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selenakI feel it's only fair that after my grand collection of Lennon contradictory quotes, which admittedly makes a bit fun of good old John's habit of changing his mind every two minutes depending on his moodswings, there should be something at Paul's expense to balance this. However, the most glaring McCartney habit of "did he just say that?" lies not in contradiction (he's actually pretty consistent on how he feels about any given topic or person) but in, shall we say, projection and the extensive use of the first person plural.
Prime examples of the Paul McCartney technique of "when it doubt, claim this is totally how GEORGE felt, too. If it's a really big claim, draft Ringo as well" ensue.
On Stuart Sutcliffe, John's BFF from art school:
"When he came into the band around Christmas 1959, we were a little jealous of him, it was something I didn’t deal with very well. We were always slightly jealous of of John’s other friendships. When Stuart came in, it felt as if he was taking the position away from George and me. We had to take a bit of a back seat."
(Far be it from me to doubt you, Paul, especially since John did state that Paul and George could be bitchy towards Stu, but there is that pesky George statement to the effect that "Stuart was cool. He was great looking and had a great vibe about him, and was a very friendly bloke".)
Then there's the infamous John and Brian Epstein April 1963 holiday in Barcelona, while everyone else was vacationing at Klaus Voorman's parents' holiday house in Teneriffa. (Except poor Cynthia, who had to stay at home with baby Julian.) Said holiday is particularly infamous for the aftermath, John beating up DJ Bob Wooler at the party for Paul's 21st birthday because Bob Wooler made a crack along the lines of "so, how was your honeymoon with Brian?". (And then he grabbed a random girl's breast to prove his heterosexuality some more, resulting in the girl crying and John getting into yet another fight with Billy Kramer. Once again, POOR CYNTHIA who witnessed it all.) John being John kept changing his story about that one. He told Pete Shotton that he let Brian toss him off but told Playboy in 1980 that it had remained unconsumated. Ever since, biographers keep dancing around the "so did or didn't something happen between John and Brian in Barcelona?" subject. Occasionally, one dares to ask the remaining ex Beatles. One such occasion resulted in Paul coming up with the following masterpiece of a quote:
"I'm sure Brian was in love with John. We were all in love with John, but Brian was gay so that added an edge."
Then there's the ever popular 1969 statement to the Evening Standard to the effect that "John is in love with Yoko, and he's no longer in love with the three of us". Describing that same year, or rather, the time after John's "I want a divorce, just like my divorce from Cynthia" statement, in the 1990s for Anthology, Paul comes up with this more detailed take:
"It wasn't that the record company had dumped us. It was still a case of: we might get back together again. Nobody quite knew if it was just one of John's little flings, and that maybe he was going to feel the pinch in a week's time and say, 'I was only kidding.' I think John did kind of leave the door open. He'd said: 'I'm pretty much leaving the group, but...' So we held on to that thread for a few months, and then eventually we realised, 'Oh well, we're not in the band any more. That's it. It's definitely over.' I started thinking, 'Well, if that's the case, I had better get myself together. I can't just let John control the situation and dump us as if we're the jilted girlfriends."
Again, far be it from me to doubt Mr. McCartney and his use of the plural, but I haven't found George or Ringo describing the 1969/1970 situation in those terms. (More in "I-was-sick-of-being-a-Beatle" terms for George and "I-didn't-understand-what-the-hell-was-going-on" for Ringo.) Now, you'd think he comes up with these type of quotes only when directly asked about John-related topics. But no. In 1989, he released his album Flowers in the Dirt (which, btw, is fab) and did the usual promotion stuff, interviews, appearances etc. Dan Rather, on the tv program "48 Hours", asked him about various songs from the album, which lead to these amazing ramblings:
DR: Let me ask you about one of your new songs. "This One". About a marriage?
Paul: About a relationship, yeah.
DR: And about not expressing emotions or feelings?
Paul: Well, you get those moments. And you always think well, I'm saving it up. I'll tell them one day. And you know what happens with a lot of people, with something like John for instance, he died. I was lucky, the last few months that he was alive, we'd manage to get our relationship back on track and we were talking, we were having real good conversations, we were really nice and friendly. But George actually didn't - I don't think got his relationship right. I think they were arguing right until the end which I'm sure is a source of great sadness to him and I'm sure, you know, in the feeling of this song, that George was always planning to tell John he loved him. But time ran out. And so that's what the song is about, you know. There never could be a better moment than this one. Now. Take this moment to say - I love you.
Sidenote: at the time of John's death, the state of relationship between him and George was indeed chilly (in every 1980 interview George gets mentioned, John can't resist a complaint about not being mentioned in George's book I Me Mine and the occasional acerbic remark about George being "ten years younger or something like that"). However, John was hot and cold whenever Paul was brought up in those interviews as well (see previous post), as likely to make an angry remark about song sabotage as he was to praise another song to the skies, however friendly their phonecalls were. Moreover, George's own way of dealing with John's death was more to blend out all arguments of the 70s and declare, like he does in Anthology: "As Yoko came into the picture, I lost a lot of personal contact with John, but on the odd occasion when I did see him, just by the look in his eyes I felt we were connected.”
But whosever relationship This One is about, it's a good song. Just listen:
In conclusion, here are John, Paul and George all singing harmony together for This Boy, one of their lesser known songs. It was the B-Side for I want to hold your hand, but a part of their 1963/64 concert repertoire because it showcased their ability to pull off an intricate three-part harmony live, without studio aide. Geoff Emerick writes about the recording: But what was most impressive about the recording of 'This Boy' was that the three Beatles sang it impeccably, in perfect three-part harmony, almost every time, from first take to last. John, Paul, and George's ability to pull off complex harmony vocals was really quite astounding. You could see they'd spent a lot of time not just getting the notes correct, but getting their voices to blend just right. That's where all those years of playing together really paid off. (The last time they'd do this was on Because, on their last album, Abbey Road, and the pitch is still perfect.) Here's an early take, complete with a bit of studio chatter (Paul: "Don't be nervous, John", John: "I AM NOT NERVOUS!!!!!") and John flubbing the line to "thas boy":
And a live performance, their second Ed Sullivan appearance. Here John adds a "tee hee" at 1.57 to crack Paul up on American tv in front of a millions audience. Will he succeed? Watch:
Prime examples of the Paul McCartney technique of "when it doubt, claim this is totally how GEORGE felt, too. If it's a really big claim, draft Ringo as well" ensue.
On Stuart Sutcliffe, John's BFF from art school:
"When he came into the band around Christmas 1959, we were a little jealous of him, it was something I didn’t deal with very well. We were always slightly jealous of of John’s other friendships. When Stuart came in, it felt as if he was taking the position away from George and me. We had to take a bit of a back seat."
(Far be it from me to doubt you, Paul, especially since John did state that Paul and George could be bitchy towards Stu, but there is that pesky George statement to the effect that "Stuart was cool. He was great looking and had a great vibe about him, and was a very friendly bloke".)
Then there's the infamous John and Brian Epstein April 1963 holiday in Barcelona, while everyone else was vacationing at Klaus Voorman's parents' holiday house in Teneriffa. (Except poor Cynthia, who had to stay at home with baby Julian.) Said holiday is particularly infamous for the aftermath, John beating up DJ Bob Wooler at the party for Paul's 21st birthday because Bob Wooler made a crack along the lines of "so, how was your honeymoon with Brian?". (And then he grabbed a random girl's breast to prove his heterosexuality some more, resulting in the girl crying and John getting into yet another fight with Billy Kramer. Once again, POOR CYNTHIA who witnessed it all.) John being John kept changing his story about that one. He told Pete Shotton that he let Brian toss him off but told Playboy in 1980 that it had remained unconsumated. Ever since, biographers keep dancing around the "so did or didn't something happen between John and Brian in Barcelona?" subject. Occasionally, one dares to ask the remaining ex Beatles. One such occasion resulted in Paul coming up with the following masterpiece of a quote:
"I'm sure Brian was in love with John. We were all in love with John, but Brian was gay so that added an edge."
Then there's the ever popular 1969 statement to the Evening Standard to the effect that "John is in love with Yoko, and he's no longer in love with the three of us". Describing that same year, or rather, the time after John's "I want a divorce, just like my divorce from Cynthia" statement, in the 1990s for Anthology, Paul comes up with this more detailed take:
"It wasn't that the record company had dumped us. It was still a case of: we might get back together again. Nobody quite knew if it was just one of John's little flings, and that maybe he was going to feel the pinch in a week's time and say, 'I was only kidding.' I think John did kind of leave the door open. He'd said: 'I'm pretty much leaving the group, but...' So we held on to that thread for a few months, and then eventually we realised, 'Oh well, we're not in the band any more. That's it. It's definitely over.' I started thinking, 'Well, if that's the case, I had better get myself together. I can't just let John control the situation and dump us as if we're the jilted girlfriends."
Again, far be it from me to doubt Mr. McCartney and his use of the plural, but I haven't found George or Ringo describing the 1969/1970 situation in those terms. (More in "I-was-sick-of-being-a-Beatle" terms for George and "I-didn't-understand-what-the-hell-was-going-on" for Ringo.) Now, you'd think he comes up with these type of quotes only when directly asked about John-related topics. But no. In 1989, he released his album Flowers in the Dirt (which, btw, is fab) and did the usual promotion stuff, interviews, appearances etc. Dan Rather, on the tv program "48 Hours", asked him about various songs from the album, which lead to these amazing ramblings:
DR: Let me ask you about one of your new songs. "This One". About a marriage?
Paul: About a relationship, yeah.
DR: And about not expressing emotions or feelings?
Paul: Well, you get those moments. And you always think well, I'm saving it up. I'll tell them one day. And you know what happens with a lot of people, with something like John for instance, he died. I was lucky, the last few months that he was alive, we'd manage to get our relationship back on track and we were talking, we were having real good conversations, we were really nice and friendly. But George actually didn't - I don't think got his relationship right. I think they were arguing right until the end which I'm sure is a source of great sadness to him and I'm sure, you know, in the feeling of this song, that George was always planning to tell John he loved him. But time ran out. And so that's what the song is about, you know. There never could be a better moment than this one. Now. Take this moment to say - I love you.
Sidenote: at the time of John's death, the state of relationship between him and George was indeed chilly (in every 1980 interview George gets mentioned, John can't resist a complaint about not being mentioned in George's book I Me Mine and the occasional acerbic remark about George being "ten years younger or something like that"). However, John was hot and cold whenever Paul was brought up in those interviews as well (see previous post), as likely to make an angry remark about song sabotage as he was to praise another song to the skies, however friendly their phonecalls were. Moreover, George's own way of dealing with John's death was more to blend out all arguments of the 70s and declare, like he does in Anthology: "As Yoko came into the picture, I lost a lot of personal contact with John, but on the odd occasion when I did see him, just by the look in his eyes I felt we were connected.”
But whosever relationship This One is about, it's a good song. Just listen:
In conclusion, here are John, Paul and George all singing harmony together for This Boy, one of their lesser known songs. It was the B-Side for I want to hold your hand, but a part of their 1963/64 concert repertoire because it showcased their ability to pull off an intricate three-part harmony live, without studio aide. Geoff Emerick writes about the recording: But what was most impressive about the recording of 'This Boy' was that the three Beatles sang it impeccably, in perfect three-part harmony, almost every time, from first take to last. John, Paul, and George's ability to pull off complex harmony vocals was really quite astounding. You could see they'd spent a lot of time not just getting the notes correct, but getting their voices to blend just right. That's where all those years of playing together really paid off. (The last time they'd do this was on Because, on their last album, Abbey Road, and the pitch is still perfect.) Here's an early take, complete with a bit of studio chatter (Paul: "Don't be nervous, John", John: "I AM NOT NERVOUS!!!!!") and John flubbing the line to "thas boy":
And a live performance, their second Ed Sullivan appearance. Here John adds a "tee hee" at 1.57 to crack Paul up on American tv in front of a millions audience. Will he succeed? Watch:
