From: geoff@nospamgeoffwood.org   
      
   On 25/06/2025 9:48 am, Geoff wrote:   
   > On 24/06/2025 11:39 pm, Norbert wrote:   
   > .   
   >>   
   >> In one of the verses, McCartney appears to start with "Oh, Johnnie."   
   >> Anyone else hear this?   
   >   
   > As hard as I try, I just cannot hear that. What verse/time ?   
   >   
   > Agree about the 'target' of the song though. As, in the other direction,   
   > must have been 'Jealous Guy, despite various denials .   
   >   
      
   Posted by a 'Ron' on Quora.   
      
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   "Behind the Beat": A Behavioral Study of the Beatles Mar 28   
   For ‘Abbey Road' fans… (and John Lennon fans in particular).   
      
   Based on a lot of research into Lennon's development from adolescence to   
   1980—including his reflective commentary, archival interviews, and   
   critical discussions about The Beatles—we can derive a nuanced   
   understanding of his psychological and interpersonal persona, even   
   without his verbatim statements on specific compositions.   
      
   Never mentioned, but according to George, there was a feeling that the   
   ‘Abbey Road’ sessions would be the group’s last. The "medley" is   
   comprised of bits of songs Paul and John hadn’t used elsewhere. During   
   recording, it was dubbed "The Long One" when Paul and George Martin   
   blended the suite.   
      
   John opposed this format, preferring a return to album formats like   
   ‘Sgt. Pepper, a possible reason John was sour on side two.   
      
   Lennon appreciated the songs on side one for their completeness,   
   enjoying the standalone nature of ‘Here Comes the Sun’ and ‘Because.’   
   He   
   reportedly dismissed the medley as "junk... just bits of songs thrown   
   together" (by the McCartney/Martin collaboration). Many things could   
   have come together (no pun intended) to create a “feel” for “Abbey   
   Road,” and John’s feelings towards the album might’ve soured.   
      
   He called side two a “production gimmick.” It’s possible, too, that John   
   felt his talents weren’t represented well on the medley. For instance,   
   John liked his “Polythene Pam” tune, but felt it was lost in that   
   medley. The same is true for “Here Comes The Sun King.”   
      
   The McCartney/Martin collaboration for the medley might’ve made John   
   feel he was being replaced. Not out of the question is a feeling of   
   jealousy, John and Paul   
      
   John was, in part, quick to trash the medley because Paul and George   
   Martin created the suite. I believe John was so self-critical and   
   insecure (yet convinced of his genius), he’d preemptively denigrate his   
   songwriting, anticipating and justifying McCartney's perceived superiority.   
      
   ‘Come Together’   
   JOHN: “It’s gobbledygook — ‘Come Together’ was an expression that Tim   
   Leary had come up with for his attempt at being president or whatever he   
   wanted to be, and he asked me to write a campaign song. I tried and I   
   tried, but I couldn’t come up with one. But I came up with this, ‘Come   
   Together,’ which would’ve been no good to him– you couldn’t have a   
   campaign song like that, right? Leary attacked me years later, saying I   
   ripped him off. I didn’t rip him off. It’s just that it turned into   
   ‘Come Together.’ What am I going to do, give it to him? It was a funky   
   record — it’s one of my favorite Beatle tracks, or, one of my favorite   
   Lennon tracks, let’s say that. It’s funky, it’s bluesy, and I’m singing   
   it pretty well. I like the sound of the record. You can dance to it.   
   I’ll buy it! (laughs).”   
      
   ‘Something’   
   JOHN: “I think that’s about the best track on the album, actually.”   
      
   ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer' (They all hated it, Paul loved it.)   
   JOHN: “I hated it. All I remember is the track – he made us do it a   
   hundred million times. He did everything to make it into a single and it   
   never was and it never could’ve been. But [Paul] put guitar licks on it   
   and he had somebody hitting iron pieces and we spent more money on that   
   song than any of them in the whole album.”   
      
   ‘Oh! Darling’   
   JOHN: “Oh! Darling’ was a great one of Paul’s that he didn’t sing too   
   well. I always thought I could have done it better – it was more my   
   style than his. He wrote it, so what the hell, he’s going to sing it.”   
      
   ‘I Want You (She’s So Heavy)’   
   JOHN: “Simplicity is evident in ‘She So Heavy.’” A reviewer wrote:   
   ‘He   
   seems to have lost his talent for lyrics, it’s so simple and boring.’   
   John, “When it gets down to it– when you’re drowning, you don’t say   
   ‘I   
   would be incredibly pleased if someone would have the foresight to   
   notice me drowning and come and help me,’ you just scream.”   
      
   ‘Here Comes The Sun’   
   JOHN: “It reminds me of Buddy Holly, in a way. This song is just the way   
   he’s progressing, you know. He’s writing all kinds of songs and once the   
   door opens, the floodgates open.”   
      
   ‘Because’   
   JOHN: (songwriter): “I was lying on the sofa in our house, listening to   
   Yoko play Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight Sonata’ on the piano. Suddenly, I said,   
   ‘Can you play those chords backward?’ She did, and I wrote ‘Because’   
   around them. The song sounds like ‘Moonlight Sonata,’ too. The lyrics   
   are clear, no bullshit, no imagery, no obscure references.”   
      
   ‘You Never Give Me Your Money’   
   JOHN: “That’s Paul. Well, that’s not a song, you know. Abbey Road was   
   really unfinished songs all stuck together. Everybody praises the album   
   so much, but none of the songs had anything to do with each other, no   
   thread at all, only the fact that we stuck them together.”   
      
   ‘Sun King’   
   JOHN: (songwriter): “That’s a piece of garbage I had around. We just   
   started joking, you know, singing `quando para mucho.´ So we just made   
   up… Paul knew a few Spanish words from school, you know. So we just   
   strung any Spanish words that sounded vaguely like something. And of   
   course we got `chicka ferdy´ in. That´s a Liverpool expression. Just   
   like sort of– it doesn´t mean anything to me but (childish taunting)   
   `na-na, na-na-na!´ `Cake and eat it´ is another nice line too, because   
   they have that in Spanish– ‘Que’ or something can eat it. One we   
   missed–   
   we could have had ‘para noya,’ but we forgot all about it.”   
      
   ‘Mean Mr. Mustard’   
   JOHN: “In ‘Mean Mr Mustard’ I said ‘his sister Pam’ – originally   
   it was   
   ‘his sister Shirley’ in the lyric. I changed it to Pam to make it sound   
   like it had something to do with it [‘Polythene Pam’]. They are only   
   finished bits of crap that I wrote in India.”   
      
   ‘Polythene Pam’   
   JOHN: (songwriter): “That was me, remembering a little event with a   
   woman in Jersey, and a man who was England’s answer to Allen Ginsberg,   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)