The Beatles

[PeteM]

I feel like somebody should study Paul to find out how he's stayed the course as a man in the public eye. I went to see 'One Hand Clapping' at the weekend and I was struck by how much he loved being in a studio, creating music, working with others. Clearly just wanted to be with Linda the whole time. At a time when he could have easily spent his days driving a succession of Rolls-Royces into swimming pools, or whatever jaded rockers got up to in the 1970s. (I also think he never got over the impulse to try to impress John, the ultimate cool, older brother figure...)

Paul never lost sight of being playful with music. He's one of very few artists who seems to not have a censor or a filter when he creates. Instead of shutting down ideas, he allows songs to simply flow through him, very much like Stevie Wonder & Prince.

Of course, I'm not diminishing John Lennon's immense talent as a songwriter too. And then we have George too - in any other band, he'd have been lauded as one of the great UK songwriters of his time. He just happened to be in a band with two really superlative writers...

 

[Aude]

Paul never lost sight of being playful with music. He's one of very few artists who seems to not have a censor or a filter when he creates. Instead of shutting down ideas, he allows songs to simply flow through him, very much like Stevie Wonder & Prince.

Of course, I'm not diminishing John Lennon's immense talent as a songwriter too. And then we have George too - in any other band, he'd have been lauded as one of the great UK songwriters of his time. He just happened to be in a band with two really superlative writers...

I read (in Mark Lewisohn's The Beatles - All These Years) that John and Paul became established as the group's songwriters partly because George Martin had encouraged their writing while rather dismissing George's efforts.

I haven't mentioned here before that I saw The Beatles. Their Christmas 1963/64 show at the Finsbury Park Astoria. My main memory is that Cilla - also on the bill - wore a very nice pink halter neck dress.

 

[PeteM]

I haven't mentioned here before that I saw The Beatles. Their Christmas 1963/64 show at the Finsbury Park Astoria. My main memory is that Cilla - also on the bill - wore a very nice pink halter neck dress.

Wow! Immensely jealous of you seeing them live. Was it hard to hear the band over the screaming?

 

[Don'tlookEthel]

Can I recommend the Another Kind of Mind podcast? They really explore Pauls childhood (no doubt in that it was far more secure than Johns, but the death of his mother takes up far less bandwidth than the death of Julia but would have been no less devastating), they back their assertions to the hilt with sources and really unpick stuff often putting a different light on things. I love it!

 

[Aude]

Wow! Immensely jealous of you seeing them live. Was it hard to hear the band over the screaming?

Impossible!

 

[Don'tlookEthel]

I sang along with an actual Beatle last night in Manchester and blubbed on every other song, what a special and magical night!

 

[lilyannrose]

I've always liked the Beatles music but I got into them in a big way after seeing the film Across the Universe many years ago. It made me really take notice of just how amazing the songs are.

I just wish I could have been around in the 60s like my mum. She was 10 when the Beatles hit the big time and remembers it all and it just sounds like the most exciting thing ever to live through as a young person.

 

[hughjars]

I sang along with an actual Beatle last night in Manchester and blubbed on every other song, what a special and magical night!

Ah man! I’ve seen Paul a few times and it’s just so magical. He really knows what people want to hear. You’ll treasure that memory for a long time

 

[People-huv-tae-know]

I met Pete Best when he came to Edinburgh about 20 years or so ago. He was really nice. Did a few songs and then a Q and A from the audience. He said he was devastated when John died. That's as close as I have gotten to a Beatle. I think I would pass out if I met Paul or Ringo

 

[Boom Boom!!]

My father saw them in cavran in Liverpool.. He thought they were absolute crap.. I think Cilla Black was working there at the time.. This is before they hit the big time.. probably needed to hon there skills..

 

[lilyannrose]

I have a couple of people who I idolise so much I actually don't want to meet them because I would only embarrass myself.

One is Kate Bush and another is Paul.

Just getting to go on the National Trust tour of 20 Forthlin Road and Mendips in 2017 was amazing. Being able to say I sat in a room where the Beatles gathered and wrote songs and really got their careers going blows my mind. And there's a lovely little recorded message from Paul to fans when you go to his old house which was a nice bonus.

 

[hughjars]

I have a couple of people who I idolise so much I actually don't want to meet them because I would only embarrass myself.

One is Kate Bush and another is Paul.

Just getting to go on the National Trust tour of 20 Forthlin Road and Mendips in 2017 was amazing. Being able to say I sat in a room where the Beatles gathered and wrote songs and really got their careers going blows my mind. And there's a lovely little recorded message from Paul to fans when you go to his old house which was a nice bonus.

I did that tour for the second time recently, the first time not long after they opened to the public. The guide the most recent time at Mendips made me warm to the place the way the guide the first time couldn’t. I’ve cried both times in Forthlin Road, especially when he quoted Paul as having said the house may have been threadbare, but it wasn’t threadbare of love

 

[PeteM]

Good ole Ringo guested tonight on Sgt. Pepper (Reprise)/Helter Skelter.

 

[lilyannrose]

I was watching their Washington DC gig from 1964 and it's amazing how well they performed given the crazily rickerty set up of the stage/kit, no monitors, the screaming, etc.

How I envy every single person who got to be in the room that night!

 

[lilyannrose]

Driving me mad how you can't discuss anything Beatles on Youtube and the like without absolute wankers banging on about the Fake Paul theory. They are so smug about knowing "the truth", too.

 

[JabberHockey]

Nice tribute to Marianne Faithfull (RIP) from Paul on Twitter.
Must be sad to see so many contemporaries slip away.

 

[EleanorRigby]

Driving me mad how you can't discuss anything Beatles on Youtube and the like without absolute wankers banging on about the Fake Paul theory. They are so smug about knowing "the truth", too.

I agree and some of the theories that "prove" the "truth" are absolutely bonkers. But I also think that there is truth in them using doubles. Boomer Black Sheep on YouTube has some of the most sane and well thought out takes on the whole Paul Is Dead stuff IMHO.

 

[lilyannrose]

I agree and some of the theories that "prove" the "truth" are absolutely bonkers. But I also think that there is truth in them using doubles. Boomer Black Sheep on YouTube has some of the most sane and well thought out takes on the whole Paul Is Dead stuff IMHO.

I can believe doubles being used for security purposes, certainly. I think several really famous A-listers have done that, haven't they?

 

[EleanorRigby]

I can believe doubles being used for security purposes, certainly. I think several really famous A-listers have done that, haven't they?

Yes it's very common.

 

[People-huv-tae-know]

Driving me mad how you can't discuss anything Beatles on Youtube and the like without absolute wankers banging on about the Fake Paul theory. They are so smug about knowing "the truth", too.

Paul these days looks like his dad when he was an old man. For me that's proof enough that he isn't dead. Also his genes are very strong, his children all have his features too.