Post by Perplexed on Sept 14, 2003 6:48:13 GMT
I listened to "Long and Winding Road" last night a couple of times in my car on the way home from work. I hate to admit it, but I kinda broke down at the lyric "you left me standing here...a long long time ago........show me to your door...."
It's not a romantic song, that is obvious. It is not about a remembered girl; and I don't think these fellows were gay, either.
I had once thought the song was about life, or fate, or wisdom, or missed opportunities (in general), or something else lofty and impersonal.
No, I don't think so anymore.
It was about Paul.
These three guys must have been living in crisis control, weren't they? It was , in a sense, all over. It was time to just "go thru the motions."
They had to scramble to keep up appearances, while trying to look cool and normal. John seems to be trying so hard to be cool and normal. In retrospect, he did a great job. But the confidently ascerbic wit, the creative mischievous Lennon seemed to down-shift into a controlled, calculated survivor. I could be way wrong, but in photos and interview clips I saw last week, each Beatle seemed real cagey with the reporters.
The whole purpose shifted from youthful eager optimism to a kind of survival mindstate, a cynical, tentative place.
With Brian gone, who issued marching orders? How did plans coalesce(-2,spelling) then?
Why would an aggressive go-getter like Brian Epstein have done a 180ยบ and allowed the Beatles to just stop touring, cold? In late 1966? Does that make any sense? Every important venue in the world must have been seeking the sign the Beatles for concerts( in spite of the Phillipines). Dropping out of public view, for most bands, would be carreer suicide. Live performing is how they started out, it is what they truly loved.
How would Mr. Epstein, as a double, ever
have been able to carry on any normal business affairs with the possibly hundreds of frequent business associates he would have had? All the agents and contractors I know LIVE ON THE TELEPHONE and at the job site in person. So many people could have never been convinced by a double, if there was close and steady contact. Contractors and agents are the ones who really understand the scheduling and hiring issues. It is like tending a garden, or better still, a bunch of kindergarten children. YOu are reacting to a dozen people a minute! The manager or contractor is on site fielding questions, troubleshooting, and using their keen sense of what has to happen for the show to happen right!!!! And lighting people and sound techs and side men and photographers and make-up people and arrangers and electricians and prop masters and stage managers all look to their "captain" or "captains" to maintain the flow. If Mr. Epsteins' business was in continuo, then it had to be in continuo while he was in absentia!!!!! "Yes, Mr. Epstein can't be here today, but he asked me to tell you to...."
There must have been some hired assistant/lackey/shills that handled things in person, on the orders of,well, no one can ever know. George Martin? No. His arrangements are gorgeous; I love the way he fleshed out and augmented the Beatles work. "But shoemaker stick to your craft." Mr. Martin must have stayed busy orchestrating and producing music. I don't know the other people that were close to the Beatles then, I haven't read enough.
I know music contractors in several cities, and it is simply not possible that any of the theatre mangers, producers, orchestra players, or union leaders would not see thru facade. Now, I guess with secrataries and phones and mail you can get by without a lot of exposure; but meeting a fussy impressario in London during business hours at his office? Producers and impressarios are a funny lot; they succeed in large part on instincts and gut reactions. Nothing short of a total shell game (in an out of rooms quickly, "Oh, gosh. it happened again! You just missed Mr. Epstein, see there he is getting in his car, can I have him call you?"
It would have been like watching the movie "Garbo Speaks", you sit for two hours in the movie and finally you see a mysterious woman in half shadow shot thru a filter deliver 3 overdubbed and muffled lines. How can normal competitive music dealings get carried out with this added into the mix? I am not doubting the possibility; I am remarking on the number of miracles needed to foist this serious a sham, if indeed the Epstein details were true!
I think I listen to "Long and Winding Road" one last time and try to go to sleep.
It's not a romantic song, that is obvious. It is not about a remembered girl; and I don't think these fellows were gay, either.
I had once thought the song was about life, or fate, or wisdom, or missed opportunities (in general), or something else lofty and impersonal.
No, I don't think so anymore.
It was about Paul.
These three guys must have been living in crisis control, weren't they? It was , in a sense, all over. It was time to just "go thru the motions."
They had to scramble to keep up appearances, while trying to look cool and normal. John seems to be trying so hard to be cool and normal. In retrospect, he did a great job. But the confidently ascerbic wit, the creative mischievous Lennon seemed to down-shift into a controlled, calculated survivor. I could be way wrong, but in photos and interview clips I saw last week, each Beatle seemed real cagey with the reporters.
The whole purpose shifted from youthful eager optimism to a kind of survival mindstate, a cynical, tentative place.
With Brian gone, who issued marching orders? How did plans coalesce(-2,spelling) then?
Why would an aggressive go-getter like Brian Epstein have done a 180ยบ and allowed the Beatles to just stop touring, cold? In late 1966? Does that make any sense? Every important venue in the world must have been seeking the sign the Beatles for concerts( in spite of the Phillipines). Dropping out of public view, for most bands, would be carreer suicide. Live performing is how they started out, it is what they truly loved.
How would Mr. Epstein, as a double, ever
have been able to carry on any normal business affairs with the possibly hundreds of frequent business associates he would have had? All the agents and contractors I know LIVE ON THE TELEPHONE and at the job site in person. So many people could have never been convinced by a double, if there was close and steady contact. Contractors and agents are the ones who really understand the scheduling and hiring issues. It is like tending a garden, or better still, a bunch of kindergarten children. YOu are reacting to a dozen people a minute! The manager or contractor is on site fielding questions, troubleshooting, and using their keen sense of what has to happen for the show to happen right!!!! And lighting people and sound techs and side men and photographers and make-up people and arrangers and electricians and prop masters and stage managers all look to their "captain" or "captains" to maintain the flow. If Mr. Epsteins' business was in continuo, then it had to be in continuo while he was in absentia!!!!! "Yes, Mr. Epstein can't be here today, but he asked me to tell you to...."
There must have been some hired assistant/lackey/shills that handled things in person, on the orders of,well, no one can ever know. George Martin? No. His arrangements are gorgeous; I love the way he fleshed out and augmented the Beatles work. "But shoemaker stick to your craft." Mr. Martin must have stayed busy orchestrating and producing music. I don't know the other people that were close to the Beatles then, I haven't read enough.
I know music contractors in several cities, and it is simply not possible that any of the theatre mangers, producers, orchestra players, or union leaders would not see thru facade. Now, I guess with secrataries and phones and mail you can get by without a lot of exposure; but meeting a fussy impressario in London during business hours at his office? Producers and impressarios are a funny lot; they succeed in large part on instincts and gut reactions. Nothing short of a total shell game (in an out of rooms quickly, "Oh, gosh. it happened again! You just missed Mr. Epstein, see there he is getting in his car, can I have him call you?"
It would have been like watching the movie "Garbo Speaks", you sit for two hours in the movie and finally you see a mysterious woman in half shadow shot thru a filter deliver 3 overdubbed and muffled lines. How can normal competitive music dealings get carried out with this added into the mix? I am not doubting the possibility; I am remarking on the number of miracles needed to foist this serious a sham, if indeed the Epstein details were true!
I think I listen to "Long and Winding Road" one last time and try to go to sleep.
