“MANSFIELD: But, You Know, [after John Showed Me The Pictures Of Himself And Yoko Nude For The Album

“MANSFIELD: But, you know, [after John showed me the pictures of himself and Yoko nude for the album cover of Two Virgins], I asked Paul about this. And this, to me, is indicative of their relationship, maybe as much as anything I [had] ever heard. I said, “Paul, you know, what do you think about this?” And Paul says, “I don’t know.” He said, “I don’t really agree with John. But I just am going to figure that John’s ahead of me on this, and that someday I’ll understand and I’ll catch up. So, you know, I’m okay.” ROSEN: And what did that reaction tell you about their relationship? MANSFIELD: That it was an extremely deep relationship. And you know, you couple that with the thing Paul told me about, you know, when I asked him how come John’s name was on ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’ when I was there when he was writing it and John wasn’t. These two comments from Paul showed me what their – how deep their relationship was. ROSEN: What did he say on that occasion, about ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’? MANSFIELD: Okay. On ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’ […] I was in the hotel room, the bungalow with Paul [in L.A.]. And that night, when we were – he was working on some songs, and he included me on the writing, you know, just ‘cause I was there. He said, “What do you think of this?” And I’d say, “Well, why don’t you try this?” And the songs were ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’ and ‘[Back In The] U.S.S.R.’ And that was all. It was very casual. I drive home that night, and I’m going: “Wait a minute! Was I – was I songwriting with Paul McCartney? Wow, that’s pretty cool!” Well, you know, the record comes out, and it’s Lennon and McCartney. And I didn’t expect it to be Mansfield-McCartney. But I asked Paul, I said, “You know, I was there with you when you were writing this, and John wasn’t. And yet it’s a Lennon-McCartney.” And Paul said: “John and I are so close to each other, we’ve been through so much together, we understand each other so much, our relationship is so deep, that when we’re songwriting,” he said, “even if I’m 6,000 miles away, I can be working on something and I can hear John over my shoulder going, ‘No, no, no, that’s not gonna work; why don’t we do this?’ Or ‘Hey, I like this.’” He said, “So, in essence, to me, we’re songwriting together even if we’re not together.” ROSEN: Hmm! MANSFIELD: Now do you see something between those two comments about how their relationship, how it was very—? Even when I think they were at their furthest away from each other, I think there was something, a strong connection between those two people.”

— Ken Mansfield (record label executive and Apple Records U.S. manager), interview w/ James Rosen for Fox News. (December 4th-5th, 2007)