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Q: When you were recording the album on the island of Montserrat, people got the idea you were putting together a tribute album to John and reporters seemed to invade the place. How distracting was all that?

McCartney: The only real problem was the paparazzi. Newspapers tend to go for the best story whether it’s true or not, and the best “story” on this album seemed to be that it was a tribute to John. So they went after that angle though I tried to tell them it wasn’t true.

Q: Did all the commotion disturb you?

McCartney: Not really. You have to learn to filter yourself from things like that. I’ve been doing it for so long now that I sort of know the rules. If I let a few days of this get to me, you can imagine what the “Paul is dead” fuss would have done to me.

But I do remember these two guys who were following me in a car so ran into them. It was a great feeling.

Q: You ran into them?

McCartney: They were following us, so I stopped and asked them to leave us alone. But they kept following us, so I turned the car around and sort of ran into them, scraping the side of their car. I just had to do it. Usually, you’re the animal and they’re sort of the observers. 

You’ve got to turn it around sometimes and bite back. You can’t live your whole life as this hunted animal.

-Interview for Los Angeles Times • Tuesday, April 20, 1982

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Q: When you were recording the album on the island of Montserrat, people got the idea you were putting together a tribute album to John and reporters seemed to invade the place. How distracting was all that?

McCartney: The only real problem was the paparazzi. Newspapers tend to go for the best story whether it’s true or not, and the best “story” on this album seemed to be that it was a tribute to John. So they went after that angle though I tried to tell them it wasn’t true.

Q: Did all the commotion disturb you?

McCartney: Not really. You have to learn to filter yourself from things like that. I’ve been doing it for so long now that I sort of know the rules. If I let a few days of this get to me, you can imagine what the “Paul is dead” fuss would have done to me.

But I do remember these two guys who were following me in a car so ran into them. It was a great feeling.

Q: You ran into them?

McCartney: They were following us, so I stopped and asked them to leave us alone. But they kept following us, so I turned the car around and sort of ran into them, scraping the side of their car. I just had to do it. Usually, you’re the animal and they’re sort of the observers. 

You’ve got to turn it around sometimes and bite back. You can’t live your whole life as this hunted animal.

-Interview for Los Angeles Times • Tuesday, April 20, 1982

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JOHN WINSTON LENNON!

b. October 9, Liverpool, United Kingdom.

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John Lennon and Paul McCartney met on this day in 1957          “To lose your mum at fourteen is not easy. It was very difficult for a few years – just trying come to terms with it. But then I found music… and John.” - Paul McCartney          “I just saw a girl who said she saw John Lennon walking down the street in New York wearing a button that said, “I love Paul.” She asked him, “Why are you wearing an ‘I love Paul’ button?” and he said, “Because I love Paul.”” - Harry Nilsson

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I fucking love how weird Beatles fans are about them ❤️❤️

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Happy birthday slag <3

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Why is he so naaaassty

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John Lennon at the Colombo Hotel in Genoa, Italy | 25 June 1965 © Aldo Durazzi

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This post is getting reblogged again which is intresting because when I made it this was like a shockingly bad look. It was simply incomprehensible that he thought he looked good like this. The only reaction you could imagine John having was one of horror.

But now, 3 years later, this is just what some white boys look like. This is Kurtis Connor. If some bi girl showed you this photo and said he was her boyfriend you wouldn't blink an eye.

This is all to say; If Paul McCartney was young now, then I think this is the look he would go for. And I think we all have to digest that.

Can you imagine being John Lennon in 1974, and you’re about to see your ex-best friend/pseudo husband/songwriting partner for the first time in years, plus its a really big moment cause you’re tentatively thinking about working with him again, then the motherfucker shows up looking like this unironically:

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John Dunbar: (...) The Beatles always tried to protect and defend [Brian]. Back then, Brian's homosexuality was a terrible thing and kept hidden, probably because the Beatles couldn't have him as their manager [if it were known]. Paul once said to me, "There are always rumors about me and Kenny Everett, or that Cliff Richard and I were gay." I said, "The only rumor I remember is that you were dead." SG: I'd forgotten that he was dead. JD: Yeah, but he remembered instantly. I called him up at his farm in Scotland and I said, "Paul, I hear you're dead." He said, "Not true."

All You Need is Love: The End of the Beatles, Peter Brown & Steven Gaines (2024)

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I still don’t want to screw [John]. I still do feel for the guy. I really like the guy, even though what I’ve gone through. I still see that he thinks he’s the one who was hurt. I spoke to the Eastmans. I said, “If we all think he’s not going to have a tax consequence, let’s give [the indemnity] to him.”’Cause, you know, if all sides are that smart, let’s all offer it. Break the deadlock. I went to New York, feeling like the bringer of good news. I rang him up. “Hello, John, how are you? Hello, how’s the kids? Oh, great. What’s all this about publishing? Yeah, great”—laugh laugh laugh—“What about Apple?” Tense. You know, that was the unfortunate thing in the last ten years. The moment you mention the word Apple, all of us go, eeeeep! Dread and horror and shock goes through all our systems. I said, “Look, as I understand it, you need this indemnity.” John said, “Fucking indemnity. Fucking this, fucking that. You don’t need to give me fucking indemnity, you fucking—” I think we ended up just sort of swearing at each other. I said, “Fuck you, ya big cunt,”’cause I just couldn’t handle it. I couldn’t be sweet and reasonable anymore. I was shaking for an hour after that.

-All You Need Is Love, interview with Paul from 1980

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McCartney

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Candid and lovely pictures of Paul McCartney and Mal Evans, a gentle giant. I believe Mal was so important to the Beatles and very loyal to them. And he especially loved Paul.

I would love to read Mal's book if I ibelieved that it had not in fact been tampered with and retouched. After all, Mal was murdered days before his book was delivered for publication and it was published only decades later when Mal was no longer with us.

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20 MARCH 1969: John Lennon and Yoko Ono get married in Gibraltar, a happy occasion immortalized in "The Ballad of John and Yoko" and "The Wedding Album".

The couple's honeymoon became a public event at the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel, the first of their of Bed-Ins for Peace. Photographs by David Nutter.

Finally made the plane into Paris

Honey mooning down by the Seine

Peter Brown called to say

"You can make it OK

You can get married in Gibraltar, near Spain"

THE BEATLES, The Ballad of John and Yoko (1969)

"So we were in Paris and we were calling Peter Brown, and said, ‘We want to get married. Where can we go?’ And he called back and said, ‘Gibraltar’s the only place.’ So – ‘OK, let’s go!’ And we went there and it was beautiful. It’s the Pillar of Hercules, and also symbolically they called it the End of the World at one period. There’s some name besides Pillar of Hercules – but they thought the world outside was a mystery from there, so it was like the Gateway to the World. So we liked it in the symbolic sense, and the Rock foundation of our relationship."

JOHN LENNON, The Beatles Anthology.

"It was very romantic. It’s all in the song, The Ballad Of John And Yoko. If you want to know how it happened, it’s in there. Gibraltar was like a little sunny dream. I couldn’t find a white suit – I had off-white corduroy trousers and a white jacket. Yoko had all white on."

JOHN LENNON, "Lennon Remembers: The Full Rolling Stone Interviews from 1970" by Jann S. Wenner.

"I was asked to find a location for the secret wedding to take place. John and Yoko were in Paris on vacation when I learned that as a British resident John could get married immediately in Gibraltar if he wished. I chartered a plane for them from Paris and met them at the Gibraltar airport with photographer David Nutter, who had no idea what kind of event he had been hired to photograph. I was honored to be John and Yoko’s best man."

PETER BROWN, "The Love You Make: An Insider's Story of The Beatles" by Peter Brown.

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NEW!

Paul McCartney and his then fiancee, actress Jane Asher, visited Iran for 2 days in 1968 on their way back from India, touring historic and cultural sites such as Tehran's Shah Mosque. From parhami@ece.ucsb.edu twitter! 🌸✨