In Search Of
Want to help get Part Two of Beautiful Possibility into the world faster?
I’m looking for the original, primary sources for these quotes — meaning not quoted/referenced by a second source, but the original interview in which they were said. If anyone has them, I’d be deeply grateful if you’d email them to Robyn.
I need to find the primary source for the two anecdotes below, both recounted in Chris Sandford’s biography of Paul.
“Time passed. Paul locked the door of his home studio in Sussex and played (Just Like) Starting Over, the first single from Double Fantasy. Top volume. For days. Christmas came, with its inevitable reruns of Beatles films and other tributes. A fan brandishing a knife tried to break into the McCartneys' estate. Paul put up more barbed wire and floodlights. A month later, in February 1981, he went back to work.” (McCartney, Christopher Sandford, Century Books, 2006)
and also
"Around midnight, a Cinderella moment in the empty studio when the gear was being stowed, Paul turned to Linda and one or two friends and told them that it reminded him of the famously trippy session for “All You Need Is Love”. ‘It was that same vibe. I just looked around and there were all these flowers and happy faces smiling up at me.’ Another sip or two, and Paul began murmuring huskily, “John…. John…..” McCartney, Chris Sandford, Century Books, 2006.
looking for the primary source of Chris Salewicz’s mention in his bio of Paul: “In later years John would admit that Paul had been the first love of his life, and Yoko the second.” (I’m guessing this is something John said to Harry Nilsson)
There are supposedly photos taken by Linda of John and Paul in the limo on the way to the airport in 1968/NYC, but every photo of them in a limo on that trip that we've found are not from the airport trip. We have Linda's photos in the airport, but none of the back of the limo. One lead I had suggested that he saw a photo of that limo ride in the exhibition catalog for one of Linda's shows, but so far, no dice on that.
The quote in which John says that he’s lucky because Cynthia is a goddess and Paul is a god.
Somewhere on the interwebs is Dot Rhone’s lengthy first-person account of her relationship with Paul. It’s often quoted, but I’m looking for the full account in her own words. I’ve read it somewhere, but now neither I nor Robyn can find it.
John once said something like (not verbatim): I write the way I write because of Paul, and he writes the way he writes because of me.Found! Thank you to Sofia!
John re: “In My Life” (or “If I Fell”) that includes something like "written for someone I was in love with at the time." (not the version in Sheff)
John: Paul and I know each other on a lot of levels very few people know about. (not the reference in the Sheff interview)
Brian Epstein: I have the mentality of a teenage girl. (this one is ubiquitous, yet somehow I’ve lost it...)
George Martin: “It was like a tug of war. Imagine two people pulling on a rope smiling at each other and pulling all the time with all their might. The tension between the two of them made for the bond.” This is also ubiquitous, but it’s always quoted from someone who’s quoting it from someone.
There's a quote by Denny Laine about how everyone in the music industry knew that Wings was Paul's backup band, it was only the public that thought it was a "band" per se.Found! Thank you again to Sofia.
Cynthia Lennon: “John never looked at anyone the way he looked at Paul.” It’s tempting to say this quote is apocryphal, but the absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence. Just like “Paul was the first love of my life,” I think it’s out there. Somewhere.
Yoko Ono: “I thought John was cheating on me with Paul” or “I was always worried that John was cheating on me with Paul.” (This is different from her “there’s something definitively very strong between John and Paul in her audio diary.)
There’s a quote in which Paul says he gave Linda songwriting credit early on because she was being helpful and he thought that was worth a credit.
Any references at all, no matter how trivial, to any combination of the four of them being in contact — or more specifically, together in person — during the '70s (and especially John and Paul) I suspect the four of them — and especially John and Paul — were together in person a lot more than reported in the ‘70s and I’m looking to see if the research supports that suspicion.