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11.53pm
4 September 2019
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I saw this video posted recently on YouTube. Forget the Billy Shepherd/Paul is dead nonsense. The video appears to show Yoko accusing Paul of being against John, and Paul quickly trying to deny it. I’ve never seen this clip before, it’s supposed to be from John’s induction the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Yoko seems to be stewing about something before making the comment to Paul. Did Yoko really think Paul was against John in some way? Is there another interpretation of this video?
10.04am
12 May 2015
Offline I hadn’t seen that before.
My take is that it was a very emotional evening and they are watching visuals of Johns life on the screen, Yoko looks like she is fit to burst out crying. It felt to me like she was asking paul if he still had anything against John. Perhaps that would come from years of hearing Johns Paranoia and anger about their relationship.
Paul looks very relaxed and isn’t offended, and lets her know he doesn’t hold any grudges and he never hated John despite their clashes. It’s quite lovely how he is comforting both Yoko and Sean in this context, it says a lot about Paul as a human being.
Then he had to go and walk out onto the stage and deliver a speech – it’s no wonder Paul nearly broke down.
2.55am
4 September 2019
Offline castironshore said
I hadn’t seen that before.My take is that it was a very emotional evening and they are watching visuals of Johns life on the screen, Yoko looks like she is fit to burst out crying. It felt to me like she was asking paul if he still had anything against John. Perhaps that would come from years of hearing Johns Paranoia and anger about their relationship.
Could well be. Clearly they had their disagreements in the late 60s/early 70s period.
It just surprises me that in 1994, 14 years after John’s death, Yoko still thinks there might be hard feelings on Paul’s part.
4.30pm
12 May 2015
Offline It reminds me of a friendship i had with a bloke for the best part of 20 years. We were once inseparable and then drifted apart, i don’t think i could really say for sure why, but things just fell apart between us by the end. I know i played my part without really knowing how. It was like i sleepwalked into it.
Anyway recently we caught up again and it was amazing how much we both had misread each other, and not really understood what was going on with our respective lives at the time. Afterwards it was a bit embarrassing, saying we would stay in touch but we never have to date. I think something similar happened to John and Paul. They had a wonderful life together, an amazing journey, but they just didn’t communicate well enough and honestly enough with each other at key points and the breach was made.
Perhaps it might have been undone had John lived, but i’m not sure. I think what we see in that clip is an emotional trauma that ended up being frozen in time after John passed. Its why Macca stresses so much about telling people you love them when they are alive in his live shows, he knows better than anyone it saves you a lot of grief down the line.
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Ahhh Girl, Richard, Beatlebug11.55am
14 June 2016
Offline Indeed. I haven’t necessarily fallen out with people in the past, but for whatever reason we stopped talking and were just living our own lives, and that became a long period of time. If we met again it would be awkward but I don’t think there’s any real strong hate there. However after a while I think you decide it’s been too long and you may as well move on and start afresh with other people. While still having fond memories of the past, but knowing those days are gone.
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1.40am
4 September 2019
Offline castironshore said
Perhaps it might have been undone had John lived, but i’m not sure. I think what we see in that clip is an emotional trauma that ended up being frozen in time after John passed. Its why Macca stresses so much about telling people you love them when they are alive in his live shows, he knows better than anyone it saves you a lot of grief down the line.
It just seems surprising to me because the narrative lately has been that John and Paul had mostly healed their differences. Session musicians who played on John’s records told stories about how Paul would call, and John would stop everything to have a lengthy, friendly chat with him. They spent some time together during the Lost Weekend, and you hear about Paul dropping in on John at the Dakota (often inconveniently, apparently).
Given all that, you get the impression that sure, they lived different lives and maybe didn’t see each other often. But John usually talked fondly about his “old fiance”, and I wouldn’t expect Yoko to ask Paul if he was “against” John. Maybe it was just a momentary or lingering doubt from some past incidents.
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Timothy6.31am
12 May 2015
Offline forn said
castironshore said
Perhaps it might have been undone had John lived, but i’m not sure. I think what we see in that clip is an emotional trauma that ended up being frozen in time after John passed. Its why Macca stresses so much about telling people you love them when they are alive in his live shows, he knows better than anyone it saves you a lot of grief down the line.
It just seems surprising to me because the narrative lately has been that John and Paul had mostly healed their differences. Session musicians who played on John’s records told stories about how Paul would call, and John would stop everything to have a lengthy, friendly chat with him. They spent some time together during the Lost Weekend, and you hear about Paul dropping in on John at the Dakota (often inconveniently, apparently).
Given all that, you get the impression that sure, they lived different lives and maybe didn’t see each other often. But John usually talked fondly about his “old fiance”, and I wouldn’t expect Yoko to ask Paul if he was “against” John. Maybe it was just a momentary or lingering doubt from some past incidents.
I think one thing i have learned, is there is the narrative from Paul which is partly about making him feel better about what happened and partly about the Beatles legacy (and absolutely understandable on both counts) and then there is actually what really happened which is a bit more complex. The residue of that you see in Yoko’s comment to Paul. I don’t believe John and Paul were ever fully reconciled.
It may well have been that having Paul next to her and seeing John close by them like that, even if on a monitor screen, that prompted her to say that. John would have confided much to her about how he really felt about the breakup over the years. Most likely in the emotion of the evening she was asking the question on Johns behalf.
12.30pm
23 January 2022
Offline It’s not at all clear what Yoko says to Paul in this video. The subtitles can’t be relied on.
My hot take is that after the Beatles split they went down the paths of spiritualism, solipsism, alcoholism, and Paul McCartney
-- Jason Carty, Nothing is Real podcast
5.49pm
12 May 2015
Offline Pauls words and consoling reaction are clear and make it obvious what was being asked by Yoko.
8.46pm
23 January 2022
Offline Not necessarily. She could have said “I know you were never against him” for example, and his reaction would make just as much sense.
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RichardMy hot take is that after the Beatles split they went down the paths of spiritualism, solipsism, alcoholism, and Paul McCartney
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1.49am
4 September 2019
Offline castironshore said
I don’t believe John and Paul were ever fully reconciled.
You may be right. If they had been truly fully reconciled, they most likely would have recorded together, appeared together, or done some sort of work together. From what I understand, they were planning on doing something (loosely) during the Lost Weekend, but then John and Yoko got back together again (with Paul’s help, supposedly). And after that John’s head wasn’t in the right space to be working in the music biz.
As for what Yoko is saying in the video, maybe the subtitles are wrong, I don’t know. But her facial expression looks pained before she says it. Maybe she was just emotional in the moment though.
9.16pm
12 May 2015
Offline meaigs said
Not necessarily. She could have said “I know you were never against him” for example, and his reaction would make just as much sense.
I don’t think so.
But even if you want to convince yourself of that, Yokos bitter, fraught expression suggests something opposite.
2.08am
4 September 2019
Offline castironshore said
But even if you want to convince yourself of that, Yokos bitter, fraught expression suggests something opposite.
Paul seems to be on the defensive in the video also.
John and Paul were certainly rivals, maybe Yoko was reading too much into that. Not long after they got together, the Allen Klein stuff started, and Paul was certainly “against John” on that decision. And really, John was in the wrong there, because he forewent the traditional “unanimous decision” tradition that the Beatles had. John probably vented his frustrations about Paul to her, giving her a harsher view where she was missing out on a lot of the warmth between them.
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