Tyler Cowen: belief

Transcript context

…Exactly. There’s nothing wrong with that. I think Jagger and Richards is much more like a marriage versus a love affair. I think they love each other, but they’re not wildly compelled by each other. I’m not sure they ever were. They always thought, “Yes, this is the guy I want to make music with. He’s obviously great, and our talents fit together. Let’s get married.” It was nothing like this intense, jealousy-ridden, tempestuous, conflicted, hot, John-and-Paul relationship. I think there’re other examples like Picasso and Braque. I don’t think they were like John and Paul either. They were just partnerships who came together, got on with each other, but turned each other on creatively and then spun apart, and that was it. I doubt that Picasso gave Braque much of a thought after they stopped working together, and probably vice versa, whereas John and Paul’s relationship was much deeper. I think that’s important because, actually, I think the scale of the achievement of what they did together was rooted in that incredibly rich and deep relationship. It wasn’t just a byproduct or a coincidence. It’s striking to me that what to me is the very closest example comes from the same place and broadly the same period, and that’s Monty Python, which is truly collaborative. They compete with each other — whose skit gets to be done. They do TV; they do movies. It has a brilliant peak. At some point, it collapses. Members have quite different skills, but they’re truly working together. That’s the other British Beatles, I think. There’s that wonderful link between them, as well, via George Harrison, who becomes friends with them and funds The Life of Brian. I would buy that. Of course, it reminds me of this other aspect of the Beatles, which we haven’t touched on. It’s another thing that’s so unique about them is that they were a comedy group as well. Can you think of any other groups where laughter is so important, where humor is so important? Again, that’s primarily John and Paul. They were all funny, right? George could be very dryly funny, but that sense of antic, overflowing, childlike glee and humor that runs all the way through the Beatles is John and Paul. It’s not true of any other group. The link between music and comedy is just so interesting.…

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