Anon Requested: Paul’s True Love……MARTHA!!!!

JOHN LENNON + PAUL MCCARTNEY 1964, Australia

Paul McCartney listening to his transistor radio in New York, 9th February 1964

The Beatles and their fans: Some interesting facts that Lizzie Bravo, a brazilian fan who lived the beatlemania in 1967/1968, said. I translated from the interview that Lizzie gave to "Pitadas Do Sal" in 2021. May Lizzie rest in peace. ♡

Paul McCartney lived near Abbey Road so he walked around and sometimes barefoot.

The Beatles called their fans "luv" and always said hello/goodbye even if they were in the car.

When Lizzie was invited to record Across The Universe with the band, Paul McCartney asked her to sing something "in brazilian" but she was so nervous that she couldn't.

It was hard to distract John Lennon and Paul McCartney when they were together. They talked a lot in private, laughed a lot, and even finished each other's sentences. "They lived in their own bubble" Lizzie about Lennon-McCartney.

When Lizzie met John Lennon for the first time (her favorite beatle), she started crying and Mal Evans hugged her and gave her a chocolate.

George Harrison wrote Apple Scruffs for specific fans, not for all the fans who stayed in the studios.

George Harrison also wrote letters to these 3 fans in particular, thanking them for their support especially when he was starting his solo career.

Once, John Lennon was leaving Paul McCartney's house and when he said goodbye to Lizzie, who was waiting for him outside, she said "I love you" spontaneously. John smiled and waved.

Lizzie said they never seemed as mad as people sounded.

The fans did a marathon every day: They ran to Abbey Road, saw The Beatles and in the end of the afternoon they ran to Paul McCartney's house to see John Lennon go there - something he did a lot.

Sometimes they arrived together in the studio in the same car.

There were 20 or 30 fans waiting to see them everyday! It depended on which beatle would arrive before or after.

Lizzie said that The Beatles were very humble, kind and didn't even seem like the renowned band they were (and are!).

Paul McCartney and George Harrison messing around backstage before their gig at the ABC Cinema in Manchester. The footage is from The Beatles Come To Town. (20 Nov. 1963)

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In 1965 [the Byrds] toured England and Paul invited us to his club, the Scotch of St James’s [sic]. He sent a limo to pick us up. He said he had been listening to our music. We were blown away. He took us for a ride through London in his Aston Martin, at great speed. He was really hip, he and John were so tight it was like one person at times. Unlike the Byrds, [where] Crosby would just leave you out to dry, the Beatles all defended each other to the hilt. If you criticised, say, George then they would all respond.

[—Roger McGuinn, in Paul McCartney: Now & Then, Tony Barrow and Robin Bextor]

[John and Paul] sort of had their own way of communicating. Hardly anything was spoken, they just knew what the other wanted or was getting at and they had the most amazing talent. […] Paul was an awesome musical presence. He was, like, ten feet tall with music and it was everything: folk, rock, musical hall, choral, it was all there. He was like a different animal with Lennon. When they were together they became something else, more than just the two of them together. That communication was incredible. It was like two high-speed computers just fizzing between each other.

[—Steve Miller, in Paul McCartney: Now & Then, Tony Barrow and Robin Bextor]

sharing the sofa like normal people

insp:

Hey can you tell me more about I Don't Know (Johnny, Johnny)? because there is very very little info about it online and the only source of the song i can listen to was a youtube video. Considering the excessive research of everything beatles by a fuckton of people, I'm surprised we don't know much about this. (because really, it it is what people say it is, it burned down all the mclennon doubts i had)

You’re right. This song was written around 1959/1960. The only audio we have, this one,  is the recording of a rehearsal made in 1960 at Paul’s house. 

Even if the recording is damaged and the sound is shitty the lyrics are quite easy to understand:

P- Well oh Johnny, oh Johnny, oh god Johnny boy

How are we gonna tell him

Why don’t we go somewhere where he don’t own me

Where can i go?

Oh Johnny boy you wore me out.

Oh Johnny, oh Johnny, oh Johnny boy

Oh Johnny, you got me, you be my boy

Well, a long time ago, I called you Johnny boy.

J- Hey little boy, I’m packing my shoes, and I’m leaving you.

I told my Mama I’m going to see my sister

She don’t see me, I don’t know what I’m going to do.

P- A long time ago I called you Johnny boy.

I don’t know what to tell the fellas.

Please, oh please, Johnny.

J- Well I’ll tell the fellas that I do love you.

P- I don’t know what I’m gonna do.

I don’t know what I’m gonna do when I tell my father

You love me Johnny, I love you Johnny

I’m not gonna let you go.

P- I don’t know what I’m gonna do when I tell my father

You wore me down, you wore me down.

You’re gonna leave, you’re gonna leave me

Please, oh, I’m not gonna let you go

J- Take the next bus out of town

Then you won’t let your father down.

I don’t know what good I am since I see life in front of us.

P- Well get out of town,

don’t hold me down.

I don’t care.

J- Get out of town,

I don’t know (3x)

I want to leave right now

To get out of town.

P- You know I want to do it all.

I want to go far away, far away,

I want to go far away.

J- No, no, no, no

P- Yeah, I’m going far away.

Yeah, we’re going far away.

We’re gonna leave.

J- We’re going away,

Yeah, we’re going away,

Gonna leave town right now.

This is one of the very first mclennon song, it’s very clear that they sing their desire to escape together: Paul is afraid of what his father might think of it cause he loves John:

 “ I don’t know what I’m gonna do when I tell my father” 

and at 2:39 John replies:

‘And i love you Paul’. 

Like, it’s so clear you don’t even need to investigate much about it, no metaphors, no double-meanings, it’s all SO SIMPLE AND EVIDENT, they’ re singing I LOVE YOU  to each other, that’s it! And the song ends with both John and Paul singing that the only solution is to leave and go away from the town.

This song was never put in any Anthology, even if there’s another song of the same year, You’ll be mine, that has the same shitty audio (the same recording)  but they decided to include it! “I don’t know (Johnny Johnny)” instead was never included, neither edited or cleaned, that’s why some people have doubted its veracity, because very few people have ever listened to it, and it’s considered rare. It’s such a pity they didn’t try to clean it a bit, but, i think WE ALL KNOW WHY. Can’t imagine this song listed in the Anthology, cleaned, a bit edited, and a random 40s old white man listening to it and exclaiming: “Wow! what a friendship!”

“Now and then, I miss you / Now and then, I want you to be there for me / Always to return to me,” (...) It’s a passage where Lennon’s yearning for McCartney intertwines with Paul’s mourning for John, a shared grieving for the partnership that defined both their lives. link

"Now and Then" is 81-year-old Paul McCartney finishing a song of John Lennon, who has been gone for almost 43 years.

But it is also 15-year-old Paul finishing a song of the boy who wandered around Liverpool with him, talking about their future and love of music.

It is 18-year-old Paul finishing a song of the guy who picked him as his partner and took him to play nightclubs in Hamburg.

It is 20-year-old Paul finishing a song of the lad who wanted to write song after song with him.

It is 23-year-old Paul finishing a song of the man he made history with.

It is 24-year-old Paul finishing a song of the soulmate who shared his visions.

It is 26-year-old Paul finishing a song of the person who serenaded him eating a cupcake.

It is 31-year-old Paul finishing a song of John, who loved him in his own way.

And it is 39-year-old Paul finishing a song of the friend he just lost.

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Hello! I have loved your blog for years and have thoroughly enjoyed reading your mclennon posts..I was wondering what your thoughts were about the cherry bomb incident at the Memphis coliseum in 1966..I believe there is a quote from either John or Paul saying that they were worried that the other was shot 😭

Yes I’ve read this story many times and there are various versions. According to the Beatles, it was definitely a bomb. But according to Beatles fans who attended the event, it wasn’t really a cherry bomb but a firecraker, and it wasn’t thrown on the stage but near the stairs of the stage. 

I think The Beatles believed it was a bomb because they were focused on playing and singing and they saw this fire and then the explosion which happened close to the stage, and they were a bit upset, also because it was the period of the “beatles bigger than jesus” controversy with strong Anti-Beatles feelings in America, fans burning their vinyls on the streets and many protests,...so there was tension at Beatles concerts. And that firecracker might have been a consequence of that turmoil.

I remember that John revealed in an interview that when the “bomb” exploded they suddenly looked at each other to check they were fine. Some Beatles fans who have attended the concert also reported that Paul suddenly looked at John to check if he was alright.  ❤

Drew this from a scene in Writing Letters (On My Wall) by @glowing-gold if you want to know what happens next i guess you'll have to read it! (don't worry it's great)

“Alright, then. Your turn.” “Hmm?” “You owe me. Paint me a picture. Something to get me through the rest of my dreary day.” Paul felt his stomach swoop. “Well… I’m not cooking.” “I don’t want to hear about bloody food , Paul. What are you doing, right now? Where exactly are you sitting?” Paul felt his skin prickle with heat.  “Well...” Paul started, not sure how far to take this. “I’m sitting in the kitchen.”