Rewatching Parts Of Get Back And I Am Once Again Asking—why Does John Only Direct His Comment Regarding

Drop everything, new John & Paul photo from 1974 just dropped!

John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney, May Pang and Harry Nilsson in LA, 29th March 1974. Photo taken by Mal Evans.

For Mal, the sunny afternoon of March 29 would bring pure magic in contrast with the previous evening’s lackluster proceedings. The McCartney clan showed up [at the Santa Monica beach house] out of the blue, this time with daughters Heather, Mary, and Stella in tow, and Mal was thrilled at the prospect of seeing John and Paul together again—twice in the span of two days, no less. And he was by no means disappointed, observing the two old friends reclining on the patio together and, later, walking along the beach, with May, Linda, and the McCartney brood trailing along behind them. “Nice to see him and John together,” Mal scribbled in his diary later that month.

At one point that afternoon, Evans reached for his camera and snapped a photo of the two old friends lounging at the beach house — flanked by their partners, Linda and May Pang, and Harry Nilsson. May would also take some Polaroids of the meeting at some point this day, but there's a very real possibility that Evans' picture is the last photo ever taken of the 20th Century's greatest songwriting duo. (It will be included in the upcoming collection of Evans' diaries and archives, slated for publication in 2024.)

3 years can sometimes make quite a difference, can’t it?

The Beatles and George Martin in EMI studio 2, 27th February 1964. Photos by Dezo Hoffman

The Beatles and George Martin in EMI studio 2, 28th February 1967. Photos by Henry Grossman

the one time mclennon doesn’t top and tail it

GEORGE: I remember saying, “Well, one of us has gotta be the bass player, and it’s not me. I’m not doing it.” And John said, “I’m not doing it, either.” Paul just went for it. (1995) JOHN: Paul’s bass playing is underrated. Paul was one of the most innovative bass players ever. And half the stuff that is going on now is directly ripped off from his Beatles period. He’s an egomaniac about everything else about himself, but his bass playing he was always a bit coy about. He’s a great musician who plays the bass like few other people could play it. (1980) RINGO: Paul is still, to this day for me, one of the most incredible melodic bass players around. He’s just incredible. (2016) PAUL: As time went on, I realized that I didn’t have to just play the root notes. At first if it was C, F, G, then it was normally C, F, G that I played. But then I started to realize that you could be pulling on that G, or just staying on the C when it went into F. And then I took it beyond that. I thought, well, if you can do that, what else could you do? You might even be able to play notes that aren’t in the chord. I just started to experiment. What could you do? Well, maybe you can use different notes. Sevenths instead of the regular notes, or maybe even a little tune through the chords that doesn’t exist anywhere else. Maybe I can have an independent melody. (2018)

Did you know?

John Lennon marked almost every page of a biographical pamphlet about The Beatles, called The Beatles From Apple, with corrections and comments in 1971. 

In an entry noting Paul and Linda’s wedding, John crossed out the word “wedding” and written “funeral” in it’s place. Normal stuff. 

Who never called their best friend’s wedding a funeral when they were mad at each other, right? Awww…

Hello! I have loved your blog for years and have thoroughly enjoyed reading your mclennon posts..I was wondering what your thoughts were about the cherry bomb incident at the Memphis coliseum in 1966..I believe there is a quote from either John or Paul saying that they were worried that the other was shot 😭

Yes I’ve read this story many times and there are various versions. According to the Beatles, it was definitely a bomb. But according to Beatles fans who attended the event, it wasn’t really a cherry bomb but a firecraker, and it wasn’t thrown on the stage but near the stairs of the stage. 

I think The Beatles believed it was a bomb because they were focused on playing and singing and they saw this fire and then the explosion which happened close to the stage, and they were a bit upset, also because it was the period of the “beatles bigger than jesus” controversy with strong Anti-Beatles feelings in America, fans burning their vinyls on the streets and many protests,...so there was tension at Beatles concerts. And that firecracker might have been a consequence of that turmoil.

I remember that John revealed in an interview that when the “bomb” exploded they suddenly looked at each other to check they were fine. Some Beatles fans who have attended the concert also reported that Paul suddenly looked at John to check if he was alright.  ❤

John + Paul in Adelaide, being possibly the most in sync I’ve ever seen them