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:
and at 2:39 John replies:
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!”
The audio of the previous reblog of Paul's 'John was a darling then'-quote.
Do you think John and Paul ever saw each other again after ‘76? Or even talked on the phone? I know Paul says they did but every so often doubt creeps in and I start wondering if Paul isn’t just making up stories to convince himself that they were still friends. Your thoughts?
Thank you for the ask! It made me look back at John's last interviews and some of Paul's earliest after the murder. I don't think Paul made up the phone calls, because he has been consistent in talking about them since the early 80s. In his interviews shortly after John's death he talks about it quite detailed and I don't think he would make something like this up. For other speculations about their last meeting I found this great blogspot post: https://mccartnet.blogspot.com/2012/04/when-was-lennon-and-mccartneys-last.html
What I do wonder is, if they maybe saw each other for the last time in 1978. John mentions in 1980 he thinks that the "turning Paul away incident" was like 2 years ago and Geoffrey Giuliano claims that John, Yoko, Paul and Linda went to see the movie "Pretty Baby" together, which was released in April 1978. (The lost Lennon diaries) - but people say he's not a reliable source... But maybe John didn't turn Paul away the day after the SNL evening (24th of April 1976), but after the movie night? But then again Sean was already a toddler in 1978...
WELL if somebody did more research on this, I would love to know, but I'll end it here, because I think in the end there won't be a really satisfying answer. And maybe the important part is that the love they had for each other never went away either way.
(Newsweek, 1982, by Jim Miller) Q: "Did you see much of him before he died?"
PAUL: "I saw him quite a bit. Always, the problem was talking business. Whenever we got into business, we got into an argument. It wasn't a pleasant framework for a relationship. When Sean (John and Yoko's son) was first born, I visited him a few times at the Dakota (Lennon's apartment house in New York). And then it had gone snotty. I used to turn up without calling him. One time, he got annoyed with me. He said, 'Well, look, man... Why do you just keep turning up here and surprise us? Why don't you just call first?' And I took that the wrong way. After that, I don't think I did see him. I phoned a few times. As long as we were talking about family, about life, it was good. The last time I spoke to him, I got off the phone and it felt like old friends again. I've talked to Yoko since then, and she's said to me, 'You know, he really was quite fond of you.' I think we were pretty close. But, sometimes, with brothers, you argue. They can be the most intense arguments, too."
(Playboy, 1984, by Joan Goodman) PLAYBOY: "Do you remember your last conversation with John?"
PAUL: "Yes. That is a nice thing, a consoling factor for me, because I do feel it was sad that we never actually sat down and straightened our differences out. But fortunately for me, the last phone conversation I ever had with him was really great, and we didn't have any kind of blowup. It could have easily been one of the other phone calls, when we blew up at each other and slammed the phone down."
PLAYBOY: "Do you remember what you talked about?"
PAUL: "It was just a very happy conversation about his family, my family. Enjoying his life very much; Sean was a very big part of it. And thinking about getting on with his career. I remember he said, 'Oh, God, I'm like Aunt Mimi, padding round here in me dressing gown' ...robe, as he called it, cuz he was picking up the American vernacular... 'feeding the cats in me robe and cooking and putting a cup of tea on. This housewife wants a career!' It was that time for him. He was about to launch Double Fantasy."
(Playboy, September 1980, by David Sheff) PLAYBOY: "Aside from the millions you've been offered for a reunion concert, how did you feel about producer Lorne Michaels' generous offer of $3200 for appearing together on 'Saturday Night Live' a few years ago?"
LENNON: "Oh, yeah. Paul and I were together watching that show. He was visiting us at our place in the Dakota. We were watching it and almost went down to the studio, just as a gag. We nearly got into a cab, but we were actually too tired."
PLAYBOY: "How did you and Paul happen to be watching TV together?"
LENNON: "That was a period when Paul just kept turning up at our door with a guitar. I would let him in, but finally I said to him, 'Please call before you come over. It's not 1956 and turning up at the door isn't the same anymore. You know, just give me a ring.' He was upset by that, but I didn't mean it badly. I just meant that I was taking care of a baby all day and some guy turns up at the door... But, anyway, back on that night, he and Linda walked in and he and I were just sitting there, watching the show, and we went, 'Ha-ha, wouldn't it be funny if we went down?' but we didn't."
PLAYBOY: "Was that the last time you saw Paul?"
LENNON: "Yes, but I didn't mean it like that." (Newsweek, 29th of September 1980, by Barbara Graustark) Q: "Paul McCartney's theory is that you became a recluse because you'd done everything - but be yourself."
JOHN: "What the hell does that mean? Paul didn't know what I was doing - he was as curious as everyone else. It's ten years since I really communicated with him. I know as much about him as he does about me, which is zilch. About two years ago, he turned up at the door. I said, 'Look, do you mind ringin' first? I've just had a hard day with the baby. I'm worn out and you're walkin' in with a damn guitar!"
Could anybody tells me where this comes from?It is very important for my mclennon theory I think……
It can incredibly fit well for the I saw her standing there script
I mean this……you act like a QUEEN……😮
John, Julian and George
why did we even question the mclennon sharing clothes thing?? guys, it was right in front of our faces the whole time 🤯 this is how they exchange clothes
I think John was quite defensive when he realized that through most of his “career” with the Quarrymen, he had been playing two-fingered banjo chords on a guitar. The thought was tempered by the fact that nobody had noticed. John once told me, “Only that fookin’ McCartney sussed me out. I love him, but he’s such a good musician I could kill him.” – Tony Bramwell Nowhere Boy (2009) dir. Sam Taylor-Wood
These pictures together are really good!
"While he ate, McCartney talked about his life as a Beatle and his relationship with John Lennon. He mentioned that ‘If I Fell’ was perhaps his favorite song by Lennon." -New Yorker: When I’m Sixty-Four (2007)
This is very interesting because he has never mentioned this song in interviews whenever he is asked about his favorite Lennon song. He always says Across the Universe, Beautiful Boy, Julia or Strawberry Fields.
Paul talking about ‘Get Back’ on the ‘Fly on the Wall’ podcast with Dana Carvey and David Spade, 12th October 2022
“So, he sent me a little clip, which really saved my life”
“I loved it, I really loved it… it was like having an old home movie of yourself, but perfect. And you know I really… I forgave myself, when I saw that”
“We’re looking at each other, and, you know, that spirit was always there, from the minute I met John to the minute the Beatles broke up, and beyond actually, you know. There was always that sort of… we’re just two guys, goofing our way through the world”
I've been slowly reading Paul McCartney's Lyrics and came up short at the image he doodled in his notebook after the words for one of the last songs the Beatles recorded:
Four hearts linked by the same arrow.