When a Beatle Had to be Carried From His Bed (1967)

 

When a Beatle Had to be Carried From His Bed

No author listed

New Musical Express

1967

    Dawn had not broken. A sleek but mud-splattered Rolls-Royce trundled from a deserted courtyard of a shuttered Spanish villa. Two figures stared silently through dark, smoked windows as the Rolls gathered speed along narrow, empty roads. They wore an odd assortment of Second World War army uniforms and listened to the unbroken Arabic wailing from radio Tangier on the car radio.

     A bizarre happening?  Not at all!

    It was just the beginning of another hectic day, shooting of the film How I Won the War for sleepy-eyed John Lennon and actor Michael Crawford. "I don't think John had ever been up that early before," joked Michael, recalling the three months they spent together in Spain filming the scenes for the film in which John goes solo.

     Grinning, Michael said, "We had to carry him from his bed to his Rolls. We had to be on the set by eight. It meant that we had to be up before six some days to be on location for eight. John didn't want any special treatment. He was just one of the boys, and he mucked in with any arrangements. But I think it was a bit of a strain for him getting up that early."

     John played Michael's army batman in Beatles filmmaker dick Lester's anti-war film. Michael believes John mentioned the film and the lyrics of  "A Day in the Life." Michael and John became good friends after meeting at the premiere of Dick Lester's award winning film, The Knack which starred Michael and Rita Tushingham. 

    Said Michael, "John and I never bothered to change out of the army uniforms at the end of the day's shooting. John's hair was very short for the part of Private Gripweed. He wore rimless glasses and a long army greatcoat. I wore knee-length khaki shorts and shirt. For my part."

     John's offbeat appearance shielded the famous Beatle from too much local publicity. "He had a fairly peaceful time," reported Michael, "but it's easy to understand how little privacy The Beatles have. When we were filming in Germany, we were mobbed all the time. I say 'we' because we were with John. We suffered the same as John. It's terrifying. John had to literally crouch down in the Rolls to avoid being seen. We never had a moment's peace when we were out. I remember we were alone by the side of a lake, like the ad for 'Players.'" laughed Michael. "We were sitting there silently when we saw some photographers skulking about in the bushes. When we were filming in Spain, the locals knew something was happening when they saw the Rolls, but we didn't have much trouble. At weekends when we were at the villa, locals sometimes sauntered through the main gates looking for John."

     John and Cynthia and Michael and his wife, Gabrielle, and young daughter Emma, shared a luxury villa owned by film tycoon Sam Spiegel on the outskirts of Almeria. Ringo, and Maureen stayed with them for six weeks. "It was a dreadful place," groaned Michael. "There was nothing to do in the evenings. John and I had a running joke about who would be the first to catch the night train to Madrid. We didn't do much in the evenings except play Monopoly and Risk. We were very tired after a day of filming, and we didn't go out much. Sometimes, Dick Lester and John had a jam session on the piano. John was always good company. He was never dull."

     Surprisingly, cricket became a favorite outdoor pastime for John and Michael, and the film team. Explains, Michael, "When there were breaks in the film, we found a hard stretch of sand and set up a wicket. John enjoyed the game and became a good bowler at the end of the filming." 

     John wrote "Strawberry Fields" and worked on another song. 

    Recalled Michael, "John shut himself in his bedroom and worked out melodies on a guitar. I heard him playing the same bar over and over again until he got the right sequence. It was marvelous listening to how a song was created. I think he was writing 'Strawberry Fields' while we were on the Spanish location. It was a very pretty tune without the technicalities of the actual record. I like the recording, but I must say I like the original treatment best."

     Michael is sure  that John used the sound of the night train to Madrid or something similar on "Strawberry Fields." Crawford smiled. "John was the first to catch the night train to Madrid. He was away two days before us."

     He paused: "But the end of the recording certainly reminded me of the last train to Madrid. John always said he was going to write a song about THAT train!"