SUMMARY: In our 9th episode, we tackle a handful of loose ends from Tune In and pose the question: WTF?
Why The Farting? Where’s Talented Friend? Washboard To Fender Weird, Those Fruits! Women-Type Fans Whores They F*cked? Wow, That’s Fabricated! Which Tune’s First? Writing’s Too Fancy Whose Teachers Finest? Wimpy Teetotaler Frenemie
PLAYLIST: Tutti Frutti LITTLE RICHARD Good Golly Miss Molly LITTLE RICHARD Where D’you Get Your Whiskey BOB CORT’S SKIFFLE GROUP Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean RUTH BROWN Mess Around RAY CHARLES Spanish Flea HERB ALPERT Theme from A Summer Place PERCY FAITH Please Mr Postman THE SHIRELLES School Days LOUIS JORDAN Alligator Wine SCREAMIN’ JAY HAWKINS I’ll Be On My Way THE BEATLES
SYNOPSIS: In her second appearance on AKOM, May Pang talks with Phoebe about Yoko enlisting Paul’s help during the Lost Weekend, John & Yoko’s Tittenhurst Safe Room, The (not) Malibu Dream House and Primal Scream Therapy.
The Lost Weekend: A Love Story is currently available for purchase or streaming on most major platforms. Discover more at www.maypang.com
SYNOPSIS: No Greater Buddy examines how Tune In handles the naughty behavior of its resident Bad Boy, John Lennon. This is a study of Lewisohn’s coverage of John’s bad behavior (rather than the behavior itself).
PLAYLIST Bad Boy LARRY WILLIAMS Let the Good Times Roll LOUIS JORDAN Jim Dandy LAVERN BAKER Handful of Keys FATS WALLER Undecided ELLA FITZGERALD Angel Baby ROSIE & THE ORIGINALS Night Train DAVID ROSE Devil or Angel THE CLOVERS I’ll Be on My Way THE BEATLES
SOURCES The Beatles by Hunter Davies (1968) The Other Side of John Lennon By Sandra Shevey (1990) Beatles Anthology (1995) Living in the Material World by Martin Scorcese (2011)
SYNOPSIS: Spanner in the Works shows how Paul is portrayed as uniquely difficult to manage and unjustifiably obstructive, even to the point of sabotaging the band.
We use Tune In’s reporting of the early friction between Paul and Brian Epstein as a case study to illustrate how Tune In guides the reader to distrust and second-guess McCartney whenever he comes into conflict with other major players in the Beatles’ story.
PLAYLIST Maybe THE CHANTELS Oop Shoop SHIRLEY GUNTER & THE QUEENS Tequila THE CHAMPS I’m Walkin FATS DOMINO Lucille THE BEATLES Devil in His Heart THE DONAYS Baby It’s You THE SHIRELLES Slippin and Slidin LITTLE RICHARD Too Much ELVIS PRESLEY Fast Freight RITCHIE VALENS I’ll Be On My Way THE BEATLES
SOURCES “Portrait of Paul” Mike McCartney Woman Magazine, 1965 McCartney the Definitive Biography by Chris Salewicz, 1986 John Lennon Interview w/ Jann Wenner for Rolling Stone, May 14, 1970 John Lennon Interview w/ Lisa Robinson for Hit Parader, 1975 John Lennon and Yoko Ono Interview at St Regis Hotel by Peter McCabe and Robert Schonfeld, September 5th, 1971 Lennon Remembers by Jann Wenner for Rolling Stone, 1971 In My Life by Pete Shotten, 1983 Interview w/ Pete Best in Music Legends The Beatles Special Edition by The Rock Review Music Legends Library Sept 2, 2019
SYNOPSIS: In A Prolonged Jealousy, wetackle one of Tune In’s main talking points: that Paul McCartney is a fundamentallyjealous person whose obsessive, one-sided jealousy of and over John Lennon was brought to a boil by the presence of Stuart Sutcliffe in the band.
Is Tune In’s unforgiving portrayal of Paul’s jealousy fair? Or is it over the top? We’ll discuss!
UPDATE 11/21/23:
A relevant piece of info that we did not include in our original airing of this episode (4 days ago) has just come to our attention.We apologize for the initial oversight.
This episode was originally posted on Nov 17, 2023 and then re-uploaded on Nov 21, 2023 to add a few minutes of additional information relevant to the topic. We haven’t edited or deleted anything from our original conversation, just added the additional info to the discussion midway through the episode (for exact timestamp, see episode notes on streaming platform).
PLAYLIST Frenzy SCREAMIN’ JAY HAWKINS Woo-Hoo ROCK*A*TEENS Raunchy BILL JUSTICE What’d I Say RAY CHARLES Lucille LITTLE RICHARD Flamenco Sketches MILES DAVIS Sleepwalk SANTO AND JOHNNY Let it Be Me THE EVERLY BROTHERS Just Walking in the Rain THE PRISONAIRES Go! Go! Go! ROY ORBISON Duck Tail JOE CLAY I’ll Be On My Way THE BEATLES
SOURCES The Beatles by Hunter Davies (1968) The Beatles by Bob Spitz (2005) “The Beatles’ Shadow: Stuart Sutcliffe” by Pauline Sutcliffe (2002) “The Lost Beatle: The Stuart Sutcliffe Story” BBC (2005) Paul McCartney The Life by Philip Norman (2016) Beatles Book Monthly Magazine (May 1994) Beatles Anthology (1995)
SYNOPSIS: Phoebe Lorde and Allison Bumsted talk with Kenneth Womack about “LIVING THE BEATLES LEGEND: the Mal Evans Story.”
We discuss several of the amazing topics raised in this wonderful book; Elvis, cowboys, Allen Klein being horrible, the tougher-to-write moments in the book, interpersonal relationships within the Beatles’ circle, and of course the fascinating life of the incomparable Mal Evans.
SUMMARY: Leader Lennon examines Tune In’s major thesis, that John Lennon was and is the leader and implicit owner of The Beatles forever.
We take a hard look at Tune In’s obvious affection for hierarchy and dominance and how this pervades its storytelling. We’ll discuss the deficiencies of this framework, why it is a problem, and how it distorts the Beatles’ story.
PLAYLIST Tiger Man RUFUS THOMAS Lovin’ Machine WYNONIE HARRIS Honey Don’t CARL PERKINS Besame Mucho TRIO LOS PANCHOS Crying, Waiting, Hoping BUDDY HOLLY C’mon Everybody EDDIE COCHRAN Soldier of Love THE BEATLES Rip it Up ELVIS PRESLEY I’ll Be On My Way THE BEATLES
SOURCES The Beatles by Hunter Davies (1968) Pre-Fab by Colin Hanton (2018) The Beatles by Bob Spitz (2005) John by Cynthia Lennon (2005) Alan Williams from Stuart Sutcliffe: The Lost Beatle, BBC (2005) Lennon Remember Interview w/ Jann Wenner (1971)
SYNOPSIS: This episode explores Tune In’s unequal treatment of John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s childhoods, with particular attention paid to the disparate coverage of their childhood stressors and the deaths of their mothers, Julia and Mary.
We go pretty deep into what we know of John and Paul’s boyhoods and how those experiences shaped their personalities and affected their adult behaviors,
Does Tune In do the same? For both? We’ll see!
SOURCES Thank You Very Much by Mike McCartney (1981) “Portrait of Paul” by Mike McCartney for Woman Magazine (1965) Howard Stern Interview w/ Paul McCartney (2001) Rolling Stone Magazine w/ Ringo (2015) The Macs Family Album Mike McCartney (1981) Many Years from Now Barry Miles (1997) McCartney: the Definitive Biography Chris Salewicz (1986) The Beatles: the Authorized Biography Hunter Davies (1968)
PLAYLIST In the Still of the Night THE FIVE SATINS Boys THE BEATLES Stairway to the Stars ELLA FITZGERALD Five Long Years EDDIE BOYD Love Hurts THE EVERLY BROTHERS Peter and the Wolf (SERGEI PROVOFIEV) NEW YORK STADIUM SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Please BING CROSBY I’m Wishing SNOW WHITE Blue Moon ELVIS PRESLEY Are You Lonesome Tonight? ELVIS PRESLEY Crying in the Chapel THE ORIOLES Crying in the Rain THE EVERLY BROTHERS Sorrow PETER PAUL & MARY I’ll Be On My Way THE BEATLES
Early pen and ink drawings by John Lennon, given to a female friend during their time together at the Liverpool College of Art (SOURCE: thedissenters on Tumblr)
John Lennon‘s submission to the school magazine The Quarry | Christmas 1956; Easter 1957 (SOURCE: thedissenters on Tumblr)
Artwork by Paul McCartney
Doodles/Caricatures by Teenage Paul McCartney
“Off the Beatle Track” album cover design by Paul McCartney
ANOTHER KIND OF MIND 