The ONLY lyrical insight Paul provides into the song Coming Up in his book is re the phrase âcoming up.â He points out âcomingâ has a sexual connotation. Then he goes on about how John liked it. And how when he was in New York he would ring John up and say (I quote) âDo you fancy a cup of tea?â
They were laying down the tracks and doing the melody lines of the song âAnd I Love Herâ. It was a very simple song and quite repetitive. George Martin and I looked at each other and the same thought sparked off in both of our minds. It was proving to be, although plain and a warm and sympathetic song, just too repetitive, with the same phrase of repeating. George Martin told the boys, âBoth Dick and I feel that the song is just lacking the middle. Itâs too repetitive, and it needs something to break it up.â I think it was John who shouted, âOK, letâs have a tea breakâ, and John and Paul went to the piano and, while Mal Evans was getting tea and some sandwiches, the boys worked at the piano. Within half an hour they wrote, there before our very eyes, a very constructive middle to a very commercial song. Although we know it isnât long, itâs only a four bar middle, nevertheless it was just the right ingredients to break up the over repetitive effect of the original melody.
Dick James on the recording of "And I Love Her"
She gives me everything
And tenderly
The kiss my lover brings
She brings to me
And I love her
A love like ours
Could never die
As long as I
Have you near me
Bright are the stars that shine
Dark is the sky
I know this love of mine
Will never die
And I love her
The section of lyrics that John and Paul went off to go write together stands out because it changes the object of the singer's love from "her" to "you." Now the singer seems to love both an absent woman and the person he is singing to about her.
âShe loves you and he loves him and they love each otherâ. You know when you've got something to say but you don't want it to look like you really wanted to say it specifically so you throw it in between two other things? No? Just me and John?
I'm obsessed with John just heaping praise on Paul in this interview. Every song the interviewer brings up it's âbestâ âmy favoriteâ âall Paulâ âgood piece of workâ âsomewhere I have the tape of him doing itâ âdamn goodâ âone of his masterpiecesâ See also: Paulâs a good lyricist, he just doesn't try because he's insecure. And: one of the most innovative bass players of all time.
John mixing up In My Life and If I Fell âalthough I don't know why I'm confusing them, they're nothing alike but they have the sameââ The same what? Same target? Same muse? Hmm? âIt's really aboutâit's not about Cyn.â He's barely hanging on to not saying it here, like, by a gossamer thread.Â
John confessing that the consistent character flaw of Paul's which hurt him ((hurt. Not annoyed. Not angered. Hurt.)) was insensitivity. Not bossiness or lameness or sneakiness. Insensitivity. What John couldn't handle in the end about Paul was that he wasn't aware enough of John's tender feelings.Â
He's also so cruel in this interview. And what you've got to pay attention to is the theme connecting the songs he's cruel about: Let It Be (let John go) and The Long and Winding Road (the long and pointless fight).Â
The Japanese Monk comparison doesn't quite land for me because it implies that John purposely broke up the Beatles because he knew they were at a peak and he wanted them to stay gold. And I think that's what John would like the story to be. It makes him feel better inside. It makes him look incredibly wise and courageous. But it's clear â John even stated it himself more than once on record â that the breakup was not purposeful or calculated. It was a terrible accident that nobody wanted, least of all John.Â
More quotes to live by when examining John's post breakup âow!â
I find it fascinating that John thought of Paul's and Dylan's lyrics as very similar and says so twice in this documentary. But nobody else ever draws that comparison. In mainstream thought, Bob Dylan is one of the greatest lyricists of all time if not the greatest (it's me. I'm mainstream. Subterranean Homesick Blues my absolute beloved.) and Paul is the worst lyricist to ever get successful. And you know what? I think Paul gets punished for being physically pretty and financially savvy, and I think in the exact same way his music gets punished for being melodically pretty and commercially successful.Â
John about Paul's inscrutable messages in his songs: if one knows the person, one knows what's coming down. John in I Know (I Know): and I know. What's coming down.Â
I will always love how he says in the same breath . . . âI've compared it to a marriage a million times" and "Paul and I were together.âÂ
You really do gotta be like âJohns say the darndest things sometimes.â I mean that's what Paul did, right? Because genuinely most of the time he's a fucking sweetheart. After he's sat there defending Paul's insane mourning bus movie, the interviewer asks him to compare himself and Paul. And after saying there's never been a question about commerciality, he says this.Â
Nobody think about Paul writing âOne of These Daysâ just before John's death then âThis Oneâ a decade later. Don't do it. I do recommend.Â
Free as a Bird is such a beautiful song. It's a gorgeous melody, and it's got such complex emotions. He's still mourning something that was lost, but he's hopeful. He's on his way home.Â
You all know that long distance interview Paul did right before John died where they bring up some of the awful things John said recently about him (ignoring the millions of loving and admiring things). When Paul's voice cracks and he looks up at the ceiling and struggles for a minute and the lights go out, I have a theory that it's one of their kids being protective. She was messing with the lights before to be silly and then when the bad question comes she turns them off again as a sort of protective sabotage.Â
What If though? What If that's true?Â
Quote of all time!!! âThe person I actually picked as my partner, who I recognized has talent and who I could get on with, was Paul.â He doesn't say âas my sidekickâ or ârunning mateâ or âcaptainâs mateâ or âsecond stringâ or any of those things that traditional Beatles fans tend to push on them. Partner.Â
Serious question, because I swing all over the place as to what I think actually happened between John and Paul physically and emotionally. If we agree that Real Love is about Paul (a baby and another on the way lalalalalala farm . . . Just call him on the phone) Then what about this lyric? âWas I just dreaming (a word of theirs and something they thought they shared) or was it only Yesterday (Paul's biggest song) I used to hold you in my arms? Is that to be taken literally? John used to hold Paul in his arms? i.e. frequent hugging and cuddling?
The heart monitor cuts so harshly into John singing âGrow Old With Me.â As we see beautiful images of John and all the people he's leaving behind. I'm dry heaving. This documentary is so much more painful this time around than the first.Â
Anyway I'm glad we got coverage of all the âfor Paulâ songs. Which. Btw fuck you Sean and Peter. You proved absolutely nothing.
Having Paul talking about following his artistic muse and deciding not to care what other people think paired with the insanity of McCartney 2 is fantastic.Â
I sincerely hope those 20K words that Paul wrote for his posterity about his time in jail are published some day.Â
He looks so pretty in this interview!
John and Sean are so cute!Â
âNobody Knowsâ is about secretly hooking up with John, obviously. But âthat includes you, honey!â Is that at Linda?? Don't do that to your mother, Paul.Â
The only scenario in which IÂ support a hypothetical JP sexual/romantic relationship in the 70s is that hypothetically no wives were harmed in the making of this hypothetical.Â
Not the cut from âComing Upâ to âProbably the thing that John and I will do . . .â to John's self interview about bisexuality and Paul and life begins at forty back to Coming Up interspersed with footage of happy JP to John getting out a guitar to record a demo!Â
And the demo is (Just Like) Starting Over. Just bury me already.Â
Another lyrical reference I didn't catch in the demo version: âit's easy.â Sung very similarly to how he sang it in All You Need is Love.Â
John comparing them to brothers (Everly) and a marriage (Goffin and King) in the same sentence. And he's right, too.
I love the interviewer being so skeptical of John and how dismissive he is of Paul in this interview and how he can't get his story straight on when the last time he'd seen Paul was. More women should've interviewed him.
How I imagine it went. Interviewer: hi John are you ready to -- John: did you know I never think about Paul anymore unless somebody brings him up? Interviewer: but I didn't â John: yeah he used to show up at my door with a guitar and I told him to go away. Interviewer: ooookaaay?Â
Cutie! I love John so much.
âIf I was dead, they wouldn't be angry with me. If I'd conveniently died in the mid seventies after Rock and Roll album or Walls and Bridges (((everybody loves you when you're six feet in the ground))), they'd all be writing this worshipful stuff about what a great guy.â It hurts to hear and it hurts that he was exactly right.Â
I don't care what John and Yoko say, manifesting is just another capitalist lie to keep the proletariat complacent.Â
âThe only one who can control me is me and that's just barely possible.â It's one of those John quotes that's so silly and cute and also entirely relatable. He really had a way of capturing the human condition.Â
âNobody ever said anything about Paul having a spell over me when I was with him for a long time! Or me having a spell over Paul! They didn't think that was abnormal, two guys together.â Yeah, John, they definitely did and they made fun of it and tried to poke holes in it, or have you forgotten?
âOr four guys together.â Yeah. George and Ringo were in the Beatles too.
âIn those days? Why didn't anybody ever say âHow come those guys don't split up?â You're joking, right John?Â
The video/audio pairing here though! You mean âwhat's going on under the table?â
Love John getting pissed that nobody asked him, âWhat is that Paul and John business?â RIP John, you would've loved Beatles Tumblr.
The following is an excerpt from the 1970 sworn affidavit of Paul McCartney, made in support of his Application to dissolve the Beatles. This passage pertains to the conflict that surrounded the release date of Paulâs first solo album. Some interesting insights here.
"It was only me that sat in those hotel rooms, in his house in the attic; it wasn't Yoko, it wasn't Sean, it wasn't Julian, it wasn't George, it wasn't Mimi, it wasn't Ringo, it wasn't Miles. It was me that sat in those rooms, seeing him in all his moods and all his little things, seeing him not being able to write a song, and having me help, seeing me not able to write a song and him help me." -Paul, Many Years From Now (1997)
This is embarrassing but I'm actually so obsessed with the first five minutes of this episode that I've got it bookmarked in my YouTube account. It's just so perfect!
âSay you don't looooove him, my salamander. Then why did you neeeeeeed him? Ono don't answer.â He genuinely thinks need and love are the same and I really hope he's got therapy for that messed up mindset by now.
Officially honored as the most successful musical composer and recording artist of all time. That damn well better be mentioned in his movie. And people still don't take him seriously. But also. John definitely smashed his TV.
I'm screaming. I love Linda the promoter so fucking much!! Interviewer: I knew a lot of your records had went gold and platinum andâ Linda: a lot of them? All of them! Ugh I wish she was still with him now.
And then THIS! âWhat really happened between you and John?â As the first notes to âI Will Surviveâ play. It's too good. Everyone has to go watch that bit right now.
Linda coming in for the kill again with her fake posh accent: critics? Critics? Oooooh! ⊠They're always three years behind.
Look at him (to the tune Bitch by Meredeth Brooks) he's a whore, he's a father, he's a star, he's a success, he's a lover he's smug, he's laughing, he's having fun, he's working hard. He's everything.
Interviewing Wings concert goers and this one girl goes, "oh I just got off on all of it" and another one goes âIt was great, i came twice!â Literally it should've been me!!!!
The McCartneys are seriously such a big family. And it's been Paul's responsibility since was about 21, really, to make sure they're all okay financially. That Francie story of him crumbling in the street in Liverpool haunts me.
"Why shouldn't they go to the same school as everyone else goes to?" State schools should be the only legal schools btw.
I love what the creator does to contextualize their songs by pairing them with other contemporary footage. It makes it much easier for me to understand why something like âarrow through meâ (which I love but none of the people I've shown it to do) would've been so popular.
Oh here we go again. Just show us the marriage certificate already.
Cackling at the contrast between âOld Siam Sirâ which is one of my all time fav rockers and footage of the Stones being cringe AF and Dylan being so beyond done he's basically dead.
Oh. Okay. And then they slap us in the face with John's poor baby late 70s demo voice crooning, âDon't want your looooove. Anymore.â âI die each time I hear your name.â I'm fine. It's fine. I'm just vomiting my guts out because I'm sick. That's why.
The pairing of âMr H Atomâ with Paul's would've-been drag show us genius, but what is that clip of some sort of trial stuck in there? If anyone knows, please inform me. (16:15)
John sounds so sad talking about the âendless search for . . . Scotland . . . Within an hour of New York.â I can't help thinking of the Mull of Kintyre. But John was also the one who turned Paul on to Scotland in the first place, âalways waxing poetic about the heather and the hillsâ.
Sean is so adorable. Reminds me of my little guy a bit actually.
Why do I always want to tell Paul to be nice to John? John is worse to him. Idk maybe because John's pain is more visible.
(JUST LIKE) STARTING OVER WAS DEFINITELY FOR PAUL â a compilation
A meaningful wordplay
As you know, John attached great importance to the lyrics of his songs. He liked to smuggle in word games and hidden meanings. Let's look at a fragment of the lyrics of "(Just Like) Starting Over".
It's time to spread our wings and fly
Wings was Paul's band in the 1970s.
Don't let another day go by
"Another Day" is a song by Paul and Linda that was released as the A-side of a non-album single in February 1971. It was Paul's debut single, following the Beatles break-up in 1970. (Sidenote: giving credits to both himself and Linda, Paul broke up the Lennon-McCartney partnership, angering Allen Klein).
my love
"My Love" is a 1973 song by Wings. The single was viewed as Wings' first significant success.
2. The demos
In the first demo, John uses the word "walrus":
Everyday we used to make it love so why canât we be making love â itâs easy. The time has come, the walrus said, for you and me to stay in bed again, itâll be just like starting over
The walrus is a famous motif from Beatles songs. In the song "I Am The Walrus" (1967) John declares that he is the titular walrus, a year later in "Glass Onion" he stated: âAnd hereâs another clue to you all â the walrus was Paulâ. In "God" (1970) John sings: "I was the walrus." In an interview from 1969 or 1970, George jokes: âAnd if you are listening, I am the walrus tooâ.
Regardless of which Beatles was the walrus, John is for sure giving us an interesting clue here.
As for âin bedâ:
Here's another fascinating demo...
This requires no comment. It's just that John suddenly referred to "Why Don't We Do it In the Road", a song by Paul from the Beatles era
3. John explaining who the song is for
âIâm not aiming, I am not aiming at 16 year olds. If they can dig it, please dig it. But when I was singing and writing this and working with her, I was visualizing all the people of my age group from the 60s. Being in their 30s and 40s now, just like me, and having wives and children and having gone through everything together, I am singing to them! I hope the young kids like it as well, but Iâm really talking to the people that grew up with me and saying: âHere I am now, how are you? Howâs your relationship going? Did you get through it all? Wasnât the 70s a drag? You know, here we are, letâs try and make the 80s good, you know, because itâs still up to us to make what we can of it. Itâs not out of our controlâ. I still believe in love, peace. I still believe in positive thinking when I can do it. Iâm not always positive but when I am, I try and project itâ.
Letâs point out that the song which convinced John to come out of retirement was âComing upâ by Paul.
You want a love to last forever
One that will never fade away
I want to help you with your problem
Stick around, I say
(âŠ)
You want some peace and understanding
So everybody can be free
I know that we can get together
We can make it, stick with me
BONUS (this is not evidence or premise, but maybe Paul understood that the song was addressed to him): Paul's reaction to the song after John's death.
ââŠTime passed. Paul locked the door of his home studio and played (Just Like) Starting Over, the first single from Double Fantasy. Top volume. For daysâ.