There are seven levels of McLennon Hell
Level 1: Denial - What's this "McLennon"? Oh of course there are people that think they are in love. Wishful thinking but wouldn't that be fun ha ha ha
Level 2: Curiosity - I mean ok they were definitely platonic soulmates, right?
Level 3: Queering John - Oh wow seems like there's legitimate evidence that John was bisexual, I guess it's not that much of a stretch to imagine he was in love with Paul, that really changes things
Level 4: What Happened in India??
Level 5: Disillusionment of Paul's Immovable Heterosexuality - Oh they really wrote a lot of songs about each other huh. "I'm in love with a friend of mine," what's that mean Paul? Paul? Why are you so obsessed with queerness Paul? You don't have to mention John, Paul, no one asked!
Level 6: Letting Go of All Sanity - Look at the way they look at each other, it's not normal! Is it...... so crazy to think that they did? Paul is so private and repressed, he would keep that secret. What else could "waiting on the other side for your friends to go" mean??
Level 7: Acceptance - THEY WERE FUCKING THE WHOLE TIME THERE'S NO OTHER EXPLANATION
233 notes
·
View notes
I can’t believe I did it. I obtained the most nonsensical book of all time. Like a dubious zen master, Paul McCartney will now hit me with a stick over and over again proclaiming, “this song was about nothing much, ya know, just a vibe, a feeling we all have sometimes.”
96 notes
·
View notes
Understanding Lennon McCartney Rewatch Part 4.3
Oof! Got him!
“She loves you and he loves him and they love each other”. You know when you've got something to say but you don't want it to look like you really wanted to say it specifically so you throw it in between two other things? No? Just me and John?
I'm obsessed with John just heaping praise on Paul in this interview. Every song the interviewer brings up it's “best” “my favorite” “all Paul” “good piece of work” “somewhere I have the tape of him doing it” “damn good” “one of his masterpieces” See also: Paul’s a good lyricist, he just doesn't try because he's insecure. And: one of the most innovative bass players of all time.
John mixing up In My Life and If I Fell “although I don't know why I'm confusing them, they're nothing alike but they have the same–” The same what? Same target? Same muse? Hmm? “It's really about–it's not about Cyn.” He's barely hanging on to not saying it here, like, by a gossamer thread.
John confessing that the consistent character flaw of Paul's which hurt him ((hurt. Not annoyed. Not angered. Hurt.)) was insensitivity. Not bossiness or lameness or sneakiness. Insensitivity. What John couldn't handle in the end about Paul was that he wasn't aware enough of John's tender feelings.
He's also so cruel in this interview. And what you've got to pay attention to is the theme connecting the songs he's cruel about: Let It Be (let John go) and The Long and Winding Road (the long and pointless fight).
The Japanese Monk comparison doesn't quite land for me because it implies that John purposely broke up the Beatles because he knew they were at a peak and he wanted them to stay gold. And I think that's what John would like the story to be. It makes him feel better inside. It makes him look incredibly wise and courageous. But it's clear – John even stated it himself more than once on record – that the breakup was not purposeful or calculated. It was a terrible accident that nobody wanted, least of all John.
More quotes to live by when examining John's post breakup “ow!”
I find it fascinating that John thought of Paul's and Dylan's lyrics as very similar and says so twice in this documentary. But nobody else ever draws that comparison. In mainstream thought, Bob Dylan is one of the greatest lyricists of all time if not the greatest (it's me. I'm mainstream. Subterranean Homesick Blues my absolute beloved.) and Paul is the worst lyricist to ever get successful. And you know what? I think Paul gets punished for being physically pretty and financially savvy, and I think in the exact same way his music gets punished for being melodically pretty and commercially successful.
John about Paul's inscrutable messages in his songs: if one knows the person, one knows what's coming down. John in I Know (I Know): and I know. What's coming down.
I will always love how he says in the same breath . . . “I've compared it to a marriage a million times" and "Paul and I were together.”
You really do gotta be like “Johns say the darndest things sometimes.” I mean that's what Paul did, right? Because genuinely most of the time he's a fucking sweetheart. After he's sat there defending Paul's insane mourning bus movie, the interviewer asks him to compare himself and Paul. And after saying there's never been a question about commerciality, he says this.
Nobody think about Paul writing “One of These Days” just before John's death then “This One” a decade later. Don't do it. I do recommend.
Free as a Bird is such a beautiful song. It's a gorgeous melody, and it's got such complex emotions. He's still mourning something that was lost, but he's hopeful. He's on his way home.
You all know that long distance interview Paul did right before John died where they bring up some of the awful things John said recently about him (ignoring the millions of loving and admiring things). When Paul's voice cracks and he looks up at the ceiling and struggles for a minute and the lights go out, I have a theory that it's one of their kids being protective. She was messing with the lights before to be silly and then when the bad question comes she turns them off again as a sort of protective sabotage.
What If though? What If that's true?
Quote of all time!!! “The person I actually picked as my partner, who I recognized has talent and who I could get on with, was Paul.” He doesn't say ‘as my sidekick’ or ‘running mate’ or ‘captain’s mate’ or ‘second string’ or any of those things that traditional Beatles fans tend to push on them. Partner.
Serious question, because I swing all over the place as to what I think actually happened between John and Paul physically and emotionally. If we agree that Real Love is about Paul (a baby and another on the way lalalalalala farm . . . Just call him on the phone) Then what about this lyric? “Was I just dreaming (a word of theirs and something they thought they shared) or was it only Yesterday (Paul's biggest song) I used to hold you in my arms? Is that to be taken literally? John used to hold Paul in his arms? i.e. frequent hugging and cuddling?
The heart monitor cuts so harshly into John singing “Grow Old With Me.” As we see beautiful images of John and all the people he's leaving behind. I'm dry heaving. This documentary is so much more painful this time around than the first.
Anyway I'm glad we got coverage of all the “for Paul” songs. Which. Btw fuck you Sean and Peter. You proved absolutely nothing.
76 notes
·
View notes
Mclennon dancing ❤️
“We were recording the other night, and I just wasn’t there. Neither was Paul. We were like two robots going through the motions. We do need each other alot. When we used to get together after a month off, we used to be embarrassed about touching each other. We’d do an elaborate handshake just to hide the embarrassment… or we did mad dances. Then we got to hugging each other.”
John Lennon, 1967
apparently this is george but it's still cute so it stays!
88 notes
·
View notes
They were laying down the tracks and doing the melody lines of the song ‘And I Love Her’. It was a very simple song and quite repetitive. George Martin and I looked at each other and the same thought sparked off in both of our minds. It was proving to be, although plain and a warm and sympathetic song, just too repetitive, with the same phrase of repeating. George Martin told the boys, ‘Both Dick and I feel that the song is just lacking the middle. It’s too repetitive, and it needs something to break it up.’ I think it was John who shouted, ‘OK, let’s have a tea break’, and John and Paul went to the piano and, while Mal Evans was getting tea and some sandwiches, the boys worked at the piano. Within half an hour they wrote, there before our very eyes, a very constructive middle to a very commercial song. Although we know it isn’t long, it’s only a four bar middle, nevertheless it was just the right ingredients to break up the over repetitive effect of the original melody.
Dick James on the recording of "And I Love Her"
She gives me everything
And tenderly
The kiss my lover brings
She brings to me
And I love her
A love like ours
Could never die
As long as I
Have you near me
Bright are the stars that shine
Dark is the sky
I know this love of mine
Will never die
And I love her
The section of lyrics that John and Paul went off to go write together stands out because it changes the object of the singer's love from "her" to "you." Now the singer seems to love both an absent woman and the person he is singing to about her.
91 notes
·
View notes