July 6th 1957 | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

LongHairedLady said

Funny Paper said
That guy Ivan mentioned above by mja was one of Paul’s boyhood friends.  Paul in that Charlie Rose interview talked about Ivan and how he went on to become a Greek  & Latin professor at Cambridge, then died tragically young of Parkinson’s.  On that show, Paul read a poem he wrote in memory of him, called simply “Ivan”. 

I never knew about Ivan before.  That would make four dearly loved people Paul has lost in his life — all untimely and tragic — Ivan, John, Linda, and George.

 

Five, his mother too.  

I often find the bit players interesting. The “What ifs…?” and coincidences that brought all the pieces together.

It’ll be interesting to see what light Lewisohn throws on Ivan in a few months, someone who is more accurately described as a boyhood friend of John and a later schoolmate of Paul (though Paul’s relationship with Ivan as they grew older remained – and became closer – than John’s with Ivan).

There are other connections between Ivan and Paul, Ivan and The Beatles, which show how he was – like Pete Shotton and John – one of the Liverpool friends that remained firmly in the inner circle. When, in 1965, Paul was looking for French lyrics for Michelle , it was Ivan’s wife, Jan – a French teacher, who provided them (though imagine how different the Vaughans’ life might have had she been given a small royalty for her contribution!).

In the late ’60s, among those many ideas that floated around for what Apple could do, was the idea of an international-style school based on hippy ethics. Ivan was employed by Apple to head this up until, like so many Apple ideas, fell through.

Another little irony, Ivan Vaughan – the man who introduced Paul to John – was an occasional (tea-chest) bassist with The Quarrymen. One of John’s bassists introduced him to someone who would become his most important bassist.

The poem about Ivan that Funny Paper refers to was actually the first poem (ie. not intended to be turned into a song lyric) Paul had written since his schooldays. He later said it was the beginning of him putting together the book Blackbird Singing: Poems and Lyrics, 1965-1999 – which, of course, included the Lennon-McCartney lyric Ivan’s wife had helped with.

Both of you though, you disappoint me with your list of those “dearly loved” by Paul who were lost tragically and early. You both miss an important one, and someone Paul has said was “someone we loved dearly”. See if you can fill in the gap I’ve helpfully dated for you in your joint list.

Mary McCartney (1956); ?? (1967); John Lennon (1980); Ivan Vaughan (1993); Linda McCartney (1998); George Harrison (2001).

Now both go “Oops!”

It’s also interesting to note that the deaths of those close battered John much more early on. Uncle George. Julia . Stuart Sutcliffe. And then my mysterious figure from 1967 – whose death you can see just how “shocked and stunned” (and lost) John is when he George and Ringo face the press in Bangor (Paul already heading back to London).