Beautiful family

 

Extended Family

 

Before a session

 

January 1976

Beatle Beseiged! (1966)

 

Beatle Beseiged!

No Writer Listed

Disc and Music Echo

April 23, 1966

    Being a Beatle does not present many new problems, not at least for John, Paul, George, and Ringo. By now, they have learned to weather storms, take on critics, and encounter any attacks with raptor-like wit. But John Lennon has found that being a Beatle does have its drawbacks. 

    One of the biggest is that fans invade the grounds of his Weybridge house, making Saturday and Sunday in peaceful Surrey look like a pilgrimage to the promised land of pop. "I'm fed up with it. Some weekends it gets so bad we go away somewhere to get away from the people who come to gawk," said, John,. "You'd think it was a holiday camp or something. They come with babies, sandwiches, flasks of tea, the lot. What do they think it is here, a national park?

     "These people aren't fans. They can't be. I reckon there's something wrong with people who come just to look. If they were young people who come to look where a Beatle lives. I suppose it would be understandable, but it's adults!

    "They seem to think I'm on stage every minute. I went out and told them to get away once, because they started camping and having picnics on the ground.

     "We all know we've got to expect to have the public chasing us a lot, but this is where I live, and I reckon it's unbelievable to have the house treated as some kind of park. This happens most weekends. Sometimes it's worse than others, but it shouldn't really happen at all. 

    "People have got cheek. I just can't understand what gets into their minds.

     "There's another reason why I find it a big drag. I'd like to think people were doing something better with their spare time than coming gawking around here."

Pop Think-In: John Lennon (1966)

 

Pop Think-In:  John Lennon

Melody Maker

January 15, 1966

    John Lennon knows all about the Melody Makers' "Pop Think-In" when he was approached to sit in for the hot seat. "Yeah, it'll be a laugh," he said, sitting himself down in his chair and waiting for the first question. "But I hope I don't get rotten questions, like I get rotten records in Blind Date."

Vietnam:  PF Sloan, I don't like what's happening there.

Money, nice, great 

Playboy:  The magazine or the man? The magazine?  It's nice.

Little Annie Fanny (Playboy cartoon):  I don't read the cartoon. I hardly read the book. I have seen it, though. Imagine what the bloke who draws it thinks about.

 Guitars:  Guitars are great ---part of life

 Airplanes: I don't like them. At first, they were a nice adventure. I like flying less the more we do it. We can get to most places well enough by road. We've flown so much; something could happen the more we do 

Eppy:  He's great. You know, when people talk about him, they say he's harsh and hard, and I expect he can be a bit of a bastard at times. He's a businessman, so he has to be.  He's never a businessman with us, though we only talk business about twice a year. He sometimes has a go at us, then we have a go back, and it's forgotten.

 Milk:  It's great. It goes on cornflakes, on your porridge, or your tea. It does everything. I always drink a pint before I go out on the booze, or I drink it when I come back. It keeps you going, too. Two Aspros and a glass of milk can keep you going for days.

Tours: Great if they're great tours.  There was only one I didn't enjoy, and I can't remember which one that was now.

Negroes:  I always think of music when I hear someone say 'Negro.' I suppose I should think about anti apartheid and all that. I don't agree with apartheid, but Negroes means music to me.

 Babies: I'm not keen on any except my own. I'm typical of most men in that respect, I suppose.  I think he does marvelous things, which no other baby ever does. For instance, if he pounds on the piano, I think, 'Look at that, it's marvelous!' When any kid would do the same in time if there was a piano in the house 

Liverpool: It's still home, even though my aunt has moved away, and I have to stay with Paul if I go there. If I'm in London, home is Weybridge, but if I say I'm going home, I mean Liverpool. It'd be the same if I was from Paris and moved to Marcielles, Paris would always be home.

 Punch-ups: They aren't there anymore with me; it all happened when I was 18 and 19.

Pubs:  I've never gone much on pubs. There have been very few pubs I've had much to do with, and they were in Liverpool, like the Grapes near the Cavern, which was the one we used to use.

Sketching: I don't sketch. I occasionally draw things, but I don't sketch.

 Whiskey:  I go on it and off it. At the moment, I'm off it. I've been drinking solidly for three years.

 Journalists: On the whole, they are all right; there's a horrible, nasty element in a few, just as in any job. Usually, though, the bastards are famous for being bastards. It's the ones that seem nice and prove to be bastards later that I can't stand. They're all part of the machine, after all; if there were no journalists, there'd be no us. 

Snow:  I liked it in Austria and Switzerland. I liked Austria when I was there.

Christmas cards:  I never think about them. If I do, it's usually too late. 

Rolls, Royces:  Great, but even they are not perfect.

 Short hair: Okay, if you're a short head. Some people suit their hair long, and some suit short hair.

 America: Some of it's great, and some of it is awful-- good and bad

 TV pop shows:  They could be better or worse, I'd sooner have a bad pop show on TV than none at all.

 Rhodesia:   I don't know what they're up to. I don't like that Smith bloke. I don't really know enough about it. 

Boots: They keep me warm. I don't always wear them, though. 

Goya: Some of it's all right, doesn't he paint ballet pictures? No. Oh, oh, well, **** it then.

Combs:  I only like the kind my aunt gets me from Woolworths in Liverpool. 

Paul Lashes at Sniping Beatle Fans (1966)

 Paul lashes at sniping Beatle Fans

By Ray Coleman

Disc & Music Echo

June 18, 1966

    Paul McCartney has only one regret at being famous. It finally hit him one day when he woke up to find that an admirer had painted messages on the front door of the Beatle's new house in London. 

    "Who do they think we are, mugs?" He exploded. "I don't think the people who take liberties and do things like this can really be fans. They're troublemakers, and we can do without them, because they're just not decent people.

    "People explain it all away by saying, 'Oh, well, Paul, if you're in business as a big star and you like the limelight, you've got to take all that goes with it.' That's a load of crap. I've never believed that we have to put up with this sort of treatment, and we wouldn't, whoever we were. 

    "I've got a new house, and like anybody with a new house, I take pride in it. I don't expect people to come up there day and night and dab paint all over it. I expect they thought, 'Ha, ha, isn't it cute painting the front door pink for Paul?' Well, it depends on the shade of pink. 

    "Fans should realize that we are normal human beings who occasionally like to get away from it all. I don't have any time for the wreckers, because they just can't be fans if they treat us like fools."

     The penalties of Beatledom affect autograph hunters, too. Paul is hounded by those who have discovered where he lives, and he says he finds it embarrassing to deal with them. "They think, 'Oh, he's hanging around doing nothing. He'll sign this for me.' The trouble is that if you sign a few one day, the fans who got them that day will be back later with a dozen other friends, and the thing snowballs like mad.

     "Surely people can realize that we like a bit of time off. Some of them must wonder why we run away, and we won't sign autographs, but it's not a question of being lousy or tight or difficult. We've just got to protect ourselves from being invaded all the time, every day. That's why pop stars don't talk to fans as much as they'd like to. The fans don't make it easy. 

    "I still love meeting fans, but if I went up to a fan and start talking, I just make things impossible for myself.

    "Why do you think the Walkers don't talk to people very freely? It's just the same, fans go mad and make stars' lives hell. 

    "Do you know Joan Baez never gives autographs? We were with her once in the States, and when somebody went up to her and asked her to sign. She said, 'Sorry, I don't sign autographs, but I'll shake your hand.'"

     But despite the rigors of fanmanship, Paul thinks Beatle life well worth the trials. "Sometimes," he said, "I wonder about it all. We have to go through all this business with the so-called fans, but for every dozen who are wreckers and fools, there are about 1000 real fans, and we never get tired of them. They make it all worthwhile."

Apple Offices

 

McCartney-Harrison

 

It's the Beatles Choice (1964)

 

It's The Beatles' Choice

Disc

May 9, 1964

    What records do the Beatles listen to in their all too rare off-duty moments? Mainly, they like what in this country is usually called "rhythm and blues" or the big American coloured sound, although the four boys themselves are loath to put a name to it. "I don't even know what R and B is," says John, for example. But whatever it is, there's no denying that it's big beat and coloured sound that shows itself repeatedly in the Beatles' choice of discs. 

Ringo:

 "I Gotta Woman" by Jimmy McGriff. This is just a great song, and I like it a lot. Jimmy McGriff is one of my favourite artists.  I like the organ too.

"What Kind of Fool"by the Tams. This is one I think is really marvelous. It's a great song, and the bass player's sound in it is fabulous. I also like the way the voices harmonize and change during the number.

 "It's All Right" by  the Impressions. Apart from the backing on this one, which is great, I like the way different voices come in to take the lead. In particular, I like the falsetto lead, which sings really high.

 "Monkey Time" by Major Lance. This is about the only dance I learned to do in America, and I think this is a great number to do it to. I like the sound as well.

 "Love is Blind" by Emma Franklin. Emma's a lovely singer. I dig her marvelous, coloured voice particularly on this one. She sings it slow with plenty of feeling

 "Um, Um,Um Um Um" by Major Lance. Another Major Lance, I know, but I think he's marvelous. This is one of his later releases here, and although it wasn't a hit, I thought it was good.

John:

"Can I Get a Witness" by Marvin Gaye.  This is the best Marvin Gaye record I've ever heard. It's marvelous. I love the voice. In fact, I love everything about it.

 "Hey, Little Girl" by Major Lance.  Anything by Major Lance is okay by me. This one stands out because of the arrangement.

 "Two Lovers" by Mary Wells.  This is a fine song, and the way she sings it makes it even better. The beginning is really outstanding, and the backing is particularly attractive.

 "Who's Loving You" by The Miracles. They sing this dead slow, and the singers do fantastic things with their voices. The tricks they do in this number are fantastic.

 "Please, Please, Please" by James Brown. This is a medium, slow number with a high, almost screaming voice. This and the fab organ playing really knocks me out.

 "Stay a While" by  Dusty Springfield. I like the way Dusty sings. She gets a real coloured sound in her voice. I like the song as well. I think it's just right for her. 

"Gonna Send You Back to Georgia" by Tim Connor.  I just like this one for no particular reason except that I like the group and the guitar solo. 

Paul

 "If You Want to Make a Fool of Somebody" by James Ray.  I like the Oompa bass noise in this disc, which is great. I also love the voice and the overall sound. 

"World Without Love" by  Peter and Gordon. I hate the composers of this, but the way Peter and Gordon sing the number is gear. 

"Canastas" by Trio Athenee.  This is a song that Ringo and I heard when we were on a holiday in Greece last year. I think the number is actually Spanish, though it's a marvelous song, and this trio sings it really well. The harmonies are marvelous. 

"Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying" by Ray Charles. This is my favorite Ray Charles number, and it is obviously not the same number that Gary Marsden wrote. It's the B side of "Let the Good Times Roll", and Ray sings it slow with a big orchestra.

 "Long, Tall, Sally" by  Little Richard. I love this. It's just fantastic. The way Little Richard makes his voice.  The disc generates a terrific beat and feeling, and the whole thing swings like a bomb.

 "Pride and Joy" by Marvin Gaye. I love anything Marvin Gaye does on record, but this one is a real knockout. It's my favorite number by Marvin-- a gas. 

"I Keep Forgetting" by Chuck Jackson. Again, it's the voice I go for on this one. I think this artist is marvelous. I play this disc all the time. 

"Hitchhike" by  Marvin Gaye. Sorry, but I always come back to Marvin, as I said. He's one of my favorite recording artists, and this one's never off my record player for long. Once again, I've got to say it's great.

 George 

"Daddy Rolling Stone" by Derek Martin. This is issued on the American Sue label, and it's a marvelous R&B sound. The voice is great, and so is the female backing. I also particularly liked the rhythm, particularly the drums.

 "Walk On By" by Dionne Warwick. Dionne is a great artist, and I love her voice on this one.

 "High-Heeled Sneakers" by Tommy Tucker.  Great guitar on that one. This one, the voice and the organ are good, too, a Bluesy feel.

 "What's Easy For Two is so Hard for One" by  Mary Wells. Mary Wells is one of my all-time favorites. This is perhaps my favorite of all her numbers at the moment. Great voice, great song, great feel.

 "Hitchhike" by  Marvin Gaye. I never got Marvin Gaye's disc off the record player. This one I play all the time. Marvin's voice is just right. The rhythms fab, and the backing is swinging.

 Since I Fell For You" by Lenny Welch. This isn't commercial, but it's got a great, big orchestra and a good feel. I think it's catchy with some nice, pleasant notes in the tune.

 "You Might as Well Forget Him" by Tommy Quickly. This is going to be a big hit for Tommy. We're all convinced it'll be his first big impression on the charts. Tommy Rowe wrote it for Tommy, and it's a very good song and a very good backing. Well done, Tommy!

"Dawn, Go Away" by the Four Seasons. This is a better melody than some of the others the Four Seasons have recorded. I like it. 

"Mockingbird" by Inez Fox. This is just marvelous. She and her brother Charles are great. The beat really gets me on this one.

"I'll be There" by the Majors. It's really the trumpets which makes me like this one. They thrill along, catchily, very pleasant. 

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