The gay magical realism of Lennon/McCartney

“The closeness of his family ties has meant that he can survive anything people hurl against him and come up smiling. I don’t see how anybody can call him complacent though, the man is a genius. There’s that indefinable quality in his songs which makes each one a masterpiece. It’s difficult to describe it any other way.”

He wrote the lyrics to “Yesterday.” Although the lyrics don’t resolve into any sense, they’re good lines. They certainly work. You know what I mean? They’re good—but if you read the whole song, it doesn’t say anything; you don’t know what happened. She left and he wishes it was yesterday—that much you get—but it doesn’t really resolve. So, mine didn’t used to resolve, either…

Yesterday Love was such an easy game to play Now I need a place to hide away Oh I believe in yesterday

"...My thing is, Out of sight, out of mind. That's my attitude toward life. So I don't have any romanticism about any part of my past. I think of it only inasmuch as it gave me pleasure or helped me grow psychologically. That is the only thing that interests me about yesterday. I don't believe in yesterday, by the way."

And do I still believe in stories I've been told?

Paul needed me to reassure him that John still loved him. I told him that I was convinced he did.

I talked with Yoko the day after John was killed and the first thing she said was, “John was really fond of you, you know.” It was almost as if she sensed that I was wondering whether he had… whether the relationship had snapped. I believe it was always there. I believe he really was fond of me, as she said. We were really the best of mates. It was really ace.

Actually it was really nice [that] after John died, Yoko was quite kind in telling me that he did really love me. Because it looked like he didn’t.

John’s style was to walk away and stay away—as he did with me: once his mind was made up he didn’t go back. But he and Paul had had a deep and enduring affection for each other since they were teenagers and it had never disappeared.

"You know I don't believe in yesterday. I am only interested in what I am doing now."

Today I love you more Then yesterday Right now I love you more right now

"Take 'Michelle.' Paul and I were staying somewhere, and he walked in and hummed the first few bars, with the words, you know-(sings verse of 'Michelle') and he says, 'Where do I go from here?' I'd been listening to blues singer Nina Simone, who did something like 'I love you!' in one of her songs and that made me think of the middle-eight for 'Michelle.' (sings) 'I love you, I love you, I lo-ove you...'"

I love you, I love you, I love you That's all I want to say Until I find a way I will say the only words I know that you'll understand <…> I need to, I need to, I need to I need to make you see Oh, what you mean to me Until I do, I'm hoping you will know what I mean I love you <…> I want you, I want you, I want you I think you know by now I'll get to you somehow Until I do, I'm telling you so you'll understand

<…> 'cos here I go again I love you, I love you I love you, I love you Ah, I can't explain the feeling's plain to me Now can't you see? <…> What's wrong with that? I need to know cos here I go again I love you, I love you

"Michelle" was a tune that I'd written in Chet Atkins' finger-pickin' style. There is a song he did called "Trambone" with a repetitive top line, and he played a bass line whilst playing a melody. This was an innovation for us; even though classical guitarists had played it, no rock "n" roll guitarists had played it. The first person we knew to use finger-pickin' technique was Chet Atkins, and Colin Manley, one of the guys in the Remo Four in Liverpool, who used to play it very well and we all used to stop and admire him. Later John learned how to do it folk-style from Donovan or Gypsy Dave, which he used on "Julia". I never learned it. But based on Atkins's "Trambone", I wanted to write something with a melody and a bass line on it, so I did.

Paul began the overdubbing process with a hyperactive bass part that transformed the song [Silly Love Songs] from a ballad into something closer to a funk/disco track. <…> …during the Beatles’ years, his bass lines were often full-fledged strands of counterpoint that bounced off the vocal melody and fit between the rhythm and lead guitar figures. In his solo work, though, his bass playing had been simpler and more direct, and on Wings recordings, the bass was often played by Denny… <…> “I wanted to have a melody on bass,” is how he explained it. <…> As Henderson recalled it, no one—even Paul—knew how the bass line would sound before he hit the record button. “I remember with that particular song, Paul walking out there and getting his bass sound set up,” Henderson said. “And literally within half a run-through, he had that bass part. He didn’t have that when he started playing, so it was amazing to see him come up with that, which is the signature riff of the whole song, out of thin air.”