Taking sides: John Lennon vs Paul McCartney

That said, if I had to choose (complete torture) I would go with Sir Paul.

-carlos nyc

For example, I can't think of a more contrived artist ever than Tom Waits, though I love him very much and am genuinely touched by many of his songs, despite the fact that he's obviously playing characters all the time.]

Also, I just listened to Two of Us off of Let it Be...Naked and that put me in a McCartney defending mood.

Of course, the key here is not to look at the lyrics at all. They (although "Eleanor Rigby" is certainly great) are not the main reason why McCartney is a genius. That is because of his way with melody and harmonies, not because of his lyrics.

The winners do get to write the history books. Or in this case, the ones who are still alive.

In what world is Paul the underdog? See also: my very first post on this thread.

Dear friend, what's the time?
Is this really the borderline?
Does it really mean so much to you?
Are you afraid, or is it true?
Dear friend, throw the wine,
I'm in love with a friend of mine.
Really truly, young and newly wed.
Are you a fool, or is it true?

Are you afraid, or is it true?

Anyway, his best Lennon song was of course "Here Today", written after Lennon's death.

McCartney is mostly Beatles "Hey Jude", "Let it Be", and so on

In the case of Lennon, don't forget he wrote "I Am The Walrus", "Strawberry Fields Forever", "A Day In The Life", "Tomorrow Never Knows", "Help" and "I Feel Fine".

by xxxxxxxx Monday, October 25, 2010 at 08:15 PM

John Lennon was beast, he still is and maybe somewhere he really does have a big grin on his face.

Yknow, these days I'm in the George camp

Me too.

The George and John relationship was very interesting. It seemed to come to an end abruptly in 1974 after a dispute about the dissolution of the Beatles. There's a great description from McCartney's Playboy interview:

Then there was the time when we had all arrived for the big
dissolution meeting in the Plaza Hotel in New York. There were
green-baize tables--like the Geneva Conference it was--with millions of
documents laid out for us to sign. George had just come off tour, I'd
flown in specially from England, Ringo had flown in specially, too, I
think, and. . . John wouldn't show up! He wouldn't come from across the
park! George got on the phone, yelled, "Take those fucking shades off and
come over here, you!" John still wouldn't come over. He had a balloon
delivered with a sign saying, LISTEN TO THIS BALLOON. It was all quite
far out.

As Albert Goldman notes -seemingly accurately - the next night John and George were reconciled socially (John attended George's end of tour party), but their personal relationship was at an end.

George has been my favorite for years

LOL, what a dickhead

Paul OTM

The Long and Whining Low Road

Whinge At the Speed of Sound

I saw McCartney live last night. Good show! Highpoint was him playing Blackbird alone. Low-point: Obladi Oblada, obviously...

Fox News strangebo chimes in on comments, calls Paul McCartney our greatest living rock star. McCartney says there has been a lot of revisionism. Yes, Paul, there definitely has been: for example, there are now plenty of people claiming Paul McCartney is better than John Lennon. Given Paul's bottomless need for ego reinforcement he'd probably enjoy the direction this site has gone lately. He's probably here already. Anybody appearing lately named "Maxwell Silver Hummer" or "The Jailer Man & Sailor Sam"?

I don't want to get into solo stuff though. Life is too short to listen to Beatle solo albums. FWIW the example offered: Imagine vs. Let Em In: I'd rather hear Let Em In. Score one for Paul, but

the choice means about as much as whether I'd rather eat a can of Pringles or a bag of Doritos. (Pringles, for now).

Anyway here we go:

http://www.showbiz411.com/2015/07/05/paul-mccartney-reignites-decades-old-feud-with-yoko-ono-recalls-lennon-resentments

warning - this website's load-and-readability is spazztazmish

Maybe they were both good but different.

If only there were a way to decide

I like how paul expects respect for being honest about his egomania

LOL how George and Ringo were all "equal-ish" right there alongside Paul. He must have watched The Beatles Anthology too many times.

Last two posts otm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCTYXXg9ZZI

the combo of manspread + sick burn at 2:03 is amazing

Meh, this is one of those "I'd imagine he has a point but maybe it wasn't expressed perfectly (or maybe it didn't translate all that well through the Daily Mail), thus enabling haters to hate" things.

http://www.bsmph.com/Attorneys/Paul-W-Mccartney.shtml
http://www.piercecouch.com/john-c-lennon/

Well, John wasn't "The Beatles", and nor was he responsible for every great song The Beatles wrote and recorded, so Paul is very much OTM. People often forget that before he was tragically murdered, Lennon was perceived as being washed up and past it.

Dude should be forced to watch Wingspan clockwork orange style until he accepts that he's gotten enough recognition

like how paul expects respect for being honest about his egomania

Why can't he be more like the humble Lennon? I put it to you, America!

[comedy Yoko accent]

fwiw, the originals on Please Please Me are credited to "McCartney - Lennon."

Yes, but McCartney should have been upper case, at the very least.

The year before Lennon died John was on year 4 of being a stay at home dad. Which must have taken some amount of humility.

In that year Paul released Back to the Egg (1979) featured McCartney's collaboration with a rock supergroup dubbed "the Rockestra". Credited to Wings, the band included Pete Townshend, David Gilmour, Gary Brooker, John Paul Jones and John Bonham.

Paul's ego is insatiable, I'm picturing a giant crevice in the earth, dumptrucks full of acclaim pulling up to try to fill it.... Go on, now, feed it some burning straw men labeled "How Dare People Say John Lennon Was The Beatles," never mind that this is not and never was a thing. Poor Paul, he's only had 35 years to set the record straight. I always thought it was unfair that John Lennon was murdered but I didn't realize it was especially unfair to Paul.

I'm not saying there's a picture of Paul McCartney in the dictionary as an illustration for the term "unreliable narrator." I'm saying that if you mentioned the concept of unreliable narrator to him, he'd tell you that he invented it.

never forget

As my wife said despondently an hour after the event: "Why is it always Bobby Kennedy or John Lennon? Why isn't it Richard Nixon or Paul McCartney?"

http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/music/lennon-80.php

All he needs to do is release "Carnival of Light" maybe on RSD, get the Boredoms to do a remix on side B.

I'm saying that if you mentioned the concept of unreliable narrator to him, he'd tell you that he invented it.

heh

Nixon/McCartney did some good tunes together, man. Anyway, I'm so grateful not to have a spouse who records every crazy thing I say around the house for posterity (nor would I do that to my spouse).

Excuse me, McCartney/Nixon, if you don't mind.

Nixon version of "Let 'Em In" is incredible

Listen to what the crook said.

Listen to What the Man Said Using a Voice Activated Taping System Installed In Various Rooms in the White House

Pat

"paul's solo work really was the best, there's some real gems in there" must be the rock snob version of "you know, nixon really was a pretty good president."

Egomania, justified egomania ... I can only imagine how much effort it has taken Paul not to say something stupid about his erstwhile bandmates over the past several decades, let alone after George and John died. All in the name of I guess good taste, or deference to friends or family. If anything I sort of admire his restraint. Thumbs aloft!

"How Do You Sleep" is more dickish (and paranoid and largely unprovoked) than anything McCartney's done or said about Lennon.

As bad as convincing all the other Beatles to not quit the band and then without telling anyone publicly breaking up the band w a press release included in his solo album?

Lennon was a dick as well. Okay, end of discussion.

wait waht How Do You Sleep was in response to Too Many People, I thought...?

Following the release of McCartney's album Ram earlier that year, Lennon felt attacked by McCartney, who later admitted that lines in the song "Too Many People" were intended as digs at Lennon

"Too Many People" is the lamest, most passive aggressive "attack" ever. I think it's fine as a bass showcase and as an excuse to flaunt some excellent falsetto and addled Linda harmonies.

never forget

As my wife said despondently an hour after the event: "Why is it always Bobby Kennedy or John Lennon? Why isn't it Richard Nixon or Paul McCartney?"

http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/music/lennon-80.php

― skateboards are the new combover (Dr Morbius), Monday, July 6, 2015 10:35 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Bremer

TOO MANY REACHIN' FOR A PIECE OF CAKE!

"Too Many People" is the lamest, most passive aggressive "attack" ever.

well Lennon was def better at being nasty than Paul

I think it's fine as a bass showcase and as an excuse to flaunt some excellent falsetto and addled Linda harmonies.

this basically describes the first 25 years of his solo career

vdp otm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaM6gTUTooc

As bad as convincing all the other Beatles to not quit the band and then without telling anyone publicly breaking up the band w a press release included in his solo album?

Yeah, issues with Klein and the Spector Let It Be here, I think.

Spector and Lennon refused to make the changes McCartney wanted on "The Long and Winding Road," which prompted McCartney's album/press release.

Lennon (and Harrison and Starr) had to later admit that Paul was right to resist bringing in Klein.

i can't even figure out which lines in Too Many People are supposed to be attacks on Lennon.

"Too many people preaching practices,
Don't let 'em tell you what you wanna be."

that one?

I don't think "Too Many People" is any more passive aggressive than "How Do You Sleep." It's more passive because the entire song doesn't seem to be about Lennon? If you're making that argument, you're accusing him of trying to hide the Lennon attack and I don't see why I should assume that that was the case.

For what it's worth, in an '84 interview he said that only the "preaching practices" and "took your lucky break" lines were about Lennon.

Too Many People is a song about people making mistakes, where he includes some mistakes he thinks a friend has made. How Do You Sleep is yelling in a guys face that he's an asshole. One is perhaps not entirely tactful. The other is nasty.

is it really any surprise that McCartney's attack song is a bunch of silly stoner gobbledygook and Lennon's is a bunch of overly literal vitriol

Van Dyke Parks' critique comes off a little silly for a guy going out of his way to look like Pepper-era Lennon.

"how do you sleep" is certainly the better song, that's maybe the best lennon-in-angry-mode moment on record.

That would make a good poll:

You Can't Do That
Run For Your Life
Working Class Hero
I Found Out
Gimme Some Truth
How Do You Sleep?

Others?

Sexy Sadie

Serve Yourself is a great late-period one

Best passive-aggressive George Harrison song would also be a good poll.

I look at you all. Try to see beyond yourself. I'll make you maybe next time around.

So you folks actually like it when he sings about wanting to kill women if they take other lovers than him?

i think the world had enough talk about the beatles in 1967, since then we are just incurring debts we will never be able to pay

Frederik B., that is a 4th class internet argument move there you just did. Try harder or take it to Yahoo News.

hey, change it to 68, then it rhymes. like a father john misty song or something.

So you folks actually like it when Robert Johnson sings about wanting to kill women if they take other lovers than him?

I just don't get why people rag on McCartney for his corny sentiments, while ignoring Lennon's violent misogyni. Judge the music, if the lyrics bother you, but the hypocrisy is stupid.

^^ too many reachin' for a piece of cake

who are the "people," Frederick? Name them.

http://www.theonion.com/article/blues-singers-woman-permitted-to-tell-her-side-472

See, problem is McCartney got corny at the exact point Lennon realized his own bad issues and tried, I believe, to deal with them... I don't love Lennon's me me me songwriting period of the late 60s/early 70s either. & I don't think McCartney is "corny" until pretty late in the Beatles, he wrote some very realistic and hard-nosed lyrics before that.

misogyni

when one misogyn isn't enough

"Run For Your Life" is such an inconsequential song imo that its woman beating lyric escaped me the first 12 times, but that's my problem. I'm with Vic: on JLPOB and Imagine, even despite the bad production choices and hack writing on albums like Mind Games, Lennon was struggling to reconcile his anger and lust with the scary prospect of loving a woman enough to spend your life with her. I don't listen to much solo Lennon these days but there's an arc through Milk and Honey.

@amateurist: 'misogyni' is my Danish spellcheck kicking in. Could you please stop making fun of me for being a foreigner? All over this site, you rag me and talk down to me for not being born in the same country as you, and not speaking your language as well as an English speaker. It pisses me off. So shut the fuck up, you xenophobic asshole. How well do you write in your second language? I write fucking brilliant English for a Dane, I've had pieces published on English-language websites, and I'm not going to take your patronizing bullshit anymore. Go to hell.

Seriously, when did constantly shitting on people due to their personal lives become okay on this site?

maybe paul should be equally culpable for not challenging lennon's misogyny

george martin, too, obviously

this has the makings of a very valuable thinkpiece

He murdered Stu Sutcliffe and a sailor in Hamburg too though no songs ensued.

All over this site

you mean: once on ILX, and again here (which wasn't intentional!)

btw if i "rag" on you it's because your persona on ILX appears to be that of a humorless dolt

not b/c you're a "foreigner"

http://thefall.org/discography/pics/touch%20sensitive%20big.jpg

I always interpreted You Can't Do That and Run For Your Life more as chest-thumping/posturing than actual violent threats (probably since most of Lennon's other songs from this period are more woe-is-me I'm A Loser, Nowhere Man, Help type stuff). Also, the lyrics of Run For Your Life were directly lifted from an Elvis song, so there's that too.

the problem w/ run for your life is it's one of the clunkiest melodies from a beatles song of that period (...that wasn't written by george)

. Also, the lyrics of Run For Your Life were directly lifted from an Elvis song, so there's that too.

are you talking about "i'd rather see you dead, little girl..."? they may have taken it from the elvis version of "baby, let's play house" but as a floating blues lyric it predates elvis by a decade or more.

blues lyrics do tend to be repeatedly cut-and-pasted like that, obvi, but it's equally obvi that lennon's particular cut came directly from elvis.

yeah--elvis is definitely the most proximate source

but my point is that it's in a long, long time of arguably misogynistic lyrics to popular songs

man, this convo is so boring. maybe if a few more people were to call me a xenophobe...

(xp) but anyway, it's a throwaway as beatles songs go, but a rather catchy throwaway imo. i'm sure it says something about lennon that he chose that particular blues lyric to write a song around. not sure what exactly it says, though.

he's just jealous guy IIRC

That's something he has in common with McCartney, except McCartney is jealous of a dead guy.

lennons 50's covers are cornier than anything paul did ever.

i like that the fourth post on this thread started in 2003 is a set of links to three earlier threads on the subject

but none of them are named "beatle battle", so there's clearly room for at least one more

You're such a sad little piece of shit, amateurist. Oh, so you're trolling me because of my humourlessness. Yeah, that's why your post was about me spelling something wrong, what a hilariously lack of humour. How well do you write in your second language? What about your third or fourth? Are you too chickenshit to answer?

I'm still kinda new to this place, does shitting on people due to where they're born qualify for temp bans? Or would that only work with sexism, racism, anti-semitism, etc. Because I don't want to be reminded constantly on this site that I'm not a real English speaker a moment more than I have to. I get that enough on my pretty internationally oriented job. It's not fun for me, it's not something I like, it's not something that doesn't kinda hurt me financially in my everyday life. I don't get why I should have to laugh at it.

dude.

this thread has become

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJQx9-GXAic

silly stoner gobbledygook vs overly literal vitriol

i prefer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrXfK9Osmvs

"literal vitriol" would be a good name for a sparks album

Dubba dubba dubba cha (xp)

guys let's stop fighting and sing yellow submarine, you're all upsetting Ringo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nE3zJgO-0S4

live together in perfect harmony / Side by side on my pyahno keyboard

https://courtneyssoundworld.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/paul_mccartney_ram_john_lennon_imagine_pig.jpg

Paul and the ram look better imo

Amusing stuff from Lennon though

who are the "people," Frederick? Name them.

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn)

People criticize McCartney for corniness on here all the time.

I mean like it hasn't happened in the last HOUR maybe, but "stoner gobbledygook" is probably in the ballpark.

I recall a certain dialogue about "The Long and Winding Road" of recent vintage...

shocking!

I just don't get why people rag on McCartney for his corny sentiments, <b>while ignoring Lennon's violent misogyni.</b> Judge the music, if the lyrics bother you, <b>but the hypocrisy is stupid.</b>

― Frederik B, Monday, July 6, 2015 4:03 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

These be the people needing to be identified, Tim. On a site where "Run For Your Life" is probably more discussed/condemnded than all the other songs on Rubber Soul combined....

(oops, some bad html coding there!)

also condemnded .... go home, Vic, you're dunk.

People criticize McCartney for corniness on here all the time.

― timellison, Monday, July 6, 2015

I meant people "ignoring Lennon's violent misogyni."

Fair enough you guys.

ok since no one can appear to call me out by name I'll just step up here.

Has Paul ever apologized for his corniness? Or his egotism?

For Lennon's part, two years after "Run For Your Life"'s casual Elvis quoting he directly called himself out for his misogynistic asshole tendencies on "Getting Better". Lennon gets points for being nakedly self-critical over the course of his career imo, Paul just gets... Paul-ier as he goes on.

but I like them both, they do different things, it's not an either/or thing. But John's dead, he's stopped saying stupid things. Paul still has some stupid things to get off his chest, apparently.

and tbh historically on this site I think Lennon gets bashed plenty for his misogyny, esp in comparison to some of his contemporaries (Mick springs to mind)

john's scathing answer to george's "miss o'dell"

The Esquire piece is up, by the way.

http://www.esquire.co.uk/culture/music/8511/paul-mccartney-interview/

Hey guys! Lots of responses since I last checked this thread... what have I missed!?

Oh.

*removes bookmark*

better run for your life if you can, james redd.

Should have put that last post in Italics, implying that Turrican was removing bookmark.

Anyway let me take out my box of refrigerator magnets of Beatles received wisdom and see if I can find any interesting way to arrange them.

I don't really care who was the leader of the Beatles or who did the "most," either during the time they were playing together or after they broke up. I don't even want to argue the musical merits of the four of them. Really there is just something maddening about Paul's public persona. It seems like there is some deficit of self-awareness on his part, lack of grace or wit in dealing with his Beatle past and the other three band members. John must have been an annoying jerk a lot of the time, but it seems like he was just as hard on himself as he was on everybody else, that there was something charming and likable about him, and that he partakes of an artistic persona that we know and love from Alex Chilton and Lou Reed, having whatever the Scouse equivalent of shpilkes is.

It seems that even if one were to try to mount a defense on Macca's behalf nothing would be good enough for him, because he wants to beat John at his own game -"I was avant-garde first!" etc, which is a fool's errand. He missed the class where you learn that the best way to get credit is to give credit.

I have some irl friends that hate Lennon for his misogyny. I don't know what they've read about him because I haven't heard much beyond "He's a piece of shit".

All of the Beatles probably did some horrible stuff when they were on top of the world in 1964 and no one will ever know. Lines of girls waiting outside their hotel rooms. Being in your early 20s and being a rich and famous international rock star, probably not the best time/place to foster healthy relationships of any kind.

At least he seems to have fought for Yoko Ono as a valuable musician in her own right, putting her on Beatles albums, releasing her/their concept art through their label, etc.

mccartney has spent 50 years as, more or less, the most famous person in the world

tbh i think he's done about as well as anyone could in such a situation. plus he wrote some good songs

The year before Lennon died John was on year 4 of being a stay at home dad. Which must have taken some amount of humility.

There were, how do you say, "other factors" at work there besides humility.

I have some irl friends that hate Lennon for his misogyny. I don't know what they've read about him because I haven't heard much beyond "He's a piece of shit".

Like, you know he had a wife before Yoko that he treated like absolute garbage their entire marriage, right?

We keep slipping between "Lennon was a misogynist in life" and "Lennon was a misogynist in song," which, OK, fine, but please be clear.

Still feel like there is something slightly lamentable about Macca's shtick which boils down to "I'm sorry my mum didn't pass away in as dramatic a fashion as John's and I can't wear my heart on my sleeve and beat my breast in an atavistic fashion, I am well aware that I come off as of the stiff upper lip Music Hall tradition but I am still an artist do u see, Mr. Apollo not Mr. Dionysus but why should that matter, can Mr. Dionysus do a Little Richard Oooh-wooh like I can? Never in the history of art! Shut up! The beauty is still on duty."

beatles only really had superpowers when they were together. black majik! john gave it a go for a bit. look where it got him!

And in the digital age, McCartney feels even more slighted by the fact that Lennon never had to read the comments.

hard to deny his ebullience during this final interview:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaTy3kSxyoo

Blowing my mind that Paul still has the same bass he's had since 1963. That's some good luck for a travelling musician!

Peter Frampton's got him beat, sort of.

If that's Lennon's final interview, the last two minutes are incredibly spooky--wow.

There's a bit in the first half hour in which he discusses "How Do You Sleep."

You listened to that whole two hour long thing in under twenty minutes, phil? Wow

scott otm The Beatles was all four or the magic didn't work

Is it just me, or are John interviews n times more interesting than Paul interviews. I mean, you've got to take everything with a grain of salt and realize that despite the confessional artist stance not everything is revealed and what is revealed is not 100% unvarnished truth, but at least the guy is trying to communicate something, it is not just undiluted defensiveness.

Would argue that a few Ringo solo singles involving George and/or John came closest to capturing Beatles magic. Perhaps stakes were low enough for John and George to let their guard down.

Good anecdotes on Bowie ("Meeting him doesn't really give you a clue [about who he is] cuz you never know who he's going to be") producing Pussycats, and Phil Spector's increasing paranoia during the R&R sessions.

Am engaging in some kind of thought experiment in which Iggy Pop goes through a malfunctioning transporter beam and is split, seemingly irrevocably, into Iggy and Jim. Jim starts an unending whinge about how his contribution has been overlooked and Iggy has been hogging all the credit.

there will always be a part of me that thinks if i was hypothetically stuck in an elevator with paul he would be funny and probably really nice and if i was stuck in an elevator with john he would just look at me like he wanted to kill me and it would be really awkward. but i don't know why i feel like that.

all this "lennon was a misogynist" stuff sort of writes off the last 10 years of his life, doesn't it? lennon said in interviews that he regretted ever writing songs like "run for your life," wrote pro-feminist songs, insisted in the face of near-universal derision that yoko ono was an important and innovative artist (which is true), and spent the last five years of his life as a househusband. not that this excuses his earlier treatment of cynthia and other ppl, but the "lennon was an asshole" line i hear from so many people these days is just one side of the story.

Yup

You listened to that whole two hour long thing in under twenty minutes, phil? Wow

I'm a speed listener...I was just curious how Lennon's final interview would end, what his last words would be, so I skipped to the end. This is the final question:

"One final question to you: what about your private life, and your own sense of security these days? David Bowie, I think, has recently said that the great thing about New York is that he can walk down the street, and people, instead of rushing up and ripping his clothes off, will just walk past him and say, 'Hi, David, how are you?'" Is it the same for John and Yoko?"

"I'm sorry my mum didn't pass away in as dramatic a fashion as John's and I can't wear my heart on my sleeve and beat my breast in an atavistic fashion, I am well aware that I come off as of the stiff upper lip Music Hall tradition but I am still an artist do u see, Mr. Apollo not Mr. Dionysus but why should that matter, can Mr. Dionysus do a Little Richard Oooh-wooh like I can? Never in the history of art! Shut up! The beauty is still on duty."

I've probably read or heard parts or the entirety of hundreds of interviews with the guy over the years and must say that there has not been one instance where he's ever come off as anything remotely like this. Half way through the Esquire piece but it is exactly what I expected.

He doesn't come off like this on the surface at all, no, this was just an imaginative recreation to uncover what lies beneath.

I mean the great offensive quote that started this whole thread revival, as reported in a sensationalistic manner in that Daily Mail article, was "Did it frustrate you?" He answered the question by saying that, yes, there were some instances where he found it frustrating.

Where does "He wants to beat John at his own game" come from? From the Barry Miles book? That was the first kind of revisionism I was aware of but it was like twenty five years after the Beatles and it seemed to me like that whole thing was quite tactful.

I'm just riffing. Don't worry, I will probably feel bad about it later and backpedal if needed.

And the winner is, Jody Watley!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQ-qRSsmg10

A+

The Beatles, like scarab beetles of Ancient Egypt, rolling a rock across the sky. The sun disc, the Eye of Ra. The act of creation, of taking the clay and mud and making pure energy through vibration. The passing of time, the story of life and death.

The Beatles WERE magic, combining these elements and transforming the base material they were working with into something divine. They couldn't do this separately at least with the same phase of harmonic realness. The Beatles were each members' personal Philosopher's Stone.

Unfortunately it did not seem to bring the individual Beatles inner peace, perhaps aside from Ringo. Ringo is the ROCK. He seems like as long as he is able to play he'll be happy. Paul too, but in a more aggressive way. Paul is the FIRE under the ass of the other Beatles. John is the WATER, always trying to embrace rock, always trying to be real, but it always slips through his fingers and he just watches the wheels go round and round. George is the AIR. You think he's above you, but he can be below you or around you or within you or without you.

I dunno just ranting now LOL

That Little Richard video is inspiring!

scott seward
Posted: July 6, 2015 at 7:48:00 PM
there will always be a part of me that thinks if i was hypothetically stuck in an elevator with paul he would be funny and probably really nice and if i was stuck in an elevator with john he would just look at me like he wanted to kill me and it would be really awkward. but i don't know why i feel like that.

the older i get the truer this feels

It's Ritchie's birthday

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l09LV_TmJOA

scott seward
Posted: July 6, 2015 at 7:48:00 PM
there will always be a part of me that thinks if i was hypothetically stuck in an elevator with paul he would be funny and probably really nice and if i was stuck in an elevator with john he would just look at me like he wanted to kill me and it would be really awkward. but i don't know why i feel like that.

the older i get the truer this feels

― difficult-difficult lemon-difficult (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, July 7, 2015 6:31 AM (10 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is really unfair to lennon, if paul was a zombie he'd act the same way

"d'ja go to my show at the dome last night? not a fan?" vs "BRAAAAAAAAINS"...it's apples and oranges

Saw McCartney live @Roskilde Festival saturday and it was one of the best shows of my life (highlights include but are nowhere near limited to Obladi-Oblada, Temporary Secretary (I get it now!) and Live & Let Die with flame throwers and fireworks synchronized with the main riff) and also he came off as the nicest guy, very easygoing.

He signed a 17-year-old Norwegian girl on the arm so she could make a tattoo out of it.

oh yeah he also finished with

Golden Slumbers
Carry That Weight
The End

omg

http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/paul-mccartney/2015/festivalpladsen-roskilde-denmark-73f6b645.html

he also did this one how's that for reconciliation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwp5mpJO2NA
I'll have to take my Tug of War out of the "for sale" bin and check it out, had no idea it had any quality material on it

many of my friends were crying, it's quite an emotional experience to see a Beatle live

and how beautiful is the verse melody of My Valentine? very beautiful is what it is! would maybe have been more appropriate for folkish/psych lyrics but nevertheless beautiful https://youtu.be/f4dzzv81X9w

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/disturbing-footage-john-lennon-mocking-6480508

I distinctly remember Lennon himself mentioning in later interviews that visits with disabled fans brought out his worst side.

This just in: "John Lennon had a dark side."

http://img.ffffound.com/static-data/assets/6/2aa5f46c9e7a75b887446df3894be03c48897191_m.jpg

"John Lennon was just a complete c***! You don't take the p*** out of disabled ppl (sic)"

Wise words.

That footage is in the Anthology -- Lennon does it at that Australia show, and at the Washington, DC show.

I distinctly remember Lennon himself mentioning in later interviews that visits with disabled fans brought out his worst side.

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, September 20, 2015 1:03 PM (58 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

These visits were also talked about in the Anthology; Derek Taylor called the situation "nightmarish" as the caretakers of the disabled fans were blatantly exploiting their charges as a means of meeting the Beatles (and it's implied these disabled fans were not being well cared-for). I think Paul said that John's mockery was the only way he could deal with it. Which doesn't excuse it, obviously, but this isn't new/news, and it seems far crueler without context.

Seems like most people never made it past "Imagine" on their John Lennon Greatest Hits CDs.

i saw Paul McCartney live in Duluth, GA recently (they named a street after him down the road from Cash Money Bonus Blvd) and it was a life changing show. i really feel bad for writing shit about him in ILX here and there plz forgive me Paul. it was a magical show at a relatively small venue (we had cheap seats but i could still see him on stage) and he played a lot of new stuff in between the old stuff. at one point he joked about it, how the crowd would go wild after all the Beatles songs and then it was much quieter for his newer stuff. lol. Blackbird was a very emotional moment, and he paused to talk about civil rights, and how he wrote this song in support of that. behind him for the acoustic portion there was a Southern style old house i got the feeling he was also trying to pay tribute to his musical roots. visually it was pretty cool and at one point he stood on part of the stage that lifted up and projected underneath was blackbirds flying over a sunrise and waterfalls and all kinds of stuff. he did Temporary Secretary

he paid a lot of cool tributes to the fallen Beatles. he did Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite with a crazy lazer show and really gaudy Cirque Di Solei style high end production psychedelia. he did We Can Work It Out with an accordion player. his band was very small, just 4 other guys, and one of them switched between keys and other instruments during the course of the show. it is funny, it was in a stadium but it felt very diy very garage rock. all the Beatles songs were very short, most under 3 minutes, so it was cool to hear a set that fast paced in a live concert hall setting. of course there was room for guitar solos and jams and sometimes they would pick up a song they just finished and jam for a bit. pretty cool. he really loves playing music! you can tell!

for Temporary Secretary he had this kraftwerk style vector graphics and for Live and Let Die there was a Metallica-style stage show that would explode whenever he sang "Die" and it was as loud as indoor fireworks i lolled every time. it was cool to hear him tell stories, even if you have heard the one about Jimi Hendrix playing Sgt. Pepper a million times, to hear the person who was there talk about running into "Mick and Keith" it was fucking awesome and yes this is a huge part of the live show, seeing the Beatle tell these famous stories, for he is this living legend, who has lived this amazing life, and seen so much, and is a great storyteller.

he did Something on ukulele, and told a story of first doing this for George while they were hanging out at the Harrison's estate and it was really beautiful, it segued into a full band section at one point that was cool. he did one encore that included a rad Birthday. his voice was impressive throughout, only being a little weak during the high points of Maybe I'm Amazed, giving the performance a sense of self reflective nostalgia or wisdom or something else human and profound. at the end of the show he invited two groups of fans onstage to get autographs and introduce themselves. one girl showed up with a poster that told her parents she was coming out, and it was a very emotional moment, and Paul said some words in support and thanked her for coming to the show. then a family went onstage wearing matching Sgt. Pepper costumes that the mother had sewn (she told him she was a seamstress) and Paul singed them and thanked them for coming. the husband's name was Hank which was kind of eerie for me because my grandfather just passed this year and his name was Hank. it was very weird because they were a 4 piece family and i had gone to the show with my mom and two brothers. it really felt like an out of body experience.

his band was very small, just 4 other guys

this is pretty cool

I think he's had this band longer than the Beatles and Wings combined. He really stuck with what works (and his drummer, Abe Laboriel, Jr., is phenomenal).

Yeah, I'll have to double check but I think he's had this particular live band since at least Driving Rain ... Abe Laboriel, Jr. does indeed rule!

a family went onstage wearing matching Sgt. Pepper costumes that the mother had sewn (she told him she was a seamstress) and Paul singed them

what a dick

Seriously. Dude can't even put his spliff down for a second.

Ha! Hasn't he knocked that on the head now?

I assumed he never stopped being a 'round-the-clock stoner, and may even still grow his own. Did he make noises about giving it up?

Heather made him quit iirc

Ah, didn't know that.

I think people - although not McCartney fans or music geeks - often forget just how huge of a stoner the guy was. The guy could probably have out-smoked the entirety of the average touring funk band at one point.

Yeah, I mean, he basically had the farm in Scotland for the sole purpose of growing weed, didn't he?

"They were sent to us by fans! We just planted them and uh... they came up that way!"

... and writing "Mull of Kintyre". (xp)

Thanks Westboro Baptist Church for the warm welcome! #OneOnOne pic.twitter.com/KZmycxMgq9

— Paul McCartney (@PaulMcCartney) July 20, 2017

Hah!!

My friend who DJs pre-show for Macca was out there, in his white suit and waving a rainbow flag.

cool! he did a great job! it was a nice mix of Love-style remixes and classic 60s souls covers of Beatles material

xpost hah he played Let Me Roll It early in the set i bet it was a nod to the stoners in the audience

for Temporary Secretary he had this kraftwerk style vector graphics and for Live and Let Die there was a Metallica-style stage show that would explode whenever he sang "Die" and it was as loud as indoor fireworks i lolled every time. it was cool to hear him tell stories, even if you have heard the one about Jimi Hendrix playing Sgt. Pepper a million times, to hear the person who was there talk about running into "Mick and Keith" it was fucking awesome and yes this is a huge part of the live show, seeing the Beatle tell these famous stories, for he is this living legend, who has lived this amazing life, and seen so much, and is a great storyteller.

he did Something on ukulele, and told a story of first doing this for George while they were hanging out at the Harrison's estate and it was really beautiful, it segued into a full band section at one point that was cool. he did one encore that included a rad Birthday. his voice was impressive throughout, only being a little weak during the high points of Maybe I'm Amazed, giving the performance a sense of self reflective nostalgia or wisdom or something else human and profound. at the end of the show he invited two groups of fans onstage to get autographs and introduce themselves. one girl showed up with a poster that told her parents she was coming out, and it was a very emotional moment, and Paul said some words in support and thanked her for coming to the show. then a family went onstage wearing matching Sgt. Pepper costumes that the mother had sewn (she told him she was a seamstress) and Paul singed them and thanked them for coming. the husband's name was Hank which was kind of eerie for me because my grandfather just passed this year and his name was Hank. it was very weird because they were a 4 piece family and i had gone to the show with my mom and two brothers. it really felt like an out of body experience.

paul did the ukulele thing with "something" when i saw him at coachella back in, i think, 2009. it was gorgeous and moving and one of the concert experiences that really has stuck w/ me through all these years.

apart from the half-assed lyrics, you can tell Drive My Car is a McCartney composition from the discrepancy between the mediocre melody and the all-time bass line

lmao

Yeah fuck that guy

How Do You Sleep? studio video

wow that's pretty awesome

yeah! a few months ago for the solo poll i was trying to hunt down any footage i could find of those sessions, so it's really cool to see this now. klaus voormann looks like he's falling asleep, ha!

i'm guessing this bit from the accompanying article - "What you do have on "How Do You Sleep? (takes 5 & 6)" is a brilliant slide guitar performance from the former Beatle George Harrison" - is referring to something on the boxset, not the video, because george looks like he's still trying to figure it out a bit

yeah I don't think that was the final take used on the released recording

Great video, thanks for sharing. They love cigarettes and Dr Pepper

still waiting for McCartney to die (preferably in a public and horrible accident) so I can celebrate and piss off all the fucking awful hippies in my town who unironically listen to his worst Beatles tracks to this day

I hate him so much, more than any other musician I can think of except for the guys in Foreigner and Toto, and even they aren't as fucking annoying

so, yeah, Lennon.

absolute proof that we live in a world with no God is shown by the fact that Bowie died before McCartney

actually it proves the opposite, god clearly prefers to hear music live

sleeve calm down

Yeah great take !
And Klaus V certainly hadn’t smoked only Gitanes...
As for McCartney haters, they shouldn’t wish for his death because when that day comes, he and his music will be inescapable in all medias for a little while !

still waiting for McCartney to die (preferably in a public and horrible accident) so I can celebrate and piss off all the fucking awful hippies in my town who unironically listen to his worst Beatles tracks to this day

I hate him so much, more than any other musician I can think of except for the guys in Foreigner and Toto, and even they aren't as fucking annoying

so, yeah, Lennon.

― sleeve, Saturday, September 22, 2018 2:33 AM (six hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I know we all enjoy our internet hyperbole but please fuck off with wishing death on anyone because you don't like their music

man those sessions rule, good jammin from all