I love Mal Evans. I think anyone who is familiar with this blog knows that this is a fact. I have a few interviews that Mal gave in the mid-1970's, but the one thing I have been trying to locate is a recording of Mal at the Beatlefest in 1975. I came to realize that most likely no one made a recording of Mal's talk (although I still find that hard to believe), and just started to look for photos or any information from that discussion. And I have came up with a few little things over the years, but I have found a wonderful trove of information written by a first hand account shortly after the convention from someone who took notes! This information came issue #21 of The Harrison Alliance (Nov/Dec 1975) and was written by Patti Murawski.
Some people have asked me to write a bit more about Mal's talk at Beatlefest. Thanks to Jennie's detailed notes, we're able to do just that right now...and throw in a photo I took as well. One of the first things Mal talked about was how he got involved with The Beatles; he said he used to hang around the Cavern a lot and they got to know him; then, one day George said to Mal, "You're big and ugly enough, why don't you get a job as a bouncer at the Cavern?" And that's how it all started for him. Mal also said he used to sit in the front rows at the Cavern when th eBealtes played, and they'd look at him and announce a song dedicated to "Mal-Content" or "Mal Formed."
Mal spoke how, despite what the press had written, The Beatles enjoyed touring. It had gotten too crazy though, and they had to stop. Mal also said he always set up their equipment for each show.
Someone asked Mal if there were any unreleased Beatle tracks hidden away somewhere. The only unreleased tracks, Mal said, were some from Magical Mystery Tour that George did with Shirley Evans the accordionist. He also mentioned something about jams from Let it Be. According to Mal they still have their stage suits as well as their Sgt. Pepper uniforms. As for the film "The Long and Winding Road," it has yet to be completed. However, Mal and Neil (Aspinall) hope to finish it and release it someday.
Mal had always tried to play guitar, but he always got embarrassed with George around. He and George were staying at the Plaza once and Mal had just finished meditating when he picked up the guitar and for the first time in his life he put words and music together. Then, while in L.A. he asked George to help him with some chords and eventually it worked itself into "You and Me Babe"!
Mal termed Paul's wedding as "exciting"; he was, of course, a witness at the wedding. He spoke of how he and Paul were the closest of friends at that time and that the day before the wedding Paul said to him, "I'm scared." He also told us a humorous story about how he once jumped on top of Paul while Paul was sleeping. He and Paul decided to drive down to Spain to see John filming "How I won the War" but when they arrived, John had already gone home. So, to salvage the trip, they decided to go on safari in Nairobi. He and Paul shared rooms while they were there. Mal is terrified of snakes, so one night a little while after turning out the lights, Mal felt something strange moving in his bed; he immediately leaped out of bed and fell right on top of Paul who was in the next bed and had already fallen asleep. Needless to say, Paul was jolted out of his sleep quite surprised to find Mal had fallen on top of him! Mal also contributed some lines to "Here There and Everywhere"; he and Paul had been clubbing and in the morning Paul needed two lines to quickly finish the song; the line? "Watching her eyes and hoping I'm always there."
Mal mentioned that when Julian was visiting in L.A. with John, he had John take him to Disneyland eight times ... in a span of five days.
He spoke a bit about people claiming to have seen ghosts at Friar Park. He also told us how the mini-Matterhorn on the estate was a scale model of the actual Matterhorn in Switzerland; Sir Frank had the real one surveyed sot hat his replica would be precise! Sir Frank was a benevolent person, always keeping the local folk employed; he died poor, but happy!
The audience and spirit of the fest made Mal feel, he told us, as if we were all one big happy family. He said he was very moved by Beatlefest and understood what we felt, not only because The Beatles were his friends, but because he is a big Elvis fan! He remembers how thrilled he was when he met Elvis at a party during the touring days. Mal said he had always carried plectrums with him for the guys because they were always losing them, but the night Elvis invited them to a party, and they wanted to play, Mal didn't have any picks for them and he ended up out in the kitchen breaking up plastic spoons for them!
Mal was dressed, for his speech on Saturday, in a blue western shirt with colored embroidery on it that Ringo and Maureen bought for him as a surprised (he had admired it in a shop) during the recording of "Ringo" and white jeans. Around his neck on a chain he wore a little Bangla Desh medal that George had given him for helping out with the Bangla Desh concert, and a necklace from Ringo. He also had a tiny yellow submarine on his pocket.
Mal's general comments on the Beatles were also very nice. He thinks they're all very beautiful people , and very non-violent. (They were quite frightened by Manson and Manson's saying the Beatles were sending him messages). He never felt he was working for the Beatles. He also spoke about how all four of them always make a fuss over saying hello, but never goodbye Mal felt that each one of them feel a lot toward their fans and said, "If they could meet you all, they'd love you too." One of his last comments was, "If the Beatles ever get back together, I want to be there." ...so do we, Mal, so do we!
I'm not sure how reliable Mal's stories are. For example, Mal suggests here that the Beatles played music with Elvis. That's what John claimed, too. But in the Anthology, George, Ringo, and Paul all agreed that they'd never jammed with Elvis. And George even joked, saying "Maybe John was in another room jamming with Elvis" and they all laughed. So this idea that Mal made plectrums for them out of plastic spoons seems like a story Mal made up.
ReplyDeleteI disagree. The definition of "jamming" is not exact. It could be that they dispatched Mal to get plectrums/picks and then didn't have a full-blown "jam". Everyone agrees that Elvis was playing bass, Paul says he showed him a bit of bass.....obviously instruments were out.....at least one stringed instrument.....maybe they say "we didn't jam" because there were no drums. Maybe a singalong would be more like it.
DeleteI know from being a musician myself that you do a bit of "circling around" before you get down to a full-blown jam. Maybe they did the "circling" but never got around to the actual jam itself.
Anyways, to suggest Mal was just "making it up" is a bit of an insult to the guy, and highly presumptuous. Mal told this story repeatedly....why would the guy make up stories, he of all people? What, you don't think he had enough actual anecdotes he witnessed or went through?
I think I'd trust Mal's memory over three stoned Beatles. lol
ReplyDeleteAnyroad, Sara, that was a lovely recounting. I think my favorite part was how all four lads made a big deal out of saying Hello, but not Good-bye. Makes sense... especially for John and Paul.
Thanks for taking the time to post that.
ReplyDeleteIt's equally insulting to say that George, Ringo, and Paul -- all gathered around a table together in their 50s, talking about the band's past -- wouldn't remember because they were too "stoned." You forget: Mal was right there smoking pot with them, stoned, too. How would his memory be any sharper than their's?
ReplyDeleteAnd if all 3 Beatles say it never happened, I'm inclined to believe it never happened. In fact, not only did they say it never happened, they poked fun at John for saying it did! No matter how "stoned" you are, you'd remember whether you played music with Elvis!
I think John made up a nice little story here and Mal spun his own version. And there is plenty of evidence that all of the Beatles and their assistants participated in making up stories about their legend. Mal was telling a nice story that was just that: a story.
You’re right: Mal didn’t always have a good memory. He also sometimes misinformed the public about who played what on certain songs in Beatles Monthly and he also erroneously states that Billy Preston didn’t play on “Don’t Let Me Down” - in reality, he actually did - while also wrongly saying that Paul played everything on “Why Don’t We Do it in the Road?”. I guess he was either ignorant as a result of having a poor memory or perhaps he didn’t care about getting easily checkable information right prior to publication.
DeleteThe story of him inspiring “Let it Be” while Paul was meditating in India doesn’t make sense and I don’t believe him, because all four Beatles remembered the trip to India as a relatively happy period as far as prolific songwriting was concerned. Paul actually wrote “Let it Be” around the period of the White Album while dreaming about his late mother Mary, who died of breast cancer when he was 14.
I don’t believe some of Mal’s information or anecdotes, let alone the obviously fabricated story of him inspiring Paul to write “Let it Be” while he was mediating in India. Paul himself says that he wrote it around the period of The White Album while dreaming of his late mother Mary, who died when he was only 14, and besides, the sojourn to India was a relatively happy period with prolific songwriting, so it’s not likely that Paul would’ve been unhappy or written “Let it Be” in that timeframe.
DeleteMal didn’t always have a good memory if he was smoking so much marijuana himself and drugs can have a very negative impact on ability to remember certain things.
Mal also got some information in Beatles Monthly incorrect in regards to certain song line-ups, e.g. erroneously saying that Billy Preston didn’t play on “Don’t Let Me Down” but he actually did, John played bass on “Helter Skelter” (in reality, Paul played bass on the final take), Paul played everything on “Why Don’t We Do it in the Road?” (in reality, Ringo played drums) and other erroneous info.
I’m not sure if he hastily wrote it out of ignorance or poor memory or if he didn’t care about getting easily checkable facts correct via studio paperwork or handwritten notes. Remember that he wasn’t a producer or engineer, let alone required to sit through hours of takes and reels of tape, but rather, he was there on errands.
Good comment. I'm not totally convinced by the two lines in HT&E either. They don't sound very Mal. I think Paul probably started them off with Mal prompting an idea or contributing a couple of words. In the Get Back documentary it was noticeable how others were writing lyrics down to avoid breaking the train of thought. It would be hard to sing, play, and write at the same time. Also easy for the writer to think he may have written them himself if he sees his own handwriting.
DeleteThese comments are par the course when it comes to critiques about Beatles history, or in this case, Mal Evans' anecdotes. "He got this and that wrong, so let's doubt ALMOST EVERYTHING else he said." RE: LIB, Paul himself is not exactly a reliable source on Beatles history, as he tends to willfully gild the lilly at times (he's still going on about how John supposedly liked OBLaDi). And if you read his diaries, Mal certainly could not prioritize getting stoned most of the time, bc JPG&R were NOT tolerant on mistakes from those in their inner circle.
DeleteAGREE W/6:20 AM
Delete6.30 am. Let's just agree that none of the Beatles nor their insiders had crystal clear memories about anything. Or else let's just par the course and take aim at one particular Beatle for 'rewriting history'. If you want to use a strawman's argument, then everything you've said about Mal's anecdotes also apply to Paul. Perhaps you are annoyed with these comments because they don't agree with your narrative.
DeleteI was 15 years old in 1975. My mother took my friend Judy and I to Beatlefest that year. While my mother and aunt were off enjoying Manhattan, Judy and I enjoyed Beatlefest. We heard a rumour that John and Yoko were staying on one of the upper floors of the hotel, so off we went to knock on doors. At one door in particular, we heard a TV through the door, but when we knocked, the sound went silent. If we stayed quiet, the sound would come back on, so we'd knock again; convinced we'd found the right room. This went on for several minutes, with both of us pleading for them to answer the door. Finally, the door to the NEXT room opened, and whose head popped out from behind it, but Mal Evans. He asked if he could help us and we immediately asked if John and Yoko were behind the mystery door. Mal invited us into his room to sit down for a chat and he ordered tea from room service for us. We spent about an hour or so with him; having tea and talking about our undying love for music, and especially for the Beatles. He told us that he felt that way about Elvis, so he understood how we felt. After we'd had our tea, we thanked him and got up to leave. As a last attempt, we promised not to bother them, but could he PLEASE tell us whether John Lennon was actually in the next room? Mal hesitated a moment, and then very kindly said that it didn't really matter - what mattered was that we had the music we loved, and THAT mattered to John.
ReplyDeleteWe were so grateful to Mal Evans for taking the time for us and appreciating that we were genuine fans, that we immediately went and found some Elvis bootlegs to buy as a gift. We snuck back upstairs and slid them under Mal's door with a thank you note. The following day, he spotted us downstairs at the festival and gave us both the biggest hug. This was the closest I've ever come to meeting a Beatle and it's an experience that I will never forget. Mal Evans was so kind to us.
Great story..Mal was a great guy but had his temptations like all of us.
DeleteUnfortunately, somehow I missed Mal speaking but did see him in the lobby of the Commodore Hotel wearing his usual national health glasses talking to someone. This was a nice summary of what he talked about. I seem to remember that there was an auction of an instrument belonging to john lennon, not a guitar though.
ReplyDeletereally liked the 12/3/21 story
ReplyDeleteThis day is chronicled in the new book. Mal LOVED attention and was thrilled to be at the convention, and he loved being with fans. Reading about how much day this day meant to him was great.
ReplyDeleteIt was a real highlight of the book for me to read about him at the Beatlefest in 1975. I had tried for so many years to gather information about this event and as you see here -- I was successful at times. But what I found was nothing compared to the stories in the book. Great part for sure!
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