<p>For those who missed it first time around, it’s on again tonight.</p>
<p>I don’t confuse the genius of the works with the human beings who made them, except to the extent they help me enjoy the content. I enjoy “Julia” more knowing it’s an elegy to John’s mother. That makes it more than “So I sing my song of love to Julia”. </p>
<p>Last night I saw Courtney Love on some entertainment program. I wondered how her PR people got her the time and got her such a positive segment. I bring this up because Love continues to be a mess who pursues feuds and that was mentioned in the show without any context. So I looked it up. One of the latest is she claimed Dave Grohl hit on her daughter. Her daughter replied, “While I’m generally silent on the affairs of my biological mother, her recent tirade has taken a gross turn. I have never been approached by Dave Grohl in more than a platonic way. I’m in a monogamous relationship and very happy. Twitter should ban my mother.” I loved that “my biological mother” reference.</p>
<p>My point is we don’t have a clue what the personal relationships are like. Look up what Patty Boyd Harrison said about George’s drug abuse and infidelities. I remember Ringo and Keith Moon talking about their alcoholism. Some of it is fame. Some is that they were flawed people. Some can be, as with Moonie, genuine mental illness; he was diagnosed later in life with borderline personality disorder. </p>
<p>I enjoy Julia more knowing the backstory behind it, too. I agree we don’t know all about the personal relationships. And while John wasn’t good or kind to Cynthia Lennon, Paul wasn’t exactly a model boyfriend to Jane Asher and George was clearly a womanizer (didn’t he bed Ringo’s wife at one point?). Marriages are complex, relationships are complex, sexual longings are complex. I get that. </p>
<p>I have a very visceral reaction to some of this, however, because I’m the daughter of parents who got divorced when I was young, my mother remarried when I was 6 and my stepfather adopted me and I became his daughter in every sense of the word. So in my heart, I look at the videos of the Paul/Linda wedding with a 6 yo Heather very much adored by Paul from the get-go and it makes me smile, because I “see” my own story reflected in that. <a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube; </p>
<p>And then I look at how John couldn’t be bothered with Julian, who was about the same age at the time. So I freely admit I have a very emotional reaction to these two men based on that. </p>
<p>BTW, Goldenpooch, if you had said “Without Lennon, there would be no Help! or Rubber Soul” that would be something that would be completely supported by the discography. </p>
<p>Only caught the last hour last night, but except for Katie Perry, I enjoyed it.</p>
<p>Yeah, I didn’t care for Katy Perry’s version of *Yesterday. *</p>
<p>I wondered what Paul and Ringo were thinking while they watched the performances of their material. I would imagine that even if a particular performance didn’t impress them, that they are nevertheless just happy the young musicians still find their music relevant and want to perform it.</p>
<p>I think they have no choice but to smile broadly and applaud! But I love how you can see them mouth the words, “drum” along, etc. They are just musicians to the core. You know that even if they hadn’t become famous, they still would have been in local bands playing weddings in Liverpool or somesuch.</p>
<p>I <em>loved</em> Nancy Shevell’s dress and wonder who made it. </p>
<p>Cole Porter would sometimes leave when people played his music “badly”. Most just tune it out and try to act like a good sport - which is easy when the cameras are a few feet away and pointed at you. I know stories of composers saying things like “what was that you were playing?” after hearing some performer’s version of their stuff. </p>
<p>In terms of marriages, Paul was lucky not to have married in the early days. Ringo met Maureen in like 1962, when she was genuinely underage. John was with Cynthia in the 1950’s. I suspect that was in part because those two had the worst upbringings. John had nearly no contact with his dad and lived mostly with his aunt, while Ringo’s father would disappear drunk for days while his kid was sick. It’s pop psychology, but they probably needed marriage more than George and Paul, who had much happier childhoods. George met Patty, as I remember, shooting one the movies. She says his drug use was the biggest problem and George was not the only person to have those problems. I remember Paul and Linda dated for a few years before marrying, so he had that time to bond with her daughter. </p>
<p>Speaking of which, I think Paul lucked out in that Jane Asher has steadfastly refused to say anything about their life together. She’s quite classy in that regard. She sure did inspire some great songs, that’s for sure, and she’s aged very well. </p>
<p>I saw most of the broadcast on Sunday night, save for when I had to watch Downton Abbey and I watched it again last night. I really enjoyed it and think both Paul and Ringo really delivered. Ringo still has a strong voice and is a great entertainer. Sir Paul is simply amazing in my book. Some of the covers were really good such as Alicia Keys and John Legend. I didn’t like Katy Perry and she looked hideous with what she was wearing but that’s beside the point. I didn’t like the cover of Imagine Dragons… </p>
<p>I did like all the Ed Sullivan show people talking about the broadcast and the clips. I remember seeing it in my living room with my whole family and our guests. If I only had saved all my I love Paul buttons from those days. I remember buying Beatles fan magazines (do things like that still exist?) and singing Beatles songs on the schoolbus. My cousin’s DH is British and grew up in Liverpool with the Beatles, he is same age and also played in a band that one night performed on the same bill with them… they were all still in high school in the U.K.</p>
<p>Since she was in relationships with both George Harrison and Eric Clapton at various times, it’s hard to beat Pattie Boyd for or inspiring a lot of great songs:</p>
<p>For You Blue - The Beatles
It’s All Too Much - The Beatles
Layla - Derek & the Dominos
She’s Waiting - Eric Clapton
Something - The Beatles
Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad - Derek & the Dominos
Wonderful Tonight - Eric Clapton</p>
<p>…all of them about the same woman.</p>
<p>PG, may I tap into your Ph.D in Beatleology to ask something? I once saw a bio-movie about photographer Linda Eastman (McCartney). It showed how her wealthy father (Kodak-Eastman fortune…) sought to advise Paul how to manage the growing band’s money in sane ways to protect his daughter, and in ways that would benefit the other musicians also. </p>
<p>When Paul presented these approaches to John and the others, they didn’t understand. John argued, George sulked in a corner. Paul always said the band broke up over business, not music or anything else around personalities (ahem, Yoko). Does that sound right to you? </p>
<p>Cross posted – Coureur, that’s some amazing research. </p>
<p>Linda Eastman was not from the Eastman/Kodak family, but her father was a shrewd businessman and the rest of what you say is generally true and disagreements over how their money should be managed did contribute to the breakup. Yoko lying in bed in the middle of the studio and caterwauling didn’t help either. </p>
<p>I wonder how that urban myth about Linda being from the Eastman/Kodak fortune got started.</p>
<p>Have really enjoyed this thread (see my avatar), especially Pizzagirl’s posts. I just finished Mark Lewisohn’s new biography of their early years, Tune In, and it’s brilliant. Can’t wait for the next two volumes, although they will apparently be years in the making. </p>
<p>Lee Eastman’s real name was Leopold Epstein. His wife had money; her family owned some store chain in the Midwest. </p>
<p>At least some of Paul’s kids have said they consider themselves Jewish, though they weren’t raised religious. Paul’s current wife is also Jewish. Given what happened with Heather Mills, maybe he should have stuck with the tribe.</p>
<p>I heard Paul talk about Lee on Howard Stern’s show. He said Lee advised him to invest in what he loved and they hit on music publishing. Lee found the people who owned Buddy Holly’s songs for Paul. Funny bit was Paul had Michael Jackson over for dinner. Paul recommended to Michael that he get into publishing rights and then Paul imitated Michael saying, “I’m going to get yours.” </p>
<p>I cannot believe I missed the Beatles Tribute. I am really bummed since I was in love with the Beatles. I have enjoyed reading all the fascinating tidbits.</p>
<p>One more Patty Boyd Song: Bell Bottom Blues. Eric Clapton mentioned in his autobiography that he wrote it for her . she had asked him to buy a certain brand of bell bottoms when he went to US on tour. They were having problems and he was miserable about it.</p>
<p>Please post if anyone hears about a way to see the show online or something.</p>