STUART: THE WRITER

Besides being just an amazing painter, Stuart Sutcliffe also had a brilliant way of using words. His proze of writing gave his viewers a better insite on who he is deep down. Many of Stuart's poetry and lyrics described his loniless and feeling of not quit being fulfilled with his life at the time. Stuart often wrote about teen heartache and of the longing for romance. While Stuart would write long letters of his innermost feelings to his best friend John ( Lennon), John would fill his letters up with a sense of getting past those issues and blocking them out. Stuart's love filled letters and John's bitter passages gave both John and Stu an insite into the world that they were not accustomed to. John helped Stuart to become more secure and confident, while Stuart help John to become more passionate and caring.

In 1998, Stuart Sutcliffe's sister Pauline, the youngest of his two sister's, had made plans to give the band Oasis Stuart's lyrics that he wrote during his early years with the beatles. Pauline's hopes were to get Stuarts songs out into the public so that he could get the recognition he deserves. " I would love to see Noel and Oasis do something with them, Oasis are the closest to a new origional Beatles sound i've heard in 30 years, and I mean that as the highest possible compliment" Said Pauline in a 1998 interview after she had just released her plans of giving Stuarts poetry and songs to Oasis. Althouh Pauline was very enthusiastic about having Oasis sing her brother's songs, Paul McCartney was not exactly thrilled " They mean nothing to me. They're derivative and they think to much of themselves" -McCartney stated in a 1998 interview.

Although Stuart had mainly just lyrics that were never formed into complete songs, his sister Pauline included them in her retrospective exhibition called " From Liverpool to Hamburg" which opened in 1998 at the KDK Gallery in Notting Hill Gate, west London. The Gallery is jointly owned by Pauline, whom is a family psycholotherapist, and also owned by her friend Kate Delia Kilroy, both of whom feel Stuart's artwork should be shared with the public. The exhibition which held Stuarts lyrics also contained never seen before drawings, paintings, photographs, excerpts from letters and notebooks, and even the drafts of his essays from art school.  " From Liverpool to Hamburg"
contained more than 50 paintings and drawings that have also been put on display at Washingtons Govinda Gallery

" I think the exhibition will show that Stuart was exceptionally multi- talented, He could have been a great writer or film director as well as a great painter" Said Kate Delia Kilroy. For those that tend to be artistically gifted, many assume that they are not acedemically gifted as well. Even though that is true in many cases, in is not in the case of Stuart Sutcliffe. In Stuart's letters to John, or even in his own poetry, it is very obvious that he has an ability to put power behind his words that interest his readers, even if he is writing them for his own pleasure and  in regards for someone else to see.

Besides his immediate family, Stuart received his encouragment from both his fiancee Astrid, and his best friend John. Whenever Stuart, like everyone else, went into a period of feeling hopless and very unconfident, he had both Astrid and even John, whom continued to go on tour with the beatles, to back him up and let him know how important and special he truly is. Since Astrid and John gave Stuart a sense of security, he was able to show the his poetry and lyrics and other peices of writings that he had spent time and energy on. A segment of Stuarts lyrics that were put on display by his sister Pauline, show how Stuart felt during certain times in his life. The lyrics that are shown below express the lonliness of a young man without a girlfriend:
" Everybody is getting ready/ Everybody is going steady/ Everybody but me/ I stay home on Friday night, go to bed at eight/ On Saturday nights im all alone/ 'Cos I don't have a date"

STUART: THE FRIEND

" I had been pretty nasty to Stu on the last day we were with him. We were leaving Hamburg, and he was staying behind with Astrid. I caught his eye on stage, as he was playing with us for the last time. He was crying. It was one of those feelings, when you're suddenly very close to someone"- Paul McCartney

Because of Stuart's very close friendship with John, it often, very often, caused a tense friction between Stuart and Paul. Even though in the past Paul had said numerous things to Stuart such and insults or just mockery, Stuart still remained loyal to Paul, along with all the other Beatles. Since Stuart was very shy, and also very insecure, he often prefered to take insults from those around him instead of defending himself, which would cause even more problems.
" we were terrible, We'd tell him he couldnt sit with his, or eat with us, or tell him to go away, and he did" Said John " That was how he learned to be with us, because that was what we were like"

Due to reports in a certain book of The beatles ( sorry, i cant give the name out)  some tend to feel that John was cruel and ruthless around Stu. But in interviews by both Cynthia Lennon and Astrid Kirchherr, they both explain how John and Stu were more than close, they had a friendship that no one or thing could destroy, not even John's once in a while teasing on Stuart.  Even though Stuart was loyal, he wouldn't stay in an enviroment that would cause him harm, such as the enviroment that has been portrayed by rumours of the beatle's Hamburg days. John's teasing of Stu often helped him to become stronger. John would throw a few jokes at him and then tell Stu that they are " Just" jokes and nothing more, then he would try to teach Stu how to react when somebody did insult him. Such teaching would help Stuart later with an argument with Paul.

"  One night he had a fight onstage with Paul that was an exampe of his determination. Despite being much smaller and weaker than Paul, his anger wasso intense that it gave him extra strength. ' He could become really hysterical when he was angry' says Astrid. SHe remembers the fight vividly, but can't recall the details of what caused it. It was something to do with her, something Paul had said about her, but she doesnt know what or why" - " The Beatles"

" The relationship between Paul and Stu, the petty jealousies and rows, is not too difficult to explain. In a way they were both competing for John's attention. Paul had had it for a couple years until Stu came along. Stu was obviously very talented, more mature, more in touch. Even Michel McCartney, Paul's younger brother,remembers before-hand in Liverpool that Paul was a bit jealous of Stu."
Although Paul and Stu rivale very often, they did have respect for one another. To this day Paul regrets how he treated Stu, and often explains how he admired Stu and wished he had told him that before he died.
Even though John had a difficult task of maintaining a strong friendship with both Paul and Stu, he found a way to relate to both on differeent levels. Paul became the man that John could talk to about music and performing, while Stuart became the friend that John could share his feelings and thoughts with whenever he needed to.

            ~ASTRID AND STUART~ COMMUNICATION DIFFICULTIES

" From the moment we first started being able to communicate with eachother we intended to get married" - Astrid

When Stuart first met Astrid, he knew no German and she knew no English. Since Klaus knew very little English also, she pursueded him to teach her whatever he knew and then they would both build on that. " He nearly went out of his mind trying to explain things to me. I just couldny learn it" Said Astrid. Everynight the Beatles and Klaus would go over to her place for a mean and after that they would have tea, during those get togethers, Stu and Astrid became making more and more progress.  After a while of get togethers, and also quit a while of both Astrid and Stu having a very strong romantic connection, Stu began coming over to her place on his own. " They would sit together on her black bed, she struggling over words from a German-English dictonary, and he with an English-German dictionary.

Stuart and Astrid made much progress during their nights together. Besides eachother learning a new language, they also found their soul mate.
In Novermber of 1960, and only 2 months after their firsting meeting, Stuart and Astrid got engaged. They both put their money together and went out and bought rings for eachother which is part of the German fashion. At the time Stu was not yet 19, but he was much more mature and developed in his thoughts than the 18 years that he has been around.

Astrid and Stuart's relationship was very difficult. It was very hard for her to end a lifelong friendship and love with Klaus, to take on a new relationship with a man she knew for only 2 months and whom also spoke very little of her native language. But through all their struggles, Astrid and Stuart were able to be together with the support of Klaus and all the others.