9.14pm
15 March 2017
5.11am
Reviewers
Moderators
1 May 2011
Elementary Penguin said
I want to buy one of those. Charles Hawtrey was one of my favourite Carry On actors.
I always look at who is in a ‘Carry On’ film to know if it’s watchable or not and the three who must appear are Kenneth Williams, Sid James and Charles Hawtrey.
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6.29am
8 January 2015
meanmistermustard said
I always look at who is in a ‘Carry On’ film to know if it’s watchable or not and the three who must appear are Kenneth Williams, Sid James and Charles Hawtrey.
I have a shameful collection of Carry On’s and I think my favourite is Don’t Lose Your Head.
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7.51pm
15 March 2017
meanmistermustard said
I always look at who is in a ‘Carry On’ film to know if it’s watchable or not and the three who must appear are Kenneth Williams, Sid James and Charles Hawtrey.
They are the same three actors that I want to see in a Carry On film.
ewe2 said
I have a shameful collection of Carry On’s and I think my favourite is Don’t Lose Your Head.
Nothing wrong with that. I think my favourite is Carry On Abroad.
And in the end the lunch you take is equal to the lunch you bake.
9.38am
Moderators
15 February 2015
I just discovered that this song is in the perfect rhythm/tempo to walk to, for a brisk walk.
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4.11pm
6 May 2018
I think this is a great song, and sometimes quite underrated.
C.R.A. said
Can someone explain the lyrics:You and me burning matches
There’s a little game of producing a fully burnt match without dropping it – by letting the match slowly burn so that when the unburnt end is reached by the flame, the burnt end is (just) cool enough to hold instead. I don’t know if there are any references about whether this is what Paul had in mind?
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The love you take is equal to the love you make
7.19pm
7 November 2022
This question may have been raised before, but I always thought Paul wrote this about him and John. In the Let It Be movie when they’re playing it, Paul and John look at each other smiling, and I just assumed they were warmly recognizing the meaning of the song. Then I learn it’s about Paul and Linda, what the…??? Doesn’t make sense. Did Paul and Linda go around lifting latches and burning matches? lol
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8.48pm
6 May 2018
Sea Belt said
This question may have been raised before, but I always thought Paul wrote this about him and John. In the Let It Be movie when they’re playing it, Paul and John look at each other smiling, and I just assumed they were warmly recognizing the meaning of the song. Then I learn it’s about Paul and Linda, what the…??? Doesn’t make sense. Did Paul and Linda go around lifting latches and burning matches? lol
While Two Of Us may be partly about Paul and Linda, it seems to me to be mainly about Paul and John.
You make some excellent points, and some of the other lyrics also seem to be more appropriate as being about Paul and John:
* Ian MacDonald suggested that some of the lyrics (for example, “you and I have memories / longer than the road that stretches out ahead” and “you and me chasing paper / getting nowhere”) sounded like Paul was probably addressing John and contractual troubles. The “paper” reference is also used by Paul in the song You Never Give Me Your Money when he refers to the Beatles’ contract with Allen Klein as “funny paper”.
* John was given £100 by his relatives ahead of his 21st birthday on 9 October 1961, and he invited Paul to go on holiday with him using this £100 as their funding. They decided to travel to Spain, but got no further than Paris; they hitchhiked some of the way and travelled by train for parts of the journey. Maybe: “Two of us riding nowhere / Spending someone’s / Hard earned pay”.
* The lines “you and I have memories / longer than the road that stretches out ahead” don’t seem particularly relevant to Paul and Linda as they hadn’t been together long when this song was written. In contrast, Paul and John had shared memories of over 11 years; and they seemed to have in mind that the Beatles were drawing close to splitting at this stage, so their memories could be considered to be “longer than the road that stretches out ahead”.
* John and Paul are the central figures pictured on the Help ! album cover wearing coats in the bright sun of the ski slopes at Obertauern, Austria. Maybe: “Two of us wearing raincoats / Standing solo in the sun”.
* “Standing solo in the sun” could also refer to Paul and John often being the solo lead singers at times (particularly when starting a song) in the “sun” of the bright spotlights – and in the “sun” of the world’s media focused strongly sometimes on Paul or John individually (after remarks they had made).
* The Beatles performed at a large number of venues around the UK and the world, sometimes enjoyable, while sometimes they were effectively “trapped” inside hotel rooms. Many times, they must have felt relieved to be eventually going home after the performances. “We’re on our way home / We’re on our way home / We’re going home”.
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10.50pm
26 January 2017
That’s part of a good piece of art. The greatest stories/songs/paintings can be interpreted in many different ways depending on who is listening to it. I could see an old couple listening to this song and relating to it in a deep way. My brother and I sing and harmonize this song together and can relate to it within our relationship growing up together and becoming adults. John and Paul probably felt a deep connection to these lyrics while playing it in 69. This was likely intentional by Paul; often writing a song can be like putting a puzzle together, putting pieces where they fit and seeing the big picture after the fact. As a master songwriter at the height of his powers I don’t doubt Paul was aware of the many ways this song can be understood.
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-Bob Dylan, Subterranean Homesick Blues
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12.56am
7 November 2022
1.04am
6 May 2018
1.25am
7 November 2022
That’s what they call a “receipt” 🙂
It’s interesting how they sing it so emphatically sounding like “so-low”. That line about “wearing raincoats, standing solo in the sun” seems the most enigmatic of them all, unless there’s a back story I don’t know. It’s a nice line if it’s a flash of poetic inspiration that isn’t meant to “mean” anything specific.
I like the way Paul says ungrammatically “you and me”, then switches to “you and I” for the more directly sentimental chorus.
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2.20am
6 May 2018
Sea Belt said
It’s interesting how they sing it so emphatically sounding like “so-low”. That line about “wearing raincoats, standing solo in the sun” seems the most enigmatic of them all, unless there’s a back story I don’t know. It’s a nice line if it’s a flash of poetic inspiration that isn’t meant to “mean” anything specific.
I noticed this meme online:
There may have been a kind of in-joke between John and Paul about how they were wearing “raincoats” in the bright sun at Obertauern “so low” below the mountain peaks of the Alps. Who knows? Presumably Paul does (or did)?
Could it be that the song was originally written (mainly) about John and Paul, and later Paul preferred to distance himself from those associations when the two of them hit a rough patch for a while in their relationship?
And in the end
The love you take is equal to the love you make
4.03am
Moderators
15 February 2015
Sea Belt said
I like the way Paul says ungrammatically “you and me”, then switches to “you and I” for the more directly sentimental chorus.
It suits the more casual, scrapbook feel of the verses, compared with the more formal, structured feeling of the chorus.
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6.13am
7 November 2022
9.48am
26 January 2017
Sea Belt said
This question may have been raised before, but I always thought Paul wrote this about him and John. In the Let It Be movie when they’re playing it, Paul and John look at each other smiling, and I just assumed they were warmly recognizing the meaning of the song. Then I learn it’s about Paul and Linda, what the…??? Doesn’t make sense. Did Paul and Linda go around lifting latches and burning matches? lol
I think you’ve already answered the question – the song is ostensibly about Paul and Linda, but the lyrics suggest otherwise. I like to think of it as Paul’s way of saying goodbye to one era of his life and hello to the next one.
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5.33pm
7 November 2022
QuarryMan said
Sea Belt said
This question may have been raised before, but I always thought Paul wrote this about him and John. In the Let It Be movie when they’re playing it, Paul and John look at each other smiling, and I just assumed they were warmly recognizing the meaning of the song. Then I learn it’s about Paul and Linda, what the…??? Doesn’t make sense. Did Paul and Linda go around lifting latches and burning matches? lol
I think you’ve already answered the question – the song is ostensibly about Paul and Linda, but the lyrics suggest otherwise. I like to think of it as Paul’s way of saying goodbye to one era of his life and hello to the next one.
That would be nice, but I think it’s just a tip of the hat from Paul to John.
Now today I find, you have changed your mind
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