Girlypop

[foryouwereinmysong]

The trip to Paris in 1961 …

The little Beatles Logo Doodles in Pauls Paris diary are so adorable and I wonder if Paul or John did the John Lennon signature designs with the clef… very very cute

Taken from »The Lyrics« by Paul McCartney

[lavender-beans]

‘The end’ doodled with arrows?? What does it mean Paul!!

Arrow through me

And in the end… the love you take…

I don’t know what it means but it’s all connected.

[sgtpeppers]

why can't I even read a completely unrelated sci-fi book without being haunted by these idiots

[lavender-beans]

Watched Project Hail Mary in theatres and was like this when Two of Us started playing

HEY those are my boys.

[starrlight-mp3]

can we all mutually agree that is tweet is actually INSANE, especially because of the 2015 interview that just got released

he knows things...

[didwemeetsomewherebefore]

Sean reading Paul’s VF interview and Paul saying ‘John wasn’t gay and I know this because I slept with him A LOT!’

[didwemeetsomewherebefore]

Update: he’s vagueposting again! And Elliot Mintz is cheering him on

[lavender-beans]

Sean knows what he’s doing and I love it.

[bodhbdearg]

McLennon Files Archive: Progress

Since @st-johns-wood and @undying-love set up the McLennon Files on the Internet Archive last year, we've built up a great collection of material relating to John and Paul's relationship, with sources and citations. If ever tumblr disappears, lots of the most famous photos/film clips/interviews/demos will be preserved there for the beautiful mclennon future :) The archive is far from finished (those two were weird about each other to an extent that there is a seemingly endless amount of artefacts to preserve) but it has a good cross-section of material now and should make for an interesting browsing experience. I thought I'd write a short guide on navigating the archive and highlight some of the material on it.

Types: There are four main types of material on the archive, which you can navigate to by clicking the links on the landing page, screenshot above, or on the menu to the left. The types are pretty self-explanatory - audio, video, image and text.

Sorting: When you get to the landing page, it defaults to "sort by date archived" which isn't the most helpful. I'd recommend sorting by "date published" to start with, so you can see everything in chronological order. Screenshot below:

Filters: You can search more effectively using the various filters on the left hand side of the page. "Year" is probably the most straightforward. The Subject tags are still a work in progress, but they're fairly comprehensive. For example, if you filter by search term "demo" you'll get all the demo/unreleased recordings in the archive. If you sort by "interviews" you'll get all newspaper and magazine interviews. If you sort by "dezo hoffmann" you'll get all photos taken by that photographer, and so on. You can also filter by Creator, and you can click multiple filters e.g. "image" and "1967". The descriptions are as detailed as I can make them so just searching the collection should also bring up results. E.g. "spider hands" as a search term.

Note on descriptions: When I've uploaded film or audio, I try and get the fullest version possible and note timestamps in the description e.g. "At 00:14:08 John pokes Paul in the head", so you don't have to watch the whole thing to find it. There's some audio files where I haven't done it as much as I'd like but I hope to go back and pick out the timestamps for those.

Some interesting highlights include (in no particular order):

Spider hands in Adelaide and in EMI studios.

Domestic JP talking songwriting in Cavendish, with guest appearance by puppy Martha

"We Can Work It Out" promo video gigglefest

"And Your Bird Can Sing" gigglefest

"You're out of the Amateur Dramatics Society!"

NME Poll Winners Concert hug

"We just had some privacy"

Yip-yapping during a press conference

Many-times suffering George

Paul sick John worried

Strictly affectionate tie-fixing

Poking and tickling as love language

Backstage boyfriends one two three four

Demos! Lalala farm; Cage; Getting Closer; One of the Boys; Some Men Fight for Lovers' Rights; My Cheri My Pau Pau; Starting Over Walrus and Montauk.

Amie L'Nitrate

Mal telling the story about After the Divorce Meeting.

The Beatles from Apple booklet and John's "commentary"

John's collages

Paul saying John said "Jealous Guy" was about him

Hamburg Scissors Incident

"In bed"

"HE gave me loving in the palm of my hand"

Note on photos: I got most of the photos from @brummelliana's brilliant Beatles Photo Archive, already dated and catalogued, which I cannot be too thankful for! One thing about the photos is many of them were downloaded from the Beatles Chronology website so you'll see a lot of that annoying watermark in the bottom left corners. I've tried where possible to include a copy of the same photo without the watermark but for a lot of them the watermarked copy is the only one in the archive. However, the watermark should be easy to remove once you download the images.

Note on files: A lot of the archive objects contain multiple files in different formats which don't always show up in the viewer, so make sure to check the description to establish what files are in the object so you don't miss anything. For example, most of the demo recordings have accompanying text files with the transcribed lyrics. To see all files in an archive object, go to "Download Options", click "Show All" and download the relevant files or open in a new tab.

[oopshidaisyy]

just did the walk between their houses and like. pov you’re going to see your crush and the trees are green and the birds are singing and there are like 100 great hidden spots to make out with someone

[oopshidaisyy]

have now (finally) finished my fic in which a young paul mccartney gets tenderly kissed by his crush against the wall photographed above. you can read it here!!

[lavender-beans]

Obsessed

[sem1-sw33t]

can someone explain to me the entire mclennon lore??? i’m not a beatles fan or enjoyer but i do love and enjoy yaoi, so i would like to know

[the-boney-rolls]

YOU KNOW WHAT, FUCK IT I'M GONNA DO IT. BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR

Background: John and Paul were bandmates, friends and songwriting partners who met in 1957 in Liverpool. John asked Paul to join his band, which would eventually become the Beatles. They wrote all their songs under the joint moniker Lennon-McCartney. They had a close and complicated relationship that fans and historians have been trying desperately to figure out this whole time (brothers? rivals? platonic soulmates?). They've also been trying to figure out Why the Beatles Broke Up. They can't figure it out because they're not factoring in All the Gay Shit that was happening.

For years, there was a very mythologized story about the first time they met at a village fete, but Paul later admitted that he'd seen John around town a few times and "thought he looked cool." Sounds like a crush! They met briefly even, though John probably didn't remember. When they did meet, John thought Paul looked like Elvis (whose poster was on his wall) and Paul was charmed by John getting the lyrics to songs wrong, but in a clever way. Many stories have been told about this meeting and it's clear that sparks were flying immediately. Love at first sight. The song "I've Just Seen A Face" captures it perfectly.

By all accounts (from biographers and people who knew them) their bond was immediately intense, especially once they realized they liked writing songs together. They literally could not spend enough time together. They bribed Paul's brother to leave them alone in the house together. Their guardians were extremely disapproving, believing each was a bad influence on their kid. At one point, Paul's dad encouraged Paul to get a job, which meant he had less time for the band. John gave him an ultimatum - the job or the band. Paul chose the band and John gloated that Paul chose HIM over his dad.

Around this time, John and Paul and the rest of the band would engaging in wanking games, jerking off together while they shouted out names of hot women, seeing who could last the longest. John would shout "Winston Churchill!" to throw people off. Later, when the Beatles went to Hamburg, they would have sex in the same room as each other. At one point, John and Paul had sex with two women in the same bed. There are rumors that John hooked up with another bandmate, Stuart Stutcliffe, in Hamburg. John and Stu were very close at this time, and Paul was jealous. They got into a fight on stage at one point.

There's a lot of mystical shit and mirroring in their story - a shared dream of finding gold coins just after meeting each other. One big one is that both their mothers died when they were teens. Paul's at 14 just before meeting John, and John's at 17 just after meeting Paul.

A big moment is when John took Paul to Paris for his 21st birthday. It's a whole thing. John paid for everything except when Paul bought him a burger for his birthday. Paul had a lot of banana milkshakes. They took a lot of pictures of each other (including one of John sleeping that Paul had framed) and slept in a single twin bed. In a page from Paul's diary at the time, he joins their names together (something they would both do over and over again). This is considered their honeymoon of sorts and many people believe it's when they first had sex, or crossed some kind of line. It was clearly very important to both of them, they would reference it again and again throughout their lives. After they were broken up, at a meal with John, his girlfriend, Paul and his wife, John was asked if he missed England and he said "frankly I miss Paris." Many years after John died, Paul was asked about his idea of the afterlife and he said "a trip to Paris via Spain." (they had been meaning to continue on to Spain).

Speaking of Spain, in 1963, the Beatles' manager, Brian Epstein, a gay man, took John on a trip to Spain just the two of them. It's widely believed Brian had feelings for John and that something happened between them on this trip. There are several second hand accounts from friends of John that he told them so. After the trip, during Paul's 21st birthday, someone made a comment about it to John and John nearly beat him to death. He would later say about the incident that he'd been "afraid of the fag in me."

Paul's queerness is less overtly on display but at one point the Beatles met bisexual poet Royston Ellis who told them that one in four men is queer and Paul said that he looked around at them and wondered "is it me?" Royston also recited a poem to them about gay sex and 60 years later Paul and Royston met again and Paul quoted the poem back to him verbatum.

Throughout the Beatlemania years, 63-66, John and Paul spent a lot of time in hotel rooms "writing songs together." There's a narrative that they never shared a room, but articles at the time and other accounts have proven that wrong. A bit "they doth protest too much." There's a ton of footage and photos of them from this time that paints a very clear picture: them unnecessarily crowding into each others' space, sly references that John would make, and endless images of the way that they looked at each other so obviously in love. They were also writing love songs for each other. Even most non-mclennon fans accept that "In My Life" is about Paul. John wrote "If I Fell" on the back of a Valentine's card for Paul. Paul wrote "Here, There and Everywhere" at John's house while waiting for him to wake up, has said it wasn't about Jane Asher his girlfriend but "anther person I was in love with." John told Paul it was a favorite of his and Paul almost always cites it as his favorite of his songs. There are way more examples. Quite possibly, nearly all the songs are about each other, at least partly.

oh god this is only the beginning but this is already so long and I can't believe I did this. should I do a part 2 hahahaha

[lavender-beans]

Mclennon elevator pitch let’s go

[undying-love]

Well...

In light of @menlove's original post:

"I rang the bell and an old man entered. He seemed surprised to see me. 'Is this Brian Epstein's house?' I said. 'Yes, sir,' he said, and led the way to the hall. I suddenly realised that the man was the butler. I've never seen one before… He took me into a room and said in a loud voice 'Mr Orton'. Everybody looked up and stood to their feet. I was introduced to one or two people. And Paul McCartney [...] We talked intermittently. Before we went out to dinner we agreed to throw out the idea of setting the film in the thirties. We went down to dinner. 'The only thing I get from the theatre,' Paul M. said, 'is a sore arse.' He said Loot was the only play he hadn't wanted to leave before the end. 'I'd've liked a bit more,' he said." (Joe Orton, "Up Againt It")

"Orton was a hot young property in the London theater world at the time, and particularly now that the Beatles were in an experimental art phase, of sorts, Epstein thought he might be the perfect author for the third film. Another reason, actually, is that McCartney was a fan of Orton's work, and had invested a thousand pounds in one of Orton's plays, "Loot." (x)

[st-johns-wood]

Code

We talk in code to each other. We always did when we had strangers around us. John Lennon, 1963 (from the Hunter Davies biography)

Darlin', I know it really wouldn't be a crime If I say I want to love you all the time But with all these people listening in I don't know where I ought to begin Maybe we should have a secret code Before we both get ready to explode When you want me to love you Well just tell me to press Press Paul McCartney ‧ 1986

‘Oklahoma was never like this’. That can mean whatever you want it to mean. To me, when you’re writing songs, you often get a line you assume you’re going to edit later, you’re going to knock it out and put something sensible in. But every time I came to that line, I couldn’t sing anything else – just the scanning, the way it sang. People would have understood it if it was ‘Liverpool was never like this’, but it wouldn’t have sung the same. It’s a symbol for the provinces, the sticks, the out of the way places. The line just wouldn’t change, and when you meet such resistance from the lyrics themselves, you have to give in. Paul McCartney, Sound On Sound, October 1986

So this song, then, I started to play around with this idea of a girl and a boy who actually want to touch each other, but there’s a whole big crowded room full of people. What are they gonna do? So he kind of says to her, ‘Anytime you want me to do that, just kind of say “press” quietly, and I’ll know what you mean.’ So it becomes a little secret message between the two of them. Paul McCartney, 1986 102.5 WBEN-FM

Come on baby now, let me look at you Talking 'bout yourself, try to tell the truth I could stay up half the night, trying to crack your code I could stay up half the night, but I'd rather hit the road Fuh You Paul McCartney ‧ 2018

And like the dominoes who are falling into place Ignoring everything in their way And all the telephones are calling constantly Imploring us to come out and play And soon we'll see That you and me Were really friends We broke the code and walked the road that never ends Dominoes Paul McCartney ‧ 2018

[undying-love]

Alec Baldwin clarifies his comment

"I wanted to post a little quick thing about... I was commenting about McCartney and Lennon and the beauty of their relationships and with "these guys were obviously in love", I meant creatively, as dear friends they went through this remarkable period together. I would never in a million light years expand any observation about other people's private life. I would never do that. But of course, this...Daily Beast, TMZ, all that tabloid garbage... And I would never suggest anything beyond that. I love their work, and I was making a comment about their friendship and their collaboration, creatively and as friends. So this idea that I'm gonna...make a remark about their private lives and the details of that is absurd. I would never do that. No matter what information I had [chuckles]...about anybody. Never. It's not something I would do." (You can watch the full video on his TikTok account. The rest of it it's just him ranting about the tabloids)

[undying-love]

John and Paul being touchy-feely compilation, PLEASEE :3

[lavender-beans]

Eeeeeeeek

[tavolgisvist]

(x)

(x)

[angelicabr]

Another post to glorify Paul’s ass, because why not

[lavender-beans]

BBL pAulie

[mclennonhater]

Lately I've been trying to research the white album poster and I cannot find ANYTHING on this photo strip of John in bed:

However, I do believe that I can make a pretty good guess about who took these photos (totally not biased whatsoever)-- and it does help that the photo strips featured in Eyes of the Storm were taken with the exact same film 🫢🫢

If anyone knows anything about the top photo strip please let me know!! :P

[irbis-marlen]

Recommend your favorite McLennon fanfic, maybe several please

[lavender-beans]

I have so many…

Ways to love you by tk

Gretna Green Waltz by saintscully

Love is a finder, always by takomtrmou

I dream to riot, oh you should try it by takomtrmou

Now and then, there’s a fool such as I by Stonedlennon

Brother Dearest by Javelinbk

Take a sad song and make it better by javelinbk

Get a job, cop! By javelinbk

Stop all the clocks by javelinbk

The first year by candle_beck

The birthday party by Mersey dreams

Blue Christmas by moonjockey

Going nowhere by inspiteallthedanger

On our way back home by Kathleenishereagain

Boy, you’ve been a naughty girl by obstinatrix

Your lucky break by Milaway

And last but NOT least, the lovely WIP

Now and then by kamiiruec

[faultlessspills]

Oh. Okay

[irisasis]

i found the full recording of this, called the "Lost Girl Tapes"

the part from OP's post is around 17:15 into this video

Lost Girl Tapes (1967) Recorded by: Leslie Samuels, Donna Stark

[bodhbdearg]

Adventures in Beatles Archiving: Sunday Mirror news story about The Beatles from Apple booklet

I mentioned in my update to the "Whose minutes are crumbling away?" post that I was going to post an article from the Sunday Mirror, describing the Beatles from Apple booklet "annotated" by John in 1971 and sold at auction in 1983 and 1986. Images of the article, from 4 September 1983, are below, along with my transcription. Because the image from newspapers.com wasn't photographed very well - a lot of words are lost in the crease - I've put words I guessed in square brackets, as well as a few corrections (MMT was released December 1967, not 1968, for example).

The article confirms that John wrote "The minutes are crumbling away" over a photo of himself and Yoko, not him and Paul, as also suggested by the 1986 Observer article. The Associated Press article that claimed it was on a photo of John and Paul seems to have made an error.

There are lots of John comments mentioned in this article I hadn't heard about before - accusing Paul of plagiarising Yoko in "Oh Woman Oh Why?" is an, er, interesting one, as well as snark about his A levels and John's crankiness that Pattie's attendance at Oh! Calcutta was deemed worth writing about, lol.

This article, along with the other news stories about the booklet and a few images, are preserved in the McLennon Files archive.

Thanks to anon who found this article for me - I am in your debt! <3

Sunday Mirror, 4 September 1983

By Jean Carr

The songs they sang were of love and peace. But for John Lennon, the years of Beatlemania were often filled with bitterness and anger.

The Fab Four they might have been. But Lennon had no doubt who was Number One - himself.

His jealousy of Paul McCartney was intense and burning. His bitterness at the other Beatles, who he felt neglected his second wife, Yoko Ono, was just as strong.

The depth of Lennon’s feelings and his true thoughts about the Beatles are revealed in a sensational document which has just come to light. The facts are contained in his own words scrawled inside the pages of a black and white booklet, The Beatles from Apple.

The booklet was published in 1971 by the Apple Company, the business once owned by the Beatles.

It includes photographs and biographies of all four Beatles and a diary of major events in their lives.

John Lennon’s personally altered copy was sold by Sotheby’s, the London auctioneers, on Thursday for £9,000 to an anonymous buyer.

The most telling entry in the book is the page at the beginning where Lennon has numbered the names of the four Beatles below their photograph [actually on the cover under a photo of fruit].

He lists himself as No.1, Paul 2, George Harrison 3 and Ringo Starr 4.

First break

Incredibly, he marks out March 1964 - the publication date of his book John Lennon In His Own Write - as his “first breakaway” from the group.

This was the year the Beatles topped the record charts with I Want to Hold Your Hand.

Lennon’s handwritten comments and alterations were made with red, brown and green felt tip pens with the occasional scribble in black ballpoint.

The largest lettering is in red ink, as if written in anger as Lennon first flicked through the book.

On the back page Lennon, who obviously feels more mention should have been made of Yoko, has scrawled in capital size red letters: “Where is my wife. All these events were done with her you blind, deaf, reactionary bastards.”

The comments in green and brown ink are neater and smaller, perhaps added at a later date in a calmer mood when he brooded over events recorded in the book.

Referring to the release of Paul McCartney’s record “Another Day/Oh Woman, Oh Why,” Lennon ringed the words “Oh Why” and added the following postscript “What an interesting title, not unlike Yoko’s ‘Why’. Do you think little Paulie was trying to loosen up in the studio and it sounds just like it. (In fact it nearly always sounded phoney).”

Below two cartoon drawings of George Harrison and Ringo Starr he has penned “2 Virgins Apple held back.”

On one formal picture of all four Beatles posed around an ornate garden well [from the Mad Day Out shoot], he writes “Staged photo - pretending to be fab four, all waiting stoned for it to be over.”

Most intriguing of all is a pensive photograph of Lennon and Yoko taken around the time of their marriage in 1969. Over it, John [has] poignantly written “The minutes are crumbling away.”

Lennon saves his [unclear word] comments, usually in red ink, for Paul McCartney. The jealousy [is] fully obvious.

The biographical [details for] Paul record that he [got] one ‘A’ level and [number] ‘O’ level GCE exams. [Lennon] comments: “He’s been a good little [unclear word] baby face.”

Personal [notes]

More disturbing [is Lennon’s] reaction to the [entry on] Paul’s 1969 marriage to Linda Eastman.

Lennon has scored [out] the word “Marriage” [and] inserted “funeral”.

While for the [diary] that reads “1971, [June] 20, Paul and Linda [leave for] America”, Lennon has [waspishly] added the [comment] “whoopee.”

An entry for 27 [July 1970] records the attendance of George Harrison’s [wife Pattie] in the London [newspaper?] of the review of Oh! [Calcutta], featuring a Lennon [scene].

Lennon has [furiously] scribbled alongside [in [colour] ink] “As if her going was more important [than] the fact I wrote [a scene]….bastards at Apple.”

Some of the [word] details in Lennon’s biographical notes also upset him. He changed the entry that his mother died on 15 July 1958 to “killed by an off-duty cop drunk.”

And ringing the entry recording his 1968 divorce from his first wife Cynthia, he has added: “He and Cynthia divorced - I didn’t do it alone.”

He dates 26 December, 1968 [actually 1967] - the premiere of the Beatles TV film Magical Mystery Tour - as the start of his “anti-Beatle” period.

He didn’t have to wait long for results. Three years later, almost to the very day, Paul McCartney sued to dissolve the Beatles.

[almost-everydayimshuffling]

the most wonderful thing about the beatles is that there is not a single photo of them that exists where they all look good, one of them always looks like they’ve just crawled out of a hole

[lavender-beans]

What about dis one?