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Showing posts with the label 1963

When did The Beatles last play The Cavern?

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Why The Beatles dropped the harmonica?

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John's harmonica playing was a key feature of several early Beatles tracks - most notably on Love Me Do and Please Please Me. By 1964 however, he was becoming increasingly wary of using it as a lead instrument. “So we started using [the harmonica] on ‘Love Me Do’,’ just for arrangement, because we used to work out arrangements … And then we stuck it on ‘Please Please Me’ George Martin liked the distinctive element that the harmonica added. He encouraged The Beatles to use it in the following two single. They did so reluctantly. and then we stuck it on ‘From Me to You,’ like that. … It went on and on, it got into the gimmick, and then we dropped it. It got embarrassing.” Dylan  There was another reason why the harmonica was became personally embarrassing for John Lennon. This was that Bob Dylan was so closely associated with the instrument. Lennon's musical relationship with Dylan was always uneasy. The harmonica was never fully put away, however. It plays a striking role in dri

Which Beatles had Irish heritage?

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  “I’m a quarter Irish or half Irish or something,”  John Lennon On arrival at Dublin Airport in 1963 John Lennon declared to reporters. “We’re all Irish!”. Lennon was half-joking, and referring primarily to the reputation Liverpool as an historic centre of Irish immigration. No Beatle was eligible for an Irish passport or even selection for Jack Charlton's famously flexible Republic of Ireland soccer team. That said, President Biden regularly describes himself as 'Irish', sometimes even omitting to add 'American'. If we apply what might be termed Biden Rules (ancestors going back a generation or five)  then at leastthree of the Fab Four can climb aboard.  Read more   4 minutes on Medium - free

Which Beatle first visited America?

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I n February 1964 The Beatles arrived at  Kennedy Airport on their first official visit. For three of the four member of the group their first experience of the USA was the sight and sound of thousands of screaming fan. Only George Harrison had crossed the Atlantic Ocean before, on a solo visit five months earlier. In September 1963, The Beatles were given a short break in their manic schedule. While the others holidayed in Europe, George Harrison travelled to rural Illinois to visit his older sister, Louise,. Accompanied by his brother, Peter, George flew to New York and then on to St Louis. Louise then drove her brothers to her new family home in Benton, Illinois (pop.7,000). George with his siblings and niece in Benton, Illinois On the day of his arrival in Benton, The Beatles reached Number One in the UK record charts with She Loves You. But in the USA they had not yet charted and were almost completely unknown in America. There were no fan awaiting him at either airport and this w

I Wanna be your Man

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The songwriters in surprisingly small writing How did Lennon & McCartney end up writing I Wanna be your Man for the Rolling Stones? There are at least three different versions of what happened.

When did Beatlemania begin? What was it like?

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B eatlemania in the UK spread with astonishing rapidity.