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A collection of Beatles quotes about the breakup

I know I'm preaching to the choir on tumblr.com because people here examine the breakup with empathy, nuance and critical thought. BUT these quotes are convenient if you ever get caught up in frustrating arguments online with male boomer beatle fans who think John and George hated the band and couldn't wait to escape while Paul was desperate to get back together. Sorted by band member and chronological order.

Quotes from/about Ringo:

1969:

People really have tried to typecast us. They think we are still little moptops, and we are not. I don’t want to play in public again. I don’t miss being a Beatle anymore. You can’t get those days back. It’s no good living in the past.

Ringo Starr, 24 March 1969 while filming The Magic Christian in New York

1970:

Ringo? He was the peacemaker for John, George and himself to Paul and was shaken to find Paul intransigent to the point of saying some pretty blunt things. But none of the Beatles is vindictive, and pettiness is their natural enemy, and when Paul released his album, Ringo sent a telegram congratulation him on “Maybe I’m Amazed” (one of the tracks) and meant it. Ringo has a lot of heart and more soul than most and since he knows he will be a Beatles to the grave, he will cooperate should it all come together again.

The Party's Over for the Beatles - written by Derek Taylor

1971:

The Beatles might yet stay together as a group. Paul is the greatest bass player in the world. He is also determined. He goes on and on to see if he can get his own way. While that may be a virtue, it did mean that musical disagreements inevitably rose from time to time. But such disagreements contributed to really great products. […] I was shocked and dismayed, after Mr. McCartney’s promises about a meeting of all four Beatles in London in January, that a writ should have been issued on December 31. I trust Paul and I know he would not lightly disregard his promise. Something serious, about which I have no knowledge, must have happened between Paul’s meeting with George in New York at the end of December. […] My own view is that all four of us together could even yet work out everything satisfactorily.

Ringo Starr’s affidavit – From “The Beatles Diary Volume 2: After The Break-Up 1970-2001” by Keith Badman

No one doubted that Starkey would go along with the majority.

You Never Give Me Your Money – Peter Doggett

Later/unknown year:

RS: But that’s only Imagine. You know what I’m saying? Paul with his Band on the Run. We all started on a bus and small clubs and things like that, but Paul is that type of person. Paul wanted to do it all over again, and he did. And he went through hell. He went through hell. I mean, now he’s not talking to me and that’s too bad, but he started again from the bottom to do the Paul McCartney show. I don’t wanna do it anymore. I did it once.

All You Need Is Love – Peter Brown & Steven Gaines

Quotes from/about George:

1969:

“Yeah, quite definitely, but I’d like to do it with the Beatles but not on the old scale, that’s the only drag. With the Ono Band and me playing with Delaney and Bonnie there’s no expectations because it’s really quite anonymous, you just go and do whatever you can do. Once the Beatles are advertised and all the crowds come along they expect too much. I’d like to do the Beatles thing, but more like Delaney and Bonnie with us augmented with a few more singers, and a few trumpets, saxes, organs, and all that"

Interview conducted by Roy Carr, NME, 20 December 1969

1970:

George was greatly disappointed that Paul should come off like he was injured by Klein (business manager) whom George believes to have greatly eased the effects of the present and insured the safety of the future. George view is “Did you have to be so nasty. You can go so far but you can never get back, and you can say things which get in the way forever. For me, I would be glad to play with all of us again.”

The Party's Over for the Beatles - written by Derek Taylor

Q: “You think the Beatles will get together again, then?”

George: “Well, I don’t… I couldn’t tell, you know, if they do or not. I’ll certainly try my best to do something with them again, you know. I mean, it’s only a matter of accepting that the situation is a compromise. In a way it’s a compromise, and it’s a sacrifice, you know, because we all have to sacrifice a little in order to gain something really big. And there is a big gain by recording together – I think musically, and financially, and also spiritually. And for the rest of the world, you know, I think that Beatle music is such a big sort of scene – that I think it’s the least we could do is to sacrifice three months of the year at least, you know, just to do an album or two. I think it’s very selfish if the Beatles don’t record together.”

WABC-FM, May 1, 1970

The Harrison quote that went around the world that spring was purely optimistic: 'Everyone is trying to do his own album, and I am too. But after that I'm ready to go back with the others.'

You Never Give Me Your Money – Peter Doggett

1971:

The only serious row was between Paul and me. In 1968 I went to the United States and had a very easy co-operation with many leading musicians. This contrasted with the superior attitude which, for years past, Paul has shown towards me musically. In January 1969, we were making a film in a studio at Twickenham, which was dismal and cold, and we were all getting a bit fed up with our surroundings. In front of the cameras, as we were actually being filmed, Paul started to ‘get at’ me about the way I was playing. I decided I had had enough and told the others I was leaving. This was because I was musically dissatisfied. After a few days, the others asked me to return and since I did not wish to leave them in the lurch in the middle of filming and recording, and since Paul agreed that he would not try to interfere or teach me how to play, I went back. Since the row, Paul has treated me more as a musical equal. I think this whole episode shows how a disagreement could be worked out so that we all benefited. I just could not believe it when, just before Christmas, I received a letter from Paul’s lawyers. I still cannot understand why Paul acted as he did.

George Harrison’s affidavit – From “The Beatles Diary Volume 2: After The Break-Up 1970-2001” by Keith Badman

“In a “Come back Paul, all is forgiven” mood, George Harrison said this week: “I wish we could all be friends again. It’s a drag that things are as they are, because Apple is now becoming much more what we originally wanted it to be. “Personally I’d like to see Paul back at Apple and let him do what he wants to do. After all the new studio is his studio, too, and I’d like to see it all happening for us all.”

October 1971 Record Mirror

When John finally hinted that he would be willing to play with George when he appeared at Madison Square Garden. “Well, maybe I can come and help ya,” he said. “That’d be nice.” George glowered at John. Then George’s anger really burst forth. “Where were you when I needed you!” he snapped. It was the first of a series of explosions, each of them followed by moments of tense silence. “I did everything you said. But you weren’t there,” he repeated. “You always knew how to reach me,” John would reply evenly to each of these outbursts. There was no doubt in my mind, watching those two, that George’s anger with John had been accumulating for years. It was exactly the kind of situation that John usually ran from. But I could see in that moment that he loved George enough to remain calm and still as George drilled away at him. George said that repeatedly in the past he had sung what John wanted him to sing, said what John wanted him to say. Because John wanted it, George had gone along with the decision to go with Allen Klein. In the nearly four years since, John had virtually ignored him, a fact that pained George deeply. George’s voice grew even more harsh as he blasted John for his sudden appearance, as if out of nowhere, to offer an evening’s worth of help. Yet again George said furiously, I did everything you said, but you weren’t there.”

May Pang, Loving John

1973:

"George came into the office and said, 'I wanted you to know before anyone else. We're leaving Allen.' I said, 'Why?' And he said, 'We'll never get together again with Allen managing us.' And that was it. They left. George always had that distant hope."

Allan Stecker, Mojo interview 2023 (on Monday April 2 1973)

"[Allen Klein] made [John, George and Ringo] feel financially and artistically secure,” Steckler reckoned. So why did they decide that Klein had to go? Steckler believed he knew the answer. “George called me and said, ‘We’re not re-signing with Klein,’” he recalled. “I asked him why, and he said, 'The only way The Beatles can get together again is if Allen isn’t there. I’m ready to do it, so is Ringo, and I think we can persuade John to go along with it. But if we’re going to work with Paul, we need to get rid of Klein.’"

Peter Doggett, You Never Give Me Your Money

1978:

Personally, I’m not opposed to the idea, if it’s done through mutual agreement. But the pressure seems to be bigger than any of us, and when they talk of sums like $50 or $60 million, it’s almost a farce. I know Paul’s booked for the next few years, and John may have lost interest in the idea. Ringo and I are closest on it; we both feel it’s not impossible, but it’s highly unlikely, if only because of the legal and business maze that would have to be resolved before the four of us set foot on stage together.

M. George Haddad interview with George Harrison for Men Only magazine (Nov. 1978 issue)

Quotes from/about Paul:

1970:

On the eve of the release of the Beatles new movie and album “Let it Be,” Paul McCartney said, “I quit,” or “I think I quit,” which is roughly the same thing. As a publicity stunt, it’s as good or bad as any stunt they ever appeared to pull. But like every stunt they never did pull, this isn’t one either. McCartney’s declaration of independence was entirely impromptu, spontaneous and personal and so far had the group’s lines of communication become crossed that none of the Beatles really knew when the album would be out, or whether, nor did they greatly care.

...

I guess the way it stacks up now and the way it was around the time when Paul dropped the big on is that he wants right out of it all and they don’t.

The Party's Over for the Beatles - written by Derek Taylor

"John's reply was that I was daft!" He then said he wanted to leave the Beatles and wanted an immediate divorce. None of us really knew what to do about the situation, but we decided to wait until our film 'Let it Be' came out in April. I got bored and made 'McCartney' instead!"

Paul McCartney, in his first magazine interview since the split, tells FLIP's Keith Altham... "THE BEATLES ARE FINISHED!"

When we had to go to the studios, Linda would make the booking and we’d take some sandwiches and a bottle of grape juice and put the baby on the floor and it was all like a a holiday. So as a natural turn of events from looking for something to do, I found that I was enjoying working alone as much as I’d enjoyed the early days of the Beatles. I haven’t really enjoyed the Beatles for the last two years.

Paul, Interview for Evening Standard • Tuesday, April 21-22, 1970

Klein tells George he will get him more money and he tells Ringo the same. He tells them all that there are four first-class Beatles, not two and John doesn’t mind being told this. Paul doesn’t like any of it, none of it. He has a father-in-law who is also from New York and his name is Lee Eastman. Lee Eastman is also a toughie, but his manners are more formal than Klein’s and some people like him. Paul would like Eastman to be the Mr Big Apple needs. John wants Mr Klein to be Mr Big. A year passes. It is 1970. Paul still doesn’t like Klein but John digs him more than ever and George digs him more than that and Ringo doesn’t mind him. Paul? He is so uptight about Klein he only leaves the Beatles, that’s all.

As Time Goes By - Derek Taylor

1971:

Klein: “If Paul McCartney doesn’t get his way, he bitches. He may have a choirboy image in the press and with fans, but I’m here to tell you its bullshit. If anybody broke up the Beatles, it was him.”

Allen Klein, Playboy: A candid conversation with the embattled manager of the Beatles. (November, 1971) (note: obviously we should not trust a word Klein says, but at this point why isn't he repeating John's party line that he wanted a divorce?)

I think John thought I was using this press release for publicity-as I suppose, in a way, it was. So it all looked very weird, and it ruffled a few feathers. The good thing about it was that we all had to finally own up to the fact that we'd broken up three or four months before. We'd been ringing each other quite constantly, sort of saying, 'Let's get it back together.' And I think me, George and Ringo did want to save things. But I think John was, at that point, too heavily into his new life-which you can't blame him.

You Never Give Me Your Money – Peter Doggett

1972:

“We planned a big festival for one afternoon in Central Park, and ‘Imagine’ was the theme. Each retarded person from an institution would be paired with one able-bodied volunteer – twenty-five thousand people in the park. The issue arose whether the retarded should come to the matinee concert at Madison Square Garden. Obviously it would be a huge revenue loss. So Allen Klein and John just bought $50,000 worth of tickets and gave them to the retarded kids and volunteers.” Suddenly John got cold feet, after the concert had been sold out for weeks. “John said he didn’t want to do it,” Rivera recalled. “He said he hadn’t played in public for years, he hadn’t rehearsed with a band, he was just too nervous. …When they had that rush of insecurity, Yoko told me that she and John called Paul and Linda. They said, ‘Let’s bury the hatchet and appear together at the concert.’ Why Paul said ‘No’ I’ll never know.” Rivera and others managed to calm John’s fears and get him to start rehearsing with Elephant’s Memory.

Jon Wiener, Come Together: John Lennon in His Time. (1984)

“A few months ago, John asked us to do a concert with him at Madison Square Garden (note: same concert as the above quote) and it’s a pity now that we didn’t do it. I didn’t want to do it at the time but we will do things, I’m sure. I don’t see any reason why all four Beatles shouldn’t be on stage at some time all playing together and having a good time. I don’t think you’ll ever get the Beatles reforming, because that’s all gone. The Beatles were a special thing in a special era and I really couldn’t see it all coming together again. But I think it’s daft to assume that just because we had a couple of business upsets we won’t ever see each other again, or that if John has a concert some time we won’t go up and play on it.”

Paul McCartney, interview with Ray Connolly in The Evening Standard, December 2, 1972 (source: The Ray Connolly Beatles Archive)

“Don’t ever call me ex-Beatle McCartney again. That was one band I was with. Now I’m not with them. I’ve got another band. We won’t do things the same way any more. We’re not so bothered in trying to please other people all the time even though we obviously don’t try to displease them. All we want, in Wings, is to please ourselves with our music, That’s all.

“If people start fan clubs for us, do that kind of thing from the past, well, fine. But we won’t start one. I just get irritated by people constantly harping on the past, about the days when I was with that other band, the Beatles.

“The other Beatles get together and that is fine, but I’m almost always in another part of the world. The Beatles was my old job. We’re not like friends – we just know each other. But we don’t work together. so there’s no point keeping up old relationships.”

“All I know for sure is that I’ll never be conned again. I’m 30 now and, after what I’ve been through. I should know my way around. I get angry with fans, who interrupt my life, even now. I get fed up with the feeling that I was losing my identity, becoming some kind of legend, not a person. And I’m downright angry with the people who keep trying to get me back with the others again.

1976:

“The truth is very ordinary. The truth is just that since we split up, we’ve not seen much of each other. We visit occasionally, we’re still friends, but we don’t feel like getting up and playing again. You can’t tell that to people. You say that and they say, ‘How about this money, then?’ ‘Or how about this?’ And you end up having to think of reasons why you don’t feel like it. And, of course, any one of them taken on its own isn’t really true, but I was just stuck for an answer, so I said I wouldn’t do it just for the money anyway. And I saw John last time, he says, ‘I agreed with that.’ But there’s a million other points in there. A whole million angles. “I tell you, before this tour, I was tempted to ring everyone up and say, ‘Look, is it true we’re not going to get back together, ‘cause we all pretty much feel like we’re not. And as long as I could get everyone to say, ‘No, we’re definitely not,’ then I could say ‘It’s a definite no-no.’ But I know my feeling, and I think the others’ feeling, in a way, is we don’t want to close the door to anything in the future. We might like it someday.

Paul McCartney, Rolling Stone: Yesterday, Today, and Paul. (June 17th, 1976)

Later/unknown year:

“John phoned me once to try and get the Beatles back together again, after we’d broken up. And I wasn’t for it, because I thought that we’d come too far and I was too deeply hurt by it all. I thought, “Nah, what’ll happen is that we’ll get together for another three days and all hell will break loose again. Maybe we just should leave it alone.”

Paul, November 1995 Club Sandwich interview

“ELLEN: So was there ever a time when both you and John Lennon wanted to reform the Beatles? PAUL: There was a time… let’s put it this way: there was never a time when all four of us wanted to do it. And each time it was always someone different who didn’t fancy it And I’m actually glad of that now. Because the Beatles’ work is a body of work. There’s nothing to be ashamed of there. In the end we decided we should leave well enough alone. The potential disappointment of coming on and not being as good as the Beatles had been… that was a risk we shouldn’t take

Paul McCartney, interview w/ Mark Ellen for Radio Times. (October 20th-26th, 2007)

Quotes from/about John:

1969:

JOHN: The point is, if George leaves, do we want to carry on The Beatles? I do. [inaudible; drowned out by mic feedback] And I’d just get another member of the group and carry on. But if The Beatles split, well, I’ll get another group. [to Paul and Yoko?] I’m a singer not a dancer, baby! Woo-hoo!

January 10th, 1969 (Twickenham Film Studios, London)

MICHAEL: But funny enough, the other day, when we were talking, he said that he really did not want not to be a Beatle. He said he really looked forward – not, you know. Meaning he didn’t want that screwed up.

[T]he Beatles are always discussing, “Should we go on or shouldn’t we? Why are we together for now?” And what it gets down to is I like playing rock n’ roll and I like making rock n’ roll records. Now, I’ve got either the choice— if I want the whole LP to myself — is to get a few musicians together. Now, I know that— I’ve played with other musicians — just very rarely, but occasionally I’ve played with them — and it needs some work together to get anything going. I don’t like session men, so I try not to use them. I don’t like violinists or anything these days. I try not to use anybody but the Beatles. And if I wanted to make a record I’d chose the Beatles! I can say, “Give me a ‘Be Bop A Lula’”. So therefore, we’ve got that going. And even from a commercial point, when we discuss it, “What’s the biggest selling name? Beatles or John Lennon and The Fabs? Or George Harrison and The Fabs?” Which— Where’s our biggest market? It’s Beatles! Who are our closest friends? Beatles! Who do we have the most arguments with? Beatles. So Beatles is it!

John Lennon and Yoko Ono give a series of interviews at the Apple Corps building at 3 Savile Row, London (Friday, 12 September 1969).

JOHN: See they’re growing up too, you know. And uh, we all want Beatles still cause it’s, it’s a big power and it’s good power, you know. And we’ve no intention of splitting it, you know. Any of us. I can’t be specific about it, you know. But obviously, I’m deeply involved with Yoko, it has some…you know, maybe less reliant on the others but so it goes for the others too, you know. That as we’re all sort of branching out. Which we were occasionally all the time, you know. Like I did How I Won The War, I wrote In His Own Write and Paul wrote the music for Family Way, etc. and George went off to India with sitars and that. So it’s only, you know. We nip off and come back and do some work then nip off again, you know.

John and Yoko gave several interviews on September 12, 1969

[Will] The Beatles split up? It just depends how much we all want to record together. I don’t know if I want to record together again. I go off and on it. I really do.”

John Lennon, interview w/ Alan Smith for NME. (December 13th, 1969)

JOHN: I was really losing interest in just doing the Beatles’ bit – and I think we all were – but Paul did a good job in holding us together for a few years while we were sort of undecided about what to do, you know. And I found out what to do, and it didn’t really have to be with the Beatles. It could have been, if they wanted… But uh, it got that I couldn’t wait for them to make up their minds about peace or whatever. About committing themselves. It’s the same as the songs. So I’ve gone ahead – and I’d have liked them to have come along.

YORKE: Did you ever try to get them into the peace scene?

JOHN: I did a little at first, but I think it was too much like Yoko and me and what we’re doing and trying to get them to come along; and I think they reacted. I hassled them too much, so I’m really leaving them alone. Maybe they’ll come along, wagging their tails behind them, and if not, good luck to them.

John Lennon, interview w/ Ritchie Yorke. (December 23rd, 1969)

“This is why I’ve started with the Plastic Ono and working with Yoko . . . to have more outlet. There isn’t enough outlet for me in the Beatles. The Ono Band is my escape valve. And how important that gets, as compared to the Beatles for me, I’ll have to wait and see.

NEW MUSICAL EXPRESS DECEMBER 13, 1969

1970:

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)

John’s view is: “Okay. If this is it, this is it. We’ve all left the Beatles anyway.” If Paul were to approach him and say, “Let’s do it together again,” he probably would; with no more words, he probably would do it.

The Party's Over for the Beatles - written by Derek Taylor

Now even Lennon was prepared to hint at a positive outcome: 'I've no idea if the Beatles will work together again, or not. I never really have. It was always open. If somebody didn't feel like it, that's it! It could be a rebirth or a death. We'll see what it is. It'll probably be a rebirth.'

You Never Give Me Your Money – Peter Doggett

'Eventually,' McCartney recalled, 'I went and said, "I want to leave. You can all get on with Klein and everything, just let me out." Having not spoken to Lennon for several weeks, he sent him a letter that summer, pleading that the former partners 'let each other out of the trap'. As McCartney testified, Lennon 'replied with a photograph of himself and Yoko, with a balloon coming out of his mouth in which was written, "How and Why?" I replied by letter saying, "How by signing a paper which says we hereby dissolve our partnership. Why because there is no partnership." John replied on a card which said, "Get well soon. Get the other signatures and I will think about it.” Communication was at an end. Yet the press continued to believe, fired by hope more than evidence, that it was only a matter of days before the four men healed their wounds. The stories taunted McCartney, who fired off a letter to the prime offender, Melody Maker: 'Dear Mailbag, In order to put out of its misery the limping dog of a news story which has been dragging itself across your pages for the past year, my answer to the question, "Will the Beatles get together again?"...is no.' He had finally pronounced the verdict that was missing from his self-interview in April: the Beatles were no more.

You Never Give Me Your Money – Peter Doggett (note: John is stalling)

For McCartney, and maybe Harrison and Starkey as well, this signified hope. ‘For about three or four months,' he recalled years later, 'George, Ringo and I rang each other to ask, "Well, is this it, then?" It wasn't that the record company had dumped us. It was just a case of: we might get back together again. Nobody quite knew if it was one of John's little flings, and that maybe he was going to feel the pinch in a week's time and say, “I was only kidding.” I think John did kind of leave the door open. He'd said, “I'm pretty much leaving the group, but...” McCartney testified in 1971, ‘I think all of us (except possibly John) expected we would come together again one day.

You Never Give Me Your Money – Peter Doggett

John: George was on the session for Instant Karma, Ringo’s away and Paul’s – I dunno what he’s doing at the moment, I haven’t a clue.

Interviewer: When did you last see him?

John: Uh, before Toronto. I’ll see him this week actually. If you’re listening, I’m coming round. (Note: as AKOM point out, Toronto was before the divorce meeting. Why is he pretending it never happened?)

Feb 6th 1970 (audio snippet approx 1:14:00)

Interviewer: What about the Beatles all together as a group?

John: As soon as they’re ready, you know, we had half the Beatles on again at the Lyceum Ballroom. Uh it was George and me but we also had Delaney and Bonney and 17 piece band we had on, it was a great experience. Uh it should be like that you know, if we were doing that and all the Beatles wanted to come it would be great, and it would be no great thing about ‘oh the Beatles are coming back on stage’ like they expect, sorta of, Buddha and Mohammad to come on and play. I keep saying that, but that’s the fear the Beatles have, including me as a Beatle, about performing. It’s such a great – so much expected of us, you know, but you see George has been on tour with Bonnie and Delaney playing and I’ve been drifting around playing, it’s just playing isn’t the hang up. It’s going on as the Beatles that’s the problem for us.

1970 (audio snippet approx 1:23:00)

Interviewer: Do you care about making another Beatles album?

John: I think Beatles is a good communication media you know, and I wouldn’t destroy it out of hand or dissolve it out of hand. So that’s what I think about Beatles.

1970 (audio snippet approx 1:41:00)

Interviewer: Why do you think rumours like this start?

John: Because there was a lot of tension around the Allen Klein coming in days and the ATV thing going on, and the Beatles were under a lot of pressure and we had to be together all the time, fighting and arguing and listening to all the different business things. And so we’re taking a break from each other like we always did after a tour end. The business thing is like a heavy tour, in it we may get back in abbey road and a couple of singles and under a great strain you know, doing that business. And so now we’re just taking a break from each other.

1970 (audio snippet approx 1:41:00)

You can’t pin me down because I haven’t got- there’s no- it’s completely open, whether we do it or not. Life is like that, whether I make another Plastic Ono album or Lennon album or anything is open you know, I don’t like to prejudge it. And I have no idea if the Beatles are working together again or not, I never did have, it was always open. If someone didn’t feel like it, that’s it. And maybe if one of us starts it off, the others will all come round and make an album you know.

1970 (audio snippet approx 1:43:00)

In 1964 I produced a book, they were asking me that then, and why should I not write a book? The Beatles wanted me to do it, they wanted me to do these LPs, you know, they have nothing against it – I want George to produce and record any records he wants to. It doesn’t interfere with Beatle time, I use my own time to do other things and so do they. The Beatles will remain, there’s no doubt about that. And we’ve been saying it since She Loves You, we’re together and that’s it.

1970 (audio snippet approx 1:45:00)

I just uh I wanted to do it [announce the breakup] you know, should’ve done it. I think damn, shit, what a fool I was. But there were many pressures at that time, I think Northern Songs and all that was going on, it would’ve upset the whole thing. (Note: again as AKOM point out, the Northern Songs fight ended the day before the divorce meeting. Why would the pressure of Northern Songs impact John's decision not to announce the breakup?)

Lennon Remembers

1971:

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

Well, there was this Japanese monk, and it happened in the last 20 years. He was in love with this big golden temple, y’know, he really dug it, like—and you know he was so in love with it, he burnt it down so that it would never deteriorate. That’s what I did with the Beatles.

John Lennon, interview w/ Alan Smith for NME: At home with the Lennons. (August 7th, 1971)

MCCABE: Let’s talk a bit about Paul’s aversion to Klein. From what we’ve read it seemed as if this wasn’t there in the beginning, even though Paul wanted the Eastmans to run things. But it came on later as things progressed. And yet despite this, we gather that Klein was still hoping that Paul would return to the group.

JOHN: Oh, he’d love it if Paul would come back. I think he was hoping he would for years and years. He thought that if he did something, to show Paul that he could do it, Paul would come around. But no chance. I mean, I want him to come out of it, too, you know. He will one day. I give him five years, I’ve said that. In five years he’ll wake up.

MCCABE: But Klein is still hoping?

JOHN: He said to me, “Would you do it, if we got your immigration thing fixed? Or if we could get rid of the drug conviction?”

YOKO: And people don’t understand, you know. There’s so many groups that constantly announce they’re going to split, they’re going to split, and they can announce it every year, and it doesn’t mean they’re going to split. But people don’t understand what an extraordinary position the Beatles are in, you know. In every way. They’re in such an extraordinary position that they’re more insecure than other people. And so Klein thinks he’ll give Paul two years Linda-wise, you know. And John said, “No, Paul treasures things like children, things like that. It will be longer.” And of course, John was right.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono, interview w/ Peter McCabe and Robert Schonfeld. (September, 1971)

It was true, that when the group was touring, their work and social relationships were close, but there had been a lot of arguing, mainly about musical and artistic matters. I suppose Paul and George were the main offenders in this respect, but from time to time we all gave displays of temperament and threatened to ‘walk out’. Of necessity, we developed a pattern for sorting out our differences, by doing what any three of us decided. It sometimes took a long time and sometimes there was deadlock and nothing was done, but generally that was the rule we followed and, until recent events, it worked quite well. Even when we stopped touring, we frequently visited each other’s houses in or near London and personally we were on terms as close as we had ever been. If anything, Paul was the most sociable of us. From our earliest days in Liverpool, George and I, on the one hand, and Paul, on the other, had different musical tastes. Paul preferred ‘pop-type’ music and we preferred what is now called ‘underground’. This may have led to arguments, particularly between Paul and George, but the contrast in our tastes, I am sure, did more good than harm, musically speaking, and contributed to our success.

If Paul is trying to break us up because of anything that happened before the Klein–Eastman power struggle, his reasoning does not make sense to me.

John Lennon’s affidavit – From “The Beatles Diary Volume 2: After The Break-Up 1970-2001” by Keith Badman

JOHN: Yeah, Gilbert and Sullivan. I always remember watching the film with Robert Morley and thinking, “We’ll never get to that.” [pause] And we did, which really upset me. But I never really thought we’d be so stupid. But we did.

WIGG: What, like splitting like they did?

JOHN: Like splitting and arguing, you know, and then they come back, and one’s in a wheelchair twenty years later—

YOKO: [laughs] Yes, yes.

JOHN: —and all that. [laughs; bleak] I never thought we’d come to that, because I didn’t think we were that stupid. But we were naive enough to let people come between us. And I think that’s what happened. [pause] But it was happening anyway. I don’t mean Yoko, I mean businessmen, you know. All of them.

October, 1971 (St Regis Hotel, New York)

Q: "Did Klein hope to get Paul back into the group?"

JOHN: (laughs) "He came up with this plan. He said, "Just ring Paul and say, 'We're recording next Friday, are you coming?' So it nearly happened. Then Paul would have forfeited his right to split by joining us again. But Paul would never, never do it, for anything, and now I would never do it."

St Regis Hotel Interview, September 5th, 1971.

John would say things like, ‘It was rubbish. The Beatles were crap.’ Also, ‘I don’t believe in The Beatles, I don’t believe in Jesus, I don’t believe in God.’ Those were quite hurtful barbs to be flinging around, and I was the person they were being flung at, and it hurt. So, I’m having to read all this stuff, and on the one hand I’m thinking, ‘Oh fuck off, you fucking idiot,’ but on the other hand I’m thinking, ‘Why would you say that? Are you annoyed at me or are you jealous or what?’ And thinking back fifty years later, I still wonder how he must have felt. He’d gone through a lot. His dad disappeared, and then he lost his Uncle George, who was a father figure; his mother; Stuart Sutcliffe; Brian Epstein, another father figure; and now his band. But John had all of those emotions wrapped up in a ball of Lennon. That’s who he was. That was the fascination.

I tried. I was sort of answering him here, asking, ‘Does it need to be this hurtful?’ I think this is a good line: ‘Are you afraid, or is it true?’ – meaning, ‘Why is this argument going on? Is it because you’re afraid of something? Are you afraid of the split-up? Are you afraid of my doing something without you? Are you afraid of the consequences of your actions?’ And the little rhyme, ‘Or is it true?’ Are all these hurtful allegations true? This song came out in that kind of mood. It could have been called ‘What the Fuck, Man?’ but I’m not sure we could have gotten away with that then.

Paul McCartney, on “Dear Friend”. In The Lyrics (2021).

Q: “If you got, I don’t know what the right phrase is… ‘back together’ now, what would be the nature of it?” JOHN: “Well, it’s like saying, if you were back in your mother’s womb… I don’t fucking know. What can I answer? It will never happen, so there’s no use contemplating it. Even if I became friends with Paul again, I’d never write with him again. There’s no point. I write with Yoko because she’s in the same room with me.” YOKO: “And we’re living together.” JOHN: “So it’s natural. I was living with Paul then, so I wrote with him. It’s whoever you’re living with. He writes with Linda. He’s living with her. It’s just natural.””

St. Regis Hotel Interview, September 5, 1971

1973:

My last question was inevitable… Any chance of us seeing the four Beatles on a stage or record together again? “There’s always a chance,” grinned John. “As far as I can gather from talking to them all, nobody would mind doing some work together again. There’s no law that says we’re not going to do something together, and no law that says we are. If we did do something I’m sure it wouldn’t be permanent. We’d do it just for that moment. I think we’re closer now than we have been for a long time. I call the split the divorce period and none of us ever thought there’d be a divorce like that. “That’s the way things turned out. We know each other well enough to talk about it.””

John Lennon, interview w/ Chris Charlesworth for Melody Maker. (November 3rd, 1973)

MINTZ: Would you want to initiate that happening?

JOHN: Uh… Well, I couldn’t say. [long pause]

MINTZ: If you could, I mean is it something you would like to see yourself doing?

JOHN: If I could… I don’t know, Elliot, because you know me, I go on instinct. And if the idea hit me tomorrow, you know, I might call them and say, “Come on, let’s do something.” And so I couldn’t really tell you. If it happens, it’ll happen.

MINTZ: So it’s not something that you would totally rule out as never taking place again?

JOHN: No, no. My memories are now all fond and the wounds are healed. And if we do it, we do it, if we record, we record. I don’t know. As long as we make music.

November 1st/10th, 1973 (Malibu, Los Angeles): For Eyewitness News on KABC TV Los Angeles, Elliot Mintz

1974:

“No, no, no,” he answered and he meant it. “I’m going to be an ex-Beatle for the rest of my life so I might as well enjoy it, and I’m just getting around to being able to stand back and see what happened. A couple of years ago I might have given everybody the impression I hate it all, but that was then. I was talking when I was straight out of therapy and I’d been mentally stripped bare and I just wanted to shoot my mouth off to clear it all away. Now it’s different.

“When I slagged off the Beatle thing in the papers, it was like divorce pangs, and me being me it was blast this and fuck that, and it was just like the old days in the Melody Maker, you know, ‘Lennon Blasts Hollies’ on the back page. You know, I’ve always had a bit of a mouth and I’ve got to live up to it. Daily Mirror: ‘Lennon beats up local DJ at Paul’s 21st birthday party’. Then we had that fight Paul and me had through the Melody Maker, but it was a period I had to go through.

John Lennon, interview w/ Ray Coleman for Melody Maker: Lennon – a night in the life. (September 14th, 1974)

John seemed to be in a very strange state of mind about the dissolution. From the hints he had dropped since we had been together, I had learned that John’s departure from the Beatles had essentially been Yoko’s idea. Without Yoko to drive him forward, he felt strangely ambivalent about officially ending the Beatles at that moment. By nature, also, he felt inclined to take a position opposite from that of Paul McCartney. Paul desperately wanted that agreement signed. Whether or not it was the best thing for him to do, John, on principle, was inclined not to want to sign it.

May Pang, Loving John. (1983)

I’ll tell you exactly why I said that. We had a business meeting to break up The Beatles, one of the famous ones that we’d been having — we’re still having them 17 years later, actually. We all flew in to New York specially. George came off his disastrous tour, Ring of flew in and we were at the Plaza for the big final settlement meeting. John was half a mile away at the Dakota and he sent a balloon over with a note that said ‘Listen to this balloon.’ I mean, you’ve got to be pretty cool to handle that kind of stuff.

George blew his cool and rang him up: ’You fucking maniac!! You take your fucking dark glasses off and come and look at us, man!!’ and gave him a whole load of that shit. Around the same time at another meeting we had it all settled, and John asked for an extra million pounds at the last minute. So of course that meeting blew up in disarray. Later, when we got a bit friendlier — and from time to time there would be these little stepping-stones of friendship in the Apple sea — I asked him why he’d actually wanted that million and he said, I just wanted cards to play with. It’s absolutely standard business practice. He wanted a couple of jacks to up your pair of nines. He was one great guy, but part of his greatness was that he wasn’t a saint.

Paul McCartney: An Innocent Man? (October, 1986) (note: John is STILL stalling)

At that moment, John was at his most unpredictable. Suddenly his fears that his money was going to be taken away from him, that he was going to be cheated, that he had to have as much money as possible, had all come into play. This was also John’s way of resisting the reality that the Beatles were officially about to come to end, and that Paul was about to prevail.

Loving John, MAY PANG (1983)

1975:

“At the time I was thinking that I didn’t want to do all that Beatles—but now I feel differently. I’ve lost all that negativity about the past and I’d be happy as Larry to do ‘Help’. I’ve just changed completely in two years. I’d do ‘Hey Jude’ and the whole damn show, and I think George will eventually see that. If he doesn’t, that’s cool. That’s the way he wants to be.”

John Lennon, interview w/ Chris Charlesworth for Melody Maker: Rock on! (March 8th, 1975)

1976:

“I’ve always felt that splitting up was a mistake in many ways” John Lennon has said, and he believes a Beatles revival “would undoubtedly produce some great music.”

Australian Woman’s Weekly, 1976

1980:

“I and the other three former Beatles have plans to stage a reunion concert…” (Part of a statement in the legal disposition brought by Apple Corps against the ‘Beatlemania’ stage musical for trademark infringement. John was referring to an event that was to be filmed for a documentary being put together by Neil Aspinall. It was abandoned/shelved after John’s death, but ultimately became the Anthology project)

John Lennon, 1980

“Just days before his brutal death, John was making plans to go to England for a triumphant Beatles reunion. His greatest dream was to recreate the musical magic of the early years with Paul, George and Ringo … (he) felt that they had traveled different paths for long enough. He felt they had grown up and were mature enough to try writing and recording new songs.”

Yoko Ono, quoted in The Beatles: The Dream Is Over - Off The Record 2 by Keith Badman

#the beatles #john lennon #paul mccartney #george harrison #ringo starr #there are absolutely quotes that contradict these (ie paul not wanting the breakup and the others wanting it) but we see those constantly #mclennon #almost forgot to tag them but lbr it's all about them

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anotherkindofmindpod · 6 months

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Hello lovelies! I wanted to go back to another episode, Strange Bedfellows: Hiroshima Sky, and address a point raised in that episode. You all discussed Paul "bothering his dying wife" with the song credits switch issue, but I had the exact opposite impression. Here's Paul's quote to Anthony DeCurtis of Rolling Stone in 2001: "But this is why we don't have a great relationship. That, and the fact that Linda rang her during the height of her chemo shit and asked her, and Yoko said, 'That's never going to happen.'"

I do agree with your conclusion that Yoko was not obligated just because Linda was sick and I was pleased you both eventually allowed that Linda may have been offended on Paul's behalf, because that's what I think happened. Let me backup.

Earlier in that same Rolling Stone interview, Paul said, "So when the [Beatles] Anthology came out, after thirty years of always having John’s name in front, I thought it should say, ” ‘Yesterday,’ by Paul McCartney and John Lennon.' So I rang up and asked Yoko. This is when Linda and I were going through our real horror times. I rang Yoko up and said, 'Couldn’t I, on the Anthology, just on this one song, put my name in front? Could we put, ‘Written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon’? It would be a great favor to me.' Linda actually rang her and said, 'Do this as a favor.'"

"Yesterday" appears on Anthology 2, which was released on March 18 1996. According to Keith Badman, Anthology 2 was originally slated for release on February 26, 1996, supposedly due to a track re-ordering (moving "I'm Down") and thus making the original CD booklets obsolete and needing to be reprinted (Paul supposedly footed the bill for that). I have wondered if that delay for Anthology 2 was actually due to Paul wanting to change the song credits on "Yesterday," as he later described (or maybe the booklets had the credits switched on "Yesterday"and Paul had to pay to put them back!).

Paul told DeCurtis that he and Linda made the request "during our real horror times." Linda allegedly started an intensive chemotherapy regime in January 1996 (diagnosed with breast cancer in December 1995), just a month before Anthology 2 was originally due to be released, before being pushed back to March at the last minute. Due to that timeline, it's almost certain that the "Yesterday" credits request from Linda took place in January 1996.

Per Badman's Beatles Diary, Paul essentially stopped working during the year 1996 to care for Linda. He only made two public appearances, both in support of LIPA, and three brief recording sessions for Flaming Pie (separated by months-long gaps) in the entire year. He also did the final Anthology edit approvals and promotional interviews working from home, which was unusual for him at that time, and cancelled a few other work obligations that year.

Now we have the context that Paul and Linda made the "Yesterday" credits request at a terrible time in their lives. Paul seems to have taken offense less at Yoko's refusal and more at the way she did it, which he perceived as insulting to Linda when she was going through an awful time. Whether Linda asked Yoko independently of Paul because she was loyal or protective of him, or whether he knew beforehand and/or urged her to do it? We'll never know.

Yet if you go back to the statement Yoko made on Linda's death, Yoko wrote without elaboration, "The last conversation I had with her was in January this year [1998]." Now why would Linda and Yoko have spoken that January? Did Linda call Yoko, or vice versa? What else happened that month? Well, it so happens that Yoko's "Paul was Salieri/Paul made the phone calls" interview was broadcast in a BBC documentary on.....January 6, 1998.

Putting the speculative pieces together, here's my wild guess as to what happened. While working on the Anthology, Paul realized he wanted to have his name first on "Yesterday." What if Paul brought up the issue in the run up to the Anthology launch, not when Anthology 2 was to be released? Then right after Anthology 1 and the miniseries premiered to much success, Linda was diagnosed with cancer. Right after she started intensive chemo in January 1996, Linda asked Yoko to allow the credit switch as a personal favor to her. Maybe she knew it would give Paul a life preserver during that time, or she thought Paul was right, or some combination thereof, or whatever. Anyway, Yoko said no. Maybe Paul learned about that, was incensed, and tried to switch the credits on the Anthology 2 CD booklets anyway, causing the delay of the album's release.

Then, in January 1998, Yoko gave the Salieri interview with the hurtful comments which cut Paul deeply and Linda, who was always fiercely protective of Paul, became angry. According to friends, Linda was deeply concerned about Paul's emotional state during her illness, and I could see another perceived insult from Yoko sending her over the edge. So she called Yoko to confront her. Paul learned of that conversation (at the time? at some point later?) and, knowing how sick Linda was, became incredibly angry at Yoko in turn.

I think that everything during this time has to be looked at through the lens of Linda's illness. The credits issue, the flaming pie kerfuffle and finally the Salieri comments must have been seen by the McCartneys as Yoko throwing blows when they were at their lowest.

Thanks for all this, very thorough! We're delighted you enjoyed Strange Bedfellows. :) Thanks for listening and writing in.

#AKOM #Strange Bedfellows #credit reversal #Salieri-Mozart gate #Linda's illness #Anthology #Yesterday #Yoko Ono #Hiroshima Sky

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got-ticket-to-ride · 5 months

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"In January 1994, Paul McCartney was given two tape cassettes by Lennon's widow Yoko Ono that included home recordings of songs Lennon never completed or released commercially. The songs on the tape included the eventually completed and released "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love", in addition to two other songs was a tape, which included "Grow Old With Me" and "Now and Then". In March 1995, the three surviving Beatles began work on "Now and Then" by recording a rough backing track that was to be used as an overdub. However, after only two days of recording, all work on the song ceased and plans for a third reunion single were scrapped permanently"

Source: Badman, Keith (2001). "The Beatles Diary Volume 2:After The Break-Up 1970–2001

#The Tape for Paul #Paul Mccartney #John Lennon #The Beatles #Mclennon #John and Paul #Now and Then #Biography #Quote #gttr-beatles

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tavolgisvist · 2 months

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I gave this song to a group when I turned up in Portugal, ‘cos I turned up pissed out of my skull one night and wanted to drink in this hotel, you know, about 12 (midnight). I sat in on drums, and they said, ‘Give us a song,’ so I said, ‘Yeah… I’ve been to Alberferra, I had a great time there,’ you know. It was called ‘La Penina’, which was the name of the hotel, and I ended up in La Penina and they were all digging and singing along. It was good, you know.

(Paul McCartney – From “The Beatles: Off the Record 2 – The Dream Is Over” by Keith Badman)

Been to Albufeira, I had a few drinks there And now I’m on my way home I really don’t care La Penina, La Penina, La Penina hotel Well it’s been a long road…

"I want to play piano!" he said. (Carlos Pinto)

#sorry #what means your '‘cos I turned up pissed out of my skull one night'?#what was going on in your genius head?#I really don’t care #1968 #paul mccartney #john and paul #the beatles #who knows yoko

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mclennonlgbt · 2 years

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The Beatles had gay orgies?

"Satyricon" is s a 1969 Italian fantasy drama film by Federico Fellini. The movie contains quite a bit of sexual innuendo, but very little, if any, is heterosexual. The Beatles were considered by Fellini as a cast, but in the end nothing happened. One of Lennon's statements about this film is very interesting. “The Beatles’ tours were like Fellini’s Satyricon,” John said, as quoted by Keith Badman in his book The Beatles: Off the Record. Lennon added: “I mean, we had that image, but man, our tours were likes something else. If you could get on our tours, you were in. Australia, just everywhere! Just Satyricon. Just think of Satyricon with four musicians going through it. Wherever we went, there was always a whole scene going on. We had our four bedrooms separate and Derek and Neil’s rooms were always full of fuck knows what, and policemen and everything. Satyricon! We had to do something, and what do you do when the pill doesn’t wear off, when it’s time to go? I used to be up all night with Derek, whether there was anybody there or not. I could never sleep, such a scene it was.” This is not a Wattpad fanfic. It is John Lennon who compares the Beatles to a movie with a lot of gay innuendos.

#the beatles #john lennon #john lennon 1970s #the beatles touring #paul mccartney #george harrison #ringo starr #pride month 2022 #pride month #gay #bisexual #pansexual #queer love #lgbtqia #mclennon #brian epstein

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temperadamente · 7 months

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On July 26, 1970, John recorded demos of "God"; September 26 records more demos (including other songs) and releases the album "Plastic Ono Band" in DECEMBER 1970. In "God" we have the lines "and so, dear friends, you'll just to carry on. The dream is over." And, in JANUARY 1971, during the "Ram" sessions, Paul recorded "Dear Friend", which became part of the Wings album "Wild Life", released only in December of the same year. In the song we have the lines "Is this really the border line? Does it really mean so much to you?" and then "Are you afraid, or is it true?"

I don't know, it looks something like:

"So, John... Is the dream really over? Does this new life mean a lot to you now? Is it true? Or are you scared?"

recording info: The Beatles Diary Volume 2: After The Break-Up 1970-2001, Keith Badman

#mclennon #some thoughts

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pleasantlyinsincere · 2 years

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When was the Two Virgins night, May 3rd vs May 19th 1968?

Since the topic of when the Two VIrgins night supposedly happened comes up every now and again, here’s a post argueing the two dates and giving, in my opinion, the most plausible timeline for May 1968.

May 19th 1968 seems to be the most widely accepted date today (e.g. Wikipedia, Beatles Bible…) to put John and Yoko’s first night together. Since none of these websites gives any source or reason for the date, I started trying to find out how people got there. I looked through quite a few Beatles books to try to find a clue where and for what reason it was first introduced.

Surprisingly it wasn’t dated at all for a few decades. From what I could find, the first mention happened by Barry Miles in Many Years from now nearly 30 years after the Two Virgins night . Here’s a list of which books place the date when, sorted by publishing date: (I didn’t look at interviews, magazines or other sources.)

John Lennon. One Day at a Time, Anthony Fawcett (‘76): May 1968

The Beatles Forever, Nicholas Schaffner (‘77): May 1968

A Twist of Lennon, Cynthia Lennon (‘78): no date given, placed before the NY trip

Shout!: The True Story of The Beatles, Philip Norman (‘81), no date given

The Ballad of John and Yoko, The Editors of Rolling Stone (‘82): May 1968

John Lennon. In My Life, Pete Shotton/Nicholas Schaffner (‘83): May 1968

The Love You Make, Peter Brown/Steven Gaines (‘83): no date given

Lennon. The Definitive Biography, Ray Coleman (‘84); May 1968

The Beatles. Day by Day (‘87), Mark Lewisohn: no mention

The Lives of John Lennon, Albert Goldman (‘88): no date given, Cyn leaving for Greece “just two weeks after her return from India”

The Lost Lennon Tapes, Radio Show, a few weeks after NY and a few days prior to May 22 (Added in edit)

In My Life, John Lennon Remembered, Mark Lewisohn/Kevin Howlett (‘90): May 1968

A Day in the Life, Mark Hertsgaard (‘95): exact date is unknown, sometime in the latter half of May 1968

Many Years From Now, Barry Miles (‘97): May 19 1968 (they Jesus meeting on the 18)

The Beatles. Off the Record, Keith Badman (‘00): May 19 1968

John, Cynthia Lennon (‘05): no date given, placed before the NY trip

The Beatles. The Biography, Bob Spitz (‘05): no date given, places after the NY trip

John Lennon. The Biography, Philip Norman (‘08): May 18/19 1968 (also places Cyns Greece holiday and the NY trip at the same time)

The Beatles Diary, Barry Miles (‘09): May 19 (Cynthia's return on 26th May)

Lennonology, Chip Madinger/ Scott Raile (‘15): May 3 “almost certainly”

Arguements and timeline behind the cut, because this got annoyingly long.

As you can see most authors didn’t date it any further than sometime in May 1968. Even by 1995 Hertsgaard still wrote that the exact date wasn’t known. Two years later however Barry Miles put it down as being May 19 and from then on more authors went with it.

If anyone has come across an earlier mention of the May 19 date, or someone explaining how they arrived at that date, please share. I would be really interested in that.

Disappointingly Barry Miles doesn’t give any reason why dated it as May 19. It’s easy to refute his assurance that the Jesus meeting happened on the 18, though. Every source I read for that puts all four Beatles there. However Ringo and George were in Cannes at the time and only returned on the 19. Therefore Miles certainly is wrong giving that date.

Here is Ringo and Mo dancing on the evening of May 18 in France:

On May 19 Ringo and George returned from Cannes. The same day George and Pattie travel to Liverpool to go to a christening. It is possible that they could have traveled back to London the same day, for George to go to the Apple meeting. It just sounds very stressfull.

For the Two Virgins night to happen Cyn has to be in Greece at the time traveling with Jenny, Alex, Donovan and Gypsie. Magic Alex is with John and Paul during their New York business trip. They return to London on May 16. We can already exclude Philip Norman’s timeline of the NY trip and the Greece holiday happening at the same time, because Alex can certainly only be at one place at the time.

It is possible that Alex kept his bag packed and he left with Cynthia for Greece on May 17. A two week holiday would mean that they returned on May 31, while Miles dates it to being 26 May. (If they didn’t immediately leave and only left a day or two later, the return day should move also.)

Jenny Boyd however has another court date on the 16. Originally when everyone returned from India her passport was taken, so that she wouldn’t flee the country, after drugs had been found in her apartment. She had it returned for a trip earlier that month but I don’t know if she was then allowed to keep it, or only got it back after her case was decided in June. It is therefore questionable, if she could travel around this time.

On May 22 John and Yoko already have their first public outing attending the Apple tailoring opening. This seems contradictory to the fact that Pete Shotton remembers that during the Greece trip John got angry at their housekeeper Dot for alerting Cyn to Yoko being at Weybridge. If he didn’t want her yet to know, posing for the press would undermine that goal. It would make more sense, if at this time Cyn already knew about the affair.

Cynthia recalls that after her return from Greece and finding Yoko at her home, she moved out for a few days to Alex and Jennys place, before returning to try to reconnect with John again and only then leaving for Italy with Julian and her mother. I assume we should ascribe about a week for this to happen. So even if she already returns from Greece on May 26, after (at the most) nine days instead of two weeks, the earliest it would make sense for her to leave again for Italy would be June 2nd or 3rd. This is supposedly another two week vacation. However Cynthia already sent a telegram home on June 6, that they’ll return on Sunday June 9. That doesn’t match with the alleged lengths of the holiday, which in this case would be barely a week.

Other aspects not quite fitting in:

during the time Cyn is back at Weybridge and supposedly settling again with John, the White Album recordings start with Yoko being in the studio

Pete Shotton travels with John and Yoko looking at a house on June 1. Also unlikely if Cny is still there.

the Italy holiday is listed on the Lennon household expenses for May

Yoko already requested her bank to send a summary of her account to Pete Shotton on May 13

John and Yoko joint art exhibition Four Thoughts is promoted as such in the International Times on May 24 and has its opening night on May 28 or June 2 (date is debated). Unlikely for them to go public in that way and find the time to prepare an exhibition together, if at the same time Cynthia is returning home to settle again with John.

In Lennonology Chip Madinger and Scott Raile have worked out an alternative date for the Two Virgins recording night, they feel almost certain about. They place it on May 3. To me the most compelling reason they give, is fitting in Cynthia’s Greece vacation with Jenny Boyds limited possibilities to travel.

(May 1) Finally, solicitor David Jacobs returned to court today on behalf of Jenny Boyd to request the return of her passport, as "she wants to go to Rome this weekend" (more specifically, her paramour Donovan was scheduled to perform in concert there on Saturday). Her request was granted, but only on the condition that she return to Britain no later than Monday, May 6th.

Jenny Boyd, Donovan and possibly Gypsie were in Rome that weekend in early May and it’s easy to confirm the date of the concert online. With Jenny needing a special permission to travel from court, it seems unlikely that she made multiple trips during that month.

Going with that date, would mean that Cynthia and Alex could have left for Greece around April 25th alone. (That’s also roughly two weeks after returning from India as Goldman implies.) On the way home, they then met up with Jenny and Donovan in Rome and flew home together on May 5th. Thereby placing John and Yoko’s first night together a few days prior. If it has to be exactly the 3rd is debatable.

This date fits more nicely with:

Cynthia quite consistently remembering her finding John and Yoko together happening before John left for New York.

makes more sense this way for Yoko to send her banking account infos by May 13th, if they were already sure about their relationship by that point

Cynthia and Julian leave for Italy around May 20, being absent for John and Yoko to go out together in public to the Apple tailoring event, in the studio, collaborate on their art show and to go house shopping and making the planned return date of June 9 more realistic

And here is a simplified version if my ongoing work-in-progress ‘68 timeline from John’s return from India to early June for a better understanding how everything would fit together:

#team may 3rd #ridiculously long niche interest beatles post #i'm really curious now why miles put the date there #did he work it out somehow and not tell readers or was it for narrative reasone?#thoughts in progress #i'm sorry if this isn't very readable i am tired

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inspiteallthedanger · 1 year

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"Just days before his brutal death, John was making plans to return to England for a triumphant Beatles reunion. His greatest dream was to recreate the musical magic of the early years with Paul, George and Ringo. That dream depended on the success of ‘Starting Over’. John was always an Englishman at heart. He wanted to return to his roots but he wanted to do it in style. John discussed the possibility of returning to England if ‘Starting Over’ made it to No. 1. If it had, John, Sean and I were going to sail back to England on the QE2. John was very excited about the idea. John never really fell out with Paul, George and Ringo, despite what people think. There were differences, sometimes intense, but none that totally destroyed those friendships. They just grew apart because each had families of their own to care for. Finally, John felt that they had travelled different paths for long enough. He felt they had grown up and were mature enough to try writing and recording new songs.”

-- -- -- Yoko Ono

The Beatles - The Dream Is Over - Off The Record 2 - By Keith Badman, Page 273, Entry for Friday, December 5 1980

#beth rambles #hmmm #I swear Yoko will just SAY things #like what is this

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Fanboy Fantasy: Quixo-WWE 2021 WrestleMania 37

(originally posted November 21, 2020)

Introduction: Since I've moved away from my old Quixotronic website, I will be posting some of my old wrestling articles here on Tumblr to see how they turn out. This way they can be saved here? Or something. Either way, here is how I would have booked 2021's WWE WrestleMania 37 back in November 2020.

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We’re at the halfway(ish) point of the WWE season now that we’re past SummerSlam and especially with the brand draft now finally done. What does that mean? It’s time to fantasy book next year’s WrestleMania far too early! Hooray!

So fun fact - I had an entire card in mind before the brand draft happened and easily dismantled 80% of the card. Most of the card’s story revolved around the unification of the major titles - Drew McIntyre vs Roman Reigns for the World/Universal titles, Asuka vs Charlotte Flair for the Raw/Smackdown Women’s titles, and pretty much all the tag teams in a gauntlet match for the Raw/Smackdown Tag Team titles. This would have all set off by two things: Charlotte Flair winning the Smackdown Women’s title and deciding to do what Brock Lesnar couldn’t and win the Royal Rumble as champion (which she does) and choosing to face Asuka to unify the titles. Of course Brock Lesnar shows up in the men’s rumble and wins it only to declare that he wants both titles due to his history with both men’s champions (Brock would be pulled from the main event for reasons). At that point why not also unify the men’s Tag Team belts (the IC and US belts would have remained solo to each brand).

Another match I had planned was Big E vs Kofi Kingston vs Xavier Woods in an Intercontinental title match not because they broke up and were feuding, but because Big E had won the title and they were defending it under Freebird rules and having all of the fun. All of it. They then decide to have friendly match to see who would win (spoiler - it would have been Woods). But is that possible now?

Big E did not need to be separated from Kofi & Xavier to get his singles push. Nobody wants this. Not the Quixotronic offices, not the New Day themselves, nobody. But what if we made it work? The Big E singles push in my original thought would mirror Kofimania to show that god dammit these guys are friends and they support each other no matter what. But what if the story is about the opposite? What if it's about when that support goes away?

Big E feuds first with Baron Corbin who mocks him for no longer having any friends (seriously, you can just picture this one, right?). They end up both being on Team Smackdown at Survivor Series (along with Rey Mysterio, Seth Rollins, and Kevin Owens just to make it a team that just does not want to cooperate) against a somehow smoother Team Raw (Randy Orton, Kofi Kingston, AJ Styles, Andrade, & Keith Lee). Big E and Kofi refuse to fight each other if they happen to be tagged in at the same time, and Team Smackdown wins with surviving members Big E and Baron Corbin. Big E and Corbin settle their differences at the December PPV (TLC?) with a solid Big E win before clearing them both for entry into the Royal Rumble.

In the Rumble, the final four are Big E, Kofi, Andrade, and Keith Lee. Andrade is able to eliminate Lee and then faces down E and Kofi. New Day huddles to decide on a game plan until Kofi just jumps out of the ring. Both E and Andrade are shocked but Kofi yells that it’s E’s time. Kofi’s been there, he doesn’t need it again. Big E (obviously) wins and the New Day celebrates in the ring as we close out.

At this point, Roman Reigns has defeated Jey Uso (again) forcing both Usos to admit that he is their Tribal Chief (™) and are members in his new stable The Tribe or Bloodline or The Family or whatever. Roman brings Tamina into the fold as well as the Usos' dad Rikishi, but this is “I did it for the Rock” Rikishi - he’s a badman. Roman has also sent feelers over to Raw to bring Nia Jax (who is still Women’s Tag Team champs with Shayna Baszler) into the fold as his agent on Raw. Naomi, also on Raw, is not brought in and is used a leverage against the Usos to keep them in line.

What was Roman doing while Big E was winning the Rumble? He was absolutely demolishing Daniel Bryan in a title match because he decided he could. Every time he won the Rumble, people chanted for Bryan instead. Every damn time. So yeah, Don Roman wants to ruin everyone's Royal Rumble again - Bryan is eaten within three minutes.

(Did somebody say three minutes?)

Mob Boss Roman Reigns first sends the Usos to Raw the night after the Royal Rumble to cost New Day their Raw Tag Team titles in a match against Shelton Benjamin and Cedric Alexander of the Hurt Business. This causes Triple H to close the borders between Raw and Smackdown - any wrestler who interferes on the opposite brand will be first fined and then terminated. This fully separates Big E from Kofi and Xavier just as Roman wanted. (Why is this the act that finally stops inter-brand shenanigans? For crying Big E reasons).

Roman next manipulates Seth Rollins to go after Big E based on their Shield history, though Murphy can clearly see that the Savior of Smackdown is just being used. Rollins thinks he helping save Roman from himself somehow. Big E defeats former-World Champion Seth Rollins at Elimination Chamber to establish that yes, he can defeat World Champions (yes he’s defeated Sheamus also but it doesn’t have the same feel, right?). Roman sends the Usos, at this point the Smackdown Tag Team Champions, formally after Big E in a handicap match at Fastlane with the stipulation that if Kofi and/or Xavier show up that Big E loses his title match at WrestleMania since they can’t really be fined for being at a show that has both brands anyway. Big E is able to power through and wins the match - one of the Usos also may or may not have allowed Big E to pin them in solidarity just like during KofiMania, but it’s less obvious this time.

That leaves us with one final destination: Big E vs Roman Reigns at WrestleMania. One man who's mostly lost his family and refuses to let the darkness consume him against the main who has remade his family in his own darker and darker image. It's very dramatic - here's Big E's review of the story and match:

Who will survive!?

Quick ground rules - we're still in a Quixotine so WrestleMania is two nights again. Also despite Edge vs Randy Orton being an obvious match, I'm not sure if Edge will be healthy by then so we're skipping it and Orton is taking the night off.

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Quixo-WWE 2021 WrestleMania 37 - Night One

Fanboy Fantasy: Despite us living in a world where Andrade was somehow not drafted in the brand draft this last week, we’re fixing that. Andrade makes his return to Raw with his fiancé Charlotte Flair as the new power couple. Andrade goes on to join Team Raw at Survivor Series (see above) and is the last surviving member before falling to Big E. He rebounds with strong wins over Jeff Hardy and Matt Riddle before being the iron man of the Royal Rumble by entering #3 like his future father-in-law and being the last surviving Raw member. Andrade goes on to win a mini-tournament to crown Raw’s #1 contender defeating Keith Lee in the finals due to Retribution interfering and costing Lee the match (a little more on that later). This leaves Andrade primed to once again defeat McIntyre like he did in NXT for the NXT title. However, we’re going to start WrestleMania on a happy note: McIntyre retains his title. Sorry, Andrade!

Your winner: Drew McIntyre

Buddy Murphy vs Seth Rollins

Fanboy Fantasy: After Rollins and Rey Mysterio are both eliminated from Team Smackdown at Survivor Series their feud is somehow ended. I don’t care how anymore. Rollins and Murphy focus on the Rumble where Rollins eliminates Murphy. Later on Rollins tries to explain that it was for the greater good and Murphy bides his time. Rollins then falls under the sway of his former Shield brother Roman Reigns and is used as a hitman unsuccessfully against Big E. Rollins gives every excuse possible to explain to both Roman and the WWE Universe why he couldn’t finish off Big E. If Seth Rollins has been playing Jesus this whole time, then Roman is his father/God and maybe he needs to die so he can once again save. Roman gladly grants him this wish at Fastlane in a rare heel vs heel match. Roman retains and Rollins again lashes out at Murphy when he finally stands up for himself and fights back to set up a WrestleMania showdown. However it’s not quite Buddy’s time yet - Rollins wins.

Your winner: Seth Rollins

WWE Smackdown Tag Team Titles Match: Artist Collective (Sami Zayn & Shinsuke Nakamura) vs Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode vs Los Mysterios (Dominik & Rey Mysterio) vs Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford) vs Usos (Jey & Jimmy Uso) ©

Fanboy Fantasy: The Street Profits hold onto their titles for the rest of the year until on a random Smackdown they lose the belts to Los Mysterios, giving Dominik his first taste of WWE gold and proving that Rey can still go. By this time Jimmy Uso is healthy enough to rejoin Jey as a fellow unwilling member of the Tribe and Roman tells them the Family wants the Tag Team titles. The Usos go and do what they do and win the titles from Los Mysterios. They are able to retain against the former champs (both Mysterios and Profits) though, as already mentioned, do lose a handicap match against Big E at Fastlane. This makes them possible underdogs going into WrestleMania when we have a generic throw-multiple-teams-in match. However the fear of Roman prevails and the Usos retain. Don Roman is pleased.

Your winners: The Usos

Keith Lee & Mercedes Martinez vs Retribution (Dominik Dijakovic & Mia Yim)

Fanboy Fantasy: Keith Lee loses the #1 contendership tournament due to Retribution costing him the final. Why? Because after being in the final four of the Rumble, Retribution tried to unsuccessfully recruit him to their cause - apparently being fighting friends with Dijakovic means nothing anymore. After costing him the match we get a full main-roster feud between Lee and Dijakovic because they should fight forever (clap clap clapclapclap). To make it a touch different, we’ll bring in Mia Yim (the other main Retribution member with history with Lee) and Mercedes Martinez as the Retribution member who got out. Lee and Martinez are able to defeat Retribution and cause them a momentum-blow going into our other Retribution-related match of the night.

Your winner: Keith Lee & Mercedes Martinez

Three Stages of Hell Match: Bayley vs Sasha Banks

Fanboy Fantasy: Bayley retains against Sasha Banks at Hell in a Cell and gives her a “career-threatening” injury. Guys, Sasha may never wrestle again. It’s okay, she can always star in more seasons of The Mandalorian, right? Bayley, absolutely full of herself holds onto the title a little longer until a fluke loss to Smackdown-newbie Bianca Belair. Belair retains in a rematch. After a second rematch that Bayley loses, Banks returns to attack Bayley - but after Bayley had already lost just so Banks can rub it in. Their hate leads to a Three Stages of Hell match - the first pin fall is a normal match, the second is first blood match, and the last is an I Quit match. Bayley wins the first match by cheating behind the ref’s back, but Sasha busts Bayley open to win the second fall. Sasha locks on the Banks Statement on for an unbearable 5 long minutes to force Bayley to admit she quits.

Your winner: Sasha Banks

Fanboy Fantasy: Mustafa Ali has been busy since coming out as the leader of Retribution - he first feuds with the New Day because what some people forget about KofiMania is that Kofi wasn’t even supposed to be in the Elimination Chamber match that year - Ali was. When he went down with an injury, Kofi was subbed in and something magical happened - but that was Ali’s spot. After losing that feud at Elimination Chamber, and while members Yim and Dijakovic deal with Keith Lee and Mercedes Martinez, Ali gets himself a United States title match with champion Ricochet (he beats Bobby Lashley for the belt at some point) after Ricochet also declines to join Retribution. The two have what can be described as an AEW-style match with all the flips and all the kick outs but Ali secures the win with no Retribution interference.

Your winner, and NEW WWE United States Champion: Mustafa Ali

Firefly Funhouse Match: AJ Styles vs "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt

Fanboy Fantasy: Since switching to Raw, AJ Styles starts acting as neither face nor heel - he’s just putting on great matches. He becomes part of Team Raw at Survivor Series. Styles is eliminated from Team Raw when an Undertaker gong goes off mid-match and freaks him the fuck out. At this point Styles is having PTSD-like flashbacks to being buried alive and his work begins to suffer. Bray Wyatt, the helpful friend that he is and now backed by both a fully possessed-Alexa Bliss and golem-like Braun Strowman (for love of Eddie Guerrero give me this!), offers to help Styles with his problem - all he has to do is what John Cena did last year - come into the Firefly Funhouse and work out his issues with Bray. Ignore the fact that Cena did not come back after said match. The Fiend will show him the way. If AJ realizes all the accolaides he's had that the Undertaker never had, it would repower him! The Fiend will show him. The Fiend will let him in. AJ makes the worst decision he can and accepts the match(?). AJ’s statistician Joseph Park warns him not to but AJ enters anyway.

AJ awakens in a WCW Thunder ring teaming with Bray Wyatt in the WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Titles tournament - we don’t see their opponents but their silhouette’s appear to be Undertaker and John Cena - and we hear Cena yell “Get out!” Bray laughs the “noise” off before an Undertaker gong goes off. We have a quick cut of Undertaker dragging AJ across the graveyard from last year before opening back up on an unfamiliar and plain ring with a beaten Jeff Jarrett in the middle of the ring. AJ is now holding a blurred-out NWA World Heavyweight title belt. Bray, in a referee shirt, whispers to AJ "did he ever have that?" and laughs.

A gong cuts us to the next scene - and another quick cut of Styles being buried alive - followed by a similar plain ring with broken tables and blood splattered all over and Joseph Park kneeling and crying in the corner and a mask near him. Styles runs to him and asks him why he followed him. Park heard the whispers - the familiar whispers and he couldn’t help himself. John Cena's voice screaming can be heard in the background as the lights begin to blink out. The screams fade as Wyatt can now be overheard telling Park to “put the mask on” while Park cries “no please no.” Park slowly lifts the mask up and Styles yells as the lights go out only to come back with Park fully dressed as TNA’s Abyss once again - he powerslams Styles through one of the tables and disappears.

Another gong sends us to the next scene - another quick cut of Styles being buried - and then Styles walks out in a Japanese-looking arena and walks past Finn Balor in full Demon paint. The two eye each other as they walk past and Demon Finn fades away as Styles passes him by. Cena, dressed as NJPW’s Kazuchika Okada, is laying in the middle of the ring as Alexa Bliss hands him another blurred out championship. Bray whispers again and tells Styles this is another win he has that Undertaker doesn’t. Soon he’ll be able to face Undertaker again and do what he couldn’t before.

Undertaker gong, quick buried cut, and we’re on the Smackdown set and AJ is face to face with John Cena who looks very worried and is wearing his nWo shirt from last WrestleMania. “AJ! He won’t let me leave!” but the two then go into the motions of a match while Bray laughs. Quick cut and now we’re finally back at the Graveyard match from last year and AJ is face to face with Bray Wyatt dressed as the Undertaker. AJ tenses up to fight but instead uses his words - he’s not mad at Undertaker, he’s mad at himself. He's not mad at Cena either, it was just his job to fight him.

Bray, as the Dead Man, continues to smile. "AJ, the Undertaker is done and you lost. There is only the Fiend now - and you're in my home, boy. You're now part of my collection!" Bray transforms into fully into the Fiend and throws AJ into a shallow grave where AJ lands next to Cena’s unmoving body. We cut to a POV shot from in the grave to see Fiend, Bliss, Strowman, and Abyss all staring down into the grave as dirt is shoveled in. The two are buried and Bray and his crew walk away laughing.

Your winner: The Fiend

Baron Corbin vs Chad Gable (w/ Daniel Bryan)

Fanboy Fantasy: In my official “does this really have to be on the card” match of the show, it’s also very specifically slotted to be the match between the Firefly Funhouse and night one’s main event - feel free to go grab a snack and take a piss. After Daniel Bryan’s murder via Roman Reigns (see above), Corbin decides to mock Bryan now that he’s done mocking Big E - it’s not a great start but for Corbin it works so damn perfectly. Corbin and Bryan face off at some point and Corbin beats Bryan cleanly. It’s at this point that Chad Gable comes to Bryan’s aid. You see, back when it was revealed that Jason Jordan was revealed as then-Raw General Manager Kurt Angle’s son (sorry for the reminder), Chad Gable started jokingly calling then-Smackdown General Manager Daniel Bryan “dad.” Gable is tired of Baron Corbin getting the last laugh on Daniel Bryan when he was down, he’s tired of Corbin pinning Kurt Angle in his last match, and most importantly, he’s tired of going by the fucking name “Shorty G” because of Corbin. He may have lost to Corbin in the finals of the King of the Ring tournament and allowed Corbin to call himself “King Corbin” but that’s all done with. Corbin isn’t facing Shorty G at WrestleMania - he’s facing Chad fucking Gable and he’s got Daniel Bryan in his corner. And it’s a quick match: Gable with the upset (?) win.

Your winner: Chad Gable

Fanboy Fantasy: After returning alongside Andrade, Charlotte Flair wins the women’s Rumble for the second year in a row because we can’t have nice things - also she was also #3 like her dad and fiance. Though she has won every women’s singles belt, she has never walked out of WrestleMania with the Raw Women’s title (she won the WWE Women’s title at WM32 pre-brand split, retained the Smackdown Women’s title at WM34, and won the NXT Women’s title at WM36 - thanks random wrestling stat generator!). Plus, she’s beaten Asuka already at WrestleMania so why not do another repeat while she’s at it. However, this isn’t just-out-of-NXT Asuka, who to be fair is a monster anyway. This is dancing and murdering Thunderdome MVP Asuka. Sorry Raw power-couple, no double gold this time: Asuka retains. Asuka dances. Delight in all things Asuka.

Your winner: Asuka

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Quixo-WWE 2021 WrestleMania 37 - Night Two

WWE Intercontinental Title Special International Ladder Match: Aleister Black vs Apollo Crews vs Cesaro vs Kalisto vs Sheamus vs Kevin Owens ©

Fanboy Fantasy: Much like Keith Lee and Dominik Dijakovic on Raw, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn fall into the “fight forever” side of things. After Survivor Series, Zayn tries to reteam with his good friend Kevin Owens, but Owens sees how annoying Zayn has become and powerbombs him immediately. Owens beats Zayn for the title on the Christmas episode of Smackdown, Zayn regains the title at the Royal Rumble due to interference from Cesaro & Nakamura, and Owens regains it again shortly after due to botched interference from Cesaro. Cesaro ends up splitting off from Zayn and Nakamura who decide to pursue the tag belts. Owens defends against Cesaro at Elimination Chamber and Kalisto at Fastlane. Owens decides to hold an “International Challenge” match where every competitor is from a different country, so we get Aleister Black (Netherlands), Apollo Crews (America), Cesaro (Switzerland), Kalisto (Mexico), Sheamus (Ireland, Owens invites him because he feels sorry that Sheamus has won everything except the IC belt and even covers the money needed for him to show up on another brand) and Owens (Canada). They’re not all winning storylines folks. Aleister Black wins the title because I want him to have nice things.

Your winner, and NEW WWE Intercontinental Champion: Aleister Black

Fanboy Fantasy: Finn Balor and WALTER were supposed to face each other at NXT UK Takeover: Dublin in May but then waves madly all of this happened. NXT UK went on hiatus and Balor came back to NXT Domestic and won the NXT title. However now that NXT UK is back and once Finn is healed from his broken goddamn jaw he starts calling out WALTER. He wants his match. Over on NXT UK, WALTER calls out Finn also, telling him to get his ass back to England and face him like a man. The announcers put over the fact that they can’t actually travel back and forth but by WrestleMania time the correct parties are bribed and WALTER arrives in the USA for a special NXT vs NXT UK titles match - winner takes all. The two put on a very British catch as catch can match before the rest of Imperium interferes causing the DQ finish and each man walks out with their respective titles. They’ll get another round whenever the next NXT UK Takeover is eventually held.

Your winner: Finn Balor (by DQ)

John Morrison vs The Miz

Fanboy Fantasy: The Miz gets more and more angry that not only is WrestleMania not in Hollywood like it was supposed to be because of the so-called “pandemic” but because he doesn’t have a match for the show. He and Morrison don’t qualify for a United States title match or a Tag Team titles match (they even try sneaking back into Smackdown and fail there as well - they have the cash to cover checking in on the other brand). Finally with a week before the show, Morrison has an idea - what if they turn on each other? They’d have to settle the score at WrestleMania! They both shrug, Morrison winks to the camera, and they very playfully hit each other while yelling "I'm turning on you!" and “how dare you!” and “I’ll see you at WrestleMania!” This of course works and they get a match on the card. The match starts with them having a nice gentle match but as it goes on they both start hitting stiffer and stiffer. Miz eventually wins by putting using his legs on the ropes for leverage - after WM he can use his win to argue into a future World title match with Drew McIntyre. Morrison doesn’t see the dirty win on the show - but eventually figures it out and really turns on Miz with Morrison sliding into the face role with Miz staying in the heel role as he forever should be. Morrison eventually wins the more feud to set him up as a hopeful world title contender.

Your winner: The Miz

Fanboy Fantasy: Bayley loses her belt to Bianca Belair in what she immediately calls a fluke but it really isn’t. Belair establishes herself by defeating Bayley in the rematch and goes off looking for challengers. Zelina Vega, now also on Smackdown and without either Andrade or Angel Garza, slowly defeats everyone else on the roster not named Bayley or Sasha who are off in their blood feud to become the #1 contender. Vega is able to score the win and take the title. This is when Aleister Black shows up to very darkly and calmly celebrate with his wife - it is Black and Vega who are your new power couple, not Charlotte and Andrade! Swerve, bro! Oh, and Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae show up on the Smackdown after WrestleMania. Boom, power couple feud!

You winner, and NEW WWE Smackdown Women’s Champion: Zelina Vega

Cage Fight Match: Bobby Lashley (w/ MVP) vs Brock Lesnar (w/ Kurt Angle)

Fanboy Fantasy: Here’s your special exhibition match for this year’s show - an MMA style Cage match (or Fight Cage as they called it during the Matt Riddle/Timothy Thatcher match on NXT this summer). Easy set up: Brock Lesnar returns in the Royal Rumble with Kurt freaking Angle by his side. He eliminates a few people (except iron man Andrade) before Bobby Lashey enters next a heads right for Lesnar - the announcers put over that Lashley’s MMA record is better than Lesnar’s though it was not UFC. The two brawl and eliminate each other. On the next night’s Raw, Angle informs us that since Lesnar lost at last year’s WrestleMania for the second year in a row, he thought maybe he was finished. Then his advisor, Paul Heyman, left him for one of his enemies, Roman Reigns, he thought maybe he was finished again. That’s when he reached out to Angle and the two agreed - Lesnar wasn’t finished yet. This brings out MVP and his client Bobby Lashley who issue a very simple challenge: Lashley/Lesnar at WrestleMania - they’ll make it Lesnar’s third strike at the show of shows. Angle accepts on Lesnar’s behalf and the match eventually becomes the cage match we get. In the mean time we get what we haven’t seen since roughly 2004 - a weirdly good guy Lesnar mostly due to his handling by Angle and he shows up to work (sometimes). At Fastlane, we get a preview of sorts when Lesnar and a partner of his choosing are allowed to face the Raw Tag Team champions Alexander & Benjamin and Lesnar shows up with former Team Angle member Charlie Haas (I just want to see Lesnar, Benjamin, Haas, and Angle all in the ring together for a minute). MVP causes a DQ and Hurt Business keeps the belts. Finally at WrestleMania we get the MMA(-ish) match - Angle and MVP are kept on the outside and Lashley gets the job done - he beats Lesnar clean. This completes the rebuild of Lashley as a World title contender (who perhaps is the one to finally beat McIntyre?) and Lesnar goes on to have a few special challenge matches with Angle at his side - Matt Riddle and Chad Gable are obviously contenders - before finally deciding to retire to the farm.

Your winner: Bobby Lashley

WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles Gauntlet Match: Flex Appeal (Dana Brooke & Mandy Rose) vs Lacey Evans & Lana vs Liv 2 Riott (Liv Morgan & Ruby Riott) vs Rhea Ripley & Shotzi Blackheart vs Nia Jax & Naomi © vs Shayna Baszler & [mystery partner] ©

Fanboy Fantasy: Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax continue to be the unlikely team as they chalk up win after win after win. However, after working so well together they start to fight again, but continue to win. At some point, Nia Jax (as a favor to Tribal Chief (™) Roman Reigns) decides to defend the titles with Naomi - and does so successfully. Baszler lays down the challenge - Jax and Naomi can defend their half of the title while Baszler and a partner of her choosing with defend her half at WrestleMania - winners take all. And because it’s WrestleMania it’s a 6-team affair - including NXT’s Rhea Ripley and Shotzi Blackheart because I like good things. It’s a gauntlet match and due to various match-determined reasons, Jax and Naomi will be the first team and Baslzer and [mystery partner] are the last team. Jax and Naomi first defeat Lana & Lacey Evans easily, and eliminate Ripley and Blackheart second (sorry). Mandy Rose and Dana Brooke come in fourth and pin Naomi to eliminate one half of the champions. Ruby Riott and Liv Morgan enter next and eliminate Brooke & Rose, and finally we get the other half of champions: Shayna Baslzer and of course RONDA ROUSEY. Baszler starts the match but as soon as Rousey gets in she refuses to tag Baszler back in. Her hubris gets the better of her and Riott pins her for the win and the belts. This gets Riott and Morgan the prize of being champions and also Riott revenge for losing to Rousey years ago in like 5 seconds. That was bullshit. Baslzer, already having lost one frenemy is the one that rehabs the relationship for the next few months, long enough to get a fucking WWE/NXT Horsewomen vs MMA Horsewomen match at the 2021 Survivor Series (Lynch might be ready to come back by then?). Then, and only then, does Baszler murder Rousey. Oh how the Quixotronic offices will rejoice. Murder, Baszler, murder!

Your winners, and NEW WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions: Liv 2 Riott

Hardy Compound Exorcism Match: Alexa Bliss (w/ Braun Strowman) vs Nikki Cross (w/ Jeff Hardy)

Fanboy Fantasy: Since moving to Raw, Alexa Bliss has become fully possessed by Sister Abigail and begins actively teaming with Bray. Braun Strowman, thinking wrongly that he was finished with Bray, tries to get through to Alexa but she finally turns him over to Bray’s side, becoming a golem-like unblinking uncaring monster who destroys only for Bray and Alexa. You know how in X-Men comics Shadowcat walks around with Lockheed the dragon wrapped around her neck? I want that with Braun and Alexa. The size-difference is not that far off. Nikki Cross, however, is now left alone and fully abandoned by her former friend and she doesn’t know what to do. After Braun bulldozes through Jeff Hardy in the Royal Rumble match, in the coming weeks Hardy comes to Nikki and tells her he saw something in Braun’s eyes - the same thing Nikki sees in Alexa’s eyes. It’s something he thinks he can get out of them, but they need to do it away from the Thunderdome and away from the Firefly Funhouse - they need to get them into the Lake of Reincarnation. The challenge is layed, Bray allows his minions to leave (especially after such great work the previous night) and we enter the Hardy Compound. Braun and Jeff are primarily on the sidelines and the main fight is Alexa and Nikki - Jeff mostly stops Braun from trying to smash his way into the fight. Nikki and Alexa fight all around the Compound and Nikki gets more and more wild throughout the match. They get closer and closer to the Lake of Reincarnation and fight onto Skarsgard the boat. The boat drifts out as the two fight harder and harder with Nikki trying to push Alexa over into the Lake. Alexa goes for a Sister Abigail but Nikki reverses it into a perfect Sister Abigail herself and drops Bliss into the Lake. Cross sighs in relief and sails back to shore. It appears that all is well until Braun’s fist appears from off-screen and knocks Cross out - the final shot is Braun quietly and calmly dragging the unconscious bodies of Nikki Cross and Jeff Hardy into the Lake as all three submerge. This eventually leads to Bliss/Strowman and Cross/Hardy switching roles - Bliss and Strowman are released from Bray’s control via the Lake of Reincarnation but at the cost of Nikki Cross, the new avatar of Sister Abigail and back to her crazy-NXT self, and Jeff Hardy, now working his Willow gimmick, both in employ of the Fiend. Now that Bliss and Strowman are back - what will they do to save their friends who damned themselves to save them?

Your winner(?): Nikki Cross

WWE Raw Tag Team Titles Elimination Match: Catch Point (Drew Gulak & Matt Riddle) vs New Day (Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods) vs Hurt Business (Cedric Alexander & Shelton Benjamin) ©

Fanboy Fantasy: Kofi and Woods hold onto the Raw tag team titles until the Raw after the Royal Rumble when they lose the straps to Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin due to the Usos’ interference. Hurt Business retain the titles in an Elimination Chamber match with New Day, Miz and Morrison, Lucha House Party, Mustafa Ali and Dio Maddin of Retribution, and new (but actually old) team of Matt Riddle and Drew Gulak - they’re like the Bro-serweights except Gulak likes to punch Riddle more. Once we get to WrestleMania we drop it down to a three-way match with New Day, Catch Point, and champions Hurt Business in an elimination match because Gulak couldn’t keep his mouth shut about being able to defeat both teams. Catch Point, of course, is eliminated first - Riddle even allows the pin to occur on Gulak (very un-bro of him). New Day is able to put away HB and retake the titles - now we wait for Big E to bring the rest of the gold home. (Also we’re not done with Catch Point - they face each other a few times but decide they actually make a better team… until Pete Dunne returns to the US that is!)

Your winners, and NEW WWE Raw Tag Team Champions: New Day

Fanboy Fantasy: And now the big match arrives. Big E arrives while New Day are still celebrating in the ring and the three dance for a moment before Big E readies himself in the ring and New Day goes off to his corner. Roman arrives flanked by the entire Family - his cousins the Usos, his brother Seth Rollins, his advisor Rikishi, his enforcers Tamina, Nia Jax, and Naomi, and his advocate Paul Heyman. All but the Usos (even Heyman) are ushered away as Jey and Jimmy take Roman’s corner. The Usos eye down Kofi and Xavier but never actually go after them. As for the fight - it’s far more evenly matched than it has any right to be. Big E holds his own against Roman despite him going into full Big Dog mode. Superman punch, spear, Big E kicks out. Superman punch, spear, Big E kicks out. The closest the Usos get to attacking New Day on the outside is when they get close to Kofi and while Roman powers up in the same corner, Jey Uso trips Roman and blames it on Kofi. Kofi owns it and acts as if he did it but Roman knows his Family doesn’t have his best interests in mind. Roman and Jey lock eyes and Roman knows. Roman knows. At this point the Usos and New Day end up covering all four sides of the ring as Big E starts to make his big comeback. Now we go classic setup - Roman spears the referee by mistake giving Big E time to hit the Big Ending three times and goes for the pin - New Day and Usos all count not just to three but to FIVE and E has Roman beat - but the ref is still out. New Day jump in the ring to wake the referee while the Usos help Big E up. However just as everyone is up Roman spears Big E out of nowhere. Superman punch to Xavier. Superman punch to Kofi. Spear to both Usos. Spear again to Big E and the referee counts one, two, three. Roman wins. Roman takes his title, screams at the Usos as they stay laying on the mat, and literally kicks Big E while he’s down. Roman grabs a mic and a camera guy and looks directly into the camera.

“This is not your happy ending. This is my life. This is my family. And this (he holds up the Universal title) is my life. Believe that.”

Credits.

Fade out.

Fade back in.

Epilogue. After we fade out from the arena, we cut back to the graveyard - we hear a shovel pulling up dirt. We see Styles and Cena’s dirty bodies sticking out of the dirt as a hand reaches out and pulls them both out. The Undertaker, more Dead Man than Biker once again, smacks them both awake. AJ and Cena are both glad to see Taker but AJ asks the obvious question - why did he save him? Last time he saw him he buried him alive. Why?

“Kid - you got better, didn’t you? Plus, he used my face. He shouldn’t have done that.”

Fade out.

#wrestling #wwe #wrestlemania #fanboywrestletronic #fanboyfantasy

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