McLennon

"John never looked at anyone the way he looked at Paul."

- Cynthia on John and Paul

McLennon is the slash ship between John Lennon and Paul McCartney from the The Beatles fandom.

Canon
On the 6 July 1957, when John was 17 and Paul was 15, they met at Woolton’s St Peter’s Church fête. John and his band the Quarrymen were playing an act, and Paul was impressed. After they finished, Paul approached John, and played some songs for him. John, significantly amazed by Paul, asked him to join the band, which he accepted. The two became extremely close and started writing songs together.

For one of John’s birthdays, he got £100, and spent it on a trip with Paul. They were hoping to go to Spain, but instead ended up in Paris. After this time, they started performing in a bar owned by Paul’s cousin together under the pseudonym “The Nerk Twins”, nerk being Liverpudlian for fool. According to the visitors at the time, they were terrible, but lifted the spirits of everyone around.

After Stuart left the group, John made Paul the new bassist, which he was extremely reluctant to at first. Despite this, he agreed, and the two started to focus on a main career after gaining their manager Brian. They becoming popular almost immediately after their first album’s release as members of the Beatles. John and Paul wrote the vast majority of songs together. Their own musical partnership Lennon-McCartney was held in high regards as one of, if not, the most successful songwriting partnership of all time.

In 1965, Paul started to become the main songwriter in the group, triggering John to be extremely envious and jealous of him. The two cooled their relationship down for the time being. However, they reached a temporary rival-ship when writing Strawberry Fields Forever and Penny Lane, songs based on their different childhoods. In 1967, the two, along with the other Beatles and their romantic relationships, took a trip to India. Though the main events of the trip is largely unknown, it is known that the two seemed hostile with each other afterwards.

After Brian’s death, Paul mainly took over, something John would argue little about, despite him later saying that the group “went round in circles” because of it. After more of Paul’s ideas reached popularity, John became more envious, and the two reached the most heated part of their friendship.

During sessions, John invited his new girlfriend Yoko to the studio, which Paul didn’t say anything against, though at the time was disproving. John, angry at being left behind by Paul since he was now getting married, got married several days after him to prove a point.

After the band broke up due to increased tensions, the two didn’t speak to one another, and the tensions between the two started to spark even worse responses. For three years, John would openly argue with him through press interviews after the breakup.

In his album Ram, Paul wrote an attack on John and Yoko in his song “Too Many People”, which John instantly fired back with “How Do You Sleep?”, a diss track which made Paul feel worse. As a more neutral option, Paul wrote “Dear Friend”, to show he still cared.

John wrote a letter to Paul one day, and said that they could try to mend their relationship, and all he had to do was call. The two slowly started to reconcile, meeting each other several times in the mid 70s. In 1974, John joked around the idea of them recording a song, which Paul agreed on. Though the song was never accomplished, it became a bootleg album later on. During this time, John and Paul would often visit one another.

In 1976, Paul saw John in person for the last time. They noticed a live television program which approached the idea of a Beatles reunion, and the two discussed going down there since the studio was nearby. However, they decided against it in the end. Paul phoned John often but would always be worried what the reply would be. They often spoke on these calls about more leisurely things, like cats. Their last call was friendly, according to Paul.

For 4 years afterward their last meeting, John still listened to Paul’s music. In early 1980, John heard Paul’s song Coming Up, which was his main inspiration for going back into music. He would later give an interview stating that he still cared for Paul and the other ex-Beatles.

After John’s death, Paul was thrown into a sadness, and was said to be sitting in the corner of the studio all day as a result. When the media asked him his opinion, Paul said that it was a drag, which he would later be criticised for. When asked about this statement in future interviews, Paul responded that he was still in shock, and he meant “drag” in the heaviest sense. Paul later says that he fondly remembers John as a friend and as a partner, and notes that he misses him. In a 2020 interview, Paul stated that he still hasn’t got over John’s death fully.

Fanon
McLennon is the most popular ship in the Beatles fandom. Due to the controversy of shipping real people, some fans do ship them platonically, while others ship them romantically. Some fans say that there might have been unrequited feelings from one of them, or they were both closeted, as Paul talks a lot about their relationship as if it was romantic (such as saying they slept together and that if he and John were together for a day, he’d spend it in bed).

After the release of fanmade film Two of Us, which was about a possible McLennon relationship, the ship gained popularity. It gained even more popularity after a huge speculation to John’s sexuality, which started a lot of theories in the fandom as to his relationship with Paul. Common themes in fics include Alive AUs and the trips in Paris and India.

Quotes
"He was always a very warm guy, John. His bluff was all on the surface. He used to take his glasses down, those granny glasses, and say, "it's only me." They were like a wall you know? A shield. Those are the moments I treasure."

- Paul on John "I'm the only person who is allowed to say nasty things about Paul. I don't like it when other people do so."

- John on Paul

"[…] a song by an old estranged fiancee of mine called Paul."

- John during a concert, after reconciling with Paul "I just saw a girl who said she saw John Lennon walking down the street in New York wearing a button that said, “I love Paul.” she asked him, “Why are you wearing an ‘I love Paul’ button?” and he said, “Because I love Paul.”"

- Harry Nilsson on a conversation he had about John

Moments

 * When George pretended to push John in the road, Paul looked alarmed and worried before realising it was a joke.
 * During a word association game, when John is mentioned, Paul answers, “dear friend”.
 * In a studio session, Paul asks John to stop holding his hand, to which John just ignores him.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

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