Chapter Eight 1963-8 Please Please Me Where are you going, John?

I'm going to listen to Pick of the Pops. I've got to write the charts down. Well, you'll have to put David to bed first. Oh, Mum! But I'll miss some of the charts if I do that. It won't matter, Alan Freeman repeats all the record positions at the end. Err, OK then, Mum... That's what happens when your Mum listens to pop music as well as you, she can outsmart your cheek. Dave and I shared a bunk. We'd travelled around so much of the world on troop ships that we assumed bunks were the best way of sleeping. Plus a bunk allowed Dave to be on top, his favourite position, and me to be all snug and cosy in my very own bottom bunk, my favourite position. A bed with a built in roof! Now that was worth travelling the world to discover. We chatted about guitars and The Shadows and if we would ever be able to buy another record together after our last success. I silently counted the records I was missing whilst I was putting Dave to bed. Eventually I reckoned that I had paid enough attention to him to be able to leave and listen to the rest of Pick of the Pops. I grabbed my chart book and went downstairs to the front room so I could write everything down and create my own charts. Alan Freeman was his usual endlessly cheerful self, expressing that uniquely intimate combination he seemed to have of confidentiality and worldly experience. I think it was his Aussie background. He seemed to have a laugh in his voice and it always felt like he had just stopped by to joke with you personally as he revealed each new chart position one by one. This was very important to me then as it was through his triangulations that I got my bearings on the world around me and made some kind of sense of it. And he read all the positions out whilst playing At the Sign of the Swinging Cymbal, a big band drummers track, so I knew I could trust him. And in this weeks Top Ten we have; At Number 10; The night has a thousand eyes Bobbie Vee Caroline's favourite record and bouncy enough. But spooky Bbrrr... At Number 9; Do You Mind Anthony Newley The finger-snapping Idol off parade in limbo between Frank Sinatra and David Bowie. At Number 8; Sherry Baby The Four Seasons What a voice, none of that Philadelphia Bobby nonsense, real New Jersey screech At Number 7; Cant Get Used to Losing You - Andy Williams Memorably Jerky with pizzicato strings, great with village cricket and ice Mivvi's At Number 6; A Slow Boat to China Emile Ford and the Checkmates I'd been to China, on a slow boat, in a bunk; I love autobiographical songs At Number 5; Like I've Never Been Gone Billy Fury
63/68 A Visceral History by Fred Garnett; Chapters 8 & 10 May 17th 2011

Elvis imitator, good voice, good delivery, strings and syrup all present and corrupt At Number 4; Do You Want to Dance? - Cliff Richard and the Shadows Real English rock, beaty and bouncy, but its not big and its not meaty At Number 3; The Young Ones-Cliff Richard The perfect blend of Cliff, the Shads, Strings, Norrie Paramour and EMI At Number 2 we have; Dance On The Shadows Good old Shads, Hank can take anything and turn it into a hit. I like Kathy Kirby too. And now for this weeks number one. Cymbals crashing as Fluff teases us a bit more. And it's a new one! More cymbals, waiting for the white smoke to appear and reveal the newly anointed number one. This weeks new number one is Please Please Me by The Beatles! The Beatles, who are they? Number One! The best record is by The Beatles? A group at number one and it isn't Cliff or the Shadows? What's going on? How can that be? I've never even heard of them! What is this mad urgent noise? Cue; a fast rising distinctive riff blending guitar and harmonica kicks in furiously and we are off; Last night I said these words to my girl Oh Great harmonies. Is this the chorus? At the start? I know you'll never even try girl Really intense harmonies And a guitar cue, Dave'll like that Come On Come On Come On Come On Come On Come On Come On Come On Wow, they sound like they really want you to come along with them. Please Please me, Whoah yeah! That's? That's! That's really exciting... Like I please you Whoah yeah do I like it that! You dont need me to show the way, love
63/68 A Visceral History by Fred Garnett; Chapters 8 & 10 May 17th 2011

They aren't slowing down at all! Unusual after starting off with such a bang like that Why do I always have to say love Its completely full of intent. Intense intent; seriously intense intent. Come On Come Come On Come On Come On Come Come On Come On Please Please me whoah yeah. Like I please you That is so catchy! Please Please me! So that's the chorus then I dont want to sound complaining but you know there's always rain In my heart Raining in my heart, I know what they mean by that I do all the pleasing with you Its so hard to reason with you Whoah yeah! Why do you make me blue? Blimey! Blue? But they sound happy, so incredibly happy. Last night I said these words to my girl I know you'll never even try girl Is this the chorus too? Does it have two choruses this song, then? Come On Come Come On Come On Come On Come Come On Come On Please Please me whoah yeah Like I please you Please Please me whoah yeah Like I please you Oh, is it over? Already?
63/68 A Visceral History by Fred Garnett; Chapters 8 & 10 May 17th 2011

Please Please me whoah yeah Like I please you It is over! Gone in 122 seconds... Whoah yeah! Please Please Me! Yes, inpleasey! What a record; Please Please Me, well that means they are polite but they are really rocking, seriously rocking with that song. I've never heard anything like it. What a record! And they are British, whatever next? Well that definitely blows Joe Brown away and Bobby Vee and all the rest of them right out of the clear blue water. Wow! Blimey and it was so quick, what a record. And it is the best record in the charts. The best record in Britain. Because it's top. It's the Pick of the Pops! I knew it was worth listening to the charts. Things are always happening in the charts. Why is this so different to Joe Brown then? It's the same but completely different. That Bruvvers record is good for Bruvvers, mind like me and Dave. I wonder if Dave will like The Beatles too. I hope so, but what a funny name, what does it mean? There's so much energy in it! And it keeps on going and going and going. Going to new places; just like us! We are always going to new places. I bet Mum will like it. I bet Mum knows about it. The record was overwhelming. Short, dynamic and completely overwhelming. He didn't so much hear it in the moment as remember the feeling of the moment he heard it in. It was both over before it started and lasted forever. The opening seemed to escalate the rest of the record into a place he just didnt recognise at all. There was a place after all. Are the charts over yet John? Oh yes Mum! I think you can say that the charts are over. Better go to bed then. Up the wooden hills to Bedfordshire. Sweet dreams John. Night Mum. He went to bed trying to make sense of what he had just heard. He could only recall one record from the charts that week. Which was unusual as he normally went over and over the charts in his head trying to predict next weeks chart and which record was going to get better and which records had been higher than they should have been and would be returned to their proper place in the firmament of life such as it was in 1963. But he couldn't this week. He could only remember one record. He didnt know it yet but he had just been made a Beatles fan and the charts, like everything else, were about to start changing. Chapter Ten 1963-10 From Me To You
63/68 A Visceral History by Fred Garnett; Chapters 8 & 10 May 17th 2011

Is Tony in? Who are you? I'm John Garnett, from Number 7, I'm a Beatles fan and I wonder if ... Does our Tony know you? No, I'm at Harrogate Grammar School and Tony isn't, so I don't know him, but I heard he has the new Beatles record and I'd like to hear it, please. What's that name again young un? John, er, some people call me Fred. John Fred? Er, yeah... Tony! She shouted indoors whilst continuing to guard the door, Tony, there's some lad your age at the door. Says he likes The Beatles. Tony was at his front door in seconds. I'd say in his rush he managed it in about two of our Earthly seconds. The door opened wide with one urgent, decisive pull. You like The Beatles then? Whoah, YEAH! Big smiles from both of us. Making friends took us about seven words and two smiles. No time seemed to have passed whilst this happened. I heard you had the new Beatles record. My Dad wont let me buy it! Who needed to say more than that to a fellow Beatles fan? Come in then! Come on and listen to it with me. Then he uttered a magic incantation. Its a double A-side. Double A-side? What's that? More mysteries from the Beatles. Both sides are as good as each other. That's impossible! How do you turn the record over if it's got two A-sides then? Tony laughed at my naivety. But then I only owned two records. Well half of two records. Only one of which was any good. My qualifications as an arbiter of taste concerning music extended to one half decent record; mostly guitar with good drums and no lyrics. Didn't really make me a good judge of Beatles songs and Beatles records. Tony was a great judge of Beatles records, not least because, as it turned out, he had every one of them. Soon he was to become the epitome of cool amongst ALL of the twelve and thirteen year-olds in Gordon Avenue, Bilton and the neighbouring streets; all eight of us in fact. Tony was that cool. OK! I'm going to play you a song and you have to tell me what it is.
63/68 A Visceral History by Fred Garnett; Chapters 8 & 10 May 17th 2011

No, No! Please play From Me To You, I can't hear it at home at all, except on Pick of the Pops. Thank heavens it's been number one for weeks. What about Saturday Club? Brian Matthews plays the Beatles. Oh yeah we listen to that sometimes; when we don't go shopping or play football. But it's on Saturday mornings, when we're busy. Do you think it's good then? It's really good! I listen to it all the time. Obviously great then I thought. I made a note to try harder to listen to the radio on Saturday mornings. Tony took the treasured single out of the soon to become iconic dark green Parlophone paper sleeve. It was the first time I had seen a Beatles single; holy plastic made flesh. As it's a double A-side I could play Thank You Girl. I didn't realise he was teasing me. He could see how desperate I was to hear From Me To You live on his record player. In fact I think that is the better song so... How can it be better? From Me To You is the hit. Its a double A-side, you have to make your mind up which one you like. Then I'll like both of them just the same. You don't have to! Da da da da da dum dum da Da da da da da dum dum da The Beatles usual distinctively cheery opening but slightly slower paced and less urgent than Please Please Me If there's anything that you want If there's anything I can do Just call on me and I'll send it along With love from me to you Big smiles between us. We didn't need any analysis to know that Beatles songs were great. Tony had the classic Dansette record player. In red! We didn't. Just Mum's Philips that we had driven back with us from Germany. It was a good enough record player; I didn't realise how good in fact, but it wasn't cool like Tony's Dansette. And we were sitting on the floor in the FRONT ROOM. Tony's Mum hadn't said a word when he had dragged me into the Front Room. Which had a bunch of records and the Dansette scattered on the floor. He'd taken over their Front Room to play his records! Strange things happened when Pop Music got into your house. I got everything that you want
63/68 A Visceral History by Fred Garnett; Chapters 8 & 10 May 17th 2011

like a heart that's oh so true So he was playing his Beatles records anyway before I arrived. I was just adding to the fun he was already having all on his own; unlike me back at home. I had been right to come round. Just call on me and I'll send it along With love from me to you The lyrics are great aren't they? Just call on me and I'll send it along with love from me to you. Like you did! Just call on me, I mean... Oh yeah like I did! How funny... I hope you don't mind? Are you joking! It's fab you coming round. What made you call on me anyway? I smiled back at my fellow Beatles fan. Our instant friendship was the best answer to that question. Well I heard you had the new Beatles single and I just had to hear it. So I thought I'd come and ask you. You had to be nice, if you liked the Beatles. Tony laughed. I'm not sure that makes me nice, but I definitely like the Beatles. They are the best thing I've ever heard. I got arms that long to hold you and keep you by my side We smiled across our new found friendship I got lips that long to kiss you and keep you satisfied I think I'd like to kiss a girl. Have you ever kissed a girl? One or two... What's it like? A bit squelchy. But they smell nice What kisses? No girls. Girls smell nice. And they are nice to hold. Oh! The conversation was getting a bit complicated for me. And far too sophisticated; I was out of my depth here. I regretted mentioning kisses. I'd only kissed that Italian girl Anna in Germany when I was six. And only because she had tricked me into going down the cellar stairs with her on her sixth birthday. I didn't want to be tricked into talking about that, so I concentrated on the sophisticated complications
63/68 A Visceral History by Fred Garnett; Chapters 8 & 10 May 17th 2011

of the lyrics instead. If there's anything that you want If there's anything I can do Just call on me and I'll send it along With love from me to you Phew, no kisses there! There is that magic harmonica again! From Me I love the way they use harmonica. That's the secret to Please Please Me you know. To You Oh there are lots more secrets in Please Please Me... Just call on me and I'll send it along We smiled again at the reference about me calling on Tony. With love from me to you So who is your favourite Beatle then? Paul of course, he's the best. Why do you like Paul? Well he's the best looking. He's even better looking than Cliff. At this point I'd spent more time looking at pictures of The Beatles as Id actually bought one, rather than listening to them; which was partly why I'd invited myself over to Tony's. My Mum likes him the best too. I bet he gets loads of girls. Do you like Cliff then? Yeah and the Shadows! My brother and I like guitars and drums. And the Beatles are really good at guitars and drums. And harmonica too! They play so many instruments. The Beatles are the first beat group I've really liked. I think I like them just because they are The Beatles. Who's your favourite then? John Lennon. John Lennon? Why? What's so special about John Lennon? My Dad hates him. Well, I am pretty sure he does.
63/68 A Visceral History by Fred Garnett; Chapters 8 & 10 May 17th 2011

Tony laughed again. I frowned, what was wrong with Paul McCartney? Sometimes this Pop Music was even harder than Biology. Well John Lennon has loads of confidence. That's the secret of life you know; confidence. But Paul's a better singer, listen... I got arms that long to hold you and keep you by my side I got lips that long to kiss you and keep you satisfied That's the two of them harmonising. That's another of their secrets. But John's voice is harsher. Paul's is really sweet and he sings nicer. It's both of them singing together, that's what makes the Beatles special. Its not just Cliff or Elvis with some backing singers. Its all the Beatles, as a group, working together. Listen to it carefully. If there is anything that you want If there is anything I can do Just call on me and I'll send it along With love from me to you He was right! Their voices dropped in and out in various ways that emphasised almost every syllable differently. You could hear John and Paul both together and alone throughout the record. Blimey, such subtlety; no longer a simple lead singer to worship and adore then. Do you think we could become Beatles too? We'll need guitars and drums. And a harmonica! We laughed at the complexity of it all. My brothers got a guitar, he likes Hank Marvin. Oh! What about drums? Um, well I'm a drummer. Have you got any drums? I've got drumsticks. No drums then? Oh yes I've got drums. Not real ones though. Not real drums? What does that mean? Um biscuit tins. I've got two biscuit tins. But I know how to hit them properly! Tony laughed. Again! The record ended, cleverly reprising the opening whilst changing it into punctuation.
63/68 A Visceral History by Fred Garnett; Chapters 8 & 10 May 17th 2011

To You To You And out in less than two minutes this time; by tiny fractions... Can I look at it please Tony? Yeah, here have a good look. The label design is really interesting. How long have you liked The Beatles then? Since I first heard them silly! What since Love Me Do? No! Please Please Me, of course. Their first hit record and their first number one. Love Me Do was their first hit record. Tony corrected my ignorance. Love Me Do? What's Love Me Do? Their first hit record. I thought you liked The Beatles!? I love them, but I've never heard of Love Me Do. I've got to play it for you then. It's their first record, it's great. Is it as good as Please Please Me? Not really. But if you heard it first, like me, then it's really special Oh! What's this Northern Songs on the label? Only their publishing company; wait a second what about this instead? 1! 2!! 3!!! 4!!!! Well she was just seventeen You know what I mean And the way she looked was way beyond compare Blimey that's good! What is it? I Saw Her Standing There. It's from the album The album? Please Please Me! I raised my head and a sharp look passed from me to Tony You've got the Album? Tony lifted up the sleeve to show me You've got the The Beatles Album! Yeah! The only albums we've got at home are The Pyjama Game and South Pacific. How on earth did you get it? I'd never known anyone who wasn't a grown up own an album before, not even Caroline, and she was fourteen. Tony, the seriously cool Tony of Gordon Avenue,
63/68 A Visceral History by Fred Garnett; Chapters 8 & 10 May 17th 2011

Bilton, Harrogate, located on the very same latitude as Liverpool, and so part of all songs Northern, let out his radiantly secretive smile. Listen, Do You Want to Know a Secret? Of course I do! That's my secret! And he laughed; magic word secret. I was in awe of Tony from that day forth. He played me loads of Beatles songs over the next hour before I had to go home for dinner. I'd never heard so much good music in my life. Gordon Avenue suddenly had its own oracle of all things Beatle. I knew I only had to like The Beatles for everything to be alright in the future. Note; These are 2 chapters from 63/68 A Visceral History. The full novel is on Scribd, in the collections section. Enjoy! Fred

63/68 A Visceral History by Fred Garnett; Chapters 8 & 10 May 17th 2011