She Came In Through The Bathroom Window

[The song] goes back to the fact a woman did actually sneak into my house through the bathroom window that was a bit ajar. A fan, apparently – one of a group called the ‘Apple scruffs’. She found a ladder lying outside my house in London. As far as I recall, she stole a picture of my cotton salesman dad. Or robbed me of it. But I got the song in return.

Paul McCartney – From “The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present“, 2021

We were bored, he was out and so we decided to pay him a visit. We found a ladder in his garden and stuck it up at the bathroom window which he’d left slightly open. I was the one who climbed up and got in.

Diane Ashley – From “The complete Beatles songs : the stories behind every track written by the Fab Four” by Steve Turner, 2015

They rummaged around and took some clothers. People didn’t usually take anything of real value but I think this time a lot of photographs and negatives were taken. There were really two groups of Apple Scruffs – those who would break in and those who would just wait outside with cameras and autograph books. I used to take Paul’s dog for a walk and got to know him quite well. I was eventually offered a job at Apple. I started by making the tea and ended up in the promotions department working with Tony King.

Margo Bird – From “The complete Beatles songs : the stories behind every track written by the Fab Four” by Steve Turner, 2015

I knew who had done it and I discovered that a lot of the stuff had already gone to America. But I knew that there was one picture he particularly wanted back – a colour-tinted picture of him in a Thirties frame. I knew who had taken this and got it back for him.

Margo Bird – From “The complete Beatles songs : the stories behind every track written by the Fab Four” by Steve Turner, 2015

It was a lovely summer day, sunny and warm. We walked up the street and turned into Paul’s avenue. The house was empty. Maybe it was just too tempting standing there so alone and quiet. Chris went to the neighbour’s wall, climbed over it and into Paul’s garden. She was now out of sight. Then the gates opened and Chris poked her head out.

‘Come on in,’ she giggled.

‘I’m not sure about this,’ Judy hesitated. ‘Trespassing, isn’t it?’

Leave it to Judy to point that out; she was a legal secretary in New York.

‘No one’s home,’ Di said.

‘Who’s to know?’ Chris asked.

‘We’ll just look around the garden,’ Big Sue suggested.

It sounded harmless enough. By the way Chris had scaled the wall, they obviously had done this sort ofthing before. They knew their way around. […] We walked round the left side of the house. There was a ladder lying flat along the side. We went to the back. There were steps leading to the back door – Emma tried it; it was locked.

‘Look!’ shouted Big Sue. We followed her pointing finger, up, up. On the second floor was a window and it was open a crack. […] Little Di went first. She was the smallest among us. We held the bottom of the ladder securely as she made her way slowly to the open window. […]

On top of a bureau next to the wall, there was a beautiful old black and white photo framed in gold. Di grabbed the frame and proclaimed that it was hers to keep. I went over to her to see what the picture was. It was a lovely photo of Paul and his dad, taken when Paul was a teenager. By the careful way it had been framed, I knew this picture must mean a lot to Paul. I felt bad that Di was taking it, but who was I to interfere with the English girls, especially one who said that Paul was her favourite. I was not only a Yank, but I liked George not Paul. I really had no right to be in Paul’s house. It was best that I just did not interfere. […]

Judy became the culprit this time. ‘What a gold-mine I’ve found,‘ she called to me. She was standing with me in the music room but over by the far wall. There was a slide projector and she was stuffing slides into her bag. Di joined her, wearing one of Paul’s shirts over her T-shirt. Di began to look towards the bookcase and soon found loads of snapshot photos. She and Judy were taking photos and slides by the hundreds. I didn’t know why Paul had so many pictures lying around. Judy noticed my dumb staring.

‘Carol, here, take these,’ she said, shoving a load of slides into my shoulder-bag. I was too numb to look at what they were. […] I went home that night and, while looking through my bag for my comb, I came across the slides Judy had put there. They were slides of the Beatles in various recording sessions: some were taken in Apple, others in EMI. I came across one of George which I kept. He was sitting on a couch in Apple. Linda Eastman’s reflection was in the mirror behind him. She was looking in her camera and had obviously taken the picture. It then dawned on me that all the pictures the girls had taken must have been Linda’s. There were loads of slides of George and the others in my bag; all the pictures were taken very recently. […]

Carol Bedford – From “Waiting For The Beatles: An Apple Scruff’s Story” by Carol Bedford, 1984

The next day, Monday, Margo was going to Paul’s house to take his sheepdog, Martha, for a walk. Paul had asked Margo if she could take the dog for walks each day, if she had the time. […] Rosie, Paul’s housekeeper, answered the bell on the gate, but she didn’t have Martha with her.

‘Paul wants to see you,’ Rosie whispered.

‘Me? Why me?’ Margo asked.

‘Well,’ Rosie said, ‘he wants to talk to all of you actually.’

I felt as I was walking to Paul’s that I was tempting fate by returning to the scene of the crime. Now, I knew I was. He knew. The police were probably waiting for me inside the gates. I felt terrible despite the fact that I only had the one picture of George left in my possession. I had given the rest of the pictures to Margo and Jill. […]

‘I wanted to talk to you girls about something that happened at the weekend,’ Paul began. I held my breath. Did he know I was in on the caper? ‘It seems someone broke into my house on Sunday afternoon,’ Paul paused. Was it for effect or just for my admission of guilt? ‘I hate to say it, but I think it was some of the girls,’ Paul looked down, embarrassed by what he was saying.

‘What makes you think that?’ Margo asked.

‘By what they took. Pictures mostly,’ Paul said. ‘Anyone else – a real burglar – would have taken more expensive things. I’m a bit upset about it all,’ Paul continued. ‘You see, the pictures they took were important. They were slides mostly. Linda took them But you see we’re doing a movie (Let It Be) of the Beatles recording. We can’t do the film without the pictures. I can’t believe they’re gone. There are no negatives from slides, you know. Also, there was a picture of sentimental value to me. It was in a gold frame. The picture was of my dad,’ Paul’s voice trailed off.

I was hit hard by this. I knew that framed picture was important the moment I saw Di take it. And a film. Taking those pictures was preventing a film the Beatles wanted to make. I couldn’t believe it. This was destruction and high treason to the Beatles themselves. […]

We walked back to the front. Paul was quiet, still trying to picture it all. He looked at Margo. ‘You know the girls,’ he said. ‘Is there any way to get back some of the pictures? The picture of my dad?’ He added, ‘It means a lot to me.’

‘I think we can,’ Margo said, visibly upset. […]

Carol Bedford – From “Waiting For The Beatles: An Apple Scruff’s Story” by Carol Bedford, 1984

It didn’t take long to spot Paul and Linda. They were walking slowly towards us, arm in arm, pausing to look in shop windows. They stopped; Jill and I were standing in front of them. Jill, I knew, was staring at Paul. She wouldn’t say anything so I volunteered the conversation.

‘We got some of the pictures back.’

‘You did? That’s wonderful! Can I see?’ Paul shook his arm free from Linda’s grasp and held his hands out. I handed him slide after slide. Many were in little boxes of twenty slides. He looked at each one and gushed ‘This is them. It’s great! We can do the movie now. I can’t thank you enough.’

I saved the framed picture for last and handed it to him.

‘Oh, you got it back. I kinda gave up hope on it. I really am pleased. Thank you.’ He began to look embarrassed. ‘Did you have much trouble getting them back?’

‘Oh, not much,’ I lied.

‘Hey,’ Linda said, still looking at the slides. ‘These aren’t all of them.’

‘What do you mean?’ Paul turned to her.

‘I, ah, had some personal pictures in with these,’ she said. I knew she was referring to the pics of the other groups.

‘I don’t care about those,’ Paul said. ‘These are the ones I wanted back. Thank you again, girls,’ Paul said, turning back to Jill and me. ‘Oh, by the way,’ he paused, ‘I’ve written a song about the girls who broke in.’
‘Yeah?’ I laughed. ‘A tribute, huh? What’s it called?’

‘She Came In Through the Bathroom Window,’ he called over his shoulder as they continued walking up Regent Street.

Carol Bedford – From “Waiting For The Beatles: An Apple Scruff’s Story” by Carol Bedford, 1984

I didn’t believe at first [that the break-in had become the subject of a Beatles’ song] because he’d hated so much when we broke in. But then I suppose anything can inspire a song, can’t it? I know that all his neighbors rang him when they saw we’d got in and I’m sure that gave rise to the lines, ‘Sunday’s on the phone to Monday/Tuesday’s on the phone to me ‘.

Diane Ashley – From “The complete Beatles songs : the stories behind every track written by the Fab Four” by Steve Turner, 2015

This version of the story by Margo Bird, Carol Bedford, Diane Ashley was challenged by the official Apple Scruffs, as explained on their official website:

Miss Ashley, a fan who frequented Cavendish Avenue, (she was NOT an Apple Scruff!) obviously wanted this song to be about her and of her breaking into Paul’s house.  This offence happened late December 1968 but the song was written in May 1968 – 8 months previously (see question below). 

We contacted the publisher of the book ‘The Lyrics’ regarding this song and Paul’s ‘recollection’ and asked them to remove the accusation that an ‘Apple Scruff’ had stolen items from his house. They replied:

“We are also aware that there are numerous other published accounts, both online and in print from reputable publishers, which evidence that an Apple Scruff was involved in the theft of the photograph from Paul’s house. These publications, copies of which we have obtained and reviewed in detail, contain accounts from people who themselves identify as Apple Scruffs. Notwithstanding your assertions now, these accounts make it clear that the woman who reportedly took the photograph from Paul’s house identified, and was identified by others – including by other Apple Scruffs — as an Apple Scruff. The recollection in Paul’s book is therefore widely supported by these other accounts as true” […]

At the time of the song release we believed this was written about Francie Schwartz as we used to see her sitting on the roof of the porch of Paul’s house after climbing out of the bathroom window – and maybe protected by ‘a silver spoon’??

Did an Apple Scruff break into Paul’s House and steal his belongings?

The answer to this is NO.  This ‘story’ has been around for a very long time and we have tried our best to rectify it over the years.

An Apple Scruff’s Diary entry records:   Wed 1st Jan 1969:   ‘Paul in terrible mood as some girls broke in’

It is well documented who committed this offence and this person was NOT an Apple Scruff – she and a couple of other known ‘fans’ of Paul committed this offence ‘because she was bored’ as she tells it, this comprised of a breaking-in and stealing photographs and a silver-framed photograph – along with some items of clothing. 

In early December 1968, Paul vacationed in Portugal with Linda Eastman, her daughter Heather and The Beatles biographer Hunter Davis—a trip highlighted by Paul proposing to Linda. Linda took many photographs of this holiday and many of these ‘photographic slides’ were included with the stolen items.

A version of the theft was documented in a book written by Carol Bedford and has been quoted in various places. Her account about being involved in any way is pure fabrication and untrue as she didn’t arrive in the UK until January 1969. A lot of her book was a ‘fan-fantasy’.

Margo and Jill – ‘regular’ fans (not actually Apple Scruffs at the time as the name hadn’t yet been conceived!) were approached by Paul and asked if they knew of the culprit and if so, could they help obtain and return any of the stolen items. These were later recovered and returned to Paul – the returned items included a framed photograph of ‘Paul and Linda’ and was not a photograph of his Dad as widely reported in the media. The date of the retrieval was Summer 1969.

John Lennon confirmed “She Came In Through The Bathroom Window” was written earlier in 1968, before any break-in in Paul’s house:

This wasn’t to do with the American fans (The Apple Scruffs). It was when Paul and I went to America (New York – May 1968) to publicise Apple about two years ago, and we were just in the flat we were staying in and he just came out with that line, ‘She came in through the bathroom window.’ So, he had it for years, and he eventually finished it. Most of the songs (on the album) were started back then, except for ‘You Never Give Me Your Money’ and ‘Golden Slumbers.’

John Lennon – From “The Beatles: Off the Record” by Keith Badman, 2008

In the 2006 documentary “The Classic Artists Series: The Moody Blues” (Released in October 2006), Mike Pinder, the former keyboard player of The Moody Blues, stated that the inspiration for the “She Came In Through The Bathroom Window” actually comes from an incident that happened to them — a groupie climbing into an open bathroom window in the band’s home and spending the night with band member Ray Thomas. The next day, Pinder and Thomas told the story to Paul McCartney, who — guitar in hand — strummed and sang “She came in through the bathroom window…“.

Ray was woken up in the night. And what had happened was the trap window of the bathroom was open, just letting air in, I presume. This girl climbed up the drainpipe and came in through the bathroom window…and went into Ray’s room in the middle of the night. And I don’t know what happened after that! But I do know that when I told John and Paul that story, the next thing we knew was, ‘She Came in through the Bathroom Window.’ 

Mike Pinder

There’s also another story that seems unlikely, given how closely the storyteller aligns her account with various aspects of the song.

Here, all this time I thought this song was written about me and my friend Judy. What a surprise to learn there was someone named Diane Ashley who put a ladder up to Paul’s house and climbed in through the bathroom window. This and the bit about “quit the police department” being inspired by an ex-cop taxi driver in NYC tells me something I already know about songwriting, which is that many songs are composites. This one obviously was because Diane wasn’t the only person having a profound effect on Paul McCartney by crawling in a bathroom window in 1967 (maybe ’68 in her case). Judy and I were paid $1500 by Greene & Stone, a couple of sleazy artist managers driving around the Sunset Strip in a Chinchilla-lined caddy limo, to “borrow” the quarter-inch master of “A Day In The Life” off of David Crosby’s reel-to-reel, drive it to Sunset Sound studios in Hollywood where Greene & Stone duped it, then put it back where we found it at Crosby’s Beverly Glen Canyon pad. Crosby was playing with the Byrds that day in Venice so we knew his house was empty. This was the day after a major rainstorm so the back of his house was one big mudslide. We climbed up it, leaving 8-inch deep footprints and, you guessed it, gained access via the bathroom window, leaving behind footprints and a veritable goldmine of forensic matter. We were really nervous and did not make clear mental notes of how the master reel was on the player, but did have the sense to leave Crosby’s front door unlocked while we drove across town and back. After the tape was back on the machine (badly) we changed out of our muddy shoes, drove to the Cheetah in Venice, and hung out with the Byrds into the evening, thinking we were awfully clever and cute. We did not know why Greene & Stone would pay so much money for a copy of a Beatles song, other than the fact that is was a groundbreaking and mind-blowing piece, but found out the next day when we heard “A Day In The Life” on KHJ, I think it was. Greene & Stone had used it as payola to get one of their groups, The Cake, singing “Yes We Have No Bananas,” on the air. Which they did, and it sucked, but oh well. By the following day “A Day In The Life” was no longer on the air. And just a day or two after that there was a front page blurb in the LA Times about “A Day In The Life” getting aired one month prior to the release date of the single and the Sgt. Pepper LP, which apparently cost the Beatles plenty and they were suing Capitol or Columbia, whichever the label was, for $2 million… and McCartney was flying in from London to deal with the mess. Oops. Judy and I nearly sank through the floor. Though we were active “dancers” in the various nightclubs on the Sunset Strip, we lay low for a while, not knowing what to expect. In fact, other than a song being written and a GREAT cover by Joe Cocker, nothing happened. We got our money, spent it on groovy clothes, of course (what else was there?) and never heard a word about it.

“I knew what I could not say” and “protected by a silver spoon” seemed to explain why there were no repercussions. My dad was a TV director who had already threatened to bust and ruin David Crosby for smoking pot with and deflowering his daughter; he had clout and David was afraid of him. Judy was from money and influence too. I feel that David knew exactly who had broken in and borrowed the tape but couldn’t press charges. He probably wasn’t supposed to be playing the master for all his friends and hangers-on, so there must have been hell to pay for him. I always felt bad for the cred it must have cost him with his friend Paul McCartney.

Oh, the bit about “Sunday’s on the phone to Monday, Tuesday’s on the phone to me” – that was somebody named Sunday, maybe a detective, I can’t remember now, calling the producer Billy Monday about the break-in and song leak. Billy Monday, knowing she was a friend of McCartney’s, called Tuesday Weld, and it was she who called Paul in London and told him the news. Well, I guess I didn’t make this very short after all. But you can’t tell me that this incident didn’t feed into the overall inspiration for the song. I’m just glad it turned out so cool and hope it made a heap for them in compensation for the publicity costs at the outset.

It was interesting and exciting then, that’s for sure. Even though I came of age into that scene and had nothing to compare it to, I still had a sense at the time of being at the epicenter of something big. Some of that was attributable to the hubris of youth, but some of it turned out to be real, as it happened. Now, present time, it makes my day to come across someone who still finds it interesting or even knows what or whom I’m talking about. By the way, I never did get to meet the Beatles, though I was invited to party where they were staying once, when I was 17. My mother wouldn’t let me go! I never forgave her.

Landis Kearnon (known at the time as Susie Landis) – From Songfacts

In October / November 1968, Paul spent a ten-day holiday with Linda Eastman and her daugher Heather in New York. He was writing “She Came In Through the Bathroom Window” and needed a final verse. In the yellow cab to the airport to fly back to London, he noticed a mug shot with the driver name written in large black letters (Eugene Quits), with the mention “New York Police Dept” beneath that.

So I got “So I quit the police department”, which are part of the lyrics to that. This was the great thing about the randomness of it all. If I hadn’t been in this guy’s cab, or if it had been someone else driving, the song would have been different. Also I had a guitar there so I could solidify it into something straight away.

Paul McCartney – From “Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now” by Barry Miles, 1997

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“She Came In Through The Bathroom Window” has been played in 59 concerts.

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Going further

The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present

"She Came In Through The Bathroom Window" is one of the songs featured in the book "The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present," published in 2021. The book explores Paul McCartney's early Liverpool days, his time with the Beatles, Wings, and his solo career. It pairs the lyrics of 154 of his songs with his first-person commentary on the circumstances of their creation, the inspirations behind them, and his current thoughts on them.

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Solid State: The Story of "Abbey Road" and the End of the Beatles

Acclaimed Beatles historian Kenneth Womack offers the most definitive account yet of the writing, recording, mixing, and reception of Abbey Road. In February 1969, the Beatles began working on what became their final album together. Abbey Road introduced a number of new techniques and technologies to the Beatles' sound, and included "Come Together," "Something," and "Here Comes the Sun," which all emerged as classics.

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