Paul is dead, John is alive

[The Vet]

What if Paul Mccartney really had died in a car crash in 1966? and what if Mark chapman had missed John lennon when he tried to shoot him?

 

[Dudekebm]

Well the POD of Paul dying in a car crash in 1966 has a butterfly effect that would probably pre-empt any events such as Mark Chapman shooting John Lennon.

The rumor of Paul dying was started during the false Paul is dead rumors regarding specifically an incident where Paul McCartney stormed out of the studio during the recording of Sgt. Pepper. If this were true I don't see someone putting a Paul lookalike as a stand-in, nor do I see any subsequent works being written (i.e. Magical Mystery Tour, The White Album, Abbey Road, Let It Be, etc...).

What probably would have happened is you'd have Revolver as the last album and maybe some bootleg early sessions from the rehearsals for Sgt. Pepper (the rumored date of Paul's death would have been Nov. 9, 1966 and technically Sgt. Pepper didn't start recording until December...maybe some EP with "Penny Lane" and "Strawberry Fields"). The innovations that happened during the recording of Sgt. Pepper alone would not have happened. John Lennon would be a much different person given he was a rather passionate person; He was considering leaving the band mid 1966 and, without his writing partner Paul, Lennon would have probably called it quits from the Beatles. With Brian Epstein's death in 1967 in the OTL Lennon took things really hard ((although I don't know how Epstein would have handled a Beatles breakup...he might have been slightly better off trying to get a new group from the Beatles' ashes together with the Beatles' name); It's hard to imagine how he would have taken Paul's death. This would also butterfly out his relationship with Yoko Ono, Lennon's later public anti-war stances, etc... Who knows? It's entirely possible that Lennon might have just gone into a deep depression, perhaps blaming himself (i.e. "If I didn't keep arguing with Paul that night...").

You're looking at basically a history of the Beatles being basically just a more popular British Invasion group who suddenly disbanded after the death of one of their key members, perhaps reforming but Paul's death would have essentially killed Sgt. Pepper which was a landmark in musical history as well as influential on future albums from other artists which came after. As far as Lennon's death, either a suicide if his depression went really deep shortly after Paul's death (remember at that time treatment for depression that we have today wasn't around) or more likely he'd be less famous and would have died of natural causes sometime recently (given the age of the Beatles currently).

 

[Glass Onion]

I'm not sure Lennon would have taken Paul's death as hard as your suggesting, Lennon did not kill himself when Stuart Sutcliffe died, why would he when McCartney died? He was closer to Stu than to Paul on a personal level. This isn't to say he won't be affected, more than likely this'll bring up memories of his mother, who was run over by a speeding driver.

The thing about Lennon is, as much of a independent spirit he may have been, he had a pretty consistent need for a partner. When he was a kid it was Pete Shotton. In art school it was Stuart Sutcliffe, in the Beatles it was Paul McCartney, in his early solo career and after their reunion, it was Yoko Ono ect. With McCartney dead, John's probably going to be looking for a new partner to take his place. It probably wouldn't be Yoko Ono, though it might be a mistake to just say it'd be automatically butterflied. They might still meet, albeit under slightly different circumstances later on.

I'm not entirely sure who fits the bill for a new Lennon partner, if not Yoko, who? One might want to start by wandering around the English rock and pop scene in the time period and look for someone Lennon might want to join forces with, any ideas?

Strawberry Fields Forever was already written, and so it's probably still recorded, either as a augmented Beatles single or as a Lennon solo record, or else Lennon forms some new group, in any case it's still released. Paul's death is not going to stop him from writing music and recording anymore than Stu or Epstein's death did IOTL. So Lennon songs will still appear, though given butterflies, it's likely they are not the same songs we know from OTL with the exception of Strawberry Fields Forever, which again, was already written for the most part when Paul dies ITTL. The butterflying of Yoko might have a very adverse affect on Lennon though, while he probably has a lot of good songs in his 60's solo career, there's a good chance he's a Syd Barrett style acid casualty without Yoko.