#gttr-beatles

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John Lennon explaining who "(Just Like) Starting Over" is for

This interview took place only 12 hours before he lost his life. He was so looking forward to the 80s. I had this edit sitting in my folder for two months because it hurt listening to it. John had such a difficult childhood (losing his mother, his friend dying), his stardom weigh him down mentally, his marriage was a failure (and he couldn't really live in freedom with the person he truly loved due to societal norms). And then he gets robbed of his life in the most brutal way. How absolutely devastating...

In this clip, he clearly says the song is not for Yoko.

I was visualizing all the people of my age group from the 60s.... Having gone through everything together, I am singing to them. I'm really talking to the people that grew up with me and saying here I am now, how are you? How's your relationship going? Did you get through it all? Wasn't the 70s a drag? You know, here we are. Well, let's try and make the 80s good, you know, because it's still up to us to make what we can of it. It's not out of our control.

We have grown, we have grown Although our love is still special Let's take a chance and fly away Somewhere alone It's been too long since we took the time

But when I see you darling It's like we both are falling in love again It'll be just like starting over

Everyday we used to make it love Why can't we be making love nice and easy It's time to spread our wings and fly Don't let another day go by my love It'll be just like starting over

We'll be together all alone again Like we used to in the early days

These parts of the lyrics specifically can only pertain to one person he grew up with. George Harrison.

I'm kidding, Paul.

[bambi-kinos]

I really enjoy your meta and look forward to more mclennon analysis. Out of curiosity, you mentioned that you think they started being physical in 1964 - is there a reason why that year specifically? Personally, I've always thought they started sleeping together in 1963, and my reasoning for that is they seem much closer in videos/photos, not to mention it was the year they "broke through", so to speak.

Would love to hear your thoughts on that!

Hmm well I guess it depends on how they, and we, define their sex life. John and Paul were sexually intimate starting since they were teenagers because John brought Paul into the group wanks. (tbh it's a miracle Paul didn't brain John with something heavy thanks to all that Winston Churchilling.) There's really no telling how it progressed from there, anything is possible with these two. Until Paul tells us the details (and I do not put it past him) then he and John could have been hooking up at literally any point in their relationship. When I think of them getting physical with each other, I'm thinking of them getting each other off with intent and purpose, and considering the style of the time this would mean penetration. Everything else can be handwaved away.

I pick 1964 because of this post: https://www.tumblr.com/got-ticket-to-ride/739464905120497664/its-the-anniversary-day-of-john-and-paul-in-paris?source=share

It's just something about it, y'know. John and Paul are in their city. They stayed up all night and well into the morning and then slept deep into the afternoon, almost evening. And then as GTTR says, "And then they emerge from their hotel room looking like a newlywed couple."

Well, there's just a certain satisfaction radiating off them isn't there?

But I do see your point: why wouldn't they be hooking up earlier? Why wouldn't it escalate physically before this? Why would they wait until Paris 1964?

I have a few reasons, they are admittedly flimsy but since we are all just making shit up then it's fine, right?

Julian was born in 1963. I've read bits and pieces of Beatles 1963 by Rees and that book is full of little chunks about John running home to see Cynthia and the baby (usually not even for a full night/day because he was so busy.) Their schedule is also packed, they are constantly on the move especially during the night because this is where they had to start being smuggled out of theaters and such. So I genuinely think that John and Paul did not have the time or the space to have sex with each other. I know I am saying this when they had time to hook up with groupies between shows but considering who John and Paul are, and what they mean to one another, I just struggle to imagine them acting that way with one another. They would want to take their time with one another and get it right. They're hopeless romantics at heart, they're both deeply enamored with the idea of "you're special, you're different" so I genuinely think they would want to take their time with each other physically and do it right. I don't think they had that time in 1963 with the way they're running all over the UK.

Then there's the Absolute State of John and Paul's relationship in 1963. Remember that the halcyon days of Paris are way in the rearview mirror at this point. In 1962 Stuart died, Cynthia got pregnant, and John had to get married to save her reputation. I can't imagine Paul reacting well to any of this though I'm sure he put his cheery stoic mask on. Then in 1963, Julian is born. Barcelona happens and John seduces Brian to get the songwriting credit that he wanted and screws Paul out of their deal. Considering this is something Paul is still angry about to this day, I can't imagine how he blew his fucking top at John when he found out that May:

I don't think Paul was in the mood for any hooking up in 1963. John has a baby with a woman, is married, then he fucks off to have a gay experience with their manager and then when he comes back he's screwed Paul's side of the business on the downlow? I would be on the fucking six o' clock news lmao, John would not have escaped my wrath. It's really no wonder Paul made a specific point of hooking up with Jane Asher isn't it? He was making a point to John specifically and John seethed about it.

However I do think that something happened in 1963 that healed the rift in the Lennon-McCartney relationship:

Paul got sick from the gastric flu and he fainted dead away in the dressing room. John was very upset and was seen pacing the room when the doctor arrived to check on Paul. This is how we know that Paul actually fainted for real, if he was just feeling feverish John would be concerned but maybe not like that. @james-winston has a pair of really fantastic posts about the aftermath of the fainting incident that I have taken as gospel and I fully apply this to any McLennon analysis I write about this period. The key point though is this:

I have a headcanon that Paul being sick caused something to happen between John and Paul that left them both feeling awkward around each other. I don't think it is was sexual, I think it was more likely that John (who thought he was cursed to have all the men he loved die on him) was afraid something might happen to Paul, and reacted emotionally to it.

This all took place in November, after the Wooler thing, after the burn from Barcelona has had a chance to soften, after they both have had time to get used to the idea that Julian exists and has a place in their lives now. I think this was enough to mend things between them. And you know what else happened the night Paul fainted? Brian secured The Beatles their spot on Ed Sullivan:

So once Brian comes back and tells them the news, John and Paul flip right back into the honeymoon phase. The wounds of the past are forgotten (for now) and they're right back in each other's pockets. I think it's around this time period that Paul was taking photos that now make up Eye of the Storm.

TBH I can imagine John and Paul hooking up at this date. If someone looked at this and said "well this looks like a prelude to sweet love making to me" then that's perfectly reasonable. There's some suggestive photos in Eye of the Storm where Paul is taking John's picture from what looks to be a bathtub while John makes faces at him. It could have been then, absolutely.

But I like the idea that Paul wanted to wait until the next year. 1963 was rough on all of them and he and John are both big on getting new starts. Wait for 1964 to roll around. Brian says we're going to Paris in February. I can wait until then.

And just this once, it was worth it.

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Arriving at the scene for their interview "RoundUp" April 30, 1964 // John looking glum when Paul asked Morag Hood out to come to their show.

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I wanted to know what Paul's looking so lovingly at on the back of their cover so I recreated his hand placement and this is approximately where his left hand is pointing at.

Here is a clean copy for my John girlies:

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August 26, 1964 John Lennon going wild while performing "You Can't Do That". Look at Paul and George squealing. The original John girls.

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"I never had a brother, and George Harrison was how I felt a brother to be"

It's interesting how John considered George like a brother but always publicly called Paul "an intimate best friend", putting him on the same level he put his wife Yoko Ono.

John about Paul:

"He’s still the closest friend I’ve ever had except for Yoko."

"But the only – the person I actually picked as my partner, who I’d recognised had talent, and I could get on with, was Paul."

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The Music of Lennon and Mccartney

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The Beatles during their Netherlands TV Appearance in 1964, singing "All My Loving". This video was beautifully restored by Carter, I pasted the original audio on it when I noticed John mouthing something to Paul mid performance. All I can hear John saying is "already, babe" as his answer to Paul's "hope that my dreams will come true".

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Respectfully imagining Paul Mccartney in a 1950s vintage, lacy, pink nightgown as mentioned here and here.

It happened.

“It wasn’t only the sound that surprised. Paul wore an old pink nightie given to Fred Marsden by his mum to protect his drums; Fred himself wore a railwayman’s tunic; Gerry had George’s leather jacket; George was in a hood; and John blew Les Maguire’s saxophone. He also joined Paul on top of the piano: they lay on their stomachs and leaned over to strike the notes upside down.“

Fanfiction writing itself.

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Paul Mccartney and John Lennon being awkward

February 9, 1964 - Before the Ed Sullivan Show - Merely moments after John, now we have Paul spell awkward. Paul was playing around with George, John suddenly comes into the picture and Paul abruptly stops. He approaches John, their eyes meet but John starts tuning his radio so Paul is just standing there looking at him. John glances at everything but Paul. Paul with his sad droopy side eye. Even with Paul hovering over him, John still turns around to the others to ask if they are going already. Paul continues to look lost and suddenly realizes the camera filmed the whole ordeal, he tries covering it up with a joke.

While making these, I can't help but realize that it's always just John and Paul with scenes like these. You never see George and Ringo have similar moments. What does that say about them?

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from the Ready, Steady, Go extra footage that is up for auction under : Lot 365 - UNSEEN FILM OF THE BEATLES - READY STEADY GO (omegaauctions.co.uk)

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John Lennon: "Everyday we used to make it love Why can't we be making love nice and easy Why don't we take off alone Take a trip somewhere far, far away We'll be together all alone again Like we used to in the early days"

Paul Mccartney: "John and I used to hitch-hike places together, it was something that we did together quite a lot; cementing our friendship. I particularly remember John and I would be squeezed in our little single bed."

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A delicate ___ mouth that, on a girl, would have been the mouth of a beauty.

His chin was well built and he had good ears and a handsome, almost beautiful, unmarked nose.

The mouth worried you until you knew him and then it worried you more.

Ernest Hemingway describing Scott Fitzgerald (or how John would've described Paul)

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The Beatles - Ticket to Ride live in Paris 1965

(1:40) The way Paul stared at John and they both smiled at each other at "The girl that's driving me mad"

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Paul hugs John, placing his chin on top of his head and then reaches for Ringo to not make it so awkward in the second picture. 😇

Happy New Year everybody!

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The girl is Dot Rhone, who was Paul's girlfriend at the same time John started going out with Cynthia. Nobody knows about Dot. A very nice, simple, shy girl who didn't want any of the bullshit surrounding the Beatles' stardom. As soon as they got famous, she retired from the scene.

~Mike Mccartney