One of the Beautiful People
- Thread starter Asharella
- Start date
We're Together
OTL's "Here Comes The Sun" doesn't exist in TTL
But it's the closest thing in OTL to TTL's "We're Together"
But it's the closest thing in OTL to TTL's "We're Together"
George and Pattie had a wild time touring with Joe Cocker and the Grease Band across North America in early 1969. While George had been the 'little junior partner' in the Beatles, to the musicians he was with now he was a god. Delaney & Bonnie were the opening act for Joe and the connection between them and George was magic. Soon George was not only playing in the back out of the spotlight with the Grease Band but also with Delaney & Bonnie (Bramlett). He especially found a rapport with Leon Russel who was playing keyboards for Delaney & Bonnie and basically just running things. But also he got to know several other musicians in their band that he would borrow in the future: Carle Radle on bass, Jim Keltner on drums, Bobby Whitlock also on keyboards, Jim Price on brass, and Bobby Keys on saxophone.
At the end of March the two acts were in Canada. On the 25th in Winnipeg, Manitoba as the limo drove George and Pattie to the hotel after a show, the driver, who knew that Dutch Egmond, was really George, said, "Want me to turn up this song by John Lennon?"
"Sensitive Guy" hardly got any radio play in the US. But in Canada it did better. It didn't get to #1 like in Australia, but it reached #11 and got lots of radio play.
Before George could respond with a no, Pattie said, "Yes. Pipe it back here."
George was shocked. He turned to Pattie, "Is he really saying what I think he's saying?"
She just smiled.
George kept listening and after the final line he said, "Paul was right. He was right. He couldn't call me. So he writes a song. The closest thing to him apologizing."
In the late hours of the night after a show, George had been writing more songs, inspired by his new experiences and the joys of playing with different musicians than the Beatles. One thing he'd been fiddling with was putting a capo on the 7th fret of his 12 string acoustic and just jamming on D, G, and A, but throwing in an E7, F, and C too. (Due to the capo actually A, D, E, and throwing in a B7, C, and G.)
The next day was a long but leisurely ride of 6 hours across the prairie to Regina, Saskatchewan. They weren't scheduled for a show that night after such a long ride, but would do it on Friday, and then on Saturday take a much shorter trip up to Saskatoon. So George went out and sat by the pool in the late evening. It was already Daylight Savings and he was pretty far north, so there was daylight for a while after dinner. But it was still pretty cold, so no one was swimming. He was alone. He sat with his guitar, the capo on, and composed lyrics about old friends straying apart but coming back together over the years. The key line became the name of the song: "We're Together."
The last shows of the North American tour were in Vancouver, British Columbia on Friday, April 4th, and then Saturday, April 5th in Seattle, Washington. George made arrangements for studio time starting on Monday and recruited the Grease Band to play with him. He asked Leon to produce. He brought in Price and Keys too. Leon did a lot of the arrangement for George and sometimes played too.
George didn't have enough material for a full album. But he did have six songs, including "We're Together," for one side. He decided to fill the second side with instrumental jams. The first long jam of 11 minutes was built on two chords, E and A, and was called "Apple Jam." The other jam was only 8 minutes and was built on a minor blues progression in Bm. It was called "Beautiful Union." The studio they were working in was near the Seattle body of water, Lake Union.
The album version of "We're Together" was long at 6 minutes with extended solos by the different musicians. Later Leon and George would edit it down to a 3 minute version for a single.
We're Together
Side One
- We're Together
- Watch Out, Take Care
- Big Star
- What I Feel
- The Love You Laid Out
- Let It Down
- Apple Jam
- Beautiful Union
The B-side for the shorter version of "We're Together" was a song that George had written the previous Thanksgiving while he and Pattie visited with Bob Dylan. The two men collaborated to help Dylan's writer block and the results was "Let Me Play It," credited to Harrison-Dylan. George had recorded it then with Dylan.
After the recording was done, George and Pattie vacationed in Hawaii. "I think I want to live here," he said. But then wasn't the time. Delaney & Bonnie called and wanted him to tour with them in the UK. He agreed. On April 17th, while they were on the beach in Maui, the single of "We're Together" was released at the same time as the We're Together album was. Both were critically acclaimed. The single reached #5 in the US and Canada, #7 in the UK, #2 in Australia, which seemed to love George's music, and #1 in John Lennon's heart. He was in a monastery in Kentucky working with a Trappist monk.On Friday, May 2, George and Pattie flew from Maui to London. They had a few days before the Delaney & Bonnie tour would begin on Thursday, May 8. On Saturday, George went to visit John at his flat. Yoko welcomed him in. While Julian, who was visiting, and Kyoko watched cartoons on television, Yoko told George what had happened and how John was now in Kentucky. He'd picked up a book in a used book store shortly after the suicide attempt and had contacted the monk who wrote it.
Yoko hadn't used since before the attempt and neither had John. But he struggled and he hoped this monk might help him.
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The Magic Christian
Ringo had his first non-Beatle starring role in the film The Magic Christian where he was a homeless hippie adopted by rich Peter Sellers to help him show the emptiness of the greedy, vain, capitalist society while using up his fortune in a series of hilarious spoofs. It was released in the UK in December of 1969 and the following February in the US. But it was filmed in the late winter and early spring of 1969. By then Ringo had serious acting skills, but the producers of this film wanted him to play a character like his previously established persona in Beatles films, which he did. (OOC: although in TTL his acting is much better than in OTL. /OOC)
The film also launched the career of Thunderclap Newman, a band formed by Pete Townsend of the Who. When they recorded their song, "Something in the Air" in January, Jimmy McColloch joined the members of the new band. He was unable, though, to tour with them later when it became a hit, as he was by then a full time member of the Anfield Band. So Mick Ronson was recruited instead.
The other big song to come out of the film was the Iveys' hit, "Come and Get It," which actually was a song written by Paul McCartney. He made a full demo of the song before he gave it to the Iveys and insisted they play it exactly as he had made it, with him producing. By the time it was released they'd changed their name to Badfinger and replaced Ron Giffiths with Joey Molland.
The film was released at the very end of December and Ringo was nominated for an Academy Aware for best supporting actor. (Jack Nicholson won for his role in Easy Rider.)
Ringo was now a serious actor.
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Believe Me
The film Anfield was a phenomenon. The cinemas showing it were sold out for each showing in most cities across the world for the first two weeks. Some cinemas in North America were torn because the crowds kept coming but they were getting pressure to show other films from their supplies. (This was back before multi-screen theaters were common.) They came up with a solution. They'd show the regular scheduled film at normal hours then do midnight shows of Anfield.It seemed a lot of the same people were going to see it over and over.
Things really changed on the midnight show of Saturday, June 28th in Sunapee, New Hampshire. A teenage band from Massachusettes known as the Jam Band had played a High School dance there and afterwards the guitarist, Anthony Perry, and bassist, Tom Hamilton, smuggled in their equipment into the theater with help from a teenage usher who'd been at the dance but worked the midnight show. They set up their amps behind the screen and had long cords on their instruments and for the mic on its stand. During the part of the film that was interviewing crowd members at Anfield before the show, which was right before Paul and the band performing "Get Back" they went out on stage and when the song started they played along. They figured this stunt would drawn attention and help the get gigs.
What they didn't expect was that a kid from the Bronx in the audience was visiting and as Perry began singing along he jumped out of his seat, ran to the stage, up the stairs, and just took the mic away and began singing instead. Perry was upset until her heard Steven Tallarico's voice. This was how the future members of Aerosmith met.
The kids did get publicity in the local area. But the entire world heard about the stunt, even though the actual persons who did it weren't discussed much.
Steven Tallarico AKA Steven Tyler
By Thursday, July 3, the day Jackie McCartney was born, most midnight showings had amateurs on stage playing along. Then people in the audiences began yelling out some of the lines that audience members at the concert had said. The first line repeated was by a young Liverpool girl named Tanya Smith who'd said in an interview after the concert but that was shown at the beginning of the film, "It was a dream, a dream. A dream. I still can't believe it."
In one point in the film the scene shows the crowd holding up lighters. Soon the audience members would hold up lighters at the same point. Even people who didn't smoke would bring lighters.
When asked about this, Paul said, "I'm glad they're having fun."
From that moment on the audiences began yelling "WE'RE HAVING FUN" when in the film Paul asked the audience at Anfield how they were doing.
Then when the scene was shown that Paul said John was a sensitive guy the audience would sing out John's line "I'm a sensitive guy", making it so they couldn't hear the next line in the film.
It was reported that a lot of midnight showings reeked of marijuana smoke.
Paul and the Anfield Band ended their UK tour in late April and had moved on to Europe. That ended in early June with the last show on Saturday the 7th in Stockholm. Paul and Maggie were back in London for the premiere of the film. They attended it with George and Pattie, Ringo and Maureen, Yoko, and the members of the Anfield Band. John was still in Kentucky, but George and Pattie were only in Ireland with Delaney & Bonnie and flew to London for the premiere. The June 11th show in Dublin was missing 'Dutch Egmond.' (George didn't wear a hat or sunglasses to the premiere.)
Between the premiere and the birth of Jackie, Paul focused on moving the family to the farm in Scotland he'd bought back in 1966*. It was near Campbell, Scotland and had 183 acres, but the farm house was in shambles. Once he'd married Maggie he'd invested in restoring the farmhouse, which was ready by the time they'd ended the 1969 tour.
The flat they had in London was kept too. This made it easy for the family to be in London when needed. Once Maggie was recovered from the birth up in Scotland, they took baby Jackie and returned to London on Tuesday the 15th, so Paul could record more music. On Wednesday he and the Anfield Band went into the studio and recorded eight more songs. This time Paul asked George Martin to produce, which he was happy to do, having completed Cloudsplitter's first album in March. (That was released on March 21, the day before they became the opening act for Paul's tour.) Of course George Martin, now a manager as well as producer, had been on the tour to shepherd his band. That meant interaction between him and Paul. They talked things out about what had happened and Paul admitted he wanted to work with others, but he had never intended to not work with him.
The eight new songs were added to the six recorded in January, including the two on the single, to make an album of 14 tracks. As a solo artist Paul decided the practice of not including singles on an album was just not workable anymore.
Believe Me
Side One
- Get Back
- Deep Inside
- Why Why Why
- Believe Me
- Back Home
- Be With You
- Mexico City
- Words of Wisdom
- Break Down
- Couldn't Anybody See
- Lullaby
- A Long Time
- Love You
- Lead Me To You
Even though nearly half of the material on Believe Me had been in Anfield and the live album released, their was a strong desire for the higher quality studio production. When it was released on Friday, August 15, the McCartneys and the Anfield Band were in North America, ready to kick off their North American tour with their first scheduled performance on Saturday, the 16th.
*It happened in OTL too since it was before the POD. In OTL it also sat empty until after Paul's marriage.
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The Birds of Appetite
For years he'd stayed removed from the world in the Trappist monastery in Kentucky, in fact he'd even chosen an eremitical life within the monastery, living in isolation in a hermitage instead of community. But in his writings and correspondence he traveled the world and engaged in deep ecumenical conversations with mystics of other faith traditions including the Zen Buddhist David Suzuki and the Dali Lama. But finally in 1968 his new Abbott gave him permission to physically travel the world to visit those he'd only known through letters.
On December 10th he was in a Red Cross retreat center near Bangkok, Thailand where he'd spoken at a monastic conference. It was a hot day and very humid, so he was in his quarters in nothing but a pair of shorts, a hitachi fan going to cool him off. Three American men in black suits, black hats, white starched shirts, black ties, and very dark sunglasses came in the quarters. One grabbed him, another smashed him across the back of the head with the handle of his black automatic pistol. The third grabbed the fan, unplugged it, and then twisted the chord.
Thomas Merton, world famous writer and monk, a man of peace and non-violence who opposed the Vietnam War and influenced millions, was dropped on the floor. The fan was laid on his chest. Then it was plugged in and it short circuited. The three men left.
The world was lucky that day. If he'd been left alone for hours as he'd asked, he would have been found dead. But little things make little changes that have enormous consequences. A butterfly flaps its wings in the Amazon and a storm blows across the plains of North America. Here the butterfly wing flap was the Beatles ceasing to be the Beatles over a year earlier. The storm was another monk deciding to ignore Merton's request and go to speak with him and find him in time to save his life.
Merton knew to not tell anyone about the three mysterious men who attempted to kill him. He suspected who they were and why they'd tried to silence him permanently. One by one the voices against War were being silenced. But no one would believe him and he'd be in more danger.
Merton returned to Kentucky as quickly as possible. From his hermitage in the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani he returned to his meditations, prayers, and writing. But he felt he needed a new way to reach the world with his message of peace and non-violence, but now with an added urgency of action. He couldn't be a man of action. He had two reasons to be in retreat. He needed the safety of the protection of the monastery and there was his calling as a Trappist monk.
Thomas Merton was 54 that day that John Lennon picked up his book, "Zen and the Birds of Appetite" in a used book store in London. Merton had lost his mother as a child. His father was absent and he was raised by relatives. He had a desire to be a writer and found himself enmeshed in the artistic community of his time while being educated in France, England, and then Columbia University in New York. He'd been an agnostic until during a trip before college to Rome he found a delight in old churches for their architecture and art. That began an interest in Catholicism that grew and grew, when he discovered medieval contemplative meditation, but never came to fruition, until while a graduate student at Columbia he and a friend met a visiting Hindu monk, Mahanambrata Brahmachari, and asked for spiritual guidance. Instead of trying to convert Merton and his friend, the monk encouraged them to seek answers in their own faith.
As an agnostic child Merton had said that God could be found in all faiths, but he said it then as a way to dismiss religion. Now he embraced this truth, that the experience of God, was shared by all faiths even though they didn't share the same opinions about God. Merton took Bramachari's advice to heart and turned his reading to more medieval Catholic mystics. Soon he became Catholic, then a novice at Gethsemani, then a monk, and finally a priest.
He already was a published author of poetry when he entered the monastery. He thought he might have to give up his writing for his vocation, but his Abbott told him the opposite. By the late 1960s he'd written many books and was famous among the more liberal Catholics who embraced the Deep Ecumenicism of Vatican II, Liberation Theology, Peace, and Non-Violence.
All through his life Merton felt a great sense of loneliness and emptiness. With courage he shared that in his writings, especially as he found sustenance in that in Zen. Merton distinguished between Zen Buddhism, a religion, and Zen, a practice that could work in any faith or world view and was similar to the mystic spirituality of the West that had been rejected in the modern world.
In his book "Zen and the Birds of Appetite" Merton described how Zen was a way, a path, to deal with the desires we feel that lead us to pain.
John Lennon read the book in the store because of the name. He was surprised when he found it was written by a Catholic monk. He'd never heard of Merton, most folk hadn't. But as John read about how desire leads to pain and that Zen was not a solution but a way, a journey, that can lead us through it, he found himself crying. His desire he couldn't control was addiction to Heroin. It put him in pain. He now knew he needed help.
He bought the book. The next day he called Peter Brown and asked him to find him more of Merton's writings. He read his biography, The Seven Storey Mountain. John couldn't believe it. This Trappist monk's life was like his, losing his mother as a child, his father absent, raised by relatives, drawn to art, a writer, a poet, a wild youth, an avowed agnostic, and then drawn to the East.
Maybe he could help him.
When the Abbott got the call from London he knew who John Lennon was, who didn't? Brother Thomas always had fan mail, but this famous person wanted more than to write. He wanted to meet the monk. He told Lennon that he'd have to pray and discuss this with Merton.
Merton knew this was right. He couldn't go into the world. John Lennon was struggling, in pain, like him, looking for answers. He could help him and through him, work for peace, understanding, love, and helping the world get together to try and love one another.
OOC: The Jesus Movement was spreading in the late 60s. Most of it would end up as a kind of conservative fundamentalism, but then that it would do that wasn't clear and it was similar to leftist, love oriented Hippiedom and the mystical tradition of the East and contemplatives like Merton.
The Youngbloods' "Get Together" was released in 1967 pre-POD but went no where. It was a cover of a song that first was recorded by the Kingston Trio in 1964. But in June of 1969 in OTL and in TTL the Youngbloods' version was released and re-entered the charts after it was used in ads by The National Council of Christians and Jews. It went to the top 5.
The video shows Woodstock. The Youngbloods did not perform at Woodstock. But the theme of the song is a perfect mix of the values of the Hippie nation that culminated in Woodstock and the thinking of Merton and the early Jesus Movement that hadn't left its Hippie and Rock roots.
Most of the above about Merton is true in OTL, all up until the attempted assassination in TTL. In OTL Merton actually died then and many believe he was killed by the CIA- I didn't make that up. I just assumed it was true.
This is not my John Lennon update. This is an extra to ready us for the next update that will be my John Lennon update.
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You Know It Ain't Easy
This OTL song is similar to TTL "You Know It Ain't Easy,"
But the theme and story are not the same.
But the theme and story are not the same.
"The problem, John, is you're trying to get rid of you thoughts. Get rid of your desires. But that's not what Zen is. When you keep doing that you will keep failing, all of us will. Then we struggle and we fail and we are defeated. Don't get rid of them. Just don't listen to them, don't give them power. Imagine you're sitting inside a circle and your thoughts, a myriad of thoughts and desires, are sitting around you in chairs constantly talking and going on about this and that. They don't even listen to each other. They are the circle around you, but they aren't you."
"Father, I've got a cacophony of thoughts like that when I try to meditate. I've never been able to empty myself and lose myself."
"John, we don't want to lose our self like that. We want to let go of our false self and live in our true self."
"What is my true self?"
"Oh, John. You were the one who told the world." Merton hadn't really paid attention to the music of the Beatles. When he did pay attention to music outside the beautiful chants of the monastery, it had been Jazz. He'd love Jazz since his youth. But when plans were made for John to visit he had listened and he had been impressed. He'd heard through the pop music and the boy meets girl, boy loses girl themes and then the silliness and surreal lyrics to hear two things. First he'd heard how depressed John was, a depressed searcher still looking. Then he'd heard him come close to the answer of love, hope, and peace. "You're true self is the self that loves and is loved."
"You know it ain't easy, Father."
"It never is, John. Not for Christ, not for any of the great spiritual ones. But love is the answer. Since you aren't a believer like me, I won't ask you to focus and fill yourself with a word that points to God. So I want you to focus and fill yourself with the word Love, just like in your song. It doesn't matter to me you don't believe in God, I believe God is Love and you believe in Love. I think we believe in the same thing, we just understand it differently, or better we don't understand it in different ways of not understanding. But we experience, or we can, the same thing. Love. Universal love. Or as you said, 'Limitless Undying Love.'"
There were many such conversations between John and Father Merton like that over the eleven weeks he was visiting him at Gethsemani from the day he arrived on Sunday, March 30, to the day he left on Friday, June 13. John just called Merton "Father" and the man became a father figure to him. John had felt that Merton would help him with the Zen of spirituality to heal and overcome his struggles and not try to impose his religion on him, just as Bramachari hadn't tried to impose his Hinduism on Merton. John was right on that. But he didn't realize that Merton would encourage John to look into what he really did believe and challenge him to think beyond the ideas of religion he believed were what made it up.
John was an agnostic. But he hadn't been raised that way. He was raised inside the Church of England and was involved as a child and youth at St. Peter's Church in Woolton in Liverpool. He'd sang in the choir and been part of the youth group. It was actually St. Peter's events that let his band the Quarrymen have their first gigs and it was at one of them at the church that John had met Paul. Two things had led him to decide it was all rubbish. First it seemed to him that people had all these views about who God was and heaven and hell and how could anyone know anything like that? It was like somebody had made up a bunch of nonsense to control people and then everyone just believed it because someone told them to. Second it seemed a way to keep people from living in the here and now, but having all this fear of going to hell controlling them.
All the Beatles had been agnostic and had let John explain that to the world in the early days. Then George had become enchanted with all things India, first the music, then the spiritual practices, then actually becoming a Hindu. John had seen through the Maharishi that he was a con man and that had led to the fight with George. But another thing had bothered John about the whole India trip (in both senses of the word.) The Maharishi said it was just a spiritual practice, but then he worked to make them Hindus. It worked with George. It didn't work with him or his other former band mates.
"Not what you think others want you to believe, or wanted you to. Not what you think the religion teaches. Not what it is you don't believe. What do you actually believe?"
"You surprise me, Father. The Church always for me was telling me I had to believe this and I had to believe that and when I couldn't I said, it's all a crock of shite, if you excuse the language."
Merton laughed. "Not all of the Church has been that way."
That perked John's interest. He'd asked Merton what he was talking about. Merton just smiled and said, "I have something I want you to consider reading." He got up and walked across the hermitage to his book shelf. They'd been sitting cross legged on the floor. As he pulled a thin book from the shelf he said, "Of course if you don't want to keep reading, that's fine. Just give it a chance." He handed John the book titled "The Cloud of Unknowing."
John ended up doing another all night reading jag. This book, written in the Middle Ages, wasn't as easy a read as Merton's modern works, but the ideas in it intrigued John no end. Basically it said that trying to figure out God, trying to explain God, is actually moving away from God. The way to connect with God is to give up trying to understand, explain, or describe God in anyway, just to experience this unknowable reality without trying to put it in any kind of box. This was so different than any kind of religion John had ever encountered or any thought he'd ever had of what religion was about.
John and Merton spent a lot of time talking. It wasn't just about Zen and spirituality. They told stories to each other. They discussed the world. Merton was very much against war. He told John about the three men who attacked him. "Please don't ever tell anyone, John. I think they were CIA and I think it's because I've spoken out on the war."
This also intrigued John. Merton told John about the social justice Catholics, the Berrigans, the nuns in Central America, the Latin Liberation Theologians, Dorothy Day. "It's not just us, John. Dr. King was a Baptist. Ghandi was Hindu. The Dali Lama is Buddhist. Jews, Atheists, Muslims, Agnostics, people who don't even have an idea of where they are on religion, we all, some of us, know something's wrong with the system and we need change. Peace. John, I wanted to meet you not just to help you, but to call you to this. To peace, John. You've been given a voice that the whole world listens to. You can use it for Peace and social justice. This will help you at the same time."
John read and read a lot. He not only read the books that Merton suggested. He also read the letters that came to him. He started writing letters and getting them back. Of course he wrote Yoko everyday and she wrote back. He wrote to Julian and Kyoko. He wrote to Cynthia. He wrote to Aunt Mimi. He wrote to Pete Shotton and Paul and Peter Brown and George Martin. Then in the letter she wrote that night after George and Pattie visited, Yoko told John about George's visit. He'd of course heard "We're Together" and loved it. After writing to Yoko the day he got the letter, he wrote to George. George wrote back.
John also made music in off time. He hadn't been so prolific in writing songs since India.
He took long walks with Merton.
Then of course he meditated, this time not trying to end his thoughts, but to let them go on but focus on love. At first he felt love overwhelm him. Then after a few days it was gone. When he told Merton about this the monk explained about the 'Dark Night of the Soul.'
Merton used the language that John had adopted. John liked the term 'The Cloud of Unknowing' to be the name of the ultimate reality of Love he sought, he wasn't sure what it was. Maybe it was just a part of himself. Maybe it was what Merton called God. He didn't need to know, he didn't care. "It's a perfect term for an Agnostic like me trying to do all this, Father."
So, now, Merton said, "John, sometimes as we seek to connect with the Cloud of Unknowing we experience it. But sometimes we don't. What we get is ABSENCE not PRESENCE. But it's this absence, this 'dark night' that is where the Cloud of Unknowing really is. You said to me once that 'You know it ain't easy' and I told you that even Christ knew that.
"It doesn't matter to me if you believe the stories of Jesus of Nazareth, but you do know the stories, having gone to Sunday School. In the Jesus Story he had lots of dark nights and that's what the Cross is. The Absence of God, I mean of the Cloud of Unknowing, of Love. But in the Jesus Story that was the moment that God was actually with us the most. It's what we Christians believe, even though we fight each other about how it happened. It doesn't matter if you believe it, but you can see the story right? I mean it's everywhere. Arthur running around losing his mind in fear his adopted brother will be destroyed for want of a sword and that's when he pulls the ultimate sword from the stone. Buddha meditating until he gets an answer."
John said, "Frodo. Going into Mordor."
Merton had no idea what John was talking about there. Later after John explained he would read Tolkien. Then he just said, "So you understand. John, sometimes it's not the destination, it's the journey that matters. It's not being filled with Love, being touched by love, it's the practice of reaching out to Love, to the Cloud of Unknowing."
For the rest of their lives John and Merton would be close, exchanging letters, John coming and visiting. John didn't become a Catholic. He would say, "I'm an Agnostic Spiritual Person. I follow Jesus and Buddha and Lao Tse and Krishna as figures or whatever, as examples to inspire me to love and peace and connection, but I don't know anything about if it's all true in the scientific sense that can be proved or will be shown one day after we're dead. I don't think we can know. I don't need to know or want to. I don't seek to be a Spiritual Person so I can go to heaven or not go to hell. I've already been to hell, many times. I seek to be a Spiritual Person so I can be living for today and working for love and peace."*
John never used Heroin again. He still drank and sometimes drank too much. He still smoked marijuana. But that was it. He never found full peace inside, but he found a way to move forward, to be a Spiritual Person.
Through his letter writing he'd recruited a band. He called it "Dirty Truth," the idea being that the truth isn't always bright and shiny, it can be down and dirty, which is how his music could be too.
Cream had broken up. Clapton wasn't ready to go solo. John recruited him.
Klaus Voormann had been part of Paul's Anfield Band, until the third night of the UK tour he quit. There were no hard feelings, but Klaus explained, "I'm a bassist. You're a bassist. I only play bass on a few songs when you play another instrument. You don't need me strumming a guitar. Those songs you can get Denny to play bass." Paul accepted it; it made sense; it was right. But he explained that he just wanted to work with him, after all his other former band mates got to work with him. John recruited Klaus.
For a drummer, John turned to Mitch Mitchell, the drummer for the Jimi Hendrix experience, which was on hiatus for a few months. He'd gotten to know Jimi and his band when they'd been based in London before Jimi had broken out.
The final member was his wife, who had been trained as a classical pianist as a little girl. Yoko wasn't skilled enough to be a solo performer on the piano, but she was more than capable of playing chords with John and sharing vocals with him.
John had them all join him in Nashville after he left Gethsemani. By Tuesday the 17th they were there and went into RCA Studio A to record. John had asked Phil Spector to also join him and produce. Besides the band, they had one studio musician, a multi-instrumentalist who was a stalwart of the studio scene in Nashville, Norman Blake, who played fiddle on one of the songs that Yoko sang lead, "E Flat Blues." Yoko had become friends with Cynthia due to all the times Julian would stay with her and the times Kyoko would stay with Julian at Cynthia's. The kids both stayed with Cynthia while Yoko joined John in the United States. John and Cynthia were doing well and exchanging letters. He included expressing how he depended on her in the letter he put on the album's back cover.
John had been working on a song about his experiences going to Kentucky to overcome his struggles, without mentioning what the struggles were. He used the phrase he'd come up with in his discussion with Merton, "You Know It Ain't Easy." In it he spoke about his physical journey there, his time there, and his spiritual journey. He wrote the song as if he was talking to Christ about it. He explained to Paul one night in a long telephone call and he showed him what he had so far, "It's more a metaphorical talking to Christ, not so much a prayer, well maybe a prayer, if I don't have to be sure that Christ is up in heaven sitting next to God's throne or anything."
Paul loved it. He suggested that John go ahead and put the word "Christ" in the song. Before it had been, "Oh, you know it ain't easy." Together they finished out the lyrics. They key was that the chorus kept changing. It always started off "Christ, you know it ain't easy, you know how hard it can be" then it would have a different line. The lines were "I just need to keep going, preaching love like thee," "the way things are going I'm gonna crucify me," "love is the answer that will resurrect me."
That was why "You Know It Ain't Easy" was a Lennon-McCartney tune. The three songs that Yoko sang lead vocals on, "E Flat Blues," "Remember," and "Snow" were Lennon-Ono tunes. John wrote the music and Yoko wrote the lyrics.
All the other tunes were Lennon songs. John had a song about kicking Heroin, without mentioning what he kicked, "Got Me On The Run," a song describing how much Merton meant to him, "Father," one that expressed his vision for peace like Merton had hoped he'd do, "All We Are Saying," one about his love for Yoko, "It's Driving Me Mad," a critique of the music industry, "High, High, High, High, High," one that was basically the same message as the Youngblood's "Get Together," which he'd listen to the last few days while at Gethsemani, a nonsense song he'd written in 1967 changing the name for the new recording, "Pain At The Party," and an introspective song about his journey to find himself, which he'd started working on the previous summer, "Who Am I Supposed To Be." He also included the previously released as a single "Sensitive Guy" and it's B-side "Don't Wanna Cry."
John wanted his own ego to be downplayed, so he had the album made not by himself but by the band including himself. He also made his picture on the album be very small as a picture on the wall of a living room with Yoko's picture also on it. "It's like we're just a part of your life, that what's the living room is, your life. Our music, my music and Yoko's, we're just a part of it, not the whole thing, like a little picture on the wall you forget about most of the time."
He released as a single the title track and Yoko's song, "Remember," with the lyrics being repeated over and over but changing from "Remember Love" to "Remember Peace" to "Remember Hope" and then back to "Remember Love."
John never commented on what "You Know It Ain't Easy" meant, although it was obvious the song was sung to Jesus Christ, until years later in the MTV interview. Rumors went wild that John Lennon had become a Christian, a born again Christian, a Jesus Freak, etc., etc., etc. Someone found out that Lennon had stayed for weeks with Thomas Merton. When he was asked over and over about it, he'd say, "If you want to know what is going on with John, listen to his music. That's all I have to say."
Perhaps it was that religious America was thrilled, but the single and the album both went straight to number one. A demand began for Dirty Truth to tour. Billy Graham made a public invitation for Dirty Truth to join him on his crusade. No one at Apple responded. But Peter Brown did release a press statement that Dirty Truth would perform that summer for one show in North America at a location to be disclosed later.
When John and Yoko returned to London, he hoped to see George. But it wasn't to be. George was still being "Dutch Egmond" and touring with Delaney & Bonnie. But they now had returned to North America.
*From the 1987 MTV Interview with Kurt Loder as he discussed "You Know It Ain't Easy" and if he was a Christian.
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I Guess the Lord Must Be in Hollywood
Ringo and Maureen liked being in Southern California for a number of reasons. (His friends called him Rich, and since he's now using Richard Starkey as his name for film work, let's call him Rich.)
Rich loved working in a bigger serious role in a serious film. Hollywood was the capital of the film world. Rich had rubbed shoulders with big names in the film industry in London, but London was small potatoes compared to Hollywood.
They liked the sunshine and warmth too. Zak, almost four, and Jason, almost two, loved it when they went to the beach on Rich's days off. The beach was right outside their door; they rented a nice home in Malibu for the duration.
Maureen made friends with several starlets. She'd become acquainted with Joanna Pettet when she was in London working on Casino Royale with Peter Seller, who already was friends with the Starkeys. Joanna introduced her to one of her best friends, another starlet, Sharon Tate, and Sharon's friend, Abigail Folger, heiress of the Folger Coffee fortune.
Then Rich got to build a relationship with Harry Nilsson, who in time would become his best friend. Rich didn't have a lot of free time. Film work is about early hours and long days. That pretty much took away week nights for Rich to socialize outside his family. Then on his two days off on weekends he wanted to spend time with Maureen and the kids. But still he squeezed in some time to be "Ringo Starr" and do music, mainly with Harry, who lived in L.A. and at the time was recording his album Harry.
Nilsson had been a critical success as a songwriter and singer for years. He had his first major release in 1966 Pandemonium Shadow Show, which failed to chart. But among the fans of this basically unknown man were the Beatles, introduced to the album by their Press Secretary, Derek Taylor. In 1968, Peter Brown even tried to recruit Nilsson to Apple and have him relocate to London. He turned it down. (OOC: Maybe if John Lennon and Paul McCartney had been promoting Apple and praised Nilsson he might have taken up the offer, but Lennon and McCartney never did that in this TTL./OOC)
Nilsson finally began to have his songs chart after the release of Pandemonium Shadow Show, but never breaking into the top 100 or getting much radio play in the US. His single from his next album, Aerial Ballet, in 1968 was a cover of Fred Neil's "Everybody's Talking." It too charted but not into the top 100. But he had several of his songs do well by other artists, including "Cuddly Toy" by the Monkees. He was commissioned to write the theme for the TV show "The Courtship of Eddie's Father" and the song for the opening credits of the movie "Midnight Cowboy." The former happened and premiered in the fall of 1969, but wasn't released as a single. The demo for the latter was turned down by the producer, but they decided to use his year old "Everybody's Talking" instead. It was a hit and re-released.
Now Nilsson was a star and his new album might make him a superstar. He convinced Rich to be Ringo on the studio recording of the demo that was turned down- "I Guess The Lord Must Be In New York City." It was the only recording that Rich had time for during his time there.
Rich liked the title so much he started using it when ever anything good happened. For instance when Zak made a sand castle on the beach in Malibu, Rich said, "I guess the Lord must be in Malibu!"
On Friday, August 8, Rich had his last full day of filming. He was scheduled for a few hours of work on Monday and Tuesday of the next week to do voice work for several scenes that needed cleaning up. But he was now done with the early mornings. To celebrate he and Maureen were invited to a party at Sharon's home where she was staying while her husband, Roman Polanski, was overseas. Abby was staying there too and so were Abby's boyfriend, Wojciech Frykowsk, and Jay Sebring, Sharon's ex boyfriend. Joanna was invited along with her husband, actor Alex Cord. Also in attendance was Nilsson and his girlfriend, Dianne Clatworthy. (Zak and Jason were in Malibu with the Nanny.)
Sharon was staying in the home of Terry Melcher, the record producer, who'd worked with the Beach Boys, and the son of Doris Day. One person he'd turned down recording was an ex-con named Charlie Manson, who had a commune of hippies he lived with. Dennis Wilson had picked up two hitchhiking girls one day who turned out to be Charlie's 'girls', soon Charlie and his 'family' were staying with Dennis. Eventually Dennis kicked them all out and they found a ranch out in the desert instead. Then Terry refused to record Charlie.
Charlie had a hypnotic control over his 'family' by using sex and drugs. They were all into the music of the former Beatles and Charlie was convinced the singles and album of the former Beatles after the end of the band were messages of ultimate truth that only he could explain. Ringo's recording of George's "Piggies" was said by Charlie to be a description of the corrupt establishment, which wasn't that far off. "Revolution" he said was talking about the book of Revelation in the Bible. But the big one for him was Paul's B-side, "Helter Skelter." As most Americans, he had no idea what a Helter Skelter was and told his 'family' it was a final race war in which Black people would rise up against White people and kill them all. Charlie was a racist and thought Black people were inferior, after the race war they'd not be able to govern themselves- but Charlie would. He and his family would survive the race war hidden in the desert and now would rule the world.
But it didn't happen.
So Charlie convinced his 'family' they needed to start "Helter Skelter" off with a spark. He'd already sent his 'family' to kill another man who'd hosted them and then kicked them out, Gary Hinman, and then to write slogans on the wall in blood to make it seem it was Blacks rising up. No one but the 'family' understood "Piggies" and "Helter Skelter" written on the wall to mean it was Blacks starting a race war.
So they decided to target Terry Melcher, not knowing he was subletting his home to Sharon Tate or that she was hosting a party the night they chose to attack.
The wine and the weed flowed freely and by midnight the party had gone mellow. But Sharon didn't drink as she was pregnant. Rich and Maureen hadn't drunk a lot either, as they didn't want a hangover the next morning as they had plans to spend time on the beach with the kids. Rich had been up since 4 in the morning and was snoozing on the couch.
It was in the first minutes of Saturday, August 9, that four Manson family members, a man, Tex Watson, and three girls, Susan Atkins, Linda Kasabian, and Patricia Krenwinkel, approached the house. They ran into 18 year old Steven Parent who was leaving the guest house where he had been visiting his friend, Bill Garretson, who lived there. Watson and Parent struggled and then Watson shot Parent four times.
Inside they heard the shots. It woke up Rich. He was not thinking clearly and staggered to the door and opened it to see what was going on.
Standing framed in the light from inside and the porch light, the three girls and Tex saw one of the Beatles. Charlie would not like them killing one of the Beatles. They turned and fled.
The party goers got to Steven who hadn't died from his wounds. He was rushed to a hospital and the police investigated. Steven recovered and they had an eye witness. In time the Manson family was arrested and charged, but not before they'd killed again. The next morning on August 10, they had killed a couple, Leo and Rosemary LaBianca, who lived next door to a house where the 'family' had partied the previous year.
When the press interviewed Rich on Saturday about the attempted murder, one of them said, "You were lucky."
Rich said, "I guess the Lord must be in Hollywood."
Maureen had loved living in L.A., now she wanted to get away. On Thursday, August 14, the Starkeys left Los Angeles. They flew to where George and Pattie were on the other side of North America.
"I Guess The Lord Must Be In New York City" was released in October. Everyone knew that Ringo Star was the drummer. Everyone knew about the Manson family and the attempted murder at Sharon Tate's house. Everyone knew that Ringo had said, "I guess the Lord must be in Hollywood." The single went to #17 on the charts.
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Only You Know And I Know
Dave Mason was one of the 'friends' of Delaney & Bonnie and when he wrote the song "Only You Know And I Know" in the summer of 1969 they added it to their set. The following year he'd record it and they'd finally record it two years later. But while they toured North America that summer there was George Harrison in his long hair, beard, sunglasses, and floppy hat at the back of the stage playing the song away with fervor. It was as if the song was about the secret that Dutch Egmond was really one of the Beatles, George Harrison, and as Delaney sang to Bonnie, it was as if he also was saying "Only you, George, know that's you and I know it too."
But the kicker was the later phrase sung by both Delaney and Bonnie, "You know you can't go on gettin' your own way 'cuz if you do it's gonna get you someday." George's way that he wanted was to play rock and roll music and not be the star, be the famous Beatle with all the wah-wah and screaming and nonsense that went with it. But sooner or later if he kept this up he'd be found out and it would get him someday soon.
When Bonnie sang back to Delaney, "Now if I seem to mislead you, it's just my craziness comin' through, but when it comes down to just two, I ain't no crazier than you," it was as if George was saying back that they all were crazy.
Then both Delaney and Bonnie sang, "I appear to be pleasin', Oh no no no not deceivin', but it's hard to believe in when you've been so mistreated," it was as if Dave Mason had written what was going on with George that he wanted to do this. Yes, he'd reconciled with John and since the Beatles ceased being the Beatles, Paul had been respectful and treated him like an equal. But still, he needed to be out here, trying to please the gods of Rock and the audience, not deceive them, but get out of being mistreated as the junior member of the band.
But there was a problem and it was becoming more and more apparent with each gig. What had made George feel like the junior member of the band was that he was regulated to back up vocals and playing guitar for others' music. The irony was that his playing as one of the Grease Band for Joe Cocker and now as one of the Friends for Delaney & Bonnie was doing exactly that, except without the back up vocals. And here with Delaney & Bonnie, he wasn't doing it for the two biggest stars in the Rock world, like he'd done with John Lennon and Paul McCartney, he was doing it with two lesser known figures not even known by everyone who listened to rock music, much less the entire world. (From rock and roll wannabee teens jumping on stages to holy monks hidden from the world to crazy murdering reverse Hippies living in the desert.)
George was a song writer. He was still writing. He couldn't help it. But the moment he'd step into the spotlight and up to the mic and front one of his own songs, the whole gig would be up. It wasn't like Delaney & Bonnie didn't want him to do that. Of course they did. Not only would it be a wonderful musical moment, but it would surely add to their own fortunes. But they deserved more than to be George's back up band and he wasn't going to do that to them. Maybe with the Grease Band, they could go from being Joe Cocker's band to being George's, they'd done that already in the studio. Rumors were swirling that Joe was already thinking beyond the Grease Band to a new group, snatching Leon Russell to head it right out of Delaney & Bonnie's Friends. That would free them up to be George's band.
He was conflicted. He was still enjoying being out of the spotlight, being adored by the musicians on stage with him, and none of the 'wah-wah' craziness that had gone with the Beatles. But a growing part of him wanted to be back in the front doing his own songs. Not when he was on stage. Not in Tucson on Saturday, July 12, when John and Yoko returned to London. Not in Kansas City on Friday, August 8 when Paul and the Anfield Band sent Believe Me to be pressed on vinyl. Not in Buffalo on Tuesday, August 12 when Rich did his last voice over for They Shoot Horses Don't They.
But on Sunday, August 17, he was ready. The gig in Buffalo was his last gig with Delaney & Bonnie. Joe Cocker had called four weeks before on Sunday, July 20, when Delaney & Bonnie and he were in Houston. For one last time he and the Grease Band would perform, on the 17th and he wanted Dutch and maybe let Dutch step out and take off the hat and the sunglasses if he wanted. It wasn't like the Grease Band didn't know his songs. When Joe asked him to be on stage he said yes. When Joe asked if he wanted to step out front, he said he'd think about it.
He'd been thinking about it more and more. Pattie was all for it. He called Rich, he was all for it and after the attack at Sharon's he and Maureen made plans to join George and Pattie to be there. George and Pattie had gone to Poughkeepsie after Buffalo and that's where Rich and Maureen met them. They had a few days to practice with Joe and the Grease Band. They ran through George's set too. Rich would replace Bruce Rowland for George's set, being Ringo once more.
George had called Paul and John. Both were thrilled he was stepping back into the spotlight. "We're going to be over there starting on the 16th," Paul said, "Maybe we'll run into each other."
"I wish you all the luck you deserve, little brother. I have a surprise for you, I'll tell you later," was what John said.
OOC: In OTL I have no idea when Dave Mason wrote "Only You Know And I Know" and when Delaney & Bonnie began performing it. In TTL it's as I wrote above. Mason and D&B recorded it the same time in TTL as in OTL. /OOC
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That Would Be Something
(OOC: This OTL tune is similar to TTL's "Meet Ya On A Sunny Day, Mama" /OOC)
The audience for the Saturday, August 16th midnight showing of Anfield at the old theater in Sunapee, New Hampshire were expecting musical equipment of who ever had signed up to be the play along band to be on stage off to the side of the big screen as usual. (Most of them still thought of it as Friday, the 15th.) The first midnight showing to have local musicians to play on stage had started to require them to sign up. This was because when they at first just let whoever do it, there might end up five acts set up and no room for audience members to come up and just sing and dance along. So they started requiring only one a show and a sign up in advance. It also made it easier to schedule the set up. The schedule was posted in the lobby and everyone knew who'd signed up that night and so the place was crowded beyond normal- people sitting in the aisles in fact. The band that had signed up was the Jam Band, the local band that had started the whole thing off.
By now Steven Tyler had joined the band and they'd added a second guitarist, Ray Tabano, and a drummer, Joey Kramer. The Jam Band was very popular in the region due to their stunt. But audience members could see the local stars sitting there in the front row. So why wasn't their equipment set up? One girl went up to Steven and asked him if they were playing or not. He smiled strangely and winked, "Wait and see."
The film started and then after the credits and opening music it panned over the crowd waiting for the concert last January. Then came the close up of Tanya and the audience joined in on her line, "IT WAS A DREAM, A DREAM. A DREAM. I STILL CAN'T BELIEVE IT."
The next scene was a view of the stage that Paul and the Anfield Band had played on, but empty. Then the members of the band would walk out and get ready, until finally Paul joined them. In the film the crowd would go crazy clapping, whooping, and screaming. In the theater that was the standard ritual too. But this time the film just stopped right before Paul was to walk out. A slide showed up on the screen instead. Two cartoon T-Rexs were biting each other, it wasn't clear if they were biting each other to fight or during sex. Around the figures were the world, "Sorry. Please Be Patient. We Are Having Technical Difficulties."
Suddenly the five kids in the Jam Band jumped out of their seats and ran up the side stairs of the stage and then off stage behind the curtain. A moment later the first song of the concert, "Get Back" started playing. But the film still wasn't there. Many in the audience thought it must be the Jam Band playing behind the screen, it sure didn't sound the same as the version in the film or released on vinyl. But it sound good.
Then the stage lights went on, the slide went away, and the screen began to lift.
Like many old theaters, this one had started as a vaudeville palace. A movie screen had been added later, which still could be raised for live shows.
The audience did see a band set up and playing. But it wasn't the Jam Band.
It was the Anfield Band.
Then Paul McCartney walked out with his bass to a microphone and began singing the words of "Get Back."
It was pandemonium in the Sunapee theater. But the sound system was better than the crowd's noise. After the song Paul asked them, "How are you doing?"
"WE'RE HAVING FUN!" They yelled in unison.
"Good! Our first scheduled show in our North American tour is tonight, or tomorrow night depending on how you look at it, in Manchester." Manchester, New Hampshire was the bigger city in central southern New Hampshire. "But we wanted to do this surprise, secret first performance here, where you guys made our film what it's become. Thank you."
Later after another song, Paul said, "You know it was a big deal scheduling this and keeping it secret. We want to thank the owner, management, and staff of the theater and the band that was scheduled to play. I'll tell you another secret. You may have noticed they'd signed up way in advance with lots of empty shows. You know why?
"Because they were in on it!
"We've been real glad to have them as our back stage guests tonight, but right now we want to give them the stage."
Out walked the members of the Jam Band. Paul stayed but roadies had unplugged his bass from the amp and plugged Tom's in. The other members of the Anfield Band had left. Paul turned to Steven and said, "What are you going to play, Steven? I hear you like to cover my friend John's song "'Get Together Right Now.'"
"No." Steven smiled out at the audience. "We've got one of our own."
"You've written your own song! What's it called?"
"I was inspired by what we all say from Tanya."
The audience yelled, "IT WAS A DREAM, A DREAM. A DREAM. I STILL CAN'T BELIEVE IT."
Steven said, "It's called 'Dream On.'"
Paul clapped him on the back and walked off stage. Then Steven sat at the keyboard and the Jam Band played their new song for the first time. By the time they got a recording contract and did a studio recording of it, two years would pass. It would be a hit. By then they'd changed their name to Aerosmith and Tabano had been replaced by Brad Whitford. This not only was a top ten hit, but it became their signature song.*
"WE'RE HAVING FUN!"
"Then go for it!"
By then Steven was out in front just to sing.
That night they were in Manchester. His show had a lot of material from his solo recordings and one new song that hadn't yet been released, a song describing his love of Maggie, "Meet Ya On A Sunny Day, Mama."
Maggie and baby Jackie were with Paul. Jackie was just a month old little guy. He usually was in a baby pack on Maggie, but sometimes, when he wasn't on stage, it was on Paul. They had a big bus they were going to use to travel from city to city for the shows. Paul had a concert scheduled in Albany, New York for Sunday, the 17th. But he made arrangements a few weeks before to change it from Sunday night to Monday night. It meant it cost him, as he had to put a second deposit down. But he was okay with that and the fans with tickets didn't mind that it was Monday night instead of Sunday night.
Paul had other things he wanted to do that Sunday.
After the Manchester show the band and support staff went to Albany. Paul, Maggie, and Jackie flew on a small chartered plane to Poughkeepsie. They arrived there in the early hours of the morning and checked into the same hotel that George, Pattie, Rich, and Maureen were all staying. They had a wonderful visit the next morning at breakfast. "I told you we might run into each other." He told George. "How could I miss your first solo show? I couldn't."
*In OTL Steven did first meet Joe and Tom in Sunapee in 1969 and he did write "Dream On" before he joined the band. So in TTL we just have the band perform it earlier and record it earlier than in OTL
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Because
(OOC: The first video is pretty accurate for TTL except it's all US not Canada
TTL's song is called "It Turns Me On" /OOC)
On Friday the 18th of July, John's album with the Dirty Truth, You Know It Ain't Easy, was released. By Monday, the 21st, the whirlwind of publicity over it had gone crazy and Billy Graham's invitation had been made. Peter Brown had to respond. He called John and suggested a performance on Sunday, August 17th, but that it would be best to not let anyone know he was doing it, but announce there would be a John Lennon and Dirty Truth performance at an unannounced location and date. Peter explained to John what the gig would be.TTL's song is called "It Turns Me On" /OOC)
"It's a once in a lifetime opportunity, John. I think it's something you can't pass up."
John liked it and agreed.
That quieted the press. But now the rumor mills were rampant and many were guessing correctly where and when Dirty Truth were going to perform.
What John and Peter didn't know was that Joe Cocker had called George the day before. By Saturday, August 2, George had thought enough to start calling his friends and inquire. He and John had exchanged letters but not talked, even on the phone, to each other since India. But then John got the call. George said what he was thinking, that he'd take off the sunglasses and hat and step out at the front at Joe Cocker's performance on the 17th. John felt his heart race and his mouth go dry. A year earlier he would have probably said something about he was doing a gig then and it was like George was stepping on his toes again. Instead he swallowed and said, "I wish you all the luck you deserve, little brother. I have a surprise for you, I'll tell you later."
Then they chatted a bit about other things. After the phone call, John immediately called Peter. "Cancel my gig. No one knows anyway."
"John, this is something that will never come again."
John explained why he wanted to cancel it. "I will not step on the toes of my little brother. The 17th is his big day. I'm not going to compete."
"We've already made arrangements for you to fly to New York for the bed-in for peace you wanted to do before it. We've set it up to film it. We made arrangements with the customs to cooperate."
"That's okay. We'll still go and do the bed-in."
"But no show with Dirty Truth?"
"No. Just Yoko and me and Kyoko will go." Julian would stay home with Cynthia. "I have another song and I don't want to do it with Dirty Truth. It feels more like a thing to do with Paul and George and Rich when we can. George Martin producing. Can you talk to him about it?"
Peter said he would. John had plans to discuss things himself with the others. He spoke to Paul that week when he visited him recording in the studio. Paul was thrilled.
John planned on speaking with George and Rich when he next saw them. The following Saturday, the same day that Rich was explaining that Lord must be in Hollywood, the family flew to New York. From Sunday, the 9th, through Sunday, the 17th, just as planned, John and Yoko stayed in bed for a week speaking about peace to whoever would listen. Kyoko was in the same suite, being watched by a hired nanny for the week. This was just as planned. But instead of getting up that day and going to meet his band to perform, he instead went to listen to George.
Paul and Maggie knew all this when they joined George, Pattie, Rich, and Maureen for breakfast. Paul had pulled Rich aside and told him. "John, Yoko, and Kyoko will be joining us to support George. Don't tell him. John wants to surprise him at the gig, give him a hug and a blessing before the show and then join us," Paul meant himself, Maggie, and Jackie, "in the audience."
During the bed-in, John and Yoko did a live performance of "All We Are Saying" that was filmed. This film version of the acoustic performance is the one most people think of when they think of the song. Early Sunday morning they ended their bed-in and rode in a limousine north up the Hudson.
"I feel like I'm moving into something new that is like a better version of something old," he said to Yoko as they pulled out of the city and rode along the Hudson river.
"It's because you sacrificed from love."
John smiled. "Because."
Kyoko laughed, "That's your new song, Daddy." She'd been calling him that for a while now.
"Yes, baby." John said, "My song "It Turns Me On."
She began singing it.
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Bang Bang!
George wasn't schedule to perform with the Grease Band and Joe Cocker until 2 pm. The actual gig wasn't in Poughkeepsie, but out in the countryside about an hour and a half away. To give themselves all plenty of time, they left for it at 11 am.
That gave them a little free time after breakfast. Paul took Rich and everyone over to a piano that was in the hotel lobby and said, "I wrote another silly little song and I wonder if you want it?"
He began to play "Bang Bang!" and Rich listened and then started laughing when it turned out to be about a serial killer. "That's crazy, especially after what I just went through. I can't do that."
Paul looked at him and frowned. "You are right. I wrote it before all that." They hadn't heard about the murders that had been done that morning, they hadn't even been discovered yet.
George said, "Why don't we write some other lyrics, maybe make it about kids playing games or something?"
So they did. By the time they were ready to leave "Bang Bang!" had new lyrics and Rich felt it was okay to do it.
"When we all get back to London," Paul said, "We can all record it. You got anything for a B-side?" He was looking at Ringo.
"I haven't been writing music too much. Had some time to work with Harry. But that was about it."
Paul looked at George, "You got a song he could use?" George didn't. "All I've got is not really 'Ringo' material, I'm afraid."
Rich nodded. That made sense. His vocal range was limited and when he wrote he natural put it in his range. But his friends had to intentionally make it that way.
"Well," Paul went on, "John demoed a new one for me that he was thinking might work for you. I think I can play it for you. I won't remember all the lyrics though, a lot of Italian or Spanish or maybe nonsense." Paul did a good job of getting the music down on the piano, even though the demo he'd heard was John on an acoustic guitar. But the only words he could remember correctly were the main part, "Here come the light queen, everybody's laughing, everybody's happy."
George said, "I'm surprised he'd want to give up a song obviously about Yoko, if you got the lyric right."
"That part I got right."
Rich laughed, "I'll sing it to Maureen." He turned to her, "You okay with that."
"It's better being a light queen than having everyone ask if I was in a car wreck." She was referring to the line in "Don't Pass Me By."
George looked at Rich and smiled, "You know." He turned to Paul, still sitting at the piano, "But you don't. One of my new songs is to Pattie. I'm calling it 'Like No Other Lover.'" Pattie blushed.
Maggie said, "So he's switching back to romance songs from religious ones?" She put her arm around Pattie, "You'll enjoy it. I do."
"You doing it today?" Paul asked George.
"No. I love working with the Grease Band, but it's not a Grease Band type of song. I'd rather work on it with you and John," he turned to Rich, "and you too, Rich."
"Looks like I'm going to be Ringo still, doesn't it?"
Paul, George, and the women all laughed.
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Three Days of Love, Peace, & Music
In the Catskill Mountains of New York State, in the western part that is more gentle rolling hills, green pastures, and quiet lakes than rugged peaks, lies the town of Woodstock. It had for years been a get away for artists, bohemians, and musicians. When Artie Kornfeld and Michael Lang, wanted to build a 'studio in the woods' in Woodstock, they turned to New York City promoters Joel Rosenman and John Roberts, who'd financed Media Sound, a large Manhattan studio. The promoters weren't excited about the idea, not really buying into the idea that enough musical artist frequented the place to make a studio work. They countered with the idea of a musical festival first to test the waters.
By the time a place was secured, it was far from Woodstock itself, but on a farm owned by Max Yasgur outside Bethel, NY. But the name stuck. Somehow Artie and Michael drew some of the biggest names to participate and that turned it into a bandwagon. The three days were Friday the 15th, Saturday the 16th, and Sunday the 17th. But things ran so long it ran into the daylight morning hours of Monday the 18th. Kids from all over the country, not just the region, made their way to Woodstock. Some hitch hiked, soon to be picked up by other kids heading there, recognizing they were of the same 'tribe' by dress, attitude, and demeanor. The 'tribe' was Hippies.
Kids who didn't have tickets arrived and it was sold out. So they went around to the back of the site and climbed the fence. Soon the fence was knocked down. Rosenman and Roberts didn't like that. They were interested in a return on their investment. But Michael and Artie were into the scene. Michael thought it was cool, it was a happening, an event beyond their control. He gave orders to not put the fences back up. By the time the first act opened on Friday night there were 400,000 Hippies gathered in the farm. When it rained the huddled together and danced in it. When some were hungry others fed them. The police there to keep order turned a blind eye on the rampant drug use, mainly Marijuana and LSD.
In the early hours of Saturday morning across the nation a week before, still prime time Friday in New York State, a small band of phony Hippies- they had the drugs and sex and rock and roll with long hair, granny dresses, and beards, but none of the love and peace- attempted to kill to start a racist end of the world war. They'd affect the consciousness of the nation to declare the Summer of Love was dead. But at the exact same moment but a week later folkie Tim Hardin was on stage at Yasgur's farm singing "If I had a Hammer" and 400,000 hippies filled with nothing but love, peace, and music (well, and a lot of wine, weed, and acid too) sang along. The nation noticed, but still declared the Summer of Love was done.
Different acts had different ways of relating to the festival. Some came in from wherever they were before just before their performance and then left. Others arrived the day of and were in the crowd the whole time. One, John Sebastian of the Loving Spoonful, wasn't even scheduled to perform. When on Saturday an act was delayed in setting up, having seen him, Michael called him up. He played several songs spontaneously with just a borrowed acoustic guitar and wowed everyone with his "Darling Be Home Soon."
Other acts had staging areas nearby. Joe Cocker and the Grease Band, with Dutch Egmond, chose Poughkeepsie, an hour and a half away from Yasgur's farm. They were scheduled for Sunday at 2 pm. Before he canceled, John Lennon and Dirty Truth, were going to stage themselves in New York City and arrive just in time for their scheduled performance at 7:00 pm. Instead John arrived much earlier. It was a two and a half hour trip from the island of Manhattan and normally John was a late riser. But after a week in bed he and Yoko were anxious to get up earlier and be on their way. They were on the road before 8 and arrived at the farm at 10:30. When the security saw it was John Lennon and Yoko One in the limousine with a little girl, they waved them in to go behind the stage.
"Naw, we want to sit with the crowd, you know. Today we're just fans."
John may have thought they were just fans, but the fans didn't. The front of the audience was claimed, had been for days. But people moved back to give them a place at the front. It had rained the night before, so Yoko had brought a big plastic table cloth for a banquet table and then several blankets to put over it. (She also brought umbrellas, which were needed as it did rain again.) Soon John and Yoko were happily visiting with the Hippies around them. One of them handed him a guitar and he refused, "I'd rather listen to you, friend."
Kyoko found other children to play with. There were a lot there. When someone passed a joint around, John said, "I don't mind if I do."
"I heard you were a born again Christian now?" A girl asked.
"I'm a born again me." He took a big draw and passed it on.
"So, you're not a Jesus Freak?"
"I'm a Justa Freak."
John had asked to be told when George and his party arrived with Joe and the Grease Band. Lang himself came to tell him. As they walked to the back of the stage, he said quietly, "Man, this is wild. I didn't know that he was with the Grease Band. So we get one of you here after all."
Lang's biggest disappointment was when Lennon had cancelled. But he knew he still had the Who, the Airplane, and Hendrix, who was scheduled to close the event. (He had no idea it would be so late when that happened.)
"I think you got all of us. But only Dutch and Rich are going to be up there. Paulie and me, we're just his two biggest fans today."
"Heavy, man, just to watch him play guitar in the back."
"You don't know? He's going to finish the set."
Lang's eyes got enormous. "No, I didn't."
The private area behind and below the stage included a large tent, plenty of food and drink, and several forklifts and cranes. The stage was up high and it was easier to get equipment up there that way. Lang had gotten the notice that the Cocker entourage was entering by his walkie talkie and he and John were standing there waiting as they drove up in a fleet of two limousines, a bus, and a U-Haul.
George was in one of the limousine with Pattie and the Starkeys. He saw John standing there in his white suit, his auburn long hair blowing in the gentle wind, the sun shining off his glasses. "It's John."
"It's his surprise," Rich said. "He came from New York City to listen to you. Just like Paul and me."
The limo pulled up to the tent and John sprinted, with a kick and a jig, to it and opened the door. "Mr. Harry Son, we have a green room waiting for you. The tea is hot and the biscuits are sweet and the girls are fresh. Not as pretty as these two lovelies." He bowed to Pattie and Maureen.
"Come here, you old wanker." George said and grabbed him and hugged him. They were still hugging when Paul walked up. The other limousine was right behind and he, Maggie and Jackie, and Joe and his girlfriend, were in it.
"All Together Now!" He said.
"One Two Three Four, can I have a little more?" Rich sang.
"Yes!" John pulled away and gave Rich and then Paul a hug.
"That's what a little help from my friends means," Joe said to his girlfriend.
That was the last song of Joe's set that day, eleven songs.
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The Act You've Known For All These Years
(OOC: In our last update we ended with the OTL video of Joe Cocker doing "With a Little Help From My Friends" to finish up his Woodstock set. In TTL the ending isn't what happened. The following is how it ended /OOC)
At the end of his final song, Joe took a little bow and said, "The Grease Band and Myself. Thank you all for listening. I'll see you again. But the Grease Band is staying. In the back is Dutch Egmond. It's time he came out."
Joe walked away, grabbing a cup of water before he was even off stage. Dutch made his way through the members and got to the microphone. "I don't think I need this anymore." He took off his hat and threw it off the front of the stage. "Or these." He took off the sunglasses, folded them, and handed them to a roadie.
While he was doing that, Bruce had gotten up and Ringo had taken his place.
George went on. "Looks like it's clouding over, I don't need the sunglasses. Not to stop the glare. Not to let me self play anonymously with the band. Thank you, Joe."
By then the audience had figured it out and the screaming had started.
"Now, now. None of that Wah-Wah. Okay?"
The screaming died down a bit.
"I am glad my friend, Ringo, is here. I got some songs for you."
George had 9 songs planned. The first 8 were his. He'd insisted that Rich step up and sing too. Bruce was to come back on to finish the set and Rich as Ringo would sing his song. The tunes in order were:
- Taxman
- Big Star
- Isn't It A Pity
- While My Guitar Gently Weeps
- We're Together
- The Love You Laid Out
- What I Feel
- Let Me Play It
- Octopus's Garden
"You got three more before me." Most of the audience couldn't' hear Rich. George just waved him up. He did what he was asked. Bruce went back to the set, adjusting it back for him slightly.
Ringo took the mic out of the stand. "You're getting two former Beatles today for the price of one. I hope you like this."
They started playing "Octopus's Garden." George had already asked John and Paul to come up during the song. The crowd went crazy when they saw them walk out, go to the mics that the band sang back up vocals at, and started making bubbling sounds.
When the song was over, Ringo put the mic back in the stand and went back to hug Paul and John.
George turned to the rest of the Grease Band. "Thank you." They knew he meant for them to leave.
"We need an acoustic guitar. I mean if Sebastian can do it, why can't Lennon and McCartney?"
The crowd started clapping and yelling. John shook his head no. "This is your day, George, not ours."
"Right." Paul said.
"If it's my day, I should get what I want. I want this. They want this!"
John took the guitar. Paul, Ringo, and George went to the side of the stage. "Looks like it's four for the price of one."
Then he did "Sensitive Guy" just him and the guitar.
When he was done Paul walked up, John handed him the guitar, bowed, then walked to the side and joined George.
Paul did "Yesterday."
George walked back to the microphone as a roadie took the guitar. "Thank you Everybody!"
There was no way Michael Lang was going to let this moment pass and not take advantage of it. He ran out to the microphone. "I think everybody wants to hear all four of you do some songs."
They'd heard screaming of thousands of fans. But never 400,000 yelling their heads off. "I don't think the festival can go on if you don't do at least one song together."
"We haven't practiced anything." George said.
"I don't think they care." Lang said.
John came to the mic, "It'll sound like crap.
"Like I said, I don't think they care. We want a song."
The crowd began chanting A SONG. A SONG. A SONG.
Paul and the others were huddled. "Look, we did 'Twist and Shout' so many times and we hadn't practiced it when we recorded it. I think we can do it."
John shook his head, "You really want this George? If you want it."
"I want it. I'm ready for it. But I want you to help me record my new song."
"I was going to ask you the same thing." John said. "Okay." He turned to Lang. We need instruments.
Roadies brought John an electric guitar and Paul a bass. They moved the back up mics forward so the three men, John, Paul, and George were lined up like they used to be.
Lang shouted into the mic. "Ladies and Gentlemen. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. Can I say it? The Act you've known for all these years!"
Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Starr
John, Yoko, and Kyoko returned home to London after Woodstock. The flat was getting cramped now that Kyoko and Julian were older. They'd never had separate bedrooms for them and Julian shared a room with Kyoko when he visited. John could afford something much nicer with property and lots of rooms. So the next few weeks were about finding a place. He found a perfect mansion, an old Georgian mansion, near Ascot, called Tittenhurst Park. Over the next few months he and Yoko would devote themselves to furnishing it with nice things, including a large white grand piano. As for the kids to play, there were 72 acres of land. John said to Paul the first time he visited, "Basically I bought me own Strawberry Fields so Julian and Kyoko don't have to climb fences to play here."
Paul said, "That gate did remind me of it."
John did something really strange. He suggested to Cynthia that she move in. "It's so big, Cynth, it's like an apartment complex. We'll get you your own suite, it won't be like you're living with me, even though you're living in the same house. That way Julian will have his mom and dad at the same time."
Cynthia declined but agreed that she might visit for extended times during holidays with Julian. John went ahead and set up the suite for her or any other guest. Julian had his own room for when he came and Kyoko had her own room. Then came the good news. They immediately set up another room as a nursery. This time Yoko did not miscarry and Merton Lennon was born the next May.
Delaney and Bonnie wanted George to tour with them, now with them as his opening act. He declined. He'd been on the road enough. He and Pattie also were ready for something bigger and he found it in Friar Park in Henley-On-The-Thames, a Neo-Gothic house with lots of room for him to garden. But it was in bad shape as it had set empty for decades. The rest of 1969 was restoring and upgrading for a final move in date in January.
Rich and Maureen also returned home with the boys and they also had good news. Maureen was also pregnant. No new homes for the Starkeys. Rich was busy with drama school in the fall and doing the occasional guest role in a serious television drama. Their daughter Leigh Starkey was born in June of 1970.
The McCartneys continued their North American tour, but limited to only the northeast of the United States and the southeast of Canada. He had made arrangements for a short end of summer tour with plans to do the rest of the two nations the following spring. By the middle of September they too had returned home, only after a few days to hear from Peter Brown.
"John asked me to get you all together. He has a proposal. He was very specific I use that term."
On Saturday, September 20th, the four men and their wives, all met in Peter Brown's office at Apple Corps with Peter. After a bit of a visit, sharing the good news of new homes, pregnancies, and catching up with the McCartneys whom the rest hadn't seen since Woodstock, John said, "Well, I guess you are wondering, right?"
The others went silent. John took a big breath in.
"I want us to be the Beatles again."
-cut to black-
Transcript from the CBS Evening News on Monday, November 24, 1969:
"Good Evening. This is Monday, November 24th and I am Walter Cronkite.
"Today news has come from Apple Corps in London, England that John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr have reformed the Beatles. A new album, called The Beatles, a title they never used for an album, is scheduled to be released this Friday, the first day of the Christmas shopping season.
"The Beatles formed in Liverpool, England in the late 1950s when the member were school boys in a skiffle group called the Quarrymen. It began as John Lennon and his schoolmates. Paul McCartney was added and then his friend George Harrison. In the early part of this decade they performed in clubs in Hamburg, Germany and in 1962 the last member of the band, Ringo Starr was added. They began recording that same year and by the following summer a hysteria among young people had spread across the United Kingdom that came to be called 'Beatlemania.' In late 1963 this correspondent reported on the phenomenon on this news report.
"The Beatles took America by storm in the 1964, leading a wave of other British rock and roll acts that was referred to as the British Invasion. The 'fab four' were not only known for their music, but for their 'mod' style and 'mop top' haircuts. They then transformed themselves into a psychedelic powerhouse with their ground breaking album, 'Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.' On the death of their manager, Brian Epstein, they decided to go their separate ways as solo artists.
"Since then their music has continued to receive adulation and success. A surprise performance by the four at the rock and roll festival in Woodstock, New York, last summer in August, has fueled hope among their fans that they would reunite.
"Today that hope has been fulfilled. With more on this story is Bob Schieffer."
"This is Bob Schieffer. I am at Sears Robuck just outside Washington, D.C. in Maryland in their records section. Let's talk to some of the young people here buying records to get their reaction. Excuse, me. Have you heard the news about the Beatles?"
Young Girl: "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god! I can't believe it. I am not going to be able to wait. I'm going to go crazy. We're, my friends and I, we're going to camp out here on Thanksgiving night so we're first in line when the store opens and we can buy it."
"And you?"
College Age Man: This is heavy. Everything changes. Woodstock into our living rooms! The revolution is coming and we're going to get together right now just like John says."
"Is there anyone here not excited?"
Chorus of yells and screams.
"There you have it, Walter. The youth are excited and thrilled."
"Thank, you, Bob. Now on to the other news. Today in Vietnam...."
Kurt Loder: The Return Album
John Lennon: I got us together and I said, "I want us to be the Beatles again." We all were waiting for Paul, you see he was still over here, so we could record some songs together, something we hadn't done since Yellow Submarine. We at first were thinking we just would be Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Starr. If Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young could do it, so could we. I was thinking that too. Then I was doing my Cloud of Unknowing Zen stuff and one of these wanker versions of me that were like they were sitting in a circle around me like I already told you about...
Kurt Loder: Yes, with Merton.
John Lennon: Right. So this one thought version of me self was going on and on about that we would just be the Beatles, everyone would think of us as the Beatles, we'd be the Beatles. Well, I'd gotten pretty good by then in not paying attention. But later on afterwards I was thinking about what that version of me self was telling me and I said, "You know I'm right and what's wrong with that."
Kurt Loder: But you'd stopped because of Brian.
John Lennon: We were right in 1967. But now it was two years later. We'd all grown up and apart and come back together and learned and changed. Maybe I'd finished my mourning of Brian. But I realized something else, you know, we were the Beatles before we met Brian, not the same Beatles we were with him, but then we weren't the same Beatles in the British Invasion that we were with Pepper, were we? We could never be the same Beatles we were with Brian, but who said we had to be?
Kurt Loder: How did the others react?
John Lennon: Paul was all for it. He'd never wanted us to stop, it sent him into depression. I had to go pull him out of a black hole in Liverpool, you know. He was in his old bedroom at his dad's and he was just going to stay in bed, not a bed-in, but just do a Brian Wilson. Not that Brian Wilson had done that yet. I had to go pull him out and say "Look, mate, I'm still here and we're still friends and we're still going to make music together so what the hell are you doing not even brushing your teeth?"
Kurt Loder: So Paul was all for it. George?
John Lennon: He was reluctant. It had taken him two years to get out in front. First he hid away behind a sound track. Then he recorded but didn't perform. Then he was hiding behind that Dutch Egmond thing. Finally at Woodstock he got out in front and he shone like the sun. He was afraid that reforming would put him back in the sunglasses and floppy hat, metaphorically that is. Paul, he said to him, "We have to be equal." I said, "That's right. We three main song writers, we have to be equal. We do 14 songs on an album. No more 'Lennon/McCartney' shit when we don't actually write together, that we keep from the last two years. But I get four songs, you get four songs, Paul gets four song and we don't veto. We respect each other. Rich, he said, "That's only 12." I said, "Well, yeah, how else we going to have you have two, if you can't write them yourself, we'll write them for you. I mean we got two for you right now."
Kurt Loder: So that was it, you were the Beatles again.
John Lennon: No, it almost didn't happen even though George was on board now. Rich, he said, no. He had two more years of that academy he was doing full time and at the same time he wanted to do TV and do plays on stage. Shakespeare and what not. He said he didn't have the time. You see we'd all been excited about performing again. Maybe even touring. It wasn't 1966 anymore. But Rich didn't have the time. He couldn't commit.
Kurt Loder: But he did.
John Lennon: We went round and round. At one point he said if we took a long time recording like he'd done with his album and didn't tour, then he could do it. But then George said, "It's ironic, I hated touring the most. But I want to tour now. I want more of what I had at Woodstock. If we're just going to be a studio band, even if we do my songs, I don't want it. I can get the Grease Band." Cocker had already switched over to Mad Dogs.
Kurt Loder: But you did reform.
John Lennon: We went round and round and then Paul finally said, "We do both." We reform and we stay solo. We wouldn't tour, maybe do one performance every so often when Rich could schedule it in. But as four solo acts we do what we want. Paul tour with the Anfield Band. Me and Dirty Truth. George and the Grease Band. If we have the songs, we do our own albums and singles too. But every so often we do a Beatles album.
Kurt Loder: It's been several years now.
John Lennon: We're all getting older, I'm moving towards 50. When I was 22 it seemed a long time between albums if it was the six months that we waited between Please, Please Me and With the Beatles. Now five years doesn't seem as long as that. So yeah, it was 1981. We have had the performances, though.
Kurt Loder: Live Aid. But we do want an album, a Beatles album. Is that going to happen again?
John Lennon: 18 years since we reformed and have we ever announced it more than a week in advance?
Kurt Loder: You'll give me an exclusive?
John Lennon: (he winked)
Kurt Loder: I want to go back and talk about the 70s, but since we are talking about the present, I'd like to hear your thoughts on Julian?
John Lennon: Proud Poppa here. Fourth Platinum album in a row. (John talked a lot about Julian and then his other kids.)
John Lennon: I got us together and I said, "I want us to be the Beatles again." We all were waiting for Paul, you see he was still over here, so we could record some songs together, something we hadn't done since Yellow Submarine. We at first were thinking we just would be Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Starr. If Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young could do it, so could we. I was thinking that too. Then I was doing my Cloud of Unknowing Zen stuff and one of these wanker versions of me that were like they were sitting in a circle around me like I already told you about...
Kurt Loder: Yes, with Merton.
John Lennon: Right. So this one thought version of me self was going on and on about that we would just be the Beatles, everyone would think of us as the Beatles, we'd be the Beatles. Well, I'd gotten pretty good by then in not paying attention. But later on afterwards I was thinking about what that version of me self was telling me and I said, "You know I'm right and what's wrong with that."
Kurt Loder: But you'd stopped because of Brian.
John Lennon: We were right in 1967. But now it was two years later. We'd all grown up and apart and come back together and learned and changed. Maybe I'd finished my mourning of Brian. But I realized something else, you know, we were the Beatles before we met Brian, not the same Beatles we were with him, but then we weren't the same Beatles in the British Invasion that we were with Pepper, were we? We could never be the same Beatles we were with Brian, but who said we had to be?
Kurt Loder: How did the others react?
John Lennon: Paul was all for it. He'd never wanted us to stop, it sent him into depression. I had to go pull him out of a black hole in Liverpool, you know. He was in his old bedroom at his dad's and he was just going to stay in bed, not a bed-in, but just do a Brian Wilson. Not that Brian Wilson had done that yet. I had to go pull him out and say "Look, mate, I'm still here and we're still friends and we're still going to make music together so what the hell are you doing not even brushing your teeth?"
Kurt Loder: So Paul was all for it. George?
John Lennon: He was reluctant. It had taken him two years to get out in front. First he hid away behind a sound track. Then he recorded but didn't perform. Then he was hiding behind that Dutch Egmond thing. Finally at Woodstock he got out in front and he shone like the sun. He was afraid that reforming would put him back in the sunglasses and floppy hat, metaphorically that is. Paul, he said to him, "We have to be equal." I said, "That's right. We three main song writers, we have to be equal. We do 14 songs on an album. No more 'Lennon/McCartney' shit when we don't actually write together, that we keep from the last two years. But I get four songs, you get four songs, Paul gets four song and we don't veto. We respect each other. Rich, he said, "That's only 12." I said, "Well, yeah, how else we going to have you have two, if you can't write them yourself, we'll write them for you. I mean we got two for you right now."
Kurt Loder: So that was it, you were the Beatles again.
John Lennon: No, it almost didn't happen even though George was on board now. Rich, he said, no. He had two more years of that academy he was doing full time and at the same time he wanted to do TV and do plays on stage. Shakespeare and what not. He said he didn't have the time. You see we'd all been excited about performing again. Maybe even touring. It wasn't 1966 anymore. But Rich didn't have the time. He couldn't commit.
Kurt Loder: But he did.
John Lennon: We went round and round. At one point he said if we took a long time recording like he'd done with his album and didn't tour, then he could do it. But then George said, "It's ironic, I hated touring the most. But I want to tour now. I want more of what I had at Woodstock. If we're just going to be a studio band, even if we do my songs, I don't want it. I can get the Grease Band." Cocker had already switched over to Mad Dogs.
Kurt Loder: But you did reform.
John Lennon: We went round and round and then Paul finally said, "We do both." We reform and we stay solo. We wouldn't tour, maybe do one performance every so often when Rich could schedule it in. But as four solo acts we do what we want. Paul tour with the Anfield Band. Me and Dirty Truth. George and the Grease Band. If we have the songs, we do our own albums and singles too. But every so often we do a Beatles album.
Kurt Loder: It's been several years now.
John Lennon: We're all getting older, I'm moving towards 50. When I was 22 it seemed a long time between albums if it was the six months that we waited between Please, Please Me and With the Beatles. Now five years doesn't seem as long as that. So yeah, it was 1981. We have had the performances, though.
Kurt Loder: Live Aid. But we do want an album, a Beatles album. Is that going to happen again?
John Lennon: 18 years since we reformed and have we ever announced it more than a week in advance?
Kurt Loder: You'll give me an exclusive?
John Lennon: (he winked)
Kurt Loder: I want to go back and talk about the 70s, but since we are talking about the present, I'd like to hear your thoughts on Julian?
John Lennon: Proud Poppa here. Fourth Platinum album in a row. (John talked a lot about Julian and then his other kids.)
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and this is now done.
I just want to say that the Beatles do the Concert for Bangladesh. That TTL's Beatles song "I'm A Dreamer" is very much like Imagine...it's exactly like Imagine except for the title. Paul still does "Live and Let Die" but as solo project. George and Pattie do split up, as do Rich and Marueen. There is no "Son of Dracula" or "Cave Man". Nilsson still makes the music he makes in OTL. Rich does more serious film and finally wins his Oscar for playing Hannibal the Cannibal in Silence of the Lambs. Badfinger has all their hits and since Apple never folds there is success, happiness, and no suicides. I'm afraid Jimmy McCulloch still isn't able to kick the drugs and dies young. Also I'm afraid Nicky Hopkins still never becomes his own star or sees his health improve. Today in TTL both John and George are alive and well. Being in a band with two vegetarians led them both to healthier lifestyles and in 1972 George finally quit smoking- so no lung cancer. The Beatles had a big album in the mid 1990s. Thomas Merton died at the age of 87 in 2003.
That leaves a lot of holes from 1969 on. But that's how it is with stories. When the narrative ends you have to use your own imagination to figure out the rest.
Thanks for reading and commenting. Remember that all you need is love and that we're not the only ones.
I just want to say that the Beatles do the Concert for Bangladesh. That TTL's Beatles song "I'm A Dreamer" is very much like Imagine...it's exactly like Imagine except for the title. Paul still does "Live and Let Die" but as solo project. George and Pattie do split up, as do Rich and Marueen. There is no "Son of Dracula" or "Cave Man". Nilsson still makes the music he makes in OTL. Rich does more serious film and finally wins his Oscar for playing Hannibal the Cannibal in Silence of the Lambs. Badfinger has all their hits and since Apple never folds there is success, happiness, and no suicides. I'm afraid Jimmy McCulloch still isn't able to kick the drugs and dies young. Also I'm afraid Nicky Hopkins still never becomes his own star or sees his health improve. Today in TTL both John and George are alive and well. Being in a band with two vegetarians led them both to healthier lifestyles and in 1972 George finally quit smoking- so no lung cancer. The Beatles had a big album in the mid 1990s. Thomas Merton died at the age of 87 in 2003.
That leaves a lot of holes from 1969 on. But that's how it is with stories. When the narrative ends you have to use your own imagination to figure out the rest.
Thanks for reading and commenting. Remember that all you need is love and that we're not the only ones.
The Album Covers
links page
Where I Been From
But I Am Of The Universe
We're Together
Believe Me
You Know It Ain't Easy
The Beatles
links page
Where I Been From
But I Am Of The Universe
We're Together
Believe Me
You Know It Ain't Easy
The Beatles
The Playlists
Links to the Videos
First Posts of Each Series
Yellow Submarine: A Magical Mystery Tour
Helter Skelter
Paul's Early 1969 Sessions
We're Together
Believe Me
You Know It Ain't Easy
The Beatles
I'm A Dreamer
Links to the Videos
First Posts of Each Series
Yellow Submarine: A Magical Mystery Tour
Helter Skelter
Paul's Early 1969 Sessions
We're Together
Believe Me
You Know It Ain't Easy
The Beatles
I'm A Dreamer
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The Complete Chronology
One of the Beautiful People: Alt Former Beatles Timeline
One of the Beautiful People: Alt Former Beatles Timeline
1967
Sunday, August 27 - Brian Epstein dies
Monday, August 28 - Beatles quit being the Beatles
Friday, September 29 – “I Am Walrus” completed, end of recording for YS:AAMT
Middle of October – Film work for YS:AMMT done
Friday, November 24 – “Hello Goodbye”/“Fool on the Hill” released
Tuesday, December 26 – Paul’s dad calls John for help
Wednesday, December 27 - John visits Paul at his dad’s in Liverpool & moves in with Aunt Mimi
1968
Monday, January 22 – Paul and John return to London, Peter Brown made CEO of Apple Corps
Monday, January 29 – John, Paul, & Ringo begin ‘Early 1968 Sessions’
Sunday, February 11 – ‘Early 1968 Sessions’ completed with recording of “Hey Bulldog”
Friday, February 23 – “Hey Bulldog”/“One After 909” released
Sunday, February 25 – “Hey Bulldog” video shown on Ed Sullivan Show
Monday, February 26 – All former Beatles go to India
Friday, March 1 – “Isn’t It a Pity”/Isn’t It a Pity version 2” released
Saturday, March 9 – Paul returns to London
Wednesday, March 13 – Ringo returns to London
Wednesday April 3 – John and George fight
Thursday, April 4 – John returns to London
Friday, April 5 – “Lady Madonna”/“Helter Skelter” released
Saturday, April 6 – Yoko Ono moves in with John in his flat
Monday, April 8 – John starts work on “Across the Universe” with Paul and Ringo
Saturday, April 13 – John finishes “Across the Universe”
Wednesday, April 17 – John Lennon and Cynthia Lennon divorced
Saturday, April 20 – Paul drives out to visit Julian and composes “Hey Jude” in his head
Saturday, April 27 – George returns to London
Monday, April 29 - George starts work on Wonderwall Music
Saturday, May 4 – Paul breaks up with Francie Schwartz
Friday, May 10 – “Don’t Pass Me By”/“Run Down Boogie” released
Monday, May 13 – Ringo begins filming scenes for Candy
Friday, May 17 - Ringo completes filming on Candy
Saturday, May 18 – George finished Wonderwall Music
Monday, May 20 - Ringo sees rushes of his work in Candy and is self critical
Tuesday, May 28 – Ringo with various friends starts work on Hey Baby
Wednesday, May 29 - Wonderwall released at Cannes
Monday, June 3 – George with Paul & Ringo, etc, begin work on “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”
Thursday, June 6 – George & crew work on “Not Guilty”
Saturday, June 8 – George & crew begin recording two songs with Jackie Lomax
Tuesday, June 11 – Paul with George & crew jam and record “Don’t Say You Love Me.”
Thursday, June 13 – George & crew finish up recording the five songs
Friday, June 14 - “I Am The Walrus”/“Across the Universe” released;
Saturday, June 15 – Paul, Maggie McGivern, George, & Pattie vacation in Sardinia
Monday, June 17 – Ringo starts summer classes at Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA)
Tuesday, June 18 – Paul proposes on beach to Maggie & she accepts
Wednesday, June 19 – YS:AMMT film released
Friday, June 21 – YS:AMMT album released
Saturday, June 22 – Paparazzi take photos of Paul & Maggie holding hands
Monday, June 24 – Tabloids print photos of Paul & Maggie
Friday, July 5 - “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”/ “Not Guilty” released
Monday, July 8 – Paul with friends begins work on “Hey Jude” and Where I Been From.
Saturday, July 13 – John works on Revolution EP
Tuesday, July 16 – Yoko Ono and Anthony Cox divorced
Thursday, July 25 – John completes Revolution EP
Friday, July 26 – Paul and friends record last over dubs for “Hey Jude”
Friday, August 2 – “Sour Milk Sea”/“The Eagle Laughs At You” released
Tuesday, August 6 – Kyoko arrives in London to visit her mom, Yoko Ono
Thursday, August 8 – Kyoko turns 5, John plays Revolution EP to Paul at Kyoko’s party
Friday, August 9 – Ringo finishes up summer class
Saturday, August 10 – Anthony Cox, Kyoko’s dad, disappears into a cult; Hey Baby finished
Monday, August 11 – John enters studio with Paul, Ringo, etc for “Revolution 2”
Thursday, August 15 – John and crew begin work on Number Nine EP
Saturday, August 31 – Revolution EP released
Wednesday, September 4 – Yoko finds out she is pregnant
Friday, September 6 – John Lennon and Yoko One marry. John becomes John Ono Lennon.
Saturday, September 7 – John, Yoko, Kyoko, & Julian go on family honeymoon in Majorca, Spain
Sunday, September 15 - John, Yoko, Kyoko, & Julian return to London
Monday, September 16 – Julian goes home to Cynthia and Kyoko visits, John and Yoko binge on Heroin
Tuesday, September 17 – Yoko miscarries
Thursday, September 19 – John and Yoko decide to quit Heroin
Friday, September 20 – Hey Baby released
Saturday, September 21 – John and Yoko finish withdrawal
Tuesday, September 24 – Ringo enters fulltime three year program at RADA
Friday, September 27 – Number 9 EP released in UK; But I Am of the Universe released in US
Monday, September 30 – John and Yoko use Heroin again
Tuesday, October 1 – Paul and friends complete Where I Been From; John interviewed on BBC
Friday, October 4 – “Hey Jude”/“Don’t Say You Love Me” released
Saturday, October 5 – Paul and Maggie marry.
Friday, October 11 – Paul with touring band begin surprise performances starting in London
Thursday, October 31 – Joe Cocker and the Grease Band release “With A Little Help From My Friends”
Friday, November 1 – Wonderwall Music released.
Monday, November 3 – George and ‘friends’ start recording I, Me, Mine EP
Friday, November 8 – I, Me, Mine basic tracks completed
Monday, November 11 – Ringo and friends begin work on “Octopus’s Garden”/“Piggies”
Tuesday, November 19 – Last work on Ringo’s single completed
Wednesday, November 20 – George does over dubs on I, Me, Mine; stops shaving
Saturday, November 23 – Paul has to cancel surprise performance in Liverpool when news leaks
Thursday; November 28 – “Journey to the Unknown: Matakitas Is Coming” broadcast
Friday, December 6 – “Octopus’s Garden”/“Piggies” released
Tuesday, December 10 – Thomas Merton almost assassinated by three men
Thursday, December 12 – Joe Cocker and the Grease Band begin tour of North America
Sunday, December 15 – Paul’s last surprise performance in Edinburgh
Tuesday, December 17 – Candy released
Friday, December 20 – Where I Been From released
Thursday, December 26 – Paul gives free concert at Anfield Stadium in Liverpool to over 50,000
1969
Saturday, January 4 – Paul and Anfield band go into studio
Friday, January 10 – I, Me, Mine EP released
Wednesday, January 15 - John views screening of Paul's statement and he writes "Sensitive Guy" lyrics
Thursday, January 18 - John records "Sensitive Guy" lyrics
Wednesday, January 22 - John with Paul and some of the Anfield Band record "Don't Wanna Cry"
Friday, January 31 – “Get Back”/“Deep Inside” released
Monday, February 10 – Paul and Anfield band finish new songs in studio
Thursday, February 20 - John and Yoko slip
Friday, February 21 - "Sensitive Guy"/"Don't Wanna Cry" released
Thursday, March 6 - John and Yoko go cold turkey
Monday, March 10 - John and Yoko finish withdrawal, Ringo starts filming Magic Christian
Thursday, March 13 - John uses Heroin with a needle
Friday, March 14 - John attempts suicide, Yoko saves his life
Saturday, March 15 – George Martin finishes producing Cloudsplitter
Friday, March 21 – Cloudsplitter released
Saturday, March 22 – Paul and the Anfield Band (now their official name) begin tour in Birmingham,
Saturday, March 22 – Cloudsplitter opens for Paul and the Anfield Band
Sunday, March 23 - John visits used book store and buys book, stays up all night reading it
Monday, March 24 – John asks Peter Brown to contact the monk author
Tuesday, March 25 - George finally hears "Sensitive Guy" on the radio
Wednesday, March 26 – George writes “We’re Together”
Saturday, March 29 – John flies to Kentucky, Yoko stays in London
Saturday April 5 – Joe Cocker and the Grease Band ‘s North America tour ends in Seattle
Monday, April 7 – George with Grease Band, record in Seattle with Leon Russel
Tuesday, April 15 – George finishes recording, flies to Maui
Thursday, April 17 – “We’re Together”/”Let Me Play It” and We’re Together released.
Friday May 2 – George and Pattie fly from Maui to London, Ringo finishes film Magic Christian
Saturday, May 3 – George visits Yoko at her and John’s flat
Thursday, May 8 – Delaney & Bonnie UK tour with ‘Dutch Egmond’ begins
Thursday, June 5 – Ringo finished drama classes for year.
Wednesday, June 11 - Anfield, film and album, released.
Saturday, June 14 – Ringo and Maureen fly to Los Angeles, John goes to Nashville
Monday, June 16 – Ringo auditions for They Shoot Horses Don’t They
Tuesday, June 17 – John and Dirty Truth begin recording You Know It Ain’t Easy at RCA Studio A
Saturday, June 28 – Sunapee, NH:Future members of Aerosmith play on stage along with Anfield
Tuesday, July 1 – Ringo starts filming They Shoot Horses Don’t They
Thursday, July 3 – John “Jackie” McCartney born, crowd participation at Anfield spreads
Thursday, July 10 – John and the Dirty Truth complete You Know It Ain’t Easy
Saturday, July 12- John and Yoko return to London, D&B&F in Tucson
Tuesday, July 15 – McCartneys return to London
Wednesday, July 16 – Paul and the Anfield Band begin recording 7 more songs for Believe Me
Friday, July 18 - You Know It Ain’t Easy & “You Know It Ain’t Easy”/“Remember” released
Sunday, July 20 – Joe calls George to join him and the Grease Band for August 17 gig, D&B&F in Houston
Monday, July 21 – Peter Brown announces Dirty Truth will have one unannounced show in America
Saturday, August 2 – George calls John to say he’s going to perform as himself
Monday, August 4 – John insists Dirty Truth’s show be cancelled
Friday, August 8 – Paul and the Anfield Band complete Believe Me. D&B&F in Kansas City
Saturday, August 9 – The Manson family attacks the Tate house and stops when they see Ringo
Sunday, August 10 – The Manson family kills the La Biancas, John & Yoko start NYC bed-in
Tuesday, August 12 – Ringo finishes filming They Shoot Horses Don’t They. D&B&F in Buffalo
Thursday, August 14 – The Starkey join the Harrisons in Poughkeepsie, NY
Friday, August 15 – Believe Me released
Saturday, August 16 – Paul and Anfield perform at Sunapee and then Manchester in NH
Sunday, August 17 – Joe Cocker & The Grease Band perform at Woodstock,
Sunday, August 17 - George, Ringo, John, and Paul perform at Woodstock and together
Monday, August 18 – Paul and Anfield perform at Albany, NY
Saturday, September 20 – John says, “I want us to be the Beatles again.”
Friday, October 17 - Harry and “I Guess The Lord Must Be In New York City” released
Monday, November 24 - Apple announces The Beatles to be released on Friday
Friday, November 28 - The Beatles and "Like No Other Lover/Cloud of Unknowing" released
Friday, November 28 - Both the album and the single debut at #1 in every English speaking nation
Friday, December 12 – The Magic Christian released costarring Richard Starkey
Wednesday, December 24 – They Shoot Horses Don’t They released
1970
Saturday, March 7 – Oscars nominations announced, Richard Starkey nominated for Best Supporting Actor
Tuesday, April 7 – 42nd Academy Awards, Jack Nicholson wins Best Supporting Actor
May - Merton George Lennon born
June - Leigh Starkey born
1971
Rich graduates from RADA
The Concert For Bangladesh hosted by The Beatles
"I'm A Dreamer" by The Beatles released
1972
John and Yoko on Mike Douglas daytime talk show
George quits smoking
1973
"Live and Let Die," theme for the James Bond film, released by Paul McCartney
1985
Beatles headline Live Aid
1987
John does MTV interview with Kurt Loder
1991
Richard Starkey co-stars in Silence of the Lambs
1992
Sir Richard Starkey wins Best Actor Academy Award
1993
Yoko publishes her autobiography
2004
Paul does Rolling Stone interview
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