#I am the eggpod

[underthecitysky]

I am the EggPod guest Sam Delaney talking about a Get Back screening Q&A with Glynn Johns. Glynn is talking about going to dinner at John & May Pang’s apartment in NYC with Mick Jagger in the 70s and he confronts John about how he trashed his work on Let it Be. John’s response is interesting.

#I’d love to know how john explained it to Paul #speak to Paul about that #Glynn johns #Chris Shaw #Sam Delaney #get back #Paul McCartney #john Lennon #I am the EggPod

[i-am-the-oyster]

Brian Epstein turned down Dick Rowe?!?

I'm listening to episode 112 of I Am The Eggpod (the 5th anniversary) and Chris Shaw mentions (around 1h5m) learning something from Mark Lewisohn's Evolver:62 show. Namely:

"Dick Rowe, you know he didn't turn down the Beatles. Brian Epstein turned down Dick Rowe."

Has anyone seen the show? Any idea what he's talking about? Is this something new Mark has discovered since writing Tune In?

#mark lewisohn #evolver:62 #dick rowe #brian epstein #chris shaw #i am the eggpod

[anotherkindofmindpod]

Fine Tuning further listening

Mark Lewisohn Podcast and Interview Recs

Audio for most of these interviews can be found on Mark Lewisohn, a Beatles Historian, a beautifully maintained fan-made YouTube channel that has archived almost all of the interviews on this list. 

Interviews are linked directly to Apple podcasts, when possible. (YouTube links also included when applicable.)

Interview with Jean Louis-Polard, 2014 Topics of note: Neutrality and lack of bias

Fabcast podcast, 2017 013 MARK LEWISOHN (YouTube) Topics of note: The 80s and Paul McCartney’s solo career

Humans in Love podcast, 2018 #1 (Part One) Beatles Authority Mark Lewisohn Topics: Paul’s reaction to John’s murder

Fab4Cast podcast, 2019  Talking to Mark Lewisohn: #1 Writing The Beatles' History and #2 Spring 1969 (YouTube links: #1, #2) Topics: Heroin; Allen Klein; the Liberty Bell; John and Yoko’s wedding; Paul and Linda’s wedding

Nothing Is Real podcast, 2019 The Mark Lewisohn Interview #14 Part One and #15 Part Two  Topics of note: Tensions with Apple

Interview with Giljs Groenteman, 2019 Topics: Unbridled enthusiasm for John

I Am the EggPod podcast, 2019 The Star-Club tapes (YouTube) Topics: John’s leadership; intention to make all his research accessible after the books are published

From Me To You podcast, 2020 Mark Lewisohn In Conversation w/ Richard Courtney (YouTube link) Topics: Philip Norman; today’s “anti-John stuff” 

Let It Roll podcast, 2020 Mark Lewisohn in Conversation w/Nate Wilcox (YouTube) Topics: The “no greater buddy” incident; Lewisohn defending Paul

Let It Be Beatles podcast, 2020 Mark Lewisohn - The Complete 2020 Let It Be Beatles Interview Podcast (YouTube) Topics: The benzedrine incident; John’s threesome with Royston Ellis; the 444 meeting and Geoff Emerick.

Fans on the Run podcast, 2022 Ep 73. Mark Lewisohn  Topics: Working for Paul; tensions with Apple

#fine tuning #mark lewisohn #akom #another kind of mind #podcasts

[mythserene]

John in the Star Club Tapes: No Mr. Lewisohn, he is not charming

It is so stressful to listen to the December 28th Star Club tapes. And for anyone who has endured a relationship with an out-of-control person, who has tried to minimize the damage in public, terrified in every moment, it is borderline traumatic. You’re not terrified of anything in particular, but you still feel terrified. As moments stretch out, beat by beat, every hair on your body feels electrified. Your senses are on fire. Your blood seems hot and thick. You can hear and feel your pulse BOING-BOING-BOINGing in your head, and you are just trying to get through another second. You are blind to everything else and any future. All there is is now and you must, somehow, get through this because there is no escape. 

I can remember the understanding that dawned on me when I first heard Paul trying so hard to keep it together. Heard Ringo trying to distract with little drum fills, and for the first time truly understood how much George’s guitar is his voice.

But that is not at all what Mark Lewisohn got from these tapes. (By the way, I’ve done a few threads on this night as it breaks down, and I don’t have it in me to parse through and post all that audio again now.)

--

LEWISOHN: I mean, John— we need to talk about John Lennon on this recording. These recordings. Because he’s uh— he’s- he’s- he’s belligerent. Um, he’s under the influence of— I’m sure he’s under the influence of Prellies. Probably drink, as well. Um, he’s beguiling, he’s rude—

CS: —Yeah.

LEWISOHN: —He’s still charming. He’s— I mean he’s not horrible. He’s just —yeah— he’s just edgy!

--

On December 31st John’s “Battina” might indeed be beguiling, but on the 28th nothing is fucking “edgy” and it’s certainly not “charming.” It’s a dysfunctional family at Cracker Barrel desperately trying to get dad to stop screaming at the waitress.

But what is clear from the first moment to the last is that Paul is the conductor. At first John is just shambolic and a little wild, and Paul seems fairly relaxed, but it changes. All the sounds of everyone change as John unravels. There are times when I can just see Ringo, George and Paul looking at each other, and although Paul is the one who is landing the plane, it feels so much like a team effort.

(John, playing out the cycle that would become so familiar, has shaped up and is on his best behavior on the 31st and the band sounds great.)

I think we need to realize that this was just the dynamic. This is by far not John at his worst. By all accounts this was one of John’s best behaved Hamburg trips. It was a short trip, they had real bedrooms and a real manager, and they had a future they didn’t want to screw up. All those “funny” stories about John wearing a toilet on his head and laying on the stage drunk just smudge out the three other people in the picture. How much fun was it for them? 

Derek Taylor says that one of the things that helped bring George back after he walked out of the “Get Back” sessions was Taylor going to him and saying, “Come back, don’t make Paul shoulder the burden of John all alone.” The tape from December 28th makes that so explicit. 

There is the whole separate issue of Lewisohn seeming to be a terrible listener. He listened to the NAGRAS like a tribute and has gotten so many things wrong about them in interviews that I hope someone else (wink, wink AKOM) will handle the mess, because I do not have a podcast and this ain’t the best format for lots of audio. But hearing Lewisohn gush about John being “edgy” in these recordings in that weird, fawning voice—and completely fail to see and hear what the band was going through—troubles me in a much deeper way than almost anything else regarding the man. How can anyone be that blind?

#the beatles #the beatles hamburg #Mark Lewisohn #AKOM #Fine Tuning #John Lennon #paul mccartney

[no-reply95]

“There was a guy crying in the front row, during the film [Get Back], and in the Q&A afterwards he put his hand up and actually said “I’m very emotionally, during that I cried. I’ve watched it three times and I’ve cried every time…” and I thought bloody hell it’s only been out a month I can’t believe he’s watched it three times right? I’m struggling to even get through it once! And he said “It’s very emotional, you know, it just brings backs so many memories of my own youth”. Glyn Johns was fascinated by this, he goes “I’ve got no idea why people feel so emotional about it, I don’t feel that at all myself, I feel embarrassed watching it if anything”. At the end I thought I’ve got to see who this geezer is who’s cried…so I sort of scurry up, because I’d only seen this bloke from the back, and when I get up right close and have a good look at him, it was Brian Cox!”

Sam Delaney, I Am The EggPod - 109 (Choba B CCCP) 42:13

#the beatles #get back #brian cox #succession #the beatles/succession crossover we didn’t know we needed #i am the egg pod

[delightfullyatomicfest]

This is so funny - Sam went to a viewing of Get Back where Glyn Johns did a Q&A.

Glyn said that when John was with May Pang, Glyn tagged along with Mick Jagger to see them in New York.

As they were leaving John’s house, Glyn told John that he was pissed of with him because John had said that in the press that Glyn was to blame for Get Back/Let It Be being so crap.

John’s response was that Glyn should talk to Paul about that (the implication being that Paul was over the early 70s stuff so everyone else should be too).

I love the idea of that being John’s response to everyone because A) it’s the most amazing cop out in the world and B) the idea, if anyone had actually taken him seriously, of this somehow becoming Paul’s problem with a steady stream of people getting in touch with him and Paul having to explain John’s pov.

#John #Paul #the long weekend #Glyn Johns #god I love this podcast

[inspiteallthedanger]

What are the the things that make people think john and Paul were going to work together again in 1980 or had been together much closer to johns death?

Re: this ask… The points that clinched it for me was the interview recirculated a few years ago from Jack Douglas, the producer of Double Fantasy who said Paul and John “were looking to get hooked up” (writing), although when Paul called the studio to speak to John, Yoko would not put the call through.

https://www.heydullblog.com/double-fantasy/jack-douglas-in-beatlefan-1999/

Although it seems that this hadn’t deterred them because on the recent I Am The Eggpod podcast with Julia Baird, Chris Shaw has the following conversation with her..(regarding John’s plans in 1981)…

“I’ve heard some interviews with Jack Douglas and Andy Peebles that say that there were plans to record with Paul as well”

(Julia) “and i met Andy Peebles a few years before he died and we had a long talk about it, yeah”

Side note: Julia appears somewhat tight lipped , IMO? She is keen to corroborate what Chris asks her, but seems like she doesn’t want to say any more on the matter. The code of silence strikes again! What is with this story, anyway?!

Hello lovely and thanks for this. Yeah, Jack’s interesting, isn’t he? His story seems to fluctuate a bit. Like, here, he’s suggesting that it’s really just about Ringo’s album. Which seems the safest assumption.

But, whatever, two things seem pretty set to me: Paul and John were working towards a reunion of some sort and for whatever reason that’s not meant to be talked about.

I hate saying shit like that, because it sounds like I’m suggesting there’s some sort of conspiracy. And I’m not, but it’s just a slightly weird thing that we’re all meant not to know. Who even knows why.

[prattleon]

Anyone rewatching Get Back needs to do so with the day-by-day episodes of I am the Eggpod, superb

#get back #beatles #the beatles #Spotify

[iamthepodman]

I Am The Podman: A Beatles Podcast Review

Episode 1 : Please Pod Me

In this premiere episode the Podman shares his thoughts on Now and Then, Reviews I Am The Eggpod and Blotto Beatles and Talks about The Beatles 1962-1966 and The Beatles 1967-1970.

A Splendid Time is Guaranteed For All*

 *Okay, so maybe not guaranteed per se, but hey, what do you want for nothing...wicker?

[talking-perfectly-loud]

The Ian Leslie episode of I Am the Egg Pod podcast is such a fantastic illustration of perhaps the greatest perk of being a McCartney fan: no two of us would pick the same top 10 of his songs. (Dude picks 12 but the point stands.)

Also this quote: “He’s reinventing how to be old. ...He had no desire to appear dignified.”

Also the love for “No More Lonely Nights”!!!!!!!! Especially Paul’s PHENOMENAL vocal! Fuck off you goddamn 42 year old who hasn’t toured in 3 actual years!! The octave leap! Which they correctly point out he makes sound fucken effortless but lo, tiseth not. I had no idea it was a hit in the UK (made possible because it was released before Broadstreet).

Also the sweet dear hostman getting choked up talking about linda :,,,,,3

#I am the egg pod #should it be one word? eggpod? idk #Paul McCartney #what is he

[i-am-the-oyster]

Ding Dong, Ding Dong 1974

Let 'Em In 1976

#h/t to chris shaw at #i am the eggpod #you were right and ms jones should not have doubted you #ep 122 #Youtube

[anotherkindofmindpod]

Hear AKOM's Phoebe and many others react to Now and Then on I am the Eggpod

#Now and Then #HELP US #I am the loser who cried #don't judge me #this song is a LOT

[mythserene]

Mark Lewisohn really wants to overturn narratives and “Get Back” accidentally gave us incredible insight into how little it takes to make him smoothly and confidently wrong

Great AKOM. Maybe too good because it left basically nothing to add on the primary topic. This show followed my own notes more than any so far—but I had not caught the John quote being about the Maharishi—chef's kiss. 👩‍🍳💋

However... it does give me a chance to riff off something they touched on that I've also been thinking about for awhile: Mark Lewisohn's big desire to overturn narratives, and how wrong he gets it when he runs into a fact check we can all see with our own eyes.

Pre-“Get Back” Mark Lewisohn previewed some of the narratives he was itching to overturn, and off the top explained that no one had really told the Get Back sessions correctly. By trying to ingest all that Nagra audio on a sort of anniversary-tribute calendar schedule—(which is insane, impossible, and hubristic beyond words)—he was prepared to make news on a few fronts. (All clips of him are from 2019.)

First of all, no one has told the "Get Back" sessions story right. Yet.

But after binging the Nagras once the expert is ready to “write it differently”

Redeeming Magic Alex

In this tweet is a hidden wink-wink-hint at the new Magic Alex storyline Lewisohn was queuing up. Although if he hadn't tipped us off in the podcast the “not so bad then” would be meaningless. As it is, we have the key.

Magic Alex has been slandered, his studio was fine, and the Nagras — especially George's good vibes — prove it.

Honestly, just imagine what we would be reading from him if “Get Back” didn't exist. This is the flimsy nonsense he builds entire storylines around. Because he prioritizes flipping narratives second only to deifying John. And like a reporter with a thesis he interviews and searches out sources to prop up that thesis. But unlike a reporter he has no checks. No imperative to give competing evidence. Answers to no one. Is wholly opaque about sources. And most certainly doesn't concern himself with adhering to even the most basic UK and US ethical guidelines for historians.

And so this is possibly the best peek we will ever get into how his process works and just how incredibly flimsy it is.

Paul didn't want to go up on the roof—he was the one who had to be persuaded—because it wasn't enough of a climax

Apparently even Anthology was trying to pull the wool over our eyes about Paul and the rooftop concert, but Lewisohn was ready to rewrite history and tell the truth about Paul not wanting to go up on the roof.

The last clip isn't of Mark Lewisohn, but references him as an expert. The final arbiter of fact. And it fits. Because at this point if Mark Lewisohn says it, no matter how ridiculous it is, it becomes cannon. And it pains me to see anyone—especially Beatles' fans—parroting nonsense and looking foolish.

Mark Lewisohn, heroin expert

It is so clear that Mark Lewisohn is going to handle John and Yoko's heroin issue by feigned expertise blended with apologia and creepy idolatry. (See Prellies in Tune In.) How he thinks he's expert enough to opine on the effects of heroin is beyond me, but that's never stopped him before. I really don't think he ever even questions himself or his superior knowledge of anything, despite zero experience or study. His expertise at extricating John from all hard truths is enough, and will make us all stupider. (Also playing now because I am inching up to pointing out something on those Nagras.)

Repeating Mark Lewisohn: the "Two Junkies" interview (where John literally had to stop to throw up) was from a heroin hangover because John and Yoko weren't messed up enough to actually be doing heroin on set

*I posted this last night and Tumblr disappeared 90% of the post then wouldn't let me post more audio because it counted the disappeared audio against me. Therefore I forced myself to repost it this morning before listening to the bonus (Womak/Mal Evans) AKOM I've been so looking forward to and may now go revel in my reward without guilt. 😌

#the beatles #beatles #mark lewisohn #lewisohn #tune in #akom #fine tuning #narrative flipping #get back #nagras #john lennon #leader lennon #heroin #historiography #ethics #transparency #Magic Alex #rooftop concert #Spotify

[onesweetdreampodcast]

Tough With A Mysterious Magic

A quick recommendation. Youth was on I Am The Eggpod this week, discussing Electric Arguments — the album he did with Paul. A few comments that caught my attention LINDA A POWERFUL INFLUENCE “I realize now just how powerful an influence she was with Paul, in getting him over the Beatles, getting him back on his feet. Always there, always got his back, always giving him encouragement to do what he wanted to do. She had an amazing way around him.

I think she picked that up from being a journalist and working with a lot of bands before Paul, but also her father Lee, had dealings with a lot of the big New York artists like De Kooning. She was hanging out with them, they were hanging out with them and she had an easy report around genius. She wasn't easy though, she was tough. When I first I worked with Paul we did a bit of recording then he went away and said I'll be back in a couple of hours. And he came back and listened to what I've done and he said, Oh, I love it, I think it's great but I'm going to have to run it past Linda because if Linda doesn't like it, it’s not going to happen. And he kind of made her out to be this sergeant major figure, and then of course she came in and  immediately started dancing and was so cool and not like that at all. He was just winding me up.” BARDIC MYSTERIOUS MAGIC He always liked us to work on an Equinox or Solstice or one of the Celtic festivals. And that was interesting,  I've got a photograph my kitchen wall of the Standing Stones from his land on Mull, and of course his Symphony Standing Stone is inspired by that. And he has this sort of deep Bardic Mysterious Magic about him but this is counterpointed by a very fierce Liverpool Catholic rationale... it was an odd dynamic because sometimes he would say yeah, let's record on Beltane and I would think that's a bit pagan and he would say it will be fine...And then at other times I would talked about astrology and he would say I don't like to talk about astrology, I'm too Catholic....he had so many different personalities in there actually, as most of us do...but that always made the sessions quite magical and special as well. PAUL WAS NOT THE NICE ONE IN THE BEATLES One of the many things people misguidedly think about Paul is, you know, he was a nice one in the Beatles (laughs)... but Paul is as tough as they come —and Paul is actually the working class one and John was in middle class one. And Paul could rock as hard as Lennon or anyone.”

#Fascinating insights #Consistent themes among people who have worked with #Love #Has this deep Bardic Mysterious Magic #Also #Is tough as they come #And #Not the nice one #yikes

[delightfullyatomicfest]

Alright so I Am The Eggpod is a delight and the day by day Get Back analysis is really scratching an itch for me even if a couple of guests have takes which I find confusing (day 2). But I've liked almost all of them which is so unusual for this type of thing.

Also a personal anecdote from someone whose cousin went to school with Paul! And the guest hates Paul so I was expecting it to be something awful, but it was that Paul was constantly playing his guitar in the common room and the cousin yelled at Paul to shut up and Paul said ok.

#catching up on media a year later than the rest of the world #podcast

[monkberries]

@ljblueteak man that sounds like quite a bit of work lol. I might eventually, but briefly, most of the podcasts I’ve listened to have discussed what you’ve said here, how the film manages to capture all perspectives, and that Jackson makes it easy to see things from both George’s and Paul’s perspectives. Today’s Eggpod guest was chatting about this and said something like, you can see so easily that all of them are right at different times! And even when they’re wrong, you can understand why they think that way and empathize with that. (I recommend the episode even though I haven’t finished it because she seems to have a lot of empathy for everyone and also I love her accent.)

Like for a minor example, there’s that bit in the rooftop discussion on the 29th where Paul tries to put off the rooftop gig even longer and George just looks at the camera like Jim from the office, like he’s annoyed/amused/fondly exasperated/already knew Paul would try to do this and is saying to the audience, “See? This is what I deal with.” Like this whole thing was Paul’s idea in the first place, and now he’s waffling on the show that they seem to have already decided on? I so relate to George in that moment, because I’m the type of person who can’t stand indecisiveness, especially after a decision has already been made. But I also fully understand why Paul is having a Moment here; he believes they’re not ready, it’s not at all what he originally envisioned, they’ll only be able to perform less than half the songs they set out to achieve. I am also the sort of person who get anxious when the deadline is more porous and less concrete like it was here, so I totally see where Paul is coming from. I think part of Paul’s Major Issue with this project was that he didn’t have a wall like Brian to stand up against. He said they were always best with their backs against the wall, but now they were the ones setting their own deadlines so the wall is fundamentally kind of imaginary, you know? And if you set your own deadline, and you’re a Beatle and everyone says yes to you because of that, it’s almost too easy to just… Push the deadline back, pretend it isn’t there, erect the scaffolding for a new deadline which you can decide about later. Because you can, because you feel you haven’t met the goal you set out to achieve, and because avoiding the problem by returning to tinkering with songs (which you are far more comfortable with now than with live performing) relieves your anxiety momentarily about maybe producing a less-than-cohesive-and-spectacular product.

It’s all there in the film, you’re right, and that’s what I love about it. It’s so easy to shift perspectives with these little tiny intimate moments. It’s like those little glasses in National Treasure with the different colored lenses. You see it one way through one lens, then you flip the blue lens over your eye and WHOA there’s the code for a new perspective right there in front of you.

#ljblueteak #I might be misremembering the national treasure reference but you get the idea lmao #get back #paulandgeorge