With a little help from my friend: John, Paul and the 'romance' that transformed culture
John Lennon and Paul McCartney met and fell for each other in the summer of 1957. John was 16, Paul 14. Paul came to see John play with his skiffle group, the Quarry Men, at a village fete. Introduced afterwards, they almost immediately formed a connection that went beyond the bounds of normal male friendship.
Lennon and McCartney were not sexual partners, as far as we know. But in every other sense, their relationship was a romance: intoxicating, tender and bittersweet. Passionate male friendships like this are rare, but not unique, and a remarkable number of them have changed the world, transforming our ideas about music, art, poetry and human nature. John and Paul were, without knowing it, part of an extraordinary lineage.
After impressing John with his guitar-playing and his ability to remember all the words to a song, Paul accepted John’s invitation to join the Quarry Men. The pair began sharing the front of the stage; this was no longer just John’s group. They were fascinated by each other. Paul admired John’s coruscating wit and teddy boy swagger. John admired Paul’s musical abilities and pop star good looks. They made each other laugh more than anyone else they knew.
They made for an odd couple: John spiky, full of bravado, prone to anger; Paul more temperate and socially subtle. But each thought the other the most brilliant person they knew and they shared a fierce ambition. On weekday afternoons, they would bunk off from school (for Paul) and college (for John) and go to one of their houses to play songs.
Source: theguardian.com/Ian Leslie
