13 July 1985 - On the Road to London
The drive that would take the Beatles and their respective families from Liverpool to London was going to be a very long one; no more than five hours, at best. They were on their way to Wembley Stadium, where they would be one of many performers representing the United Kingdom for a dual-venue benefit concert called Live Aid. (Another venue was at John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia in the United States.)
Live Aid had been organized by Boomtown Rats singer Bob Geldof and ex-Visage guitarist Midge Ure to raise funds for relief of the Ehtopian famine in eastern Africa. The famine had taken place over a period of two years and the death toll was debated; some say it was as few as 400 thousand, others say it was up to 1.2 million or somewhere between the two numbers. As a response, Geldof and Ure had composed a charity single, "Do They Know It's Christmas", under the brand name Band Aid, which featured many of the current biggest British and Irish musical acts such as George Michael and Bono. The Beatles were asked to partake in the recording, but they had declined due to scheduling conflicts, although Paul McCartney did record a message on the B-side.
To make up for their absence on "Do They Know It's Christmas", the Beatles had agreed to partake in the Live Aid concert, and they would be performing early on in the evening, but rather late into the concert itself. Each act had generally been given up to 20 minutes for their own respective sets, and the Beatles would be performing six songs in their own set. The band was well-rehearsed for later in the evening and had decided that the majority of their songs would be post-Abracadabra.
"It's hard to imagine, isn't it?" said John to Paul as the drive went on the M6 motorway. "This is nearly thirty years in the making."
"Ever since we first met after your Quarrymen show back in '57," agreed Paul. "Time goes by so quickly these days. It almost feels like yesterday when our first single got released."
"But now both of us have married and we got kids of our own," added John. "God, it makes you feel mortal."
"Yeah," sighed Paul. There was silence before either man spoke up again.
"Still," Paul continued, "I almost wonder to myself what things might've been like had you, George and Ringo not ditched me like that..."
"Well, in our defense, Paul," said John, "you were kind of being an overbearing prima donna prick by the end of the 60s."
"That's a rather blunt way of putting it," replied Paul. "You weren't exactly perfect back then either, y'know, especially when you slagged me off in the press like all I wrote was nothing but sappy ballads. I could still rock hard even then like we did with 'Helter Skelter'. And it's not like you haven't written ballads either."
John tried to come up with a retort, but nothing came to him. Instead, he just simply replied, "Touche, Macca. Touche."
Linda and Maddy observed their respective husbands in silence; they were used to hearing banter like that, but they never escalated into giant arguments. The children were talking amongst themselves, not taking much notice of the middle-aged couples in the limousine. (George, Ringo and their respective families were in the other limousine whilst a van behind both of them carried all the musical equipment.)
"All that being said," said Paul, "if it hadn't been for you three ditching me, I'm not sure you and Madeline would've ever met."
"Maybe we might've," said John. "Just... under different circumstances, I believe; whatever they could be. Right, Maddy?"
"Who knows?" chuckled Maddy. "However different things may have been in the 70s, I'd have never gotten close to Linda, Livvy and Babs, or any combination of the three. They're the best sister figures an actress like myself could've ever asked for."
"I feel the same about you and others," smiled Linda. "Only in my case, I'm just a mere photographer."
"You're not just a mere photographer," John snorted. "You're practically the mother figure in our inner circle."
"John's right, y'know," said Paul, putting an arm around his wife. "Ever since the Beatles got back together, you've pretty much helped to keep conflict at a minimum, and even helped to provide us moral support when we needed it the most. Especially in recent times when we were at an artistic low."
Linda smiled again and rested her head against Paul's shoulder, kissing him on the cheek.
"I'll say this though," said John. "Even when I didn't think highly of you in the early 70s, Paul, you could still make some damn fine music. I still especially love 'Let Me Roll It' even now."
"And I've a particular fondness for 'Crippled Inside' myself," said Paul. "I get a kick out of it even now."
"D'ya think they could've been Beatles songs had we, as our song goes, worked it out back then?" asked John.
"Probably," Paul shrugged. "I mean, we wrote up quite a lot of material in India that we didn't put out on an album until years later."
"Who knows what we could've produced?" agreed John. "We could've gone down a similar route to ELO or maybe Pink Floyd."
"Or our friends from Smile," suggested Paul.
"Yeah," said John. "The 70s could've been way different..."
Live Aid had been organized by Boomtown Rats singer Bob Geldof and ex-Visage guitarist Midge Ure to raise funds for relief of the Ehtopian famine in eastern Africa. The famine had taken place over a period of two years and the death toll was debated; some say it was as few as 400 thousand, others say it was up to 1.2 million or somewhere between the two numbers. As a response, Geldof and Ure had composed a charity single, "Do They Know It's Christmas", under the brand name Band Aid, which featured many of the current biggest British and Irish musical acts such as George Michael and Bono. The Beatles were asked to partake in the recording, but they had declined due to scheduling conflicts, although Paul McCartney did record a message on the B-side.
To make up for their absence on "Do They Know It's Christmas", the Beatles had agreed to partake in the Live Aid concert, and they would be performing early on in the evening, but rather late into the concert itself. Each act had generally been given up to 20 minutes for their own respective sets, and the Beatles would be performing six songs in their own set. The band was well-rehearsed for later in the evening and had decided that the majority of their songs would be post-Abracadabra.
"It's hard to imagine, isn't it?" said John to Paul as the drive went on the M6 motorway. "This is nearly thirty years in the making."
"Ever since we first met after your Quarrymen show back in '57," agreed Paul. "Time goes by so quickly these days. It almost feels like yesterday when our first single got released."
"But now both of us have married and we got kids of our own," added John. "God, it makes you feel mortal."
"Yeah," sighed Paul. There was silence before either man spoke up again.
"Still," Paul continued, "I almost wonder to myself what things might've been like had you, George and Ringo not ditched me like that..."
"Well, in our defense, Paul," said John, "you were kind of being an overbearing prima donna prick by the end of the 60s."
"That's a rather blunt way of putting it," replied Paul. "You weren't exactly perfect back then either, y'know, especially when you slagged me off in the press like all I wrote was nothing but sappy ballads. I could still rock hard even then like we did with 'Helter Skelter'. And it's not like you haven't written ballads either."
John tried to come up with a retort, but nothing came to him. Instead, he just simply replied, "Touche, Macca. Touche."
Linda and Maddy observed their respective husbands in silence; they were used to hearing banter like that, but they never escalated into giant arguments. The children were talking amongst themselves, not taking much notice of the middle-aged couples in the limousine. (George, Ringo and their respective families were in the other limousine whilst a van behind both of them carried all the musical equipment.)
"All that being said," said Paul, "if it hadn't been for you three ditching me, I'm not sure you and Madeline would've ever met."
"Maybe we might've," said John. "Just... under different circumstances, I believe; whatever they could be. Right, Maddy?"
"Who knows?" chuckled Maddy. "However different things may have been in the 70s, I'd have never gotten close to Linda, Livvy and Babs, or any combination of the three. They're the best sister figures an actress like myself could've ever asked for."
"I feel the same about you and others," smiled Linda. "Only in my case, I'm just a mere photographer."
"You're not just a mere photographer," John snorted. "You're practically the mother figure in our inner circle."
"John's right, y'know," said Paul, putting an arm around his wife. "Ever since the Beatles got back together, you've pretty much helped to keep conflict at a minimum, and even helped to provide us moral support when we needed it the most. Especially in recent times when we were at an artistic low."
Linda smiled again and rested her head against Paul's shoulder, kissing him on the cheek.
"I'll say this though," said John. "Even when I didn't think highly of you in the early 70s, Paul, you could still make some damn fine music. I still especially love 'Let Me Roll It' even now."
"And I've a particular fondness for 'Crippled Inside' myself," said Paul. "I get a kick out of it even now."
"D'ya think they could've been Beatles songs had we, as our song goes, worked it out back then?" asked John.
"Probably," Paul shrugged. "I mean, we wrote up quite a lot of material in India that we didn't put out on an album until years later."
"Who knows what we could've produced?" agreed John. "We could've gone down a similar route to ELO or maybe Pink Floyd."
"Or our friends from Smile," suggested Paul.
"Yeah," said John. "The 70s could've been way different..."
Awww. This is beautiful!
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's a further build up to what's sort of the endgame for SP.
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