John & Paul Quotes

“During the conversation with Hunter Davies, Cynthia says, “What I would like is a holiday on our own, without the Beatles. Just John, Julian, and me.” Lennon, smiling, says, “You what? Not even with our Beatle buddies?” Cynthia shakes her head. “They seem to need you less than you need them.”
― Ian Leslie, John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs

“They look beat-up and depraved in the nicest possible way.”
― Ian Leslie, John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs

“For all his formidable self-confidence, he harboured doubts about the person he was at heart, and sometimes questioned whether he had a heart at all. Iris Caldwell, his girlfriend from Liverpool, recalled that her mother had accused him of being emotionally cold. It ate at him: years later, just before the release of 'Yesterday', Paul called Iris and said her mother should listen to Yesterday to see if it changed her mind. In an interview in the 1980s, he brought up the moment when he heard about his mother's death (‘What are we going to do for money?’), and said, ‘I’ve never forgiven myself for that. Really, deep down, I never have quite forgiven myself for that.’ As he danced through a Beatle life in which every door seemed to open the moment he touched it, he retained, in his mind, the baleful image of himself he drew as a teenager: a face that scowled rather than smiled. He once described his public self as 'pleasantly insincere’. He was drawn to those who saw through his masks and loved him nonetheless. Being accepted by John confirmed to him that he was special. Being loved by Linda, and by Heather, convinced him he was good.”
― Ian Leslie, John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs

“In October, Yoko and John celebrated John's thirty-first birthday with friends, including Ringo, in a hotel room in Syracuse, New York, where Yoko had an exhibition. There is a tape of a rowdy singalong, led by John on an out-of-tune guitar. It includes a slightly drunk and maudlin rendition of 'Yesterday'. John gets the words wrong (‘now it looks as though I've lost my way'), and replaces ‘she’ with ‘he’: why he had to go, I don't know, he wouldn't say...”
― Ian Leslie, John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs

“At one point in his 1981 conversation with Hunter Davies, McCartney said rather miserably, "I realise now we never got to the bottom of each other's souls." In the end, McCartney had to settle for not knowing, and not understanding. So do we all. What we can say for sure is that they loved each other, that through music they found a way to share this love with everyone in the world, and that in doing so they made the world an immeasurably better place. Because it was John; because it was Paul.”
― Ian Leslie, John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs

“John and Paul were writing more than ever, despite, or rather because of, this frenetic schedule. A crucial factor in their collaboration was sheer physical proximity. Before, the Beatles had traveled to gigs in Merseyside and returned home at the end of the night. Now they were either on the road or staying in hotels. When John and Paul were together—in hotel rooms, dressing rooms, the van, the coach—they would share whatever melodies or lines they had in their heads, inviting the other to help”
― Ian Leslie, John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs

“(Ray Davies, of the Kinks: “Paul McCartney was one of the most competitive people I’ve ever met. Lennon wasn’t. He just thought everyone else was shit.”)”
― Ian Leslie, John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs

“Both John and Paul were living up to Arthur Schopenhauer’s definition of genius: unlike talent, which hits a target nobody else can reach, genius hits a target nobody else can see.”
― Ian Leslie, John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs

“But they did not have the craftsman’s detachment from his work, because they instinctively believed in Tolstoy’s definition of the artistic calling: “to transmit that feeling that others may experience the same feeling.”
― Ian Leslie, John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs

“wasn’t just coincidence; it arose out of a consistent feature of the Lennon-McCartney relationship: Paul’s desire, verging on a need, to steer his wayward friend toward safe harbor.”
― Ian Leslie, John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs

“Musically, "In My Life" is a descendent of "If I Fell," and is as wrapped up in the Lennon-McCartney relationship as that song is. Many of Lennon's songs from that period - "Day Tripper," "Girl," "Norwegian Wood" (and later "And Your Bird Can Sing"). are about someone glamorous and emotionally distant, tantalizingly out of reach. These songs are not "about" Paul directly, but they do have a flavor of his golden progress through London society as seen through the eyes of a socially awkward suburbanite. Paul needed John to trust in him - he wanted to get through to John, to convince him that he was committed to their partnership, and worthy of his trust. What he didn't quite see is that John wanted an acknowledgement of love, since love and trust were for him almost synonymous. Of course, neither of them could say so”
― Ian Leslie, John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs