Beatles Biography by Mark Lewisohn (6th edition)- plus Lewisohn news. *

Don't forget Apple to the Core - released around the same time as TLCP.

 

Thank God you're on the job keeping us up-to-date on all things Lewisohn/Beatles.!

 

Jeez, I wish I hadn't checked out that link!

 

Mark’s going to be on BBC5 in about eight hours or so (time zones are not my speciality) — dare I say, will there be some news to report? He’s sorta insinuating that he’s not just talking about Hornsey Road: Mark Lewisohn on Twitter

 

Just listened on iPlayer - superb as always, some offbeat questions, and a message to all those who are getting snippy about the time he's taking to finish volume 2...

 

Could you link me to it ?

 

Here's the link but you'll need to register with iPlayer/BBC to hear it (free of charge):

Geoff Lloyd - 15/06/2019 - BBC Sounds

It starts at around 36 minutes in to the show.

 

Amazing, thank you !

 

Wow, that was very interesting, especially the first part ! I would absolutely love to hear that tape; I must say I was quite skeptical when it was mentioned in the past, but now that Mark has heard it and described what they said, it really does highlight how up and down John could be, quitting one day, and then recording a conversation about future album plans for Ringo to hear.

The Rolling Stone article about drugged up Lennon, hooked on drugged up Yoko, accidentally forcing Paul out as part of a power play move by choosing Klein, but never actually wanting the group to end at that point in time, seems to ring truer the more information like this that we get. Had John turned up at some of those 1970 Beatles sessions, or had 'Instant Karma' put forward for the Beatles to record, I think things would have been very different. Hearing such a great Beatlesque single being released as a solo tune must have affected Paul's plans for what became 'McCartney 2'.

 

I wrote an alternate history of The Beatles starting in late 1969 and wrote about them having separate songwriting credits at this time. I hadn't heard the tape or even knew of its existence. It's neat to have guessed it right.

 

Come on Dave, own up - you were the source of the tape!!

Seriously, that's some coincidence. Did you ever publish it?

 

I've uploaded it several times in the last two years and put it in a few threads on this board. I kept re-editing it and adding a paragraph here or there. I think I'm finally finished with it. I don't think it's a coincidence at all. I wanted to write what I felt was a believable story. From reading their story from numerous authors what I felt was there were two things that had to happen for them to continue; separate writing credits and solo albums concurrent with Beatle albums. It was all about people seeing each of them as individuals at that time. I wrote the story on intuition and that's what came out.

 

So you pulled the different threads together and came to a conclusion (which turned to be correct)?

 

I didn't really think about it. It's hard to put in text but it was an intuitive feeling on my part that came from reading their story. As I wrote that part of the story, it just came out that way and I really felt it. I just knew this was a good plot point for the story. I didn't feel it was actually true but finding out that it was makes me remember the feeling I had when I was writing that part of the story which means that feeling I was having was, to me, truth. I think anyone who's studied a subject can put 2+2 together and come up with something that was true but not yet known.

 

Are you referring to Mikal Gilmore's RS piece "Why The Beatles Broke Up: The Inside Story" September 3, 2009?

Edit: If so....(copy/pasted)
I posted this in an old, locked thread. This is Mikal Gilmore's personal conclusion after researching and writing the Why The Beatles Broke Up 2009 RS cover story:

"I don't think that John Lennon and George Harrison (but Lennon, again, in particular) truly meant the Beatles to end, even though they might not have known it in the moment. I think they meant to shift the balance of power, I think they meant for the Beatles to become, in a sense, a more casual form of collaboration, and I think they clearly intended to rein in Paul McCartney. But they overplayed their hand and — there's no way around it — they treated McCartney shamefully during 1969, and unforgivably in the early months of 1970."

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/n...story-behind-our-cover-20090818#ixzz3WC1q6Td8
Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook

 

I managed to listen to it without registering. Third time lucky.

Lewisohn starts at 36 mark (per above) but the Abbey Road part starts at 42:45. Then a little later "Lennon puts a little Phillips cassette recorder on the table, 'Ringo, you can't be here so we're recording this so you can hear what we're saying.' September '69.

 

I didn’t know that it was during the September 69 meeting that John and Paul agreed to end the Lennon/McCartney song writing partnership, I’d assumed that had come about post-Toronto. I guess it was more John’s idea to take sole credit for their own songs on future Beatle products, though Paul was presumably less than thrilled at the prospect of being half-credited for a song about Heroin withdrawal and perhaps that made it easier for him to agree to it.

 

Lewisohn didn't say in the interview ion that tape was before John quitting or after. I'm interested to know.

 

Yes, exactly what I meant.

 

The implication is that it (their discussion to continue on with future projects) supersedes Lennon's quitting talk. Otherwise I would think Lewisohn would say something like " yeah, and to think they'd just been talking about continuing on and then, of all things, Lennon announces he quits just a week later " or whatever.

 

That was my thinking too.

 

I was under the impression that the tape was pre-Toronto.

Do we have a definitive date for the "Divorce" meeting? I think 20th September is the generally accepted date but if the magnifying glass pics were taken the same day, then the David Wigg interview with Paul must throw the 20th into doubt as Paul is clean shaven when talking to Wigg yet he's got a fair few days growth on the Klein signing pics.

 

The discussion on the taped meeting at Beatles meeting Oct '69, where's the tape? appears to be concluding that it was pre-Toronto. Paul went to the premier of "Midnight Cowboy" on the 25th September and then disappeared whilst John got busy recording the next POB single before Yoko lost another baby and then they went to Greece, so it all seems to make sense that the tape was the week leading up to Toronto (which is probably why John was thinking it over whilst out there).

The Wigg interview with Paul was on the 19th September. Looking at the Wigg pics again, they are quite dark but he could well be semi-bearded as in the Klein signing pics, so this would be the day before the bombshell. Wigg then interviews George on 8th October and Wigg says "You can't split, can you." George says "No, well, I think it's mental. It's a mental concept. But to physically or spiritually split is impossible. Well, maybe not physically, I mean, spiritually, it's, you know, you can't split." Life magazine then speaks to Paul (late October?) who states "The Beatle thing is over."

 

From what I've read, John told Klein he was leaving on the way to Toronto. Perhaps his last back and forth in his own mind was between the tape recording and going to Toronto. That could be a couple of weeks or a couple of days in between. Yes on Paul and Life magazine in late October.

 

From the 'Where's the tape?' thread.