were Paul and Marianne close? or did they just hang around the same circles?
hiii short answer yes i guess. they called each other friends.
long answer they first happened to hang out together bc of peter and gordon since john dunbar was their friend (gordon dated john's sister dunno for how long) so marianne was also visiting ashers' house and they spent time together, with jane too. and then marianne met her future manager, stones manager, at the party where paul and peter were with her. and then they all were hanging out a lot of times at dunbar's flat with marianne... where paul met maggie mcgivern. which is a mess but anyway we're not talking about that rn. then marianne covered yesterday and paul was in the studio with her and always supported her career like a good friend and he was in awe from her talent and voice, even literally trying to sing like her in one of his songs so it is also that kind of closeness too of two artists who appreciate each other very much. paul was very social with a lot of friends back then, doing a lot of different stuff together. they probably were all going to various parties and doing other things occasionally, later with paul also being close to mick (even though well their relationship at that time is kinda more ambigious and funny) nothing really changed between him and marianne here too. too much information sorry
here's a few quotes from them and other people talking about this
Paul: "She came into my life in the Sixties and was a beautiful, sweet 17 year old who radiated innocent joy. Then through the years I was lucky enough to run into her and to become a life-long friend. Itās very sad to think that I wonāt be meeting her again but my memories of our encounters over the years will always bring me joy."
Paul, from Many Years From Now by Barry Miles: "I knew Marianne directly she came out of the convent. I'd met her at the Ashers' house so I'd see her there socially. She was such a pretty, virginal little thing. Then I remember reading an interview with her and she said, 'I want to experience anything and everything,' and I remember thinking, Ooh hold on now, Marianne. Come on, girl - straight out of the convent to anything and everything?"
āWhen I sang [the song, Here There and Everywhere] in the studio, I remember thinking, Iāll sing it like Marianne Faithfull, something no one would ever know. You get these little things in your mind."
Marianne: "I was good friends with Paul and I much admired John, who I thought was frightening ..."
Marianne, from Many Years From Now by Barry Miles: "It was the first weekend I had sex, the first weekend I met one of the Beatles and the weekend I got discovered. John (Dunbar) took me to meet Peter Asher, who was John's best friend. And that's how I met Jane and met Paul... I remember asking John, did Paul and Jane have sex? He just looked at me like I was stupid and said, 'Of course they do!'"
Eddie Prevost (AMM founder), from The Unknown Paul McCartney and the Avant Garde by Ian Peel: "I think I can recall McCartney together with two or three other people. Possibly Marianne Faithfull and probably Barry Miles. I seem to remember one or other of them joining in by rattling the radiators. Otherwise I can only recall this group of people - who seemed to keep very close together - sitting on the floor..."
Miles: "Sometimes the company assembled in Lennox Gardens would experience a great urge to make music. Since most of them were non-musical and therefore restricted to percussion instruments, all of Marianne's gleaming copper-bottomed pots would be dragged from the kitchen and used as bongos..."
and there's a lot more, even too much, you can look for this all on my blog if you're really interested...
