Sixty years ago today, Paul McCartney got bopped on the head
John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison in EMI studio 2 during recording sessions for A Hard Day’s Night, 27th February 1964 - part one (part two)
the making of liverpool oratorio documentary is literally just paul in an alternate universe where he’s a divorced gay middle-aged english teacher turned classical composer and music director
It’s been years, and I’m still trying to figure out how it went from this:
(September 20, 1969 Meeting)
Then we were discussing something in the office with Paul and Paul was saying to do something, and I kept saying, ‘No, no, no’ to everything he said. So it came to a point that I had to say something. So I said, ‘The group’s over, I’m leaving.’ Allen was there, and he was saying, ‘Don’t tell.’ He didn’t want me to tell Paul even. But I couldn’t help it, I couldn’t stop it, it came out.
— John Lennon, Lennon Remembers, 1970
I’d said: ‘I think we should go back to little gigs – I really think we’re a great little band. We should find our basic roots, and then who knows what will happen? We may want to fold after that, or we may really think we’ve still got it.’ John looked at me in the eye and said: ‘Well, I think you’re daft. I wasn’t going to tell you till we signed the Capitol deal’ – Klein was trying to get us to sign a new deal with the record company – ‘but I’m leaving the group!’ We paled visibly and our jaws slackened a bit.
— Paul McCartney, The Beatles Anthology, 2000
So everyone went, “Gulp!” The weight was dropped, our jaws dropped along with it, everyone blanched except John, who coloured a little and said, “It’s rather exciting. It’s like I remember telling Cynthia I wanted a divorce.”
— Paul McCartney, From “Many Years From Now” by Barry Miles, 1997
To this:
Why do you think he [Paul] has lost interest in Apple?
That’s what I want to ask him! We had a heavy scene last year as far as business was concerned and Paul got a bit fed-up with all the effort of business. I think that’s all it is. I hope so.
— John Lennon interviewed by Roy Shipston for Disc and Music Echo (February 28, 1970)
INT: I asked Lee Eastman for his view of the split, and what it was that prompted Paul to file suit to dissolve the Beatles' partnership, and he said it was because John asked for a divorce.
JOHN: Because I asked for a divorce? That's a childish reason for going into court, isn't it?
— John Lennon interviewed by Peter McCabe and Robert Schonfeld at the St. Regis Hotel, September 5, 1971
I always got on particularly well with Joe, I liked him a lot. I think he was a very clever man and found him a very charming bloke with a sense of humour. So it never got heavy with Joe. He always had his young personal-assistant guy with him, very charming. It was unusual for us, who'd not seen the head of a big company like that that at close hand; with a private life, just to the side of it all. You were seeing power in high places.
Paul talking about Sir Joseph Lockwood in Many Years From Now (emphasis mine)
The "young personal-assistant guy" (William Cavendish) has written a book. All the official materials refer to him as a "good friend" of Sir Joe, but it seems very clear that they were life partners. (As Paul hinted).
Anyway I thought that was interesting context for Joe's comments about the cover of Two Virgins:
Well, then, why not show Paul in the nude? He’s so much prettier!
“Lives on a farm, got plenty of charm, beep, beep.
He's got no cows but he's sure got a whole lotta sheep.
And brand new wife and a family,
And when he comes to town,
I wonder if he'll play with me.”
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“As a person I can’t help but love ‘im [Paul], I really can’t. He’s very important to me.”
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“At Ringo’s wedding, I happened to go to the toilet, and I met Ringo there, at the same time, just the two of us. He said there were two times in his life in which I had done him in. He said that he’d done himself in three times. I happened to be spitting something out, and by chance the spit fell on his jacket. I said there you go, now I’ve done you three times. We’re equal. I laughed it off. It was all affectionate. It wasn’t a row. It wasn’t slagging off. He just suddenly said it, and we moved on. But NOW, I keep thinking all the time, what are the two times that Ringo thinks I put him down…”
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“Memories of an Apple Girl” by Francie Schwartz, Rolling Stone Magazine (November 1969) // Let It Be (1969) // Get Back (2021) // Paul McCartney postcard to Ringo Starr, the day after the Beatles’ rooftop concert (January 31, 1969) // Paul McCartney in Anthology // Affidavit from Ringo Starr read out in court during the 1971 hearings to end Beatles partnership // Early 1970 by Ringo Starr (1970) // Ringo interview from 1971 // Revised edition of The Beatles: The Authorized Biography by Hunter Davies (1982) // Abbey Road Deluxe box set book (2019)