“He cruised Jane's house, and rang her from the phone in his Mini. She would say, "Sorry, I've got somebody here." He would creep home in a rage”
The forthcoming Sam Mendes biopics have encouraged us to see bits of the Beatles story cinematically. That description from Francie Schwartz’s memoir ‘Body Count’ is incredibly cinematic. Of course, the veracity of Francie’s book, or at least some of it, has been questioned. Who knows. This bit has the ring of truth as it’s very much downplaying her own place in the story.
As a movie scene it would need a soundtrack and what better fit could there be than R Dean Taylor’s ‘Gotta See Jane’.
Gotta See Jane was in the UK charts June-September 1968. GSJ lyrically depicts: driving at night, pounding rain, frantic pursuit of a lost Jane and regret and obsession. That narrative aligns uncannily with what Schwartz describes: Paul driving over to Jane’s, calling her from the car and returning in a terrible mood. As we’ll see, rain also features.
It’s very easy to imagine it coming over the radio in Paul’s Mini Cooper. At any rate, he would surely have been aware of it. On the Tamla Motown label, it’s a pulsating and danceable ode and, from Paul’s viewpoint at that time, very much a song with a point.
As mentioned, the ‘poundin’ rain’ of the song matches Francie’s account, too. Many mentions in her book of the inclement weather of Summer and early Autumn ‘68:
“After dinner, the rain came down. Paul was silent, then animated and weird. “You'll have to go. I've got to have this talk with Mrs. Asher."”
“lt was raining, and cabs were scarce.”
“The road back to London was slicker than a sealskin rug and the rain came in buckets”
“September was coming and the rain never seemed to stop”
It was from this time on that rain became a recurring metaphor in Paul’s songs, denoting a deep sadness and longing. He started writing ‘The Long and Winding Road’ that Autumn up at High Park farm, which, of course, at that point he associated with Jane.
The wild and windy night that the rain washed away
Has left a pool of tears crying for the day
Why leave me standing here? Let me know the way
Of course, this was also on the back of the tense White Album sessions. Maybe it was all feeding into the song.
In some of his more recent songs, rain seems like an emotional trigger:
Though she haunts me like the sound of the rain
Or a river running down to the ocean
I hate to complain but it's happening again
Now every time it rains it sometimes gets too much
Can’t help noticing, too, how some of the lyrics from Gotta See Jane have echoes in Paul’s own songs, maybe coincidentally, maybe subconsciously:
red light, green light from GSJ with red lights, green lights from Venus and Mars (GSJ was reissued in the UK in September ‘74)
Speeding through the dark night, drivin’ through the poundin’ rain with both Getting Closer and Driving Rain.
GSJ’s Windshield wiper splashing with Getting Closer’s watching my windscreen wipers
GSJ’s Turnin' the wheel of life to yesterday, when love and happiness were mine with Let Me Roll It’s I can’t tell you how I feel, my heart is like a wheel, let me roll it
Possibly, Jane was in her new Paddington Street flat at this time. Back in Marylebone.
