Althouse: "To wander aimlessly is very unswinging. Unhip."

October 31, 2026

"To wander aimlessly is very unswinging. Unhip."

13 comments:

Dogma and Pony Show said...: You can see just from that weird, disconnected dialogue how insecure John felt about Paul's relentless creative drive, and how much that insecurity and John's ways of coping with it annoyed the crap out of Paul.; 10/31/26, 8:45 AM
Marcus Bressler said...: If it wasn't for Paul (after Epstein died), the Beatles would have fallen apart and become non-productive.; 10/31/26, 8:49 AM
rehajm said...: That Patek watch Yoko gave John for his birthday is back in her hands. It is perhaps the most valuable watch in the world….Life is very short, and there’s no time for fussing and fighting, my friend…; 10/31/26, 8:51 AM
Ann Althouse said...: John is literally saying "help me" and Paul is directly offering him help: We need to work. We need a schedule. It's not hip to drift and meander. The cool people actually get some stuff done. Great stuff. We can do it.; 10/31/26, 9:16 AM
Iman said...: The Witch Yoko looms over the festivities…; 10/31/26, 9:16 AM
Caroline said...: John was not the genius.; 10/31/26, 9:24 AM
Shoeless Joe said...: I’m not a Beatles aficionado but over the last 2-3 years of their existence it appears McCartney was carrying the band on a burst of energy and creativity unrivaled in pop music history. Maybe Dylan had a run that came close, but I doubt it. In this video Paul looks like he’s trying to drag a bored John Lennon onward, with little success. I wonder what variety of drugs they were all on at the time, and whether that was responsible for the difference in creative output.; 10/31/26, 10:36 AM
imTay said...: John was the genius.

BTW, there is a pretty good pic on Criterion: "Nowhere Boy."; 10/31/26, 11:04 AM
Josephbleau said...: George Harrison was the genius. Everyone else was very unswjngjng.; 10/31/26, 11:37 AM
baghdadbob said...: Yoko was turning John into a Heroin Addict right around this time.; 10/31/26, 11:39 AM
tcrosse said...: Genius is pain; 10/31/26, 12:35 PM
Narr said...: Thanks, tcrosse. I had forgotten that!

"I've suffered for my art. Now it's your turn."; 10/31/26, 2:08 PM
Lance said...: Andrew Hickey's 500 Songs account of Lennon meeting Ono at her conceptual art exhibit struck me as interesting.

"John decided he liked the show when he saw a piece called Ladder Piece. In this piece, the viewer had to climb a ladder, at the top of which were a card and a magnifying glass. The viewer was meant to look at the card with the magnifying glass, and see that in tiny letters the card said “YES”.

"Lennon said later that what he liked about this piece was that it was one of the few things he’d seen with an unambiguously positive message — that if the card had said “rip-off” or something he would have walked out, but “YES” got his interest."

I don't see any of the positive-seeking Lennon in this clip. But Lennon knows he's being filmed, and that seems to activate his defenses.; 10/31/26, 2:26 PM