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In article <[email protected]> [email protected] (Edward S. Chen) writes:
>... According to Paul (and Carl Davis), the oratorio roughly
>follows Paul's childhood, and then veers off into a generalized
>"everyman" tale. What struck me is how reminiscent many of the events
>in Shanty's life are to events in John Lennon's life....
>... A World at war. Sirens sound as bombs fall over Liverpool,
> and despairing couples shelter underground. Amid tghe blaze and the
> chaos of an air raid, a child is born. And there is hope.
>
>Yes, Paul was born in 1942. However, John was born in 1940, also in the
>thick of the second world war. Further, according to legend (although
>now known to be false) John was born during a bombing raid. No such claim
>was ever made about Paul...
The analogies to John, as you point them out, are rather striking. How are we to interpret this? Is it a psychological yearning to actually *be* John? A calculated desire to celebrate his friend? Does Paul find John's childhood more mythic and universal than his own? I wonder if any of the analysts of this work will be able to ask Dr. Macca himself...or if he's discount the whole theory.
Just one question: the story of John's birth during an air raid has long sounded like one of those legend too good to be true, but where exactly was it discredited, and by whom? I always like to keep up with these little changes in the storyline. Aunt Mimi was, I believe, the primary source for this detail. Mimi was/is known both for her devotion to John (and hence keeper of the family anecdotes) and for revising history when it suited her (i.e., refusing to give Hunter Davies permission to say that John swore as a child). On the other hand, her details of this night are rather concrete: the street she took (on foot) to reach the hospital; her account of Liverpool aflame that night; of a landmine that fell outside Oxford Street maternity hospital and the attempt to protect the new infant by hiding him under the bed.... Are we absolutely certain that no sirens wailed or no bombs fell? I wonder what the local press (the Liverpool Echo?) reported about shelling activity that evening? I'd be happy to accept the fact that none of this is true if the source is credible.
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