#and paul and john can live their lives together

[beatlblog]

#as she should#excellent nepo baby behaviour (via thewalrusespublicist)

The only good nepo baby (via perasperaadastratoday)

#awesome (via jokerlennon)

#oh to have been a fly on the wall when/if this ever got discussed at Apple! (via ljblueteak)

#It's what John would have wanted (via romcomisdead)

#my apologies stella mccartney I was unfamiliar with your game#now THIS is how you maintain the beatles legacy (via barelyaveragebarley)

#now you too can be the fifth beatle#immersive circle jerk experience (via adolescentsalvation)

#it's what the beatles would have wanted (via saint-mona)

#this valentine's day... you can too beat the meatles ;) (via harddaysnite)

#why did i not put together that stella mccartney was his daughter#the beatles#ig (via aspiringhexgirl)

#beautiful#john would approve#you go girl (via dandy-lad)

#no way they are not aware of the Allegations (via elena-ferrante)

#girls will see four ET fingers and think “maybe?”#sorry. I know I live in a glass house#I shouldnt throw stones#But they really do look like ET fingers tho (via ode-on-a-grecian-butt)

#are. are they sold in fours like that 👀#like is she encouraging you and your girls to beat the meatles as a group#like. jus#just like her dad and his#and his friends did??#me and who and who and who?? (via goffredotedesco)

#only good things about the beatles#also that song was about a threesome was it not (via genericusername37)

#better than the so this is christmas animated short that took the oscar. if were being honest (via synthient)

#stella is one inch away from beating out francesca scorcese as my favorite nepo baby (via ozymandiasdirge)

#seeing that an actual Beatles biographer (Albert Goldman)#referred to the band as ‘The Four Little Dildos’#I’d say that the the Beatles journey has come full circle! (via didwemeetsomewherebefore)

#wait she isnt just a random designer??#need to look this up (via lazyspeedy)

#this is what all nepo babies should be doing (via wronglennon)

#good for her#honoring her father’s band’s legacy (via uncahier)

#conflicted between how good the name is versus the vibrators' sad beige design#like man. i was kinda hoping for a yellow submarine themed vibrator.#i can dream (via eyebrightt)

#finally#theres literally moans in that song (via catinsatintrousers)

#oh lmfao#i only know her as fashion icon so this is amazing as fuck#hab kontakte zu kontakten jungs meint ihr ich krieg n sale drauf? 🙏😂😂😂😂😂😂😂#vt branche so ein scheiß witz. (via keo6323)

#where is the cronenberg why dont we do it in the road collab? (via britneyspearcheermix)

#the beatles#I GUESS#john lennon would be proud i think (via andonlyafoolwouldsaythat)

#ivan simon hitting PURCHASE (via theflirtmeister)

#a bit curious abt the legal aspects of this#did this have to be brought up to paul's legal team? did ringo also have to sign off on this?#im assuming no to both of those questions but it's a little funny to imagine (via just-another-obsessed-fangirl)

#it's what they would've wanted (via therottenkingsreckoning)

#love how its not her dads song. (via leanderqueenie)

#now that’s how you lean into a legacy (via adriennefrombrooklyn)

#four pronged vibrator to allow anyone to recreate the legendary group beatles jo (via cypr1anlatew00d)

stella mccartney is using her dads music to sell vibrators finally someone who understands what the beatles are about

[fireintheimpala]

1979 is now up there with 1968 in my “WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED BETWEEN PAUL MCCARTNEY AND JOHN LENNON” years.

You don’t just make something as joyful, teasing, naughty, and romantic as McCartney II out of the blue… You don’t just then come out of retirement out of the blue and starting boogying to Double Fantasy + Milk and Honey tracks COINCIDENTALLY, do you? DO YOU??

This is driving me a little crazy. What is your favorite conspiracy theory here?

[muzaktomyears]

The secret messages Lennon and McCartney hid in the Beatles’ songs

As Ian Leslie’s superb book John & Paul explains, the greatest songwriting partnership in pop history was a volatile and tortured one

★★★★★ 5/5

John Lennon and Paul McCartney in November 1963

John Lennon and Paul McCartney may have been only half of the Fab Four, but don’t expect Ian Leslie to write a “George and Ringo” book. The Beatles’ beating heart was always Lennon and McCartney. In John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs, Leslie, whose previous books have focused on applied philosophy, examines their relationship through the lens of individual tracks. We’re taken from Come Go With Me, the doo-wop number that Lennon sang at a Woolton church fete in 1957 when the pair met, to Here Today, McCartney’s 1981 tribute to his murdered friend.

The Lennon-McCartney songwriting powerhouse, which would produce around 180 songs, began in earnest in 1962 after the two men made the decision to sideline George Harrison. (Ironically, the latter’s Here Comes the Sun, from 1969, is today the most streamed Beatles song on Spotify.) Their partnership became a private dialogue, even as millions fell in love with the music. Few knew, for example, that Lennon’s I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party, a 1964 Beatles song, was raking over McCartney’s real-life 21st birthday celebrations a year earlier, during which Lennon had savagely beat up Cavern compère Bob Wooler for joking that the singer’s holiday with gay Beatles manager Brian Epstein had been a “honeymoon”. 

Wracked by self-doubt even as the Beatles conquered the world, Lennon developed what Leslie describes as a “charisma of vulnerability”, evident in the lyrics of Strawberry Fields Forever, a track “finely poised between dream and nightmare”. It inspired McCartney to write the single’s flipside, Penny Lane. Both lyrics swathe in surreality various Liverpool locations that were significant to their writers. Leslie imagines the songs “facing each other, deep in conversation. Radically different, but umbilically connected.”

Early Lennon-McCartney songs were written “eyeball-to-eyeball”, quite literally: Leslie notes the “intensity” of the duo’s eye-contact in Peter Jackson’s 2021 documentary The Beatles: Get Back. “When John wasn’t being looked at by Paul,” Leslie writes, “he didn’t know who he was supposed to be.” (Or, as Lennon tells McCartney in Get Back, as they work on Two of Us: “It’s like you and me are lovers.”) In the Beatles’ final public performance, on their Savile Row rooftop in January 1969, Leslie suggests that “Paul can see that John is happy, and because John is happy, Paul is euphoric.” In recent live concerts, McCartney has used the footage in a virtual “duet” with Lennon.

Leslie’s analysis, empathetic and carefully sourced, reaches its apogee with his account of the rift that emerged in India in 1968. The Beatles had gone to Rishikesh for meditation and enlightenment under the tutelage of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Lennon and McCartney wrote scores of songs there, including most of the “White Album”. 

But in this spiritual and creative idyll, Lennon suffered a breakdown. He had long harboured feelings of betrayal and loss: abandoned by his parents, he was brought up by an aunt; when in his teens he got to know his mother, she was killed in a road accident. His close friend and original Beatle Stuart Sutcliffe had died; so, more recently, had Epstein. The Maharishi hadn’t brought an end to the trauma as Lennon had hoped: worse, to Lennon McCartney seemed indifferent to his pain, and left Rishikesh early without him. Back in London, in a drug-fuelled madness, Lennon announced to the rest of the Beatles that he was Jesus, and howled with pain on the song Yer Blues. 

Lennon in 1975, post-Beatles break-up, with Yoko Ono (l) at a London protest 

After the Beatles stopped touring in 1966, the two men had spent less time together. Lennon sank into depression. His musical dialogue with McCartney continued, even after the Beatles split in 1970, but it took a darker form: listen to How Do You Sleep?, a 1971 anti-McCartney diatribe that contains the line “The only thing you did was yesterday.” Yesterday, the first Beatles recording to have featured just one member of the group (McCartney), remained as much a source of bitterness for Lennon as of wonder. He asked a friend whether Imagine was “as good as Yesterday”. Conversely, in his 1973 song I Know (I Know), by which time post-split tempers had cooled, Lennon would sing: “I love you more than yesterday.” 

John & Paul is an elegantly written and original telling of the Beatles’ story, which is as enthralling and astonishing as their music. There are fresh insights for the most seasoned Fab Four fan. Decades after their split, listening to the Beatles can still yield new rewards, and Leslie is an expert listener. As he puts it, describing Hey Jude: “What started so modestly, one human addressing another, culminates in this massed glory.”

(source)

[undying-love]

John and Paul on each other: A Compilation

John:

"He [Paul] looked like Elvis. I dug him."

"I'm like everyone else, Harry. I fell for Paul's looks."

"..an old, estranged fiancée of mine called Paul."

"Paul...you're so well-built." (X)

"Groups like this are normally not friends. They’re just four people out there thrown together to make an act. There may be two of them who sort of go off and are friends, you know...Strictly platonic of course."

"Oh, I've had him, he's no good."

"I was riding on a boat called Paul, and now I'm riding on a boat called Yoko."

"I've compared to a marriage a million times and I hope it's… understandable. For people that aren't married. Or any relationship. It was a LONG relationship. It started many, many years before the American public, or the English public for that matter, knew us. Paul and I were together since he was 15, I was 16."

"Nobody ever said anything about Paul's having a spell on me or my having one on Paul! They never thought that was abnormal in those days, two guys together, or four guys together! Why didn't they ever say, "How come those guys don't split up? I mean, what's going on backstage? What is this Paul and John business? How can they be together so long?"

"Well, Paul had met Linda before [the Apple press conference], you see. I mean, there were quite a few women he'd obviously had that I never knew about. God knows when he was doing it, but he must have been doing it."

"I don’t even think about Paul unless somebody brings him up. Or if some song comes out or something happens, they’re in the newspaper. I don’t know why everyone doesn’t just leave him alone—I haven’t really seen him in ten years. I can talk about him forever because I know all about him, but you see, there’s nothing much to say."

[Studio chatter] Paul: I will be overpowering this time. John: Oh good. I like it when you’re brutal. (X)

Paul:

"John was really my only male friend, if only because of proximity."

"[While playing live] John was to the left or to the right of me, so I never got to sort of see him perform so much. Except in the film [Get Back]. And there he is in massive closeup. I can study everything about him.”

“I’ll just sit around and hug him forever, because that’s the depth of my feeling for him."

"And I would often sketch John when we worked together, often without him knowing it. It was so easy doing John because he had glasses, those sideboards...and that long, aquiline nose."

"When I painted him recently, I found myself saying, ‘How did his lips go?"

"I can still see John now: checked shirt, slightly curly hair…I remember thinking, ‘He looks good - I wouldn’t mind being in a group with him."

"James reminds me very much of John in many ways: he's got beautiful hands. John had beautiful hands."

"If I'm going to see a face in a painting, it's highly likely to be his."

"I still remember his beery old breath when I first met him that day. But I soon came to love that beery old breath. And I loved John."

"I’m often thinking of him. I dream of him."

"Delicious boy, delicious broth of a boy."

"John and I used to hitch-hike places together. It was something that we did together quite a lot; cementing our friendship, getting to know our feelings, our dreams, our ambitions together. It was a very wonderful period. I look back on it with great fondness. I particularly remember John and I would be squeezed in our little single bed."

"There's a song I do called Here Today which is specifically written for John. That sometimes catches me out. I realize I'm telling this man that I love him and it's like I'm publicly declaring this in front of all these people I don't know. I sometimes wonder what I'm doing."

"We are individuals— all different. John married Yoko, I married Linda. We didn’t marry the same girl.”

"Please Please Me was a John idea. John liked the double meaning of “please”. Yeah, “please” is, you know, pretty please. “Please have intercourse with me. So, pretty please, have intercourse with me, I beg you to have intercourse with me.” He liked that, and I liked that he liked that."

"[John] was a wild and woolly genius who it was my pleasure to work with, walk with, talk with and occasionally sleep with. "

Q: If John Lennon could come back for a day, how would you spend it with him? Paul: In bed.

"Then also [me and John] 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.”

"I think really what it was, 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."

[johns-prince]

1967 is decidedly peak year for Lennon-McCartney as John and Paul were reportedly and observably the closest they ever been. Coming and going together, John always hanging around Paul's house, practically inseparable.

Then somewhere from the end of 1967 to the beginning of 1968, India happens, and just all of a sudden these two are having a falling out? For no real reason? Go on, you can't believe that.

1967, we know John and Paul started taking LSD together. While they were close before, tripping out like this gave them access to getting much closer to each other than before. We know the experience of dissolving into each other through that eye contact thing was described by Paul as both disturbing, but good, and other subsequent trips with John as fantastic because of this new access to each other in ways they hadn't realized was probably possible.

There really isn't much of John talking about these specific trips with Paul, but considering how insistent he had been to take LSD with Paul, and the fact they continued to take it together to the point even Jane was jealous of John getting to experience that with Paul—he was probably over the moon about it. Finally, he gets to experience this much much deeper connection with Paul, melds them into one, their thoughts and feelings becoming singular.

Aside from how much closer John and Paul had gotten, it seems the Beatles at a whole were as close as ever. You have their trip to Greece in the same year, and how there were talks about them buying an island and living on it together.

1967 was really the year for the Beatles, for John and Paul especially.

Still, there's reservations. Paul mentions how you can't come back from the kind of experience he shared with John. You could say that he meant between all them, but that's only because Paul has a habit of including the other two whenever he's uncomfortable with the strong use of “I, me, myself,” in conjugation with John in certain contexts. We were jealous, we loved him, we felt like he was leaving us. Paul only briefly mentions George and Ringo, like a second thought, when describing his first LSD trip with John.

But it was just Paul and John, and I'm sure there were many other subsequent trips that involved solely them.

So they can't go back. Their relationship has changed in a fundamental way that both excites and pleases and disturbs Paul. We can only presume John wasn't as disturbed by it as he was pleased by getting to have this closeness with Paul that no one else would be able to share in. It was all their own.

Paul loved the Lennon-McCartney relationship for everything that it was, but he probably didn't want it to swallow up his whole self/identity (which is normal) Additionally, while I believe Paul is actually pretty straight heterosexual male, I do believe he had this special exception for John—and how can you reconcile that? I don't think Paul had the emotional and mental capacity to quite start to confront the fact there was some romantic/sexual tension between him and John that couldn't just be explained away.

For comparison, Yoko was willing to let her whole identity be swallowed up in the JohnandYoko partnership and relationship that we know today. Because it was technically giving John everything he needed from a partner that would keep him satiated or delusional enough for her to keep him and his connections and finances under her thumb. Even when it inevitably frustrated her that she felt living and thriving off of John's coattails, she made the choice to forgo her individualism and identity for what being with someone like John could give her. There would be no Yoko Ono in the papers and in any relevance without John Lennon.

It was kind of a perfect storm because Yoko and John were both very insecure people, fearful of failure and being a failure and being left behind, whether that be by others or the world.

In another essay I would point out that Yoko got with John because she needed him, needed him to help her complete herself, to transform her into a cultural and artistic icon. I'm not sure she always necessarily wanted him by choice as she needed him as means to an end.

Paul didn't exactly need to be with John as much as he wanted to be John, he wanted to be by John, next to, creating, collaborating, existing with. That's why in a way it was kind of silly for John to fear Paul going off on a solo career after writing yesterday. If Paul wanted to leave John and the others he could've, but he didn't. He wanted to be a Beatle, he wanted to be John's partner, to continue making music together until they were old men. Paul chose to be with John because he wanted to be. Simple as.

Anyway, Paul might have his own complexes and issues but Paul wasn't dealing with the black hole in his chest like John was. He had his insecurities, but Paul never needed to meld his entirety with another to try and make himself complete. Paul was much more secure in himself than John, even if he had to fake it at times, Paul always seemed to know himself better. Paul didn't carry around a self-hatred and lack of self worth like John did.

From an outsiders perspective, I can't fault Paul for not either wanting to be John's everything and anything, and not being able to be that infinite everything and anything for John—because of the time, the place, the sex, all the psychosexual bullshit in between, and because in the end it probably would've devoured them.

I doubt John knew how to deal with it either. John was always prone to extremes, one or the other, you love me fully unconditionally or you don't. What made the whole affair unfair was that he had the hardest time believing anyone could love him fully unconditionally. And Paul did (he still does!) but there's only so much a normal human being with flaws and hangups of his own can take.

By 1968 it seemed like John was hardly in a great state—increasingly abusing substances, feeling completely trapped by his first marriage (no fault of Cynthia, she tried so hard to make it work and make him happy), smothered by expectations, Brian's death (he's cursed y'know, everyone who's ever loved him dies on him), and probably some kind of mental illness brought on by it all—John wouldn't have been in a very stable mindset to really consider or even care too much about any repercussions about leaving his first wife and child to then go gallivanting as a free man, with his best male friend, collaborator, and partner.

But Paul, steadfast, moderate and conservative, not yet completely in the mental anguish shitter like John is, would be conscious enough of these consequences, what it could mean for the band, for them. These things mattered. And maybe John's a special case but Paul's not gay so how could it work to begin with? If he can't make any justifications for it or excuses (maybe if I had been a girl I could have...) then it just can't be done.

Yeah we love each other yeah we want to be in each others pockets till the day we croak, we feel like we NEED each other like air in lungs (yeah we might've fucked) but there's nothing to do about it so we just need to go on like usual and keep it at that.

Because it worked fine before, the way we were dealing with it. Why try to fix something that isn't broken?

But it was broken.

John wanted more but Paul couldn't give it to him. Paul has a right to how he feels, we can never say exactly what, and he wasn't in any wrong in denying or rejecting John if that's what happened.

But, I've always believed too that Paul always had an unrealistic expectation of his own relationship with John.

Because it's just not fair to expect John to keep on going on like everything is normal and his relationship with Paul and all the feelings and wants that entails are normal.

Not holding similar feelings for a friend is just as valid as holding deeper feelings for a friend and finding you can't stay friends due to not being able to go back on these feelings.

But why couldn't Paul have John, and Linda, and a big family, and John. Why can't he have his cake and eat it to. Why couldn't John have his relationship with Yoko and still have his partnership with Paul.

Because they aren't normal best friends that's why. Their partnership wasn't normal. Even Paul admits to it. Paul had to “make way” for Yoko because in a sense he was John's first girlfriend. Of course Yoko couldn't be secure in her marriage with John if Paul was still in the picture. Even if Paul doesn't understand the depth of meaning behind this because he's preposterous doesn't make it any less obvious. And don't think for a second John would've made it any easier for Linda, and like hell Linda would've put up with it.

So, John was “if we can't be lovers we can never be friends,” and Paul was, “I'll have my cake and I'll eat it to.”

I'm not trying to paint anyone as a villain in this. Both sides are understandable, both sides don't actually want to lose the other, both sides love each other, they just have different perspectives and feelings on the matter.

It's whether these differences can be reconciled and reasonable compromises can be made.

But we're talking about John and Paul and as we know, these differences were not reconciled and they were not reasonable men to be making reasonable compromises. Also they were two men.

John wanted all or nothing. Paul couldn't give all, because it's unrealistic and because Paul probably already thought he was giving John as much of him as he could reasonably give. But it wasn't enough.

If they could have kept each other and their relationship as it was despite getting married, I do believe Paul would have had no problem keeping Linda and his kids in one box, and his special little relationship with John in another box. They were able to do it before with John's marriage to Cynthia, why couldn't the same apply?

We know why. Cynthia was never a real, genuine threat to Paul and the Beatles (but mainly Paul) in the end, John always chose to go off the other boys, to go stay nights over at Paul's home instead of staying home with his wife and kid. She simply didn't interfere.

The many girls Paul screwed around with, while certainly put John on edge, and he hardly liked or got along with any, weren't anything too serious and at that time John was willing to put up with it or he hadn't the capacity to really evaluate his life as it was and his relationship and feelings towards Paul.

But Linda was a genuine threat. She wasn't going away. Paul loved her, she could give him everything. And what could that mean for John, especially if he had been making his feelings known, he was pushing for something deeper, definitive, with Paul? How could John stand a chance.

Yoko was nothing like Cynthia. How John treated her and their relationship was nothing like his last marriage. Paul was no longer the sun in John's universe, it was Yoko, and for once Paul was actually put on edge, similar to that of Stu, if not worse. She was his wife, his partner, a woman, a girl. Since Paul wasn't a girl then what chance did he have to put a stop to it, what right did he have to say anything?

John starting it by bringing Yoko into their sessions as if to make a point. Maybe Paul got the point of he didn't not entirely but maybe he was tired and can't Paul McCartney get a little tired of these games when he's hopped skipped jumped and crawled to try and prove to John each time that yes I love, yes I won't leave you willingly, yes I'll put up with you because I love you and you love me right? We're in this together for the long haul.

Can't go back to compartmentalizing relationships outside of Lennon-McCartney, and it seemed their relationship couldn't remain as it were with wives and children between them. Things were different now, they were different. John and Paul had grown, and while their past comments about sticking together as partners even after the Beatles go bust, even in their old age, is cutesy and sweet and coming from young boys who really didn't know any better but knew they loved each other and loved creating together—what's to become of them now that Pandora's box had been opened.

It's all led up to the point when things begin to breakdown, the band starts to pull apart, relations splinter, and John starts bringing up divorce, divorce from the Beatles, divorce from Paul.

The details we won't be privy to, we can only speculate and theorize and piece the puzzle pieces. But it's such a short time frame for such a massive change from John and Paul's relationship in 1967—almost always found together, John at Paul's home, John and Paul arriving together to the studio, taking walks, dissolving into each other—to how they treated and behaved toward each other in 1968, especially after India.

Without proper communication, without making the effort to confront the reality of what they were to each other and what that might mean, plus the drugs and the alcohol, I'm not surprised these unexplained feelings between them began festering.

I've lost the plot somewhere halfway in the post. But something happened.

The final straw was probably in India. But before India, the tension must have been building, like the calm before a storm. Taking LSD together changed the way they saw their relationship, or maybe simply gave them a more honest approach to it, a much less inhibited understanding of what they meant to each other. It scared Paul, or worried him, but he still liked it, which might've been just as worrisome. John was probably thrilled about it, loved experiencing it with Paul, and it might have enlightened him further on what he actually wants. Though drugs should never be trusted. Then Brian died. The Beatles were shattered with grief. John was beginning to spiral. And then it was 1968, and in February the boys went to India. Everything changed significantly there. John and Paul spent a lot of time alone in one room. They were seen together a lot. John often gazing. Something happened. Something happened and we don't know what but it did. Sex? Maybe, maybe not. A confession? Maybe, maybe not. They come back, worse than for better. John works tirelessly to break Paul's heart and drive him to some sort of reaction. To fight, to stay. Love me love me. Paul couldn't or wouldn't because "if I had been a girl then maybe I could have..." but he wasn't so he they had to make way for Yoko. Paul loves Linda, John loves Yoko. They get married a week apart. John and Paul divorce the Beatles breakup. John really didn't actually ever love Paul and they didn't grow up in the same bed or write eyeball-to-eyeball and hey did you know he loved Yoko because she reminds him of a bloke in drag? She's me in drag. John actually manages to instill some of that insecurity and fear in Paul—about his talent, about who he is on his own, whether or not John ever loved actually him. They fight nasty like bitter exes. Paul is the first to lay down the arms with Dear Friend. John responds with Jealous Guy. They're on and off. Paul continues to try to make the effort to connect with John again, despite John and despite Yoko. The lost weekend happens, a total mystery in itself. Calls are missed and time still passes. John comes to the inevitable conclusion that he still loves Paul no matter how hard he tries to not love him, that he can't escape. John backtracks a lot. They start talking again. They occasionally see each other. They rent a studio to use after the new year in 1981. John is suddenly killed in December of 1980. Paul keeps John's name and legacy alive for years and years and years. Paul reminisces about their shared past like a widower. Their relationship will be compared to a marriage, a love affair like that of Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn, and even soulmates. They are only ever known as brothers, collaborators, and friends.

The greatest songwriting duo that ever was. The lovers that never were.

[crepesuzette2023]

Today of all days: fics in which John is old and happy!

Take a sad song, and make it better (@javelinbk). Excellent fix-it. “What would have happened if John had taken up Paul’s offer to come to the UK in 1980?” There’s also a Christmas follow-up and a sweet, fluffy extra!

(Just Like) Starting Over (dollylux). 8 December 1980, and John and Paul are writing together. The magic is still there.

Would you still love me if I were a worm? (@unchaineddaisychain). Old McLennon discuss hypotheticals. In bed. This is how it should have been!

Here Today (HerSpecialAgent005). John and Paul got together in the 1970’s, and live in Scotland. In December 1980, they invite friends and family for a cozy dinner—but Paul feels anxious for no reason he can explain…

Grow Old with Me (@inherownwr1te). Old McLennon on the Scottish farm, a broken arm, taking care of each other. Old love at its finest!

oh darling, pardon me (can you help me remember?) (@inherownwr1te; set in the same ‘verse as “Grow Old With Me”): Paul is nervous about the release of his and John’s next album. John soothes him with a tried-and-true method…by combing his legs. Seeing these two being sweet and bantering together is good for the soul.

Take the shape my body makes (backbenttulips). Mid 1980s. Married McLennon find themselves in a sex shop, watch Beatle porn, and fuck. Then they shop at Williams Sonoma. Pure Utopian bliss.

Having Coffee (dornfelder). “In a world where Mark Chapman doesn’t shoot John Lennon, the Beatles reunite in 1982. In 1983, John and Paul are outed by the tabloid press.It’s 2020, and two journalists are on their way to meet them in their home in Central London.” Interview/Article fic that nails the reporting voice and John and Paul’s voices perfectly.

everything that dies someday comes back (@backbenttulips). 2008. Paul is divorcing Heather; John is out as bi. After a lifetime of being friends and loving others, they are free to declare their love. I’m enjoying this one, because it honors the other relationships in both of their lives, while also leaving space for the lifelong big love they never lost: each other.

[penguininahottub]

This is, by no means, original thought. However, after the release of Beatles ‘64, I just want someone to make a Beatles film that is for us. Forget the mainstream and do what Cynthia said had never happened - people getting the emotion right instead of just the facts. The Beatles story isn’t a success story, it isn’t a rags to riches story, it isn’t an even a story about genius, it’s a story that has the power to change the world and one that will be told for ever. We are living in an era where we get to witness a myth being made and so in tribute to the oral tradition, we need to be the myth-makers. Someone needs to tell the story. I hope it will be Paul. I fear it won’t. Perhaps he can’t or shouldn’t, perhaps he won’t be believed. He definitely won’t be if everyone, including him, keeps recycling the same tropes. We know there’s no new stuff to be created, but there is a new light to be shed on what we know is there. This is beginning to sound a bit like the discovery of the Book of Mormon. No one needs another religion, but we do need is for someone to actually attempt to approach this seismic cultural event with an honest and open perspective.

Yoko allowed John to believe he was the genius. John’s canonisation (his manufactured image does him no favours) means that we can forget that Paul was the revered one in the 60s. He was the chosen one - in every way. John clocked it at their very first meeting.

“I half thought to myself, He’s as good as me, I’d been kingpin up to then. Now, I thought, if I take him on, what will happen?”- John

He took a risk, he made his choice and then never again believed in his own ultimate superiority. The story he’d told himself growing up, was that nobody was capable of spotting his genius because they were all below him. Surely a trauma response to being abandoned by his parents. Never could stand to be ignored, forever desperate to be seen and yet incapable of taking off the armour of cruelty. Look at me! Paul was the same, not armour but a wall of charm. Underneath John was soft and Paul is that almost impenetrable wall. They let each other in, and each betrayed the other. Those instincts of self-preservation that John spoke about.

Anyway, he took the chance on Paul, because he wanted to be somebody and Paul and him together made that a real possibility. Also, Paul was fucking hot and clever and talented. He was also a non-conforming weirdo who made everything look effortless and wouldn’t join John’s gang and wouldn’t let him lead. I wonder if this was Paul knowing, from the first moment of seeing John as was then confirmed by subsequent sightings and (I suspect) recces, strategically carried out to observe John (oh that bus worship carries some significance beyond an appreciation for public transport), that he knew how to handle John. Handle and manage John, in order to make him his very own.

(Is it him? Does it matter, because Paul has told us he “noticed” John many times, even before the chocolate bar.)

But, all the Paul adulation, especially John’s own uncontrollable, unconditional veneration, got to be too much. He couldn’t keep his jealousy in check. No quantity of material objects, women, money, food, fame soothed the ache for long enough. He thought Yoko, and because I am sure this is what Yoko promised him, was the only person who would always be in awe of him. She wasn’t, and the really tragic part is that Paul was from the jump, he still is and his faith never waivered.

If only they’d been able to maintain the connection and never lose the ability to read each other’s minds.

They burned too brightly. They loved too hard.

[certifiedbeatlesposts]

i know like a hundred posts have probably been made about this already but i just think the story of john and paul is one of the most heart-wrenching things ever. like two lonely teenage boys find refuge in tough post-war england by writing love songs eye-to-eye in their bedrooms. despite making it big, they are still so closely intertwined nobody can even try to get between them—until somebody does, and then it all goes wrong, and neither of them are really happy with leaving the other but they have to pretend like they don’t care. they spend a couple dizzying years lost without each other, but when they finally find each other again, everything seems brand new, like it’s all going to work out. and then john is killed and paul has to go on live the rest of his life without him—he knows he cannot replace john, so he doesn’t even try. every interview he gets a chance, for better or for worse, to mention john and how beautiful he was. the ache of john’s loss even 44 years later must be absolutely cavernous. you hear all the time about soulmates and people destined to be together, but i think jp is probably one of the best examples of this we have in the modern era

[sugardollcurse]

love love love the way you write the guys 💖 my god!!

if i could request, perhaps on any thoughts of how they might react with an easily startled/easily surprised reader?

𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒔/𝒐

꒰ pairing ꒱ paul mccartney x reader, john lennon x reader, george harrison x reader, ringo starr x reader

꒰ note ꒱ you're the sweetest, thank you!! ♡ i’m turning my thoughts into headcanons and wrapping ‘em up like little sweets just for you :b

꒰ JOHN ꒱

"Didn’t mean to scare you, love! Honest. You're just very jumpable. Is that a word?"

Oh he lives for the reactions at first.

If you jump when he walks in too fast, he’s like

��Bloody hell! You leapt three feet in the air!” and he’s laughing while also reaching to hold your face like “I’m sorry, I’m sorry! Do it again.”

Quickly learns to dial it back when he notices you truly get rattled.

You flinch once when a door slams and he gets serious fast..

Starts announcing himself dramatically before entering rooms:

“I COME BEARING TEA. DO NOT BE ALARMED.”

Puts bells on his boots as a joke one day so you can “hear him coming.” It’s stupid, but you actually keep them.

If someone else startles you, he glares. “Watch what you’re doin’, mate. Scared ‘em half to death.”

If you're cuddling on the sofa and a loud sound makes you jump, he’ll just tighten his hold and murmur,

“Don’t worry. Nothing’s gonna get you while I’m here. Promise.”

꒰ PAUL ꒱

"Did I scare you? Oh, sweetheart, I’m sorry.. should’ve knocked louder or something, eh?"

So gentle about it, it physically hurts how soft he becomes if he accidentally startles you.

One time you squeaked when he brushed past too fast and he immediately cupped your cheeks, wide-eyed

“Darling. I didn’t mean to-oh no, are you alright?”

Becomes hyperaware of his movements after that.

Opens doors slower. Hums to announce his presence. You name it.

Creates a “safe word” system for "surprise hugs"

He’ll go “Incoming!” before hugging from behind so you’re not caught off-guard.

You're caught off guard anyway.

Talks soothingly if you get spooked in public.

Hand on your back, head bent to yours.

“It’s alright, love, just a loud lorry, nothing to worry about. I’ve got you.”

꒰ GEORGE ꒱

"Didn’t mean to sneak up on you. Swear I wasn’t tryin’ to... your energy’s just quiet, so I match it, y’know?"

George gets it.

He’s jumpy sometimes too, especially with sudden noises.

(Beatlemania PTSD... cough cough)

You two flinch in sync sometimes and then laugh about it together.

If he sees you startle, he gives a little chuckle but he steps in closer and lowers his voice.

“You’re safe. Just me.”

His voice becomes a grounding anchor for you.

You learn to pick up on the calm rhythm of it when he’s near.

Will walk into a room and gently clear his throat or say your name softly just to ease you into noticing him.

When you tell him you're embarrassed about it, he frowns.

“Why would you be? The world’s loud. You’re just tuned in different. That’s not a bad thing.”

꒰ RINGO ꒱

"Blimey, didn’t know I was that scary lookin’! Should I grow me hair longer? Wear bells?"

Absolutely the type to tease you at first.

Never cruel, always playful.

But quickly becomes your gentle protector.

If someone’s stomping about too loud or yelling across a room, he’ll go,

“Ey! Some of us are tryin’ not to die from heart attacks here, yeah?”

Will hum a silly tune before walking into rooms to announce his presence.

Offers to hold your hand in crowds, loud spaces, or when fireworks are going off.

“Squeeze if it gets too much, alright?”

Very in tune with your body language.

If you flinch slightly, his eyes snap to yours: “Too loud? Want to go sit down?”

If you get startled and your mood crashes, he’ll gently drag you under a blanket and go,

“We’re a pair of startled squirrels, you and me. Let’s hide for a bit.”

taglist: @sharksausages, @wavvytin, @wimpyvamps, @finallyforgotten, @lennongirlieee, @silly-lil-lee

[lenetaylor]

George and his "Asser"

A letter from George Harrison to Astrid Kircherr, August 1963, on stationery from the Palace Court, Bournemouth, where The Beatles had played The Gaumont, from Monday 19th August to Saturday 24th August 1963.

There is a LOT going on in this letter (George's obsession with photos?, George writing a book??, hate for Mrs. Sutcliffe???, George's aching balls????), but what endeared me was his nickname for Astrid: "Asser", which would be pronounced Assa or Azza. It's true, Hazza and the lads had loads of Northern nicknames for their mates!

My transcription under the cut.

DEAR ASTRID,

Do you remember me asking you in Tenerife to write to me as soon as you get back to Hamburg? You didn’t know how long you were going to stay at Klaus’ house, so you would write to me from Hamburg, then I would send you all the records and fun and games!

Betty (the great) comes to England all fat and sloppy saying, - “Vhy you no write to Astrid,” as if it was my fault, so just shut up. Anyway Asser, I bought you the records I told you about years ago, and they are still at home covered in dust, so if you have decided where about’s you are living lately, then let me know and I will send them to you with some other nice ones that you would like.

Fat Betty has seen all the Happy holiday Photos, hasn’t she? but I haven’t, oh-no. You won’t show them to me will you!

Actually if she had not come to England with King Size, then I would still be wondering which part of the world you where in!

I bought a Jaguar (car) last month, I think you would like it. I will send you a photograph of it, with the records as soon as I get back to Liverpool.

I hope you don’t think I am being funny but…..Could you look through your photographs and find some – or all of the photo’s that have the Beatles, either all together or separately, or that any of us with other people on them, in fact any photographs at all that may be of interest and then if you felt in a HAPPY ASTRID MOOD, do you think that you could either GIVE or LEND them to me. It does not matter if they photographs are terrible, as I won’t tell anybody that you made them, if you want me to.

You know that Paul and John are going to be very rich soon, when they collect the money they have made by writing all those songs, and I don’t think that you would like to see me poor and hungry, so I have decided to make a book. It won’t be a DA SADE type book, but a daft story about the BEATLES, with some photographs in it, and then I hope to sell it to all the nice people and then I can buy food with the money…Can’t I?

I would like to have some pictures that the people haven’t already seen in all the other books, so that is why I am asking you. It would be very nice of you, even if the pictures were old at the Indra and KaiserKeller and Top Ten. I know you are very particular about what you do with all the lovely photos, but if you are nice and send me some with the negatives, then I will kill Mrs. Sutcliffe for you! But if you don’t, then I will pay for Mrs. S. To go to Hamburg and see you for a Holiday!!!

What happened to Jürgen? Do you know his address? Where is Klaus now, as I still haven’t said ‘Thank you’ for letting us live in his house.

How are you Asser? Are you well, because I have been ill all week, feeling tired all the time. The doctor gave me a tonic which is like liquid preludin. My balls have been aching too, and banging around on stage!

We will be in Paris for 3 weeks in January. I will write again with the records cheerio and love from Georgie (your friend who wants the photos)

This was published in the July 2015 issue of Record Collector.

[tavolgisvist]

'Just call him on the phone'

Q: Aside from the millions you’ve been offered for a reunion concert, how did you feel about producer Lorne Michaels’s generous offer of thirty-two hundred dollars for appearing together on Saturday Night Live a few years ago?* A: Oh, yeah, Paul and I were together watching that show. He was visiting us at our place in the Dakota. We were watching it and almost went down to the studio, just as a gag. We nearly got into a cab, but we were actually too tired. Q: How did you and Paul happen to be watching TV together? A: That was a period when Paul just kept turning up at our door with a guitar. I would let him in, but finally I said to him**, “Please call before you come over. It’s not 1956, and turning up at the door isn’t the same anymore. You know, just give me a ring.” He was upset by that, but I didn’t mean it badly. I just meant that I was taking care of a baby all day, and some guy turns up at the door … But anyway, back on that night he and Linda walked in and he and I were just sitting there watching the show, and we went, Ha-ha, wouldn’t it be funny if we went down, but we didn’t. Q: Is that the last time you’ve seen Paul? A: Yes, but I didn’t mean it like that.

<...> Q: You say you haven’t really listened to Paul’s work and haven’t really talked to him since that night in your apartment— A: Really talked to him, no, that’s the operative word. I haven’t really talked to him in ten years. Because I haven’t spent time with him. I’ve been doing other things and so has he. You know, he’s got twenty five kids and about twenty million records out — how can he spend time talking? He’s always working.

(John Lennon, 1980, All We Are Saying, David Sheff)

*It was in 25 April 1976 **it was in 26 April 1976

Well, when I, when I was Just a little baby boy, Every night, every night I would call, Because your number, you know, Brought me such sweet joy. I've called your name, John, Every night since then But I ain't never, no, no, never Heard you calling me, My sweet, sweet babe, So, you know, you better call me back again, I call your operator but I still can't get through to you, Call me back again

(Call Me Back Again, presumably, 10 June 1976, Seattle)

Tell me, is she everything i see Or is she really not the one for me? We know, and though some may disagree But do they know the way we want to be? <…> Building something One thing made to last And holding something Special from the past And do I still believe in stories we've been told***? Are all the things she brings me worth their weight in gold? Oh yeah, (oh yeah) pure gold

(Pure Gold, Paul for Ringo, 1976)

***I remember when John and I were first hanging out together, I had a dream about digging in the garden with my hands. I’d dreamt that before but I’d never found anything other than an old tin can. But in this dream I found a gold coin. I kept digging and I found another. And another.The next day I told John about this amazing dream I’d had and he said, ‘That’s funny, I had the same dream’. So both of us had this dream of finding this treasure. And I suppose you could say it came true. I remember years later talking about it – ‘Remember that dream we had?’; ‘Yeah, that was far out’. So the message of that dream was: keep digging lads.'

(Paul McCartney to The Big Issue, Feb. 2012)

After you've gone And left me crying After you've gone Ain't no deny You'll feel blue You'll feel sad You'll miss the dearest pal that you ever had

There'll come a time And don't you forget it There'll come a time When you'll regret it****

Someday when you grow lonely Your heart will break like mine You want me only After you've gone After you've gone away

(After You've Gone, 1977, Paul's version - 'just for fun' as he said - of a 1918 popular song written by Turner Layton and Henry Creamer, and it's Frank Sinatra's (and Sophie Tucker!) version.

****the line 'Don't you forget it/When you'll regret it' reminds another old (not as old like After You've Gone but old) song -  I Love You And Don't You Forget It by Perry Como. The song, what our lads were singing in their early years so playfully:

Klas Burling: Tell us something about how you find a song… how you get the idea about a song, to write it down. John: Well, sometimes it's the words first, and then the music after. Klas Burling: Very often you've got a title, you know… Me and you, and everything like that? Paul: Yeah. We try to do that, to make it personal so it's… so we really mean it. When we sing a thing about 'I love you,' it's easier. John: (singing) 'And don't you forget it!' John & Paul: (singing together, jokingly) 'I love you and don't you forget it!' Paul: Well, you see, it's easier than singing something about the cat that lives on the hill, man. (laughter) Paul: It's a lot easier just to sing about what you feel yourself.

(August 23 1963, interview with Klas Burling)

Was I just dreaming or was it only yesterday I used to hold you in my arms And now a baby, and a another on the way [Indescernable] in a farm Now must we be alone? If it don’t feel right, don’t do it If it don’t look right, look right through it If it don’t feel right, don’t do it Just call him on the phone

(John Lennon, Real Life, Feb 1977)

We'd had a bread strike over here***** and I rang him and I was saying, What are you doing? He says. I'm baking some bread.' 'Oh! Me too.' Imagine, with the stereotypes, John and Paul talking about baking bread.

(Paul McCartney, May 2001, interview for Mojo magazine)

*****a bread strike in England was in Nov 1978

Q: Do you regret that your life has become so public? A: I realized that a good fifteen years ago. I remember actually thinking when I went on holiday somewhere, ‘God I’d really better start thinking now about keeping a few countries aside where we don’t sell records. I won’t be able to go anywhere without being recognized.’ But now I think, ‘Really, I’ve reached the point of no return. There’s no going back.’ Even if I didn’t want to sing anymore, I’d just be like Greta Garbo or Brigitte Bardot. They both retired but you’d never know it. John said this to me a year before he died. He said, ‘Be careful what you wish for, it might just come true.’ That’s the way I look at it. I wished for all this and I got it. To regret it would mean I’d have to sit here and live with negative thoughts about it. I know that would only sink me. Even if I had feelings of regret my personality would not really let them out. ‘Look mate, you don’t regret it. Look on the other side,’ that’s me. Not to sink. I always used to do that instinctively, and not allow too many negative thoughts to surface.

(Paul McCartney, April/May 1982, interview for Music Express)

The couple of years after the Beatles broke up it was very touchy because I think we suspected each other of business manoeuvres. So anyone would ring up, it would be like, “Why is he ringing?” And when you put up the defensive like that it’s very difficult to say, “I’m not! Honest!” You just don’t know where to put yourself. So we had a lot of those ups and downs for quite a few years. But the favourite thing was that if ever we talked not business – and what we ended doing, actually, was make a rule not to talk business on the phone – and on those occasions, we had really good vibes, man. And it was great; we just talked kids, we talked family, we talked cats, we talked life, rather than, “oh, what songs are doing with x business affair?” And one of the great things for me, one of the consolation prizes after John was killed, the only thing– you know, you find yourself holding on to little bits of wreckage to keep yourself afloat. And with me it was the fact that our last phonecall was really one of the best we ever had together; it was really warm, we were really friends again.

(Paul McCartney, 1984, interview for CBS Morning News)

Q: Do you remember your last conversation with John? A: Yes. That is a nice thing, a consoling factor for me, because I do feel it was sad that we never actually sat down and straightened our differences out. But fortunately for me, the last phone conversation I ever had with him was really great, and we didn’t have any kind of blowup. It could have easily been one of the other phone calls, when we blew up at each other and slammed the phone down. Q: Do you remember what you talked about? A: It was just a very happy conversation about his family, my family. Enjoying his life very much; Sean was a very big part of it. And thining about getting on with his career. I remember he said, “Oh, God, I’m like Aunt Mimi, padding round here in me dressing gown”– robe, as he called it, ’cause he was picking up the American vernacular –“feeding the cats in me robe and cooking and putting a cup of tea on. This housewife wants a career!” It was that time for him. He was about to launch Double Fantasy.******

(Paul McCartney, Dec 1984, interview for Playboy)

******Double Fantasy released 17 November 1980

I was lucky. The last few wee... months that he was alive, we’d managed to get our relationship back on track. And we were talking and having real good conversations. Real nice and friendly.

(Paul McCartney about This One, interview with Bernard Goldberg for the TV series 48 Hours, 1989)

[got-ticket-to-ride]

John Lennon explaining who "(Just Like) Starting Over" is for

This interview took place only 12 hours before he lost his life. He was so looking forward to the 80s. I had this edit sitting in my folder for two months because it hurt listening to it. John had such a difficult childhood (losing his mother, his friend dying), his stardom weigh him down mentally, his marriage was a failure (and he couldn't really live in freedom with the person he truly loved due to societal norms). And then he gets robbed of his life in the most brutal way. How absolutely devastating...

In this clip, he clearly says the song is not for Yoko.

I was visualizing all the people of my age group from the 60s.... Having gone through everything together, I am singing to them. I'm really talking to the people that grew up with me and saying here I am now, how are you? How's your relationship going? Did you get through it all? Wasn't the 70s a drag? You know, here we are. Well, let's try and make the 80s good, you know, because it's still up to us to make what we can of it. It's not out of our control.

We have grown, we have grown Although our love is still special Let's take a chance and fly away Somewhere alone It's been too long since we took the time

But when I see you darling It's like we both are falling in love again It'll be just like starting over

Everyday we used to make it love Why can't we be making love nice and easy It's time to spread our wings and fly Don't let another day go by my love It'll be just like starting over

We'll be together all alone again Like we used to in the early days

These parts of the lyrics specifically can only pertain to one person he grew up with. George Harrison.

I'm kidding, Paul.

[theonlymadmanonmars]

What your favorite Hatchetfield ship says about you.

Paul x Emma: You just want good things for Paul.

Paul x Ted: You Just want good things for Ted.

Ted x Bill: You are a connoisseur of the enemies/Rivals to lovers trope.

Ted x Tinky: You used to ship Billdip. And/or you're a monster fucker.

Paul x Bill: You are a connoisseur of the best friends to lovers trope.

Ted x Charlotte: You Believe cheating on your husband is ethical in some circumstances. You're correct.

Mr Davidson x Carol: You really wanna be choked out in bed.

Ted x Emma: You love sarcastic asswholes.

Deb x Alice: You are an angsty teenager.

Sam x Zoey: You think morally grey people are hot.

Sam x Charlotte: You are clinging hard to that broken Relationship and/or the child of a divorce you never really got over.

Ethan x Lex: You think a sweet delinquent is the best thing ever, and you just want Ethan to be happy. You also live for angst.

Tom x Becky: You believe that no matter how your first relationship is you can find love again.

Linda x Gerald: You think Morally grey women and their supportive husbands are hot.

Dan x Donna: You really like background ships, and think characters are more interesting when you have to work to learn things about them.

Peter x Steph: You're incredibly wholesome and just want them both to be happy.

Ruth x Steph: You just want Ruth to be happy.

Peter x Richie: You Believe in Best friends to lovers and you are an awkward teenager

Ruth x Richie: You love nerdy best friends who support each other when no one else will.

Peter x Ruth: You think joke flirting should always lead to real flirting.

Grace x Steph: Why have enemies to Lover or friends to lovers when you can't have Frenemies to Lovers.

Ruth x Grace: You love unhinged girlfriends.

Max X Richie: You want good things for Max.

Max x Grace: You think a couple who could take over the world together is the best kind of couple.

Brooke X Richie: You definitely have a whole personality and backstory for Brooke conducted in your head. You love background Characters and Desperately want Richie to be happy.

Linda X Becky: You love Enemies to Lovers and Absolutely stan Linda as you should.

Duke x Holloway: You love Angst but don't need all the toxicity. You also probably had a crush you never told how you felt about them.

Wiggly X Wilbur: You're a monster fucker You think Wiggly's hot. As you should. You love the idea of Tentacle sex with feelings

Wiggly X John: You're a monster fucker You're a fan of tentacle sex without feelings.

Bill x Blinky: You're a monster fucker. And You want to put Bill into a jar and shake him.

Updated

Let me know if I missed anything!

[spacestation-l7]

hope you're still taking zootle doodle ideas, but can we see more from the Get Back era??

Focused too much on Zootles!McLennon I forget Starrison is there too

Constantly being dismissed by John and Paul while also having to suffer through their passive-aggressive flirting could do numbers on one's mental health. It was all the same to Ringo too as the drummer would come back to the studio timid and quiet, not really saying anything of substance unless spoken to

While John and Paul were busy trying to decide whether they were going to kiss or kill each other every day in the studio, George falls onto Ringo's shoulders once again as he always did whenever he felt unseen. George didn't mind if he had to lose his position in the band, as long as he had Ringo. He had lost Ringo once from the fighting and ego and while it was only for a week or two, it was the most miserable week of his life. Maybe that was why he wanted Ringo to have a piece of him, just so he knew he would always be connected to him. Maybe it was selfishness on his part but who was anyone to blame a poor old Deer for not wanting to lose the one person that made him feel seen and heard, the one beast in the whole world that would view him as equal wherever and whenever?

In the midst of fighting, Ringo had shyly told George about the song he wrote while he was away and while George had never thought of Ringo as being particularly "spiritual", he was surprised at the song he presented to him. A childish tune in the ears of the other two freaks fighting over leadership, yet to George it was the most profound tune he had ever heard.

Ringo had told him about his little trip to the underwater city. Sea creatures, unlike land dwellers, had no qualms over predation, they believed it was just part of life to eat and be eaten. To many others it would just sound like Ringo the Lion just wanted a reason to eat people, but George knew better. His partner had always detested himself, as a Lion, as a Carnivore, hell he barely saw himself as being a Person sometimes. To hear Ringo speak about the sea folks in such a way made George's heart ache as his partner truly believed that the only way he could be happy about himself is if he were born in a different circumstances. There were no qualms underwater, and Ringo wouldn't mind being born as a shrimp because there was nothing wrong with it. It was just life. Simple as.

It was so... Ringo. To want to escape from the fighting, avoid the violence, to live together in harmony with his best friends, safe and sound as they happily sing and dance together just like how they dreamed they would. No Carnivores, no Herbivores, just them, under the sea, in an octopus's garden...

[undying-love]

Paul describing John: A compilation

"I knew nothing about him except that he looked pretty cool. He had long sideboards and greased back hair and everything."

"I’d seen him around a couple of times, because I realised later what it was, my bus route, he would take that bus, but he would be going to see his mum who lived kind of in my area. And then he’d take the bus back up to his Auntie Mimi’s. So I’d seen him a couple of times and thought, ‘Wow, you know, he’s an interesting looking guy.’ And then I once also saw him in a queue for fish and chips and I said, ‘Oh, that’s that guy off the bus’. I’m talking to myself, in my mind I thought, ‘I saw that guy off the bus, oh he’s pretty cool looking. Yeah, you know, he’s a cool guy.’

"I remember John looking... we used to think that John looked pretty cool. He was a bit older than us and he would do a little more greased back hair than we were allowed… so John was quite groovy. He looked like a Ted then - he had a drape. He had nice big sideburns."

"There was a guy up on the platform with curly, blondish hair, wearing a chequered shirt-looking pretty good and quite fashionable - singing a song that I loved: the Del-Vikings ‘Come Go With Me’."

"I know how I saw John. He was just a ted, on the bus – greasy hair, long sideburns, shuffling around like he was Mr Hard. And I saw him on the top deck of the bus often, before I met him. Saw him in the queue at a chip shop once. And I thought, “He looks cool.” Turned out my best friend from school knew him. We went and met. I happened to know this song, ‘Twenty Flight Rock’. John admired that."

"Up on the stage there were a few lads around, and there was one particular guy at the front with a checked shirt, sort of blondish kind of hair... a little bit curly, sideboards, looking pretty cool. [...] He was playing Come Go With Me."

"This Ted would get on the bus. I wouldn't stare at him too hard in case he hit me."

“I just thought, ‘Well, he looks good, he’s singing well and he seems like a great lead singer to me.’ Of course he had his glasses off, so he looked really suave…He was really the only outstanding member, all the rest kind of slipped away.”

"My memory of meeting John for the first time is very clear. … I can still see John now - checked shirt, slightly curly hair [...] I remember thinking, ‘He looks good - I wouldn’t mind being in a group with him.’ … Then, as you all know, he asked me to join the group, and so we began our trip together. We wrote our first songs together, we grew up together and we lived our lives together. And when we’d do it together, something special would happen. There’d be that little magic spark. I still remember his beery old breath when I first met him that day. But I soon came to love that beery old breath. And I loved John."