We're a collective of artists, musicians, and professionals across a spectrum of fields who dissect and challenge established narratives about the band with irreverent, fearless, and thought-provoking analysis. We are on iTunes, Spotify, Podbean, and many other podcast platforms: tinyurl.com/akomonitunes tinyurl.com/akomonspotify anotherkindofmind.podbean.com - Website: anotherkindofmind.com - Facebook: @anotherkindofmindpod Twitter: @akompodcast Instagram: @anotherkindofmind Email: akompodcast@gmail.com
Spiraling Towards Divorce: Cold Turkey, the 4/4/4/2 Meeting, and the L/M “Myth” – 8 L/M Breakup Series
In part 8 of the L/M Breakup Series, Diana and Phoebe explore the events, meetings, maneuvers and negotiations that took place during the first half of September 1969. They trace how things start to escalate and go off the tracks following the relative harmony of the Abbey Road sessions. Covered in this episode are: John and Yoko’s cold turkey experience, Mary McCartney’s birth, The Isle of Wight festival, the 4/4/4/2 meeting and the “myth” of Lennon/McCartney.
Hey, really enjoying the podcast. Just out of curiosity is the next episode going to be out anytime in the near future? No pressure of course!
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Hi Listener, thank you so much! We’re excited to hear that you’re enjoying our show. We are working on the next one at the moment, so keep your eyes peeled for a new one coming soon! 🙂
As an FYI to our community, we have revamped the titles of the episodes in Breakup Series (now titled “The Lennon/McCartney Breakup”) to A: Reflect that the heart of the series, and the focus of our analysis is the Lennon/McCartney breakup, and B: Name the episodes in such a way that people can jump into specific topics they’re interested in! It’s the same content, just differently named to make the content easier to navigate! 🙂
As an FYI to our community, we have revamped the titles of the episodes in Breakup Series (now titled “The Lennon/McCartney Breakup”) to A: Reflect that the heart of the series, and the focus of our analysis is the Lennon/McCartney breakup, and B: Name the episodes in such a way that people can jump into specific topics they’re interested in! It’s the same content, just differently named to make the content easier to navigate! 🙂
Just want to say love the latest episode!!! Really thought provoking stuff. You two always give me something unexpected to mull over. Thanks for all the time and work you put into these, looking forward to whatever you come up with next!
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Thank you so much, Listener! We can’t tell you how nice it is to read feedback like this! 🙂
We’re currently working on our next episode in the series, where we will continue to tackle so many crucial events of the breakup!
why did Klein call Paul “a reluctant virgin” anyway? was it just because Paul wouldn’t sign, or was it supposed to have insulted his personality/temperament? I’ve always been confused by that insult
“But it was impossible in the end, because it became three to one and I was like the idiot in the corner – trying, I thought, to save the situation. And to Klein it looked like I was trying to screw the situation. He used to call me the Reluctant Virgin. I said, ‘Fuck off, I don’t want to fucking marry you, that’s all.’ he’s going, ‘Oh, you know, he may, maybe he will, will he, won’t he, that’s a definite maybe.’ It was really difficult.”
We think this statement was simply an uncouth and bullying way to goad Paul into action when he appeared to be waffling on the management issue. It is a way of dismissing Paul’s real concerns, suggesting the reason Paul didn’t want to metaphorically “go all the way” with Klein was due to Paul’s prudishness, rather than based on reason.
It also suggests that Paul was being coy on the subject rather than the reality, which seems to have been that Paul was decisive and determined in his dislike of Klein based on reason, research and his honed ability to smell a bullshitter in a way the others couldn’t.
In fact, Paul turned out to be the most street smart and cunning in terms of sussing Klein out, and this was Klein’s way of delegitimizing his concerns.
Do you have any opinions on music critic Robert Christgau? I guess he’s not important anymore, but reading his reviews of solo beatles, I find him frustrating. Even in his retrospective reviews he pans Paul’s early solo work. He negatively reviewed George’s first solo stuff as well. Obvi this can be a matter of tastes, but he claims the beatles are his his top favorite artists yet he seems very “centric” to their solo work. I’m just curious because I see his name pop up in old music critiques.
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We don’t have much to say about him, but the words, “total douche” come to mind!
Everything you pinpoint about him is true. We also unanimously agree that he lost his right to comment on an artist ever again after he publicly suggested Paul should’ve been shot.
Hi. I love your podcast. Just have one comment on your interpretation of Come Together. Ono Sideboard isn’t about Yoko being on the “side”. In English houses, a sideboard is a small dresser to keep your best china. Adults also use them to keep valuables away from children. I was never allowed to go in my Grandma’s sideboard, I always wondered what was in there. John must have kept his valuables (his heart? his secrets? hopes? future plans?) for her to be his sideboard. That’s my interpretation.
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Thank you for that information! That’s a lovely interpretation which could be true!
Hello, I’ve really been enjoying your podcast but as an Asian American woman it upset me to hear you (in 3.b) both be so dismissive to the possibility of a racist element in the reaction to Yoko in the 60s. Your gleeful and mocking disdain for Yoko in general left me feeling uncomfortable. But that it extends to the point you can not envision how challenging the world was for an Asian woman living in a very white, conventional England in the sixties is upsetting to say the least.
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Hi listener,
Thank you for this thoughtful ask on an important topic!
We deeply regret any implication that we don’t believe Yoko faced special and unfair challenges due to race or nationality, because we are absolutely positive that Yoko faced racism, sexism and anti-Japanese sentiment in the 1960s (and probably still does today).
In 3.b we were specifically suggesting that the cause of the negative public reaction to Yoko was not solely about race, but mainly due to her behaviors, attitudes and artistic eccentricities such as her unconventional fashion sense, her jarring and very unusual singing style, her bizarre art and artistic “happenings” (the nude album, the interviews in black bags, throwing acorns at their TV audience, etc). Yoko was a conceptual artist whose career was founded on shock value and making people uncomfortable, so from our POV it is disingenuous for John & Yoko to be surprised or offended when people react with shock and discomfort.
John and Yoko were weird, unconventional and provocative (which they embraced), and this alienated almost everyone virtually overnight, which is why we find it unhelpful to attribute her negative public reception to the single cause of racism. This is not to say we don’t believe she experienced racism; of course she did! But both things can be true at once. She can experience racism and she can also be disliked for reasons having nothing to do with racism.
Similarly, we don’t think the reaction to Linda, as touched on in this quote was based soley in anti-semitism. At the same time it would be absolutely insane to suggest that Linda had never experienced anti-semitism in her lifetime.
In the breakup series we are mainly focused on the dynamics within the group, and we believe their primary issue with Yoko seems to have been her disruptive and unwelcome presence within a creative space which for years had been the sole domain of the bandmates.
In any case, we sincerely apologize for upsetting you.
We never want to reduce Yoko to her sex or race, which we feel is both unfair to her and an impediment to a candid examination of her work (which we think has been absent from Beatles discourse). One of our biggest complaints is how Beatles authors only evaluate Yoko as an influence on John, and never allow her to stand or fall as an individual artist in her own right.
As for our occasional mocking of Yoko (which often includes John), we can assure you that has nothing to do with race either. Any disdain on our part is reserved for the self-aggrandizing tone with which John and Yoko often discuss themselves and their art.
We acknowledge that it can be difficult and challenging to be critical about a woman with such a controversial place in history, perhaps undervalued as an artist and subject to some unfair prejudices. We have tried to strike a balance in terms of being empathetic to Yoko as a person while simultaneously subjecting her to the same rigor we would any artist, including the Beatles – whom she famously considered herself to be as good or better than.
Thanks again for taking the time to write to us and share your reactions. We will continue to consider this important topic in the future.
