The Real Story Behind "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window"

 The Real Story Behind “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window”

By Sara Schmidt

 

                The story behind The Beatles song, “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window” is well known by fans.  Paul repeats the story often and it is even in his book Lyrics.    The story goes like this:  There were a group of girls that always hung around outside of Paul’s house on Cavendish Avenue.  They were called The Apple Scruffs.   One day, when Paul and Linda were out of town, the girls noticed that the window on the top floor of Paul’s house was left open.   They were able to open the gate and went onto his property and saw there was a ladder leaning up near the open window.   The girls climbed up the ladder,  went through the window, and landed inside of Paul’s bathroom.   While they were inside of his house, they took Paul’s trousers and other dirty clothes as well as many carousels of photo slides taken by Linda.   These slides included photos of Paul and Linda’s wedding, Paul and his family on holiday, and photos of the Beatles during the Get Back sessions.    Once Paul learned about all of this, he wrote the song and recorded it for the “Abbey Road” album.

                While that might be the story that has been told, it is not the true story behind the song.  If you have watched the “Get Back” documentary, then you will have heard The Beatles rehearsing the song in January 1969.   Therefore, the song had to have been written prior to that date.   Already the facts do not add up with the “official story.”   If the fans stole photos from the Get Back Sessions and Paul and Linda’s wedding then how can Paul write a song about something that hadn’t happened yet?

The story behind the song is a story that was told by The Moody’s Blues member, Mike Pender.   Mike said that an incident happened to fellow band member, Ray Thomas where a girl had climbed through the bathroom window of his home and got into bed with Ray and spent the night.   The day after this happened, the Moody Blue’s members were telling Paul McCartney this crazy story.  Paul had a guitar in his hand and he started to strum and sing “She came in through the bathroom window….”  

In September 1969, John Lennon was interviewed about the songs on the Abbey Road album and he had this to say about the song, “"It was when Paul and I went to America to publicize Apple about two years ago, and we were just in the flat we were staying in and he just came out with that line, 'she came in through the bathroom window.' So, he had it for years, and he eventually finished it."   John remembers Paul working on the song when he and Paul were in New York City in May 1968.    John was asked about the song again when he was interviewed by Playboy for the 1980 interview.   He said, That was written by Paul when we were in New York forming Apple, and he first met Linda. Maybe she's the one who came in the window. She must have. I don't know. Somebody came in the window." 

                This does not mean that no one ever broke into Paul’s house.   Last year I read a book that had a chapter about how a young girl and her friends broke into Paul’s house in 1970 and took photos of themselves in the various rooms of the home.    Fans going into Paul McCartney’s home without his permission seemed to be an ongoing issue in the late 1960s and early 1970s.  One group of fans must have gotten into his house while he took Linda and Heather on holiday to Portugal in December of 1968.   This would explain why he says something about how this recently happened to him before starting to practice “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window” during rehearsals in Twickenham in early January.     

                The next part of this story that is untrue is the statement that The Apple Scruffs went into Paul’s home through the bathroom window.   The group of tight-nit fans that named themselves “The Apple Scruffs” started using the name in the Autumn of 1969 AFTER the Abbey Road album had been released.   That small group of fans were not the type that would break into Paul’s home and take his personal property.  They loved the Beatles and made sure not to cause them harm.    It is an insult to those particular girls that Paul and others flippantly say that they were thieves.  

                The event that is often believed to be the inspiration for the song happened in June of 1969 while Paul and Linda were gone (I personally believe the date most likely was June 15 – Father’s Day due to the weather and day of the week that had been told during the various tellings of the story, but that is just an educated guess).    There were several groups of fans that spent their time outside of Cavendish Avenue at that time.   They were not all friends with one another and there was some of the typical “girl drama” that tends to go on along with groups of young women.   One of those groups of girls really disliked Linda and went out of their way to do cruel things toward her.   It is believed that it is this group that took the items from the home.   Most stories say that a girl named “Diane” or “Little Di” is the person that physically climbed the ladder and landed in the bathroom sink on the upper floor of the McCartney family house.   However, I have seen other names of girls that went up the ladder.    Whoever she was, she went inside and then supposedly let the other girls into the home.   While there the small group of three girls went through the house and went through Paul’s clothing.   Diane gave an interview in the 1990s for a French Beatles fans magazine and said this, “I didn’t take anything that has value, nothing but memories. I searched his basket of dirty laundry and took some shirts that had tea stains.  We took one each.  We looked in the closet and saw all the costumes:  Sgt. Pepper and shoes with the pointed tips he wore in the beginning. We did not touch.”   

                More than just dirty shirts were taken from the home.   Slides of photographs taken by Linda were also stolen and also a photo of Linda and Paul in a nice frame (Paul and Carol Bedford claim it was a photo of his father) was taken.   Paul was not too bothered by the missing clothes, but he really wanted to get Linda’s photographs back.   He spoke directly to a few of the girls that would eventually be in the Apple Scruffs and asked them to help him.  They were eventually returned to Paul, but not before copies of the photos were made.   These photos, which we still see to this day, were sold outside of EMI studios on Abbey Road while hundreds of fans stood outside to catch a glimpse of John, Paul, George, or Ringo before or after a recording session.

Photo of Paul taken by Linda McCartney.  This is an example of one of the photos that had been stolen from Paul's home that had been taken by Linda. 

                It is very possible that this big break-in, which happened just prior to the recording of “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window” as it appears on the Abbey Road Album reminded Paul of the song that he had begun working on the previous year.  It very could be why he brought it back to The Beatles and it was included on the album.   However, it is a crazy coincidence that Diane (or whoever) climbed a ladder and went through the bathroom window, just as the girl did with the Moody Blue’s member years before.   Simply put, the event in the early summer of 1969 was not the original inspiration for the song, but perhaps the inspiration to bring the song back and record. 

 

                I am sure that Paul gets his stories confused easily because that is how our minds work when it comes to memories.   As humans, we frequently combine events that happen at the same place during the same time period.  Paul is not trying to be a Beatles historian, but just remembering things that happened in his life.   I do not believe he is purposely trying to give the girls in the Apple Scruffs a bad name, but sadly that is what has happened.   I asked one of them if I could write something to attempt to right this wrong.   She said she would be happy if I did.   Today the truth is on the new Apple Scruffs webpage and hopefully, upcoming books, such as Mark Lewisohn’s biography (volume 3) will contain the correct information.   

So much we can learn about the Apple Scruffs

 

When I started this site in 2009, I decided that I wanted to learn more about the fans known as the Apple Scruffs.    I thought it wouldn't be a difficult task, but I quickly discovered that there wasn't a lot of information about this group of dedicated fans,  the information that was out there was conflicting,  the only book ever written by one of the Apple Scruffs was almost impossible to find and when I DID find it, I discovered that not all of the information in it was correct. 

So I did what any insane Beatles fan would do -- I started to do my own research.  I tried my best to debunk the myths and learn the true story.   At the same time, I wanted to respect the members of the Apple Scruffs' privacy.  I somehow became the unofficial Apple Scruffs historian.  I was proud to write about them in A is For Apple volumes 1 & 2.   I was always happy to talk to anyone who had questions about them, but was always quick to point out that I don't know all of the answers.    

Lizzie Bravo and I would talk frequently about how we wished the girls in the Apple Scruffs would get their memories and stories documented in some form so that their stories could be told in their own words.   

Lizzie would be proud to know that The Apple Scruffs have made their own webpage!!!   You all need to check this out and no longer ask me anything because we now have their memories on a webpage.  It is amazing.  

Please check it out!

https://www.applescruffs.co.uk/

Happy Anniversary to the Apple Scruffs!!!!

A lot of 50th Anniversaries have come and gone over the past month but here is one that I just knew would be forgotten.  (But not by me!)    It was around this time of year (Late October-Early November) in 1969 that the Apple Scruffs were named. 

Sure the "regulars" and the "goodies" and the "baddies" had been hanging around since 1966 and were there all through the trials and tribulations of the White Album and Abbey Road.   But they did not have an official name until the autumn of 1969 and that is when one of them (some say it was Margo, but does it really matter anymore?)  dubbed them "The Apple Scruffs."    And from there Apple Scruff badges and membership cards were made.   Once the Beatle Book Monthly ended in December 1969, the Apple Scruff Monthly started to appear.   

We all know George wrote that great song about them where he claims "there's so much you don't know about Apple Scruffs."    That is still true today.   I have tried to research all I could about them.  I have tried to ask questions.   I have found that they are extremely sweet, lovely ladies that are still gaga over John, Paul, George and Ringo.  However, they have chosen to remain silent in concern to many of their memories of waiting to see the Beatles.   While I don't like it, I understand it.   These are their personal memories that they want to keep between those that were there. 

I hope history understands that none of them were groupies.   None of them were stalkers.   They were a group of friends that passed the time waiting for the Beatles on the steps of 3 Savile Row.  Their story is one that is more about friendship because of The Beatles than about The Beatles themselves, and that is something that we all can relate to.

So tonight I raise a toast to The Apple Scruffs and wish them a happy 50th anniversary! 

Give her a Break, Paul!

This is an article from a London newspaper published on April 5, 1970.   I found it in the July 1970 issue of "Beatles Rule!" newsletter.   It was written by Peter Oakes.

Gone are the shrieking hordes of delirious girls.  Gone are the straining police cordons outside besieged theatres., but Beatlemania is still with us.

It's there, with all its unswerving adoration, outside a 40,000-pound house in St. John's Wood, London, home of Beatle Paul McCartney.

Come rain, hail, or shine, dozens of teenage girls, maintain a hopeful vigil outside the black double doors of No. 7 Cavendish Avenue.  Day in, day out.

All for a glimpse of their idol, and perhaps (just imagine) a friendly word from the star himself.  The most devoted fan of the McCartney flock must surely be 23-year-old American Carolyne Mitchell.  She arrived in Britan 13 months ago and since then hasn't missed one day outside the hallowed McCartney home.

Carolyne, who works in a private nursing home, explains it simply:  "I care for Paul.   I care for him deeply.  I'd like to be in there with him.  I'd be with Paul and I'd be happy."   There is, of course, a snag to that little idea.  Paul has a wife, Linda.  And what a sore spot that is for his worshippers on the doorstep.

To them, Linda is a great obstacle between them and their hero and what they say about her is enough to make an old style Beatle mop curl.

In his bachelor days, Paul would talk to the fans outside over the house intercom system.  Of even go outside for a chat and to pose for photographs with them.  Those were the good old days. 

Now they don't' see very much of Paul, sometimes not at all for weeks on end.  What wife, after all, wants her husband to chat with a bunch of strange girls outside?

But still, fans wait.  And wait.  And hope.  From time to time, police move them on, but in no time at all, they are back.  It really is all very frustrating and annoying for everybody, at least Paul's neighbours.

Mrs. Evelyn Grumi, who lives opposite, with her husband and two children, said, "The girls sit on our wall.  I wouldn't mind if they just sat, but they play their transistors very loudly and shriek and giggle and shout.  If you try to talk to them reasonably, they just hurl abuse language at you."

The McCartneys have complained to the police about the girls standing outside causing a nuisance.  Matters did come to a head on the night off Paul's first wedding anniversary.  One group of girls celebrated the occasion by spreading confetti and pushing a bunch of flowers through the gate. 

Another group banged dustbins and barricaded the McCartney drive with milk bottles -- with the result that three of them ended up in court for insulting behavior.  The fans have been in divided camps ever since.

The confetti crowd have since transferred their adulation to the headquarters of Apple.

They even produce a duplicated "magazine" which has recorded the girls conclusion that Paul was stolen from the fans by his wife.  Another issue has a lost and found column.  In the lost section was the time"  "Beatle Paul -- last seen March 12, 1969." 

Sally and Christine are in this group.  Both are 20 -- left their homes in the provinces to come to London to be near their idols. 

Christine said, "I met Sally outside Paul's house and stayed with her.  My parents were a bit upset but they accepted it.  I was without a job for six weeks and spent the whole of the time following Paul and the Beatles around."

Sally described those traumatic days after Paul's marriage, "When he first brought Linda back, we would all stand in a row and scream abuse at her."  She also recalled an incident while Paul was on honeymoon.  A lot of girls, many of them Americans, broke into Paul's house and stole all his photographs.  he used to leave his windows open and girls were always climbing in and out.

On his wedding day, Paul's mail was also intercepted by the ever watchful fans.  The letterbox is easy to get into.  They took out the telegrams and read them.  But they put them right back after they had read them.

Now, four houses in Cavendish Avenue are empty, and display signs declaring "Sold" or "for sale" or "acquired."   Neighbours have even held informal meetings to try to work out a plan of campaign to get rid of the troublemaking fans.

Perhaps the answer lies with Paul himself.  For persistent fans -- the followers who made him an idol -- are an inescapable fact of Beatle life. 

Perhaps he can spare a few minutes to chat with Carolyne.  What a break after 13 months of waiting.  He's obviously the only person in the world the fans will listen to.

10 Things you don't know about Apple Scruffs

If you have read this blog for awhile, you will know that I tend to focus on things in the Beatles fandom and that the topic of the Apple Scruffs has been near and dear to my heart.   Over the years I have read so many things about the Apple Scruffs that I knew were untrue.   I  have heard so many people claim to have been an Apple Scruff or people who claim that they knew someone was a member of the group.  And yet I knew that the number of people that could call themselves "Apple Scruffs" was very small.   I have read that they were groupies that slept with the Beatles.   And on and on.    Yet the girls have remained private and the rumors have gotten larger and larger.   So I really wanted to set the record straight.   With so much wrong information out there, it wasn't an easy task, but I attempted to write an article to debunk some of those myths. 

I want to say what I expressed on my facebook page for this blog.  And that is that I hope not to have offended or upset any of the true Apple Scruff members.   I really put a lot of time and thought into this article.   The things I wrote in the article are true as much as I know.   If nothing else I hope that people come away with the realization that 1.  Not everyone who hung around the Beatles in the 1960's was an Apple Scruff and 2.  The Apple Scruffs did not have sex with the Beatles.

On a personal note, this is the first thing I have ever written that wasn't for this blog.   So I want to thank Allison at Rebeat magazine for giving me the opportunity to write this article and publishing it for the online magazine.   When I was young, I had a dream of being a journalist and an author.    That dream fizzled out as I got older and I decided that I wanted to be a teacher.  However, there was always a small part of me that wanted to be a writer. 



http://www.rebeatmag.com/10-things-you-dont-know-bout-apple-scruffs/

Mad moments

Many fanzines would have some pretty awesome cartoon drawings included.   This one comes from a very mysterious fanzine "The I.F.A." which was ran by anonymous fans.   I have two of these fanzines and the cartoons in them are pretty funny and cute.   This one of the Apple Scruffs and other fans is especially neat to see.

Read all about it

In the postscript of Carol Bedford's book Waiting for the Beatles she write a short paragraph about the last time she ever heard from George.   Interestingly enough I found that correspondence to Carol up for auction in an old, outdated auction house listing online.

Now before I get 10,000 emails, let me say that I do not know Carol Bedford.  I have never known Carol Bedford.  I do not know where she lives or if she is still alive.   It is amazing to me just how many people out there are looking for Carol.   It is no wonder that so many of the Apple Scruffs like to remain anonymous.  And then there are people like me who are always bugging them.

Anyhow this is what Carol wrote:

But I did hear from him again-- one last contact between us.  In 1975, I listened to George's new album Extra Texture:  Read all about it.  The first track on side one was You, the song he had told me about at the Apple Christmas party in 1971.  He had finally recorded it, four years after writing it.  I wrote a cheerful, chatty note to George to thank him for recording it.  The song would always bring back happy memories for me.  By return post, I received George's letter.  It was addressed to "Carol Bedford" which pleased me because I had signed "Carol from Texas" 

I was a teenage Apple Scruff

As I have said from day 1 of this blog, and as George Harrison myself sang, "There is so much you don't know about Apple Scruffs."   Over the past 4 years I have been trying to separate fact from fiction, which hasn't always been an easy task as there is so much mis-information out there and those in the Apple Scruffs have remained to be extremely private people.   I want to respect their privacy and also find out the truth.  One question I have always had was "were there really two boys that were considered Apple Scruffs?"  I have always read that two boys were part of the group, but I never saw any guys in the photos. 

In a lot of Harrison Alliance fanzines I was elated to find an interview with Jimmy Lyford, one of the boys who was always said to have been one of the Apple Scruffs.  I was especially excited about finding this interview because I had read that he sadly had passed away in the 1980s.    From what I understand Jimmy was one of the last people to join the Apple Scruffs and he joined after the Beatles had broken up.   He was sort of more on the tail-end of it all and that is why he isn't as heard of as the girls.    

This interview was given by Zig Montgomery (I always love his photos and I am so thankful that he did this interview).  You can find it in the May 1978 issue of the Harrison Alliance.

This interview with former Apple Scruff Jimmy Lyford took place in his apartment, and in the penthouse suites of a well-established law firm in San Francisco.

On the walls of his livingroom are some photos of himself and one of Paul and Linda McCartney, all taken by photographer Annie Leibovitz.

Behind me is a beautiful 3x5 black and white painting of McCartney that Jimmy painted in college.

Besides “Beatling” as Jimmy calls it, he is a managing assistant in a law firm.  His past adventures include being an extra in the film, “The Towering Inferno,” and he has an art degree in Ceramic Sculpture.  His hobbies now are photography, collecting ugly postcards, “famie hunting,” and rising Venus flytrap plants.

Zig:  What exactly was the Apple Scruffs Unlimited club?

Jimmy:  It was a group of mostly English Beatle fans that apparently had lots of spare time to sit it out eight days a week on Apple’s steps.  Part of the Apple Scruff duties were to stop other fans from photographing the Beatles whenever the Beatles didn’t want their photo taken.  We were a self-appointed security force.  We protected the Beatles from everyone except ourselves!  (laughter)

Zig:  how club-oriented were the Apple Scruffs, and how many members weren’t English?

Jimmy:  First of all, we weren’t club-oriented at all.  We did make buttons and membership cards but really it was just an inside joke of sorts.  Later on when the Beatle Monthlies stopped being created, Apple Scruff monthlies surfaced to fill the void.  Most of the Scruffs were English as I said before, but besides myself, there was a girl from Texas and another from Italy…perhaps one or two from another galaxy.

 

Zig:  how long were you an Apple Scruff?

Jimmy:  I became a member in 1970 and stopped scruffing in 1973.  Like Lennon said, “the circus has left town, but we still own the site.”

Zig:  Did all the Scruffs become good friends?

Jimmy:  Within the group of us, we all had special friendships.  I’m still in contact with two.  One is presently working for Elton John, although she worked for Apple up until the day it closed on May 2, 1975.

Zig:  You actually got to work inside Apple, didn’t you?

Jimmy:  yeah, we were cheap labor!  Whenever Apple needed help, they’d always pull a Scruff in from the steps to help out.  Even once inside, chances of seeing one of the Beatles was less than being outside, but you know that yourself, Zig, after working at MPL.   That was you, wasn’t it?  I sometimes get scrambled with which fans did what.

Zig:  Yeah, Madeleine S, Jim W., and I did some mail work for Sue at the Fun Club when it was in Soho Square.  It was a fabulous experience.

Jimmy:  That reminds me of the Scruff’s work.  We were compensated by presents of unreleased albums, food, and first crack at the garbage cans.

Zig:  Where did the name Apple Scruffs come from?

Jimmy:  Well, in England, casual dress is considered scruffy.  Since we were always at Apple, we were Apple Scruffs.

Zig:  When did you all first hear that George wrote a song about the group?

Jimmy:  I wasn’t there unfortunately, but one night George at EMI on Abbey Road recording all night long and he kept peeking out of the letter slot in the door until most of the fans gave up the wait.  The remaining lucky ones (the Scruffs) were invited in to hear the final mix of the song.  Everyone cried.

Zig:  did you see much of the other Apple artists?

Jimmy:  Yes, of course, all of them.  George H. and Jackie L., and Badfinger’s Pete Ham were there a lot.  Pete Ham was really nice to us.  We generally ignored the other artists because after all, we were there to see the fab four.  We were curious of Paul’s brother because he too came to Apple a lot.  We didn’t really car about Mary Hopkin at all.  After sitting day after day, one gets to not caring about anything except food and sleep.

Zig:  What were the Beatles’ attitude about the Scruffs?

Jimmy:  It changed from day to day.  We had George and Ringo wearing Apple Scruff badges and  later made them pay up their dues to the club (Laughter as Jimmy breaks into a flat version of “It don’t come easy).

Zig:  What do you think of the Beatle fanzines/clubs that are out now?

Jimmy:  Some are dead and some are living, and what I mean by that is some are wrongly in it only for the money; some are just prostituting the Beatles’ art.  I like the Harrison Alliance a lot because its newsletter booklets remind me of the Apple Scruff monthlies.  I imagine that it would be very difficult to operate a club on just one of the Beatles…and the most reclusive one at that.

Zig:  What is one of your fondest memories as a Scruff?

Jimmy:  The private showing of “Magical Mystery tour”

Zig:  Where was that held?

Jimmy:  It was in the screening room of Apple on the fourth floor, across from Ringo’s office.  The room was filled with lots and lots of film containers.   I was told that every little bit of Beatles on film from new reports to movies were in that room.  The projectionist was one of the directors of “Let it Be.”  There I sat with one other Scruff and a couple of Apple employees watching the original uncut version of MMT, when Ringo came and peeked into the room to find out where all the loud music was coming from.  I think the volume was beyond full blast.  There were four green chairs in the room meant from you know who and I sat in what was Paul’s seat.  Another thing I remember was Ringo’s New Year’s Eve Party (1971).  There were a lot of famies coming into Apple looking for drivers to take them to Ringo’s home.  I remember seeing Lulu, Laurence Harvey, the Who, Elizabeth Taylor, Charlie Watts, and other various English entertainers arrive.  We Scruffs were having a part of our own, and when we were sufficiently swanked-out, we decided that it was time to crash Ringo’s party, but we never got our faces off the steps. 

Zig:  What is your “Strawberry Beatles Forever” all about anyway?

Jimmy:  It is the name that I gave my Beatles memorabilia collection and a limited membership fanzine that I send out free to certain friends and fans from time to time.  Last year I had my first annual “Strawberry” awards for various categories.  The Harrison Alliance received the award for “Best Beatle Club Newsletter for Layout.”

Zig:  How did Annie Leibovitz get around to snapping a photograph of you, Jimmy?

Jimmy:  Well, Rolling Stone magazine used to use item from my collection from time to time to illustrate various stories regarding the Beatles.  During the session for the story “Strange Rumblings in Pepperland RS September 1974), I sort of ended up modeling some of the items.  The photos were taken very late at night, which is the reason that I look so burned out.  Annie seems to like a certain realism in her photographs.  The shots of me with my Apple watch were also taken that night to be later used in the Rolling Stone article about the 260 million dollar reunion offer (RS November 1976).  Oh yeah, those were my ankles in the Beatles sneakers under the “Forty Questions your mother should know” in the “Strange Rumblings” story.  In case you were wondering where the photo sessions took place, it was in Annie’s loft studios.  When I stop and think about it, I guess that I consider myself to be very lucky to stand in the same place that so many of the Rolling Stone cover story rock stars have stood to be photographed.  I think the most impressive item that I saw in Annie’s studio was a huge print of John Lennon that was taken by Annie during Lennon’s primal therapy period.  At any rate, I am very proud of the huge print that I have of me by her in my living room.  I think the watch, however, make the whole photograph worthwhile.

Zig:  How would you sum up your life so far as a Beatle fan?

Jimmy:  So far, so good.  All in all I have settled down quite a bit, but I certainly enjoy everything still.  I have a good job and a home to maintain now, so I don’t have the time that I used to and believe me, it took a great deal of patience, time and stamina to be a Scruff.  I consider myself an adult Beatle fan now; I was a teenage Apple Scruff.

As Time goes By: a mini book review

I just finished reading a book that I should have read many years ago: As Time Goes By, written by Derek Taylor. It was published in 1973. I bought a very used old library copy, but it was still readable. Since I will never be able to afford (or find a copy ) his book Fifty Years Adrift (in an open-neck shirt), I figured this one would do.

It was a strange book in that he didn't write his memoir in chronological order.  I am sort of someone who likes things to go in order, and he just jumped around from year to year without a care for the reader.   I also found his style of writing to be odd.   I also thought the house hippie guy who wrote The Longest Cocktail Party wrote in a strange style of writing, so maybe it was just the way people wrote in the early 1970s.

Nonetheless, while this wasn't a detailed book, it did have a few little tidbits and stories of the Beatles that I had never read before.   I mostly liked the part that went into detail about when Paul went to the pub after reading with the Black Dykes Band.   Interesting story, and I don't recall ever reading Derek's side of the story before.

My favorite part of the whole book was this one little item.   Derek included his honorary membership in the Apple Scruffs!   And look...many of the girls signed it.   I love this!   In case you missed it, Derek wrote a very good article about the Scruffs in 1996.      I wish I could become an honorary member of the Apple Scruffs and get a membership card.   That is just awesome. 

The link below is the affiliate link to Amazon, where you can purchase this book.  I get a small percentage of anything purchased through this link.  Money made from the Amazon Afflication is used to pay the annual fee to keep this site online.  Thank you for your support.  Sara

https://amzn.to/3V8g5Xu

Break up day

Apple Scruffs singing "Hey Jude" on the steps of Savile Row

George had just walked out and Mal is leading Ringo through the crowd of fans and reporters

Ringo heading towards the car

Someone handed Ringo a hat that he puts on for a second before handing it back and getting into the car

One of the Apple Scruffs with the hat Ringo was wearing smiles for the cameras.

There is a video on youtube (you can find it on Meet The Beatles for Real facebook page) of Derek Taylor and Mavis Smith being interviewed about the Beatles break-up.    The end of that interview shows a reporter standing outside of Savile Row.   You can see the Apple Scruffs with their purses hanging standing around while reporters are trying to get something from them.   There is a very short snippet of them singing "Hey Jude."   Then George walks out (I could hear him say Hare Krishna) and Mal leads Ringo out.

It is interesting footage, especially when you consider that the announcement by Paul that the Beatles had broke up was out that day.   No one there was crying.   I was watching the George documentary and they showed a little bit of this footage and then they showed girls crying.   So this is insane,but I recognized those girls as being from Paul's wedding in March 1969.    So the George documentary talked about the Beatles break up and wanted us to think that people were outside Savile Row crying, so they showed crying fans from when Paul got married.   How deceptive!  As you can see from this footage and screen caps that I made from it, no one was crying on the steps.   I guess one of my biggest pet peeves is people re-writing Beatle history.   I try my best to keep the history intact, but it seems like finding the truth is getting harder and harder.   Okay...my rant is now over.

The Zen Ravens Interface

I have a special treat because it is on one of my favorite group of people to write about on this blog, The Apple Scruffs!   In the October 1996 issue of Mojo magazine, there is a large story about the Scruffs, included in that story is a second story, which is actually an interview about the Scruffs with Derek Taylor.   Derek passed away in 1997, and while he did have some interviews in the Anthology, he was supposed to have more to say that was going to be in the Anthology book, which ended up being post-pond due to his death.  And since I could never afford his book, it was great to read his words.   This was written by Cliff Jones.

Derek and Neil discuss thing inside of Apple

Derek Taylor acted as the Beatles’ press officer and advisor throughout the Apple period and still oversees their press.  He was made an honorary Apple Scruff in 1969 and still treasures his membership card

“The Scruffs were almost as extraordinary as The Beatles were.  I used to imagine that if I could only discover why the Scruffs were out there I might understand why I was here on the inside.  With the benefit of hindsight the answer was simple we were all just Beatle fans.  I was a fan of everything I was involved with, from the Byrds to the Beach Boys, but the Scruffs were a different class altogether.  Totally different from fans of, say, the Bay City Rollers or Take That.

“It is like the ravens at the Tower of London.  You couldn’t really imagine them not being there.  Apple was an insane place then.  I saw the Scruffs as just another lovable but crazy part of all that mayhem.  I recall the Sunday Times ran a huge piece on Apple and actually included the Scruffs on a map that depicted them on the steps at Savile Row!”

In many ways, the Scruffs saw more than us insiders because they weren’t’ caught up in details.  Their magazine was hilarious too and often let those of us on the inside have a good laugh about what we thought was the serious shit going down.  They could be quite cruel at times if they didn’t like you, and they were particularly mean about Linda who they depicted as a rather big-chested dominatrix.  John used to disappear in his office when each issue came out and you’d hear him roaring with laughter, especially the stuff about him and Yoko.

“Looking back, the Scruffs were very Zen.  I’d seen groupies with the Byrds but these girls were different.  They didn’t want to sleep with the boys or attempt to get their psychic tentacles into them or invade their space. I found that aspect bewildering but fascinating and the Beatles did too.  After all, they were used to extraordinary scenes of groupiedom in America, where they were literally queuing up for a favour.  George, in particular, always had a problem with the fans, being naturally shy and a bit diffident, but he grew very fond of them because he got to know them and they were there when he was going through some bad times.  That’s why he wrote the Apple Scruffs song.  Paul sometimes had a hard time, especially when they ridiculed Linda, but he was always very polite to them and got to know a few of them.  Ringo was Ringo and always had time for a joke or a quip, but John was sometimes difficult.”

“I used to get pangs of conscience as I sat there in my warm room with a nice hot cup of tea knowing it was freezing cold outside on those steps.  But the strange thing is they were happy out there.  They didn’t want to be on the inside.  Margo eventually became an Apple tea girl.  Gill worked at Abbey Road and Lucy I think became George’s assistant, but the rest were happy out there.  They seemed to know instinctively that there were boundaries to their world and they stuck to them.

What fascinated me most, however, was how they got their information.  Often they knew more about where the boys were they we did.  It was often a process of abstraction and deduction with them  Sherlock Scruffs they were.  They’d use some infallible female intuition to work out whether the boys were recording at Olympic or at Trident, AIR or Abbey Road.  Very clever.

“There’s  a kind of innocence I find in all people I really get along with.  The Scruffs had that naivety too.  That’s why the Beatles liked them.  Despite how it may have appeared at the time, we were all very innocent.  It was all new and there was no blueprint for what happened.  John went to New York, a place that lost its sense of naivety, and look what happened.  John often found it difficult to deal with fans and would poke fun at them, but that was just his way of dealing with the pressure of knowing he was being watched and waited for by people he didn’t know.  He was a very sensitive man underneath and fame can be quite paranoia-inducing.  Fame is not awfully good for people, but in some strange way the Scruffs helped The Beatles by becoming a sort of daily interface between them and the world.