July 11, 2005

The Ballad of John and Yoko or The Walrus was Paul

While trying to go to sleep Saturday night before early work (always a tough task due to my nocturnal habits), a sudden theory about relationships hit me. I think I'll call it the Lennon/McCartney Theory. Not terribly creative but fitting. Nonetheless, the basics of the theory go like this:

  • In every romantic relationship there is a John Lennon and a Paul McCartney. And these two personality types are related to the musical tendencies of the two greatest songwriters of all time.
    • The Lennon of the relationship will tend to be the more free-spirited and "out there," if you will. This is not a values judgment, just a statement that says the Lennon will be the slightly crazier of the two. This generalization comes from the more avant garde leanings of Lennon's music. He is widely considered the more adventerous of the two.
    • The McCartney of the relationship, on the other hand, will be more old-fashioned and tradition oriented. Obviously, the McCartney will be the one that people are more "used to," for lack of a better term. These qualities can be seen in a lot of McCartney's work, especially on the later Beatles albums, where he would reach back to old genres of music in order to satisfy his more pop-oriented mind.
  • These two personalities can co-exist beautifully (see Revolver, Sgt. Pepper, and all the early releases). The strains between them can also be fruitful (The Beatles, Abbey Road). But often, it is likely that the tendencies between these two personality types will lead, ultimately, to their downfall.
  • Relationships will always be in one of these three Lennon/McCartney situations. And often times, the same relationship can flip-flop between the three.
  • Last, but certainly not least, an introduction of a Yoko is detrimental to the Lennon/McCartney relationship.
    • A relationship Yoko would be a person who is introduced that shows one of the attached (typically the Lennon) that things can be better without the other. This is neither a good thing or a bad thing. Yes it was terrible that Yoko spurred on the breakup of the Beatles, but in my opinion they were headed that way sooner or later -- too much talent. Plus all of the Beatles had successful, relevant solo careers.
So thats my Lennon/McCartney Theory of Relationships. In my own life, I have typically been the Lennon of the relationships that I have been in. I can only think of two times that I have been the McCartney, and a third where the roles weren't particularly well defined (a short lived relationship in High School). I'm not entirely sure if I like being the Lennon or the McCartney better, just like I can't decide which is my favorite Beatle. But that's my new Theory, deal with it.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Heck yes! I'm Lennon! -runs around naked-