• The Beatles’ 13th Album? Comment by Michael Gerber on Mar 19, 17:34 @Lara, all this is speculation obviously, but it’s usual in creative fields for people to have their golden era, then a period where they come back to the pack, with occasional moments of brilliance. If anybody could’ve beaten this progression it was John Lennon and Paul McCartney, but my personal opinion is that they’d each reached their apogee as creators, John probably about 18 months before Paul because of his age (1965-68 for John; 1966-69 for Paul). And then George about a year after Paul (1968-71). I don’t think George Martin entered much into it after late 1967 once the individuals had firm control of their styles and the studio, and the music wasn’t the studio-heavy psychedelia. I DO think that the massive innovations in rock music could’ve enlivened any or all three of them. If the Beatles had stayed together I think they would’ve produced much better, more popular, more even LPs than their solo work. That having been said, I think John’s and George’s highpoints had to be solo albums–that was kinda what made them highpoints, the intensity of one person’s viewpoint. I don’t think either John or George had a Pepper-like production in them, where they could direct the other Beatles in a LP-sized production that was both a team project and a personal artistic statement (which I think Pepper was for Paul).
  • The Beatles’ 13th Album? Comment by Harlow on Mar 18, 16:20 Too harsh by far, and almost fully inaccurate to boot. Where has George been deified? Who is out there calling him a Beatle God? Which specific songs on ATMP were thoroughly worked on with Paul, GM, and John? Which ones “have Paul all over them”? Be specific, provide sources. It’s not an unpopular opinion; a lot of the things you are saying are objectively wrong.
  • The Beatles’ 13th Album? Comment by Lara on Mar 18, 15:25 Some interesting points brought up in the comments. There is a commonly held belief today that George should have been allowed four songs per album to match John and Paul. That if the Beatles hadn’t broken up, George under the advice and guidance of George Martin would have developed into an equal songwriter of John and Paul. Possibly. The major flaw with this argument in my opinion is the assumption that John and Paul had reached a creative plateau. But in 1970, had the Beatles kept going, they too would have continued to flourish and benefit from working with George Martin and more importantly with each other. Some of their weaker solo songs could have become exceptional. John and Paul were also very competitive in a way that George wasn’t. I think that every time George caught up with them they would have surged ahead. I don’t know whether John was calling George’s bluff when he suggested that they have four songs each as heard in the Abbey Road tapes but George himself seemed a little hesitant. He knew he would have to deliver and I think he may have found that stressful. Personally, I think George is rated about right in Beatles history. What do I think about the solo albums? Light can be light but heavy can also feel turgid and constipated at times. A 13th album? No thanks. While I can see the reasoning behind John and George’s solo albums – solipsism and spirituality – Paul’s solo material appeared to be a deliberate result from his anger and intimidation at John and Yoko’s pressure that songs should be ‘deep’ and political. I’ve often wondered if Paul’s determination to push Maxwell’s Silver Hammer, a song even he didn’t like that much, as a challenge to Yoko. Paul shut himself down through endlessly obscure lyrics and to me that was the tragedy for this great songwriter. He had ended up solo through default and for the wrong reasons.
  • The Beatles As They Were Heard: KHJ 93 Los Angeles Comment by StephChi on Mar 18, 09:44 I’m a bit late to this, but I’ll reply anyway! For me, it was my mom who introduced me to music and culture, rather than my older brother, who liked some music but wasn’t what I’d really call a fan. Mom always had the radio on in the house and in the car (WLS-AM here in Chicago) so I still have a lot of nostalgia for ’70s music in particular. I’ll definitely have a listen to that radio station. But to the point of Michael’s post, I do hear what he’s talking about quite a bit because I have a Sirius XM account, and one of the stations I have favorited are “60s on 6”, “60s Gold”, and the Classic Vinyl station. You can definitely get the sense of how far ahead the Beatles were from some of their contemporaries by listening to the first two stations in particular. And, not that their audiences could hear it, but it must have been a bit strange to hear the Beatles playing their very early hits along with “Paperback Writer” during the 1966 tour, when the latter sounded like it was from a completely different band. BTW, I’m a couple years older than Michael – Sgt. Pepper and I were introduced to the world just a few days apart, so, while I missed experiencing the Beatles as a working group, they were still very much on the radio in the ’70s, as were all of the Beatles’ solo music. I do have wonderful memories of laying on the living room floor around ’71 and looking intently at mom’s copy of “Let it Be” or “Hey Jude” when she played them. You could say that I’ve been a fan almost since birth!
  • The Beatles’ 13th Album? Comment by Bai Lang on Mar 17, 13:15 Harsh 🙂 A bit too harsh, maybe. I am not George’s fan and I rather enjoyed your post, but your last sentence had me a bit baffled – what do you mean exactly? Those were pretty good musicians that you named and there must have been something about George if they wanted to play with him. And I really like The Travelling WIlburys… So did you mean that George needed stronger musicians/personalities to be relevant?
  • Paul McCartney Makes Mashed Potatoes Comment by Caz on Mar 17, 11:08 I truly hope that the most troubling thing I ever hear about Paul McCartney is that he puts raw onions in with his mashed potatoes, because frankly, that’s concerning enough for me!
  • The Beatles’ 13th Album? Comment by Holly on Mar 17, 08:20 I know this will be unpopular opinion because somehow George is now considered the BEST Beatle, the Beatle God and a Spiritual Leader of the transcendental world, but ATMP is as close to a Beatles Album than any of the others – AND IT IS NOT EVEN CLOSE! Sure the material on ATMP were rejected songs, but they were rejected by Paul MCCARTNEY and John LENNON and many of them were thoroughly worked on with Paul, G. Martin and to a lesser extent w/John. So their magic (mostly Paul’s) is all over that album. After ATMP what did George do solo that was outstanding? His Greatest Hits album was one side-ATMP and one side-Beatle songs – that is kinda pathetic! George is perhaps one of the most over-rated musicians in recent times. This is not saying he is not a good musician or a good song-writer, he is!! But some/many Beatle People have deified him beyond reality. It became cool to be a George fan after he died in 2001. George had the worst tour with Dark Horse – an epic, yes epic failure! Thousands of fans walked out of that show and demanded their money back. Imagine going to a concert of a Beatle and its so bad you want your money back. He had to join the likes of Petty, Dylan, Orbison to become relevant in the 80s.
  • Paul McCartney Makes Mashed Potatoes Comment by SF on Mar 16, 03:52 I LOVE this. But his knife ‘skills’ are very frightening! I yelped at least twice.
  • Something Happened Comment by Peter Macmillan on Mar 14, 14:45 I meant, late 1960s. &^%$#@! I also am ambivalent about mythologizing the 60s; there was plenty of bad music, the heroes all had flaws, it wasn’t nearly as beautiful or clear as it looks like from our vantage point. But it was still special, and some of the hard-won gains from that era are making 2023 better. But others (the 1965 Voting Rights Act, for instance) have been eviscerated.
  • Something Happened Comment by Peter Macmillan on Mar 14, 14:21 There are lots of ways to study the many transformative changes from the mid 1950s to the late 1950s, and I am interested in all of them. But the search for some kind of impossible, essential moment or idea is tantalizing, too. The Beatles seem like a pure expression of that ineffable something that makes that time so alluring. For Hunter S. Thompson, it was San Francisco in ’64-’65: “It seems like a lifetime, or at least a Main Era — the kind of peak that never comes again. San Francisco in the middle sixties was a very special time and place to be a part of. Maybe it meant something. Maybe not, in the long run… but no explanation, no mix of words or music or memories can touch that sense of knowing that you were there and alive in that corner of time and the world. Whatever it meant… There was madness in any direction, at any hour. You could strike sparks anywhere. There was a fantastic universal sense that whatever we were doing was right, that we were winning… And that, I think, was the handle — that sense of inevitable victory over the forces of Old and Evil. Not in any mean or military sense; we didn’t need that. Our energy would simply PREVAIL. There was no point in fighting — on our side or theirs. We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave… So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look West, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high water mark — that place where the wave finally broke, and rolled back.”
  • From Victoria: The Lennon Diaries: A Multi-Decade Adventure Comment by Tasmin on Mar 13, 12:52 I’ve heard that about the Mirror as well. In addition, Heather Mills is a notorious liar, who was called out by the judge I believe, for her lies. When she was dating Paul, there were many articles about her “embellishing” her life story. Ugh! I can’t stand that woman! I wouldn’t trust a damn thing she says.
  • From Victoria: The Lennon Diaries: A Multi-Decade Adventure Comment by Lara on Mar 13, 02:22 I wouldn’t trust the Mirror as far as I could throw it. The ploy of the British tabloids is to print whatever it is they want to hear – from anonymous witnesses and insiders and ‘friends of’ and pay them well for it. I may be wrong but I’m pretty sure the judiciary placed the tapes under a strict confidentiality clause. Paul may have hit Linda. He may not have either. I’d rather rely on primary sources not on second or third accounts, particularly if there are grievances involved. The big difference between this case and the allegations made against John is that John’s witnesses and accusers named themselves. Anybody who knowingly tapes an unknowing person has the control; potentially they can get them to say what they want, do what they want.
  • Something Happened Comment by Michael Gerber on Mar 12, 23:26 @Alba, I know I read that “money is art” quote somewhere, but I can’t seem to find it, and the only close one is Andy Warhol’s ““Making money is art. And working is art. And good business is the best art.” So on the (not small) chance I’m mistaken, I’m going to take that out of my post.
  • From Victoria: The Lennon Diaries: A Multi-Decade Adventure Comment by Alba on Mar 12, 17:59 @Ruth I’m about your age and have taken a similar path in Beatles fandom. Just recently fell into obsession and found his blog. I have a pet theory that John had Borderline Personality Disorder. What do you think of that? I think it fits very well and explains a lot of his behavior.
  • From Victoria: The Lennon Diaries: A Multi-Decade Adventure Comment by Unfabbed on Mar 12, 17:31 Some journalists have heard the tape. Here’s an article in the Mirror. https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/exclusive-heather-mills-and-the-hate-tape-517585 A witness who listened in said: “It was extraordinary. Heather and Paul were shouting. He can be heard confessing he hit Linda ‘once or twice’.” Sir Paul, 65, is said to fear Heather is on the verge of a “total breakdown”. After one highly emotional interview she amazed witnesses by playing a tape of a row with Sir Paul, 65, in which he allegedly admitted hitting his late wife Linda. An insider said: “It was quite extraordinary. There were raised voices. Heather and Paul were shouting. Paul can be heard confessing he hit Linda ‘once or twice’.
  • Something Happened Comment by Lara on Mar 12, 16:58 Followed by heroin chic supermodels and today a glutton of fast fashion clothing encouraged by popular music, fashion designers and the media. All destined for the bottom of the ocean. Yet fashion constantly harks back to that extraordinary period of time, such was its impact. We can even identify what year and on what album the Beatles were working on simply by looking at what clothes they wore and how long their hair was, or bearded or not bearded. That is almost impossible today!
  • Something Happened Comment by Alba on Mar 12, 11:18 “I felt the absence of the Sixties profoundly as a backdrop to my growing up. I’m working on a piece for my memoir called “Something Happened,” because that’s how it felt in the 70s, something BIG had happened, but I had just missed it, and was getting instead the overripe and mostly used up leavings of it, especially culturally. ” Oh wow, this is exactly how always felt as someone who was born in 1959. Lumped in with “the baby boomers” but I experienced the 60’s only as a child. I always felt like I’d missed out on all the great experiences and we were just left with the dregs. At the same time, the 60’s were highly formative for me. I agree that we’re still grappling with the legacy of the 60’s. The current Christian nationalist movement is definitely a reaction to the social and cultural forces unleashed in the 60’s. It’s kind of hard to believe people are still resisting these things, even young people. That’s quite a quote from JohnandYoko about making money being art. Oooookaaaaay. Sounds like the ultimate selling out to me. 🙂
  • From Victoria: The Lennon Diaries: A Multi-Decade Adventure Comment by Lara on Mar 10, 13:45 ‘Heather played a tape of a fight she had with Paul where Paul admitted he hit Linda “once or twice.”‘ @Unfabbed, I’m curious as to how you know the exact wording of this statement. My understanding is that the tapes were only heard by the British judiciary during Paul and Heather’s divorce proceedings. The tapes were never made public.
  • From Victoria: The Lennon Diaries: A Multi-Decade Adventure Comment by Elizabeth on Mar 10, 10:33 It was quite obvious from her comments that she was seriously mentally ill. I think she was telling her ‘own truth’, but her perception of reality was upside down. She was more sad than bad though, which was why Ono and Wenner’s attempt to manipulate her was so egregious. If she didn’t make all that up about being Yoko’s ‘friend’, of course. That might have been a fantasy.
  • Something Happened Comment by Mr K on Mar 10, 09:06 “If you lived through the 80s, you remember the culture heroes turning from writers, artists and musicians to…bond traders? Corporate raiders?” ‘Supermodels’ (sigh!)
  • From Victoria: The Lennon Diaries: A Multi-Decade Adventure Comment by Unfabbed on Mar 10, 06:28 Kathy Burns mentioned it in YeahYeahYeah (but not in Stumped or PMS) around 2006 during a discussion about Paul and Heather’s divorce. She said that John wrote in a postcard to Mimi the Pattie left her house after a fight and told John that George “beat” her. Kathy wasn’t sure if “beat” necessarily meant domestic violence. Of course, Pattie is alive and well and never made that allegation in public.
  • From Victoria: The Lennon Diaries: A Multi-Decade Adventure Comment by Lara on Mar 9, 21:22 Some of the comments Paul made to Francie should be taken with a pinch of salt. Ditto Francie for how she interpreted them. From my memory of the book, Paul had told her that Jane had rejected his tender and gentle come-ons (in an attempt to win her over in light of his transgressions?) but responded to rough. Which could mean anything. Bearing in mind this was during the volatile breakdown of their relationship, I took it to mean that Jane was likely angry with Paul (and for good reason). Paul didn’t seem aghast and there was no mention of slapping or hitting. What was taken as rough in the 60s is likely to be interpreted quite differently today, as with many things.
  • From Victoria: The Lennon Diaries: A Multi-Decade Adventure Comment by Victoria on Mar 9, 17:29 @Unfabbed, I met Fred through RMB and Fred introduced me to Sam. I also got to meet May and Cynthia through Fred. I liked Fred and Sam personally and I basically agree with their view of John’s last years. Thanks for the info. It’s always interesting to hear from people who have met some of the people involved in this whole situation/time period. I wasn’t around RMB at the time, but have backread a bunch of the discussions there, partly as background research for this piece, though I didn’t draw on much of it directly. RMB at the turn of the century was a pretty intense place.
  • The Beatles As They Were Heard: KHJ 93 Los Angeles Comment by Neal on Mar 9, 17:14 Good point about the older siblings introducing us to the music and culture. It helped having them explain things and give a little context so that we could, in time, understand what they were seeing and hearing during those years. Plus, we inherited any number of records as they moved along and that is not half bad in itself. Found the cartoon. Thanks for mentioning it as I had never seen it before.
  • From Victoria: The Lennon Diaries: A Multi-Decade Adventure Comment by Michael Gerber on Mar 9, 15:34 Well, all good wishes and blessings to her. She is an interesting part of this story, I’ve always felt.
  • From Victoria: The Lennon Diaries: A Multi-Decade Adventure Comment by Unfabbed on Mar 9, 12:08 Francie admitted she had bipolar disorder and ultimately went off the deep end and alienated everybody in the newsgroup. I heard that Francie is in assisted living.
  • From Victoria: The Lennon Diaries: A Multi-Decade Adventure Comment by Jesse on Mar 9, 10:42 I was on rmb as well back then. Two things I’d like to say before I sink back into my cofffin: 1. I think it is worth mentioning that Francie said that Paul told her that he was somewhat aghast that Jane seemed to be turned on by him slapping her – so perhaps it wasn’t abuse…. 2. I knew the late Kathy Burns from private mailing list. I can’t remember her ever mentioning that.
  • From Victoria: The Lennon Diaries: A Multi-Decade Adventure Comment by Unfabbed on Mar 9, 09:56 Without getting too much into it, their view of John’s last years is in essentially the same as the thesis of Fred’s book.
  • Something Happened Comment by Janice Crawford on Mar 8, 22:36 It was just as exciting as you might imagine. I was 11 when the Beatles came to America. Magical is another word to describe it. My first musical crush was Paul McCartney. I felt so lucky that I wasn’t born too early where that love might have been for Fabian or later for David Cassidy. My Mother and I also bonded with the Beatles. She was totally besotted with John Lennon. At first I thought she was just sharing my joy, but then realized she actually had Beatlemania also. I was a bit puzzled how an older lady of 37 could be caught up in it all. Just pure fun and great joy.
  • From Victoria: The Lennon Diaries: A Multi-Decade Adventure Comment by Michael Gerber on Mar 8, 16:52 @Unfabbed, how would you characterize “their view of John’s last years”?
  • From Victoria: The Lennon Diaries: A Multi-Decade Adventure Comment by Unfabbed on Mar 8, 12:55 I met Fred through RMB and Fred introduced me to Sam. I also got to meet May and Cynthia through Fred. I liked Fred and Sam personally and I basically agree with their view of John’s last years.
  • From Victoria: The Lennon Diaries: A Multi-Decade Adventure Comment by Victoria on Mar 7, 20:40 @Unfabbed, Your mention of having met Fred and Sam Green piqued my interest. Between this article and the one about Dakota Days, I obviously have a big interest in this time period 🙂 How did you get to know Fred Seaman and John Green? What was your read on each of them?
  • From Victoria: The Lennon Diaries: A Multi-Decade Adventure Comment by Unfabbed on Mar 7, 16:43 I picked “unfabbed” because it would have been a good name for a Beatle unplugged special. Regarding violence against women by John, Paul, George and Ringo (whether real or alleged), I don’t think any of these women had serious injuries or were hit constantly. It was during the pre-metoo era. “Beat” is probably too strong a word to describe it. I prefer “hit.” Some young people are actually “canceling” the Beatles (along with Elvis, the Stones, Bowie, Zeppelin and almost every other old rocker) on Twitter because underage groupie stories have been gaining traction on the Internet. There’s the critically acclaimed Susy Thunder article in Verge (which Paramount is now making into a movie and specifically incriminates “the Boys” when they were in their mid to late 30s), the Steven Tyler lawsuit, the Bob Dylan lawsuit (which was actually dropped after Dylan scholars debunked the alleged victim’s claims) and recycled stories about “baby groupies” Sable Starr and Lori Lightning.
  • Something Happened Comment by Hieronymus on Mar 7, 15:06 This is so insightful, Michael, and articulates much of what I also believe so well – bravo! I look forward to reading that memoir
  • Something Happened Comment by Tasmin on Mar 7, 14:47 Great piece Michael. I think you touched on so many great points. “I think one could argue that the entire conservative movement in the U.S. is an attempt to roll back what’s happened since Brown v. Board of Education in 1954; the invention of the Pill (early 50s); massive post-secondary education (beginning with the G.I. Bill, but really hitting its stride in the massive student populations throughout the West in the late 60s); women’s liberation; gay liberation; racial identity being translated into international anticolonialist solidarity and political action…these are all parts of “whatever happened” which don’t simply resonate today, they are what is happening today” This is so true, and so disturbing. All the great social advances made then are being erased, or trying to be. I also think that there definitely was something special about the Beatles, and the music from that period, because it is still being listened to. Young people love the Beatles. IMO, no music from the 80’s on, has had that kind of influence. I can’t even think who from the current crop of popular music, people will still listen to 50 years from now. I am 58 (59 next month). I have always felt I missed out on the greatest musical period in history. I often say I was born ten years too late.
  • The Beatles As They Were Heard: KHJ 93 Los Angeles Comment by Baboomska McGeesk on Mar 7, 12:48 Neal, you said: “I was born in 1961 and I remember my ten-year-older brother always having the radio on at our home north of Chicago.” That was my experience as well. I hatched in ’58 and I had a brother nine years older who was collecting records and picking all the radio stations in 1964. Since we were in NY, we got Murray the K and Cousin Brucie. If I had been an only child I wouldn’t have absorbed all that music so soon. It’s the “older sibling syndrome” where late Boomers (Generation Jones?) are introduced to the culture by older brothers and sisters. “I was there” during the societal explosions of the ’60s, but because of my age I was like a mouse on the Titanic. Skittering down hallways, peeking around walls. Observing anxiously but certainly not a part of the action. The 1920s! I’m reminded of the Peter Arno New Yorker cartoon. A stuffy old gentleman finds himself in an embrace with an inebriated flapper and exclaims: “Good God, woman! Think of the social structure!”
  • From Victoria: The Lennon Diaries: A Multi-Decade Adventure Comment by Michael Gerber on Mar 7, 12:39 Noted, @Hieronymus, and thank you for this reminder. I must admit that my response was informed by this latest edition of the Savage Lovecast, where Dan talks to the author of an article about Armie Hammer.
  • The Beatles As They Were Heard: KHJ 93 Los Angeles Comment by Baboomska McGeesk on Mar 7, 12:13 Thanks, Neal. Even the newer artists I like, I couldn’t tell you much about their musical evolution or significance. I listen to individual songs without understanding their background at all. Somewhat the way my father liked the Beatles in 1966. He admired a few songs but had no interest in the Beatles story itself. Things were moving too fast and he was too busy.
  • The Beatles As They Were Heard: KHJ 93 Los Angeles Comment by Neal on Mar 7, 08:09 Really a fine bit of writing @Michael Gerber. I also have been thinking a lot about the mid-sixties lately. You juxtapose Chad and Jeremy with some of the Beatles’ work while mentioning the Troubadour. I have been mulling over the Beach Boys and The Doors—both groups that arose, geographically, within a six mile or so radius from LAX but whose temporal separation on a mere two or three years could have been that of a different century. From the summer of 1963 and well into 1964, the Beach Boys were giving concerts in which they were singing about being true to your school, the little Surfer Girl, and in Don’t Worry Baby regrets about getting into a car race. In the summer of 1966 Jim Morrison and his ensemble were ensconced in Sunset Sound Recorders in Hollywood putting onto tape concepts of breaking through to the other side and a tone poem, The End, in which Jim riffs about the classical Oedipus theme…something for which they were once booted out of the Whiskey a Go Go. Granted, songs are not the only markers in the changes, even upheavals, in the culture of the 1960s, but they certainly are important milestones that reflect not only the depth of the tectonic shifts, but also their rapidity—it really was happening all that fast. I was born in 1961 and I remember my ten-year-older brother always having the radio on at our home north of Chicago. DJs like Dick Biondi (after his return from LA) spinning discs. Although Biondi did not affect the same “radio voice” as Don Steele, many other DJs did—or at least were trying to somehow emulate it. Not sure how that style became popular, but it certainly is of its time. Sadly, Steele became nearly deaf and he apparently talked that loud when he was not in the studio. I like your comparison of the 1960s to the 1920s. When I was a junior in high school, I read a book called Only Yesterday by Frederick Lewis Allen. It is a quick and easy read, but written in 1931 it is a wonderful recap of the societal changes the U.S. underwent in the Twenties. The financial world, radio, automobiles, Teapot Dome, and other events gain mention, but the underlying theme is just how quickly and significantly things were changing. The changes of the sixties were, obviously, different in many ways, but I believe their speed and significance have direct relation to the twenties and, like you, I cannot find a better comparison. I thought Liberace’s performance in The Loved One was quite droll but, other than that, I did not like the book when I read it so many years ago nor did I find the film, which I only saw in the past ten years, to be anything special. Waugh seemed not to like Americans and he certainly did not know how to properly sketch them. His “Loot” (the American Lieutenant) in his Unconditional Surrender, for example, is very poorly done. Perhaps his snobbery simply got in the way. Shame as his early work such as Decline and Fall, Vile Bodies, and A Handful of Dust are all, for their time, superbly amusing. All of this did not, as you hint at, carry over when the world around him changed. Really like your explorations of the greater relevance of the 60s! Note: Not sure why I cannot get the italics to work when I mention songs, books, etc.
  • From Victoria: The Lennon Diaries: A Multi-Decade Adventure Comment by Bai Lang on Mar 7, 00:15 @Unfabbed Oh bloody hell. If anything, anything you say here is true, I declare my heart officially broken. And I will also get completely “unfabbed” as well! (Is this what your nick means – disillusioned with them?) I don’t know if any of it is true, but neither Jane nor Linda seem to me the type to allow their husband/boyfriend to beat them. They both seem to be strong women, they both had a strong back-up in their high-positioned families… I don’t know, I just find it hard to believe. Or I simply don’t want to believe. I also seem to remember there was this guy who helped Linda write her cook-book, and he said that Linda was unhappy in the marriage, and that apart from other instances of her being plainly unhappy, there was also “economic abuse” in their marriage with Paul’s complete control of the money. That seemed even less believable with Linda’s lawyer family behind her, but who knows. Paul and Linda’s “open marriage” is already hard-ish to swallow (for me), but any kind of violence would just be… too horrible.
  • I Only Have Eyes For You (A Lennon Collage) Comment by Greg on Mar 6, 20:11 Hello King Kevin! This is an old post ànd you’ll probably never see this message but I’d love it if you could also provide the collages he made for the other 2, any other such collages, etc. Abstract pieces… I’d give my left arm to see that exhibit book you have – I can’t find it anywhere online. I thank you ahead of time and would be beyond grateful if you could provide those other images
  • From Victoria: The Lennon Diaries: A Multi-Decade Adventure Comment by J.D. on Mar 6, 18:51 Unfabbed: Thank you for sharing these stories, as upsetting as they are to think about. I was a lurker (and occasional poster) at RMB in the late 90s, and remember Francie Schwartz well. She truly hated Paul, and hero-worshipped both John and Yoko; most of her posts revolved around those two themes. Needless to say, things were interesting when both she and Fred Seaman were regulars! I suppose what makes me hesitant about these stories of Paul being abusive is that all of them seem to originate with people who had an animus against him–Francie, Heather Mills, and (unfortunately) John. (I wonder if Francie was aware that John had, by his own admission, written those lines in “Getting Better.”)
  • The Beatles As They Were Heard: KHJ 93 Los Angeles Comment by Neal on Mar 6, 18:34 Great comment Baboomska! Quite agree with how hard it is to tease out meaning from the currents and sounds of modern pop culture. I have to leave that to the young ones.
  • From Victoria: The Lennon Diaries: A Multi-Decade Adventure Comment by Elizabeth on Mar 6, 18:14 I can absolutely believe that Paul’s relationship with Heather Mills was volatile. Did he cut her arm with a broken wine glass? Probably – it sounds very plausible. Did she give as good as she got? Almost definitely. A woman like that is no pushover. But is any of that proof that Paul is an abuser? No, and here’s the most compelling reason why: his kids love him in an uncomplicated way that is obvious to see. Children of domestic abusers (who are nearly always men) have complicated relationships with their fathers. They might love them, but they hate them at the same time, and it affects their own ability to form adult relationships. Adults who have witnessed domestic abuse are often child-like because their emotional growth has been disrupted by trauma. I would say that was the case for both Julian and Sean Lennon, but not Paul’s kids. That’s not to say that Paul and Linda had a perfect marriage (very, very unlikely) or that they never had arguments or that he didn’t expect her to put his needs above her own. I’m sure he did and that his marriage to Heather Mills was doomed from day one because she was tough in a way that Linda wasn’t, and her life experience had taught her to fight and always put herself first. But was he a domestic abuser? I think it’s highly, highly unlikely. His kids seem far too stable. Also, how would John know if Paul had hit Linda? He hadn’t seen him for years, and I bet neither Fred Seaman nor Sam Green ever spoke to Paul once.
  • From Victoria: The Lennon Diaries: A Multi-Decade Adventure Comment by Hieronymus on Mar 6, 17:27 Unfortunately, I know too much about this subject (I don’t mean specifically to Paul) and can only say 1) always prepare to be surprised as far as culprits and victims are concerned (and I can’t emphasise that enough) and 2) don’t necessarily expect physical evidence to be on display. That’s not to say anyone is guilty. And it’s not something I’m going to dwell on beyond this.
  • From Victoria: The Lennon Diaries: A Multi-Decade Adventure Comment by Unfabbed on Mar 6, 16:59 I agree that “beat” is a strong word to use and none of the Beatles ever left permanent bruises or marks on their women. A better word might be “hit” or “slapped.” It was sadly acceptable at the time. Regarding Dakota stories, Fred Seaman and Sam Green both maintained that Yoko engineered Paul’s pot bust in Japan and John was furious that Paul was going to ruin his “hotel karma.” Sam was open about his affair with Yoko and Yoko claimed that her only other affair during her only marriage to John was with David Spinozza. He told me the story about how he took Yoko to see a witch in Colombia. Most of they told me had already been written in books by Fred, Albert Goldman and John Green.
  • From Victoria: The Lennon Diaries: A Multi-Decade Adventure Comment by Unfabbed on Mar 6, 16:36 Evidently, Keith Moon was also one of her lovers. It’s interesting to note that Moon was known to be a close friend of the ex-Beatles during that period. The post in a Bay City Rollers message board from 2003 in the thread titled “Fan/Photographer.” linking “Suzie Thunder” to Keith Moon can be found below. https://www.voy.com/93531/3/ “it would be nice to see some of her photos on the website. oh! another thing. does anyone remember a groupie by the name of Suzie Thunder? now that girl was bizarre! scared the living daylights out of me when she’d tell her rated x stories about the guys!” Someone who worked at an LA radio station in the 70s and knew both Keith and Suzy then responded, “hi .. i knew suzy from when i worked at a radio station in l.a. in the late 70s and from keith moon. she was one of a kind! i would love to know where she is and what happened to her. does anyone know? Is she still in california?” Here’s a photo of Susy Thunder with Keith Moon in 1975 that was posted three years ago in the Facebook group Rock n Roll and Everything In Between. https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=2802032359882547&set=gm.3274138759277705
  • The Beatles As They Were Heard: KHJ 93 Los Angeles Comment by Michael Gerber on Mar 6, 15:59 @Rob, is there any Radio Veronica online? What I mean by history and lived memory is that history is a constructed story reflecting the needs and desires of our time–a tool to make since of an unruly past–“a set of lies agreed upon.” Whereas lived memory is what you just shared about Radio Veronica.
  • From Victoria: The Lennon Diaries: A Multi-Decade Adventure Comment by Michael Gerber on Mar 6, 15:56 The world is full of surprises, but I would find it very, very hard to believe that Paul “beat” anybody, for two reasons: 1) There is a conspicuous lack of drama in Paul’s relationships over decades; people like Francie and Heather Mills are notable because they, out of hundreds, had some drama with McCartney. Compare this to John’s relationships and public behavior, for example; or even George’s. 2) Paul and his girlfriends/wives were some of the most photographed people on Earth; any kind of physical marks would’ve been commented upon. For example, Jane Asher was a working actress for the entirety of her relationship with Paul–meaning she made money with her face and body. Any physical marks would’ve attracted notice. This entire topic is so sad to even contemplate; but of course given the Beatles’ era and upbringing, it’s hardly impossible. Spill your crazy Dakota stories, @Unfabbed. If they’re mere gossip, simply tag them as such.
  • From Victoria: The Lennon Diaries: A Multi-Decade Adventure Comment by Unfabbed on Mar 6, 13:40 Francie Schwartz said Paul hit Jane. I know that the way Francie worded it in her book was ambiguous but Francie said in the newsgroup rec.music.beatles that Paul told her he beat Jane and she even speculated that’s what Paul wrote “Getting Better” about. Francie also said she was never abused by Paul. I’ve met Fred Seaman and Sam Green and they told me a lot of crazy stories about John’s Dakota years and that John told them Paul beat Linda. Sam also said he knew Danny Fields and Danny told him Paul and Linda had an open marriage. Heather Mills claimed that Paul beat Linda during her divorce proceedings and Heather played a tape of a fight she had with Paul where Paul admitted he hit Linda “once or twice.” BTW I knew Kathy Burns, a friend of John’s aunt Mimi, from Beatle Internet message boards. Kathy said in a yahoo group that Mimi showed her a postcard John sent her where John mentioned that George beat Pattie.