[Jim Moonan]

(I’m dredging this up only because I noticed someone was viewing it and so I took a look. This might not be of any interest to Sphereans to resurrect old conversations -- It’s “coming late to the party” to the extreme.)
(As I scanned the conversation I saw it veered into discussion of drugs and their ability to enhance the creative process. It’s a subject that interests me because I long ago gave up any form of intoxication in solidarity with my lovely love who needed to abandon it herself before it tore her apart.)
(I was, however, a regular imbiber of “plants with benefits” during my fevered-youth -- with the exception of alcohol, which did nothing but give me a brief period of euphoria followed by an extended migrant headache. I’ve toyed from time to time with re-introducing them for the purpose of opening up my writing to freer thoughts. In fact the most potent and effective form of creative enhancement technique I’ve ever found was LSD. Now it’s coffee. I’ve thought from time to time that, if I should reach a point in my dance with death where reality is no longer sustaining me, I’d like to close things out in a dreamy state of drug-induced visions of the subconscious brought forward. It's a difficult subject to have with oneself.)

To be fair, this original conversation started by Janice veered off in a few directions. (There are many diamonds in this mine.) But an observation Rick Mullen made pricked my ears up:

Rick: ...because Paul McCartney sucks without John Lennon.

Being a Beatles devotee, I've wrestled with this for years. I hesitate to use the term "creative" to describe what I think is more likely attributable to genius. The former is a process, the latter innate, IMO.

Concerning their partnership, there are/were three forces at play: 1.) McCartney's primary genius was (and continues to be) music. 2.) Lennon's primary genius is words. 3.) The alchemy created by the two (plus the production genius of George Martin) that melds the music and words into one whole piece of art.
Yes, two geniuses are better than one in this case. But there is far more evidence of solo genius producing works of art than pairs. Or maybe I'm missing the point.

Geniuses such as L. Cohen, Tom Waits and Bob Dylan lean on their poetic genius and create songs to hold them in. The music itself is like a clay pot. Something like that. Coffee.

[Kevin Greene]

Jim, you're going to restart something here, I think.

As to the Lennon/McCartney partnership, it's sometimes hard to know where one ends and the other begins. The literature tries to make it clear, I know, but I don't believe any of it. Both men were jokers.

You've got something there about words and music, though I think it's more an attitude toward art and the past. McCartney is not afraid of melody and sentiment. Had things been different, I think he would have been happy with Tin Pan Alley stuff or its British equivalent. (Think Ivor Novello?)

Lennon, on the other hand, was seemingly a cynic, someone who saw life as a bit of grime and filled with unwieldy anger and reconciliation.

Martin brought his own genius to the recordings. He was a kind of steady hand at the till, I think. His wisdom alerted him to when he should be quiet and his talent spoke for itself.

My suspicion has always been that the songs on which John and Paul worked together, that is, right in the same room, were the most frivolous and exciting.

Hahaha! I could go on and on.

[John Isbell]

Hmm. My brother would I'm sure love to weigh in on the Lennon/McCartney partnership. Anyway, I say that both were intermittently superb when solo. Leaving Lennon aside, McCartney wrote for instance "Silly Love Songs", a splendid defense of what he chose to sing, and "Let Me Roll It", his two-edged response to Lennon's "How Do You Sleep", complete with primal scream. Of course, maybe Lennon's edge inspired both.
Last night, I heard a band cover Lennon's "Mother", and was reminded of some of his gifts: a great ear for melody; tremendous simplicity when called for; and a raw emotional edge that's rarely been rivaled. "Momma don't go - daddy come home." Plus a great voice.
People say the second side of Abbey Road is pretty much McCartney's work and it is astonishing. But teasing the two apart is perhaps a fool's errand.

As to art and drugs. Hmm again. I am fueled by coffee. The past is a closed book.

Cheers,
John

[Kevin Greene]

I take atorvastatin, chlorthalidone, bisoprolol, &c. &c.

P.S. Oh look, it's time for my potassium chloride ER.