#beatles in my life

[artylla]

now they're frightened of leaving it

everyone's weaving it

[dbp]

[spotlitehooker]

are you fucking kidding me

[thewalrusespublicist]

So didn't realise that people didn't know about the John Lennon 1980 'dear one' thing. As we're all here though I wanted to mention that the phrase 'my dear one' potentially has a bit of a story arc when it comes to John's relationship with Paul. For those familiar with British English, 'my dear one' sticks out as it's not a used term of endearment at all. So where does it come from? It could be a non-straightforward Victorian throwback, but more likely its hearkening to the use of the phrase in Eastern meditation to denote your nearest and dearest. Great, already off to a sweet start (and lines up with Yoko having Paul on the next-of-kin list with Julian and Mimi when John died).

It POTENTIALLY gets a bit more layered than that though once you add in the idea of hugging meditation. Contrary to what Paul says (sorry Paul, I do believe you on most things, just not this) despite being 'Northern men' TM the Beatles were a huggy bunch. John mentions it in the 1967 Hunter Davies interview:

''We used to be embarrassed about touching each other. We’d do an elaborate handshake just to hide the embarrassment… or we did mad dances. Then we got to hugging each other. Now we do the Buddhist bit… arms around. It’s just saying hello, that’s all.''

As pointed out in @thecoleopterawithana and @monkberries amazing posts, the Buddhist bit is hugging meditation which became popular in the 1960s. In hugging meditation, you

''have to make him or her very real in your arms, not just for the sake of appearances, patting him on the back to pretend you are there, but breathing consciously and hugging with all your body, spirit, and heart. Hugging meditation is a practice of mindfulness. “Breathing in, I know my dear one is in my arms, alive. Breathing out, she is so precious to me.”''

We know physical touch was important to John. One of the plusses of being with Yoko was being affectionate with his best friend, he tells Paul that touching is good whilst hugging him and in the Get Back sessions he delightedly asks Paul about a vivid dream where he was touching Paul (whether platonic or romantic this always read to me as a blatant subconscious desire for increased intimacy with Paul). The desire for intimacy is still present in the 'Real Life/Love' demo in 1977 where John muses about holding a mysterious has-a-baby-expecting-another-lives-on-a-farm someone in his arms as if it was only yesterday (another piece of media I still cannot believe we have on tape).

With John's evident desire for physical intimacy in mind and the focus on holding dear ones in hugging meditation, I don't think it's too far to think that John would associate this term of endearment with a certain level of both physical and emotional intimacy. Whether its a slightly bittersweet ironic recollection of those times together in the late 60s or a sincere statement of their current relationship, Paul as his dear one could be seen as continuation of John's suppressed, resentful but ultimately present desire for reignited intimacy with Paul on multiple levels (again romantic? Platonic? Choose-your-own-adventure there, I'm not in charge of you).

Or I could be talking shit. Who knows? It's just fun to think about!

[strwberrykisses]

i am NOT going to put up with any mcbeardy slander i dont care if he was bitchy and/or bossy he was STRESSED, a single mom who works two jobs who LOVES her kids and NEVER stops

[harrisonsbabygirl]

WHO. LET. RINGO. LOOK. THIS. GOOD.

[rage-in-eden]

i made a stupid quiz bc i couldn't sleep <3

[pie-of-flames]

George Harrison and Pattie Boyd being cute at the Day In the Life recording session, February 10, 1967.

[truffletripper]

[stopandimagineloveforever]

John & Paul rehearsing "Two of Us" in LET IT BE

[doctorwhommm]

adding doctor who to the long tradition of media with absolutely shockingly bad beatles wigs

[aimeedaisies]

Happy heavenly birthday George 💗🕉️🕊️

Life flows on within you and without you

Thank you for your music, your talent and your love. You were and are still such an inspiration to me and so many others.

[dbp]

Pattie & George

[mrooops]

really wanted to make a project with these arts (a book about the biographies of some bands) but one girl took it for herself and i thought we were friends lmao

[sullenmemory]

george on swing

[bonithica-art]

this took a billion years for me to do but it’s fine

Link to first part: part 1

Link to last part: part 15