The Lennon-McCartney secret code and the hidden clues and ‘in-jokes’ in various Beatles songs.

When John Lennon and Paul McCartney got together in the late 1950’s/early 1960’s at Paul’s home in Forthlin Road Liverpool, not only were they secretly sneaking there in the afternoon whilst Jim McCartney (Paul’s dad), was at work, but they were composing songs written in ‘a secret code…never [to] be spoken’. - ( See the McCartney song ‘Days we left behind’ from his 2026 album, - The Boys of Dungeon Lane).

Alongside lead guitarist George Harrison, (and later drummer Ringo Starr), they quickly developed their own sniggering, comedically inspired language and view of the old fashioned, adult world, as the Cavernites at The Cavern Club in Liverpool were soon to see for themselves. This surely was the beginning of their mystical collaboration as composers, as John and Paul later began to litter their songs with other secret (i.e. hidden), often esoteric meanings and clues, as we shall see below.

That secret code between Paul and John referred to above has been referred to before, as Beatles book writer Mark Lewisohn notes and the Cavern DJ Bob Wooler refers to in the book The Best of Fellas. John, Paul and George's offbeat sense of humour was delivered in coded form and known only to them. Speaking in a comical Lancashire rather than Scouse dialect, The Beatles often wryly satirical mimicking of old fashioned UK Show biz comedians and other TV stars, was not something other music acts did. John's Scottish burr, reflecting his childhood visits to Scotland and the band’s goonish (The Goons) lampoonish behaviour on stage at the Cavern was unique. The Cavernites came for the music but stayed for the comedy, once the lights fused due to condensation.No other Liverpudlian group (or anyone else) had the bravura to did this. Of course, other groups copied their unconventional behaviour and attitude later once the 1960s of fame got under way. E.g The Stones.

My friend Bob Wooler said they EXPLODED on a jaded scene. They did. This later transmogrified into their sharp, satirical press conferences in the USA and elsewhere as Ringo Starr too was very funny. A one off. This new 2026 Macca album is in part a historical recollection of those early days.
Later gleefully sending up the albeit glittering deception of the pre- Beatles UK show business world they had entered in the early 1960s, they soon realised it was called that for a reason. It was a sham, albeit at times a star-struck one and the old style music stars and their managers were deeply embedded in it. Singers, comedians, magicians, jugglers and other novelty acts strode the stage together in the days when ‘pop’ was often ‘pap’ and ‘rock’ music itself, simply did not yet exist.

Joking aside, when The Beatles eventually entered that world, they and their savvy intelligence quickly drew back the curtain of theatrical dramaturgy, cheekily unveiling the truth in all its dark, controlling, gory detail. A circusian scene that was old school, old fashioned yet also proto-pepperesque. Not only did they want to write and record their own songs, they didn't want the music moguls of Tin Pan Alley and Denmark Street to rip them off. And in their Jewish manager Brian Epstein, they had the perfect foil to help them achieve everything they wanted: Money, fame and artistic kudos.

Later unveiling the unconscious aspects of perception, reality and the chimerical concept that was the 'truth' in all its relativistic beauty, The Beatles revolutionised ‘show’ business itself. And so it was that John Lennon's revolutionary relationship with the 'in-out 'aspects of peace, love and war started to make sense. Prophetically one might add, it does now even more so with Donald Trump in the White House.

Paul McCartney's melding of the mundane and the surreal was equally perceptive and ‘very strange’ and when George Harrison took the foursome down the vedic route from east to west, The Beatles place in both music and cultural history was secure. (See David Bedford podcasts, a Liverpool-born Beatles historian who mentions that the ‘Strange Brothers’ once had a shop on Penny Lane in Liverpool. - Penny Lane 1967).

Grounded by drummer Ringo Starr and elevated by his Liverpudlians compatriots, the manic devotion of their fans influenced both them and wider society. In essence, the Beatles of 1960’s fame became the Internet of their day. A monstrous global phenomenon. Copied, parodied, adored and sometimes reviled, they can now be seen as prophets and peaceniks of their time and beyond. Beyond belief, beyond boundaries and just...Beyond.

But before we move on, did you know, the  book THE BEATLES AND THEIR JOURNEY INTO BEATLEDOM uncovers the many hidden clues in Beatles songs including their Liverpudlian, Hamburgian and Parisian influences, how come? The Beatles were de rigeur (in the groove) or ‘de gear’ as Liverpudlians say, so riddle me this. ‘Here’s another clue for you all, the walrus was Paul’ - John Lennon said in the White album song Glass onion (1968). But if ‘Paul is undead’ as discussed  in some depth that book, then just who is the mythic, French-sounding figure Léo Copstèreles and why is he mentioned in the book? Let’s play The Beatles game.

He is a massive Beatles fan. He has a French name but he is actually from Liverpool. His name is also a French-language anagram and his nom de plume is Seth L’eteba. If the ‘Paul is dead freaks’ as Lennon called them can set you a riddle, then why can’t I? And as The Beatles also said, - surely, ‘We can work it out’. Can you?