Mrs. Harrison is saying that she sent George to get John out of his house so they could all play together “in their group.” Not, where was Paul? “It could be they didn’t see much of each other”—but could it? It could be that Paul went ice skating in Sweden, EXCEPT HE FUCKING DIDN’T. Why are you lying to me in legalese in a Beatles biography?
DELUSIONAL LEWISOHN
The confidence with which Lewisohn recounts a series of events that only shows beyond all doubt that “the extraordinary story” he’s about to convey was not “unearthed,” but concocted—or dreamed—while clearly expecting the listener to see how it fits together and proves his narrative seems inexplicable to me by anything but delusion. Or if there is a rational explanation, it lies beyond my earthbound grasp.
The Evolving Story of Kim Bennett, Pt. 1: Before Lewisohn
A deep investigation into Tune In’s star witness, and Mark Lewisohn’s seeming determination to pretend Kim Bennett’s previous stories away.
Lewisohn literally ends ‘Tune In’ with a fabricated John Lennon quote
Okay, I admit that ‘it was just a matter of time before everybody else caught on’ is a much more satisfying end to John’s thought and definitely a better closing line to the book than ‘you play me those tracks and I want to remake every damn one of them,’ but that doesn’t mean you just get to make up a better line and pretend John said it.
Lewisohn: rewriting history in the area where we trust him most – the songs performed
So, either they performed exactly four numbers —or— they performed at least eight numbers and “probably some others, too.” ‘The Best of Fellas’ version referenced in the footnote makes sense in ways that Lewisohn’s rewriting doesn’t. Lewisohn is telling us is that Paul took over the mic for three out of four numbers…
A BEATLE DIDN’T SAY THAT! Lewisohn’s lab-created quotes
(This is probably the one you’re looking for.) My personal standard is that If someone represents, “A Beatle said this,” it better damn well be something a Beatle said.
Explaining what I’ve uncovered in Jane Austen’s “Emma”
❧ Between Chapter 1 and Chapter 32 there are a total of 4 exceptions to the Miss Bates Rule.
❧ How “Miss Bates”—the device—commonly works.
❧ Finding Frank on those walks with Mr. Dixon, Miss Campbell, and Jane.
❧ The piano scene is romantic?
If Frank Churchill believed Emma knew the truth…
He’d almost confessed, and suddenly Emma asks Jane to dinner. And then after talking about Jane’s walk to the post office Emma says how nice Frank’s handwriting is, and then she takes Jane’s arm to escort her into the dining room? That’s it, Emma must know.
Why was Ringo trying to sabotage Brian?? (Could it be because of Stu?) 🤔
“Inevitably, this wouldn’t be the only dispute to arise between Brian and a Beatle …but it is one of the few to be known, and its timing is telling. Brian devoted more than a page to it in his autobiography…”
One of the few to be known except the other two on the very next pages??
What did the Campbells know when they hoped a few months of Highbury air would ‘entirely cure’ Jane?
Wait, did Mr. Dixon and Miss Campbell fall in love at Weymouth, too? And was Frank on those walks with Jane, Miss Campbell and Mr. Dixon? Of course he was!
The Piano Scene: through Jane’s eyes
Which, no Frank did not just tell a beautiful woman that he would have “given worlds —all the worlds one ever has to give—” for anything, let alone another half hour to dance, because he wanted to get away from Miss Bates!
And Jane responds with maybe the most magical sentence of the novel, because it’s all right there.
“She played.”
The Miss Bates Traveling, Talking Circus: Chapter by chapter
It wasn’t until later—once the unmistakable pattern was clear—that I went, “OH MY GOD, THE LETTER! Of course! That little minx has been toying with us all along!”
Miss Bates is a circus. Miss Bates is a blind.
Like, I know Jane Austen didn’t literally say, “I will write a circus, and I will call her Miss Bates,” but I am going to pretend that she did, and you can’t stop me.
Austen’s Insidious Poisoners – Mr. Collins: the spider
Can anyone believe that he meant the nice things wrapped up in knives early in the book, but not the ones later in it? That his cruelty is a new affliction?
Jane, Jane! What’s in a name? Mrs. Elton’s most unpardonable sin.
What Mr. Knightley cannot fathom is that anyone—even Mrs. Elton—could address someone with the dignity and pride of Jane Fairfax like an inferior to her face. And by calling Miss Fairfax “Jane,” Mrs. Elton is indeed “continually insulting” her.
AKOM “Fine Tuning” Episode 6: A prolonged jealousy
Another really excellent episode that I will have to listen to at least two more times to fully ingest, despite having lots of diffuse, unconnected notes where I ranted about most of the same text. They really backed up and gave it context and meaning, including adding a lot of things that I didn’t have…
John in the Star Club Tapes: No Mr. Lewisohn, he is not charming
“John— we need to talk about John Lennon on this recording. These recordings. Because he’s uh— he’s- he’s- he’s belligerent. Um, he’s under the influence of— I’m sure he’s under the influence of Prellies. Probably drink, as well. Um, he’s beguiling, he’s rude. He’s still charming. He’s— I mean he’s not horrible. He’s just —yeah— he’s just edgy!” -Mark Lewisohn
The story of Paul McCartney and his dog, Martha. And lots of pictures.
The huge tangled ball of wool named Martha was born June 16, 1966 and a few weeks later Paul picked his pup up at breeder Ann Arch’s High Wycombe home and took her back to his new house in St. John’s Wood.
“And you can tuck your pants in.” George and Paul and those groovy boots (with audio)
George sings “I Me Mine” to Paul after a beautiful Beatles bonding moment.
“You want boots of those?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ve got boots of them.”
“You know where you can get ’em?”
“Yeah, you get ’em off me… I’ll give you ’em. I never wear ’em.”
“You wanna hear a song I wrote?”
THE BEATLES “Get Back” Helper
Get Back… context
Ninety Years Ago Today My Father Was Born
Then turned on one toe, hopped off the huge wooden table and started off, head high, when I heard him slap the table hard with his big hand – the way everyone who knew him remembers he did in his constant, big-ness that encompassed all sight, movement, and certainly sound – and laughed his ass off.
Virginia Woolf on Jane Austen
“…even if the pangs of outraged vanity, or the heat of moral wrath, urged us to improve away a world so full of spite, pettiness, and folly, the task is beyond our powers. … No touch of pettiness, no hint of spite, rouse us from our contemplation. Delight strangely mingles with our amusement. Beauty illumines these fools.”
A basic Lewisohn fabrication: add a coke, a few requests, and shove a retrospective opinion into Paul McCartney’s mouth (Ch 20-Footnote 18)
While perhaps not a murder, this rewrite is still a felony and shows many of the hallmarks of both Lewisohn’s worst as well as his more seemingly-innocuous butcheries. Specifically, they usually begin or end with a wholly invented line that Lewisohn uses as a thesis statement. And they all show an unbelievable disregard for truth and a license to insert and represent his own words as those of a historical figure that cannot fail to shock the conscience of a scholar.
Let’s crowdsource this bastard: check a Lewisohn footnote
It is an objectively huge problem for all Beatles fans and scholars that the man who is collectively called *the* Beatles historian has—and I cannot emphasize this enough—JUST BEEN MAKING SHIT UP.
Lewisohn rewrites a foundational Beatles quote (Chapter 16–Footnote 8)
STEP ONE: Set the scene: “a shitty deal in a shitty dressing room”
STEP TWO: Set the theme: “thinking we’re going nowhere”
STEP THREE: Overcome the obstacle through John’s leadership and group belief: “That was our little mantra that got us through”
CALL IT “CONSPIRACY”: the plot against Georgiana Darcy (Pride and Prejudice)
Mrs. Younge was able to buy “a large house” in a nice part of London immediately after her plot with Wickham was foiled. And since we know that she didn’t take advantage of a low-interest rate deal at her local lender, that means that she had the money to buy it while she was working as Georgiana’s governess.
Exact Words 