Latest Posts by tasryn1 - Page 2

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.

lennon and mccartney, a collection of pictures

Yes another McLennon analysis where Paul is warm and flawless and John is a reclusive bastard who couldn’t relate to the world. I’m so bored of this now. They were both geniuses. Would it kill anyone on this platform to acknowledge this?

"The world going by my window" – A Lennon-McCartney Microcosm

Or: Over-analysing the melodic and harmonic structure of one line from The Beatles' "I'm Only Sleeping" (1966) and discussing how it reflects the very essences of the musicians and people singing it.

Preface: The following is an extremely self-indulgent deep-dive into one of my favourite moments of harmonization in musical history. It is both a relatively music theory-heavy analysis (though relevant concepts are explained with visual as well as audio examples) as well as a free-form riffing on what distinguishes Lennon from McCartney as a composer on the one hand, and what distinguishes Paul from John as a person on the other. Of course, like the duo's melodies intertwine, so did their lives.

DISCLAIMER: I think it's lovely how the music reflects their lives but that doesn't mean I think the music was created because it reflects their live (irrespective of artistic intention).

1. Homesy John and His Strange Close Melodies

"Keeping an eye on the world going by my window" forms the beginning of the bridge of "I'm Only Sleeping". John, the main songwriter and lead vocalist of the track, sings a tight melody, which is sprinkled with several dissonances.

For those who don't know, dissonances occur either due to a dissonant interval – that is, when two or more notes that don't "go together" are played at once – or when a note that is not part of the current key is played.

In this example, the dissonant interval (on the left) is a second, that is the two simultaneously played notes are very close – so close that stacking their notes on sheet music becomes awkward, as seen above. The dissonant note is a B note (on the right), which has been elevated up a half-step from B♭ (in the middle), through usage of the ♮ symbol, preceding the note. B is not part of the usual 7 notes of the key, and thus adds a feeling of displacement within this harmonic context. You can listen to the interval as well as the transition from B♭ to B in the following file and notice the sense of discord these note combinations tend to invoke in a listener.

Now, back to John's melody:

Just looking at the score, we can see how close together John keeps everything; there are no larger jumps. He favours small intervals, even using dissonances to reduce the distance his voice has to travel to a minimum. The dissonances give a feeling of strangeness to the overall melody.*

*(arguably it isn't that strange, since he is following a blues scale, which includes notes considered "dissonant" in classical music theory; that being said I would argue that the frequency of the note-usage in this particular line is still of note in the context of this song and The Beatles' general discography.)

This is, in my opinion, one of the staples of John's melodies. Think of the intro to If I Fell, or even the siren-inspired wail of the I Am The Walrus verses. These are all close melodies that have at least somewhat dissonant qualities.

It is also an interesting reflection of him and his mid-60s situation. With his early-twenties behind him, John was known to have become more reclusive during this time; going out less often, preferring the comfort of his private home. Simultaneously, his interests became more eccentric and he began finding it more difficult to relate to "ordinary" people, for reasons ranging from disillusionment with society as a whole to mental health and addiction issues. Just like his melodic lines, he built a strange surreal world for himself, without stepping too far out his comfort zone.

2. Adventurous Paul and his Warm Leaps

"Keeping an eye on the world going by my window" is also the moment in the song where Paul, who up until this point was a mere co-background vocalist, is briefly promoted to co-lead. For the first part of the line – up until the word "world" – he joins John in unison, before breaking off to find his way to the highest note of "I'm Only Sleeping".

Unlike John's melody, Paul's unique part is much warmer and features no dissonances. This doesn't make it less complex though; for one, it covers a range that is two half-steps wider than John's melody and features the largest interval jump: a perfect fourth ("my win-[dow]").

Paul's songwriting is known for its wide tonal palette, his outstanding vocal range making melodic climbs and leaps second nature to him when compositing. At the same time, his tunes have over the years, it seems, almost been faulted for how intrinsically pleasing they are to the ear.

This, in turn, contains traces of Paul's personality; a constant thirst for life, a great skill of adaptability, an ambition that verges on destructive over-zealousness – he has risen too high, where no one can follow, perhaps inadvertently left someone behind. Yet, through it all, he maintains a pleasant sweet nature.

3. (Never) The Twain Shall Meet

Both of these aforementioned melodic lines combine to form a whole in the song (note that because they begin in unison at first only one note is played at a time – that's how pianos work sadly :-( ):

Now before we take a closer look at what happens in the score when these two melodies are united, I'm gonna need to give some background on harmonic arrangement.

Typically, when harmonizing, the most common interval between two melodies is a third (minor or major). The third is considered to be a very pleasant-sounding interval; the notes are as close to each other as possible without sounding dissonant and overall the tone is warm.

See above two melodies set exactly a third apart at each note. It's an adaptation of a Mozart piece I played a few years ago and can be listened here:

The second most typical interval for harmonies is the perfect fifth. It's a bit more "hollow"-sounding, one might say, less warm generally, but does not, as such, sound "wrong" to the Western ear.

(asterisk elaborated further down)

The above sequence can be heard here:

You may be wondering why the two notes in the middle are not a fifth a part. This is because, for hundreds of years, Western music theoreticians have discouraged the use of parallel fifths. This is when two melodic lines maintain a perfect fifth interval between each other over multiple consecutive notes. It's considered to have a harsh and slightly strange sound, and also dilutes the wanted distinction between both melodies.

Here's the same arrangement as above, only this time utilizing parallel fifths.

Again, an audio example – however, this may not sound especially harsh or strange to an untrained ear. (Just know that if Johann Sebastian Bach saw any of this, he would tear the score to pieces!)

Now with all this acquired knowledge, how do the John and Paul's individual melodies in fact form a whole?

(grey highlight denotes unison)

Look at that.

Paul, once mirroring his partner flawlessly, suddenly stubbornly refusing to follow John – whether it be to Surrey, Greece or that natural D-note. Instead, he lingers on the E♭ for a few more beats, as if contemplating. John, on the other hand, repeats the first half's walk-down, marinading in his strange claustrophobic world. Together, they create a dissonant second, two notes in a row, a disturbance.

Then, Paul jumps, and they are both singing in opposite directions; Paul upward and John downward. Only suddenly, it's almost like they've created a healthy distance, a perfect fifth apart.

Next, they start moving in tandem again, both rising, utilizing a dreaded parallel fifth. But it works here – and, notably, sounds a lot better in the song than on my piano recording. As mentioned, one of the problems with parallel fifths is that they keep the melodic lines too similar; however, these lines are not being played by perfectly tuned instruments. These are two men with voices sometimes so distinct from each other, they're described as polar opposites. They bend their notes and the rules of composition to create an otherworldly beauty. The harmonies seem to accentuate the contrast between their vocal styles, but this doesn't worsen the sound in the least. Instead, it seems that it is in their opposite nature that they find each other.

And then, as if coming down from a high, Paul jumps down to join John, a beautiful, warm third above him.

They are one; they are so close they bring out the worst in each other; they drive each other apart; they reach for each other even when distant; and then, when all is said and done, they fall back together in the end.

To finish off I recorded a slower version of the harmony. Come bask in the infinite glory of every single note with me!

"Keeping an eye on the world going by my window."

Ugh I love the sentiment but I’m so fed up of this take that Paul was the patient hero who held on until he just couldn’t before he was forced to let go? How about this-they were all assholes at different times. They all were rubbing each other the wrong way. They all had different goals and objectives. They also at different moments thought they didn’t belong in the band end this exacerbated tensions. I just hate this boring view that Paul And to a certain extent Ringo were sitting around saving the day and the wayward children of John and George. Ringo quit the band first. Paul was off trying to get his biased in laws to be the bands manager and was more and more disconnected from the band in terms of the creative process. In other words all band members contributed to the break up and there was no hero. Agree it was a tragedy though as it could have been resolved and with communication

What breaks my heart (though a lot breaks my heart about these two) is that, whatever had transpired between John and Paul during the escape-hopefully-this-fixes-it trip to India, it's that neither had wanted the outcome of it to be what ended up happening.

I mean even with John clearly spiraling out of control of his mind and emotions, trying to deal with it all from childhood to then and now with drugs and alcohol and sex—I can't bring myself to believe he wanted to have the falling out, the divorce, the interpreted separation of connection from the soul, from Paul.

All complicated and dramatic and bluffing and lying to himself evidently points to no, he didn't.

He burned down the temple he loved so much because he loved it so much. He burned down the Beatles—and with it, he burned down what he and Paul essentially created together (as George said, it was in 1967 that John and Paul became a duo... That is, not super on the nose dig at apparently the innate dynamics of the Beatles George was privy too... Or at least believed he'd witnessed become the inevitable outcome of his band in 1967. Remember, 1967 was like, peak John and Paul attached-at-the-hip proximity probably similar to that of when they were just teenagers in Liverpool together)

Not to exclude the other two, because John was so desperate and in need of his friends, the people he had grown up with, he'd wanted them to buy an island and live together on it, just them, houses connected through tunnels.

But, as harsh as it sounds, John could live not working with or necessarily having George and Ringo... But Paul.

Now Paul and him, in many interviews, confidently proclaiming once The Beatles went bust, then that's alright—it'd be John and Paul, Paul and John, still writing music together, still creating together. Paul helping John with his books, John and Paul writing music together as old farts to so graciously hand off for younger musicians to play; John and Paul even having the audacity to mention maybe dabbling in creating a musical play, even when John apparently had no interest in musicals whatsoever.

It was John and Paul, JohnandPaul, and it was since 1957. George was just speaking the truth of it all out loud:

HADDAD: Then, your musical ambitions didn’t really begin to take form until the two of you joined with John Lennon?

GEORGE: Paul and John were the spark that ignited The Beatles. Of course, we weren’t The Beatles then, and we didn’t have Ringo, but that was the start. The air was filled with excitement, and even though we went through silly names like The Quarrymen Skiffle Group, The Moondogs, The Moonshiners, and The Silver Beatles, before evolving into that group everyone grew to know and love, the crucible was in 1967 [sic; 1957] when John and Paul became a duo.”

— George Harrison, interview w/ M. George Haddad for Men Only. (November, 1978) [X]

John and Paul were the spark that ignited The Beatles. The Beatles were John and Paul's, and George was simply aware of it. By 1967, John and Paul were a duo, at least in George's viewpoint: the inevitable happened, what George suspected to be, anyway.

So to tell me that John had actually wanted to burn it all down and destroy this Thing that was in fact his and Paul's, essentially burning Paul (and himself) in the proces, because he loved them, it, him, too much. He wanted that.

I refuse to believe it.

I refuse to believe it because even John couldn't buy in to his own lies about why he had actually been the one to finally bring an end to Lennon-McCartney. Yoko's validation of his lies and encouragement of letting go of the past and all those that hurt him (Paul) might've enabled him, but it didn't make the lies of it all stick. He couldn't justify it in the end, he couldn't let go.

It's heartbreaking to think how neither of them wanted it to go the way it did.

Paul probably didn't even fathom it. He's gotten into enough rows with John, and while this one could've definitely been different, been worse, been something that even stable and strong and level headed and perfectly centered Paul McCartney couldn't even withstand, he couldn't control, he couldn't neatly deal with. What he couldn't do for John. What he might not have been able to understand, for John, for whatever reason.

But they've had fights, they've had their trials and tribulations together... What's another one? Why wouldn't they be able to climb over it or sweep it under the rug? Or even come to a compromise, at some later date.

Paul certainly didn't want what ended up happening, with The Beatles, with John.

It damn near tore him up and left him a pitiful, pathetic, alcoholic of a man. He agonized over this impending doom of another loss he couldn't stop.

Of course the main strain between John and Paul after the India excursion was only made worse and exacerbated by other outside forces and John's dwindling psyche and general stability.

No matter how hard he tried, truly fought for it all, it was set up for failure by the inside out.

Ringo was the only one trying at points and Linda was literally his saving grace.

Paul felt he had to divorce The Beatles (divorce John) because he felt he had no choice. John tapped out. George was angry. John wasn't even trying, after all Paul did was try and try and try.

What I'm trying to say is, and not just beat this potential dead horse: what is truly heartbreaking, is that John and Paul since the time of their boundless partnership, friendship, collaboration, and essentially finding their soulmate in each other (Paul's word, not mine) they had it set it would be them, together, forever, creating and inspiring and being together, during and after The Beatles.

You could say it was unrealistic, that it was just the faulty and frivolous daydreaming boyish promises young men barely in their twenties make in the heat of the hour of that day and week and month and year.

But they meant it. You can tell they meant it, you can tell, especially from Paul, that he meant it truly and earnestly and with shameless affection and fondness for his relationship with John, that he wanted to continue whatever this was with him, after The Beatles and on.

It's heartbreaking, because whatever was transpiring between John and Paul and which came to a head in India, whatever happened in India, they didn't want it to turn out and end in the way that it had.

John and Paul loved each other, indescribably so.

It's so heartbreaking when two people who clearly loved each other and are like soulmates, can't end up staying together, have a falling out or life finds a way to tear them apart because life isn't fair.

It's tragic.

There's an extra heaviness to it when you come to fully realize "Nobody wanted what happened to happen."

Neither John or Paul planned for it, for that kind of falling out, for a divorce. By all accounts and records, it hit like an agonizing and sudden septic natural disaster.

“Do you get to see much of any city that you visit?”

This whole quote is hilarious. I know Paul is a smart man so it’s frustrating to see him will fully misunderstood John’s quotes. When he talked about the Beatles being bastards, he’s referring to the fact that they had to be tough and have think skins to withstand the hard core Hamburg days and the insane beatlemania days to make it and survive. And he wasn’t always dark about the Beatles. Yes he was dark in the early days when he was hurting but he mellowed so much through the 70s. It makes me understand why John didn’t trust Paul given his willingness to undermine John in subtle ways so he could get ahead. Also if he’s referencing cynicism and darkness, why does George get a pass. That man was far more bitter about his Beatle days but of course Paul doesn’t view George as his competitor in the same way he does John

Q: Do you have days now when you never once think of the Beatles?

PAUL MCCARTNEY: Oh, yeah. Most days. When the Beatles broke up it was painful to talk about. It was just hard. So you found yourself thinking about it. Now, having come all this way, I can remember only the good stuff. I know one or two spicy stories and I have my bitch now and again, but generally I always did dig it; I always did think that what we were doing was great. Even when we broke up, I never thought like John did. Who knows why he thought that! John’s pretty complex. He possibly didn’t even mean it. All the stuff about how we were “bastards”… He brought out the worst side, as if to exorcise it. But I really didn’t agree. It was pretty good, you know. But there are days when I don’t think about it because I’m doing all sorts of other stuff.

— Paul McCartney, Rolling Stone, March 30th 1979

Can we all just weep at John’s body language in 3 & 4: “Constantly transferring your weight from one foot to the other or rocking forward and backward is a comforting movement that indicates you are anxious or upset…[rubbing your earlobes] is a soothing action to counter feelings of uneasiness or vulnerability.”

(Also in no.3, John and Paul’s synchronised head turning, ama cry over that as well, they were so attuned to each other goddamnit.)

Love the Paul fans in the comments not getting things yet again. No John wasn’t an orphan. Yes he did have an awful childhood. He didn’t know his dad. His mum left him alone at night as a baby to go party and then come back to have sex with random men in front of him. He was taken away from his mother by Liverpool Social Services because at the age of 8 he didn’t have a bed to sleep in. His mothers last act on the night she died was to tell Mimi he wasn’t welcome to come around her house anymore because her husband didn’t like it. She walzed in and out of his life all the time. His aunt Mimi rarely showed him any physical affection, didn’t speak to him as a child for days at a time when she was angry and regularly removed photos of him from the house as a sign of removing her love when he was angry. You don’t think this is traumatic for a child? Saying that John had a rough childhood isn’t glorifying it and excusing anything he did. But it does help understand the traumatic lens of his behaviour. I think the Paul fans commenting need to take 30 steps back. I’m over it

“I’ve no idea if John wants to do anything again. I haven’t spoken to him for quite a while because he’s been keeping himself quiet.

But, if you think about it, there’s a fella whose father left home when he was a little kid, who lived with his aunt and his uncle. Then his uncle died, then his mother remarried and used to come to visit him but lived with another man. And while she was coming to visit him one night, when he was 16, she got knocked down by a car and killed. So that guy has grown up in a world where basically he’s never had any family.

He then got married to Cynthia but he was in the middle of all the Sixties dope and everything and he never really got with that family.

And he’s now married again to Yoko, who, for him, is the love of his life. He believes he’s found it and they now have a son. And I think he’s just taking every second that’s left to him to enjoy that —and there’s nothing wrong with that.”

— Paul McCartney, Liverpool Echo, December 4th, 1979

Forever loved and missed. May you never be forgotten

Top 3:

-Paris fics?

-Liverpool fics?

-modern AUs?

-sexiest fics?

-after Beatles divorce fics?

-time travel fics?

yeah alright then. under a cut to save everyone's eyes.

:)

ok listen. listing 18 of my favorite pieces of fanfiction feels a bit like walking naked through a crowded cafeteria so pls be gentle ok? also be sure to check any author tags in ao3. ty!

PARIS:

Backwards Traveller by @scurator & @paulmcfruity / john remembers paris 1961. When You Are Young They Assume You Know Nothing by @lilypadd23 / cute and charming paris 1961 adventure. We're In A World Apart by RedheadAmongWolves / yes it's an au but it's set in paris so i'm including it here are you can't stop me. john & paul but it's 1966 and they're spies assigned to work together on a very important mission (still updating; 4/6 chapters available).

LIVERPOOL/EARLY DAYS:

non nobis solum by @downtothe-lastdrop / midday rendezvous in 1960. Put My Heart Around the Bend by @strwbryfeels / a journey through 1960. I really wanted to include this one in my hamburg list, but since it splits time between liverpool & hamburg I didn't. so I'm including it now. On The Way to Work by roundthatcorner / life in december 1960.

MODERN AU:

I recently rec'd some by @javelinbk and @theoldmixer which you should absolutely check out and here are 3 more :)

blood on the tracks by @backbenttulips / john & paul fall in love and get married super young, the beatles still happen, and then a double divorce. what then. my love (let me go again) [orphaned] / john & paul meet, really hit it off, and then paul falls into a coma. inspired by the movie The Big Sick. i enjoy the niche genre of j/p aus based loosely on movies and this was a fun one. we push and pull like a magnet do by toppermostofthepoppermost / college au. john is a hot mess and paul is a slightly older hot mess. very cute and silly and features a tattooed paul which I enjoy a lot. for reasons.

SEXIEST OTHER:

oh my god i'm way too embarrassed to admit what I find sexiest! i don't want anyone reading into my obvious [redacted] issues so instead i'm just adding 3 more that I really like :)

Tessellate by cloudy_blue / cyn on john & paul over the years it's good to touch by @pauls1967moustache / john & paul are trapped in a closet where feelings and other things arise. i made a special request for this one so it will always be a favorite ;) 5 Thomas Lane by @chut-je-dors / modern au with extremely domestic john and paul just being dads with a bunch of kids, a dog, and some cats. there's a 'flashback' chapter set in the 90s that I think is the most adorable thing i've ever read.

POST-DIVORCE:

that which resembles the gave but isn't! by @monkberries / from the author notes: 'what if the break-up but EVEN WORSE'. yeah. Adventures In Total Honesty by @merseydreams / john & paul meet up at an after party in 1975. six hours in august by stonedlennon - john & paul run into each other at a gay bar in nyc in 1979.

TIME TRAVEL:

(I've Still Got) You All Over Me by @muzaktomyears / paul has a doppelganger. or does he.... i was a younger man then (now) (post hoc) by @fingersfallingupwards / time-travelers's wife au on our way back home by @purechocolade / obviously! I read this again recently and enjoyed it just as much the second time around.

Interesting he made this assessment when it was only Paul he got alone time with. If he only spent time with Paul one to one, why assume he’s more clever than John? As clever, fair enough. But more clever? Based on zero time with John? This is why I hate all this Paul revisionism going on. He reality is that few people had access to John in relation to Paul due to his introvert tendencies and difficulty trusting people and therefore few people really knew John well. So they put John down in relation to Paul because Paul flattered them more by giving them the time. Total stupidity

Their separate personalities are as clearly defined as characters in a fairy tale: John the clever one, Paul the sweet one, George the quiet one and Ringo the holy fool. As these public images are rooted in a private reality, there seems little point in meeting the Beatles; social confrontation can only confirm the known and simple truth. Yet I was curious to talk to John Lennon and Paul McCartney, because it is as songwriters rather than as performers that the Beatles interest me most. When I met them both together, however, they gave an impenetrable performance - a double act, with John facetiously punning on clichés and Paul obligingly feeding him. The jokes were good, but no better than Beatle jokes on the cinema or television screens. Later, I had the chance of spending two hours alone with Paul at Brian Epstein's office. He was ready to talk about his music, and did so with the minimum of suspicion or self-consciousness. The sweet, in their desire to please, can be even more articulate than the clever.

'Close-Up: Paul McCartney as Songwriter', Francis Wyndham (London Life, 4th December 1965)

they must be separated.....they're just too annoying together..... 😫

“On this program a few weeks ago someone said The Beatles haircut was going out because the fringe was so long you couldn’t see the birds, what do you think of that?”

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.

He looks so good. My God. That is all

John in 1965

Yes let’s perpetuate the myth that one of the greatest songwriters of all time didn’t know how to work hard. I know it’s supposed to be cute but John produced his own albums in the 70s. He contributed the majority of songs on the Beatles early albums. John wasn’t a workaholic like Paul but he was a hard worker. He learned those chords because he was determined to learn the guitar properly. Music was his passion too you know

John learning to play upside down for Paul... Something about that always gets me, John is the guy who allegedly didn't like work and wouldn't stick to anything. But he learned to play upside down because he would need to borrow Paul's guitar or to learn how to play something... he put that extra effort in just because Paul is left handed...

It's a small gesture but it means so much

🥺

I know Anon, he really did that.

It was love 💕

I completely agree except my favourite is John and no I’m not going to apologise. That man is my soul lol

Having Paul as your favorite Beatle is perfectly natural unless you've been into the Beatles for more than a month in which case it is sufficient to diagnose you with a personality disorder

The comments on this picture are hilarious. Paul has nowhere to lean because they’ve been asked to pose that way. I’m all for deep dive analysis but sometimes the simplest explanation is the real explanation. And they all supported each other. It wasn’t just one way.

The Beatles

John looks great but let’s be real, Brian is killing it in the back there. He looks gorgeous and that outfit is fire 🔥

Ed Sullivan and The Beatles backstage before-after the fab four’s historic 1964 appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”

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..."

Why was it John’s fault? He paid her the equivalent of a million dollars in the divorce and gave her half the proceeds from the house at Weybridge and of course child support for Julian. Was he supposed to pay fof her and her various husbands throughout the rest of her life? Cyn struggled with cash because of poor business decisions throughout her life including numerous failed restaurants and other ventures. That isn’t John’s fault. It also isn’t John’s fault he married the daughter of a banker who made solid business decisions that greatly increased his fortunes in the 1970s. At the point he divorced Cyn he actually didn’t have as much money as you would think due to contracts Brian Epstein signed that gave most of the money away for merchandising, etc. Cyn got 50 percent of his fortune at the time as she was entitled to. She was not a victim

I just realized something.

Yoko never wrote an expose about John. Cyn, May Pang and Pete Shotton did, but Yoko didn't.

exposes kind of rub me the wrong way. This is someone who trusted you with everything, and then you turn around and write a tell-all about them. As a fan I love them, but I'd feel so betrayed if a friend wrote one about me.

Pattie Boyd, George Martin and Pete Best wrote books, but they were more about themselves and their connection to the boys than a fictionalized version of the past.

Ivan Vaughn, Jimmie Nicol, Jane Asher, Peter Asher and Maureen Starkey never did. They didn't even write autobiographies from what I can find.

I think that all speaks volumes.

Especially Yoko. No matter what you think of her, that shows a strong sense of character and respect that we just don't talk about enough when it comes to her.

@dumbcloud And now the DILF:John Edition.

Yes, I’m aware most of these are from the same couple of days but he looked good on those days

Completely agree. This is why I’m not a Cyn fan. The woman wrote 2 exposes! The first because he husband at the time wanted a cash grab. Say what you will about Yoko and Sean but they’ve done an incredible job bringing John’s music to the next generation. That shows true love for John.

I just realized something.

Yoko never wrote an expose about John. Cyn, May Pang and Pete Shotton did, but Yoko didn't.

exposes kind of rub me the wrong way. This is someone who trusted you with everything, and then you turn around and write a tell-all about them. As a fan I love them, but I'd feel so betrayed if a friend wrote one about me.

Pattie Boyd, George Martin and Pete Best wrote books, but they were more about themselves and their connection to the boys than a fictionalized version of the past.

Ivan Vaughn, Jimmie Nicol, Jane Asher, Peter Asher and Maureen Starkey never did. They didn't even write autobiographies from what I can find.

I think that all speaks volumes.

Especially Yoko. No matter what you think of her, that shows a strong sense of character and respect that we just don't talk about enough when it comes to her.

Is this really an argument. Paul is a man and widely accepted as a straight man ( I’m not saying he is straight but widely accepted as one by the public). He is not a victim of misogyny. For the love of God

new hdb haute take: paul is only a chauvinist because society was misogynistic to him first

"I mean that is so special for me. I know it's virtual, but there I am. There I am singing with John again. We're back together."

There’s no John hate here! Us John lovers have to stick together 😘❤️

December 8, 1980. 

Paul isn’t a victim..enough with this nonsense. He has a billion dollars and an army of lawyers.

Let It F, Let It U

But we can quote Paul’s Lyrics books because failing to mention John’s contributions is only a lie by omission 😂😉

PLAYBOY: "When you talk about working together on a single lyric like ‘We Can Work It Out,’ it suggests that you and Paul worked a lot more closely than you’ve admitted in the past. Haven’t you said that you wrote most of your songs separately, despite putting both of your names on them?“

LENNON: "Yeah, I was lying. (laughs) It was when I felt resentful, so I felt that we did everything apart. But, actually, a lot of the songs we did eyeball to eyeball.”

Yes thank you for the love of God! I also love how he casually wrote his Lyrics book and didn’t even mention John’s contributions to A Day in the Life (which are glaringly obvious) yet people still seem to think he’s the paragon of truth when it comes to who does what on any Beatles song. I know he does the same for George’s contributions as well.

Sometimes I think Paul needs to be reminded that it wasn't

Paul McCartney and the Beatles.

He doesn't own the legacy.

And I'm sure Pattie would love to call him on certain things but chooses not to.

I am not sure John was a baby but he was a softie. He is missed

the softest guy i’ve ever met

You forgot to mention Paul has a flower randomly placed on his head while being weird in 18 other ways. The tragedy if these 2 idiots is they spent a lifetime being obsessed with each other while pretending not to because of the toxicity of the times they lived in. It’s comical, tragic, bizarre and beautiful all at the same time

John Lennon, Peter Brown, Paul McCartney, Derek Taylor and Neil Aspinall at the Apple Corps Headquarters, Savile Row , London 1968 © Jane Bown /TopFoto/ The Image Works