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The Beatles Decoded — Polythene Pam
Part 2 of a series looking at the meanings behind the Beatles' songs
Pat Hodgett was an extremely odd young lady. She loved to eat polythene, a type of plastic also called polyethene, which is often used to wrap food rather than being food.
Why she liked to eat plastic is not clear, but it appeared to do her no harm, and she would apparently tie it in knots to make it easier to eat. She sometimes also burnt it into a lump, let it cool, and then consume it.
Luckily for Pat, one of her friends worked in a factory that manufactured polythene, so she had a regular and plentiful supply to feed her unique gastronomic tastes.
Pat lived in Liverpool in the early 60s and was a 14-year-old fan of the Beatles, who went to the Cavern Club regularly to watch them perform. Not surprisingly, the band spotted her somewhat unusual eating habits, and Lennon named her ‘Polythene Pat’, which everyone then called her. She became good friends with the band, who even gave her lifts home from concerts from time to time. It’s reported that she was Lennon's short-term girlfriend around 1961.
Pat Hodgett, later Pat Dawson, became immortalised as one of the two female influences for Polythene Pam, one of the songs from the ‘Long One’ medley on side two of Abbey…
