Controversial Option But In Some Ways I Think George Understood John Even Better Than Paul Did

John and Jane would be great but I also wouldn’t mind Paul and Stu lol. You could cut the tension with a knife lol

Beatle Hypotheticals #19

If you could be a fly on the wall in a broken lift for an hour, which one of the following pairs would you want to be trapped in a lift with and why?

John and Jane Asher

Paul and Brian Epstein

George and Magic Alex

Ringo and Pete Best

Is there another pairing not listed above that you would want to be trapped in a lift with? If so, which pairing and why?

Look at these children.

Reblogging because of Bob Spitz being yet another person who has no idea what Working Class Hero is about. In the song when John says “a working class hero is something to be” he is being sarcastic. A working class hero is a sucker who believes the lies of the upper classes that if they keep working harder and harder that corner office will be theirs when of course the upper classes have no intention of ever giving them “room at the top”. Not only is John not saying he’s a working class hero, he’s criticising people who are. If you post things about Paul being the “true working class hero” it shows you have no idea what the song is about. I’m not referencing the original OP for this post when I say this but rather similar quotes I’ve seen around here. Listen to the song! It’s very powerful and it helps to educate yourself

No doubt about it, they were tuned to the same groove. But aside from a musical passion and amiability, they filled enormous gaps in each other's lives. Where John was impatient and careless, Paul was a perfec-tionist-or, at least, appeared to be- in his methodical approach to music and the way he dealt with the world. Where John was moody and aloof, Paul was blithe and outgoing, gregarious, and irrepressibly cheerful. Where John was straightforward if brutally frank, Paul practiced diplomacy to manipulate a situation. Where John had attitude, Paul's artistic nature was a work in progress. Where John's upbringing was comfortably middle-Class (according to musician Howie Casey," the only claim he had to being a working-class hero was on sheet music"), Paul was truly blue-collar Where John was struggling to become a musician, Paul seemed born to it.

And John gave Paul someone to look up to. Their age difference and the fact that John was in art college- a man of the world! - made John "a particularly attractive character" in Paul's eyes. There was a feral force in his manner, a sense of "fuck it all" that emanated great strength. He had a style of arrogance that dazed people and started things in motion. And he scorned any sign of fear. John's response to any tentativeness was a sneer, a sneer with humbling consequences.

John occasionally felt the need to reinforce his dominance, but he never required that Paul cede his individuality. He gave the younger boy plenty of room in which to leave his imprint. The Quarry Men would try a new song, and John would immediately seek Paul's opinion. He'd allow Paul to change keys to suit his register, propose certain variations, reconfigure arrangements. "After a while, they'd finish each other's sentences," Eric Griffiths says. "That's when we knew how strong their friendship had become. They'd grown that dependent on one another."

Dependent--and unified. They consolidated their individual strengths into a productive collaboration and grew resentful of those who questioned it. Thereafter, it was John and Paul who brought in all the new material; they assigned each musician his part, chose the songs, sequenced the sets-they literally dictated how rehearsals went down. "The rest of us hadn't a clue as far as arrangements went," Hanton says slowly. "And they seemed to have everything right there, at their fingertips, which was all right by me, because their ideas were good and I enjoyed playing with them." But the two could be unforgiving and relentless. "Say the wrong thing, contradict them, and you were frozen out. A look would pass between them, and afterwards it was as if you didn't exist.

Even in social situations, the Lennon-McCartney bond seemed well defined. The unlikely pair spent many evenings together browsing through the record stacks in the basement of NEMS, hunting for new releases that captured the aggressiveness, the intensity, and the physical tug about which they debated talmudically afterward over coffce. Occasionally, John invited Paul and his girlfriend, a Welsh nurse named Rhiannon, to double-date.

To John's further delight, he discovered that Paul was corruptible. In no time, he groomed his young cohort to shoplift cigarettes and candy, as well as stimulating in him an appetite for pranks. On one occasion that still resonates for those involved, the Quarry Men went to a party in Ford, a village on the outskirts of Liverpool, out past the Aintree Racecourse.

"John and Paul were inseparable that night, like Siamese twins," says Charles Roberts, who met them en route on the upper deck of a cherry red Ripple bus. "It was like the rest of us didn't exist." They spent most of the evening talking, conducting a whispery summit in one corner, Roberts recalls. And it wasn't just music on their agenda, but mischief. "In the middle of the party they went out, ostensibly looking for a cigarette machine, and appeared some time later carrying a cocky-watchman's lamp. The next morning, when it was time to leave, we couldn't get out of the house because [they] had put cement stolen from the roadworks into the mortise lock so the front door wouldn't open. And we had to escape through a window."

Through the rest of the year and into the brutal cold spell that blighted early February -every day that winter seemed more blustery than the last-the two boys reinforced the parameters of their friendship. Afterschool hours were set aside for practice and rehearsal, with weekends devoted to parties and the random gig. It left little time for studies, but then neither boy was academically motivated anyway.

Say it louder for the people in the back!

You’re right to gatekeep John. What are the worst takes on him you tend to see? Or your own takes your particularly attached to?

I typed an entire answer and tumblr deleted it so I'll keep this one brief: the worst takes are the ones involving his addiction. To see people disregard his entire work and being the driving force behind the White album (and Help! and AHDN! and Rubber Soul!) recorded months earlier only because he wasn't an obsessive workaholic but a depressed, grieving, worn out man suffering from a heroin addiction is unreal. Seeing motherfuckers like Barry Miles talk about how they were all relieved he was on it because it got him off LSD shows you the way people talk about John differently than anyone else.

The ask I got days ago where someone proudly claimed to have no empathy for John & Yoko (and was glad that Kyoko was kidnapped never to be seen again) because of their addiction shook me up quite a bit. Not because I'm surprised, because I'm grown enough to know 98% of people have no empathy for addicts, but because another couple in the Beatles also claimed to be proud potheads while taking care of their 4 kids was ? Some drugs are funny & cool to be addicted to while others are not, I guess.

Yup I love John and George. I’m indifferent about Ringo and can’t stand narcissist Paul at all. But weirdly think he was good for John. It’s complicated lol

Y'know lightbulb moment but maybe me being a John girl means I should be George girl adjacent because George was kind of a bastard too y'know like he had kind of a temper on him too, and he wasn't afraid to physically lash out.

Like you have George straight up headbutting some poor kid Paul had introduced to him, not even saying 'hello, how are you, see how you like it'' before doing so. Didn't like him and told Paul that he wasn't worthy of Paul's friendship.

Batshit insane thing to do.

Then you have John, and depending on his state of sobriety at the time, who's first words to some people were caustic and biting and not so very friendly like (inappropriate and/or rude), or he'd pour his drink on someone, typically unprovoked or undeserving usually... which would then result in some sort of fight breaking out.

And Paul loved both of them. He oft justified their behavior and actions, or found them funny when they really weren't to others.

Reblogging for the link at the very end. I didn’t even know this existed! Thank you!

How are you finding the Lyrics book?

honestly - it's mostly what i have expected it to be. there are definitely a lot of very good and enjoyable parts in it, and i think in many cases it does provide a good insight into how paul constructs his lyrics, his thought-process, his inspiration for a particular song/line etc, these are all interesting to read through, the stories and the photos are lovely, and the inclusion of all the manuscripts and doodles does add a lot to it. and it’s paul. so if you love his weirdo brain and his music, you’re gonna enjoy it! and then at other times you'll want to tear your hair out because this man is the stupidest mfer on earth there aren’t any big revelations, but i didn’t really expect any, so in that respect i wasn’t disappointed. however, it’d have been nice if paul could have been at least a tiny bit more willing to explore the more personal aspects of some songs but i’d be lying if i said i was genuinely expecting him to drastically change the way he’s been discussing these things for the past however many decades...

and... the fact they went for this semi-autobiography route AND put it all in alphabetical order... it means it’s a bit eh sometimes, a bit all over the place. i sort get why this approach was chosen but i just think that overall, they could have done a lot more with the book, the concept and the opportunity were there. (+ it’s a pity that some lyrics, that are actually gorgeous and interesting (i’ve just seen a face, monkberry moon delight, footprints, my brave face, a certain softness, riding to vanity fair, alligator, scared, to name a few) were left out, while others were included basically just so the obligatory historical discussions could be carried out because you know, the book sometimes cannot make its mind up about whether it wants to focus on paul the artist or demand paul to be a quasi beatles historian) but i would think that for people who don’t know that much about these songs or paul’s life, the book could be more interesting to read through and they wouldn’t be so nitpicky about it lmao.

what i will say is that if you want a physical copy , i would buy it at a discount or if having the proper book isn’t that important you could just..... you know....... :)

I love this quote. I’m so glad someone could put into words what John contributed and was able to do. I just wish he had more time to do it

“He was one of the major influences on my music life. I just thought he was the very best of what could be done with rock ‘n’ roll, and also ideas. I felt such akin to him in that he would rifle the avant-garde and look for ideas that were so on the outside of, on the periphery of what was the mainstream and then apply them in a functional manner to something that was considered popularist and make it work. He would make it work for the masses and I thought that was so admirable. That was making artwork for the people and not making it elitist.” 

- David Bowie (Far Out Magazine. Written by Tom Taylor in 2021)

So Paul himself says this story never happened but we’re just going to post this story because it “makes sense” based on no data whatsoever except a “feeling”. Let’s not support fuelling the fire of stories that have been disproven

A Man Possessed

“Most days Paul would stroll the prettily opulent, peaceful streets that lay between his house and Abbey Road. One evening, after the other three Beatles had long since driven up in their expensive vehicles, John could be made out pacing up and down the front steps, gazing with increasing impatience along the route that Paul usually took.

Suddenly he was called to the phone by George. Then he was seen racing down the front steps and running as fast as his unfit body could carry him in the direction of the McCartney residence. Paul had called to say that he would not be coming to the studio that evening–he and Linda had realized it was the anniversary of their first meeting and had decided to have a romantic, candlelit dinner at home.

Arriving outside 7 Cavendish Avenue, John, like a man possessed, clambered over the tall security gate. When Paul responded to his thumping on the front door by opening it, John pushed him aside, rushing in and screaming at Paul for his thoughtlessness. 

“It’s the anniversary of me and Linda meeting,Paul reiterated lamely. ‘So what!’ snapped John contemptuously. ‘I don’t cancel studio bookings for my anniversaries with Yoko. How dare you inconvenience so many people!’ John glanced around him in furious frustration. Then his eyes alighted on something. Striding over to the wall, he removed a painting, one that he himself had done and given to Paul in earlier, genuinely loving times. It was Paul’s favorite painting, as John well knew. John stuck his foot through it and stormed back to Abbey Road.”

~McCartney, Chris Salewicz, 1986

Happy birthday beautiful Johnny! Because you deserve all the love on this day and every day

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JOHN LENNON!

"I am a guy, yeah. That is true. But how do you know unless you see somebody? I am just some guy who did... Whatever. Always see me as me. I was always me, all the way through it... I love motels 'cause there is no reception area. I like hotels too. But I like motels as well. Just invisible places where you check in with a credit card, in the middle of the night, anywhere. Some guys in taxis now, old guys, they recognize the voice is English, but they don't recognize me. They don't know who the hell I am. They say, "Oh, you're English! I was over there in the war..." And they go on and on... And tell me amazing life stories.... They ask, "what do you do?" and I say, "I'm a musician," and they say, "Are you doing alright?" "Yeah, I am..."

Finally an acknowledgment that the Eastman dynamic was pretty toxic to the Beatles too, not just Klein. So many people think Paul was offering sone kind of reasonable alternative to Klein when in reality his management offer was his in laws who had no desire to represent the other Beatles and their interests. Klein may have been a bad choice but in my opinion the Eastmans would have been a disaster for the other Beatles in terms of representation

wait re your tags what do you mean by wives of two members having more influence. on the group? or on those two members?

Linda and Yoko were basically the other two Beatles for the remainder of 1969. Everyone talks about Klein and the fact he offered Yoko a successful career being the main reason John stuck with him at all, but Linda was the one who brought her dad into it, and the clash of titans between Eastman vs. Klein was just as big a reason the group broke up as the psychosexual crossfire of Lennon/McCartney, possibly an even bigger one. I’m not saying Linda was scheming in any way, but obviously her father was one of the best lawyers in American entertainment business, and her boyfriend was the biggest rockstar on the planet who was in a shitstorm of legal/money problems. Of course the two would meet, and Linda soon went from black sheep of the family to Golden Daughter.

But as the year went on, the JohnandYokoandKlein monster grew stronger against John Eastman’s aggressive and selfish business tactics. Sure, Klein and the others tried to pressure Paul into going with him, but Eastman wasn’t even remotely interested in taking on the rest of the band (was listening to a 71 Paul interview, and he said his father-in-law wouldn’t have managed the others if they paid him, and Paul still went with him. Hm). Yoko obviously tried to meddle in as much as she could, and John helped her do so; Linda found herself tangled in a web of shit that she originally wasn’t planning to get into, but she’s no pushover and so she went to meetings and was her husband’s only source of strength for the rest of these cockfights (to her own detriment as well).

My point was: where do George and Ringo fit into his? John didn’t turn to anyone in the studio for help except his wife, and Paul confided in no one else except his own spouse and her family of lawyers (who were managing Paul Solo from the start). George’s mother had been diagnosed with cancer that same year too, it was a hard time for him and he had no real voice (and I think patience) to deal with the whole Eastman vs. Klein debacle. George and Ringo went with John and Klein because they were the ones actually giving them what they wanted, not the Eastman-McCartneys.