#love me do: the beatles progress

[tavolgisvist]

Scouse

Viscount Montgomery Brian Epstein’s personal assistant Barry Leonard quit his job ‘because the strain of managing the Beatles is just too great’. In an article in the Daily Express Leonard told about his experiences with the Beatles. Among other things, he said Paul wanted to leave the group and was trying to lose his Liverpool accent. As the Beatles gathered at the office of their accountant, Epstein mentioned the story to Paul. ‘Barry says you are trying to lose your accent,’ he said. ‘Couldn’t,’ muttered John, as he examined a likeness of the Beatles fashioned in papier mâché.

(Love Me Do. The Beatles Progress by Michael Braun, 1963/1995)

Interviewer: Are you going to lose some of your Liverpool dialect for the Royal show? Paul McCartney: No, we don't all speak like BBC

(Interview 16th Oct 1963, befor the Royal Variety Charity)

After a short interview in which they sound like they're putting on Liverpool accents (particularly Paul and John), 'and now their new single Love Me Do'. 'FANTASTIC…turn it UP!' (I shouted in my head). That's my brother…my bloody brother!…My head's exploding…'so ple-e-e-se love me do'. <…> I dashed back to Forthlin to tell Dad I'd seen our Paul on the TELLY and then waited for Paul to come home to see if he'd changed at all. By the time he eventually got in, Dad and I were in bed but I was still awake. The conversation probably went like this: 'Psst…here you.' 'Is Dad asleep?' 'Of course he is, it's past two o'clock.' 'We were celebratinh. Did you see it?' 'Yeah it was gear, it really was.I had to watch it in a bar down from Bernard's, but it was fabulous.' 'Could you see the velvet collar?' 'Sure, you could see everything.' (When the decision to 'go commercial' and buy suits instead of the cool Hamburg leathers was reached, mainly by Brian, Paul had smoothed over the shock by saying, 'But ours are different from anybody else's…ours have got velvet collars…look.' As the cardboard box lid was lifted and the white tissue paper unfolded to disclose the dark blue 'Dougy Millins' tailor-made suit, sure enough, the highly polished, trouser creased, mohair suit was topped with a black velvet collar.) 'But why did you talk like that on the TV? It sounded like George gone wrong…you don't talk like that.' 'I know that, you know that, but they don't know that…It's part of the image…' 'Monkey suit and phoney accents?…anyway it worked, it was fantastic.' 'Gear, I'll be off then, ny nyte.' 'Nigh-night…psst can I have your autograph?' 'Sod off.'

(Mike McCartney, 1981, Thank U Very Much. Mike McCartney's Family Album)

We went to London to party. I always tell this story, it happened pretty much like this. The week before Merseybeat broke up here [in London], or a couple of weeks before, I was just with my friends, and you were at a posh party, and they'd come up to you [adopts 'posh' voice] 'hi, how are you?' 'Great, thanks.' 'My name's Peregrine, and this is Cecilia…' 'Oh, great, hi.' 'Where are you from?' 'Oh, Liverpool…' 'Anyway, Cecilia, you said…' And they just turned their backs on you, because it was so simple - you were useless to them, useless. Anything north of the Cape was the hinterland, the jungle. So they couldn't care less. And then, a week later, Merseybeat suddenly goes 'bang!' He goes down to London before he conquers America and the world… and it's the same party, "Oh, I'm Sebastian, this is Claudia, what's your name?" "I'm Mike." "Where are you from?" "Liverpool." "Liverpool, oh my God, guys, come here, look, these guys from Liverpool, it's just wonderful." And then they'd do a Liverpool accent, and that's why it always came out Brummie [Birmingham], because they couldn't do a Liverpool accent. So, yeah, you were a nobody, and suddenly everything changed.

(Mike McCartney, interview for the Super Deluxe Edition, September 26, 2019)

pic by lisamarie-vee

+about suits

[midchelle]

In five years it would be 1968... he was planning it all along...

[i-am-the-oyster]

They don’t have to rely on off-colour jokes about homos for their fun.

Daily Mirror article about The Beatles quoted in Love Me Do The Beatles Progress by Michael Braun.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA/WIBTA for attempting to learn ASL for a girl I like?

I work at a bar right off campus of my university and regularly perform (sing) when there aren't enough performers or acts to get us through a night. I like singing and making a big show, so this is fun for me. Also, this bar isn't strictly a queer/sapphic bar, but a lot of us are WLW and it's pretty well known around town so performing definitely gets me a lot of attention from a pretty quiet part of the queer community, if that makes any sense.

Anyways, there's this girl who also works at the bar, I'll call her Bri, and she's deaf. She's pretty good at reading lips, so we've had conversations before, but really we just see each other around. She works in the back on like numbers and business stuff (I honestly have no idea what she does) but she'll come out and watch me perform sometimes. She has such a nice smile and the way she's able to focus and pay such apt attention to anything she needs to is so inspiring. Basically, I like her a lot.

I live in the Inland Empire, so getting ASL lessons was super easy. I've been going since the semester started a little over a month ago and I'm really proud of the progress I've made. I haven't attempted to talk to Bri yet, I want to get better, but I've talked to some of my friends/coworkers about how I'm learning ASL for her and am planning on doing a live ASL interpretation of Oh Darling by the Beatles when I get good enough (Bri commented that she liked my performance of the song, so I wanted to bring it back.)

Jesus Christ this is long anyways I was telling people about my plan thinking they'd compliment me for being cute and romantic and like try to help me surprise her but instead, everyone told me I was being insensitive to her disability and tokening her by making her deaf-ness so central to my attraction to her. I didn't think I was doing this, I thought this was more of a gesture to show how I like her despite our communication barrier? I don't know, I've started really overthinking it.

Another thing I've started wondering is if doing this performance (which I've already started working on) would be manipulative since I've never outright asked Bri if she likes me, even though I'm 1000% sure she does, she asks about me and we get along and yeah I'm really sure she does but I guess I don't know for absolute sure so on the chance that she doesn't like me, would this whole thing be a way of me pressuring her into liking me since I've put so much effort in without telling her?

I'm really lost. I really like this girl and I want to do something big and grand. I've also really fallen in love with American Sign Language and the process of learning it. The idea of making Bri uncomfortable because I don't know what it's like to be deaf/have a disability is really making me rethink all of this. Any advice please.

What are these acronyms?

[m1ssunderstanding]

Understanding Lennon McCartney Rewatch Part 1.4

Oh, John. It's hard because I'm like “fame was not good for that man” but I'm also like “he would've gone crazy with self-loathing if he didn't have the fame.”

John and Paul start to answer a question at the same time. John: no, go on, you can say it. They're seriously so married. 

John's schoolboy flirting is cute, but what's more noteworthy to me is a) how happy Paul is to be shoved and b) how he instantly leans back into John. It's like they're bungeed together or something. 

John gets me. Look how much he loves Paul bringing out the forced confidence shield to protect him. He's so in love. So turned on. 

Here's my question about the death threats. Did the other Beatles actually receive them and tell Brian about them and keep them from John? Because that would be incredibly sweet and noble of them, but also, in that case, surely John received death threats too. Meaning he just didn't care about his own life and assumed the others were being left out of it because they hadn't actually said they were bigger than Jesus. Or did they have people filtering all their mail by that point? And Brian had been keeping the death threats from all of them? Because that could be interpreted as both protective and selfish of him. Does anyone know?

Again. I just love how Paul goes to bat for John over and over during this tour. Batting his eyes and playing with his hair and shouting down any and all criticism of John speaking his mind.

This moment is so telling to me. An interviewer who was up front at several concerts points out the looks and smiles between John and Paul which you can only see from the front and asks, “is it really that much fun every time?” The easy answer is, “Yeah. We like what we do. It's fun!” But Paul gets cagey. “Oh well the thing is you know with things like that it's probably…” and he makes up a bullshit story about messing up on a song they haven't performed in a year. Why do that if you don't have something to hide? (Even if you're subconsciously hiding) That right there is a tip-off for me that they're not normal about each other. 

Interviewer: are you guys breaking up? John, immediately and emphatically: No. Paul: "Depends what you mean by breaking up, you know . . . Because we can't go on forever like this, so we've got to think now and prepare for, you know, if it did happen. The time has come for us to break up, but we've realized the possibility . . . Of breaking up as a natural progression." Literally shut the fuck up right now, you're going to give John an aneurysm.

I understand. I know. I don't relate to Paul much but I do relate to his hyperactivity and his avoidant attachment. I make sure constantly that I'll be okay when all my relationships end. But you don't talk about that in front of the other person. Especially someone like John whose worst fear is being left. Come on. Think. 

See, now look what you did, Paul. Here's John's answer the next time they're asked about breaking up. 

And yeah, the klan being the ones to “stand up against the Beatles blasphemy” really proves my point from the last post I think. It's just masked racism. 

It actually seems like Paul's more vocally political at this point in time than John is. I wonder what happened to change that? Was it just the influence of their respective wives? Was it just easier for them to play up the roles they'd been assigned for the most part?

Okay on this round of “are you breaking up” they look at each other first before they answer and then Paul goes “all together probably.” I wonder if they talked about their previous answers together and admitted – however cautiously or however veiled – that hearing the other say they might leave hadn't been fun. Who knows, honestly.  

Paul and John often talk about making a radio show together apparently. Gosh if only they could've done that now. I'd make them my token white boy podcast. It'd be great. They'd be so lame and so adorable and they'd talk about recipes and politics and they'd gossip and rank other people's music. But anyway, what really gets me is the often bit. So they really did plan their post-beatle future together. Enough that it was a frequent topic of discussion between them. They planned to be together forever. 

Ugh it always guts me that Paul brought a girlfriend to Paris with him to meet up with John.

Okay my tin hat is glued to my head for this but. But. Hear me out alright? So John starts filming on 09/19/66. He's there for 6 &½ weeks. Putting the end at the beginning of November, right when Paul goes in disguise and alone to Paris. Do we have tabs on John for those dates? John just talked about going around Paris in disguise. What if  they met up by themselves and in secret? What then?

 No fucking wonder John was exhausted with him. Damn. He takes a month and a half to write strawberry fields, shows it to Paul, then...

Interviewer: the songwriting team will keep going whatever happens will it? John: yeah, we'll probably carry on writing music Forever. It's just so ‘Obviously. Might as well ask me if the sun's going to come up tomorrow.’

His friend – try dangerous drugs with and take home to daddy type “friend” – just died brutally and suddenly two days ago, and this is what he looks like and talks like and he's going in to work like it's nothing. I just. Compare that to John talking about Brian's death? Obviously two very different relationships but still… Paul's upbringing really fucked him up so hard. He thinks he's not allowed to be human. What can I say? It's a drag.

AKA the happiest 6 months of John and Paul's lives. 

I find it fascinating that Paul alone is asked to compose and record what would eventually become the carnival of light and that he just went ahead and included everyone in that. Really makes me wonder if he got a vibe off John that him doing the family way alone was hurtful or if they maybe even talked about it? Or maybe he just didn't like doing the family way without John.

Actually quite a lovely, forward-thinking, humble speech. Imagine being John, though. Watching that from home like “why the fuck is he philosophizing to the world without me?” Because you know John shares all those sentiments and might even have got there first. It would be infuriating.

“A lucky man who made the grade” is an interesting way to describe Tara and I can't help but wonder if it has anything to do with Tara being cool enough for Paul to associate with him. And Paul is many things but stupid is not one of them. He's going to at the very least wonder if this verse is about John laughing at his friend's death. Right? Like I know Paul's the repression CEO but seriously I don't think even he is that good. 

Maybe that Leopold and Leob quote isn't just about tearing people down verbally. Maybe Wooler genuinely got a vibe of a sense of superiority and therefore lack of empathy with Lennon/McCartney.

I mean he really does sound like he's describing sex though, doesn't he? Emotional, loving, romantic sex. Followed immediately by Paul's “I'd love to turn you on” lyrics and the “down with pants” and “sword swallower” pins. Alrighty then. 

What I would call my Beatles bio after watching this. "They Touched Dicks: The Only Logical Conclusion."

[fireintheimpala]

McLennon Playlists

I have been working putting together some McLennon playlists. I mean "McLennon" pretty broadly and vaguely with these lists, so choose your own adventure. It's a useful short portmanteau for for the creative partnership of Lennon/McCartney. But I do also think there is a powerful human relationship here, disregarded from the classic Beatles narrative. And I think this relationship is pivotal to much of their songwriting.

This is a work in progress but here are the acts so far:

Act I: The Beatles before India '68. This is a foundational period. For the most part, I don't think these songs are consciously referencing each other. Rather, they providing a foundation for future references. That said, I think Hide Your Love Away deserves a second look.

Act II: The Beatles after India '68. The contrast is remarkable. Not everything on this list is written by Lennon/McCartney. I think George's While My Guitar Gently Weeps is actually the best expression for the whole time. Anyway, they're breaking up. Passionately. Chronology is a total mash since most of these songs were written or produced in a small period of time.

Act III: The 70's up through approximately 1975. Here especially the chronology of songs begins to be sacrificed for highlighting some back and forth. I personally find their mirroring right after the Beatles--with the front and center band wives and antipodal messages right when they're sending each other cutting missives through hit singles--hilarious. But after that you get this escalating back and forth in moods. Still sent through international hits! Lol. Which they simply presume will work. Anyway, if you listen in order, the positivity increases. Unfortunately, a playlist shift is required once John returns to Yoko in 75ish.

Act IV: '76ish through 1980. After a period of musical productivity and reconnecting with old friends including McCartney, John returns to Yoko. Let's not weight into that but merely note that it changes all music vibes for both musicians. John goes completely silent for 5 years, except for later release home demos. (I'm using Spotify for this which doesn't have most of Lennon's demos unfortunately. But the demos for Free as a Bird and Real Love are recorded during this time so those songs are included. Now and Then demo also, but c'mon let's save that.) McCartney in the meantime writes a series of IMPASSIONED songs about things like his baby who won't call him back, and his lover who needs to beware. Idk what is going on with Wings in production, but LIVE he is absolutely wailing. He starts '76 going on tour worldwide with every song so far I would ever include in these lists. He wails into that void so hard... Things dip, but then escalate back up in 1980. Coming Up. Starting Over Again. But then unfortunately...

Act V: Post Dec 8, 1980. Pending. There's a lot here, but it's so sad it's taking me awhile.

Please contribute suggestions if I've missed relevant songs!

I'll be working on providing more details explanations of some song inclusions.

[crepesuzette2023]

Hi, lovely Crepesuzette! Thanks a lot of your inspiring blog, your fics and always helpfull #fic recs! And can I ask any recs for good fics where John in the end understend the shit he did for Paul? All of this HDYS, Melody Maker, Rolling Stone etc, which not only hurted Paul but they ruined his self-esteem and creative reputation, you know. Thanks again! Love you and want you be happy everyday like you do it for me :)

Hello there, thank you for the ask—and for your kind words. Very welcome, esp. since real life has been low grade shit these past few days.

So...your ask make me think of stories where things are not only better than they were in this (clears throat) reality as we know it: there's also a focus on mutual understanding, peace-making, forgiveness. Yes?

These came to my mind...and making this list made me realize I'm really in the mood to re-read some of them! In the 70's:

stuck inside these four walls (@monkberries). Lost Weekend. John and Paul get locked up until they resolve their shit.

i can only speak my mind (@revollver). 70's. Paul reads John's 'secret' diaries that have been leaked to the press, and understands him—and himself—better.

forth and back (@monkberries). 70's—80's. Paul and John talk through songs.

A Toot and a Snore (@glowing-gold). Lost Weekend in LA. That jam session is on the page in real time, as is their slow and hot reconciliation. Will never forget the description of moustache-Paul and his nipples, *fans self*

They Say it's Your Birthday (@ohjohnnysblog). 1979. A personal favorite. Warm, nostalgic phone sex in the spirit of peace and friendship.

Down on the Farm (RosalindBeatrice), 1974. John is exposed to Wings, Paul's family, and Paul's hotness, and realizes it's all meant to lure him back...

You Will, You Will, You Will (@eveepe). John and Paul and Linda take the plunge. Excellent tension...over the phone and in person.

February in New Orleans (@eveepe). 1975. John and May visit Paul and Linda in New Orleans. Resentment is desire's favorite costume. Everyone has a good time, 2/4 have a hard-on (I am sorry).

Adventures in Total Honesty (@merseydreams). 1975. Paul and John meet backstage, and have it out. A+ banter, and so many things I wish Paul had said. Also: sex.

The lights go down (they're back in town) (@backbenttulips). 1977. Paul and John are trapped in an elevator at the Dakota. The power goes out. John comes back to live.

Something Borrowed Something New (@inspiteallthedanger). 1979. The former Beatles meet at Pattie & Eric's wedding. Paul and John face some truths.

six hours in august (@stonedlennon). 1979. A chance meeting in NYC. The love is still there.

I Still Miss Someone/ I Know That I Miss you, but I Don't Know Where I Stand/ Close the Door Lightly When You Go (RosalindBeatrice). 1976-1979. Paul and John become lovers, but their lives have changed. John feels guilty about the past, Paul has a family...Mutual empathy is needed, and accordingly grows. But it doesn't come easy.

1980 and Onwards:

The Birthday Party (@merseydreams). John and Paul meet at Ringo's Birthday Party. Paul has had therapy, and John wears denim shorts. There is only one bed.

Free Man in Paris (@backbenttulips). John and Paul get married in Paris in '61, and get a divorce seven years later. But it's not the end.

Memory Lane (@ohjohnnysblog). Old, married John and Paul leaf through a photo album and reminisce about the past, including past lovers.

and when broken bodies are washed ashore (who am i to ask for more) (wardo_wedidit): John and Paul. Now and Then.

Bermuda (@scurator): John and Paul are grown-ups and know what they want (each other, to start with).

Take A Sad Song and Make it Better (@javelinbk). 1980. John visits Paul in 1980, and they revisit the past, including their love. But their families don't magically disappear. Also by @javelinbk: Our Version of Events (Part 1, Part 2 (in progress)). 1971. Reading fan fiction helps John and Paul realize what's happening, and what's been happening in the past.

Going Nowhere (@inspiteallthedanger). 1980; John survives the shooting and returns to England. I think of this one as 'they talk about it' fic.

Comprehensive Fix-Its:

The Contract (JP). The story of John and Paul, with a happier (though bizarre) ending, and a lot of sex (good).

i was a younger man then (now) (post hoc) (@fingersfallingupwards). The story of John and Paul à la The Time Traveller's Wife. It takes them a long time—but in the end they do understand and forgive each other.

[illleavemymessageinmysong]

Playboy To A Man : she’s going to make you suffer tonight, to turn you from a playboy into a man

Talking to his daughter Mary for the ‘Wingspan’ documentary, Paul spoke of the period in his life leading up to Linda and him becoming a couple.

“At a certain age you start to sort of think, wow, you know, I’ve got to get serious, I can’t just be a playboy all my life”.

Interesting to hear him describe himself in those terms. Certainly, the late Spring and early Summer of 1968 was a particularly busy period for him, relationship wise.

Whether by accident or design, one of the songs Paul co-wrote with Elvis Costello in the late ‘80s, ‘Playboy To A Man’ describes the situation he found himself in at that time very well and, perhaps, a particularly painful public incident.

Of course with it being a collaboration, we can’t know who came up with particular lines. There are certainly some in there that have Elvis’s mark but I’ve got a feeling Paul had significant input, too. Could it be that a couple of lines, in particular, refer to the events of 20 July 1968 when Jane Asher appeared on Simon Dee’s prime time Saturday evening chat show ‘Dee Time’ and said of her relationship with Paul:

“I haven’t broken it off, but it’s finished”

According to Francie Schwartz in her book ‘Body Count’, Paul was watching the show with her and his family at his Dad Jim’s home in the Liverpool area.

The line from ‘Playboy To A Man’, “she’s going to make you suffer tonight, to turn you from a playboy into a man”, seems particularly apt for how he must have felt that night, watching it with his family and knowing much of the country was watching. It also speaks of how it may have led to a change in his attitude to the playboy lifestyle, if not immediately, within a couple of months once Linda moved in and they became a couple.

If the song does describe this period, he doesn’t go easy on himself.

“You had your own way one too many times and now you’re going to find out what it’s like, just what it’s like now you’re a mess, you wanted something you could never possess” (does that last part refer to Jane’s determination to keep up her acting career?)

“You went your own way one too many nights, you treated her like some small oversight. What in the world makes her think that she can, turn you from a playboy into a man”

The line “but that’s the trouble ‘cause every girl still thinks you’re hers” echoes a quote from Jane in Michael Braun’s 1964 book, ‘Love Me Do: The Beatles Progress’,

“He can’t see that my feelings for him are real and that the fans’ are fantasy”.

Yes, by accident or design, it describes his emotional landscape in ‘68 very well. If by accident, I doubt it would have gone unnoticed by him.

[caitlinsart05]

Hello I'm Caitlin 😙🫶

In collage currently, and wanted to post some of my art on here for funzies, possibly making a little extra cash if people like it enough to get commissioned 😋

I mainly like alternative things, and I dress 2000s. I'm a big fan of music, my top 5 are ayesha erotica, 8obes, lil peep, the beatles and oasis. I also realy love a cheeky vintage car, so beautiful. My favorite of all time has to be a 1966 ford mustang convertible in cherry red, or black. My top shows at the minute are shameless, gravity falls and monster high. I'll hopefully be doing some fanart soon of a couple difrent shows too how cheeky!!!

I'm trying to get back into art, and just posting my recent bits and bobs. I follow back anybody that follows me!! If you have any tips or tricks to improve, please let me know too. I mainly draw people, and I'm trying to work on poses but I'm slowly getting there experimentaly, it's a working progress. Sometimes I do draw the odd little creature or a few random assortment of objects

I am also now going to be posting my handmade clothes!! I buy a base like a pair of cool jeans or a hoodie, and I customize them. By adding bleach designs or splatters, sewing patches into them or distressing them, sometimes all of the above. I am open to commitions for them aswell as my artwork!!

Vinted- caitlinandtierna.co

[slavghoul]

Short interview with Joe & Tobias from Rolling Stone l’Hebdo n°113

They've been listening to each other for years, but Joe Elliott (Def Leppard) and Tobias Forge (Ghost) only recently met to record a new collaborative version of the hit 'Spillways'. The connection was immediate. The two musicians show that despite the generation that separates them, their passion and talent are in tune.

Joe Elliott: The intro to "Spillways" reminded me of "Jane" by Jefferson Starship or "Hold The Line" by Toto. That's what I like! When I joined my band, I had the whole legacy of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, who had the rock in them, but they never forgot the melody. "Spillways" is for me the perfect hybrid of what people expect from Ghost and what they don't.

Tobias Forge: I was partly formed with underground extreme metal, where the music is more atonal, loud, brutal and fast, that's why Ghost has this evil aura about it. But I also grew up with AOR. Ghost combines those two elements. I wanted Ghost to be like a 70's band trying to create music that was futuristic and scary at the same time. I love "Jane" by Jefferson Starship. I play it on the drums as part of my gig prep routine.

Joe Elliott: I remember when I discovered this song. In the UK, as a young adult, we didn't have rock on the radio, apart from a show on Friday nights between 10pm and midnight when no one was listening, and on Sunday afternoons when everyone was away at the football match. "Jane" made the top 40, not many rock songs have had that. As well as being a great single, "Jane" is an exemplary vocal performance!

Tobias Forge: I never saw myself as a singer, I became one by force of circumstance...

Joe Elliott: Me too!

Tobias Forge: Of course, I love punk and other less vocally demanding music, but one of the things that makes AOR stand out from the crowd is the incredible talent of the singers, whether it's bands like Journey, Foreigner, Kansas...

Joe Elliott: It turns out that my favourite singers aren't really singers, but they get their talent from their interpretation of the lyrics. Steve Walsh from Kansas could sing the phone book, but my favorites are the ones that make my hair stand on end, like lan Hunter, Joe Strummer, Michael Monroe... These guys may be screamers, but they know how to interpret the lyrics. When "School's Out" came out, people wondered if Alice Cooper was singing or barking. When asked what I wanted to do, I said I wanted to be somewhere between Phil Mogg, Bon Scott, Phil Lynott and Gary Holton, with influences from Alice Cooper and Johnny Rotten. We can't all be Freddie Mercury. When I listen to myself on the album On Through The Night (1980), I hear a guy drowning. He does his best, but he doesn't have it all together. Mutt Lange later helped me to find my voice, and from then on I was on my way, it just took me longer than most singers. But you Tobias, you can sing! To hell with humility!

Tobias Forge: I think half the work comes from being comfortable with your voice. I've learned to love working with it. My "hit radar" doesn't always work, sometimes there's that magic moment when a song screams that it's going to be a hit. This was the case with "Spillways" or "Square Hammer". But "Cirice" wasn't originally intended to be a hit, I wanted to make it more progressive. When I played it to my daughter, she said it was her favourite. That's how the song was redesigned as a single, which got us a Grammy! Success is very hard to determine when you're writing, it's the audience that decides. On the other hand, I couldn't understand why "Mary On A Cross" didn't do so well. But in the end, it just took it a little longer.

Joe Elliott: We all say to each other in Def Leppard, "In a parallel world, this song would be a hit". It turns out that nowadays, hits don't happen the way they did in our time. It used to be that you'd make a single, it'd get picked up, played on the radio, and then you'd make a video for it and it'd be on MTV. Everything has changed since then. It just so happens that the Bank Of Dave movie has completely resurrected our song "Kick". When we did that song, we knew it was going to be the first single from Diamond Star Halos. We felt the same way about "Fire It Up" (on the same album) and "This Guitar". We've never questioned our songwriting skills, which get better with time. Some of our big hits still leave us confused! (laughs) As Tobias said, we play some of our songs to our kids and if they say "play that one again", we're onto something. They know better because they have the heart, they don't calculate anything.

Tobias Forge: That's what I say to people who tell me they can't write a song. It doesn't matter, it's what you feel that counts. The Ramones wrote some very direct songs, but a lot of them weren't that successful. While ABBA wrote some pretty technical songs, a lot of them are pretty hard to play. They made their songs accessible, especially with the vocal melodies. A lot of people in pop say "don't make it too complicated". Yes, do make it complicated if the song demands it! You have to follow your instincts.

Joe Elliott: We musicians are a special breed. As soon as we started talking it was like we'd known each other for ten years. I also hope that one day we can sit down with our guitars and a bottle of wine and see what comes out.

[tavolgisvist]

One day Paul and I were playing outside №12 with a ball I'd just 'found' in the next road, when a little lad came up to me and demanded, 'Ay yous, that's our ball.' In those days you seldom ventured out of your own road or 'territory' and if you did it it was at your own risk. So it was with great interest that I looked down on the little man. For one, he wasn't from our road, for two he was alone, and for three he was half my size. 'You what?' 'You 'eard, yous have got our ball. ' 'So?' 'Well, give us it back.' 'No,' I taunted. 'Give us it back, or I'll butt you.' (Butt not being short for butty, a Liverpool sandwich, but for the hitting of one forehead by another.) 'Try it,' said I. With that, in one of the quickest moves I'd never seen, the half pint grabbed the lapels of my jacket, pulled himself up and landed his head 'Thud' right between my eyes. Momentarily everything went pitch black, until slowly, normal vision returned, only to find that the ball and half pint had completely disappeared. All that was left, was one highly amused brother rolling round the floor with laughter.

(Mike McCartney, 1981, Thank U Very Much. Mike McCartney's Family Album)

‘Butting is a Liverpool term for hitting with your head,’ said Paul. ‘I remember a little hooligan boy saying to my brother, “If you don’t watch out I’ll butt you”, which he did.’

(Love Me Do. The Beatles Progress by Michael Braun, 1963/1995)

[galactic-rhea]

I love your analysis of The Simpsons. Homer is probably my favorite character in the series because he loves his family so much but still struggles because of his upbringing, and while that doesn't excuse the abuse and immaturity, it still makes an impact. I always think about that episode when Homer overworks himself at two jobs so Lisa can have a pet horse, but then she gives it up for him, telling him that the only dumb animal she needs is her dad. The Simpsons as a whole has been totally bastardized over the years, but ultimately, it's about family, and the beauty of it rests in the bittersweet.

[ This is the post mentioned in the ask ]

God, there are SO MANY episodes showing how much Homer actually CARES, and tries, despite a bunch of it sometimes being a bit inconsistent, which is probably why the movie always felt strangely OOC, in a way that felt closer to what you would expect from Family Guy.

Just of the top of my head, there's also the episode where they're told Lisa is a gifted kid and needs a let out to work with her intelligence, and Homer spends all the money they had been saving up from an Air Conditioning to buy Lisas' saxophone. There's also the episode where he gives up his best job ever (ironically under a literal James Bond Villain) because his family was struggling to adapt.

He stopped being basically a Beatle partly because of his family if memory serves well (although a big part of it was huh, Barney)

There's also Homer's whole arc about accepting the possibility of Bart being queer (despite it being a misunderstanding and also due peer pressure) and after that episode, ironically, he's sometimes shown being more progressive than Marge.

And Homer's fully support for Lisa's attempt at discovering the true about Jeremiah Springfield.

It's such a fun and contrarian personality that a lot of the jokes rely on him being awful, but them going through such extremes for his family, extremes that less "awful" parents wouldn't really do, it's interesting, and entertaining!

I wanna believe even later seasons have episodes that shine through, it's true is not the same and a lot of them aren't that funny anymore, and very flat in characterizations, but there's still creators behind it that tell me that they do care and keep trying on good episodes from time to time

[anotherkindofmindpod]

So on reading a bit more of McCartney Legacy, the breakup section seems to align more with the typical Jean Jacket interpretation to me... is that your impression?

My take of the Breakup Section of McCartney Legacy is that it DOES align with the Traditional narrative, but not necessarily the Jean Jacket narrative.

What's the difference? I think the Traditional Narrative is more like Paul's and John's Public version, the "Official" version, the Common Ground version: John privately quit in September '69 and meant it; Paul didn't want to break up, but begrudgingly accepted it. Cue: divorce proceedings and the inevitable ugliness. The Jean Jacket Narrative is more like Yoko's PR (or JohnandYoko's PR): The Beatles were essentially a chrysalis that required Yoko to break the spell and release John from what had become a cage. After he dumped Paul (a relic of his childhood), he was able to fulfill his true mission. Ultimately, John's Higher Artistic Purpose, Yoko's transformative partnership and their shared drive for World Peace were too strong and too big for the Beatles. Paul, OTOH, was childishly stuck in Little Boy land, wanting to make mindless pop music with his schoolmates (tsk tsk tsk). Unlike John, Paul never grew out of his desire for childish friendships and refused to progress. Pathetic and sad, Paul limped along (with his successful marriage, beloved family, numerous fantastic albums and tours, etc), while John finally blossomed and flourished without him. It might seem like a depressingly low bar, but I can't emphasize enough how remarkable and progressive it is to read a book on Paul in the 70s without that Jean Jacket narrative! I don't mind reading the Official Narrative! Because personally I didn't expect (or particularly need) the McCartney Legacy to re-write the Breakup for me. Having done years and years of work on the break-up myself, that's just not what I was looking for. What I DO appreciate is that their coverage, while including all the most vital facts and events, was sparse, fairly unemotional, and did not ever demonize the other Beatles. (They did however agree that Klein was objectively shit, which I GREATLY appreciate). It's almost impossible to read a Beatles book that doesn't insert snide commentary about John or Paul's behavior, so this was immensely refreshing. -Phoebe Incidentally, we feel like the Real Version of the breakup is much closer to: JOHN: Paul, you turned on me the second the Beatles were done. You jumped ship without a backwards glance, cut me off completely and then turned your lawyers on me! WTF!?! PAUL: Bullshit! I loved you and wanted to work things out. I would've stayed forever, but YOU said you wanted a divorce! You TOLD me to fuck off out of your life! WTF?!?! I feel like they're having this argument for 2-3 straight years, if not for the rest of their lives. (*grumble, sigh, cry, rip out hair*) Sometimes I wonder to what extent they were truly able to see things from the other's POV. IMO, they were both so pathologically afraid they loved/needed the other more, it clouded their ability to see how much they were hurting each other. However, IMO, they do have a whiff of understanding, because when they try to make up in the 70s it's like: JOHN: No, I do love you and want you in my life always PAUL: Awesome, I don't give a shit about money, let's never discuss it again please But (as we all know), they don't heal completely and when they are hurt and/or scared, they retreat to these original positions: JOHN: Fine then, fuck off out of my life PAUL: Great. Speak to my lawyer In other words, I don't think the Official Narrative is incorrect, exactly. Just incomplete (i.e. strongly believe John wanted Paul to come back in early '70 and ask for another chance, etc), and doesn't address the emotional drivers of their behavior (which to us is the "Real" Story).

[idontwanttospoiltheparty]

omg since you’re taking off todya from studying can we hear some of your beatle hottakes?

ughhhhhhh sorry, these are so hard to come up with these days

meta take: I sort of wish we could have a genuine conversation about the blurry line between wishful thinking/headcanon and more objective (or, aspiring to be objective) historical analysis – I get the headcanons, I really do! but just in the past year, there's been several instances of people in good faith asking about sources or questioning "fan favourite" anecdotes and being shouted down for "ruining people's fun". If you want to engage with this stuff in a more lighthearted way, that's fine! but accept that that's what you're doing. Being rude to people trying to get to the truth is not a good look. Your imagination can withstand it, I promise.

more people need to jump on the Day Tripper tinhatting train. shit's crazy up here

the more I listen to Double Fantasy the more I'm offended that a certain brand of John fan basically only names songs from 1970/71 as his best. ditto with Walls and Bridges…

Again And Again And Again: best Denny solo-written Wings song ( it's hard to gauge how much is him and how much is Paul for their collabs. Anyways, No Words my beloved)

Sexy Sadie is kind of perfect… The lyrics, the chords, the distorted doo-wop it all embodies that DISAPPOINTMENT so well. The guitar solo is great, the high-pitched oooooooooohs. No notes, underrated song for sure.

the Mind Games album cover is soooooo deranged but so fucking good. That and Ram might be the best post-Beatles album covers.

this isn't exactly a take but the SADDEST part of Hey Jude is when John harmonizes with Paul. I can't not hear all the unspoken pain.

I kind of hope we get versions of Free As A Bird and Real Love with cleaned up John vocals like Now And Then. I don't want to erase those originals because the audio quality tells a story of its own, but Real Love especially suffers so much from it. I listened to it earlier today and nearly got teary. "No need to be alone" kind of gives me goosebumps. There's something so raw and emotional about all three of these songs…

This is almost the opposite of a hottake, but it kind of Doesn't Matter To Me who Now And Then is about. It could be about Paul, it could pretty easily be about Yoko too, and a few people I've seen say they think it's about May, which could be too! It perhaps not being directed at Paul doesn't take away from the song for me, because the song feels bigger than just its direct inspiration.

On that note, I sort of think that sometimes people could stand to.... Die on fewer hills? Like, the notion that Now And Then could be about Yoko doesn't negate John and Paul's relationship or most things people theorize they may have gotten up to. Now And Then Release Week bonus round, cause it's been long enough to talk about it a bit:

Paul (and Ringo and George! they also have a writing credit, guys!) making editorial choices about John's unfinished song with the blessing of his widow is literally fine. "But John might not have approved–" yes, this is how death works. John also might have found the song embarrassing and not wanted it released at all. It wasn't on Double Fantasy after all! Or maybe he would have specifically wanted to remove the same bit! (which I maintain is musically strange and unfitting at worst and at best a still really rough idea that would probably require a lot of work in of itself – echoing the chord progression in the instrumental bit is the best compromise I could imagine)

I actually really get the George girls who were a bit bummed out by the rollout of the song. He DID get the short end in this situation! but… what would have been better? I saw some people say Paul isn't nearly as good a slide guitarist at George. Okay well then… So Paul should've hired a session musician? How does that makes sense? Paul should've asked Dhani to find some random guitar bit George recorded 25 years ago and frankensteined it onto this song? I'm asking this honestly: what should have been done instead? Because… I sort of got the feeling from some of the criticism that the only acceptable solution was to not release this song at all. And TBH I don't think George "getting the short end" is worse than not allowing Paul and Ringo the closure of completing this song. This wasn't perfect but again: yes, this is how death works.

[zilabee]

Zilabee i love your blog very much, every time you post I get incredibly excited you're so knowledgable about those four randy scouse gits, but I'm trying to get into the book side of the Beatles and I know there are many posts out there to help with that, but I want to know personally, what do you think are the best Beatles books? Not by popularity or the best author, what are your favourite Beatles books you would recommend to people to read? I know you're a Paul girl (which aren't we all at heart? cause even if he isn't your fave he's your faves fave, so by association we're all Paul girls), but please don't worry about favouritism again this is an ask of your fave Beatles books

anon! thank you for nice words; apologies for being so slow

it's hard to recommend people things, I'm not deeply inside the capability of it, and most beatles books, like the beatles themselves, are basically awful

the books on my beatles shelf that I feel most fondly towards aren't about beatles, they're about Tara Browne and Robert Fraser

i want desperately to recommend the books by Maureen Cleave and Iris Caldwell but they never wrote them so I can't, so don't read those

i really like dakota days by john green. that's probably embarrassing to be the first book I can think of that I like but there we go. I think I went in with very low expectations, so that probably helped and I've ruined that for you by saying it's good. it's about john with yoko, not all the beatles, and as with all john books, the author is very 'actually I knew John well, I really got him...' which is what all men do, but then instead of 'we shared this amazing connection! he TRULY LOVED ME!!' he's more 'he was just really fucked up and desperate to be loved' which is not what most men do, so I liked that. Also he storifies it all, which keeps you a bit detached from how heartbreakingly sad it all is if it's remotely true.

i loved the longest cocktail party by richard delillo. I thought it captured apple beautifully, and it's very much of it's time, which is also the beatles's time, so it's very much of the beatles even if they're not often there. it was written in 1970 and it does cover the total death of all happiness, but obviously only from a very close perspective, and he'd left by then and everyone disappeared, so instead of pretending to know things he doesn't, he just drifts into newspaper headlines and reports, and it works really well for a person like me who finds the endings very difficult

i think one of the very first beatles books I read was here, there, and everywhere, by geoff emerick and I have a lot of remembering it being good while now not really remembering it, but i do like books by people who were actually trying to work while the beatles were around, rather than trying to wank all over them, because there is a suitable level of frustration with them, which makes it all feel a bit more bearable. you do have to put up with how much he hates george, but we have to put up with a lot of things

as time goes by, by derek taylor, is very good if you don't mind that derek taylor is living his life in inverted commas and I'm only recommending you books about the terrible aching sadness of the end, sorry. I love the way it's written though, I love the way it's felt, I love how much he hates Paul in 1968... but then as he says, many of the people he likes most are absolutely terrible, and he means brian, but it's true of all of them and I just really like that he feels it

everyone recommends it I know it's not new, but michael braun wrote the beatles's progress and that is very good and earlier and brighter than a lot of what I've mentioned. and it's short! which I think is important in beatles books too, because it means people aren't trying to fill pages. apart from the cocktail party all of these are quite short.

actually that's probably my main advice when you're trying to decide to read beatles books:

pick short ones to start with

pick ones written by people who worked with/for them

pick your favourite era and start there

and you don't have to care whether it's 'trusted' or 'reliable' or whatever, care about whether you enjoy it, and then pick over the bones of the biases later

i have read some of the big full biographies, but they're kind of boring, trying to tell you everything when they don't actually know anything and they weren't there. tumblr's better for that. also they sort of pretend not to have an opinion, which is both a lie and a boredom, because opinions are the best thing. books by people who knew them DEFINITELY have opinions and you get to judge them.

I liked pete best's book more than I thought I would, I just read it the other week. I can't remember a lot about alistair taylor's book now, but I remember enjoying it, specially to get more sense of brian, and brian's autobiography is written by derek taylor so it snips along. either of george martin's books is nice and quick. chris salewicz wrote the best biography of paul mccartney and it fits in your pocket. cynthia and may are both good.

[muzaktomyears]

I know there's a lot of answers out there for this question, but personally like what do you think are the best beatle books to read? Like what's the best for you?

hello anon! I'm hyperfixated so I'll read pretty much anything on them tbh. I do like to read the more anecdotal stuff because I love gossip lol - and some of them can be so revealing (both of the Beatles themselves and the authors). But I'll read and have enjoyed lots of stuff: the big biogs, memoirs, fan accounts, academic studies, that novel by Paul's ex publicist.

anyway, here's the list of Beatles books I've read all the way through and what rating out of 5 I'd give them. The books I've rated highest have generally been the big biographies just because I think they tend to say more and tell a fuller story, since obvs that's their purpose, so they're a more satisfying read. My ratings are based on a random combo of what they can tell us about the Beatles, how interesting I find them historiographically/as Beatles reception, and how much I enjoyed reading them.

★★★★★

One Two Three Four: The Beatles in Time (Craig Brown)

The Beatles: The Authorised Biography (Hunter Davies)

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

Love Me Do!: The Beatles' Progress (Michael Braun)

Can't Buy Me Love: The Beatles, Britain, and America (Jonathan Gould)

The Man Who Gave the Beatles Away: The Amazing True Story of the Beatles' Early Years (Allan Williams & William Marshall)

★★★★☆

The Love you Make: An Insider's Story of the Beatles (Peter Brown & Steven Gaines)

Backbeat: Stuart Sutcliffe - The Lost Beatle (Alan Clayson & Pauline Sutcliffe)

The Gospel According to the Beatles (Steve Turner)

Lennon vs. McCartney: The Beatles, Inter-band Relationships and the Hidden Messages to Each Other in Their Song Lyrics (Adam Thomas)

Beatle! The Pete Best Story (Pete Best & Patrick Doncaster)

Dreaming the Beatles: The Love Story of One Band and the Whole World (Rob Sheffield)

A Cellarful of Noise (Brian Epstein)

Waiting for the Beatles: An Apple Scruff's Story (Carol Bedford)

John (Cynthia Lennon)

John Lennon: In My Life (Pete Shotton & Nicholas Schaffner)

Summer of Love: The Making of Sgt. Pepper (George Martin with William Pearson)

★★★☆☆

John, Paul & Me Before the Beatles: The True Story of the Very Early Days (Len Garry)

The Beatles and Me on Tour (Ivor Davis)

A Twist of Lennon (Cynthia Lennon)

At the Apple's Core: The Beatles from the Inside (Denis O'Dell with Bob Neaverson)

The Guitar's All Right as a Hobby, John (Kathy Burns)

With the Beatles (Alistair Taylor)

The Day John Met Paul: An Hour-By-Hour Account of How the Beatles Began (Jim O'Donnell)

The Beatles: I Was There (Richard Houghton)

All Our Loving: A Beatle Fan's Memoir (Carolyn Lee Mitchell & Michael Munn)

Rock Bottom (Geoff Baker)

Once There Was a Way: What if the Beatles Stayed Together? (Bryce Zabel)

Like Some Forgotten Dream: What if the Beatles Hadn't Split Up? (Daniel Rachel)

Dylan, Lennon, Marx and God (Jon Stewart)

Paul is Undead: The British Zombie Invasion (Alan Goldsher)

★★☆☆☆

Paperback Writer (Mark Shipper)