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My possibly-unpopular McLennon take is that I think, regardless of whether Paul had non-platonic feelings for John at other points in his life (especially when he was a wee lad and John was The Boy), he really didn't want to be John's keeper by late 68/69. John was EXHAUSTING and Paul was TIRED*, and he just wanted to find a nice woman to be his own emotional support person and to start a family with to help keep him grounded. He did still want to make beautiful music with John, though - literally - and I feel like that's where the conflicted response to Yoko comes in: he didn't want to take Yoko's place, because he didn't want that job, but he wanted John to have someone like Cynthia who would do the thankless work of being equal parts mommy, sexual partner, and secretary, without infringing on Paul's territory.

But I feel like "Paul was capable of dating John, he just didn't want to" is not a particularly attractive narrative in a shipping context, nor is the idea that Paul loved John but might have preferred being with Linda anyway, not just because of heteronormativity, but because she was nicer to him and relationships tend to work better when both parties aren't high-maintenance.

(*Note: I think it's also true in some ways that professionally, it was the other way around: Paul was exhausting, and John was tired. Hence the split: that rope was fraying at both ends even before other people in their lives took a hacksaw to it.)

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just Thinking

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Also, how is the winner of an RPF tournament a ship with 139 works on AO3??? All of bandom did not die for this!

jesus/judas isn't even the best jesus yaoi. the betrayal kiss is a powerful symbol for sure and judas killing himself after jesus' crucifixion is of course hugely significant (see: jesus christ superstar). but in biblical canon there is literally a disciple described as jesus' most beloved. his favourite disciple. his philtatos, for the song of achilles girlies. he was the last disciple to die, he leans his head on jesus' shoulder at the last supper (and some scholars believe he was the only one jesus told of the nature of judas' betrayal). and lest we forget peter, who also betrayed/rejected jesus after swearing his eternal love for him, threatened to kill and die for him, was all like "i'll follow you anywhere" and "i'll be with you forever". straight up tried to walk on water for jesus. He was crazy. it was yaoi central in there

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Best RPF Ship - Round 6 Match 2

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I'd like to thank the New York Times Connection AI tool (which tries to guess why people incorrectly grouped words together) for a much-needed laugh. Yes, those famous and beloved X-Men: Rogue, Wolverine, and Bananas.

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Sorry but Paul lowkey making hyperpop was awesome

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One of the (many) things that makes me Insane in Beatles historiography discussions is the bizarrely omnipresent presumption that, if Paul's version of events runs counter to objective facts or someone else's narrative, then the only/most likely possible explanation is that Paul is intentionally, maliciously lying to attain some kind of PR or monetary advantage.

I'm not saying this is a thing he would never do or has never done, but that it is not Occam's razor here. The most probable explanation is that, because Paul does not spend the amount of time researching and analyzing Paul McCartney's life and the on-record statements of all other players in the Beatles saga that we here on Tumblr dot com do, 95% of the time the problem is that Paul has forgotten, confused, or potentially never knew this contradictory information.

The extent to which Paul is rarely, if ever, given any grace or benefit of the doubt is Wild to me. Philip Norman really imprinted HARD on everyone's brain, lol.

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If your specific mischaracterization isn't here feel free to add in the notes.

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imagine the dude that directed the documentary about your band that was largely considered to be the documentation of your split phones you up and says yeah i have this idea for a new movie and you’re like oh word what is it and he’s like well you remember your exbandmate and friend. i’ve been thinking about what might have happened if you two spent a day together in 1976 walking around new york and going to restaurants and having fun and getting into fights and i’ve based this on studying the intricate minutiae of your relationship and mannerisms as i knew you both well. before you ask yes you do kiss. naturally you’d be like well that sounds great can’t wait to see it buddy

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In one passage written by Entwistle he told of a night in Blackpool, England, in 1964 when the Who opened for the Beatles. While the crowd were making too much noise to hear what the Fab Four were singing, the Who had a direct feed from the stage into their dressing room. "It became apparent that the Beatles had figured that since the screaming couldn’t be stopped and no one out front in the audience could possibly hear a thing, then they might as well have some fun," he wrote. "Soon the four of us were crying with laughter at the words they were singing and which only we were able to pick up on. 'It’s been a hard day’s c–k... I wanna hold your c–t...' They struck a last chord, and they were gone. And we got on with the task of packing out own gear away."

The Ox: The Last of the Great Rock Stars: The Authorised Biography of The Who's John Entwistle, Paul Rees (2020)

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This ‘quote’ from Yoko is certainly something

"It's a pity, really. I like Paul! I think of him as a friend. John is the one who doesn't like Paul. Paul was always the cute one and John was jealous of that. When I first met Paul I was attracted to him. I'm like that when I really like someone. I try to get close to the guy who's close to the guy I like. That's why I was getting close to John, so I would be near Paul if he wanted to make a move. And Paul was attracted to me, I could see that. But he couldn't handle the idea of being attracted to somebody John was with because that would be a violation of the fraternity rules. I was someone else's property; that's how men think, you know. So then Paul was very frustrated because he wanted me and felt that he couldn't have me. That's why he always acted so mean to me. Men always think like that, you know. If they can't have a woman they want to punish her. But I think that he was always a little interested because of the way he looked at me. Even when he used to come here with Linda, he was always looking at me funny when he knew Linda and John couldn't see him doing it. There were other things too, like he got married because John and I did."

"I thought that he got married to Linda before you married John."

"Well he did, but he knew that John and I were planning to, so right away he married Linda so he would get the headlines first. He's like John that way, very competitive. I think that if it wasn't for me, he never would have married Linda at all. She was just a groupie, you know. I don't think they ever would have married if it wasn't for the competitive pressure between John and Paul and Paul's frustration about me. He just married her to prove that I didn't mean anything to him. I think he does still feel something about me though. Do you want to read on that and see how he's feeling about me?"

I did and it didn't look like love. Disdain, maybe, contempt certainly, but definitely not love.

"He seems to have gotten over his infatuation with you."

"Are you sure? That's very funny. Well, he hasn't seen me in such a long time, so maybe that's it… I don't know why men think that I'm so attractive. But they all seem to. I can tell from the way they look at me—Do you think if Paul were to see me that he would be attracted again? I still like him, you know."

Excerpt from ‘Dakota Days’ by John Green

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they're so real...

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we as a collective do Not talk enough about how crazy the lyric "I've seen religion from jesus to paul" was

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Just thinking about Paul in the 70s talking to John about music as a way to reconnect with him and reaffirm how important John was to him, because music IS a key part of who he is, and after everything they went through together, John was an inextricable part of that... and John hearing Paul talk about music and thinking that Paul was just taunting him with how much more productive and successful he was. They're so at cross-purposes that it would be funny if it was a rom-com, but it wasn't a rom-com and they never actually worked it out and argheilhgleihgwlihgilewhgli.

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After lunch, we all returned to the Dakota, where I hoped the repartee might become somewhat more sparkling. Yoko and Linda paired off for a bit and chatted amiably—the two of them got along famously, bonded by the shared experience, perhaps, of being married to a Beatle—while John and Paul stood by the windows overlooking Central Park, watching as the afternoon sky turned a whiter shade of pale over Manhattan. They remained silent for long stretches, until awkwardness forced one of them to take a stab at conversation.

“Are you making any music?” Paul asked at one point.

“Well, you know, I play some stuff for me, but I’m not working on anything. Music isn’t what’s driving me at this point. It’s all about the baby. What about you?”

“Oh, I’m always recording,” Paul said. “I couldn’t live without the music in me life.”

Then, for a spell, they fell back into silence.

It seemed that these two rock ’n’ roll behemoths, men who in their youth had all but defined the zeitgeist of the ’60s—who had inspired an entire generation and redirected music’s very destiny—were now, a mere decade later, struggling to find things to say to each other.

A part of me found it sad. But then, what was I expecting? Even the best of childhood friends eventually slip into separate lives. It’s called growing up. Now they were just two old chums who no longer had all that much in common. It was unreasonable of me to presume that merely being in the same room together would somehow ignite the genius and energy of John and Paul’s initial creative partnership.

Still, on the walk back from the Dakota to the Plaza that evening, as I passed all the glimmering Christmas lights and heard snippets of holiday melodies wafting out of the few restaurants and bars that were still open and serving, I couldn’t help but think that history might have been made on this day.

“Are you making any music?” Paul had asked John.

What if John had said something like “No, but me guitar is in the next room. Let’s sit down and make some…”

God only knows what classic Lennon-McCartney creation might have been born that afternoon.

Excerpt From ‘We All Shine On’, Elliot Mintz