The Beatles: All These Years by Mark Lewisohn | Page 42 | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

From what I can recall, the story about Paul and John ‘meeting’ before the fete is an anecdote that Paul used to tell to friends when he gave them a guided tour of the city (although how he would have done this in recent years is a bit of a mystery because the Liverpool that the Beatles knew barely exists now). I don’t think they actually met, it was more that John was the scary-looking Ted that Paul had seen at the Abba newsagent and on the bus. Paul would have to be very precious to feel annoyed with Mark at letting this out. In a way, it adds another dimension to the story – a little bit like the question of whether Brian was aware of The Beatles before he went down to the Cavern. He definitely recognised them as a group of boys who frequented his shop and did a lot of listening in the browseries but maybe not as much buying. Perhaps there was the same fleeting recognition in Woolton that day but this was overshadowed by the performance that Paul put on, showing that he was streets ahead of the other Quarrymen as a singer, guitarist and impersonator of Little Richard. And the events which followed.

I actually wonder if one of the real reasons for Paul’s disdain is that Mark details in full just how mean Paul was to Stuart Sutcliffe. In the Anthology, Paul off-handedly refers to the fact that there was a little bit of tension between Stuart and him, Paul wanted the band to be really good musically etc. The reality, according to Mark L, is that Paul deeply resented Stuart on a number of levels, and was particularly horrible to him, to the extent that he couldn’t face Astrid after Stuart died. Just a theory.

What puzzles me is that Mark interviewed Paul on many occasions. Many of these interviews feature in the book for the first time. What reason did Mark give for wanting to interview him? Was it for Many Years From Now? (apparently, Lewisohn was the original choice for co-author before Barry Miles but was sacked when he disagreed with Macca about the date of some gig they’d played in Wallasey in 1961. Or something!).

I just took a shufty at the lyrics and you’re right, the John and Paul relationship is at the heart of it. It’s also possible that the song was written with the knowledge that ML was writing the book and perhaps Paul was just reacting to/anticipating someone who he perceived as trying to take control of the story.