How Would You Spend Time With Your Fave Characters If They Were Real ?

WHAT THE BEATLES JOHN GAVE US

I have so many special memories of Beatle John. His strikingly strong charisma and magnetic allure, which intimidated me and most other girls, driving us to choose Paul (or George, or Ringo) as our favorite instead. His charming smile, capable of transforming your own gloomy face into a joyful one. His delightful wit and unique eccentricity, which he revealed when you least expected it. His grace, his charm, and, of course, his exceptional appearance.

A friend of mine just described his sexual fantasy to me — John Lennon in a fox kigurumi

🥺oh well

rough night at the cavern club

David Ash, ‘Our Kind of Girl - By The Beatles’, Daily Express (21 Nov. 1963)

After the show, after the applause, what kind of girl do the Beatles think about in the loneliness of hotel rooms locked against the fans? [...] So I went and asked them: What is your kind of girl? [...] Paul McCartney, 21, told me: “It would be great to have the sort of girl who would darn my socks and cook apple pies and things.” Now that may sound like Platitude 1 (a) from the pop-star's handbook of ready-made quotes. But this McCartney I think says what he means. He continued: “She'd be attractive, but not the big show-biz personality type of girl, or one who's affected, or a dizzy dumb blonde. “She'd be intelligent - but not fantastically brainy, because I'm not - and interested in all kinds of music. Including mine.  “And she'd have to have the right sense of humour. Because we do have what someone called a sense of self-irony. And we laugh at all sorts of off-beat things.”

And physically…?  “I like girls to have long hair (it rhymes with 'her'), interesting eyes, and rather high cheekbones. But not turned-up noses. I have one myself, and it's put me right off them.  “I don't like Elizabeth Taylor-type looks. And I don't like exaggerated hour-glass figures. The figure doesn't matter all that much.  “I like girls in with-it clothes. But some girls look fantastic in just a dirty old sack. Indian girls look great in saris.”

John Lennon was looking around for a scotch. And his face, in serious moments like this, has the fear-neither-God-nor-man quality of a Renaissance painter's aristocrat. At 23, he seems the group's elder statesman. For he is married, with one baby. He talked. Huskily, cryptically. “My kind of girl is, of course, Cynthia. My wife. “I like her looks (she's fair-haired), her cooking; everything about her. I'm an extrovert, and she's the opposite.  “We are both indoor types - that's why I don't mind this life, being locked away behind doors. We live at our mum's or our auntie's or hotels. But wherever I'm with her is home. “People have said that every time she comes down to London to see me she is just trying to patch up our marriage. They say, 'You know what they're like in show business.'  “But that's not true of us. I don't happen to be showbusiness. I married before I was in it. And I haven't changed my mind since."  He added: “Of course, I notice other girls.”

George Harrison - at 20 he's the youngest and (some say) the handsomest - thought he preferred blondes. Smallish ones. Then he decided: "I don't go looking for any special sort of girl. She could be any age from 17 to 40. “I wouldn't like one who was soft (unintelligent). Or one who was terribly intellectual - I wouldn't know what she was on about half the time.  “I wouldn't mind if she were arty, hated pop and loved classical music  “Oh, yes, and I don't like girls with too much make-up.”

Ringo Starr’s sad eyes gazed thoughtful down at his drumstick-balancing fingers and the four rings on them - none of them with any marital significance.  “My girl would be just an ordinary sort of girl, but with just that something different for me,” he said.  “I wouldn’t care if she couldn’t cook very well. She could learn. But I don’t like sitting at home, so I’d want a sociable girl who’d come out every time I wanted to go out.”

Not one Beatle mentioned old-fashioned considerations like social status and family connections.  In their kinds of girl they all looked for a sense of humour, interest in their work, reasonable dress sense, and a complete lack of pretentiousness. 

I think some of you are projecting onto John when you say he was deeply obsessed with Paul. It seems like you're the ones obsessed with Paul, and you're projecting those feelings onto John. Yes, John admired Paul, but you all act as if John spent his entire life obsessing over him. I don't think that's the case.

Thinking about Paul’s jealousy of Stu’s position in John’s life and his understanding that John considered Stu more of a peer than he (Paul) could be, by virtue of age alone.

Of courseeeeee this was not the full scope of Stu/John vs Paul/John. But it isn’t difficult to imagine a lonely and rejected Paul deciding that age must be THE problem, as it is not his fault and is therefore easier to digest (rather than the idea that Stu was more emotionally open/a better communicator/whatever else).

This line of thought draws an interesting parallel to Paul’s later (real or perceived) competition with George for John’s attention and his continued insistence that George was actually very very very very young (Paul has nearly 8 full months on him). It doesn’t matter that John and George are tripping together or [insert John/George thing here] ME AND JOHN ARE BIG BOYS GEORGE IS only A BABY.

December. 1968.

Paul out and about with soon-to-be step-daughter Heather, Margaret Davies and her daughter Caitlin. Praia da Luz, Portugal.

Assuming the photographer to be: Linda McCartney

More photos of this visit to come. Stay tuned in.