Eternal Phone Ring-Ring @matespriteforeverna - Tumblr Blog

Some parallels

JOHN: Well, because of the situation we’re in, and I often express myself through song, or mainly through song, somebody can have – let’s call it— Let’s say he’s a brother of mine, in the family. Now, if two brothers argue and fight, for whatever reason, or even – write, the only way they can express themselves, because they’re not artists, is either through letters or through dialogue. One brother goes away to sea, not because they had a fight, but because he was going away to sea anyway. The last thing they did was have an argument. He, the brother away at sea – let’s call that me, ‘cause I went to America – might write to his brother…

(John Lennon, April 16th, 1973 (Beverly Hills Hotel, Los Angeles), interview with Elliot Mintz)

Later on, the story goes A bottle floated out to sea After days, when it had found the perfect spot It opened up And I read the note That you never wrote to me

After all I’m sure you know The Mayor of Baltimore is here

(The Note You Never Wrote, 1976)

Of course, I had to make up the Mayor of Baltimore character. Why? Because it sounded good. I wasn’t too worried about the meaning. Maybe the song would develop a meaning at some point. Or maybe someone would find a meaning.

(Paul McCartney about The Note You Never Wrote in The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, 2021)

Well, I’m looking for my girl I wonder where, where, where can she be? <…> I know she’s somewhere waitin' just for me <…> Yeah, we met a year ago in a place called Baltimore I wonder, wonder, wonder where did my girl go? <…> She couldn't be too far gone, my girl needs me so Oh, well I went to England (Oh yeah?) France and Spain (Oh yeah?) I searched around (Oh yeah?) From Memphis to Maine (Oh yeah?) I’m sittin' here alone (Oh yeah?) Poor poor me (Oh yeah?) I wonder, wonder, wonder, wonder where can she be? Well, I'm looking for my girl I wonder where, where did she go? <…> I know she's somewhere waiting just for me Oh Yeah man, I can’t find that girl no place I don't know where that girl could be

(Baltimore, The Drifters, 1960)

+ 13 September 1964, Baltimore by Curt Gunther

hqbeatles

tavolgisvist

13 September 1964, Baltimore by Curt Gunther

The Mayor of Baltimore is here

way-beyond-compare

Paul for Clash Magazine, June 2026 🐦‍⬛

absoluteuemployment

Also happy pride to John Lennon and Paul McCartney

undying-love

"It’s lovely to think John would have been 80. And, you know, that’s...that’s... it’s nice to imagine him at 80. I think he would...I think he would be, very literate. I think he would be writing, uh, not necessarily just music cause he was starting to get into, uh, he did, he did a couple of little books. Um, and I think, I think he would have matured nicely." (2020)

"[I use] pencil and paper. I’m not a typist. Funnily enough, John became a red-hot typist towards the end of his life. He had always had this “Arts Correspondent in Kowloon” kind of dream. But for me it’s pencil and paper." (2001)

"He might have become a novelist. That's something he wanted to do." (1989)

thetryhardartist

Paul’s lyrics for Hold Me Tight (with a doodle of John—possibly).

The Beatles Lyrics by Hunter Davies, pg. 55

waveofahand

He was and is obsessed. Epic. It's you, you, you Hold me tight, let me go on loving you tonight, tonight, making love to only you And a doodle of... well, if that's not John, it's certainly not poor Dot.

undying-love

"What's the secret?"

Q: The song talks about the beginning of your friendship with John Lennon, and you mention a secret that you kept. Are you able to tell us what that secret was? Paul: No, I mean, that's the secret, you know. The lyrics is, "We met at Forthlin Road and wrote a secret code." So I'm meaning we wrote songs, but you did, you had secrets that only you two know. That's what brings you together.

It would be interesting if someone asked him about the “promise”, rather than just the “secret code.” The code can easily be explained away as referring to songs they wrote, like Paul does here (and I do think Paul is telling the truth there btw. He has said many times that he reveals things in his songs). But the promise feels much more personal, because he specifically says he’s still keeping it to this day.

james-winston

“John had beautiful hands.”

pauliebunny

Add this to the happy pride month Paul collection

james-winston

“John had beautiful hands.”

pauliebunny

Add this to the happy pride month Paul collection

motherlennon

Paul McCartney at a press conference in Vancouver, Canada (August 22, 1964)

motherlennon

CUTE AGGRESSION. a response to overwhelmingly positive feelings as a result of extreme adoration, causing a cuteness overload and eliciting extreme urges that may result in physical or verbal outbursts or intense facial expressions.

motherlennon

"We were trying to get in touch with Paul and Linda for dinner. We didn't reach them. We left them a message. And as we're coming up 61st [Street] in the cab, we look over in the cab and it's Paul and Linda." - May Pang interviewed c. 1980s as portrayed in her documentary, The Lost Weekend: A Love Story