John Lennon e Paul McCartney
A Toot and a Snore in '74

On March 28, 1974, John Lennon is locked in a studio in Los Angeles to work with Harry Nilsson on the album "Pussy Cats". The ex-Beatle is in the midst of his "lost weekend", indulging recklessly in drugs and alcohol. His favorite companions for escapades are Nilsson, Elton John, and old friend Ringo Starr. His last work is "Mind Games" and for the rest of the decade, he will not release any more new material. Separated from Yoko Ono, he lives with young secretary May Pang. It is during a relaxed day of sessions to record a bit with Stevie Wonder that a familiar face suddenly appears in the studio. It's Paul McCartney. An absolute chill descends over the studio; the two, as far as is known, have not met for at least four years. They have limited communication to more or less cryptic messages in their records. Lennon sees him enter and exclaims, "The valiant McCartney, I presume". The two met again, and a photo was taken that shows them in the company of Keith Moon (another of John's drinking buddies), Linda, and Stevie Wonder.

Paul takes to the drums and the group begins to play. The product is absolutely boring, instrumental jams, barely audible dialogues, except for John's offers for a bit of shared coke. John attempts his version of "Stand By Me". It is all surreal, a distant and cold atmosphere marked by disjointed music, fragmented, interspersed with jokes and vocalizations. These are not the studio sessions of the glorious Beatles days; John is a different person and Paul notices it immediately. Drugs are slowly devouring him; he is completely shattered, and all his problems are catching up with him. McCartney plays, sings harmonies, but deep down he's probably not even there in the studio. More than once he had tried to reach out to Lennon previously, only to be met with rejection. Paul would only talk about this day in '97, with bootleg records already released for years.

McCartney would try to reach out to Lennon again later. In '76, he'd have the door slammed in his face by an annoyed John due to an unexpected visit. In the later years, '79 and '80, the two would meet frequently, so much so that one evening in New York, a TV host asked the two to come to the studio if they were listening; Paul and John, who were actually together watching it on TV, thought about it and almost made their way to the TV studio, which was just a few blocks from the Dakota.