Some Sad Commentary on Cynthia Lennon
Marcus
relationship with a Beatle was by Cynthia Lennon. I'm not referring to the
fact that she changed her name back to Lennon after two divorces following
her marriage to John, though that was certainly an awfully crass and
commercial thing to do. No, I'm talking about the little known fact that
back in 1995, Cynthia stepped out of some much deserved obscurity and made a
record entitled "Those Were The Days," about her supposedly halcyon days as
housewife to John Lennon. But were they?
"I know who Norwegian Wood was really about, but I'm not telling" she
tearfully told Paul Du Noyer of "Q" Magazine. What follows is an article
that first appeared in that magazine back in 1995.
Brian Epstein wrote: ''A Beatle must not marry. It is all very well if one
is married before one is a fully-grown Beatle, but a fully-grown Beatle must
stay single." As usual it was John Lennon who broke the rules.
Cynthia Powell was John's art school girlfriend, and they were married in
1962 after she became pregnant in what was then known as a "shotgun"
wedding. When they met, in 1958, he was a "teddy boy" and an often
obnoxious lout with dismal prospects for the future, but she was with him
through Hamburg, Beatlemania, LSD and the Maharishi. Their child,
Julian,would grow up to be a pop musician himself, although his general lack
of talent soon caught up with him and brought his career to a grinding halt.
Few people, however, have had a life as extraordinary as Cynthia's, and
today ("55 and menopausal," she volunteers, cheerfully) she is in a
nostalgic mood.
"Those Were The Days" was a hit for Mary Hopkin on The Beatles' Apple label
in the late 1960's. It's the song that Mrs. Lennon (as she now prefers to
be called) has chosen for her first ever single. She'd tried some demos
with her neighbor on the Isle Of Man, Chris Norman, the former singer with
'70s popsters "Smokie." In fact, she'd not sung since her last appearance
at aged 13 performing "Who Is Sylvia, What Is She?" with the Hoylake Parish
Girls' Choir in 1952. But they made this new record 'with the help of a few
glasses of wine' and now it's out on Norman's own label, Dice Records. It
has not charted.
She and her present "partner," Jim, live by a waterfall ("very tranquil,
good for the soul") and visit the mainland for occasional caravan holidays,
or when she is invited to speak at Beatle conventions: "The fans are
wonderful. They always were. You always get one or two obsessive
odd-balls, but that's life, isn't it?" The tales she tells them are not
without pain. But, she says, "the actual talking about it sometimes helps a
great deal. When you've actually experienced it, that is part of you.
Nothing could hurt any more than that hurt at the time."
The young John and Cyn shared a class in Liverpool Art College. "John was
very wayward in those days. He didn't want to work. period. He wanted only
to play his guitar." They found common ground in their poor eyesight. She
agrees the recent movie "Backbeat" is a fair account of those early years,
at least as she prefers to remember them, "but I think there was one comment
from me that all I wanted was a house and babies. But I had been studying
for five years to be a teacher, so to say all I wanted was the house missed
me slightly. I also had a headscarf and a tweed coat on which was not me,
because I was quite a "with-it" student, in trousers." At John's urging,
she tried to re-vamp her look in line with his pin-up obsession, Brigitte
Bardot.
When The Beatles' career exploded in 1963, the star put his "secret wife"
and baby in a London flat: 'Top floor, £15 a week, and no lift, which was
great fun with the pram, with fans outside, blocking up the key-hole with
chewing gum and sleeping on the stairs overnight. Thankfully we were young,
and everything was so exciting. The Beatles were going to the top of the
charts. It was just an amazing experience." They could no longer hide
their marriage, but the fans didn't mind.
Soon they moved to the Surrey stockbroker belt, and lived in what John would
later call "a happily married state of boredom." It was not to last --
John's growing and seemingly inexplicable interest in the eccentric, obscure
Japanese artist Yoko Ono saw to that -- but their time together was
undeniably Lennon's most creative. "I'm sure I was part of John's writing
and inspiration," she maintains. In those days none of them would say, I'm
writing this for so-and-so, because it would be too embarrassing. But John
actually wrote poetry to me quite a lot. The only song that I thought might
be something to do with me was "Girl," but of course John isn't here to say
any more. But whatever they were writing at the time was about their lives
and wives anyway."
John admitted that some of his songs, such as "Norwegian Wood," were coded
accounts of his adulterous affairs. She accepts this: "Absolutely. I know
who Norwegian Wood was really about, but I'm not telling. And it wasn't
Brigitte Bardot." In fact, Lennon described his life on tour as
"Satyricon." In the years between Hamburg and Yoko Ono, he had countless
sexual encounters; he was even linked with singers Joan Baez and Jackie de
Shannon, and actress Eleanor Bron. But Cynthia was stunned by his first
outright confession of infidelity, shortly before he took up with Yoko. She
had been naive, surely?
"Well, I'm glad I was naive," she now says. I really am. It can be a bonus
sometimes. If I'd known then what was actually going on, life would have
been much harder for me than it already was. I wasn't that naive but I was
naive enough, and it saved me a lot of heartache."
One day in 1968 she came home from a holiday in Italy to find Yoko Ono
lounging around in night clothes with John at the family's Weybridge house.
The marriage was finally and forever over, and Cynthia was shattered. That
was a horrendous period for me. Horrendous! We all go through such
periods, or we're very lucky if we don't, but when it's on a world scale and
the spotlight is on you, that's even harder." She later wrote: I understood
their relationship. I knew I couldn't fight the unity of mind and body that
they seemed to have with each other. Yoko did not take John away from me,
because he had never really been mine after about 1966." It seems a
philosophical reaction, doesn't it?
"It was a 'fait accompli'. I had no choice. I knew that whatever I did, I
would be hitting my head against a wall, so I bowed out as gracefully as I
could. I'm not usually a vengeful person anyway." At least Paul McCartney
was supportive. He drove out to console her, composing a song for little
Julian on the way. "He was devastated by the breakup. He brought me a rose
and offered marriage, as a joke: We'll show 'em, won't we, Cyn? It was very
touching and on the way to the house he had written "Hey Jude." It always
brings tears to my eyes, that song, knowing it is about me."
Cynthia would not see John again until 1974, in New York. "I took Julian
out to reunite him with his father while he was separated from Yoko. Their
relationship was very good after that. But for four years there was no
contact, which I found terribly sad."
She remarried twice in the 1970s, the second time opening a restaurant in
North Wales with her new husband John Twist -- hence the title of her 1978
autobiography, "A Twist Of Lennon," about which John had only scathing
remarks ("They all get one potshot. Each chauffeur, ex-wife, ex-lover, and
ex-servant gets one book if they're lucky.") but his High Court action
failed to stop it from coming out.
What was Cynthia's view of her ex-husband in his so-called "house- husband"
years? "I'd lost all touch with John. Yoko would never put me through to
him. My only contact was when Julian went to stay and he'd come back and
tell me what was really going on. At the time, I just hoped that he was
happy and content, though I seriously doubt he really was much of that time.
That was all I ever wanted. I didn't really ask him for money." John
claimed he was "redefining" himself, getting away from being the macho
working-class hero.
"To a certain extent, yes," Cynthia says, "but he was never really a macho
working-class man. I think his talents were above and beyond that. He was
like a chrysalis. He had to be macho to cope with the types he came across
in Liverpool. He tried to look like the tough guys so that they wouldn't
pick on him. What John became was what John really was, underneath it all."
She last had contact with Yoko at John's Aunt Mimi's funeral, and Sean was
there. We chatted. It's all calm on the Western Front, so to speak. It's
called 'Make Love Not War'." (She laughs.)
Are you not bitter? "Not at all. We've got our own crosses to bear. I get
on with my life and Yoko gets on with hers. She's a mother to Sean and I'm
a mother to Julian (now 32) and we try to protect our children considering
the legend that we are left with. What advice do you give Julian? "Oh,
lots. 'Beware of drugs, sex and rock'n'roll,' is it. But it's no good
telling them, because they'll do it anyway! My father would never have
allowed me to go out with John Lennon, but he was already deceased at the
time. We all fly in the face of our parents' advice. But it all comes
round if you're patient enough. Julian has been the best thing. He is the
jewel in the crown as far as I'm concerned."
Have the good times outweighed the bad times in your life? "Pretty evenly
balanced, I would say. I hope I take the best out of life. It's the only
way to survive. I had some fantastic times, I also had some very tragic
times, but there are many people who have such extremes. You just get on
with it."
Could you have behaved differently and not split? "No. I think those years
were our growing years, growing into individuals. And John's path was a
different path from mine."
Was John the love of your life? "I think first loves are always very
special, and I don't think you ever lose that feeling."
Eramon1
Marcus
"Eramon1" <era...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20040820195520...@mb-m26.aol.com...
> what, exactly, is sad about this?
Well, for starters, recording and releasing a single about her life with
John. Sort of reminds me of Pete Best releasing his lp "Best of the
Beatles" back in 1966.
Shall I go on?
abe slaney
CBco7ninin
>> what, exactly, is sad about this?
>
>
>Well, for starters, recording and releasing a single about her life with
>John. Sort of reminds me of Pete Best releasing his lp "Best of the
>Beatles" back in 1966.
>
>Shall I go on?
In other words, she went down on John Lennon and you didn't, and
you're mighty, *mighty* jealous.
But that's okay... You can still jack off on your Cynthia Lennon
love doll. Well, not "okay," but... sad. Sad, indeed.
whosbest54
"Marcus" <ex...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:4126916e$1...@news.athenanews.com...
Sounds like Cynthia was just another profit-seeking ex-hanger-on of the
Beatles. No need to post any more, She already makes me sort of sick.
the bee tells all
Beatles.
Everybody in the Beatles' world was/is a profit-seeker, including the Beatles.
I. Mcfly
>>Perhaps one of the saddest and most blatant
>>attempts to cash in on a past relationship
>>with a Beatle was by Cynthia Lennon. I'm
>>not referring to the fact that she changed her
>>name back to Lennon after two divorces
>>following her marriage to John, though that
>>was certainly an awfully crass and
>>commercial thing to do.
Who are you to Judge what anybody does?
>>No, I'm talking about the little known fact that
>>back in 1995, Cynthia stepped out of some
>>much deserved obscurity and made a record
>>entitled "Those Were The Days," about her
>>supposedly halcyon days as housewife to
>>John Lennon.
What's wrong with that? She can do anything she wants, and so can you.
I. Mcfly
>>news:20040820195520.04282.00002675@m
>>b-m26.aol.com...
>>Well, for starters, recording and releasing a
>>single about her life with John. Sort of
>>reminds me of Pete Best releasing his lp
>>"Best of the Beatles" back in 1966.
>>Shall I go on?
Oh, please don't. Do us a favor.
I. Mcfly
I'm in the Beatles world. I buy their records, but have never made a
profit in my life.
Mr Dooblede
>Beatles. No need to post any more, She already makes me sort of sick.
>
I'll tell you one thing, I will. I'd give anything to profit from the
Beatles!!! I wish I had some dirt to dish, Hell, of course I would?? I wish I
had some inside information, I could write a book with!! Who here wouldn't
make money from the Beatles if they could??
Mister Charlie
"I. Mcfly" <Dontletmewaitto...@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:2744-412...@storefull-3336.bay.webtv.net...
That's because there's a difference between Beatles as valuable and
Beatles as 'product'.
>
Mister Charlie
"Mr Dooblede" <mrdoo...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20040821164026...@mb-m03.aol.com...
> >Sounds like Cynthia was just another profit-seeking ex-hanger-on of
the
> >Beatles. No need to post any more, She already makes me sort of
sick.
> >
>
half back.
Skirmishd
>> profit in my life.
>
>That's because there's a difference between Beatles as valuable and
>Beatles as 'product'.
>
>
Getting back to Cynthia's book, I thought that it was poorly-written. I read
it years ago so my memory isn't specific so I can just speak generally - it was
not a good read.
Mister Charlie
"Skirmishd" <skir...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20040821173621...@mb-m24.aol.com...
> >> I'm in the Beatles world. I buy their records, but have never made
a
> >> profit in my life.
> >
> >That's because there's a difference between Beatles as valuable and
> >Beatles as 'product'.
> >
> >
> The beatles were valuable and yes, they were also a product.
I was waiting for someone to say that.
No, they are -not- a 'product' to those who buy the music (or other
occasional items) for the sheer personal enjoyment and uplifting magic
they get from *using* (NOT -owning-) the music, movies and such.
They were originally product -only- to the record companies and
bootleggers and licensees. To those the Beatles were sold TO, it was to
have something enjoyable and possibly cherished.
I. Mcfly
>>I. Mcfly"
>><Dontletmewaittoolongnospam2004@webtv.
>>net> wrote in message
>>news:2744-4127A7C6-208@storefull-3336.b
>>ay.webtv.net...
>>Sounds like Cynthia was just another
>>profit-seeking ex-hanger-on of the Beatles.
>>Everybody in the Beatles' world was/is a
>>profit-seeker, including the Beatles.
>>I'm in the Beatles world. I buy their records,
>>but have never made a profit in my life.
>>That's because there's a difference between
>>Beatles as valuable and Beatles as 'product'.
You're right. I should have thought of that.
:-)
MacBeatle
Same shit Different day, eh Chuckles?
Just keep holding that old Party Line, dear. You're going to need
something to hold onto when you walk the plank for our Company pals
and sink down into that deep Channel water.
In Cynthia's shotgun marriage (Bang Bang my Baby Shot Me Down) you're
talking about two crazy kids who forgot to use rubbers one night and
there you go, it was do the honourable thing which John
did. What either partner did during the actual term of that marriage
(deduct 360 days per year for Beatle Biz) is anybody's guess. It is
generally *thought* that Cyn had a fling with Alex Mardas right around
the time John and Yoko spent the night in "His" house. Her pattern
with men seems to have continued, in that she has gone from one man to
another, married several times after John, and still retained her
name, altho the Italian guy is the one Julian looks upon as his "real"
parent.
It was only natural, since Yoko owned no property and was on a quest
to put together a birthday package for her friend John Cage, that she
would go wherever John went (she wanted some original sheet music,
which only proves that she really knew very little about the Beatles),
so the two of them were probably caught red-faced, just like the
fairytale version says...
I witnessed none of the above. All I know is Cynthia came over to Our
House one afternoon, P took off (he has rewritten this in his mind so
he was "going to see Jules" as the backbone of Hey Jew, erm, Hey
Jude). If he went to see Julian, and to give Cyn his everlasting
support, he should have stayed home.
Yoko served Cyn tea in the formal dining room while I hid in the
geodesic dome thingy and wrote little things on scraps of paper. When
the Pow Wow ended, Yoko gestured for me to come back in, and she said
nothing about what the two women had discussed.
It occurs to me that John was up at Weybridge or whatever that house
was called taking care of Jules and Paul probably interrogated him on
why he was dumping Cyn and what he saw in Yoko. Dumb fuck.
Francie
Skirmishd
>
>I was waiting for someone to say that.
>
>No, they are -not- a 'product' to those who buy the music (or other
>occasional items) for the sheer personal enjoyment and uplifting magic
>they get from *using* (NOT -owning-) the music, movies and such.
>
>They were originally product -only- to the record companies and
>bootleggers and licensees. To those the Beatles were sold TO, it was to
>have something enjoyable and possibly cherished.
>
was from baby-sitting for 50 cents an hour.
It was worth the money.
You know how the recording industry is these days. Thank goodness that in the
late sixties it wasn't so bad. I do see bands or performers as products now.
The Beatles really did excel, but they weren't they still a product?
As for their music, it gives me pure joy. Nobody can take that away from me.
It was the backdrop of my childhood to my teen years (I graduated from high
school in ''73).
karen
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
poisoned rose
> Dumb fuck
I think you've finally found the perfect title for your next book.
Leroy Forrester
"MacBeatle" <waro...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:23e30c12.0408...@posting.google.com...
Thanks again for the inside story.
UsurperTom
> It is generally *thought* that Cyn had a fling with Alex Mardas right around
the time John and Yoko spent the night in "His" house.
The affairs with Roberto Bassanini and Magic Alex occurred after Cynthia caught
John with Yoko.
Usurper
whosbest54
> House one afternoon, P took off (he has rewritten this in his mind so
> he was "going to see Jules" as the backbone of Hey Jew, erm, Hey
> Jude). If he went to see Julian, and to give Cyn his everlasting
> support, he should have stayed home.
>
What exactly do you mean by "Our House"? Weren't you eventually thrown out
of that house, luggage and all?
--------
The flamewars are over...if you want it.
Unofficial rec.audio.opinion Usenet Group Brief User Guide:
http://members.aol.com/whosbest54/
Unofficial rec.music.beatles Usenet Group Brief User Guide:
http://members.aol.com/whosbest54/rmb.html
Jones
potentially long lasting commodity that Paul and John had invested
everything in, and at a certain point Lennon was crapping all over that
commodity. Paul wasn't going for the tits and dick pic of Two Virgins,
Paul wasn't going for Cold Turkey drugs and gutters imagery, Paul wasn't
calling his own fan base "fucking peasants". Good for Paul. The
essential Beatles image is benign enough for children to be introduced
to right up to the present day, and Macca deserves much of the credit
for that. Some of John's antics--John simply had no right to those
antics. Can you sum up 1970's Lennon in one image? I can. Solo Lennon
equals Kotex. When's the last time anyone heard I Feel Fine? When's the
last time anyone heard Meat City?
Timothy J
the bee tells all
She's moving on with her life. Any day now...
Whosbest54
have an account with Athenanews and would never use Outlook Express to post to
RMB.
I'm the only one that can post directly from AOL with this address. As you can
see, this post is directly from AOL.
whosbest54
====
Whosbest54
have an account with Athenanews and would never use Outlook Express to post to
RMB.
I'm the only one that can post directly from AOL with this address. As you can
see, this post is directly from AOL.
whosbest54
====
rian
So this was during the time that John and Yoko lived at Pauls house, right?
I vaguely remember your story about how they fled from Ringos appartment
after the drug bust to get some peace and ended up living with Paul for a
couple of weeks and this seems to fit in the same time-frame.
Ken Wood
Whosbest54
"Whosbest54" <whosb...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20040822120432...@mb-m28.aol.com...
This is a forgery. I didn't post it.
I'm the only one that can post directly from AOL with this address. As you
Teddy
player,triggered by something about the 1st Mrs. Lennon):
Thanks again for the inside story.
Wait a minute, Leroy. Just because she was around for part of 1968
doesn't mean she's a reliable source. I mean, have you noticed any
tendency towards distortion on her part?
UsurperTom
> I vaguely remember your story about how they fled from Ringos appartment
after the drug bust to get some peace and ended up living with Paul for a
couple of weeks and this seems to fit in the same time-frame.
Actually, they moved to Ringo's apartment in Montague Square after moving out
of Paul's house. The drug bust occurred in October 1968. Francie was out of
the picture by then.
Usurper
Laura Stoll
> I witnessed none of the above. All I know is Cynthia came over to Our
> House one afternoon, P took off (he has rewritten this in his mind so
> he was "going to see Jules" as the backbone of Hey Jew, erm, Hey
> Jude). If he went to see Julian, and to give Cyn his everlasting
> support, he should have stayed home.
Are you assuming this was the day Paul is referring to, or do you know
"Hey Jude" was started the day Yoko served tea to Cyn at Paul's house?
There coud have been more than one visit of course, but according to
Cyn, Paul did go to see Julian during this time period on a day when
Cyn was home (no mention of John's presence).
Mister Charlie
"Laura Stoll" <la...@lstoll.com> wrote in message
news:33c895e6.04082...@posting.google.com...
'Assuming' is the operative word. As in, making it up from the foul air
she keeps farting, apparently. Just her bitter take with no more basis
than her high opinion of herself.
Leroy Forrester
"Teddy" <hennes...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:5d47aa5.04082...@posting.google.com...
<I was just humoring the crazy lady>
Leroy Forrester
>
> "Whosbest54" <whosb...@aol.com> wrote in message
> news:20040822120432...@mb-m28.aol.com...
>
> This is a forgery. I didn't post it.
Alright already. You didn't post the fucker. But WHO did?
rian
> of Paul's house. The drug bust occurred in October 1968. Francie was out of
> the picture by then.
> Usurper
Thanks for clearing this up - seems I recalled it wrong. So they moved to Paul
to get away from their respecive partners until they got a place on their own,
so to say, and this place happened to be Ringos appartment - did I get it right
this time? Where did they go after the drug bust? Tittenhurst?
Ken
MacBeatle
> waro...@yahoo.com (MacBeatle) wrote in message news:
> > I witnessed none of the above. All I know is Cynthia came over to Our
> > House one afternoon, P took off (he has rewritten this in his mind so
> > he was "going to see Jules" as the backbone of Hey Jew, erm, Hey
> > Jude). If he went to see Julian, and to give Cyn his everlasting
> > support, he should have stayed home.
>
> Are you assuming this was the day Paul is referring to,
"This"?
or do you know
> "Hey Jude" was started the day Yoko served tea to Cyn at Paul's house?
I know HJ "started" the day I met FF...
> There coud have been more than one visit of course, but according to
> Cyn, Paul did go to see Julian during this time period on a day when
> Cyn was home (no mention of John's presence).
LOL.
According to Julian (Jay Leno show, about 4 yrs ago) his "uncle P"
"sent him occasional birthday and Xmas cards, but he had not actually
SEEN his flaccid white arse for a couple of years; he did recall
"swapping Yoko stories" the last time they were actually together...
mostly Julian whined about how despite Yoko's settling a middle range
six figure cash sum on him when his lawsuit against her finally
resolved itself, he still hated the fact that she had chosen to share
John's guitars, costumes, and other items with the whole world, in
several different museums, especially the John Lennon Museum in
Japan... incidentally, Yoko invited Sir Pee to the opening of that
museum, but he chose to be a no-show. He was, as per usual, NOT
INTERESTED in honoring his 1st Great Love and Dead Partner, but only
in promoting his bogus bullshit version of what the Beatles once were.
Hope this answers your question, and better luck next tyme.
;-/))) (<double chins from reading a lot of big fat heavy books>)
MikeSo
Which does not address the question about how many times did Paul go to
visit Cyn and/or Julian during the period of the Lennon marriage breakup and
does Pauls memories regarding the development of Hey Jude reconcile with the
facts. It matters not one bit whether Julian lost touch with Paul and hadn't
seen him in a "couple of years" (as of 2000). That would put it that he had
seen him "last" in 1998. But nowhere does it say how many times he saw
"Uncle P" when he was a child.
Nice editorial on your part, good use of venom, but it doesn't answer the
question.
Not a big deal if you don't know the answer. Don't expect that you _do_ know
the answer.
> Hope this answers your question, and better luck next tyme.
>
> ;-/))) (<double chins from reading a lot of big fat heavy books>)
Get one of those chin-tanning thingies. \__/
--
Thanks,
Mike
Teddy
>
>
> According to Julian (Jay Leno show, about 4 yrs ago) his "uncle P"
> "sent him occasional birthday and Xmas cards, but he had not actually
> SEEN his flaccid white arse for a couple of years;
Oh yeah? Julian said he'd been used to looking at Uncle Paul's
"flaccid white arse"? What happened, Paul just used to drive down to
Weybridge and moon the Lennons?
Jason
"Marcus" <ex...@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:<41268b3e$1...@news.athenanews.com>...
> Perhaps one of the saddest and most blatant attempts to cash in on a past
> relationship with a Beatle was by Cynthia Lennon. I'm not referring to the
> fact that she changed her name back to Lennon after two divorces following
> her marriage to John, though that was certainly an awfully crass and
> commercial thing to do. No, I'm talking about the little known fact that
> back in 1995, Cynthia stepped out of some much deserved obscurity and made a
> record entitled "Those Were The Days," about her supposedly halcyon days as
> housewife to John Lennon. But were they?
>
> "I know who Norwegian Wood was really about, but I'm not telling" she
> tearfully told Paul Du Noyer of "Q" Magazine. What follows is an article
> that first appeared in that magazine back in 1995.
>
> Brian Epstein wrote: ''A Beatle must not marry. It is all very well if one
> is married before one is a fully-grown Beatle, but a fully-grown Beatle must
> stay single." As usual it was John Lennon who broke the rules.
>
> Cynthia Powell was John's art school girlfriend, and they were married in
> 1962 after she became pregnant in what was then known as a "shotgun"
> wedding. When they met, in 1958, he was a "teddy boy" and an often
> obnoxious lout with dismal prospects for the future, but she was with him
> through Hamburg, Beatlemania, LSD and the Maharishi. Their child,
> Julian,would grow up to be a pop musician himself, although his general lack
> of talent soon caught up with him and brought his career to a grinding halt.
> Few people, however, have had a life as extraordinary as Cynthia's, and
> today ("55 and menopausal," she volunteers, cheerfully) she is in a
> nostalgic mood.
>
> "Those Were The Days" was a hit for Mary Hopkin on The Beatles' Apple label
> in the late 1960's. It's the song that Mrs. Lennon (as she now prefers to
> be called) has chosen for her first ever single. She'd tried some demos
> with her neighbor on the Isle Of Man, Chris Norman, the former singer with
> '70s popsters "Smokie." In fact, she'd not sung since her last appearance
> at aged 13 performing "Who Is Sylvia, What Is She?" with the Hoylake Parish
> Girls' Choir in 1952. But they made this new record 'with the help of a few
> glasses of wine' and now it's out on Norman's own label, Dice Records. It
> has not charted.
>
> She and her present "partner," Jim, live by a waterfall ("very tranquil,
> good for the soul") and visit the mainland for occasional caravan holidays,
> or when she is invited to speak at Beatle conventions: "The fans are
> wonderful. They always were. You always get one or two obsessive
> odd-balls, but that's life, isn't it?" The tales she tells them are not
> without pain. But, she says, "the actual talking about it sometimes helps a
> great deal. When you've actually experienced it, that is part of you.
> Nothing could hurt any more than that hurt at the time."
>
> The young John and Cyn shared a class in Liverpool Art College. "John was
> very wayward in those days. He didn't want to work. period. He wanted only
> to play his guitar." They found common ground in their poor eyesight. She
> agrees the recent movie "Backbeat" is a fair account of those early years,
> at least as she prefers to remember them, "but I think there was one comment
> from me that all I wanted was a house and babies. But I had been studying
> for five years to be a teacher, so to say all I wanted was the house missed
> me slightly. I also had a headscarf and a tweed coat on which was not me,
> because I was quite a "with-it" student, in trousers." At John's urging,
> she tried to re-vamp her look in line with his pin-up obsession, Brigitte
> Bardot.
>
> When The Beatles' career exploded in 1963, the star put his "secret wife"
> and baby in a London flat: 'Top floor, £15 a week, and no lift, which was
> great fun with the pram, with fans outside, blocking up the key-hole with
> chewing gum and sleeping on the stairs overnight. Thankfully we were young,
> and everything was so exciting. The Beatles were going to the top of the
> charts. It was just an amazing experience." They could no longer hide
> their marriage, but the fans didn't mind.
>
> Soon they moved to the Surrey stockbroker belt, and lived in what John would
> later call "a happily married state of boredom." It was not to last --
> John's growing and seemingly inexplicable interest in the eccentric, obscure
> Japanese artist Yoko Ono saw to that -- but their time together was
> undeniably Lennon's most creative. "I'm sure I was part of John's writing
> and inspiration," she maintains. In those days none of them would say, I'm
> writing this for so-and-so, because it would be too embarrassing. But John
> actually wrote poetry to me quite a lot. The only song that I thought might
> be something to do with me was "Girl," but of course John isn't here to say
> any more. But whatever they were writing at the time was about their lives
> and wives anyway."
>
> John admitted that some of his songs, such as "Norwegian Wood," were coded
> accounts of his adulterous affairs. She accepts this: "Absolutely. I know
> who Norwegian Wood was really about, but I'm not telling. And it wasn't
> Brigitte Bardot." In fact, Lennon described his life on tour as
> "Satyricon." In the years between Hamburg and Yoko Ono, he had countless
> sexual encounters; he was even linked with singers Joan Baez and Jackie de
> Shannon, and actress Eleanor Bron. But Cynthia was stunned by his first
> outright confession of infidelity, shortly before he took up with Yoko. She
> had been naive, surely?
>
> "Well, I'm glad I was naive," she now says. I really am. It can be a bonus
> sometimes. If I'd known then what was actually going on, life would have
> been much harder for me than it already was. I wasn't that naive but I was
> naive enough, and it saved me a lot of heartache."
>
> One day in 1968 she came home from a holiday in Italy to find Yoko Ono
> lounging around in night clothes with John at the family's Weybridge house.
> The marriage was finally and forever over, and Cynthia was shattered. That
> was a horrendous period for me. Horrendous! We all go through such
> periods, or we're very lucky if we don't, but when it's on a world scale and
> the spotlight is on you, that's even harder." She later wrote: I understood
> their relationship. I knew I couldn't fight the unity of mind and body that
> they seemed to have with each other. Yoko did not take John away from me,
> because he had never really been mine after about 1966." It seems a
> philosophical reaction, doesn't it?
>
> "It was a 'fait accompli'. I had no choice. I knew that whatever I did, I
> would be hitting my head against a wall, so I bowed out as gracefully as I
> could. I'm not usually a vengeful person anyway." At least Paul McCartney
> was supportive. He drove out to console her, composing a song for little
> Julian on the way. "He was devastated by the breakup. He brought me a rose
> and offered marriage, as a joke: We'll show 'em, won't we, Cyn? It was very
> touching and on the way to the house he had written "Hey Jude." It always
> brings tears to my eyes, that song, knowing it is about me."
>
> Cynthia would not see John again until 1974, in New York. "I took Julian
> out to reunite him with his father while he was separated from Yoko. Their
> relationship was very good after that. But for four years there was no
> contact, which I found terribly sad."
>
> She remarried twice in the 1970s, the second time opening a restaurant in
> North Wales with her new husband John Twist -- hence the title of her 1978
> autobiography, "A Twist Of Lennon," about which John had only scathing
> remarks ("They all get one potshot. Each chauffeur, ex-wife, ex-lover, and
> ex-servant gets one book if they're lucky.") but his High Court action
> failed to stop it from coming out.
>
> What was Cynthia's view of her ex-husband in his so-called "house- husband"
> years? "I'd lost all touch with John. Yoko would never put me through to
> him. My only contact was when Julian went to stay and he'd come back and
> tell me what was really going on. At the time, I just hoped that he was
> happy and content, though I seriously doubt he really was much of that time.
> That was all I ever wanted. I didn't really ask him for money." John
> claimed he was "redefining" himself, getting away from being the macho
> working-class hero.
>
> "To a certain extent, yes," Cynthia says, "but he was never really a macho
> working-class man. I think his talents were above and beyond that. He was
> like a chrysalis. He had to be macho to cope with the types he came across
> in Liverpool. He tried to look like the tough guys so that they wouldn't
> pick on him. What John became was what John really was, underneath it all."
> She last had contact with Yoko at John's Aunt Mimi's funeral, and Sean was
> there. We chatted. It's all calm on the Western Front, so to speak. It's
> called 'Make Love Not War'." (She laughs.)
>
> Are you not bitter? "Not at all. We've got our own crosses to bear. I get
> on with my life and Yoko gets on with hers. She's a mother to Sean and I'm
> a mother to Julian (now 32) and we try to protect our children considering
> the legend that we are left with. What advice do you give Julian? "Oh,
> lots. 'Beware of drugs, sex and rock'n'roll,' is it. But it's no good
> telling them, because they'll do it anyway! My father would never have
> allowed me to go out with John Lennon, but he was already deceased at the
> time. We all fly in the face of our parents' advice. But it all comes
> round if you're patient enough. Julian has been the best thing. He is the
> jewel in the crown as far as I'm concerned."
>
> Have the good times outweighed the bad times in your life? "Pretty evenly
> balanced, I would say. I hope I take the best out of life. It's the only
> way to survive. I had some fantastic times, I also had some very tragic
> times, but there are many people who have such extremes. You just get on
> with it."
>
> Could you have behaved differently and not split? "No. I think those years
> were our growing years, growing into individuals. And John's path was a
> different path from mine."
>
> Was John the love of your life? "I think first loves are always very
> special, and I don't think you ever lose that feeling."
UsurperTom
> It matters not one bit whether Julian lost touch with Paul and hadn't seen
him in a "couple of years" (as of 2000).
For those who don't know, Paul said in a New York press conference promoting
"Give My
Regards to Broad Street" that he hadn't seen Julian in ten years. Paul
occasionally got together with Cynthia and Julian in the early 70's as did
George in the late 70's and early 80's. When John was separated from Yoko and
lived with May Pang, Julian visited John about three times during that year and
Paul saw John and Julian a lot during that period. Julian was with John when
Paul visited John in December 1974 to sign the agreement dissolving the Beatles
and Co. Their reunion occurred when they were invited to co-host Friday Night
Videos at New York's Carlyle Hotel on November 7, 1984.
Tom
Whosbest54
Chewbop, confirmed today. Again, you can tell by the headers.
Laura Stoll
> > waro...@yahoo.com (MacBeatle) wrote in message news:
> > > I witnessed none of the above. All I know is Cynthia came over to
> > > Our House one afternoon, P took off (he has rewritten this in his
> > > mind so he was "going to see Jules" as the backbone of Hey Jew,
> > > erm, Hey Jude). If he went to see Julian, and to give Cyn his
> > > everlasting support, he should have stayed home.
> >
>
> "This"?
"This", clearly, I'd say, refers to the day you described (above).
> According to Julian (Jay Leno show, about 4 yrs ago) his "uncle P"
> "sent him occasional birthday and Xmas cards, but he had not actually
> SEEN his flaccid white arse for a couple of years; he did recall
> "swapping Yoko stories" the last time they were actually together...
FYI, Cyn and Julian visited Paul and his family during the 70s. Ruth
McCartney has/d photos of at least one such visit on her website.
> Hope this answers your question...
Not at all since I was clearly talking about 1968, but thanks for
trying so hard '-)
Teddy
OOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHH.
laura
> touching and on the way to the house he had written "Hey Jude." It always
> brings tears to my eyes, that song, knowing it is about me."
>
About her? What is wrong with this woman?
MacBeatle
What part of my recent (albeit INFREQUENT) posts do you not
understand, bitch?
This is Usenet, rmb branch. I will say anything about anyone
(including the aforementioned UniBeatle) I fucking well please. Like
you, I can say anything about the stupid pencildick worshippers in
this Godforsaken group I feel like saying. Since you and a handful of
obsessed fans are all that's left to amuse me around here, I think
I'll sign off (in my continuing, though repetitive dialogue with the
ghosts of the former newsgroup, including you) by saying:
I do detect your entirely predictable "cozying up" to Leroy, who isn't
interested in you at all. So forget it, Tittles.
LauraD
or Paul that Julian went to visit after Linda died and they bonded when
discussing Yoko and their mutual mistrust of her. I don't remember the
specifics, but unless that was a lie, it means that Julian and Paul have
seen each other in the last six years, and Julian has stated several times
that Paul ALWAYS sends him birthday and Christmas cards, unless that is
something else that has changed with Paul since he has his new family.
From Me To You,
Laura Dever (of JULES RULES, a Julian Lennon fan club)
MacBeatle
> > > waro...@yahoo.com (MacBeatle) wrote in message news:
> > > > I witnessed none of the above. All I know is Cynthia came over to
> > > > Our House one afternoon, P took off (he has rewritten this in his
> > > > mind so he was "going to see Jules" as the backbone of Hey Jew,
> > > > erm, Hey Jude). If he went to see Julian, and to give Cyn his
> > > > everlasting support, he should have stayed home.
> > >
> > > Are you assuming this was the day Paul is referring to...
> >
> > "This"?
>
> "This", clearly, I'd say, refers to the day you described (above).
>
> > According to Julian (Jay Leno show, about 4 yrs ago) his "uncle P"
> > "sent him occasional birthday and Xmas cards, but he had not actually
> > SEEN his flaccid white arse for a couple of years; he did recall
> > "swapping Yoko stories" the last time they were actually together...
>
> FYI, Cyn and Julian visited Paul and his family during the 70s.
So? How many times?
Ruth
> McCartney has/d photos of at least one such visit on her website.
>
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. That's a good one. Privately she told me the nastiest
story about Paulie...
> > Hope this answers your question...
>
> Not at all since I was clearly talking about 1968, but thanks for
> trying so hard '-)
Hey, Laura, you didn't know shit about 1968 before I came onto rmb,
and you still don't know shit about it, because you just didn't
believe me.
Well, eventually, one hopes you will believe me. Because I am telling
the truth and Paul is the LIAR.
Francie
Kathy
>la...@lstoll.com (Laura Stoll) wrote in message
.
>>
>> FYI, Cyn and Julian visited Paul and his family during the 70s.
>
>So? How many times?
>
> Ruth
>> McCartney has/d photos of at least one such visit on her website.
>>
Actually, Cyn and Julian visited the Liverpool McCartney FAMILY quite a lot in
the 70s and, AFAIK, Cyn still remains close to certain members.
Cynthia saw Paul socially on occasion throughout the 70s, but there's nothing
to indicate that Julian spent anytime with him prior to the Friday Night Videos
meeting in the mid-80s. If there was any kind of "meeting" while he was staying
with John in the mid-70s, then it was fleeting.
Julian actually saw more of George while he was growing up but even that was
minimal.
For what it's worth........(if anything around here these days).
~K
BlackMonk
"Kathy" <taff...@aol.comnojunk> wrote in message
news:20040825084239...@mb-m10.aol.com...
> >From: waro...@yahoo.com
> > Cynthia saw Paul socially on occasion throughout the 70s, but there's
nothing
> to indicate that Julian spent anytime with him prior to the Friday Night
Videos
> meeting in the mid-80s. If there was any kind of "meeting" while he was
staying
> with John in the mid-70s, then it was fleeting.
>
> Julian actually saw more of George while he was growing up but even that
was
> minimal.
>
Why should Cynthia or Julian necessarily have seen a lot of either? They
were John's friends (sometimes just some guys that John worked with
occasionally), that doesn't mean that they had to be close to Cynthia or
Julian.
Mister Charlie
"Kathy" <taff...@aol.comnojunk> wrote in message
news:20040825084239...@mb-m10.aol.com...
Leroy Forrester
"MacBeatle" <waro...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:23e30c12.04082...@posting.google.com...
Ah, for the innocent days of 1996...
Kathy
I don't know that anyone said they *should* or shouldn't have seen a lot of
either one. The discussion seemed to have skipped over that and was about
whether they did or not, and in particular Paul.
Cyn, yes, somewhat at one time. Julian, not so much.
I lost my head and threw in the comment about George and Julian. Pardon me.
I'll leave it up to you to decide who should or shouldn't be a friend of whom
and why since you seem to have it all figured out..
Laura Stoll
> >> Ruth McCartney has/d photos of at least one such visit on her website.
>
> Actually, Cyn and Julian visited the Liverpool McCartney FAMILY quite a lot
> in the 70s and, AFAIK, Cyn still remains close to certain members.
I seem to recall Paul, Linda and some of their kids being in some
photos from such a visit. Am I remembering wrong?
Kathy
>I seem to recall Paul, Linda and some of their kids being in some
>photos from such a visit. Am I remembering wrong?
Well, I don't know what pictures you've seen.
The ones on Ruth McCartney's website that I saw consisted of Ruth, a McCartney
cousin or two, and Cyn and Julian in the garden at Rembrandt taken back in the
70s.
Cynthia has attended a number of New Years Eve parties in Liverpool with the
McCartney clan that included Paul and Linda (who might very well have thrown
the parties for all I know).She also attended Jim McCartney's funeral, was
quite close to Mike and his first wife for a time and usually attended the
London concerts during Macca's tours (though I don't think that occured during
the last British tour).
Though he did actually send Julian a birthday card every year (he and his
mother also rec'd Xmas cards, as did others in John's family), there was not a
lot of one-on-one contact (if any) between Paul and Julian while Julian was
growing up as seems to be implied from time to time. And there certainly were
no instances where "Uncle Paul" was looking out for him over the years and
calling or dropping by to check on how he was doing.
Did their paths ever cross after the divorce in 68 and before the Friday Night
Video show back in 84 or 85? Maybe. If Cyn was invited to parties, it's not
inconceivable to think Julian might have been in the same vicinity at the time
when he was very young. But any encounters were fleeting and not something
Julian has any distinct memory of.
BlackMonk
"Kathy" <taff...@aol.comnojunk> wrote in message
Don't be so touchy. People tend to find something significant in whether or
not Paul and George had frequent communication with Cynthia and Julian, or
Yoko and Sean, and there's no reason why they should. That's the point I was
trying to make, trying to bring some perspective to the whole question.
UsurperTom
>Did their paths ever cross after the divorce in 68 and before the Friday Night
Video show back in 84 or 85?
Julian did see Paul during John's Lost Weekend and I believe that was their
last encounter until Friday Night Videos.
Tom
MacBeatle
I'm not so sure that accurate historical reporting on Cyn *or* Jules
is valued around here, but it's a nice surprise to find your post
here, K. THX francie