@enmagazine Vintage Rock The Beatles The Early Years 2017

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4 VINTAGE ROCK PRESENTS THE BEATLES: COLLECTORS EDITION
VRP04.contents.For Print.indd 4 17/02/2017 11:43

IN THE ISSUE
Contents
A LEGEND IS BORN 6
The grass-roots skiffle craze sweeping the UK in the 1950s was the foundry in which The Beatles were
forged: here’s how the band gradually evolved from a rough-and-ready outfit called The Quarrymen
GOING DEUTSCH 14
A relentless stint playing marathon gigs in the clubs of Hamburg saw The Beatles refine their
musicianship and stagecraft and evolve into an exciting and well-oiled rock ’n’ roll machine
A CELLARFUL OF NOISE 24
The Cavern Club was the hotbed of Liverpool’s music scene, and the venue for legendary Beatles
shows. Vintage Rock talks to ex-owner and author Debbie Greenberg on the club’s 60th anniversary
ROCKING UP A STORM 30
Beatles contemporaries Rory Storm And The Hurricanes were once Merseybeat’s brightest lights.
Author Anthony Hogan talks to Vintage Rock about how they narrowly missed out on success…
THE LIFE OF BRIAN 36
52
The man who steered The Beatles to superstardom was a perceptive – and persistent – entrepreneur
who masterminded the business behind Beatlemania before meeting a tragic and untimely end
THE DECCA DEBACLE 42

At their first audition for a record company, The Beatles were famously turned down.
Vintage Rock delves into the mystery behind one of the costliest rejections in musical history
ALBUM INSIGHT: PLEASE PLEASE ME 46

The Beatles’ 1963 debut album was recorded in a single day, but changed pop music forever
100
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THE SOUND OF THE CROWD 52

1963 saw the group transform themselves from chart outsiders to the world’s hottest property
40 GREATEST BEATLES EARLY CLASSICS 60

Our definitive guide to the best tracks from the early years of the band’s stellar back catalogue
ALBUM INSIGHT: WITH THE BEATLES 74

Who needs singles when you’re the biggest act in the world?
THE EGOS HAVE LANDED 80

The Beatles capitalised on waves of euphoria to effortlessly conquer the United States in 1964
ALBUM INSIGHT: A HARD DAY’S NIGHT 90

The band’s third album saw Lennon and McCartney expand their musical horizons
BAND ON THE RUN 94

The group’s big-screen debut is a light-hearted romp through the excesses of Beatlemania
THE ODD MAN OUT 100

The fascinating story of Jimmie Nicol, the replacement drummer who was in The Beatles for 13 days
ALBUM INSIGHT: BEATLES FOR SALE 106

The fourth album by the Fab Four is often overlooked. Vintage Rock reappraises an underrated gem
THE GONG SHOW 110

The Beatles were controversially awarded MBEs in 1965 – a move that shook the establishment
ALBUM INSIGHT: HELP! 114

The band’s fifth album was a soundtrack with a deeper level of songcraft than ever before
TECHNICOLOUR DREAM 118

The Beatles’ second film was an enjoyably surreal and trippy pop-art chase movie
THE REVOLUTION WILL BE TELEVISED 124

The world’s first-ever stadium-rock show marked a triumphant end of an era
Save 35%
when you subscribe! PAGES 50-51
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Liverpool in the 1950s
– the birthplace of
The Quarrymen and
eventually The Beatles
➨
6 VINTAGE ROCK THE BEATLES: COLLECTORS EDITION
VRP04.Quarrymen.For Print.indd 6 15/02/2017 12:25

A LEGEND
IS BORN
BORN FROM THE SKIFFLE BOOM OF
THE 1950S, THE BEATLES EVOLVED
FROM THE ROUGH AND READY
YOUNG OUTFIT, THE QUARRYMEN.
DAVID BURKE LOOKS AT
THE ORIGIN STORY OF
LENNON, MCCARTNEY AND CO…
THE BEATLES: COLLECTORS EDITION VINTAGE ROCK 7

© Getty Images
McNuggets:
Paul McCartney
with younger brother Nine-year-old John Lennon with
Mike in 1948 his mother Julia, in the only
known photo of the two together
“E
© Getty Images
verybody was in a Van Morrison and, most significantly, happened to thousands of youngsters.
skiffle group,” said The Beatles – known then as The What he did was, he got people playing
George Harrison of Quarrymen – cut their musical teeth in instruments, so when rock ’n’ roll did
the hip new craze a movement that, at its height, featured come along, there were all these people
that swept through tens of thousands of players and impelled who could play three chords on guitar. So
Britain in 1956. a phenomenal increase in the sales of without Donegan’s early import and the
“All you needed guitars. Church halls and cafés were popularisation of skiffle, what happened
was a guitar, a washboard with thimbles appropriated as venues, along with the would’ve been very different.”
for percussion, and a tea chest – the ones 2is and the Cat’s Whisker coffee bars in
they used to ship in from India. You put London’s Soho and nightspots such as WE CAN WORK IT OUT
a broom handle on it and a bit of string, the Coconut Grove and Churchill’s, and, A teenage John Lennon bought a 78 rpm
and you had a bass. You only needed in Liverpool, the Cavern Club. copy of Rock Island Line and got hold of a
two chords.” According to Iain Chambers in his second-hand acoustic guitar for a tenner,
Skiffle, essentially a hotchpotch of jazz, book, Urban Rhythms: Pop Music And courtesy of his estranged mother, Julia,
folk, blues and other roots forms using Popular Culture, skiffle “offered a major who had long since relinquished his care
homemade or improvised instruments, democratisation of music-making. With to her sister, Mimi. He had a couple of
actually originated in the United States little money and limited musical skill, it lessons before giving up, bored by too
during the 1920s. It gained popularity became possible to be directly involved much theory and not enough practice.
in Britain some three decades later, in popular music.” Though perhaps Mimi had an unwitting
principally through Ken Colyer and Rod Davis, who became part of The influence on his decision, as she’d often
Lonnie Donegan (who had a Top 10 hit Quarrymen, was in his dad’s car on tell him: “The guitar’s alright, John. But
on both sides of the Atlantic with Rock Merseyside when “the sound of Donegan you’ll never make a living with it.”
Island Line), inspiring all the young doing Rock Island Line came wafting Instead, Julia taught him some chords
dudes to form groups. The likes of Mick out of this record shop and changed my on the banjolele, a hybrid of a banjo
Jagger, Roger Daltrey, The Bee Gees, life forever, basically. The same thing head and bridge with a small-scale

The Lorry Men (l to r): One of the
incarnations of The Quarrymen
– Pete Shotton, Eric Griffiths,
Len Garry, John Lennon,
Colin Hanton and Rod Davis © James Davis
AT ITS HEIGHT, SKIFFLE FEATURED TENS OF THE DEBUT RECORDING

The sole recording by The Quarrymen – a version of
THOUSANDS OF PLAYERS AND CAUSED A

Buddy Holly’s That’ll Be The Day paired with the
original In Spite of All the Danger – stayed with pianist
John ‘Duff’ Lowe for 23 years. When the 1958 session
PHENOMENAL INCREASE IN GUITAR SALES

at Phillips’ Sound Recording Service in Liverpool was
finished, the band agreed each member would hold
on to the disc for a week. After having it valued by
Sotheby’s in 1981, he was contacted by McCartney.
ukulele neck (they removed two strings another pair of school friends, Eric “I was living in Worcester at the time and he sent his
and tuned the remaining four to a uke Griffiths and Bill Smith. Griffiths, solicitor and his business manager up. I deposited the
disc in a small briefcase at the local Barclays bank,
configuration – a very skiffle thing who died in 2005, said he, Lennon and
and we met up in a small room. The deal was done,
to do!). One of the first tunes Lennon Shotton became close “mainly through I handed the record over and we all went home.”
mastered was That’ll Be The Day. our common interest in music and rock The amount McCartney paid was never disclosed,
’n’ roll from the USA. Interests in school though apparently, Lowe rejected an offer of £5,000.
ROCK SCHOOL activities waned in favour of girls,
Like many of his peers up and down the smoking and the music. When skiffle
country, Lennon was soon getting his came along, it presented the
own band together. Not unusually in opportunity to channel
Beatles folklore, accounts of his genesis our interests.”
as a performer vary. Some say he formed The Blackjacks
a duo with Pete Shotton, a friend at morphed into The
Quarry Bank primary school, and that Quarrymen: Lennon
they called themselves The Blackjacks. or Shotton coining
But most suggest The Blackjacks were the moniker from
xxxxx
Lennon and Shotton, together with a line in the ➨

© Getty Images
“ONCE YOU HAD A FIGHT, THAT

WAS THE END AND YOU HAD TO
LEAVE THE GROUP” JOHN LENNON
school song, Quarry Men, Strong Before The Quarrymen wore Teddy Boy
Our Birth. Smith left and was replaced threads and had their hair piled high and
by Nigel Walley, Ivan Vaughan and Len slicked back like Elvis. Rehearsals took
Garry, drummer Colin Hanton and Rod place at Shotton’s house on Vale Road,
Davis on banjo. before his mother exiled them to the
Davis explains: “I had an uncle corrugated air-raid shelter in the back
who had been playing in a dance band garden because of the racket, at Hanton’s
in North Wales. He played the saw and Griffiths’ homes, and Julia’s on
and the fiddle. He said his brother-in- Bloomfield Road.
law, from the same band, played But for all their youthful brio, initially,
banjo and guitar and was selling The Quarrymen adventure was “all very
both of his instruments. By the time half-hearted and irregular”, Hunter
we got onto it, the guitar had been Davies notes in The Beatles: The
Paul McCartney sold. I just wish I’d had the guitar Authorised Biography, with people
outside his home in instead – who knows, I might have “always coming and going, depending
Liverpool circa 1950
been a Beatle instead!” on who turned up at the party, or who

Where Paul met John:
The Quarrymen on stage
at the St Peter’s Parish
Church Garden Fête in
Woolton, Liverpool
© Getty Images Living In The Material World:

11-year-old George Harrison in 1954
I’VE JUST SEEN A FÊTE had done them up himself as he didn’t

© Geoff Rhind
Meanwhile, in another part of Liverpool, know them all.

Allerton, at the end of 1956, a teenage “They were playing outdoors in a big
Paul McCartney traded the trumpet field. John was staring around as he was
his dad had given him for a guitar. He playing, watching everybody. He told
wanted to have a go”. Lennon’s erratic applied himself diligently to his new me afterwards that it was the first time
character was already beginning to instrument, quickly picking up songs by he tried sussing an audience, you know,
manifest itself even then, and there were Elvis and Little Richard, alongside Eddie sizing them up, seeing whether it was
frequent bust-ups that led to several Cochran’s Twenty Flight Rock and Gene best to twist a shoulder at them, or best
departures from the group. Vincent’s Be-Bop-A-Lula. McCartney was not to move at all.
“I used to row with people because I mates with Ivan Vaughan, then a member “I went round to see them afterwards
wanted them out. Once you had a fight, of The Quarrymen, who suggested he in the Church Hall place. I talked to
that was the end and you had to leave come along to St Peter’s Parish Church them, just chatting and showing them
the group,” Lennon explained. Fête in Woolton to hear his group. That off. I showed them how to play Twenty
The Quarrymen managed to work Red Letter Day in the annals of rock ’n’ Flight Rock and told them all the words.
up a setlist largely predicated on the roll – the moment Lennon and McCartney They didn’t know it. Then I did Be-
American roots material popularised by were introduced to each other, the day, in Bop-A-Lula, which they didn’t know
Donegan and his ilk – Rock Island Line, the words of Lennon himself, “it started properly either. Then I did my Little
John Henry, Worried Man Blues, Wabash moving” – was 6 July 1957. Richard bit, went through me whole
Cannonball, Cumberland Gap, Don’t You McCartney, though, was somewhat repertoire, in fact. I remember this beery
Rock Me, Daddy-O, Railroad Bill, Freight underwhelmed by the experience. “They old man getting nearer and breathing
Train, Last Train To San Fernando, weren’t bad. John played the lead guitar, down me neck as I was playing. ‘What’s
Maggie Mae and Puttin’ On The Style. As but he played it like a banjo with banjo this old drunk doing?’ I thought. Then
Lennon increasingly gravitated towards chords, as that was all he knew. None of he said Twenty Flight Rock was one
rock ’n’ roll, Elvis’ Let’s Have A Party the others had even as much idea as John of his favourites, so I knew he was a
became his big number, while Baby Let’s about how to play. They were mostly connoisseur. It was John. He’d just had
Play House, All Shook Up, Johnny B. strumming along. a few beers. He was 16 and I was only 14,
Goode, Peggy Sue and Bye Bye Love were “They played things like Maggie Mae, so he was a big man. I showed him a few
also added to their canon. but with the words a bit different. John more chords he didn’t know. Then I ➨

The Quarrymen,
pictured in January 2017
xxxxx
left. I felt I’d made an impression, shown
STILL GOING STRONG them how good I was.”
The Beatles may have burned out in 1970, but The
A couple of weeks later, McCartney
Quarrymen are still out there. The surviving members
© The Quarrymen
of the original line-up – Pete Shotton, Rod Davis, Len joined The Quarrymen, making his
Garry, Eric Griffiths and Colin Hanton – reunited in 1997 live debut with them on 18 October. By
for the 40th anniversary of the Cavern Club. Davis that time, they had already featured
recalls: “At around six o’clock in the evening, we on a bill at the Cavern Club – a venue
decided to go and have something to eat. They said,
soon to become synonymous with The
‘You can’t do that – there’s a TV crew coming and
they’ll want to film you on stage’. One of the other Beatles – after Lennon’s girlfriend, Anne, ‘F*ck it! F*ck it! F*ck it! That’s
guys didn’t even own a guitar. We thought, ‘The persuaded promoter Alan Sytner to give really f*cked everything. I’ve got no
audience is legless anyway, they won’t notice!’ We them a shot. “I wasn’t keen,” said Sytner, responsibility to anyone now!’”
staggered our way through a couple of numbers, and “because my policy was jazz, blues and Despite his devastation, Lennon got on
in the audience were some Beatles fans from Liverpool.
gospel, and he played skiffle. Still, Anne with his life, committing himself fully to
They wanted to recreate the day 40 years previously
when John and Paul first met, and they asked us if we was persistent, so I eventually said he The Quarrymen.
were up for it. So we did that – they took us around on could play on Wednesday, our dead
a lorry, with a load of kids in fancy dress.” night, and I’d give him five bob. “They GEORGE GETS RAUNCHY
“After that, we made a CD of all the old numbers went down alright, but it was hardly a The third piece of the jigsaw that
and people started inviting us to go all over the place.
discerning audience. I thought they were would eventually become The Beatles
People are very interested to hear the music that
inspired John, Paul, George and indeed Ringo (Starr), pretty useless, just a bunch of kids going was added in August 1958, with the
because he was a skiffler. We play some skiffle and we through their apprenticeship, doing poor recruitment of George Harrison.
play some rock ’n’ roll in the same sort of style. To be imitations of current pop, Buddy Holly The baby-faced guitarist had been
honest, it’s much more sophisticated, what we do now and the like. Even John wasn’t much recommended by McCartney, the
compared to what we did then – if we did it exactly
good, except that he had a personality.” two of them having bonded together
like we did then, it would be terrible!”
The reformed outfit went on to play in the UK, The following summer, Lennon’s world at Liverpool Institute For Boys. Legend
Germany, Japan, Russia, Cuba and the United States, caved in when his beloved mother, Julia, has it that Harrison auditioned on
where they did 17 dates over 21 days in 2010. Sadly, was hit and killed by a car driven by off- the top of a double-decker bus with a
Griffiths died in 2005, and Shotton retired due to ill duty policeman Eric Clague. note-perfect rendition of Bill Justis’ R&B
health. But Davis, Garry and Hanton, together with
“It was the worst thing that ever instrumental, Raunchy.
John ‘Duff’ Lowe and Chas Newby – who briefly
deputised for Stuart Sutcliffe with The Beatles upon happened to me,” John said. “We’d Lennon had reservations about his
their return to Liverpool in 1960 – continue to preserve caught up so much, me and Julia, in appointment because of Harrison’s age
what Davis wittily describes as “living history”. just a few years. We would communicate. – he was weeks shy of his 15th birthday.
We got on. She was great. I thought, “It seemed an awful lot at the time,”

Paul McCartney makes his
debut with The Quarrymen
at New Clubmoor Hall
in Norris Green, Liverpool,
October 1957
LENNON THOUGHT HARRISON

“We just went in the room, hardly
saw the fella because he was next door
in a little control booth. ‘Okay, what are
“LOOKED EVEN YOUNGER THAN PAUL. you going to do?’ We ran through it very
quickly – quarter of an hour and it was
AND PAUL LOOKED ABOUT 10!” all over.”
A NEW FACE ON BASS

said McCartney. “If we wanted to do ’n’ roll. In November, they went into a Over, too, was that particular incarnation
anything grown-up, we worried about small Liverpudlian studio – essentially, of The Quarrymen. Hanton quit after
George looking young. We thought, ‘He the living room of Percy Phillips’ an argument, while Lowe lost contact,
doesn’t shave – can’t we get him to look Victorian terraced house – to record a reducing the line-up to a trio of guitarists
like a grown-up?!’” cover of That’ll Be The Day backed by until Pete Best filled in as drummer and
Lennon thought Harrison “looked even McCartney’s In Spite Of All the Danger, Stuart Sutcliffe, an artist pal of Lennon’s,
younger than Paul – and Paul looked their only original composition. took over on bass, having shelled out the
about 10!” But he parked his concerns “It’s me doing an Elvis – I’m a bit £60 he’d won in an art competition on a
because of Harrison’s prowess, and loathe to say which, but I know which Höfner President. There followed a series
“because he knew more chords”. one!” McCartney admitted. “I remember of name changes, among them Johnny
With Lennon, McCartney and we all went down on the bus with our And The Moondogs, the unwieldy Japage
Harrison now very much the fulcrum of instruments – amps and guitars – and 3, The Rainbows, Long John Silver And
The Quarrymen (alongside Colin Hanton the drummer went separately. We waited The Pieces Of Eight, The Beatals and The
and John ‘Duff’ Lowe), their sound in the little waiting room outside while Silver Beetles, before The Quarrymen
made the giant leap from rudimentary somebody else made their demo, and were consigned to history and The
skiffle to slightly less rudimentary rock then it was our turn. Beatles were finally born.
VRP04.Quarrymen.SH4*.indd 13 17/02/2017 11:09

The Quarrymen at the Casbah Coffee Club in Liverpool, August-September 1959
© Getty Images
McCartney and Harrison,

still both aged just 19,
during a mammoth
Star-Club session in April 1962
VRP04.Hamburg.For Print.indd 14 15/02/2017 09:37

mber 1959
Deutsch
Going
HAMBURG, THE CITY OF SIN, TRANSFORMED
THE BEATLES FROM AMATEURS INTO A
RAUCOUS, SUPER-TIGHT OUTFIT WHO
COULD ROCK THE CLUB ALL NIGHT LONG.
DAVID BURKE HAS THE STORY
T
he Beatles may have come “It was our apprenticeship. I’d have
from Liverpool, England – but to say, with hindsight, that Hamburg
they were made in Hamburg, bordered on the best of Beatles times,”
Germany. That, at least, is the George Harrison recalled years later.
view of Allan Williams, the According to Williams, the gruelling
Fab Four’s first manager and live schedule “would make or break any
booking agent. It was Williams group – it made The Beatles. There’s
who drove the group, and five others, a sign in Mathew Street in Liverpool:
in an Austin Minivan onto the ferry at ‘Where It All Began’. But it didn’t begin
Harwich on 16 August 1960, to the Hook there. It began in Hamburg.”
Of Holland, from where they travelled to Williams was not wrong. Arguably,
what was once Germany’s main seaport, those couple of years in Hamburg
the third largest in the world, before represent the most significant chapter
being reduced to rubble by bombing raids in The Beatles’ development from
during World War II. By the time The just another British beat combo to the
Beatles arrived, Hamburg had become greatest rock ’n’ roll band in the world-
notorious for its vice trade and other elect. It was where they perfected their
criminal activity. performance skills, enhanced their
In all, The Beatles played some 281 reputation and as a result of their stint,
concerts over five separate visits to the came to the attention of Brian Epstein,
city from August 1960 to December a Royal Academy Of Dramatic Art
1962 – including at one point, in 1961, dropout (his classmates included Peter
98 consecutive nights, starting at 7pm O’Toole, Albert Finney and Susannah
and finishing at 7am the next morning. York) who eventually became the band’s ➨

© Getty Images
The Beatles
backing Tony
Sheridan on their
first Hamburg trip
manager. They made the transition from was. He wasn’t rowdy or rough. But they
IMPORTANT SONGS a covers band, reworking the hits of the complemented each other beautifully.
FROM THE PERIOD day (including Chuck Berry’s Roll Over
Beethoven, Little Richard’s Long Tall Sally
John taught Stuart how to play bass.
He wasn’t a musician, but John wanted
IT’S NOW OR NEVER – and Gene Vincent’s Be-Bop-A-Lula), to Stuart to be with him.”
ELVIS PRESLEY (1960) composers in their own right – though
With music adapted from the
Italian standard O Sole Mio, the it’s unlikely anyone was prepared for the EARLY VERSIONS
lyrical inspiration for It’s Now Or global phenomenon The Beatles would In January 1960, Sutcliffe used the £60
Never came from Tony Martin’s eventually become. he’d won in an art competition to buy
1949 song There’s No Tomorrow,
Lennon’s look and charisma was

which Elvis heard while stationed
in Germany with the US army. The king of rock ’n’ roll
moved into more elevated territory with this one,
showing himself to be a vocalist with a remarkable
range. It was his best-selling single ever. what sold aspiring guitarist George
RUNAWAY – DEL SHANNON (1961)
Written by Shannon and
keyboard player Max Crook,
Harrison to join the Quarrymen
Runaway is rock ’n’ roll as high Lennon’s look as well as his charisma himself a Höfner President Bass, and this
drama. A No. 1 single on both was what sold aspiring guitarist George secured him a place in the Quarrymen.
sides of the Atlantic, it Harrison to join the Quarrymen in He suggested another name change,
showcased Shannon’s soaring
falsetto and Crook’s wailing Musitron, a self-invented
February 1958, when he encountered first to The Beatals, which evolved into
clavioline-based electric keyboard. them at Wilson Hall in Garston. The Silver Beetles by May and finally
“I remember being very impressed by The Beatles in August. “Stuart was the
THE WANDERER – DION (1962) John’s big thick sideboards and trendy dominant icon originally,” said Sutcliffe’s
Dion himself said of The
teddyboy clothes,” he said. Several sister Pauline. “But there wasn’t any
Wanderer: “It’s black music
filtered through an Italian months later, Harrison, despite being question in his mind that John knew
neighbourhood that comes out younger than the others, was recruited. more about rock music, so in the band,
with an attitude. It’s my Then came Stuart Sutcliffe, an art-college John was definitely the leader.”
perception of songs like I’m A mate of Lennon’s. “Stuart and John were British musicians had been crossing the
Man by Bo Diddley and Hoochie Coochie Man by
on the same wavelength but they were Channel and travelling through Holland
Muddy Waters.” The lyric might sound frivolous – a
carefree guy roaming from town to town, chasing fun opposites,” said Lennon’s then-girlfriend, into Germany – destination Hamburg –
and women – but it’s darker than it first appears. Cynthia Powell. “Stuart was a sensitive since the beginning of 1960. Those from
artist and he was not a rebel, as John the south of England were recruited at ➨

Stuart Sutcliffe in Hamburg.
“Stuart was a sensitive artist and
he was not a rebel, as John
was…” said Cynthia Powell.
“But they complemented
each other beautifully.”
© Getty Images

© Getty Images
Hamburg’s fabled
2,000-capacity
Star-Club
the 2i’s Coffee Bar in London’s Soho by for Hamburg – not an easy task, as the red-light district of the world, with
Bruno Koschmider, a German club owner. drummers were “few and far between”, gangsters, prostitutes and 24-hour-a-day
Acts were recruited in the north by Allan owing to the expense of a drum kit at booze. It was like, “Wow, this is different
Williams, a Liverpool entrepreneur who the time, said Lennon. Harrison – who, from Liverpool”. But then we rolled our
owned The Jacaranda, a coffee bar in along with Stuart Sutcliffe, completed sleeves up. We were rock ’n’ rollers and
the city. this incarnation of The Beatles – had we were living the rock ’n’ roll life.”
Young Germans were so desperate for seen Pete Best with the Blackjacks in the They may well have been living the
rock ’n’ roll that even an amateurish five- Casbah Coffee Club. After the Blackjacks rock ’n’ roll life, but their accommodation
piece helmed by Lennon and McCartney folded, McCartney invited Best on the at this time was more Skid Row, as
could secure dates there. “Before we went
over, it was all Italian ‘Cho-cho-bambino’-
type music in white suits,” said Williams. “We played what we liked best
“We absolutely wiped the floor with
them. We were just there at the right time and the Germans liked it as
long as it was loud” JOHN LENNON
in the right place – people were hungry
for this rawer type of music.”
EDUCATING PETER Hamburg trip, promising him a fee of £15 McCartney explained: “We lived
Williams had already enjoyed success a week. Best sacrificed the opportunity to backstage in the Bambi Kino [a cinema],
in Hamburg with another of his protégés, train as a teacher, deciding that Hamburg next to the toilets, and you could always
Derry And The Seniors (later known as would be a better career move. smell them. The room had been an old
Howie Casey And The Seniors), when he Their first gigs were at the Indra, a storeroom, and there were just concrete
decided to send The Beatles over. They grubby strip club that was located in the walls and nothing else. No heat, no
didn’t even have a permanent drummer St. Pauli quarter, a well-known hangout wallpaper, not a lick of paint, and two sets
at the time – Ringo Starr was still with for prostitutes and a dangerous place for of bunk beds with not very much covers.
Rory Storm And The Hurricanes. Indeed, strangers to hang around. We were frozen.”
Williams had wanted the Hurricanes to “It was a completely different culture,” After 48 nights at the Indra, The
make the trip, but they were committed to said Best, “but we were from a dockland Beatles moved down the Grosse Freiheit
a season in Butlins holiday camp. city, so we could handle ourselves. It to the Kaiserkeller in October 1960,
McCartney desperately searched for did set us back a little at the beginning, alternating sets with Rory Storm And The
someone to fill the drumming position when we got to St. Pauli and found it was Hurricanes. Lennon remembered: “We

Gene Vincent with fan
John Lennon at the
Star-Club, spring 1962
© Getty Images
had to play for hours and hours on end. to play with his back to the audience, then THE BEATLES’
Every song lasted 20 minutes and had
20 solos in it. That’s what improved the
he turned around with his dark glasses
on and looked absolutely amazing. There INFLUENCES
playing. There was nobody to copy from. was so much joy in their faces, the energy GENE VINCENT
We played what we liked best and the in their eyes, the sense of fun.” ‘Sweet’ Gene Vincent, alias Vincent Eugene Craddock,
Germans liked it as long as it was loud.” The punishing regime helped to turn was a pioneer of rock ’n’ roll and rockabilly. Cutting
his teeth with The Blue Caps in rough country bars
The Beatles into rock ’n’ rollers to be around Norfolk, Virginia, Vincent went global with his
MUSICAL YOUTH reckoned with, as their sound became 1956 smash Be-Bop-A-Lula, a regular in The Beatles’
Even Best was roped in to sing a couple tougher. They were also learning from Hamburg sets. Of the song’s origins years later, he
of numbers each night, among them other Brits there at the time – Tony said, “I come in dead drunk and stumble over the
Carl Perkins’ Matchbox. “And because Sheridan, a young Londoner who already bed. Me and Don Graves were looking at this bloody
book – it was called Little Lulu. And I said, ‘Hell man,
there was an audience reaction, the lads had US tours with Gene Vincent and it’s Be-Bop-A-Lulu!’ And he said, ‘Yeah, man,
thought it would be a good idea to get Jerry Lee Lewis under his belt, and swinging.’ And we wrote this song.” It remains a rock
out front to do [Joey Dee’s] Peppermint boogie-woogie pianist Roy Young. ’n’ roll favourite and Vincent’s best-known track.
Twist, and to dance the twist and shake John Gustafson, a member of The Big
my backside and give a little more Three and later the Merseybeats, said that
LITTLE RICHARD
Little Richard certainly was among the seminal rock
showmanship to the band. It was role “all the Liverpool guys looked up to Tony. figures in the 1950s, with his turbo-charged piano
reversal, because Paul jumped on the kit. He was a great guitarist, a great singer. playing and pulpit-shouting vocals on classics such as
We enjoyed the fact that we were doing He had the legs – the long skinny legs. Tutti Frutti, Good Golly, Miss Molly and Long Tall Sally,
something different.” He had that persona, that ‘I’m a rock star’ a song The Beatles played regularly in Hamburg.
Photographer Astrid Kirchherr, who thing. A lot of guitarists copied his style… RAY CHARLES
became Stuart Sutcliffe’s girlfriend, saw George Harrison, for one.” The Beatles stretched out on Ray Charles’ What’d I Say
The Beatles for the first time playing at “The Beatles would come and talk to during their Hamburg residencies, often playing it for
the Kaiserkeller. “It was so packed, very us about technical musical things,” added fully 90 minutes – which makes perfect sense when
you remember that it actually came out of an
low ceiling and smoky and dark,” she Roy Young. “Tony played a shuffle rhythm
improvised jam at the end of a concert Charles and his
remembered. “The first one I saw was on guitar, and I’d play a straight rhythm band were playing in 1958. John Lennon said the
Paul, because he used to jump up and on piano. People didn’t know how we did instrumental opening of the song was responsible for
down. Then I saw George and thought, it. That was what they [The Beatles] were later songs anchored by dominant guitar riffs. When
this can’t get any better. Then John, and interested in. Paul McCartney first heard it, he knew he wanted to
make music. George Harrison simply described it as
I nearly freaked out. And then there was Sheridan admitted that there was a
“one of the best records I ever heard”.
Stuart, the best-looking of the lot. He used lot of copying from each other, adding ➨

© Getty Images
Harrison onstage at the

Star-Club in May 1962
with his 1957 Gretsch
Duo Jet guitar

© Getty Images
© Getty Images
At the Arnhem War Memorial, 1960 (l to r):
Allan Williams, his wife Beryl, singer Lord
Woodbine, Stuart Sutcliffe, Paul McCartney,
George Harrison and Pete Best
“It was a small academy of fanatical Ah yes, Hitler. Provocateur Lennon, What’d I Say was always the one that
musicians. The Beatles were of that kind, tanked up on ‘prellies’ (slang for really got them.”
and so was I. When people talk about sex Preludin slimming pills) and German
and drugs and rock ’n’ roll, it wasn’t like beer, goose-stepped across the stage on BEATLES FOR HIRE
that at all. It was 80 per cent music. It was one occasion screaming, “Sieg Heil!” and Because their rendition of the Ray
music, music, music.” “F**king Nazis!” Only a faulty PA, which Charles tune was so extended, it was an
And in its own way, the music helped to meant the audience couldn’t hear what he opportunity for The Beatles to walk off
heal the rift that had opened up between was shouting, saved him from a beating. and wash and drink before returning. In a
British and German people in the Second If Lennon’s Goonish antics were letter to his mother, Sutcliffe wrote: “We
have improved a thousand-fold since our
“Sex and drugs and rock ’n’ roll? arrival and Allan Williams tells us there is
no group in Liverpool to touch us.”
It wasn’t like that at all. It was On 18 October 1960, Williams arranged

a recording session for Lou Walters of the
80 per cent music” TONY SHERIDAN

Hurricanes in a small Hamburg studio.
Lennon, McCartney and Harrison were
drafted in to play and to sing harmonies,
World War. Sheridan had no doubt that getting him noticed, marking him out as while Starr drummed for his Hurricanes
the shows they did were about helping a maverick who could be either boorish sidekick. They laid down three tracks
people with reconciliation. or brilliant, The Beatles’ contemporaries altogether – Fever, September Song and
were impressed by their evolution into Summertime – and the session became
DON’T MENTION THE WAR an exciting rock ’n’ roll band whose raw the stuff of history, as it was the first
Horst Fascher, a former German energy was matched by their improving documented recording that featured the
featherweight boxing champion turned musical chops. collective unit of Lennon, McCartney,
bouncer who became a sort of minder for “We got better and better and other Harrison and Starr.
The Beatles, had fond memories of the groups started coming to watch us,” notes That December, the band went back
British invasion. “We didn’t hate those McCartney. “The accolade of accolades to Liverpool without Sutcliffe, who
guys, we loved them because they brought was when Sheridan would come in from remained in Hamburg with a cold. Chas
us the new style of music. They helped us the Top Ten, the big club where we Newby deputised for him on bass at the
to do what we wanted to do, not listening aspired to go, or when Rory Storm or Casbah Coffee Club, and was shocked
to shit music under Hitler.” Ringo would hang around to watch us. at how much The Beatles had improved ➨

© Getty Images
Larking about at The Star-Club,
Hamburg, in May 1962. From left,
Pete Best with John, Paul and George
since decamping to Germany. They were people at the time said he was very good. good about the guys, but he had no idea
louder, too, with Best adopting a more He had a very good reputation.” what to do with them.”
aggressive approach on his skins at the Minus Sutcliffe, the other four Beatles Brian Epstein was already a fan of
behest of McCartney. “Crank it up,” he went into a Hamburg studio in 1961 The Beatles when he heard My Bonnie.
would often instruct him. to back Tony Sheridan on rocked-up He was persuaded to see them on
versions of the songs My Bonnie and their next appearance at the Cavern, a
PASSING THE TORCH The Saints for Polydor. They were billed lunchtime date on 9 November 1961.
At the end of The Beatles’ second stint in on the release not as The Beatles, but as “I was immediately struck by their
Hamburg’s Top Ten Club in 1961, Sutcliffe the Beat Brothers. music, their beat and their sense of
announced he was quitting to pursue his
art studies. He loaned McCartney (who
reluctantly took over on bass) his Höfner No history of The Beatles would be
President model, but asked him not to
change the strings around (McCartney complete without acknowledging
Sutcliffe’s formative role
continued to play it upside down until he
could afford a specially-made left-handed
guitar of his own). 13 months later, Stuart
Sutcliffe was dead, from an undiagnosed The session was produced by renowned humour on stage,” he enthused. “And
brain haemorrhage. band leader Bert Kaempfert, who had even afterwards, when I met them, I was
No history of The Beatles would enjoyed a hit earlier that year with the struck again by their personal charm.
be complete without acknowledging instrumental Wonderland By Night, And that’s really where it started.” Brian
Sutcliffe’s formative role, however much a chart-topper in the United States. Epstein eventually became their manager
historians of the group have decried his Kaempfert had seen The Beatles and on 24 January 1962, signing the band to a
musicianship in the half century since his Sheridan together at the Top Ten Club. five-year contract.
tragically early demise. Yet Mersey Beat “He thought that I was a preferable By the time of The Beatles’ second
magazine founder Bill Harry said: “Pete candidate [to record]. They were a bit tenure at Manfred Weissleder’s Star-Club
Best was telling me how good he was in too crazy for him,” said Sheridan. “Bert in Hamburg (which boasted a capacity
Hamburg and how his Love Me Tender Kaempfert didn’t have the right nose to of 2,000 and cinema-style seating) in
was one of the highlights of their act. smell out the talent of The Beatles. But November of that year, Starr had replaced
People seem to have decided now that he it was already there, it was see-able and Best on drums. Best’s dismissal was
wasn’t a good musician, but most of the hear-able. He felt there was something prompted by producer George Martin

© Getty Images
The Beatles playing

the Star-Club
some time between
April and May 1962
© PA Wire
opting to use a session drummer on characterised The Beatles’ apotheosis as
recording sessions. The band left the dirty a rock ’n’ roll tour de force, as crucial in
job of firing him to Epstein, and lacked the advancement of the genre as many of
the moral courage to ever speak to their their American peers. “In Hamburg, we THE DEATH OF
old friend again. In hindsight, Lennon
admitted: “We were cowards when we
got very good as a band, because we had
to play eight hours a night and we started
ALLAN WILLIAMS
Allan Williams died on 30 December 2016, at the age
sacked him. We made Brian do it.” building a big repertoire of some of our
of 86. A spokesman for The Beatles Story exhibition in
own songs, but mainly we did all the old Liverpool said: “His involvement in The Beatles’ early
ROCK ’N’ ROLLS-ROYCE rock songs,” said George Harrison. years in Liverpool and on to Hamburg helped to shape
Best was never given a reason for his “It was a period in England when it was the band into what we see and know today. Allan was
expulsion. “Because you’re kicked out, all about matching ties and handkerchiefs a friend to many of us at The Beatles Story and his
legacy will continue to be told for years to come.”
people say, ‘Oh, you were a different kind and doing really safe routines like The
Apart from managing The Beatles. Williams was
of person.’ I wasn’t,” Best said in 2009. Shadows, and we weren’t there for that,” also the original owner of Liverpool’s Jacaranda Club
“We were a unit, and people recognised he added. “So we just kept playing the and the Blue Angel. He opened the Jacaranda in Slater
us as a unit. Every damn antic they got up rock ’n’ roll things.” Street as a coffee bar in 1957 – among his customers
to, I was part of.” Perhaps Johnny Hutchinson of The Big were Lennon, McCartney and Stuart Sutcliffe, along
with the city’s other musical scenesters.
The personnel change seemed to make Three put it best when he quipped: “It
Williams’ tenure with The Beatles was short-lived,
little difference to their full-on rock ’n’ was as though The Beatles had gone to though. He allegedly fell out with the band following
roll sound. You can hear it on the 1977 Hamburg as an old banger and had come a dispute over a commission fee for a Hamburg gig.
Bellaphon release, The Beatles: Live! At back to Liverpool as a Rolls-Royce.” By the mid-70s, tensions between Williams and the
The Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany; Others, however, were less enamoured band had eased. Williams penned the autobiography
The Man Who Gave The Beatles Away and also began
1962, a double set featuring a mix of with the direction in which Epstein was
organising Beatles conventions in Liverpool.
covers and originals, including I Saw steering The Beatles. For John Gustafson, Speaking to the Liverpool Echo in 2010, Williams
Her Standing There, Twist And Shout and the advent of Love Me Do, their first said: “I’ve always been proud of The Beatles and
Shimmy Shimmy. Reviewer John Swenson single on Parlophone, was the end of their happy to have been just a small cog in the wheel of
from Rolling Stone magazine called the rock ’n’ roll years. the most famous group in the world. A lot of people
have told me ‘I would have loved to have been there’
album “poorly recorded but fascinating,” “They were a roaring rock ’n’ roll band
and it was a lot of fun – but we didn’t know we were
adding that it showed The Beatles as in leather jackets and cowboy boots – making history. I’ve got no regrets – they were
“raw but extremely powerful”. but they changed,” he said, with heartfelt exciting days. But no-one knew The Beatles would go
By common consent, that hectic regret. “The suits came in. It was the on to achieve what they did.”
two-year period between 1960 and 1962 Epstein effect.” ✶

E L L A R F U
C L
A
M A P A N D W O U L D
E R P O O L O N T H E E
IT PUT LIV O S T FA M O U S C LU B I N T H
BECOM E T H E M A R KS ITS
C A V E R N M
WORLD. AS THE Y, JULIE BURNS HEARS
R
60TH ANNIVERSAYDAY FROM EX-CAVERN
ABOUT ITS HE OR, DEBBIE GREENBERG
W N E R A N D A U T H
O
© Photo Courtesy of Liverpool Echo – Trinity Mirror
VRP04.Cavern Club.For Print.indd 24 15/02/2017 12:02

© Getty Images
The leather-clad Beatles
on stage at the Cavern
in February 1961
“M
y love affair with the beat… a magnet for teenagers hungry for smoke permanently in the air. There was
club actually began their fix of the incomparable sounds and also a strong smell of perspiration from
in December 1960, a mecca for the hundreds of groups that an overheated crowd of hundreds, too
over five years before came to belt out their rock ’n’ roll.” cool to take off their coats. Mix into this
my dad bought it. American musical influence was fast the tantalising smell of hot dogs and soup
I was 15 and immediately hooked. The taking hold in the UK. With no major from the café, and you had the odorous
music penetrated every cell in your body, pop-radio stations yet in existence, it cocktail that helped to make the Cavern
and we couldn’t get enough of it. It made reached a ready audience via muffled what it was – a wondrous place where
the Cavern the most magical place on Radio Luxembourg, and vinyl arriving teenagers could escape.”
the planet.” So recalls Debbie Greenberg from America. Liverpool, as a major port, Like Debbie, many of the city’s youth –
on finding her musical mecca, as a starry found itself in pole position. “Records up to 900 at a time – would flock to this
eyed teen. Six years on, her family would brought home from America by Scousers Shangri-La day and night. Inbetween an
own the legendary site. working on ships were always high in unlikely combination of modelling and
It all started in 1957, with young jazz demand,” explains Debbie. managing her father’s butcher’s business,
fan Alan Sytner’s visit to a Left Bank club Debbie would be there every lunchtime
in Paris called Le Caveau. Much inspired IN SPITE OF ALL THE DANGER session from Tuesday to Friday. “There
by the atmospheric, brick-arched cellar, The Cavern was fairly nondescript- were two sessions, from 12 to 1pm, and
he aimed to recreate the same back in looking on the outside, but what was 1.15 to 2.15pm. The later one was always
Liverpool. In the city centre’s Mathew it like inside? Debbie knows: “It would the best – then I would go back again at
Street, he found a dingy, disused fruit have been like a descent into the bowels night for more.” Such was her fixation
warehouse ripe for converting into a of the earth. Literally a dank and stinky that her concerned parents lay in wait one
jazz cellar. The Cavern was born – but it cellar, with dated drainage, ventilation night to make sure she wasn’t involved
would not stay a jazz haunt for long. and public access, there was never the in any ‘den of iniquity’. “It was all very
As Debbie writes in her fascinating new luxury of a fire escape. Young, carefree innocent,” assures Debbie. “No alcohol
memoir, Cavern Club: The Inside Story, and reckless, we never stopped to think of was served, just Coca-Cola.”
“The Cavern’s identity began to change it as a potential deathtrap for hundreds. There was always a rush for seats.
at the start of the new decade. Rock ’n’ “It was like a sauna when the club was “Either side of the central aisle were
roll slowly replaced jazz and the Cavern full, with rivers of condensation running arched tunnels where, if you were lucky
became the heart that gave Mersey its down the walls and the odour of cigarette and early enough to grab a centre-row

seat, you could get a fabulous close-up The Beatles played an amazing 292 NORTHERN SOUNDS
view of the group on stage,” Debbie
recalls. “You could practically touch them
performances at the Cavern – and every
Wednesday night, and thrice-weekly TOP 20
In 1962, the Liverpool Echo famously published its
and talk to them and make requests, with lunchtimes, Debbie was out front.
‘Mersey Beats Popularity Poll’ as voted for by readers:
every performance like a private party.” “Overnight, The Beatles had a following
To one side, the tiny 8ft x 10ft dressing of devoted fans, and I was one of them. 01. The Beatles
room space was a scrawled record of rock The amazing thing about the Cavern was 02. Gerry And The Pacemakers
history, daubed in signatures and quips that The Beatles and all the groups were
from all the acts; while to the right of the so accessible. We were literally inches
03. The Remo Four
stage lay the cloakroom where future away as they played.” 04. Rory Storm And The Hurricanes
star Cilla Black would work. Compère She especially recalls their ‘throbbing’ 05. Johnny Sandon
extraordinaire Bob Wooler, resident rendition of My Bonnie (which inspired And The Searchers
between 1961 to local record-
06. Kingsize Taylor
’66, would play
the latest records THE BEATLES store manager
Brian Epstein to And The Dominoes
on his single
WERE DIFFERENT. check them out 07. The Big Three
THEY JUST OOZED 08. The Strangers
turntable in the at the Cavern
breaks between on 9 November
09. Faron’s Flamingos
groups setting up.
His oft-repeated EXCITEMENT 1961 – and the
rest is history). 10. The Four Jays
introduction: “Hi In 1962, Debbie (later The Fourmost)
there, all you cave dwellers. We’ve got the was especially thrilled to see The Beatles
hi-fi high and the lights down low.” twice on the same day: first at the Cavern,
11. Ian And The Zodiacs
Wooler was a supreme talent-spotter: then again at the vast Tower Ballroom 12. The Undertakers
after their initial Cavern foray in ’57 as in nearby New Brighton, on a 12-band 13. Earl Preston And The TT’s
The Quarrymen, he was the one to book bill headlined by every rocking band’s
14. Mark Peters And The Cyclones
a raw new rock ’n’ roll band, The Beatles. inspiration, Little Richard. Debbie heard
Debbie witnessed their lunchtime debut the quartet’s Cavern debut of single Love 15. Karl Terry And The Cruisers
at the Cavern, on 9 February 1961. Me Do, and she also attended The Beatles’ 16. Derry And The Seniors
“We were blown away. The Beatles last appearance playing the chart-topping 17. Steve And The Syndicate
were different, their music incredible, hit Please Please Me, an occasion on
their appearance raunchy, their energy which the Cavern queue stretched all the 18. Dee Fenton And The Silhouettes
infectious. They just oozed excitement. way down Mathew Street. 19. Billy Kramer And The Coasters
Then they disappeared for four months, “The Beatles inspired many groups 20. Dale Roberts And
off to Hamburg for the second time.” to embrace rock ’n’ roll – and they all
The Jaywalkers
wanted to play the Cavern,” points ➨
HOMECOMING KINGS
Other acts – Gerry And The A sweaty Cavern Club
Pacemakers, The Swinging Blue dancefloor in 1964
Jeans, The Remo Four, The Big Three,
Kingsize Taylor And The Dominoes
– stood in. “All fabulous groups,
but they weren’t The Beatles,” says
Debbie. “They were already by far
the best group around – and in 1961,
there were some 300 groups playing
on Merseyside… and not a bad one
amongst them.”
By the time of their ‘welcome home’
Cavern appearance on 14 July 1961,
relentless Hamburg sets had honed
the pre-pop Fab Four into a top-class
act. Debbie says playing with Tony
Sheridan influenced how The Beatles
dressed and moved, even to their
trademark ‘high held’ guitars. “The
transformation was unbelievable.
The gyrating hips, humorous banter
and sexy outfits, the tight black
leather. Their repertoire was now
wide-ranging, the sound was unique.
Liverpool had never seen or heard
anything like them.”

The Merseybeats at the
© Getty Images
Cavern Club in 1964. From
left to right: Aaron Williams,
John Gustafson, John Banks
and Tony Crane
COVER TO COVER:
out Debbie. Despite The Beatles leaving themselves in against the officials. A
Liverpool, the Cavern continued to thrive sit-down strike by thousands of fans took
THE CAVERN as a live music venue, where youngsters
worldwide would come, and often weep
place on Mathew Street, while a protest
march took it to the council. Two years
Cavern Club: The Inside Story
in awe. ‘Cavern sounds’ filled various EPs on, to Debbie’s astonishment and delight,
by Debbie Greenberg (Jorvik
Press) is a unique, illustrated and LPs, featured on seminal TV shows she found her family, the Geoghegans,
personal account of the such as Ready Steady Go! and, on film, at the club’s helm – theirs for the sum of
legendary musical venue. Liverpool A Go-Go. £5,500. “To actually own the Cavern was
both magical and breathtaking,” she says.
CLOSURE OF THE CAVERN “Not only was it Liverpool’s most popular
The bubble was about to burst. Five years music club, but the most famous club in
into Ray McFall’s ownership in 1964, the world. Hallowed ground indeed.”
Let’s Go Down The Cavern unpaid debt would lead to the club’s The purchase lease included 8, 10 and
(1984) by Spencer Leigh and demise. The ex-accountant had run up 12 Mathew Street. No. 8 was home to
Pete Frame, offers more general
huge bills in his wish to accompany The Cavern Sounds Ltd – Liverpool’s first
insight plus interviews with
key staff. Beatles on their mega US tour. As a result, professional recording studio. No. 12,
DJ Bob Wooler wryly related, “we were bricked up on the far-left Cavern wall,
BOTH ARE AVAILABLE ON AMAZON
always number one in the writ parade.” was later expanded into restaurant
By February, the Cavern was forced to premises by Debbie’s family. The
close. McFall’s last all-nighter turned ambitious Cavern overhaul took a solid
into a lock-in, with 150 kids barricading three months to complete.

In a headline-making coup, from one
famous No. 10 to another, PM Harold
The Iveys – later top band Badfinger, as
produced by Paul McCartney. The latter’s
STILL SHAKIN’
Wilson agreed to officiate at their grand surprise reappearance at the Cavern years AT THE CAVERN
reopening ceremony. On 23 July 1966, later – in which he burst into Hey Jude on Today, The Shakers are the Cavern’s sole resident
Merseybeat group. Formed 11 years ago by Tony O’Keeffe
he paid tribute to the “wonderful foreign an old piano – remains another Cavern
as a four-piece, they are now a tight-knit trio with Tony
earning power of the Mersey Beat”. highlight of Debbie’s. on drums, Eddie Harrison on guitar/lead vocals, and
A music marathon of Cavern-related From 1967, she was helping manage Martin Davies on bass/vocals. “I felt there were many
artists ensued: Marty Wilde, Georgie the club full-time, and it could be a Beatles tribute acts and modern-sounding 60s bands, but
Fame, Billy J Kramer, The Fourmost, The rollercoaster. Top tourist attraction nobody local really captured the vibe of the original
genre,” says Tony. “I also wanted to encompass other
Merseys, plus special US guests Solomon though the Cavern was, funds proved
greats, so Rory Storm, The Big Three and all the era’s
Burke and Rufus Thomas. Ironically, in tight and by 1970, Debbie’s father felt other local hitmakers are on our setlist.” The Shakers have
lieu of The Beatles – sending congrats ready to sell. Shockingly, just three years worked with many original 60s acts, and have played a
telegrams in their later, the legendary huge Beatles festival in the United States. Their LP,
absence – their
ex-drummer’s THE RESURRECTED Cavern would
be demolished
A Whole Lotta Shakers! is out on Germany’s Soundflat
Records, with a CD on Majestic Sound Records in Japan.
outfit, the Pete
CAVERN IS THE due to the new
Regulars on the UK’s 60s scene, you can catch the
Höfner-toting Shakers at the Cavern Club most weekends.
CLOSEST THING TO
Best Combo, nobly owners ignoring They’re not called “the best Merseybeat group out of
stood in instead. an invitation to Liverpool since the 60s” for nothing. See www.
THE ORIGINAL
Recalls Debbie: counter British cavernclub.org/whats-on for special anniversary events;
Facebook – The Shakers, and live streaming of the band
“The joint was Rail’s compulsory
from the Cavern at facebook.com/beatstreamlive.
jumping… the purchase of
Cavern was jolted back to life.” the site in connection with the
It was ‘star magnet’ business as usual: construction of Liverpool’s new
Ben E. King with The Three Tons Of railway network.
Joy, Edwin Starr, The Coasters, The Happily, the resurrected Cavern
Zombies, The Yardbirds and The Who is, Debbie thinks, the closest thing
all appeared… not to mention Status Quo, to the original in location and feel.
and the debut of an unknown theatrical Facing the entrance, a full wall of
rock act called Queen. Mishaps, however, bricks displays the names of every
could occur. Bill Haley And His Comets group that ever played there. A
didn’t turn up due to “contractual second panel notes every owner.
misinterpretation,” but provided a Last summer marked 50 years since
barnstormer the second time round. Debbie’s family reopened the club
As late as 1968, rock ’n’ roll remained on 23 July 1966. Today, this historic
in high demand. That year, Chuck venue is alive with music once more.
Berry played the Cavern – “a wonderful Debbie agrees with the words of
performer, but not a particularly nice DJ Bob Wooler: “The Cavern was
man,” says Debbie. She recalls him the greatest finishing school pop
remaining in his chauffeur-driven limo in music had ever known.” And most
the rain until receiving payment upfront. importantly: “The Beatles didn’t make
DJ Bob Wooler, still in awe of Berry, said the Cavern… the kids did.”
at the time: “A mighty influence on The
Beatles… and didn’t John Lennon once
say, ‘If they hadn’t called it rock ’n’ roll, Today, resident Cavern
trio The Shakers aim to
they’d have called it ‘Chuck Berry?’” keep the vibe alive
Paul McCartney also acknowledged
rock ’n’ roll’s enduring impact. In 1973,
in Liverpool to play with Wings, he
told the Liverpool Echo: “The stuff that
really turns them on is the old rock ’n’
roll… funny really, it means that we are
back where we started, for it was the
© Photo Courtesy of Liverpool Echo – Trinity Mirror
hard beat rock we sang and played at

the Cavern in the early days that used
to get the fans away. 10 years later, it
still works.”
As the late 60s set in, the club’s
clientele became more 18-plus. All-
nighters were introduced, as was
alcohol. Debbie’s father Alf also
designed souvenir merchandise,
guest-judged on BBC TV’s Juke Box
Jury, managed groups, and supported

ROCKING
UP A
STORM
RINGO STARR DRUMMED FOR THEM AND
THEY WERE ONCE DEEMED BIGGER THAN
THE BEATLES. SO WHY DID THE STORY OF
RORY STORM AND THE HURRICANES NOT
END IN GLORY? WITH THE HELP OF ANTHONY
HOGAN, AUTHOR OF A DEFINITIVE NEW BOOK
ON THE BAND, JULIE BURNS FINDS OUT MORE…
W
orldwide acclaim was never notably placed the Hurricanes above
to be theirs, yet Liverpool The Beatles. Way ahead of their time,
quintet Rory Storm And the Hurricanes scored many firsts: the
The Hurricanes helped first band to play rock ’n’ roll music at
fuel a musical revolution. their local – soon legendary – Cavern
“Bigger than The Beatles? At one time Club; the first to open their own cool DIY
they dwarfed them, with John, Paul and venue, The Morgue, playing and hosting
George looking up to them,” points out momentous gigs there. Bassist/secondary
author Anthony Hogan, in his new book vocalist Walter Eymond was the first
From A Storm To A Hurricane. man in Liverpool to use an amplifier (a
Pre-Beatles, Ringo Starr was the customised cinema speaker); he sang on
Hurricanes’ drummer. The bands were the history-making lost recordings made
friends and played many shows together at the Akustik studio in Hamburg – the
– and, reflecting the groups’ relative first time all of the future Beatles came
standings in the UK, Hamburg bill posters together on record. ➨
VRP04.Rory Storm.For Print.indd 30 15/02/2017 10:36

© Courtesy Iris Caldwell
Rory Storm performing at

Butlins. The girl glancing
back towards the camera
is his sister Iris

ROCKING UP arrived in their wake soon began to

A STORM
dominate the charts: Cilla Black, Gerry
And The Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer
and the Dakotas, The Searchers, The
Swinging Blue Jeans… and The Beatles,
who would turn up incognito at Liverpool
socials such as Walter’s wedding (further
links: Rory’s sister Iris, at 17, was dated
by both Paul McCartney and, five years
before him, George Harrison; in 1957,
George asked to join her brother’s band,
but was deemed too young).
As for the Hurricanes, then the top
band in Liverpool and electrifying live,
they were five young guys having fun.
They played gigs across the North West
of England to France, Germany and
Majorca (plus the odd bull ring in Ibiza),
and shared bills with Gene Vincent, Little
Richard, Emile Ford and Duane Eddy.
They may not have had a hit, but life –
for a time – seemed charmed. Yet why,
in the end, did Rory Storm And The
Hurricanes not quite make it?
BAD LUCK OR SABOTAGE?

Theories abound as to why the
Hurricanes weren’t picked up. One is that
Rory never extended his setlist, preferring
to stick with stock rock ’n’ roll covers.
He simply resisted finding – or trying to
write – new material. “[The Beatles] were
Alan Caldwell – aka a very good band who were starting to
Rory Storm – ready adapt and change,” remembers Walter
to rock Butlins
Eymond in Anthony Hogan’s book. “I was
pushing Rory to follow their lead, as were
Charlie and Johnny. It never happened
MEDIA STORM
Frontman Rory Storm’s unique,
non-stop showmanship was a first for us… but that’s just the way life goes.”
in itself. His madcap antics variously Rory’s sister Iris told Vintage Rock:
Rory and company in print and onscreen…
involved springing from a pavilion diving “Although it’s strange that Rory’s band
The book board halfway through a set, to plunging never made it, Rory was happy being a
From A Storm To A Hurricane onto the stage from a great height big fish in a small (Liver)pool. When The
paints the full, colourful story of
(resulting in several hospital stays); and Beatles first became famous, he felt sorry
Rory and his band amidst the
culture and community of the 50s deliberately crashing through the floor they couldn’t go out locally to the football!
and 60s. Contributor Rory Storm’s of Hamburg’s famous Kaiserkeller club. He was so multi-faceted, with a total love
sister Iris says: “Everyone in the An award-winning athlete, he scored the of local life.”
world’s written about The nickname ‘the singing runner’, while for Ringo’s defection to join The Beatles
Beatles… obviously, it’s a good moneyspinner. Anthony
his flamboyant performing style, he was for £25 a week in 1962 was a major
Hogan’s book is a labour of love, a unique insight into the
beginnings of the Merseybeat phenomenon – about known as ‘the King of Liverpool’. setback. Finding – and keeping – a
another group that was there, and so happened to be good replacement became a recurring
fronted by my brother.” For more details, visit the MERSEY MANIA problem. It was mooted that the Beatles’
website at www.amberley-books.com Many later line-up changes aside, the key ousted drummer Pete Best could join
Big screen retellings five-piece comprised chief vocalist Rory the Hurricanes; too upset, he refused.
That’ll Be The Day (1973) showcased Billy Fury – whom and Johnny ‘Guitar’ Byrne, along with That said, there’s also the suggestion that
Storm had met – as ‘Stormy Tempest’, a character based Charles (aka ‘Ty’) O’Brien, Lou Walters Beatles supremo Brian Epstein sabotaged
on Rory. It also featured a teddy boy-styled Ringo Starr (real name Walter Eymond), and one them so that they couldn’t compete with
and a fictional band called the Stray Cats – (not Brian
Ritchie Starkey on drums. To sound more his boys. He refused to be their manager,
Setzer’s) – apparently inspired by the early days of the
Hurricanes and the Quarrymen, plus a great soundtrack ‘happening’, names were changed, and although in 1964 he did record and
from Fury to Jerry Lee and Larry Williams. An actual film Ritchie became Ringo Starr. produce them for Parlophone, making
of Rory Storm’s life is still due. One was to be made in The early 60s heralded success for the curious song selection of America
2010, but the American producers were put off by his many a Merseybeat act. Liverpool’s Lita from West Side Story. The Trini Lopez-
untimely death. As author Anthony Hogan says: “That is
Roza and Billy Fury were already famous, style ‘holiday’ arrangement features
the story: the fun and the sorrow go together.”
while friends of the Hurricanes who’d both Epstein and Ringo Starr on backing

vocals. It was a perverse follow-up to the venue would showcase the group – soon they sneaked into the Liverpool Odeon,
Hurricanes’ first single, Dr Feel Good/I renamed The Raving Texans – as well as dressed as a pair of workmen, and spied
Can Tell. “America was not Rory’s sort the lesser-known Quarrymen (George Bill Haley driving the crowd wild. John
of song at all,” says Iris. “Brand New Harrison would audition here to join immediately obtained an electric guitar.
Cadillac, Roll Over Beethoven, Tell Me them). Noise complaints saw the police to As for Alan: “The music fitted his zany
Why, Shakin’ All Over, Long Tall Sally… close The Morgue down, but no matter; persona. A star was born,” says Anthony.
those were more his kind of performance the Texans were off and running, playing Alan, as his alter-ego Rory Storm,
songs, things with guitar solos and him gigs from the hysterical (the Stanley was perfect for rocking’s pomp and
lying on the floor.” Abattoir Social Club) to the historical. peacocking. Strikingly good-looking,
At Abbey Road Studios, the Hurricanes On 24 May 1957, Alan’s band played nearly 6” 2” with a blond pompadour he
later recorded Ubangi Stomp and I’ll Be what would soon become one of the would stop to comb, he loved to be the
extravagantly suited centre of attention.
ALAN, AS HIS ALTER-EGO RORY STORM, WAS Add in an uproarious onstage persona,
and all the girls flocked by. His athletic
PERFECT FOR ROCK’S POMP AND PEACOCKING prowess came in handy – he’d often
hot-foot it from stewing boyfriends and
AND LOVED TO BE THE CENTRE OF ATTENTION brewing punch-ups, once jumping a train
track to do so. Best of all for him, if he
There, but they were never released. Was best-known venues in the world – the didn’t feel confident conversing too long
it just bad luck, or did record companies, Mathew Street jazz club, the Cavern. This with girls or fans off stage, at least while
first attracted by livewire Rory, perhaps concert’s importance in musical history singing, his stammer would disappear.
become deterred by his debilitating should not be overlooked, emphasises On turning 21 in January 1959, Rory had
off-stage stammer? Anthony Hogan: “They became the given up his job at the Cotton Exchange
first band to set the roots of what was to face his parents’ reactions: father
UP AND RUNNING to become the centre of the Liverpool deflated, his mother elated (she promptly
It’s relevant here to rewind a little. Beat scene… enhanced further on 12 became his manager). As for his friend
Initially, the odds seemed stacked against June, when the Quarrymen and lead Ringo Starr’s parents, he pleaded with
the ‘real’ Rory, born plain Alan Caldwell. singer John Lennon are thought to have them to let their son play with him at a
Growing up with a speech impediment joined Alan Caldwell’s Skiffle Group for a Butlins season in Wales. Ringo had been
frustrated him, but fired his will to session at the Cavern.” unsure about giving up his apprenticeship
achieve in other ways. Athletically, he did On one occasion, Caldwell’s group halfway through, but went for it. From
this to an astonishing degree: he was an were sacked for playing Jerry Lee’s Whole drum ‘filler-in’ of March ’59, newly
accomplished swimmer, once covering Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On. Alan and John named Ringo became a three-year fixture
the around-12-mile length of Lake Byrne’s rock ’n’ roll lightbulb moment with The Texans (as they were known
Windermere, and sometimes he would had come three months earlier, when before becoming Al Storm, then ➨
disappear to ‘earn a few
bob’ with a spot of lifesaving
on the seafront. He was

accomplished at golf, bowling,
skating, ice hockey, and was
a speedy winger at football.
Equally adept as a dancer, he
learned tap as a youngster
with his sister. He also
excelled in athletics and ran
for Liverpool’s Pembroke &
Sefton Harriers, specialising in
the 3,000-metre steeplechase.
During one victory in 1956,
he coasted down the home
straight while singing Rock
Around The Clock, signalling a
change of vocational track to
rock ’n’ roll via skiffle.
After meeting guitar-playing
John Byrne on a bus, the
two decided to form Alan
Caldwell’s Skiffle Group,
inspired by Lonnie Donegan.
Alan, ever-inventive, opened
the Morgue Skiffle Club in
All dressed up for Butlins:
the cellar of a large Victorian the Hurricanes clad in
nurses’ home nearby. The brand-new red suits

ROCKING UP

A STORM
LISTEN UP
SEMINAL ALBUM
Live At The Jive Hive
March 1960
(Rockstar Records, 2012)
The embryonic days of Rory And The Hurricanes, captured
pre-Hamburg, and the earliest known full-set recording
by a Merseybeat band. It’s full of standout tracks of
punchy, punk-like energy: Brand New Cadillac, C’Mon
Everybody, Rip It Up, Honey Don’t, Down The Line, Train
To Nowhere, Make Me Know You’re Mine and Jet Black.
Note that Ringo was not officially playing on these tracks;
he was away ill before the recording. However, it’s very
likely he was playing on Milkcow Blues (complete with Iris’s favourite photo of
Rory And The Hurricanes,
Rory’s budgie!); What’d I Say, Cathy’s Clown and Now Is living it up in Spain
The Hour, were recorded separately at Rory’s house ahead
of their pivotal Butlins season.
SINGLE “HE WAS SO HAPPY TO BE ON THE BILL WITH

Dr Feel Good/I Can Tell
Available on the compilation This Is
GENE VINCENT AND LITTLE RICHARD. BUT HE TOOK
Merseybeat Vol. 1 and 2
(Oriole Records, 1963).
THEIR NUMBERS AND PERFORMED THEM AS RORY”
Beautiful Dreamer Jett Storm, then Rory Storm And The Promoter Allan Williams was tasked with
Track sung by Walter, available on Volume 1, above. Hurricanes). Rory liked Ringo and gave supplying Liverpool groups to Hamburg
him his own solo slot, ‘Starr Time’. The club the Kaiserkeller. Priceless timing
LATER COMPILATIONS band were early converts to electric ensued. He asked the Hurricanes, but,
Mersey Beat 1962-64 guitars, soon enhanced by three Selmer contracted to Butlins, they agreed to go
(United Artists, 1974) amps. They trumped The Beatles by later on in the autumn; Gerry And The
Tracks: I Can Tell, Dr Feel Good. beating them to win a coveted support Pacemakers couldn’t go; his third choice
slot for Gene Vincent at the Liverpool was The Beatles, and the rest is history.
Unearthed Merseybeat Stadium in 1960. Alternating with the Hurricanes over
Vol. 2 “He was so happy to be on that bill five or six 90-minute hard-graft sets each
(Viper, 2004) with Gene Vincent… likewise with Little day, the two bands honed their acts until
Track: Lend Me Your Comb. Richard, later on,” Iris recalls. they shone. The shared shenanigans
“What he didn’t do was to be like included a bet as to who could break
RINGO’S TRIBUTE TRACKS those he admired. Instead, he took their the Kaiserkeller stage (Rory won). Gigs
Liverpool 8 numbers and performed them as Rory. for both grew bigger; back in England
(Liverpool 8 album, Capitol 2008)
Rory And The Hurricanes Looking like a Greek god and being a in November 1961, they shared the bill
(Postcards From Paradise album, 2015). one-off, he couldn’t ever do a tribute in front of 5,000 people at the Tower
to anyone!” Ballroom, New Brighton.

That same month, Brian Epstein retired from the Hurricanes since 1965,
descended the steps of the Cavern and
caught sight of The Beatles, signing on as
he went on to form the band Combo
with Brian Griffiths of The Big Three.
KEEP AN EAR OUT
their manager on 24 January 1962. Later, As for Ringo, now 76, he tops the list of The priceless lost session
in March, the two bands again shared the world’s richest drummers with a net Hurricane Walter Eymond (Lou Walters) was given a
the Cavern stage, at one point forming a worth of some $300 million. The past recording session by Kaiserkeller promoter Allan Williams
on 15 October 1960 at Hamburg’s Akustik Studio. Also
nine-strong supergroup for an extended obviously still affects him; he has twice
present at the studio were Hurricanes Ty, Johnny and
version of Carl Perkins’ Honey Don’t. written tribute tracks, one – titled Rory Ringo, along with three members of The Beatles – John,
“They helped each other out,” Anthony And The Hurricanes – as recently as 2015. Paul and George. Their drummer Pete Best had gone on a
Hogan points out. “Ringo sat in with Iris reports that Ringo once said: “If it shopping trip, and Rory came to the studio later in the
The Beatles when Pete Best was ill, hadn’t been for Rory, I would still have day. Three songs were recorded: Summertime, Fever and
September Song, with Johnny adding guitar. The three
while Rory took the place of John Lennon been a labourer.”
Beatles, along with Ringo, backed Lou on Summertime,
when he came down with laryngitis.” She continues: “Rory wasn’t a writing thus creating the first recording by the Fab Four as we
talent like Lennon and McCartney, he know them. Alas, no copies of the historic recording,
TRAGIC ENDING was better as a brilliant showman and which would no doubt be worth a fortune, have so far
The musical chairs would soon be for entertainer. He never went to America, been unearthed.
keeps, with Ringo swapping camps. yet there’s still a fan club out there to him,
Rory never quite recovered from the such was his impact.” Anthony Hogan
A summer reunion
June 2016 saw three ex-Hurricane players – key member
line-up change, leading him to lament: concludes: “The Hurricanes were getting Walter Eymond, along with Vince Earl and Jimmy
“We train them, the other bands take as much word as anybody in the 1960s. All Tushingham – playing together for the first time in 49
them”. According to Epstein in his the groups needed guidance, The Beatles years at the city’s Lathom Club. It may not be the last.
If you’re into Merseybeat, check out the club via
autobiography, Storm was “…one of the included, and we are left to wonder what
www.facebook.com/Merseyrats or contact
most liveliest and most likeable young might have been if someone had taken a roryhurricanes@aol.co.uk
men on the scene… he was very annoyed chance on the Hurricanes.”
when Ringo left and he complained to
me. I apologised and Rory, with immense Rory and Hurricanes’ © Courtesy Iris Caldwell
good humour said, ‘Okay. Forget it. The bassist Lou Walters
onstage at Butlins
best of luck to the lot of you.’”
Another gifted drummer, Gibson
Kemp, left in early ’63 to join Kingsize
Taylor And The Dominoes, later
forming the group Paddy, Klaus &
Gibson – again signed by Brian Epstein.
In 1967, Storm disbanded the
group following the sad and sudden
death of Ty O’Brien, aged 26, due
to complications from appendicitis.
Johnny Guitar and Lou Walters settled
down into marriage; Rory and Johnny,
the original core duo, gave the group
one more go, helped by ex-Mojos’
guitarist Adrian Lord and bassist Keith
Karlson, plus Carl Rich on drums, but
their hearts weren’t in it.
Storm turned to DJ-ing, performing
across Liverpool, Benidorm, Jersey
and Amsterdam. When his father
died, he returned to Liverpool to be
with his grieving mother. Single and
rudderless, by late September 1972, he
developed a chest infection. Unable to
sleep, he took sleeping pills and never
woke up. His accidental death came
at the age of 34 and on the same day
as his mother’s. The Sun newspaper
carried a controversial version of the
tragedy. It is unproven but probable
that his mother committed suicide
after finding her son’s body.
Johnny Guitar would go on to form
his own version of the Hurricanes
which lasted until his death, aged 59,
in 1999. Lou/Walter is still around;

BRIAN EPSTEIN TOOK THE
BEATLES FROM VIRTUAL
OBSCURITY AND MOULDED
THEM INTO THE BIGGEST
CULTURAL FORCE THE
WORLD HAS EVER SEEN.
MICHAEL HEATLEY
PROFILES THE MAN WHO
EFFECTIVELY WROTE THE
POP MANAGER RULEBOOK...
The life
of Brian
T
he role of ‘starmaker’ is with the teenager a comparatively recent The Beatles trusted his judgement
now an accepted one in the invention, it would have been a brave and undoubtedly benefitted from his
music business. Today’s man or woman indeed who predicted decisions. They had ample opportunity to
supermanagers have the where the combination of group and capitalise financially later in their career,
ability to make a band’s would-be Svengali – just six years and appreciated his role in opening the
name through media contacts alone. Lennon’s senior, but far more worldly door to their success. “If he hadn’t gone
They will have a proven track record, wise – would end up. to London… from place to place with the
and may even run their own record label. As the Beatle ball began to roll, Epstein tapes under his arm,” said John Lennon,
But when Brian Epstein walked the faced a unique challenge. And if he failed “we would never have made it. We didn’t
three minutes from his record shop to to maximise the earning potential of his have the push to do it on our own.”
the Cavern Club and descended its charges – Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis’
18 steps to see the Beatles in November long-time manager, was just one of his DOWN IN THE BASEMENT
1961, there was no template whatsoever many critics on financial matters – some Brian Samuel Epstein came from a
for a pop-group manager. of the decisions he took, such as putting close-knit middle-class Jewish
It might have been the 1960s, but the them on US television’s The Ed Sullivan background; his grandfather Isaac had
decade had yet to start swingin’. And Show in 1964, would prove far-sighted. arrived in Liverpool from Lithuania
VRP04.BrianEpstein.For Print.indd 36 15/02/2017 15:27

© Getty Images

The life
XXXX
Ed Sullivan tries out Paul’s bass during rehearsals for
of Brian
The Beatles’ groundbreaking appearance on his show in 1964
© Getty Images
se,
Epstein in stylish poole
a ste re o co ns
sitting by
© Getty Images
at age 19. He was the first offspring about this German release (My Bonnie, such as a new Ford Zodiac car, list price
of Harry and Malka (known to all as backing Tony Sheridan). What he saw in £1,000-plus – when average annual
Queenie) when born on 19 September the hot, sweaty basement changed both earnings were four-fifths of that figure.
1934; brother Clive would follow 22 his life and theirs. Epstein was quick to begin promoting
months later. The family name was his charges, even though no contract had
pronounced Epstine, not Epsteen. THE MAN, THE MYTH yet been signed. When Mersey Beat ran a
On turning 16, Brian abandoned an This accepted version of the story has readers’ poll in 1961, he secured victory
academic career spent at a number been challenged by Bill Harry, founder by having the group members submit
of expensive fee-paying schools and of the Mersey Beat music magazine. multiple votes. (He was not the only one
slunk back to the family furniture firm. As well as claiming he had discussed with the idea; 40 votes for early leader
He avoided National Service on the The Beatles with Epstein on numerous Rory Storm in identical green ink were
grounds of ‘emotional unsuitability’ occasions, Harry says he had asked his disallowed by a suspicious Bill Harry.)
but, having failed to shine as a would-be shop girls who they were when they The year of 1962 began with The
drama student at Beatles being
London’s Royal
Academy Of The Beatles were fascinated by the trappings rejected by Decca
Records and
Dramatic Art,
found himself
back at Clarendon
of Epstein’s seemingly successful lifestyle ended with them
riding high in the
national chart
Furnishing. visited his store as record-buyers. “Also, with first hit Love Me Do. A warning
The Epsteins found a more appropriate prior to the alleged enquiry by Raymond had come from his predecessor Allan
role for their older offspring in running Jones, Brian had posters in his shop for Williams – “Don’t touch them with
the North End Music Stores, known the Operation Big Beat promotion at the a f*cking bargepole, they will let you
as NEMS. A new branch was opened Tower Ballroom and was selling tickets down” – who claimed commission
in the city centre and it was here, in to the event in which The Beatles topped for an engagement in Hamburg had
October 1961, that Brian was supposedly the bill.” not been paid. The dogged Epstein
approached by record-buyer Raymond Whatever the truth, Brian quickly ignored Williams’ advice, and on 6 June
Jones and asked if he stocked a record by became obsessed by the leather-clad witnessed the quartet auditioning for
The Beatles. young men churning out rough-and- Parlophone Records manager George
Finding he did not, and intrigued by ready versions of songs by Ray Charles, Martin in London. Two rejections had
what he heard, Epstein ventured to the Carl Perkins and Chuck Berry. They, in already come from Parlophone’s parent
nearby Cavern Club where the band had turn, were fascinated by the trappings of company, EMI, so this was fortunate
been playing lunchtime concerts to ask Epstein’s seemingly successful lifestyle indeed. The chain of events came about

Brian managed a range of
acts alongside The Beatles,
including Gerry And
The Pacemakers
Epstein with Gerry Marsden

of Gerry And The Pacemakers
© Getty Imag
es
The Shadows and told them to copy later dismissed the story as “absolute
their bow at the end of their set. He rubbish”, insisting that NEMS’ invoice
gave them a list of rules – don’t smoke system provided no such evidence.
or drink or swear on stage. John hated
it, but Paul understood.” Yet Epstein A MUGS GAME
himself prevaricated when he had to While Love Me Do and its flipside, P.S.
dismiss original drummer Pete Best; his I Love You, were published by Ardmore &
disciplined approach only went so far. Beechwood as a one-off, Epstein wanted
The acquisition of a recording contract more. At the end of November 1962,
had proved Brian Epstein’s worth to The he set up Northern Songs with music
Beatles beyond doubt, and it was clear publisher Dick James to publish Lennon
after Brian had paid to get the Decca the partnership should continue. In and McCartney’s compositions; James
audition tape cut to a 78 rpm acetate disc October 1962, band and manager pacted took half the income, the writers 20 per
at the HMV Shop in the capital’s Oxford for five years; Epstein was to receive cent each and Epstein 10 per cent.
Street. This led to contact with the 25 per cent of The Beatles’ earnings. The link with former dance-band
Ardmore & Beechwood music-publishing It’s been claimed that Brian, in his singer James had been at George
company (which, like HMV, was an guise as record-store manager, ordered Martin’s suggestion; Epstein had
EMI subsidiary) and, through them, an thousands of copies of debut Beatles hit originally set his sights on signing with
introduction to Martin. Love Me Do to ensure its chart entry. He Elvis Presley’s publisher, Hill & Range.
denied this while alive, and brother Clive Lennon and McCartney would fail in
FUNNY PAPER a 1969 attempt to buy Northern
When it came to the record deal, Songs, which was acquired by ATV
Epstein simply signed EMI’s and later passed through the hands
© Getty Images
standard document, which gave of Michael Jackson.

The Beatles one penny for each When it came to negotiating a
single sold in Britain; half that deal for The Beatles’ first film, A
amount was payable for overseas Hard Day’s Night, Epstein held
sales. The term of the contract was all the cards. But he inexplicably
four years. He was not in a strong refused to take expert advice and,
bargaining position and, indeed, while delighted to receive 7.5 per
could have received less from one cent of the gross, was unaware
of EMI’s rivals. movie-makers United Artists had
Epstein attempted to run The been prepared to go to 20.
Beatles with military precision, Even more costly was the
introducing showbusiness rules to agreement to sign away 90 per
make them more marketable. The cent of the band’s merchandising
collarless ‘Nehru’ suits that became rights, a fiasco often held up
early ‘uniforms’ were his idea, while as evidence of his financial
he insisted on punctuality. incompetence. It was, in fact, a
Bill Harry explains: “Brian was a decision driven by his lawyer,
creative person with no outlet until David Jacobs, to whom he had
Epstein outside the
he found The Beatles. What he was Saville Theatre, whic h given Power Of Attorney.
good at was presentation… He took he leased in 1965 The 10 per cent Epstein
them to the Empire (Theatre) to see received was more like the

The life
© Getty Images
of Brian
Cilla Black holds her Silver Disc for
Anyone Who Had A Heart alongside
Epstein, her manager and promoter
percentage the licensing company would girl Cilla Black, his longest-lasting group, felt everything possible had been
have expected to have made, leading success, through the briefly popular achieved in terms of live performance.
some to believe the proposition by Billy J Kramer to the unpromising Epstein returned to his first love, the
businessman Nicky Byrne, who operated Tommy Quickly. “Tom Parker couldn’t theatre, by leasing the Saville Theatre in
as Stramsact in the UK and Europe and understand why Brian kept signing act London. He looked at signing more acts,
Seltaeb in the United States, had been after act when he already had the world’s notably American group The Cyrkle, but
misinterpreted by Jacobs. The lawyer’s most successful group on which to time had moved on and he was woefully
reported comment to Epstein, “10 per concentrate,” Bill Harry commented. out of touch with musical trends.
cent is better than nothing”, reflects He may have been being prudent As Brian Epstein did not socialise
both naivety and the fact that much putting his eggs in several baskets, but with The Beatles, they were unaware
merchandise already existed from which as The Beatles’ success spiralled, Epstein his private life had taken a major
the band did not benefit at all. had understandably less time to devote to downturn through prescription
Seltaeb (Beatles spelled backwards) other artists. Kramer and Black had both drugs and gambling. Epstein was also
licensed over 150 different items enjoyed breakthrough hits with Beatle- homosexual – hardly unusual in the pop
internationally, from scarves and penned material produced management game. But
T-shirts to dolls, mugs and wigs. The by George Martin, but the life was difficult for gay
royalty rate was raised to 49 per cent in band had now gone their men then, and it is a sad
late 1964 at an embarrassed Epstein’s own way and were no irony he died the month
insistence, but the boom period was longer as biddable. before homosexuality was
already over. The Beatles’ decision to decriminalised in Britain.
retire from live work in Epstein had been arrested
COSTLY PRUDENCE 1966 diminished Epstein’s in 1957 for ‘persistent
The Beatles’ success enabled Brian importance at a stroke. importuning’ in a north
Epstein to develop a stable of acts. Ringo Starr later felt London toilet; even in later
Gerry And The Pacemakers were the coming off the road “left a years, he often took risks
first, and in a short while, the roll-call void” in his manager’s life and was sometimes beaten
ranged from former Cavern coat-check but believed Brian, like the up by casual pickups.

“I read the news today…”
n ad Brian Epstein died in August 1967 of accidental overdose
Epstein pictured with Cream’s Jack Bruce, Eric Clapto n
Ginger Baker alongside record executive Ahmet Ertegu
© Getty Images
© Getty Images
The Beatles had been well aware amount to much without The Beatles and And that rise, of course, continued;
of his sexuality, but it did not affect he was unwilling to include his flagship Neil Aspinall, who had given up his day
their relationship. Paul defended him, act in any putative deal. He brought job as an accountant to become their
famously ostracising a long-time friend in Australian Robert Stigwood, later road manager, eventually took over
who mocked his manager, but John used manager of Cream and the Bee Gees, as as head of Apple. But it was Epstein’s
it to his advantage. He went on holiday joint managing director to share the load, successor, Allen Klein, who became the
with Epstein to Spain in April 1963 – but with Brian’s five-year contract with catalyst for their disbandment, proving
and, despite subsequent speculation, The Beatles set to expire in October, the how effective the quiet Liverpool
McCartney believes Lennon was summer of 1967 was an uncertain time. businessman had been in keeping four
establishing an unofficial position as disparate characters on the same page.
‘group leader’ and that nothing actually PRINCE OF POP His realm was strictly non-musical.
happened between them. One of Epstein’s last major acts for While watching the group record at
Three-and-a-half years later, in August The Beatles that year was to renegotiate Abbey Road studios, Brian had remarked
1966, Epstein was unable to attend the their EMI contract. They would that one of the vocalists was flat, only to
Fab Four’s final show at San Francisco’s henceforth be on a 10 per cent royalty, be curtly told: “We’ll do the songs, you
Candlestick Park because a manfriend rising to 15 per cent on sales in excess keep on counting the percentages.” But
had robbed him of a case containing of 10,000 and 30,000 for singles and that same Beatle, John Lennon, later
pills, money said: “When we
and documents.
According to “When we were on the wrong track he told us so were on the right
track he knew it,
attorney Nat
Weiss, that – and he was usually right” JOHN LENNON
and when we were
on the wrong
accounted for “his track he told us so
first major depression, the start of his album respectively. Paul McCartney – and he was usually right.”
loss of confidence”. has since described these as “long-term Brian Epstein’s achievements have
It may come as a surprise to learn that slave contracts”, but interestingly, been recognised since his death. A stage
the intensely private Epstein published the guaranteed flow of albums it show Epstein – The Man Who Made The
an autobiography, A Cellarful Of Noise, in promised until 1976 was ‘collectively or Beatles enjoyed a West End run in 2014,
1964. His motivation was “to put down individually’; their manager, it seems, the same year a blue plaque was unveiled
at an early stage an accurate account of was already foreseeing a split. at Sutherland House, next to the London
the emergence of The Beatles and other The Brian Epstein story ended Palladium, where Epstein was based
artistes from my own point of view. So tragically on 27 August 1967 with the from 1964 to ’67. The former Cranes
much has been said that is exaggerated, discovery of his body in his Belgravia, Music Hall/Neptune Theatre building
inaccurate, extravagant and open to London, flat; whether the drug overdose in Liverpool’s Hanover Street now bears
misinterpretation that I thought that a that ended his life was deliberate has his name.
detailed account could only help…” never been ascertained. The Daily The final word comes from Andrew
Ghostwritten by sometime Beatles Mirror’s headline proclaimed him the Loog Oldham, the one-time Rolling
press man Derek Taylor, Lennon joked ‘Beatle-making Prince Of Pop’. But those Stones manager. “Brian made it all
that it should have been titled A Cellarful events were already five years old; his possible. He told them who they could
Of Boys. relevance was waning. The landscape be and helped them become it. The
Epstein several times got close to had changed, and Epstein had no further Beatles changed our lives. Brian Epstein
selling NEMS, but the company did not role to play in the rise of The Beatles. changed theirs.”

Dick Rowe at Decca,
circa 1965, with a
display of records
© Getty Images
behind him – by artists

other than The Beatles
VRP04.Decca.For Print.indd 42 15/02/2017 11:55

THE DECCA
DEBACLE
SO WHO WAS THE MAN THAT NOTORIOUSLY TURNED
DOWN THE BEATLES AT THEIR FIRST FORMAL AUDITION
FOR A RECORD COMPANY? JULIE BURNS DIGS INTO
THE MYSTERY TO UNEARTH THE PRIME SUSPECTS
C
omplexity surrounds been Epstein’s first Beatles-blagging boys were naturally keen to impress.
the twisting tale of port of call in London. That Brian was a Pete Best said a lot of thought had gone
The Beatles’ famous major NEMS (North End Music Stores) into the song choices; though John
turn-down. Who would representative clinched it. Stevens dismissed it largely as “weird novelty
want to confess to responded: “They’re one of our biggest things”, and Paul called it a “fairly
being responsible for customers! Yes, yes, the band has to silly repertoire”. Only three original
what is quite probably have an audition.” Mike Smith was then compositions – Like Dreamers Do, Hello
the biggest mistake in contemporary duly despatched to Liverpool to watch Little Girl and Love Of The Loved – were
musical history? The Beatles play live at the Cavern. included: the remaining dozen were
Central to the intrigue are three Sufficiently impressed, he offered proven Cavern crowd-pleasing covers
often-interlinked characters. They are the band the famous demo recording – from rockers Money and Memphis,
long-serving Decca A&R chief Dick audition in London – on 1 January. Tennessee to standards such as Bésame
Rowe, Rowe’s assistant, Mike Smith, Mucho and The Sheik Of Araby.
and ex-Shadows drummer turned … AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR Beatles blogger Bill Covington says
producer, Tony Meehan. Rowe enjoyed New Year’s Day 1962 did not start too the audition acted as a “demonstration
industry respect from having signed promisingly. While Epstein travelled of the demarcation between the north
Tommy Steele to producing hits for Billy by train, the pre-Fab Four – John, Paul, and the south… in a literal sense played
Fury and Marty Wilde. Beyond The George and Pete Best – plus equipment, out by Tony Meehan.” Now a fledgling
Beatles’ Decca debacle, Rowe would were driven by roadie Neil Aspinall on a producer at Decca in the aftermath
go on to produce artists such as Van nine-hour trip through snow the night of his trailblazing with The Shadows,
Morrison and The Rolling Stones. Yet before. Fed up, they eventually arrived historically, the role of Meehan here is
his is the name most inextricably linked in town around 10pm. a contradictory one. According to Bruce
with the seismic non-signing. Next morning, in the freezing cold Pollock’s 2011 book, If You Like The
As to who suggested The Beatles of the West Hampstead studios, all Beatles: “Ironically, after The Beatles’
audition for Decca in the first place, were on edge. To Epstein’s fury, The unsuccessful audition for Mike Smith
it was then label head of sales, Sidney Beatles arrived late – but not as late as at Decca Records, Brian Epstein paid
Beecher-Stevens. According to Bob Decca guy Smith. Further nerves were Tony Meehan, former drummer for The
Spitz’s seminal Beatles biography, it’s added by Smith employing Decca’s Shadows, to produce the same 15-song
how he actioned an internal call from own amplifiers to clean up the sound. Decca audition tape that wound up in
Liverpool Echo pop writer to Decca This was their first formal audition front of George Martin a few months
copywriter Tony Barrow – that he’d for a British record company, and the later.” Other sources – such as The ➨

© Getty Images
Mike Smith of
Decca Records at a
Wee Willie Harris
recording session
Former Shadows drummer
© Getty Images
Tony Meehan, who could’ve
been instrumental in The
Beatles auditon, pictured at
a recording studio in 1963
Beatles Diary author Barry Miles – agree went to Decca once. Taking all factors
BEATLES FOR SALE that Tony Meehan was present in the into consideration, it must be considered
As for the sale of the ‘original safety master tape’ control room at the New Year’s Day unlikely that Meehan worked with The
of the group’s audition in 1962, on its auction in ‘artist test’. Yet in The Beatles – All These Beatles.” In any event, he presumably
2012, ambiguity reigned again. The Telegraph
Years, well-regarded Beatles author Mark would never have had the authority to
reported that after an initial legal challenge by EMI,
Lewisohn relates US radio host Paul turn down The Beatles.
the tape was sold by auctioneers The Fame Bureau
to a Japanese collector for a cool £35,000. Current Drew’s key 1975 interview: “I once asked Kicking off at 11am, they played live
scholarship casts doubt on its authenticity, however. Tony Meehan whether he produced what for an hour, recorded for posterity on
The tape of the audition contains 15 songs, where is known as The Beatles Decca session a mono, two-track tape. With head
the tape auctioned has only 10, and is on ‘Ampex’ and he answered with a well-supported honcho Rowe away in the States, Smith
tape – not in use in 1962. The tape reveals its origin ‘no’, but one of his then-colleagues (Tony promised to call Epstein, and proceeded
to be a ‘grey market’ release – with a marking Calder) says he did and just wouldn’t to cut demo discs of Lennon-McCartney
of BSR 1111 A and BSR 1111 B. Backstage Records admit to it… insists Meehan confessed it originals Like Dreamers Do and Hello
released a record – (BSR 1111) – in 1982 with these to him years later.” Little Girl, for Rowe’s assessment.
songs in the same order and same timing as the Yet, as Lewishohn ponders: “If Meehan Subject to his superior’s go-ahead, Smith
tape. Their source is cited as a tape made from the
did make the tape, though, where is assumed The Beatles would be inked by
original Decca Tapes bootleg on Circuit Records. The
the recording made by Mike Smith and Decca. No less confident was Epstein,
buyer may have paid the highest price ever for very
likely an old vinyl bootleg dub from the 70s… Such engineer Mike Savage? They surely who by 24 January, officially signed The
is the lure of the legendary Beatles Decca session. did something, but The Beatles only Beatles to a management deal.

vogue for vocalists – Bobbies Vee, Rydell
POOLE ON THE BILL and Darin, Dion, Frankie Avalon – as IT’S A ‘NO’ FROM US…
What neither he nor The Beatles had proof, adding The Beatles’ sound was The Beatles’ now-celebrated audition setlist that
bargained for was that they would be too similar to The Shadows. Epstein somehow did not seal the deal…
in direct competition with Brian Poole still pleaded to see him in person; Rowe Like Dreamers Do (John Lennon/Paul McCartney)
And The Tremeloes – the latter’s own agreed to meet the following week. Written in 1959, one of the earliest songs credited to
Lennon-McCartney.
Decca audition session said to have taken Incredibly, before then, on 3 February,
place later the same day. Economies at Rowe secretly took a train to Liverpool Money (That’s What I Want) (Gordy/Bradford)
Decca meant only one act could be signed with the intention of anonymously Till There Was You (Meredith Wilson)
at a time: The Tremeloes were chosen ‘auditioning’ The Beatles himself by A private pressing featuring this plus Hello Little Girl,
over The Beatles. Mindful of injuring catching them incognito at the Cavern. was auctioned in March 2016. Originally valued at
a profitable retail relationship with Yet on arrival, soon put off by the £10,000, the disc finally sold for £77,500.
Epstein, Decca delayed in telling him. pouring rain, ‘creepy’ Mathew Street and The Sheik Of Araby (Smith/Wheeler/Snyder)
Though Dick Rowe had listened to both the crowd of kids, fatefully, he turned on Unusually, George took over lead vocals at the audition.
The Beatles and the Tremeloes’ audition his heel without ever witnessing them. To Know Her Is To Love Her (Phil Spector)
Take Good Care Of My Baby (King/Goffin)
ACCORDING TO DICK ROWE, IT WAS

Memphis, Tennessee (Chuck Berry)
Sure To Fall (In Love With You)
UP TO MIKE SMITH – THE BEATLES,

(Cantrell/Claunch/Perkins)
Hello Little Girl (Lennon/McCartney)
OR BRIAN POOLE AND THE TREMELOES Three Cool Cats (Leiber/Stoller)

Crying, Waiting, Hoping (Buddy Holly)
Love Of The Loved
tapes, he preferred the latter’s more Dejected at rejections from the rest (Lennon/McCartney)
‘Decca sound’. On 1 February, he finally of Britain’s then-few record companies September In The Rain
returned Epstein’s beleaguered calls – EMI, Pye and Phillips – by his next (Warren/Dubin)
with a first rejection. Decca lunch meeting, Epstein was Besamé Mucho
Rowe’s assistant Smith can be seen desperate to rekindle a deal. Rowe – (Consuelo Velázquez)
as the fall guy in the decision-making. with Sidney Arthur Beecher-Stevens in Searchin’ (Leiber/Stoller)
According to Rowe’s later quote on tow – were defiantly against. Epstein With misremembered
the matter: “I told Mike he’d have to said they were making the “mistake of lyrics that somehow
decide between them. It was up to him their careers”. In his memoir, Epstein included Peter Gunn.
– The Beatles, or Brian Poole And The recalls shouting at Rowe: “You must be Available on the 1995
Tremeloes. He said: ‘They’re both good, out of your mind. These boys are going Beatles Anthology:
but one’s a local group, the other comes to explode. I am completely confident Searchin’; Like Dreamers
from Liverpool.’ We decided it was better that one day they will be bigger than Do, Hello Little Girl,
Elvis Presley.’” Rowe suggested Epstein Three Cool Cats, The
to take the local group. We could work
Sheik of Araby
with them more easily and stay closer in had his own good record business back
touch, as they came from Dagenham.” in Liverpool and “should stick to that”.
Epstein wrote in his 1964 book, A Yet in complete contradiction, Mark there was nothing doing with
Cellarful Of Noise, that Rowe told him: Lewisohn’s Beatles book states that in Decca,” Epstein writes.
“Not to mince words, Mr Epstein, we 1981, Rowe denied this ever took place. Still in possession of The Beatles’
don’t like your boys’ sound. Groups of Epstein alleged that, as a lone Decca audition tapes, Epstein visited
guitarists are on the way out.” Rowe concession, Rowe then recommended Oxford Street’s EMI-owned HMV store,
then pointed to the latest American hiring Tony Meehan for around £100 transferring the Decca tape to 78-rpm
expenses to produce a recording of The acetates on-site. Disc-cutter Jim Foy
Beatles at Decca. Epstein’s memoir says liked the recordings and told Epstein
he did meet Meehan the next day at the to contact Sid Coleman, head of EMI’s
Hampstead studios – but left upset, record-publishing division. Coleman
after Meehan’s grudging agreement. crucially sent Epstein to A&R manager
“The date was arranged, but later George Martin, at EMI subsidiary,
abandoned because I felt that no useful Parlophone – and the rest is momentous
purpose was served. I realised that musical history.

Album Insight
PLEASE PLEASE ME
THE BEATLES’ DEBUT ALBUM WAS RECORDED IN LESS THAN A DAY,
ALMOST PUT JOHN LENNON IN HOSPITAL, AND CHANGED POP
MUSIC FOREVER SAYS ED MITCHELL
I
t’s 11 February 1963 at the EMI a cold, over the course of the day’s night recording of Twist And Shout in
Studios on Abbey Road in London. endeavours, he’s given his larynx a Studio 2 had to have come bloody close.
As the clock hits 10.30pm, John thorough seeing to belting out vocals on Listening to it now, you can practically
Lennon, stripped to the waist and Arthur Alexander’s Anna (Go To Him), hear Lennon’s lungs shredding and
clutching his Rickenbacker 325 the Shirelles hit Baby It’s You and a his spit hitting the microphone shield.
guitar, approaches his microphone bunch of other tracks. Worried that an They tried for a second run, but Lennon
down in Studio 2. Lennon and his early attempt at Twist And Shout would was completely spent after the first
fellow Beatles have been recording for jeopardise the recording of the other take. Besides, a stunned George Martin
almost 10 hours. They have the bulk of songs on the to-do list, George Martin and crew knew they had witnessed an
a debut album in the can, 10 tracks, but insisted that the song be recorded last. incredible performance.
producer George Martin wants one more This, then, is your classic do or die
song. After a short meeting in the canteen, scenario. The Beatles, imagining the ALL YOU NEED IS… TALENT
Martin, Lennon, Paul McCartney, George studio personnel are their usual teenage In terms of impact, the recording of
Harrison and Ringo Starr had settled on audience, pour everything they have into Twist And Shout was like pulling the pin
a blast through the Isley Brothers’ ’62 their performance. Just two minutes and on a hand grenade. It came to symbolise
hit Twist And Shout. Now, with the clock 32 seconds later, it’s all over. the band at the height of Beatlemania
ticking away mercilessly on the control- Fans that had caught The Beatles in and remains a standout track on the Fab
room wall, the lads are left with barely their early days at The Cavern Club Four’s first LP.
enough time for a couple of takes. And in Liverpool’s Mathew Street, always The second-most-important debut
there’s another problem. maintained that the band never captured album of all time (Elvis Presley’s first
Lennon’s voice is shot to hell. He’s the excitement of its live performances RCA long player gets top billing), Please
not only under the weather and nursing in the studio. Maybe so… but that late- Please Me was released on 22 March 1963 ➨
VRP04.Please Please Me LP.For Print.indd 46 15/02/2017 10:18

© Getty Images
John and Paul share a

mic onstage during a
1963 live show

damage limitation. Martin had
decided the album could be cut
in two sessions in one day. When
he realised they were running
out of time, an evening session
on EMI’s Parlophone imprint. The album was booked to get the last tracks
was almost called Off The Beatle Track, a in the bag. In total, the day’s
pun suggested by George Martin who had booking cost £400. The Beatles
form with comedy greats Peter Sellers, received £7.50 each per session.
Spike Milligan, Harry Secombe and The idea behind Please Please
Michael Bentine, aka The Goons. Martin Me was to get as close to The
also planned to shoot the band outside Beatles’ live sound as possible.
the insect house at London Zoo for the George Martin had actually
album sleeve, but settled for the stairwell considered recording the
at EMI HQ when permission was denied. album at the Fabs’ spiritual
home, The Cavern Club,
INTRODUCING THE BAND
Please Please Me was recorded fast
and rush-released to capitalise on The The album proved George Martin had
Beatles’ No. 1 hit 45 of the same name.
Well, that’s almost the full story. The made peace with his earlier notion that
truth is, George Martin had a small
budget to play with. He’d taken a punt
on these kids from Liverpool who’d been
The Beatles needed a defined frontman
knocked back by every record company in front of a live audience. He even visited got two songs, Chains and Do You Want
their increasingly exasperated manager the venue in December 1962 to see what To Know A Secret while Ringo did a pretty
Brian Epstein had approached. Poor he was dealing with, but ultimately good job with the raucous Boys.
old Dick Rowe at Decca had infamously (in what is possibly the biggest missed Of course, Please Please Me is pivotal,
passed on the band after their audition on opportunity ever), time constraints meant because it redefined the rock group as
1 January 1962, supposedly uttering his that he ended up booking the studio in a self-contained unit. The established
now epic: “guitar groups are on their way Abbey Road instead. Larry Parnes blueprint of a) finding a
out, Mr. Epstein”. Please Please Me is an album of firsts naive pretty boy, b) giving him a stage
While the smart money said Martin and lasts. It was the last time John name – Marty Wilde, Billy Fury etc – and
was wasting his time with these kids, the and Paul’s self-penned songs would be c) calling on the songwriters of Denmark
producer knew he was onto something. credited to ‘McCartney-Lennon’; the bill Street for a three-minute belter, well,
He was, however shrewd enough to figure matter was subsequently switched to The Beatles killed all that. John and Paul
that the album had to be cut cheap and the more fluent sounding and familiar not only wrote their own material, they
fast, if only for the purposes of ‘Lennon-McCartney’, much to Macca’s insisted on recording it. It was that drive
ages
apparent annoyance. Egos aside, the to only cut their own songs as singles
© Getty Im
album established a Beatle blueprint. that led to the creation of the album’s
For starters, it proved that George masterpiece, the title track.
Martin had made peace with his
earlier notion that The Beatles needed TRIPLE THREAT
a defined frontman. “Please Please Me is my song completely,”
It eventually dawned on him that said Lennon. “It was my attempt at
John and Paul could job-share. writing a Roy Orbison song.” Fair
Furthermore, George and Ringo enough, but when George Martin first
would also get a spotlight vocal on heard the track he was unimpressed,
Beatle records. On Please Please Me, later describing it as “dreary”. There
that meant was no chance it was single material at
George that point, although there was talk of it
ending up as a B-side to the band’s debut
single Love Me Do. Singles were a bone
of contention between Martin and John
and Paul. He’d wanted a Mitch Murray
tune called How Do You Do It? for the
boys’ first 45, but after some publishing
issues muddied the waters, he
released John and Paul’s melodically
ifth
From the start, ‘F rtin basic, but atmospheric tune Love Me
Beatle’ Ge orge Ma Do instead.
rds
played on the recoges Three versions of Love Me Do
of his char
were recorded. The first was a demo

© Getty Images
Posing with George

Martin for some
Please Please Me
press in 1963
recorded with original drummer Pete

Best on 6 June 1962. The next, featuring
following year, reaching No. 1 on the
New Musical Express and Melody Maker LINER NOTES
new drummer Ringo Starr, was cut on
4 September that year. The final version,
charts. While second-division Epstein
signings Gerry And The Pacemakers took
PLEASE PLEASE ME
PARLOPHONE 1963
recorded on 11 September, has session How Do You Do It? to No. 1, The Beatles
ace Andy White on the drum throne had made their point and would only cut TRACKLISTING PERSONNEL
with Ringo relegated to tambourine. their own material on singles. Side A John Lennon
Confusingly, Ringo’s take was released as Please Please Me was a game-changer, I Saw Her Rhythm guitar, harmonica,
the single on 5 October, while White’s cut although viewed through the post-Oasis Standing There handclaps, vocals
appeared on the Please Please Me album prism of Beatle adulation, you could be Misery Paul McCartney
along with his playing on P.S. I Love You forgiven for thinking the Fab Four didn’t Bass, handclaps, vocals
Anna (Go To Him)
which had been the B-side of Love Me Do. exist before they cut Tomorrow Never Chains George Harrison
Rhythm and lead guitar,
Knows in 1966. Their musical growth rate Boys handclaps, vocals
ERA DEFINING was incredible, no doubt about it – only Ask Me Why Ringo Starr
The single had reached No. 17, which four years separated the recording of Love Please Please Me Drums, percussion,
wasn’t a bad start, but not enough to Me Do and Strawberry Fields Forever, handclaps, vocals
Side B
convince Martin’s label that he had a hit after all – but that determination to not George Martin
Love Me Do
group on his hands. With the producer only write their own material but improve Piano (Misery),
P.S. I Love You celesta (Baby It’s You)
set to record The Beatles’ second single, with every release began with that taut
Baby It’s You Andy White
and with no decent original song in the 10-hour recording session on 11 February
Do You Want To Drums (Love Me Do
frame, he brought up that Mitch Murray 1963. The competitive spirit and creative
Know A Secret? and P.S. I Love You)
tune again. The suggestion lit a fire under explosion that defined pop and rock in
A Taste Of Honey
Lennon who, with Martin’s help, pimped the 60s began with Please Please Me.
There’s A Place
Please Please Me with a tempo upgrade, All of a sudden, being a pop star
Twist And Shout
vocal harmonies and more hooks than took more than a haircut and the right
the Norwegian fishing fleet – not least trousers. Thanks to The Beatles, you CHART
Beatle George’s precision guitar parts and had to write your own material and, PLACINGS
Lennon’s harp blasts. like Lennon had on Twist And Shout, NO. 1 – UK N/A – USA
Recorded on 26 November 1962, the make sure that every single performance NO. 4 – GERMANY
single was released on 11 January the sounded like your life depended on it.

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© Getty Images
THE
SOUND
OF THE
CROWD
IN JUST 13 MONTHS, THE BEATLES WERE
TRANSFORMED FROM A REGIONAL BAND TO
THE BIGGEST STARS IN BRITAIN. RANDY FOX
CHRONICLES THE WILD YEAR OF 1963 THAT
WITNESSED THE BIRTH OF BEATLEMANIA
T
he final weeks of December rumours that the band’s manager, Brian
1962 were not the happiest Epstein, had personally ordered 10,000
of times for The Beatles. copies to ‘fix’ the rankings.
In October, Love Me Do, The Beatles’ live appearances outside
the group’s first single, was of Liverpool provided even less fuel for
released. Although it was optimism. A 2 December performance
a smash hit in Liverpool, in Peterborough, opening for Australian
that was not the case across the rest crooner Frank Ifield, was a disaster of
of Britain. The single meandered audience indifference. On 18 December
about, picking up airplay on Radio they began a 13-day residency at the
Luxembourg and a few scattered Star-Club in Hamburg. Not only were
spins on the BBC. Two months after they leaving Britain just as their single
its release, it managed to sneak onto appeared on the charts, but a record
national Top 20, rising to No. 17 amidst contract was supposed to be their
persistent (though never proven) ticket away from gruelling, marathon
Beatlemania in full swing,

as jubilant fans hold up
their concert tickets in
Lewisham, London, in
November 1963 THE BEATLES: COLLECTORS EDITION VINTAGE ROCK 53
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THE SOUND OF quotes, and Paul, George and Ringo
THE CROWD
all had their own unique and genuine
personalities. For music journalists jaded
by scores of by-the-numbers pop stars,
The Beatles gave them material to really
dig into and write about.
The ability to charm interviewers
with wit and cheek led to frequent radio
appearances, drawing new fans to their
records and live appearances. From Me
To You, a new Lennon and McCartney
composition not available on the Please
Please Me LP, was released in April
and shot to No. 1 on all four charts. The
Beatles’ success was definitely not a
© Getty Images
fluke, and they were quickly becoming a

The Beatles and George Martin with their musical sensation.
Silver disc for selling 250,000 copies of
the Please Please Me single Momentum was amply demonstrated
as they began their third national tour
on 18 May. Just three months earlier, the
bookings. The final blow came when they with an album while the group was quartet had been at the bottom of the bill
returned home to find the UK in the grip still at the forefront of the minds of the under a British pop singer with slipping
of one of coldest and harshest winters on record-buying public. As soon as he saw record sales. Now they were at the top
record. Even Mother Nature seemed to Please Please Me moving up the charts, of the bill above an American rock ’n’
have it in for the lads. he corralled the group into EMI’s Abbey roll star – Roy Orbison. The placement
Road Studios in London on Monday bothered the group because of their
RISING STARS 11 February for a marathon session. sincere admiration for Orbison, but the
What no one could have predicted Martin was keen to capture the bespectacled Texan took the billing in
was that the next 13 months would excitement of the band’s already honed his stride, especially after witnessing
bring one of the most startling career live act. Putting the group through their the resounding screams of hysteria
transformations ever. John, Paul, George paces on both original material and unleashed by female fans the moment
and Ringo soon became superstars covers, he recorded 10 songs which – The Beatles took the stage.
across the UK and parts of Europe, and along with the four sides of their two Another measure of The Beatles
The Beatles would be on the verge of singles – combined into a hot platter of popularity was evident in the mail
conquering the United States with the top-quality rock ’n’ roll. pouring into their official Fan Club.
pop-culture pandemic, ‘Beatlemania’.
The Beatles’ fortunes began to change
on 13 January 1963, when the band George Martin recorded 10 songs which,
taped their first appearance on the ABC
Television programme Thank Your with the four sides of their two singles,
Lucky Stars. Broadcast six days later and
just eight days after the release of their
second single, Please Please Me, it saw the
was a hot platter of top-quality rock ’n’ roll
group lip-syncing for the cameras, while SOUND AND VISION Brian Epstein had hired 17-year-old
over six million snowbound teenagers Released on 22 March, the Please Please Liverpudlian Beatles fan Freda Kelly
watched in fascination. Me LP took off immediately and by May, to oversee the organisation in early
The next few weeks were filled was at the top of the UK album charts. It 1962. By the middle of 1963, she was
with local performances and radio also proved to be a hit with many critics. overwhelmed with thousands of
appearances. On 2 February, they Accustomed to pop albums that were membership applications. Additional
departed on their first national tour, simply nothing more than an attempt staff were hired and the fan club was
at the bottom of a bill headlined by to cash in on a hit, they recognised divided up into a northern region run by
16-year-old pop singer, Helen Shapiro. In the difference in the first Beatles LP. Kelly in Liverpool and a southern region
the meantime, the spark of fascination Even the cover of the four Beatles administered by the London office of
kindled by The Beatles’ Thank Your peering down from a balcony at EMI’s Brian Epstein’s talent-management firm.
Lucky Stars appearance grew to a steady headquarters on London’s Manchester Because The Beatles were spending
flame as teens across the UK flocked to Square gave it a different feel from less time in Liverpool, the decision was
buy copies of Please Please Me – bringing the standard well-groomed photos of made to move to London. Brian Epstein
it to No. 2 on the Record Retailer chart manufactured pop stars. Here were four secured a fourth-floor flat in Mayfair,
and No. 1 on the Melody Maker, New cheeky, working-class lads making good and the quartet lived together for a few
Musical Express and Disc charts by the on their own talent. months, away from the growing number
start of March. The British music press had already of watchful fans. Through July and
The band’s producer, George Martin, picked up on that image. John in August, they divided their time between
knew it was important to follow a hit particular frequently provided pithy live appearances across the UK and

Bruce Forsyth reveals
the band during
Sunday Night At The
London Palladium,
October 1963
Below: Fans attempt to

gatecrash rehearsals
at the Prince Of Wales
Theatre in London in
November 1963
© Getty Images
in Greece, while John and On 13 October 1963, the Beatles

his wife Cynthia enjoyed appeared on Sunday Night At The
a belated honeymoon in London Palladium, the UK’s top-rated
Paris. George took the variety TV show. Over 15 million
chance to travel to the US viewers tuned into the live broadcast.
with his brother Peter, After a short appearance at the start of
to visit their sister who the programme, The Beatles returned
lived in the small town to close the show. They performed
of Benton, Illinois, with three songs, driving the teens in the
her American husband. audience into a screaming frenzy. The
George later joked about screaming reached such a pitch that
cutting tracks for their next album and a his trip, calling it a “reconnaissance Paul was drowned out when he tried to
new single in the Abbey Road studios. mission” for The Beatles’ invasion of the announce their final number. After John
The Beatles’ fourth single, She Loves US. As crazy as their lives seemed, this yelled at the audience to “Shut up”, Paul
You, was released on 23 August. Before it small respite from fans, performance instructed them to clap along and stamp
even hit stores, it was already shattering venues and recording studios proved to their feet to Twist And Shout.
records. Over 500,000 advance orders be the calm before the storm. The frenzied fans – both inside and
were placed by eager retailers. It entered outside the theatre – inspired hyperbolic
the charts the week after its release and SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT stories in the morning papers. Although
set up camp for an astounding 31-week October was a turning point for the band. the crowd on the street had been small,
run. August also brought the debut of The frenzy over their records and live the tabloids took great liberties with
The Beatles Book Monthly, a magazine appearances had been steadily increasing their descriptions. The Daily Express and
that provided the ever-growing number for months, and the British music press the Daily Mail estimated the crowd of
of Beatles fans with a constant supply of had embraced their success and celebrity. screaming, violent teenagers to number
information and photos. With the arrival of autumn, The Beatles 500, and the Daily Mirror doubled that
As She Loves You was conquering phenomenon came to the attention of the for their imaginative estimate, claiming
the charts, The Beatles actually had a British mainstream press. Newspapers 1,000 teenagers had overwhelmed a
small break in their schedule, playing across the country had published cordon of policemen.
only eight live dates in the first half of occasional light looks at the band and Although the truth of the evening’s
September before taking two weeks off their fans in the back pages of the papers, events was far less sensational, the
during the latter portion of the month. but one incident propelled the band to tabloids had discovered the most valued
Paul and Ringo departed for a holiday front-page headlines. prize in journalism – a story that sells

THE SOUND OF
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THE CROWD
© Getty Images
The audience is whipped up
into a frenzy, 1963-style,
at a concert in a UK cinema
newspapers. Younger fans bought almost television and radio. The next morning
any publication featuring their heroes, they attempted some sightseeing in
and Beatle-centric stories also appealed Stockholm, but quickly discovered that
to older readers as a source of amusement ‘Beatles fever’ had preceded them. They
or scandal. Even the staid bastion of were mobbed by hundreds of fans –
British journalism, The Times, proved including Swedish boys with Beatles
vulnerable to The Beatles’ charms. ‘Hamlet’ hairstyles. They encountered
Upon the band’s return to London in

October 1963, they were greeted by an
estimated 10,000 fans at Heathrow Airport
After finishing the tracks for their similarly enthusiastic fans on each stop
second album on 23 October, the of the tour. Upon the band’s return to
Beatles departed for their first official London on 31 October, they were greeted
European tour (not counting their earlier by an estimated 10,000 fans gathered
residencies in Germany). They arrived at Heathrow Airport. Newspaper
in Stockholm that evening for a week of journalists, photographers and a BBC A young woman faints at
live appearances, which included five camera crew were also on hand to Lennon’s feet – the note
concerts and appearances on Swedish welcome them home. on the stage is a request
for her favourite song
On 1 November, the group
kicked off another British
tour with a performance in birth to Prince Edward and was not
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. in attendance. The Queen Mother and
The next morning, the Daily Princess Margaret represented her, but
Mirror featured a full page of even with the monarch not present, the
photos of hysterical screaming band’s reputation was on the line.
girls under the headline: Brian Epstein was particularly nervous
‘Beatlemania! It’s happening about the performance – what if the
everywhere… even in sedate audience was indifferent to The Beatles’
Cheltenham.’ The phenomenon rock ’n’ roll? Or worse yet, what if John
now had a name. couldn’t keep his rebellious tendencies
Three days later, The in check and let fly with a disrespectful
Beatles returned to London for comment from the stage?
perhaps their most important Epstein’s jitters proved unfounded.
performance to date, the Royal The Beatles delivered a spectacular and
© Getty Images
Monarchy in the UK: The band Command Performance at the crowd-pleasing performance, and John’s
meet the Queen Mother at the Prince Of Wales Theatre in sense of humour was spot-on when he
Prince Of Wales Theatre in 1963 London. Queen Elizabeth was stepped up to the microphone and said:
just days away from giving “For our last number, I’d like to ask

Beatlemania on the air
© Getty Images
The band play Ready Steady, Go!

for the first time in October 1963
Radio and television played a vital role in the birth of recordings and many of their personal favourite rock ’n’
Beatlemania. The Beatles were naturals for the airwaves roll tunes. At the same time, they appeared as guests on
with their lively and distinct personalities, and the many other radio programmes. The BBC also produced a
programme producers jumped at any chance to book two-hour Beatles Christmas special, From Us To You,
the Fab Four. which was broadcast on 18 December 1963.
During 1963, The Beatles appeared on BBC radio Television also proved to be very Beatle-friendly.
programmes over 26 times. Through interview segments, The band made over 25 appearances in 1963 on regional,
pre-recording performances for airplay and playing live independent and BBC programmes. As with radio,
in the studio, the band made multiple appearances on television producers realised The Beatles were popular
popular programmes such as Here We Go, Pop Inn, with audiences both for their music and their
Saturday Club, Parade Of The Pops and many more. The personalities, and the band appeared on pop music
BBC soon recognised The Beatles’ ability to attract programmes, variety shows and chat shows.
listeners and awarded the group their own 25-minute This exposure, combined with their record sales,
show. A total of 15 episodes of Pop Go The Beatles were constant touring and heavy press coverage, meant that
broadcast between 4 June and 24 September 1963. Each by the latter half of 1963, The Beatles had conquered
episode featured The Beatles performing their current almost every form of media in the UK.

THE SOUND OF
THE CROWD
your help. The people in the cheaper record had been previewed with a single Beatle wigs became a favourite of both
seats, clap your hands, and the rest of release, an unheard of occurrence for a fans and detractors, and devoted fans
you, if you’d just rattle your jewellery.” pop album. Advance orders for the LP collected everything from Beatles
The band’s performance, cheekiness topped 300,000 copies. Across Britain, clothing to sweets. London-based fans
and charm were all the rage in the next copies flew out of shops and into the received the biggest Christmas gift,
day’s papers, as the press’ love affair hands of eager fans, and sales quickly with 16 performances of The Beatles
with The Beatles continued. It was no topped 500,000. British albums simply Christmas Show at the Astoria Cinema
exaggeration to say that Beatlemania had did not sell in those numbers – until now. in Finsbury Park between 24 December
infected Britain across all class lines. Two weeks later, The Beatles returned and 11 January 1964. Along with
The next day, The Beatles returned to to Liverpool to film an episode of the performances by The Beatles and other
the road with a gruelling tour schedule, popular BBC TV show, Juke Box Jury. musical acts, the show featured the four
lads in comedy sketches.
The Beatles returned to their hotel to find On 14 January 1964, The Beatles flew
to France to begin an 18-day residency at
a telegram waiting for them – I Want To the Paris Olympia, where they performed
two or three sets each day. While a
Hold Your Hand was No. 1 in the US few enthusiastic fans greeted them,
they found Parisian audiences far more
sedate than the hysteria in the UK and
criss-crossing Britain and continuing The weekly programme featured a guest Sweden. On the first night’s performance
on into December. On every stop, the panel of judges, evaluating new records at the Olympia, a scuffle broke out
band played to sell-out crowds with a and declaring them as ‘hits’ or ‘misses’. backstage amongst a group of French
constant and ample supply of hysterically Again, The Beatles proved that their photographers. The trouble spilled onto
screaming female fans. charm went beyond their music and their the stage, stopping the show temporarily,
personalities and humour entertained as George narrowly avoided getting
A HOT SECOND over 23 million viewers. injured. Further problems followed when
On 22 November, Parlophone released Christmas brought an explosion of the group’s amplifiers blew fuses in the
the band’s second album, With The Beatles merchandise (both authorised theatre, plunging the band into silence
Beatles. Not a single track from the and pirated) to shops across the country. three times during the performance.

© Getty Images
© Getty Images
Paul, John and George walk down

the Champs-Élysées in Paris,
A policeman jumps into the crowd before a concert at the Olympia
at a Manchester concert in 1963 theatre in January 1964
The evening seemed like a failure. The

Beatles returned to their hotel to find a
telegram waiting for them – I Want To
Hold Your Hand (released in the US right
I’ll buy instead
after Christmas) was No. 1 in the US. As The Beatles phenomenon grew in scale, it soon became
After finishing their Paris engagement, apparent that money was to be made by catering to obsessed
they returned to the UK. British teenagers. Eventually, millions of pounds were spent on
On the morning of 7 February 1964, Beatle-goods, but initially, The Beatles’ manager, Brian Epstein,
failed to see the profit potential. Epstein viewed licensing as
the band boarded a Boeing 707, bound for
merely a form of public relations, and therefore the first Beatles
New York City and their first appearance merchandise – Beatles wigs, sweaters and badges – were
on US TV. Thousands of screaming fans marketed primarily to Beatles Fan Club members.
showed up at Heathrow Airport to bid As Beatlemania spread over the UK in the summer of
them goodbye. Sobbing girls held up 1963, Epstein was soon besieged by novelty-goods
companies seeking to use The Beatles’ name and images
‘We Love You, Beatles’ banners, while
on all manner of merchandise. Epstein stood firm; The
police held them back from the tarmac. Beatles would not directly endorse products, but would
In the span of just 13 months, The grant licences to companies who produced quality products
Beatles had gone from a locally popular at a fair price.
band in the north of England to the By Christmas 1963, shops were bulging with both officially
licensed Beatles products and a large variety of unauthorised
country’s biggest pop stars. Along
items, cranked out by shady manufacturers who hoped to
the way, they inspired a pop-culture escape legal prosecution by changing a single letter (‘Beetles’ as
hurricane the likes of which Britain had opposed to ‘Beatles’). There were plastic guitars, miniature drum
never seen. With their optimism, energy kits, belts, badges, lockets, aprons, jigsaw puzzles, bedspreads, shoulder
and working-class roots, The Beatles bags, kitchen aprons, pencils, buttons, serving trays, bubblegum and
even a confectionary dubbed the ‘Ringo Roll’. It was an onslaught of
were the perfect embodiment of the
merchandise that grew exponentially when the band landed in America.
post-war, post-austerity, ‘new’ Britain.
As the wheels of the plane left the
runway, the same question played on the
minds of all four of the young men: could
they ‘conquer’ America?

VRP04.40.best_beatles.For Print.indd 60 15/02/2017 15:06

GREATEST
40
Beatles
EARLY CLASSICS
IAN RAVENDALE TAKES A CLOSER LOOK AT THE RECORDS
THAT PROPELLED THE FAB FOUR TO WORLDWIDE FAME…
T
here’s no disputing that The Having to play six or seven hours a night haircuts gave notice that The Beatles
Beatles were the greatest, most made the band tighter: their repertoire were different. The touchpaper had
innovative pop band ever. increased and their performing skills been lit; in 1963, the group notched
Simultaneously popular and soared. John and Paul were writing up a string of George Martin-produced,
imaginative, the group’s legacy songs and the lengthy sets allowed them self-written UK No. 1s; a hot streak that
lives on, their influence undeniable. to try out these numbers among the no British act had ever matched. Similar
Every new generation of musicians obligatory rock and pop covers. success rapidly followed in the US, with
owes a debt to The Beatles that cannot The record deal they won with the outfit’s debut on The Ed Sullivan
be overestimated. producer George Martin at Parlophone Show of 9 February 1964 seen by an
John Lennon, Paul McCartney and in 1962 brought The Beatles’ infectious estimated 73 million people. By the first
George Harrison began performing melodies, enthusiastic harmonies, week in April, The Beatles monopolised
as part of varying lineups of The road-tested musicianship and Liverpool the top five positions in the US Billboard
Quarrymen around small venues in wit to a much wider audience. chart. No act has dominated popular
late-1950s Liverpool. By the time they The band were far more interesting culture so quickly and absolutely as
were considered competent enough to than the dull Elvis copyists and novelty The Beatles. So here’s your ticket to ride
gig in the tough nightclubs of Hamburg, record merchants that filled the UK through 40 essential tracks that chart
the band had become The Beatles. charts of the time. Even their ‘moptop’ the Fab Four’s incredible rise… ➨

,
40 GREATEST BEATLES EARLY CLASSICS
THAT’LL BE THE DAY IN SPITE OF ALL THE DANGER

Record Label APPLE RECORDS Record Label APPLE RECORDS
Released 1995 Released 1995
This cover of the Crickets’ That’ll Be Sung by John and recorded at the same
The Day was cut in 1958 at Phillips session as That’ll Be The Day, the Elvis
Sound Recording Service in a terraced Presley-influenced In Spite Of All The
house in Liverpool. The band were Danger was written by a 14-year-old
still The Quarrymen and consisted Paul, who again adds harmony. The
of John Lennon, Paul McCartney and song bears the unique ‘McCartney-
George Harrison on guitars, John Harrison’ credit, on the basis that
‘Duff’ Lowe on piano and drummer George came up with the guitar solo.
Colin Hanton. The group carried their The future Beatles and Hanton took it
instruments and amps on the bus in turns to have the shellac for a week
and then waited for the previous each. It was passed to Lowe, who
clients to finish. This was the first kept it for 23 years. He had it valued
song cut by John, Paul and George by Sotheby’s in 1981 and The Sunday
and cost 17 shillings and sixpence for the recording and the one-off 78 rpm disc. They Times published the story. Paul immediately rang Lowe, wanting to buy the disc. The
played live into a single mic with John singing lead and Paul harmonising throughout, pianist rejected £5,000 for the 78. but the pair eventually settled on what McCartney
as the fledgling Beatles were harmony fanatics even then. The band only had 15 shillings calls in the Anthology television series “a very inflated price”. The ex-Beatle then had
between them so Percy Phillips held on to the 78 until they returned with the difference. replicas privately made which he passed onto friends, such as George Martin.
CRY FOR A SHADOW AIN’T SHE SWEET

Record Label POLYDOR Record Label POLYDOR
To give their voices a rest when A standard from the 1920s that had
playing mammoth sets in Hamburg’s been recorded by many vocalists
Top Ten, Star and Indra nightclubs in and dance bands, the version that
the early 1960s, The Beatles would The Beatles usually included in their
include instrumentals like The Third show was Gene Vincent’s restrained
Man Theme and The Shadows’ 1956 take. The Hamburg audiences
Apache. John had acquired a wanted the band to “mak show”,
Rickenbacker 325 guitar which had a so the band rocked it up for Version
whammy bar and during some time 1 (Anthology 1) which was recorded
off, he and George came up with as part of the June 1961 session
their own Apache to play onstage. produced by German bandleader
On 22 June 1961, the Lennon/ Bert Kaempfert. The Beatles (with
Harrison instrumental became Pete Best on drums) recorded five
The Beatles’ first original to be professionally recorded at a or six numbers backing Tony Sheridan and were then allowed
Hamburg session, where they backed English vocalist Tony Sheridan. to record on their own, choosing Cry For A Shadow and Ain’t She Sweet. Version 2
Following The Beatles’ success, Polydor re-released Cry For A Shadow in 1964 (Anthology 3) is more similar in style to Vincent’s version and was cut in 1969 during a
with Sheridan’s Why as the B-side. break from recording the Abbey Road album.
MY BONNIE
THAT’LL BE THE DAY WAS Record Label POLYDOR

Released 1961
THE FIRST SONG CUT BY

This, The Beatles’ first appearance on
a commercial disc, was recorded as
part of the June 1961 session for Bert
JOHN, PAUL AND GEORGE

Kaempfert, My Bonnie was a rocked
up version of the lullaby My Bonnie
Lies Over The Ocean with Sheridan on
AND COST 17 SHILLINGS lead vocals and lead guitar (although

Harrison plays the opening lead
guitar section). Polydor issued the
AND SIXPENCE FOR THE track (credited to ‘Tony Sheridan and

The Beat Brothers (Germany)/Beatles
RECORDING AND THE

(UK)’ as a single in 1961, where
it made the local German chart.
20-year-old Raymond Jones came
ONE-OFF 78 RPM DISC into the NEMS record shop in Liverpool on 28 October 1961 asking for the record which
store owner Brian Epstein promised to order. A call to his supplier and 200 copies were
ordered; spurring Epstein to visit The Cavern and check out The Beatles.

LOVE ME DO
Record Label PARLOPHONE
Released 1962
When The Beatles supported US star WRITTEN ON THE
TOUR BUS ON THE
Bruce Channel (who was touring the
UK on the strength of his March 1962
hit Hey! Baby), John was inspired by
harmonica player Delbert McClinton’s
solo, which was the record’s main
hook. Lennon’s harmonica became one
WAY TO SHREWSBURY,
of the signature sounds of the early
Beatles records, starting with Love Me FROM ME TO YOU
FOLLOWS THE FORMULA
Do. Three versions of the song were
produced at Abbey Road in June and
September 1962, each with a different
drummer – Pete Best prior to his
sacking, Ringo Starr (a month in the job) and then session player Andy White, as the
previous drum sound wasn’t right. Brian Epstein had become the band’s manager and,
OF PLEASE PLEASE ME
wanting to make sure their first single was a hit, allegedly (though denied by his family)
bought up 10,000 copies of the record for NEMS. Love Me Do reached No. 17 in the charts. AND LOVE ME DO
PLEASE PLEASE ME FROM ME TO YOU
Record Label PARLOPHONE Record Label PARLOPHONE
Love Me Do established The Beatles Written on the tour bus on the way
as a chart act and producer George to Shrewsbury as support to Helen
Martin began the search for a Shapiro, From Me To You follows the
follow-up. John had written Please formula of Please Please Me and
Please Me in his bedroom at Auntie Love Me Do. George Martin ruled
Mimi’s house in Liverpool after being that continuity with the previous
taken with Roy Orbison’s Only The two singles be maintained, via the
Lonely. John’s original version was inclusion once more of John Lennon’s
a mid-tempo ballad and Martin distinctive harmonica. The song title
suggested that it be speeded up, came courtesy of From You To Us,
Everly Brothers-style harmonies the letters column of the New Musical
added, along with a call (John) and Express that was being read on the
response (George and Paul) section bus by the young musicians. When
leading to all three singing the chorus. Lennon’s harmonica the coach got to Shrewsbury, John and Paul played From Me To
had given Love Me Do its standout sound and this was repeated for Please Please Me. You and Thank You Girl to Shapiro, asking her which one would make the best single
After the end of the session, Martin congratulated the band on “making their first No. 1”. A-side. She went for From Me To You, the one the duo also preferred.
HOW DO YOU DO IT THERE’S A PLACE

Record Label APPLE Record Label PARLOPHONE
Famously a March 1963 No. 1 hit by Mainly written by John, There’s A
Gerry And The Pacemakers, How Place was the first song recorded on
Do You Do It had been previously the 11 February 1963 session at EMI
recorded by The Beatles on their that produced the Please Please Me
second EMI session on 4 September album. It demonstrated his ability to
1962. Producer Martin didn’t think express complex ideas within what
any of the four songs recorded on initially seems a simple pop lyric,
their previous session in June had where the singer swerves life’s trials
worked well enough to be a debut and tribulations by escaping into his
single and insisted that they record imagination, the ‘place’ of the song
writer Mitch Murray’s first published title. The song rattles along with
song. The Beatles gave the number two-part harmonies in fourths
more of a rock feel, but succeeded in and fifths, a technique The Beatles
persuading Martin that it wasn’t for fine-tuned over their five years as a live act before becoming a recording band.
them and they’d much rather go with Love Me Do (by this time on its third recording). The dynamism Martin captures is of a group really going for it, determined to show
Several months later, Martin used The Beatles’ arrangement of How Do You Do It with what they could do as both performers and songwriters. Eight out of the album’s 14
The Pacemakers, the second act brought to him by Brian Epstein. songs were written by McCartney-Lennon, as the credits read at this point.

,
DO YOU WANT TO KNOW A SECRET? MISERY

Also determined to establish John Preceding Secret… by several months,
and Paul as songwriters. Brian Misery, from the Please Please Me
Epstein offered Do You Want To album was the first McCartney-Lennon
Know A Secret, a number written song to be recorded by someone other
primarily by Lennon (and sung than The Beatles. The band were on at
on the Please Please Me album the King’s Hall in Stoke-on-Trent on
by George) to Billy J Kramer, his 26 January 1963 and John and Paul
third Liverpool signing after The were refining songs they’d written for
Beatles and Gerry And their debut album. The Hollies were
The Pacemakers. With on the same bill and Graham Nash
I Really Love You by The Stereos and Allan Clarke pitched in lyrical
and I’m Wishing from Disney’s suggestions on Misery. With an eye
Snow White… as possible on John and Paul having a parallel
inspiration for the song, Kramer tried Do You career as songwriters, a demo tape
Want To Know A Secret out in Germany and was unimpressed by the audience was made with Helen Shapiro in mind and sent off to her producer, EMI’s Norrie
reaction. EMI thought otherwise and the number was issued as Kramer’s first single Paramor. Without consulting Shapiro, Paramor declined and it was unsuccessfully
– becoming the first Lennon-McCartney song by another artist to make the charts. recorded by Kenny Lynch (who was on tour with Helen and The Beatles).
I SAW HER STANDING THERE TWIST AND SHOUT

Paul’s spirited “1-2-3-4” count-in Please Please Me’s ’s final recorded song
to the opener on the Please Please was written by American producer
Me LP sets the tone for a record Bert Berns, under the pseudonym of
bursting at the seams with raw ‘Medley-Russell’. The 12-hour session
energy. EMI wanted an album fast was officially finished, but The Beatles
to cash in on the chart success of were one song short. Over a quick
the Please Please Me single and coffee and biscuits in the EMI canteen,
the obvious thing to do was to Twist And Shout – a live favourite –
record the band’s stage show, as was confirmed. Lennon had almost
no rehearsals would be needed. lost his voice by this point, so the
The Beatles had started to attract most vocally demanding number
a large audience of female had been left till last. Stripped to
teenagers and I Saw Her Standing the waist, John delivered what
There was aimed at them. is probably the most raucous,
Written by Paul in 1962, his clumsy opening line of “She was just 17/ never been a explosive, screaming vocal that had been recorded in a UK recording studio up until that
beauty queen” was tweaked by John, who changed the beauty queen reference to point. After their Hamburg apprenticeship, The Beatles were a live band that knocked
“You know what I mean?” – a more risqué phrase at the time. spots off all comers. A second take was attempted, but Lennon’s voice had gone.
SHE LOVES YOU
WRITTEN IN NEWCASTLE
Released 1963
ON 26 JUNE 1963 AFTER A

Written in Newcastle on 26 June 1963
after a gig at the Majestic Ballroom,
She Loves You was the biggest-selling
GIG AT THE MAJESTIC

single of the 1960s. This two minutes
and 20 seconds of perfection had any
homegrown stars still mimicking
BALLROOM, SHE LOVES YOU Elvis contemplating a trip to the

Job Centre. The track fires on all
cylinders from the first second when
WAS THE BIGGEST-SELLING the drums kick in. The ‘oohs!’ (and
the shaking of the famous haircuts
SINGLE OF THE 1960S

that went with it) the ‘yeah, yeah,
yeahs’, the catchy melody and the
speedy tempo pegged She Loves You
as an idiosyncratic masterpiece, confirming the band as the kings of UK pop. Released in
August 1963, the single made No. 1 twice, for four weeks initially, then returning to the
top for a fortnight and only being displaced by I Want To Hold Your Hand in December.

I’LL GET YOU
IT WON’T BE LONG’S
Released 1963
She Loves You’s B-side was originally CLEVER CONTRASTING
USE OF ‘BE LONG’
planned as the follow-up to From
Me To You, but then relegated to the
flipside when John and Paul came
up with She Loves You. Both songs
heavily featured ‘yeah!’ because,
as Lennon later explained, nobody
AND ‘BELONG’ IN
from Liverpool would be singing
‘yes’. John and Paul sing in unison THE SAME SENTENCE
IS A SNEAK PEEK AT THE
for most of the track, dropping in the
occasional harmony to add colour.
After the “there’s gonna be a time”
line, McCartney sings “when I’m
gonna change your mind”, but Lennon sings
“when I’m gonna make you mine”. The fact that this probable mistake went uncorrected
LYRICAL INVENTIVENESS
is likely an indication of the speed that The Beatles and George Martin were working at
in the studio. THAT WAS TO COME
I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND THIS BOY
With advance orders in the UK of Like She Loves You, This Boy was
more than one million, the song written while The Beatles were on
that broke The Beatles in the US in tour. The majority of the song features
January 1964 was written by John John, Paul and George singing three-
and Paul in the basement music part harmony, a trick they’d picked
room of the parents of Jane Asher, up from the Phil Spector-produced
McCartney’s then-girlfriend. The Teddy Bears’ To Know Him Is To Love
number drips optimistic energy Him. The lyrics of This Boy were
and knowing naivety and followed secondary; the song was primarily
unsuccessful US singles releases on a vehicle for the band’s harmonies.
the small Vee Jay and Swan labels. Lennon, in particular, had a fondness
Brian Epstein then managed to sign for melancholy which comes out
them to Capitol, one of America’s here with the ‘this boy’ of the title
biggest record companies, and was determined to give the being a jilted lover waiting for his girlfriend to come back to
label something suitable for the American market. Within a month of its 26 December him after a dalliance with ‘that boy’. The Beatles generally recorded their harmonies
1963 US release, I Want To Hold You Hand was No. 1. A swift booking on the prestigious gathered around one microphone, with John the lower voice, Paul the higher and George
The Ed Sullivan Show achieved the USA’s biggest viewing figures ever. filling in the middle.
IT WON’T BE LONG DON’T BOTHER ME

Knowing they were onto a good Breaking the Lennon and McCartney
thing, EMI had The Beatles back monopoly, Don’t Bother Me from
in the studio to start recording With The Beatles is the first George
their second album a mere five Harrison song to appear on a Beatles
months after the first. This time, album. Penned by the guitarist as
the sessions were spread over an exercise to see if he could write
three months, allowing for more a song, Harrison was ill in bed and
experimentation with studio effects wanting to be left alone during the
like double-tracking. Laid down on band’s six-night residency at the
30 July 1963, It Won’t Be Long was Bournemouth Gaumont in August
a Lennon and McCartney original 1963. Bill Harry, the guiding light
which, like She Loves You (recorded behind the Mersey Beat music paper,
at the start of the month), featured suggests George came up with the
the prominent use of ‘yeah!’, this time in call-and- song to keep him quiet, as Harry would often ask Harrison
response. Even though the lyrical idea (of a boy telling his girlfriend ‘it won’t be long’ that – bearing in mind the success of John and Paul as songwriters – why didn’t
before he’s home to her) is nothing special, the clever contrasting use of ‘be long’ and George have a go himself? Harrison valued his privacy and the subject matter of his
‘belong’ in the same sentence is a sneak peek at the lyrical inventiveness to come. first songwriting credit on a Beatles LP reinforces that.

,
I WANNA BE YOUR MAN MONEY

Following Ringo Starr’s cover of The Recorded by many of the Liverpool
Shirelles’ Boys on the Please Please bands of the period, Money closes
Me album, Lennon and McCartney With The Beatles in the same guttural
decided to come up with an original rock ’n’ roll Lennon style that Twist
vocal spotlight for the drummer to be And Shout had done for the previous
included on With The Beatles. Paul album. A 1960 American Top 30 hit
had started the song, but was having for Barrett Strong, co-written by
trouble finishing it. At this point, The Berry Gordy, one of the track’s main
Rolling Stones weren’t writing their instrumental hooks is the piano
own material and Decca was after a introduction, played here by producer
new single. Manager Andrew Oldham George Martin. The Beatles again
mentioned this to John and Paul and took advantage of call and response
took them to a Stones rehearsal. The to ram the message of the song
duo played the unfinished I Wanna Be Your Man to the band, home. “Gimme money – that’s what I want!” sang John and
saying they’d finish it immediately if Jagger and Co liked what they had so far. They did then Paul. Rock ’n’ roll was seen at the time as being one of the few pathways to riches
– so Lennon and McCartney finished the song there and then. The Beatles version was for the young and The Beatles’ no-nonsense celebration of cash and materialism is
recorded the following day and the Stones’ single reached No. 12. powerfully contradicted just four years later by All You Need Is Love.
A HARD DAY’S NIGHT I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER

A Hard Day’s Night is variously the One of the seven songs from the A Hard
name and soundtrack to The Beatles’ Day’s Night album that featured in the
debut feature film; the first album soundtrack of the film. The Beatles have
made up of all Lennon and McCartney escaped their rampaging fans and made
songs and a No. 1 single in the US it onto a train. With Steptoe And Son
and UK. Director Dick Lester decided actor Wilfred Bramble playing Paul’s
to base the movie on the reality of fictitious grandfather (who the bass
the Fab Four’s lives and dispatched player has been cajoled into looking
Liverpool writer Alun Owen to after for the day), the group adjourn to
follow the band round to witness the mail van and begin playing cards.
Beatlemania at first hand. Ringo These soon metamorphose into guitars,
had used “a hard day’s night” drums and harmonica as the band start
to describe an exhausting day’s playing I Should Have Known Better. The
filming. Lester had told John he liked the phrase and intended to use it as the title of Beatles and George Martin had started recording the track at Abbey
the film. The following day, Lennon came in with a song to go with it. The number has Road on 25 February 1964 where a Bob Dylan-influenced harmonica part from Lennon
one of pop’s most recognisable openings, but the precise musical composition – and was quickly discarded in favour of a return to John’s own more familiar style. As the
who played what – has been hotly contested ever since. band evolved, Dylan’s style would soon become an important touchstone.
I’M HAPPY JUST TO DANCE WITH YOU
A HARD DAY’S NIGHT HAS ONE Record Label PARLOPHONE

Released 1964
OF POP’S MOST RECOGNISABLE

Don’t Bother Me had been George’s
songwriting debut on With The
Beatles, but the band revert back to
OPENINGS, BUT THE PRECISE

Lennon and McCartney exclusivity for
the A Hard Day’s Night album. Filmed
at London’s Scala Theatre, I’m Happy
MUSICAL COMPOSITION – Just To Dance With You is Harrison’s

vocal spotlight, written with his range
in mind. The song was recorded in
AND WHO PLAYED WHAT – one prodigious three-hour morning

session on 1 March 1964, alongside
REMAINS HOTLY CONTESTED

Long Tall Sally and I Call Your Name.
In Barry Miles’ McCartney biography,
Many Years From Now, Paul confesses the number was “a
bit of a formula song”, adding that “the ones that pandered to the fans were our least
favourite songs. The nice thing about it was to actually pull a song off on a slim little
premise like that… It was songwriting practice.”

CAN’T BUY ME LOVE
BEATLES FOR SALE WAS
Released 1964
Breaking their own self-imposed rule THE BAND’S FOURTH
ALBUM IN 21 MONTHS
of not including singles on albums,
the band’s A Hard Day’s Night LP
was released on 10 July 1964 and
contained not only the title track
(issued as a single on the same day)
but also Can’t Buy Me Love, released
AND THE INCLUSION OF
on 20 March 1964. Unusually, the song
starts with the chorus, a suggestion SIX COVERS ALONGSIDE
THE EIGHT ORIGINALS
made by George Martin who had
come to the Pathé Marconi Studios
in Paris for a recording session.
Alongside German versions of I Want
To Hold Your Hand and She Loves You, the quartet and Martin
had recorded McCartney’s Can’t Buy Me Love, which quickly evolved from blues rocker
REVEALS THE PRESSURE
to pop classic. The Beatles were in Paris playing an 18-day season from 16 January until
4 February at the Olympia Theatre, supported by Trini Lopez and Sylvie Vartan. BEGINNING TO SHOW
YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO I’M A LOSER
Laid down on 4 June 1964 at the end John Lennon was probably the deepest
of a rehearsal for a tour of Denmark thinker in The Beatles, something that
with drummer Jimmie Nicol standing came out more in his books A Spaniard
in for Ringo Starr, who’d been In The Works and In His Own Write
hospitalised with tonsillitis. Using rather than the band’s lyrically simple
the spare studio time after Nicol had early records. A spring 1964 meeting
gone home to pack, The Beatles trio with Kenneth Allsop, a presenter
took it in turns to demo a song each: of the BBC’s Tonight programme,
Paul’s It’s For You (written for Cilla prompted Lennon to re-evaluate his
Black), John’s No Reply (probably approach to songwriting. Allsop had
intended for fellow NEMS act Tommy read In His Own Write and told John
Quickly) and George’s You Know that his songs would be a lot better
What To Do, his second solo song. if he put more of himself into them,
The number received a lukewarm reception from the rest of the as he’d done with his books. I’m A Loser
band and George Martin, and lay in EMI’s vaults until 1991, when the 4 June session was includes introspective lines like “beneath this mask I am wearing a frown”
rediscovered. Harrison’s song had then been misfiled and wasn’t unearthed until 1993, and was written after the conversation with Allsop. It also reflects John’s
making its public debut on 1995’s Anthology 1. self-confessed Bob Dylan influence.
EIGHT DAYS A WEEK I’LL FOLLOW THE SUN

Eight Days A Week opens up Side 2 of By the time they hit the recording
Beatles For Sale with a fade in – fade studio in earnest in 1963, The Beatles
outs were often used when artists were a supremely versatile live band,
don’t know how to finish a song. able to handle anything from rockers
The phrase ‘eight days a week’, like to ballads. Occasionally performed
‘a hard day’s night’, was coined in Hamburg, I’ll Follow The Sun was
by Ringo complaining about The written when Paul was 16. Even
Beatles’ workload. Just as John had though it’s a ballad, the song has
commandeered ‘a hard day’s night’ a sting in its tail, as the singer is
as a song title, Paul appropriated pre-empting leaving his girlfriend:
‘eight days a week’. A strong “one day, you’ll look to see I’ve
contender for the follow-up single gone”. The six-year gap between
to A Hard Day’s Night, the track was writing and recording was because,
only sidelined when John came up with I Feel Fine. A March as McCartney states in Mark Lewisohn’s The Complete
’65 US single release took Eight Days A Week to No. 1 for two weeks. Beatles For Sale Beatles Recording Sessions, the band had an image as a hard R&B outfit, particularly
was the band’s fourth album in 21 months and the inclusion of six covers alongside during the Liverpool days. This was modified somewhat when they began recording,
the eight originals reveals the pressure beginning to show. but at heart, the band still favoured rockers and up-tempo pop songs over ballads.

,
NO REPLY WHAT YOU’RE DOING

Brian Epstein frequently got other Illustrating again how inventive The
acts from his stable to record Lennon Beatles and George Martin could be in
and McCartney songs. Cilla Black, the the still-basic EMI Studio 2, the mostly
Fourmost and Billy J Kramer all had McCartney written What You’re Doing
hits with John and Paul material. starts (and ends) with drums, then
Tommy Quickly wasn’t as lucky with John and George sing the first word of
Tip Of My Tongue and the single each verse, which Paul then completes.
flopped. A demo of No Reply from George Martin plays piano under
1964’s Beatles For Sale was given to Harrison’s guitar solo and the fade out.
Quickly, but his version of the song Though a fairly simple three-chord
was never released. The mainly song, the relatively sophisticated
Lennon-written song reveals John McCartney-driven production and
moving away from romantic clichés arrangement ideas caused recording of
and into storytelling. He sings about having ‘nearly died’ the track to take longer than usual in the pre-Sgt. Pepper days.
because he’d gone to his girlfriend’s house and saw her arriving hand in hand ‘with The original version of the song was started on 29 September 1964, continued the
another man in my place’. That, and the song’s mid-tempo pace, confirmed No Reply as following night, then discarded and remade on 26 October – which is the version
a much more downbeat opener than was usual on a Beatles album. heard on Beatles For Sale.
IF YOU’VE GOT TROUBLE I FEEL FINE

Intended for inclusion on Help!, If By the end of 1964, The Beatles were
You’ve Got Trouble is an up-tempo two-year recording veterans and keen
Ringo showcase. Written by John to explore in much more depth the
and Paul, who later confessed the new studio noises and sound effects
duo didn’t take songs they wrote that they could incorporate into
for the drummer as seriously as their records. I Feel Fine was the
their other material, partially Christmas No. 1 of 1964 and also
because Ringo himself often topped the US charts. It’s generally
had to be persuaded to sing. acknowledged to be the song that first
Recorded on 18 February 1965, the featured guitar feedback, a trick that
song only got as far as one take, the likes of Jimi Hendrix, The Who,
with Ringo double-tracked and The Yardbirds and many others would
an extra George guitar sequence subsequently use. A more guitar-
added. Starr would sometimes shout encouragement to the driven Beatles number, the track starts with buzzsaw-like
others during his vocals, but this time could only manage a half-hearted “Rock on! feedback before the song’s main guitar riff kicks in. Unlike many songs where John was
Anybody!”. The Beatles never appeared to have much enthusiasm for the song and it the main songwriter, I Feel Fine is upbeat and happy. “I’m in love with her and I feel
remained unreleased until 1996’s Anthology 2. fine,” he proclaims.
YOU’VE GOT TO HIDE YOUR LOVE AWAY
BY THE END OF 1964, THE Record Label PARLOPHONE

Released 1965
BEATLES WERE TWO-YEAR

Help!’s most reflective movie
moment comes when the quartet
and actress Eleanor Bron are
RECORDING VETERANS AND

sitting in the giant living room
that the fictitious version of The
Beatles share. John picks up an
KEEN TO SEE WHAT NEW acoustic guitar and the group

launch into You’ve Got To Hide
Your Love Away. Lennon never
STUDIO NOISES AND EFFECTS explained the lyrics, but they

may refer to Brian Epstein as
THEY COULD INCORPORATE

homosexuality was still a crime
in the Britain of 1965. With John
sounding more like Bob Dylan than a member of
INTO THEIR RECORDS the Fab Four, it’s one of the few all-acoustic early Beatles recordings. John and Paul
and George strum acoustic guitars and Ringo mans tambourine, shaker and maracas.
Flautist Johnnie Scott plays the flute passage in the middle of the song.

HELP!
THERE HAVE BEEN MANY
Released 1965
John was always more lyrically INTERPRETATIONS OF
WHAT TICKET TO RIDE
introspective than Paul and the
predominantly Lennon-penned Help!
finds him in what he later described as
his ‘fat Elvis’ period – physically and
mentally exhausted by the years of
constant touring which, towards the
IS ABOUT, INCLUDING
end, had the band fearing for their
personal safety. Unlike Paul, who was THE ‘TICKET’ BEING
LSD – WHICH LENNON
living in the heart of Bohemian 1960s
London and loving it, Lennon felt
isolated and anxious in his Weybridge
mansion in the stockbroker belt.
“Help me if you can, I’m feeling down” sang John, asking for
assistance. Ever the masters of savvy pop, The Beatles and George Martin took
AND HARRISON HAD
Help! from its Bob Dylan-influenced beginnings, speeded it up and turned it into
the title track of the follow-up movie to A Hard Day’s Night and yet another No. 1. ENCOUNTERED IN 1965
TICKET TO RIDE YESTERDAY
There have been many interpretations Temporarily called ‘Scrambled Eggs’
of what Ticket To Ride is about, (followed by: “Oh my baby, how
including the ‘ticket’ being the drug I love your legs”), the melody of
LSD – Lennon and Harrison had first Yesterday arrived in Paul’s head fully
encountered the hallucinogenic formed when he woke up. McCartney
effects in early 1965. Alternatively, a was so worried he’d subconsciously
closet girlfriend of John’s deciding plagiarised it he played the song to
enough was enough and ‘taking a music-biz friends to see if they’d
ride’ out of his life? An actual train heard it before. George Martin
ticket to the town of Ryde on the Isle recorded Paul singing and playing
Of Wight, perhaps? Or, harking back the song on his own soon after he’d
to The Beatles early-60s adventures recorded the screaming vocal for
in Hamburg, the card given to local I’m Down. Martin suggested using a
prostitutes by medical authorities to say they were disease string quartet and had to persuade Paul, who was unsure in case
free, maybe? Recorded on 15 February 1965 in Studio 2 at Abbey Road where, in it took the track into MOR territory. On the wishes of the group, Yesterday was never
addition to his usual bass, Paul also played lead guitar. Released as a single, Ticket released as a single in the UK during the lifetime of the band unlike in the US, where
To Ride hit No. 1 on 15 April and was also included on the Help! soundtrack album. it became the band’s fifth No. 1 in a row.
I’M DOWN I’VE JUST SEEN A FACE

Little Richard was a big hero of and The third song recorded at the same
influence on The Beatles, particularly session that delivered Yesterday and
in their early days, when they included I’m Down rattles along, as Paul races
Good Golly Miss Molly in their live to cram all the words in. McCartney
shows, along with Long Tall Sally, would often play the song on piano at
which they covered on With The family get-togethers and his Auntie
Beatles. Paul, as Richard tells it, Gin enjoyed the tune so much that
watched from the side of the stage it became known as ‘Auntie Gin’s
when The Beatles supported him at Theme’ until Paul came up with some
the Tower Ballroom, New Brighton, suitable words. That of falling in love
in October 1962 and as part of their at first sight because of seeing
final trip to the Hamburg Star-Club ‘a face I can’t forget’. Another
the following month. I’m Down is bass-less track, with nods to both
without a doubt the closest The Beatles got to folk and country music, but much faster than either
writing a Little Richard song and they used it to close their 1965 and 1966 live shows. form generally took, McCartney has revisited it on several occasions, playing it
Recorded immediately before Yesterday, I’m Down demonstrates that the live on the 1976 Wings Over America tour and subsequent live album, on 1991’s
super-versatile Paul could scream in tune equally as well as John. Unplugged (The Official Bootleg) and 2005’s Paul McCartney In Red Square DVD.

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VINTAGE ROCK R OY A N D T H E R OV E R S
The Beatles pose with Roy Orbison and Gerry And The Pacemakers
VRP04.posters.For Print.indd 71
backstage in their dressing room during a UK tour on 1 May 1963. From
left: Paul McCartney, Freddie Marsden (behind), George Harrison, Gerry
Marsden, Ringo Starr (back), Les Maguire (back), John Lennon,
John 'Les' Chadwick (back) and Roy Orbison.
© Getty Images
16/02/2017 16:33
VINTAGE ROCK
Images
© GettyImages
Getty
A DAY I N T H E L I F E
Is this the earliest photographic evidence of Paul McCartney's trademark
'thumbs aloft' pose? This band portrait was used on the front cover of
Life magazine on 28 August 1964.
VRP04.posters.For Print.indd 72 16/02/2017 16:33

© Getty Images
VINTAGE ROCK
R E VO L U T I O N I N T H E H E A D
No, it's not the elaborate contraption that Ringo used to keep
his moptop in peak condition, but the scene from Help! where
the drummer finds himself trapped in a scientific laboratory
while on the run from his pursuers.
VRP04.posters.For Print.indd 73 16/02/2017 16:33

Album Insight
WITH THE BEATLES
RELEASED AT THE BIRTH OF BEATLEMANIA, WITH THE BEATLES
CONTAINED NO SINGLES YET WAS A NO. 1 ALBUM BEFORE THE
FIRST COPY WAS PRESSED. ED MITCHELL PRESSES PLAY...
R
eleased in the UK on 22 Recorded over seven non-consecutive they effectively secured their place as the
November 1963, the date of days between 18 July and 23 October 1963, greatest pop group of all time with the
the assassination of JFK, With The Beatles features seven Lennon release of I Want To Hold Your Hand, the
With The Beatles went and McCartney originals including the single that broke them in America.
straight to No. 1 on the album epic It Won’t Be Long, Little Child and All By rights, both She Loves You and
charts. Such was the sales My Loving, plus George Harrison’s first I Want To Hold Your Hand should have
power of The Beatles in 1963 self-penned cut Don’t Bother Me, none of been included on With The Beatles. No
that the album was the only thing with which were released as 45s. In fact, there other band would have dared release an
a chance of ending the seven-month are no singles on With The Beatles. album without at least a couple of hit
domination of the top spot by the band’s singles cut into its grooves. Of course,
debut LP, Please Please Me. Yet With The DARING TO BE DIFFERENT this was The Beatles – and the album was
Beatles has almost become the Fab Four’s As early as ’63, The Beatles began already a hit before the first copy was
forgotten classic. These days, the album releasing ‘homeless’ singles – that is, pressed. Thanks to a run of killer 45s –
is probably better known for its iconic 45s that didn’t appear on official studio Please Please Me, From Me To You and
cover art than its contents. Captured by albums. This trend would continue for She Loves You – With The Beatles racked
renowned snapper Robert Freeman, the years with non-album hits like I Feel Fine, up half a million in pre-orders before its
half-shadow face shots of John, Paul, Day Tripper and Paperback Writer. Three release. Sales like that didn’t need any
George and Ringo are clearly influenced months before the release of With The window dressing…
by the work of Astrid Kirchherr, who Beatles, the band had a No. 1 hit with the It’s ironic that what many consider
photographed the band during their “yeah, yeah, yeah”-fuelled She Loves You. one of the band’s weakest numbers (even
Hamburg residencies. Seven days after the album was unveiled, John Lennon thought as much) has the ➨
VRP04.With The Beatles LP.For Print.indd 74 15/02/2017 16:38

© Getty Images
The archetypal
Beatles look from
the era, shot in 1963
in Aston Studios,
Birmingham, for the
Thank Your Lucky
Stars TV show

Although he typically recalled
the events differently, John
Lennon later told David Sheff the
song inspired Mick and Keef to
start writing their own stuff.
“I Wanna Be Your Man was
a kind of lick Paul had: ‘I want
greatest back story. Raucous Ringo Starr to be your lover, baby. I want
vehicle I Wanna Be Your Man has always to be your man.’ I think we
punched way above its melodic weight finished it off for The Stones…
thanks to it being recorded as The Rolling yeah, we were taken down to
Stones’ second single. While Mick, Keef meet The Stones at the club
and their fellow louts from Dartford where they were playing in
treated the song with more respect than it Richmond by Brian [Jones]
probably deserved, to its authors it was a and some other guy. They
throwaway, something for Ringo to shout wanted a song and we went
from behind his Ludwig drumkit.
STREET WRITIN’ MAN Lennon had described All My Loving

Years later, McCartney recalled how The
Stones had got their hands on the song as “a great piece of work” – a rare
after he and Lennon spotted Jagger and
Richards in a taxi on Charing Cross Road
in London.
compliment for his old sparring partner
“So they shouted from the taxi and we to see them to see what kind of stuff they And so, they ran round the corner to the
yelled, ‘Hey, hey, give us a lift, give us a did. Mick and Keith had heard that we pub to write this song, and came back
lift,’ and we bummed a lift off them,” he had an unfinished song – Paul just had with it, and played it to us, and um… it
said in Barry Miles’ Many Years From this bit and we needed another verse or was ’orrible.”
Now. “So there were the four of us sitting something. We sort of played it roughly to As ever, John Lennon had the last
in a taxi and I think Mick said, ‘Hey, we’re them and they said, ‘Yeah, okay, that’s our laugh: “It was a throwaway. The only two
recording. Got any songs?’ And we said, style.’ So Paul and I just went off in the versions of the song were Ringo and The
‘Aaaah, yes, sure, we got one. How about corner of the room and finished the song Rolling Stones. That shows how much
Ringo’s song? You could do it as a single.’” off while they were all still there importance we put on it. We weren’t
talking. We came back and that’s going to give them anything great, right?”
ages
© Getty Im how Mick and Keith got inspired to I Wanna Be Your Man is filler, then,
write, because, ‘Jesus, look at that. but there are some truly great moments
They just went in the corner and on With The Beatles. Opener It Won’t Be
wrote it and came back!’ Right in Long should have been a single. It breaks
front of their eyes we did it.” all the rules, kicking off with a minor-
That meeting was later parodied key call-and-response chorus before
by Jagger in the 1978 Rutles resolving into a major verse. The track
mockumentary All You Need Is has two killer hooks: the “yeah, yeah” in
Cash, an affectionate poke at The the chorus and Harrison’s descending
Beatles’ legacy: “They came down bottom-string guitar riff.
and we were trying to rehearse, As a 45, it would have been the perfect
and they said “you wanna song?, filling in a She Loves You and I Want To
we said “yeah”, ’cause we were Hold Your Hand sandwich, but ultimately
really open for songs, ’cause remains a missed opportunity.
we didn’t write our own. And,
of course, The Rutles were EMBARRASSMENT OF RICHES
always well known for their… All My Loving should have been an
hit… making… official single, too. The best-known
potential… album track the band ever recorded, it
ability. was the opening song on their debut
on The Ed Sullivan Show on 9 February
1964. It was so popular with fans and
radio programmers that EMI eventually
released it on an EP in the UK. It
was released as a single in Canada,
up
The Beatles tune a where it hit the No. 1 spot, and was
backstage before n subsequently imported to the US in
m
gig on their Autu 63 sufficient quantities to get it to No.
ur of th e UK in 19
to
45 on the Billboard Top 100 by April

© Getty Images
The band pose in a

London courtyard in
1963. Lennon’s J-160E
was stolen in December
1963 – it was eventually
auctioned in 2015
for $2.4 million
1964. The song is the subject of much before you got into chords, melody and
Fab Four folklore. According to who you all that stuff. Exhibit A is Money. What LINER NOTES
WITH THE BEATLES
believe, it was either written by Macca should basically be a run-of-the-mill
while shaving at home, or backstage on a thump through one of their old Hamburg
borrowed piano at a gig. It’s also claimed and Cavern Club standbys is elevated by PARLOPHONE 1963
the song was playing on the hospital radio Lennon’s shredding vocal cords. If you TRACKLISTING PERSONNEL
the moment Lennon was pronounced had to isolate what made the early Beatles Side A John Lennon
dead after his assassination in 1980. so unstoppable, it’s Lennon – and it’s all It Won’t Be Long Vocals, rhythm and
Shortly before his death, Lennon had over With The Beatles. All I’ve Got To Do acoustic guitars,
harmonica and handclaps,
described All My Loving as “a great piece Okay, it’s fair to say that The Beatles’ All My Loving Hammond organ,
of work” – a rare compliment for his old second album is a mixed bag. No one Don’t Bother Me tambourine
sparring partner. Macca also excelled is claiming I Wanna Be Your Man is a Little Child Paul McCartney
vocally on Till There Was You, a cover stone-cold classic, or that George’s first Till There Was You Vocals, bass,
of a song from the ’57 musical and ’62 Beatle track Don’t Bother Me was an early Please Mister Postman handclaps, claves
movie, The Music Man. George Harrison indication of his eventual songwriting Side B George Harrison
performs his second-greatest early Beatle genius. The album is, however, a snapshot Roll Over Beethoven Vocals, electric guitar,
solo on the track, too. The first? His of a band on the cusp of greatness, acoustic guitar, handclaps
Hold Me Tight
superb country picking on All My Loving. released just as Beatlemania was taking You Really Got A Hold Ringo Starr
hold, and right before they would begin Vocals, drums,
On Me
MIXED BAGISM their assault on the USA. I Wanna Be Your Man
bongos, maracas,
tambourine, handclaps
Ultimately, however, With The Beatles is To that end, the release date of Devil In Her Heart George Martin
Lennon’s album. Producer George Martin November 22 is significant. With America Not A Second Time Piano
might have decided back in 1962 that the mourning its dead President, the country Money
band didn’t need a frontman, but Lennon was in need of a tonic, a distraction from
pretty much took in the role for With the tributes and sombre radio broadcasts. CHART PLACINGS
The Beatles. McCartney was technically Then something called I Want To Hold
No. 1 – UK N/A – USA
brilliant, but no one sounded like John Your Hand happened and everything was
Lennon. His voice gave each song a hook about to change.

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The
EGOS
THE FIRST ‘BRITISH INVASION’ OF THE
UNITED STATES WOULD PAVE THE WAY
FOR COUNTLESS ACTS. ANDY PRICE
EXAMINES JUST WHAT IT WAS
ABOUT THE BEATLES THAT WON
AMERICA OVER…
VRP04.US invasion Beatles.For Print.indd 80 15/02/2017 11:36

E
ver since the fateful events of live sets of many young British hopefuls
22 November 1963, a palpable throughout the late 50s and early 60s, it
grief had swept over the USA. incorporated rock ’n’ roll, doo-wop, skiffle
The unthinkable, dramatic and R&B. Liverpool’s Beatles, under the
assassination of President John guidance of style-conscious manager
F Kennedy had quelled the Brian Epstein, were poised to try their
aspirant ambition of a nation that luck in other territories.
had been at the forefront of technology, Their initial musical approach
economy and popular culture. The fervent enthusiastically aped their American
excitement of rock ’n’ roll had long passed heroes while at the same time being
its peak and, following the premature something fresh and wildly exciting,
death of Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley’s with an infectious enthusiasm. As John
post-military focus on filmmaking and Lennon would later recall: “You see, we
Little Richard’s newfound priesthood, the wanted to be bigger than Elvis. That was
rebellious, liberating power of a musical the main thing. At first we wanted to be
form that had saturated teenage life in the Goffin and King, then we wanted to be
1950s was in terminal decline. Buddy Holly, and finally we arrived at
Britain in 1963 was a wholly different wanting to be bigger than the biggest.
place, with a new, distinctly British And that was Elvis.” Their journey to
(although American influenced) sound that point had been long and eventful,
filling the vacuum that rock ’n’ roll had but their ambition and musical passion
© Getty Images
left behind. ‘Beat’ music was a fusion of had spurred them on through playing
musical elements that had drifted over dingy-basement gigs, a gruelling spell in
the Atlantic and been absorbed into the Hamburg, endless line-up changes, ➨
VRP04.US invasion Beatles.For Print2.indd 81 16/02/2017 11:50

The Fab Four were met with a
chorus of female adoration, but
which Beatle the drawing is
meant to be we will never know…
© Underwood Archives/Getty Images

record-company snobbery and financial so modern and advanced compared to the across the pond. Producer George Martin
insecurity. Hunter Davies is the writer of UK at that time. strongly protested at their indifference:
the only ever officially authorised Beatles “The American ideal at that point “If you think of our frustration here, we
biography – now considered a seminal was hugely important to young Brits. were being turned down by the company
and important work in The Beatles’ American men were ‘the’ rock ’n’ roll EMI actually owned.” Martin later said,
canon. Hunter spent many years in the stars and the film stars. They were “I was very frustrated by that and
company of the foursome throughout the handsome, well-groomed and their thought, ‘Well, they can’t deny other
1960s and spoke to Vintage Rock about teeth were better. That’s why so many people from putting them out.’”
his recollections of how the sound of British rock singers of the late 50s and
America shaped their formative years early 60s, to be successful, sang in that FROM LITTLE ACORNS…
and initial music making: “To be four faux mid-Atlantic accent.” Martin negotiated with the much smaller
young lads of their age growing up in the By early November 1963, the band had labels Swan and Vee-Jay. Swan was a
1950s, all the best things in life came from completed their follow-up to Please Philadelphia-based label that agreed to
America really,” Davies told us. “Not just Please Me, their massively successful distribute She Loves You, while Vee-Jay
the obvious things like clothes, music debut LP. With The Beatles was greeted had negotiated to release the Please Please
and films, but that trendy and enviable with the same level of critical and Me and From Me To You singles on
culture over there. Americans were just commercial success as its predecessor, condition that they could acquire the
with advance orders close to 500,000 masters to that much hotter property,
breaking the previous preorder Frank Ifield. These small-label releases
record set by Elvis’ Blue Hawaii LP. sold weakly and had little fanfare.
The resultant UK tour poured Understandably, the band were hesitant
further oil onto the raging inferno about committing themselves to any
that the press excitedly dubbed touring in America at this point, as Paul
‘Beatlemania’. New single I Want To McCartney would later recollect: “One
Hold Your Hand took two weeks to of the cheekiest things we ever did was
dislodge She Loves You from No. 1, say to Brian Epstein, ‘We’re not going to
where it stayed for five weeks. America until we’ve got a No. 1.’”
Despite their record-breaking Hunter Davies suggests a reason for
ascent in the UK, America was late to the previous lack of British success in the
catch on. Simply getting their music States. “What’s interesting is that Cliff
played was the biggest hindrance, as Richard and The Shadows never broke
EMI’s American arm, Capitol Records, America,” he notes. “And that was really
was not interested and paid no mind to because Cliff, from the very beginning,
the group’s ever-growing popularity tried to affect a strange mid-Atlantic ➨
VRP04.US invasion Beatles.SH2*.indd 82 16/02/2017 11:36

© Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy
© Getty Images
Cassius Clay meets

The Beatles in New York,
a week before becoming
heavyweight champion

weeks of performances at the Olympia cash in on this demand and so I Want
Theatre were played to lukewarm crowds To Hold Your Hand was hastily pressed,
and critical reaction was unexpectedly distributed – and bought in its millions.
cynical. However, it was during their This was the early Beatles at their best
Parisian stint they received news that and showed Lennon and McCartney’s
would alter the course of their careers prowess in laying bare their unorthodox
for ever. approach to songwriting. From poet
accent and he very consciously and Following a five-minute news segment Allen Ginsberg, who outraged the
deliberately aped Elvis. That music was on the growth of Beatlemania in the intellectual elite by dancing joyously to
too heavily indebted to America to stand UK, which was aired in the US on CBS the song in a New York nightclub, to
out enough to them.” Evening News on 10 December 1963, an Bob Dylan, who misheard the refrain
In early November 1963, Epstein intrigued teenage girl named Marsha ‘I can’t hide’ as ‘I get high’ – the US
convinced Ed Sullivan, whose television Albert wrote to Carrol James, then was electrified.
show was an American staple, to DJ at Washington DC’s WWDC radio
introduce The Beatles across three station, requesting more Beatles music TOPPERMOST OF THE POPPERMOST
shows in February 1964. Sullivan had to be added to their playlist. James had The single was officially certified to be
encountered Beatlemania first hand when similarly been hooked by the stories he’d the US No. 1 single in the week ending
passing through Heathrow Airport in heard of Beatlemania and the request 25 January 1964, selling one and a
late ’63 and was eager to sign the boys up
for a single show performance. Epstein’s
skilful business acumen wrangled A PERPLEXED MEDIA ASKED THEM
three shows from Sullivan. They would
receive a reduced fee but top billing, thus A RANGE OF BANAL QUESTIONS WHICH
WERE ANSWERED WITH QUICKFIRE WIT
maximising their exposure.
THE FRENCH CONNECTION

By this point, foreign interest elsewhere encouraged him to import a copy of I half million in just three weeks. The
in The Beatles was strong, but didn’t Want To Hold Your Hand to his HQ in Vee-Jay and Swan labelled records
match the hysteria of the UK. Though Washington. On 17 December, WWDC were re-released and vaulted into the
a six-day stint in Sweden was a positive debuted the record and the station was upper echelons of the hit parade. This
experience, following this up with a immediately inundated with positive newfound popularity tied in perfectly
lengthy Paris engagement had mixed feedback and requests for more Beatles with the forthcoming Sullivan shows
results. Brian Epstein had expected to fan music to be played, which the station and excitement started to mount. Paul
the flames of Beatlemania, but the three promptly did. This increased airplay, McCartney would later remember:
not just at WWDC, but on other radio “We got a telegram in the evening after
stations across the nation, finally one of the shows. We were having a
forced Capitol Records president Alan drink at the hotel, and we all just hit the
W. Livingston to realise The Beatles roof!” George Harrison recollected that:
were worth promoting. He decided to “It was a great feeling, because we were
booked to go there directly after the
Paris trip, so it was handy to have
a No. 1!” Shortly after this, Vee-Jay
and Capitol would release their
own LPs: Vee-Jay’s Introducing The
Beatles was released just 10 days
prior to Capitol’s Meet The Beatles.
This was the perfect foundation for
the upcoming visit. And the starting
point of the British Invasion.
And so, on 7 February 1964, The
Beatles set foot on American soil,
greeted by 3,000 hysterical fans at the
newly christened John F. Kennedy
Airport. Many of these greeters had
already succumbed to the myriad
charms of the Fab Four and were in
floods of tears, waving homemade
posters and clambering over each other
to get a closer look at these alluring
strangers. The iconic image of the four
boys emerging from their Pan AM jet
to the rapturous reception is now visual
shorthand for pop-star success. The

© Getty Images
The Beatles charmed the press and public alike at
the Kennedy International Airport press
conference in New York on 7 February 1964
Beatles themselves, then just four lads in radio champion of theirs: Murray The
their early 20s, were overwhelmed by the K. The Beatles were hugely entertained TURN LEFT AT
reaction, but massively enthused by the
warmth. Ringo Starr recollected: “On the
by this larger-than-life character who
had publicly dubbed himself ‘The fifth GREENLAND
airplane, I felt New York. It was like an Beatle’ on his popular radio station, QUOTES ON THE
octopus grabbing the plane. I could feel
tentacles coming up to the plane. It was
WINS. Murray would become a vibrant
part of their inner circle throughout their BEATLES’ US IMPACT…
so exciting. first US visit and The Beatles in turn “There was a turning point in their career, a
"And the first time in New York, I mean, appreciated the enthusiastic support specific date on which the breadth and strength
we’d pulled big crowds and we’d had big he gave them, recording personalised of their future was to be altered. It was the day
their Pan AM jet touched down at Kennedy
airport receptions, but, of course, America messages for his radio station. Two days International in New York to a welcome which
is bigger than anywhere else in Europe, after their arrival, they appeared on the has seldom been equalled anywhere in history.”
so therefore the crowds are bigger. It was Ed Sullivan Show, giving the nation their Brian Epstein
just crazy, but it was fantastic!” first glimpse at the figures behind the fuss “They have something most American rock ’n’
The press conference that followed – and massive exposure for their music. rollers lack: their voices are pleasant and they can
was the perfect pedestal to demonstrate sing sweetly. One can actually understand the
their unique Liverpudlian eccentricity. UNITING THE NATION lyrics. I defy you to do that when our native R&R
A perplexed (mainly middle-aged) Opening with a blistering, confident boys hold forth.” Ben Gross, New York Daily News
media asked them a range of banal performance of then still-new track “There are rumours around that this is Britain’s
questions which were answered with All My Loving – familiar to those who revenge for the Boston Tea Party.” Bob Hope
characteristic quickfire wit. When one had purchased Meet The Beatles – The “Multiply Elvis Presley by four, subtract six years
cynical journalist reiterated that a noted Beatles’ first Ed Sullivan Show appearance from his age, add British accents and a sharp
psychiatrist had dismissed them as four was a milestone, not only for the band but sense of humour. The answer: it’s The Beatles!”
Mae Boren Axton, the ‘Queen Mother Of Nashville’
British Elvis Presleys, Lennon and Starr for the entire nation. With more than
simultaneously began comically shaking 76 million people tuning in to witness the “I like your advance guard. But don’t you think
their hips and, adopting pseudo-Elvis first of their three appearances, Epstein they need haircuts?”
US President Lyndon B Johnson to British
voices, replied, “That’s not true. It’s a lie!” had cannily seized upon the growing buzz
Prime Minister Sir Alec Douglas-Home
During this press conference, they also and utilised this new medium to project
met a figure who had been a longstanding his boys directly into homes across the ➨

thought it was because it came from black caused many of the seated audience to
music, and the words had a lot of double spring to their feet. The Coliseum show
entendres, and ‘oh, all our nice white kids and many more of these events, including
are going to go crazy with this moving the backstage goings-on, were captured
their bodies’ and The Beatles just carried by two young filmmaker brothers, Albert
it a bit further, made it a little more and David Maysles. Their fly on the wall
‘white’, even more than Elvis did.” documentary film What’s Happening! –
US, achieving the largest viewing figures The Beatles wore their rock ’n’ roll The Beatles In The U.S.A. now serves as
in the history of American television to roots on their sleeves. They typically an important historical document and
that point – a tremendous achievement played Chuck Berry’s Roll Over Beethoven would become the template for The
for any group, let alone a foreign act. and Little Richard’s Long Tall Sally and Beatles’ first major feature film, A Hard
A further surprise that, in words of Ed their open enthusiasm for the sound of Day’s Night – the foursome’s irreverent
Sullivan, gave The Beatles a “real kick”, America eased dyed-in-the-wool rock ’n’ and comical personas in the face of such
would be a telegram: “Congratulations rollers into their own music. overwhelming national hysteria make for
on your appearance on The Ed Sullivan
Show and your visit to America. We hope
your engagement will be a successful one CONSERVATIVE MIDDLE AMERICA
FEARED THAT THEIR INFLUENCE COULD
and your visit pleasant”, signed ‘Elvis and
The Colonel’. This goodwill from a figure
HAVE A NEGATIVE IMPACT

who’d dominated their development
bolstered the young Beatles’ self-belief.
Reaction to The Beatles continued to
be overwhelmingly positive from their Two days on from their first television a surreal viewing experience and captures
young music-loving fans, yet many in performance they played their debut gig the young men in the early stages of
conservative Middle America feared that in America, at Washington’s Coliseum. world domination. The absurdist elements
their influence could have a negative The unusual staging of this show required of A Hard Day’s Night are not altogether
impact. Several ‘stamp out the Beatles’ Ringo (along with a couple of sharply dissimilar from the events captured on
groups were formed. John Lennon dressed stage hands) to physically swivel this film: the behind the scenes antics of
reflected on the negativity: “It was mainly the drum kit around to face the four sides The Beatles, who frequently drop into
parents who were against us and they of the venue, with the band at any one self-mockery, impressions and boyish
were against rock ’n’ roll before we came time having their backs to a section of banter, would be amplified slightly for
along. They’d been trying to stamp out the audience. Despite this comical stage their big-screen adventures later that year.
rock ’n’ roll since it started. I always setup, the ferocity of the performance One day after their Washington
© Getty Images
The Beatles talk to

influential TV host Ed
Sullivan in February 1964.
The band’s three
appearances on his show
were valuable exposure

IT’S GOT A
BACKBEAT, YOU
CAN’T LOSE IT
AMERICAN MUSIC
AND THE BEATLES
The Beatles’ formative years were generally
wholly dominated by American influences, with
the sound of Memphis being the cornerstone of
their adolescent lives. The band’s love of rock ’n’
roll opened the doors to the assimilation of a
wide range of American genres, including skiffle,
blues and R&B. When questioned about his
teenage skiffle band, The Quarrymen, Lennon
revealed that: “We were influenced by all those
‘train songs’ – stuff like Rock Island Line by
Lonnie Donegan.” Little Richard had an
undeniable influence, with many of his songs
remaining fundamental parts of their live sets.
McCartney’s screeching vocals on tracks such as
I’m Down, Kansas City and, of course, their
version of Richard’s own Long Tall Sally was an
obvious homage. Chuck Berry’s dexterous,
flamboyant guitar playing in particular was a
significant influence on Harrison – Rock And Roll
The band's performance Music and Roll Over Beethoven would be staples
© Getty Images
on The Ed Sullivan Show on of The Beatles’ live sets.

9 February 1964 has become Buddy Holly’s songwriting craftsmanship
a seminal moment in would inspire the young Lennon and McCartney to
television history try their hands at writing their own songs; while
the aforementioned Elvis Presley was the one to
beat in terms of global influence and iconic star
show, the band were back in New they didn’t affect their accents. They appeal – and probably had a larger influence on
York to perform their next dates: two maintained their Liverpudlian accents The Beatles’ attitude than anyone else, as Lennon
performances at Carnegie Hall, which and that trademark wit and sense of irony would reveal: “Nothing really affected me until I
would be attended by 2,000 fans. The was just very English,” Hunter Davies heard Elvis. If there hadn’t been an Elvis there
wouldn’t have been a Beatles.” However, Hunter
Carnegie Hall shows were arranged many explains. “Of course, generally, American Davies revealed to us that the famous meeting
months before by promoter Sid Bernstein, men had crew cuts and short hair in that occurred in 1965 was something of a
who later recalled: “I was just glad to those days, but they had their moptops. let-down: “From what I recollect, Elvis seems to
get this group I had been reading about But Americans really loved all those have been a bit of a disappointment to the boys,”
for months. It took eight months after I things. They looked different.” Davies tells us. “By the time he met them, he was
sort of bloated and past his prime and there was
booked them for there to be any airplay something kind of weird about that meeting,
of their records on the radio. I had to SUITED AND BOOTED although they never went into too much detail
convince Carnegie Hall and my financial The band’s music, though raucously with me. But I got the sense that Elvis and his
backers to take a chance on this then- and energetically performed, was entourage didn’t treat them as well as they’d
unknown group. I had been reading about fundamentally safe and far more palatable hoped. Elvis was very much aware of them and
what they were doing. I think he was very
their progress in the European papers than much of the heavy double entendre- impressed by them and their successes on things
and was fascinated with the hysteria that laden rock ’n’ roll, which now seemed like The Ed Sullivan Show, and he was flattered
surrounded them.” passé. Brian Epstein had tailored the that he had influenced them growing up.”
Miami Beach was their next boys’ image to such an extent that the
destination, for the second Ed Sullivan four leather-clad lads who terrorised the
Show appearance, broadcast live from streets of Hamburg were unrecognisable
the Napoleon Ballroom of the Deauville from these four besuited young men.
Hotel. Though this was only their second “They were so heavily influenced by
live appearance, a pre-recorded set from American music at the start, they really
New York would be transmitted the aped that Memphis sound,” Davies tells
following week, fulfilling their agreed us after being asked why America fell
three-show contract and allowing the for The Beatles in such a massive way.
boys, exhausted, to return home. “After they met Brian, and by the time
The impact of this first US visit opened of their first US visit, they were proudly
the floodgates to the resulting British and defiantly English.” Their set had
Invasion and established The Beatles as long featured barnstorming covers of
a force to be reckoned with. The US was hits from the rock ’n’ roll era which, by
besotted by the foursome. “They weren’t then, had gone stale. “American music
wearing typically American clothes and was really just marking time before ➨

© Getty Images
SHAKE IT UP BABY!
SIGNIFICANT US RELEASES
I WANT TO HOLD
YOUR HAND
CAPITOL RECORDS – DECEMBER 1963
Following heavy radio play and
continuous public demand and pressure from Brian
Epstein and EMI, Capitol Records was forced to release
I Want To Hold Your Hand, which was already massively
popular by the time of its release. Raucous live favourite
I Saw Her Standing There was the track’s B-side, as
opposed to the UK’s more sedate This Boy. More than a
quarter of a million singles were sold in the first three
days alone, with 10,000 copies being bought in New York
every hour. The result was the band’s first US No. 1 and
the perfect starting point on which to launch Beatlemania
in America. Espousing a new manifesto of charming,
cheerfully naïve romance, America fell head over heels in
love with the boys from Liverpool.
INTRODUCING
THE BEATLES Sharp suits and an
easygoing air warmed the
VEE-JAY – JANUARY 1964
hearts of the American public
Although Capitol Records had already
released a repackaged version of With The Beatles in
THE BEATLES' UNUSUAL MOPTOPS AND

Canada, Introducing The Beatles would be the first US
album by a matter of days. Vee-Jay had signed a licensing
deal with an EMI affiliate in early 1963, allowing them
first refusal on Beatles records for five years. The initial
plan was to release their debut LP Please Please Me as it COLLOQUIALISMS SUCH AS 'IT'S THE
GEAR' SET THEM APART FROM U.S. RIVALS
appeared in the UK; however, because the standardised
album length in the US at that point was limited to 12
tracks, two of Please Please Me’s 14 tracks – Ask Me Why
and the title track – were trimmed off and the album was
retitled to a more family-friendly Introducing The they arrived,” Hunter says. “The flurry in 1964 that they had a really clever
Beatles. Following much legal wrangling over the of excitement around rock ’n’ roll had manager, and that’s why we kept hearing
publishing rights to certain songs, a restraining order was really dissipated by 1964, and there were about them,” Hunter tells us.
issued against Vee-Jay by Capitol’s publishing subsidiary. very few groups that had their energy, “Or that it must be George Martin, or
Introducing The Beatles was reconfigured and re-released
jumping around and being excited by their EMI and Parlophone. Just that someone
a few more times to try to circumvent the restraining
order before financial troubles finally forced the Vee-Jay own music.” was manipulating the media into giving
label to close. The sense of them being authentic them all this exposure, making all these
songwriters also lent them an air of girls scream. But really, if you look back
MEET THE BEATLES musical respectability. Compared to to their early days and before they had
CAPITOL RECORDS – JANUARY 1964
Capitol’s first Beatles LP reused the several of their competitors, who recorded a manager or any real concept of PR,
iconic Robert Freeman photograph and performed songs that were churned they were generating similar levels of
from the cover of the UK’s With The out by third-party songwriters, The excitement; the only difference was that
Beatles. Although the cover states that this is The Beatles were writing and performing their the venues were a lot smaller. All that
Beatles’s first LP, it was preceded by Vee-Jay’s
own music and shaping their own artistic happened when they broke America was
Introducing The Beatles by 10 days. The record itself
kicked off with the wildly successful single I Want To Hold careers, as Hunter confirmed: “That was that it went global; they were still the
Your Hand and both UK and US B-sides; the rest of the the biggest thing about them: the fact that, same group.
album essentially duplicated With The Beatles, yet unlike previous icons like Elvis, they were "Their influence was tremendous and
omitted five tracks that would later appear on Capitol’s musically creative. That really did count for about 10 years there were all these
follow up. The LP capitalised on the public demand for
to the young people.” groups from Liverpool doing coast-to-
Beatles music in the US and topped the popular album
chart, remaining there for 11 weeks before being The unusual, exotic nature of The coast tours of America. They got pretty
supplanted by The Beatles’ Second Album. Beatles to early-60s America is another big audiences, thanks to The Beatles, and
factor to take into account. Their unusual a lot of them were terrible! To a lot of
THE BEATLES’ moptops, colloquialisms such as ‘It’s the Americans, Liverpool was a sort of mythic
SECOND ALBUM gear!’ and their general ‘otherness’ set land, in much the same way America had
CAPITOL RECORDS – APRIL 1964
them apart from their US rivals. They been to the UK.”
The Beatles’ Second Album is a
curious hotchpotch of songs from previous UK releases, a were new, innovative and exciting – The Beatles’ approach was inspiring
smattering of singles and B-sides, plus the tracks from perfect to entrance a nation jaded by the and liberating. After the tragic events of
With The Beatles that were left off the first Capitol LP. overt Americana of rock ’n’ roll. the previous year and the decline of rock
Also included were a couple of new recordings, I Call Your Hunter Davies summed up his ’n’ roll as a musical force, it may have
Name and Long Tall Sally, which would be released in the
perception of The Beatles’ impact on seemed to many American youngsters
UK as part of a four-track EP.
America: “There was a sense when they that the dream was over, yet it was only
first arrived in the public consciousness the beginning.
VRP04.US invasion Beatles.SH3*.indd 88 16/02/2017 16:18

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Album Insight
A HARD DAY’S NIGHT
THE BEATLES GO SUPERNOVA AS LENNON AND MCCARTNEY
ASSERT THEMSELVES AS THE PRE-EMINENT SONGWRITERS
OF THEIR GENERATION. DAVID BURKE DELVES DEEPER...
I
n 1980, the year of his death, a George Martin’s usage of the four-track until later still that we began putting bass
reflective John Lennon likened facility rather the two-track version on afterwards as well, giving Paul the
The Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night employed on previous releases. opportunity of using his voice more.”
period to “the sexual equivalent “The very first records we made The 13-track set came out of a plan by
of the beginning hysteria of a were mono, although I did have stereo United Artists to exploit The Beatles’
relationship”. You can certainly facilities,” he explained. fame at home. The label wanted to
hear that fever of excitement on “To make mixing easier, I would keep produce a low-budget film and obtain
the band’s third album, the first to feature the voices separate from the backing, so the rights to issue the soundtrack in the
solely original songs by Lennon and Paul I used a stereo machine as a twin-track. United States. A couple of small imprints,
McCartney – and, arguably, the one that Not with the idea of stereo, merely to Vee-Jay Records and Swan Records, had
launched their legend. give myself a little bit more flexibility in been struggling to promote the group’s
Yes, the signs were evident on Please remixing into mono. So the first year’s records there.
Please Me and With The Beatles that the recordings were made on just two tracks Before the movie began shooting, the
four likely lads from Liverpool would and were live, like doing broadcasts. With group went into London’s EMI Studios
be more than just shooting stars in the great advance of four track, we were and Marconi Studios, Paris, recording
the rock ’n’ roll firmament, but those able to overdub and put on secondary the whole of A Hard Day’s Night over
yet to be convinced were divested of voices and guitar solos afterwards. By nine non-consecutive days – most of the
their doubts when the iconic clanging the time we did A Hard Day’s Night, material having been written, somehow,
chord announced the title track that we would certainly put the basic track during whatever downtime they had in
opened A Hard Day’s Night, a collection down and do the vocals afterwards. their helter-skelter schedule.
characterised by a more discerning Invariably, I was putting all the rhythm “We managed to get a couple finished
musicality and loaded with unforgettable instruments onto either one or two tracks while we were in Paris, and three more
choruses, layered vocals and glorious – generally one track – so you would completed soaking up sun on Miami
harmonies, and sonically finessed by have bass lumped with guitar. It wasn’t Beach,” was Lennon’s recollection. ➨
BM.A Hard Days Night LP.For Print.indd 90 15/02/2017 08:33

© Getty Images
The Beatles in 1964 at

their first press
reception in Miami

‘When I get home to you,’ it said,
‘I find my tiredness is through.’
Rather a feeble line about
tiredness, I said. Okay, he said
cheerfully, and, borrowing my
pen, instantly changed it to the
slightly suggestive, ‘When I get
“When we knew we were writing home to you/ I find the things
for something like an album, John would that you do/ Will make me
write a few in his spare moments,” said feel alright’. The other Beatles
McCartney. “He’d bring them in, we’d were there in the studio and, of
check them, I’d write a couple and course, the wonderful George
we’d throw them at each other, then Martin. John sort of hummed
there would be a couple that were more the tune to the others – they
co-written. But you just had a certain had no copies of the words or
amount of time. You knew when the anything else. Three hours
recording date was, and so a week or
two before then, we’d get into it.”
The first song they laid down for On 5 August 1964, The Beatles made
A Hard Day’s Night was Can’t Buy Me
Love, taped at Marconi on 29 January history by topping both the UK and
1964 before an appearance in the city’s
Olympia Theatre that night – it took four
takes and less than an hour.
US singles and albums listings
A Hard Day’s Night itself (the name later, I was none the wiser about how Lennon claimed credit for I Should
came from a Ringo malapropism) was they’d done it, but the record was made.” Have Known Better and If I Fell, the latter
predominantly composed by Lennon – That iconic clanging chord – identified described as his “first attempt at a ballad
with a little help from a friend of The by Harrison as an “F with a G on top” proper”, as well as being “the precursor
Beatles, journalist Maureen Cleave. – was played on a Rickenbacker 360/12 to In My Life”. I’m Happy Just To Dance
She remembered: “One day I picked 12-string, given to the guitarist by the With You was penned for Harrison “to
John up in a taxi and took him to Abbey company president, Francis Hall, on The give him a piece of the action”, according
Road for a recording session. The tune to Beatles’ initial American trip in February to Lennon. For McCartney, it was “a bit of
the song A Hard Day’s Night was in his (Lennon got a custom-made 12-string 325 a formula song”.
head, the words scrawled on a birthday model). “It sounds a bit like an electric Lennon, speaking in 1972, reckoned
card from a fan to his little son, Julian. piano, but you And I Love Her worked out as an even
© Getty Im
ages get a nice fat split – the first half McCartney’s, the
sound out of middle eight his. Eight years on, though,
it,” Harrison he’d changed his mind, asserting:
enthused. “That’s Paul again. I consider it his
The sound he first Yesterday.”
generated was “It’s just a love song,” Macca demurred
what impelled of what remains one of The Beatles’ finest
The Byrds to compositions. “It wasn’t for anyone.
spearhead Having the title start in mid-sentence,
the American I thought that was clever. Well, Perry
folk-rock Como did And I Love You So many years
revolution later [it was actually penned by Don
in 1965. McLean]. Tried to nick the idea.”
Lennon heard Tell Me Why as a
“black, New York girl group song”,
while Can’t Buy Me Love,
Love which closes
out the A-side of A Hard Day’s
Night on the original vinyl,
The band depart for

Los Angeles in August
1964 for 26 dates in
North America

Performing at the Scala
during the filming of
A Hard Day’s Night –
© Getty Images
the band were busy
on all fronts at the time,
composing, playing
and filming
was McCartney’s attempt “to write in a As if that wasn’t enough, on 5 August

bluesy mode”.
Admittedly, the second side of
1964, The Beatles made history by
occupying the summit of both the UK
LINER NOTES
the album flags and never scales the and US singles and albums listings APARLOPHONE
HARD1964DAY’S NIGHT
impossibly dizzy heights of the preceding simultaneously with A Hard Day’s Night
one – Any Time At All, I’ll Cry Instead single and album, a feat that has never
and the Motown-influenced brace When been emulated. Beatlemania had become TRACKLISTING PERSONNEL
I Get Home and You Can’t Do That are a global phenomenon, and Lennon and Side A John Lennon
A Hard Day’s Night Vocals, electric guitar,
solid rather than spectacular. Perhaps the McCartney were evolving into the acoustic guitar,
single exception is Things We Said Today, pre-eminent songwriters of a genre that I Should Have
harmonica, tambourine
which had McCartney’s fingerprints all was still in its infancy. But the insouciant Known Better
Paul McCartney
over it. Scousers still managed to keep their feet If I Fell Vocals, bass guitar,
“I wrote it on acoustic guitar. It was a firmly on terra firma. I’m Happy Just To piano, cowbell
slightly nostalgic thing already, a future “It didn’t seem like pressure,” said Dance With You George Harrison
nostalgia – we’ll remember the things we McCartney. “I suppose you’d have to And I Love Her Vocals, electric guitar,
said today, sometime in the future. So the think it was, but I don’t remember it Tell Me Why acoustic guitar, claves
song projects itself into the future and being a pressure. It was fun. It was great. Can’t Buy Me Love Ringo Starr
Drums, cowbell,
then is nostalgic about the moment we’re I always liken songwriters to a conjurer Side B conga, tambourine
living now, which is quite a good trick.” pulling a rabbit out of a hat. Now you Any Time At All George Martin
A Hard Day’s Night had advance orders see it, now you don’t. If I now pick up a I’ll Cry Instead Piano
of over 250,000 in the UK. By the end of guitar and start to conjure something out Things We Said Today Norman Smith
1964, it had sold some 600,000 copies of thin air, there’s a great magic about it. When I Get Home Bongos
and spent 21 consecutive weeks at Where there was nothing, now there is You Can’t Do That
No. 1, remaining on the chart for 38 something. Where there was a sheet of I’ll Be Back
weeks. Across the Atlantic, the advance paper, there’s a page we can read. Where
orders exceeded one million. Within there was no tune and no lyrics, there’s CHART PLACINGS
three months, another million had been now a song we can sing. That aspect of No. 1 – UK, Australia,
shifted, thus making it one of the fastest- it made it a lot of fun. We’d be amazed to Germany, US
selling albums ever, topping the Billboard see what kind of rabbit we’d pulled out No. 5 – France
chart for 14 weeks. that day.”
VRP04.A Hard Days Night LP.For Print.indd 93 16/02/2017 11:31

A Hard Day’s Night
was The Beatles’
debut feature, and
helped establish
them as serious
artists as well as a
pop phenomenon
VRP04.harddaysnight_movie.For Print.indd 94 15/02/2017 16:06

BAND ON
THE RUN
DAVID BURKE LOOKS BACK AT A HARD DAY’S
NIGHT, THE BEATLES’ BIG-SCREEN DEBUT
DOCUMENTING A TYPICALLY FRENETIC
24 HOURS AS POP’S MOST HOTLY PURSUED ACT
C
ritic Roger Ebert Director Richard Lester was actually
described it as “one of on The Beatles’ radar before A Hard
the great life-affirming Day’s Night, even if his name wasn’t.
landmarks of the When United Artists producer Walter
movies”, while for The Shenson asked the mop tops for their
Village Voice, artery of choice of film-maker for their silver-
the cultural heartbeat of screen debut, the only person they
60s America, it was “the Citizen Kane of could think of “was whoever made
jukebox musicals”. that Running, Jumping & Standing Still
Lofty praise indeed for a celluloid lark Film, because it was brilliant. It was just
created to capitalise on what seemed, at what we liked. We could relate to the
the time, like the ephemeral fame of a humour wholeheartedly,” remembered
boy band with guitars. And the artistic Paul McCartney.
reputation of A Hard Day’s Night has The Running, Jumping & Standing Still
only been enhanced in the 53 years Film was an 11-minute short made by
since its cinema release. Not bad for Lester with Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan
the day-in-the-life script conceived and friends, basically running, jumping
by the Fab Four themselves after and, erm, standing still on Muswell Hill
a gig in Stockholm. “It was a car, in North London. Peter Sellers shot the
and a room, and a stage, and a cheese footage on his then newly acquired
sandwich,” said John Lennon of the 16mm camera, and Lester composed
inspiration behind it. the brief score.

BAND ON
THE RUN
Lennon was, of course, a devotee
ages
of The Goon Show, which Lester also
worked on, and so the
tty Im
collaboration seemed
© Ge
like a perfect fit.
“United Artists
wanted to make a
very low-budget,
black-and-white
film, to start shooting
in March, but it would
have to be in cinemas in July, because
they felt that by the end of the summer,
The Beatles might be a spent force,”
Lester explained.
When Johnny Speight, his original
pick as scriptwriter, was unavailable
due to other commitments, Alun Owen,
whose credits included the play, No
Trams To Lime Street,, stepped into the
breach. The Beatles were persuaded
by his mastery of the Liverpudlian
dialect. United Artists set the budget at
£200,000 (apparently the final cost of
the film came in considerably lower)
and left all concerned very much to their
own devices.
WORKING-CLASS HEROES
In February 1964, the entire production
team decamped to Paris, where The
Beatles were appearing with Françoise
Hardy at the Olympia. According to
Lester, that was a pivotal episode in the
evolution of A Hard Day’s Night.
“They took a suite of rooms at the
George V. Alun Owen and myself had
rooms with them. The film was writing
itself as we went. You got a sense of being
told where to go, what to do, and being
pursued a lot. We watched how they
went from car to hotel, and hotel to the
Olympia and back, then to a club. We
wrote a script to ask them to do things
they knew.”
McCartney elaborated: “Alun hung Lester, meanwhile, wanted to reflect a
around with us and was careful to try to social phenomenon – the breaching of the
put words into our mouths that he might class divide and the burgeoning youth
have heard us speak, so I thought he did movement in Britain, a generational
a very good script.” rebellion against the status quo.
Alun Owen predicated the plot on “Anarchy is too strong a word, but
what he saw as The Beatles becoming the quality of confidence that the boys
Images
virtual prisoners of their own fame – exuded… Confidence that they could
the constant attention and increasingly dress as they liked, speak as they liked,
© Getty
punishing schedule being recurring talk to the Queen as they liked, talk to
motifs in the movie. the people on the train who ‘fought the

war for them’ as they liked. Everything
was still based on privilege – privilege by 50-year-old
schooling, privilege by birth, privilege by Wilfred Brambell
was best-known
accent, privilege by speech. The Beatles for his role in
were the first people to attack this. They Steptoe And Son
said, ‘If you want something, do it. You
can do it. Forget all this talk about talent
or ability or money or speech. Just do it’.”
Without rehearsals, and with the
cast featuring Wilfred Brambell,
Victor Spinetti, Lionel Blair and young,
unknown fashion model Pattie Boyd
(later to become George Harrison’s wife),
shooting began on 2 March at London’s
Marylebone Station, by which time
advance sales of A Hard Day’s Night the
© Getty Images
soundtrack had already put the movie in

the black.
“We started with them running for the
train with about 500 people screaming
after them,” said Lester. The crowds Fields in Isleworth and West Ealing liked each other. They protected each
were almost uncontrollable wherever becoming unlikely additions to both other. If one of them was down a bit, they
they went. Thousands of kids would land cinema and rock ’n’ roll folklore. would take over and protect them. Two
on location. So Lester – convinced there Pattie Boyd spent a couple of days on or three nights later, someone else would
was a mole in the camp – only got a single set, one of which involved a return train be down and they’d pick them up.
take each day. He described it as “total journey from London to Cornwall with “We tried to artificially create a
guerrilla filmmaking”. three other girls in school uniforms. difference between the four, so each
At a small station stop, The Beatles had a unique characteristic. It’s probably
TICKET TO RIDE got on, entered the girls’ carriage and apocryphal, but George was the mean
When the crew descended upon the Scala introduced themselves – as if any one, they picked on Ringo, John was
to capture The Beatles lip-syncing to She introduction was necessary! “It was so cynical and Paul was cute.”
Loves You, I Should Have Known Better
“GEORGE WAS THE MEAN ONE, THEY

and others, some fans used hacksaws to
saw their way through the iron bars of
PICKED ON RINGO, JOHN WAS CYNICAL

the fire-escape doors, while several more
used a ladder to climb onto the roof. The
production was shot sequentially over a
seven-week period, with the Turk’s Head
pub in Twickenham, Thornbury Playing AND PAUL WAS CUTE” RICHARD LESTER
charming. The energy was explosive as Lester was impressed, too, by their
they came in smiling and professional commitment to the project,
laughing,” recalled a although a hungover Lennon did fail to
starstruck Boyd. show up for one scene. Lester, in a burst
During filming, of spontaneous inspiration, borrowed his
Lester was particularly shoes and operated the camera, starting
impressed by the with his feet and then panning up to the
solidarity between other three Beatles.
Lennon, McCartney, “I wasn’t surprised by their ease in
Harrison and Starr. “They front of the cameras. Performers are
were extraordinarily like performers, and we were only asking
each other. And they them to do things they were comfortable
with. They’d done press conferences and
shows, they’d been in hotel rooms and
nightclubs. There were a few improvised
lines, but most of the dialogue in the film
was written down.”
Above: John, George and
Ringo on set at Marylebone Roger Ebert believed part of A Hard
Station with Pattie Boyd Day’s Night mythology relied on the
(second from right) rumour it was improvised, whereas, it
Left: Astrid Kirchher, was, in fact, “tightly scripted”, with some
Maureen Cox and Pattie latitude for ad-libbing. However it came
Boyd on the film’s set
© Getty Im
ages at the Scala Theatre

BAND ON
© Getty Images
THE RUN
DRUMMING
UP A TITLE
© XXXXXXXXXXXX
John Lennon and Paul McCartney disagreed about who decided on the
title for A Hard Day’s Night. According to Lennon, it was Richard Lester
– but McCartney claimed The Beatles deserved the credit.
Whatever its origins, there’s no doubt the term was a characteristic Ringo
malapropism. McCartney recalled: “We were sitting around at Twickenham
studios having a little brainstorming session, and we said, ‘Well, there was
something Ringo said the other day’. Ringo would do these little malapropisms –
he would say things slightly wrong, like people do, but his were always wonderful, The movie’s appeal was
very lyrical. They were sort of magic, even though he was just getting it wrong. global, and it has come to
And he said after a concert, ‘Phew, it’s been a hard day’s night’.”
be regarded as one of the
all-time great British films
into a grammar so pervasive that he

Pattie Boyd (behind George)
and pals coiffure The Beatles on set influenced many other films. Today,
when we watch TV and see quick
cutting, hand-held cameras, interviews
conducted on the run with moving
targets, quickly intercut snatches of
dialogue, music under documentary
action and all the other trademarks of
the modern style, we are looking at the
children of A Hard Day’s Night.”
Another renowned critic, Leslie
Halliwell, claimed A Hard Day’s Night
“led directly to all the kaleidoscopic
Swinging London spy thrillers and
comedies of the later 60s”, and inspired
The Monkees’ television series.
When the film wrapped, there
were only three-and-a-half weeks to
edit it, cut the negative and ready the
show print for the London Pavilion
première. At an advance screening
for United Artists executives, the vice
together, it was knowing, impish and process – plus dividing the screen into president’s wife suggested dubbing
self-deprecating, and owed much to both myriad images would exert an enduring The Beatles’ voices with mid-Atlantic
Lester’s familiarity with cinema history influence on generations of filmmakers. accents as she “couldn’t understand a
and the technical nous he had acquired The many camera angles enabled a host word”. McCartney wasn’t having any
as a jack-of-all-trades working on of perspectives and captured moments of it. “Look, if we can understand a
television and commercials. He favoured that might otherwise have been lost. f**king cowboy talking Texan, they can
the cinema verite approach of the French Lester’s innovative method on A Hard understand us talking Liverpool.”
New Wave – a genre characterised by Day’s Night has earned him the sobriquet The audience packed into the Pavilion
style over substance, where technique ‘father of the music video’ – and certainly couldn’t have cared less. “We heard
trumped storytelling – that had emerged Can’t Buy Me Love and I Should Have nothing during the film. There was
in the 1950s. There were references to Known Better – one featuring The Beatles wall-to-wall screaming for 90 minutes,”
the silent era of Buster Keaton and even frolicking in a field, the other a jam Lester said of the frenzied occasion.
the Marx Brothers, while the use of as session on a train – are early templates
many as six cameras simultaneously for the medium. ALL YOU READ IS LOVE
– and allowing the audience to see Lester, Ebert posited, didn’t invent At the Liverpool première, thousands
those cameras, thus breaking through the techniques used in A Hard Day’s lined the streets from Lime Street
the fourth wall and demystifying the Night, but he “brought them together railway station to the Town Hall. Lionel

Blair walked out onto the balcony place it
with The Beatles to a torrent of noise. second behind
“Everybody associated with them, they Stanley Kubrick’s
went crazy for.” Dr. Strangelove…
The commercial success of A Hard A Hard Day’s Night
Day’s Night was never in doubt – it went on to receive a brace of
grossed an estimated $11 million Academy Award nominations – Best
worldwide. But then came the critical Screenplay (Alun Owen) and Best Score
reviews, bestowing a wealth of acclaim Adaptation (George Martin) – though,
on Lester and company that must have ironically, it now seems, not for any of the
surprised even them. In the UK, Sight songs it contained.
& Sound and the Monthly Film Bulletin But perhaps the movie’s greatest legacy
were full of admiration for the “realist is the central role it played in endearing
aspects”, citing the “longish scenes of The Beatles not just to the British public,
Ringo’s escape and capture” and the but national publics everywhere, and
Can’t Buy Me Love sequence as the most also in establishing them as
outstanding parts. Melody Maker’s bona-fide artists as well as
Jack Hutton was swayed by The Beatles’ global superstars. This is
determination not to act, adding, “They a development for
are just themselves. Witty. Cheeky. which Richard Lester
Impertinent. Human. Animated. merits considerable
Deadpan. Natural. And if you don’t like it, recognition, and one of
lump it, sort of thing.” which he himself is not
Peter Jones, in Record Mirror, lauded totally unaware. “The
the refusal to mimic standard musicals. Beatles were always
“ONE OF THE SMOOTHEST, FRESHEST,
© Getty Images
FUNNIEST FILMS EVER MADE FOR THE
PURPOSES OF EXPLOITATION” TIME
There were: “no moonlight settings clever or lucky, or both,” he said in a 2014
with boy meeting girl and a 100-piece interview. “They found people very early
orchestra suddenly exploding into sound in their career who believed in them,
from thin air, no corny situations with trusted them and wanted to protect
kiss and make-up endings”. what they did best and allow them to be
Stateside, Bosley Crowther, in The at their best. Brian Epstein, George
There’s some debate over the
New York Times, applauded “a fine Martin, and then me. We all had a fierce level of improvisation in the
conglomeration of madcap clowning loyalty to try not to end up doing, ‘Hey film’s script, but Richard Lester
in the old Marx Brothers’ style… done kids, let’s do the show right here’. They succeeded in capturing the
with such a dazzling use of camera that didn’t want it and we didn’t want it. And personalities of
it tickles the intellect and electrifies the they found the right person.”
each band member
nerves”. It was, the review continued,
“much more sophisticated in theme and
CUTTING ROOM FLOOR-PHILLER

technique than its seemingly frivolous
matter promises”.
Time magazine reckoned it “one of the
smoothest, freshest, funniest films ever
Among the extras from London’s Barbara Speake Stage Bramble, McCartney’s on-screen granddad, was the
made for the purposes of exploitation”.
School cast to appear in the live scenes at the Scala was grasping dirty old man, Albert, in Steptoe And Son,
The New Yorker’s Brendan Gill may 13-year-old aspiring drummer Phil Collins. The former enjoying its first run on the BBC from 1962 to 1965.
have been less effusive, but was no less Genesis frontman turned multi-million-unit-shifting solo Actor Victor Spinetti, a protégé of Joan Littlewood’s
admiring. “Though I don’t pretend to artist didn’t actually make the final cut, though he did get Theatre Workshop who would go on to appear in Franco
understand what makes these four rather to see himself in the outtakes on the 30th anniversary of Zeffirelli’s The Taming Of The Shrew and Blake Edwards’
A Hard Day’s Night in 1994. The Return Of The Pink Panther, plays a panicky TV director.
odd-looking boys so fascinating to so
“I found myself straight away. I was sitting there And there are more future luminaries to spot, too.
many scores of millions of people, I admit wearing a pin collar and tie. I wasn’t even standing up. Dancer Lionel Blair pops up as a choreographer, comedy
I feel a certain mindless joy stealing over I was fully caught up in the moment of seeing my heroes.” stalwart Deryck Guyler is an officious policeman and Norman
me as they caper about uttering sounds.” Meanwhile, the actual cast list itself reads like a Who’s Rossington, an alumnus of the Carry On films, features as
And The Village Voice would, in the Who of British entertainers from the 1950s and 60s. Wilfred the band’s manager.
first results of its annual film poll in 1966,

The band pose in front of the United
States flag in New York City, 1964
© Getty Images
VRP04.World Tour.For Print.indd 100 15/02/2017 12:54

THE
BY 1964, THE BEATLES’ FAME TOOK THEM
TO THE FARTHEST REACHES OF THE GLOBE
– EVEN WITH A STAND-IN DRUMMER
REPLACING THE MIGHTY RINGO…
BY MICHAEL HEATLEY
T
he Beatles began and rock ’n’ roll – and The Beatles, having – offered them three live broadcasts,
ended 1964 in London, grown up on the sounds imported by while gold-disc presentations for I Want
hosting their own Liverpool seamen lucky enough to have To Hold Your Hand, She Loves You and
series of Christmas experienced it, couldn’t wait to taste it album With The Beatles were dutifully
shows. Inbetween those themselves. (George alone had paid a recorded by the world’s lensmen.
engagements at the Astoria brief family visit the previous year.) The band were still obliged to come
Cinema, Finsbury Park, and But the first destination for the Fab up with two albums a year, plus, in 1964,
the Hammersmith Odeon – venues only Four was Paris, where a three-week big-screen debut A Hard Day’s Night.
nine miles apart – they circled the globe, residency at the Paris Olympia had Filming that, plus holidays, took up the
laying the foundations not only of their been booked some while earlier. George whole of April and May, after which
own musical legend, but blazing a trail was disappointed at the audience cases were finally packed for a world
others still follow.
WITH RINGO HOSPITALISED, THE SHOW

Europe, Asia and Australasia all fell
for their boyish charms and infectious
HAD TO GO ON: AND IT DID THANKS TO

pop songs. Most importantly, they
would conquer the USA, where their
appearances, both live and on film and
TV, would lead directly to the formation
of bands that would soon be appearing
alongside them in the charts.
SESSION DRUMMER JIMMIE NICOL
Byrd-to-be David Crosby was typical. profile – “tuxedoed elderly people’, tour. Unfortunately, no-one told Ringo’s
“Watching The Beatles on Ed Sullivan as he described them, instead of the tonsils. Their hapless drummer was
was wonderful… I was amazed… by the chic Brigitte Bardot-alikes they’d hospitalised and, with tour insurance yet
sheer musicality of it and The Beatles’ anticipated. There was also an unusual to be thought of, the show had to go on.
ability to project what a confident, joyful preponderance of males who, in Ringo’s And it did thanks to Jimmie Nicol, a
and beautiful band they were. I’d never words, “roared instead of screamed”. session drummer known to producer
seen anything like them… They had the The much-anticipated two-week George Martin. He’d played on Top Six
goods. And they really had the songs.” promotional trip to the States in records – six-track EPs covering hits and
Ever since I Want To Hold Your Hand February brought them to the east coast likely hits of the day sold at a pocket-
had reached the top of the Billboard in snowy conditions. The previously money price to kids – so was used to
chart in mid-January, it was clear all mentioned Ed Sullivan Show – through picking up new material with confidence.
roads (and airline maps) led to the which a hip-swivelling Elvis had invaded Nicol, aged 24, readily agreed to a
States. It was, after all, the birthplace of a nation’s living rooms eight years earlier ‘Beatle cut’, and who wouldn’t? ➨

The Boating Beatles in
Amsterdam in June, with
temporary replacement
drummer, Jimmie Nicol
© Getty Images
© Getty Images
A PRESS STORY ABOUT THE BEATLES

Press accounts estimated his pay at
£2,500 per show, with a £2,500 signing-
LIKING JELLY BABIES WAS CAUSING

on bonus. The only difference Beatle
fans in Copenhagen’s KB Halle on 4 June
would have noticed was the absence of
Ringo showcase I Wanna Be Your Man
from the live set.
The newcomer found adjusting to
‘ALLSORTS’ OF ONSTAGE TROUBLE
overnight stardom far from easy. “Before 50,000 fans and 15,000 police. The group Unfortunately, the side effect was
I was a Beatle, not one girl would even returned to London next morning for extreme jetlag; a promised personal
look me over. The day after, when I was a long-haul flight that would take them appearance at a beauty pageant held in
suited up and riding in the back of a limo out of their comfort zone and introduce their hotel was cancelled, though John
with John Lennon and Paul McCartney, a large slice of the as-yet unsuspecting left his room to make a brief appearance.
they were dying to get a touch of me.” world to Beatlemania. Two concerts in Hong Kong were poorly
Holland was the next port of call, Jetting to Hong Kong was nowhere attended because, apparently, the local
and the group’s two days there saw near as easy as today, with refuelling promoter had priced each ticket at the
them work and play equally hard. Their stops being made at Zurich, Beirut, equivalent of a week’s pay.
lunchtime arrival at Schiphol Airport Karachi, Calcutta and Bangkok. The
was swiftly followed by a six-song TV fan frenzy they met at every airport – in WISHING ON A STARR
miming session, during which the stage Beirut, the runway was cleared of fans by Meanwhile, Ringo and Brian Epstein
was invaded; Jimmie Nicol was left hose-fulls of fire-fighting foam – was but were approaching Australia from the
drumming along to the Can’t Buy Me a prelude to their arrival in Sydney. other direction via the US, Hawaii and
Love playback as the ‘Fab Three’ beat a George revealed that the Hong Kong Fiji. The hapless drummer had forgotten
hasty retreat. flight had been made with the assistance his passport, which caught up with him
Later in the day, John Lennon took of the amphetamine tablets they’d in San Francisco. He was fortunate to
a police-escorted trip around the first encountered in Hamburg, washed miss a trip through Sydney on the back of
city’s notorious red-light district. The down with whisky and cola. “We’d a lorry in what was the Australian winter
following morning saw him join his been sitting on the floor drinking and – one of several publicity stunts The
bandmates for a canal trip on a glass- taking Preludins for about 30 hours, so it Beatles were persuaded to go along with.
topped boat, watched by an estimated seemed like a 10-minute flight.” Lacking his luggage, George donned a

lost “a big clump of my hair… and I don’t appearance in a month – all enjoyed
mean just a bit. I was halfway on the one-off shows. But mid-August was the
ground. They put three or four police date circled in every Beatle member’s
on for three or four thousand kids and diary as they took off for their debut
refused to put any more on.” A shocked full American tour; unbelievably, their
Ringo, also superficially hurt, threatened first show at San Francisco’s Cow Palace
to go on strike unless the security was came the day after a flight that had
beefed up. arrived via Canada and Los Angeles. This
In retrospect, of course, the visit was a was on 19 August; their first night off
milestone. “For some New Zealanders,” would be 10 days later as their chartered
says the NZ History website, “it was the plane criss-crossed the Midwest.
moment the 1960s began in earnest.”
The Beatles play The crowd scenes would remain BLINK AND YOU’LL MISS IT
the Olympia in Paris unmatched until 1981’s mass protests There was certainly money to be made
in January 1964
against the touring South African rugby from the latest pop sensations. The
team. “Seven days of pandemonium” Cow Palace show grossed over $91,000,
have gone down in folk legend – and the though it’s arguable if the 17,000 fans
period was extended by half an hour present got their money’s worth in purely
bath towel to acknowledge the ever- after a bomb threat at Auckland Airport musical terms. The set rarely varied, and
present fans from his balcony. delayed departure. lasted half an hour – give or take a couple
Two shows in Adelaide’s Centennial A couple of shows on their return of minutes.
Hall opened their account Down Under, to Brisbane saw not Jelly Babies but Needless to say, neither the audience
but by the time they reached Melbourne eggs thrown before the band’s early- nor the band themselves could
Jimmie Nicol was packing his bags. “The July return to Britain; it was clear distinguish much. In the words of the
boys were very kind,” he said, “but I felt not everyone Down Under had fallen San Francisco Examiner: “All that was
like an intruder. They accepted me, but under the moptop spell. A Hard Day’s heard and seen of the Mersey Sound was
you can’t just get into a group like that Night was screened just five days later, something like a jet engine shrieking
– they have their own atmosphere, their with its attendant premieres (London through a summer lightning storm.”
own sense of humour. It’s a little clique and Liverpool), plus yet more press Recordings have since surfaced,
and outsiders just can’t break in.” conferences and civic receptions. Shows including the Beatles At The Hollywood
With Ringo reinstated, the band were were played at Brighton, Blackpool Bowl album released in 1977. This was
certainly not taking it easy. Three nights (twice), and the London Palladium. compiled from performances exactly one
of two sets apiece at Melbourne’s Festival Come the end of the month, it was back year apart in 1964 and 1965. A remixed,
Hall were followed by shows at Sydney on the plane to Sweden. On the band’s remastered and expanded version, Live
Stadium – no rest for Paul McCartney on return, Bournemouth, Scarborough and At The Hollywood Bowl, appeared in
his 22nd birthday! A press story about Blackpool – their second Opera House September 2016 and coincided with
The Beatles liking Jelly Babies
was causing ‘allsorts’ of onstage
trouble – Paul likened the sweets
The band pose in Australia in June 1964, during
to “bullets from all directions.” their only tour of the country. Drummer Jimmie
If Australia fell hard for The Nicol’s 13-day stint as a Beatle ended here
Beatles, mid-June’s tour of New
Zealand brought no immediate
repetition. The traditional
Maori nose-rubbing greeting at
Auckland airport was promising,
as was the 7,000 fan turnout, but
a combination of Kiwi reserve
and antiquated/inadequate sound
systems caused trouble at the
initial gigs at Wellington Town
Hall. The welcome wasn’t exactly
warm, with Auckland’s chief of
police grumbling: “We didn’t want
’em here and I don’t know why you
brought ’em.”
The reaction of Dunedin and
Christchurch law enforcement
remains unrecorded, but a general
© Getty Images
underestimation of security put the

Fab Four in real danger. “It got a bit
rough in New Zealand,” said Lennon
in America a few weeks later. He

© Getty Images
documentary film The Beatles: Eight Days
A Week.
The audiences played to in these
summer shows varied from 8,000 at
Las Vegas’ Convention Center (police
forbade them to visit, let alone play in,
casinos for fear of encouraging underage
gambling) to nearly 15,000 at Seattle.
Not all press coverage was positive. The
Vancouver Sun complained, “Seldom…
have so many (20,261) paid so much (top
price $5.25) for so little (27 minutes)
as did the audience which screamed at
The Beatles in the Empire Stadium on
Saturday night.”
The Beatles’ 26-date North American
tour ended on 20 September in New
York, where they played a charity gig at The Beatles play Carnegie
Broadway’s Paramount Theatre. Things Hall in New York on
12 February 1964
kicked off in uptempo fashion with the
Isley Brothers’ Twist And Shout, John
FOUR STUDENTS WHO’D GAINED ACCESS

doing the honours as on the band’s first
album. Contrasting Lennon-McCartney
compositions You Can’t Do That and All
My Loving followed without pause for
breath, while Chuck Berry’s Roll Over TO THE LIGHTING GANTRY TIPPED BAGS
OF FLOUR OVER THE BEATLES’ HEADS
Beethoven was George’s sole lead vocal.
The set would typically last little over
half an hour, allowing them to play two
shows nightly with few ill effects. on 10 November. While John’s new included Money (That’s What I Want),
Bradford’s Gaumont Cinema was composition I Feel Fine, destined to Things We Said Today and I’m Happy Just
the less than glamorous kick-off point be their next single in December, was To Dance With You. Film theme A Hard
for The Beatles’ British tour, set to tentatively debuted at the soundcheck, Day’s Night had been introduced to the
conclude in Bristol four weeks later the music the public heard was once set in the States and was now its rabble-
again a tried-and-tested rousing penultimate number.
© Getty Images dozen songs, but
The band speak to a few adjustments FLOUR POWER
Ed Sullivan as they prepare had been made. The final gig at the Colston Hall saw
for their performance on
As in the an incident three songs from the end.
9 February 1964
States, they hit As the band finished If I Fell, four local
the stage with students who’d gained access to the
Twist And Shout lighting gantry tipped bags of flour over
and closed with The Beatles’ heads. The band appeared
Paul channelling to take the jape in good part, probably
Little Richard on relieved that the major proportion of
Sally. I
Long Tall Sally their year’s work was now accomplished.
Wanna Be Your But there was still a second album to
Man, donated to The
Man be delivered, following the soundtrack to
Rolling Stones, was A Hard Day’s Night. Recording had been
reinstated for Ringo taking place piecemeal at Abbey Road
to enjoy the singing in rest days between batches of dates,
spotlight in place and when the resulting long-player –
of girl-group cover Beatles For Sale, their fourth – made its
and first-album cut appearance in early December, it shot
Boys. Other additions
Boys to No. 1. Looking beyond the tired faces

CARNEGIE HALL AUSTRALIA &
NEW YORK, 2 FEBRUARY NEW ZEALAND
ROLL OVER BEETHOVEN JUNE
FROM ME TO YOU I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND
I SAW HER STANDING THERE I SAW HER STANDING THERE
THIS BOY YOU CAN’T DO THAT
ALL MY LOVING ALL MY LOVING
I WANNA BE YOUR MAN SHE LOVES YOU
PLEASE PLEASE ME TILL THERE WAS YOU
on the cover, it contained songs TILL THERE WAS YOU ROLL OVER BEETHOVEN
they’d revisited from Hamburg
days, covers of rock ’n’ roll classics
SHE LOVES YOU CAN’T BUY ME LOVE
from Chuck Berry, Carl Perkins and I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND THIS BOY
Little Richard among them. But the
all-important Lennon-McCartney
TWIST AND SHOUT LONG TALL SALLY
originals were there, too. LONG TALL SALLY AND/OR TWIST AND SHOUT
Ringo finally had his tonsils
removed on 2 December, taking
advantage of three full weeks
available for recuperation before UNITED UNITED STATES
the next scheduled performance on
Christmas Eve.
Ironically, he had come face-to-
KINGDOM SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER
face with Jimmie Nicol, the man
who’d sat behind his Ludwig kit
OCTOBER TWIST AND SHOUT
for eight shows, when The Beatles
TWIST AND SHOUT YOU CAN’T DO THAT
played Brighton in July and Nicol’s
band, the Shubdubs, were supporting. MONEY ALL MY LOVING
Nicol’s legacy was his stock answer
CAN’T BUY ME LOVE SHE LOVES YOU
when asked how his Beatle experience
was going: three years later, It’s Getting THINGS WE SAID TODAY THINGS WE SAID TODAY
Better would title the McCartney
I’M HAPPY JUST TO DANCE WITH YOU ROLL OVER BEETHOVEN
composition on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely
Hearts Club Band. I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER CAN’T BUY ME LOVE
And getting better it surely was. As
IF I FELL IF I FELL
they settled down in Hammersmith for
the (ironically titled) Another Beatles’ I WANNA BE YOUR MAN I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND
Christmas Show,, John, Paul, George
A HARD DAY’S NIGHT BOYS
and Ringo could reflect on a
year in which band had gone LONG TALL SALLY A HARD DAY’S NIGHT
global… with a little help from LONG TALL SALLY
a stand-in drummer.

Album Insight
BEATLES FOR SALE
CAN THERE BE SUCH A THING AS A ‘FORGOTTEN’ BEATLES ALBUM?
MARK LINDORES HAS A FRESH LISTEN TO THE OFT-OVERLOOKED
FOURTH LONG-PLAYER BY THE FAB FOUR…
D
ubbed ‘the fourth by the A transitional record for the band, it said. “Even after some success, we still
four’, Beatles For Sale has not only reveals a newfound depth and fulfilled the obligations we had before we
been given short shrift by intimacy as lyricists, but also hints at got really famous.”
the band’s legions of fans the experimentalism sonically that time, Required to fulfil a UK tour and record
over the years. Very much confidence and experience would allow an entire album in a matter of weeks to
regarded as the ‘lost’ or them to perfect on their later records. ensure a Christmas release, the prospect
‘forgotten’ Beatles album, proved too daunting for the band, who
the 1964 record has been disregarded by BACK IN THE… UK decided to revert back to including covers
critics and fans alike as throwaway, or a Returning at the end of September in the album’s tracklist, to ensure that
rushed out Christmas cash-in to capitalise from a US tour where they’d played they didn’t compromise the quality of the
on Beatlemania – due to its release just stadium dates, The Beatles’ physical and eight original songs they had lined up for
21 weeks after A Hard Day’s Night and its mental exhaustion was undoubtedly the record.
lack of a hit single. compounded by the culture shock of “Recording Beatles For Sale didn’t
However, taking into account that returning home to play tiny venues such take long, because it was basically our
it was the band’s fourth album in two as bingo halls, cinemas and working stage show with some new songs,” said
years – and one released amidst a frenetic mens’ clubs – in spite of the huge Paul McCartney. Despite the two-month
promotional schedule and touring international popularity they’d garnered. timeframe allotted for the album, the
commitments that had taken them to “We had a lot of shows booked from 27-date tour meant that recording
the US, Australia, New Zealand, Asia before, and so, having played huge sessions were limited to just seven days,
and Europe before a lengthy jaunt across stadiums in America, we were now sporadically placed throughout the
the UK, with recording sessions booked coming back to Britain and playing the touring schedule.
around gigs – Beatles For Sale really is working mens’ club in Accrington for “They were rather war-weary during
much better than it should be. tuppence a month,” George Harrison later Beatles For Sale,” George Martin said. ➨
BM.Beatles for Sale.For Print.indd 106 15/02/2017 09:16

© Getty Images
The band on tour in the US

in August 1964. Recording
sessions for Beatles For Sale
had to be fitted in around
a gruelling live schedule
of international and
domestic concerts Beatles For Sale saw the band add
depth to their lyrics and start to
experiment in the studio
VRP04.Beatles for Sale.For Print.indd 107 16/02/2017 12:03

identity in their earlier days.
Album opener, No Reply, had been
written earlier in 1964. Inspired
by US R&B group The Rays’ 1957
hit Silhouettes, the song was
“One must remember that they’d been originally written for Tommy
battered like mad throughout ’64, and Quickly, one of Epstein’s other
much of ’63. Success is a wonderful thing, acts, but he didn’t record it so
but it is very, very tiring. They were The Beatles reclaimed it. The
always on the go.” remaining six originals were the
As well as relieving some of the album’s core; they revealed new
pressure on the band not to have to come depth and maturity to Lennon
up with as many original tracks, the and McCartney’s writing, the
decision to feature songs the band had product of experience gained
played live (dating back to their early during their US tour.
shows in Hamburg and The Cavern Club)
“I’m A Loser is me in my Dylan period,

offered fans the opportunity to own them.
Their one-take versions of Chuck Berry’s
Rock And Roll Music and Little Richard’s
Kansas City/Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey are by far
the best of the covers, perfectly capturing
because the word ‘clown’ is in it”
the energy of their live performances. JOHN LENNON
Their take on Carl Perkins’ Everybody’s
Trying To Be My Baby and Buddy Holly’s DOCTOR ROBERT (“Look what you’re doing/ I’m feeling
Words Of Love were fine tributes to the Inspired by a meeting with Bob Dylan, blue and lonely/ Would it be too much to
band’s influences; though lifeless versions during which they discussed the ask you what you’re doing to me?”).
of Dr. Feelgood And The Interns’ Mister importance of using music as a platform
Moonlight and Perkins’ Honey Don’t are to convey a message, Lennon and DRIVE MY CAR
likely the main catalysts for Beatles For McCartney felt confident enough to Although there was no single in the
Sale’s harsh reputation. embrace the art and poetry they had been UK, Eight Days A Week became the
As well as covers, The Beatles revisited studying at college before they had their most familiar song from the album. “I
a pair of unreleased gems. First was the pop success, incorporating storytelling remember writing that song with John at
poignant I’ll Follow The Sun, a beautiful and a more introspective quality to their his place in Weybridge, from something
ballad about feeling underappreciated songwriting from then on. said by the chauffeur who had driven
in a relationship which Paul had written “I’m A Loser is me in my Dylan period, me out there,” Paul said, in The Beatles
when he was just 16 years old, but which because the word ‘clown’ is in it,” John Anthology documentary. “John had
had been deemed too romantic to fit Lennon later said. “I objected to the word moved out of London to the suburbs.
The Beatles’ rockier musical ‘clown’ because it was artsy-fartsy, but I usually drove myself there, but the
Dylan had used it so I thought it was chauffeur drove me that day and I said,
a
The band record alright, and it rhymed with whatever I ‘How’ve you been?’ – ‘Oh, working hard,’
pe rfo rm an ce at
in was doing.” he said. ‘Working eight days a week.’
Granville Studio r I Don’t Want To Spoil The Party is “I had never heard anyone use that
nd on fo r an Octobe
Lo the
1964 broadcast on dig! also a melancholic song, which deals expression before, so when I arrived,
US TV sh ow , Sh in
with the subject of alienation and I said to John, ‘Hey, this fella just said
inadequacy, suggesting that it was ‘eight days a week’.
also inspired by the Dylan meetings. “John said, ‘Right, – “Oooh, I need your
Baby’s In Black is a bluesy number, love, babe…”’ and we wrote it. We were
said to have been inspired by always quite quick to write. We would
photographer Astrid Kirchherr, write on the spot.”
who had been instrumental in the As well as lyrically, the Beatles For Sale
styling of The Beatles in their early recordings saw the group experiment
days and was fiancé to original in the studio sonically, introducing new
bassist Stuart Sutcliffe. Every elements to their music – with vocal
Little Thing was a devotional effects (Everybody’s Trying To Be My
love song written about Baby) and false fade-in intro (Eight Days
Jane Asher while Paul A Week) working to add new texture to
was on tour in the their sound. “We were progressing leaps
US and was missing and bounds musically,” recalls Ringo of
her, while the the recording. “Some of the material on
tempestuous side of Beatles For Sale was just brilliant. We did
ages
their relationship it all in the studio – rehearsing, recording

© Getty Im
was explored on and finishing songs. We never hired

What You’re Doing a rehearsal room to run down songs,
BM.Beatles for Sale.For Print.indd 108 15/02/2017 09:16

Added to their live and
© Getty Images
recording commitments, the

hardest-working band in
showbusiness in 1964 also had
a punishing TV schedule
because a lot of them weren’t finished.

The ideas were there for the first verse,
tour to shoot the album cover in Hyde
Park, near the Albert Memorial. The LINER NOTES
or a chorus, but it could be changed by
the writers as we were doing it, or if
downbeat mood of the album’s music
is reflected in the simple cover image
BEATLES
PARLOPHONE 1964
FOR SALE
anyone had a good idea. The songs often by photographer Robert Freeman of
changed dramatically.” a sombre-looking band, all dressed in TRACKLISTING PERSONNEL
trademark black, with wistful stares Side A John Lennon
GETTING BETTER (which probably had more to do with No Reply Vocals, electric guitar,
While the genius of George Martin them feeling physically drained). I’m A Loser acoustic guitar, acoustic
12-string guitar, harmonica,
meant the band were synonymous Beatles For Sale was released on Baby’s In Black tambourine, handclaps
with innovative and progressive record 4 December 1964, a week after the Rock And Roll Music Paul McCartney
production (though the album’s liner release of non-album single I Feel Fine I’ll Follow The Sun Vocals, bass guitar,
notes enforced the fact that the album / She’s A Woman, both of which were Mr Moonlight piano, Hammond organ,
contained “nothing which cannot be recorded during the Beatles For Sale Kansas City/Hey, Hey, handclaps
reproduced onstage”), The Beatles sessions. Having already broken records Hey, Hey George Harrison
themselves were taking more of an with advance orders of 750,000 copies, Vocals, electric guitar,
Side B acoustic guitar, African
interest in the production and mixing side the album entered the chart at No. 1,
Eight Days A Week drum, handclaps
of things – something they would explore dislodging A Hard Day’s Night. In total, it
Words Of Love Ringo Starr
on a much larger scale after they retired spent 46 weeks in the chart, 11 of which
Honey Don’t Vocals, drums, tambourine,
from touring. were at No. 1. In the US, the songs from timpani, percussion,
Every Little Thing
“We started out like anyone spending the album were released across two handclaps
I Don’t Want To Spoil
their first time in a studio, nervous, naïve albums, Beatles ’65 and Beatles VI with George Martin
The Party
and looking for success,” George Harrison Eight Days A Week giving them a US Piano
What You’re Doing
said. “By this time, we’d had loads of hits No. 1 single.
Everybody’s Trying To
and a few tours and we were becoming In hindsight, then, while Beatles For
Be My Baby
more relaxed with ourselves, and more Sale may not be as celebrated as some of
comfortable in the studio. And that meant the band’s later works, its early forays into CHART PLACINGS
the music was getting better.” introspection and experimentalism can No. 1 – UK No. 1 –Germany
Upon completion of the album, the be seen as a strong foundation on which No. 1 – Australia No. 1 – USA (Beatles ’65)
band used another ‘day off’ from their their legacy would be built.
VRP04.Beatles for Sale.For Print.indd 109 16/02/2017 12:03

The Beatles outside Buckingham Palace
following the controversial award
of their MBEs in October 1965
THE GONG SHOW

THE BEATLES RUFFLED MORE THAN A FEW FEATHERS
WHEN THEY WERE AWARDED MBES IN 1965. BILL DAHL
LOOKS AT THE FALLOUT AMONG THE RATTLED ESTABLISHMENT
VRP04.MBE.For Print.indd 110 15/02/2017 15:38

© Getty Images
F
rom its 1917 establishment by that The Beatles were among the latest Times were changing in Britain,
King George V to honour winners of the MBE. beginning with its government and
non-combat participants The shocking news elicited a vitriolic leaders. Harold Wilson had assumed the
during World War I, being response from a host of past honorees, post of Prime Minister the year before,
named a Member of the who believed their precious medals had and his Labour Party didn’t show the
Most Excellent Order of the been irretrievably cheapened by The standard-issue disdain for rock music his
British Empire would soon Beatles joining their ranks. Several of Conservative predecessors had. Wilson
extend to citizens who made significant them, including a Canadian politician, a had submitted the names of the lads from
contributions in the fields of business, former Royal Air Force squadron leader, Liverpool for MBE consideration, and
politics, military battle, arts and and author Richard Pape, went as far the strategy had worked.
sciences, charitable organisations, and as noisily returning their awards in a As John Lennon astutely pointed out
public service. misguided show of spite towards the to an interviewer, The Beatles were
That all changed on 12 June 1965, moptops, who hadn’t sought the award funnelling millions of welcome tax
when Queen Elizabeth II announced in the first place. funds into the British economy through

THE GONG The band meeting
SHOW
Prime Minister Harold Wilson
later the same day
their wildly popular recordings

and concerts, an inescapable fact
that surely had something to do
with the official recognition. And as
Lennon noted, they had done it by
entertaining their rabid young fanbase
with innovative music, rather than
killing people on a bloody battlefield.
Just like the ones directly preceding
it, 1965 was another banner year for
the Fab Four. Adding to the half-dozen
No. 1 singles they’d posted between
1963 and ’64, they nailed three more
UK chart-toppers (Ticket To Ride,
Help! and the double-sider Day Tripper
b/w We Can Work It Out). They did
even better in the U.S., with five No. 1
smashes (Eight Days A Week, Ticket To
© Getty Images
Ride, Help!, Yesterday and We Can

Work It Out).
AWARD, TOUR
The Beatles’ Help! and Rubber Soul
albums were hugely popular on Ringo Starr took a more pragmatic view, while 4,000 screaming fans milled about
both sides of the pond, and the band telling the press: “I’ll keep it to dust when outside the gates, trying their very best
completed filming their second zany I get old.” George Harrison mused: “I to crash the party with no success.
Richard Lester-directed film, Help! didn’t think you got that sort of thing
which proved as much of a cinematic just for playing rock and roll music.” MARCHING ORDERS
sensation as its predecessor of the After first fretting that he’d been drafted Irreverent as ever, The Beatles
previous year, A Hard Day’s Night. into the military when the official approached their controversial visit to
The foursome also found time MBE notice popped up in his mailbox, the Palace’s Great Throne Room as a
to triumphantly tour far and wide, Lennon claimed he tossed the letter into lark, despite the pomp and circumstance.
packing massive outdoor stadiums with a pile of the band’s fan mail, apparently A guardsman instructed the band
screaming teenage girls as Beatlemania preferring to sidestep the matter on proper marching technique when
swept the four corners of the world. altogether until forced to deal with it. approaching the Queen – left foot first
– and how to bow to Her Majesty. The
Lennon’s longstanding claim that they quartet did find enough time to slip away
to a royal bathroom for a quick smoke
toked on something stronger during prior to accepting their MBEs. Lennon’s

longstanding claim that they toked on
their visit seems to have been fictitious something stronger during the course of
their visit seems to have been fictitious, a
tale later debunked by Harrison.
Therefore, official recognition for Proud of his boys and their voluminous When their names were called, The
The Beatles from the Queen via the accomplishments, Beatles manager Brian Beatles dutifully stepped forward and
MBE seems in retrospect to have been Epstein was of another mind entirely. bowed as instructed. The Queen shook
an entirely fitting tribute, even if it did He’d originally brought the Beatles news their hands, had a brief conversation
inflame the pristine sensibilities of of their MBE designation at Twickenham with each of them (Paul McCartney
certain segments of the British old guard. Studios while they were filming Help! described her as “sweet”), and pinned
As for the Fab Four themselves, they and took the matter far more seriously their medals to their suits. The Beatles
found the whole MBE affair amusing. than his young charges, convincing were hardly alone that morning – there
They reacted to reporters’ queries with them to accept the prestigious award were reportedly 189 honorees in all. Then
well-timed quips, rather than the hushed after they’d initially discussed nixing it. they marched right back into the line and
deference that many no doubt would So on the morning of 26 October 1965, took a final bow, and it was onto the next
have preferred. “I thought you had to The Beatles arrived at a heavily guarded recipient for the Queen.
drive tanks and win wars to get the Buckingham Palace in Lennon’s black At a post-ceremony press conference,
MBE,” Lennon was quoted as saying. Rolls-Royce to attend the royal ceremony where the Beatles were seated four

across at a long table, McCartney
called the Queen “lovely” and “very
friendly,” complimenting her on her
“keen pad.” When the Queen queried
McCartney about how long the quartet
had been together, Starr piped up with
the cheeky reply, “40 years.” Asked by
the reportorial throng if their jaunt
to Buckingham Palace left Harrison
feeling like he was becoming part of
the establishment, The Beatles’ lead
guitarist assured a reporter that he was
“exactly the same”. Even during the
ceremony itself, the band couldn’t avoid
the autograph hounds who followed
them everywhere. But this time, the folks
asking for their signature were their
fellow MBE and OBE awardees, proof
that not all of them were offended by The
Beatles being in their presence.
With official recognition properly
bestowed by Her Majesty, The Beatles
could no longer be written off by staid
establishment types as mere scruffy
rock musicians – albeit rock musicians
boasting gargantuan bank accounts
and a seemingly infinite fanbase. Two
of those precious MBE medals made
a brief return to prominence in 1967
when Paul and George donned them for Fans attempt to break through
the unforgettable front cover photo of the police line at Buckingham
the Beatles’ album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Palace as The Beatles
accept their awards
Hearts Club Band (John and Ringo © Getty Images
apparently demurred).
‘Sir’ to the front of his name a year before and in typically witty Lennon fashion,
RETURN TO SENDER McCartney did. the Plastic Ono Band’s Cold Turkey
Pioneers on myriad levels, The Beatles Perhaps Lennon’s lack of a knighthood “slipping down the singles charts.”
opened the door for many of their during his tragically truncated life Lennon later branded his original
fellow rockers to later be granted royal stemmed from his controversial decision acceptance of the award a “sell-out,” but
honours – and not just MBEs, either. A in November of 1969 to return his MBE, he was pleased he could use its return
distinguished list of rock superstars – which had resided on top of his Aunt to register a bold gesture of defiance.
McCartney, Mick Jagger, Van Morrison, Mimi’s television for the previous four McCartney and Starr, on the other hand,
Cliff Richard, Tom Jones, Elton John, years. Lennon had his reasons: he was long testified to their pride in accepting
and Rod Stewart – have been knighted protesting Britain’s support of the US their MBEs and weren’t about to follow
(it’s alleged that David Bowie refused in the Vietnam War, Britain’s own Lennon’s lead – they held on to theirs.
to accept). The Kinks’ Ray Davies is the involvement in the Nigerian Civil War, A full four decades after Lennon
latest to be so honoured, in 2017. brashly returned his MBE to its regal
Sir Paul’s knighthood came in 1997; sender, the medal itself was
those codgers who were so outraged unearthed in a vault at St James’s
a little over three decades earlier John and Yoko at Palace. Just last year, a draft
conference in Novembea press
by news of McCartney’s MBE following the return of r 1969, of the letter that accompanied
were no doubt rolling over in their his MBE it (the official one remains
respective graves this time around. ensconced in the royal archives)
The three remaining Beatles on Bag Productions stationery
never were knighted (of course, and personally signed “with love,
there’s still time for Ringo), John Lennon” turned up quite
though Harrison was rumoured unexpectedly at a memorabilia show
to have turned down designation in Liverpool. Auctioneers appraised
as an Officer of the Order of the it at a whopping £60,000.
© Getty Images
British Empire because it wasn’t It’s no longer out of the ordinary

quite the equal of McCartney’s for a rock star to be recognised by
knighthood. Longtime Beatles the Queen for their service to music.
producer George Martin added a Thank The Beatles for that.

Album Insight
HELP!
IT MAY HAVE BEEN THE SOUNDTRACK TO A GOOFY MOVIE, BUT
THE BEATLES’ FIFTH ALBUM SHOWED A NEW MATURITY,
AS DOUGLAS MCPHERSON DISCOVERS…
I
f a seafarer had wandered into a But as a record in its own right, it me about the songs, not writing them
Liverpool record shop in 1965, he marks a turning point for the band as objectively, but subjectively.”
might, at first glance, have thought artists, as they moved from the simple Dylan also, perhaps not incidentally,
the new Beatles album was called teen love songs of their early years to a introduced the group to the pleasures of
‘NUJV’. Those are the letters more reflective, personal and emotionally pot, which added its own flavour to the
spelled out as a semaphore signal complex style of songwriting, and the recording process. “We were smoking
by the arms of the Fab Four on the more adventurous musical avenues that marijuana for breakfast during that
cover. They were, of course, supposed to they would explore later on. period,” Lennon remembered. “Nobody
be signalling the far catchier title Help!, John Lennon attributed The Beatles’ could communicate with us because it
but the photographer, Robert Freeman, shift towards a deeper level of writing was all glazed eyes and giggling all the
decided the limb positions required for to the influence of Bob Dylan, who the time. We were in our own world.”
those letters didn’t look so good. band had met on tour in New York the Recorded at Abbey Road, on 12 days
The Beatles didn’t need a lot of help in previous year. “Not by any discussion or scattered between February and June
1965. They were flying high on a stream anything,” Lennon pointed out. “Just by 1965, Help! features a representative
of chart-topping singles, and with their hearing his work.” cross-section of the musical styles
second film about to hit cinemas, its tie-in the band had drawn up to that point,
LP must have seemed assured of success. DOUBLE FANTASY including the 1950s rock ’n’ roll of the
But their fifth long-player was to prove Of his writing before Help!, Lennon said: Larry Williams cover Dizzy Miss Lizzy;
more than just a soundtrack album. “I had a sort of professional songwriter’s the fast country-style toe-tapper I’ve Just
In fact, following the pattern of A Hard attitude to writing pop songs. I’d have Seen A Face; and the folk rock of You’ve
Day’s Night, the UK edition of Help! is a separate ‘songwriting’ John Lennon Got To Hide Your Love Away, on which
only half a soundtrack album, with none who wrote songs for the sort of meat the Dylan influence can be most keenly
of the songs on the B-side appearing in market, and I didn’t consider them to felt. It also included three of the most
the film. have any depth at all. Then I started being enduring and quintessential songs ➨
BM.Help LP.For Print.indd 114 15/02/2017 09:49

© Getty Images
The Beatles pose

during the recording
sessions for Help!
in Abbey Road
Studios, 1965
BM.Help LP.For Print.indd 115 15/02/2017 09:49

period. I’m singing about when I was
so much younger and all the rest,
looking back at how easy it was.”
‘Fat,’ of course, has to be taken in
the context of the mid-60s, when the
in a career full of evergreen compositions: general population was a lot thinner
Help!, Ticket To Ride and the biggest of than it is today. Also very much of its
them all, Yesterday. time was a whiff of scandal around
The title track is without doubt one the lyric of the album’s first single,
of the group’s toughest-sounding rock Ticket To Ride, which alluded to a
songs. It powers along, with one of the couple living together, as opposed
secrets of its success doubtless being the to being married.
contrast between the vulnerability of the
lyric and the iron-hard guitar sound. But SHE’S SO HEAVY
the number actually began life as a ballad, Today, Ticket To Ride comes across
and although it was written around a as a straightforward leaving song,
title already chosen for the film, Lennon
later revealed that the plea to be rescued
was heartfelt, as he struggled with the The twanging guitars and the relentless
pressure of the foursome’s success.
“I was eating and drinking like droning quality led Lennon to call
a pig and I was fat as a pig,
dissatisfied with myself.
Subconsciously, I was
Ticket To Ride the first heavy-metal song
crying for help,” said but its power is undiminished. From the McCartney. “It was something specially
Lennon. “I didn’t realise hard twang of the guitars to a relentless written for the fade-out, which was very
it at the time; I just wrote droning quality that led Lennon to effective but it was quite cheeky. It was
the song because I was call it the first heavy-metal song, there’s quite radical at the time.”
commissioned to write it a bleak grittiness to the song which is The album’s biggest song, Yesterday,
for the movie. But later, redolent of working-class life in the was, like Help!, a reflection on things lost
I knew I really was North of England. with the passing of time. But whereas
crying out for In the movie, Ticket To Ride Help! shielded its vulnerability with
help. So it accompanies a slapstick skiing scene. But swagger, McCartney’s masterpiece was
was my heard on its own, the recording has its unashamedly melancholic in style.
fat Elvis own cinematic quality, conjuring images The melody came to him in a dream
from a black-and-white kitchen-sink and for a long time, he famously used
drama of the era. the words “scrambled eggs” as a place-
Contrasting the dark tone throughout, holder until he eventually came up with
another contribution to the song’s success the word Yesterday while working on
may be the surprise change of tempo and the lyric with Lennon. The song’s long
melody to a brighter, more optimistic gestation tested the patience of the other
tone on the closing lines. band members, with George Harrison
“We almost invented the idea of a new saying of McCartney: “He’s always talking
bit of a song on the fade-out,” said Paul about that song. You’d think he was
Beethoven or somebody!”
AMERICAN SOUNDTRACK ALL MY YESTERDAYS

Eventually, it was completed and
If the UK release of Help! was a fine standalone record,
recorded by Paul, accompanied by just
the North American version on Capitol was more truly
his own guitar, four days before his 24th
a soundtrack album, as it dropped seven tracks that
birthday. A string quartet was later added,
didn’t appear in the film and replaced them with five
but none of the other Beatles played
orchestral pieces from the movie score conducted by
on the track, leading George Martin to
Ken Thorne. They included a mix of Thorne’s own
wonder whether it should be released as
compositions and his instrumental arrangements of
a solo record, rather than a Beatles song.
the Lennon and McCartney songs From Me To You and
The group’s manager, Brian Epstein,
A Hard Day’s Night
Night, which were billed on the sleeve
quickly quashed that idea, determined
as From Me To You Fantasy and Another Hard Day’s
not to see the money-spinning group
Night. The latter featured the first use of a sitar on
Night
break up.
a Beatles record. The American release also opened
The band vetoed the idea of Paul’s
with some spoof James Bond-style music as a
performance being released as a single
prelude to the opening title track.
in the UK at the time of Help!’s release.
It did come out on a 45 in America,
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© Getty Images
The Beatles show off

their gold discs during
a news conference for
the Help! film
however, where the group’s opinion held put me in the movies,” and “Might win an
less sway, and sat at the summit of the Oscar, you can never tell.” LINER NOTES
US chart for four weeks in the autumn of
1965. A cover by Matt Monro made the
Penned by Johnny Russell, with Voni
Morrison given a co-writing credit for
HELP!
PARLOPHONE 1965
UK Top 10 at the same time, and was the her part in taking the song to Owens,
first of some 2,000 versions that would lines like “I won’t need rehearsing,” and TRACKLISTING PERSONNEL
make the song one of the most frequently “the biggest fool that ever hit the big Side A John Lennon
covered of all time. time”, described the jokey versions of Help! Vocals, electric guitar,
McCartney’s would nevertheless top themselves the band played on screen. The Night Before acoustic guitar, harmonica,
the British charts the following spring, on Nearly a quarter of a century later, handclaps
You’ve Got To Hide Your
an EP with three further songs from the Ringo and Buck teamed up to record a Paul McCartney
Love Away Vocals, bass, handclaps
album – the Ringo-sung Act Naturally; duet version of Act Naturally, supported I Need You
the George Harrison composed and led by a video in which they played George Harrison
Another Girl Vocals, electric guitar,
You Like Me Too Much; and the Lennon- caricatures of themselves as actors You’re Going To Lose acoustic guitar, handclaps
fronted It’s Only Love – which stopped making a Western. The single reached That Girl Ringo Starr
the McCartney-led number being a solo 27 on the US Country chart and marked Ticket To Ride Vocals, drums, tambourine,
outing. A decade later, when The Beatles’ the second occasion one of the Fab Four maracas, handclaps
contract with EMI expired, Yesterday appeared on that list, the first being Side B
George Martin
was finally released as a British single McCartney with Wings, when he made Act Naturally Piano [Misery],
and reached No. 8 in 1976. By that point, number 51 with Sally G in 1974. It’s Only Love celesta [Baby It’s You]
however, it had already appeared on Help! was rounded off with Dizzy You Like Me Andy White
three hit albums and the aforementioned Miss Lizzy, from the 1950s rock ’n’ roll Too Much Drums [Love Me Do
Tell Me What and P.S. I Love You]
EP, and was already one of the highest- catalogue of Larry Williams, who had also
earning copyrights of all time. given the world Bony Moronie. It harked You See
back to the band’s beginnings at the I’ve Just Seen
BUCK COVER Cavern Club in the way it gave American A Face
For the first of two covers on Help!, Ringo R&B the unmistakable Mersey Beat twist. Yesterday
revived Buck Owens’ Act Naturally, which McCartney has listed the track among the Dizzy Miss Lizzy
had topped the US Country charts for band’s best recordings. But it can also be
CHART PLACINGS
four weeks in 1963. It didn’t feature in the seen as a fond look back to their roots, at
NO. 1 – UK N/A – USA
film, but was an apt choice for the tie-in a time when The Beatles were about to
NO. 4 – GERMANY
LP, containing the lines “They’re gonna move decisively forward.
VRP04.Help LP.For Print.indd 117 16/02/2017 14:44

TECHNICOLOUR
DREAM
A STONED BEATLES GIGGLE THEIR WAY
THROUGH THEIR SECOND MOVIE HELP!
DOUGLAS MCPHERSON LOOKS AT THE MAKING
OF THEIR TRIPPY POP-ART CHASE FLICK…
W
ave!” a housewife Paul begins playing a light-bedecked
encourages her cinema organ as it rises majestically
bashful friend as from the floor. John flops into a bed
a Rolls-Royce pulls sunken into another part of the floor.
into a street of Ringo gets his lunch from a series of
terraced houses vending machines, and George reads
to drop off John, the paper while directing a servant to
Paul, George and Ringo. “I don’t like to,” trim an artificial grass carpet with two
says her shy pal, before relenting with, sets of clockwork false teeth… And so
“Well alright, they expect it, don’t they?” we’re thrown into the zany world of the
The Beatles wave back before heading Beatles’ second movie adventure, Help!.
to four front doors in the terrace
opposite. “Lovely lads, and so natural,” HOLIDAY TRIPPER
comments the first woman, as the The movie couldn’t have been more
smartly suited foursome go indoors. different to the previous year’s A Hard
“Adoration hasn’t gone to their heads one Day’s Night, and not just because of
jot, has it?” the switch from black and white to
Cut to an interior shot, however, and vibrant Technicolour. The Beatles’
we see the Fab Four step through those first film was made on the low budget Help! abandoned the
semi-realistic format
same four doors into a huge millionaire’s of a typical pop-music-exploitation
of its predecessor in
playroom where all the houses have been movie, cynically intended to do no more favour of a surreal,
knocked through into one. than milk a few more pounds – and Bond-style romp
VRP04.help_movie.SH2*.indd 118 16/02/2017 14:25

© Getty Images
VRP04.help_movie.For Print.indd 119 15/02/2017 16:42

HELP! THE
© Getty Images
Ringo and Eleanor Bron on set in the Bahamas, in February 1965
MOVIE
particularly American dollars – from the The success of their first feature “We didn’t want to make a colourised
phenomenon of Beatlemania, which was freed up a much larger budget for version of A Hard Day’s Night – another
probably still believed by the producers Help!, allowing exotic foreign location fictionalised documentary,” Richard
to be a short-lived fad. There’s actually a shooting in Austria and the Bahamas. ‘Dick’ Lester, the director of both films,
joke in A Hard Day’s Night about the next An orchestra was provided for a more explained. “And we couldn’t show their
fashion trend being due in three weeks. grandiose score. Well-known actors such private life, which would be the next
The film became much more than the as Leo McKern came onboard for gleeful logical extension, because by then that
average pop-star flick because of a sharp cameos. With the step up in production was X-rated!
script and the effortless chemistry of the values, the script took an even larger “So if we can’t show them in their
band. They were natural jokers in real leap away from reality and projected working life, and we can’t show them in
life and it was no big stretch for them to The Beatles into a spoof spy adventure their private life, they have to become
magnify their deadpan humour in front full of crazy gadgets, mad scientists, a passive recipients of an outside plot.”
The follow-up was given the working
In film terms, it was the moment

title Beatles II, and one of the options
considered was a western based on the
the psychedelic 60s began to swing.

Richard Condon novel A Talent For
Loving. The band got as far as posing for
publicity pictures sitting on horseback in
Everything about it was surreal cowboy outfits.

In the end, however, they plumped for
a James Bond spoof conceived by Marc
of the camera. But although A Hard Paul McCartney reduced to Incredible Behm, who had penned the 1963 Cary
Day’s Night sparkled in every scene, it Shrinking Man proportions, and a Grant and Audrey Hepburn thriller-cum-
betrayed its budget in the humbleness of cartoonish cult-leader villain. rom-com Charade. Behm’s screenplay
its settings, such as a railway carriage, had been turned down by Peter Sellers
pub and dressing rooms. In many ways, BOND ON THE RUN (who went on to star in another Bond
it had the look of an Ealing comedy from In film terms, it was the moment when parody, Casino Royale) and was reworked
the 1940s or 50s. the psychedelic 60s began to swing. for The Beatles by Charles Wood.
More than that, A Hard Day’s Night Everything about it was gleefully daft The film begins like a Hammer Horror
was grounded in a reality not too far and surreal, including the parting send-up, with cult leader Clang (played
removed from the band’s actual existence message that the flick was “dedicated to by McKern) about to make a human
as it followed their preparations for a the memory of Mr. Elias Howe, who, in sacrifice to the eastern god Kaili. The
television show. 1846, invented the sewing machine.” ceremony is interrupted when the high
VRP04.help_movie.SH2*.indd 120 16/02/2017 14:27

Mini McCartney smokes
a life-size cigarette
while wearing a
chewing-gum wrapper
© Getty Images
HELP!-FUL
FACTS
© Getty Images
The Channel swimmer who

surfaces in two scenes is
the Beatles’ road manager,
priestess Ahme, played by Eleanor Bron, The Beatles, rather than random
Mal Evans.
points out that the victim isn’t wearing a characters. The scene also allowed the
required ruby ring. raw power of the group to come through Eleanor Rigby was named
It turns out that the jewel was posted loud and clear. after the film’s female
to Ringo as fan mail. Unfortunately, the The other single from the soundtrack, lead, Eleanor Bron.
ring is stuck on the drummer’s finger. Ticket To Ride, was the backdrop to
After their initial attempts to steal it a skiing scene filmed in Austria. The A line about Ringo not missing his tonsils
refers to him having them removed in real life
are unsuccessful, the cult is left with sequence had nothing to do with the
shortly before.
no choice but to make Starr the next lyric, apart from the fact that they
sacrificial offering. From there, as Ringo were riding on skis, but was a seminal Peter Sellers turned down a part in Help!.
put it, “It’s basically a chase film, because influence on the development of 80s
I keep getting chased by these lunatics music videos, when visual storylines The book John Lennon takes
and my three pals save me.” were often only abstractly linked from a shelf and kisses in an
to the accompanying music. early scene is his own work,
A Spaniard In The Works.
EIGHT ARMS… A WEAK TITLE When video channel MTV
The film was originally to be called Eight sent Lester a scroll naming
A scene with Frankie Howerd
Arms To Hold You, and was announced him the Father Of MTV, (pictured) and Wendy
as such on the sleeve of Ticket To Ride, he quipped: “I cabled back, Richard was filmed but
the first single from the soundtrack, demanding a blood test!” not used.
which came out three months before the The ski scene was a spoof of
film, in April 1965. But as Paul observed James Bond’s prowess on the George Harrison was
introduced to the sitar
at the time: “I just don’t think anybody slopes. But the ineptitude of The
during the scene where
will want to hear a song called Eight Beatles wasn’t staged, as none of an Indian band plays
Arms To Hold You. We were getting a them could ski. “I put three cameras A Hard Day’s Night.
bit desperate for titles, and Ringo said, on them and said, ‘Learn how to ski,’”
Eight Arms To Hold You and we all said,
‘Great!’. But then we suddenly realised a
couple of days later that we were all sick Leo McKern, John
of it and didn’t like it. We thought it was Bluthal and Eleanor
a bit daft.” Bron pose in front of a
With the film already in production, Goodyear blimp on set
Lester came up with Help!, which fitted
the story of Ringo spending the movie
running for his life; and John Lennon
took on the challenge of writing a song
around the title.
The film was shot concurrently with
the making of the soundtrack album
although, as McCartney told the press
at the time, they didn’t write songs to fit
specific scenes: “We just jam them in.”
The title track benefitted from being
presented as the group playing the song
on TV. Basically, it was an establishing
shot in the title sequence that left no
doubt that the four musicians in the film
that followed were playing themselves as © Getty Images

HELP! THE
MOVIE
ages
© Getty Im
enes were
Help!’s snowy sc uern, Austria
filmed in Ob er ta
© Getty Images
Lester recalled, “and we just filmed “I’m not sure anyone knew the script. seven miles, we ran and ran, just so we
everything that happened. If something I think we used to learn it on the way could stop and have a joint before we
was particularly good, we would just to the set,” McCartney admitted. “We’d came back!
embellish it.” really tried to get involved and learn the “If you look at pictures of us you
It’s a shame the cameras weren’t script for A Hard Day’s Night, but by the can see a lot of red-eyed shots,” Starr
on hand to capture another piece time Help! came along we were taking it continued. “They were red from the dope
of spontaneous mayhem during the as a bit of a joke.” we were smoking. Dick Lester knew that
Bahamas leg of the shoot. The group If the cartoonish visual gags and bright very little would get done after lunch. In
hired sports cars and spent a happy day colours of Help! give it a trippy quality, the afternoon we very seldom got past
off doing doughnuts and slamming into then the spacey looks on the faces of the the first line of the script. We had such
each other. Now that would have made band can be attributed to the amount of hysterics that no one could do anything.”
a great music video. The trip to Austria, dope they were smoking at the time. As John put it: “All the best stuff is on
incidentally, was the only time the band “We showed up a bit stoned, smiled the cutting-room floor, with us breaking
up and falling all over the place, lying on
“We showed up a bit stoned, smiled

the floor, incapable of saying a word.”
BAHAMA KARMA
a lot and hoped we’d get through it,” Despite the haze of marijuana between
the group and the film they were making,
said McCartney... “We giggled a lot” the experience had a life-changing effect
on George Harrison. While filming in
the Bahamas, a fan ran up to the band
performed in that country, when they a lot and hoped we’d get through it,” and handed them each a book on Hare
played an impromptu set at the birthday said McCartney. Krishna. At the time, the band were so
party of a crew member during filming. “We giggled a lot,” the singer added, used to being given presents that they
and singled out a scene where the thought little of it, but when George got
THE NEW MARY JANE group are being held at gunpoint in around to reading the text later on, it
Lester threw everything he had into the Buckingham Palace. “It was after lunch, proved to be the beginning of his lifelong
film, including groundbreaking camera which was fatal, because someone might interest in Eastern religion.
angles and rapid edits, and the use of have brought out a glass of wine as well. His interest was further piqued by
colour filters on every frame, which gives We were all a bit merry and all had our the inclusion of a sitar being used by
the print an exceptionally lush and backs to the camera, and the giggles set an Indian band playing A Hard Day’s
vivid appearance. The Beatles, by in. All we had to do was turn around and Night in a restaurant scene. It was his
contrast, were far less committed and look amazed. But every time we’d turn first glimpse of an instrument that The
chose the foreign locations primarily as round to the camera, there were tears Beatles would popularise with songs like
holiday opportunities to break up the streaming down our faces.” Norwegian Wood.
making of their album, and the many Ringo recalled a scene where he and Another glimpse of the future comes in
other demands on their time, such Paul discover that one of the stones in a a scene where the band don disguises and
as touring and various promotional game of curling has a bomb in it. “We had John is first seen in the granny specs that
television appearances. to run away. Well, Paul and I ran about would define his long-haired hippy look

© Getty Images
four years later. McCartney,

meanwhile, was inspired by
the name of his co-star, Eleanor
Bron, to pen Eleanor Rigby.
When Help! was released on
29 July 1965, it was a box-office
smash, but received mixed
reviews. Today, it’s probably
fair to say that, like the humour
of Monty Python and The Goon Monkees’ TV series which Princess Marg
meets the band at aret
Show, some of the abstract comedy in began airing the following the
première of
Help! is an acquired taste. Other jokes year (The Monkees having Piccadilly Circus, JuHelp! at
ly 1965
simply fall flat because the delivery is so been created as America’s
deadpan, or mumbled. fictional answer to the moptops
There are, however, many inspired before taking off in their own right). The movie didn’t leave the
moments, including the miniaturisation The Beatles weren’t keen on the group itching to follow Elvis into regular
of McCartney, and a slapstick washroom film, which they felt expressed Lester’s film production. Lennon went on to work
scene where a hand-drier sucks the vision of pop art more than their own. with Lester as Private Gripweed in the
clothes off the band before a burst pipe McCartney said: “It was good, but it anti-war satire How I Won The War.
soaks them with water. There are also wasn’t our film. We were just guest But, as a band, Help! proved to be The
some witty exchanges, such as when stars.” Lennon’s ambivalence can be felt Beatles’ last full-length film, apart from
Ringo recalls that the fire brigade once in his lukewarm comment at the time of the animated Yellow Submarine, in which
freed his head from some railings. release: “I enjoyed filming it, you know. their characters were voiced by actors
“Did you want them to?” John asks. I’m sort of satisfied with it, but I’m not and the band only appeared in a short
“No, I used to leave it there when I smug about it. It’ll do… ’cause we’re not skit at the end. A contractual obligation
wasn’t using it for school. You can see capable enough actors to make it any to make another feature was fulfilled by
a lot of the world from railings.” better than that.” the 1970 documentary Let It Be.
In another scene, the police In later years, however, he came to McCartney perhaps summed up the
superintendent assigned to protect change his opinion of the feature. In general consensus of Beatles fans, critics
the band sniffily asks John how long his final interview, he said: “I realise, and movie buffs alike when he said:
he thinks the group will last. John looking back, how advanced it was. It “Looking back on it, Help! isn’t such a
responds to the dig by asking how the was a precursor to the Batman ‘Pow! bad film. It’s more of a fun romp, but
(then stalled) investigation into the Great Wow!’ on TV – that kind of stuff. But I think that A Hard Day’s Night is the
Train Robbery is going. Lester never explained it to us.” better of the two.”
It’s a small line, but shows that, at the
height of their fame, The Beatles were
HELP! MOVIE FILE

happy to joke about their success and the
sneering attitude of their critics. Also
that they were still rock ’n’ roll enough
to poke fun at an authority figure. Director: Richard Lester
Compared to The Rolling Stones, they Producer: Walter Shenson
were the clean-cut, wholesome ones, Screenplay: Marc Behm, Charles Wood
but they were at the cutting edge of the Cast: The Beatles, Leo McKern, Eleanor Bron,
60s counter-culture, gradually chipping Victor Spinetti, Roy Kinnear
away at the social norms of a Britain that Musical Director: Ken Thorne
was still straight-laced and hierarchical. Cinematography: David Watkin
Edited by: John Victor-Smith
TOMORROW NEVER KNOWS Distributor: United Artists
The film’s real problem is perhaps its Release: 29 July 1965
length and the lack of any real plot Running time: 92 minutes
Box office: $12,066,667
tension to sustain interest in a series of
individually clever skits. As the critic
Leslie Halliwell of Film Guide fame
put it: “It looks good, but becomes too
tiresome to entertain.”
With the passing of time, the film
has been recognised as a forerunner of
modern music videos and an influence
es
on pop-music films as recent as the

y Imag
Spice Girls vehicle Spice World.

More immediately, it was a direct
© Gett
influence on the zany humour of The

THE
NOITULOVER
WILL BE
TELEVISED
VRP04.Shea Stadium.For Print.indd 124 15/02/2017 10:51

WHEN THE BEATLES PLAYED THE FIRST-
EVER STADIUM ROCK SHOW IN 1965, THEY
HIT THEIR PEAK AS LOVEABLE MOPTOPS
AND SET IN MOTION EVENTS THAT WOULD
LEAD TO WORKS OF MUSICAL GENIUS
BY ED MITCHELL
T
he first that British kids to get them on The Ed Sullivan Show.
heard about some big show It was all going to plan. But this? A
The Beatles were doing concert in a baseball stadium… Even to
in the United States was a dreamer like Epstein, it seemed like
a news piece in the NME too much too soon.
published on 12 March The man who deserves the credit
1965. The headline: ‘Beatles for making the Shea Stadium show
Greatest U.S. Show To Be Filmed’. It happen was Sid Bernstein. The music
went on: “British fans may see The promoter, who died in 2013, not only
Beatles’ most important concert ever invented the concept of rock shows in
– on television. The group will appear stadiums, he helped kick off the British
before nearly 60,000 fans at the Shea Invasion in the first place. After reading
Stadium in New York on 15 August at about The Beatles in the British media,
the start of their second American tour. Bernstein got in touch with Epstein in
Ed Sullivan, America’s most famous the early part of 1963. It was he who
TV personality, will introduce them planted the notion in Epstein’s head
on stage at this show. Brian Epstein that the band could be successful in
revealed exclusively to the NME on the US. Not many agreed at that point,
Wednesday: “I am arranging to have not least the American division of the
the whole fantastic performance group’s record label who just didn’t get
filmed and, if it is suitable, I will the first few 45s. Besides, despite the
arrange worldwide release for it fact that British acts Acker Bilk and The
almost immediately afterwards.”’ Tornados had scored US No. 1s with,
So it was that on 15 August 1965, respectively, Stranger On The Shore
The Beatles played the first-ever and Telstar in ’61 and ‘62, other top-of-
stadium rock concert in front of 55,600 the-bill Blighty-based artists like Cliff
fans at Shea Stadium, home of the Mets Richard and The Shadows couldn’t get
baseball team, in New York, the first arrested in the States.
date of their second tour of the USA. Bernstein was convinced The Beatles
Beatle manager Brian Epstein had were different and later put his money
harboured big ambitions for his boys where his mouth was, booking the band
ever since he’d first seen them playing into Carnegie Hall for their first-ever
at the Cavern Club in Liverpool’s US concert. They played there on 12
Mathew Street on 9 November 1961. February 1964, three days after their
He’d got them that deal with EMI, now legendary appearance on The
© Getty Images
booked them onto the Royal Variety Ed Sullivan Show, the night America
Performance that pulled the pin on effectively became theirs. When the
Beatlemania and worked out a contract band returned for their second ➨
➨
VRP04.Shea Stadium.SH2*.indd 125 16/02/2017 14:19

US tour, Bernstein sprung the idea on
Epstein for the Shea Stadium gig. To help
© Getty Images
allay the manager’s fears that his boys The crowd noise was so
would be ‘yeah, yeah, yeah-ing’ to a extreme that the band
were virtually inaudible
half-empty stadium, Bernstein offered to
pay him $10 for every unsold seat. With
the eventual capacity turnout of 55,600, stadium. Each Beatle was presented “What I remember most about the
Sid’s money clip was safe. with a Wells Fargo badge and can be concert was that we were so far away
“This was the first time that one of seen wearing them on their matching from the audience,” said Ringo in
those stadiums was used for a rock military-esque outfits during the show. Anthology. “It was just very distant at
concert,” said George Harrison. Support at Shea came from US artists Shea. Sure, we were big-time, and it was
“Now, it’s quite commonplace for like soul legend King Curtis and rock the first time we’d played to thousands
people to play Shea Stadium or Giants bands The Rascals and Cannibal & The and thousands of people, and we were
Stadium and all those big places,” Headhunters. Then the Fab Four were the first band to do it, but it was totally
said Paul McCartney in The Beatles introduced by Ed Sullivan. against what we had started out to
Anthology documentary. “It seemed like “Now, ladies and gentlemen, honoured achieve, which was to entertain, right
millions of people, but we were ready for by their country, decorated by their there, up close.”
it. They obviously felt we were popular Queen, and loved here in America, here The band rattled through their set
enough to fill it. Once you go on stage and are The Beatles!” in 30 minutes: Lennon party piece
you know you’ve filled a place that size, Suddenly, it’s just John, Paul, George Twist And Shout, She’s A Woman,
it’s magic; just walls of people.” and Ringo staring down the business I Feel Fine, Dizzy Miss Lizzy, Ticket To
end of the first stadium-rock gig. Sid Ride, Harrison’s Carl Perkins tribute
IT MIGHT GET LOUD Bernstein had arranged for 2,000 Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby,
Bernstein had a big idea to land security staff to attend that day. In Can’t Buy Me Love, Baby’s In Black,
The Beatles on the playing field of the footage from the day, many of the Ringo’s Buck Owens homage Act
stadium in a helicopter. When officials security people can be seen covering Naturally, A Hard Day’s Night, Help! and
kiboshed the plan because of safety their ears because of the intense volume McCartney lung-shredder I’m Down.
concerns – or more likely to protect of the crowd. The Beatles were still John Lennon lost his mind on that
the grass – the chopper landed next outnumbered 55,600 to four and the tiny stage. He spouted gibberish, jumped
to the stadium in Queens. The Beatles sheer scale of the venue impacted on the around with his arms in the air and
were then bundled into a Wells Fargo band in different ways. For Ringo Starr, performed infamous handclaps and foot
armoured truck and driven into the the whole thing just felt too big… stomps imitating the disabled that would

“Now they know
how many stars it
© Getty Images
takes to fill an
armoured car…’
es
© Getty Imag
“IF THERE WAS A TENSE SHOW,

JOHN’S COMEDY ROUTINES
WOULD COME OUT” PAUL McCARTNEY
Promoter Sid
get him crucified by the Twittersphere about on stage was exactly what Bernstein,
these days. Back then, it was just part of the band needed. “That was one the promotor
his onstage banter. “I feel that on that of the great things about John,” responsible for the
Shea Stadium gig
show John cracked up,” said Ringo. “He said Paul. “If there was ever one
went mad; not mentally ill, but he just got of those tense shows, which this
crazy. He was playing the piano with his undoubtedly was (you can’t play
elbows and it was really strange.” in front of that many people for the soon as Ringo counted in set
John saved his funniest antics for the first time and not be tense), his comedy opener Twist And Shout, the crowd took
finale. “Because I did the organ on routines would always come out. He’d over. Starr later claimed he couldn’t hear
I’m Down I decided to play it on stage start the faces, and the shoulders would the other guys on stage at all and kept
for the first time,” said Lennon. “I didn’t start going, and it was very encouraging: time by watching the body movements
really know what to do, because I felt ‘Okay, that’s good – at least we’re not of John, Paul and George. Lennon would
naked without a guitar, so I was doing taking it seriously.’ He kept us jolly.” often joke about the incessant screaming
all Jerry Lee — I was jumping about at shows. When a reporter asked him
and I only played about two bars of it. LISTEN TO THE BAND “Does it bother you that you can’t hear
It was marvellous.” Lennon judged the situation perfectly. what you sing during a concert?” Lennon
For the usually rigorously professional The crowd couldn’t hear a note the band replied: “No, we don’t mind. We’ve got
xxxxx
McCartney, sometimes Lennon pissing played. The kids were just howling. As the records at home.” ➨

© Getty Images
The Beatles get by

with 55,600 of their friends
Below: “They’re only screaming…”
Right: An aerial shot of The Beatles’ gig
It’s not like they stood a chance, didn’t just make history. It made
anyway. Nobody had played stadiums money. Lots of it. The concert grossed
before. The right equipment just a then-record $304,000-shaped pile of
wasn’t available. “Vox made special cash. The Beatles took half that money.
big 100-watt amplifiers for that tour,” Surprisingly, John Lennon, who did not
recalled George Harrison years later. have a lot of nice things to say about
“We went up from the 30-watt amp being a Beatle after the band split in 1970,
to the 100-watt amp and it obviously considered the Shea Stadium show a
wasn’t enough; we just had the highpoint of his life and career.
house PA.” In the early 70s, after bumping into
The stadium’s public-address Sid Bernstein – the man who also offered
system was designed for announcing The Beatles ludicrous amounts of
ball players, not for singing. But it’s money to reform – Lennon smiled at the
all they had. Commented Starr: “We promoter and said of the Shea Stadium
always used to use the house PA. concert: “We reached the top of the
That was good enough for us, even mountain, Sid.”
at Shea Stadium.
“I never felt people came to hear NOT A SECOND TIME?
our show – I felt they came to see The ’65 Shea Stadium concert is such
us. From the count-in on the first an iconic moment in Beatle history that
number, the volume of screams many people don’t realise that the show
drowned everything else out.” wasn’t a one-off. John, Paul, George
According to McCartney, there and Ringo appeared for a second time
were some benefits to all that on Tuesday 23 August 1966, this time
teenage energy. “If we were a bit with support from The Remains, Bobby
out of tune or didn’t play the right Hebb, The Cyrkle and The Ronettes. The
note, nobody noticed.” show kicked off at 7.30pm. The setlist
The Shea Stadium concert opened with Rock And Roll Music, then

EYE WITNESS
NOW YOU’VE READ ABOUT SHEA STADIUM
YOU’LL PROBABLY WANNA SEE IT…
Brian Epstein made good on his promise to televise
the Shea Stadium concert back in the UK with a
50-minute special that first aired on BBC One at
pop group. There had been trash talk 8pm on 1 March 1966. US viewers had to wait
in the US media that the Fab Four’s until 10 January 1967 to see the film. By then,
popularity was waning, that British The Beatles were a whole other band.
Invasion fluff like Herman’s Hermits Thanks to the crew being forced to change film
thundered along for the next half hour and The Dave Clark Five were the canisters during the show, She's A Woman and
with She’s A Woman, George’s If I Needed new kids on the block and The Beatles Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby are missing
Someone from Rubber Soul, Day Tripper, were finished. from the BBC flick. The band also took the
Baby’s In Black, I Feel Fine, Yesterday, In the band’s early days, Lennon would opportunity to overdub and re-record parts of the
soundtrack during a session at the CTS Studios
I Wanna Be Your Man, Nowhere Man, pep up the other Beatles, shouting,
back in London on 5 January, 1966. After only
Paperback Writer and Long Tall Sally. “Where are we going, lads?” Paul,
being available as a bootleg for years, a 30-minute
The show was made more eventful when George and Ringo would reply: “To the reissue of the footage of the Shea Stadium concert
sections of the crowd broke through toppermost of the poppermost, Johnny!” was remastered and released to coincide with the
barriers and rushed toward the stage Well, they’d grabbed America by the release of the Ron Howard film The Beatles: Eight
Days A Week – The Touring Years in 2016.
LENNON SAID TO THE SHEA

PROMOTER: “WE REACHED
THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN, SID”
during Day Tripper. Despite this heart- throat via The Ed Sullivan Show in New
stopping turn of events, even some York, and played the first stadium-rock
members of the band failed to recall that gig to the biggest crowd, for the most
Sid Bernstein had booked them in for a money, an achievement not even Frank
second show. “We played Shea Stadium Sinatra and Elvis Presley would have
twice?” said George and Ringo when dared dreamed of. As a live act, they’d
asked about the ’66 appearance a few gone as far as they could.
years down the line. The horrors of 1966 just drove the
There was one detail they should have point home. The band and entourage
remembered. Thanks to Brian Epstein’s barely escaped the Philippines with their
negotiating skills, The Beatles bagged lives on Tuesday 5 July that year after
more money for the second Shea Stadium inadvertently ‘snubbing’ First Lady and threats from the KKK. John begrudgingly
show [$189,000, a 65 per cent of the gross infamous shoe hoarder Imelda Marcos apologised for his comments, but he’d
takings of $292,000]. It wasn’t all good and her three children. The event left had enough.
news. While the three-tier ticket pricing poor Brian Epstein in such a distressed He was exhausted, nobody could hear
was the same as the ’65 concert, the state that he required medical attention. them play over the constant screaming,
venue’s 55,600 capacity wasn’t unduly Unfortunately for the soft-spoken pop and he felt increasingly frustrated by his
troubled this time around. Svengali, things were about to get a role as a Beatle.
“Curiously enough, the second Shea whole lot worse. It’s all there in the lyrics he wrote for
Stadium concert had about 11,000 seats “Christianity will go. It will vanish and Help!. Lennon had already decided he
unsold,” said producer George Martin in shrink,” said John Lennon in a March wanted to stop touring and eventually
the Anthology series. 1966 interview with Maureen Cleave for convinced his bandmates that it was the
“So it was a pretty unsettling time. The Evening Standard. “I needn’t argue right decision.
And it was against this background that about that; I’m right and I will be proved Besides, The Beatles were about to
they said, ‘Right, we definitely won’t do right. We’re more popular than Jesus release a bona-fide masterpiece called
any more. We are going to have a break now; I don’t know which will go first – Revolver. They would follow it up in ’67
and then we are going into the studio to rock ’n’ roll or Christianity. with Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club
make a record.’” “Jesus was all right, but his disciples Band. There was no doubt left that they
were thick and ordinary. It’s them were in charge. No one was thinking of
AND IN THE END twisting it that ruins it for me.” them as in the realm of Herman’s Hermits
The fact is, the first Shea Stadium gig When the interview was reprinted in or Dave Clark Five anymore. John, Paul,
was the moment that Beatlemania US magazine Datebook a few months George and Ringo had conquered the
peaked. Lennon was right. They’d later, all hell broke loose – with Beatle world at Shea Stadium. Now, they were
reached a mountain top – at least as a boycotts, record burnings and death about to change it forever.

© Getty Images
Coda TOP OF THE POPS – 16 JUNE 1966

Up until 1966, The Beatles had never been seen live on the legendary TV show
Top of the Pops. Their appearances were limited to pre-recorded performances
in BBC studios or promotional clips. But that changed on 16 June 1966 when they
played Paperback Writer and Rain on the programme after being introduced by
DJ Pete Murray. This show was the band’s final live TV appearance as a group
with the exception of their segment in the Our World historic global satellite
transmission when they played All You Need Is Love on 25 June 1967.
VRP04.Coda.For Print.indd 130 17/02/2017 11:49

© Getty Images
Getty Images
VRP04.ISF,ISB.For Print.indd 131 15/02/2017 12:30

VRP04.OBC.For Print.indd 132 16/02/2017 16:16

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*Calls cost 7 pence per minute plus your

Anthem Publishing is the proud home of

ISSUE 6 VINTAGE ROCK 3

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4 VINTAGE ROCK PRESENTS THE BEATLES: COLLECTORS EDITION

VRP04.contents.For Print.indd 4 17/02/2017 11:43

THE LIFE OF BRIAN 36

THE DECCA DEBACLE 42

ALBUM INSIGHT: PLEASE PLEASE ME 46

THE SOUND OF THE CROWD 52

40 GREATEST BEATLES EARLY CLASSICS 60

ALBUM INSIGHT: WITH THE BEATLES 74

THE EGOS HAVE LANDED 80

ALBUM INSIGHT: A HARD DAY’S NIGHT 90

BAND ON THE RUN 94

THE ODD MAN OUT 100

ALBUM INSIGHT: BEATLES FOR SALE 106

THE GONG SHOW 110

ALBUM INSIGHT: HELP! 114

TECHNICOLOUR DREAM 118

THE REVOLUTION WILL BE TELEVISED 124

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6 VINTAGE ROCK THE BEATLES: COLLECTORS EDITION

VRP04.Quarrymen.For Print.indd 6 15/02/2017 12:25

THE BEATLES: COLLECTORS EDITION VINTAGE ROCK 7

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8 VINTAGE ROCK THE BEATLES: COLLECTORS EDITION

VRP04.Quarrymen.For Print.indd 8 17/02/2017 09:59

AT ITS HEIGHT, SKIFFLE FEATURED TENS OF THE DEBUT RECORDING

THOUSANDS OF PLAYERS AND CAUSED A

PHENOMENAL INCREASE IN GUITAR SALES

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“ONCE YOU HAD A FIGHT, THAT

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© Getty Images Living In The Material World:

I’VE JUST SEEN A FÊTE had done them up himself as he didn’t

Meanwhile, in another part of Liverpool, know them all.

THE BEATLES: COLLECTORS EDITION VINTAGE ROCK 11

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12 VINTAGE ROCK THE BEATLES: COLLECTORS EDITION

VRP04.Quarrymen.For Print.indd 12 17/02/2017 09:59

LENNON THOUGHT HARRISON

AND PAUL LOOKED ABOUT 10!” all over.”

A NEW FACE ON BASS

THE BEATLES: COLLECTORS EDITION VINTAGE ROCK 13

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McCartney and Harrison,

14 VINTAGE ROCK THE BEATLES: COLLECTORS EDITION

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THE BEATLES: COLLECTORS EDITION VINTAGE ROCK 15

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Lennon’s look and charisma was

16 VINTAGE ROCK THE BEATLES: COLLECTORS EDITION

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THE BEATLES: COLLECTORS EDITION VINTAGE ROCK 17

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18 VINTAGE ROCK THE BEATLES: COLLECTORS EDITION

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THE BEATLES: COLLECTORS EDITION VINTAGE ROCK 19

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Harrison onstage at the