Beatles FAQ

Two months after their first US public appearance, The Beatles held all the top five positions in the Billboard Hot 100.

Though John Lennon has described a very difficult childhood in emotional terms, he was more materially affluent than the others. Ringo, in contrast, has frequently paid tribute to his mother (Elsie) and his stepfather (Harry) for creating a very happy home. He nonetheless experienced 'Dickensian misfortune' that made the others count their blessings. Dingle The young Richard Starkey never made it to Mendips at this time - he first met the other Beatles much later in Hamburg. Had he done so, Aunt Mimi would no doubt have 'hidden the spoons', such was the notorious reputation of 'the Dingle', the area he came from.   Mimi would also have been startled by the young Starkey's physical appearance, which showed clear signs of his impoverishment and severe ill-health   Growing up in one of the roughest areas of the city meant that Ringo quickly developed survival skills.  'You learned to keep your eyes down but still watch what was going on,' he would late...

George Harrison and Paul McCartney first met while at secondary school.

Pete Best was sacked from The Beatles in August 1962. Because he did not write any of their material, he has never received royalties. For thirty-three years, he  received no income for the recordings he made with The Beatles 

George Martin wanted The Beatles first single to be  How Do You Do It, a Tin Pan Alley song which he felt had commercial potential.

  "Nobody wanted to play bass in those days."

The Beatles were legally dissolved in court on December 29th, 1974. But they had effectively ended on April 10, 1970, when Paul issued a press release announcing he was no longer working with the group.

Ringo: not a happy bunny in 1968

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  format: essentially,  "I love you/please love me too ."   There were some exceptions. Paul's When I'm Sixty Four, for example, shows the influence of music hall and takes a very unusual perspective for a teenage songwriter.  Generally, though,  the words 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...

The Beatles first met Dylan during their second visit to the US in August 1964. He came to visit them in their suite at the Delmonoco Hotel in New York, accompanied by his friend Al Aronowitz.  Eager to please their super-hip guests, The Beatles offered Dylan and champagne and amphetamines. Dylan said that he only drank cheap wine and suggested that they ‘smoke some grass’ Brian and the Beatles looked at each other apprehensively. “We’ve never smoked marijuana before,” Brian finally admitted.  Those British accents Dylan was clearly confused {He} looked disbelievingly from face to face. “But what about your song?” he asked. The one about getting high?” The Beatles were stupefied. “Which song?” John managed to ask. Dylan said, “You know…” and then he sang, “and when I touch you I get high, I get high…” John flushed with embarrassment. “Those aren’t the words,” he admitted. “The words are, ‘I can’t hide, I can’t hide, I can’t hide…'”    From The Love You Make...

'We were cowards when we sacked him,'  John Lennon The  Beatles replaced their drummer,  Pete Best , with Ringo Starr in August 1962 . 

John & Yoko  - Gibraltar wedding photo

In 1962, Brian Epstein was the best man at the hastily arranged wedding of John Lennon and Cynthia Powell in Liverpool. 

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

George Harrison bought what he later called a 'terrible..cheapoo guitar when he was thirteen. His mother, Louise Harrison, has confirmed that learning to play it didn't come easily 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.’ Progression With characteristic determination, George stuck to the task, literally making his fingers bleed.  Once he had the core chords memorised, he moved on to a Spanish guitar manual,  Modern Guitar Chord Progressions .  Around this time, he noticed an older boy carrying a trumpet on his bus journey from school. The budding musicians fell into conversation   Read more   (4-minute free on Medium)

None of the Beatles could read or write music. And before the Internet, there were no YouTube videos to watch or chord sheets to print off.

The Beatles leave Candlestick Park The Beatles' last live performance was famously on a rooftop on Savile Row in early 1969. But their last (ticketed) concert came 3 months earlier on the other side of the Atlantic.

In March 1967, John and Paul needed to write the two final tracks for  Sergeant Pepper's.  Paul travelled out to John's house in Weybridge.   Photo by  Fleur  on  Unsplash

I n February 1964, The Beatles arrived at  Kennedy Airport on their first official visit.

The shortest Beatles song was a very late addition to Abbey Road. The original pressing of Abbey Road  was a song short

Some songs do a great job of pretending to be traditional.

  The name change from the original The Quarry Men to The Beatles went through many stages and spellings.

  The Beatles only visited Japan once, arriving in the early hours of June 1966 and departing three days later. They played five concerts at the Nippon Budokan Arena . The tour faced serious challenges.

  "one of the Beatles' most dispensable items". [8] Run for Your Life’ I always hated ... John Lennon Lennon Remembers (1971

   There are six non-original songs on the first Beatles' LP:  Please Please Me/Introducing the Beatles .

' We started as little covers band' Paul McCartney

George Martin wanted The Beatles to release "How Do You Do It (Mitch Mitchell) for their first single. They insisted on their own composition (Love Me Do).

Until 1968, wives and girlfriends stayed away from Abbey Road whenever The Beatles were recording. 

"We all play on it; i t’s a genuine Beatles recording .  ” Paul McCartney via  Henry Grossman/Wikimedia Commons  and Apple Corps

The Beatles famously brought LSD to public attention. Less well known is that George Harrison became rapidly disillusioned with the drug.

  He was a terrible driver…with bad eyesight. John Lennon's cousin, Stan. John Lennon's Austin Maxi, the last car he ever drove

John Lennon's 'stage stare.' John Lennon was very short-sighted, but in his teens refused to wear spectacles in public.

The Beatles' record sales dwarfed those of Bob Dylan. In terms of musical influence, the relationship was inverse. 

  The two most influential pop acts of the 1960s were initially wary of each other. As the world was going Beatles-mad, Bob told pals he had no time for 'bubblegum music'. Paul, for his part, dismissed the 'folk crap' he had not actually heard. Meanwhile, the rivals were busy checking each other out.    The Beatles hear Bob In Paris in January 1964 was the first time I ever heard Dylan at all. Paul got the record [ The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan ] from a French DJ. For three weeks in Paris, we didn’t stop playing it. We all went potty about Dylan. John Lennon quoted in Anthology Bob, for his part, joined 70 million fellow Americans in watching that Ed Sullivan Show a few weeks later. And in August 1964, he pitched up at their hotel when they were next in New York. The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan  Released in May 1963, Dylan's second studio album marked his emergence as a major singer-songwriter. Several tracks ('Blowing in the Wind, Times They Are a-Changing, A Hard ...

Lovely Rita meter maid/ Nothing can come between us There are two origin stories - three if you count a composite version.

Ringo famously obtained his first drum while in hospital.  A spell on the children’s ward was also the catalyst for George Harrison obtaining his first musical instrument. When he was thirteen, George was admitted to hospital with what turned out to be a minor kidney problem.  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 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.  Aband...

  Outside Paul's family home in the early 1960s 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. 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. 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.  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 an important meeting?"     To which Harrison famously replied, "He may be late, but he's very clean".  A frosty silence melted into laughter. Why was Paul so late? On one level, Paul's lateness was symptomatic of  wha...

  We were first introduced in about 1974 by Elizabeth Taylor. 

The 'Paul is Dead' rumour began in early 1967. The Abbey Road cover photo provided new 'clues.' 

57 Wimpole Street where Paul lived with the Asher family

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. 

On July 4th 1966, The Beatles 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. 

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

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.  

  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, the mother of George

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’:

Paul soon abandoned the trumpet

Tabla - traditional Indian instrument