Hunter Davies Bio - Chapter 8: From Quarrymen To Moondogs

Hunter Davies bio - Chapter 8: from Quarrymen to Moondogs

Jim Mac, tactful as ever:

"'I never thought much of the music Paul was interested in,' says Jim. 'That Bill Haley, I never liked him. There was no tune to it at all.

"'But one day I came home at 5.30 and heard them in the house playing. I realized then that they were getting good, not just bashing about. They were making some nice chords.'"

He tries to help but his musical aid is not appreciated, so he cooks for them:

"He found to his delight that although his own two, Paul and Michael, were very choosy about their food and were poor eaters – and when Paul was busy, he wouldn't eat at all – John and George turned out to be gluttons who would eat anything at any time. 'I used to work off all the stuff on to them that Paul and Michael had left.'"

Love this for them.

When Paul first invited the Quarry Men to rehearse at his house - and to meet his dad - he met them in town to walk them over. On the way back they ran into a sailor returning home on leave, who was really excited to meet a band, and insisted that they come to the pub and play him a song.

Colin Hall (the book's narrator) writes:

"It was an offer the boys could not resist, although Paul's face immediately dropped. This was the last thing he needed. He was reluctant to accept the invitation because he knew his dad was waiting to meet the Quarry Men for the very first time. To turn up at home with a bunch of lads about whom he'd told Dad so much, and whom Jim was keen to meet, but who were now likely to arrive 'half cut' was Paul's worst nightmare."

Colin Hanton explains how they had a couple of pints and sang the guy a song as they left. He then says:

"Paul was clearly anxious that his dad would smell the beer on our breath and frustrated that there was nothing he could do about it. John reassured him we would be alright, it was half a mile at least to number 20 and the walk in the fresh air would take away the smell of the pub and beer. Reassured, but not entirely convinced, Paul walked ahead of us while we followed."

I know it's nothing but I love Paul being "clearly anxious" around these early days and John being okay about it instead of awful.

The meeting with Jim and Mike went fine though, and Colin mentions: "We also learned that their mum, Mary, had passed away a few years earlier."

"After about an hour, as would become the norm for our many rehearsals at Paul's, the glass doors opened and Jim popped his head round to ask if we were ready for a cup of tea. He was very obliging like that and always struck me as a very pleasant, sociable, and friendly man. After Jim served us tea, we carried on for another half hour before calling it a day. I think, despite the beery breath, we had passed the audition. Jim certainly didn't throw us out or make any comments about the smell of beer, he couldn't have been more hospitable. Indeed we were invited back many times to rehearse. Being a musician himself and a former band leader, Jim understood the importance of a good rehearsal space in which you felt at ease. Rehearsing at Paul's house was always enjoyable, Jim was always encouraging, and his warm welcome allowed us to relax and focus on the music."

Pre:Fab! by Colin Hanton and Colin Hall

this is what it feels like to open your notifications after you posted what u thought would be a banger but youve only gotten 1 like

Paul McCartney, the one member of the Beatles Mimi felt closest to, started to telephone her on occasion to assure her that John was all right, while at the same time commiserating with her on the worry John was causing them both. Paul was sure it was merely a fleeting affair and Lennon would be back to his old self before long. Mimi wasn’t quite so sure. In the meantime, she considered Yoko “a thoroughly bad influence on him”.

[...] Yoko Ono wasn’t the only woman connected to the Beatles that Mimi felt suspect of. She had adored Jane Asher and recalled the first time Paul had introduced her. It had been at a Beatles concert. Mimi could tell he was proud of her and completely besotted. She watched as she and Jane both stood backstage watching the Beatles in concert and noted how often Paul looked over at Jane with a look of love.

Mimi felt that Paul and Jane were destined to be together forever so was quite shocked when Jane appeared on television and announced that their engagement was off. Yet she didn’t connect the two, when she dropped in at the Apple Offices in London with her niece, Liela, and went into the recording studio. They watched the rehearsal for the new album, but she found the noise deafening and there was an annoying blond woman who moved about thrusting a camera in her face every time she turned around.

It wasn’t until shortly thereafter that the news of Paul’s marriage broke that she realized that the blond photographer was now Mrs. Paul McCartney. She thought it strange that Paul hadn’t made any move to introduce them when she’d been in the studio the week before. And how ironic it was that Paul had spewed his distaste for Yoko, hoping John would never marry her because at the very least she was a divorcee with a child. John, for his part, simply said Paul had finally met his match.

The Guitar’s All Right as a Hobby, John, Kathy Burns (2014)

HELLO JAMES MENLOVE how are you this fine day. I have a very important question to ask, do you have any tips on writing an accurate Paul voice in fanfic? I’m trying to write Baby’s First Beatles yaoi here and I’m struggling. TYSM 🫶

EXCITED TO SEE WHERE U GO W BABY'S FIRST BEATLES YAOI. SEND ME SO MANY UPDATES. also love the new pfp us matching mclennon icon warriors are brave

and LORD okay take this all w the "I'm american" grain of salt but! depends on the era you're writing them in really imo! like any of them, when he's younger, pre-beatlemania and especially in liverpool/hamburg, his accent was thicker. ur gonna be out here googling slang words in 1960s liverpool. but to get a better idea of His voice specifically, a lot of those early interviews and ahdn are good, but also keep in mind he was sort of like. cleaning up his accent a little for the cameras. but it's lots of contractions, but focusing on cadence/wording is better, imo, than focusing on trying to write out the accent which can get grating to look at if you have an apostrophe every other word (but that's just me). lots of glottal stops happening

during/post-beatlemania it seems like he tried to clean up his accent. out of the 4 of them, imo, his accent is the Least strong. it's turned a bit more posh as he's aged (again if I'm mishearing any of this british people you guys do have the right to kill me with hammers) & watching some of his more recent interviews or later beatles interviews gives you a good idea of that! BUT this has the bonus of- you can always have more of the liverpool accent slip back in when he's upset/excited/particularly comfortable/etc etc

if u mean Content....... what I always keep in mind is just that paul is very diplomatic. he says what he thinks will keep the boat from being rocked, esp once they hit beatlemania. so it's always fun to have him sort of think through his words, think about what he Wants to say, go hm yeah can't say that in any dignified way without Consequences, and say something else that may even be contradicting his actions. on the other hand, though, he can be a bit of a dick. esp when him and john feed off each other. lots of early days stories of him encouraging john being an ass to people and being one himself. his asshole-ry comes in a sort of blunt flavor OR a very backhanded sort of bizarre flavor. like sending people postcards saying "obey your school master" and telling people they're not good vs his weird little "who knows, yoko!" type of comments when he's Trying to be diplomatic but still wants to kick shins. I always sort of view him as being kind of oblivious to how blunt & dickish he can come off 😭 great for writing scenes w him and george honestly. so it's fun to have him say or do smth that just. from the outside is sooo shitty but since ur in his pov he's literally just not even thinking about it