tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19731927167680219632024-03-28T20:29:54.860-07:00Beatles FAQFun stuff about the Fab FourESOL Extrashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09621863930789856411noreply@blogger.comBlogger149125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1973192716768021963.post-50604504281536658322024-03-28T09:28:00.000-07:002024-03-28T09:32:15.193-07:00Why is there confusion about George Harrison's birthday?<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsvzRxL1Iju1V9lsSOgC-WaR-_dlREpjAC9H_J9hrbOWc9p4LgiTYSx4fnCP-rkZctMfpsuKMRolfT2B4EfkkIMMz_DYMJ9lToOYqoDUVEEi7qByQ9XcEmxVSOa5FrA-2LmQkoKGRwm7UohPwYFtn59-4jjJAFQNmStj6IVEpZWKrkHXaQSUSG3jI8/s653/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-13%20at%2009.52.17.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="653" data-original-width="431" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsvzRxL1Iju1V9lsSOgC-WaR-_dlREpjAC9H_J9hrbOWc9p4LgiTYSx4fnCP-rkZctMfpsuKMRolfT2B4EfkkIMMz_DYMJ9lToOYqoDUVEEi7qByQ9XcEmxVSOa5FrA-2LmQkoKGRwm7UohPwYFtn59-4jjJAFQNmStj6IVEpZWKrkHXaQSUSG3jI8/w422-h640/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-13%20at%2009.52.17.png" width="422" /></a></div></span><div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span>Throughout his life George celebrated his birthday on February 25th. <span><a name='more'></a></span><span><!--more--></span><iframe allow="autoplay" frameborder="no" height="300" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/1746812505&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span>But in the early 1990s there were claims of a newly discovered hospital document. This supposedly recorded his time-of-birth as 11.50 PM, February 24,1943 </span></span></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Confusion</span></h3><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span>Only there was no hospital document because George Harrison was not born in a hospital, as his family repeatedly confirmed. His brother, Harry, remembered 'tiptoeing up the stairs to see him after he was born'.</span><i> </i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWDuGAg-bczUa_lQuFwp92o_VIidGMzNJZCkvoYg9tc3hzYaVqw7KKl9Er31dWAp0GrkGh1ztCSHXLM87hmubLupCcVey7mB-_-k5Un0lv0ifN_UhFXVLS40Smuj5ibHZzOZC3ZwR8-Y-7y6U5E6V-_GCIVEHcHdjZnbMxS38NlN4KgcqLT1cC9OUQ/s458/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-15%20at%2007.35.12.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="354" data-original-width="458" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWDuGAg-bczUa_lQuFwp92o_VIidGMzNJZCkvoYg9tc3hzYaVqw7KKl9Er31dWAp0GrkGh1ztCSHXLM87hmubLupCcVey7mB-_-k5Un0lv0ifN_UhFXVLS40Smuj5ibHZzOZC3ZwR8-Y-7y6U5E6V-_GCIVEHcHdjZnbMxS38NlN4KgcqLT1cC9OUQ/w400-h310/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-15%20at%2007.35.12.png" width="400" /></a></div></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The stairs were those of a very small terraced house, 12 Arnold Grove. All existing documents confirm that George was born there in the early hours of February 25th 1943.</span></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Nonetheless, February 24th has appeared in multiple sources, including </span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;">the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">who have now corrected their mistake</span><span style="font-weight: normal;">.</span></span></span></h3> <div style="color: #cccccc; font-family: Interstate, "Lucida Grande", "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Sans", Garuda, Verdana, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; font-weight: 100; line-break: anywhere; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; word-break: normal;"> <a href="https://soundcloud.com/kieran-mcgovern-esl-reading/george-harrison-birthday-mystery" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="George Harrison birthday mystery">George Harrison birthday mystery</a></div><div style="text-align: left;">
<h3 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">Free reads on Medium</span></b><span style="font-size: large;">: </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://medium.com/the-beatles-faq/why-was-age-an-issue-for-george-harrison-eb52281eacda" target="_blank">The Young One</a><span> </span></span></span></h3><h3 style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://medium.com/the-beatles-faq/the-beatles-weddings-george-pattie-b7ef6337c" target="_blank"><b><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The Wedding of George and Pattie</span></b></a></h3><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></div></div>ESOL Extrashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09621863930789856411noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1973192716768021963.post-583809559750332662024-02-28T12:11:00.000-08:002024-02-28T12:11:40.342-08:00Is Yesterday about Paul's mother?<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLyQy-PCCorRsZTOCUQu5LlStVO4s8UYeLJ9w8ZvDwNOmlY53guBJ_eeKJp4G0J1AwDj-Qz1wx7uOGA_6uu4ND02NHnADCVtYVaKE1KY0mvjDSzcL9i1Vk6dpDD61JCAHgTzazj_WPfoqgb-YPo1-55haKN1dmTmaTbjDBFPdI8uRQonfN0j9vwcb7/s399/paul%20and%20mary%20mccartney.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="399" data-original-width="375" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLyQy-PCCorRsZTOCUQu5LlStVO4s8UYeLJ9w8ZvDwNOmlY53guBJ_eeKJp4G0J1AwDj-Qz1wx7uOGA_6uu4ND02NHnADCVtYVaKE1KY0mvjDSzcL9i1Vk6dpDD61JCAHgTzazj_WPfoqgb-YPo1-55haKN1dmTmaTbjDBFPdI8uRQonfN0j9vwcb7/w376-h400/paul%20and%20mary%20mccartney.jpg" width="376" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Paul & Mary McCartney</span></i></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Paul McCartney has recently suggested a ‘subconscious’ inspiration for the line <i>I said something wrong/Now I long for yesterday </i>was his regret at once chiding his mother for ‘talking posh’:<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><blockquote class="graf graf--blockquote graf--startsWithDoubleQuote" name="f99f">“Sometimes it’s only in retrospect you can appreciate it. I remember very clearly one day feeling very embarrassed because I embarrassed my mum…We were out in the backyard and … she would talk what we thought was a little bit posh. She said something like ‘Paul, will you ask him if he’s going … I went ‘Arsk! Arsk! It’s <em class="markup--em markup--blockquote-em">ask</em> mum.’ And she got a little bit embarrassed. I remember later thinking ‘God, I wish I’d never said that’</blockquote><p class="graf graf--p" name="2429">Paul lost his mother when he was fifteen to a cancer that had been kept secret from him. The social convention of the time meant that he was expected to move on swiftly from this trauma. This had a profound and incalculable effect on his life and his art. </p><p class="graf graf--p" name="2429">One of these reverberations was a strengthening of his bond with John, who also experienced teenage bereavement. It may also have been a submerged influence on Yesterday.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="2cb0">In its lyrical structure, however, Yesterday is clearly a conventional, if enigmatic, song about lost romantic love. The line <em class="markup--em markup--p-em">why she had to go, I don’t know, she wouldn’t say </em>can be taken literally — though it perhaps alludes to the squabbling lovers in We Can Work It Out. </p><p class="graf graf--p" name="fa62">The first person narration less autobiographical than what John would later call ‘one of Paul’s story songs’. This was a highlighted a key difference in their songwriting approach, particularly post the first two albums. John put an increasing emphasis on expressing his personal emotions (‘the thing I know most about is me’) while Paul largely kept to the standard songwriting convention of aiming for universality.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="4dac">At school, in the English classes he enjoyed, Paul would have been asked to write stories to match a title in a specified genre. Here the brief was similar but with the approach established by the melody.</p>ESOL Extrashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09621863930789856411noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1973192716768021963.post-52688096563011281722024-02-16T00:19:00.000-08:002024-02-16T00:19:27.927-08:00How George Met Paul<p>George Harrison and Paul McCartney first met while at secondary school.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqLZvot-_QmEkx4ibcL0bsY6ze7wfcnzLrDXdBwdhB9_TpQLvALglmgJtBgWRRKQ_zLaEe6XSihm3d_ZCZpBa5cKCTcPtY1K1Xtg8W5iHKPnpOjs6E2jdjr4qciY45GZcuQXZwlp9V6LC6Zz9YTuHa6MGVGeEmtHFKQBndRMNnR1okEDC2ErQ9ss8H/s610/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-16%20at%2007.57.52.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="462" data-original-width="610" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqLZvot-_QmEkx4ibcL0bsY6ze7wfcnzLrDXdBwdhB9_TpQLvALglmgJtBgWRRKQ_zLaEe6XSihm3d_ZCZpBa5cKCTcPtY1K1Xtg8W5iHKPnpOjs6E2jdjr4qciY45GZcuQXZwlp9V6LC6Zz9YTuHa6MGVGeEmtHFKQBndRMNnR1okEDC2ErQ9ss8H/w400-h303/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-16%20at%2007.57.52.png" width="400" /></a></div><p><span></span></p><a name='more'></a>Both boys had both passed their (national) 11+ exams, a year apart. The 11+ effectively acted as an entrance examination for the Liverpool Institute High School for Boys, a grammar school in the city centre.<p></p><p>At school, the nine month age difference between Paul and George was a practical and psychological barrier to socialising. Kids hung out with kids in their year group. </p><p>Outside the school's premises the social protocols were looser. Though they lived in different areas, both boys took the same bus into town. This is where their paths would cross, as George would later explain:</p><p><i>He had the same uniform and was going the same way as I was so I started hanging out with him.</i></p><p>George later joked that Paul had struck him as odd.</p><p><i>... sitting by himself & laughing! I thought we had a real nut on our hands!</i></p><p>Nonetheless, the two boys quickly found they shared musical tastes. Paul later described their relationship as that of older and younger brother - something reaffirmed at the end of George's life. But as with many sibling relationships, it was not always plain sailing.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><i>A longer version of this article is a free medium read</i> <i><a href="https://medium.com/the-beatles-faq/when-paul-met-george-38ce74cbcd7e" target="_blank">here</a></i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><a class="af nu" href="https://medium.com/the-beatles-faq/why-did-aunt-mimi-not-like-george-harrison-960a3f25733c" rel="noopener" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; letter-spacing: -0.003em; text-align: left;">Why Aunt Mimi didn’t like George Harrison</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; letter-spacing: -0.003em; text-align: left;"> * </span><a class="af nu" href="https://medium.com/the-beatles-faq/how-did-george-harrison-learn-to-play-the-guitar-aec818557000" rel="noopener" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; letter-spacing: -0.003em; text-align: left;">How George Harrison learned to play guitar</a></p>ESOL Extrashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09621863930789856411noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1973192716768021963.post-59256803209565958262024-02-08T04:28:00.000-08:002024-02-09T11:23:09.392-08:00The First Ed Sullivan Show<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsLcDOCEA6u0jTdKB7fsZis6SSUDGqS6hh2IdWoaLa86Gd9R-s-1gbKP9e-H_MeHxUcOqArJS0vAkvjaftUR_z-t5iEcOQXFmo6OvG3Vnz8VymeSDDOdZ6P81BKDAbFNnV0M6k-1rTQKFwjc7GOj9ie6F680gFbyeaHC2JlIwdkGeL0gbwcGSPukDD/s1058/1058px-The_Beatles_performing_at_The_Ed_Sullivan_Show_(cropped_2).jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1058" height="435" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsLcDOCEA6u0jTdKB7fsZis6SSUDGqS6hh2IdWoaLa86Gd9R-s-1gbKP9e-H_MeHxUcOqArJS0vAkvjaftUR_z-t5iEcOQXFmo6OvG3Vnz8VymeSDDOdZ6P81BKDAbFNnV0M6k-1rTQKFwjc7GOj9ie6F680gFbyeaHC2JlIwdkGeL0gbwcGSPukDD/w640-h435/1058px-The_Beatles_performing_at_The_Ed_Sullivan_Show_(cropped_2).jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">First Ed Sullivan appearance - <a href="By Bernard Gotfryd - This image is available from the United States Library of Congress&#039;s Prints and Photographs divisionunder the digital ID gtfy.00502.This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag is still required. See Commons:Licensing., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=107141335" target="_blank">public domain</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table><p><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Beatles fly from London Heathrow to New York on 7 February, 1964 More than 10,000 girls are waiting - a major news event.<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Two days later The Beatles first live appearance in America</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> is a sensation. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A record breaking 73 million watch </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Ed Sullivan Show at 8.00 PM on Feb 9 1964.</span></p><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="347" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JC0MEF6d1eU" width="418" youtube-src-id="JC0MEF6d1eU"></iframe></div><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The crowd scream through all the other acts and go ballistic when their idols come on stage. The Beatles are nervous and play badly. Above the screaming, you can only hear Paul McCartney singing. The sound mix is poor and there appears to be an issue John Lennon's microphone..</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">
Nobody cares.The Beatles first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show breaks all television viewing records. As Ian Macdonald puts it, The Beatles '</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">energy and invention lifted America out of its gloom… High on gratitude, the country cast itself at the Beatles' feet.'</span></p><h3 style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://medium.com/the-beatles-faq/that-ed-sullivan-show-f59d7efddf26" target="_blank">The Beatles on Ed Sullivan </a>- <span style="font-weight: normal;">the full story (5 min free read on Medium)</span> </h3><div><a href="https://www.beatlesfaq.com/2024/02/why-were-beatles-on-ed-sullivan.html" style="font-size: 14.6667px; text-align: center; white-space-collapse: preserve;" target="_blank"><b>Why The Beatles were on the Ed Sullivan show</b></a></div>ESOL Extrashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09621863930789856411noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1973192716768021963.post-4186722096549177372024-02-08T04:24:00.000-08:002024-02-09T11:23:59.872-08:00Why were The Beatles on Ed Sullivan?<p><span face="Arial, sans-serif"></span></p><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In late</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> September 1963 George Harrison becomes the first Beatle to visit America.</span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifg3BM6qAH7ECTTU4-IcfM5_N6kwkeuAo1z3Xk7RBt4_sHjD_pTd-2dJot14KJrNkDUS0zwVqagc2RcLke1RE2nRGlv4y96OfMbXzTYZrknPj_ZME0-TUdSxrVUCSLd81eZOv4IynKxO3zCBTymZiUlL9WEsL4MC3dsF8fxmAZYzncOpMgonUqyNbR/s640/Beatles_across_America.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="495" data-original-width="640" height="496" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifg3BM6qAH7ECTTU4-IcfM5_N6kwkeuAo1z3Xk7RBt4_sHjD_pTd-2dJot14KJrNkDUS0zwVqagc2RcLke1RE2nRGlv4y96OfMbXzTYZrknPj_ZME0-TUdSxrVUCSLd81eZOv4IynKxO3zCBTymZiUlL9WEsL4MC3dsF8fxmAZYzncOpMgonUqyNbR/w640-h496/Beatles_across_America.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Map artwork by Jane Samson</span></i></td></tr></tbody></table><a name='more'></a><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">He flies to New York and then to St Louis. There are no crowds and the first person to recognise him is his sister now living in Benton, Illinois.</span><p></p><p><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A month later </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Ed Sullivan happens to be at Heathrow Airport. The Beatles are returning from Sweden </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> and there are chaotic scenes, with around 1500 fans lining a rooftop in a rainstorm. America's leading TV host hears hears about</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Beatles for the first time.</span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">An Englishman in New York</span></span></h3><p><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A week later, Brian Epstein travels to New York. He arranges a meeting with Sullivan at the Delmonico Hotel on the 11th of November</span></p><p><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Sullivan still knows little about the British group and even less about their music. But he agrees to pencil The Beatles for two broadcasts - the first in New York on February 9. They are offered around £3,500, around a third of the rate of top US acts. </span></p><p><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Epstein agrees in return for top billing .He and Sullivan close the deal on a handshake.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">On the 4th December The Beatles headline the Royal Variety Show. </span></p><p><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Sullivan calls Cronkite to enquire about "those bugs, or whatever they call themselves". What to America is still a foreign novelty act now has royal connection. Those "long haired boys" had been invited to appear 'for their queen'. That catapults them onto the 'A' list of prospective guests.</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.beatlesfaq.com/2024/02/the-first-ed-sullivan-show.html" target="_blank"><b>That Ed Sullivan Show</b></a></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><br /></h3><span id="docs-internal-guid-d7f6cb58-7fff-c3b7-b1da-5b40b6126194"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><div><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span>ESOL Extrashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09621863930789856411noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1973192716768021963.post-86811051296954043892024-01-21T09:52:00.000-08:002024-02-10T01:06:24.568-08:00 Beatles song based on Bach?<p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgczDKgYfRs61b120JLDDEBIqgQLdksWPaVk3y61ZOtVHgoTM5mtgMYjAbuhIhz6ic73hKC5CWha6QhxKmfpKtSEw9A3Qap_RFZDb4PlXg7fTqLRq6uwKwEDeglBUrJPFuThIBJYiCGFw/s684/bouree+screen.PNG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="362" data-original-width="684" height="338" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgczDKgYfRs61b120JLDDEBIqgQLdksWPaVk3y61ZOtVHgoTM5mtgMYjAbuhIhz6ic73hKC5CWha6QhxKmfpKtSEw9A3Qap_RFZDb4PlXg7fTqLRq6uwKwEDeglBUrJPFuThIBJYiCGFw/w640-h338/bouree+screen.PNG" width="640" /></a></p><p><span style="color: #292929; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.063px;">None of The Beatles had a background in classical music. </span></p><p class="gy gz cr ha b hb hc hd he hf hg hh hi hj hk hl hm hn ho hp hq hr hs ht hu hv cj do" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="b831" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;"><span style="color: #292929; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.063px;"><span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: inherit; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.063px;">George did learn one classical 'party-piece' in his early teens, which he then taught to Paul. </span>They knew it was by J.S. Bach but would only later learn that it was Bourrée from the E Minor Lute Suite.</span><div><span style="color: #292929;"><span style="font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.063px;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: inherit; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="375" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/omKGOk0VTzU" width="451" youtube-src-id="omKGOk0VTzU"></iframe></div></span><p class="gy gz cr ha b hb hc hd he hf hg hh hi hj hk hl hm hn ho hp hq hr hs ht hu hv cj do" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="b831" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;"><span><span style="color: #292929; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;">Paul also discovered that they had been playing the original inaccurately. His version was in essence a variation</span></span></span><span style="color: #292929; font-family: inherit; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;"> on the </span><span style="color: #292929; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.063px;">Bourrée</span><span style="color: #292929; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.063px;"> This</span><span style="color: #292929; font-family: inherit; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;"> would be the starting point for Blackbird, a song he confesses he still finds hard to play</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="285" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RDxfjUEBT9I" width="343" youtube-src-id="RDxfjUEBT9I"></iframe></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><span>Full article (4 minutes) free </span><a href="https://medium.com/the-beatles-faq/which-classical-composers-influenced-the-beatles-2ddcc602704d " target="_blank">here</a></span></i></div></div></div></div>ESOL Extrashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09621863930789856411noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1973192716768021963.post-31766558019538498072024-01-20T04:08:00.000-08:002024-02-05T10:03:40.866-08:00Dylan on The Beatles<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi-d4RCxthBK6crcECVFoX0drOK5KJ0tkoEn08Q4oVVJg3RmVdoM5DRn03NccYV3oH8LblOwWl8ZUQxMUTL9SKVsbdH0RPVuQYnDLPPIhEAihW4XH-NX8MiztZIA1iiuMkCH6hrUJrAxkhbemb1dXApxcBv4x5wR5v8xU_p1Bu8yUB3KEnQEp2-i5h/s553/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-20%20at%2011.47.03.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="354" data-original-width="553" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi-d4RCxthBK6crcECVFoX0drOK5KJ0tkoEn08Q4oVVJg3RmVdoM5DRn03NccYV3oH8LblOwWl8ZUQxMUTL9SKVsbdH0RPVuQYnDLPPIhEAihW4XH-NX8MiztZIA1iiuMkCH6hrUJrAxkhbemb1dXApxcBv4x5wR5v8xU_p1Bu8yUB3KEnQEp2-i5h/w400-h256/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-20%20at%2011.47.03.png" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The first meeting of The Beatles and Bob Dylan was in a room at the Delmonico Hotel in New York on Friday 28 August 1964. <span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><span style="font-size: large;">At this point, The Beatles were the hottest property in the world and Dylan an emerging, but comparatively minor star.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">In terms of musical influence the relationship was inverse. Paul McCartney, the Beatle songwriter least obviously in thrall to Bob, describes the guru-master relationship:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><i>He was our idol... I could feel myself climbing a spiral walkway as I was talking to Dylan. I felt like I was figuring it all out, the meaning of life.</i></span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Bob cools</span></h3><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Dylan, for his part, initially admired the energy and creativity of The Beatles. Later, he seemed to have reservations. In 1966 he hinted Lennon and McCartney were overpraised:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i>If you go into the Library of Congress, you can find a lot better than that. There are millions of songs like ‘Michelle’ and ‘Yesterday’ written in Tin Pan Alley. </i></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Bob later changed his tune again. Or rather he changed Paul’s most famous one. In 1970 he recorded an impromptu version of Yesterday, with his Beatles bestie, George Harrison playing guitar.<i> </i></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oJYYxhjYEMw" width="320" youtube-src-id="oJYYxhjYEMw"></iframe></span></div><div><br /></div><div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Times They Are A Changing (again)</span></h3><p></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;">Over the decades Bob mellowed, or at least channeled his grumpiness in new unlikely directions (see It Must Be Santa). In 2007 he cleared up previous misunderstandings. </span></p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph mb mc fv md b me mf mg mh mi mj mk ml mm mn mo mp mq mr ms mt mu mv mw mx my fo bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="6426" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/35n4DUPUU9E" width="320" youtube-src-id="35n4DUPUU9E"></iframe></div><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">John Lennon? Best singer you'll ever hear. Paul McCartney? What can't that guy do? And Peace and Love to my old friend Ringo...</span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="https://medium.com/the-beatles-faq/when-bob-met-john-paul-7082e67c24c0" target="_blank">When Bob Met John and Paul</a><i> How Dylan influenced The Beatles</i></span></div>ESOL Extrashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09621863930789856411noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1973192716768021963.post-3688591458922881952024-01-17T09:28:00.000-08:002024-02-10T01:09:41.045-08:00How bad was John Lennon's eyesight?<p>John Lennon was very short-sighted but in his teens refused to wear spectacles in public. <span></span></p><a name='more'></a>This gave his ‘resting’ face an intimidating intensity - something that Paul McCartney noticed even before they met (‘a ted with a hard stare’). It also lead to a comical Christmas incident which Paul recounts <a href="https://medium.com/the-beatles-faq/a-christmas-vision-2300299fbd93" target="_blank">here</a>:<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjos15ZPeQy0JTXj81YJFj26CJbBHcS87NRBE6zSCDp6d-F8X0ZbrlKWXteJK7QhzdCZ4QkvD0211Fy_WfQMSQpIPFbsqK0E9w4WSuLNj7FXh89a0Osf8GxjbL8rJkSn_0qXH6IhG_0QQoddT2Gkfp-aE4GGU89zlN7xiE6XnIuY90Ukktqt-ciextM/s975/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-14%20at%2012.19.27.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="562" data-original-width="975" height="368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjos15ZPeQy0JTXj81YJFj26CJbBHcS87NRBE6zSCDp6d-F8X0ZbrlKWXteJK7QhzdCZ4QkvD0211Fy_WfQMSQpIPFbsqK0E9w4WSuLNj7FXh89a0Osf8GxjbL8rJkSn_0qXH6IhG_0QQoddT2Gkfp-aE4GGU89zlN7xiE6XnIuY90Ukktqt-ciextM/w640-h368/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-14%20at%2012.19.27.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>John Lennon's 'stage stare'</i></td></tr></tbody></table><p>On stage, ‘the Lennon stare’ became a feature but in his mid twenties Lennon 'came out' about his myopia. The catalyst was a pair of spectacles required for his part in the film How I Won the War (1967). These were what the British used to call ‘NHS specs’ (state subsidised wire-framed ones with round lens).</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4-Nyj1rhUI534eCoE24LT8v6xIqdL_8N_wYudBAViZNSlK1hOkBXYlrU2Fy4vypqT1K1j1x_WT5TJR00RhcaP-nYxnf7Z-dqi7NdeNNcUN2oBQ1hebT4yP-23-jMgVK5fAjIFBpjpIKqG4qVXcT0OnqWBtkXXAervImGhXS3FOaitOHfxJmZpB_ct/s638/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-15%20at%2009.22.38.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="559" data-original-width="638" height="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4-Nyj1rhUI534eCoE24LT8v6xIqdL_8N_wYudBAViZNSlK1hOkBXYlrU2Fy4vypqT1K1j1x_WT5TJR00RhcaP-nYxnf7Z-dqi7NdeNNcUN2oBQ1hebT4yP-23-jMgVK5fAjIFBpjpIKqG4qVXcT0OnqWBtkXXAervImGhXS3FOaitOHfxJmZpB_ct/w400-h350/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-15%20at%2009.22.38.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>John Lennon in How I Won the War</i></td></tr></tbody></table><p class="graf graf--p" name="0a71">'NHS specs' now they became part of Lennon's earnest new image: as a socially concerned college student. In fact, ‘John Lennon glasses’ became a popular fashion feature for aspiring intellectuals..</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/S30dv5OsK0Y" width="320" youtube-src-id="S30dv5OsK0Y"></iframe></div><p></p><p class="graf graf--p" name="6b7c">One thing that the teenage John Lennon could never have anticipated was that his hated eyewear would end up as prize exhibit in a museum.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="6b7c"><a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://medium.com/the-beatles-faq/why-did-john-lennon-stop-driving-486be876a111" href="https://medium.com/the-beatles-faq/why-did-john-lennon-stop-driving-486be876a111" target="_blank">Why John Lennon stopped driving?</a> <em class="markup--em markup--p-em">A calamitous motoring tour of the Scottish Highlands</em>.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><p><br /> </p>ESOL Extrashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09621863930789856411noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1973192716768021963.post-2213742557031714302024-01-14T04:06:00.000-08:002024-02-10T01:48:45.983-08:00Who was 'Mean Mr Mustard?<p> John Lennon was later embarrassed about the source of one of his contributions to the Abbey Road medley. It was based on a newspaper story he read early in 1967.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><span></span><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0seKcwnRKrp_MdDZ6jeALyftNd9bXrvhDuQyV-zE9HfdiFb7q8EC41Ern-c_lIhZ5DjrEpxd4d6f0Ux-tsDA6nBfYFf78q9RaRNE5cixjO22U19Tc9vPQFnrQ0KQKxAcVBGPI-3hIbs9lQxmMv3SHNU-_MBgPvU7Fk94ioUEUwSZdYSfnFdz3LA/s797/Screen%20Shot%202023-02-21%20at%2006.43.04.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="797" data-original-width="539" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0seKcwnRKrp_MdDZ6jeALyftNd9bXrvhDuQyV-zE9HfdiFb7q8EC41Ern-c_lIhZ5DjrEpxd4d6f0Ux-tsDA6nBfYFf78q9RaRNE5cixjO22U19Tc9vPQFnrQ0KQKxAcVBGPI-3hIbs9lQxmMv3SHNU-_MBgPvU7Fk94ioUEUwSZdYSfnFdz3LA/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-02-21%20at%2006.43.04.png" /></a></div><div><p></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Who was Mr Mustard?</h3><p>Mark Lewisohn has done extensive research into Mr John Mustard, 'an exceptionally mean man' according to the court report. He has tracked down his former address and delved into the history of his relationship with his wife Freda</p><p>John Lennon only had the details provided about the former civil servant in the Daily Mail story. This linked Mr Mustard's extreme frugality to the fact that he 'came from north of the border (Scotland) where carefulness was part of his upbringing'.</p><p>The national stereotype of alleged Scottish frugality was one Lennon enjoyed. He would often exchange jokes with his Scottish cousins playing on this theme.</p><p>An alternative theory about Mean Mr Mustard's origin is provide by Beatles publicist, Tony Barrow. He suggested that the song was inspired by 'an old ‘bag lady’ who used to hang around the Knightsbridge end of Hyde Park, London,' This seems implausible given that the song focuses on meanness rather than vagrancy</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Garbage?</h3><p>In one of his last interviews Lennon describes Mean Mr Mustard as 'garbage'. Earlier he had referred to it as 'just a piece of crap I wrote in India.' This perhaps reflected a change in social attitudes - the 'Scottish meanness' theme was sat more uncomfortably in 1980.</p><p>The song also had a difficult gestation. It would be two years before it was completed and found a home in the medley on <i>Abbey Road. </i>To do this Lennon built in a link with Polythene Pam by changing the name of John Mustard's sister. This again became off brand after he condemned McCartney's 'story songs' for their supposed inauthenticity</p><p><br /></p></div>ESOL Extrashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09621863930789856411noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1973192716768021963.post-25235466400906280002024-01-07T02:52:00.000-08:002024-02-10T02:12:27.713-08:00Baby It's You<p> </p><span face="source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif" style="background-color: white; color: #242424; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.06px;"><br /><span><a name='more'></a></span></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisD_gAVCyHBnLGtte_8bOGLnbjurHxlvGHzDcJ9i63SV09W8PDJ_McxTxbhjhcZsJ8S3m9lQyzREzsgGex87uh68Awpyk1EoFQCCbNKw-mUS-f2REnWh6t1Wf76HHG_LWiVrBc2LJjq-e0oJsud6YV_3diG496lRq8KLytC0bUVnKmOSxBP-BBXQ/s754/Baby_its_you.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="748" data-original-width="754" height="634" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisD_gAVCyHBnLGtte_8bOGLnbjurHxlvGHzDcJ9i63SV09W8PDJ_McxTxbhjhcZsJ8S3m9lQyzREzsgGex87uh68Awpyk1EoFQCCbNKw-mUS-f2REnWh6t1Wf76HHG_LWiVrBc2LJjq-e0oJsud6YV_3diG496lRq8KLytC0bUVnKmOSxBP-BBXQ/w640-h634/Baby_its_you.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Usually referred to as a Shiirelles' song but written by Bacharach, Dixon & (Mack) David</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph mb mc fv md b me mf mg mh mi mj mk ml mm mn mo mp mq mr ms mt mu mv mw mx my fo bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="bff1" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.003em;">On their first two albums The Beatles covered several songs by contemporary black artists. <span></span></span></p><!--more-->Most had been minor hits in the US but were comparatively unfamiliar to British record buyers. The Shirelle's fitted this template and provided two songs for <i style="letter-spacing: -0.003em;">Please Please Me.</i><p></p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph mb mc fv md b me mf mg mh mi mj mk ml mm mn mo mp mq mr ms mt mu mv mw mx my fo bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="bff1" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;"><i style="letter-spacing: -0.003em;"><br /></i></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhouR9z3dsjYWFL3kEqUXsdILd3lC70V9Ze019GAzVpTZCQ_j5J6gOuL2w1uFtKJT6iLGAtkcOWgPPL6XHJU8LLoWqQc3gpCPiAdWqEC7oInj9tn8ALCtq2AnXEi6-YrQqMNmwSQpJpbSLcoLuAsIATNRinnUgL9esEQVL46RvspNhknztnJuMfSclM/s1248/The_Shirelles_1962.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1248" data-original-width="780" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhouR9z3dsjYWFL3kEqUXsdILd3lC70V9Ze019GAzVpTZCQ_j5J6gOuL2w1uFtKJT6iLGAtkcOWgPPL6XHJU8LLoWqQc3gpCPiAdWqEC7oInj9tn8ALCtq2AnXEi6-YrQqMNmwSQpJpbSLcoLuAsIATNRinnUgL9esEQVL46RvspNhknztnJuMfSclM/w250-h400/The_Shirelles_1962.jpeg" width="250" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Publicity photo of The Shirelles - public domain.</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph mb mc fv md b me mf mg mh mi mj mk ml mm mn mo mp mq mr ms mt mu mv mw mx my fo bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="bff1" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;"><span face="source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, Times New Roman, Times, serif" style="color: #242424;"><span style="font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.06px;">The Shirelles were a leading example of what has been described as the "naive schoolgirl sound". This combined the sweetness of the <a href="http://doowopheaven.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-shirelles-part-1.html" target="_blank">Doo Wop</a> sound with an expression of teenage angst.</span></span></p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph mb mc fv md b me mf mg mh mi mj mk ml mm mn mo mp mq mr ms mt mu mv mw mx my fo bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="bff1" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;"><span face="source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, Times New Roman, Times, serif" style="color: #242424;"><span style="font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.06px;">Formed by four teenage schoolgirls in New Jersey in 1958 they had a US number one with Will You Love Me Tomorrow in 1960. This was swiftly followed by another top three hit Dedicated to the One I Love before their chart progress stuttered.</span></span></p><h3 style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; text-align: left; word-break: break-word;"><span face="source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, Times New Roman, Times, serif" style="color: #242424;"><span style="font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.06px;">Enter Bacharach</span></span></h3><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph mb mc fv md b me mf mg mh mi mj mk ml mm mn mo mp mq mr ms mt mu mv mw mx my fo bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="bff1" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;"><span face="source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, Times New Roman, Times, serif" style="color: #242424;"><span style="font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.06px;">Burt Bacharach </span></span><span style="color: #242424; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.06px;">had written</span><span style="color: #242424; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.06px;"> </span><span style="color: #242424; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.06px;">Magic Moments for Perry Como but </span><span style="color: #242424; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.06px;">was not yet a household name. When he offered The Shirelles a new song called I'll Cherish You, they loved the tune and arrangement but thought the words too demur. They also demanded a better title. </span></p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph mb mc fv md b me mf mg mh mi mj mk ml mm mn mo mp mq mr ms mt mu mv mw mx my fo bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="363d" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;"><span face="source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, Times New Roman, Times, serif" style="color: #242424;"><span style="font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.06px;">Bacharach and his then writing partner Mac David (brother of Hal) came back with what was now called Baby It's You. This had what Macdonald describes as 'quietly vicious' lyrics ('Cheat! Cheat') as counterpoint to the 'ethereal kitsch' of the music.</span></span></p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph mb mc fv md b me mf mg mh mi mj mk ml mm mn mo mp mq mr ms mt mu mv mw mx my fo bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="363d" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;"><span face="source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, Times New Roman, Times, serif" style="color: #242424;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face="source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, Times New Roman, Times, serif" style="color: #242424;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="310" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LzbDRGW-OIs" width="373" youtube-src-id="LzbDRGW-OIs"></iframe></span></div><p></p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph mb mc fv md b me mf mg mh mi mj mk ml mm mn mo mp mq mr ms mt mu mv mw mx my fo bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="363d" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;"><span face="source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, Times New Roman, Times, serif" style="color: #242424;"><span style="font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.06px;">A daring approach to a pop song . The Shirelles simply added their vocals onto the Bacharach's home-produced demo and released the single. </span></span></p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph mb mc fv md b me mf mg mh mi mj mk ml mm mn mo mp mq mr ms mt mu mv mw mx my fo bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="363d" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;"><span face="source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, Times New Roman, Times, serif" style="color: #242424;"><span style="font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.06px;">Baby It's You reached number 8 in the US in 1961.</span></span></p><h3 style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; text-align: left; word-break: break-word;">The Beatles version</h3><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph mb mc fv md b me mf mg mh mi mj mk ml mm mn mo mp mq mr ms mt mu mv mw mx my fo bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="588a" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">Baby It's You became a staple of The Beatles live set in 1961. The following year they recorded their version in three takes for their first album.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph mb mc fv md b me mf mg mh mi mj mk ml mm mn mo mp mq mr ms mt mu mv mw mx my fo bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="8726" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">Their arrangement mirrors that of the Shirelles, but interestingly the sound is distinctive. As David Hepworth has pointed out The Beatles never sound remotely like the artists they cover.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph mb mc fv md b me mf mg mh mi mj mk ml mm mn mo mp mq mr ms mt mu mv mw mx my fo bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="ad1c" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">This live performance is an improvement on the studio recording. It contains and impressively soulful lead vocal from John — who manages the higer notes more comfortably than he does on the LP. George’s backing vocal is also prominent.</p><figure class="nd ne nf ng nh ni" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-sans-serif-font, -apple-system, "system-ui", "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; margin: 56px 0px 0px;"><div class="ou if l ef" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: auto; overflow: hidden; position: relative;"><div class="ov ow l" style="box-sizing: inherit; height: 0px; padding-bottom: 510px;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="ep n fj dz bg" frameborder="0" height="480" scrolling="no" src="https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/media.html?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2FALCgfVoLHm0%3Ffeature%3Doembed&display_name=YouTube&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DALCgfVoLHm0&image=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FALCgfVoLHm0%2Fhqdefault.jpg&key=a19fcc184b9711e1b4764040d3dc5c07&type=text%2Fhtml&schema=youtube" style="box-sizing: inherit; height: 510px; left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; width: 680px;" title="Baby It's You (Live At The BBC For "Pop Go The Beatles" / 11th June, 1963)" width="640"></iframe></div></div><figcaption class="no np nq na nb nr ns be b bf z dw" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #6b6b6b; font-family: sohne, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 10px; max-width: 728px; text-align: center;">The Beatles dressed for job interviews at the BBBC</figcaption></figure><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph mb mc fv md b me mf mg mh mi mj mk ml mm mn mo mp mq mr ms mt mu mv mw mx my fo bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="a6f9" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">The Beatles generally referred to Baby It’s You as a ‘Shirelles song’. This downplaying of Burt’s contribution was initially unconscious. Songwriters were far down the pecking order in the pop world they aspired to. </p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph mb mc fv md b me mf mg mh mi mj mk ml mm mn mo mp mq mr ms mt mu mv mw mx my fo bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="a6f9" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;"><em class="mz" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Bacharach-Williams-David</em> (Mack rather than Hal in this case) was simply another combination of names on record label.</p><div><br /></div><p><i><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://medium.com/the-beatles-faq/the-beatles-bacharach-da81b75e02db" target="_blank">Read full story</a> (free 3 minute read on Medium)</span></i></p>ESOL Extrashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09621863930789856411noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1973192716768021963.post-56685691738795640672023-12-28T03:14:00.000-08:002023-12-28T03:14:00.130-08:00First pop single sample?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7HjqYJt8OM2KgNiRulHTHaGnuqIjflBo8C8hJ04vAr_2pFxdvaC8Lr6G1wWX2Cx0EMNU7wcfoyvQfw7noUggNY0edbvcsOaDwLV47wqijMrEGfPNoluMNI1hIoo_xsRsrwxJTrXd3x-ijjafk1W9myicFX9FrsyQI1qEIbmPp7RIkcEZB8lWVWQ/s1300/Screen%20Shot%202022-11-20%20at%2011.58.44.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1300" height="354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7HjqYJt8OM2KgNiRulHTHaGnuqIjflBo8C8hJ04vAr_2pFxdvaC8Lr6G1wWX2Cx0EMNU7wcfoyvQfw7noUggNY0edbvcsOaDwLV47wqijMrEGfPNoluMNI1hIoo_xsRsrwxJTrXd3x-ijjafk1W9myicFX9FrsyQI1qEIbmPp7RIkcEZB8lWVWQ/w640-h354/Screen%20Shot%202022-11-20%20at%2011.58.44.png" width="640" /></span></a></div><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium; letter-spacing: -0.048px;">On 29 September, I967, John Lennon worked with George Martin and the Abbey Road sound engineers on a potential new Beatles single.</span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">They had the basic architecture of I AM THE WALRUS and Lennon was experimenting with additional sound sources for the outro.</span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium; letter-spacing: -0.003em;"><p><i>We did about half a dozen mixes and I just used whatever was coming through at that time.</i></p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;"><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>For Mix 22 of these they added a live radio feed from the BBC Third Programme, broadcasting for the last time after thirty one years. The station was ending with a recording from the previous month of the </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.003em;">RSC production of </span><i style="font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.003em;">King Lear</i><i style="font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.003em;">.</i></span></p><h3><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.003em;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Happy accident</span></span></span></h3><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.003em;">Lennon was unaware that he was listening to Shakespeare performed on the </span><span style="letter-spacing: -0.048px;">24th of August.</span><span style="font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.003em;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: -0.048px;">three days before the death of Brian Epstein</span><span style="font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.003em;">. All he heard was the sound of voices — or rather what sounded like a single voice:</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><p><i>I never knew it was King Lear until, years later, somebody told me — because I could hardly make out what he was saying. It was interesting to mix the whole thing with a live radio coming through it.</i></p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The words Lennon could not hear come from Act IV Scene VI.</span></span></div><p><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></p><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Q-1-6_WiUxY" width="325" youtube-src-id="Q-1-6_WiUxY"></iframe></span></div><p style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><a href="https://medium.com/the-beatles-faq/which-beatles-song-samples-shakespeare-c0b700f1ecf8" target="_blank">The Beatles and the Bard</a> </span>(3 minute free read on Medium)</span></p></div>ESOL Extrashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09621863930789856411noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1973192716768021963.post-7570054008095803882023-12-23T02:52:00.000-08:002023-12-23T02:52:56.502-08:00Christmas 1961<p class="graf graf--p graf--empty"><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img class="graf-image" data-height="437" data-image-id="1*6DP4RKJ-qWz0j9TyaXZgQA.png" data-is-featured="true" data-width="507" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/533/1*6DP4RKJ-qWz0j9TyaXZgQA.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><i>Reluctant Santas: Beatles Christmas Show at the Cavern 1961</i></span></td></tr></tbody></table><p class="graf graf--p" name="7775">December 1961 brought a packed gigging schedule. Christmas boiled dow to to a single day off for turkey and flopping on the sofa in paper hats.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="7775">On December 9th The Beatles signed contracts appointing Brian Epstein as their new manager. Epstein then gave each a pointed Christmas gift — a travel alarm clock. Attached was a business card with the message: ‘My little bit to get you all on time.’</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="3e3f">This alluded to their chaotic timekeeping — Paul McCartney had infamously been having a bath during one crucial meeting. But as Lewisohn points out, it offered hope that they would be ‘going places’.</p><figure class="graf graf--figure" name="d0ef"><img class="graf-image" data-height="640" data-image-id="1*Xsq0UBZr_TR8e_xewHwQaQ.png" data-width="423" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/533/1*Xsq0UBZr_TR8e_xewHwQaQ.png" /><figcaption class="imageCaption"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Christmas 1961 — Beatles upstaged by BOXING NIGHT</span></i></figcaption></figure><p class="graf graf--p" name="e416">On December 27, the coldest night in a decade, The Cavern held a Beatles Christmas Party. It got off to a rocky start when Pete Best phoned in sick. Who could stand in on the sticks? Well, there was their new pal from Hamburg, who happened to have a night off from Hurricane duties.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="e729">The gig went so well that George wanted to make the change in line up permanent. But Ringo was about to go abroad again so this was not practical. Pete would remain precariously on his drum stool for another eight months.</p><h4 class="graf graf--h4 graf--empty" name="3702"><br /></h4><div><br /></div>ESOL Extrashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09621863930789856411noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1973192716768021963.post-75783847385402459772023-12-22T03:11:00.000-08:002023-12-22T03:11:19.383-08:00Christmas 1960<p>In December 1960 The Beatles returned to Liverpool from Hamburg, where they had built a reputation as a live act. </p><section class="section section--body" name="420f"><div class="section-content"><div class="section-inner sectionLayout--insetColumn"><p class="graf graf--p"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirTf35kLtc4wqXdus50wFuo6bX4S8C-kbX2vn77xSQ7rbuJnpKh8HhcP-qlhn22wqB3ccFvw0adTKnxUqhZHO9Pzje0zX2M_Cn5ag5dgq4QXLKENRsWKzUbwK3bya_pCAuEcH7GuxQtStWyMFttdV-CDMz0wHOfU58mweyrUTRq7-nC7omUSCK0Clu/s689/Screen%20Shot%202023-12-22%20at%2006.29.41.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="482" data-original-width="689" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirTf35kLtc4wqXdus50wFuo6bX4S8C-kbX2vn77xSQ7rbuJnpKh8HhcP-qlhn22wqB3ccFvw0adTKnxUqhZHO9Pzje0zX2M_Cn5ag5dgq4QXLKENRsWKzUbwK3bya_pCAuEcH7GuxQtStWyMFttdV-CDMz0wHOfU58mweyrUTRq7-nC7omUSCK0Clu/w400-h280/Screen%20Shot%202023-12-22%20at%2006.29.41.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="graf graf--p">This earned them a prestigious new date for 27 December 1960 as the headliners at the Litherland Town Hall Ballroom. This was arranged by the influential local DJ, Bob Wooler — months later the victim of an infamous assault by John Lennon.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="1b3f">Wooler announced them on stage in typically hyperbolic fashion:</p><blockquote class="graf graf--blockquote" name="fa8d">Direct from Hamburg — the sensational BEATLES</blockquote><p class="graf graf--p" name="70c4">The performers on stage were dressed in black leathers and drainpipe trousers. They had American guitars and amps and seemed from another more exotic world. Some in the crowd were amazed that these strange Germans spoke to the audience in fluent Scouse speakers, .</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="70c4">To a roar from the packed hall, Paul launched into Little Richard's Long Tall Sally. </p></div></div></section>ESOL Extrashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09621863930789856411noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1973192716768021963.post-15570505574732039982023-12-16T02:58:00.000-08:002023-12-16T02:58:26.662-08:00Which Beatles albums had no singles?<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhASKdgJ68uy-DB2_INezOdB-gERvjc73-faa3mlhrWGP1CftzN22uyZofVILTb9qrQqgc4lmbKSO929kEGhPaqFydqyyIK0Pm2OPgJGrOTtJX0Mvn7L7YHYW5X3C7FfgHUJWkoPQkszqZpkZ10wuSgindnHqnvkKdv9XxiQoHk8I73mDtf_-oM_8Vb" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img data-original-height="326" data-original-width="640" height="324" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhASKdgJ68uy-DB2_INezOdB-gERvjc73-faa3mlhrWGP1CftzN22uyZofVILTb9qrQqgc4lmbKSO929kEGhPaqFydqyyIK0Pm2OPgJGrOTtJX0Mvn7L7YHYW5X3C7FfgHUJWkoPQkszqZpkZ10wuSgindnHqnvkKdv9XxiQoHk8I73mDtf_-oM_8Vb=w640-h324" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>British album releases generally did not include singles</i></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p><span></span></p><a name='more'></a>Throughout The Beatles recording career they tried to avoid including already released singles on UK albums. Officially this was to avoid additional expense for teenage fans. An additional motivation was to encourage increased LP sales, as these were more expensive and profitable per unit.<p></p><p>Early recording sessions were generally scheduled for fourteen album track, plus two sides of a single</p><p>Of the twelve studio LP releases, five contained no UK single: </p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="background-color: #fcfcff; color: #141414; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"><i>With The Beatles</i></span></li><li><span style="background-color: #fcfcff; color: #141414; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"><i>Beatles For Sale</i></span></li><li><span style="background-color: #fcfcff; color: #141414; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"><i>Rubber Soul</i></span></li><li><span style="background-color: #fcfcff; color: #141414; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"><i>Sgt Pepper</i></span></li><li><span style="background-color: #fcfcff; color: #141414; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"><i>The Beatles (White Album)</i></span></li></ul><div><span style="color: #141414; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">This rule did not apply with the first albums to be released in the US. 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' was included on<i> Meet the Beatle</i>s</span></span></div><p></p>ESOL Extrashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09621863930789856411noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1973192716768021963.post-60485301274566065552023-12-01T05:05:00.000-08:002023-12-01T05:05:11.302-08:00Why was George Harrison deported from Germany?<p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnQA0nFY0ElNPdbQcb9Du8lSls4hCX2XskhfqpM89dJrQkYAxsTYQ6K8I7QYgALc62Y5BT_L6huMHrt8WfQCXoTLDRBsT-q9eWCERZZRgxsBIDrhNg80J-G-E9jqR5W-jy2xP92y60cI_PIuoFpVy6TEJucThH1xgnFkLi7gW_ucaMa23fVQSg6FQo/s574/Screenshot%202023-12-01%20at%2012.12.57%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="518" data-original-width="574" height="361" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnQA0nFY0ElNPdbQcb9Du8lSls4hCX2XskhfqpM89dJrQkYAxsTYQ6K8I7QYgALc62Y5BT_L6huMHrt8WfQCXoTLDRBsT-q9eWCERZZRgxsBIDrhNg80J-G-E9jqR5W-jy2xP92y60cI_PIuoFpVy6TEJucThH1xgnFkLi7gW_ucaMa23fVQSg6FQo/w400-h361/Screenshot%202023-12-01%20at%2012.12.57%20PM.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">George in the room above the Bambi Kino cinema</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>George Harrison was seventeen when he first arrived in Hamburg in August 1960. Though legal the age limit for performers was eighteen</span> club owner Bruno Koschmider was initially unconcerned. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">It was when The Beatles jumped ship to work at the bigger Top Ten that Koschmider found his conscience stirred. He then informed the police of his shocking discovery. Those devious Englishmen had an underage performer in their ranks</span><span style="font-size: large;">.</span></p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFQSWy-g86XEVHkR791rWrGRxabeSJicXJQJFetNEWK8i90Y_enH_etr0b3LPXjMa8nbGtEbe2kl1oOvK8qxj_I4Xq2xVWHBb0hBKItbA018RbdWrszVGu9fAjhXcJwItokOrOQokoYsYk7t_S0ciQUTlnbEXyJ4j7U6OZz5qVlM76nEC1EFRRgIQz/s861/861px-Bruno_Koschmider_of_Hamburg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="861" height="335" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFQSWy-g86XEVHkR791rWrGRxabeSJicXJQJFetNEWK8i90Y_enH_etr0b3LPXjMa8nbGtEbe2kl1oOvK8qxj_I4Xq2xVWHBb0hBKItbA018RbdWrszVGu9fAjhXcJwItokOrOQokoYsYk7t_S0ciQUTlnbEXyJ4j7U6OZz5qVlM76nEC1EFRRgIQz/w400-h335/861px-Bruno_Koschmider_of_Hamburg.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">pen & ink sketch of Hamburg club owner Bruno Koschmider (1926-2000)</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>The police duly deported Harrison on November 21. The guitarist spent his last night teaching John Lennon his parts before reluctantly packing a "</span><span>crappy suitcase and things in boxes, paper bags with my clothes in, and a guitar."</span></span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Homeward bound</span></h3><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The logistics of getting home proved challenging, as George related in Anthology:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-size: medium;">Astrid and Stuart dropped me at Hamburg station. It was a long journey on my own on the train to the Hook of Holland. From there I got the day boat. It seemed to take ages and I didn’t have much money – I was praying I’d have enough. </span></blockquote><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-size: medium;">I had to get from Harwich to Liverpool Street Station and then a taxi across to Euston. From there I got a train to Liverpool.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">I had an amplifier that I’d bought in Hamburg and too many things to carry and was standing in the corridor of the train with my belongings around me, and lots of soldiers on the train, drinking. I finally got to Liverpool and took a taxi home – I just about made it. I got home penniless. It took everything I had to get me back.</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Regrouping</span></h3><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Back in Hamburg, Paul and Pete returned to their room to collect their things. Finding it totally in darkness, they created a makeshift lamp by the novel method of lighting a condom nailed to the wall. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">No damage was done but Kosmeider reported them for attempted arson. The police picked them up and by early December they were heading home, too. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The Beatles regrouped in Liverpool in time for the busy Christmas season. They returned to Hamburg in the spring of 1961. By this time George Harrison was eighteen and they were able to resume their residency at the Top Ten club.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="https://www.beatlesfaq.com/2015/09/which-beatle-had-two-birhdays.html" target="_blank">Why George Harrison had two birthdays?</a></span></p>ESOL Extrashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09621863930789856411noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1973192716768021963.post-26632269494113806702023-11-27T01:08:00.001-08:002023-11-27T01:08:33.550-08:00Recommended: Your insightful analysis of Leo McCarey's 'An Affair to Remember' serves as a poignant exploration…I recommended <a href="https://medium.com/@julia.kalman/your-insightful-analysis-of-leo-mccareys-an-affair-to-remember-serves-as-a-poignant-exploration-f3d85cc4ad29?source=ifttt--------------1">Your insightful analysis of Leo McCarey's 'An Affair to Remember' serves as a poignant exploration…</a> on <a href="http://www.tyrhame.com/">TysonRhame</a>.
ESOL Extrashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09621863930789856411noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1973192716768021963.post-17549752440849748492023-11-26T00:08:00.001-08:002023-11-26T00:08:20.991-08:00Recommended: Brian Epstein's introduction to The Beatles, whether through a customer's request or his own…I recommended <a href="https://medium.com/@julia.kalman/brian-epsteins-introduction-to-the-beatles-whether-through-a-customer-s-request-or-his-own-c71894c87580?source=ifttt--------------1">Brian Epstein's introduction to The Beatles, whether through a customer's request or his own…</a> on <a href="http://www.tyrhame.com/">TysonRhame</a>.
ESOL Extrashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09621863930789856411noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1973192716768021963.post-5126165925876269982023-11-22T10:04:00.000-08:002023-11-25T08:35:02.506-08:00Who was 'late but very clean'?<p> </p><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdqS8ovFLmvN-Tn4X5mJfTxwS27AI9oqGu0r7wLThHaWwFplLBK9rfCJXc6Y4zf_eAcJZDQguwNTBnWikbChQxtmPWu8ni-5Q9NUJAqs6gqDhRG70h9ZflCh58pCU_6QhA53BVAadlXBZ_25bdt9hynbigcvVc3n7Pa_ero0HQ9ueIMiD38uCAgFm0/s622/Screen%20Shot%202023-11-22%20at%2016.57.52.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="449" data-original-width="622" height="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdqS8ovFLmvN-Tn4X5mJfTxwS27AI9oqGu0r7wLThHaWwFplLBK9rfCJXc6Y4zf_eAcJZDQguwNTBnWikbChQxtmPWu8ni-5Q9NUJAqs6gqDhRG70h9ZflCh58pCU_6QhA53BVAadlXBZ_25bdt9hynbigcvVc3n7Pa_ero0HQ9ueIMiD38uCAgFm0/w400-h289/Screen%20Shot%202023-11-22%20at%2016.57.52.png" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Outside Paul's family home in the early 1960s</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Soon after first seeing them at the Cavern, Brian Epstein invited The Beatles for a formal meeting at his office. This was arranged for the afternoon of Sunday 3rd December 1961 at 4.30.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Epstein wanted to manage the band but had doubts about their reliability and professionalism. The Beatles for their part had achieved success in Hamburg and Liverpool but had no record deal or national profile</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">John, George and Pete took the bus to the meeting. They arrived on time - but after forty five minutes there was still no sign of Paul. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">A call was made to the McCartney family home. This revealed that Paul had just got up and was having a bath. Epstein exploded, "How can he be so late for such and important meeting?"</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">To which Harrison famously replied, "He may be late but he's very clean". </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">A frosty silence melted into laughter.</span></div><h3><span style="font-size: large;">Why was Paul so late?</span></h3><div><span style="font-size: large;">On one level Paul's lateness was symptomatic of </span><span style="font-size: large;"><span>what Epstein saw as impeding The Beatles: a general sloppiness when it came to important details</span><span>. </span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">In retrospect, it also hinted that the usually reliable McCartney was not yet convinced that Brian was the right manager for them.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">This is how John remembered it, "Three of us chose Epstein. Paul used to sulk...he's more conservative.'</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">John's impetuosity would often land him in water hotter than that in Paul's bath. But as he later pointed out "I made a lot mistakes, character wise, but now and then I made a good one and Brian was one."</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://medium.com/the-beatles-faq/right-brian-manage-us-7ac81d9ec89c" target="_blank">'Right Brian, manage us."</a> <i> 4 minute free read on Medium</i></span></div><h3><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></h3><div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></div>ESOL Extrashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09621863930789856411noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1973192716768021963.post-20025257120691726642023-11-04T10:33:00.009-07:002023-11-12T04:12:31.465-08:00Last Beatles Song?<p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">"We all play on it, i<b>t’s a genuine Beatles recording</b>. </i></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>” </i>Paul McCartney</span></p><div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Is Now and Then</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> a 'genuine Beatles recording'</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">?</span></div><div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJqQbBgbz4cK3FCtOCs7vbUC272mJzbONgmGv61K4n54LBl0WlvKE0_Es-4JuWqlvGHfHAjFuPe40Lp032QXY3eKwOUJUcugJL9RVz4OBVzkCpFQAn9jsZx-lUdx5nvri_ePiGGhG4jaDqCjSFIoigXGEOfvuaP7wmQccedTVZtRenPzZbPZu6xcui/s662/Screen%20Shot%202023-11-06%20at%2009.44.32.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="392" data-original-width="662" height="378" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJqQbBgbz4cK3FCtOCs7vbUC272mJzbONgmGv61K4n54LBl0WlvKE0_Es-4JuWqlvGHfHAjFuPe40Lp032QXY3eKwOUJUcugJL9RVz4OBVzkCpFQAn9jsZx-lUdx5nvri_ePiGGhG4jaDqCjSFIoigXGEOfvuaP7wmQccedTVZtRenPzZbPZu6xcui/w640-h378/Screen%20Shot%202023-11-06%20at%2009.44.32.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #6b6b6b;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">via<a class="af nn" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Beatles_-_All_You_Need_Is_Love_%26_Baby,_You%27re_a_Rich_Man,_1967.jpg" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank"> Henry Grossman/Wikimedia Commons</a> and Apple Corps</span></i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia;">For Paul McCartney the defining component is the presence of all four Beatles in the final mix. This may be stretching a point in that only John Lennon recorded the de facto master tape, namely the demo cassette recorded in his apartment. </span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia;">It is true that The Beatles recording process was often fragmented. Though they</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia;"> largely recorded early tracks ‘as live’, improvements in multi-tracking meant that they later relied heavily of recording segments which were later assembled in collaboration with the Abbey Road engineers. </span></span></div><div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia;">Frequently, two or three band members would work on a particular track. Some recordings, like Yesterday (Paul) and Love You Too (George) had only one of the four on the final recording, while three </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia;">contributed to Free as a Bird during the <i>Anthology</i> sessions.</span></span></div><div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia;">Few, however, would claim that Yesterday is a more genuine Beatles record than any of the three songsreleased after the breakup. The central problem is consent but there is also a question mark over the authenticity of the later recordings. </span></span></div><div><br /></div><h3><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Digital wizardry</span></h3><div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Mixing and matching different recorded segments became central to The Beatles approach to studio recording. This allowed flexibility but relied on trust and consent. </span></div><div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia;">Lennon was always suspicious of what he used to call 'George Martin jiggery pokery'. Assembling segments from various sound sources across decades might fit this description. </span><i style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia;"> </i></span></div><div><i style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/APJAQoSCwuA" width="320" youtube-src-id="APJAQoSCwuA"></iframe></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><i style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia;"><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia;">Of course it is George Martin's son at the sound desk in 2022 - and he does a remarkable job. </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia;">Lennon's reedy vocal from 1978 now rings out like we are in the room. Behind it are a patchwork of soundscapes, including</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia;"> harmonies from the early Sixties, George's guitar from 1994 and bass and drums added last year. </span></span></div><div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia;">Does this alchemy produce a Beatles track? What I hear in Now and Then is an </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia;">intriguing outtake from the post-Beatles solo period. More like an extra track for <i>Plastic Ono Band</i> or <i>Imagine </i>than anything before 1970</span></span></div><div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><h3><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Consent from absent friends? </span></h3><div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">With <i>Anthology</i> - the consent question was blurred for the 'new' tracks. Yoko gave the others access to the unfinished songs - the legal and (arguably) the moral right to use them. </span></div><div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia;">George Harrison publicly signed off on “Real Love” and “Free As A Bird”</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia;"> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia;">but was </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia;">reputedly skeptical about "Now and Then" </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia;">("fucking rubbish")</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia;">. </span></span></div><div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia;">Legal permission was of course given by his wife Olivia. She seems confident this what he would have wanted. </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia;">Perhaps - but doubts remain. The unwritten rule was that all releases had to be agreed by all of the band members. </span></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Trust over such musical matters had broken down. Would John have approved of Paul finishing his track? In 1962 - quite possibly. But in 2023?</span></div><div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><h3><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">And in the End</span></h3><div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">A final quibble is over labelling Now and Then the 'last Beatles song'. Surely this should bitter-sweet distinction should be awarded to a track from Abbey Road — the album all four Beatles strived to make a worthy farewell. And what better swan-song than the Medley?</span></div><div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Disqualifying Her Majesty on a technicality (hidden track not listed on first pressing) we arrive at the perfect sendoff: </span></div><div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>And in the end</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>The love you take</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>Is equal to the love you make</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i><b>Extended discussion of this topic </b><a href="https://medium.com/the-beatles-faq/now-and-then-c2ab33f2d659" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">here</a><b> - </b>4 min free read</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><a class="af nn" href="https://medium.com/the-beatles-faq/the-end-d02272d2fcbd" rel="noopener" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; letter-spacing: -0.06px;">And in The End</a><span face="source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif" style="color: #242424; letter-spacing: -0.06px;"> * </span><a class="af nn" href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/1973192716768021963/6190343364173975227#" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; letter-spacing: -0.06px;" target="_blank">The Last Picture Show</a><span face="source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif" style="color: #242424; letter-spacing: -0.06px;"> * </span><a class="af nn" href="https://medium.com/the-beatles-faq/which-beatles-songs-mention-the-queen-43b340182d27" rel="noopener" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; letter-spacing: -0.06px;">Her Majesty</a></span></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div>ESOL Extrashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09621863930789856411noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1973192716768021963.post-80325768367050123152023-10-30T10:55:00.000-07:002023-11-06T03:04:14.934-08:00Which Beatles songs did Ringo write?<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg68g0WGJnKuWDVvbuuIvuWTZx9Rrjny03lXYwlCCuPp4PXNYFa6QBChXKOBEiCI7Tie4kmGtrOpCwI8HCvl2hEEAWoc-j38nb3Gn2yxRhN94SyyAqg7kjgmJFdTn59-Ylq8KiL5Obq4F1X8Z1l_674-birJAtcHDJSnyq0rtIDzJXptwH3xz-7rA=s600" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg68g0WGJnKuWDVvbuuIvuWTZx9Rrjny03lXYwlCCuPp4PXNYFa6QBChXKOBEiCI7Tie4kmGtrOpCwI8HCvl2hEEAWoc-j38nb3Gn2yxRhN94SyyAqg7kjgmJFdTn59-Ylq8KiL5Obq4F1X8Z1l_674-birJAtcHDJSnyq0rtIDzJXptwH3xz-7rA=w640-h640" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span><a name='more'></a></span><span style="font-size: large;">Ringo has never aspired to be a principal songwriter. His two sole writing credits for The Beatles are: <a href="https://medium.com/the-beatles-faq/which-beatles-song-was-inspired-by-a-sardinian-sea-captain-b58c0d9e4ba5" target="_blank">Don’t Pass Me By</a> and <a href="https://medium.com/the-beatles-faq/which-beatles-song-was-inspired-by-a-sardinian-sea-captain-b58c0d9e4ba5" target="_blank">Octopus’s Garden</a>.</span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="markup--strong markup--p-strong" style="font-size: large;"><h3 style="font-weight: bold; text-align: left;">Joint writing credits</h3><p class="graf graf--p" name="146b">Ringo also has a number of joint writing credits. </p><ul class="postList"><li class="graf graf--li" name="91fb"><strong class="markup--strong markup--li-strong">What Goes On</strong> <b><i>Rubber Soul (</i></b>Lennon-McCartney-Starr)</li><li class="graf graf--li" name="cc2f"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><strong class="markup--strong markup--li-strong">Flying </strong><i>Magical Mystery Tour</i> (</span>Lennon-McCartney-Harrison-Starr)</li><li class="graf graf--li" name="228d"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><strong class="markup--strong markup--li-strong">Dig It</strong> <i>Let It Be </i>(</span>Lennon-McCartney-Harrison-Starr)</li><li class="graf graf--li" name="eddb"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><strong class="markup--strong markup--li-strong">Maggie May</strong>”</span> (Let It Be) (traditional: adaptation by Lennon-McCartney-Harrison-Starr)</li></ul></span><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span class="markup--strong markup--p-strong" style="font-size: large;">Anthology</span></h3><span class="markup--strong markup--p-strong" style="font-size: large;"><p class="graf graf--p" name="6b39">In the 1990s, the Anthology series saw the release of studio out-takes. There was also a controversial attempt to reunite the four Beatles for a single, Free as a Bird. </p><p class="graf graf--p" name="6b39">The release of the completed Now and Then in October 2023 also raises credit complexities - <a href="https://www.beatlesfaq.com/2023/11/last-beatles-song.html" target="_blank">see here</a></p><ul class="postList"><li class="graf graf--li" name="3ad0"><strong class="markup--strong markup--li-strong" style="font-weight: bold;">Free As a Bird</strong><b> <i>Anthology 1</i> </b>Original composition by Lennon; the Beatles version by Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starkey</li><li class="graf graf--li" name="12b8"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><strong class="markup--strong markup--li-strong">Christmastime Is Here Again</strong> </span>(Lennon-McCartney-Harrison-Starr)</li><li class="graf graf--li" name="1db8"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><strong class="markup--strong markup--li-strong">12-Bar Original</strong> <i>Anthology 2</i></span><i> </i>(Lennon-McCartney-Harrison-Starr)</li><li class="graf graf--li" name="44cf"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><strong class="markup--strong markup--li-strong">Los Paranoias </strong><i>Anthology 3</i></span>(Lennon-McCartney-Harrison-Starr)</li><li class="graf graf--li" name="44cf"><b>Now and Then</b> Original composition by Lennon; the Beatles version by Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starkey</li></ul>Sometimes Ringo contributed to the arrangement without a formal credit. Paul McCartney recently acknowledged that this was the case with the drum rhythm on Get Back for example.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="markup--strong markup--p-strong" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"> <a href="https://medium.com/the-beatles-faq/which-beatles-song-was-inspired-by-a-sardinian-sea-captain-b58c0d9e4ba5" target="_blank">The Story Behind Octopus' Garden</a> - M<i>edium 4 free minute read</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://medium.com/the-beatles-faq/ringos-childhood-f71e429d5621" target="_blank">Ringo's Childhood</a> 'A chronicle of Dickensian misfortune' </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.beatlesfaq.com/2023/11/last-beatles-song.html" target="_blank">The Last Beatles Song </a>- issues with Now and Then</span></div>ESOL Extrashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09621863930789856411noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1973192716768021963.post-62713235082447524422023-10-17T11:15:00.000-07:002023-10-17T11:15:01.652-07:00How many covers did The Beatles record?<p>Excluding Maggie Mae - the traditional folk ballad featured on <i>Let it Be - </i>The Beatles officially released twenty-four cover versions of songs by other artists between 1962 and 1970. </p><p><span></span></p><a name='more'></a>Most of the first twenty-three emerged from their live set and the majority dated back to Hamburg. John and Paul shared singing duties, though George sang Roll Over Beethoven. Perhaps surprisingly, three covers became 'Ringo songs': Boys, Honey Don't and, much later, Honey Don't.<div><br /></div><div>At first glance the list appears to be an eclectic bunch of rock and roll songs, soul imports and show tunes. There are, however, some striking patterns. One is that they avoided trying to outshine establish classics . They steered clear of Elvis, for example, and the bigger hits of Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry and Little Richard. </div><div><br /></div><div>Another is that they were careful to protect their hipster credibility amongst their peers. The Shirelles, Smokey Robinson and Alex Alexander were names only familiar to those with a keen interest in American soul. Those that were household names in the UK - those that were (Billy Fury, Tommy Steele etc) were ignored. This was only partly a matter of personal taste - they all liked Cliff Richard, for example, but he was now a rival, albeit a rapidly receding one <div><br /></div><div>, with Paul throwing a couple of show tunes (Till there Was You, Besame Mucho). Most dated back to their Hamburg tours - when they also recorded covers of Aint She Sweet and the traditional My Bonnie<p></p><p>'Act Naturally' was the last of these, appearing on the LP <i>Help </i>in 1965. A last minute replacement for an attempted Lennon-McCartney original (You've Got Your Troubles) it was in some respects a throwback to earlier 'Ringo specials' like Boys. That track had initially been a vehicle for Pete Best - this one would further cement his persona as the quirky Beatle</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Source</h3><p>Act Naturally was on the surface an unusual choice. A country and western hit for Buck Owens and the Buckaroos from 1963, it did not have the hipster chic of early Motown tunes. It was unashamedly Nashville, complete with twanging guitars and southern drawl. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GpBEBV1wkq4" width="320" youtube-src-id="GpBEBV1wkq4"></iframe></div><p>Ringo, whose long-standing fondness for country music is reflected in his stage name, chose the track: <i>I found it on a Buck Owens record and I said, ‘This is the one I am going to be doing,’ and they said ‘OK’. We were listening to all kinds of things.</i></p><p>Recreating a distinct local sound alway risks ridicule (see Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da) particularly when it involves a part of your biggest market. To their credit, The Beatles refused to be cowed. Perhaps liberated by the get-out-clause that it was a 'Ringo tune' they went about their task with an infectious enthusiasm.</p><p>In fact the upbeat mood is more typical of the early singles than some of the more morose output on <i>Beatles For Sale</i> and <i>Help.</i></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Recording</h3><p>Ringo liked to ham up his turn in the spotlight, especially when it involved pulling on cowboy boots. Though an unlikely sharpshooter, his pub singer vocal was a good fit for his jovial persona. That said, it was agreed that his vocal would only be added when the instrumentation had been laid down. </p><p>Given the simplicity of the material, it is perhaps surprising that it took thirteen takes to knock into shape. Effectively, The Beatles were rehearsing in the studio, a luxury that their success had brought them. They were 'knocking out' a filler track, a process that Lennon would later condemn as compromising their artistic integrity.</p><p>And yet the impression created by the recording is that of a in a genial end-of-term collaboration. Beatlemania may have become a debilitating curse, but the in the studio they were still enjoying themselves.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="391" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yjJd8rZPcAQ" width="470" youtube-src-id="yjJd8rZPcAQ"></iframe></div><br /><p>Unlike all their other recorded covers, Act Naturally was never part of The Beatles live repertoire. They did play it on what would be one of the last of their last live performances - the fourth and final Ed Sullivan Show appearance in August 1965.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzRP3rbbxsMQ2nUVrY7KHU7Zyt8sZnsGPpQ_EtMqsG-NVXLOXHCdBUtoDOoWVS_aylaR08grKCebeoRDcK5eCHXRpvwFThg0U5FyKyubtxeg21f9ZoiMTWB1FYggiPD6JOrWAJul2CPB-0OjiJWBCilJc-abCHDoEJvf6woSHS-2M5XZbFoQqyrMYC/s316/Actnaturallybuckowensringostarr.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="316" data-original-width="315" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzRP3rbbxsMQ2nUVrY7KHU7Zyt8sZnsGPpQ_EtMqsG-NVXLOXHCdBUtoDOoWVS_aylaR08grKCebeoRDcK5eCHXRpvwFThg0U5FyKyubtxeg21f9ZoiMTWB1FYggiPD6JOrWAJul2CPB-0OjiJWBCilJc-abCHDoEJvf6woSHS-2M5XZbFoQqyrMYC/w399-h400/Actnaturallybuckowensringostarr.jpeg" width="399" /></a></div><p>Act Naturally would eventually become Ringo's signature tune. He has played it during virtually every show, of Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band, beginning in 1989. In that year Ring also recorded a duet version with Buck Owens - a celebration of two blue collar musicians who had hit the jackpot in 1963 by acting naturally.</p></div></div>ESOL Extrashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09621863930789856411noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1973192716768021963.post-71853290681349500532023-09-29T02:57:00.008-07:002023-09-29T03:01:07.325-07:00Worst Lennon song?<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsYhpbbs7jdBCES6jPdZ3p-bIT65Q5YnIB7uJp5BT2Tyi_9y1bZA-sCOSAEsXoDDJeyvtYoux0zL5LRM0uH0RRUiZRyOyjEU1xf_5ljjA1ntCi_PgRTE1UYN5mvvKLZ2o5H9euiGxFvnY9GIyD0VDhKsIcUn8Rfu0iSmy1wbK_i5poLTiZQMRdvyqu/s586/run_for_your_life.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="586" data-original-width="581" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsYhpbbs7jdBCES6jPdZ3p-bIT65Q5YnIB7uJp5BT2Tyi_9y1bZA-sCOSAEsXoDDJeyvtYoux0zL5LRM0uH0RRUiZRyOyjEU1xf_5ljjA1ntCi_PgRTE1UYN5mvvKLZ2o5H9euiGxFvnY9GIyD0VDhKsIcUn8Rfu0iSmy1wbK_i5poLTiZQMRdvyqu/w634-h640/run_for_your_life.jpeg" width="634" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;">"one of the Beatles most dispensable items".</span><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-AllMusic_review_8-2" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; text-align: start; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Run_for_Your_Life_%28Beatles_song%29#cite_note-AllMusic_review-8" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word;">[8]</a></sup></td></tr></tbody></table><i style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></i><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><i style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">Run for Your Life’, I always hated ... because it was a song I just knocked off </i><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">Lennon Remembers</span></span></p><div><span style="font-size: medium; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Few would argue with this assessment. Thomas Ward diplomatically suggests that it is one of the Beatles most dispensable items".[8] while Ian MacDonald is characteristically forthright ('a dismal track').</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium; white-space-collapse: preserve;">'Run for Life' was the first song recorded for what would become <i>Rubber Soul. </i>It was 'knocked off' during a break between the filming of <i>Help</i> and their return to Abbey Road in October 1965.</span></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Words</span></h3><div><span style="font-size: medium; white-space-collapse: preserve;">One reason Lennon was later embarrassed by the song was what MacDonald calls its 'lazily sexist lyric'. Even allowing for the different social climate, 'you better run for your life ... or that's the end' has an unpleasant menacing edge. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The words and the sentiment came from the old Elvis song 'Baby, Let's Play House'.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><i>There was a line on it; I used to like specific lines from songs, ‘I’d rather see you dead, little girl, than to be with another man’—so I wrote it around that, but I didn’t think it was that important”.</i></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><i><br /></i></span></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Performance & Recording</span></h3><div><span style="font-size: medium; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Tellingly, The Beatles would never perform Run for You Life. In the studio performance Lennon abandons the playful, ironic tone of Let's Play House for a menacing edge. This is apparent in his vocal - the sneered 'little girl' refrain is particularly jarring. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">There is a generally rushed and uncertain feel to a particularly poor recording, complete popping microphones, '</span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">badly out of tune' </span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"> guitars and a terrible vocal mix </span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div>ESOL Extrashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09621863930789856411noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1973192716768021963.post-2999354718441271972023-09-26T09:18:00.001-07:002023-09-26T09:18:17.367-07:00Beatles song based on Beethoven?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTeuWxKU_66zeGgKkwtWPCjMwOjo_8UWTyQOsvHl0bbEghWFtLv-6wlrQCnrsb-VK12FU351LLmIGPtZ_jqbH8MgdcrG0P7RRPRTLfUTbYlFPd8qKtosZVqV0n4Up4R4RmeKKh-yjauB_pEZSuFq0hExH7GZLSUt-BSU5jPLAAjp19jrKWONcL6uDy/s1280/Beethoven_Beatles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTeuWxKU_66zeGgKkwtWPCjMwOjo_8UWTyQOsvHl0bbEghWFtLv-6wlrQCnrsb-VK12FU351LLmIGPtZ_jqbH8MgdcrG0P7RRPRTLfUTbYlFPd8qKtosZVqV0n4Up4R4RmeKKh-yjauB_pEZSuFq0hExH7GZLSUt-BSU5jPLAAjp19jrKWONcL6uDy/w640-h360/Beethoven_Beatles.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div>The Beatles cheerfully sang 'Roll Over Beethoven' in their pre-fame stage show. The Chuck Berry anthem also appears on their second album. But if Ludwig was not safely out of copyright, his legal team would most likely have a solid royalties claim.<div><br /></div><div>In one of his last interviews, John Lennon revealed how the great German composer provided direct inspiration:</div><div><br /></div><div><span id="docs-internal-guid-9428f3f0-7fff-27e8-c8c8-2f1235549c77"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>I was lying on the sofa in our house, listening to Yoko play Beethoven's - Moonlight Sonata, on the piano. Suddenly I said, 'can you play those chords backwards'. </i></span></span></div><div><span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Beatles version retains the key and key change, plus the pattern of arpeggios. Lennon also added some bass notes and of course and a lyric which he claimed was '</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">clear, no bullshit, no imagery, no obscure references.'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">You won't find that kind of language in <i>Fidelio</i> but there is arguably a similarity of intent across the centuries.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> . </span></span></div>ESOL Extrashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09621863930789856411noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1973192716768021963.post-39584324551109416912023-09-14T01:15:00.002-07:002023-09-14T01:15:28.901-07:00How did Lennon and McCartney write songs together?<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large; text-align: left;"><i>People always ask us how we sit down and write a song. Well, first we sit down. Then we write a song. </i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large; text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe7O17NcpP8vHkmtLSMyzA1P3h36QJ0xF3njMXbvMY67_xKG94PuqFVNenxWzi8jyjX-yhdwxigivYOoEkfjQRG1wcYQlhmHiltAy1mmCqj0WrYzDGxIMU74nkvGgB-Hk4xdhAYSsdgFWnx40kUOM8rmBRZfAcEYvwWsKBM4IotFhwfgvozL66AtII/s753/Lennon_Mccartney.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="658" data-original-width="753" height="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe7O17NcpP8vHkmtLSMyzA1P3h36QJ0xF3njMXbvMY67_xKG94PuqFVNenxWzi8jyjX-yhdwxigivYOoEkfjQRG1wcYQlhmHiltAy1mmCqj0WrYzDGxIMU74nkvGgB-Hk4xdhAYSsdgFWnx40kUOM8rmBRZfAcEYvwWsKBM4IotFhwfgvozL66AtII/w400-h350/Lennon_Mccartney.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><span><a name='more'></a>John Lennon</span> was only half joking. From the their earliest 'eyeball to eyeball' collaborations, Lennon and McCartney did not differentiate songwriting roles: <i>Usually, one of us wrote most of the song and the other just helped finish it off, adding a bit of tune or a bit of lyric.</i></span><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Their first single was a typical example of this process: <i>Paul wrote the main structure to 'Love Me Do' when he was 16. I helped him with the middle.</i></span><div><p><span style="font-size: large;">While they continued to write some songs separately, the need for instant hits in the early phase of Beatlemania meant that they worked even more closely together: <i>We wrote' From Me To You ' together in a van. The first line was mine and then after that we took it from there.' </i></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Similarly She Loves You was written by the two working together in their hotel room while on tour. </span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Method</span></h3><p><span style="font-size: large;">Contrary to the Tin Pan Alley tradition, there was no job separation between librettist and lyricist. Both found the words part more challenging. As John would later put it, 'the music is sort of easy'.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">As neither read music, they worked by ear or from scribbled chord charts. Lyrics were often a collection of scraps of paper. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Tunes had to be remembered without notation and then demonstrated. They would sing snatches and improvise chords, building harmony as they went along.</span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Credits</span></h3><p><span style="font-size: large;">From the beginning they had an explicit agreement that all songwriting credits were shared, regardless of their individual contributions. According to McCartney: <i>The only thing we knew about songwriting was that it was done by people like...Lerner and Loewe.</i></span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">This would prove a shrewd decision. It meant that the 179 songs credits would include songs intended for other artists like The Rolling Stones, Cilla Black and later Mary Hopkin.</span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Royalties flowed into both bank accounts regardless of the actual authorship. For their first (disputed) British number one Paul got a song he didn't write ('Please, Please Me) Likewise John Lennon received handsome royalties for his non contribution to Yesterday.</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>More on the Lennon/McCartney songwriting partnership <a href="https://medium.com/the-beatles-faq/how-did-lennon-mccartney-write-together-5093502f68ce" target="_blank">here</a>.</i></span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p></div></div>ESOL Extrashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09621863930789856411noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1973192716768021963.post-31364322791337164602023-09-11T03:59:00.017-07:002023-09-30T11:03:26.011-07:00Did Ringo nearly die in childhood?<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN8L6cFmqLO0yyN0bybjQ_H4Ymux0QLhgKiP0Y3E_W2_0eN7Cz6g6hBmEo1bSpL0onu9X8lsdfY2icfCd9mCVZmjDtwpsc_W3H_pUpLmhymgBCwKMqIJsb911kdB_ztZF4kKFkdGpN8FVufhOwhjGmaLgSK9YccCrMm-coBtoc95JOh2-OOb9Lxh71/s580/Screen%20Shot%202023-09-11%20at%2011.44.44.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="473" data-original-width="580" height="307" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN8L6cFmqLO0yyN0bybjQ_H4Ymux0QLhgKiP0Y3E_W2_0eN7Cz6g6hBmEo1bSpL0onu9X8lsdfY2icfCd9mCVZmjDtwpsc_W3H_pUpLmhymgBCwKMqIJsb911kdB_ztZF4kKFkdGpN8FVufhOwhjGmaLgSK9YccCrMm-coBtoc95JOh2-OOb9Lxh71/w376-h307/Screen%20Shot%202023-09-11%20at%2011.44.44.png" width="376" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Richard with his mother, Elsie</i></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The then Richard Starkey experienced two major medical episodes. According to Lewisohn, Richard Starkey was 'a robust infant' but fell 'dangerously ill in the early summer of 1947'. </p><p>Rushed by ambulance to the Royal Liverpool Children's Hospital, the six-year-old was diagnosed with acute appendicitis. An operation revealed that the appendix had burst causing infected peritonitis.</p><p>As he was wheeled into theatre, Richard requested a cup of tea. </p><p>The nurse responded, 'When you come round,' She kept her promise but it was ten weeks before Richard got his tea. In that time, his mother Elsie was told three times that he would not survive the night. One of these occasions was the eve of his seventh birthday.</p><p>He continued to slip in and out of consciousness for several months. Even when he left hospital at the beginning of 1948, convalescence from his surgical wounds was slow and painful. There was also a set back which prolonged his stay: "I fell out the bed and ripped open all these stitches in my stomach. So they had to dive in again and sew me up.”</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Second Medical crisis</h3><p>One fully recovered from peritonitis, Richard Starkey appeared to return to robust health. Then six years after the first medical disaster came a second: pleurisy.</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifuo70RdNcjSr09oRoVW2Bv-wwzuBscuNZaINhxzQZpVvX0v022sEcEk_saDUSDddV9QpCTRVcq86g_eegx1Li-uWYXGz9W6kjUjeJY8cFCtKnQYRelrFH-ZLmvez9Inz24tuhtRxHKWtkeWbfW558qSbaZxdVDgBW40mUpCvjCTxMyJ2ol2zilIbb/s650/Liverpool_Royal_Children_Hospital.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="503" data-original-width="650" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifuo70RdNcjSr09oRoVW2Bv-wwzuBscuNZaINhxzQZpVvX0v022sEcEk_saDUSDddV9QpCTRVcq86g_eegx1Li-uWYXGz9W6kjUjeJY8cFCtKnQYRelrFH-ZLmvez9Inz24tuhtRxHKWtkeWbfW558qSbaZxdVDgBW40mUpCvjCTxMyJ2ol2zilIbb/w400-h310/Liverpool_Royal_Children_Hospital.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Royal Liverpool Children's Hospital, Livepool (now closed)</span></i></span></td></tr></tbody></table>In early June 1954, he returned to the Royal Liverpool Children's Hospital. During a ten week stay his condition developed into tuberculosis. TB - the scourge of industrial cities - was still endemic in Liverpool, which had one of the highest rates in Europe. <p></p><p>TB was still potentially fatal - George Orwell had died from complications just four years earlier. But the arrival of antibiotics came to the rescue of the thirteen year old Richard, as he later movingly described</p><p></p><blockquote>“God, you know, shined his lights on me in 1953 or ’54 when they discovered Streptomycin. And that’s what saved me.”</blockquote><p></p><p>Once the danger was passed he was sent off to the hospital's convalescence unit. This was Heswall, across the Mersey and away from smog.</p><p></p><blockquote>So they shipped me off to a greenhouse in the country… just this huge greenhouse where instead of flowers, they put all us kids in there and let us breathe some decent air for a change and gave us streptomycin. </blockquote><p></p><p>He was still there at the beginning of 1955, a bored, restless thirteen year old, isolated from his peers and falling ever further behind in educational terms. He did have his first drum, though..</p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://medium.com/the-beatles-faq/which-beatle-had-most-difficult-childhood-64b79b764afb" target="_blank">Which Beatle had the most difficult childhood?</a></p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://medium.com/the-beatles-faq/which-beatle-had-most-difficult-childhood-64b79b764afb" target="_blank">Which songs did Ringo write?</a></p>ESOL Extrashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09621863930789856411noreply@blogger.com