as she posts another letter to the sound of five, people gather 'round her and she finds it hard to stay alive

Paul McCartney is shown here heading to court on February 19th, 1971, in the case against the other three members of the Beatles and the Apple Record company. By his side lending support was his wife of nearly two years, Linda, who was then two-months pregnant with daughter Stella. It was during this court case that Paul tried to dissolve all legal ties between the Beatles. The case was very much opposed by the other members of the band, who each wanted financial control to remain in the hands of Allen Klein.

Linda's brother, John Eastman, advised the couple on how to dress at the court proceedings. Linda was told to dress like a conservative young wife, and Paul was told to wear a suit and tie. He refused to wear a tie, instead opting for an open-neck white buttondown shirt and telling Eastman that "That's too humiliating. I'm dressing up so they'll think I'm innocent. There's no way I'm doing that [wearing a tie]." Linda matched her leather boots and buttondown with a long tailored skirt and vest, and retained her Earth mama charm by letting her hair hang loose and free. Paul, whether out of coincidence or irony, wore the Tommy Nutter suit that he wore on the cover of Abbey Road.

As I've mentioned before, I'm quite a big fan of Paul McCartney facial hair, so I absolutely love his full-on Navy beard. In his official biography Many Years From Now, his look is likened to "a sailor of the Players Navy Cut cigarette packet."

been beat up and battered ‘round, been sent up and i’ve been shot down

After the February Redlands bust, Marianne Faithfull is seen here arriving at court on June 28, 1967. Marianne was the most infamous 'star' of the 1967 bust and ensuing trial. Famously, she was wrapped in a fur rug when the police raided the house while Bob Dylan's "Rainy Day Women" played in the background. The only female in attendance (Pattie Boyd, who was there with George, had already left hours earlier), the police and the media alternately portrayed Marianne as the virginal human sacrifice on the altar of hedonistic rock 'n' roll, as well as the scandalous Miss X (the name referred to her in the trial), the woman of ill-virtue and foul ideas concerning Mars Bars. Though she herself was not charged, she suffered more in terms of her image than Mick and Keith combined, who became heroes against an unfair government system. As Marianne herself referred to the rumors stemming from the bust, "Their story went like this: a group of dissolute rock stars lured an innocent girl to a remote cottage where, having plied her with drugs, they had their way with her, including various sex acts involving a Mars Bar."
At Keith Richard's trial, he openly defended her against a prosecutor who sought to defame her publicly for her nudity, by saying, "We are not old men and we're not worried about your petty morals." Keith has remained a supporter of Marianne's character over the years, even in 1988 joking about the ridiculousness of the story by sarcastically stating, "We were right out of Mars Bars at the time."

well but i would not feel so all alone, everybody must get stoned

George Harrison and Pattie Boyd making their way to the courthouse following their March 12, 1969 arrest for possession of marijuana. It was three weeks after they were busted upon this appearance. Pattie shared in Wonderful Tonight a tidbit from her diary recorded on the day of this appearance: “fined £500 – the bastards.”

I positively love how chic and rock 'n roll people like George and Pattie looked when they would go to court. Mick, Keith, Marianne, Brian, John and Yoko, Paul and Linda, and countless others treated the courthouse like a fashion show. I much prefer their take on courthouse attire than the present-day Young Hollywood edition. Though their endless wild partying leads them there in the first place, you'd never know it from how clean-cut, prim and proper they are always done up to be. To any Hollywood It-Girl out there who will soon get arrested, instead of donning a black frock, pearls, and your prized Louboutins, why don't you make like Pattie and sport a burgundy velvet blazer and or a voluminous scarf around your neck?