(no subject)
january 13th, 1969 (i)
13.06 build me up, buttercup
[optional sulpy]Neil Aspinall arrives and, obviously aware that half the group is still absent, asks what’s going on. [...] Ringo, presumably with George’s absence in mind, dejectedly wonders what the point is. Subsequent comments then suggest the focus and tone of the previous day’s meeting, where The Beatles had come very near to agreeing to break up, at least on an informal basis. However, like many other serious discussion between the four, the meeting broke up with matters unresolved. We learn that it is Paul’s initiative that has brought them back to Twickenham (they are, after all, paying for Michael and his crew), and Ringo appreciates this because it’s obvious that nothing can be settled with the four of them in different places. Paul feels that if they’re going to break up, playing together an extra week won’t do any harm and confesses that he hadn’t anything else planned for this day anyway.
NEIL: So what’s happening? [general laughter]
RINGO: [humorous] We’re just carrying on.
PAUL: We’re just recording.
GLYN: Good morning, Neil.
NEIL: Good morning, Glyn.
PAUL: I just thought, you know, a few words for the songs that we haven’t got words for still. You know, rehearse them a bit more.
RINGO: [bleak] For what?
PAUL: Don’t know. It doesn’t matter, though, you know, if we do an extra week and then we decide to chuck it. It’s just with the decision - that near, and then we could have really used the split, and then, you know, “see you in a year’s time,” and-
RINGO: I mean, the going home was one of those as well.
PAUL: What?
RINGO: So you’ve seen - or phoned, or-?
PAUL: Mm.
RINGO: You know, it’s good you’ve sort of said, “Come to work.” Because if you get to another week-
LINDA: Yeah, it was one of those- [inaudible] [general laughter]
PAUL: Yeah.
RINGO: ‘Cause then we wouldn’t have been here together! Then it would’ve been just - I’d have been there, you’d have been down there...
PAUL: That’s what I thought, yeah. I just thought, “What am I going to do tomorrow?”
RINGO: I was going to lay in, actually. [general laughter]
LINDA: [laughs] Yeah, take a snore.
[optional sulpy]Linda thinks it’s a good thing for the four of them to get together by themselves to try and work things out, and Neil mentions that George had expressed a similar opinion the night before, in what Paul considers a pivotal moment of the previous night’s meeting. A meeting with just the four Beatles would have resulted in excluding Yoko from the inner circle, but rather than choose between her and the group, we learn that John had pretended not to understand George’s request. This had resulted in George calling him a liar. Paul and Neil didn’t believe John either, but are more tolerant of him.
PAUL: Waiting for you, ooh… Why don’t you know… what it could be…
LINDA: It’s a good thing if all four of you just got together - and nobody else. You know, it’s alright when we’re all just sitting around now.
RINGO: Did you go last night, Neil?
NEIL: Um - this is, um, just something I was talking to George about last night. And that was what he was saying, too.
RINGO: What?
NEIL: What he means. Just the four of you.
LINDA: Yeah, it’s-
NEIL: That’s what he means, you know. Nothing else.
RINGO: Yes.
PAUL: Yeah, I’m for that, you know.
NEIL: So am I.
RINGO: Yes.
LINDA: It’s the only way you’re gonna-
NEIL: That’s why he didn’t - that’s why he said, “I don’t believe you,” to John. Yesterday.
PAUL: Yeah… Key moment, that, wasn’t it?
NEIL: [wry] Yes. But he meant it. And I think John knew what he was talking about, too.
PAUL: Oh, John. [laughter] Sure he did.
NEIL: And that’s why George said it twice. When George said, “I don’t understand you, John,” and [then when] George said, “I don’t believe you. Forget it.” ‘Cause he thought [John] did understand him.
PAUL: [unsurprised] Of course he did.
LINDA: [wry] It was great.
NEIL: You know, and it’s that. It’s like the bullshitting bit where, like, that can go on, is silly.
[optional sulpy]Paul again [...] seems to go out of his way to justify John and Yoko’s behavior, pointing out that, whatever else it may be, it’s at least sincere. This is a bit too much for Neil and Linda, who make their opinions obvious by a series of rude comments and noises. [...] [Paul] forges ahead, admitting that he’d rather compose songs without Yoko around and that he tries to please John through her. He realizes this is silly, but places the blame solely upon himself, naively (and perhaps disingenuously) claiming that John and Yoko are actually very honest.
PAUL: Yeah. But I think the thing is, like, we - John does bullshit, I bullshit, Ringo bullshits, George bullshits. You know, we bullshit. The problem is that it’s only John- [inaudible; Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s voice recording a phone call] -trying to be more influencing, and they’re thinking past it. And so you start to sort of give him more credit than he’s - than he’s due for, you know. And, like, with Yoko, you know - they’re real. They mean it.
LINDA: [laughs] I don’t dig that, though.
PAUL: Him and Yoko, you know, they - they-
LINDA: [pretends to sneeze] Go away!
PAUL: You know, they do mean it. But…
NEIL: [playing along] Everybody cough. Heeueck.
LINDA: [playing along] Heuuuueck go away. Heeueck.
PAUL: [sober] You know?
LINDA: [sincere] Yeah, I know what you mean. You know what you mean.
PAUL: But you know, I - I tend to think that about them, too. Like I was saying, you know. “Well, I’d rather write without Yoko, thank you.” Just because it’s - that’s the way I write. If I - like, if I was in Tunisia, I’d go up to the bathroom to write a song, and then come back when it was done to show it to you. And to sort of say, “Let’s do a couple more words, now that’s it all there, you know, now that there’s only a little…”
NEIL: Yeah.
PAUL: But it’s difficult starting right from scratch with Yoko there, ‘cause you start off on a - well, I do. I start off on a Yoko beam, you know. I start off sort of - writing songs about white walls. [laughter] Just ‘cause I - you know, just ‘cause I think she - John and Yoko would like that. And they wouldn’t, you know. I mean, I give them too much credit for - for what I think they’d like. But that’s not true. They wouldn’t. They’re very straight. I mean, you know, it’s just like-
LINDA: It’s all about being away from each other, aren’t they?
PAUL: I think it’s-
NEIL: No, I don’t - I don’t think it’s that.
[optional sulpy]Ringo and Michael ask Neil if John has been reached and informed about the day’s session, and Neil tells them that nobody’s picking up the phone at John’s house. Linda restates her opinion that the meeting would have been more successful had the four Beatles been left to discuss matters on their own, and tells the others that she regrets having attended. Sincere or not, this merely serves as a lead-in to her real point, that Yoko should not have attended since she did the lion’s share of the talking.
RINGO: Did you get in touch with John?
NEIL: Um, Mal did. This morning, in fact.
LINDA: That was the answering service.
RINGO: [to Neil] Oh, you guys - I thought you were, later on. 1
NEIL: I couldn’t get him.
RINGO: No?
MICHAEL: Is he join - is he joining us?
RINGO: We don’t know.
NEIL: I suppose [John and Yoko] might, but nobody can expect as much.
RINGO: ‘Cause Mal couldn’t get him either, you know. He may be up now.
NEIL: So - nobody’s spoken to him?
RINGO: No no no. You can only get the machine. So someone should try again.
NEIL: [inaudible] But nobody’s answering it.
LINDA: [to Paul] Yeah, but it’s hard having a meeting, and everybody putting their two cents in and none of you all saying - anything.
PAUL: But that’s the other thing, having the meeting, you know. You came with me, and Heather came, and the animal-
LINDA: Yeah, I was going to say I shouldn’t go, but then…
PAUL: Yeah… [joking] It’s such a temptation going out to Ringo’s for the afternoon.
LINDA: [laughs] Exactly.
RINGO: [bemused] What?
LINDA: Heather could play with Zak.
PAUL: It feels like a family outing. [Ringo laughs] Don’t really just want to go on my own.
LINDA: [sheepish] Yeah, I was going to say, “We really shouldn’t go,” but then I thought - well.
RINGO: Why?
LINDA: Well, it should’ve been-
PAUL: Well, it should have been the four of us, you know.
RINGO: Oh- [to Linda; reasonable] Well, you were out of the way.
PAUL: Oh, yeah, sure.
LINDA: Sure.
RINGO: I mean- [inaudible]
LINDA: Oh yeah, but you know, it’s just like…
PAUL: It’s - it’s still, it’s that thing, you know.
RINGO: Mm.
LINDA: When there’s something serious, and you have other people there talking about it, you get off the track.
PAUL: You know, it really is - it really is like a board meeting going on.
RINGO: [mock-stern; to Linda] If you would’ve just kept quiet, it could’ve all gone well.
LINDA: [playing along] Well, I had to talk every two minutes. [laughs]
PAUL: Ol’ Sir Joberry and his wife…
RINGO: [playing along] Damn Yankee. [laughter]
PAUL: You know, but that’s it. It’s like that. The board meeting with ICLI, and all the government bringing all the wives, [laughs] and mates, and kids, and animals - and everything.
NEIL: But it turns - it turns into- [inaudible]
LINDA: Well, Yoko is doing all the talking.
[optional sulpy]Neil complains that John and Yoko’s actions effectively turned the board meeting into a party, and Paul agrees, but once more sticks up for Yoko, wondering if her presence isn’t simply being used to excuse away the deterioriating relations within the group.
NEIL: But that’s - that’s the point, you see. You know that he’s going to, and you know that Yoko’s going to be sitting there, and so everybody else is like, “Fuck it.” You know it’s not going to be a board meeting, so…
PAUL: Yeah, right.
NEIL: “Let’s make it a party.”
PAUL: Sure, that’s - that, really, that-
LINDA: But she does so much talking for [John], now.
PAUL: But see, now, so what do you do about that? That’s what I was saying about songs, yesterday, you know. I’m - I know that if - to write any more with John, I’ve just gotta, like, figh- [faltering] you know, forget it.
LINDA: But I think that whole-
PAUL: See I think it’s - it’s us, uptight about that. I really do - I think, uh…
LINDA: “The king.”
PAUL: See, it’s like - the trouble with us - like, John said it yesterday - it’s like, anything that comes up on all of our little egos, we try and push out. And anybody - it’s always been that. Anybody who’s come in, like Michael Braun 2 - who was writing that book - came in for a while, within the circle for a while, but then he gets pushed out. ‘Cause, you know, we don’t want him in the inner circle. He’s got to stay on the edges, while the four of us get on with - you know.
1Ringo thought Neil and/or Mal had contacted John on Sunday night, after the band meeting.
2Referring to the America journalist who wrote the first dedicated book about The Beatles, Love Me Do, released in 1964. In John's interview with Rolling Stone's Jann Wenner on December 8th, 1970, he comments on it: “That was a true book. He wrote how we were, which was bastards. You can’t be anything else in a situation with such pressure.”
13.07 build me up, buttercup
LINDA: ‘Cause I have a feeling half the stuff Yoko said yesterday isn’t - I mean, she was talking for John, and I don’t think he really believed any of that, you know.
13.0- dialogue
[optional sulpy]A remarkably candid conversation follows in which the dissatisfaction with Yoko and her effect upon John is finally addressed. Linda, Neil and Paul all see Yoko working her will through John, but don’t wish to confront him about it until they have no doubt as to what’s going on. Paul further criticizes John and Yoko’s belief in a ‘heightened awareness’ whereby people needn’t verbally communicate with each other. He realizes that this leads to a situation where people can’t communicate at all.
PAUL: No, it’s just, it is-
NEIL: I’d just rather not say anything. It’s one of those situations.
PAUL: Yeah. [pause] Well, that’s - that’s the trouble you see, there, ‘cause that’s it. It’s like, with our - heightened awareness, the answer is not to say anything, you know. But it isn’t. ‘Cause I mean, we screw each other up totally if we don’t do that. ‘Cause we’re not ready for your heightened… vows of silence. [laughs; hapless] We’re really not! Like, we don’t know what the fuck each other’s talking about, when that - we all just sort of get-
NEIL: I think it’s just between the four of you, that get it. That’s what I’d pretend.
PAUL: Oh yeah, right, yeah. But you see, that’s it, that’s why John doesn’t say anything. ‘Cause he - you know, he just - there was something the other day, when I said, “Well, what do you think?” And he just stood there and didn’t say anything. And then - and I know exactly why, you know. I mean, I wouldn’t, if… [long pause] Somehow. You know, there’s nothing really much to be said about it. You just - we all just have to do it, and all that, instead of like talking about it. But - but if one of us is talking about it, it’s a drag if the other three aren’t. Because then it sort of throws you off. [inaudible; voice marking tape slate] I mean, we’ve just been talking about it now for a few years, you know. Like this…
MICHAEL: How long has this been around? Like a year?
LINDA: But that’s not it, anyway. It’s the four of them just getting together.
PAUL: [hesitating] But that’s - that’s not far off it, you know. I mean…
LINDA: What?
PAUL: I mean, Yoko’s very much to do with it.
LINDA: Mm.
[optional sulpy]Paul is faced with a dilemma. If he confronts John, he’s sure that John will simply quit The Beatles and devote himself to Yoko [...] but he sees the group disintegrating anyway, both because of the vacuum caused by John’s creative withdrawal, and George’s unwillingness to tolerate John’s behavior. Paul [...] indicates that it wouldn’t take much to push John out of the group, since they’re already tired after having been together for so long. Michael recalls a discussion from the 10th where John clearly expressed his desire to carry on the group (even without George).
PAUL: ‘Cause she’s very much to do with it from John’s angle, that’s the thing, you know. And I - the thing is that I - there’s- Again, like, there’s always only two answers. One is to fight it, and fight her, and try and get The Beatles back to four people without Yoko, and sort of ask her to sit down at the board meetings. Or else, the other thing is to just realize that she’s there, you know. And he’s not gonna sort of - split with her, just for our sakes.
And - but then it’s not even so much of an obstacle, then, as long as we’re not trying to surmount it. And while we’re still trying to get over it, it’s an obstacle. [trying] But it isn’t, really. It’s not that bad, you know. They want to stay together, those two. So it’s alright. Let the young lovers stay together. [pause] But it shouldn’t be - [officious voice] con-operated at these conditions, boy. We’re coming out. It’s like - it feels like we’re striking. That’s what it is. It’s like a strike, ‘cause - work conditions aren’t right, you know. But… it’s not that bad.
MICHAEL: But, he - he knows that, doesn’t he?
PAUL: John knows that, sure. But he’s-
MICHAEL: Does he talk about it at all?
PAUL: No. But he’s - I mean, he’s- See, we’ve done a lot of Beatles now, we’ve had a lot of Beatles, you know, and we’ve got a lot out of Beatles. So that it - I think John’s saying now that honestly, if it came to a push between Yoko and The Beatles, it’s Yoko, you know.
MICHAEL: Who’d stay.
PAUL: Oh, sure.
MICHAEL: But funny enough, the other day, when we were talking, he said that he really did not want not to be a Beatle. He said he really looked forward - not, you know. Meaning he didn’t want that screwed up.
PAUL: Hm. [pause; unconvinced] Yeah, but it’s a difficult one, that, you know.
LINDA: I think in their discussions, though, when as soon as you brought that up, John turned to her and said, “See, I told you.” I think it’s one of those things where he-
PAUL: They do it. They tell each other, you know, when they get back home-
LINDA: Yeah, but I bet he said to her, you know, “When I write, just sort of - go away, when I’m with Paul.” But she said, “Oh, I don’t know…” [trailing off] It’s that kind of thing.
PAUL: [quiet] I don’t know.
LINDA: I don’t know, but that’s what I-
[optional sulpy][...] Paul worries that they’re not being fair to Yoko [...]. But Neil [...] worries about her intruding while John and Paul write. Paul [...] realizes that the problem is not so much with Yoko as John’s reliance upon her, although he admits that he doesn’t like her presence if only because she’s a distraction. He then goes a step further and sticks up for John, claiming that when the two get really serious about something John won’t allow Yoko to interfere [...].
NEIL: Yes, I think a lot of people get to have the impression that whenever John talks these days, it’s like, oh - Yoko’s talking to [for] him.
PAUL: Yeah.
NEIL: Or he shuts up, and that’s it, he doesn’t do it for you. And then that becomes a dream. [inaudible]
PAUL: Sure.
NEIL: Not ever, like, talking to him - like I’m talking to you now. Like now I’m talking to Paul, I’m not talking to Linda.
PAUL: Right.
NEIL: But when you’re talking to John, you always - these days, anyway - tend to think that you’re talking to Yoko more than you’re talking to John. And that’s when it becomes a drag.
PAUL: [furtive] That’s why I say writing a song with him is a bit embarrassing, because I do think it sort of - I mean, I start examining my emotions, with Yoko there… And it’s probably silly of me! It’s probably silly, because like, Yoko’s not what we’re all sort of thinking she is.
NEIL: You see, I wouldn’t mind if she would just… wouldn’t say as much. Otherwise.
PAUL: [weary] Well, that - of course that would be great, you know.
NEIL: [laughs; bleak] Yeah. ‘Cause I just feel that it’s like - it’s you and John that are writing the songs together. You know, I mean, I’m not, I’m not- [inaudible; Linda’s and Ringo’s voices]
PAUL: Yeah.
NEIL: It’s just like, that - she’d start interjecting that you’d… hurt him, and-
PAUL: Yeah, no, she would-
NEIL: But you know, she probably wouldn’t-
PAUL: No, she isn’t-
NEIL: But that’s - you know.
PAUL: Yeah, see, that’s the thing. The only one time we’ve actually done it, she’s agreed. She really is alright. It’s like, it’s the thought of her being there when some of- [faltering] And then you don’t talk to John, so then he doesn’t talk to you, you know. And it’s like, you can screw it up just as much because she’s there, as - as John’s relying on her because she’s there. So that’s the thing. You know, but I mean, like, you’ll notice, if John - if you’re onto a beam with John about something, then he really isn’t, you know, he really won’t let Yoko talk about it. Because he knows when you’re on a beam, and he knows about it, and you’ll - you can talk straighter to him.
But it’s like, we did ‘I Will’. We tried, we were trying to get the last verse to ‘I Will’, and eventually I just ended up doing it, because it - we couldn’t actually do it. [pause; trying] But - I mean, Yoko really tried to stay out of it, [and] just sort of - got on with something, but she just really… you know. They’re onto that thing. They just want to be near to each other. So I just think it’s just silly of me, or of anyone, to try and say to him, “No, you can’t,” you know. It’s like, ‘cause - okay, they’re - they’re going overboard about it, but John always does! And Yoko probably always does. So that’s their scene. You can’t go saying - you know, “Don’t go overboard about this thing. Be sensible about it. Don’t bring it to meetings.” It’s his decision, that. It’s - it’s none of our business, to start interfering in that. Even when it comes into our business, you still can’t really say much, unless - except, “Look, I don’t like it, John.” And then he can say, well, “Screw you,” or, “I like it,” or, “Well, I won’t do it so much,” or blablabla. Like, that’s the only way, you know. To tell John about that.
MICHAEL: Have you done that already?
PAUL: Well, I told him I didn’t like writing songs… with him and Yoko.
[optional sulpy][Paul] still thinks [...] the real problem is with their lack of communication, patronizing each other and [...] not speaking their hearts. [...] Paul touches once more upon his desire not to be overly assertive towards controlling the future of the band, and claims that whatever he has to say is only one man’s opinion. Paul then reveals that the underlying motive behind the “Get Back” sessions was to force the group into the discipline of a 9 to 5 situation, claiming that even if it’s a grind at times, at least they’d be able to reap the rewards of their work.
MICHAEL: Were you writing much more before she came around-?
PAUL: Oh yeah, sure.
MICHAEL: Or had you - cooled it a bit, then? Before her.
RINGO: Before Yoko got there.
PAUL: [restrained] Yeah, cooled it, cooled it. Sure. We’d cooled it because… not playing together. Ever since we didn’t play together-
MICHAEL: Onstage, you mean.
PAUL: Yes. With the band. Because we lived together, and we played together. We were in the same hotel, up at the same time every morning, doing this all day. And this - I mean, this, you know, it doesn’t matter what you do, just as long as you’re this close all day, something grows, you know. In some ways. And when you’re not this close, only, just physically… something goes.
MICHAEL: Right.
PAUL: So then you can come together to record, and stuff, but you still sort of lose the… [hesitating] Actually, musically, you know, we really - we can play better than we’ve ever been able to play, you know. Like, I really think that. I think, like - [laughs; bleak] we’re - we’re alright on that. It’s just that - being together thing, you know. I mean, like I said yesterday, underestimating each other’s work, and uh, talking down to each other a bit...
MICHAEL: And playing safe with each other a bit-
PAUL: Yeah, playing it safe, and nice, and sort of steady... with time, you know. It’s all of that, you know. But see, the thing I ever thought about that, was - which was again difficult, because, like Yoko was saying yesterday, “It’s my opinion, this is my opinion about how The Beatles should be.”
MICHAEL: [laughs] Yeah.
PAUL: You know, which is all I can offer.
NEIL: What would you say that would be?
PAUL: It’s just - I thought that we should just work, a lot, you know. Really, really get into that sort of, into the slog, you know. Really just-I mean, a job, more - almost nine to five, nine to five...
MICHAEL: ‘Cause I know when I talked to John-
PAUL And then weekends off, so that there really are weekends, then back on the slog, and, you know, cursing it-
MICHAEL: That’s - that’s what he was saying, though-
PAUL: The drags, the ups, and the downs, but the achievements, and the-
MICHAEL: That work makes you work. ‘Cause John was saying that the fact that you do work, inspires you. That’s what he was saying. I mean, like-
LINDA: I remember when they were doing the album, George was saying that it’s so great to be working again.
MICHAEL: Working, because you don’t get inspired sitting at home and reading the paper. You’ve actually got to work and get up and talk a bit.
[optional sulpy]Neil returns to the subject of John and Yoko and mentions how jarring it is to have Yoko constantly present [...]. Paul simply reiterates his feeling that it’s not appropriate for him to confront John and Yoko about their behavior, likening them to two children who are being naughty and would only act worse if chastised. Paul continues to explain his understanding of John’s psychology and implies the difficulty of dealing with someone who, for example, feels that no justification is needed for the nude “Two Virgins” sleeve beyond the fact that they felt like doing it.
NEIL: [to Paul; quiet] See I find, I find that- [inaudible; drowned out by Michael’s, Linda’s, and Ringo’s voices] That’s what he told me, and what George was saying, that he’d had enough of nothing to do, you know. But it’s like on the first day, and getting to work on ‘Yer Blues’-
PAUL: Yes, it was great.
NEIL: Which was just fantastic, you know. And- [inaudible; drowned out by Michael’s, Linda’s, and Ringo’s voices] I just sat over here, close to all of it, and just looked over there, and it’s like I could see the work start to become... less and less, less and less. And the reason why we were working less and less is because there were five people sitting over there. [pause] You know what I mean? And the thing is that while I can understand that, Yoko coming in and doing all that, well-
PAUL: Well, now that’s, you see- [sighs]
NEIL: I don’t see why she has to sit on your amp. See, it’s that as well, you see.
PAUL: That’s the thing. You know, I don’t, I don’t - I really agree with that, you know. I’m straight, I’m from Allerton too. And I don’t see why she has to sit on it, you know. And if, and if we were in a Northern band, you know, I’d put my foot down on that. But, you know, we’ve grown out of all that, and - and you can’t go - you know, we really can’t go to blare at John, [officious tone] “Look, John, the union thinks that you can’t have this-”
NEIL: I just feel as though she’d - realize it a bit, though.
PAUL: Yeah, she does. Sure, she does, you know. But it’s up to them, it really is. I agree, it’s difficult, that. But I really do think that’s their decision. You know, I think - it’s like, it’s like with kids, you know, if a kid’s doing that, if a kid is doing a naughty thing, really - or something you think is naughty - you’ve really got to leave them to do it. ‘Cause you tell them not to, and you know, you’ve screwed it. ‘Cause then they think... “I would.” You know? ‘Cause I mean, it’s just like John’s album cover 1, you know. All of us thought, well, why did he do it? But it ended up-the answer being, “Well, why not?” And that’s the trouble, you know.
LINDA: ‘Cause you never know. [laughs] You know, it’s, “There goes Lennon.”
NEIL: [laughs] And you’ve been going through all of it like that, all your life.
PAUL: Yeah...
LINDA: But it’s-
NEIL: But there’s still going to be that, you know - that compromise, along the line somewhere, you know.
LINDA: Yeah.
PAUL: Well, that’s what I’m trying to do, with the John and Yoko thing, you know. Not - not sort of just, uh-
LINDA: But it takes two to compromise.
MICHAEL: Mm.
PAUL: Well I think - you see - well, yeah, okay, so we’ll go on talking like this forever, but I think - for them to be able to compromise, I’m going to have to be able to compromise. First. Then they’ll be able to. Or else they have to be able to compromise first, and that. But it’s - it’s silly, neither of us compromising.
MICHAEL: Yeah, but, funny thing is if-
PAUL: You see, if it’s at least one stage where after I can start to compromise, then maybe they can feel as though they’ll bend a little for me, then.
MICHAEL: Yeah, but if her being around so much has caused a lot of the trouble, then you’re compromising already. I mean, you’ve made a lot of your compromise. [pause] You know what I mean?
PAUL: What, by - yeah. By-
MICHAEL: By - by that you-
PAUL: Right, yeah.
MICHAEL: On the excesses.
PAUL: I think it’s because we’ve thought that the only alternative would be - for John just to say, “Okay, well, see you then.” And we’ve not wanted that to happen. [pause] It’s just - I don’t think- We hustle each other like mad, you know. We probably do need, really, a sort of a central daddy figure, to say, you know, “Nine o’clock. None of the girls.” [general laughter] [officious voice] “Leave the girls at home, lads.” You know. [laughs] Then we’re all, “Alright.” [pause] I don’t know. We might, though. You never know.
LINDA: But work is work, you know.
NEIL: [quiet] If it's John, in this case, it probably wouldn’t work.
LINDA: What did you say?
RINGO: He said it-
NEIL: It wouldn’t work, in this case. Probably. [long pause]
PAUL: It’s going to be such an incredible sort of comical thing, like in fifty years’ time, you know. “They broke up because Yoko sat on an amp.” [general laughter] Just something like- [laughs] “What?” “You see, John just kept bringing his girl along...” “What?” [pause] It’s not like there’s any sort of earth-splitting rows, or-
RINGO: We bashed up our heads. [general laughter]
PAUL: There’s nothing wrong, really. It’s just sort of-
MICHAEL: But it is - it’s like Linda was saying, it is terribly dispiriting if it doesn’t get together. It really is.
LINDA: Just music-wise.
MICHAEL: Yeah. I mean, just for the-
PAUL: That’s the thing, you know. The lack of the music-
MICHAEL: Just to turn on the radio-
PAUL: Yeah. The lack of-
LINDA: I mean, god, it’s an event when a Beatles album comes - or even a single. I mean, it’s just an event.
RINGO: [bleak] Oh, I don’t know.
LINDA: [laughs] It is, though! You know, it’s-
RINGO: But I don’t, really. That’s what you are saying.
LINDA: It’s like people listen more to that than when Johnson gives a speech, you know. I mean, people listen.
RINGO: Hmm.
PAUL: I was talking to Neil last night about an idea I thought for - for a TV show, but he sort of really put the - finished the idea off, which is-
NEIL: [laughs] Really.
PAUL: [earnest] Made it - no, made it sensational.
LINDA: Or. [laughs]
PAUL: That while we were rehearsing the show ourselves, we should have alongside us, someone sort of near, so that we’re getting the same kind of buzz. But rea- completely independent. We should get like, uh - say, the editor of The Daily Mirror.
MICHAEL: Mmhmm.
PAUL: You’d have to get someone as good as him, a real hard news nut, rehearsing a team of really hard, incredible news men, with films, writing... so on so on so on. So that, on the night of the show, in between all our songs, is news, but the fastest, and the hottest - from every corner of the earth, dadadadada, “We’ve just heard dadadada there’s been an earthquake”, and so on and so on, and drrrrr film, and just, uh, incredible news in between each thing. So it’s like a red hot news program, you know, and, um, at the end, finally, the final bulletin is, “The Beatles have broken up.” [long pause]
MICHAEL: [uncertain] Nice.
LINDA: Nice, but you can lose the end. [laughs]
PAUL: [laughs; bleak] Nice, but not nice!
MICHAEL: Yeah, that’s...
PAUL: [American accent] Thanks, but no thanks. [pause] But I mean, you know, it would be an incredible show, that, ‘cause that news thing-
RINGO: Yeah.
MICHAEL: It should be live, that show.
PAUL: With our music, ‘cause then we wouldn’t need-
RINGO: That’s another one that must Telstar all over the world.
MICHAEL: It should be live, yeah.
PAUL: Yeah, that was the other thing, and then that got into- Then and there, I Come Dancing link up, where we just have [laughs] competition, you know, with all our songs. “This is a slow fox trot.”
LINDA: [laughs] You know, that program-
MICHAEL: [laughs] Yes.
PAUL: “This is Eugene Quill.” And they all sort of get prizes for it.
MICHAEL: But do you think if you put any, um-
PAUL: That live link up thing, I think, is great.
MICHAEL: It’s very exciting. I love the idea of that satellite show.
LINDA: Mm, it’s great.
PAUL: You see, if you did have people just sort of - that live link up, you don’t have to have anyone on the end of the line - the other end. And, you know, it doesn’t have to be anyone special. It could be anyone who’s in the studio.
...
MICHAEL: But do you think if you put any, uh, pressure on him, that he’d - go your way a bit more?
PAUL: [guarded] Who’s this?
MICHAEL: John.
PAUL: I don’t know. [long pause] But I don’t know, you know, I can’t… [quiet] I’d rather do it on my own.
MICHAEL: Hm. [awkward] Hm. [silence; fidgeting]
PAUL: [tired] Do you want to try and ring John? [long pause]
NEIL: Mal or I can do it.
PAUL: Try him.
LINDA: The thing is, the four of you. The four of them just talking.
MICHAEL: Did you - did you not talk about it much, last night?
LINDA: Well, there was just too many…
NEIL: People.
LINDA: Mm.
PAUL: John didn’t talk. You see, Yoko talked… for John.
MICHAEL: Did George stay?
PAUL: Oh, well, then - in the middle of all that, actually-
LINDA: Hopefully. 2
PAUL: George went. You know, “See ya.”
LINDA: But he was waiting for it to stop, you know. That’s why he was stepping out. But when he saw it wasn’t… The thing is like - a meeting without Yoko, just once, and she’d-
NEIL: I don’t think we’ll ever get that. [long pause]
PAUL: You see, that’s it, you know.
NEIL: That is.
PAUL: That is a big sort of crunch, that.
NEIL: You’d have to - you’d have to say it to John, then. And then it’s going to be like, “Well, I’m not doing it,” or, “I am doing it,” and whichever way it goes - but at least whenever John decides what he wants with that, that will be that.
MICHAEL: You’ve got to make it some way again, face-wise. If he can appear without her. You’ve almost got to, er, drug up her tea or something, and put her away for a minute or two. [long pause; general scoffing] It’s just that it’s so hard when there’s face involved. You know? ‘Cause while you’re Anglos - a yellow pair, though... [laughs; ignored]
LINDA: Yeah, I think he’d do it, but I don’t think she’d do it.
MICHAEL: Hmm. [long pause]
PAUL: See, but their point is, they’re - they’re trying to be as near together as they can.
MICHAEL: For their own truth, and everything... jazz.
PAUL: Yeah, for everything like - so that, if she sits over here, then it’s just slightly less good than if she’s sitting that near, very near to him. And if she’s touching him, then that’s even better, you know. And it’s like that. So that, okay, she’s prepared to sit here, but that’s - then, there’s the beginning of the rock down. Then she’ll stay at home the next day, while he comes, you know. And they see it like that. They see it, that the more that they can stay together… And it’s right, in a way. I - you know. If that’s how you see it, then you can see that it would be a drag for that to - for people to start saying, “Well, come to the meeting without her,” you know, “I’d rather talk without her,” ‘cause it starts separating you again, from her. Which is like, see, it’s very ideological. Which is, you know, it’s probably… how it should be.
MICHAEL: I’m all for that. I mean, if that’s what they want to do. But then if it screws everything up for everybody else, then they’ve got to think about it.
PAUL: [reserved] Well. I don’t know, you know. You see, they - they’d say that the other way, that-
MICHAEL: That you’d have to adjust to them.
PAUL: That the other way is true, yeah. You know, that if they do what we want to do, then it might screw it up for them, you know. [quiet] And they don’t want to be screwed up.
NEIL: Mal’s tried to ring him.
PAUL: Yeah.
NEIL: But his phone is engaged.
PAUL: How can it be engaged?
NEIL: It could mean they’ve had their phone off.
RINGO: Send him a telegram.
LINDA: Tell him he’s on pins and needles, wondering what’s happened to him. [Paul sighs]
[wip]
1Referring to the media-baiting cover of John and Yoko's 1968 album, Two Virgins, featuring John and Yoko in a state of full-frontal undress.
2Linda thought Michael was asking if George, who quit the band on January 10th, had decided over the course of the meeting to stay in The Beatles.
get back
13.06 build me up, buttercup
[optional sulpy]Neil Aspinall arrives and, obviously aware that half the group is still absent, asks what’s going on. [...] Ringo, presumably with George’s absence in mind, dejectedly wonders what the point is. Subsequent comments then suggest the focus and tone of the previous day’s meeting, where The Beatles had come very near to agreeing to break up, at least on an informal basis. However, like many other serious discussion between the four, the meeting broke up with matters unresolved. We learn that it is Paul’s initiative that has brought them back to Twickenham (they are, after all, paying for Michael and his crew), and Ringo appreciates this because it’s obvious that nothing can be settled with the four of them in different places. Paul feels that if they’re going to break up, playing together an extra week won’t do any harm and confesses that he hadn’t anything else planned for this day anyway.
NEIL: So what’s happening? [general laughter]
RINGO: [humorous] We’re just carrying on.
PAUL: We’re just recording.
GLYN: Good morning, Neil.
NEIL: Good morning, Glyn.
PAUL: I just thought, you know, a few words for the songs that we haven’t got words for still. You know, rehearse them a bit more.
RINGO: [bleak] For what?
PAUL: Don’t know. It doesn’t matter, though, you know, if we do an extra week and then we decide to chuck it. It’s just with the decision - that near, and then we could have really used the split, and then, you know, “see you in a year’s time,” and-
RINGO: I mean, the going home was one of those as well.
PAUL: What?
RINGO: So you’ve seen - or phoned, or-?
PAUL: Mm.
RINGO: You know, it’s good you’ve sort of said, “Come to work.” Because if you get to another week-
LINDA: Yeah, it was one of those- [inaudible] [general laughter]
PAUL: Yeah.
RINGO: ‘Cause then we wouldn’t have been here together! Then it would’ve been just - I’d have been there, you’d have been down there...
PAUL: That’s what I thought, yeah. I just thought, “What am I going to do tomorrow?”
RINGO: I was going to lay in, actually. [general laughter]
LINDA: [laughs] Yeah, take a snore.
[optional sulpy]Linda thinks it’s a good thing for the four of them to get together by themselves to try and work things out, and Neil mentions that George had expressed a similar opinion the night before, in what Paul considers a pivotal moment of the previous night’s meeting. A meeting with just the four Beatles would have resulted in excluding Yoko from the inner circle, but rather than choose between her and the group, we learn that John had pretended not to understand George’s request. This had resulted in George calling him a liar. Paul and Neil didn’t believe John either, but are more tolerant of him.
PAUL: Waiting for you, ooh… Why don’t you know… what it could be…
LINDA: It’s a good thing if all four of you just got together - and nobody else. You know, it’s alright when we’re all just sitting around now.
RINGO: Did you go last night, Neil?
NEIL: Um - this is, um, just something I was talking to George about last night. And that was what he was saying, too.
RINGO: What?
NEIL: What he means. Just the four of you.
LINDA: Yeah, it’s-
NEIL: That’s what he means, you know. Nothing else.
RINGO: Yes.
PAUL: Yeah, I’m for that, you know.
NEIL: So am I.
RINGO: Yes.
LINDA: It’s the only way you’re gonna-
NEIL: That’s why he didn’t - that’s why he said, “I don’t believe you,” to John. Yesterday.
PAUL: Yeah… Key moment, that, wasn’t it?
NEIL: [wry] Yes. But he meant it. And I think John knew what he was talking about, too.
PAUL: Oh, John. [laughter] Sure he did.
NEIL: And that’s why George said it twice. When George said, “I don’t understand you, John,” and [then when] George said, “I don’t believe you. Forget it.” ‘Cause he thought [John] did understand him.
PAUL: [unsurprised] Of course he did.
LINDA: [wry] It was great.
NEIL: You know, and it’s that. It’s like the bullshitting bit where, like, that can go on, is silly.
[optional sulpy]Paul again [...] seems to go out of his way to justify John and Yoko’s behavior, pointing out that, whatever else it may be, it’s at least sincere. This is a bit too much for Neil and Linda, who make their opinions obvious by a series of rude comments and noises. [...] [Paul] forges ahead, admitting that he’d rather compose songs without Yoko around and that he tries to please John through her. He realizes this is silly, but places the blame solely upon himself, naively (and perhaps disingenuously) claiming that John and Yoko are actually very honest.
PAUL: Yeah. But I think the thing is, like, we - John does bullshit, I bullshit, Ringo bullshits, George bullshits. You know, we bullshit. The problem is that it’s only John- [inaudible; Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s voice recording a phone call] -trying to be more influencing, and they’re thinking past it. And so you start to sort of give him more credit than he’s - than he’s due for, you know. And, like, with Yoko, you know - they’re real. They mean it.
LINDA: [laughs] I don’t dig that, though.
PAUL: Him and Yoko, you know, they - they-
LINDA: [pretends to sneeze] Go away!
PAUL: You know, they do mean it. But…
NEIL: [playing along] Everybody cough. Heeueck.
LINDA: [playing along] Heuuuueck go away. Heeueck.
PAUL: [sober] You know?
LINDA: [sincere] Yeah, I know what you mean. You know what you mean.
PAUL: But you know, I - I tend to think that about them, too. Like I was saying, you know. “Well, I’d rather write without Yoko, thank you.” Just because it’s - that’s the way I write. If I - like, if I was in Tunisia, I’d go up to the bathroom to write a song, and then come back when it was done to show it to you. And to sort of say, “Let’s do a couple more words, now that’s it all there, you know, now that there’s only a little…”
NEIL: Yeah.
PAUL: But it’s difficult starting right from scratch with Yoko there, ‘cause you start off on a - well, I do. I start off on a Yoko beam, you know. I start off sort of - writing songs about white walls. [laughter] Just ‘cause I - you know, just ‘cause I think she - John and Yoko would like that. And they wouldn’t, you know. I mean, I give them too much credit for - for what I think they’d like. But that’s not true. They wouldn’t. They’re very straight. I mean, you know, it’s just like-
LINDA: It’s all about being away from each other, aren’t they?
PAUL: I think it’s-
NEIL: No, I don’t - I don’t think it’s that.
[optional sulpy]Ringo and Michael ask Neil if John has been reached and informed about the day’s session, and Neil tells them that nobody’s picking up the phone at John’s house. Linda restates her opinion that the meeting would have been more successful had the four Beatles been left to discuss matters on their own, and tells the others that she regrets having attended. Sincere or not, this merely serves as a lead-in to her real point, that Yoko should not have attended since she did the lion’s share of the talking.
RINGO: Did you get in touch with John?
NEIL: Um, Mal did. This morning, in fact.
LINDA: That was the answering service.
RINGO: [to Neil] Oh, you guys - I thought you were, later on. 1
NEIL: I couldn’t get him.
RINGO: No?
MICHAEL: Is he join - is he joining us?
RINGO: We don’t know.
NEIL: I suppose [John and Yoko] might, but nobody can expect as much.
RINGO: ‘Cause Mal couldn’t get him either, you know. He may be up now.
NEIL: So - nobody’s spoken to him?
RINGO: No no no. You can only get the machine. So someone should try again.
NEIL: [inaudible] But nobody’s answering it.
LINDA: [to Paul] Yeah, but it’s hard having a meeting, and everybody putting their two cents in and none of you all saying - anything.
PAUL: But that’s the other thing, having the meeting, you know. You came with me, and Heather came, and the animal-
LINDA: Yeah, I was going to say I shouldn’t go, but then…
PAUL: Yeah… [joking] It’s such a temptation going out to Ringo’s for the afternoon.
LINDA: [laughs] Exactly.
RINGO: [bemused] What?
LINDA: Heather could play with Zak.
PAUL: It feels like a family outing. [Ringo laughs] Don’t really just want to go on my own.
LINDA: [sheepish] Yeah, I was going to say, “We really shouldn’t go,” but then I thought - well.
RINGO: Why?
LINDA: Well, it should’ve been-
PAUL: Well, it should have been the four of us, you know.
RINGO: Oh- [to Linda; reasonable] Well, you were out of the way.
PAUL: Oh, yeah, sure.
LINDA: Sure.
RINGO: I mean- [inaudible]
LINDA: Oh yeah, but you know, it’s just like…
PAUL: It’s - it’s still, it’s that thing, you know.
RINGO: Mm.
LINDA: When there’s something serious, and you have other people there talking about it, you get off the track.
PAUL: You know, it really is - it really is like a board meeting going on.
RINGO: [mock-stern; to Linda] If you would’ve just kept quiet, it could’ve all gone well.
LINDA: [playing along] Well, I had to talk every two minutes. [laughs]
PAUL: Ol’ Sir Joberry and his wife…
RINGO: [playing along] Damn Yankee. [laughter]
PAUL: You know, but that’s it. It’s like that. The board meeting with ICLI, and all the government bringing all the wives, [laughs] and mates, and kids, and animals - and everything.
NEIL: But it turns - it turns into- [inaudible]
LINDA: Well, Yoko is doing all the talking.
[optional sulpy]Neil complains that John and Yoko’s actions effectively turned the board meeting into a party, and Paul agrees, but once more sticks up for Yoko, wondering if her presence isn’t simply being used to excuse away the deterioriating relations within the group.
NEIL: But that’s - that’s the point, you see. You know that he’s going to, and you know that Yoko’s going to be sitting there, and so everybody else is like, “Fuck it.” You know it’s not going to be a board meeting, so…
PAUL: Yeah, right.
NEIL: “Let’s make it a party.”
PAUL: Sure, that’s - that, really, that-
LINDA: But she does so much talking for [John], now.
PAUL: But see, now, so what do you do about that? That’s what I was saying about songs, yesterday, you know. I’m - I know that if - to write any more with John, I’ve just gotta, like, figh- [faltering] you know, forget it.
LINDA: But I think that whole-
PAUL: See I think it’s - it’s us, uptight about that. I really do - I think, uh…
LINDA: “The king.”
PAUL: See, it’s like - the trouble with us - like, John said it yesterday - it’s like, anything that comes up on all of our little egos, we try and push out. And anybody - it’s always been that. Anybody who’s come in, like Michael Braun 2 - who was writing that book - came in for a while, within the circle for a while, but then he gets pushed out. ‘Cause, you know, we don’t want him in the inner circle. He’s got to stay on the edges, while the four of us get on with - you know.
1Ringo thought Neil and/or Mal had contacted John on Sunday night, after the band meeting.
2Referring to the America journalist who wrote the first dedicated book about The Beatles, Love Me Do, released in 1964. In John's interview with Rolling Stone's Jann Wenner on December 8th, 1970, he comments on it: “That was a true book. He wrote how we were, which was bastards. You can’t be anything else in a situation with such pressure.”
13.07 build me up, buttercup
LINDA: ‘Cause I have a feeling half the stuff Yoko said yesterday isn’t - I mean, she was talking for John, and I don’t think he really believed any of that, you know.
13.0- dialogue
[optional sulpy]A remarkably candid conversation follows in which the dissatisfaction with Yoko and her effect upon John is finally addressed. Linda, Neil and Paul all see Yoko working her will through John, but don’t wish to confront him about it until they have no doubt as to what’s going on. Paul further criticizes John and Yoko’s belief in a ‘heightened awareness’ whereby people needn’t verbally communicate with each other. He realizes that this leads to a situation where people can’t communicate at all.
PAUL: No, it’s just, it is-
NEIL: I’d just rather not say anything. It’s one of those situations.
PAUL: Yeah. [pause] Well, that’s - that’s the trouble you see, there, ‘cause that’s it. It’s like, with our - heightened awareness, the answer is not to say anything, you know. But it isn’t. ‘Cause I mean, we screw each other up totally if we don’t do that. ‘Cause we’re not ready for your heightened… vows of silence. [laughs; hapless] We’re really not! Like, we don’t know what the fuck each other’s talking about, when that - we all just sort of get-
NEIL: I think it’s just between the four of you, that get it. That’s what I’d pretend.
PAUL: Oh yeah, right, yeah. But you see, that’s it, that’s why John doesn’t say anything. ‘Cause he - you know, he just - there was something the other day, when I said, “Well, what do you think?” And he just stood there and didn’t say anything. And then - and I know exactly why, you know. I mean, I wouldn’t, if… [long pause] Somehow. You know, there’s nothing really much to be said about it. You just - we all just have to do it, and all that, instead of like talking about it. But - but if one of us is talking about it, it’s a drag if the other three aren’t. Because then it sort of throws you off. [inaudible; voice marking tape slate] I mean, we’ve just been talking about it now for a few years, you know. Like this…
MICHAEL: How long has this been around? Like a year?
LINDA: But that’s not it, anyway. It’s the four of them just getting together.
PAUL: [hesitating] But that’s - that’s not far off it, you know. I mean…
LINDA: What?
PAUL: I mean, Yoko’s very much to do with it.
LINDA: Mm.
[optional sulpy]Paul is faced with a dilemma. If he confronts John, he’s sure that John will simply quit The Beatles and devote himself to Yoko [...] but he sees the group disintegrating anyway, both because of the vacuum caused by John’s creative withdrawal, and George’s unwillingness to tolerate John’s behavior. Paul [...] indicates that it wouldn’t take much to push John out of the group, since they’re already tired after having been together for so long. Michael recalls a discussion from the 10th where John clearly expressed his desire to carry on the group (even without George).
PAUL: ‘Cause she’s very much to do with it from John’s angle, that’s the thing, you know. And I - the thing is that I - there’s- Again, like, there’s always only two answers. One is to fight it, and fight her, and try and get The Beatles back to four people without Yoko, and sort of ask her to sit down at the board meetings. Or else, the other thing is to just realize that she’s there, you know. And he’s not gonna sort of - split with her, just for our sakes.
And - but then it’s not even so much of an obstacle, then, as long as we’re not trying to surmount it. And while we’re still trying to get over it, it’s an obstacle. [trying] But it isn’t, really. It’s not that bad, you know. They want to stay together, those two. So it’s alright. Let the young lovers stay together. [pause] But it shouldn’t be - [officious voice] con-operated at these conditions, boy. We’re coming out. It’s like - it feels like we’re striking. That’s what it is. It’s like a strike, ‘cause - work conditions aren’t right, you know. But… it’s not that bad.
MICHAEL: But, he - he knows that, doesn’t he?
PAUL: John knows that, sure. But he’s-
MICHAEL: Does he talk about it at all?
PAUL: No. But he’s - I mean, he’s- See, we’ve done a lot of Beatles now, we’ve had a lot of Beatles, you know, and we’ve got a lot out of Beatles. So that it - I think John’s saying now that honestly, if it came to a push between Yoko and The Beatles, it’s Yoko, you know.
MICHAEL: Who’d stay.
PAUL: Oh, sure.
MICHAEL: But funny enough, the other day, when we were talking, he said that he really did not want not to be a Beatle. He said he really looked forward - not, you know. Meaning he didn’t want that screwed up.
PAUL: Hm. [pause; unconvinced] Yeah, but it’s a difficult one, that, you know.
LINDA: I think in their discussions, though, when as soon as you brought that up, John turned to her and said, “See, I told you.” I think it’s one of those things where he-
PAUL: They do it. They tell each other, you know, when they get back home-
LINDA: Yeah, but I bet he said to her, you know, “When I write, just sort of - go away, when I’m with Paul.” But she said, “Oh, I don’t know…” [trailing off] It’s that kind of thing.
PAUL: [quiet] I don’t know.
LINDA: I don’t know, but that’s what I-
[optional sulpy][...] Paul worries that they’re not being fair to Yoko [...]. But Neil [...] worries about her intruding while John and Paul write. Paul [...] realizes that the problem is not so much with Yoko as John’s reliance upon her, although he admits that he doesn’t like her presence if only because she’s a distraction. He then goes a step further and sticks up for John, claiming that when the two get really serious about something John won’t allow Yoko to interfere [...].
NEIL: Yes, I think a lot of people get to have the impression that whenever John talks these days, it’s like, oh - Yoko’s talking to [for] him.
PAUL: Yeah.
NEIL: Or he shuts up, and that’s it, he doesn’t do it for you. And then that becomes a dream. [inaudible]
PAUL: Sure.
NEIL: Not ever, like, talking to him - like I’m talking to you now. Like now I’m talking to Paul, I’m not talking to Linda.
PAUL: Right.
NEIL: But when you’re talking to John, you always - these days, anyway - tend to think that you’re talking to Yoko more than you’re talking to John. And that’s when it becomes a drag.
PAUL: [furtive] That’s why I say writing a song with him is a bit embarrassing, because I do think it sort of - I mean, I start examining my emotions, with Yoko there… And it’s probably silly of me! It’s probably silly, because like, Yoko’s not what we’re all sort of thinking she is.
NEIL: You see, I wouldn’t mind if she would just… wouldn’t say as much. Otherwise.
PAUL: [weary] Well, that - of course that would be great, you know.
NEIL: [laughs; bleak] Yeah. ‘Cause I just feel that it’s like - it’s you and John that are writing the songs together. You know, I mean, I’m not, I’m not- [inaudible; Linda’s and Ringo’s voices]
PAUL: Yeah.
NEIL: It’s just like, that - she’d start interjecting that you’d… hurt him, and-
PAUL: Yeah, no, she would-
NEIL: But you know, she probably wouldn’t-
PAUL: No, she isn’t-
NEIL: But that’s - you know.
PAUL: Yeah, see, that’s the thing. The only one time we’ve actually done it, she’s agreed. She really is alright. It’s like, it’s the thought of her being there when some of- [faltering] And then you don’t talk to John, so then he doesn’t talk to you, you know. And it’s like, you can screw it up just as much because she’s there, as - as John’s relying on her because she’s there. So that’s the thing. You know, but I mean, like, you’ll notice, if John - if you’re onto a beam with John about something, then he really isn’t, you know, he really won’t let Yoko talk about it. Because he knows when you’re on a beam, and he knows about it, and you’ll - you can talk straighter to him.
But it’s like, we did ‘I Will’. We tried, we were trying to get the last verse to ‘I Will’, and eventually I just ended up doing it, because it - we couldn’t actually do it. [pause; trying] But - I mean, Yoko really tried to stay out of it, [and] just sort of - got on with something, but she just really… you know. They’re onto that thing. They just want to be near to each other. So I just think it’s just silly of me, or of anyone, to try and say to him, “No, you can’t,” you know. It’s like, ‘cause - okay, they’re - they’re going overboard about it, but John always does! And Yoko probably always does. So that’s their scene. You can’t go saying - you know, “Don’t go overboard about this thing. Be sensible about it. Don’t bring it to meetings.” It’s his decision, that. It’s - it’s none of our business, to start interfering in that. Even when it comes into our business, you still can’t really say much, unless - except, “Look, I don’t like it, John.” And then he can say, well, “Screw you,” or, “I like it,” or, “Well, I won’t do it so much,” or blablabla. Like, that’s the only way, you know. To tell John about that.
MICHAEL: Have you done that already?
PAUL: Well, I told him I didn’t like writing songs… with him and Yoko.
[optional sulpy][Paul] still thinks [...] the real problem is with their lack of communication, patronizing each other and [...] not speaking their hearts. [...] Paul touches once more upon his desire not to be overly assertive towards controlling the future of the band, and claims that whatever he has to say is only one man’s opinion. Paul then reveals that the underlying motive behind the “Get Back” sessions was to force the group into the discipline of a 9 to 5 situation, claiming that even if it’s a grind at times, at least they’d be able to reap the rewards of their work.
MICHAEL: Were you writing much more before she came around-?
PAUL: Oh yeah, sure.
MICHAEL: Or had you - cooled it a bit, then? Before her.
RINGO: Before Yoko got there.
PAUL: [restrained] Yeah, cooled it, cooled it. Sure. We’d cooled it because… not playing together. Ever since we didn’t play together-
MICHAEL: Onstage, you mean.
PAUL: Yes. With the band. Because we lived together, and we played together. We were in the same hotel, up at the same time every morning, doing this all day. And this - I mean, this, you know, it doesn’t matter what you do, just as long as you’re this close all day, something grows, you know. In some ways. And when you’re not this close, only, just physically… something goes.
MICHAEL: Right.
PAUL: So then you can come together to record, and stuff, but you still sort of lose the… [hesitating] Actually, musically, you know, we really - we can play better than we’ve ever been able to play, you know. Like, I really think that. I think, like - [laughs; bleak] we’re - we’re alright on that. It’s just that - being together thing, you know. I mean, like I said yesterday, underestimating each other’s work, and uh, talking down to each other a bit...
MICHAEL: And playing safe with each other a bit-
PAUL: Yeah, playing it safe, and nice, and sort of steady... with time, you know. It’s all of that, you know. But see, the thing I ever thought about that, was - which was again difficult, because, like Yoko was saying yesterday, “It’s my opinion, this is my opinion about how The Beatles should be.”
MICHAEL: [laughs] Yeah.
PAUL: You know, which is all I can offer.
NEIL: What would you say that would be?
PAUL: It’s just - I thought that we should just work, a lot, you know. Really, really get into that sort of, into the slog, you know. Really just-I mean, a job, more - almost nine to five, nine to five...
MICHAEL: ‘Cause I know when I talked to John-
PAUL And then weekends off, so that there really are weekends, then back on the slog, and, you know, cursing it-
MICHAEL: That’s - that’s what he was saying, though-
PAUL: The drags, the ups, and the downs, but the achievements, and the-
MICHAEL: That work makes you work. ‘Cause John was saying that the fact that you do work, inspires you. That’s what he was saying. I mean, like-
LINDA: I remember when they were doing the album, George was saying that it’s so great to be working again.
MICHAEL: Working, because you don’t get inspired sitting at home and reading the paper. You’ve actually got to work and get up and talk a bit.
[optional sulpy]Neil returns to the subject of John and Yoko and mentions how jarring it is to have Yoko constantly present [...]. Paul simply reiterates his feeling that it’s not appropriate for him to confront John and Yoko about their behavior, likening them to two children who are being naughty and would only act worse if chastised. Paul continues to explain his understanding of John’s psychology and implies the difficulty of dealing with someone who, for example, feels that no justification is needed for the nude “Two Virgins” sleeve beyond the fact that they felt like doing it.
NEIL: [to Paul; quiet] See I find, I find that- [inaudible; drowned out by Michael’s, Linda’s, and Ringo’s voices] That’s what he told me, and what George was saying, that he’d had enough of nothing to do, you know. But it’s like on the first day, and getting to work on ‘Yer Blues’-
PAUL: Yes, it was great.
NEIL: Which was just fantastic, you know. And- [inaudible; drowned out by Michael’s, Linda’s, and Ringo’s voices] I just sat over here, close to all of it, and just looked over there, and it’s like I could see the work start to become... less and less, less and less. And the reason why we were working less and less is because there were five people sitting over there. [pause] You know what I mean? And the thing is that while I can understand that, Yoko coming in and doing all that, well-
PAUL: Well, now that’s, you see- [sighs]
NEIL: I don’t see why she has to sit on your amp. See, it’s that as well, you see.
PAUL: That’s the thing. You know, I don’t, I don’t - I really agree with that, you know. I’m straight, I’m from Allerton too. And I don’t see why she has to sit on it, you know. And if, and if we were in a Northern band, you know, I’d put my foot down on that. But, you know, we’ve grown out of all that, and - and you can’t go - you know, we really can’t go to blare at John, [officious tone] “Look, John, the union thinks that you can’t have this-”
NEIL: I just feel as though she’d - realize it a bit, though.
PAUL: Yeah, she does. Sure, she does, you know. But it’s up to them, it really is. I agree, it’s difficult, that. But I really do think that’s their decision. You know, I think - it’s like, it’s like with kids, you know, if a kid’s doing that, if a kid is doing a naughty thing, really - or something you think is naughty - you’ve really got to leave them to do it. ‘Cause you tell them not to, and you know, you’ve screwed it. ‘Cause then they think... “I would.” You know? ‘Cause I mean, it’s just like John’s album cover 1, you know. All of us thought, well, why did he do it? But it ended up-the answer being, “Well, why not?” And that’s the trouble, you know.
LINDA: ‘Cause you never know. [laughs] You know, it’s, “There goes Lennon.”
NEIL: [laughs] And you’ve been going through all of it like that, all your life.
PAUL: Yeah...
LINDA: But it’s-
NEIL: But there’s still going to be that, you know - that compromise, along the line somewhere, you know.
LINDA: Yeah.
PAUL: Well, that’s what I’m trying to do, with the John and Yoko thing, you know. Not - not sort of just, uh-
LINDA: But it takes two to compromise.
MICHAEL: Mm.
PAUL: Well I think - you see - well, yeah, okay, so we’ll go on talking like this forever, but I think - for them to be able to compromise, I’m going to have to be able to compromise. First. Then they’ll be able to. Or else they have to be able to compromise first, and that. But it’s - it’s silly, neither of us compromising.
MICHAEL: Yeah, but, funny thing is if-
PAUL: You see, if it’s at least one stage where after I can start to compromise, then maybe they can feel as though they’ll bend a little for me, then.
MICHAEL: Yeah, but if her being around so much has caused a lot of the trouble, then you’re compromising already. I mean, you’ve made a lot of your compromise. [pause] You know what I mean?
PAUL: What, by - yeah. By-
MICHAEL: By - by that you-
PAUL: Right, yeah.
MICHAEL: On the excesses.
PAUL: I think it’s because we’ve thought that the only alternative would be - for John just to say, “Okay, well, see you then.” And we’ve not wanted that to happen. [pause] It’s just - I don’t think- We hustle each other like mad, you know. We probably do need, really, a sort of a central daddy figure, to say, you know, “Nine o’clock. None of the girls.” [general laughter] [officious voice] “Leave the girls at home, lads.” You know. [laughs] Then we’re all, “Alright.” [pause] I don’t know. We might, though. You never know.
LINDA: But work is work, you know.
NEIL: [quiet] If it's John, in this case, it probably wouldn’t work.
LINDA: What did you say?
RINGO: He said it-
NEIL: It wouldn’t work, in this case. Probably. [long pause]
PAUL: It’s going to be such an incredible sort of comical thing, like in fifty years’ time, you know. “They broke up because Yoko sat on an amp.” [general laughter] Just something like- [laughs] “What?” “You see, John just kept bringing his girl along...” “What?” [pause] It’s not like there’s any sort of earth-splitting rows, or-
RINGO: We bashed up our heads. [general laughter]
PAUL: There’s nothing wrong, really. It’s just sort of-
MICHAEL: But it is - it’s like Linda was saying, it is terribly dispiriting if it doesn’t get together. It really is.
LINDA: Just music-wise.
MICHAEL: Yeah. I mean, just for the-
PAUL: That’s the thing, you know. The lack of the music-
MICHAEL: Just to turn on the radio-
PAUL: Yeah. The lack of-
LINDA: I mean, god, it’s an event when a Beatles album comes - or even a single. I mean, it’s just an event.
RINGO: [bleak] Oh, I don’t know.
LINDA: [laughs] It is, though! You know, it’s-
RINGO: But I don’t, really. That’s what you are saying.
LINDA: It’s like people listen more to that than when Johnson gives a speech, you know. I mean, people listen.
RINGO: Hmm.
PAUL: I was talking to Neil last night about an idea I thought for - for a TV show, but he sort of really put the - finished the idea off, which is-
NEIL: [laughs] Really.
PAUL: [earnest] Made it - no, made it sensational.
LINDA: Or. [laughs]
PAUL: That while we were rehearsing the show ourselves, we should have alongside us, someone sort of near, so that we’re getting the same kind of buzz. But rea- completely independent. We should get like, uh - say, the editor of The Daily Mirror.
MICHAEL: Mmhmm.
PAUL: You’d have to get someone as good as him, a real hard news nut, rehearsing a team of really hard, incredible news men, with films, writing... so on so on so on. So that, on the night of the show, in between all our songs, is news, but the fastest, and the hottest - from every corner of the earth, dadadadada, “We’ve just heard dadadada there’s been an earthquake”, and so on and so on, and drrrrr film, and just, uh, incredible news in between each thing. So it’s like a red hot news program, you know, and, um, at the end, finally, the final bulletin is, “The Beatles have broken up.” [long pause]
MICHAEL: [uncertain] Nice.
LINDA: Nice, but you can lose the end. [laughs]
PAUL: [laughs; bleak] Nice, but not nice!
MICHAEL: Yeah, that’s...
PAUL: [American accent] Thanks, but no thanks. [pause] But I mean, you know, it would be an incredible show, that, ‘cause that news thing-
RINGO: Yeah.
MICHAEL: It should be live, that show.
PAUL: With our music, ‘cause then we wouldn’t need-
RINGO: That’s another one that must Telstar all over the world.
MICHAEL: It should be live, yeah.
PAUL: Yeah, that was the other thing, and then that got into- Then and there, I Come Dancing link up, where we just have [laughs] competition, you know, with all our songs. “This is a slow fox trot.”
LINDA: [laughs] You know, that program-
MICHAEL: [laughs] Yes.
PAUL: “This is Eugene Quill.” And they all sort of get prizes for it.
MICHAEL: But do you think if you put any, um-
PAUL: That live link up thing, I think, is great.
MICHAEL: It’s very exciting. I love the idea of that satellite show.
LINDA: Mm, it’s great.
PAUL: You see, if you did have people just sort of - that live link up, you don’t have to have anyone on the end of the line - the other end. And, you know, it doesn’t have to be anyone special. It could be anyone who’s in the studio.
...
MICHAEL: But do you think if you put any, uh, pressure on him, that he’d - go your way a bit more?
PAUL: [guarded] Who’s this?
MICHAEL: John.
PAUL: I don’t know. [long pause] But I don’t know, you know, I can’t… [quiet] I’d rather do it on my own.
MICHAEL: Hm. [awkward] Hm. [silence; fidgeting]
PAUL: [tired] Do you want to try and ring John? [long pause]
NEIL: Mal or I can do it.
PAUL: Try him.
LINDA: The thing is, the four of you. The four of them just talking.
MICHAEL: Did you - did you not talk about it much, last night?
LINDA: Well, there was just too many…
NEIL: People.
LINDA: Mm.
PAUL: John didn’t talk. You see, Yoko talked… for John.
MICHAEL: Did George stay?
PAUL: Oh, well, then - in the middle of all that, actually-
LINDA: Hopefully. 2
PAUL: George went. You know, “See ya.”
LINDA: But he was waiting for it to stop, you know. That’s why he was stepping out. But when he saw it wasn’t… The thing is like - a meeting without Yoko, just once, and she’d-
NEIL: I don’t think we’ll ever get that. [long pause]
PAUL: You see, that’s it, you know.
NEIL: That is.
PAUL: That is a big sort of crunch, that.
NEIL: You’d have to - you’d have to say it to John, then. And then it’s going to be like, “Well, I’m not doing it,” or, “I am doing it,” and whichever way it goes - but at least whenever John decides what he wants with that, that will be that.
MICHAEL: You’ve got to make it some way again, face-wise. If he can appear without her. You’ve almost got to, er, drug up her tea or something, and put her away for a minute or two. [long pause; general scoffing] It’s just that it’s so hard when there’s face involved. You know? ‘Cause while you’re Anglos - a yellow pair, though... [laughs; ignored]
LINDA: Yeah, I think he’d do it, but I don’t think she’d do it.
MICHAEL: Hmm. [long pause]
PAUL: See, but their point is, they’re - they’re trying to be as near together as they can.
MICHAEL: For their own truth, and everything... jazz.
PAUL: Yeah, for everything like - so that, if she sits over here, then it’s just slightly less good than if she’s sitting that near, very near to him. And if she’s touching him, then that’s even better, you know. And it’s like that. So that, okay, she’s prepared to sit here, but that’s - then, there’s the beginning of the rock down. Then she’ll stay at home the next day, while he comes, you know. And they see it like that. They see it, that the more that they can stay together… And it’s right, in a way. I - you know. If that’s how you see it, then you can see that it would be a drag for that to - for people to start saying, “Well, come to the meeting without her,” you know, “I’d rather talk without her,” ‘cause it starts separating you again, from her. Which is like, see, it’s very ideological. Which is, you know, it’s probably… how it should be.
MICHAEL: I’m all for that. I mean, if that’s what they want to do. But then if it screws everything up for everybody else, then they’ve got to think about it.
PAUL: [reserved] Well. I don’t know, you know. You see, they - they’d say that the other way, that-
MICHAEL: That you’d have to adjust to them.
PAUL: That the other way is true, yeah. You know, that if they do what we want to do, then it might screw it up for them, you know. [quiet] And they don’t want to be screwed up.
NEIL: Mal’s tried to ring him.
PAUL: Yeah.
NEIL: But his phone is engaged.
PAUL: How can it be engaged?
NEIL: It could mean they’ve had their phone off.
RINGO: Send him a telegram.
LINDA: Tell him he’s on pins and needles, wondering what’s happened to him. [Paul sighs]
[wip]
1Referring to the media-baiting cover of John and Yoko's 1968 album, Two Virgins, featuring John and Yoko in a state of full-frontal undress.
2Linda thought Michael was asking if George, who quit the band on January 10th, had decided over the course of the meeting to stay in The Beatles.
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