Friday, June 18, 2010

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.
               

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