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first mclennon post

i love them sm

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Lennon's gay pins

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thinkin bout paul's ass like

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San Francisco Airport, 18 August 1964

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Get Back, McLennon: Day 8 Part 1/3 (or 4)

This began McLennon and is now an in-depth Get Back project. Earlier posts will be updated and reblogged as I get to them.

If you've missed a day, read the other Get Back posts here.

I am posting these day-to-day because Tumblr limits 30 photos per post.

During Day 7, George left the Beatles. John, Paul and Ringo come back to the studio and lose their collective minds.

Over that weekend, the Beatles meet, including Yoko and Linda, to discuss the future of the band. It does not go well and tensions are worsened.

On Day 8, Ringo is the first to arrive. For the first 1-2 hours, there is uncertainty on whether the rest of the band will come at all. Ringo, while concerned, does seem more hopeful than the other guys. He said that the meeting went alright, there was "a lot of good stuff" but...

This is not how Paul, or John, saw it. Ringo is almost always the most optimistic of the group.

Daffodils (my favorite!) were delivered for George by the Hare Krishna. MLH laughs so hard at it and it grosses me out.

Do you like India?

Paul and Linda arrive.

Paul bites a record to shake Denis O'Dell's hand. It's important to document such historical moments.

"Have you heard from John?"

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CLARIFICATION AND CONTEXT: I really want to break this down but some editing and order here is not how it unraveled in the Nagra tapes (in real life). Unfortunately for you, me and Dupree, I am too lazy to pull up the Nagra tapes today. So I'm going to break it down from exactly how we see it with a clarification that Paul and Linda were making more fun of Yoko than was seen on the doc. The conversation, in some parts, was considerably lighter than it is shown in the doc.

HOWEVER this does not change Paul's reactions or body language and y'all know i'm going bizarro so let's go.

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Paul walks in smiling and seemingly optimistic, winking at people. Hasn't showered in weeks, doesn't know how to brush his teeth, looking hot as hell and pretending nothing is wrong. Classic McCartney.

Can we get a quick round of applause for Linda for living with this? Even I, the biggest believer in McLennon of all time, love Linda (just love JP more). Thank you Linda, and I'm sorry. I'm sure he smelled.

As Paul sits down, the conversation immediate turns to John. Paul is under the impression that John is a) already there or b) is on his way. (narrator voice) Paul was incorrect.

Paul seems tired but relatively unworried.

The conversation turns to the meeting from the day before. Linda believes that Yoko spoke for John and "half the stuff" she said are things John does not believe. (Cue all Beatles fans raucously agreeing).

Geo left in the middle of the meeting, saying, "I'll see you."

Paul stands up for John and Yoko.

"They're trying to, like, be as near together as they can. They want to stay together, those two. So that's alright, let the young lovers stay together."

Paul seems to come to a point that he reconciles John has already chosen Yoko, or it's a matter of time until he will.

"We got a lot out of the Beatles."

There's a silence here, both in the documentary and in the tapes. I'm going to honor that silence here in my post.

The silence is heavy.

Ringo doesn't say much, as usual. But the footage of him is damning. Ringo is "prone to melancholy" and the way he's described himself over the years sounds like he really struggles with depression and abandonment issues. (I've researched and read more about Richy than JPG).

"Why do you build me up, buttercup, just to let me down?"

Paul hugs and collapses in on himself a lot in general. I have a whole ass pinterest board studying it. This isn't a moment quite like that, but when Paul starts singing "Build Me Up Buttercup" by The Foundations while they're waiting for John to call or show up.

"Why do you build me up, buttercup baby, just to let me down and mess me around?

And worst of all, you never call, baby, when you say you will. But I love you still. I need you."

Linda holds Paul's hand, bringing him out of that collapsing-in position. Paul continues to sing and whistle the song throughout this conversation.

Paul explains that they aren't as close as they used to be because they stopped touring (UGHHGHHHHHGDHGHHSAFH)

He's explaining this calmly, logically. He's approaching this very much like the PR, Elder Statesman of the group, the role he's had since the media really picked up. It's Paul's job to be the logical one between him and John. And it's Paul's job to present the united front to the world because Brian Epstein is no longer here to do that.

Because Paul is in this role, it's clear he thinks he's processing all of this information. And it's clear to anyone paying the slightest amount of attention that he is not.

Paul defends the fuck out of John and Yoko, even to the point that it does not make sense. He mentions that it's hard to make songs with Yoko there because he's trying to write songs that she'll like (to me, this reads like, "I'm nervous she's there because I want to write something JOHN likes, if she likes it, I can keep status quo, keep John happy, keep the group together, buy me more time to patch this up").

Neil, Mal and MLH try to get through to Paul about compromise. This is not entirely on Paul. John needs to compromise. The fact this is coming from Neil means quite a bit.

In yet another case of Paul "Doesn't Hear The Words He Says Out Loud" McCartney, he says

"We really do need sort of a central daddy figure."

Which I know isn't dirty and he didn't meant it dirty BUT CMON WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH THAT?

Essentially, Paul is saying that they need Brian or a boss, someone who is in a place of a authority over John, who can say, "Leave the girls at home."

I was hoping to get this part in before I ran out of photos so here's what's coming on Part 2:

Dedicated to @omgmclennon

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POV: he’s explaining to you that when he fell the instructor wouldn’t pick him up, and you have to turn around so he doesn’t see you laugh

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pov hes about to quit your band and immediately drop the most earth-shattering album of all time

another couple of versions under the cut bcs i couldnt decide what looked better <3

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These dorks

Edit: thinking this actually is the same jacket. Look at how it fits rings arms, wrists and shoulders vs Paul

Same jacket

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John Lennon: *is literally saying he would marry lady or man*

Straights: Awwww, what an incredible LGBT-ally! <3

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Pete Shotton: At the first meeting, John Lennon and Paul McCartney were not too kind at first. John, as I already understood, was wary of strangers, and Paul, in turn, behaved with restraint and politeness. But he was by no means shy, and eventually the awkward silence was broken when he picked up his guitar and started playing.

"Well, Pete," John asked as soon as Paul left, "what do you think of him?". "I liked him." "And what do you think about to accept him into the group?". "I don't mind," I replied. "If you want it and he wants it too, then…". During that first meeting, I didn't pay much attention to Paul. He seemed very quiet to me, but that's what always happens when a person meets a group of unfamiliar guys for the first time. I wasn't jealous of him, at least not that first time. He was so much younger! I didn't see him as a future rival. John and I were close friends. I've always been friends with him. Only because I loved him.

Of course, it never occurred to John then that he and Paul were destined to become close friends. On the one hand, John was almost two years older than Paul, and this only reinforced his sense of superiority. In this kid, John himself was attracted by musical competence. Simply put, Paul had to stay at the Quarryman just as long as it took John to learn all these chords.

It soon became clear that Paul would remain in John's band for a long time. Although outwardly their characters seemed completely opposite, both were united by a fanatical obsession with rock and roll. John and Paul were absolutely fascinated by everything – from chord harmonies to models of electric guitars of their idols. In addition, they were both very attracted to joint performances for the audience. Before, both John and Paul devoted almost all their free time to the guitar, sometimes they even took it with them to the toilet, so it's not surprising that they started rehearsing together whenever possible. Gradually their self-defense reflexes disappeared and they became real friends.

Paul wouldn't have been able to hold out in John's band, even if he was worthy of a place in the Philharmonic orchestra, if John hadn't loved him as a person. All the other members of the first line–up gradually "dropped out" - not so much because of musical futility, but because they bored John.

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The roof scene gif set is so perfect. What are some of your fav tags from that? I bet you're getting good commentary

ref

thank you anon! literally all the tags on that post are hilar and made me audibly laugh out loud but here is a compilation of the standouts:

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I really love this post, it explores something I know very little about (fashion, clothing and impact) and that’s the kind of stuff I LOVE seeing.

Thinking about the Beatle habit of sharing clothes - because it's so striking, and because culture, fashion and consumerism have changed so much.

The brilliant @reflectismo posted a great excerpt from George Harrison's I, Me, Mine on his teenaged fashion sense. He had a waistcoat Paul had given him: "I think he got it from John, who got it from his stepfather Mr Dykins. I also had one of our Harold's sports jackets dyed black and you could see the checkered design underneath. I wore black trousers made into drainpipes..."

From a 21st century perspective, what jumps out is the intimacy of sharing clothes. And yes, that's there, but it would read differently in the 1950s.

Clothes were scarcer and much more expensive. No fast fashion (which developed in the 1990s). The Beatles were war babies. They grew up with rationing, hand-me-downs, make do and mend. Clothes rationing didn't end until 1949. For years after that, post-war austerity meant consumer options remained limited.

So it's standard practice to pass on clothes. You'd probably get them from family and friends, but that doesn't guarantee emotional closeness. John didn't get on with his stepfather, but still took that waistcoat.

That means baby George had limited choice when it came to clothes, but he went all out in imposing his personality on them. As the youngest in both his family and the band, he clearly had a lot of hand-me-downs. But he's ready to customise: dyeing a jacket, changing the cut of the trousers. These are fashion alterations, not just making something the right size. And he wants to impress and keep up with his friends. It's not long before they'll start having matching stage clothes, trying to build a collective identity.

(I wonder if George made his own alterations? When John and Paul went to Paris in 1961, they bought wide-legged trousers, then lost their nerve when they put them on. They "must have been about fifty inches around the bottom and our drainpipe trousers were something like fifteen or sixteen inches... we couldn't handle it." The solution was to alter them: "So it was back to the hotel at a run, needle and cotton out and we took them in to a nice sixteen..." Paul takes this level of dressmaking competence for granted, but I think it would be quite unusual today. How many people do you know who could take in a trouser leg by 34 inches, on the spur of the moment?)

I'm fascinated by how they went on sharing and borrowing clothes all through the 1960s. They're rich, austerity is over, but they still get into each other's wardrobes - and those of other people they're close to. Get Back is a good example. George got those embroidered boots from Paul. John wears Yoko's fur coat, and Ringo borrowed Maureen's red raincoat for the rooftop concert.

Again, they're not alone in doing this. Glyn Johns, Get Back's fashion god, remembers that a lot of his amazing wardrobe came via the Rolling Stones.

The crocodile skin jacket was made for Keith Richards, but when it didn't fit, he passed it on to Glyn. Glyn also remembered getting "a fabulous shirt" from Mick Jagger, and going shopping with Brian Jones in Carnaby Street.

So clothes are much more available, but they're not disposable. They're both valuable in themselves - that crocodile jacket won't have been cheap - and a way to bond with people, either by passing on special garments or by buying the same things. There's plenty of fashion chat in Get Back; they're into it, they like talking about it.

And they like sharing and influencing each other - whether that's transcendental meditation or Beatle boots. In the early days, building the stage image meant matching suits and boots and haircuts. As time goes on, they got less matchy-matchy, but they're still keeping pace with each other. Sometimes they're literally sharing shirts, or buying matching capes; elsewhere, it's more about a vibe.

(Did they all have those cloaks? There are pictures of John wearing one: is it his own, or is he borrowing Paul's?)

But they're making this happen. I loved @lenetaylor's fabulous deep dive into Beatles wearing Henleys, and the amount of effort someone must have gone to to get so many shirts in so many colours: they weren't a readily-available basic. Some photographs suggest that Paul and John aren't just wearing matching Henleys, but might literally be swapping the same shirt.

We're way past the point of thrift or convenience. The Beatles can send out for almost anything - a velvet bow tie, an anvil - and expect it to arrive the same day. Ringo and John could certainly have got hold of their own warm coats, without borrowing from Maureen and Yoko. George and Paul are bonding over those boots - both Paul sharing the actual boots, and George sharing his vision of embroidered boot perfection. The overlapping ownership is a way to connect.

Even in a culture where hand-me-downs are standard, it's an intimate thing to wear someone else's clothing. Particularly when it's about sharing it - not just passing on a discarded waistcoat, but passing it back and forth, using it to create an identity that means something to both of you.

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The best of The Beatles Anthology: Paul gets his little brothers confused

Paul: In fact, he was I think about one and a half years younger than me. That’s quite a big age difference at that time, so I suppose I used to talk down to him a little bit, as you do to a sort of kid who’s one and a half years younger than you. When he’s sort of fourteen and a half, and I’m sort of sixteen, you know. Might have been a failing of mine, to tend to sort of talk down to him, because I’d known him as a younger kid.

George: He was always nine months older than I. Even now, he’s still nine months older than me.

See also:

The boys’ slightly different reactions to Paul’s LSD bombshell

“Paul was the only one who’d sleep with me”

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RINGO FUCK YES I LOVE YOU

The Beatles vs. click tracks

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holy shit it's so accurate. Eppy is o u t.

current fav thought experiment: if Greek island commune plan had worked out and they had ended up living there together, who would have killed someone first? And how long would have it taken them to snap?

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i have so many thoughts about this photo.