The English Class System

In 1966, filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker filmed a documentary of Bob Dylan that was later called Eat The Document.  On May 27, 1966, Pennebaker covered a limosine ride that Dylan and John Lennon  took.  Dylan was sick--he complained about a pain in his side and was on the verge of throwing up.  John Lennon,  who had been making droll, casual comments before he heard Dylan's health complaints, leaned forward and delivered this very direct and deliberate lecture, using an upper-class accent:
     "Come, come, boy, it's only a film, come, come.  Pull yourself together.  Another few dollars, eh?  That'll
      get your head up.  Come on, come on.  Money, money."   (at 4:15-4:22 in the video.  See the whole video at:  www.youtube.com/watch?v=695_AAQUmLk.

This sequence was not in the official cut according to the Youtube poster.

Brian Epstein carefully managed The Beatles' image, but every once in a while a photo surfaces of one of The Beatles looking tired and sick as this photo I found of Paul at http://www.acephotos.org/ shows:


In Andrew Loog Oldham's memoir, Stoned  A Memoir of London in the 1960's, Oldham talks about an English group who made it big in France:  Vince Taylor and the Playboys.  Oldham compared the social class attitudes of France and England (p. 118):
     "The refreshing thing about rockin' on the Cote d'Azur was that, in France rock and pop were celebrated, whereas in
England they were merely tolerated.  In England the warnings
were muted but persistent:  do not get above your station.  In  France an entertainer's success was welcomed and applauded, not scorned.  France had a completely different notion of class society to England."

Lennon thought the Dylan/Pennebaker documentary would be seen across America and Europe and he wanted, no doubt, to make a public statement to show the relentless exploitation that The Beatles were suffering under.  As they became popular, The Beatles started to fight back.  And I think the "butcher" cover and John's Jesus statement were part of the fight.  It remains to be shown if Paul and John successfully separated themselves from the disdainful exploitation.  But as I've been exploring in my blog, there are all kinds of red flags that Paul got tripped up somewhere in his attempt to exit this unprecedented situation.