Beatles FAQ

Ingrid Pedersen (1945 -) the half sister John Lennon never knew he had. John Lennon was in contact with two (half) sisters - Julia and Jackie from an early age. Two half brothers on the paternal side were born  much later: David in 1969 and Robin in 1973 - see here .   Throughout his life John suspected he might be have another sibling on his mother's side. In 1964 he even hired a private detective to investigate.  The source of John's hunch is unconfirmed but have been based on overheard remarks in his childhood. Confirmation came out of the blue nearly two decades after his death. Enter Ingrid Pedersen In 1998 his 'secret sister' Ingrid (formerly Victoria) Pedersen revealed that she was Julia's third biological daughter: the offspring  of a short relationship with a Welsh soldier 'Taffy' Williams, stationed in Liverpool 1944.  No details are known about Ingrid's biological father. Williams is one of the most common Welsh surnames and Taffy a generic ni...

John Lennon never lived with other children, but he had a total five half siblings. Two of these he never met while a third he only saw on one occasion.  

Beatles go 'capo-crazy' on Rubber Soul What does a capo do? A capo raises the pitch of stringed instruments including guitars and ukuleles. They are generally used to either make a chord progression easier to play or to match the vocal range of a singer.  Did The Beatles use capos effectively? For themselves, yes. But they were not experienced in accommodating the vocal ranges of guest singers. Famously, Cilla Black failed her first audition for Brian Epstein because the The Beatles backed her in a lower key than she could manage. Who showed them how to use them? Musically they learned through instinct and imitation rather than the application of theory. They would effectively reverse engineer songs and then experiment. Buddy Holly was an early model and he often played with one.  Lennon's capo use on 'You've Got to Hide Your Love Away' on Beatles For Sale is an example of the influence of Bob Dylan. In an era without YouTube tutorials to encourage accurate copy...

The Beatles learned some very basic, functional German while in Hamburg. They were resolutely English in their approach to pronunciation, intonation and attempting to mimic accent. 

Three female songwriters have co-credits on songs covered by The Beatles

We didn’t sing our own songs in the early days — they weren’t good enough John Lennon We started as a little covers band Paul McCartney

Lennon and McCartney frequently named women in song titles - some real, some disguised, several invented. Lennon tried a generic shoutout with Girl, while the cautious George steered clear of naming and/or shaming/celebrating

On July 4th 1966 The Beatle played two concerts in the Philippines as part of what would be their final world tour. These took place over a single afternoon and evening  at the Rizal Stadium, Manila. 

The Beatles started by playing coffee bars, church halls and small family homes. By the time of their second US tour no standard music venue was large enough to meet the demand for tickets. So promoters like the legendary Sid Bernstein hired sports stadia.

Julia Lennon  (née Stanley) gave birth to her first child, John Winston Lennon at Liverpool Maternity Hospital during the early hours of 9 October, 1940.  

Freddie Lennon in the mid 1960s

  Slim Whitman with his Gibson - the sound George aspired to.  George tried to teach himself [the guitar]. But he wasn’t making much headway. ‘I’ll never learn this,’ he used to say. I said, ‘You will, son, you will. Just keep at it.’  Louise Harrison, mother of George

When he was thirteen, George was admitted to hospital with what turned out to be a minor kidney problem. As with Ringo, a spell on the children’s ward was the catalyst for obtaining his first musical instrument.  To cheer up his sick son, Harry Harrison agreed to buy a classmate’s Dutch Egmond flat-top acoustic guitar. Dutch Egmond Acoustic — George Harrison’s first guitar What George would later describe as a ‘cheapo, a horrible little guitar’ had a selling price of £3 ($4). This was a large sum for a poorly paid bus driver, though it would prove an inspired long-term investment.  Technical issues The Egmond. It proved very difficult to master, partly because it was poorly set up (a common problem with cheaper mass-produced guitars).  Progress was also hampered by an ill advised experiment. Curious to see how the guitar was engineered, George unscrewed the head — and was unable to fix it back on.  Abandoned in a cupboard in two pieces, the Ergmond was eventually res...

Four years after his recording debut, David Bowie had still made little progress. Despite a name change and several changes of musical style he remained a fringe figure. Convinced that Deram (Decca) was mismanaging his career, Bowie was looking for a new label. In the spring of 1968 The Beatles announced the formation of Apple Records, a new label for ‘creatives’. Bowie immediately instructed his then manager, Kenneth Pitt, to submit an audition tape. Swamped As a signed artist with a major label, Bowie might have expected an automatic hearing. Unfortunately, however Apple's offer had backfired. The new label was besieged by aspiring musicians, managers, agents, artists, and hucksters. All were clamouring for an audition.    A further complication was that the new label would only recruit new talent with the agreement of all four (endlessly squabbling) Beatles. The office filled with a mountain of demo tapes. From an early stage any attempt to listen to them was abando...

The first pressing of Abbey Road had something missing

The original pressing of Abbey Road  was a song short

John bore a striking resemblance to his father Alfred Lennon was unmistakably present in his son's physical appearance But he only had a walk-on - or rather walk-off - role in his upbringing.  John would later tell Beatles biographer Hunter Davies "It was like he was dead."

Ringo joined The Beatles in August 1962. From the start there was generally a 'Ringo song' on which he sang lead vocal on every EP and LP. 

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Mimi never formally adopted her nephew. He came under her guardianship following a complex sequence of events. In 1940 Julia Lennon gave birth to John. At the time she was married to the biological father (Alf aka Freddie Lennon) they were effectively separated. In fact they had never had a joint home together. Julia initially brought up her son by alone, working in bars and cafes to support him. In 1945, she had a second child, Victoria. The father, a Welsh soldier, soon disappeared out of the picture. This time Julia put her daughter up for adoption. A suitable home? Towards the end of 1946, Julia further scandalised her family when she took up with John ‘Bobby’ Dykins, a wine steward at the Adelphi Hotel. The couple moved into a tiny flat in which there was literally one bed. Cohabitation outside marriage was still a major taboo but would not in itself have been of interest to the authorities. The couple sharing a bed with a child did raise concerns. Mimi reported these to the socia...

Ringo Starr has a baritone voice with a limited range but a distinctive tone. Though not usually identified as a vocalist, he has sung regularly throughout his professional career.

  Ringo's first instrument was  a toy drum - given to him by a visiting nurse while he was in hospital during a childhood illness.

John Lennon  first discovered  The T ibetan Book of the Dead  in  the Indica Bookshop, hang out for London's grooviest tambourine shakers in the mid-60s.  John began to scan the shelves. His eyes soon alighted upon a copy of The Psychedelic Experience, Dr Timothy Leary's psychedelic version of the Tibetan Book of the Dead.  John was delighted and settled down on the settee with the book. Right away, on page 14 in Leary's introduction, he read, 'Whenever in doubt, turn off your mind, relax, float downstream.' He had found the first line of 'Tomorrow Never Knows' .   Many Years From Now  Barry Miles Did Lennon understand what he was singing? Though intellectually curious, Lennon always cheerfully conceded that his research tended to be haphazard.  In  Anthology , George Harrison dismisses Lennon's knowledge of Indian mysticism:  I am not too sure if John actually fully understood what he was saying. He knew he was onto something ...

In the film Help  The Beatles living together in the ultimate bachelor pad. Four doors lead into a miraculous shared space, with all mod cons. No boring housework to worry about. 

I am like a chameleon, influenced by whatever is going on. If Elvis can do it, I can do it. If the Everly Brothers can do it, me and Paul can. Same with Dylan. John Lennon 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.”  Paul McCartney In their early lyrics, Lennon and McCartney broadly stuck to the Tin Pan Alley lyrical format: essentially I love you/please love me too .  This allowed for some quirky takes: Paul's When I'm Sixty Four, for example, took a very unusual perspective for a teenage songwriter. But at some level the words usually circled back to the trials and tribulations of romantic love: I Want to Hold Your Hand, From Me to You etc. Along Came Bob Two factors disrupted this approach. One was practical - there are only so many ways to say 'I love You' and The Beatles success demanded the rapid production of new material. The other was their desire to keep ahead of their...

Paul & Mary McCartney Paul McCartney has recently suggested a ‘subconscious’ inspiration for the line I said something wrong/Now I long for yesterday  was his regret at once chiding his mother for ‘talking posh’:

 

57 Wimpole Street where Paul lived with the Asher family