19 February 1963, the Cavern, photo by Michael Ward
Photo by Mike McCartney
August 13, 1966, photo by Bob Bonis
We wrote with two guitars, John and I. And, as I’ve mentioned previously, the joy of that was that I was left-handed while he was right handed, so I was looking in a mirror and he was looking in a mirror.
We would always tune up, have a ciggie, drink a cup of tea, start playing some stuff, look for an idea. Normally, one or the other of us would arrive with a fragment of a song. ‘Please Please Me’ was a John idea. John liked the double meaning of ‘please’. Yeah, ‘please’ is, you know, pretty please. ‘Please have intercourse with me. So, pretty please, have intercourse with me, I beg you to have intercourse with me.’ He liked that, and I liked that he liked that. This was the kind of thing we’d see in each other, the kind of thing in which we were matched up. We were in sync.
(Paul McCartney, about Please Please Me in The Lyrics, 2021)
gifs by javelinbk
A lot of what we had going for us was that we were both good at noticing the stuff that just pops up, and grabbing it. And the other thing is that John and I had each other. If he was sort of stuck for a line, I could finish it. If I was stuck for somewhere to go, he could make a suggestion.
We could suggest the way out of the maze to each other, which was a very handy thing to have. We inspired each other.
(Paul McCartney, about Eight Days A Week in The Lyrics, 2021)
gifs by nikidontsurf
When John and I met, the first year of our friendship was spent talking about these cover versions, the records we loved, and then playing them again and again. As we got to know each other, we practised these various covers until one day the conversation went, ‘You know, I’ve written one or two songs.’ And he said, ‘Yeah, so have I.’
That gave us something in common that was itself wholly uncommon. I went to a school of a thousand boys and I’d never met anyone who said he’d written a song. Mine were just in my head. So were John’s. We took each other by surprise. And then the logical extension was, ‘Well, maybe we could write one together.’ So that’s how we started. And we became versions of each other.
(Paul McCartney, about The Other Me in The Lyrics, 2021)
gifs by stewy
Q: "Can I ask you about Lewis Carroll?"
A: "Oh, Lewis Carroll. I always admit to that because I love 'Alice In Wonderland' and 'Alice Through The Looking Glass.' But I didn't even know he'd written anything else. I was that ignorant. I just happened to get those for birthday presents as a child and liked them. And I usually read those two about once a year, because I still like them."
(John Lennon, June 16, 1965, interview for BBC)
Paul McCartney in his garden at Cavendish Avenue, 7; photo by Barry Lategan (for Observer 'What Makes A Man Stylish?', July 1968)
I think of the imagined world of Lewis Carroll [Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There] that John and I both loved so much.
(Paul McCartney, about I’ll Get You in The Lyrics, 2021)
We’d been together so much that if you had a question, we would
both pretty much come up with the same answer. [about their hitchhike to Spain by way of Paris]
<…>
It’s a bit crude, but it’s fair to say that, in general, I’d had a good life and John hadn’t. His life had been tougher, and he had to develop a harder shell than I did. He was quite a cynical guy but, as they say, with a heart of gold. A big softy, but his shield was hard. So that was very good for the two of us. Opposites attract. I could calm him down, and he could fire me up. We could see things in each other that the other needed to be complete.
(Paul McCartney about Ticket To Ride in The Lyrics, 2021)
Sometimes I look in the mirror
Is nobody there?
But I just keep on staring and staring
No
Can it be?
Can it be?
Can it be?
And if I look in the mirror
And nobody´s there
But I just keep on staring, and staring
No
Is it me?
Is it me?
Is it me?
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