Before Things Got Serious (revised)

My supposition that Paul was waging a war against EMI, the British government and ?? has its beginning in an audio I found on YouTube.  The Beatles had a song called, That Means Alot that they did not want to record.  They played with the song, and then Paul decided to wreck it.  Listen to the hilarious results at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6j-UEPB_JA  .  And this was in early 1965 (March) before things got serious.
(Revised):  The takes of these songs took place during the time The Beatles were filming Help.  If you look at enough pictures of Paul during that period,  you realize that Paul was having a very hard time.  So I think that was when things were beginning to get serious and it culminated in his being ousted from the group in July, 1966.  My sense of it is that they were threatening to remove Paul before 1966, and that his replacement showed up in interviews as early as June, 1965.  (See the next post.)

Are There Book Bootlegs?

Mal Evans, The Beatles' road manager, was killed by L.A. police on January 4th. (or 5th., depending on the source), 1976.  He was due to deliver an autobiography, Living With The Beatles Legend to publisher Grosset & Dunlap on January 10th. (or 12th., depending on the source), 1976.  He wrote the book with John Hoernle who was an art director at Capitol Records.  There is an article about Hoernle in a Billboard magazine issue of October 27, 1973. 
Curiously, the book has never been published.   But if there are record bootlegs, could there be book bootlegs? 

Granny as Paul; Paul as warrior

On the Bonzo (Doo Dah) Band's second album, The Doughnut in Granny's Greenhouse (1968), they have a song called "Rhinocratic Oaths" that has these spoken word lyrics:
     After his second wife passed away, Percy Rawlinson seemed to spend more and more time with his
     Alsatian, Mal.  His friend told him, "You should get out more, Percy, you'll wind up looking like a dog,
     hah, hah."  He was later arrested near a lamppost.  At his trial some months later he surprised everyone
     by mistaking a policeman for a postman and tearing his trousers off with his bare teeth.  In his defense
     he told the court, "It's hard to tell the difference when they take their hats off."

The "Beatles" 1967 Christmas record has a skit where they are "dedicating" a song to a "Mrs. G. Evans of Solihull, who was gradually injured in the recent heavy fighting near Blackpool."  Mal Evans was, of course, The Beatles' road manager and confidante.  (The printed lyrics for the '67 Christmas record are available at:    www.dmbeatles.com/song.php?song=401   and the audio is available at:   www.beatleslane.com/music/beatles-christmas-records.htm )

My speculation is that Paul's little war extended to fighting the British government over tax payments.  I think the "working for the Daily Mail" line from Paperback Writer was a play on words meaning Royal Male:  the royalty and its government arm.  In The Beatles' song, Taxman, there are the lines (when you listen carefully):
          If you get too cold, Paul
          I'll tax the heat.
          If you take a walk, Paul
          I'll tax your feet.

Couple that with the 1967 Christmas record's reenactment of auditions for Paul's replacement on "Wednesday, the FIRST", which could have been December 1, 1965 or June 1, 1966 ( June 1st. being three (or five, depending on the source) days before the EMI recording contract with The Beatles expired-- see my earlier post of May 29th.:  "Of Contracts and Kings"), and you get the idea that Paul was at war with the "powers that be."

The post rambles a little, but I'm finding alot and it is fitting together.  More Monday.

                                                                                     ---paulumbo
     ---Continued---
Another theme in '66-'67 Beatles songs shows up on the 1967 Christmas record:  sleeping.  After "Sir Gerald" answers "Michael's" comment with the statement, "There was a job to be done," and the Christmastime is Here Again song starts up again, you can hear laughing and snoring.  It obviously was connected with what was happening to Paul.

I also found a YouTube audio of John's home demos for the song, She Said She Said, and, as I suspected, it wasn't about a woman, it was about a man:  John original lyrics were He Said, He Said.  At 2:42-3:18 in the audio, John sings the following lyrics:
          She said,
          I know what it's like to be dead;
          I know what it is to be sad:
          And it's making me feel like I've never been born.

          I said,
          Who put all that crap in your head;
          I know what it is to be mad:
          And it's making me feel like my trousers are torn.
Listen to the YouTube audio at:   www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQS3pgNqyII
John recorded this ~March/April of 1966.  The  Rhinocratic Oaths lyrics talk about an altercation with a policeman.  It's possible that Paul's broken tooth that shows in the Paperback Writer/Rain  videos of April, 1966 was a result of that altercation.
               

Granny Smith

George Harrison wrote and recorded with The Beatles a song called Love You To.  The working title for the song was Granny Smith.  The song was recorded beginning April 11, 1966 and The Beatles continued recording takes of the song on the same day that Paperback Writer was recorded:  April 13, 1966.
I ran down the possibilities for the title:  genealogy of George's or his wife, Pattie and the Magritte painting that the Paul replacement owned (the big green apple painting called "Le Jeu de mourre" ["The Guessing Game"]).  I couldn't trace a Smith to George or Pattie Boyd and the painting dates from the summer of 1967.  The married name of John's Aunt Mimi was Smith, but there is nothing to suggest that George called her Granny.

But Granny Smith is the name given to isolated old women by UK postmen for whom the Royal Mail service is a lifeline (per Dear Granny Smith:  A Letter from your Postman by Roy Mayall, by way of the website, http://www.culturewars.org.uk/.)

It is possible that there is a connection between George's song title and the line in Paperback Writer:  "His son is working for the Daily Mail . . . ."  Another possible clue for us all.

Sleeping

In my April 30th. post I mentioned that The Beatles were fitting sleep and sleeping references into their songs and interviews.  Obviously, they were trying to clue the world public into something that was happening in their lives.  Most Beatles fans were too young to catch the significance and the press of the world dropped the ball when it came to reporting all the things that were happening to The Beatles.

I found three instances in 1966 of sleep being mentioned by The Beatles:
   1.)  In Paperback Writer, recorded April 13th., John and George's background vocals included singing "Frere Jacques", which is a French song translated, "Are you sleeping, Brother John (or James.)
   2.)  They recorded I'm Only Sleeping on April 27th.
   3.)  In a New Musical Express interview with Paul published on June 16th., Paul said,
                    "Anyway, I've stopped regarding things a 'way-out' anymore.  I've
                     stopped thinking that anything is weird or different.  There'll always
                     be people about, like that Andy Warhol in the States - the bloke
                     who makes great long films of people just sleeping.  Nothin' weird
                     anymore."

Their mentioning sleep continued in 1967 with George's Blue Jay Way, recorded beginning September 6, 1967.

The significance of their talking about sleep will be explored.  It will help explain what happened to Paul.

A Good Resource to Explore

I found a website that Beatle and '60's music fans might like to take a look at.  It has full issues of Los Angeles radio station KRLA's fan magazine from February 25, 1965 to May 4, 1968.  They call it "L.A.'s first rock-and-roll newspaper" and it has a wealth of photos, info, and interviews of, by and about The Beatles (and other '60's groups.)  They hired Derek Taylor, The Beatles former press secretary, to comment on the British music scene, and L.A. had the headquarters of Capitol Records, the American distributor of Beatle records, so it's definitely worth exploring.
The website is:  http://krlabeat.sakionline.net/cgi-bin/index.cgi
Take a look!