It was good of Cynthia not to talk too harshly about John, but I don’t just think that was saintliness on her part telling the truth too early would have brought down a ton of fan ire upon her, and for what? So I think she took the high road at first because she had to, and later because she’d aged into it. The battles between John and Stu would’ve felt like early 70s John and Paul Stu would’ve pushed a lot of the same buttons Yoko did/does - “Oh you’re successful, but you’re not a REAL artist.” For the same reason, it’s not at all certain that Stu and John would’ve remained close had Stu lived more likely they would’ve grown apart - with some rancor, knowing John.

She “knew him when,” and since he didn’t like who he’d been then (otherwise there would’ve never been any reason to do all the hard work and become a Beatle), every time he saw her, he might’ve thought, “She knows I’m not all that, not really.” I’m guessing of course, but it’s the story of first wives since forever when a man becomes what he thinks he wants to be, he jettisons everybody who helped him get there - hiding the evidence, as it were. And that is, perhaps, why Cyn was such a bad fit once John became famous. She - like Julia, Stu, Astrid and the Exis, and most of all Brian - were essential handmaidens to John’s development as a person and artist. I think it’s impossible to overestimate the contribution of Cynthia Lennon to the Beatles story. Where did it come from! The odds of so much genius appearing at random in one northern English town in the 40s is too high. They’re really at that level, when it comes to sheer consistent quality. There’s nothing like it in all of music except for Bach, Beethoven, Mozart. They had written, by Paul’s count in “Many Years from Now”, maybe four songs (not the 100 he claimed originally!) - how did they go from this, to that unstoppable juggernaut of 1962? When did the genius make itself known? Was it innate, or did they teach themselves something during that time? Anyway, I can’t fathom the titanic, exceptional, eternal quality of the Beatles. By 1960 they had probably played less than 100 times in public.

That makes sense: in 1958(?) when John’s mom died, they took a 15-month hiatus. What I want to know is, what I keep searching to discover is: how good were they, then? The evidence indicates that they were nothing special before the first trip to Hamburg. That has to be, what, 1960, latest? They’re still playing their Zenith guitars, etc. Look at that picture of Paul singing to Cynthia.

A twist of lennon