#forthlin road tapes

[mythserene]

I'll Follow the Sun's 15 words in Tune In

Following along with AKOM I was struck by this page as I was passing it, so just out of curiosity I googled to see what I could find out about "I'll Follow the Sun" that would have been available before Lewisohn wrote Tune In, and what could Lewisohn have done with his prose for this song?

From Beatles Music History website:

"I wrote that in my front parlour in Forthlin Road. I was about 16," McCartney stated in an interview. This would date the song as being written as far back as 1958. He continues, "So, 'I'll Follow The Sun' was one of those very early ones. I seem to remember writing it just after I'd had the flu...I remember standing in the parlour looking out through lace curtains of the window and writing that one."

There is a recording in existence (available on bootlegs) of the early Beatles, known then as The Quarrymen, performing the song. The electric guitar arrangement features Paul, John and George on guitar with Stuart Sutcliffe on bass and presumably Tommy Moore on drums. According to McCartney, who purchased the tape from Peter Hodgson in 1995, the recording dates back to April of 1960 and was made in the bathroom of his home at 20 Forthlin Road during a school holiday. McCartney's recollection of the "middle eight" being re-written before they recorded it professionally is confirmed by this early rough recording, because the lyrics of this middle section appears to say "Well, don't leave me alone, I need you/ Now hurry and follow me, my dear." 

Tune In:

“I’ll Follow the Sun.” Paul came up with this rhythmic ballad alone, words and music, on his Zenith guitar.

There's a very good story and all we get is "rhythmic ballad on his Zenith guitar"? But all that about a John song that doesn't even really seem like a John song? 

It does get a bit more ink in Chapter 15 when Lewisohn talks about the bootleg, but I can't see anyone who loves writing about where songs come from as much as Lewisohn does passing up all the history of one of their most beloved songs that a bootleg even exists for. A bootleg with different lyrics, that he never mentions! There's just a lot on this song that he could've done so much with, and although I wrote before that I don't think Lewisohn is actually trying to settle scores, I am now genuinely starting to wonder.

Lewisohn on "I'll Follow the Sun" in the bootleg:

There’s also the earliest-available recordings of “One After 909,” “I’ll Follow the Sun” and “Hello Little Girl.” “One After 909” is clearly a diamond in the rough, polished by John and Paul’s attractive harmonizing. “I’ll Follow the Sun” is Paul alone, guitar and voice, save for someone (probably John) slapping a guitar case.

I'll say this, once you start noticing the attention to detail and real estate, you really start noticing. I had focused on the jealousy footnotes early on in my reading because it stood out to me so much, and once I realized how few were supported I was awestruck and started digging more, but I hadn't given thought or attention to the broader comparisons. 

Absolutely blown away, tbh. I am less enamored of the space comparisons in general because they're more subjective than just the, "What, he's saying Paul was jealous because he wanted to be out front and he hated Stu from a quote saying 'I was playing the drums with a broomstick between my legs and it wasn't easy"??" But although they're harder to point out, they are most certainly there, and there to a truly unpardonable extent. This one blew my ass away.

Honestly, WTF?

Since I referenced it, the "Paul's jealousy was stoked because he was unhappy because he liked exhibiting versitility and nobody looked at the drummer and did I mention he was jealous?" pages below.

[idontwanttospoiltheparty]

9, 26 for Under Both His Thumbs!

Thank you!!!!!!

9. Was there anything from canon that you pulled for this fic?

Yes, absolutely!! The theme song Suicide for one, but also the specific date it was played during the Get Back sessions; I didn't explicitly name that date in the story, but it was the same day Heather came to visit and I took inspiration from the Nagra tapes of and around that day (for example the fact they were practising Let It Be). Plus, I actually re-watched this day plus the preceding day of Get Back to get a feel for it.

And I based the 1957 portion of the story on the fact Julia Baird mentioned that her mother asked for Paul to come over when she learned he had lost his mother. I also threw in the fact that Paul messed up his solo at one of his first Quarrymen gigs.

(and I do use google maps to vet routes people take, in this case walking from Forthlin Road to Julia's house lol. I am annoying in that way)

It was so fun pulling the whole thing together and finding that song as my through-line, because I really wanted to contrast their early relationship with their latter days, and I wanted music to be a big part of it, so a song Paul wrote at fourteen and played in 1969 (a song about a toxic relationship you keep coming back to) was the perfect fit.

26. Wild Card! I'll tell you a fun fact about this fic!

One of these things feels more like a fact but the other feels more fun so here they both are and I hope they suffice together:

I wrote the entire 1957 bit first and then I added the 1969 bits at the beginning and end afterwards. I think that really helped to make everything feel "in harmony".

I wasn't sure what tense I wanted for the story, though I tend to go with past. But biking to the train station after I had outlined the basic parameters of the fic, the line "John wears seventeen like a badge of honour" came to me all at once, and I knew it would have to be written in the present, because that line only worked in the present.

🎬 Behind-the-Scenes Fic Asks 🎬

[beatleshistoryblog]

LECTURE 8: ROCK AND ROLL MUSIC: The band that would become The Beatles recorded themselves rehearsing at Paul’s house at 20 Forthlin Road with a Grundig reel-to-reel tape recorder. The sessions recorded here occurred in April and June of 1960. They offer a fascinating glimpse into the band’s early sound. Around this time. the band was going through a variety of different name changes – Johnny and the Moondogs, the Beatals, the Silver Beetles, the Silver Beatles, and, finally, by August, The Beatles.

[sgt-paul]

Not everyone approved of their friendship. John's Aunt Mimi disapproved because she thought Paul was a working-class lad who was encouraging her nephew to devote time to his guitar which should have been spent studying. According to Mike McCartney, Paul's father didn't take kindly to John at all: after one meeting he told Paul, 'He'll get you into trouble, son.' He was right, of course, but mostly it was just playing truant and harmless games. One of their games involved the telephone, a rarity in working-class homes, which had been installed for Mary's work as a midwife.

PAUL: I remember the great excitement at 20 Forthlin Road when we had the phone put in. I still remember the phone number: Garston 6922. George still remembers it. It's ingrained. John and I used to play pranks with our tape recorder: record stuff, then ring up people and play the tape recorder to them and record their answers on another tape. We were supposed to be making demos. We made one for Mr Popjoy, who was one of John's teachers from Quarry Bank. We had a message that said, 'That Mr Popjoy?' then there was a wait for some reaction. I’m calling about the bananas.' Then there was another pause. We'd put that to the speaker, call his number, and the minute we heard him answer we'd switch our recorder on and it would talk to him. We had a mike at the hearing end and we would record that, so we didn't know quite what he'd said until it was all finished but we could hear something going on. Then we'd just cut him off and listen back to it. It was great 'Popjoy here. Yes? Can I help? Bananas? What bananas? I haven't ordered any bananas!'

[...]

Paul would go around the left side of the house to the back door, where Aunt Mimi would let him into a small conservatory which opened on to the kitchen and call, 'John, your little friend's here.'

PAUL: She would always refer to me as 'Your little friend'. I'd look at her, she'd smile. I'd know what she'd done. She'd know what she'd done. I would ignore it. It was very patronising, but she secretly quite liked me, she sort of twinkled, but she was very aware that John's friends were lower-class. John mixed with the lower classes, I'm afraid, you see. She was the kind of woman who would put you down with a glint in her eye, with a smile. But she'd put you down all the same. But she'd talk to John later and I remember him telling me, 'She thinks you're a better guitar player than I am,' which slightly miffed John. Did I say slightly?

A lounge led off of the kitchen and there was a front parlour containing Winston Churchill's collected works, bound in blue cloth, which John claimed to have read. John's middle name was Winston, given him by his mother in a fit of wartime patriotism. John and Mimi lived mostly in the lounge and kitchen.

PAUL: John had done a little poem that Mimi had framed in the kitchen. It was nice: 'A house where there is love ...' John had writing aspirations. At first he was writing what turned out later to be In His Own Write. He would show me what he'd been typing. I would sometimes help him with it. We would sit around giggling, just saying puns really, that's basically what it was; 'In the early owls of the Morecambe,' I remember, 'a cup o-teeth' was one section that was in the typewriter when I was around there. But I would like all that and I was very impressed. He was a big Lewis Carroll fan, which I was too. In my view two of John's great songs, 'Strawberry Fields' and 'I Am the Walrus', both come from 'Jabberwocky'. 'I am he as you are he ...' It's thanks to 'Jabberwocky' that he could do that. I had a teacher at school, a swotty guy called Dodd, who could recite 'Jabberwocky' in Latin. One of the less useful things in life... I think John saw himself as 'Our correspondent from Alexandria'. It was a romantic dream that I understood and shared. 'I'll write about it as I see it and tell them all what's really happening.' It's a lot of people's dream.

— paul mccartney: many years from now, by barry miles (1997)

[longforyesterday]

Paul remembers writing ‘I’ll Follow The Sun’ in the front room at his home in Forthlin Road when he was about 16, although not really finishing it up until later. In fact, the song became a sporadic part of the Quarry Men’s live set in 1959, although in a somewhat different format to that on Beatles For Sale. Paul’s early interpretation, recorded on a tape in 1960, most probably at Forthlin Road, is much sprightlier, its tempo and style being closer to ‘Words Of Love’. The song’s lyrics are rather different, also rather sporadic, and include an interesting middle section in place of “And now the time has come …”, which is a little hard to interpret, but goes something like – Well don’t leave me alone, my dear/ Have courage and follow me, my dear. These extra two lines put a different gloss on the song, and introduce an element of compassion into what is otherwise a pretty heartless song. It may have been to reinforce the rancour of the lyric and increase the contrast between the song’s sound and content that Paul and John decided to rewrite these lines, apparently shortly before recording the song. What remains appears to be a tender ballad, but the lyrics display a self-seeking independence that we are not accustomed to from Paul, and however glossy they may be in their talk of sunshine and friendship, they deal a definite snub. The only clue that he may not be leaving entirely of his own volition lies in “Someday you’ll know I was the one”. It could be that she’s forcing his hand, that it is her behaviour bringing the rain into his life which he can no longer stand, and that she’ll soon realise what she has lost. But then again, he’s probably just a callous bastard who’s loving her, leaving her, and trying to make her feel responsible.

Steve Lambley, And The Band Begins To Play - Part Four: Beatles For Sale

[beatlesblog207]

LECTURE 8: ROCK AND ROLL MUSIC: The band that would become The Beatles recorded themselves rehearsing at Paul’s house at 20 Forthlin Road with a Grundig reel-to-reel tape recorder. The sessions recorded here occurred in April and June of 1960. They offer a fascinating glimpse into the band’s early sound. Around this time. the band was going through a variety of different name changes – Johnny and the Moondogs, the Beatals, the Silver Beetles, the Silver Beatles, and, finally, by August, The Beatles. 

[themagicalmysticalboy]

Song of the Night:

It’s insane that one of my favorite Beatles songs was written when Paul was basically a baby smoking a ciggie in his house. Who’s writing beautiful ballads at 16???

some history: Paul wrote this song in 1959, when he was only 16, at his home on Forthlin Road after recovering from the flu. He said of the songs creation, “I’d had the flu and I had that cigarette...the cigarette that’s the ‘cotton wool’ one. You don’t smoke while you’re ill but after you get better you have a cigarette and it’s terrible, it tastes like cotton wool, horrible. I remember standing in the parlour, with my guitar, looking out through the lace curtains of the window, and writing that one.” (If it tasted so terrible why did you keep smoking, Paulie? bad bad.)

Though the song was written in 1959, it wasn’t recorded until the following year, in demo form. The recording has Paul on lead vocals, John and George on acoustic guitars, and Stu Sutcliffe on bass guitar. When Paul bought the demo tape back in 1995 he said it was recorded in his bathroom with the four of them all cramped in, guitars and all.

The official recording of the song wouldn’t be finalized and released until 1964.

not pertanat to this song, but i think it’s important to mention that I Don’t Know (Johnny Johnny) was recorded in the same year, probably in the same bathroom.

[ladyjaneasher-blog]

do you know if the song I Don’t Know (Johnny Johnny) is real? bc i’ve heard it and its just so muffed and unintelligible that i can never really take people’s word for it when they say “ah yes that is clearly johns/paul’s voice” or transcribe lyrics for it

the song is real, you can listen to it here. it’s part of a series of instrumentals and jams that were recorded in 1960 at forthlin road. the tapes are known as the forthlin road tapes, bathroom tapes or the kirchherr tapes. you can take a look at it in more detail here, as well as here. 

re: the lyrics: i think the quality of the tape is, sadly, way, way too poor to make out what exactly it is that john and paul are singing. the transcriptions i’ve seen floating around tumblr and youtube read more like fanfiction than anything else. the tape skips, the voices are distorted, there’s a lot of mumbling and noises, loud guitar twangs – the sort of thing you’d expect from an informal jam session – to the point of the actual words they’re singing being almost impossible to make out save for tiny bits here and there. if you wanted to, i’m sure you could read all sorts of things into what they’re singing. 

tl;dr: the song is real, the fandom-popular transcription(s) you may have seen are questionable at best.

[takeasadsongandanalyzeit]

One After 909

This is a John song, though Paul strongly disputes that it was John's alone. These are the first times 909 makes an appearance, but we'll discuss later appearances as they appear in the recording catalogue. This was eventually included on Let It Be, but it was originally recorded on the second of the Forthlin Road tapes, in June/July 1960.

There are two versions on the tape.

Version 1:

This appears to have John singing lead, and Paul singing high harmony. This is the way the song is done going forward as well.

However,

Version 2:

In this version Paul seems to be singing lead with John singing high harmony. It makes sense that they would try recording the song in different configurations, but it's interesting to hear Paul sing lead on a John song. Makes us wonder if maybe Paul was telling the truth and it wasn't just a John song.

The drums are most likely being played by Paul's brother Mike, and the bass would be Stu.

The strumming (in both versions) is clearly meant to evoke a train sound, we assume this was an invention of Paul's. (This guess is largely based on Paul's train-like drum pattern he got Ringo to do for "Ticket To Ride").

Lyrics:

Well, my baby says she's trav'ling on the one after 909 She said move over honey I'm travelling on that line She said move over once, move over twice Come on baby don't be cold as ice. Said she's trav'ling on the one after 909

Well I begged her not to go and I begged her on a bended knee, She said you're only fooling around, she's only fucking around with me. I said move over once, move over twice Come on baby don't be cold as ice. Said she's trav'ling on the one after 909

Picked up my bags, run to the station Railman says you've got the wrong location yeah pick up my bags, run right home Then I find I've got the number wrong yeah

Said she's trav'ling on the one after 909 I Said move over honey I'm travelling on that line she said move over once, move over twice Come on baby don't be cold as ice. Said she's traveling on the one after 909.

Picked up my bags, run to the station Railman says you've got the wrong location yeah pick up my bags, run right home Then I find I've got the number wrong yeah

She said she's trav'ling on the one after 909 woo Move over honey I'm travelling on that line woo Said move over once, move over twice Come on baby don't be cold as ice.

Said she's trav'ling on the one after 9 0, Said she's trav'ling on the one after 9 0, Said she's trav'ling on the one after 9 0, Said she's trav'ling on the one after 9 0,

We'll leave discussion of Paul's 1969 reaction to the song (seen in Peter Jackson's Get Back) until much later.

Though we have one really outrageous theory. In John's 1980 Playboy interview he said:

"That was something I wrote when I was about seventeen. I lived at 9 Newcastle Road. I was born on the ninth of October, the ninth month [sic]. It’s just a number that follows me around, but, numerologically, apparently I’m a number six or a three or something, but it’s all part of nine."

So in some way maybe the song has to do with his birthday. 9 09 would be the American way to notate a date, which makes sense considering the song was based on American train songs, according to Paul in Barry Miles' Many Years From Now

It has great memories for me of John and I trying to write a bluesy freight-train song. There were a lot of those songs at the time, like ‘Midnight Special’, ‘Freight Train’, ‘Rock Island Line’, so this was the ‘One After 909’; she didn’t get the 909, she got the one after it! It was a tribute to British Rail, actually. No, at the time we weren’t thinking British, it was much more the Super Chief from Omaha.

If the song is somehow related to John's birthday, even though John was born in the 10th month, not the 9th, though maybe that's why it's the one after 909 would be 1009, maybe it isn't as straight forward as we think. Also between George's dad was in charge of bus routes in Liverpool, and Paul was obsessed with buses. It's possible the 909 was a real bus that held personal significance.

ADDITION:

When we first listened to this track, we didn't have much to say on the track itself, but now that we can hear it clearer, it's very clear that the lyrics they say aren't "fooling" but "fucking."

There are all sorts of studio chatter audios where they swear, but it rarely happens in songs, so this is kind of unique and exciting.

It's also worth noting that Paul is at least a word behind John the entire first half of the song. Maybe the song isn't as old as Paul said, maybe it was new in 1960, or maybe this was just the first time Paul wasn't just playing on it. We can speculate but can't know for sure, but what we do know is, for some reason Paul didn't know the lyrics very well.

[tillthereweretangents]

Icke, Evelyn Hamann und die Beatles: Eine Art Biografie by Hans-Walter Braun, Volker Neumann

In our research to try to understand the origin of the Forthlin Road tapes, we scoured the internet for any mention of Hans Walther Braun. We could find nothing. Barely even a name. The only mention is related to what is on each of these rehearsal tapes. After reading this invisible ink page for the 100th time, we finally saw it. His nickname was Icke, that's why we could never find anything.

Well, when you look up Icke Braun, most of what you find is a Beatle conspiracy theorist that thinks Paul is dead. But, you also find an autobiography:

Icke, Evelyn Hamann und die Beatles: Eine Art Biografie by Hans-Walter Braun and Volker Neumann

Hans-Walter (Icke) is the source of the Braun Tape. He was given it by Paul in 1961. And he wrote this whole autobiography, that frankly it seems like no one has read. The catch, for us at least, is it's in German and neither of us speak German. So before we even delved into it we had to see if it was worth it, and OH BOY was it!

When we first found the autobiography it was on a website that classified it in the LGBTQIA+ section

We both totally freaked out, but thought maybe it was a translation error or something. Maybe they thought there was something queer about it when it wasn't there at all. That felt more plausible than a book that talked about queerness pertaining to the Beatles, ESPECIALLY written by a close friend.

WELL, what we were so sure it couldn't be is exactly what it is. And we say "is" because this book literally came out in 2018.

We haven't read the whole book, but the Beatles chapter is very queer. Between Icke constantly questioning his own sexuality to John literally kissing him, it's everything you ever imagined you'd never find in a 1st hand account about our boys.

We have a theory (based on the picture of Paul and Icke's relationship in this book) that Paul may have given Icke the rehearsal tape as a romantic gift. (Especially cause Icke mentions a lot of things in detail, but that tape is one thing he doesn't bring up once, so it clearly means something.) It seems likely they were "involved" in some way.

Since the book is in German, and neither of us speak German, we're relying on the hard work of friends to help us understand what Icke says.

Shout out to @paulsrighthand and her Mum, and to @idontwanttospoiltheparty thanks for your help!

The chapter dedicated to Icke's relationship with the Beatles, is where we've concentrated our translation efforts. Though there might be a few other things we find from different points throughout the book.

[thethinghouse-blog]

Baby You Can Drive My Car...To My Museum: Sir Paul McCartney visits his family home, Forthlin Road

By Gudrun D Whitehead

Like millions of people all over the world, I recently watched James Corden’s Carpool Karaoke with Paul McCartney. Of course, I did. The first cassette tape I ever got was The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and I played it until the tape loosened. I will not admit to shedding a tear with Corden, but I can confirm that, for the first time in my life, I got a bout of hay-fever which lasted while they sang Let it Be. 

Music, as McCartney said in response to the tearful reaction, has that power: it can make you emotional.

The same holds for museums, as was demonstrated when McCartney, for the first time since his teens, stepped into his family home, 20 Forthlin Road, which is now a National Trust property, open to the public. As a side-note, Forthlin Road is one of the few working-class residences managed by the National Trust, which mostly represents grand country houses. 

The fame of its one-time resident seems to be enough to cross those class-based boundaries. 

The same holds true for John Lennon’s childhood home, Mendips Road, which was bought by Yoko Ono, who donated it to the National Trust. Here are images of both locations.

Like numerous museologists, I am interested in historical house museums. Before getting any further into this blog-post, I would like to add that there is an existing body of work discussing them in an academic capacity. Including The Anarchists Guide to Historical House Museums, Mårdh (2015), Risnicoff de Gorgas (2001), and many more. I encourage interested readers to look them up (and/or wait for me to develop this research into an article in the future).

Historical house museums are quite a unique exhibition space. They represent spaces which are simultaneously alive and dead. 

The previous inhabitant, deemed worthy of an exhibit, is always absent, represented by items (materiality) left behind. The space is usually made to look as if they have just stepped out of the room, thus creating the illusion of time moving forwards, of life in the house.

A great example of this is the final scene of the film Julie & Julia (2009), starring Meryl Streep as Julia Child. The camera pans into the kitchen (as can be seen here), protected by a rope-barrier, demonstrating that this is a museum space and therefore different rules apply than in a normal kitchen. As the light in the room changes, the camera pans in through the looking-glass. Julia Child herself walks in and starts cooking. This is exactly the same kitchen, except the tea towel and tablecloth are slightly wrinkled and the tools on the wall are, perhaps, a little more chaotically displayed. This demonstrates the minor differences between living (lived in) spaces and dead (exhibition) spaces. The latter are polished but correct representations of reality. The Smithsonian's actual recreation of Child's kitchen is, much the same as in the film, a polished version of reality. 

Recreation of Julia Child’s kitchen at the National Museum of American History, Washington D.C. Photograph by dawnmichele and used under a Creative Commons license. 

Yet, understanding the difference, historical house museums might leave the tea towel wrinkled, further blurring the lines between private and public. This gives the stronger impression that the owner, having just stepped out, might reclaim the room at any given moment, making the museum visitor an interloper or Peeping Tom, as though they are gaining an almost illicit look into private lives.

This is core of historical house museums: they freeze that fraction of a second, where the owner is just beyond the door, ready to come in, yet never does. 

Except, as with Child, McCartney did return. Welcome to Wonderland.

This atmosphere is what fascinates me about historical house museums: the recreation of almost-life. It functions much like realistic mannequin displays: the horror and fascination lies in their unnerving resemblance to life. At any given moment, the mannequins might look back at the visitor. A great example of this is the sensationalized silicone figures at the Saga Museum, depicting people and events from Icelandic sagas and history. An exhibition which I delve into further in an article to be published later this year. 

As you walk through the space, it is easy to forget if you are the viewer or the one being viewed.  

Þorbjörg Lítilvölva, from Eiríks saga rauða as represented by the Saga Museum. Image copyright: Saga Museum, 2018.

Þorbjörg Lítilvölva, shown above, demonstrates a meticulous recreation of a literary character (her possible basis in actual history is not part of this blogpost), through materiality, i.e. clothing, jewelry and background drawing. In historical house museums, the same is achieved very similarly, through household objects, clothing and more. The realistic atmosphere is deliberately created by museum staff. In reality, the objects are placed by someone else, and may, in fact, not always have been owned by the person/people being represented in the exhibition space.

As the National Trust verified in our correspondence, in the case of Forthlin Road, none of the interior furnishings, including the piano, are original but are similar in age and design as when the McCartney family lived there. Interestingly, the piano is kept in tune and visitors are allowed to play on it during their stay. This usually ends up in a sing-song (presumably predominantly of Beatles and McCartney songs) which lends life to the museum’s atmosphere. Paul’s brother, Mike McCartney, was vital when furnishing the flat; he also took the photographs on the walls, which helped when choosing the correct paint colours, wallpaper and flooring. The photographs are a paradox in themselves. On one level, they are there for the benefit of the visitor. They are a testament to the cult of Paul McCartney’s celebrity status, rather than the standard images that families frame. Yet they also provide an insider’s gaze into the Beatles’ life, because they were taken by Mike McCartney as he was learning to compose pictures with a 35mm camera. They are a private view into a public life.

According to the Liverpool Echo, Paul only specifically asked for one thing to be included; something to remember his parents by. The result is a wooden plaque above the front door, reading “In loving memory of Mum and Dad, Mary and Jim”. With personal and private memories of his family life, to Paul (and assumedly his brother) Forthlin Road is certainly a memorial to his parents as much as himself. For the rest of the world, it is a testament to the legacy of Paul and the Beatles. The birthplace of a legend. It is a time-capsule, carefully curated by exhibition staff, with a little help from the McCartneys. 

The family does not need to be present in body; they are there through materiality.

What happens when the owner comes back? Do they reclaim the space as theirs, even if just temporarily, disrupting the timelessness of the exhibit? Are they visitors in this professionally created version of their past? Do they become the temporary curator or tour guide? That short clip of Sir Paul walking around his childhood home gave us an insight into such an event. And while I certainly enjoyed the singing in the car and the pub, this, to me, seemed like the most unique aspect of the journey.

I do not doubt that the custodian knew McCartney was coming to visit. Certainly her startlement could be explained as her being starstruck, something most of us can understand. Yet, there is something more paradoxical about the situation, which she might have felt. Here he was, the absent collection object, the man himself, on the doorstep. The artificially created ‘absent but here’ atmosphere was broken. McCartney, knocking on the door as a guest, became the owner as soon as he stepped through the looking glass.

It was the ultimate Bakhtinian Carnivalesque moment, stepping over socially constructed boundaries, the merging of past and present, where anything is possible and permitted.

It all culminated in the moment that Paul McCartney looked out the window at his fans, recreating in the present, the first year of his rise to stardom. It disrupted the time-capsule and lent it credence. In other words, Beatlemania was really happening again. Paul McCartney stood in his family home, looking out at his admiring fans.

Sir Paul himself is aware of his status as a living legend. In a 2016 interview with Rolling Stone magazine, he referred to this, saying, “No matter what you hear, even the stuff that we thought was really bad - it doesn’t sound so bad now. Because it’s the Beatles”. 

Indeed, nothing is void of value when in the hands of an artist. 

Paul McCartney is part of a legacy influencing generations of people around the world. As his visit to Forthlin road showed us, if he stops at any one stop for more than a few minutes, he gathers a crowd. Yet even to him, it must have been odd to walk into his childhood home and find himself musealised within it. Judging by the clip, it did not take long for him to take charge of the situation and become the curator of his own memorialised, musealised life story. Over the years, the museum has gathered stories from both Paul and Mike, which are weaved into the tours, but even that is a reinterpretation of the original through the museum. In this episode of Carpool Karaoke, the ‘museum object’ (Paul himself) narrated its own story.

At the end of the visit, Paul McCartney hugs the custodian and leaves Wonderland. He has seemingly approved of the preservation and representation of his legacy, his roots. 

The museum is returned to its former state of frozen anticipation.

My final note is about the Penny Lane street sign, signed by McCartney himself, seemingly rather offhandedly. I could not help but chuckle to myself when watching that scene unfold. Some of this was because of Corden’s joke that most people will assume the handwriting to be fake, perhaps underestimating the popularity of both McCartney and his own ‘carpool karaoke’ segment. Yet mostly I laughed at the conservational nightmare presented to the city. Would they now have to cut out a segment of the wall and preserve in a museum? McCartney seems to be using some sort of permanent marker on a sign painted (presumably using theft-proof paint) on a stone wall. I am not so familiar with conservation that I can say how long before it rubs off or is simply erased by avid fans touching and signing the sign themselves. Yet surely, it is an important part of the legacy: Paul McCartney is giving a nod to one of the Beatles’ most famous songs, Penny Lane. 

Out of interest, I contacted various branches of Liverpool City Council to inquire about the fate of Paul’s autograph. Sadly, the Planning Department’s Building Conservation Team is unable to act, because the road sign is not listed. The Council’s Culture Team is also unable to act because they are led by the Planning Department. A helpful member of the Council discussed the issue with the Beatles Legacy Group, which also indicated that no action would be taken (i.e. they will ‘let it be’ - this pun needed to be included). The sign is already almost illegible due to fans visiting the site and writing their own names as close to Paul’s as they can. Somehow, the act of having their names close to his brings them closer to their idol. I can only conclude that once the sign is so filled with scribbles that the street name becomes hard to read, it will be painted over and the issue will be resolved with a blank canvas. Perhaps then we will have a sequel ‘Carpool Karaoke with Paul McCartney’ segment. That would surely require the City Council to list a piece of painted brick wall.

The ‘carpool karaoke’ clip has already had a positive effect on tourism in Liverpool. Because of it, people have flocked to the street sign and other locations to follow in Paul’s footsteps. I do not have information if this interest has trickled down to Forthlin Road, but one can only hope that Paul’s visit has revitalised and disrupted the quiet enough to increase tourist interest. I, for one, will certainly be in their number in the near future.

Gudrun D Whitehead, is Assistant Professor of Museology at the University of Iceland. You can find further details of her work and her blog on her website.

Gudrun would like to thank Dr Julia Petrov for her input, Jackie Crawford and Cerys Edwards of Liverpool City Council, Simon Osborne of The National Trust,  and the Beatles Legacy Group for the information provided.

We accept submissions. Contact the editors at: thethinghouse@gmail.com

[mclennunf]

This Boy - Chapter 27

~John's~ Friday came quickly that week. My birthday was a little over a week away, meaning Paul and I were suppose to get married then. I knew depending on how the meeting with the lawyer went, there was a possibility on postponing the wedding. I also knew I didn't want that. "John!" Mimi called from the bottom of the stairs. "Comin' Mimi!" I yelled back. I put on my best dress shirt and tie. A black long sleeve and my Quarrybank tie. I ran down the stairs and sat down at the table. Mimi turned around and placed two cups of tea in front of us. "Are you prepared for the meeting? Are you sure you don't want me to come?" Mimi asked. I chuckled at her persistency. "I'm ready, don't worry. Paul and I will be just fine." I told her as I sipped at my tea. "You two seem like such an odd pair. Like a married couple." Mimi joked, but my heart stopped when she said married couple. "You look like you've seen a ghost, John." Mimi observed. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. "All is well, Mim. Just a bit nervous for Paul, s'gonna be hard for him and all." I said, thinking of an excuse for my odd behaviour. 

It wasn't completely untrue, I knew that this was going to be hard on Paul regardless of the outcome. "John, look at the time. You're going to be late meeting Paul, all because your lack of getting up on time." Mimi scolded me as she snatched my tea away. I looked at the clock and jumped up. "Bloody hell, you're right!" I grabbed my leather jacket and slipped on my boots. "Language, John Lennon!" Mimi called after me as I walked out the door. "Bye Mimi!" I called back. It was a typical rainy day in Liverpool. I tried to shield my shirt and tie as much as possible with my leather jacket as I made my way over to my fiancées house. I didn't usually knock anymore, but I didn't want to sneak up on Paul on a day like this. I knocked a silly "secret" knock. The door flung open to reveal a small Mike. "John!" He jumped onto my leg. "Hello, son!" I laughed and hugged him back. Paul came down the stairs slowly, smiling at me. He wore a white dress shirt with a pink carnation on the chest. "Lovely flower." I winked. "Was always me Mum's favourite. She always insisted I wear on when dressin' up." Paul cooed as he looked around to make sure Gin wasn't watching, pulling me into the house and placing a light kiss on my lips. "You look handsome." I told him. "We best get goin' though." I added. Paul gave Mike a hug and sent him back into the sitting room, and Paul and I made our way to the lawyers office. "Have ye heard from Stu?" Paul asked me as we walked. I handed him a cigarette and my lighter. "Nah, not since the other day. Probably busy plannin' the wedding, love." I told him. I wondered if Stu was going to attend mine and Paul's wedding. "Most likely, it's a hard thing t'do." Paul nodded in agreement as he puffed on his cigarette. "Are ye nervous?" I finally asked, noticing the long, drawn-out drags he had been taking on the cigarette. "A bit. I know we're not in any trouble, though. Just a bit stressful, y'know?" Paul admitted, throwing the cigarette out into a puddle. I thought I saw the sign for the lawyers office. I pulled my glasses out of my pocket and put them on. The sign read M. Edison, Attorney of Law. Paul was smiling at me. "I wish you'd wear your glasses more, you can barely see yer own reflection without 'em." Paul chuckled. "They just bug me face." I told him. "Should keep 'em on, though. Might need to read paperwork or somethin'." I shrugged as we approached the building. Paul took a deep breath. "Ready?" I asked. He nodded and brushed my hand lightly with his. We entered the building and approached a young blonde woman sitting behind a desk. "Ah, you must be Mr. McCartney and Mr. Lennon. Right this way." She stood up and gestured for us to follow her. We entered a huge room made out of dark wood and deep velvet. It was not a typical sight for Liverpool. Paul and I both let our eyes wander before we heard a man's voice. "Lovely to finally meet you. I'm Maxwell Edison." The short man stuck out his hand. Paul shook first. "Paul McCartney, pleasure." He smiled. I shook his hand next. "John Lennon." I smiled awkwardly. "Please please, have a seat. I'm very glad you were able to make it." Maxwell began to say as we sat down in the two large chairs in front of his humungous desk. "Thank you for your help. We hope we aren't any trouble." Paul spoke shyly. I kept my eyes dancing back and forth between Maxwell and Paul. I was watching Paul for signs of him being too upset, or overwhelmed. "What do ye need from us today, Mr. Edison?" I asked, trying to sound more polite than my usual self.  "I just need your perspective of the issue at hand,  what you've suffered since then and of course what you would like to happen to Jim McCartney." As Maxwell stated Paul's fathers name, I watched his back stiffen. "Go on," Maxwell sat back in his chair after clicking the record button on a small little tape machine. I looked at Paul curiously, waiting. "It all started after me Mum passed away. Dad got on the drink hard, started resenting me and me brother Michael. He told me he was moving us to Scotland, and I utterly refused." Paul paused to take a breath. "Take your time" Maxwell reassured him. I placed my hand on his thigh secretively to calm him, remind him I was there. "He lost it. He beat me worse than ever before, broke a few of me ribs and smashed a dinner chair over my head leaving me with a concussion. I was in he hospital for a couple of weeks, missed out on a lot of school. Thankfully me Auntie Gin from London took Michael and I in, and I suppose that's it until we got home from Hamburg." Paul's voice became shaky and weak sounding. Maxwell nodded. "What happened when you arrived back in Liverpool from Hamburg?" He asked us. Paul looked at me, I assumed he wanted me to answer. "Jim showed up at their home on Forthlin Road. Started demandin' his kids and home back. Paul basically just told him to get the fu- I'm sorry, can swear on record now can I?" I chucked a bit. "Paul told him to leave and never come back. Paul and I took his younger brother Mike to school, y'know, and went our separate ways. Jim followed me, began t'blame me for Paul goin' stroppy on him and he stabbed me in the back with a pocket knife." I told Maxwell, trying to sound as calm as possible to keep Paul composed. "Horrible. Absolutely disgusting. I am sorry this happened to you, boys." Maxwell apologized, lighting a very fancy cigar. "Do you think the consequences of Jim McCartney's actions should be those of the fullest extent of the law?" Maxwell asked. It took me a moment to process what he had said, it seemed like a lot. I looked at Paul, awaiting his response. "I do." Paul nodded. "What about yourself, Mr. Lennon?" I nodded. "Good. Because what you might not realize, is what he did to both of you is attempted murder. He can go to jail for the rest of his natural life if we go about this trial correctly, boys." Maxwell told us, quite proudly. He stopped the recording. "We will move forward with the trial with you, sir." Paul announced, rather happy with his decision. I nodded in agreement. "Wonderful. I will get it all prepared and contact Jim's lawyer. I will contact you personally when we have our first court date." Maxwell said as he stood up, extending his hand. We both stood up to shake his hand. "Thank you, sir." I said. We were escorted back out of the office by the small woman. I lit up a cigarette for myself and Paul as we exited. "That man gets things done quickly, doesn't he?" I laughed a bit as I handed Paul the cigarette. Paul chucked and nodded. "Are ye okay?" I asked as the rain began to pick up. "Yeah. Much less than I expected." Paul half smiled as he spoke. "I don't wanna burst your bubble, but I think it's the trial that will be most difficult." I admitted, taking a long drag off my cigarette. "We'll do it together and it'll be grand." Paul smiled and took my hand for a moment. "HEY!" We heard a yell behind us. Paul jumped 50ft in the air as he spun around. A sopping wet George and Ritchie approached us. "What are you lads doin' all dressed up?" Ritchie asked. "Had the meeting with the lawyer." Paul answered, almost too quietly under the heavy rain. "Bloody hell, have ye been outside all mornin'?!" I asked, laughing at their wet-dog appearance. They both chuckled. "Just moved out of me parent's place to stay with Ritchie. Gotta be an adult and all, me Dad says. Old enough to run away to Hamburg, old enough to live on me own." George explained, flashing his big teeth. Paul smiled widely, I could tell he missed George. "Practice tomorrow? Whaddya say boys?" I asked, bumping Paul with my elbow. "Yeah! C'mon over t'mine and Geo's." Ritchie suggested. "We best go before we catch the bloody plague out here, though. See ye tomorrow!" Ritchie said. The boys turned around and waved, running back down the street toward Ritchie's flat. I laughed at the sight. Paul remained rather quiet as we continued walking in the cold rain. "Paul?" I said, nudging his side lightly. "We're gonna have to postpone the wedding, aren't we?" He said, sadness washed over his face. I sighed. "We might have to. Trust me, m'love, I don't want to." I said as we walked up to the door of his home. "Maybe we should get a flat... Like, our own." Paul said as he stepped inside the door, me close behind. "I'd love that. Let's aim to get married before the year is out, though." I kissed him finally when the door was closed.  "Mike?" Paul said quite loudly, trying to find out if his brother had made it to school. No answer. "Gin?" Followed shortly after. I kicked my shoes off and undid my tie. "I feel like we did a bunch of shit today, I'm just exhausted." I mumbled as I stretched. "C'mon, lets go lie down in me room." Paul grabbed my hand and brought me up to his bedroom. He opened the door like a gentleman, lifting the covers and crawling in against the wall. I lied down beside him and pulled him into my arms. "Wanna tell me what's goin' through that pretty little mind of your's?" I asked, almost feeling how fast his train of thought was on my chest. "No, love. I just want.... I just want to be here. With you. Y'know?" Paul said softly, nuzzling his face into my neck and getting comfortable. He was most obviously worn out mentally and emotionally. "I understand, m'love." I smiled to myself and placed a kiss on the top of his head. Things were looking up.

[beatlesblog]

LECTURE 8: ROCK AND ROLL MUSIC: The band that would become The Beatles recorded themselves rehearsing at Paul’s house at 20 Forthlin Road with a Grundig reel-to-reel tape recorder. The sessions recorded here occurred in April and June of 1960. They offer a fascinating glimpse into the band’s early sound. Around this time. the band was going through a variety of different name changes – Johnny and the Moondogs, the Beatals, the Silver Beetles, the Silver Beatles, and, finally, by August, The Beatles. 

[huntbeatles]

LECTURE 8: ROCK AND ROLL MUSIC: The band that would become The Beatles recorded themselves rehearsing at Paul’s house at 20 Forthlin Road with a Grundig reel-to-reel tape recorder. The sessions recorded here occurred in April and June of 1960. They offer a fascinating glimpse into the band’s early sound. Around this time. the band was going through a variety of different name changes -- Johnny and the Moondogs, the Beatals, the Silver Beetles, the Silver Beatles, and, finally, by August, The Beatles.

[takeasadsongandanalyzeit]

An Important Number

This one is interesting cause it’s named, meaning someone heard the lyrics “An Important Number” when reviewing the song. And while there are lyrics towards the end, we can’t pick out those specific ones at all. 

The main lyrics seem to be “keep on” and “we’re going back” over and over again. While most songs from this tape we do have thoughts on lyrically, this one seems very much like the first jam of the day just warming up. There really isn’t any message behind these lyrics. 

However there is one very interesting vocal thing. Paul or one of the others is mimicking a shaker with their voice. We don’t know of any other time the Beatles did that, so it’s very interesting to hear here. 

As far as music, we notice that the guitar and bass are far louder than anything else, which is why we can’t actually hear what anyone is saying with any sort of clarity. We wonder if they were trying something new and put the recording equipment closer to Stu and George rather than Paul and John. With today’s knowledge we find this quite silly, of course the vocals would be too quiet to hear, but then, maybe they just didn’t know and wanted to find out what happened. Or, continuing with our theory that the Kirchherr tape was created for Stu to practice his bass from, it could have been closer to the bass so that was the loudest thing and the easiest to work off of. 

[takeasadsongandanalyzeit]

Cayenne

This instrumental is one of Paul's earliest compositions, and a modified version was included on Anthology 1. It’s credited to Paul alone, so it predates any Lennon/McCartney agreement.

It's a short, pleasant, guitar piece. It’s impressive really that Paul could compose something like this at such a young age, and teach it to his band mates. We can make out a basic but mostly competent bass line (played by Stu), a rhythm guitar (presumably John) and two more guitars (Paul and George). 

In a couple of places one of the 6 string guitars mimics a bass-guitar sound (e.g. around 24 seconds in). We debated whether this was George or Paul. Paul could be getting frustrated with Stu’s bass line, or have included the sound in his composition before he showed it to his friends. Or maybe George was already doing something we would see him do much later during the Get Back sessions: filling in the space where he felt a bass line was needed (see the discussion about the bass line for Two Of Us).

According to the Anthology liner notes:

Cayenne is an instrumental composed by Paul McCartney. A good number of the earliest titles written by either Lennon or McCartney, or both, were instrumentals, written in the late 1950s when tunes without a lyric were prevalent.

There’s a Spanish sound to it, and we’re curious what inspired that. It makes us think of Besame Mucho and Hot As Sun (released on McCartney, but written in ‘58 or ‘59).

The entry for Cayenne on the Beatles Bible compares it to The Shadows, but doesn’t specify a song, and we don’t see the connection (we looked through a dozen or so Shadows songs. We did learn that Cliff Richards is gay in the process, though. See this interview with Piers Morgan, and this article).