Beatles FAQ

  Mount Pleasant Registry Office, Liverpool. August 23rd 1962

The original pressing was a song short

We were the best live band in the world before we were famous. Nobody could touch us  John Lennon.

  The Beatles first flew into New York in February 1964. They had what to many American ears was a charmingly fresh approach to the  English language.  Interestingly, this came across more in their spoken interviews than their lyrics. Early Beatles songs consciously followed the established 'American' style: 'I Wanna Be Your Man'. In fact 'I want to hold your hand' arose from a direct request from Brian Epstein for a single tailored to the US market.  Atlantic Crossing Success gave The Beatles to licence (or license!) to 'act naturally' as their song put it.  They were influenced by Dylan's looser 'freewheeling' approach but could not draw on the same Americana heritage, even at one remove. We now know that Dylan was not a former f reight-train riding  hobo but he looked the part. Part of the appeal of The Beatles was that they loved America but clearly did not come from it. Made in Britain On occasion Paul McCartney did write in a directly A...

 

The B842, Kintyre, Scotland

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. Dylan 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 Peter Brown Let's not Twist again In fact,  accordin...

Tamla Motown was a key influence on the early Beatles sound.  They covered Tamla tracks like PLEASE MR POSTMAN and wrote songs in a similar style. THIS BOY (1963) for example is what George Harrison called 'John doing Smokey'. GOT TO GET YOU INTO MY LIFE (1966) is a later homage, first released on Revolver. It is one  of Paul McCartney's most joyful and exuberant compositions, and perhaps The Beatles most danceable recordings. Even the hard-to-please Mr Lennon hailed it 'as on of Paul's best songs.  Early studio versions, however, lacked energy and punch.  It was the introduction of Memphis Stax-style horns that gave the song a new drive.  Earth, Wind and Fire pick up on this dynamism in their 1978 cover. They give it the song treatment, amplifying the horns and harmonies in an exhilarating arrangement. Memphis or Haight Ashbury Wisely, they do not draw attention to the writer's revelation that the 'she' in the lyric is marijuana. "It's actual...