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"[Me and Elvis] just sat on these couches. Each of us got an acoustic guitar. Sat across from each other. I said to him, ‘The way I’m used to working with a collaborator is really, mainly with John. And the way we used to do it is sit opposite like this...' And the thing for me that was kind of nice. The nice thing for me is seeing John there, him being right-handed, me being left-handed, it felt to me like I was looking in a mirror. So that was a way I had learned to write and it was the way I liked to write and Elvis was very happy to work like that. So it was like a repeat of that process, and so he was John, basically, and I was Paul. You know, the bottom line is I’ve never had a better collaborator than John and I don’t expect to. Because we were pretty hot.” (Paul)

"When me and Elvis Costello came together...there were similarities between him and John. They both got specs. People with glasses got a different sort of attitude to the world, I think. They could be a little more introverted...a litttle more of a pussycat on the inside and more aggressive on the outside. Which John was, and I think Elvis is a little bit. I like that in people." (Paul)

“I was sort of a little startled when [Paul] made that reference. I think it’s more to just try to explain the immediacy of the way we worked rather than put me in the same bracket as Lennon. I don’t see myself like that." (Elvis Costello)

Previous instalments

Mumbo: I'm so high :)

Bip Bop: I'm so high :))

Love Is Strange: Still high, but also missing you.

Wild Life: I'm pretty worried about you.

Some People Never Know: Why did you say all that stuff? What did I do wrong? (By the way, you're the only person I'll admit to being wrong to).

I Am Your Singer: Gotta write a love song for the wife to sing, god knows she's earned it. I'm kind of phoning it in, though.

Tomorrow: Felt guilty about phoning it in, so here's a proper one. With a pointed message to you, of course.

Hi anon! My theory—or thought—is that Paul at least feels, or remembers, that he and John made a promise to each other to be in each other’s lives forever. Whether that was as friends, closeted lovers, writing partners, or soulmates (or all of the above).

In “Get Enough,” Paul sings:

It was a time when we walked by the docks I told you, “I need you all of my life” And watching the tugs rolling by together Do you remember?

I'm 100% sure this is a reference to a real event that occurred in their early days together. Paul writes about himself saying "I need you all my life" but I've no doubt it was mutual, otherwise it wouldn't mean so much to him. And to be fair, they managed to achieve that for a long time. Their success as Beatles, and the unusual life it allowed them to live, meant they achieved that. By that, I'm mostly suggesting living together as closeted lovers or romantic partners (on top of everything else). Until, of course, John left him for Yoko and broke that pact/promise, something that now, after the release of Man On The Run audiobook and film is quite obviously something that broke Paul's heart.

He admits to that heartbreak very plainly these days, and even to waiting for John to change his mind, to decide that the thing with Yoko was a fling and come back to him. He even mentions putting off building a table up in their Scotland farm during that period, one he eventually built when he realized John wasn't coming back after all.

That table even pops up in “Hey Diddle”:

I wouldn’t make her Her wooden table I wouldn’t care

The table story was only shared publicly for the first time in the Man On The Run audiobook, and honestly that detail sealed the deal for me. It paints a picture of Paul living with Linda but still emotionally waiting for John to come back. Only when that hope finally faded did he begin building a life with Linda properly—symbolized, in a very literal way, by building that table.

I’ve no doubt that Paul was nevertheless waiting, in one way or another, for John throughout much of the 1970s. After all, they had a pact. They made a promise. We’ll never know what might have happened if things had turned out differently.

In the new song, Paul sings:

We met at Forthlin Road And wrote a secret code To never be spoken I stand by what I said The promise that I made Will never be broken

In 2021 Paul McCartney released his book The Lyrics which contains 154 of his lyrics. Each is accompanied by some discussion of the song's origins and what it means to Paul. The book also contains many photos.

After the title page, the following quote is given a two page spread to itself:

To Thine own self be true. --William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act I, Scene 3

Shakespeare's sonnets number 154. They are famously homoerotic.