Rare Quarrymen Photo Unearthed!

L-R: Paul, John and George, circa 1959. Image: PA Media

A rare photograph of the Quarrymen has emerged. The grainy image is believed to have been taken in mid-1959 in Liverpool and shows John, Paul and George playing their guitars.

Pete Best confirmed on Twitter that the photo was taken in the living room of 8 Hayman's Green, which is above the Casbah Coffee Club and the photo may have been snapped by his mother, Mona Best. This may have been one of the first times they started performing at the venue and the photo could have been during a rehearsal. It would seem that it was taken while they were performing as a trio before Stuart and Pete joined them and the band came to call themselves the Beatles. A marvellous and rare photograph of three friends who couldn't know they'd go on to shake the world just four years later....or perhaps they did? Is that a knowing smile from John in the picture?

The photograph emerges on the 50th anniversary of Paul McCartney announcing he was quitting the group in 1970.

Hello Good Buy - George Harrison - Let It Roll

Here's a great birthday gift idea for all you George Harrison fans - Let It Roll: Songs by George Harrison.

Photo of the Day: George Harrison

George Harrison reads fan letters, 1963.

Photo of the Day - George Harrison

Beatles Interview Series: 1970 - The Breakup

In part nine of our 10-part Beatles Interview Series, we continuing exploring the break up of The Beatles.  

First, we will look at the opening shot, which was fired by Paul in the press release for his advance, promotional copies of his first solo album, McCartney, from April 9, 1970.  Jay Spangler of The Beatles Ultimate Experience writes, "While John Lennon had privately left the Beatles months earlier, it was from this interview that the story of a Beatles' split spread instantly as news headlines around the world. On April 10th, the Daily Mirror ran a front-page story with the bold print headline, 'PAUL IS QUITTING THE BEATLES,' while CBS News in America declared, "The Beatles are breaking up."

  
Q: "Did you miss the other Beatles and George Martin? Was there a moment when you thought, 'I wish Ringo were here for this break?'"
PAUL: "No."
Q: "Assuming this is a very big hit album, will you do another?"
PAUL: "Even if it isn't, I will continue to do what I want, when I want to."
Q: "Are you planning a new album or single with the Beatles?"
PAUL: "No."
Q: "Is this album a rest away from the Beatles or the start of a solo career?"
PAUL: "Time will tell. Being a solo album means it's 'the start of a solo career...' and not being done with the Beatles means it's just a rest. So it's both."
Q: "Is your break with the Beatles temporary or permanent, due to personal differences or musical ones?"
PAUL: "Personal differences, business differences, musical differences, but most of all because I have a better time with my family. Temporary or permanent? I don't really know."
Q: "Do you foresee a time when Lennon-McCartney becomes an active songwriting partnership again?"
PAUL: "No."

-----------------------

With the public still reeling from the news of a Beatles split, George Harrison took a quick trip to New York City in May, and was interviewed by WABC-FM radio's Howard Smith.  Below you will read a snippet from that interview.

Q: "You think the Beatles will get together again, then?"
GEORGE: "Uhh... Well, I don't... I couldn't tell, you know, if they do or not. I'll certainly try my best to do something with them again, you know. I mean, it's only a matter of accepting that the situation is a compromise. In a way it's a compromise, and it's a sacrifice, you know, because we all have to sacrifice a little in order to gain something really big. And there is a big gain by recording together -- I think musically, and financially, and also spiritually. And for the rest of the world, you know, I think that Beatle music is such a big sort of scene -- that I think it's the least we could do is to sacrifice three months of the year at least, you know, just to do an album or two. I think it's very selfish if the Beatles don't record together."
 
Q: "But everything looks so gloomy right now."
GEORGE: "It's not, really. You know, it's no more gloomy than it's been for the last ten years. It really isn't any worse. It's just that now over the last year -- what with John, and lately with Paul-- everything that they've thought or said has come out, you know, to the public. It's been printed. It's been there for everybody to read, or to comment about, or to join in on. Whereas before..."
 
Q: "But the things...The feelings had been there all along?"
GEORGE: "No, I wouldn't say that. In different ways, you know. We're just like anybody else. (laughs) Familiarity breeds contempt, they do say. And we've had slight problems. But it's only been recently, you know, because we didn't work together for such a long time in the Yoko and John situation. And then Paul and Linda. But it's really... It's not as bad as it seems, you know. Like, we're all having a good time individually, and..."
 
Q: "There seems like there's so much animosity between Paul and..."
GEORGE: Yeah."
 
Q: "You know, you three... I mean, it sounds like he is saying it's all over."
GEORGE: "But it's more of a personal thing, you know. That's down to the management situation, you know, with Apple. Because Paul, really -- It was his idea to do Apple, and once it started going Paul was very active in there. And then it got really chaotic and we had to do something about it. When we started doing something about it, obviously Paul didn't have as much say in the matter, and then he decided... you know, because he wanted Lee Eastman his in-laws to run it and we didn't. Then that's the only reason, you know. That's the whole basis. But that's only a personal problem that he'll have to get over because that's... The reality is that he's out-voted and we're a partnership. We've got these companies which we all own 25 percent of each, and if there's a decision to be made then, like in any other business or group you have a vote, you know. And he was out-voted 3 to 1 and if he doesn't like it, it's really a pity. You know, because we're trying to do what's best for the Beatles as a group, or best for Apple as a company. We're not trying to do what's best for Paul and his in-laws, you know."
 
Q: "You think that's what the key fight is over?"
GEORGE: "Yeah, because it's on such a personal level that it is a big problem, really. You know -- You imagine that situation if you were married and you wanted your in-laws to handle certain things. You know, it's like -- It's a difficult one to overcome because... well, you can think of the subtleties, you know. But he's really living with it like that, you see. When I go home at night I'm not living there with Allen Klein, whereas in a way, Paul's living with the Eastmans, you see. And so it's purely... it's not really between Paul and us. You know, it's between Paul's advisors who are the Eastmans and our business advisors which is Allen Klein. (pause) But it's alright."
 
Q: "Aw, I don't know!"
GEORGE: (laughs)
 
Q: "I'm not as optimistic."
GEORGE: "Yeah, it's alright. All things pass... away... as they say."
 
Q: "I somewhat detected some kind of animosity between Yoko and Linda. Is that part of what it's about?"
GEORGE: "Ahh, I don't know. I don't think about it, you know. I refuse to be a part of any hassles like that. You know, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna. Krishna, Krishna, Hare, Hare. And it'll all be okay, you know. Just give 'em time because they do really love each other, you know. I mean, we all do. We've been so close and through so much together that it really... to talk about it like this, you know, we'll never get any nearer to it. But the main thing is, like in anybody's life, they have slight problems. And it's just that our problems are always blown up, and uhh, you know, shown to everybody. But it's not really... it's not a problem. It's only a problem if you think about it."
 
Q: "So you don't think there's any great anger between Paul and John?"
GEORGE: "No, I think there may be what you'd term a little bitchiness. But, you know, that's all it is. It's just being bitchy to each other, you know. Childish. Childish."

Source: Transcribed by www.beatlesinterviews.org from radio interviews and from the reprinted interview in The New Musical Express - issue #1214

Pattie Boyd's Photographic Exhibition In The UK

Picture Perfect: Pattie Boyd at Friar Park in 1974.

Pattie Boyd is well known in the Beatles and the classic rock community as being the first wife of both George Harrison and Eric Clapton.

Meditation: Paul, Ringo & John relax in Rishikesh, India, 1968.

George and Pattie met on the set of 'A Hard Day's Night' in 1964 and were married from 1966 to 1977. Then, in 1979, Pattie married Eric Clapton they were together until 1988.

Autograph: George with the Maharishi in Rishikesh, 1968.

Pattie has published a memoir ('Wonderful Tonight: George Harrison, Eric Clapton & Me') and hopes this exhibition will expose more of the backstory to these music legends.

"I hope that the many thousands of fans that visit the Liverpool attraction each year will have a chance to visit my exhibition and enjoy seeing the photographs and learn a little about when and where they were taken." - Pattie Boyd

Layla in the Back: Eric Clapton on stage in 1974.

The exhibition is titled 'George, Eric & Me' and will open May 5th in Liverpool. Why not book your tour there now to go and see it?

All Those Years Ago: George & Pattie reunite at Friar Park in 1991.

Beatles Interview Series: 1968 - The Beatles White Album Session

In part seven of our 10-part Beatles Interview Series, we'd like to share an interview that took place on June 5, 1968 at Abbey Road Studios during the recording of The Beatles White Album.  This is an informal interview conducted by one of the Beatles' favorite radio personalities, Kenny Everett of the pirate radio station, Radio London, according to Jay Spangler of The Beatles Ultimate Experience.  Though this interview is primarily with John, the others do eventually make an appearance and in fact, this would be one of the last interviews in which all four Beatles appeared together.

Paul McCartney and John Lennon working on one of the songs on The White Album.

JOHN: "So, we better turn the guitaring down a bit, little. So, Kenny, how are you goings?"

KENNY: "Oh, it's wonderful. Listen. First a few questions, then I'd like you to sing me a jingle. A goodbye jingle."

JOHN: "Okay, a goodbye jingle."

KENNY: "What can we expect from you in the next few months? I've heard you're working on it."

JOHN: (comical whisper) "Alot of brown paper bags, Kenny."

KENNY: (laughs)

JOHN: "We're working very hard on that at the moment, the boys and me."

KENNY: "Anything tuney?"

JOHN: "Oh yeah. There's alot of tunes we've found in the bags, actually."

KENNY: "I got told that you don't actually come in here with the idea of doing an album-- it just sort of 'falls out' at the sessions."

JOHN: "Mmm. Well, we have a vague idea, you know, Ken."

KENNY: "Yes."

JOHN: (strumming and singing) "'As I was only saying the other day-- we have a vague idea, but very vague-- What's up? Very vague.'"

KENNY: (laughs)

JOHN: "Just a bit of laughter, ladies and gentle-phones."

KENNY: "Have you done any actual complete numbers?"

JOHN: "No. We're halfway through the second uncomplete number now."

KENNY: "You don't actually do them whole complete, finish with them, and then start another one?"

JOHN: "See, we got to a stage with one where the next bit is (additional) musicians, so we'll have to write the musicans' bit. You see, you see."

KENNY: "Do you ever get to, umm-- you've done your bit and you decide it would be good on its own, and then forget the musicians?"

JOHN: "Oh yeah. Yeah."

KENNY: "Yeah."

JOHN: (slide guitar and singing) "'Somebody stole my gal/ Somebody stole my pal.'"

KENNY: "Can you sing me a goodbye jingle? It doesn't have to rhyme or anything."

JOHN: (slide guitar and singing) "'Goodbye jingle/ Goodbye jingle goodbye/ Goodbye.'"

(laughter)

KENNY: "Wonderful. (laughs) Are there any particular records at the moment..."

JOHN: "Oh yeah, let me think-- Nilsson. One of Nilsson's."

KENNY: "Which one, particularly? As you know we've played quite a few of them."

JOHN: "Yes. Oh, let me think, Ken, for the moment. Uhh... 'River Deep Mountain Dew.'"

KENNY: "Yeah?"

JOHN: (strumming and singing) "'When I was a little baby my mama used to SMASH me in the cradle/ Pickin' those old cotton fields back home/ When mama was a little bitty baby she used to SMASH me in my cradle/ When I was a little bitty baby back home.'"

KENNY: "That was impressario John Lennon playing for you. And now, a few words from him."

JOHN: "Enzay cuzum dadey stobidacho, Charlie. Masik consip. Wezamarchi chewano wita tomata tawiaty. Wertum moriaty conan dia. Kenny Everetto, M B E."

KENNY: "So that's what India taught you?"

JOHN: "Exactly."

KENNY: "Did you come back with anything incredibly fantastic?"

JOHN: "Yes. A beard."

KENNY: "Yeah. I met Donavon the other day on a show, and he looked a little better for it."

JOHN: "Yes, it was very healthy, you know."

KENNY: "I got a photograph of you in the Daily Mirror standing in a sheet. You look very peaceful."

JOHN: "That's called a benuse, Kenny, and I got it from Moracco." (laughs)

KENNY: "Really?"

JOHN: (jokingly) "Standing in a sheet-- What do you mean?"

KENNY: "It looked like a sheet."

JONH: "Well they do. Benuses look very, very like sheets, see, so the lower classes in Moracco don't feel too put out-- having only the sheets to wear."

KENNY: "Do you have anything to say about anything you've recorded so far?"

JOHN: "We've just done two tracks, both unfinished. The second one is Ringo's first song that we're working on this very moment."

KENNY: "He composed it himself?"

JOHN: "He composed it himself in a fit of lithargy."

KENNY: "And what do you think about it?"

JOHN: "I think it's the most wonderful thing I've ever heard since Nilsson's River Deep Mountain Dew. (strumming and singing) 'Kenny Everett/ It's the Kenny Everett show.'"

KENNY: "Are you composing this straight out of your head?"

JOHN: "This is ad nausium-- straight from the mouth that bit me."

KENNY: "I don't know how he does it, friends."

JOHN: "Neither do I, friends. He's sitting here cross-legged on the amplifier, strumbling away. I hope we're gonna hear this, listeners, because we have alot of fun doing 'em, but never quite hear them, listeners. Never quite hear them when you get home."

KENNY: "Well, I will play this completely, all the way through, just for you."

JOHN: "Right."

KENNY: "What kind of guitar is that? It's very strange looking."

JOHN: "A fretless guitar."

KENNY: "How's business with Apple?"

JOHN: "Oh, it's... I mean, what can I say? I couldn't ask for any more tapes, or bits of paper."

KENNY: (jokingly) "They won't get that, either. But still..."

JOHN: "So, wonderful radio wonders...!"

KENNY: "Ask me a few questions."

JOHN: "Okay, Kenny. What are you doing?"

KENNY: (pause) "Well, at the moment, I'm having a daily show come on soon."

JOHN: "Really? So they haven't sacked you? I was getting you a job with the Isle of Man. I put in a word for you with Ronald Manks."

KENNY: "If you were stranded away on a desert island, what one grammophone record would you take with you, excluding the Bible and Sgt Peppers for obvious reasons."

JOHN: (laughs) "One grammophone record? Uhh... (pause) It hasn't been made yet."

KENNY: (laughing) "You don't think there's any records worth taking?"

JOHN: "Not all the way to a desert island."

KENNY: "When you produce something of such high standards as your last album, don't you think that you've really got to strive to produce something a bit better?"

JOHN: "No. It only got high because everybody said how high it was. It's no higher than it was when we made it."

KENNY: (laughs) "Yes. There are hidden meanings in that one, ladies and gentlemen."

JOHN: (comical voice) "No. What I mean, Kenny, is that it doesn't pose a problem. It was so long ago we've forgotten what it was about anyway. And let me put it this way..."

(long silence)

KENNY: "That's it? (laughs) Hey, listen. You were saying, last time I met you, that you hadn't really had a chance to listen to Sgt Pepper because you'd been so busy making it."

JOHN: "I don't think I ever did listen to it, since we made it, properly. I heard bits of it. I mean, I played it just after we made it, and that's it really. (laughs) But I like to hear it on the radio."

KENNY: "Alright, shall I play it?"

JOHN: "Yes, that'd be nice."

KENNY: "Ladies and gentlemen, Sgt Pepper!"

JOHN: "Mmmm."

KENNY: "Do you think Paul and you could do a duo-harmony jingle?"

JOHN: "Well, you'd have to get him."

KENNY: "Paul? Can you come and do a goodbye jingle?"

PAUL: "Oh! Why, sure Kenny!"

JOHN: (strumming and singing) "'Goodbye to Kenny Everett/ He is our very pal.'"

PAUL: (singing along) "'Jingle, jingle. Very pal. Jingle.'"

JOHN: (sings) "'Goodbye Kenny Everett/ And old Mount Everett, too.'"

JOHN AND PAUL: (singing) "'And it's a goodbye rousing cresendo!'"

KENNY: "Thank you, John. Thank you, Paul"

JOHN: "Wonderful."

PAUL: (giggles like singer Tiny Tim) "Ooo-hoo."

JOHN: (excitedly) "Play Tiny Tim! That's what you gotta play! Tiny Tim! He's the greatest ever, man! You see if I aint right, Kenny Everett! He's the greatest fella on earth! Play Tiny Tim, gentle-readers."

KENNY: "Tiptoe Through The Tulips."

PAUL: "He's real."

JOHN: "He's real, man. We saw him."

PAUL: "I mean, he's good with it. It's like-- it's a funny joke at first. But it's not, really. It's real and it's true."

JOHN: "He's great. (sings) 'Tiny Tim for President/ Oh, Tiny Tim for Queen!'"

KENNY: "Thank you, Ronald."

JOHN: (to George) "He'd like to interview with my cohorts for a following few month show."

GEORGE: "What is it?"

JOHN: "The Kenny Everett Show."

GEORGE: (excitedly) "Oh, great! Well, it's nice to be on the air again! Beatle George speaking from the EMI Studios."

PAUL: (Tiny Tim giggle) "Ooo-hoo!"

KENNY: "It's my last show next week."

GEORGE: "Is it? Got the sack, did you?"

RINGO: (pounding on drum and singing) "'Goodbye Kenny, it's good to see you back/ Goodbye Kenny, we hear you got the sack!'"

GEORGE: "You've got an LP, there."

(laughter)

PAUL: (Tiny Tim voice) "Ooo-hoo, it's nice to be here!"

KENNY: "Okay Henry, wrap it up."

PAUL: (American accent) "Goodbye Kenny, and thank you for all you've done for us in the past."

KENNY: "It's been a pleasure."

PAUL: (American accent) "You're wrong, Kenny. It has NOT been a pleasure!"

JOHN: "Repeat-- Not! N, O, T, O!"

KENNY: "Give us a rousing chorus of 'Strawberry Fields Forever' in jazz tempo."

JOHN: (singing) "Strawberry Fields Forever... cha ch-cha cha!"

PAUL: (singing) "Let me take you down... pah pah, 'cuz I'm going to-- ahh! Strawberry Fields-- ahh! Nothing is real."

JOHN: "Ho-hay! Hep me!"

PAUL: (singing) "And nothing to be going with!"

JOHN: "Hoop-hay. I tell ya, pooo-ahhh!"

(laughter)

KENNY: "That's the end. Let's go out like that!"

(the tape speed switches to chipmunk voices)

JOHN: (yells) "What speed is it?!!"

KENNY: "Seven and a half."

JOHN: "Oh, you crumbs!"

(laughter)



 

Source: Transcribed by www.beatlesinterviews.org from an audio copy of the interview

#MusicMonday - 'Give Me Love' - Mike Sinatra & Dave DePinto

Here's a fantastic cover of George Harrison's 'Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)' by Mike Sinatra and Dave DePinto. Enjoy!

Beatles Interview Series: 1967 - Sgt. Pepper's Launch Party

In keeping with the Sgt. Pepper theme of this week (check out the latest podcast here), part six of our Beatles Interview Series includes an interview that took place on May 19, 1967 at Brian Epstein's flat in London.  Guests of the party included several prominent radio personalities as well as influential music journalists.  Among the guests was Kenny Everett, representing BBC Radio.  According to Jay Spangler of The Beatles Ultimate Experience:

"Everett was part of the program 'Where It's At,' hosted by Chris Denning. Everett would manage to record a few brief conversations with John, Paul and Ringo throughout the evening. Clips from Everett's recording would be used for a special edition of the program the next afternoon -- featuring a sneak preview of select tracks from the not-yet-released album, intercut with Everett's brief interview segments from the night before."

PAUL: (introducing the opening of the program) "This is Paul McCartney saying 'This is where Chris Denning's at.' This is where it's at, Chris. Take it!"
JOHN: (introducing the title track, in hushed announcer voice) "We're sitting in the hushed semi-circular theatre, and waiting for the Seargent Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band to come on. (suddenly louder, excitedly) And here they come now playing the first number, ah let's go! (pauses, then to Kenny) Alright? I can't do it for 'em all or I'll be dizzy."
(Songs heard: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, With A Little Help From My Friends)

KENNY: "Well, by George, in the studio we have old Ringo Starr of The Beatles fame. Ringo, what have you been doing since I last saw you in America a year ago?"
RINGO: "Umm, very much."
KENNY: (mock-disbelief) "Really?"
RINGO: (laughs) "Uhh, well, I went on holiday... We made an LP... We've made a few more tracks, so we've been busy."
KENNY: "What do you think of this new LP? It's a bit strange compared to the others. Would you term it 'Psycho-Deeelic'?"
RINGO: "Only if you want to think of it as psycho-deeelic."
JOHN: "Now we'd like to play you one. It's a sad little song. (pause) Where's it gone?"
PAUL: (giggles)
JOHN: "Oh, this is it, yeah. Picture yourself on an old-fashioned elephant. Lucy in the sky for everyone, now."
(Songs heard: Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, Fixing A Hole)

KENNY: (regarding the effects used in the studio) "How long would you say... you got into technical details like phasing?"
JOHN: (excitedly) "Oh, phasing is GREAT!"
PAUL: "Double-flanging."
JOHN: "Double-flanging, we call it. Now there you go, right? We're on the same thing. Flanging is great. We're always doing it."
KENNY: "You used it on 'Lucy In The Sky'..."
JOHN: (giggling) "You name the one it isn't on! You know, you name it!"
PAUL: (laughing)
JOHN: (giggling) "You spot it, you get a prize! You get a Sgt. Pepper badge!"
KENNY: (jokingly) "I'll pick a moustache."
(Songs heard: Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite, When I'm Sixty-Four)

KENNY: "How many takes did you usually do on this album before you got the perfect take?"
PAUL: "We did quite a few on each one. But, uhh, it's just 'cuz it's changed, you know. In the old days of the LP 'Please Please Me,' we went in and did it in a day, 'cuz we knew all the numbers and we'd rehearsed them and done 'em. We'd been playing them for about a year. But nowadays we just take a song in, and all we've got is the chords on the guitar, and the words and the tune. So we've got to work out how to arrange it, and that. So we do a lot of takes on each one."
(Songs heard: She's Leaving Home, Lovely Rita)

KENNY: "Do you like to have a lot of people in the studio when you're recording, or do you like to do it completely alone?"
PAUL: "It doesn't matter. We had a lot of people on some of the tracks, and sometimes we use 'em, you know, and ask them to clap, and that. Depends if it's good people who don't hassle anyone and don't try and mess the session up. Then it's great, you know, 'cuz it's good company."
KENNY: "I hear you had the Rolling Stones in this session."
PAUL: "They came down 'cuz we had a lot of people there, you know, 'cuz it was a big session and we wanted to make a happening happen. (giggles) And it happened."
(Songs heard: Sgt. Pepper (Reprise), Getting Better, Good Morning Good Morning)



 

Source: Transcribed by www.beatlesinterviews.org from audio copy of the radio program

 

Beatles Interview Series: 1966 - The Beatles at Abbey Road Studios

In part five of our Beatles Interview Series, we would like to share an "interview" that happened on this date in 1966, exactly 49 years ago today, December 20.  The Beatles had stopped touring by this time, so interviews that included all four together were already becoming much fewer and farther between.  The interview below was not conducted with each Beatle together, but instead, as each of them arrived at Abbey Road Studios individually, for a recording session.  According to Jay Spangler of The Beatles Ultimate Experience, "The evening's session included John, Paul and George overdubbing the background harmonies for the song 'When I'm Sixty Four.' Ringo also added the large 'bell' percussion to the recording."

Q: "Are the Beatles going to go their own ways in 1967, do you think?"
JOHN: "They could be, you know, on our own or together. We're always involved with each other whatever we're doing, you know."
Q: "Could you ever see a time when, in fact, you weren't working together?"
JOHN: "I could see us working not together for a period, but we'd always get together for one reason or another. I mean, you need other people for ideas as well, you know. And we all get along fine."
Q: "Will you be doing films on your own next year?"
JOHN: "Uhh, no. I don't want to make a career of it. I did it (How I Won The War) just 'cuz I felt like it, and Dick Lester asked me and I said 'Yes.' And I wouldn't have done it if the others hadn't liked it, you know. They said 'fine' because we were on holiday anyway."
Q: "Do the others have film ambitions on their own?"
JOHN: "No, nobody's particularly interested in it. And I'm not all that mad on it, you know."
Q: "What do you really want to do?"
JOHN: "I don't know. I just want to do a few things, you know."
Q: "You haven't really decided exactly what?"
JOHN: "No. I'll try a few things. I just found out a bit more about films doing that."
Q: "The songwriting team thing will keep going on whatever happens, will it?"
JOHN: "Yeah, we'll probably carry on writing music forever, you know-- whatever else we're doing. 'Cuz you just can't stop, you know. You find yourself doing it whether you want to or not."
Q: "But you think the tours, like the American tours, and the English one..."
JOHN: "Well you know, there must be a point where they don't work anymore because they're not to do with what we're doing, record-wise or film-wise."



Q: "Paul, good evening. Could I just have a brief word with you?"
PAUL: "Yeah."
Q: "If you never toured again would it worry you?"
PAUL: "I don't know. No, I don't think so."
Q: "It wouldn't worry you."
PAUL: "'Cuz the only thing about that, you see, is that uhh... Performance for us-- It's gone downhill, performance. 'Cuz we can't develop when no one can hear us, you know what I mean? So for us to perform-- it's difficult. It gets difficult each time... More difficult."
Q: "You mean, they don't listen to you and therefore you don't want to do that?"
PAUL: "Oh yeah, we want to do it. But uhh, if we're not listened to, and we can't even hear ourselves, we can't get any better. So uhh, we're trying to get better with things like recording."

The Beatles recording in Studio 2 at EMI Recording Studio, 1966.

 RINGO: (yells to the crowd) "Merry Christmas!!"
Q: "Can I ask you a few questions?"
RINGO: "Yes."
Q: "What's all this about The Beatles are going to do less together in the New Year?"
RINGO: "Umm, yeah. The thing is, you see, to do things together-- the four of us-- it's gonna be the old things all over again, you know, so..."
Q: "You don't want to do that."
RINGO: "No, we don't want to do what we've done already. So the thing is, because of the film, you know-- we can't get a decent script and we're still trying for one. If we don't do that, we'll possibly all do something else different for next year."
Q: "On your own."
RINGO: "Yes. But I mean, it's not like breaking up. We'll still be coming back together at the end of it."
Q: "Do you foresee a time when, in fact, The Beatles won't be together and that you'll all be on your own?"
RINGO: "No."
Q: "Have you got tired of each other?"
RINGO: "No."
Q: "Have you got anything lined-up on your own? Film parts for example?"
RINGO: "Umm, well there may be one if we don't do one together early next year. I'm sort of out of it there because, with John and Paul, they can still write even though we're sort of not working together. And George can, you know, learn his sitar and do things like that. And I've just been sitting 'round."
Q: "Getting bored?"
RINGO: "Uhh, no. Getting fat." (laughs)
Q: (laughs) "Are you fed-up with being Beatles and Beatlemania?"
RINGO: "The thing is-- We can't do a tour like we've been doing all these years, because our music's progressed and we've used more instruments. It'd be soft-- us going on stage, the four of us-- trying to do the records we've made with orchestras and, you know, bands and things. So, if we went on-stage, we'd have to have a whole line-up of men behind us."
Q: "Are you getting bored with being The Beatles after all this time?"
RINGO: "No, I'm having a great time. (laughs) Merry Christmas to you. Long time since I've seen you."
Q: "Thank you very much, Ringo."
RINGO: "That's alright. Thank you."
Q: "Are you going to work now?"
RINGO: "Well, I'll see what they're up to. I think it may be tea-time with any luck."
Q: (laughs)

(George was the last of the four Beatles to arrive, and had the least to say that evening.)
Q: "Hi, can I stop you?"
GEORGE: "Well..."
Q: "I just want to ask you-- Do you think that in the New Year you're going to be going your own ways instead of being a group?"
GEORGE: "No. No."
Q: "No?"
GEORGE: (continuing through the doorway) "Definitely not."
Q: "What about another word?"
GEORGE: (from a distance) "There aren't any more words." 

Source: Transcribed by www.beatlesinterviews.org from video copy of archived film footage

Beatles Interview Series: 1965 - Beatles Playboy Interview

As part four of our series, The Beatles Interview Series, we have an especially great interview, and one of our personal favorites: A candid conversation with England's mop-topped millionaire minstrels, a Playboy interview conducted by Jean Shepherd. (Article ©1965 Playboy Press)  This is a particular favorite because in this interview, Paul and John seem to have switched places, where Paul seems to be quite candidly speaking his mind, while John has adopted the role of the PR guy.

#MusicMonday: Dori Jo - 'Isn't It A Pity'

 Here's another Music Monday to get you through the week. We have Dori Jo and her fabulous cover of George Harrison's 'Isn't It A Pity' from 1970's 'All Things Must Pass' album. Enjoy!

Photo of the Day: Paul McCartney & George Harrison

A great Paul & George action shot from 1964!

Beatles Interview Series: 1964 - Beatles Chicago Press Conference

As part three of our series, The Beatles Interview Series, we have for you, a press conference The Beatles held in Chicago in 1964 after someone in their camp decided to land the plane in a more secluded spot at the the airport, away from, and to the disappointment of, the large crowd that had spent many hours waiting on the boys' arrival.  According to Jay Spangler of The Beatles Ultimate Experience, "The Beatles felt they were being incorrectly blamed for the incident by reports in the Chicago news, and sought to set the record straight.  This press conference was held at the Stockyards Inn on September 5th 1964 before the Beatles performance at Chicago's International Amphitheatre."

 

Fans lined up, waiting at Midway Airport in Chicago.  1964

PAUL: "It was yesterday we heard about it. Umm, we heard that we had to land at a secret spot on the airfield. I'm not sure whether it happened or not today. Did it? Was it a secret place today?"
JOHN: "It was a different one from the one we were meant to land at, but luckily somebody found out, you see, so somebody did see us."
PAUL: "Yeah. The only thing is, you know, if we come in sort of secret..."
RINGO: (regarding the reporter) "I don't think he's getting it, you know. He's looked away. Are any of these (microphones on) in the P.A.? Then you can tell him."
PAUL: (laughs) "If we come in secretly and there's people there to see us at another place..."
Q: (rudely) "Can you ALL speak?"
JOHN: "Yeah, but we can't all speak at once, can we? And as he's answering the question, what's the point of us all butting in?"
PAUL: "True."
JOHN: "'Cuz you're finding it hard enough to understand him."
Q: "What was your impression of the Chicago skyline?"
JOHN: "Oh, yeah. Good."
Q: "That's it?"
JOHN: "Well, it looks like any other, you know."
Q: "We thought it was rather distinctive."
JOHN: "Oh, well... each people... you know-- Everybody likes their own hometown, don't they."
Q: "You've been on this tour for quite some time now in America, and I'm sure you've learned quite a bit. If you had it to do again, and chances are you're planning that, what would you change, if anything?"
JOHN: "Well, we'd probably just go to different cities-- not go to the same places we've been to."
Q: "Are you satisfied with the security? Are you satisfied with the arrangements that were made?"
PAUL: "Yes."

JOHN: "Yeah, it's been quite good, except for the slip-ups where we don't see the fans."
Q: "And you say this is not your fault."
JOHN: "It's never... we never arrange anything. The only thing we arrange is what numbers we're gonna sing."
Q: "Whose fault is it?"
JOHN: "I don't know. It could be-- it's different people. Half the time it's the police or half the time it's-- I don't know, you know. There's always somebody that does something."
Q: "Don't you think it's done for your good?"
PAUL: "But see, if anybody thinks..."
RINGO: "They think it is."
JOHN: "They think it is, but it isn't. It's harmed us all in the end anyway because the poor fans that have been there for twelve hours think, 'Why aren't they coming to see us.'"
PAUL: "See, the worst thing from our point of view is that it looks as though it's us who's done it, too. And, uhh... I was watching the TV last night, and on the news they just showed all the fans sort of disappointed. And they didn't actually say anything about who's fault it was, but they just said, 'Police commissioner so-and-so said the Beatles WANTED to land there.' And they said no more. That really sounded as though we'd said, 'Please don't let us amongst all those fans. We hate them,' which is completely untrue, you know. We definitely asked to meet them or at least drive past 'em, and they told us, 'No.'"
 

Beatles at a press conference in 1964.

Q: "Quite a few of the girls are concerned about John's throat. How is it today?"
JOHN: "Well, it's better than it was yesterday. It's not ninety percent, but it's..."
Q: "Have you fellas given any thought to what you're going to do when the bubble breaks, so to speak?"
PAUL AND GEORGE: (laugh)
JOHN: "Well, we're gonna have a good time."
GEORGE: "We never plan ahead."
Q: "How about your retirement or buying into a big business..."
JOHN: "We already are a big business, so we don't have to buy into another one."
Q: "Well, I'm talking about if this business should wane slightly."
GEORGE: "We'll start planning when it starts to wane, but at the moment we'll just let it go on as it is."
PAUL: "Anyway, yeah. We've never made plans for anything, so there's no real reason to make plans now."
Q: "Well, in your particular case, do you think you'll go into songwriting as a business?"
PAUL: "I should imagine that John and I..."
JOHN: "Well, it is. Paul and I make more money out of songwriting than we do out of doing everything else. So we'll just carry on with that, probably."
Q: "What do you do with all your money?"
JOHN: "Put it in a bank... or the accountant looks out for it. We have people to look after it."
Q: "Are you just going to save it?"
JOHN: "Well, I don't know."
PAUL: "No."
JOHN: "He does tricks with it. That's his job."
(laughter)
GEORGE: "And anyway, it wasn't legally ours until we paid tax on it. So the money's got to keep in the accountant's place until he's paid tax."
PAUL: "At the moment it's pretty hard to spend it, you know. We all came away with about a hundred and fifty dollars each."
JOHN AND PAUL: "And we've still got it."
PAUL: "I haven't spent a penny or a cent."
Q: "There was a report today that amongst your fans is the Internal Revenue Service."
BEATLES: (laugh)
Q: "They're supposed to be following you around. Have you noticed them around anywhere?"
JOHN: "I haven't seen any of 'em. No."
(laughter)
PAUL: "Now, mind you, you gotta pay it. But umm..."
Q: "What do you think of the American girls as opposed to British girls?"
GEORGE: "They're the same only they speak foreign-- I mean, with a different accent."
PAUL: "They're all good, you know."
GEORGE: "They're the same everywhere, basically, aren't they. They just talk different."
Q: "Alot of the girls seem to feel that you prefer the celebrity-type woman better than the average girl."
JOHN: "That's the first time we've heard it. I mean, are you making that up, or does somebody say that?"
Q: "No, I've heard it before."
PAUL: "Well, John's married to a non-celebrity, so there you go."
Q: "Have you dated any American girls since you've been here?"
PAUL: "Yeah."
RINGO: "A couple."
PAUL: "Yes, I mean... you know, dated 'em but..."
GEORGE: "We can't really, you know. On this tour we don't get much time, you know, to do anything except go to each place and perform."
JOHN: "I haven't even seen any celebrity girls. Have you?"
GEORGE: "No, I haven't seen any."
Q: "Will you tell us why you think you are so popular?"
JOHN: "We don't think about it. We get asked that, you know-- somebody asks us that everyday, and we've no answer."
Q: "Do you want to go to the Soviet Union for a tour?"
GEORGE: "No, I don't."
Q: "Where would you like to go that you haven't gone yet?"
JOHN: "Home."
(laughter)
Q: "You don't like the U.S.?"
JOHN: "I mean, we haven't been home for months-- so you say, 'Where do we wanna go?' We'd like to go home next."
PAUL: "But see, you're trying to put answers into our mouths. We like the U.S., I mean..."
GEORGE: "We wouldn't be here..."
PAUL: "We wouldn't be here if we didn't. We've been here once before, we liked it, and we came back. It's a great place, you know, but naturally you get homesick. You would if you were in England for a long time..."
JOHN: "Maybe HE wouldn't!"
PAUL: "...maybe you wouldn't."
Q: "Do you think the kind of music you're doing was fostered here and became popular over there, and consequently you made it popular again back here?"
PAUL: "Yeah."
JOHN: "The only difference is, we write it now. It's the same music."
Q: "Do you boys sense that the American boys might be a little jealous of you?"
GEORGE: "The American boys?"
JOHN: "Do you mean the teenage boys or..."
Q: "The fans."
JOHN: "No. I mean-- they buy us."
PAUL: "Not the ones we've met, anyway, you know. They're not."
JOHN: "There's quite a few of them waving at airports and things."


 

Source: Transcribed by www.beatlesinterviews.org from audio copy of the press conference

Photo of the Day: George Harrison

George Harrison with his Rickenbacker 425, 1963.

Beatles Interview Series: 1962 - The First Radio Interview

There's a great site, called The Beatles Ultimate Experience, that's been around quite a while, which has collected and pain-stakingly transcribed as many Beatles interviews as humanly possible, from 1962, through to 1984.  We're going to start a new 10-part series we're calling The Beatles Interview Series, where we share many of the interviews from that site with our readers here at The Beatles Through The Years.

First up is a radio interview with the Beatles from 1962, transcribed by Jay Spangler, and described by Beatles biographer Mark Lewishon, as The Beatles very first radio interview.  Per Jay Spangler, "The interview was recorded for Radio Clatterbridge, a closed-circuit radio station serving Cleaver and Clatterbridge Hospitals, on the Wirral."

MONTY: It's a very great pleasure for us this evening to say hello to an up-and-coming Merseyside group, The Beatles. I know their names, and I'm going to try and put faces to them. Now, you're John Lennon, aren't you?"
JOHN: "Yes, that's right."
MONTY: "What do you do in the group, John?"
JOHN: "I play harmonica, rhythm guitar, and vocal. That's what they call it."
MONTY: "Then, there's Paul McCartney. That's you?"
PAUL: "Yeah, that's me. Yeah."
MONTY: "And what do you do?"
PAUL: "Play bass guitar and uhh, sing? ...I think! That's what they say."
MONTY: "That's quite apart from being vocal?"
PAUL: "Well... yes, yes."
MONTY: "Then there's George Harrison."
GEORGE: "How d'you do."
MONTY: "How d'you do. What's your job?"
GEORGE: "Uhh, lead guitar and sort of singing."
MONTY: "By playing lead guitar does that mean that you're sort of leader of the group or are you...?"
GEORGE: "No, no. Just... Well you see, the other guitar is the rhythm. Ching, ching, ching, you see."
PAUL: "He's solo guitar, you see. John is in fact the leader of the group."
MONTY: "And over in the background, here, and also in the background of the group making alot of noise is Ringo Starr."
RINGO: "Hello."
MONTY: "You're new to the group, aren't you Ringo?"
RINGO: "Yes, umm, nine weeks now."
MONTY: "Were you in on the act when the recording was made of 'Love Me Do'?"
RINGO: "Yes, I'm on the record. I'm on the disc."
(the group giggles)
RINGO: (comic voice) "It's down on record, you know?"
MONTY: "Now, umm..."
RINGO: "I'm the drummer!"
(laughter)
MONTY: "What's that offensive weapon you've got there? Those are your drumsticks?"
RINGO: "Well, it's umm... just a pair of sticks I found. I just bought 'em, you know, 'cuz we're going away."
MONTY: "When you say you're going away, that leads us on to another question now. Where are you going?"
RINGO: "Germany. Hamburg. For two weeks."
MONTY: "You have standing and great engagements over there, haven't you?"
RINGO: "Well, the boys have been there quite alot, you know. And I've been there with other groups, but this is the first time I've been there with the Beatles."
MONTY: "Paul, tell us. How do you get in on the act in Germany?"
PAUL: "Well, it was all through an old agent."
(laughter)
PAUL: (chuckles) "We first went there for a fella who used to manage us, and Mr. Allan Williams of the Jacaranda Club in Liverpool. And he found the engagements so we sort of went there, and then went under our own..."
JOHN: "Steam."
PAUL: "Steam... (laughs)
JOHN: "...as they say."
PAUL: "As they say, afterwards, you know. And we've just been going backwards and forwards and backwards and forwards."
MONTY: (surprised) "You're not busy at all?"
PAUL: (jokingly) "Well yes, actually. Yes. It's me left leg. You know. The war."
(laughter)
MONTY: "George, were you brought up in Liverpool?"
GEORGE: "Yes. So far, yes."
MONTY: "Whereabouts?"
GEORGE: "Well, born in Wavertree, and bred in Wavertree and Speke -- where the airplanes are, you know."
MONTY: "Are you all 'Liverpool types,' then?"
RINGO: "Yes."
JOHN: "Uhh... types, yes."
PAUL: "Oh yeah."
RINGO: "Liverpool-typed Paul, there."
MONTY: "Now, I'm told that you were actually in the same form as young Ron Wycherley..."
RINGO: "Ronald. Yes."
MONTY: "...now Billy Fury."
RINGO: "In Saint Sylus."
MONTY: "In which?"
RINGO: "Saint Sylus."
JOHN: "Really?"
RINGO: "It wasn't Dingle Vale like you said in the Musical Express."
PAUL: "No, that was wrong. Saint Sylus school."
MONTY: "Now I'd like to introduce a young disc jockey. His name is Malcolm Threadgill, he's 16-years old, and I'm sure he'd like to ask some questions from the teenage point of view."
MALCOLM: "I understand you've made other recordings before on a German label."
PAUL: "Yeah."
MALCOLM: "What ones were they?"
PAUL: "Well, we didn't make... First of all we made a recording with a fella called Tony Sheridan. We were working in a club called 'The Top Ten Club' in Hamburg. And we made a recording with him called, 'My Bonnie,' which got to number five in the German Hit Parade."
JOHN: "Ach tung!"
PAUL: (giggles) "But it didn't do a thing over here, you know. It wasn't a very good record, but the Germans must've liked it a bit. And we did an instrumental which was released in France on an EP of Tony Sheridan's, which George and John wrote themselves. That wasn't released here. It got one copy. That's all, you know. It didn't do anything."
MALCOLM: "You composed 'P.S. I Love You' and 'Love Me Do' yourself, didn't you? Who does the composing between you?"
PAUL: "Well, it's John and I. We write the songs between us. It's, you know... We've sort of signed contracts and things to say, that now if we..."
JOHN: "It's equal shares."
PAUL: "Yeah, equal shares and royalties and things, so that really we just both write most of the stuff. George did write this instrumental, as we say. But mainly it's John and I. We've written over about a hundred songs but we don't use half of them, you know. We just happened to sort of rearrange 'Love Me Do' and played it to the recording people, and 'P.S. I Love You,' and uhh, they seemed to quite like it. So that's what we recorded."
MALCOLM: "Is there anymore of your own compositions you intend to record?"
JOHN: "Well, we did record another song of our own when we were down there, but it wasn't finished enough. So, you know, we'll take it back next time and see how they like it then."
(long pause)
JOHN: (jokingly) "Well... that's all from MY end!"
(laughter)
MONTY: "I would like to just ask you-- and we're recording this at Hume Hall, Port Sunlight-- Did any of you come over to this side before you became famous, as it were? Do you know this district?"
PAUL: "Well, we played here, uhh... I don't know what you mean by famous, you know.
(laughter)
PAUL: "If being famous is being in the Hit Parade, we've been over here-- we were here about two months ago. Been here twice, haven't we?"
JOHN: "I've got relations here. Rock Ferry."
MONTY: "Have you?"
JOHN: "Yes. Oh, all sides of the water, you know."
PAUL: "Yeah, I've got a relation in Claughton Village-- Upton Road."
RINGO: (jokingly) "I've got a friend in Birkenhead!"
(laughter)
MONTY: "I wish I had."
GEORGE: (jokingly) "I know a man in Chester!"
(laughter)
MONTY: "Now, that's a very dangerous thing to say. There's a mental home there, mate. Peter Smethurst is here as well, and he looks like he is bursting with a question."
PETER: "There is just one question I'd like to ask. I'm sure it's the question everyone's asking. I'd like your impressions on your first appearance on television."
PAUL: "Well, strangely enough, we thought we were gonna be dead nervous. And everyone said, 'You suddenly, when you see the cameras, you realize that there are two million people watching,' because there were two million watching that 'People And Places' that we did... we heard afterwards. But, strangely enough, it didn't come to us. We didn't think at all about that. And it was much easier doing the television than it was doing the (live musical performance) radio. It's still nerve-wracking, but it was a bit easier than doing radio because there was a full audience for the radio broadcast."
MONTY: "Do you find it nerve-wracking doing this now?"
(laughter)
PAUL: (jokingly) "Yeah, yeah."
MONTY: "Over at Cleaver Hospital, a certain record on Parlophone-- the top side has been requested. So perhaps the Beatles themselves would like to tell them what it's going to be."
PAUL: "Yeah. Well, I think it's gonna be 'Love Me Do.'"
JOHN: "Parlophone R4949."
(laughter)
PAUL: "'Love Me Do.'"
MONTY: "And I'm sure, for them, the answer is P.S. I love you!"
PAUL: "Yeah."

Source: Interview transcribed by www.beatlesinterviews.org from the audio flexi-disc included in original-edition copies of the 1986 book 'The Beatles Live' by Mark Lewisohn

The Beatles Are Evergreen.

The lads pose for the cover of their fourth album 'Beatles For Sale' in Hyde Park, London, 1964.

The Beatles are Evergreen.

This is a term used for things that will always stay popular. Always stay relevant to the world. They constantly gain new followers even though they ceased to be a group in 1969. Officially, it was 1970 but by September 1969, Lennon had permanently left the Beatles. Their recording career together was 8 short years. From 1963 to 65 they released two albums a year. 1966 to 70 saw only one album a year.

So in 8 years they released 12 albums. 13 EPs (Extended Plays) and 22 singles. Internationally, there was many more albums, EPs and Singles released. Particularly in the United States where Capitol Records chopped and changed all the albums to their hearts content. The Beatles themselves were unhappy with this but realised that the fame was coming in at an alarming rate.

The Beatles' fame has been never ending. Quite simply, they're never going to go away and this is due to a number of things such as their legends from their early years when they weren't famous, their legends when they were famous, their myths, their breaking up and resisting all offers of reforming, the death of John in 1980 scuppering a full reunion, the Beatles Anthology Documentary and accompanying albums in the mid 1990s and so on...

The Rolling Stones have got nothing on this! ;-P

Now and Then - A Song for Paul by John

Lennon in 1978 at his jukebox in the Dakota.

In 1978, John Lennon was in the midst of his retirement from music. At his Piano in the music room of his apartment in the Dakota building of New York City, John recorded several demo's of songs he'd written. Two of these demos, 'Free As A Bird' and 'Real Love', were finished by Paul, George and Ringo with producer Jeff Lynne for the Beatles Anthology in 1995.

Yoko also gave Paul another Lennon demo for them to see if they could do something with. 'Now and Then' was, like Free As A Bird, quite unfinished with mainly a chorus that John repeats over and over. He'd marked the song 'For Paul'. Many believe that he was dedicating it to Paul but upon listening, I believe that he meant the song as one for Paul to sing and perhaps help him finish later on if they should ever get together again.

While trying to work on the song during the 1994 sessions for Free As A Bird and Real Love, George Harrison didn't like it, calling it "fucking rubbish" and no attempts from Paul to cajole him into working on it would persuade him to change his view. So the song remains unfinished. Paul hopes to finish it, one of these days.

Have a listen to the song below.

Paul and Ringo - The Tour.

McCartney & Starkey in 2015.

Sorry, I know it was a misleading title, half of you thought: "YES! PAUL AND RINGO TOURING! WHERE CAN I GET TICKETS?!" and the other half of you thought: "NO! PAUL AND RINGO TOURING! THIS IS A DISASTER!" No. Paul and Ringo are not touring together.

Well, my personal belief is that while it would be fantastic to see them on tour together, (Their on stage banter would be solid gold alone) it would just make things extremely sad that John and George weren't there. This is why they don't do it. Not just because it wouldn't be the Beatles and wouldn't be the same but because their soul brothers aren't there. Their mates. It's just not right to go from city to city, country to country, without their physical and mental presence. They know that and, deep down, so do we.

If John and George were still alive and all four of them said yes to a Beatles world tour in 2016, complete with songs spanning their whole career, the signature guitars Rickenbacker, Gretsch, Hofner and Epiphone making an appearance, John even breaking out the cripple routine for old times sake (Yeah, Twitter would LOVE that), even ending the show with the signature bow, it would be an absolute frenzy. I mean, bloody hell! Can you imagine the nightmare Ticketmaster would be?! People on their laptops and tablets at 10am sharp clamouring for tickets, the scalpers buying them all up and then there would be the actual concerts themselves. Every city would be in an uproar. Beatlemania would be reborn in a whole new explosive way. It would be fantastic and crazy again.

Just like the 1960s were.

Fan Art Friday - George Harrison

This Fan Art Friday sketch of George comes by way of @siyahligirl on Twitter. I think it's pretty fab!