Apple Scruffs recall a row between John and Paul

[peerke]

Anybody heard this story?

In issue 35 of the British music mag Mojo there’s an interview with some of the Apple Scruffs. They recall an incident that took place during an EMI recording session betwwen The Beatles.
Gill Pritchard: “We knew something was wrong, you just felt it. There has been snippets in the papers about how it was falling apart between The Beatles and it seemed like things were winding down. One evening during the end of the Abbey Road sessions, Paul came racing out of the front door of the studios in tears, went home and didn’t come back. The next day he didn’t turn up at all even tough the studio was booked.”
Wendy Sutcliffe: “John was really angry because they were all waiting and he came storming out of the studio and made off towards Paul’s house. We followed and when he got there he stood outside and just banged on the door again and again, calling for Paul to open up. Paul didn’t answer so John climbed the gate and hammered on his door. Then they had a screaming match. He was shouting that George and Ringo had both come in from the country and Paul didn’t even bother to let anyone know he couldn’t make the session.”

There are some pictures from John climbing the wall. These are taken by the girls. John is wearing the same brown fur coat (wasn’t that Yoko’s?) he was wearing during the rooftop concert. No beard, long hair.
The trees are bare – no leaves. So that all places the incident in the Winter.
The last Abbey Road session however was on August the 25th. That’s Summer in my book.

Can anyone shed a light on when the incident took place?
I’ve nowhere found in mentioned in any of Lewisohn’s or Miles’ books.

[Lord Hawthorne]

I've heard that was in September after the lp had been completed. It was a meeting at Apple where John announced he was leaving the group, described by Anthony Fawcett (John & Yoko's personal assistant) in his book, "One Day At A Time". Fawcett has a cassette recording of that discussion. Not in the book, but mentioned by John in an interview, I think the famous Rolling Stone interview, he wanted one last session to record "Cold Turkey" as a Beatles single, but the others "weren't interested".
If this fallout started at Abbey Road studios, I would guess it to be music-related, but there was some real tension with Yoko in a bed in the middle of the studio giving directions.

[Beatle Terr]

Peerke,
Your discriprion of this event is exactly what was shown and depicted in the made for TV movie about Paul's wife Linda. This was shown only in the movie as John being really mad at Paul for quitting the band in the movie.

It was great because it showed John as really being mad as all hell only it was because Paul had given his notice and John found out about it and went chasing after Paul to his house as you described.

Can't remember the name of the movie exactly but it was mostly about how Linda and Paul had met each other and when they got together and were married.

[xios]

If Lennon was beardless it would have had to have been earlier in 1969- he appears to have kept his beard from circa Feb. '69 into 1970. Photos at the end of the book which came in the Let It Be box show the beginning if the beard at the end of the sessions.

[Joel1963]

Yeah, but I seem to recall an incident in which Paul decided to celebrate the anniversary of when he and Linda met by skipping an Abbey Road LP session. That's when John went into Paul's house and broke a painting he had given him in the '50s. But that would have been in the summer of '69. Maybe the photos relate to an argument earlier in the year when Paul refsed to sign a contract giving Allan Klein a particular percentage for a management contract. Paul said he wanted to wait until Monday (it was a Friday) and the others said he was stalling. A session scheduled for that day was cancelled because of the row.

[GuyDon]

Originally Posted by xios

If Lennon was beardless it would have had to have been earlier in 1969- he appears to have kept his beard from circa Feb. '69 into 1970. Photos at the end of the book which came in the Let It Be box show the beginning if the beard at the end of the sessions.

Xios is correct. John had a beard from February 1969 into early 1970. Sometime around Jan/Feb 1970 is when John and Yoko shaved off their hair for peace. This can be confirmed because he still has the thick/long beard in December 1969 for the Lyceum concert.

As a result, this recollection could only have taken place sometime in late '68 after the completion of the White Album into very early '69 during the Get Back sessions. However, I do not believe the group had any time booked at Abbey Road during this time.

[Joel1963]

Originally Posted by GuyDon

Xios is correct. John had a beard from February 1969 into early 1970. Sometime around Jan/Feb 1970 is when John and Yoko shaved off their hair for peace. This can be confirmed because he still has the thick/long beard in December 1969 for the Lyceum concert.

On the other hand, John DIDN'T have the beard for the Something video (probably shot Sept. or Oct. 1969), but he still had his long hair. Reminds me of George Harrison in the late 1960s and throughout the next few decades, when he would go back and forth in terms of facial hair.

[GuyDon]

Originally Posted by Joel1963

On the other hand, John DIDN'T have the beard for the Something video (probably shot Sept. or Oct. 1969), but he still had his long hair. Reminds me of George Harrison in the late 1960s and throughout the next few decades, when he would go back and forth in terms of facial hair.

Although I am not 100% sure, I believe the footage used of J & Y could have been filmed
much earlier (fall '68) and used with the newly shot footage of the other Fabs. Can anyone confirm?

[-Ben]

Originally Posted by GuyDon

Although I am not 100% sure, I believe the footage used of J & Y could have been filmed
much earlier (fall '68) and used with the newly shot footage of the other Fabs. Can anyone confirm?

Joel is correct Dave. John shaved his beard (although he started growing it right back) at one point sometime between the Sep. 1969 Toronto concert and the Dec. 1969 Lyceum concert (The J&Y footage DOES comes from this time) . I believe there is a picture in the "One Day at a Time" book. I don't have the book with me, but I seem to remember it was taken around the time John returned his MBE (Nov. 25, 1969).

[peerke]

Beatle Terr

I've seen that movie too, I think it's called The Linda McCartney Story.
In that movie I recall the event was placed somewhere during the White Album sessions.

Too confuse the matters a bit more there's a third story:
On March 12, 1970, the last day of the process, judge Justice Stamp pronounced Apple's finances to be "confused, uncertain and inconclusive". He appointed J.D. Spooner to control the finances of Apple.

John reacted angry, jumped into his car, followed by George and Ringo and asked his driver to bring him to Pauls house. There he climbed the wall again and trew two bricks trough the windows of the glass house in the garden.

But I think that the two events occured at seperate times.

[Joel1963]

Originally Posted by peerke

Beatle Terr

I've seen that movie too, I think it's called The Linda McCartney Story.
In that movie I recall the event was placed somewhere during the White Album sessions.

Too confuse the matters a bit more there's a third story:
On March 12, 1970, the last day of the process, judge Justice Stamp pronounced Apple's finances to be "confused, uncertain and inconclusive". He appointed J.D. Spooner to control the finances of Apple.

John reacted angry, jumped into his car, followed by George and Ringo and asked his driver to bring him to Pauls house. There he climbed the wall again and trew two bricks trough the windows of the glass house in the garden.

But I think that the two events occured at seperate times.

I believe the brick event took place in January '71, after Paul won in court.

[GuyDon]

Originally Posted by bencanas

Joel is correct Dave. John shaved his beard (although he started growing it right back) at one point sometime between the Sep. 1969 Toronto concert and the Dec. 1969 Lyceum concert (The J&Y footage DOES comes from this time) . I believe there is a picture in the "One Day at a Time" book. I don't have the book with me, but I seem to remember it was taken around the time John returned his MBE (Nov. 25, 1969).

Thanks for the info Ben.

[Lord Hawthorne]

Originally Posted by bencanas

Joel is correct Dave. John shaved his beard (although he started growing it right back) at one point sometime between the Sep. 1969 Toronto concert and the Dec. 1969 Lyceum concert (The J&Y footage DOES comes from this time) . I believe there is a picture in the "One Day at a Time" book. I don't have the book with me, but I seem to remember it was taken around the time John returned his MBE (Nov. 25, 1969).

I'd say it was right after the Toronto concert. There are photographs of John riding a small tractor at Ronnie Hawkin's place with stubble on his face.

[Uncle Al]

Originally Posted by GuyDon

As a result, this recollection could only have taken place sometime in late '68 after the completion of the White Album into very early '69 during the Get Back sessions. However, I do not believe the group had any time booked at Abbey Road during this time.

Just postulatin' here Beatle-peedles:

Couldn't the inconsistency in the story be the bit about "EMI" recording session? If the incident took place earlier in '69 - couldn't it have emanated from Apple studios? I believe that was one of the first hang outs of the 'Scruffs, and it was where they recorded the studio tracks for LIB around that time....

[Joel1963]

Originally Posted by Lord Hawthorne

I'd say it was right after the Toronto concert. There are photographs of John riding a small tractor at Ronnie Hawkin's place with stubble on his face.

That actually might be December 1969, when John visited Canada again and had an audience with then-Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. I think that's when John was discussing the possibility of a massive concert for peace, which never happened.

[JohnS]

Originally Posted by Uncle Al

Couldn't the inconsistency in the story be the bit about "EMI" recording session? If the incident took place earlier in '69 - couldn't it have emanated from Apple studios?

The Apple studios were in the Apple building in Savile Row, Central London; Paul's house was/is on Cavendish Avenue in North London, a short walk away from the Abbey Road studios - it sounds more plausible for John/Paul to make their way to Paul's house, and for the Scruffs to follow quickly, from Abbey Rd rather than Savile Row, which is a good 30mins drive/taxi ride away...

[-Ben]

Originally Posted by Lord Hawthorne

I'd say it was right after the Toronto concert. There are photographs of John riding a small tractor at Ronnie Hawkin's place with stubble on his face.

Originally Posted by Joel1963

That actually might be December 1969, when John visited Canada again and had an audience with then-Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. I think that's when John was discussing the possibility of a massive concert for peace, which never happened.

Joel is correct again!!!!

John and Yoko left the UK immediately after the Lyceum concert (Dec15) and went to Canada to spend a week at Ronnie Hawkins' Mississauga farm planning a Peace Festival.

[-Ben]

The picture below comes from the book "Imagine John Lennon" page 155.

The caption reads..."In July 1969 John took Julian, Yoko, and her daughter Kyoko to visit relatives in Scotland. On the return trip their car overturned, and they suffer minor injuries. John and Yoko on their release from the hospital".

Note John without a beard. This would have put the shaved John at the beginning of the Abbey Road sessions (early July 1969). If the caption is right, I was wrong about my speculation that it happened between Sep and and Dec 1969. HOWEVER...the crashed car photo is at Tittenhurst Park and J & Y didn't move there until August 1969. SO...this picture must have been taken after August because the August 22 Beatles Photo session (Hey Jude album cover) shows Lennon with beard (and also after the Toronto festival in early September). The caption must be wrong when it implies the photo was taken right after the crash.

[-Ben]

Here's John and Yoko posing with the car again after cutting their hair Feb 1970.

[Lord Hawthorne]

By October John had quite a bushy beard, so I would think that first photo was nowhere before that time. The strange thing about this story is that John had already quit the Beatles in the middle of September, so what were they all doing at EMI if they weren't there to record? Perhaps they were reviewing tapes of the Get Back sessions, maybe it was there that Paul was informed that he had been outvoted on the Allen Klein issue. They were also trying to keep their part of Northern Songs at that time.