Majin Melmo

Yes, I've always found it interesting. But the thing is, we don't really know the exact timing of things; we only know when John recorded and released Jealous Guy, but we don't know exactly when he wrote the final lyrics. Let me explain: We do know he heard Too Many People at the very least by May 17, 1971 when RAM was released in the US, and he wrote HDYS as a direct response to that, so we can say he wrote it in late May. Now, regarding Jealous Guy, though he started recording it on May 24, we don't know when he actually started writing the lyrics. It could very well have been before the release of RAM, for all we know. He already had the melody as early as 1968, though with very different lyrics. It could very well be that he rewrote the lyrics at some point before the release of RAM as an apology to Paul, but then, after he heard Too Many People, his anger rose again and he impulsively wrote HDYS, and he ultimately decided to include both songs on the same album because he considered them solid tracks (and Jealous Guy could easily be presented as a song purely about Yoko), regardless of how he felt about Paul at the moment. (Fun fact: Apparently, he actually phoned Paul the day before the release of the Imagine album to tell him about HDYS and said, "Well, you know, this is coming out, I hope you don't mind, you know, it's nothing personal," lol).

Also, on another note, take look at what Elliot Mintz said:

"I can’t tell you how many conversations I had with John about Paul over the years. Dozens at least, likely many more. John’s feelings about his former bandmate were as complicated as they were expansive, and they changed not just from year to year but from minute to minute."

"Nobody knows how much I HELPED John. Me and Linda went to California and talked him out of his so-called lost weekend, when he was full of drugs. We told him to go back to Yoko, and not long after he did. I went all the way to L.A. to see the bastard. He never gave me an inch, but he took so many years and feet.”

Hi! I think I've actually talked about this before. Admittedly, this is a topic I really don't like discussing for many reasons. One of them is that, other than Paul and Linda constantly emphasizing that they didn’t have a fairytale marriage, we have no confirmed, concrete idea of what their actual problems were. Because of that, there is always going to be a lot of speculation and a reliance on hearsay. The only real insider source who has given us a glimpse of these behind-the-scenes issues is Peter Cox (who clearly didn’t like Paul very much). Personally, I love Paul and Linda together, but every marriage has rough patches. Based on what I’ve read, their marriage seemed to go through an especially difficult period in the 80s and early 90s. This isn't entirely surprising, given that Paul was still processing John’s death and grieving deeply during those years. But there were other factors at play too. For exemple, Peter Cox, as I already mentioned (who worked on Linda’s cookbook and was her friend during the late 80s and early 90s) claimed that Paul and Linda had frequent arguments about touring. Paul often wanted her on the road with him, but Linda didn't really enjoy it. Other times, Paul would be completely ambivalent about her coming along. She would ask him, "Do you want me to go?" and sometimes he’d say yes, and other times no. Cox also noted:

"Paul used to complain that their life at Peasmarsh was isolated, out of the way. He wanted very much to be in town, going to parties and restaurants. Linda didn't want that. This was one of the causes of tension between them."

Since neither Paul nor Linda ever specified what happened behind closed doors, we don’t know for certain if Cox's account is true, but it’s the only detailed insider source we have (and personally, I don't find these arguments hard to believe). Cox also claimed he would occasionally find Linda in tears, adding:

"And there were about five or six occasions when I would get the train down to work with her only to be met by a driver who'd been sent to say that she couldn't see me... Every marriage has its ups and downs, of course. In her low moments, the idea of leaving him did cross her mind, but she immediately rejected it. Her family was the most important thing in her life and there was no way she'd give them up. At the low points, she did feel trapped."

This somewhat reminds me of an interview Linda gave much earlier, back in the late 70s, where she offered a remarkably nuanced and realistic view of their relationship:

"My life is not perfect," she told reporter Bonnie Estridge. "But whose is?" Estridge asked whether Linda was ever sorry she married Paul. "No, I’m not," Linda responded. "I can honestly say that. But if we ever broke up, I wouldn’t kill myself... We row, naturally. And every couple gets to a point when they feel trapped and think, ‘What the hell’s this about, anyway? I could be free.’ But then, the next day life seems better. The good outweighs the bad for me... I don’t pretend that I can’t ever see things going wrong. I’ve never been on the point of leaving him, but I’ve been able to see how it could happen."

If Peter Cox’s account is accurate, it would suggest that those strains Linda was alluding to in the late 70s only amplified in the 80s.

To be clear, we have absolutely no credible accounts of Paul cheating on Linda; I don't think infidelity was the issue at all. But aside from Paul dealing with the profound loss of John, I can imagine he wasn’t always an easy person to live with. Being married to someone with a huge ego, who doesn't handle criticism well, all while managing the suffocating pressures of global fame, would take a toll on any relationship. It’s easy to see how that environment led to frequent arguments, something Paul himself openly admitted to after Linda’s passing. He confessed that he had to seek psychological help to "get rid of his guilt" because, for a while after her death, all his brain could focus on were their fights and the moments where he "wasn't so nice" to her.

Cox claimed that Paul and his inner circle viewed Linda’s cooking book "patronisingly," treating it like a cute hobby that wouldn't amount to much. He also recalled:

"Linda would try to arrange it so we would work on the book when Paul wasn't there. If he was, he would always dominate things so much that we couldn't get anything done. The work was mainly done at the kitchen table. If Paul was there, he would be the alpha male. He had an opinion about everything."

There's also the story that Paul explicitly opposed Linda writing her own autobiography. According to his PR manager at the time, Geoff Baker, Paul reportedly snapped, "I'm the only fucking star in the family!"

And (though this should be taken with a MASSIVE grain of salt), I remember reading old threads from the rec.music.beatles forum from the late 90s/early 2000s where a user who claimed to know the McCartneys (or knew someone who did, I can't remember), and was a huge fan and very defensive of them, alleged that Paul and Linda had temporary separations in the 80s, where they lived under the same roof but were effectively separated.

Besides all of this hearsay, the only window we have into these "rough patches" comes from Paul and Linda’s own words. They never gave away the exact details, but they stated countless times, using different phrasing, that their marriage was highly volatile.

In 1984, Paul described their relationship as "volatile."

In 1989, he said: "When you’ve been married as long as I have, it’s not a sweet subject at all. It’s bittersweet. It’s both."

In 1993, he admitted: "If you had seen our marriage at any point in the last 23 years, you might’ve thought, this might not last. It’s always been a fragile thing." To which Linda added: "It still might not last."

In 1997 (in Many Years From Now), Paul reflected: "People have this image of twenty years of marital bliss, like we were swimming down a stream avoiding the white water. But in fact, we were in the middle of the white water. It’s a miracle we made it, but we did."

Just months before Linda's death in 1998, an interviewer complimented the longevity of their marriage, and Paul replied: "Yeah, we were lucky. But we had our ups and downs. It’s not rosy-posy. We argue."

"[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)

Hi friend, thank you so much!

Caveat: John is not more crazy than Paul. Paul just keeps his crazy locked down with all his other feelings.

Crazy things John did at or about Paul

- putting Stu in the band

This one is only insane if you see Paul and John's early relationship the way I do: equal partners with a shared dream having already made special secret promises to each other and pushing toward their goals together.

It is my theory that something went wrong emotionally with Paul and John around the time of Julia's death and John really leaned on Stu (and/or John wasn't sure what Paul was up for sex-wise yet and Stu made it abundantly clear what he was up for). Paul won John back by mid 59 or so. John kept Stu around just in case things went bad with him and Paul again or Paul couldn't give him what he needed. But he puts him in the band. Something that makes absolutely no sense to anyone, including Astrid. It's partially for a security blanket for himself, partially to keep Paul fighting for him proving to him how committed he was, how much he loved him, etc.

- telling Paul he has to quit his job

This one is more insane if you think John understands Paul's financial situation and/or the abusive power Jim held over Paul. I don't think John could ever understand either of these things fully, but I think he was aware of them to a certain extent.

Either way, telling the person who already gave up being the first one in their family to go to college and get a job that pays decent and doesn't break a body down to run away with you, who now says he has to have a steady income after this stint in Germany ended with him in jail and deported, that he has to quit his job or you'll kick him out of the band he helped you build from a high school joke to a real functioning group is crazy crazy work. Even if you have no idea his dad told him he'd kick him out if he didn't get a job, even if you have no idea his dad is a violent gambling addict, that's insane. If you know those things? I mean ... There's no words.

Edit: how could I forget the cut up clothes and the stabbed wardrobe?

- Paris

Literally who in their right mind -- having a serious girlfriend, mind you -- gets $2,000 (maybe a birthday present maybe an inheritance) and says to their buddy "what are we gonna do with this money?" And then goes with the buddy's stupid, frivolous plan -- which, by the way, puts in jeopardy years of hard work and dedication by blowing off important commitments to the point that your band literally thinks it's over -- And takes the friend on an all-expense-paid trip to the most romantic city in the world. Who fucking does that? What the actual fuck???

- hooking up with Brian

This one depends on the reason you think John went to Spain.

John could've gone because he was into Brian. He could've gone to take advantage of Brian and get his name first on the songwriting credit. He could've gone because he felt pressured into it by Brian. I think it's all three.

So obviously before the Spain trip it's McCartney/Lennon on their first album but before that they'd write "Another Lennon/McCartney Original" in Paul's notebook so maybe Paul was playing with switching it up, John saw how the producer thought Paul was clearly the most musically talented, and he decides it's time to capitalize on the fact that the manager has been trying to get into his pants since day zero. John doesn't want the thought in Paul's mind that he might be fine without John to ever solidify. If it's Lennon/McCartney on every single song, it'll be that much harder for Paul to feel independent and strong. So one angle is John takes his pants down and tells Brian to "go on then" and stick it up his ass so he can keep Paul dependent and attached. I do think that's part of it and I do think that's absolutely insane.

I also think John would've felt pressured by Brian and interested in Brian. Those angles are not insane.

- his treatment of Yesterday

So John gets to write a book (with Paul's help and with almost no credit to Paul) and then a sequel. John gets to be marketed as the literary intelligent Beatle and bring up his book ("what about my book then?") in every interview. He even goes on TV shows about his book. And Paul is photographed reading John's book, talks about how John must be the intelligent one because he's written a book when a fan asks Paul if he's the smart one, talks John up every chance he gets ("isn't that John really something?") and writes a dedication. Very loving, supportive, kind. You can see how much Paul adores John's mind and looks up to him and is very happy for John to be perceived as better than him and have his own thing where he stands out.

VS John and Brian refusing to let Yesterday be a single, and John mocking yesterday so much Paul is visibly hurt by it, to the extent that it's taken out of their setlist even though it's their most popular song.

- pressuring Paul about lsd

No explanation necessary. It's crazy to bully your best friend/partner/boyfriend so he'll do this scary drug with you no one knows much about yet

- telling the world about their secret code and telepathy

I mean that Hunter Davies quote is really something. Letting the world know, in your authorized biography as the biggest band in ever who everyone's dying to know all about, that you have a secret language. That you don't even need to talk sometimes because you know each other so well. Just so everyone can get an idea of how special your bond is. And he tells the world too that he cannot stand to be without the others. If you think about the fact that it took Paul until this year to admit they had a secret code, John being so vulnerable and exposing himself like that is crazy.

- the Greek Island

The man wants them isolated from the world by an ocean with tunnels connecting their houses. I mean. And he throws out other locations, too. He's like 'and if we don't like Greece, I've got another island we could use, or we could do Ireland, or ... 'John wants all the access he can get and he wants Paul to himSelf.

- Sub John sex tape

Not really the fact that they made that but the fact that John was chill with it laying around the office where lots of people besides Yoko probably heard it.

- saying he's Jesus

I mean straight-faced, in a business meeting, just. I am the second coming of the Son of God. I died for all of you and I'm back now to run a rock and roll communist business set up to avoid taxes. Knowing how Paul felt about John he was probably sitting there like actually contemplating that this might be real, no drug trip needed, but the thing about Paul is he's not going to say it in front of God John and everyone, you know?

And then when he gets no reaction, John goes and hooks up with his stalker for the second time in his life. (First stalker->wife was Paul but who knows if John knew that at the time. He does know Yoko's been stalking him.)

- bringing Yoko to the studio

Similar to the thing with Stu but much more blatant and much harder for Paul to fight.

- playing a sex tape

At a business meeting. Again. John, time and place. He's just trying to provoke Paul and it's just not working. Pulling out every move he's got, poor guy. Kudos to Yoko for not coming with him to that one.

Bonus Points: "did you dream about me last night? . . . . I was touching you." Right after talking about Paul's "strong left arm".

Bonus Points: deep throating a mic while making direct eye contact with Paul and alluding to more sex tapes between them two while cameras are rolling recording their every move

- scaling Paul's wall

When John's late to the studio and no one can contact him, Paul's terrified because he's just lost Brian to an overdose and he knows how John is with drugs and he knows heroin is serious even if he doesn't understand it the way we do now. And still he does Nothing. Because Paul is the opposite kind of crazy. He just sits there "on pins and needles" shaking and tearing up because he's scared he might be losing John.

VS John, when Paul doesn't come in on time during their next album and when called says he's celebrating with his wife, John sprints down the street, jumps the wall, and potentially throws a brick and/or breaks a painting. I personally don't believe the brick or the painting bit, but it could've happened, it's not too out of character for John, it's just disputed between sources. I do believe the rest of it. Thank you apple scruffs!

VS John, when George quits the band: well we'll just get Clapton in. (Don't at me I don't think he meant it but it's still very very different)

- Allen Klein's Trap

Getting George and Ringo to agree to go with a known conman is crazy, but I don't think that was directed at Paul. Just magic Alex typical John craziness.

No the Paul-crazy thing is John inviting Paul to come play with them during the legal proceedings even though that was a major betrayal of their friendship because that way Paul would be trapped, unable to break off legally from the rest of them and Klein. John wants Paul chained to him whether he likes it or not. And I think that's crazy.

- taking a swing at Linda

This one is contested. The source is an apple scruff who says she saw it through a window at Apple. She says Paul stepped in front of Linda and John stopped himself. I doubt John actually tried to hit pregnant Linda. I could see him getting in Linda's face and Paul being worried about his wife and baby, given John's track record, and getting between them and that being like a cold drink in John's face.

Edit: how could I forget he decided he Had To get married the day after Paul? They ended up getting married several days later but his first move was the next day, and they were in a Rush! The only reason John and Yoko didn't get married in Paris is because John couldn't wait.

Edit: how could I forget wedding funeral?

- Primal Scream

It's crazy that he has to lock himself in an impatient facility for months right after the loss of "Paul and the Beatles and the relationship with Paul". It's crazier if you see it as I do. I don't think the timing was a coincidence. Yoko said John's screaming was all about Julia, Mimi, Alf, and Paul. I think John used primal scream as a means of coping with the loss of Paul, of detoxing, of trying to rid himself of that desire to be with Paul, of that intense love for Paul that was now bringing him so much pain.

- Post Breakup Era

So many crazy things said during this time. Paul is characterized as an emotionless conservative money hungry cunt who writes muzak for "tarts and fags." Paul is also a drug comparable to heroin that John has had to force himself to quit, as well as of course a God John used to worship the way some people worship Jesus. Paul could choose to come be a working class hero if he wanted to join John's higher cause but he won't because he's a whipped Mama's boy evil person who shouldn't be able to live with himself because he sucks at writing songs. Paul is also John's best friend, why are people being so weird about that?

Predicting when Paul will leave Linda multiple times to the press.

What's libel about calling Paul camp?

Posing with that pig even though he was scared to death of it

"I wish I was back with Paul!" Insane behavior. You don't shout that at your wife during a party, especially when you've worked so hard convincing the world your wife and your magical connection to her freed you from the mundanity of working with such a loser.

"when I look at Jack Lemon, I'm in love again. I feel him coming all over me." An insane thing to say the minute your ex walks into a room full of your friends and with his wife.

- the "smoking cure"

John was gung ho about going to New Orleans and working with Paul again until he did this hypnotist "smoking cure" and came back from it smoking cigarettes, talking about throwing up after someone would "do it to [him]" and how it was just like primal scream. He decided not to go, got back with Yoko, and isolated himself. I think this is the second time John got scared of his love for Paul and decided to try and cure himself of that.

- isolation weirdness

It is insane to turn your best friend, who lives in another country and shows up at your door, away. I have been the mom of a new baby with no help. I know John was not too tired to talk to Paul. If my best friend lived across the ocean and showed up randomly I wouldn't care what was going on, we'd be hanging out! Unfortunately, John can't be normal about Paul. That's some kind of like 'it hurts too bad to be around him' craziness going on.

You’ll always be my favorite Ringo, I love you so much! Hope you have the best best birthday ever with your fans, friends and family♡

Yes, Paul is quite respectful regarding Nancy (I remember Howard Stern told him that he thinks Paul and Linda had one of the greatest love stories ever, and Paul replied, "Well, thank you. And now I've got Nancy.") And yes, this song could very well be about Linda. I actually ponder this a lot because, if you pay attention to the lyrics, all the lines that we would think could apply to John could also apply to Linda: "My thoughts return to you," "Last night I dreamed of you and all that we could do together, side by side," "Over, over again, I'll be in love with you," and even "Always, always, my friend, you'll be my only one." We know that Paul dreams about John a lot and thinks about him a lot, but he has also said that he dreams about Linda and about people he loves in general. And of course, the title We Two sounds to me like a callback to Two of Us, which I personally think is about both John and Linda (and that could very well be the case with We Two as well). The thing that personally tips the balance a bit in John's favor for me is the context of the album. It's supposed to be mainly about memories from Paul's early Liverpool years, hence the title The Boys of Dungeon Lane. Paul has publicly dedicated many of the songs to people who were from that period of his life: his parents (Salesman Saint), Ringo (Home to Us), George (Down South), and even a childhood crush (As You Lie There). But other than a single verse in Days We Left Behind, there isn't a single song that he has publicly identified as being about John. Now, of course, it could be that the only part of the entire album dedicated to John is that one verse. I just personally find that highly unlikely, given John's enormous importance in Paul's life. I don't even think I need to explain why. As I've said before, the only songs that Paul has consistently avoided discussing in terms of their inspiration—and instead keeps deflecting to technical details every time—are We Two, Never Know, and Lost Horizon (and Come Inside as well, although that's a different kind of song with a different theme). Because of that, I have a feeling that at least one of those three songs (if not all of them) is about John. Another interesting thing about We Two is that Paul recorded it using a four-track Studer machine, which is what the early Beatles recordings were made on. Then there's the tape rewinding at the end. The Beatles were the ones who really popularized that tape rewind effect, and they used it quite a bit. So this (and Never Know, interestingly) are the songs on the album where Paul deliberately included all these very Beatle-y touches (except for Mountain Top, a song about getting tripped out and stoned, which also uses tape loops). And if we're reaching just a little bit, there could even be some subtle parallels with Now and Then. For example, John's line "and if I make it through" compared with Paul's "we two came through." Maybe even the fact that both songs begin with Paul counting, "One, two, three." We Two is the only song on the album that starts that way. (But I'm aware this one is even more of a reach, lol.) Maybe, maybe not. But I'm also pretty sure that if Paul ever wanted to draw a parallel between one of his songs and one of John's, he'd do it subtly rather than make it obvious.

(This user recorded this live, very recently. They said that they asked him about almost every song and he never mentioned John, not even in Days We Left Behind. He did mention George and Ringo though)

Q: So, side two begins with Come Inside. 

Paul: Yeah, which is a little banger. So, uh, so, um, yeah, you know.... that's really what it is. Uh...I mean..

Q: Anything that you want to say about it?

Paul: And you know what, I'm trying to think what else can I say about it...

Q: It's a big banger.

Paul: It's a big banger. It's a big banger, yeah. Yeah, um, it bangs. Sooo... it's come inside and, uh, please do.