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idontwanttospoiltheparty · 1 year

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#I am not in fact constantly thinking about how John not knowing Paul before his mother died vs. Paul seeing John have a breakdown over Julia set them up to Be Like That

umm you cannot just leave this in the tag and not elaborate for the ppl?? thx!

the way I just scrolled through my ENTIRE dms with @phoneybeatlemania because I swear I sent this to her once but alas

OKAY so I could probably write multiple essays about this, but I think a pillar of John and Paul's relationship is the fact that John tended to wear his damage on his sleeve whereas Paul has always preferred burying his problems and this particular perfect storm ultimately led to a good portion of those two's specific dysfunction.

Based on that, my pet theory is that them both being hit by the same tragedy, the loss of their mother, likely represented a point of comparison between the two, in terms of their personality and specific reactions to loss, that may have led both of them to faulty conclusions:

John, in immense pain after Julia's death, probably thought of himself as very broken, whereas Paul, to him, appeared to be "getting on with it fine" and thus John might have imagined Paul to be much more put together than him, meaning: a) Paul would be available to do more emotional labour for John and b) Paul would be more likely to leave John because "Who could stay for someone this broken?"

On the other hand, Paul would probably think that if John wasn't capable of keeping his pain at bay, as Paul was, that meant perhaps John inherently needed more support and Paul was not entitled to ask for any.*

The fact that John didn't know Paul at all before Mary died, would've probably exacerbated this even more, because, according to Mike in the Davies bio, Paul was noticeably affected by his mother's death, but without being able to witness a stark before-after effect, it would've been difficult for John to fully assess how deep an impact Mary's death had. Paul, on the other hand, got a first row seat to John's breakdown and would've thus been acutely attuned to just how much Julia's death messed his friend up.

*HUGE ASIDE INCOMING: Bear in mind, however, that the two also seemed to process grief very differently. Just because Paul thinks he's helping, by, for instance dragging John back to Quarrymen rehearsals, encouraging everyone to do Magical Mystery Tour, doesn't mean he in fact is. That's not to say I think Paul was being selfish at all. Consider that on the day of John's murder, Paul went to the studio, or that, according to Mike, it was Mary's death that drove Paul to obsessively practice playing guitar; and now consider that John tended to step away from music in his darkest moments, falling into pits of low productivity as his mental health declined. Paul's efforts were sincere, in my personal opinion, they were just not particularly geared toward John's typical modus operandi. (Though, perhaps also consider that John did return to the Quarrymen and did carry on as a Beatle after losing Stu, so maybe Paul wasn't wrong for assuming his encouragement to "get back to work" would help after Brian died)

#good lord this was long #hope this made sense lol #this has been circling my brain for like half a year btw #ask #anon #jp #my analysis #mother mary #julia #58 #fiona.docx #john #paul

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illleavemymessageinmysong · 2 months

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MTV Unplugged: Singing The Blues

“We’d rehearsed a bunch of songs and tried to keep it a kind of unusual selection so that there was a slightly historical interesting angle to the stuff we were playing”

Mean Woman Blues

Matchbox

Midnight Special

I Lost My Little Girl

Here, There and Everywhere

San Francisco Bay Blues

We Can Work It Out

Blue Moon Of Kentucky

I’ve Just Seen A Face

Every Night

Be Bop A Lula

She’s A Woman

And I Love Her

The Fool

Things We Said Today

That Would Be Something

Blackbird

Hi-Heel Sneakers

Good Rockin’ Tonight

Junk

Ain’t No Sunshine

We Can Work it Out

Singing The Blues

For a while, Paul’s full MTV Unplugged performance was up on YouTube (including songs that weren’t broadcast on the tv show or included on the album) but it’s since been taken down. A couple of things stuck out for me when I watched it: firstly, how naturally funny he is, his between song patter is such a laugh; secondly, how the setlist, with a few exceptions, felt kind of thematic.

Largely, the set felt like a bit of a story and that story, as his fellow Liverpudlian Pete Wylie might have put it, is The Story Of The Blues - and I don’t mean Everton FC.

No, it felt like the story of love found and love lost.

Far fetched? Well, I was listening to the When They Was Fab podcast episode from April 2023 on the mtv unplugged show and it included a clip from an interview with Paul (sorry, don’t have the original source) and he says the following:

“We’d rehearsed a bunch of songs and tried to keep it a kind of unusual selection so that there was a slightly historical interesting angle to the stuff we were playing”.

So, he’s saying there’s something thematic about the setlist. It’s not just a bunch of songs that would sound good done acoustically or, as I’ve heard suggested, that he interpreted the brief as meaning skiffle. I mean, sure, there are a couple of skiffle type songs in there in Midnight Special and San Francisco Bay Blues but even the rest of the 50s covers are more rock & roll, r&b or 50s pop.

If Paul talks about a “slightly historical interesting angle” the first thing we’d probably want to look at is The Beatles or maybe, more particularly, John. Well, the set includes ‘Be Bop A Lula’, a song John and the Quarrymen played the day Paul met him, so there’s that. Is there anything else particularly John or Beatles related in the set? Other than their shared love of 50s r&r and r&b? Don’t really see it.

There are some feel-good uptempo songs in the set to keep the mood up but most of the songs chosen, I think, come into these categories:

* Beatle Paul songs widely accepted to have been written about his then girlfriend

* Beatle Paul songs that may or may not be specifically about her but perhaps reflect the position he was in relationship wise at the time

* Songs about the despair felt when a relationship has ended - singing the blues

The last category covers a couple of his own songs and many of the covers. From the latter:

“I've got news for you, baby, leave me here in misery, all right”

“I got the blues from my baby left me…. didn’t mean to treat her so bad, she was the best girl I ever have had, she said goodbye, I can take a cry, I want to lay down and die”

“It was on a moonlight night, the stars shining bright, they whispered from high, your love has said good-bye”

“gather round me buddy, raise your glasses high and drink to a fool, a crazy fool, who told his baby goodbye. Too late he found he loved her so much he wants to die, so drink to a fool, a crazy fool who told his baby goodbye..he needs her, he needs her so, he wonders why he let her go”

“ain’t no sunshine when she's gone, only darkness every day, ain’t no sunshine when she's gone and this house just ain't no home anytime she goes away”

Finally, as a summation of the performance, we get:

“well I never felt more like singin' the blues, ‘cause I never thought that I'd ever lose your love dear, why'd you do me this way?..well I never felt more like cryin' all night, ‘cause everythin's wrong, and nothin' ain't right without you, you got me singin' the blues”

#paul mccartney #paulmccartneylyrics #mccartney mtv unplugged

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javelinbk · 11 months

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fics where paul is eager?

I feel like this is way too open to interpretation anon. What if I post a list of fics where Paul is begging everyone and their mother for sex and actually you just want a fic about the time he convinced the Quarrymen to wear matching shirts?

Not that I particularly have any recommendations for either categories. Anyone? Bueller? @whenyourbirdisbroken ?

#anon ask #fic recs

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beatleshistoryblog · 1 year

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LECTURE 4: INFLUENCES (PART 1): If you get a chance, check out this fascinating police recruitment film shot in Liverpool in the year 1958. It features plenty of fascinating city scenes filmed of the city from around the time John, Paul and George were still The Quarrymen, and Ringo was in the Eddie Clayton Skiffle Group. The skyline shots, particularly the footage of the Anglican Cathedral, are particularly breathtaking. According to one account (found here), this is the first film that contains the first footage of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison together. But I’ll be honest with you: I sure as hell don’t see it. According to the YouTube page for this video above, John and Paul are visible at 34:10, but there is also someone in the comments section who says they’re visible at 34:31.. But I just ain’t seeing ‘em, in either scene. Maybe they’re too far away? Who knows? If you do happen to know where to find them in this film, please let me know! My email is [email protected]. Still, the film is a fascinating glimpse into Liverpool of the late 1950s.

#Liverpool #film footage #Liverpool Police #recruitment films #1958 #John Lennon #Paul McCartney #George Harrison #YouTube #videos

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beatlesblog207 · 3 years

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LECTURE 4: INFLUENCES (PART 1): If you get a chance, check out this fascinating police recruitment film shot in Liverpool in the year 1958. It features plenty of fascinating city scenes filmed of the city from around the time John, Paul and George were still The Quarrymen, and Ringo was in the Eddie Clayton Skiffle Group. The skyline shots, particularly the footage of the Anglican Cathedral, are particularly breathtaking. According to one account (found here), this is the first film that contains the first footage of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison together. But I’ll be honest with you: I sure as hell don’t see it. If you do, please let me know! My email is [email protected]. Still, the film is a fascinating glimpse into Liverpool of the late 1950s.

#Liverpool #1958 #short films #John Lennon #Paul McCartney #George Harrison #Ringo Starr #The Quarrymen #The Eddie Clayton Skiffle Group #film footage

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michonnegrimes · 5 years

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July 6th, 1957 | Nowhere Boy (2009) dir. Sam Taylor-Wood I was very impressed by Paul playing ‘Twenty Flight Rock’. He could obviously play the guitar. I half thought to myself, ‘He’s as good as me.’ I’d been kingpin up to then. Now, I thought, ‘If I take him on, what will happen?’ It went through my head that I’d have to keep him in line if I let him join. But he was good, so he was worth having. He also looked like Elvis. I dug him. ... Was it better to have a guy who was better than the people I had in? To make the group stronger, or to let me be stronger? Instead of going for an individual thing we went for the strongest format: equals. – John Lennon My memory of meeting John for the first time is very clear. I can still see John now - checked shirt, slightly curly hair, singing ‘Come Go with Me’ by the Del Vikings. He didn’t know all the words, so he was putting stuff in about penitentiaries - and doing a good job of it. I remember thinking, ‘He looks good - I wouldn’t mind being in a group with him.’ Then, as you all know, he asked me to join the group, and so we began our trip together. We wrote our first songs together, we grew up together and we lived our lives together. And when we’d do it together, something special would happen. There’d be that little magic spark. I still remember his beery old breath when I first met him that day. But I soon came to love that beery old breath. And I loved John. I always was and still am a great fan of John’s. – Paul McCartney At the time I didn’t think there was anything particularly significant about that day, but a week or two later John and I went to Paul’s house. He was fooling around a bit, showing off and playing a couple of rock songs. John turned to me and said, ‘That Paul, he’s got something, hasn’t he?’ – Eric Griffiths, member of the Quarrymen

#john lennon #paul mccartney #beatlesedit #thebeatlesedit #userrobin #filmedit #nowhere boy #aaron taylor johnson #thomas brodie sangster #john and paul #*#july 6 1957 #today is the holiest of days!!!!!!!!#what i particularly love about this adaptation is how they show j&p each winning the other over in each scene #so good

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veinmay1 · 2 years

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People get caught up in numbers that seem nice, but don’t seem to generate any further value for the corporate. We are able to discover out whether an organization has modern machines which can meet the needs of shoppers, we'd like to search out out which equipment can produce modern Ferroalloys, and ask the corporate's executive whether or not they've such advanced infrastructure or not, The excellence of alloys rely upon it. In case you are striving with one thing you will have to supply on your finish, or just must sign on and, who all can you make contact with? And if you are going to construct your computer or plan to upgrade it sooner or later, you have to do some research on what mannequin of the motherboard to speculate. Even with no Windows Pc, it may possibly build native Windows apps and with out a Mac machine, its constructed-in servers can permit for the development of native iOS apps. It turned into my very own weekly countdown record which I maintained all by way of highschool, college, and even into my younger adult years. 1 on the next charts are famous: Billboard Hot a hundred (US), Cashbox (CB), Billboard grownup contemporary chart (AC), Billboard album rock track chart (AR), Canadian pop chart (CN), and Australian pop chart (AU).

JR-1 When he was only 2, his mom left him together with her mother and stepfather and met another Canadian serviceman, married him, and moved to Canada. His father was a Canadian airman named Edward Fryer who met Pat Clapton at certainly one of his dance-band gigs. The A-10 Thunderbolt is taken into account one of the heaviest jets, weighs about 540 kg, and such heaviness is extraordinarily competent in allowing it to bear a number of major damages, and survive. Nevertheless one shouldn't unnecessarily spend a lot. Pertopavlovsk- Kamchatsky lies on the much jap land of Russia on the Kamchatka peninsula. Cancun is probably probably the most well-known place on the Yucatan Peninsula. You can also opt to make use of one-time, as-needed roadside help services, comparable to Honk, instead of your traditional service. Double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu remained at world number 7, whereas Saina climbed two locations to twenty third, following a second spherical defeat at all England.Commonwealth Games silver medallists Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who had claimed the males's doubles title at India Open in January, jumped a spot to the seventh spot. As per a case research, PayPal had uses Node.js which resulted in the escalation of a number of requests per second and reduction in response time by 35%. As per research, LinkedIn, the worldwide networking site, moved from Ruby to Node to handle their cellular visitors ensuing in the decrease within the variety of servers from 30 to three which is nearly 90% discount. Algorand uses the benefits of each centralized and decentralized blockchain tasks. The future of labor is extremely brilliant, particularly within the approaching years, as many jobs in expertise are going to see an enormous progress in the coming decade, with a handsome pay test as well. He launched a solo profession in 1970. Over the following eighteen years, Clapton launched ten studio albums as a solo artist, including the celebrated 461 Ocean Boulevard (1974) and Slowhand (1977) albums. 1 album of all time), The White Album (1968), and Abbey Road (1969) - are featured in the DMDB e book The Top 100 Albums of All Time. He died 3/18/2017. He has been referred to as “the architect of rock and roll.” His music “Johnny B. Goode” (1958) is featured within the DMDB book The Top one hundred Songs of the Rock Era 1954-1999. To have a good time his birthday, the DMDB compiled a list of his top 25 songs. Rock singer/songwriter and guitarist Chuck Berry (click hyperlink for DMDB encyclopedia entry) was born Charles Edward Anderson Berry on 10/18/1926 in St. Louis, Miissouri. He was born Eric Patrick Clapton on March 30, 1945 in Ripley, England. Formed in Liverpool, England. 1 within the United States (US), England (UK), Canada (CN), and Australia (AU). The pop/rock singer was born on at the present time (April 22) in 1951 in Sheffield, England. She was 16 when Eric was born. Note: Along with Eric Clapton’s studio albums, this contains works with the Yardbirds, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Cream, Delaney & Bonnie, and Derek & the Dominos. Active 1960 to 1970. Members: John Lennon (v/g), Paul McCartney (v/g; switched to b 4/61), George Harrison (g/v), and Ringo Starr (d/v - Rory Storm and the Hurricanes: Beatles: 8/62 to 4/70). Earlier members included Stu Sutcliffe (b - left in April 1961), and Pete Best (d: 8/60-8/62), as well as John Lowe (piano) and Colin Hanton (d) who have been in early model identified because the Quarrymen. https://retinacomics.org/ to Paul Carrack. Mechanics which featured Carrack on lead vocals. Mechanics. Also labored as a solo singer. He labored as a soloist (1898-1920), with the massive Four Quartet (01), with Byron Harlan (01-18), and with the Peerless Quartet (09-18). Collins has three songs featured in the DMDB guide The Top 100 Songs of the Pre-Rock Era, 1890-1953 - “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” and “The Darktown Strutters’ Ball” are duets with Bryon Harlan while “Bill Bailey, Won’t You Please Come Home?” is a solo recording. Group managed by Brian Epstein until his dying in 1967 and produced by George Martin. Brothers Brian Wilson (leader/composer/producer/b/k: 61-85,96,12), Carl Wilson (g; died in 1998), and Dennis Wilson (g: 61-83; drowned in 1983) with cousin Mike Love (v/sax: 61-), Al Jardine (g: 61-) Jardine was briefly replaced by David Marks (g: 62-63). Brian quit touring in December 1964 to concentrate on creating music in the studio. In 2012, Love reunited with Brian and Jardine for an album and tour. Cale songs with “After Midnight” and “Cocaine.” He also penned album rock staples like “Lay Down Sally,” “Wonderful Tonight,” “Promises,” and “I Can’t Stand It.” Click here to see different best-of lists from performers and right here to see different finest-of lists from songwriters and/or producers.

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throughtheeraswithlibs · 2 years

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THE BEATLES

The Beatles were the iconic epitome of the sixties, reinventing the meaning of rock and roll as a cultural form through close vocal harmonies, subtle arrangements, clever production touches and elemental rhythm section which created new standards of excellence and beauty. Initially formed by John Lennon and Paul McCartney in Liverpool 1957, the band was created through shared interests of American Rock’N’Roll. Followed by the introduction of the lead guitarist, George Harrison and Sutcliffe in the 1960s, whom brought a brooding sense of bohemian style to the band. Originally branded, ‘The Quarrymen’ and ‘The Silver Beetles’, The Beatles joined a small, booming music scene in Liverpool, soon expanded through adding the drummer, Best where they eventually progressed to performing in Hamburg between 1960 and 62.

The world were fascinated by the Beatles, particularly Brian Epstein who became their manager in the autumn of 1961, winning them a contract with Parlophone, subsidiary of the giant EMI group of music labels. The Beatles were advised to add a more polished drummer, and along came Ringo Starr, as well as a rearranged version of “please, please me” from slow to upbeat.

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YOUTUBE. (2018) The Beatles - The Story & the Songs. [Online] Available from : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tW_haRxElvs. [Accessed: 16th November 2021].

During 1963, The Beatles continuously rose to fame in England, accommodating to widespread public comment. Meanwhile, in 1964, the appearance on many US televisions sprouted their popularity in America, provoking a British Invasion of Beatles ‘Immitators’ After appearing in the ‘Hard days night’ movie, the phrase ‘Beatlemania’ submerged which emulated long hair, flip humour and displays of the devil-may-care abandon. Additionally, in 1964, their first No.1 single “I wanna hold your hand’ surfaced on the Billboard Charts which kickstarted American Invasion after their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan show.

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YOUTUBE. (1964) The Beatles - I Want To Hold Your Hand - Performed Live On The Ed Sullivan Show 2/9/64. [Online] Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jenWdylTtzs. [Accessed 17th November 2021].

From 1965 to 1967, their music changed and lyrics evolved to reveal deeper meanings, as their vocabulary became more subtle, sophisticated and varied. For example, their music ranged from a contrast of light melodies in ‘Yesterday’ to hallucinatory hard rock in ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’, which was inspired by Timothy Learifs ‘The Psychedelic’ experience and included the carnivalesque soundscape of ‘Being For The Benefit Of Mr.Kite’. It featured the imaginative lyrics by Lennon along with the spliced together recordings of stream organs.

1967 saw the release of Sgt. Peppers, which was a magnificent mix of musical genres, varied instruments and sounds, making it one of history's most significant albums of all time. This album was evidential of the Bands genius minds, it was a personified, counterculture of hedonism and uninhibited experimentation. Another association with the sixties was drugs, which the Beatles also flirted with during this album, using mind expanding drugs such as LSD and transcendental meditation which added to this psychedelic atmosphere The Beatles created in this album.

#Youtube

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muzaktomyears · 7 months

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As Ringo Starr observed, “There was the love-and-beads personality and the bag of anger.” The first really did blossom in India, whether it meant putting in the hours to learn the sitar under the great Ravi Shankar or finding tranquillity in Rishikesh in the company of the Maharishi. The problem with the spiritual pursuit is that it can be mistaken for a quick road to enlightenment, particularly among Westerners discovering Eastern traditions, and Harrison proved to be no more rapidly enlightened than the next would-be yogi. The Beatles’ press officer Derek Taylor recalled a transatlantic flight on which Harrison was chanting his mantra. When a concerned flight attendant asked if everything was all right, he snapped: “F*** off. Can’t you see I’m meditating?”

quote from the Times review of Philip Norman's George Harrison: The Reluctant Beatle

George Harrison by Philip Norman review — the tetchy, much mocked, reluctant Beatle

Harrison was a sensitive soul overshadowed by his bandmates but he blossomed musically after the Fab Four broke up. By Will Hodgkinson

If the title of Philip Norman’s biography makes you wonder why anyone would be reluctant to be a Beatle, the first few chapters provide the answer. Coming from a loving, supportive, working class family in Liverpool, George Harrison was 14 when an amiable Paul McCartney invited him to join a loosely congregated skiffle group called the Quarrymen. To which the group’s acid-tongued 17-year-old leader John Lennon responded: “Who’s that bloody kid who’s always hanging around?”

It didn’t help that Lennon’s guardian, Aunt Mimi, a frightful snob, took in Harrison’s teddy boy gear, Scouse accent and sticky-out ears and dismissed him as exactly the kind of riff-raff her nephew should not be hanging around with. As Lennon recalled, “He came round to [Aunt Mimi’s house] one day and asked me to go to the pictures with him. I pretended I was too busy.”

Did it get better for that bloody kid once he was officially a Beatle? No, it did not. So quiet that one early associate remembered him as “the Invisible Man”, Harrison was routinely subjected to all manner of indignities — he lost his virginity in a Hamburg bunk bed while John, Paul and the band’s original drummer Pete Best looked on; and when he vomited on the floor of a Hamburg flat in a drunken stupor one night, the other Beatles christened his puke of shame “the Thing” and decorated it with matchsticks.

Given this early treatment, you can see why it was so hard for Harrison to be taken seriously by his tormentors in the years to come. It meant that however good his songs were — and few can argue that Isn’t It a Pity and All Things Must Pass are not profound, moving highlights of the hippie era — Harrison was forever struggling to get them onto Beatles records.

He must have felt his moment had come when All Things Must Pass, his triple album released in November 1970 in the wake of the Beatles falling apart, stamped all over the others’ solo efforts by going straight to No 1. Yet, like an older brother who knows how to twist the knife, Lennon even cut that down. “Every time I put the radio on, it’s ‘Oh my Lord,’” Lennon said of My Sweet Lord. “I’m beginning to think there must be a God.” Lennon appraised Harrison’s signature spiritual singalong with a demeaning “all right”, claiming that Harrison only ever managed to bash out a tune in the first place because “he was working with two f***ing brilliant songwriters and he learned a lot from us”.

Norman has fashioned an authoritative portrait of Harrison that leaves you liking and feeling sympathy for his subject while being fully aware of the tetchiness — quite common among people aiming for a higher state of consciousness, funnily enough — that was never far away.

One person who did understand Harrison was his first wife, Pattie Boyd. She lived with him in a gothic mansion near Henley called Friar Park, filled with Hare Krishnas and rockers, leading her to ask Harrison’s assistant Chris O’Dell, “What’s he got in his hands today, the prayer beads or the cocaine?” Boyd made up a third of the most famous love triangle in rock history, with Eric Clapton not only writing Layla about her, but also consulting the New Orleans musician Dr John, who he suspected of having voodoo powers, about casting a spell to make Boyd fall in love with him. After Harrison caught her canoodling with Clapton in the garden of Robert Stigwood’s house, Clapton announced, in the faux casual argot of the era, “I have to tell you, man, I’m in love with your wife.” Harrison dealt with it the only way an emotionally constipated former Beatle knew how: by challenging Clapton to a guitar duel.

All of this is imparted in an affectionate but detached tone, leading to an impression of a man who, although burdened with an apparent inability to lighten up, generally sought to do the right thing. His 1971 Concert for Bangladesh started the trend for charity rock endeavours and collected together everyone from Bob Dylan to Shankar in what Rolling Stone magazine called “a brief incandescent revival of all that was best in the Sixties”. He funded Monty Python’s Life of Brian by actually betting the house on it, negotiating a bank loan secured against Friar Park.

By the time he settled down with his second wife, Olivia, and their son, Dhani, he seemed to have arrived at some kind of actual peace rather than just the prayer bead-wearing sort. He reconciled with McCartney while working on the enormous Beatles Anthology project in the mid-Nineties and rediscovered his sense of humour too. In 1999, after a mentally ill intruder at Friar Park stabbed him repeatedly, Harrison announced that the intruder “certainly wasn’t auditioning for the Traveling Wilburys”.

Norman is something of a one-man Beatles industry. In 1981 he published the million-selling Shout! The True Story of the Beatles before continuing with biographies of Lennon and McCartney, but hopes of writing one on Harrison were dashed in November 2001 after a mean-spirited obituary he wrote ensured he would receive no cooperation from Olivia or Dhani.

In the event it doesn’t seem to have mattered too much, with Boyd in particular helping to fill out the story of a sensitive man and the part he played in late 20th-century life. Harrison doesn’t come across as a reluctant Beatle as such, more a normal guy who found himself in extraordinary circumstances and, lacking McCartney’s professionalism or Lennon’s cynicism, didn’t know how to handle it. The quiet Beatle, only 58 when he died, was simply trying to work it all out, just like the rest of us.

(source)

#george harrison #philip norman

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aceonthebass · 6 years

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Soooooooo, apparently (per Mark in the Complete Beatles Chronicle) the Quarrymen covered “Bony Moronie” from 1957 to 1961, with John on lead vocal.

And if you think he didn’t make a huge thing out of MACCA-roni at least one time (if not EVERY time), then we’re just going to have to agree to disagree on John Lennon’s sense of humor.

Lyrics (from John’s version, bit different than Larry’s in a few places)

I got a girl named Bony Moronie, She's as skinny as a stick of macaroni, Ought to see her rock 'n' roll with her blue jeans on, She's not very fat just skin and bone. Well now, I love her, and she love me, Oh how happy now we’re gonna be, Making love underneath the apple tree.

I told her mama and her papa too, Just exactly what I’m gonna do, We’re gonna get married on a night in June, Rock and roll by the light of the silvery moon.

Well now, I love her, and she love me, Oh how happy now we’re gonna be, Making love underneath the apple tree.

Well, she's my one and only, she's my heart's desire, She's a real upsetter, she's a real live wire, Everybody watches when my baby walks by, She's so good lookin’, really catches the eye. Well now, I love her, and she love me, Oh how happy now we’re gonna be, Making love underneath the apple tree.

Here’s a quote from the Beatles Bible, John talking about the song in 1975:

“Bony Moronie” was one of the very earliest songs - along with “Be-Bop-A-Lula” - and I remember singing it the only time my mother saw me perform before she died. So I was hot on “Bony Moronie.” That is one of the reasons. Also, I liked Larry Williams, who recorded it.

And Paul talking about it in his liner notes for Run Devil Run, where he covered a different Larry Williams song:

Me and John particularly loved Larry Williams . . . “Bony Moronie” . . . John did “Slow Down” . . . I was always going to do “She Said Yeah”

Here’s the Larry Williams version (1957)

And here’s the John Lennon version (1975) (listening to him overemphasize “macaroni” is what spurred this very small research spiral re: Beatles versions of the song)

In conclusion, “Bony Moronie” is a jam (my second favorite on the Rock ‘n’ Roll album), and teenage John liked to tease teenage Paul, thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

#i waited to make this post until my copy of Complete Beatles Chronicle came in the mail #because my source on that was originally wikipedia #but i'm satisfied from a research standpoint now #having seen it with my own eyes #also this song is now my mental soundtrack for any fooling around in the park at night shenanigans they ever had #BY THE LIGHT OF THE SILVERY MOON INDEED SIRS #IN #DEED #bony moronie #john x paul #larry williams #two final notes #john's lyrics are 'how happy we're GONNA be'#as opposed to 'how happy we CAN be' in the original #but anyway #also does john say 'savile row' during the outro or am i losing it?#boxes full of pepe #calderstones park

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letitmclennon · 7 years

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Paris, October 9, 1961

John's soft snoring filled the room of the little hotel they had found in Paris. His face was well hidden in the crook of Paul's neck and his breath was tickling him pleasantly.

"Lucky you, Johnny." Paul thought, caressing his companion's arm that was holding him almost possessively.

He turned to the bedside table on his right side. It was half past three in the morning and Paul let out a sigh.

Unlike John, that night Paul couldn’t sleep. His most bohemian side claimed he wasn’t sleeping because sleeping in Paris was a colossal waste of time. Actually, his insomnia was linked to a much more plausible reason: overdose of banana milkshakes. He had devoured too much of them and John was pampering him, buying all the milkshakes he wanted. But things would change, at least for that one day. It was John's birthday, it was special. A lad didn’t turn twenty-one every day. Paul had to give him a gift, however limited his capitals were.

John, on the other hand, didn’t seem particularly excited about that goal. The hundred quid given to him had electrified him, yes, as well as the idea of doing that trip with Paul alone, but that birthday matter was different. Now he was sleeping quietly. But, thinking about it, John could sleep in any situation. He also slept when he was awake sometimes. His expression was so... sleepy. He always seemed like he woke up with that scratched and deep voice and a terrible case of bedhead, a style between Elvis Presley and... and ... John Lennon.

Paul tried turning to him, in spite of his arm tightening him. When he found John’s face a few inches from his own, he smiled. They had known each other for a few years now, yet they had already shared so many things that could be enough for a lifetime. First the Quarrymen, now the Beatles. And then there were them, John and Paul: two faces of the same medal, two half of a whole. From the very first moment in which his gaze had settled on that young lad, Paul had the feeling of knowing John for a lifetime. It didn’t take long to understand that there were two Johns who shared the same body.

There was John, that young, self-confident talent with a singular sense of humor and with a little bit of arrogance which he had no problem showing to anyone.

And then there was John, the little insecure Johnny with his constant fear of being refused by people around him and being abandoned. John who hid behind those thick glasses to protect himself from the crude reality of the world, John looking for Paul and smiling at him like they were partners in crime, John holding him during the night not to let him go.

John, who loved Paul.

John, whom Paul loved.

And now he was there, little Johnny, and was sleeping next to him, with the sweetest and most serene expression Paul had ever seen on his face. Who knows when he would see it again.

All of a sudden an idea flashed in his mind faster than the speed of light.

Paul chuckled softly and, with extreme caution, tried to get out of bed. He moved slowly not to wake John up, otherwise his plan would vanish. But as soon as he got up, the floor creaked.

Bloody parquet!

The room was so small and he only had to reach the armchair near the window on the opposite side of the bed, yet with that continuous creaking the distance seemed infinite. In the end Paul managed to get to the armchair and miraculously John kept on sleeping. He had only moved a little, curling up forward as if he was looking for Paul.

The lad grabbed the camera resting on the armchair and then sat down. He pulled the camera out of the case, opened the lens, and placed it in position to frame John.

Here it is, the expression Paul loved, ready to be immortalized with a simple gesture of his finger. Though the room was in the dark, there was a small light coming through the window: the dim, flickering light of a street lamp. And it lighted his John. It seemed that Paris was pushing him to take that picture.

So Paul decided and clicked on the button. If John discovered it, he would certainly be angry. But Paul knew very well how to be forgiven, and yet John could never bear a grudge against him for too long.

Looking forward to that scene, Paul put the camera back in the case and then quietly returned into the bed. Its warmth wrapped him up again and Paul noticed that he had sort of missed it, as short as his tour of the room had been. He leaned over and turned his back to John, trying not to wake him up, but the other moved and Paul sighed, cursing himself under his breath.

"Where have you been?" John asked with his sleepy voice, as he hugged Paul from behind and pull him close to his body.

"Taking a picture."

"What?" John exclaimed surprised.

"Taking a fucking photo, John!" Paul replied, giggling.

"And what was the subject of this photo?"

"Something I really like."

John didn’t answer right away, taking a moment to think about what, in the middle of the night, in that empty little room with a single window on a quiet street in Paris, could possibly have attracted Paul's attention in order to force him to stand up and take a fucking photo.

"For example? Sleepy Paris?"

Paul chuckled, turned to him and shook his head.

“What about sleepy John Lennon?" He asked, leaning his hand over his cheek.

John laughed. Then his amused look changed and became more mischievous, and the next moment, John slowly climbed on top of Paul’s body.

"I say..." he whispered in his ear, "John Lennon is no longer sleepy!"

"And this is a problem, right?"

"I guess. Yes, it is, because now John is claiming his birthday present!"

Paul smiled and closed his eyes and soon, John's lips were kissing him in the most passionate kiss.

"Happy birthday, Johnny!" Paul whispered on his lips.

After all, an annoying insomnia could also have some positive implications.

*****

London, October 9, 2011

Was it a gust of wind?

Not very likely, the windows were all closed.

However, Paul was sure to have felt that hot breath that touched his lips. And it had waken him up. He looked at the watch on the bedside table. It was half past three in the morning?

The old man sat and looked around trying to figure out where he was. So, it was his hotel room in London and above all was, it was the night before his wedding. His third marriage. But this time it would have been better. Nancy was a brilliant and intelligent woman. They would have been happy together. And that was one of the reasons why he wasn’t nervous at all, and that night he had fallen asleep quietly.

Then that thing woke him up, something that wanted to keep him awake, not caring about the fact that Paul had to sleep. In fact it was almost certain that it wasn’t something, but rather… someone. Someone who came to him to claim his birthday present.

"Thank you very much, Johnny." Paul whispered annoyed.

Actually, he couldn’t be any happier. Moments like this happened exactly once in a year since John was gone. And Paul waited for this day with the patience that only a man of his age could have, but also with the same passion of that night spent in Paris. Though fifty years had passed, the memory of that night was still vivid in his mind.

He recalled John's breath tickling his neck, his possessive embrace, the serene expression of his face which Paul had succeeded in immortalizing.

John's expression... his John…

Paul suddenly stood up and reached the armchair across the room, where his clothes were left. He searched in the pockets of his jacket until he found his wallet. He started looking for that picture as he went back to bed. Eventually he found it in a small pocket.

It was an old photo, a photo that was fifty years old right today. It was slightly yellow, the edges were a little ruined, but John was there. He was sleeping as quiet as if nothing could disturb him. And how could it be otherwise? That night there was nothing to worry about, only John and Paul and Paris watching over them.

Paul caressed that picture with two fingers. In the picture John was sleeping, but in a few moments he would have woken up and would helped Paul to relax in order to finally sleep somehow.

Even in reality John was asleep, but he wouldn’t wake up any more, he wouldn’t embrace him or look to him with the sweet mischief in his eyes and on his lips, nor would he whisper his name as only his voice was able to do.

And one day Paul would have fallen asleep too, and he was sure that at his awakening he would find John beside him, not sleepy anymore. And maybe he would make fun of him because he had been waiting for Paul for so many years alone, in such a strange, white place as John liked, yes, but perhaps not very suitable for his messy soul.

But until that moment...

"Goodnight , Johnny, and a happy birthday."

#mclennon #mclennon fanfiction #thebeatlescreationsnetwork #beatles #the beatles #lennon mccartney #paris honeymoon #happy birthday john

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lifegivesyoulennonn · 7 years

Text

Artists Chapter 1

Hey guys, here’s the first chapter of my new story. It’s gonna be a slowburn, but I promise there will be some great McLennon moments happening in coming chapters. Feel free to share and let me know what you think! Thanks :-)

1957

As he was sitting on the curb watching car after car drive by, Paul McCartney decided it was time to make new friends. More importantly, it was time to find friends who had the same passion for music that he did. At fifteen, Paul McCartney seemed to be the only one, besides a select few, who genuinely, thoroughly enjoyed music. He was extremely mature for his age, and had no interest in things that other boys his age were interested in, such as sports or the newest television programme. Paul supposed this was because of his mother’s death only a year ago. After losing his mother, Paul began to view life very differently, and he now sought to make her proud with everything he did. His mother had been the most important figure in his life, and he had looked and looked to others to give him that same sense of adoration and acceptance, but the only thing that came remotely close to that was the love he had for his little brother, Mike. Although with his brother, the roles were reversed, and Paul was the parental figure while Mike was the child. Things would never be the same, of which he was consciously aware. He accepted this fact, even. Nevertheless, Paul still longed for someone to replace the irreplaceable.

Paul missed his mother dearly, and there wasn’t a day that had gone by that he hadn’t thought of her, but it was no longer particularly painful, merely a thought that was constantly in the back of his head. After her death, however, he had isolated himself from the world and in the process lost most of his friends. He couldn’t blame them for leaving, he probably would have reacted the same way if one of his friend’s mum had died and they had completely shut everyone out because they didn’t know how to process such a loss. It was too much to process for a young boy. Paul didn’t think he would ever fully be able to understand it or move on from it. However, as time went on, he began learning how to live life again, he could once again smile without feeling guilty or make conversation with the people he met in class. He felt immensely lonely, though. He wanted true friends to laugh and joke with, that had similar interests as him. Little did he know that he would soon meet the friend of a lifetime.

Currently, Paul McCartney only had one friend, George Harrison, who was a year younger than him. George and Paul had become close because George was the only person Paul had met that was just as interested in music as he. No one else seemed to care that music was the most important thing in the world. It was entertainment, it was an art, and it was an outlet. He had asked many boys at school and around town what they thought of songwriting, in hopes of finally meeting someone with the same enthusiasm as he, but so far everyone was more concerned with football or some other sport Paul didn’t know anything about. He could talk to George, though, and he was thankful for him. Even if he only saw George as a little brother figure, he knew he could always count on him to talk about the newest Buddy Holly record or some new artist who had made their big break.

Finally getting up from the curb to walk home, Paul daydreamed about what it would be like to be like one of those singers who had made it big seemingly overnight. As a famous artist, he would make all the birds swoon and the other guys jealous as hell. The songs he sung would be songs he wrote, and he would show off his skills on the guitar and piano, playing and singing at the same time. Paul McCartney would be a household name in England, if not all over the globe. He just needed to be discovered and he knew he would take off from there.

Paul had been playing guitar for two years now, and he thought he was getting pretty good. He couldn’t read music, but he could hear a tune on the radio and be able to play it back by ear. He could also make up his own tunes, though he wasn’t as confident in those as he was in playing songs that were already well known. Paul could also play the piano fairly well. His mother had taught him, and despite the fact that when she was alive he hadn’t thought much into continuing his skills throughout his life, he now tried to practice every day and found he felt closer to his mother whenever he played songs on the piano. Paul felt as if music was all he had in the world, and felt the most alive when he got lost in the melodies he was playing with his instruments and singing with his lips.

Paul was absorbed in the thoughts of his mother and his music as he arrived home, dusk readily approaching. He barely spoke at dinner with his dad and brother; his thoughts racing, concerning exactly how he would become famous one day. Paul was the planning sort, and he needed to know precisely how all the details would fall into place so he could begin working on making them happen. Finally, when he was able to excuse himself from dinner and get ready for bed, Paul rushed upstairs into the bathroom. The bathroom in his house was small, but since there were only three living in the house, it wasn’t entirely uncomfortable. As he entered the bathroom, he looked at himself in the mirror. On the outside Paul didn’t look like a fifteen year old who had lost his mother only a year before and inwardly felt like his world was spinning out of control. His reflection portrayed a young sprightly boy; he had noticeable circles under his eyes but they seemed to say that Paul lived life well and ignored sleep to have fun. Although this wasn’t exactly true, Paul was glad he didn’t look at himself and see total despair.

He stared at himself for a long while, and decided that he was attractive enough to be famous. He was no Elvis Presley, but he had a nice face about him and he could slim out his body if he felt he needed. Pondering once again about being a famous rocker, Paul decided that he needed to do more than thinking and start being intentional about pursuing his dreams. It was in that moment he decided to make a pact with himself. His dream was going to come true, even if it cost him everything he had to make it happen.

“Paul McCartney,” Paul said aloud to himself, staring intensely at his reflection. “Yer go’n to be a famous musician one day. Ya hear me? Ya have no excuses.” Smiling at the ridiculousness of himself talking to his mirrored image, but also satisfied that he had verbally committed to becoming famous, Paul bounded toward his bedroom and snuggled into his bed, his thoughts and his dreams mixing together as his slipped from consciousness.

***********************************

“Wouldn’t it be the dream to be the most famous singer in the world?” Paul asked George the next day at school.

“Well, I don’t know, I mean I s’pose it would be nice to be known, wouldn’t it? Especially for singin’ an makin’ music” George drawled, he accent distinct with every word.

“We could form a band, you an’ me, Georgie,” Paul looked at him with a gleam in his eyes. “You’d play the guitar, and I could play the keys and sing or something. It would be grand! I bet we’d be famous in no time.”

George looked at his friend and saw the gleam in his eyes. He knew Paul loved writing music and probably wanted to make a career of it, but they were still young, kids really. “Yeah but Paul, we’re too young to perform, no one would want t’see us. They’d prolly give us a laugh and make us the jokes of Liverpool. You don’t wanna be famous for that, now do ya?” George smiled while Paul laughed.

“No, you’re right, of course I don’t. But one day, mark my words, Georgie. We’ll be at the toppermost of the poppermost!”

“Gee I hope you’re right, Paulie. I need t’make something of meself or else I’ll be out on the streets for the rest of me days. Me schoolin’s gettin’ worse and worse all the time.”

“Oh come off it,” Paul smacked him on the arm, grinning. “If ya weren’t so busy trying t’charm all the teachers you’d probably be the top of the class! Remember when ya used to tutor me in math?”

“Now I’m the one that need the tutorin’. Speakin’ of charmin’ the teachers, though, I’d best be off trying to keep me grades afloat. I’ll see ya after school’s let out?”

“Yeah, sounds good, mate. I’ll be seein’ ya.” With that, George began walking into the school building, but Paul lingered back, contemplating whether or not he should go to class just yet. As Paul watched George and all of the other kids enter the building, a boy of his age approached him.

“Hey, you’re McCartney right? Paul, is it?” the boy questioned.

“Yeah that’s me,” Paul replied, looking at the other boy with a puzzled look. “Do I know you?”

“I’m Ivan Vaughan. Word around school is ya like music, is that so?”

Paul’s attention had suddenly been engaged. Another boy, his age, asking him about music?

“Yeah, a little bit. D’you?” Paul asked, trying to mask the excitement he felt.

“O’course I do! Now I wanna invite ya to come see me band play today, if ya want. We’ll be playin’ at St. Peter’s Church just down the road. We’ve got some rockin’ tunes, and I’ll even introduce you to the rest of the band if ya come. We’re playin’ around eight tonight, but we’ll be practicin’ all day, if ya wanna come earlier.”

Paul could barely believe his ears. One of his classmates was asking him to see his band play? And they played rock-n-roll? It was too good to be true.

“Yeah of course I’ll try t’stop by. That sounds fantastic!”

“Grand, well here’s a flier, I’ll see ya later then.” Ivan waved as he found the next person to give his next flier.

Paul read slightly creased piece of paper carefully. Garden Fete: St. Peter’s Church. Performances by The Quarrymen Skiffle Group and other Performers. 8pm. He was actually going to get to see a real live band of people his own age. He was so excited he could hardly stand it. There was no way he was going to school today.

Paul knew he wasn’t going to get anywhere from school. All he wanted to do was play music, and learning about history and math wasn’t going to help him in any way with that. Oftentimes, Paul would skip school altogether, wandering around town or finding an empty place where he could practice his guitar and vocals. George would sometimes skip with him, but at the end of the day George was more scared of breaking rules than Paul was, and George knew that getting famous through music was slim, so he would force himself to stay in his classes. Paul didn’t care about the odds of becoming a prominent musician, he just wanted to play his music and share his passion with others.

Today Paul had a valid reason not to go to class: he was going to watch a band play music that he actually listened to and wanted to play himself. He would even get to meet the members! Paul wondered if they would be cool and standoffish toward the young lad, or warm and inviting, knowing he was a fan of music and songwriting. He knew his guitar like the back of his hand and could play a good number of songs, so if he had the chance, he thought he could prove his talent to the band.

Paul began walking down the main road towards the direction of the church. It was a rare sunny day in Liverpool, and Paul enjoyed feeling the mix of the warm sun and the cool breeze as he strolled leisurely down the road. He began singing to himself a little tune that he had gotten stuck in his head playing the guitar the other day. Paul was always coming up with tunes in his head and then putting lyrics to them, making song after song. Most of them were probably rubbish, but he wrote them down all the same. He had never shared his own songs with anyone before; he was too shy and self-conscious to do that. Plus, no one besides George had talked to him long enough to care about his songs. The only reason he didn’t talk with George about them is because they spent all their time discussing famous records, and he didn’t want George criticizing or comparing his songs to theirs. He would play his songs for somebody someday though, he just needed to find the right person.

***************

Paul had been wandering around town for around two hours when he decided he should make his way to the church to see the Quarrymen’s dress rehearsal. He had heard of the Quarrymen before, through Ivan’s self-promotions at school, but had never actually seen them perform. All he really knew is that they played rock music, and they were slowly becoming more and more well known around town. Paul and George had discussed going and seeing them perform in one of the small pubs they usually played at, but they hadn’t gone yet. Paul wished he had gotten to tell George about his afternoon plans, he knew he would be jealous, but he would give him every detail later.

Paul slowed his pace as he walked toward the front doors of the church. The church was a brownish building with a small garden in the front. In the middle of the garden was a sign that read: St. Peter’s Church, Woolton, Liverpool with a cross beside it. Paul had gone to church regularly when he was younger, but he hadn’t stepped foot into a church since his mother’s funeral. There wasn’t a particular reason why he hadn’t gone back to church that he could explain, but subconsciously he blamed religion for not saving his mother and not being there for him when he lost everything and everyone he cared about.

He took a deep breath. He knew that he would have to go back into a church at some point, so now might as well be as good of a time as any. He opened the door and immediately became hyper-conscious of his surroundings. He looked around, he had never been inside this church, but it looked similar to the ones he had been in before. The stain glass windows, the old red carpet that had its own distinct odor, the foyer that led to the sanctuary that was supposed to be welcoming but really felt confining. Paul outwardly shuddered; he now remembered why he never wanted to go back into a church.

He tried to distract himself by looking for Ivan and the rest of the Quarrymen. He walked out of the foyer down the right side hallway, hoping he was walking in the right direction. As he rounded the corner, he heard voices chatting and the sound of someone strumming an acoustic guitar. Confident he had found the band, Paul quickened his pace but stopped in his tracks when he got to the door of the room they were practicing. He immediately felt self-conscious and timid. He didn’t know why, but suddenly he was worried of making a fool of himself in front of the band. Even though they were close to his age, they had already accomplished so much of what Paul wanted to do with his life and with his music. What if they didn’t take him seriously when he said he wanted to do music for the rest of his life? What if they thought he was just another boy who only cared about birds and sports?

‘Okay, Paulie, get it together, everything’ll be fine’ Paul thought to himself. He closed his eyes, inhaled, and knocked on the door.

The instruments and voices instantly stopped as Paul knocked. An older boy with auburn hair and thick black glasses slowly opened the door, and looked at Paul quizzically.

“And who might you be, son?”

#the beatles #John Lennon #paul mccartney #jp #McLennon #mclennon fanfiction #fanfic #artists #story #george harrison

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cedarrrun · 4 years

Link

George Harrison, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Prudence Farrow, and how '60s pop music and Hollywood spread Transcendental Meditation to a new audience.

When Prudence Farrow heard that John Lennon had written a song about her, she was deeply worried.

“The thing about John was that he really was a genius,” said Farrow in a phone interview from her home in Florida. “He was just so quick. He really saw people’s faults as well as the good things. So, if he thought he could, he would nail you—in a hilarious way. All I could think about was ‘I wish they had never done this song.'”

The song—"Dear Prudence"—ended up being the second track on the seminal Beatles double album, known as The White Album.

Dear Prudence, won’t you come out to play?

Dear Prudence, greet a brand new day

The sun is up, the sky is blue. It’s beautiful and so are you

Dear Prudence, won’t you come out to play?

See also The Beatles and the Music that Brought Meditation West

Farrow felt tremendous relief when she finally heard it during a family gathering in November 1968 at their home in the famed Dakota Building in Manhattan, New York (coincidentally, the site of Lennon’s residence and eventual murder in 1980).

“It’s a beautiful song,” she said. “For me, it’s the only song [on The White Album that truly captures the flavor of Rishikesh, India”

How Prudence Farrow Met John Lennon and the Maharishi

In January 1968, Farrow left with her famous older sister Mia to join Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on a first-class trip to his ashram in the foothills of the Himalayas in Northern India. Mia was nursing wounds from her recent divorce from Frank Sinatra. Nineteen-year-old Prudence was fulfilling a dream to study Transcendental Meditation with her guru—a miracle she had prayed for a year prior during a pilgrimage to Lordes, France.

See also 13 Important Indian Places Every Yogi Should Visit

But there would be a slew of other famous guests studying with the Maharishi at the same time, most notably, The Beatles, aka The Fab Four.

Just how did this fated meeting of Hollywood elite, rockstars, and Western seekers come together on the banks of the Ganges in the winter of 1968 in search of spiritual awakening?

Maharishi Mahesh

A Guru with a PR Plan

“[Maharishi Mahesh Yogi] was not only a great spiritual master, but a fantastic businessman as well,” said Susan Shumsky, the Maharishi’s personal assistant for 20 years and author of the book The Maharishi and Me: Seeking Enlightenment with the Beatles’ Guru.

“He was very good at convincing people to help him in various ways. And he did it through love. He was an incredibly loving person.”

His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, known in the West as the “the giggling guru,” due to his penchant for spontaneous laughter, made his first trip to the United States in 1959, and he would complete 13 world tours by 1971. His mission was to spread the practice of Transcendental Meditation (TM), a type of mantra meditation passed on to him from his guru Swami Brahmananda Saraswati. He believed that the simplicity of the practice was particularly suited to the Western mind, and that through daily practice, 20 minutes twice a day, practitioners could achieve pure bliss consciousness, allowing them to live their lives from a place of love instead of from the prison of their unconscious minds.

See also 5 Female Gurus to Celebrate Right Now

“The Maharishi wanted to create world peace,” said Shumsky. “That was his main goal. He wanted to prevent World War III.”

This message of love resonated particularly powerfully amidst the backdrop of the turbulent '60s where the Vietnam War was killing tens of thousands of young American men, a spate of high-profile assassinations and violent protests rocked the evening news, and the specter of nuclear annihilation spurred by the development of the Atomic Bomb and a Cold War with the Soviet Union frightened a nation.

Remembering this era, Prudence Farrow said “We didn’t go inside as a culture… the reasons that the world had used for war—they didn’t work. So, we had to find a way to survive inside our minds.” She added, “The Beatles were enormously influential…. they became a voice for that movement.”

If the Beatles were a voice for this new “inner” revolution of consciousness, their undisputed leader was the the youngest and “quietest” member of the band: lead guitarist, George Harrison.

George Harrison in India

The "Quiet Beatle" Finds Ravi Shankar, Psychedelics, Then Transcendental Meditation

George Harrison was born in Liverpool, England, on February 24, 1943, in the final years of World War II. The catastrophic effects of the war were obvious in the burned out buildings dotted throughout this bustling port city, the second most bombed city in England outside of London. The youngest of four, Harrison was raised in a Catholic working class family, in a modest four-room house with no electricity and a toilet in the yard.

When he joined The Beatles (then known as The Quarrymen) in 1958 at his schoolmate Paul McCartney’s invitation, Harrison was only 15 years old. The band’s meteoric rise to fame and unprecedented success is the stuff of legend now, but it’s easy to underestimate the immense creative output of The Beatles, who recorded 12 studio albums and 22 singles, starred in 5 feature films, and charted 17 number one hits during their prolific 8-year career, from 1962-1970. The group’s extraordinary fame prompted John Lennon to claim that the Beatles were “more popular than Jesus.” To this day, The Beatles have sold more albums than any other artist on the planet.

See more Did You Know Beatle George Harrison Was a Yogi?

The Beatles began experimenting with psychedelics in the mid-'60s and integrated their experiences into their music. In Martin Scorsese’s 2011 documentary George Harrison: Living in the Material World (featuring previously recorded interviews with Harrison), Harrison describes his first time dropping acid in 1965, and how he had visions of yogis of the Himalayas. “I don’t know why,” he said. “I’d never thought about them for the rest of my life, but suddenly this thought was in the back of my consciousness.”

1965 would be the same year the group was introduced to the music of Indian classical music legend Ravi Shankar while hanging out with David Crosby of The Byrds in Los Angeles. Harrison finally met Shankar a year later when he was touring England, and he began taking sitar lessons from the master, who simultaneously fed Harrison’s interest in Hindu tradition and spirituality.

Ravi Shankar

“Ravi and the sitar were kinda like an excuse trying to find this spiritual connection,” said Harrison in Living in the Material World. “I had read stuff by various holy men and swamis and mystics and I went around and looked for them. Ravi and his brother gave me a lot of books by some wise men. One of the books was by a Swami Vivikenanda, who said ‘If there is a God, you must see him. And if there is a soul, we must perceive it, otherwise it’s better not to believe. It’s better to be an outspoken atheist than a hypocrite.’”

Ravi Shankar, who would have turned 100 this past April and is being celebrated in a series of concerts featuring his musician daughters Anoushka Shankar and Norah Jones, as well as George Harrison’s son Dhani Harrison, was a dear friend and mentor to Harrison until his death from lung cancer in 2001.

Shankar’s second wife Sukanya Rajan recounted their unusual relationship in a phone call from her San Diego home, “He [Ravi Shankar] was so close to George. He was like a son, a friend, a disciple, all in one, a very unique friendship.”

See also A Beginner's Guide to Meditation

In this quest for deeper meaning, Harrison and the rest of The Beatles traded LSD and other mind-altering substances for meditation. Harrison’s wife at the time, the model Pattie Boyd, read about Transcendental Meditation in the newspaper in 1967 and attended a seminar about the practice. When Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was visiting London later that year, Harrison and the entire band went to a lecture and were so entranced that they dropped everything to leave the following day for a 10-day spiritual conference in Bangor, Wales, to learn TM for themselves. Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithful also joined.

The Maharishi personally invited the entire band and their wives to his compound in Rishikesh, India, in February 1968 to become TM instructors.

Rishikesh, India

Life at the Ashram

“Rishikesh was like arriving on another planet,” said Prudence Farrow. “For centuries, this was the place where people would come to meditate and gain enlightenment.” Rishikesh had earned its moniker as “the birthplace of yoga” thanks to the hundreds of ashrams, temples, and flocks of seekers that arrive from all over the world to learn meditation and yoga at its source and bathe in the holy Ganges River that flows through town.

Because Farrow was traveling with her famous sister, Mia, the two of them were housed in a special private block or “puri” on the Maharishi’s ashram. “I felt really cheated,” she said. “It was a celebrity thing. I wanted to be like the other people.” John Lennon and George Harrison, who were joining the course two weeks late, were placed in this same block (the remaining Beatles would only stay for a few weeks and were not taking the training course). The Maharishi assigned Farrow to be their “course buddy” and to catch them up to speed when they arrived.

See also 7 Destination Ashrams for an Authentic Yoga Experience

But, instead of sharing notes about the Maharishi’s lectures, the trio traded stories about why they were there. “John kept saying, ‘I’m here because of George,” she said. “George was the real McCoy. He was a real seeker. He was what he was whether he was a Beatle or not. He was a musician. That was his destiny. He had no choice. And he was pure because of that.”

Despite the Maharishi’s recommendations to meditate for at least eight hours each day, music was everywhere. Along with the Beatles, Mike Love, singer/songwriter from the Beach Boys, and the Scottish singer/songwriter Donovan Leitch, were also there. Without outside distractions, the Beatles were even more productive than usual, reportedly writing 48 songs while in India, most of which appeared on The White Album, with a few appearing on Abbey Road.

“John would sit out on the patio and pluck out things all the time,” Farrow said. But, she quickly became fully absorbed in her practice, sometimes not leaving her quarters for days. “I had already made a decision that this was all that mattered to me. I didn’t know where I was going and I didn’t think Maharishi would even ever think of me as a teacher because I became so crazy.” Her sister didn’t understand her devotion. “Mia had no idea what I was talking about. My mind was completely blown and she was like ‘what is the matter with you?”

In an interview given in 1980 shortly before his death, Lennon recounted the story behind the song Dear Prudence. “[Prudence] had been locked in for three weeks and was trying to reach God quicker than anybody else.” But, Farrow believes that, like Harrison, Lennon recognized her singular dedication to expanding consciousness. “I was like George, dedicating my life to this thing that most people couldn’t even feel or know that existed. And there’s a certain purity to that.”

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The Maharishi's Rishikesh Ashram

Still Dreaming of World Peace

By the time Maharishi died in 2008, he reportedly trained 40,000 Transcendental Meditation teachers who taught the practice to over 5 million people.

“I absolutely believe that Maharishi changed the world,” said his longtime assistant Shumsky. “He brought about a world at peace, compared to where it was...and his motive was not only to create world peace, but his motive with individuals was to uplift them and help them be all they can be, to help them develop their full potential.”

At 72, Prudence Farrow only just recently retired from teaching TM after over 50 years. “One of things that he [Maharishi] started us doing was meditating in these large groups to put out peace into the collective consciousness,” said Farrow. “And so from my perspective, you are our children and grandchildren, and great grandchildren... whenever I’m around yoga people now, I feel so responsible for all of you... you’re the future of this revolution in the West. It started with us, but you will take it further and really establish it in Western culture.”