Ray Connolly: The Beatles Archive

[selenak]

If memoirs and biographies are written with the benefit of hindsight and quite often with one particular, unifying agenda (scores to settle, or defenses to make), letters and diaries are the perfect counterpoint in terms of research because they can't offer big pictures, they offer glimpses of the here and now, and the agenda in them keeps changing

Comments

[blackbirdfan]

CONTINUED:

As for John's appalling inaction as those security guards were essentially gang-raping that woman -- the truly disturbing thing is that I doubt Paul, George, or Ringo would have acted any differently than John did. I'm not sure any of them would have stepped in. They were so used to "groupies" getting "used" that way. I imagine that that scene -- a woman trying to get close to the Beatles who ends up have sex with multiple members of the band's entourage in her quest to get to the fab four -- happened all the time. I suppose you could argue that some of the women knew what they were getting into. They hoped sex with the band's entourage would open doors to get to the Beatles but I bet most of those women never intended things to go that far, and ended up drunk and half conscious as they were being used as sex toys, and none of the men cared enough to do anything about it. It's pretty appalling all around. But John was the one who claimed to be a feminist, and his "Don't Tell Yoko" was really not his finest hour, was it?

Interestingly, and it's something I've only realised listening again to the tapes, no matter how much John publically critisized Paul, in none of my several interviews with Paul did he ever critisize John.

This is one of the things I find most admirable about Paul. He didn't criticize George or Ringo publicly either. Who knows how bitchy Paul was in private but he didn't say mean things about them in public that could then be used against them year after year after year -- like that comment John made about Ringo "not even being the best drummer in the Beatles." Ringo's had to listen to that for 50 years thrown in his face. So kudos to Paul for not giving the press any further ammunition.

I just wish John had said a few more nice things about Paul. And maybe he would have had insanity not intervened.

Anyway, love these reviews. My Kindle is on the way. Sorry for writing a book here but I'm bored on a Saturday waiting for a repair person to arrive. :)

[abromeds]

I doubt Paul, George, or Ringo would have acted any differently than John did. I'm not sure any of them would have stepped in. They were so used to "groupies" getting "used" that way. I imagine that that scene -- a woman trying to get close to the Beatles who ends up have sex with multiple members of the band's entourage in her quest to get to the fab four -- happened all the time. I suppose you could argue that some of the women knew what they were getting into. They hoped sex with the band's entourage would open doors to get to the Beatles but I bet most of those women never intended things to go that far, and ended up drunk and half conscious as they were being used as sex toys, and none of the men cared enough to do anything about it. It's pretty appalling all around.

Absolutely. I started to make this point in a recent JHP discussion, but didn't want to get drawn into a discussion of rape culture on a fan site.