, as the ex-Beatle and his wife Yoko Ono returned to The Dakota, the Manhattan apartment building where they lived.

A host of performers including Debbie Harry of Blondie, Marshall Crenshaw, Katie Pierson of The B-52s and David Johanssen of the New York Dolls (and also known as Buster Poindexter) lent their talents to the 34th Annual John Lennon Tribute, held Friday, Dec. 5 in New York.

Check out some tweets remembering Lennon, including posts from the official accounts of The Beatles and George Harrison, the Beatle who passed away in 2001, here: