anotherkindofmindpod

[anotherkindofmindpod]

next week ❤️

[anotherkindofmindpod]

This whole article on the Beatles' debt to avant-garde composers is very interesting but i did smile at this bit...

On a purple velvet sofa in his office, McCartney talks to me with the same irrepressible energy that has driven his contribution to music for more than 60 years. He also has a very endearing way of never assuming knowledge and very politely checks, for instance, that I know about his friend, John. “You know, John Lennon?” (I do.) And did I know the Beatles had “this song called Yesterday?” (I did). He seems delighted to talk less about his own achievements and more about the people who helped broaden his scope.

[anotherkindofmindpod]

Hi <3 !! I remember reading an old post of yours where someone asked you if you thought Paul also had romantic/sexual feelings for John (as John had for him), and you said you weren't aware of any evidence of that. But I noticed that in your most recent episodes you seem to now believe that the romantic feelings likely were mutual. I wonder if there was something that changed your mind on this.

Hey Listener, Thanks for your question! Phoebe here, I'll go ahead and answer this ask for myself (i.e. Daphne and Thalia may have slightly different responses).

I think it’s indisputable that Paul had LOTS of very intense feelings for John, loved him as much as someone would their husband and still does to this day. I’d have to review my older post to respond to it specifically (so correct me if I'm misremembering), but I think what I said was that we have no evidence that Paul wanted a sexual relationship with John. Which we don’t.

On the other hand, we have testimony from Yoko that John WAS interested in having one with Paul. We don’t have many details beyond that except that Yoko believes John was “deterred” seemingly by either the belief or knowledge that Paul wasn’t into it. She said “I knew there was something there, from John’s point of view, not Paul’s” but doesn’t explain how she knew this. In other words, this leaves lots of questions and doesn’t offer many details. But like it or not, this is the only on-the-record quote we have from anyone inside the Beatles circle regarding a non-platonic element to John and Paul. There is innuendo about the breakup in EVERY Beatles book (‘it was as if Yoko stole John from Paul,’ or 'they fought with the passion of ex-lovers,’ etc), but this is the only time anyone on the inside has commented explicitly on John and Paul as a thwarted same-sex love affair.

I know a lot of fans don’t like this quote (and/or don’t believe it), but since it is the only “official” acknowledgment that John and Paul may have been something beyond friends (either emotionally or physically) it’s important. This quote gives us the permission to discuss this as a legitimate topic rather than a wild fan theory. In fact, it allows us to insist that the topic is taken seriously and discussed openly. The belief of John’s all-encompassing romantic and sexual obsession with Yoko in ‘68 and ‘69 (to the alleged point of complete obliviousness to everyone and everything else around him) had traditionally been the dam holding back the floodgates of speculation about John and Paul. So when Yoko says that John wanted an affair with Paul and the failure to realize this affair is what was fueling John’s rage around the breakup, we can’t just discard it. Yoko also told multiple people (both on and off the record) after John’s death that she believes he was gay. That’s not nothing. Of course Yoko saying something doesn’t automatically make it true, but IMO any responsible analysis should start with what she said, especially since her relationship with John has been used as “proof” to deny John’s queerness (and to a lesser extent the possibility he was in love with Paul) since the moment they got together.

Everyone is free to speculate and we do plenty of speculation on our show! But as a podcast we have to start with the “evidence,” such as it is.

Countless people over the years (including Paul!) have testified to how much Paul loved John and how devastated he was to lose him. But to my knowledge no one has ever officially suggested that Paul wanted a non-platonic affair with John. I know fans have lots of passionate views on this matter, but unless Paul (or one of his intimates) says otherwise, we just don’t have any evidence of such a desire on Paul’s part.

So unless someone can convince Paul to open up on this topic we’re going to be stuck forever with unanswered questions and Yoko’s quote. That’s why in our Do It Now! episode we suggested ways to invite Paul to refute or corroborate or correct Yoko’s claims. What we have now are extremely broad strokes. We are doing our best to platform the info we do have and piece together what we think it means, but when there are gaps we do float multiple possibilities. Some will be more popular than others, depending on the listener. But unless Paul has more to say in the very near future, I’m afraid we’ll never know.

As far as Paul's POV, I’m open to pretty much any and all possibilities, including: -that Paul wanted to have sex with John, and did -that he didn’t want to, and didn’t -that he wanted to, but didn’t -that he didn’t want to, and still doesn’t -that he didn’t want to at the time, but in retrospect wishes he had ETC ETC ETC

Just speaking personally, again: One of the major things that has kept me engaged with this topic for so long is that there’s a lot we don’t know and it’s a fun little mystery! So coming up with a single definitive theory on what happened just isn’t something I take particular pleasure in. What I do take pleasure in is accumulating data, sorting it, discussing it, formulating arguments about what I think it means, hearing counter arguments, then tearing it down and starting all over again, etc. It's like a never-ending giant LEGO project that gets bigger and bigger as time goes on! Anyway, I hope I actually answered your question, LOL! Apologies if I didn't. Thanks a ton for listening and writing in and I hope you'll enjoy our newest series, COMING SOON! :)

[anotherkindofmindpod]

(X)

[anotherkindofmindpod]

Luciano Berio's arrangement, 'Michelle II', written in 1967. He had met Paul the previous year at the lecture he gave in Belgravia, in London.

[anotherkindofmindpod]

Check out Phoebe's appearance on Paul or Nothing to Discuss "Chaos and Creation at Abbey Road!"

[anotherkindofmindpod]

Can you make a compilation of all the times Paul, John and other have talked about the breakdown of their relationship and the whole John/Paul/Yoko triangle?

John/Paul/Yoko

"I mean, 'cause [their problem] was, uh, about Yoko, really. [...] Let me tell you what I can remember is Paul and John were the best pals, really, right? They spent all their time together and stuff, and they had individual lives. But in the end they were the final sort of arbiters of everything between themselves. Yoko completely took over John. I mean, Paul just really felt left out and just hated it, you know what I mean? (John Dunbar)

"It was clear to Paul by this point that Yoko had become by far the most important person in John Lennon's life; even were she to somehow vaporize, John would not come running back to Paul after that unfortunate disappearance." (Danny fields)

“Paul and I had our differences early on, mostly creative ones, but we always got over them. Then I met Yoko and we fell in love. When I invited her to the recording studio during the Let It Be sessions, none of them took it well. This was a men’s club, and no women were allowed in the recording room. But Paul seemed the most bothered about Yoko, and part of me felt it was because he was jealous. Because up till then, he had all my attention, all my love when we were recording. And now there was another. Now there was Yoko.”(John)

"This was my best mate from my youth, the collaborator with whom I'd done some of the best work of the twentieth century. If he fell in love with this woman, what did that have to do with me? Not only did I have to let him do it, but I had to admire him for doing it. That was the position I eventually reached. There was nothing else I could do but be cool with it." (Paul)

"Being around Paul gave me a sense of stability. When I met Yoko, I knew it was time to cut myself loose. Paul hated me for turning my back on him and did everything he could to turn the others against me. He saw that he couldn't compete with Yoko, so he tried to stab us in the back. He was absolutely vicious, and it shattered whatever illusions I had about our so-called friendship." (John)

"I was jealous because of Yoko, and afraid about the break-up of a great musical partnership. It’s taken me a year to realise that they were in love." (Paul)

"Paul wasn't happy. But the big things that were driving him mad were beyond me. He kept on working and writing, but when John came over, all he could talk about was how much he loved Yoko. That disturbed Paul. In spite of John's obvious happiness, Paul stifled his jealousy with not-very-cute bursts of racist crap." (Francie)

"Paul hates Yoko for stealing the love of his life away from him. No, not Linda…. John! Paul has never forgiven her for that." (Francie)

"John did put it that way, he was 'riding on the boat called Paul, and now I'm going to ride on a boat called Yoko." (Yoko)

"Yeah, I think we spurred each other into marriage. I mean, you know...They were very strong together, which left me out of the picture. So I got together with Linda and then we got our own kind of thing. [...] Um..and then yeah, I think they were a little bit peeved that we got married first. Probably. In a little way, you know, just minor jealousies. And so they got married. I don't know if that's ...I mean, who knows.."(Paul)

“I didn’t realise how sensitive the other Beatles were to John’s opinion. Paul worried about what John would say and was still longing for his friendship. [...] Those interviews were done before John’s death and Paul’s heart was broken, even then. It wasn’t just the break-up of the Beatles. It was more personal than that.” (Steven Gaines)

"Why this odd little Japanese lady? The reason, many people believed, was that more than a trophy wife, a model or an actress, John needed a chum. His love affair with Paul McCartney was ending." (Peter Brown)

"The Beatle thing is over. It has been exploded, partly by what we have done, and partly by other people. We are individuals, all different. John married Yoko, I married Linda. We didn’t marry the same girl." (Paul)

"When John and Paul split up (think of them as a couple for a moment) their second mates [Linda and Yoko] had to stand by them." (Francie)

"One week and one day after Paul married Linda, I received a phone call from John. He and Yoko were at the Hôtel Plaza Athénée in Paris and wanted to get married, immediately. People believe that John's desire to get married so soon after Paul's marriage was a knee-jerk reaction. Perhaps it was psychologically about breaking up with Paul." (Peter Brown)

"For a reason to hold a grudge [against Yoko], think about the possibility of this: She took John from him. And she didn't particularly want to share John with his "ex significant other" on certain levels." (Francie Schwartz)

"It's like a marriage. These two broke up. And it took Paul a long time to get over it. John too, but he was just too macho to show it. But they had a marriage before Yoko arrived, although they both had girlfriends before." (Ray Connolly)

"With Yoko present, Paul's reign as Lennon's princess was doomed."(Peter McCabe)

"The disruption really came with the women. When you have very close personal relationships between two men and one of them goes off and gets a girl there's divergence.' (George Martin)

"If you go to a party and the husband and wife have been having a row - there's a tension, an atmosphere. And you wonder whether you are making things worse by being there. I think that was kind of the situation we found with Ringo. He was probably feeling a little bit odd because of the mental strangeness with John and Yoko and Paul." (George Martin)

"One of my feelings even when he used to lay into me was that he really didn’t mean it. I could always see why he was doing it. There was this attempt [on John’s part] to get rid of the spectre of me, which I understand, because he had to clear the decks just like I did." (Paul)

"Then also we were like married, so you got the bitterness. It’s not a woman scorned this time, it’s two men scorned — probably even worse. And I had to make way for Yoko. My relationship with John could not have remained as it was and Yoko feel secure." (Paul)

"Really all that happened was that John fell in love. With Yoko. And so, with such a powerful alliance like that, it was difficult for him to still be seeing me. It was as if I was another girlfriend, almost. Our relationship was a strong relationship. And if he was to start a new relationship, he had to put this other one away." (Paul)

"I understood what happened when he met Yoko. He had to clear the decks of his old emotions. He went through all his old affairs, confessed them all. Me and Linda did that when we first met. You prove how much you love someone by confessing all that old stuff. John's method was to slag me off." (Paul)

"Of course, for me Yoko provoked all the echoes of the past, of Stuart and John. How Stuart was the one who was between John and Paul. We must all bring our own interpretations of what jealousies or fears did really lead to the abandonment of the Beatles. I would suggest that it had to do as much with personal relationships and power as with artistic ambition and financial awareness." (Pauline Stutcliffe)

"Perhaps Jane wanted Paul to be something other than what he was, more like the young man in the public image of the perfect couple. But that wasn’t what he wanted. More important to Paul than his relationship with Jane, was his partnership with John Lennon, whom he’d met shortly after his mother died of breast cancer (the same illness from which Linda was to die) when he was 14. And when John’s mother was also to die in a road accident just over a year later, the friendship had intensified with a shared sense of loss. And so it was to remain as adulthood and fame arrived, and the girls came and went. And, in John’s case, a wife as well. [...] Exactly a year after their first encounter, Paul met Linda again when he contacted her while he and John were on business in New York. A few weeks later Paul called and invited Linda to join him at another business meeting in Los Angeles. Slowly but surely, they were coming together, just as certainly as John and Paul were breaking apart. John had fallen in love with Yoko Ono, and, increasingly fuelled by hard drugs, seemed bent on destroying what Paul saw as their creation. Losing interest in the Beatles, John had less time for Paul. The two could no longer write or record freely together without Yoko offering advice. Her presence put Paul off and John didn’t care. Paul was finding himself abandoned. Outwardly super-confident, inwardly he was growing increasingly insecure. There were girls all around him, of course. He couldn’t get rid of some of them, but he needed someone special at his side. He sent for Linda. [...] Catching Paul at the Beatles’ Apple headquarters in Savile Row, he told me they wanted a quiet wedding. A quiet wedding for a Beatle in the centre of London in 1969 was impossible. Eight days later John and Yoko married in secret in Gibraltar. [...] Paul had always played on stage with his best friend. He couldn’t play with John Lennon anymore, so he turned his new best friend, Linda, into a keyboard musician in his new group, Wings." (Ray Connolly)

"The Beatles were having severe problems then, with Yoko Ono apparently having driven a wedge between Paul McCartney and the most important person in his life, John Lennon." (Danny Fields)

"The wedding [of Paul and Linda] was front-page news all over the world [...] Girls wore the black of mourning for weeks afterwards, and, like an answering move in a chess game, John and Yoko were married in Gibraltar eight days later." (Danny Fields)

"I always wished I’d been involved in the Beatles’ early happier days, but my role was to cover the final act of their career, and to observe the fall-out, largely, though by no means totally, with John and Paul. There were some bizarre and revealing moments during those days." (Ray Connolly)

[anotherkindofmindpod]

queens I am absolutely DYING for the next series to come out! just relistened to pizza and fairy tales in anticipation and just wanna say that series deserves the podcasting equivalent of a full oscars SWEEP. you guys are the best and THANK YOU for the incredible work ❤️

😍

Thank you so much for these wonderful words, Listener! We very much appreciate it!!! As for the new series: The good news is that episode 1 is almost complete! And episode 2 is about halfway finished 🤩 The bad news is that IRL nonsense keeps getting in the way of our efforts to complete the series! BUT we promise we are doing our best and we will 100% be kicking off the new series soon! Thanks for your interest- it definitely helps keep us going!

[anotherkindofmindpod]

Here's another chart:)

The Lennon/McCartney Relationship Harmony over Time

a. they meet

b. julia's death, the arrival of stuart sutcliffe and cynthia powel

c. the relationship has grown over the group's time in hamburg. john takes paul to paris. they have achieved what they believe is immense success together and are on an upward tragectory toward large-scale fame

d. john goes to spain with brian

e. they've mended their relationship over the group's time on their first world tour, achieved unprecedented phenomenal success together, and solidified their partnership

f. john pressures paul to take lsd. paul refuses. the scandal in the united states forces closeness as they choose to fight for and protect each other during this difficult time

g. paul and john do lsd together and "move in" together

h. brian's death, whatever happened in india, whatever happened in NYC, the arrival of yoko ono and linda eastman, the arrival of allen klein, the official breakup, and the public fallout

i. the agreement to stop figthing in public, slow rebuilding of trust, the lost weekend hang-outs

j. john gets back together with yoko rather than join paul for the recording of his next album, has a baby, becomes reclusive and depressed.

k. john, with paul's help, is coming out of his depressive state. secret meet-ups between the two are widely rumored they're planning to work together again.

[anotherkindofmindpod]

"I didn't mention this in my book, but from time to time, John would say to me, "What do you think Paul is thinking right now?" I said to John, 'I've only met him a couple times in my life, you know. I have never had any in depth conversations with him. I have no idea.' And John would say, "Do you think he thinks about me at all?" The question made me sad. I just gave him meager responses, like, "I'm sure he does", and then he would move on. And I think his...I'm not gonna call it an obsession, but his curiosity about Paul McCartney was always prevalent."

-Elliot Mintz (Beatles podcast, 2024) (X)

[anotherkindofmindpod]

Can you give us a clue about what the next podcast might be about? ❤️

[anotherkindofmindpod]

Happy Birthday, Paul McCartney (b. 18th June 1942)

And when I think that all this stuff, Can make a life, it's pretty hard to take it in, That was me.

[anotherkindofmindpod]

Can we talk about the Rosetta Stone of heavily coded love language songs written by our favourite dysfunctional trinity; AKA the founding members of the original Uncool Bermuda Triangle Of Doom: John/Yoko/Paul and “(Just Like) Starting Over”?

Of course, it’s officially a song for Yoko, John is on record as saying it’s a song for Yoko, but to my ears, it’s a musical giant placard marked FOR PAUL!! (With a red sharpie heart around ‘Paul’)

From the thematic style, the extremely loaded choice of words, John’s Elvis crooning, the reminiscent rock n’ roll melody, right down to the announcement at the end of the song for a flight leaving for ‘London, England’, oh and OF COURSE the ‘spread our wings’ line… it just seems like a basket of Easter eggs to get Pauls attention.

It’s the “our life, together is so special, together” that gets me. It’s the theme of togetherness that seems like a defining motif of the John/Paul partnership in the good times, and what they desperately plea for in the bad. I see Starting Over as literally that, going right back to the beginning, to when they were teenagers and declaring their devotion and commitment to one another before setting off on adventures: “we’re gonna leave, take the next bus out of town” in “I Don’t Know/Johnny Johnny” . It was such a passionate declaration of: wherever we’re going, whatever we’re doing, we’re doing it together” . The warm, protective, safe space that they had created, where they can escape their past and take on the world; a John/Paul cocoon, The Nerk Twins within The Beatles - the nucleus within the atom - full of love, security and magic.

When the shit hits the fan - aka the critical juncture of 1969/Let It Be - ( I’m going to call this the second act, purely so it fits in with my theory!), Paul tries nostalgia to coax John back ‘home’ to the little nest he’s feathered - Population: Two (Of Us). Obviously, that doesn’t work out…

BUT! Just over a decade later, it sounds like John is feeling sentimental and nostalgic and has made up his mind to get back on that bus. Uh, I mean, airplane!

So this is how I see (Just Like) Starting Over as the third act, and borrowing the concept that the crux of a trilogy is for the story to go right back to the beginning, but this time viewing with a fresh perspective, he says:

“Let’s take a trip somewhere far, far away

We'll be together all alone again

Like we used to in the early days “— he is ready for a renewal of their adventures, but with an assurance of how they are wiser now; ‘we have grown’.

Whatever I’ve read online has firmly fallen in the ‘It’s for Yoko’ camp - purely because it’s a love song, so of COURSE it can’t be for Paul, right? A few admit it could be for Paul , but only as an admission that John wants to reunite with The Beatles.. (which I can kind of get behind)... But no-one anywhere is discussing the audio of the studio sessions, where he riffs around during rehearsal , because if this is a song for Paul, it’s a revelation:

‘Well everybody’s making love, why can’t we be making love, it’s easy?

Just take your clothes off honey, and stick your nose in money.

Why don’t we… do it in the road?

A little hotel where we used to screw

A motel down in Montauk; just you, me, the cook and the servants too’

Whoever the person on John’s mind is, it’s evident that he wants a revival of what sounds like a pretty hot, romantic and sexual relationship. The ‘stick your nose in money’ line is… interesting. I wasn’t aware of John having a bone of contention over Yoko and finances, (did he?) but wasn’t this one of his major gripes (and often mentioned grouses) over Paul’s ‘secret’ purchase of more shares of the Northern Songs catalogue? It’s a risky move to try and woo back a lover by dredging up a decades long grievance, but that’s our nonconformist John, I guess??

The doing it in the road line is.. kind of self explanatory? As for the hotel .. it didn’t seem like John and Yoko’s courtship was necessitated by sneaking off to conduct an illicit affair - they seemed pretty prominent from Day One of getting together, but it does put me in mind of the much mentioned Paris trip for John’s 21st birthday:

‘the little hotel with the nice bed’ that Paul still talks about to this day.

Granted, the motel in Montauk is kind of home turf for J&Y so I’ll concede that , but as for the rest of it…

My sticking point was learning that this was written at the same time, in Bermuda, that John wrote ‘Grow Old With Me’ - a loving ode from a husband to his wife. So the rational argument says.. both songs were written to the same person. But you have made the astute observation that John held Yoko in one hand and Paul in the other, so is it just my bourgeois mind that struggles to see that John could be saying to Person A: I want to recommit to our marital devotion to one another, whilst simultaneously saying to Person B ‘I want a renewal of our romantic adventures’ and that’s just how he rolls?

Nb, 1980 John unhelpfully throws a spanner in the works of this theory, because his attitude in interviews seems to be: “Paul who? Never heard of the guy, don’t think much of him, whoever he is, but whatever, who cares? I certainly don’t”.

Either way, it’s heartbreaking to hear the optimism and excitement in his voice, given the timing of the song.

I would love to know your thoughts! Am I totally wrong?

Hello dear friend! ❤️

In a nutshell, I think John wrote songs in 1980 about and/or to Yoko; I also think he wrote “craft” songs about an ideal marriage or a fantasy marriage that never actually existed.

And I absolutely believe Starting Over was written for Paul  :)  

This guy summed up my thoughts on John & Yoko in 1980 pretty well:

“It was an art project. The marriage was an art project. And AS an art project, it was fabulously successful. It presented an image of a sexist man who acknowledged his own anger, acknowledged that he “used to be cruel to his woman,” acknowledged all of that stuff. Subsuming it, sublimating it and becoming something else: trying to maintain a relationship of equality with a strong woman. And that continues through Double Fantasy. 

The facts almost don't matter. Because the image is a very, very strong one, and it would take a clearer rebuttal than we're ever going to get to destroy that image.”

I mean, the album has the word FANTASY in it, for crying out loud!  If that's not a winky face emoji of an album title, I dunno what is.

John specifically said he loved the phrase for its multiple meanings including "a double couple." (x) I'm curious... WTF is a double couple??!  Is it "John & Yoko" AND "John & Paul" ??  I've never heard anyone ever use that phrase before. 

Here's the thing about John... I don't think he is ever 100% comfortable spewing bullshit. So while he is willing to engage in a massive PR spectacle in 1980, he also drops little truth bombs here and there.  I think in 1980 John still gets mad at Paul, still gets competitive with him, still has resentments from 1966 that they never ironed out. So you'll hear those in some of his interviews. But I also think he absolutely adored Paul and wanted both Paul and the world to know it, and you can find that in interviews, as well.

I suspect trying to glean details from songs can sometimes be misleading (b/c sometimes songwriters take poetic license for the sake of the rhyme/groove/etc), but "when I see you, darling, it's like we both are falling in love again" is pretty much the most romantic thing ever.  When I see you isn't a detail to me, it's clearly about someone John doesn't see much (but when he does, all the feelings come rushing back).

How in the WORLD is John going to say anything other than Starting Over is for his wife, his co-creator, the woman he's kissing on the front of the album?  People will naturally just assume it anyway.  But Paul will know.

Expecting him to SAY it's about Paul is beyond unrealistic.  Anyone who argues that "if John didn't say it, it can't be about Paul!" is arguing that artists are incapable of writing things that are too difficult or dangerous (or just too embarrassing and tender) to discuss in public. Obviously that's not the case.

That said, the "it's for Yoko" interpretation is, of course, perfectly valid.  But my read is that Starting Over makes MUCH more sense as a love letter to an "old, estranged fiance."

[anotherkindofmindpod]

Paul & leadership, musically & otherwise

Link to masterpost of quote compilations

When Paul came in[to the band], things started to get a little bit more serious. Paul’s father had actually had a band, Jim Mac’s Jazz Band, so Paul was much more aware of the career possibilities than any of the rest of us were, because here his own dad had had a band. So things got a lot more structured and serious when Paul arrived. You can tell that by looking at the photograph of us in July ’57, when we were at St Peter’s Church, a bunch of guys in checked shirts, and in November ’57, when you have John and Paul in smart white jackets and everybody in little bootlace ties. I mean, already Paul’s influence was evident, you know?

Rod Davis (of The Quarrymen), interview w/ Gillian G. Gaar for Goldmine: Before they were Beatles, they were Quarrymen. (November 28th, 2012)

COLIN: Paul would have allowed John to feel that he was the boss anyway. Paul wouldn’t have gotten head to head with John, but Paul would have got his own way if you’d like, carefully, by maneuvering and perhaps letting John think it was his idea. I think that’s the way Paul was. LEN: I think it was part of his characteristic, really. Part of his characteristic. You know, when we started off as The Quarrymen, we were a gang of scruffs, we could dress whatwe’d like, checked shirts, anything we would like. But I’m pretty sure it was Paul’s idea that one night at Clubmoor we dressed a bit smarter – you know, the white coats and the black ties. I think – it wouldn’t be John’s idea. John was more interested in the music and the entertainment. “We can dress what we like as long as we’re enjoying ourselves.” But I think Paul was more... I don’t know. Image-minded, you know. Worried more about the image. COLIN: Paul was very much the diplomat. He would never get a quick answer off Paul. He would always think about what was the right answer; not what the answer should’ve been, but perhaps what you wanted to hear.

2003: The Quarrymen talk about Paul

“I can well remember even at the rehearsal at his house in Forthlin Road, Paul was quite specific about how he wanted it played and what he wanted the piano to do. There was no question of improvising. We were told what we had to play. There was a lot of arranging going on even back then."

John Duff Lowe pianist on their first ever recording, In Spite of All the Danger

“During one Cavern performance of ‘Over the Rainbow’, John leaned back on the piano, pointed to Paul, burst into raucous laughter and shouted, “God, he’s doing Judy Garland!” Paul had to keep singing in the knowledge that John was pulling crips and Quasis behind his back or making strange sounds on his guitar to interrupt him. Yet, if Paul stopped in the middle of the number, John would stare around the stage, the essence of innocence. […] Paul took such behavior from no one but John, but also he gave it back and was strong minded enough to carry on doing what he wanted, knowing how much the audience liked it. He sang these songs well, and added one more to the portfolio at this time, the Broadway show number ‘Till There Was You’. John really had a go at Paul for singing this—but didn’t try to stop him doing it, recognizing there was scope for all kinds of music in this group, to please all kinds of audiences.”

Mark Lewisohn, Tune In: The Beatles: All These Years (unFUCKING believable that Lewisohn uses this as an example of John's leadership and not Paul's)

As they near the club, they start to discern the sounds of a band rehearsing a poppy, recently released Elvis number called “It’s Now Or Never”, refitted that summer from the melody of “O Sole Mio”. As the pair near the door of the bar, Lennon realises it is his band, and that the voice singing is that of his fellow Beatle, Paul McCartney. Lennon, to put it mildly, is unimpressed by this proposed extension of the group’s repertoire. “He said, ‘What the fucking hell is he doing now?’” remembers Griff, today. “Lennon was a rocker. He stormed in the club and said, ‘What are you doing?’ Paul said: ‘This is a popular song—they’ll love this.’ And of course the audiences did.”

Brian Griffiths, interview w/ John Robinson for Uncut: ‘A roaring rock’n’roll band in leathers and cowboy boots… but they changed.’ (March, 2012)

The observations Sam Leach had of the teenaged boys seems to put Paul in the leadership position, not John: “Even when we went to shows, Paul had the ideas, made the decisions — about what clubs to play in, for example, new things to try on stage. He was the idea man, John was a bit lazy when it came to doing stuff.”

Larry Kane. “When They Were Boys.

The other Quarry Men did not take quite so strongly to Paul. 'I always thought he was a bit big- headed,' Nigel Walley says. 'As soon as we let him into the group, he started complaining about the money I was getting them, and saying I should take less as I didn't do any playing. He was always smiling at you, but he could be catty as well. He used to pick on our drummer, Colin - not to his face; making catty remarks about him behind his back. Paul wanted something from the drums that Colin didn't have it in him to play.' "Paul was always telling me what to do," Colin Hanton says. "Can't you play it this way?" he'd say, and even try to show me on my own drums. He'd make some remark to me. I'd sulk. John would say "Ah, let him alone, he's all right." But I knew they only wanted me because I'd got a set of drums.' Even Pete Shotton - still a close friend and ally - noticed a change in John after Paul's arrival. "There was one time when they played a really dirty trick on me. I knew John would never have been capable of it on his own. It was so bad that he came to me later and apologised. I'd never known him to do that before for anyone.' It was shortly after Paul joined the Quarry Men that they bought proper stage outfits of black trousers, black bootlace ties and white cowboy shirts with fringes along the sleeves. John and Paul, in addition, wore white jackets; the other three played in their shirtsleeves. Eric Griffiths, though also a guitarist, did not have the jacket-wearing privilege. A cheerful boy, he did not recognise this for the augury it was.

Shout!: The True Story of the Beatles (Philip Norman)

Gerry Marsden also has his own interesting theory about Paul’s left-handed guitar playing: “He and John were able to get their faces close up together at the microphone for the vocals, unlike most players. So when they were singing, it was like a love affair with each other, and the mike between them. In every photograph they are tight together and the effect is very powerful. In those days, we didn’t have a microphone each: we shared one, so for Macca to plan this effect for the Beatles, as I’m certain he did, was brilliant.”

“What The Stars Said About Them.” Beatles Book Monthly Magazine No. 205 (May 1993).

“Paul was very good,” said Eric [Griffiths, of The Quarrymen]. “We could all see that. He was precocious in many ways. Not just in music but in relating to people.” […] His charm also worried John, according to Eric. “We were all walking down Halewood Drive to my house to do some practising. I was walking ahead with John. The others were behind. John suddenly said: ‘Let’s split the group, and you and me will start again.’ “We could hear Paul behind us, chatting to Pete [Shotton] as if he was Pete’s best friend. John knew we were all his pals, but now Paul was trying to get in on us. Not to split us up, just make friends with us all. I’m sure that was all it was, but to John it looked as if Paul was trying to take over, dominate the group. I suppose he was worried it could disrupt the balance, upset the group dynamics, as we might say today. “I said to him: ‘Paul’s so good. He’ll contribute a lot to the group. We need him with us.’ John said nothing. But after that the subject was never mentioned again.”

Eric Griffiths, c/o Hunter Davies, Sunday Times: A Beatle’s boyhood. (March 25th, 2001)

“[John] didn’t like it one bit, paying to play did not sit right with John Lennon… but we did eventually pay to go in — John included, and it was Paul McCartney who convinced John we should do so… Paul’s reasoning was we were more than good enough to win the prize money. He argued that as we would soon be walking off with the cash prize anyway, so we could afford to pay to go inside… So we all did cough up and in we trooped, set up, performed and, of course, proceeded not to win. It was undoubtedly a reality check for our new super-confidant guitarist. We all came away out of pocket, but steeped in admiration for Paul’s enthusiasm and blind faith in the Quarry Men’s ability. He had impressed us all.”

Colin Hanton and Colin Hall, Pre-Fab, The Book Guild, 2018.

‘When Paul joined the band, things changed… but it wasn’t an overnight change,’ Colin Hanton remembers. ‘Paul was shrewd. He realised from the start that John liked to think of himself as the dominant force, but he needed Paul to teach him proper guitar chords, which was the way in to playing more rock ‘n’ roll material. He recognised John was the power in the group and that the best way to take him on was to do it subtly.’ Paul’s most immediate effect on the Quarrymen was in their presentation. ‘You could see he had this show business side to him,’ Colin Hanton says, ‘while John just lived for the music.’ The group had always worn what they liked onstage, but now John accepted Paul’s suggestion of a uniform: black trousers, white Western-style shirts and black bootlace ties. On 23 November, they had a return booking at the New Clubmoor Hall, where Paul had previously mucked up ‘Guitar Boogie’. He was determined to cut a better figure this time. ‘He had this sort of oatmeal jacket–he’d worn it to the Woolton fete–and he let it be known to John that when we did the gig, he was going to wear the jacket,’ Hanton remembers. ‘So the gig got nearer and then one day John turned up and he had got a cream jacket that was lighter than Paul’s. It was John’s way of saying “Hey, I’m cooler than you.”’

Philip Norman, Paul McCartney: The Life. (2016)

“During playbacks, John and Paul would often huddle together and discuss whether a take was good enough; they’d talk about what they were hearing and what they wanted to fix or do differently,” “John wasn’t casual about making records, not in the early years, anyway. Still, it was Paul who was always striving to get things the best that they could possibly be.” While Lennon might not have shared McCartney’s perfectionism, he respected and went along with it. He may not have had the same attitude toward Martin, though. “Certainly George Martin couldn’t get away with that,” “If he dared try, they would bite his head off. There was never any doubt in my mind that Paul and John viewed George Martin as a helpmate, not as their equal.”

Geoff Emerick in his book Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of the Beatles.

“John is an original. New ideas just come to him. Paul has great originality but he’s also an arranger. He can get things done, which John can’t, or can’t be bothered trying. They do need, and they don’t need, each other. Either is true. Paul is as talented a composer as John. They could easily have done well on their own.”

Astrid Kirchherr in 1967, from The Beatles, by Hunter Davies.

In the early days my role was to tidy things up, musically - to put songs into some sort of perspective. (I would also give a commercial estimate of their worth) I might take a phrase out of the middle of ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’, for example, pointing out that the phrase should have started the song, or, as on ‘Please Please Me’, say ‘Speed it up, maybe; that’s all it needs, really… ’ I think John learned from this kind of input. He learned a whole lot more from Paul, though: musical structure; organization in his song writing; how to make a song telling. He also learned the value of a good ‘hook’ —the catchy bit, for example the guitar riff that starts ‘Day Tripper’, the harmonica from ‘Love Me Do’.

George Martin

John used to find it hard to express himself, I was in a position where I really had to read his mind, and he didn’t have a lot of patience. He would accept something that was sort of 95% good, whereas Paul would want it 100% good. So Paul to me has always been the musician and the one that was a musicians sort of musician. I mean Paul was a good drummer, a good guitarist, a good keyboard player and he sort of held the band and brought them to that perfection part of things, John would let things easily go. And of course John did not like the sound of his voice either. No matter how much you told him how great his voice sounded, he always wanted tape echo on it or something done to it.

Geoff Emerick interview w/ Alan Light for Blender.com (2009)

Paul was the one who sort of saved the situation always, the one who always went that little bit extra to perfect things you know. Especially because on Paul’s songs, we’d spend a considerable amount of time doing Paul’s songs because he knew exactly really what he wanted whereas John didn’t. The time we spent on some of John’s songs was a bit less than Paul’s songs, but if Paul, I think, thought that a John song was going slightly a bit, you know, lopsided, he’d interject and sort of make sure it really was polished.

Geoff Emerick interview w/ Alan Light for Blender.com (2009)

Q: If you had a favourite out of all The Beatles, who did you find yourself drawn to? Geoff: Oh, Paul, obviously! I mean, Paul was the musician’s musician. And I think Paul had an understanding of what I was doing as well; because he knew I was into instruments and so forth, you know, listening to musical instruments and crafting them, let’s put it that way. […] He was the one who always wanted a 110%.

Geoff Emerick, interviewed for ABC’s 7.30 program, for the 50th anniversary of Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. (25 May 2017)

"I don’t want to take anything away from anyone, but production of the Beatles was very simple, because it was ready-made. Paul was a very great influence in terms of the production, especially in terms of George Harrison’s guitar solos and Ringo’s drumming. The truth of the matter is that, to the best of my memory, Paul had a great hand in practically all of the songs that we did, and Ringo would generally ask him what he should do. After all, Paul was no mean drummer himself, and he did play drums on a couple of things. It was almost like we had one producer in the control room and another producer down in the studio. There is no doubt at all that Paul was the main musical force. He was also that in terms of production as well. A lot of the time George Martin didn’t really have to do the things he did because Paul McCartney was around and could have done them equally well… most of the ideas came from Paul".

Norman Smith (The Beatles recording engineer from Please Please Me through Rubber Soul), McCartney by Chris Salewicz

“If you take ‘Across The Universe’, for example: that’s like a folk song without his production on it, [which is] kind of slightly heavy handed. I think it would have been very different if my Dad had done it. Not necessarily better; just very different. I think Paul’s main issue with what happened is that he normally had a lot of input into the arrangements, and he didn’t with Spector – they arranged it without him. I was listening to [off-cuts from 1966’s] ‘Eleanor Rigby’ and even at that early stage you can hear my Dad saying, ‘Do you want that vibrato or not vibrato, Paul?’”

Producer Giles Martin

JOHN: [singing operatically] Well, let me tell you… [Small laughs] Everybody has all the ambitions. Everybody’s full of ambition, and uh, it’s like – uh, once I gave George the advice on songwriting, [which is] that when you start one, finish it. And I think I got the advice from Paul, or working with Paul. But it’s like anything. If you have an idea, the only – the best way is to try and do it right away, otherwise you won’t do it, and that’s called ambition, you know.

October 22nd, 1969 (Apple Corps, London): Detroit DJ John Small

Paul: OK, and that’s great, you know. And then – it’s just being able to say that, on the occasion, just being – say, “Look, I’m not going to say anything about the song, because it’ll be difficult … to sing it to you.” John: Yeah, I know, but you wouldn’t say – listen to me – you probably arranged it you know? Paul: I know, I know. John: Well, I’m saying that “Dear Prudence” is arranged. Can’t you hear [John vocalizes part of the song]. That is the arrangement, you know? But I’m too frightened to say “This is it.” I just sit there and say, “Look, if you don’t come along and play your bit, I won’t do the song,” you know? I can’t do any better than that. Don’t ask me for what movie* you’re gonna play on it. Because apart from not knowing, I can’t tell you better than you have, what grooves you can play on it. You know, I just can’t work. I can’t do it like that. I never could, you know. But when you think of the other half of it, just think, how much more have I done towards helping you write? I’ve never told you what to sing or what to play. You know, I’ve always done the numbers like that. Now, the only regret, just the past numbers, is when because I’ve been so frightened, that I’ve allowed you to take it somewhere where I didn’t want

Jan. 13: The Lunchroom Tape

PAUL: We – we haven’t played together, you see! That’s the fucking thing. But when we do come together to play together, we all just sort of talk about the fleeting past! We’re like old-age pensioners! [British geriatric voice] “Remember the days when we used to rock?” You know, but we’re here now! We can do it, you know. But I mean, I’m – all I hoping for is enthusiasm from you— PAUL: You see the thing is also, I, I get to a bit where I just sort of push all my ideas, you know, and I know that my ideas aren’t the best, you know. They are [mechanical voice] “good, good, good” but they’re not the best, you know. We can improve on it. Because we write songs good, and we improve on it. [to Ringo] And you can improve on your drumming like it is, if you get into it. If you don’t, you know, then okay, I have better ideas, but if you get into it, you’re better! You know. It’s like that.

Twickenham, January 6th

"I always had the impression that Brian used to worry about Paul, that he was a bit frightened of him perhaps because he was so strong-willed in his opinions about the exact details of how the Beatles’ career should progress. Even though they could also be as thick as thieves about such matters, Brian was always circumspect when talking to Paul about things of any great importance. John and Brian always seemed to get on all right. But Paul would argue with Brian, and as far as I could see, Brian always gave in."

Brian Sommerville, McCartney by Chris Salewicz

“Sgt Pepper had not yet been released, but already Paul was explaining to Brian at length his plan for the Magical Mystery Tour movie. Every few seconds Brian would make a note on a scrap of paper. Paul drew the whole plan out as a diagram, a cosmic plan with time and action and motion. Brian could translate this, as he could all Beatles commands, into a specific timetable of booked studios, rehearsal halls, rented equipment, tea for forty-five people and everything else they needed, without the Beatles even knowing what degree of organisation was required to satisfy their often obscure and demanding requests. Brian was on Paul’s wavelength and treated him as the most organised Beatle, who could in turn translate management needs back to the other three. It was the last time I saw Brian.”

Barry Miles, In the Sixties

To Lennon, [Paul] was "cute, and didn’t he know it," a born performer who was also a "thruster" and an "operator" behind the scenes.

Christopher Sandford, Paul McCartney, 2005

Because Paul was the natural PR man within the group, it was Paul with whom I worked most. In a sense, I used him to manipulate the others, because that’s what he was doing all the time anyway. I suspect that Paul got his way more than John did within the group, but in a far more subtle manner. He was a smooth operator, as he is to this day. Metaphorically, he still takes that last look in the mirror. His critics now think of him as calculating and selfish, but you could level the charge of selfishness at any great performer. Any artist who is not self-centred will not sustain himself—and self-centred is what Paul is. I soon found out that his management of himself is total. That’s why he always found it so difficult in his solo years to get management that would be satisfactory to him. Everybody knows that all Paul needs is to surround himself with people who will carry out his ideas and do what he says. He considers himself, as he did then, to be self-sufficient. That’s different from John. It is why the partnership worked so well in the early days.

Tony Barrow, Daily Mail. (February 16th, 1998)

And only until John became what he is now – which is after John’s death that people started to revere John – it became an issue for Paul. Because you have to understand that table was turned many times. One, when John made the Jesus Christ remark, and Paul became virtually a leader. And John turned the table on Paul by becoming a partner with me, probably. But then the thing is, the table was turned again by Paul becoming extremely successful with Wings. So he was doing alright, while John did Some Time in New York City with me, and then followed that with Mind Games or something, you know.

1990: Yoko

“I hear tell, I said, "that you can all be downright rude - and have been.” “Of course we’ve been rude - but only rude back,” he [John] explained. “Have you any clue about the things people say and do to us? "We’re not cruel. We’ve seen enough tragedy on Merseyside. But when a mother shrieks, ‘just touch him and maybe he will walk again,’ we want to run, cry or just empty our pockets. It’s a great emotional drag, and this is where Paul helps out. He’s the diplomat with the soft soap. He can turn on that smile like little May sunshine and we’re out of trouble. "We’ve a very tight school, the Beatles. We’re like a machine that goes boom, boomchick, chickboom, each of us with our own little job to do. We’re just like dogs who can hear high-pitched sounds that humans can’t.

The Daily Mirror: The one that bites – Donald Zec dissects Mr J. Lennon. (March 1965)

JOHN: Well, that’s the game they play. Neil Aspinall plays that game too. At one point, in one of the Northern Songs proceedings, I sent a telegram to Neil, because I’d heard he’d been doing things behind me back, and I said: “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.” Because I was the one that protected him many times from Paul. Paul had no love for Neil, and vice versa. And all of a sudden he’s a Paul man. Because they clung to Paul—Derek included—because they all thought Paul was the one who was going to hold it all together. So they had a choice of which side to come down on, and they chose Paul, and the past, and at that moment I cut ‘em off.

John Lennon, interview w/ Peter McCabe and Robert Schonfeld. (September, 1971)

It seemed that John had cut me off not just from him but from the whole Beatles family. The only person who came to see me was Paul. He arrived one sunny afternoon, bearing a red rose, and said, 'I’m so sorry, Cyn, I don’t know what’s come over him. This isn’t right.’ On the way down to see us he had written a song for Julian. It began as ‘Hey Jules’ and later became 'Hey Jude’, which sounded better. Ironically John thought it was about him when he first heard it. It went on to become one of the Beatles’ most successful singles ever, spending nine weeks at number one in the US and two weeks in the UK. Paul stayed for a while. He told me that John was bringing Yoko to recording sessions, which he, George and Ringo hated. […] He joked about us getting married - 'How about it, Cyn?’ - and I was grateful to him for cheering me up and caring enough to come. He was the only member of the Beatles family who’d had the courage to defy John – who had apparently made it quite clear that he expected everyone to follow his lead in cutting me off. But Paul was his own man and not afraid of John. In fact, musically and personally, the two were beginning to go in separate directions so perhaps Paul’s visit to me was also a statement to John.”

Cynthia Lennon, John

“They were the first group I had heard who sounded just like they did on record. You could tell John was the leader, he had a look somehow, a bit of a hard case, but I actually think it was Paul who was in charge.”

Andre Wheeldon, musician

Q: What were the Beatles like to deal with…It was said that John wasn’t the easiest to deal with, Paul was a delight to work with.

A: If we’re talking…professionally, those were the days I was a PR man; and therefore to a man who was doing publicity for the Beatles, Paul had to be the greatest joy of the four because he was the one who organized everyone else. He was the one who posed for the photographers, he was he one who said c’mon chaps, let’s do the interview, let’s do the photograph or whatever. John, in that respect, was more difficult, but John….is the most misunderstood man, actually, because beneath all that bravado and rudeness–and sheer rudeness a lot of the time– there was a genius, and there was also a man who was afraid. I mean all that noise he made was in fact a coverup for being rather a frightened man. Q: He was a shy man… A: Yes, yes indeed. And that is how an awful lot of shy people cover it up by making a lot of noise.”

Tony Barrow, TVAM interview

Paul came across in 1963 as a fun-loving, footloose bachelor who turned on his charm to devastating effect when he wanted to manipulate rivals, colleagues or women he fancied. (...) He had enormous powers of persuasion within The Beatles. He would get his own way by subtlety and suaveness where John resorted to shouting and bullying. John may have been the loudest Beatle but Paul was the shrewdest. I watched him twist the others round to his point of view in all sorts of contentious situations, some trivial, some more significant, some administrative, some creative.

George told me that when he joined Paul and John in the line-up of The Quarry Men in 1958, Paul was already acting as though he was the decision-maker in the group. According to George: "I knew perfectly well that this was John's band and John was my hero, my idol, but from the way Paul talked he gave every indication that he was the real leader, the one who dictated what The Quarry Men would do and where they should be going as a group." This made sense to me because, from what I saw for myself in 1963 and later, Paul's opinions and ideas tended to prevail with The Beatles, particularly on matters of musical policy such as whether a new number was worth recording or whether the running order for the group's stage show needed altering slightly. I didn't see any of the others resist him. They seemed to welcome Paul getting his way by winning arguments with John. When Paul wanted something badly enough from Brian Epstein he would speak softly, wooing the man rather than intimidating him. Epstein's defences would melt away as Paul looked him straight in the eye. In terms of song lyrics, Paul's idea of romantic was 'Michelle', John's was 'Norwegian Wood'.

John, Paul, George, Ringo & Me: The Real Beatles Story, Tony Barrow (2005)

“PAUL: John used to say, ‘I’m the leader of this group!’ and we used to say, 'It’s only because you fucking shout louder than anyone else!’ It wasn’t as if we didn’t know how to do that, it was just nobody wanted to shout and be so uptight about it. Nobody cared as much as he did about being the leader. Actually I have always quite enjoyed being second. I realised why it was when I was out riding: whoever is first opens all the gates. If you’re second you just get to walk through. They’ve knocked down all the walls, they’ve taken all the stinging nettles, they take all the shit and whoever’s second, which is damn near to first, waltzes through and has an easy life. You’re still up with number one. Number one still needs you as his companion, so I think my relationship to John is something to do with this attitude.

paul mccartney: many years from now, barry miles

“When I came out of the Beatles, I got slated for being a bit too heavy with the other guys in the band,” he said. “It was a bit as if I was taking over as the manager. I thought with the new band, I’ll give them total freedom, so no one can accuse me of that again . . . and you can’t do that either. You started to have people saying, ‘Hey man, c’mon, produce us.’ No one would take up the baton, the role. So I came back to that. “The whole of ‘Wings Mark I’ was to see if that could be done. But there was too much indecision, and I wasn’t willing enough to take the thing by the scruff of the neck and say, ‘Look, I think we’ve gotta organize the solos you’re gonna play.’ It was a bit like we’re gonna be the Grateful Dead and we’re just gonna play what comes up. But to do that you’ve gotta know each other for a long time.”

The McCartney Legacy, Volume 1: 1969 – 1973 by Allan Kozinn and Adrian Sinclair (2022)

“Coming out of The Beatles, I’d kind of got burned by being told I was too overbearing. So I really backed off too far in the early days of Wings. Having to be diplomatic and say ‘Um, perhaps we should do this’ doesn’t work either. You have chaos and confusion. Eventually somebody says: 'Why don’t you tell us what you want?’ and I’d think, 'I just got a bollocking for doing that!’ There was a bit of that in early Wings which caused difficulties.”

Paul McCartney, The Word, October 2005

But it was always hard for you to lock a line-up with Wings. Was it a benign dictatorship? That’s what they thought it was. The thing is, if you come out of The Beatles and you go in another group, you’re not just anyone. You’re the guy out of The Beatles. So, y’know, if anyone’s gonna make a decision, it should probably be him. But I mean, having said that, it was a team thing. Y’know, if anyone didn’t like stuff, we didn’t do it. You could never force musicians to do stuff. But you’d suggest strongly.

The Q Interview, 2007

“That’s difficult. I really don’t know,” he says. “What I first thought of was: listen to people’s opinions more, particularly within the group. But I did listen to people’s opinions and what would happen was I would feel like I had to give my opinion and not get too nervous, because you’ve got to be strong in those situations. There were times when John would bring a song in and I could have just gone, ‘That’s great John, let’s do it like that.’ But the producer in me would think, ‘No, that’s not going to work, why don’t we try it like that.’ So something like ‘Come Together’ would never have been as cool if I’d just been listening to the way John brought it in. And there were a few little instances like that where we would insist on it being one way. So I can’t actually think what I’d say to him. I’d say: You’re a good kid, I love you.”

NME Big Read – Paul McCartney

I had to fight at EMI even for things like the thickness of the cardboard. EMI were always trying to give me less and less thick cardboard. I said, 'Look, when I was a kid, I loved my records, the good ones, and I wanted to protect them and thick cardboard would keep my records. That's all I want to do is give the kids who buy our stuff something to protect our records.' 'Well now, Paul, we can't do it, the volume you boys sell at. If we can save point oh oh pence ... And you can't tell the difference.' 'I bloody can! That's a thin piece of cardboard!' But I got my thick cardboard. I was always arguing for things like that. It somehow fell to me. Later people put me down for that, 'Oh, he was always the pushy one, the PR one.' The truth was, no other fucker would do it! And it had to get done, and I was living in London and I could hop in a taxi and go down Manchester Square and say, 'I'll be down in ten minutes to talk to you about the cardboard.'

Paul McCartney, Many Years From Now

[anotherkindofmindpod]

I thought your friend Hercules was a very charming guest host. I don't know if it's a locality thing or if it's a friends rubbing off on each other thing or what but Phoebe was the only person I knew of who consistently said "not for nothing but..." until Hercules made his debut, and it was endearing to hear. I would love him to come back next time you guys need a Beatles novice. No offense to the women you guys had on the Dylan McCartney episode, but they stressed me out with their sub-par knowledge lol. I'd much rather listen to Hercules next time you need a bit like that. He's intelligent and opinionated yet openly uneducated about the Beatles, and that makes him a fun counterpart to you two -- intelligent and opinionated and encyclopedically educated and the Beatles.

Anyway I am brimming with joy in anticipation of your upcoming happy series about John and Paul! Cannot wait!

Love this, thank you so much, Anon!!!

[anotherkindofmindpod]

Neurodiversity and The Beatles. Discuss.

Hi Anon!

A friend and I recorded an episode on this very topic awhile ago but due to my neurodivergence I'm having a hard time getting it done. 😅

I have every intention to eventually finish and publish it, however.

-Thalia

[anotherkindofmindpod]

Hi there, hugee long time fan of the podcast here! I was wondering if you’d ever interview Ian Leslie regarding his new book? I do believe that most of his “fresh” takes and theories have for the most part been discussed at large on this website and on your show for years now, but I would love to hear y’all discuss the new direction Beatles discourse seems to be taking in the mainstream… Keep up the amazing work! 💪

Thank you, Anon! :) We greatly appreciate those kind words. We have no plans to interview Leslie. We answered a similar ask HERE. Thanks for listening and Stay tuned! xoxox AKOM