John And Paul - Tumblr Posts
John and Paul sharing stuff again
John(Andy Warhol self interview 1980): Life begins at 40
Paul(Russell Harty Pipes of Peace 1983): Life begins at 40
:(
Lennon-McCartney in (some of) the Beatles dramas
“I have such an admiration for John, like most people. But to be the guy who wrote with him, well, that’s enough. Right there, you could retire and go, ‘Jesus, I had a fantastic life. Take me, Lord.’” – Paul McCartney Paul McCartney and John Lennon met on this day in 1957
Why does Paul McCartney have the same level of yearning for John that I have for my best friend? Thing? Idk
why tf do I relate so hard to so much of the McLennon lore does this mean I’m also doomed by the narrative? I no no wanna :c
JOHN AND PAUL
‘I am delighted to say that Faber & Faber have commissioned me to write a book about John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Getting paid to write about The Beatles - well, that’s it, I can retire. After I’ve written this book.
The Ruffian played an integral part in the birth of this book. Towards the end of 2020 I wrote a piece called 64 Reasons To Celebrate Paul McCartney and published it here. It was the quintessential lockdown project. I’d been making notes towards it for years but never found time to actually write it. I also had low confidence that anyone except superfans would read a 10k essay about Paul McCartney. It didn’t fit any obvious spaces in established media, at least not the way I wanted to do it. But I knew some of you would appreciate it, so once I’d completed it, I dropped it here. Unexpectedly and gloriously it went viral (in a good way).
When I was writing 64 Reasons I found I had to cut a lot of material to do with John and Paul’s relationship, a topic I am obsessed with, just to keep the thing down to its already overgrown length. (In fact I mentioned that in #63 - I was already thinking hey, what if…?). Given the scale and intensity of the response to that piece, I started developing an idea for a book about the two of them.
The conventional narrative about their relationship is deeply flawed. It was set in stone shortly after The Beatles’ breakup and hasn’t been much modified since. Constrained by the myopia and prejudices of the time, it misses out a lot and gets much wrong and consequently we have a very thin and limited view of both men and of what they did together.
Lennon and McCartney were more than just great mates, or fierce competitors, which is how they’ve generally been portrayed. They shared an essentially romantic friendship, a passionate love that ignited mutual creativity. The love (and the insecurity and jealousy that came with it) fed into the music, and vice versa.
I’ll track the relationship from the day they met in 1957 to the day John died in 1980: 23 years. Hence John and Paul: A Love Story in 23 Songs. I’m not just writing this for Beatles fans but for anyone who loves a love story; to me, it’s the greatest romance of the twentieth century.
OK I’ll say no more about it. I need to write the damn thing.’
*blog post from Ian Leslie’s blog The Ruffian (Nov. 13 2021).
It’s interesting that the title is no longer ‘John and Paul: A Love Story in 23 Songs’ and is instead ‘John and Paul: A Love Story in Songs’.
My contribution to the @beatleskinkmeme Summer of Love fanworks-a-thon - when Paul met John
Thanks to @theoldmixer for arranging another amazing event!
What's the matter John, love? Blue meanies?
Okay I'm gonna recite one of my fav dreams I ever had:
I was in a white bed, in a white room, seemed like a hospital to me, I turn around and I see John Lennon sleeping on the bed.
Suddenly I'm near him and I turn to hug him.
And guys... Wow. I could feel his breathing, his chest was going up and down and I could feel his bodily temperature in my own dream. It was so real-like, almost like a clear memory of the past. In that moment I felt that John was Alive for the first time in god knows how many years.
Then I raise my head and I see Paul near John, who was staring at me with a dead look on his face. He hated me. I realized I turned into Yoko because I had long black hair. Paul just stared at me and then gave me his Chapstick and I took a bite out of it (whatever it means)
Great art!
Goofy doodle of John and Paul from the Get Back documentary
Sixty years ago today, Paul straightened John’s tie (affectionately)
The Beatles performing If I Fell at the Cow Palace, San Francisco, 19th August 1964
Sixty years ago today, John and Paul had some privacy
The Beatles at San Francisco airport, 18th August 1964 - part 2 (part 1)
