The fan, Susan Houghton, presumably calculating what it would take to get Harrison to choose her letter as one to write a response to, had asked him how to wash her car. Harrison wrote out a 7-point list of instructions, the 7th point being:
Now proceed to 20 Forthlin RD. with about 6 buckets full of dirty muddy greasey water, where a shiney Ford Classic will be seen. Spread contents of the buckets evenly, so as to leave a nice film of muck over the car. You can now return home knowing you have done your deed for the day. Thank you!!!
Harrison was more of a jerk than you might think if you mostly just listen to his song lyrics. So spiritual!
Do you think of your body as a car your spirit rides around in? Do you admire a man who does?
But enough of that jerk George. What was this "Ford Classic" of Paul's? I don't know exactly when George wrote that letter and gave out what seems to have been Paul's home address. But here's a GQ article from this year, "Paul McCartney's car collection is a tour de force." It says Paul has a 1962 Ford Consul Classic 315.
Wikipedia's "Ford Classic" article has this picture (not specifically Paul's car):
(cc Charles01)
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26 comments:
STOP! Are you aware you've crossed over into Iowahawk Althouse?
He should have gotten together with the woman (?) who was built like a car with a hubcap diamond star halo and gone on a road trip.
Beep-beep, beep-beep, yeah!
I’ve thought George was a jerk for years. The spiritual stuff was a nice cover and/or a sincere effort to rid himself of an powerful ego.
Well, he kind of left Badfinger in the lurch to go "help" a bunch of strangers.
My cousin! :-D
20 Forthlin Rd was well know to Liverpudlian fans of the early 1960's Mersey Beat Beatles as the boyhood home of Sir Paul. He wasn't giving out unknown info. George was probably just playing a prank on his band mate in the way young 20 year old men do to each other.
Heartless Aztec said...
20 Forthlin Rd was well know to Liverpudlian fans of the early 1960's Mersey Beat Beatles as the boyhood home of Sir Paul. He wasn't giving out unknown info. George was probably just playing a prank on his band mate in the way young 20 year old men do to each other.
Mark Lewisohn mentions this in Tune In (available through the Althouse portal!) and yes; it was a joke. That article is the worst kind of clickbait!
"Soon we were in Forthlin Road, the kind of unassuming row of nondescript houses most National Trust members would normally drive through, rather than to. The National Trust bought 20 Forthlin Road in 1995, on the suggestion of the then director-general of the BBC, a Liverpudlian called John Birt, who had noticed it was up for sale... The Trust’s usual criterion for taking on a property – that the building should have intrinsic artistic merit – had... been abandoned in pursuit of shabby populism.... ‘Architecturally, the house is no more or less interesting than any other arterial, pebble-dashed semi in any other middle-class suburb,’ observed the design critic Stephen Bayley.3 ‘Its special value comes from the vicarious, mystical contact with genius. The problem for the Trust’s architectural historians is that, since the house was pretty much denuded of its contents, there is no possibility of vicarious, mystical contact with the genius’s telly set, kitchen unit or any other artefact that might afford an insight into the inspiration that gave us such a torrent of brilliant words and music. So, they set about faking it. ‘"
From Brown, Craig, "150 Glimpses of the Beatles" — a book I'm currently in the middle of reading.
Never muck a Ford.
"Liverpudlian" The ultimate male member insult.
...there is no possibility of vicarious, mystical contact with the genius’s telly set, kitchen unit or any other artefact that might afford an insight into the inspiration that gave us such a torrent of brilliant words and music. So, they set about faking it...
It's a good strategy. People can see the Madonna in a water-stained ceiling.
The more I listen to the Beatles' music, the more I appreciate that George was the best writer of the bunch.
Post-Beatles, I would rather listen to his music than any of the others...
McCartney and Lennon were terrible writers without each other.
George could stand on his own...
Now, if only Peter Griffin had paid more attention : )
A jerk? I think its rather funny. Does anyone expect a girl to get 6 buckets of filth, trespass on McCarthy's estate, locate the car, and then dirty it?
Looks like someone didn't get the joke.
Harrison was more or less put in the shadows by McCarthy-Lennon. He probably disliked having his contributions completely forgotten - since he had quite a bit of talent.
Ah English Ford Consuls. Whatever they were, they weren't classics. From 1963 until I got married in September 1965, I drove a Ford Consul Convertible. I was in college. I was driving that car when I started dating my future wife. It was white with an awful faded salmon pink color top. She surely didn't date me for my car. But it got me around--cheap,but not necessarily cheerful. We got married and headed off to law school in her car--not mine. I've blessedly forgotten how I disposed of that vehicle.
Yes, well if a Ford Prefect gives you a warning, best pay attention!
"Yes, well if a Ford Prefect gives you a warning, best pay attention!"
42 : )
Paul makes an appearance in the video for the Tracey Ullman version of "They Don't Know About Us".
https://youtu.be/SNchTKdRs2A
At the 2:34 mark he appears with her in a car. This car!!
Upon closer inspection it's NOT the same car.
"Harrison was more of a jerk than you might think if you mostly just listen to his song lyrics."
No one who watched with a critical eye the two-part Scorsese documentary about Harrison could doubt that he was frequently a complete ass.
I read Patti Boyd's autobiography.
"No one who watched with a critical eye the two-part Scorsese documentary about Harrison could doubt that he was frequently a complete ass."
Sure, but think about what a huge jerk he would have been without all the meditation and enlightenment : )
Harrison's jerkiness aside, I think I like his Beatles songs the best.
Always felt some affinity for George H. because, umm, maybe you can guess.
--gpm
Seems all the other Beatles had issues with Paul. Ringo is the most-liked, John the most mythical, and George the most mysterious. But Paul, depending on who you talk to, is the one who stands taller in the spotlight and enjoys it. After the breakup, the other three took shots at McCartney, to varying degrees, while he only took direct shots at Lennon.
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