No Because He Lost The Idgaf War The Moment He Opened His Mouth

No because he lost the idgaf war the moment he opened his mouth

“The Lennons were still maintaining separate living quarters and separate interests when they heard the news, late that spring, of Paul McCartney’s arrest. Paul had been arrested for trying to smuggle marijuana into Japan while visiting there to perform in a concert tour. The illegal product had allegedly been discovered in his suitcase, and he was taken into custody immediately. His wife, Linda, and the rest of the company were allowed entrance without incident. Yoko worried that the news of Paul’s arrest might throw John back into the old depression. But when I talked to him over the phone one afternoon a few days after the incident, his voice held no depression, only righteous indignation and sympathy for Paul. “It’s lousy, Charles. Typical, but lousy. Some petty official probably needed a promotion and set Paul up to get it. Not that I have any great love for the man, you understand, but this sort of thing is just somebody’s cheap trick. If he really wanted his smoke, you know he wouldn’t have had to carry it on his person. The mere fact that he was checking in his own luggage tells you that he wasn’t carrying anything. Usually all that star carries in is an overnight bag. The rest of his stuff is checked through as equipment and costumes. Paul’s smart enough to now that. He’s known how to handle this sort of things for twenty years, just like I have. If you want to smoke, you say to your producer, ‘Hey, where’s the grass?’ and poof, magically it appears. You don’t have to buy it. It’s all budgeted into a show as entertainment or transportation expenses. Take care of the star’s head, fill his lungs, or his nose, or his veins, or whatever. No, no way do I believe that Paul was carrying. He was set up and that’s the long unfortunate short of it. Some little creep wanted to make a name for himself like all little creeps do, and he used Paul to do exactly that. “Just how hard do you think it is for a Customs official to lay his hands on some grass? Not that hard. He had it all along under the counter or something, and the minute the Beatle steps up, it’s presto! Headlines. “Stars are victims like that, very vulnerable. The pity is that Paul wasn’t expecting it. Nobody is busting stars for drugs anymore, so he didn’t take precautions, you know, like having Customs waived because he’s a star or something like that. “Paul’s been busted before, you know. This is only going to make life more difficult for him. Not that I care, but it’s just the meanness of the thing that irks me. When I was busted, it was the same sort of crap. I was sounding off a little more than the government liked, and poof, there’s a drug bust. Police, dogs, cops, the works. As if I were the only kid on my block to have a little stash. But they wanted me, see? And they got me. The bastard who busted me couldn’t have been more smug. Certainly made his day. “Paul’s getting more press out of this than he has since the sixties, which just lets you know where the press is at. They love this sort of thing. The worst part for Paul is that they’ve got him in jail. Do you believe that? They know how much money they’re costing him. A whole fuckin’ concert down the drain. Promotion wasted, transportation wasted, tickets to be returned, the whole thing’s a waste. And all for what? In the world of rock and roll you won’t lose any fans or sales because of a drug bust. At worst it makes you controversial, and that’s a plus. So what are they holding him for? That’s just the work of some power-mad little creep showing off to the world, knowing that the longer he holds Paul the longer he’s important.” “For someone you claim not to care about you seem awfully upset.” “It’s the injustice of the thing that upsets me. If Paul were just some nobody, the Customs agent would have pulled the grass out of his bag and said, ‘Don’t be stupid, son, just throw this away over there,’ and what would have been the end to it. I’ve heard stories like that. But because he’s a star he gets set up instead. That’s injustice and it would bother me if it were Shirley MacLaine, Baryshnikov, or the Muppets. Maybe it affects me a little more because it’s Paul and I know him and he’s a musician, but I doubt it. It would bother me no matter who they got.” […] The constant appearance of Paul’s name in the press began to unsettle John. It recalled memories that he would have preferred to let sleep. “You don’t think they’re mistreating him, do you, Charles?” “Aside from the fact that they are holding him in a jail cell, I doubt that there is any mistreatment.” “That’s good. Not that I really care, you understand, but I wouldn’t want to think that they were abusing him in any way.” “You keep telling me how much you don’t care. I begin to wonder if it’s true.” “Of course I care! Not that I want to, but you can’t know a person as long and as intimately as I’ve known Paul and not care. I’m pissed at him and have been for years, but that’s my private war with the man. It has nothing to do with the way I feel about his having this happen to him.” […] Two days later Paul was released. The concert had been canceled and he and Linda left Japan immediately. John greeted the news with a great sigh of relief. “I’m glad that’s over. I feel like I’ve been keeping a vigil for him. Not that I care, you understand.””

— John Green, Dakota Days. (1983) [Note: John Green was the Lennons’ tarot reader, and his credibility is dubious, to say the (very) least. John’s depicted vacillations and utter emotional transparency may have a ring of truth to them, but one should nonetheless take this all with a grain of salt.]