Flytotheway - All Those Years Ago

Today in McLennon… Quotes where they are compared to famous love affairs

“John and Paul are essentially a legendary world-changing love affair that ends in heartbreak — like Burton and Taylor, but with no touching. They are the thing the other was looking for. A major part of their lives was settled the day they met at Woolton fair — they were completed, reborn and undone with each other.”  (Caitlin Moran)

“Out of the mouth of anyone else, “John” is just a name, a mere monosyllable. But when the name is uttered by McCartney, the ghostlike presence of John Lennon suddenly descends on the evening. Lennon’s name, so simply invoked by McCartney, takes on the power of a talisman, conjuring up an entire shared cultural scrapbook of images defining musical collaboration and the purest of camaraderie. McCartney owns the pronunciation of “John” the way Katharine Hepburn made “Spensah” Tracy her own.” (Interview with Paul McCartney, 2001)

Never forget Neil, Mal and Derek going to war for the boys

The Beatles’ tv appearance in the Netherlands, 5th June 1964

It's clearly an anticipation of Get Back

A healthy and balanced diet of toast and more toast

January 26th, 1969 (Apple Studios, London): As the Beatles work on the arrangement for Octopus’s Garden’, Ringo tells Paul about the basis for the song, piquing George’s memory of what he was once told about octopuses. (Note: John’s on drums. This clip from the sessions is shortly followed by Heather sharing her personal octopus anecdote with John - which I can’t make out, unfortunately - and more animal banter.)

GEORGE: Hey, it was somebody – he was telling me octopuses go and pick up all the seashells. You know about that?

RINGO: Yes, that’s why I wrote it! ‘Cause the guides told me [about them] on the boat in Sardinia. [inaudible]

GEORGE: Yeah. [to Paul] You know about that? They collect all nice-looking things and make a garden around where they are and just with all their groovy things to sleep behind.

RINGO: Yeah.

GEORGE: [laughs] It’s great.

2003: The Quarrymen talk about Paul and the immediate influence he had on the group. 

LEN: I think he was, uh, he was quite a clever lad actually. Quite good, you know, at languages and maths and stuff, he was quite bright. I think he was under an obligation if you’d like to his father Jim in a lot of ways to do well at school, because his mum passed away fairly quickly. So Jim wanted him to do well and I think he felt obligated to progress in school.

COLIN: Paul would have allowed John to feel that he was the boss anyway. Paul wouldn’t have gotten head to head with John, but Paul would have got his own way if you’d like, carefully, by maneuvering and perhaps letting John think it was his idea. I think that’s the way Paul was.

LEN: I think it was part of his characteristic, really. Part of his characteristic. You know, when we started off as The Quarrymen, we were a gang of scruffs, we could dress whatwe’d like, checked shirts, anything we would like. But I’m pretty sure it was Paul’s idea that one night at Clubmoor we dressed a bit smarter – you know, the white coats and the black ties. I think – it wouldn’t be John’s idea. John was more interested in the music and the entertainment. “We can dress what we like as long as we’re enjoying ourselves.” But I think Paul was more… I don’t know. Image-minded, you know. Worried more about the image.

COLIN: Paul was very much the diplomat. He would never get a quick answer off Paul. He would always think about what was the right answer; not what the answer should’ve been, but perhaps what you wanted to hear.

I love how much Paul is horrofied and John amused

Old Fred is just chilling what a champ Ringo is a victim