Author: phoebelorde

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)

Doodles/Caricatures by Teenage Paul McCartney

“Off the Beatle Track” album cover design by Paul McCartney

Paul’s Self-portrait. Photo by Mike McCartney

John Lennon’s self-portrait, 1958

Listen HERE

SYNOPSIS: In Creative Whirlwind, we take a look at how Tune In reports and characterizes young Lennon and McCartney as budding artists.  

We’ll show that Tune In significantly downplays, shortchanges and ignores crucial aspects of McCartney’s artistic development and identity. On the other hand, Lennon’s creative development is shown from all angles in loving detail and with unbridled admiration.

Our discussion will be divided into three major sections: Visual Arts, Literature and Musical Self-Expression.

PLAYLIST
Sh-Boom THE CHORDS
Mona Lisa NAT KING COLE
Let’s Have a Party WANDA JACKSON
Blueberry Hill FATS DOMINO
New Day SUN RA
Woo-Hoo THE ROCK-A-TEENS
Blues in Orbit DUKE ELLINGTON
What is This Thing Called Love DAVE BRUBECK
Bloodnock Rock n Roll Call THE GOONS
Aint’ Misbehavin’ FATS WALLER
Sleepy Lagoon HARRY JAMES
Rocket 88 JACKIE BRENSTON
Come Go with Me THE DEL VIKINGS
Money BARRETT STRONG
I’ll Be On My Way THE BEATLES

SOURCES
Remember by Mike McCartney (1992)
The Beatles by Bob Spitz (2005)
Mike McCartney “Portrait of Paul,” Woman Magazine (1965) 
Early Liverpool by Mike McCartney (2021)
The Guardian “The Long and Winding Ode” by Nicci Gerrard, (Sat 10 Mar 2001)
Many Years From Now by Barry Miles (1997)
Beatles Book Magazine (“Young Paul”), Issue 27 
BC Interview (October 4, 1997)
Melvyn Bragg Interview, Southbank (1977)
Donovan Leitch Interview w/ Rolling Stone (April 30, 2012)

Listen HERE

SYNOPSIS: This is a look at Tune In’s most positive descriptions of John and Paul respectively. All examined passages will be from the text, i.e. the author’s own depictions of John and Paul.

By comparing how Lewisohn chooses to describe John versus Paul, we will reveal many undeniable discrepancies in word choice, enthusiasm, depth, and tone. 

What do these discrepancies mean? We’ll discuss!

SOURCES
Beatles Anthology (2000)
Beatles Authorized Biography by Hunter Davies (1968)
John, Paul and Me: Before the Beatles by Len Garry (1997)

PLAYLIST
Side By Side RAY CHARLES and BETTY CARTER
Personality JOHNNY MERCER
Deed I Do PEGGY LEE
Young at Heart FRANK SINATRA
Clarabella THE BEATLES
In Spite of All the Danger THE BEATLES
Twenty Flight Rock EDDIE COCHRAN
Crazy Man Crazy BILL HALEY & THE COMETS
Lawdy Miss Clawdy ELVIS PRESLEY
You Can’t Take That Away From Me ELLA FITZGERALD & LOUIS ARMSTRONG
I’ll Be On My Way THE BEATLES

1. Intro and Syllabus – This episode presents an overview of our 11-part series including its impetus, our objectives and summaries of the upcoming installments.
2. Should to Shoulder – This is a look at Tune In’s most positive descriptions of John and Paul respectively. All examined passages will be from the text (i.e. the author’s own depictions of John and Paul, in his own words). By comparing how Lewisohn chooses to describe John versus Paul, we will reveal many undeniable discrepancies in word choice, enthusiasm, depth, and tone. What do these discrepancies mean? We’ll discuss!
3. Creative Whirlwind -How does Tune In report and characterize young Lennon and McCartney as budding artists? We’ll show that Tune In significantly downplays and shortchanges (and sometimes even ignores) crucial aspects of McCartney’s artistic development and identity. Lennon’s creative development, on the other hand, is shown from all angles in loving detail and with unbridled admiration.
4. Shells & Barriers – 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, most especially 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.
5. Leader Lennon – This examines what we see as Tune In’s major thesis: that John Lennon was and is the leader and implicit owner of The Beatles forever.  We’ll point out the many holes in this theory, and discuss why we disagree with it and why it is a problem.
6. A Prolonged Jealousy – A Prolonged Jealousy tackles another of Tune In’s main talking points: that Paul McCartney is a fundamentally jealous person. We will analyze Tune In’s telling of how Paul’s obsessive, one-sided jealousy of and over John was brought to a boil by the presence of Stuart Sutcliffe in the band. Is this unforgiving portrayal of Paul’s jealousy fair? Or is it over the top? We’ll discuss!
7. Spanner in the Works – This episode shows how Tune In portrays Paul as uniquely difficult to manage and deliberately 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 side against Paul when he comes into conflict with others
8. No Greater Buddy – This episode examines how Tune In handles the most negative behavior of John Lennon. (This is a study of Lewisohn’s coverage of John’s bad behavior, rather than the behavior itself)
9. WTF? – This episode is a hodgepodge, collecting passages from the book that didn’t necessarily belong in any of the other episodes but that we felt warranted discussion.
10. The Unseen Paul – In this episode, we share and discuss many quotes, stories, and insights about Paul as a child and young man (some flattering, some not) all of which are absent from Tune In. Many of these quotes and stories come from sources Tune In uses; many do not. We hope Unseen Paul can and will serve as a supplement to Tune In for anyone who wants a fuller, more balanced or more nuanced view of Paul McCartney, a vitally important figure in the Beatle story.
11. Wrap Party – This episode summarizes what we’ve learned from the series. It includes our thoughts, apprehensions, and hopes for Mr Lewisohn’s next book as well as some recommendations for additional listening.

Listen HERE

SYNOPSIS: Welcome to Fine Tuning, an Examination of Mark Lewisohn’s Tune In.
This episode presents an overview of our 11-part series including its impetus, our objectives and summaries of the upcoming installments.

PLAYLIST
Roll Over Beethoven THE BEATLES
Carol THE BEATLES
Some Other Guy THE BEATLES
Too Much Monkey Business THE BEATLES
Thank You Girl THE BEATLES
Baby It’s You THE BEATLES
I’ll Be On My Way THE BEATLES

Lewisohn Quoted from Podcast Fab4cast Part 1

Listen HERE

Listen to our Spotify Playlist (Fine Tuning Soundtrack) HERE

Here the video of Patti Boyd discussing her portraits of Paul and John in India

And here are the pictures:

Listen HERE

SUMMARY
Phoebe and Daphne answer listener mail! In Part 2 they tackle: the controversial production of Strawberry Fields Forever, an alternate theory on Paul and Jane’s breakup, what Mick Jagger and Pattie Boyd know about India, Projecting Onto George, granny music, voodoo dolls and more!

FULL LIST OF TOPICS
Security Blanket
Midas Man
Pattie’s Post
What Does Pattie Mean?
Maharishi Hit on a Beatle?
Sympathy for Teenage Paul
Estranged Fiance Theory
Projecting Onto George
SFF (John’s dissatisfaction)
Paul’s Farm
Maxwell
Paul and Jane: Alternate Theory
Infamous Postcard
Voodoo Dolls
Mistake Feedback
Mozart Prodigy Discussion
Granny Music
If I Fell
Foreverly Brothers
Morbid Question

PLAYLIST
What You’re Doing THE BEATLES 1964
From Me to You THE BEATLES 1963

Listen HERE

SUMMARY
The AKOM Team tackles a variety topics including: the upcoming “Now and Then” release, Why Allen Klein Is Still Trash, possible undercover hookups, the challenges of friendship, LSD, Elvis, betrayal and SO MUCH MORE!

Full List of Topics:
SOLO PAUL!
LAWR OBJECTION
PAUL AND MOZART
NOW AND THEN
ELVIS BOOK
JOHN IS HIGH MAINTENANCE FRIEND?
WOMEN IN FANDOM
PAUL BLOCKING GEORGE
TWO VIRGINS
KLEIN v. EASTMANS
SKYWRITING BY WORD 
JOHN, PAUL AND ILY
PAUL ON JOHN’S SEXUALITY
WHAT’S LSD LIKE?
NORTHERN SHARES 
EARLY DAYS SERIES
PAUL AND YOKO HOOK UP?!
MUSICAL DIALOGUE PAUL & YOKO
GIVE YOKO TOO MUCH CREDIT
THE McCARTNEYS AND JOHN
LAURENCE JUBER

PLAYLIST
Everybody’s Got Something to Hide THE BEATLES (1968)
Eight Days a Week THE BEATLES (1964)

SOURCES
Get Back dir. Peter Jackson (2021)
Laurence Juber interview (2023)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E09nG-H09Yk&t=6454s
Superb Weirdness mixtape:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajOA9GHQPV0

Listen HERE

Summary: Authors of the McCartney Legacy Vol 1, Adrian Sincalir and Allen Kozinn speak with Daphne and Phoebe about Paul McCartney’s “Frankensongs,” dynamic compositions that consist of two (or more) songs that are sutured together to form a mega-song. 

In this episode: Another Day, Back Seat of My Car, Little Lamb Dragonfly, Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey, Band on the Run.

PLAYLIST:
Too Many People
Jet
Another Day
Back Seat of My Car
Little Lamb Dragonfly
Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey
Band on the Run
Get on the Right Thing
Big Barn Bed