I don't think John ever said publicly that Jealous Guy is about Yoko specifically, but he did say it was about his relationships with women. My favorite interpretation is that it's about everyone John ever loved and hurt, but I'm not sure if that's actually what he intended or not. Either way, the song is more about him than the person he hurt.
Is there a Lennon song other than "Jealous Guy" which started out as a melody to a completely different lyric, that we know of?
May Pang claimed that some of the melodies on Double Fantasy were first written when he was with her (I believe Beautiful Boy was one she named). But in all these examples, it seems that there were lyrics with the original melody, but John then changed the lyrics later.
Another thing about Paul recognizing the Jealous Guy melody: Paul wrote Mother Nature's Son as a response to the same lecture from the Maharishi that inspired Child of Nature. It wasn't just a song that Paul knew, but a song that was connected to one that Paul wrote.
. I mean, John presumably was aware that "The Long and Winding Road" was one of those few McCartney songs openly autobiographical and the expression of his 1969 misery (and a case of Paul's tendency to use song writing instead of therapy or, you know, openly admitting to said misery).
I think it was one of those situations where John knew about didn't know. Plausible deniability, right? Maybe Paul was expressing his deepest feelings, or maybe it was just a song. If John really did try to sabotage the song, that was probably why: he was angry at Paul for expressing himself in an ambiguous manner.
Re: Crippled Inside. John was definitely open about being an asshole while Paul was more open about wanting to be likeable (I think John wanted to be liked as much as Paul did, if not more, but he went about it a different way). Paul seems to have a harder time admitting to his flaws and admitting mistakes.
One thing that gets overlooked during the break-up period is how frustrated John was with Paul refusing to admit he could be wrong. There's an exchange they had while dealing with Apple, I can't remember where, some book or other. Paul supposedly said, about his current plan, "You know I'm right." To which John retorted, "You're always fucking right, aren't you?" John also took the "we believe that we can't be wrong" line in Back Seat of My Car as an attack on him and Yoko. According to Peter Doggett, around that time he wrote a speech bubble over a picture Paul at age 21 with the words, "I'm always perfect". In the Melody Maker feud, John wrote, As I've said before, Have you ever thought that you might POSSIBLY be wrong about something?
Of course, John tried to get Paul to admit to imperfection by screaming verbal abuse at him, which is an unsurprisingly ineffective method.
And Some People Never Knew, the song that does appear to be a response to How Do You Sleep?, Paul admitted, "I'm only a person like you, love / and who in the world can be right all the right times?"
But with Paul more inclined to hide that he has flaws, and John inclined to paranoid, I wonder if John ever blew Paul's flaws and Paul's darkness out of proportion in his mind. In fact, I'm certain he did (subconscious sabotage, and all).
Re: Give me something to sing about - PS
I don't think John ever said publicly that Jealous Guy is about Yoko specifically, but he did say it was about his relationships with women. My favorite interpretation is that it's about everyone John ever loved and hurt, but I'm not sure if that's actually what he intended or not. Either way, the song is more about him than the person he hurt.
Is there a Lennon song other than "Jealous Guy" which started out as a melody to a completely different lyric, that we know of?
May Pang claimed that some of the melodies on Double Fantasy were first written when he was with her (I believe Beautiful Boy was one she named). But in all these examples, it seems that there were lyrics with the original melody, but John then changed the lyrics later.
Another thing about Paul recognizing the Jealous Guy melody: Paul wrote Mother Nature's Son as a response to the same lecture from the Maharishi that inspired Child of Nature. It wasn't just a song that Paul knew, but a song that was connected to one that Paul wrote.
. I mean, John presumably was aware that "The Long and Winding Road" was one of those few McCartney songs openly autobiographical and the expression of his 1969 misery (and a case of Paul's tendency to use song writing instead of therapy or, you know, openly admitting to said misery).
I think it was one of those situations where John knew about didn't know. Plausible deniability, right? Maybe Paul was expressing his deepest feelings, or maybe it was just a song. If John really did try to sabotage the song, that was probably why: he was angry at Paul for expressing himself in an ambiguous manner.
Re: Crippled Inside. John was definitely open about being an asshole while Paul was more open about wanting to be likeable (I think John wanted to be liked as much as Paul did, if not more, but he went about it a different way). Paul seems to have a harder time admitting to his flaws and admitting mistakes.
One thing that gets overlooked during the break-up period is how frustrated John was with Paul refusing to admit he could be wrong. There's an exchange they had while dealing with Apple, I can't remember where, some book or other. Paul supposedly said, about his current plan, "You know I'm right." To which John retorted, "You're always fucking right, aren't you?" John also took the "we believe that we can't be wrong" line in Back Seat of My Car as an attack on him and Yoko. According to Peter Doggett, around that time he wrote a speech bubble over a picture Paul at age 21 with the words, "I'm always perfect". In the Melody Maker feud, John wrote, As I've said before, Have you ever thought that you might POSSIBLY be wrong about something?
Of course, John tried to get Paul to admit to imperfection by screaming verbal abuse at him, which is an unsurprisingly ineffective method.
And Some People Never Knew, the song that does appear to be a response to How Do You Sleep?, Paul admitted, "I'm only a person like you, love / and who in the world can be right all the right times?"
But with Paul more inclined to hide that he has flaws, and John inclined to paranoid, I wonder if John ever blew Paul's flaws and Paul's darkness out of proportion in his mind. In fact, I'm certain he did (subconscious sabotage, and all).
I will respond to your other comments later.