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Back in May 2020, my guest Gary Wenstrup and I presented the first half of our conversation, where we offered up our respective lists of what people in Beatle world we would like to be able to sit down and interview: insiders who knew The Beatles well – worked with and for them – and essentially operated as part of the infrastructure; people who haven’t been tapped out as interview subjects.
Here are more names we came up with of folks still among the living that may end up on the show yet – time will tell.
Gary is a lecturer and adjunct professor at College of DuPage, specializing in Beatles and classic rock.
PS: Guess who’s on an upcoming episode of the Fans on the Run podcast? Ethan Alexanian and I just had a lengthy sit down.
Also, remember Luther Russell evoking the Yesterday and Today podcast? He and I both contributed to their upcoming 100th episode.
Another fab episode. Always interesting, always quality content and guests.
With regards to George: he seemed very quick to forgive John his indifferent behaviour and attitude towards him; e.g the Twickenham walkout, Lennon remembers, Bangladesh, the 74 tour, understating George’s contributions to the Beatles in interviews, to name just a few.
On the other hand he seemed to carry resentment of Paul for decades (possibly until his dying day?).
Any thoughts on this ?
Thanks for the show !
✌️peaceandlove❤️
aussiedave
Hi Aussie Dave – thanks for listening and the kind words!
George’s issues with Paul will probably never be definitively explained, but if I were to hazard a guess, a few reasons suggest themselves:
1) During the last couple of years of the group, George may have seen the evident breakdown between John and Paul as an opening for himself to take Paul’s place as a creative partner, revisiting the closeness he once felt after he and John were the first to experiment with LSD, as well as to collaborate again as they once did (back in ’66: John with the lyrics of “Taxman”; George with the assembly of “She Said She Said”). This John was not very interested in – Yoko occupied that space, after all – but instead of openly expressing his hurt at John stiff-arming him, he subsumed it; directing it at Yoko or else at Paul, maybe out of resentment that Paul was likely the one Beatle (if there was one) that could bring John to heel, particularly during his January 1969 non-communication, except to offer criticism of George’s new songs. George was unhappy at work and while John (and Yoko) was a primary cause, he knew that directly communicating it would get him nowhere, and he therefore directed at the one Beatle who might work to remedy it, given his determination to keep the group together.
2) Paul was never shy about pulling rank on George. Though only eight months separated their births, Paul seemed to carry around a perception that it was greater and therefore often talked down to him – a practice that perpetuated to George’s final days. Further, there was that right-to-his-face comment that Paul offered during that taped Apple meeting in September 1969, where he said, “Up until this year, George’s songs weren’t as good as ours…” Whatever John thought, at least he mocked Paul’s songs equally and never offered such a bloodless assessment.
3) Something that seemed to carry a particular amount of weight was Paul’s criticisms of George’s playing. George famously stated during the 1970s that “Paul almost ruined me as a guitar player,” saying that it affected his confidence for years after The Beatles. Again, John never criticized George’s musicality in that way (though he did seem to have a disdain toward the achievement All Things Must Pass represented).
For whatever reason, it was easier for George to carry a grudge against Paul than he could for John, or at least he kept his criticisms private in the latter case.
Another fab episode. Always interesting, always quality content and guests.
With regards to George: he seemed very quick to forgive John his indifferent behaviour and attitude towards him; e.g the Twickenham walkout, Lennon remembers, Bangladesh, the 74 tour, understating George’s contributions to the Beatles in interviews, to name just a few.
On the other hand he seemed to carry resentment of Paul for decades (possibly until his dying day?).
Any thoughts on this ?
Thanks for the show !
✌️peaceandlove❤️
aussiedave
Hi Aussie Dave – thanks for listening and the kind words!
George’s issues with Paul will probably never be definitively explained, but if I were to hazard a guess, a few reasons suggest themselves:
1) During the last couple of years of the group, George may have seen the evident breakdown between John and Paul as an opening for himself to take Paul’s place as a creative partner, revisiting the closeness he once felt after he and John were the first to experiment with LSD, as well as to collaborate again as they once did (back in ’66: John with the lyrics of “Taxman”; George with the assembly of “She Said She Said”). This John was not very interested in – Yoko occupied that space, after all – but instead of openly expressing his hurt at John stiff-arming him, he subsumed it; directing it at Yoko or else at Paul, maybe out of resentment that Paul was likely the one Beatle (if there was one) that could bring John to heel, particularly during his January 1969 non-communication, except to offer criticism of George’s new songs. George was unhappy at work and while John (and Yoko) was a primary cause, he knew that directly communicating it would get him nowhere, and he therefore directed at the one Beatle who might work to remedy it, given his determination to keep the group together.
2) Paul was never shy about pulling rank on George. Though only eight months separated their births, Paul seemed to carry around a perception that it was greater and therefore often talked down to him – a practice that perpetuated to George’s final days. Further, there was that right-to-his-face comment that Paul offered during that taped Apple meeting in September 1969, where he said, “Up until this year, George’s songs weren’t as good as ours…” Whatever John thought, at least he mocked Paul’s songs equally and never offered such a bloodless assessment.
3) Something that seemed to carry a particular amount of weight was Paul’s criticisms of George’s playing. George famously stated during the 1970s that “Paul almost ruined me as a guitar player,” saying that it affected his confidence for years after The Beatles. Again, John never criticized George’s musicality in that way (though he did seem to have a disdain toward the achievement All Things Must Pass represented).
For whatever reason, it was easier for George to carry a grudge against Paul than he could for John, or at least he kept his criticisms private in the latter case.
…interesting eoisode. On asking YOKO I think you would getting nothing but more myth making especially on those last 5 years with John. Your not gonna get any decent perspective from the Yoko Monster! How about Chris O’ Dell she came in at the end of Apple right? Maybe a session with her, you may have done one already. Thanks.
…interesting eoisode. On asking YOKO I think you would getting nothing but more myth making especially on those last 5 years with John. Your not gonna get any decent perspective from the Yoko Monster! How about Chris O’ Dell she came in at the end of Apple right? Maybe a session with her, you may have done one already. Thanks.
John’s stepmother, Pauline Lennon, could be someone interesting to interview: she would have witnessed John go berserk at his father and threaten to finish him off.
I thought John and Yoko had several vicious physical fights, with Yoko giving as good as she got (one of these brawls being thought to have resulted in Yoko having a miscarriage, another fight being about John wanting to attend the Concert For Bangladesh and appear on stage without Yoko).
The heroin addiction of John and Yoko is mentioned in “Many Years From Now” (which is probably the closest thing to an autobiography we’ll ever get from Paul). Paul mentions in the book about how he’d always had a difficult relationship with women because he tells too much truth: no evidence, examples or context provided to support this declaration, though! It’s possible that Paul is trying to present himself as being as much of a bastard as John could be (which is probably true!) in order to toughen his image up.
Sean Lennon’s story about getting a paternal whack on the ear sounds a lot like the infamous Murry and Brian Wilson story: it may well have happened (you could imagine that John would have been a very impatient parent) or it might be a case of Sean taking a story of someone he admires very much and making that story his own because of his absolute admiration (which isn’t very different to John wearing a Bob Dylan cap when he was a Dylan fanatic, to draw an example).
John’s stepmother, Pauline Lennon, could be someone interesting to interview: she would have witnessed John go berserk at his father and threaten to finish him off.
I thought John and Yoko had several vicious physical fights, with Yoko giving as good as she got (one of these brawls being thought to have resulted in Yoko having a miscarriage, another fight being about John wanting to attend the Concert For Bangladesh and appear on stage without Yoko).
The heroin addiction of John and Yoko is mentioned in “Many Years From Now” (which is probably the closest thing to an autobiography we’ll ever get from Paul). Paul mentions in the book about how he’d always had a difficult relationship with women because he tells too much truth: no evidence, examples or context provided to support this declaration, though! It’s possible that Paul is trying to present himself as being as much of a bastard as John could be (which is probably true!) in order to toughen his image up.
Sean Lennon’s story about getting a paternal whack on the ear sounds a lot like the infamous Murry and Brian Wilson story: it may well have happened (you could imagine that John would have been a very impatient parent) or it might be a case of Sean taking a story of someone he admires very much and making that story his own because of his absolute admiration (which isn’t very different to John wearing a Bob Dylan cap when he was a Dylan fanatic, to draw an example).
Very good 2-parter. Lots of insight.
Are you familiar with other comments James Taylor made concerning the day of JL’s death? Deeply troubling.
I found about about you through your Fans On The Run appearance.The shows are excellent and, as you know, far better than most of the crap calling itself Beatles podcasts.
But I have one largish caveat. All the music you insert. I don’t understand the use of it, or so much of it. Some of the more obscure inserts are great, if long. But playing a whole Beatles track, music we all own and knew very well- I find that actually detracts from what’s being talked about. Maybe the snippets are just too long. Things I know- most of it- I always skip.
Really enjoying the show.
baby.
Very good 2-parter. Lots of insight.
Are you familiar with other comments James Taylor made concerning the day of JL’s death? Deeply troubling.
I found about about you through your Fans On The Run appearance.The shows are excellent and, as you know, far better than most of the crap calling itself Beatles podcasts.
But I have one largish caveat. All the music you insert. I don’t understand the use of it, or so much of it. Some of the more obscure inserts are great, if long. But playing a whole Beatles track, music we all own and knew very well- I find that actually detracts from what’s being talked about. Maybe the snippets are just too long. Things I know- most of it- I always skip.
Really enjoying the show.
baby.