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Can we talk about the Rosetta Stone of heavily coded love language songs written by our favourite dysfunctional trinity; AKA the founding members of the original Uncool Bermuda Triangle Of Doom: John/Yoko/Paul and “(Just Like) Starting Over”?

Of course, it’s officially a song for Yoko, John is on record as saying it’s a song for Yoko, but to my ears, it’s a musical giant placard marked FOR PAUL!! (With a red sharpie heart around ‘Paul’)

From the thematic style, the extremely loaded choice of words, John’s Elvis crooning, the reminiscent rock n’ roll melody, right down to the announcement at the end of the song for a flight leaving for ‘London, England’, oh and OF COURSE the ‘spread our wings’ line… it just seems like a basket of Easter eggs to get Pauls attention.

It’s the “our life, together is so special, together” that gets me. It’s the theme of togetherness that seems like a defining motif of the John/Paul partnership in the good times, and what they desperately plea for in the bad. I see Starting Over as literally that, going right back to the beginning, to when they were teenagers and declaring their devotion and commitment to one another before setting off on adventures: “we’re gonna leave, take the next bus out of town” in “I Don’t Know/Johnny Johnny” . It was such a passionate declaration of: wherever we’re going, whatever we’re doing, we’re doing it together” . The warm, protective, safe space that they had created, where they can escape their past and take on the world; a John/Paul cocoon, The Nerk Twins within The Beatles - the nucleus within the atom - full of love, security and magic.

When the shit hits the fan - aka the critical juncture of 1969/Let It Be - ( I’m going to call this the second act, purely so it fits in with my theory!), Paul tries nostalgia to coax John back ‘home’ to the little nest he’s feathered - Population: Two (Of Us). Obviously, that doesn’t work out…

BUT! Just over a decade later, it sounds like John is feeling sentimental and nostalgic and has made up his mind to get back on that bus. Uh, I mean, airplane!

So this is how I see (Just Like) Starting Over as the third act, and borrowing the concept that the crux of a trilogy is for the story to go right back to the beginning, but this time viewing with a fresh perspective, he says:

“Let’s take a trip somewhere far, far away

We'll be together all alone again

Like we used to in the early days “— he is ready for a renewal of their adventures, but with an assurance of how they are wiser now; ‘we have grown’.

Whatever I’ve read online has firmly fallen in the ‘It’s for Yoko’ camp - purely because it’s a love song, so of COURSE it can’t be for Paul, right? A few admit it could be for Paul , but only as an admission that John wants to reunite with The Beatles.. (which I can kind of get behind)... But no-one anywhere is discussing the audio of the studio sessions, where he riffs around during rehearsal , because if this is a song for Paul, it’s a revelation:

‘Well everybody’s making love, why can’t we be making love, it’s easy?

Just take your clothes off honey, and stick your nose in money.

Why don’t we… do it in the road?

A little hotel where we used to screw

A motel down in Montauk; just you, me, the cook and the servants too’

Whoever the person on John’s mind is, it’s evident that he wants a revival of what sounds like a pretty hot, romantic and sexual relationship. The ‘stick your nose in money’ line is… interesting. I wasn’t aware of John having a bone of contention over Yoko and finances, (did he?) but wasn’t this one of his major gripes (and often mentioned grouses) over Paul’s ‘secret’ purchase of more shares of the Northern Songs catalogue? It’s a risky move to try and woo back a lover by dredging up a decades long grievance, but that’s our nonconformist John, I guess??

The doing it in the road line is.. kind of self explanatory? As for the hotel .. it didn’t seem like John and Yoko’s courtship was necessitated by sneaking off to conduct an illicit affair - they seemed pretty prominent from Day One of getting together, but it does put me in mind of the much mentioned Paris trip for John’s 21st birthday:

‘the little hotel with the nice bed’ that Paul still talks about to this day.

Granted, the motel in Montauk is kind of home turf for J&Y so I’ll concede that , but as for the rest of it…

My sticking point was learning that this was written at the same time, in Bermuda, that John wrote ‘Grow Old With Me’ - a loving ode from a husband to his wife. So the rational argument says.. both songs were written to the same person. But you have made the astute observation that John held Yoko in one hand and Paul in the other, so is it just my bourgeois mind that struggles to see that John could be saying to Person A: I want to recommit to our marital devotion to one another, whilst simultaneously saying to Person B ‘I want a renewal of our romantic adventures’ and that’s just how he rolls?

Nb, 1980 John unhelpfully throws a spanner in the works of this theory, because his attitude in interviews seems to be: “Paul who? Never heard of the guy, don’t think much of him, whoever he is, but whatever, who cares? I certainly don’t”.

Either way, it’s heartbreaking to hear the optimism and excitement in his voice, given the timing of the song.

I would love to know your thoughts! Am I totally wrong?

Hello dear friend! ❤️

In a nutshell, I think John wrote songs in 1980 about and/or to Yoko; I also think he wrote “craft” songs about an ideal marriage or a fantasy marriage that never actually existed.

And I absolutely believe Starting Over was written for Paul  :)  

This guy summed up my thoughts on John & Yoko in 1980 pretty well:

“It was an art project. The marriage was an art project. And AS an art project, it was fabulously successful. It presented an image of a sexist man who acknowledged his own anger, acknowledged that he “used to be cruel to his woman,” acknowledged all of that stuff. Subsuming it, sublimating it and becoming something else: trying to maintain a relationship of equality with a strong woman. And that continues through Double Fantasy. 

The facts almost don't matter. Because the image is a very, very strong one, and it would take a clearer rebuttal than we're ever going to get to destroy that image.”

I mean, the album has the word FANTASY in it, for crying out loud!  If that's not a winky face emoji of an album title, I dunno what is.

John specifically said he loved the phrase for its multiple meanings including "a double couple." (x) I'm curious... WTF is a double couple??!  Is it "John & Yoko" AND "John & Paul" ??  I've never heard anyone ever use that phrase before. 

Here's the thing about John... I don't think he is ever 100% comfortable spewing bullshit. So while he is willing to engage in a massive PR spectacle in 1980, he also drops little truth bombs here and there.  I think in 1980 John still gets mad at Paul, still gets competitive with him, still has resentments from 1966 that they never ironed out. So you'll hear those in some of his interviews. But I also think he absolutely adored Paul and wanted both Paul and the world to know it, and you can find that in interviews, as well.

I suspect trying to glean details from songs can sometimes be misleading (b/c sometimes songwriters take poetic license for the sake of the rhyme/groove/etc), but "when I see you, darling, it's like we both are falling in love again" is pretty much the most romantic thing ever.  When I see you isn't a detail to me, it's clearly about someone John doesn't see much (but when he does, all the feelings come rushing back).

How in the WORLD is John going to say anything other than Starting Over is for his wife, his co-creator, the woman he's kissing on the front of the album?  People will naturally just assume it anyway.  But Paul will know.

Expecting him to SAY it's about Paul is beyond unrealistic.  Anyone who argues that "if John didn't say it, it can't be about Paul!" is arguing that artists are incapable of writing things that are too difficult or dangerous (or just too embarrassing and tender) to discuss in public. Obviously that's not the case.

That said, the "it's for Yoko" interpretation is, of course, perfectly valid.  But my read is that Starting Over makes MUCH more sense as a love letter to an "old, estranged fiance."

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June 26th, 1964 (New City Hotel, Dunedin, New Zealand): Bob Rogers asks the Beatles to name their favourite songs from A Hard Day’s Night and talk about George and Ringo’s prospective songwriting efforts. Irreverence ensues. (Note: Joy. Transcribing this was an unwieldy task, as everyone talks over one another constantly. Apologies in advance for any/all gaps!)

ROGERS: Can we elucidate on the songs in the film and do you have a favourite song in the film called A Hard Day’s Night? [long pause]

PAUL: Yeah.

RINGO: It’s good.

PAUL: It’s all good. 

GEORGE: Yes. We have a lot of songs in the film, about seven or eight new ones, and my particular favourite just happens to be ‘A Hard Day’s Night’, which will be our next single release, and buy your copy or audio copy now. Thank you!

RINGO: Well I like that one too, George. [inaudible]

PAUL: I like that one, and one called—

RINGO: ‘Linda’.

PAUL: ‘And I Love Her’. 

RINGO: ‘And I Love Her’. Yeah, I love that one.

PAUL: Oh, do you like that? 

RINGO: Yeah!

PAUL: Oh, thanks, Ringo! Thanks. 

RINGO: And the way you sing it knocks me out.

JOHN: And the way that camera goes over your head. 

PAUL: Oh, you should see—

JOHN: I thought, “Hello.”

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#mydearone

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!

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#bananamilkshakes

The lovely @pauls1967moustache has kindly ripped the Julia Baird interviews Paul CD, so I can finally get to hear Paul reminisce about the good old days of (checks notes) banana milkshakes. Thanks Mo!

We went to Paris... it was supposed to be Spain, but we couldn't get past Paris, we enjoyed that so much... on the strength of his hundred quid when he was twenty-one. We went hitch-hiking, we kind of said, 'well look, I mean, we could get to Spain on this', you know, hundred quid, you know? He was kind of... I don't think he was funding me, so much, as he was spending. And I'd be there for the banana milkshake! [Julia laughs] You know, I'd just happen to be there while he was spending, you know?

Paul McCartney in conversation with John Lennon's sister, Julia Baird, 1987

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#thisismyview #currently #mclennon

At least once a day I think about how Paul always does mental gymnastics about Yoko. Like, from 1968 until literally now he keeps repeating stuff like "John fell in love," "They were in love so we had to grow apart," and "John had to explain to me they were so in love they couldn't be apart."

And when you stop for a second, it's like... yeah Paul? Why was any explanation needed? Weren’t you also in love around that same time? Like in '68, Paul, you yourself were engaged to one woman and then less than a year later already proposing and making a baby with another (Obviously Paul and Linda were amazing and had that once-in-a-lifetime kind of love, not trying to downplay that at all!).

But the way Paul always acts like John had to personally explain love to him is just weird. Did George need to explain falling for Pattie to justify growing distant and dissatisfied with the rest of them? I seriously doubt it.

Idk, it's just so weird.

Yeah, I know what you mean anon.

(Bear with me, I am getting to the point).

My understanding of John and Paul’s relationship is constantly shifting (there’s just so much seemingly contradictory information!) but at the moment I’m leaning towards a gay panic model:

They had an acknowledged, established relationship that wasn’t monogamous but was committed. They discussed and understood it way more clearly than is generally assumed. In the late sixties, as the optimism of the summer of love waned, they started to fear that homosexuality was sinful and would attract instant karma like dying alone (Brian) or at the hand of your lover (Joe Orton).

Let’s find our true loves, get married!

If this whole thing was clearer in Paul’s mind than John’s, or Paul’s idea altogether, then maybe Paul needs to believe that John really did love Yoko so much that he *had* to wipe the slate clean (specifically of Paul). Otherwise the appalling vista is that Paul pushed John into her arms when she wasn’t what John wanted or needed.

Couldn’t I have given you a better life?

Welcome to my ted talk, it’s miserable here.

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Very curious about the evidence for them ordering 3 hotel rooms? If you have any of it on hand.

hello hello! this is what I have readily available, from the sale of the beatles....bedsheets

now, one could fairly argue that there was more than one bed in at least one of these rooms, but at the same time, I don't think it's even up to the imagination which pair of them shared a room, and after quotes from paul like "I slept with john a lot" and "in bed", imo its a pretty safe bet that there might've only been one bed

but I'm not satisfied with a safe bet! I browsed around for publicly-available hotel floor plans and couldn't find any above the first few floors. so :) instead I called the san francisco hilton at the listed address in the top right corner and asked them. obviously it's possible that things have changed in the last sixty years, but at least currently, rooms 1548 through 1550 are indeed all single king bed rooms (specifically on the 15th floor in tower 3, which was the one already constructed in 1964. thank you hilton staff)

so I'm about as sure as I can be that paul and john deliberately chose to sleep in the same bed together long after they had the money for their own rooms and beds.

which could mean nothing!

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#prev #the airport press conference is in LA earlier that day #a layover #this is the evening of 18th after they had arrived in San Fran and checked into the hotel

Hey guys, you know what I just realised? That San Francisco press conference where John talks about him and Paul having some ‘privacy’ is the same day as the famous ‘they only had three rooms’ stay… 🤔

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What We Need Is A Schedule

After the fun and games of one year ago, John and Paul are no longer fooling around. Lennon & McCartney talk about their job, songwriting. from THE BEATLES BOOK MONTHLY, No. 33, June 1966

JOHN: Now that Paul's back from his holidays, we're getting ready to do quite a bit of recording. We have to get two songs for a new single in the next couple of weeks and we've got to start work on another LP album. That means we want nearly twenty new numbers- allowing for a couple of spare ones in case something doesn't really work out when we get in the studio.

PAUL: I think song-writing is like any other kind of writing. You tend to put it off until somebody tells you it has to be finished by a particular date.

JOHN: When we're on our own and we think of an idea for a song, the main thing is to get it down so that it isn't forgotten. Words you can write on bits of paper but it's not that easy with a tune. We've found the best way of all is to use a tape recorder.

PAUL: With a tape you can put on the voice and add bits of guitar and things later when you get a good idea in your mind for a guitar phrase or an introduction.

JOHN: And it doesn't really matter if you haven't got all the lyrics worked out. You can just hum or go "la-la-la-la" for the bits you haven't written yet.

PAUL: Then John and I get together and play over the tapes we've made.

JOHN: Paul's much more of an expert about recording his songs. Some of his tapes are fantastic--they're dubbed and everything so that you get the full group sound--not like mine which are just my own voice and one guitar.

PAUL: Just like any other kind of writing, it's impossible to walk about doing other things and suddenly say to yourself "Ah, l've got a song coming on. Here it comes now" and rush to your tape recorder.

JOHN: I dunno. Sometimes you can start off a new song like that. It depends.

PAUL: We've been talking about this and we've decided we ought to force ourselves to arrange days for songwriting together in advance.

JOHN: It's too easy to put it off if we just meet without any plan and say "Shall we write something today?". If you do that you feel as though you're losing a free day. What we're going to do is make dates beforehand and sort of say "Right Wednesday and Friday of this week are for songwriting. And Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of next week". Then we'll know it's something we've to keep to.

PAUL: We'll try to fix times and keep to them. Get into a room with guitars and a piano and a tape recorder and work things out.

JOHN: I said at the start we would need twenty new numbers. Actually, both of us have some half-started stuff which needs finishing. Some of Paul's tapes are almost complete too. We'll probably get five or six songs out of these and then begin thinking up new ones.

PAUL: One of the only real differences between the way we prepare for recording sessions now and the way we did it years ago is that we know more about recording techniques.

JOHN: Earlier on we'd go into the studio and George Martin would say after he'd heard something "Well, that's going to be O.K. but why don't you try putting a so-and-so in there." And he'd suggest an organ sound or double-tracking on something. Now we know just how much can be done in the studio we can think up new sounds and different instruments to use before a session.

PAUL: Means we should get more done at a session.

JOHN: Ah, I've got a song coming on. Here it comes now!

PAUL: Right! Let's get back to work.

Photos accompanying the taped "interview" (J & P talking to tape recorder)

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So we know they used “code”. Watching this and I’m wondering if this lyric from Long Tall Sally has meaning. An odd place to use it otherwise…

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why was this not available as a postcard? this is the best picture I’ve ever seen

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The Beatles - I Will (take 29) WIP 

this is the first major work on in progress. It’s still very rough so bare with me. I just know I might not post in a while (probably gonna be posting for the askthefabfourblog).

But I thought I might share what I have so far, since it has been going well.

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Mirabelle: George Harrison tells his own life story. (October, 1963)

Hi girls, George Harrison here, lead guitar.

I’m not taking any notice of course, but the other three are skipping around the room, saying, “Hi girls! George Harrison here, lead guitar.” Well, I’ve got to introduce myself some way, haven’t I? 

One thing about us Beatles is that we’re just as nutty now as we ever were. Our chart success hasn’t changed us, thank goodness. I remember the first time I ever met Paul was on the bus home from school. He was sitting laughing to himself. I thought, “We’ve a right case here,” and then I realised he could see his own reflection in the window. Well, I thought, that explains it!

John, I recall, was eating fish and chips, but his hair being so long kept getting in the way! Ringo, who I met in a club, looked moody. Then when we started talking he explained he’d been talking hard and the effort was too much for him. He can’t help it, poor lad.

I was never officially introduced to myself. In accordance with the natural custom I was born, at the time being fairly small (about twenty inches long). My mother insists that I was brought into the world singing and playing a guitar, but I think she’s joking.

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“The way we work it is like, we just whistle. John will whistle at me, and I’ll whistle back at him, and he’ll whistle back at me, and sometimes we’ll keep whistling at each other for days.”

— Paul McCartney (via paulmcfruity)