Beatles USA '66

Photo by Bob Bonis

 

Beatles USA '66

By Jerry Leighton (Chief DJ Caroline North)

Disc Music

August 27, 1966

    New York, Tuesday: Time for the reckoning. Now that the Beatles' American tour is over the halfway hurdle, I could give a firm answer to the $64,000 question: Are the Beatles still as popular with stateside audiences? There has been a lot of talk in the press that their popularity is on the wane, but the boss's office provides the answer.

     Brian Epstein tells me that more people have come to see them this year than last. This means, of course, that the gross takings are far greater, so that's cleared up the big question of  '66 and knocked the knockers for six. 

    Cincinnati was rained out, but it didn't dampen the spirits of the kids. They just stood there getting soaking wet for four hours. There was no canopy over the stage, and the equipment was spoiled by condensation, which made it dangerous for the Beatles to use. So the show was postponed until 12 noon the next day, when the kids turned up by the 1000s to see the world's greatest group. 

    Another thing that had us a bit worried: the concert in Memphis, Tennessee. There was threatened trouble from the so-called Bible Belt, but when we arrived, we were greeted so warmly and with such genuine enthusiasm. We really wanted to stay forever. The police, the fans, and the people in the street just went out to make us feel at home. Even at the religious meeting held at the same time as the Beatles concert, the people prayed for the forgiveness of our audience and all of us!

     As I'm writing, we have just arrived in New York for Tuesday's concert at the Shea Stadium. Everywhere we have been, hundreds of kids have been hanging around our hotel, hoping for a glimpse of the Beatles. But the security arrangements have been very tight, and not many of the fans have been lucky. "We come out here to do shows, and if we show our faces outside our room, we would be torn apart. So it has to be this way, " George told me. "After all, the main thing we want to do is stay alive." Sounds fair enough.

    Paul tells me the decision to release "Yellow Submarine" and "Eleanor Rigby" was Brian Epstein's alone, although it is usually up to the boys. The reason is that it wasn't really scheduled for release, but Brian thought the two best tracks should be made a single before anyone else could cover them. He seems to know what he's up to, judging by the success of the record. Brian adds he expects the boys to bring back over one million dollars to Britain, which should help the financial scene quite a bit. The trouble is we can't give them MBEs all over again. Perhaps a knighthood this time?

     Now for the other acts in the show. It's quite a lineup. The Cyrkle, whose "Red Rubber Ball" reached number two out here; Bobby Hebb, number one at the moment with "Sunny"; and the Ronettes, who, of course, have had so many hits and are expecting to release a new one soon.

     Incidentally, Veronica of the Ronettes is getting married to Phil Spector in the near future. They're all great to be with, and it's a real happy show. 

    There is quite a thing here with those granny sunglasses, the ones with the small lenses and gold rims. Nearly all of us wear them. I think I've got the weirdest selection so far with triangular ones, big squares, oblongs, ovals, etc. I always get John laughing when he sees me wearing any of them, but maybe it's not just the glasses. 

    On the plane from St. Louis to New York, John said he'd heard that Radio Caroline is now the number one station in Britain; he thought it was right to be this way. We spent about half an hour discussing the difficulties confronting the marina radio stations, and between us, we have got the whole problem solved. 

    While we were talking, George was working on a wild-flowery sort of doodle. Believe me, it was really wild! The fellows are looking forward to reaching Los Angeles, where they will have a rest before returning home to Britain. 

    If you want to see them arrive at London Airport, you will have to get up early. Our plane is due in at 6:30 a.m. on August 31. We're hoping to see you there. Until then, from John, Paul, George, Ringo, and me. Goodbye for now.

Side By Side (Linda 1973)

 Side by Side

By Caroline Boucher

Disc

December 1, 1973

    Linda McCartney, fortunately, is a strong woman, because, though enviable, her position is one that not many people could have taken on and coped as successfully as she has. Looking back now to March 12, 1969, Linda says she never realized quite what she was taking on and how much hatred could ensue.

     "It wasn't as if I was a teeny saying, 'Oh, wow, I married Paul McCartney.' I was independent, with a career, but suddenly people who didn't know the first thing about me started writing things about me, about what sort of person Paul had married. Everyone was suddenly saying, 'Who is she?'

     "When we were in New York making Ram, 20 kids would follow us everywhere we went, everywhere, hotel, restaurant, studio. After a while, I asked them to lay off, and one of them turned and said, 'Well, what the hell did you expect?' I hadn't expected that!"

     Since then, she suffered a great many more slings and arrows. As a musician ("How dare she take up piano in his band?" They cried.) As a songwriter: ("She can't they riposted). As a film star from the TV special, and any other excuses that cropped up. But Linda, admirably, has soldiered on, stubbornly pursuing her rather bizarre taste in clothes and hairstyle, brushing up her piano playing and her songwriting. 

    "At the beginning, people said, 'Oh, good grief, she can't play the piano, and that I wasn't good. But then I hadn't jumped up and down and said, 'Hey, Paul, let me be in your band!' I was there because he had asked me to join. And gradually, I got into it and began to enjoy it.

     "But I could remember crying my eyes out in a dressing room in Europe because I was so scared. Now I know you can get up there and have a good time. Technically, nobody has ever said, 'Do this or do that', but I know chords now, and I know the scale, and so I can work things out and write songs from there.

     "It's like my photography.  Nobody ever told me the technicalities of it, shutter speeds, all that kind of thing; I know instinctively in my head now what works when.  But I just learned by actually getting out and taking the pictures." Linda took the inside poster on the next album, and does most of her photography now with a Polaroid, one of the "cheap, £12  ones." She would still like to do assignments, but since she married Paul, people seem to have stopped regarding her as a professional photographer and stopped asking. Two of the Hendrix poster pictures and one of Warren Beatty are still being sold in a Disc poster ad most weeks. 

    "Warren told me I was the first photographer who had clicked at that right moment. It's very important that-- you can so easily miss it."

     Linda's songwriting is going well. To date, she has written three A sides, including "Seaside Woman" on the album, and the other two have yet to see the light of day. They're called "Wild Prairie" and "Oriental Night Fish." The latter is like a Shangri-La's number with lots of talk over. "Wild Prairie" turned into an 11-minute number, a sort of country and western and jazz blend.

     At the moment, Paul is banned from America because of his drug bust. This is difficult for Linda, who misses her family. And while she and the kids are quite free to go there, she doesn't really want to leave Paul behind. She's anti-Nixon because he doesn't have the interests of the people at heart. Women's Lib, on the whole, passes her by. 

    "I was always lucky. I got amazing jobs because I was a girl. I do think women should get equal pay for jobs, but I don't like the dykey bit that goes with the movement. At the moment, I don't think the women's lib women are really representing the main body of ladies; rather, like Nixon, doesn't represent what the main body of the American people feel."

     Contrary to what a lot of people might think, Linda doesn't have a house overflowing with nannies, cooks, housekeepers, etc. "I've never really thought to live rich. I didn't come from a poor home, but my dad was poor and worked his way up through Harvard Law School. I think I learned a lot from him. He's a very moral man, and my mum is very down to earth. Paul and I just wanted a very close, simple family.

     "The kids come everywhere with us, and Heather, who's 11, really loves the other two, and she can watch them for me on tour. I always put them to bed and give them their dinner, and then somebody watches them for me. I think you could be too doting, too involved. Kids should be independent. I like the wild side of life,  but you've got to have a nucleus of love and security. I'm a bit of a fatalist, really. I play life by ear."

Side By Side (Paul McCartney 1973)

 

Photo by Linda McCartney 

Side By Side

By Rosemary Horide

Disc 

December 1, 1973

    As part of one of the greatest groups there has ever been, or as the motivating force behind a relatively new outfit, Paul McCartney has always had a vast amount of charisma as well as talent. To those who would quarrel with that, all I can say is, how many other artists do you know who could get a collection of stars on the cover of their new album that makes Hollywood films at their height look like home movies?

     But Band on the Run has, on its cover, one or two luminaries such as James Coburn, Christopher Lee, Michael Parkinson, Clement Freud, Kenny Lynch, and, just for good measure, John Conteh (the boxer) all dressed as convicts. 

    How did he do it?

     "I just rang him up and asked him," said the man himself, grinning up at me from behind one of the desks in our office. "We had an idea of what we wanted, then drew up a list of names, and to our delight, they all said they'd do it. John's on there because he's a fellow Liverpudlian, and we chose all the people because they look the part. We thought it would be more interesting than just having unknown faces. give people something to look at."

     The piece of black vinyl inside the cover has a lot to commend it too. The songs are written and recorded in a great variety of locations. "Some Linda and I wrote together, some are mine alone, and there's one Denny and I wrote together. He's got half a song, so I finished it off for him."

     The majority of the songs were recorded in Lagos by the much-depleted Wings. "Denny Seiwell left about an hour before the plane took off, so we just went aboard, had a few drinks, and then waited until we got to Nigeria. Then we thought, 'What are we going to do?'  So I played drums, Linda played piano and Mellotron, Denny Laine added some extra guitar parts, and between us, we managed to make the sound a bit fuller."

     Now that the album is over, Paul says there's no real need to have a new band. "At this second, we're going to have a holiday, then Christmas, and think about it. After that, we will be looking for a drummer and a guitarist, but they'll have to be pretty good."

     Interesting to note in that context that Jimmy McCulloch and Davy Lutton of Ellis, a guitarist and a drummer, have just been recording in Paris with Paul, but he wouldn't be drawn on the subject of their becoming part of Wings Mark II. It's obvious no final decisions have been made as yet.

     The sudden departure of two-fifths of the band wasn't the only snag the McCartneys hit while in Africa. "For one thing, we thought it would be warm and sunny over there. Instead, we caught the end of the rainy season, and there were tropical storms all the time. There were power cuts too. 

    "What's more, we went there intending to use some of the local musicians. Thought we might have some African brass and drums and things. So we asked around. After a day or two, this guy, Fela Ransome Kuti, came round and said, 'You're trying to steal the Black African music.' We said, 'No, we're not. We just want to use some of your guys.' But he got so heavy about it in the end, we thought, 'blow you then. We'll do it all ourselves.' So we did, and the only guy from Africa we used was someone we met in London, then discovered he came from Lagos, but that was purely coincidental."

     As always, critical opinion is sharply divided about this album. One journalist has described it as "The best thing any of the Beatles have done since Abbey Road."  Paul disassociates himself from such generalizations. 

    He says, " It's fine -- we're happy with it, but I wouldn't say anything like that. In fact, the album was more of a fun thing to do." In line with a new McCartney philosophy of not taking himself too seriously.

     "If you are the subject of too much adoration, with people talking about you as if you're God, you can end up believing it yourself, then you're frightened to do or say anything in case it doesn't fit your image. I think that might have been what happened to Eric Clapton."

     So Paul, in the light of this attitude, wasn't too worried about those people who didn't like the TV spectacular he did, James Paul McCartney, with some reservations. He was pleased with it. "There were a lot of things we'd like to put into it, and couldn't, because it was sponsored in the States by a firm that makes nice family cars. So they wanted a nice family film.

    "For example, we wanted to do a drag sketch. Do you remember the bit at the end with the dancers? At that point, I was going to come on stage dressed as Diana Ross, and Linda was going to be dressed as a man. They didn't think that was a very good idea.

     "We did it because it was something we wanted to do and it hadn't been done before. What's more, a lot of people did like it. Elton John had it showing on his last plane trip. Although there was a choice, he was watching our movie."

     Rather than get screwed up about criticism, as he and his ex-colleagues did when Magical Mystery Tour was panned, Paul now accepts adverse criticism with resignation and prefers to dwell on that which is favorable. "After all", as he said, "a lot of people did like the show. The Osmonds, for example, were great when we met them. You can tell all the girls, Donny is a dish. Seriously, he's a great guy, and Jimmy is a real little trooper for his age. People say he's frightening for a kid that age, but if you're in a normal home and a little kid comes up and does a tap dance, you don't think that's frightening, do you? He comes from a show business family, and he's a performer. We asked him if he was going to do "Long Haired Lover from Liverpool", and he said, 'Sure, Paul, you bet!' He's a professional already. Anyway, I'm sick of people knocking the Osmonds. I love them for their whole teeny bop thing. Really, they're like an American version of the early Beatles. I think they're great. We found out they were on the floor above us in the hotel in Paris, so we had to take the kids up to see them. And they said, ;Hey, we really like your special.'

     "I definitely think it can all be too precious ----if we take too much notice of the bad things people say, we'd never do anything ever again." In the past, critics have given the McCartneys a hard time. The press, especially, were less than kind when Wings first started. "When the Beatles split, I just bombed off to Scotland. I had more than enough of everyone. And I really didn't see why I had to talk to the press. I didn't feel there was anything I wanted to say.

     "I think that all started to build up--- people thought, 'What's he up to with that?' And the fact that Wings weren't very good from the beginning (how can you be from the word go?), this is not surprising. They knocked us, but the British tour was incredible. By then, the band was going great."

     It's a shame that a band which was finally fulfilling some of its potential should suddenly disintegrate. But Paul doesn't seem disillusioned. He obviously realizes that musicians all over the world would be delighted to fill in the gaps in Wings.

     In the meantime, the project he's entertaining himself with is a film. "Yeah, we filmed the last four concerts of the European tour, and we're currently working on making them into a film. But it's not just us performing. The story is that there's a family of animated mice living under this stage we're working on." That will be the first venture for the McCartneys outside music since they formed their own company outside Apple. 

    Yet again, it's not something that's being taken too seriously. McCartney has the valuable gift of being able to laugh gently at himself these days. And although he's a highly talented musician and writer, he finds time to play happily with youngest daughter, Stella, who was running around the office while we talked--- a happy family man. 

    Soon, Paul says he will be back with his new band on the road, where he's happiest. He seems to have found a settled level at last. I'd invite anyone to listen to the Band on the Run, and then say he's finished or even losing his knack. Paul McCartney won't be finished until he's dead, and even then, his music will live on.

Fiery French Fans Make it a Fabulous Second Week! (1964)

 Fiery French Fans Make it a Fabulous Second Week

By Henry Kahn

Disc

February 1, 1964

    Fiery and enthusiastic fans and long queues--- this was the scene in Paris during the second week of the Beatles' fabulous season at the Olympia. In fact, the four Liverpool boys are doing even better than ever in the French capital.

     Things have changed since their tough first night audience, however, and it's now the young and enthusiastic Parisian fans who are storming the ramparts of the Olympia. The Beatles themselves have noticed the difference. Ringo told me, "This is not the same thing at all. We are getting a splendid reception. But of course, the audience is different. "

    Some French newspapers displayed hostility towards the Beatles' early concerts. This has made little difference. The hostility was not based upon the music or the talents of The Beatles, but on the fact that four young English boys had something that the French idols simply did not have. 

    Talk to the fans, and you will get the real feeling toward the Beatles. Everyone I spoke to thought they were terrific. The four Beatles have been spending their time mainly by sleeping late and stealing a few hours to see something of Paris itself. Whenever they go out, they are recognized, but they are never attacked, and they all agree with a statement made by one Beatle that "It was a pleasure not to have our ties snatched off."

     In fact, they have made such an impact on the French capital that they have been recognized in some most unlikely places. When they penetrated the Montemar jungle and climbed the famous hill to the place famous for its painters, I doubted whether the artist who wielded brushes and palettes would recognize the four idols of the pop world, but I was wrong. They were recognized. Within a few minutes, George and Paul were photographing the painters, and the painters were painting the Beatles

    Suddenly, one bright artist produced a canvas showing the Beatles in action, but they'd never have recognized it if the painting hadn't been marked with their names. The Beatles have also managed to visit the top of the world-famous Eiffel Tower and a late-night trip to the blues club where American blues artist Memphis Slim is performing. They created a sensation at the club, but declined all invitations to sing a number. 

    And perhaps the most unusual thing about the Beatles' visit is the tremendous success of Beatles wigs in Paris stores. They're selling at around 30s, and everyone is buying them, from the young people to elderly folk who insist they are for their grandchildren. 

How a Beatle Looks at Life (1965)

 

How a Beatle Looks at Life

By Ray Coleman

Disc Weekly

October 2, 1965

    As Britain prepares for yet another bout of Beatlemania, when the group takes off on a new concert tour, one nagging question is rearing from a new wave of knockers. "How much longer can they keep it up?"  The same question was asked three years ago when the Beatles shattered record after record, while their own top hits paraded around the world.  They asked that when the Beatles conquered America, and now, with each Beatles an MBE and part of the pop establishment, people are throwing up a well-worn blast. "It's all over now. They're on the way down. There's nothing left for them to achieve."

     Age comes into it, too. John and Ringo are both 25, Paul is 23, and George is 22. It was this explosive topic that Lennon tackled this week between a guitar practice at his house in Weybridge, Surrey. The hard man of the Beatles was in searing form as he tackled the hottest subject of all: the Beatles and old age.

     "I only think about age when somebody reminds me," John began. "I don't like thinking about it much. I ought to start by saying that we felt old when we started, that is, when Brian Epstein found us. We thought we'd had it, and we left it too late to make it.

     "But I reckon this: years don't affect your mind, really. They can give your face wrinkles, but it's your attitude and outlook that counts. 

    "According to the rules of the pop world, we're too old, but we don't look any older than the Stones, do we? And we don't act any older either. We only look older than, say, The Who, and I've seen them, look about 30 some nights!

    "The most important thing about all this is that I've met people of 30 who aren't 30 in mentality. The law says they've lived 30 years. But although age can give you experience, some people aren't capable of using the experience. I'm 26 next year, the rules say I'm a fully grown man, settled down, and all that. But I'm not. I've still got a young outlook, I hope. Age can give you a lot if you want to use what it offers. That's what I want to do with my age and experience, use it .

    "30 years doesn't necessarily mean intelligence. You know, I met some right old nits of 40!"

      As the Beatles grew older, were they still out to get new fans? Have they started aiming for an older audience? "You can never satisfy them all," John answered. There was a time when we seemed to be doing everything at once, getting older people interested in what we were doing, as well as younger people. 

    "But to try to satisfy everybody is hopeless. This tour we're doing, for example, we can't cover the whole country with it unless we do a very long tour. So, because I don't feel like dropping dead from overwork just yet, not even if I am 25, there's bound to be people writing in from Umbo on Sea saying, 'Why aren't the Beatles coming here?' It's the whole attitude to fans that we've got to think about. I think we've got it all sorted out in our own minds, but it's hard to try to make people understand.

     "The 'Help' single sold much better than the two before it, 'I Feel Fine' and 'Ticket to Ride', but there were still a lot of fans who didn't like 'Help'. They said, 'Ah, the Beatles are dropping us. This isn't as good as A Hard Day's Night'. So you can't win. 

    Trying to please everybody is impossible. If you did that, you'd end up in the middle with nobody liking you. You've just got to make the decision about what you think is your best and do it."

     John was in a reflective mood now. He discarded his guitar, turned off the amplifier, and took up a deep thinking position, gazing out of the window of the rehearsal room in his multi room mansion.

     "People think of us as machines. They pay 6s 8d for a record, and we have to do what they say, like a Jack-in-the-Box. I don't like that side of it much. Some people have got it all wrong. We produce something, say, a record, and if they like it, they get it. 

    "The onus isn't on us to produce something great every time; the onus is on the public to decide whether they like it or not. It's annoying when people turn around and say, 'but we made you, you ungrateful swines'. I know they did in a way,  but there's a limit to what we're bound to live up to, as if it's a duty. 

    "When I had my black windows put in my Rolls-Royce, somebody said 'Lennon's turning his back and running away from the people who made him--- hide.' Rubbish! 

     "If I go to a shop down the road and buy a bunch of roses, I don't expect the bloke to be so grateful that he spends his life bowing and scraping. I like the roses, so I buy them, and that's that. 

    "I don't want to sound as if we don't like being liked. We appreciate it, but we can't spend our lives being dictated to. Think about Kellogg's cornflakes. If you buy cornflakes, do you expect Mr. Kellogg to spend his life being told how to do everything and how to behave? No. And if you buy a loaf of bread and it's lousy, you just don't buy it again. 

    "It's not all that much different with us. We make a record, and if you like it, you buy it. If you don't, you don't buy it. It's up to the public to decide."

     John went on to talk about the controversial Help! film and admitted it was a mistake. "We went wrong with the picture somehow. I think we went just slightly the wrong way with it. Help!, as a film was like "Eight Days a Week" as a record for us. A lot of people like the film, and a lot of people like that record, but neither was what we really wanted. We knew they weren't really us. We weren't ashamed of the film, but close friends know that the picture and "Eight Days" as a record weren't our best. They were both a bit manufactured.

     "The film won't harm us, but we weren't in full control. We're not sure what comes next in the way of a film. It isn't definite that the next thing will be Talent For Loving, nothing is certain about us. We just want to make sure we do better than Help! 

    John drank more tea and pondered. He talked for another hour about how he worries when he sees moms and dads and Beatles audiences, about Beatles fan mail and its size, about the state of the pop music scene. These and other important Beatles subjects will be covered in part two of the John Lennon interview next week.

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."

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."

All Aboard the Beatles Special (1964)

 

All Aboard the Beatles Special

Disc Weekly 

March 7, 1964

    All this week, the Beatles have been spending around 11 hours each day in a sealed five-coach special train supplied by British Railways at a reported cost of £600 a day for the opening sequence of their new film for United Artists.

     The train has been speeding from Paddington Station to Minehead and is fully equipped with technical equipment, cameras, film crew, makeup coach, restaurant car, and bar. To celebrate the first day of shooting, producer Walter Shenson presented the Beatles with a big bottle of champagne. The Beatles, in turn, gave a glass to the members of the Film Unit, who numbered about 50!

     "Everything has been laid on by the film company to make the Beatles' filming as comfortable as possible, "says publicity director Tony Howard, "excellent menus have been prepared by the chefs on the train, and on Monday, they were offered a variety choice of food, including roast pork and apple sauce, soup, ice cream, Melba, cheese and coffee."

     The boys are real professionals and have taken their film directions in a willing and easy-going manner. They arrived at Paddington Station at 8am, and the filming on the train runs right through 7pm.  Special suits have been made for the Beatles by the film company. And these train shots will give a general picture of how they travel to and from their engagements.

     During some of the sequences, fans will see two girls on the train who realize that they are traveling with the Beatles and who make eyes at them.

     The Beatles will get a break on Saturday and Sunday, as there is no filming on those days, but resume work before the cameras on Monday. At press time, it was not set whether it would be in a studio or on location, but it is expected that all the train shots will be finished by tomorrow, Friday. 

Written by Walter Shenson

    I want to make the Beatles picture as colourful as possible, but that's easy, as the boys are colourful characters themselves. And one thing I do know is that if the film is successful in England, then the rest of the world should take care of itself.

    As for their music, well, that is international. But I would still love to have a movie camera and sound apparatus on hand when the Beatles see themselves dubbed in Italian. 

    The film will be shot in black and white. Why not color? Because the Beatles are pretty well black-and-white characters, seamless. We don't intend to play up one of the boys more than any other. We find that in real life, they tend to feed each other and work as a team. 

    Our film is definitely not a musical. If it were, there would be about 14 numbers in it, but since there are only six and no other music groups, and all the songs have been written by John and Paul. 

    Will we be filming in Liverpool? Quite possibly, but our headquarters will be a studio in London. Whether we shoot in film studios one day or on location depends on the weather, and that's even more unpredictable than the Beatles.

     Since I decided to make this film, I've been asked again and again if I think the boys can really act. Well, let me tell you that when it comes to delivering dialogue, the boys are naturals, especially making up their own. 

    They're great at handling the press, as they proved in America, and they're only too good at sending up people, as I found out, to my cost. So it is important that we keep their own identity in the film.

     There's this quality, of course, that has contributed to their success. They're not conformists, a bit intervariant. They speak to the fans in their own language, as it were, but their humour also appeals to adults. They're nice looking kids too, and well dressed. And these are big assets. 

    I think they are going to make a great film, and just as they did when they appeared on the Royal Show at the Palladium, they're going to surprise a lot of people with their talent. 

Disaster Nearly Struck the Beatles! (1963)

 Disaster Nearly Struck the Beatles!

By June Harris

Disc

May 25. 1963

    Just over a week ago, the Beatles got back from a great holiday in the Canary Isles and Spain. But you'll never believe how close the four of them came to becoming a duo! For George Harrison and Paul McCartney both had incredibly narrow escapes from drowning. 

    The boys told me all about it when I met them in their manager's London office last week, and although they treated it as a huge joke, it couldn't have been very funny at the time. 

    "I got the worst end of the deal," said Paul McCartney, who had gone to Tenerife with George Harrison and Ringo Starr, while John Lennon went to Spain with manager Brian Epstein. "I left George and Ringo on the beach and went for a swim. When I got past a reef, the waves started looking murderous, so I turned back, but got washed out. I started waving frantically to the boys, but they just grinned back.

     "Suddenly, I felt miserable. Here was everything just happening, and no Paul McCartney to share in the benefits. I whacked the hell out of them when I eventually got back on the beach."

    " As for me, I got my foot caught in a rock," said George, "and I can hardly swim at all. Those currents look a darn sight more dangerous when you think you're drowning. Ringo wouldn't have laughed so much if it had happened to him!"
     

    Surprisingly, most of the time the Beatles had bad weather. But this didn't deter them from having a real ball. "We stayed with some German friends. Well, what decent hotel would have us?"said Ringo, "and we hired a car, a Hillman Minx, but your readers can be told it was a Rolls Bentley.

     "We drove all around the island, which is about three feet square, decided there wasn't enough room for all of us and dropped George on top of a mountain."

     "That bit about me on top of the mountain is quite true," admitted George. "When it's cloudy on the island, you drive up the mountain and through the clouds. When you reach the top, the sky is a fabulous colour blue, and the sun just beats down on you.

     "We didn't take coats or anything, because everyone said the weather would be just great. But we got out at Barcelona airport, and we had to start searching for the sun. Then we were told our flight to Tenerife had been canceled because of bad weather. We tried to make the receptionist understand that they just couldn't have bad weather there, but all she did was direct us to the nearest hotel. 

    "We finally arrived at the Canaries a day later."

     They still managed to get in some sunbathing, however, and have returned with gloriously tanned bodies and white faces (which they couldn't explain.)

     On one occasion, they attended a bull fight. This gave rise to a particularly colorful scene in their London office, with three of them playing Matador, Picador, and bull. "They made this big production scene even when the most frightened of amateur Matadors comes out," said Ringo. "The trumpets play, everyone shouts, 'Olay'. And if the matador shows a yellow streak, they start throwing Coca-Cola bottles at him.

     "The first bull came in the area with such a cool look. It was unbelievable. It then glanced up at the matador with the expression, 'Okay, Buster, get in there and pitch.' And the poor guy had a hell of a job after that. When the star bullfighter comes on, there's as much fuss as if it's Cliff appearing on the Palladium.

     "Finally, this bloke managed to stab the bull a couple of times, and then just when you thought it was dead, it stuck its face on one side and groaned."

     Apart from making a financial bid for the island, the three Beatles came home laden with the usual kind of presents for the family. George Harrison bought a new washable suede coat. Paul McCartney bought some shirts, but Ringo pipped the lot of them, buying 36 China bulls, a dozen swords, and some torador miniatures. 

    But they were still relieved to get home. "Next time we'll go somewhere in the sun," they said. "Maybe like the Caribbean."

An Interview With Paul (1974)

This interview was originally from the May 1974 issue of Disc.


Paul:  At the present, there's no real question of the Beatles reforming as such.  We're far from being enemies, but we're all in to our own thing nowadays.    My daughter, Heather, hasn't even heard of the Beatles.  In fact, I'm sure a lot of Wings fans think Wings is the only band I've ever been in. 

I know we're not as famous as The Beatles, but so what?  It took The Beatles four years to become famous.  Wings have only been together for two, and we've done a lot already.

On the other hand, I' wouldn't rule anything out for the future.  I've got to hedge.  I'm always ready to write with John.  I'm always ready to write with anybody who's good.  Look at Ringo's album.  We all had to part in that.  That's what can happen if somebody asks.  And that's all he did.  I've got my visa for the States now, so anything can happen.

Q:  What's happening to your plans to make a cartoon feature film about Rupert Bear?

Paul:  It's in the pipeline.  These things take a long time to get together.  Making a film is a long, long process.  But I've bought the film right for Rupert, and I'm working on it as often as I can.  I certainly don't intend to let it sit on the shelf gathering dust.

Q:  Where did the title song, Maunia come from?

Paul:  It's a name I came across a couple of times in my travels.  Firstly it was the name of a hotel in Marakesh, where the whole band went for a holiday, but it was spelt slightly differently in that case   Then when we were in Lagos, Nigeria, recording Band on the Run, we saw it on a plaque on a wall .

The funny thing is, there was a plaque next to it which advertised a local carpenter.  It read:  Son of Always --- but in the end, we plumped for the title of the track.

Q:  Did you ever recover the Hofner violin bass you played in The Beatles?  (I heard you'd had it pinched).

Paul:  No.  Ever since the early days -- even before The Beatles -- I've had three violin basses.  One was stolen, and I was very upset indeed.  I had a sentimental attachment to it.  but I've still got the other two.  I've also got a Fender Jazz bass and a Rickenbaker.

Q:  Do you plan to work again with your brother, Mike McGear?

Paul:  Yes, I'd love to.  I produced an album for him up in Stockport, and we really enjoyed ourselves.  It's the first time we'd worked together.   It's released in the Autumn, and I expect they'll take a single off it, too.  I can see us doing more things together in the future. 

Q:  Why did Henry and  Denny leave Wings?

Paul:  Henry was asked to play a certain guitar lick on one of Denny's songs, and he refused.  The next morning, he phoned up and said he wanted to quit.   As for Denny, I think he was just uptight about recording in Africa. It was as simple as that.

Q:  Who's your favourite artist?

Paul:  I love Stevie Wonder.  I think he's a brilliant musician.  If you remember, there was a Braille dedication to him on the back of the Red Rose Speedway album.  But I'm into all Tamla Motown music.  Especially the drumming.

Q:  Do you feel happier in the studio or doing live performances?

Paul:  I enjoy recording a lot, and always have done.  But I want Wings to be a working band most fo all.  The reason I got bored during the last part of The Beatles era, we didn't perform to audiences.  There's nothing like the feedback you get off a crowd.  It's the best feeling in the world.

Q:  When are we likely to see the Wings film?

Paul:  It's taking a long time to get together.  Actually, it's called the Bruce McMouse Show.  It's about three mice who live underneath the stage we play on.  But while it includes film of our European tour, the mice themselves are cartoon characters.  That means a lot of work cutting the fill in with the animated parts.   Still, we're getting it together slowly.

Q:  How did you get to write the theme music for Live and Let Die?

Paul:  They just rang me up and said they wanted a song that lasted two minutes and fifty seconds.  I sat down at a piano and eventually came up with the tune.  I knew it had to be dramatic because James Bond is a dramatic, larger than life person.

when I had the basic song together, I took it round to George Martin, who used to produce The Beatles, and we worked out the final details.   by the way, the record is two minutes and fifty-two seconds long!

Q:  If you had your time all over again, would you change anything?

Paul:  No, not at all.  I've had a great time.  Even the bad times have turned out for the best in the end.  I've got my family, my farm and my music.  What else can a man ask for?

Disc magazine winners

I know the English love me--and I love them.

I found this interview from Disc magazine in the Aug/Sept 1975 issue of The Write Thing.  Unfortunately they had to edit the interview down to fit into the fanzine.  

The following interview is from Disc-  May 31, and June 14, 1975.  These are the highlights.

Disc:  “Walls and Bridges” was considered by  many to be the best album you ever made.  Is it as personal an album as it sounds?

John:  All my stuff’s personal, it always has been to a great extent even since early Beatle days, I mean I think “Help” was personal.  “In my Life” was personal, and “Strawberry Fields” was personal, even though it became the psychedelic anthem, it really was a personal song.  Maybe the lyrics got more refined as I became older and got to the point quicker, but they are all personal.  We’re all sheep, you know, the artists and the critics alike really.  Ever since I went to Janov’s therapy “personal” took a new meaning.  You know, on the so called Janov album I’d written a couple of tracks before I even went to Janov.  They were personal, but they just somehow fitted in to that category.  So I’ve always  been a personal writer, like a reporter.

Disc:  Do you think “Walls and Bridges” is a bitter album?

John:  If it is, it is.  I don’t know.  To me ’74 was hell and I am glad to be alive and out of it.  A lot of my friends thought it was hell too actually, but just personally speaking it was a rough year and there’s no way I can’t let it show in my work – even if I was trying to write a third person “Tommy” or write about somebody else or pretend I’m writing about somebody else, there’s no way it doesn’t show through.  So maybe it was bitter.  Some of it was just vaguely sad.  But there’s not many emotions around.  There is up and down, right?  In between is a bit boring.

Disc:  Are you tempted to do the music of any of your contemporaries?

John:  I’ve often thought of it, like I’d often thought of doing the “Rock n Roll” album.  I’d often thought of doing old Beatle numbers again myself – I’ve thought about it many times in the last five years.  It all depends on how much time there is to do it.  I’d like to do a couple of Dylan’s and I’d like to do “Your Song” of Elton’s.  I love that song, whether I could do it or not is another point.  I’m not going to make a habit of doing other people’s songs!  Somebody reviewed “Rock n Roll” over here I think and said, “He’s doing it just for the money.”  I hope he reads Disc, because I get **** all from the album, I have to slip the producer some money, so I get least of all cash for that album.

Disc:  I know the Beatles’ legal problems have at last been settled.  Would you mind telling what difference that’s made?

John:  No, I don’t mind telling about it.  All that did in actuality was to make us get paid directly.  Because even with the individual albums we were doing the money was still going into a collective pot.  So that meant all the Beatles stuff—which still sells!—and all the new stuff was all going into one pot and then it had to be worked out to come out again.  The main thing of the settlement was to release the monies to ourselves.  It did not break all ties with each other, because it’s a bit more complicated than that.  We’re still pretty well tied up in many ways.

Disc:  Do you miss England?

John:  Yes, I do, but I’m not going to walk away from it (immigration struggle) now!  I’ve spent so much effort on it.  When I get the green card… I keep telling myself, Britain will still be there when it’s over but from time to time I get the idea that maybe it’ll float away!

Disc:  What will you do when and if you get that green card?

John:  I haven’t thought that far ahead.  I’m just getting the card.  If I ever did tour, I’d probably tour the world.  Touring at the moment isn’t my idea of fun but I’m always changing my mind so I can’t tell.   If I did I think I’d do it all over.  I just want to go back to Britain and see it and have a cup of tea, not to perform or anything, just to be there.  When people ask me about it, I tend to remember my childhood in Liverpool rather than the time I spent in London in the ‘60’s.  And because of that I may emotionally miss Liverpool, although it is 99 to 1 if I came to Britain I’d come to London.  I probably wouldn’t have the time to go to Liverpool. 

My idea of fun is to travel from London to New York, to Paris.  I may even go to Germany, I don’t know why but I just fancy going there.  I wanna go and see the places I didn’t see, like Munich and Berlin.  Even when we toured Europe, I didn’t see them.

Disc:  I’ve been told you have a beautiful apartment here.

John:  I guess it’s pretty good, yeah.  It’s in a building called the Dakota, and it’s really very European, in other words it’s very very old building.  It’s on the park and most of the rooms face the park.  So it’s good and it’s large enough to get a little lost in i.  If the “garden” which is Central Park, belongs to New York and there’s a doorman at the door to keep Jesus from Toronto coming in and asking me for the message and the answer, that suits me fine.  I get a lot of weirdos here.  I don’t know why, because most of my lyrics and sons are pretty straightforward.  They were more sort of mystic in the ‘60’s. But still somehow that word Beatle manifests some sort of mysticism in people’s head and I’m thinking ‘why are they calling?  What are they bothering me for?”  I just say I feel crap or I feel great in my songs, there’s no mysticism in it.

Disc:  Not so much was heard in England about the Janov thing.  Could you tell us a little about it?

John:  The Janov thing was just a new form of therapy.  I’m very English in that respect – think psychiatrists need to see psychiatrists.  They’re a lot of baloney psychiatrists, and I was never interested unil I read his original book ‘the Primal Scream” and my instincts told me there was something about it, that there is some kind of primal scream in all of us.  That’s how I got interested.

In a nutshell the only thing I can tell you that I learned was to cry.  That’s something you lose the art of because of the way one is brought up.  A lot of women already do that but men don’t have it:  they’re told not to.  It was good for me.  It didn’t help me not to.  It didn’t help me behave myself in ’74, but  I think if I hadn’t been there I might have even been in worse condition.  It took me a  little time to recover from the Janov experience which left me bitterer than when I went in, and that did shake me up for a couple of years.  In fact, I probably only just recovered from it this year.  It was a bit of a mind blower and it left me—well, I suppose faithless is the best way to put it.  I do have faith now, and have still gained something from the experience of going there.

John was then asked about Julian

John:  Well ,he was here—because I can’t leave the country, he has to come here and see me—and I was working, and I was worried that he might be a bit bored.  But he loved the studio, and he was always playing and banging round.  So I recorded him, or the engineer did, when he was banging on the drums and I was playing piano.  I thought he’d be thrilled by it, I kept saying “there’s a surprise on ‘Walls and Bridges’ when it comes out.”  And he called me:  he said, ‘Was that it?’ and I said, ‘Yeah, didn’t you like it?’  He said, “Is that on every record?”  Also I said “Yeah” thinking he’s love it and he said, “that’s terrible, we should have done it again!”  He takes it so seriously and it was only an ad-lib

He’s into guitar and piano and playing in this group.  He knew all the chords and all that.  I spent hours with him trying to work out the lick from “My Sweet Lord” and I couldn’t play the damn thing because I didn’t have anything to do with it.  It was George.  We had a terrible three hours with Julian furious at me because I didn’t know how to play it.

Disc:  About the other Beatles, have you seen or heard from the others recently?

John:  I spoke to Ringo on the phone before he left for England (in May), and then I spoke to him there.  The last one I saw was Paul on his way down to New Orleans.  Like I said before, I was supposed to go down to New Orleans to mess around with him, but I got back to Yoko instead and I was too busy going home to go to New Orleans.

The others are alright by me.  There’s nothing in the wind about working together but I’m game for anything, it’s just that I can’t get it together.  Yoko and I are together and we’re happier than ever before.  We were so wrapped up in each other that I just never made it to New Orleans.  Sorry Paul.

The Beatles in Germany

So this is a strangely written but interesting article written by the Lennon biographer, Ray Coleman about the Beatles in Germany.    I think what Ray says about the police and the male fans is interesting.   But the part that I really like it Ray talking about the "Revolver" album, which hadn't been named yet.    When you read that, keep in mind that the fans reading this for the first time hadn't hear the album yet.   This was the very first glimpse into the new album.   I bet they were especially curious about Dr. Robert after what John said about it.  

"Yes they do read those fan letters.  Even when traveling!  And either working, filming or holidaying, they  must be real world Tour Experts by now.  This pic was taken on the Beatles recent German tour."

The Beatles in Germany

By Ray Coleman

Disc and Music Echo – July 2, 1966

“PLEASE DO NOT FLY TO TOKYO.  YOUR CAREER IS IN DANGER…”  This anonymous telegram arrived in the Beatles’ Hamburg dressing room last Sunday before their final German concert after a staggering three day triumphant return to the city which nursed them from obscurity into the history books.

Being used to cranks and scares, John, Paul and Ringo took little notice.  But George, who worries more, kept thinking about it and showing it round.  “It makes you think.” He said soberly.  “We’ve got a lot of enemies as well as friends.”

The Beatles’ return to Germany with two, with two concerts each in Munich, Essen and finally Hamburg, was a predictable sensation.  About 30,000 fans screamed with all their Deutsch might during the four-day jaunt.  And Beatlemania, with all its attendant hysteria and larger-than-life fever, gripped the country for the first time.

For Germany, this was the sentimental, romantic and often emotional return to the land where the Beatles polished themselves into the world’s top pop group and international power.  For the Beatles, it was just another tour – but also a sharp reminder of their power.

The most sensational aspect of the tour was fan reaction.  This time, it was the boys who went berserk more than girls.  Boys got much more worked up, mentally and physically, and the German police, whose motto is simply to meet force with more force, had the time of their lives.  There were unbelievable sights as boy fans who went berserk were front marched backwards, punched, hurled over six foot high railings to cool off, or were smitten by fantastically ferocious police.   Some fans were brutally wounded.  But it was the law o the jungle in those concert halls, and in a military country like Germany it’s more than just tough if you don’t obey the police.  It is wicked.

The Beatles remained unchanged if bemused by it all.  Right now they are in Tokyo for more shows.

Memories of Germany?  Hundreds.  Crazy questions at press conferences.  “What’s your opinion of the anti-baby pill?”--  “It’s good, of course.”  (Paul)    “Do you speak German well?”  -- “Like the natives.” (Paul).  “Who’s the greatest, you or Cassius Clay?”  -- “It’s a tossup.” (Ringo).    “Do you wear long pants in the wintertime?”—“No, hipsters!” (George).  “What do you dream about when you’re sleeping?”—“Same as anyone else,” said John.  “We’re the same as you, y’know, only we’re rich.” 

“Why are you such horrid snobs?”   George answered, “It’s only in your mind.”  John:  “Because we’re not flattering you?”  Paul:  “We’re just natural and we don’t pose like some people.”

Memories of Germany:  John and Paul in daft, myopic yellow sunglasses.  Ringo and George in Byrd-imitated square-lensed dark glasses.  George in a crazy hat given to him by the Mamas and the Papas.  The Beatles’ luxurious special train which took us form Munich to Essen and then through the night to Hamburg.  John, Paul , George and Ringo in the compartment used by the Queen and Duke during their recent German trip  john in the bed the Queen slept in and George in the Duke’s.

Memories of Germany:  Lennon’s voice cracking up in Hamburg and a friend frantically searching for honey and lemon within minutes of the boys leaping on stage.  “It was the comeback after a ten-month lay-off,” said John.  “That cracked it.  We should never have come out of retirement!”

Memories of Germany:  Bad and good Beatles music.  A nice programme throughout.  “Rock and Roll Music,”  “If I needed someone”, “Day Tripper,”  ‘She’s a woman,”  “Baby’s in Black,”  “Yesterday,”  “I wanna be your man,” “Nowhere Man,” “I feel fine,” “Paperback Writer,” and “I’m Down” as a great finale.  George impressing the crowds to a frenzy with his German:  “this is from der long-spieler ‘Beatles for Sale.’”

Their new green velvet uniforms with yellow shirts, bought at Chelsea’s hunt on You boutique.  Ringo’s suit which looks like pyjamas in grey with red stripes.  It floored pressmen in Munich.

Questions and more questions.  “Do you polish your MBE medal?”—“Every week without fail we don’t.” (Ringo)  “How rich are you?” – “Not as rich as Harold Wilson.” (George)  “What the best beat band in the world?”  -- “Freddie.”  (Paul)  “Would you be a Beatle fan if you weren’t a Beatle?”  -- “No.” (John) And beauty when a sarcastic, “clever” reporter asked:  “Ringo, what’s the time?”  The Beatles answered dryly, “Time you were in bed.”  Laughter.

They played their new LP tape in their bedroom – on a machine with terrible reproduction.  “It brings me down, listening to things that sound so bad on rotten machines,” said Lennon.  Never mind.  It’s a fascinating new LP and the boys spent hours trying to dream up a title for it.  No luck.  “Magic Circles,”  “Bubble and Squeak,”  “Beatles on Safari,” and “Freewheelin’ Beatles” are the nearest they reached.

The album features “Good Day Sunshine” starring Paul’s voice with George Martin on honky-tonk piano; Ringo singing a sea-shanty styled “Well all Live in a Yellow Submarine,” written by John.  A tremendous sitar showcase for George on a track he also wrote, “love you to,”  “I want to tell you,” and a sensational, moody Paul song called “For No One.”  He sings beautifully and the French horn effects are terrific.

“Tomorrow Never knows,” the Beatles favourite from the new LP, is what they might call pop-free-form, with incredible electronic sounds.  Even the Beatles are amazed by how revolutionary this has turned out.  “Doctor Robert,” featuring John, is a good-sounding song about wich Lennon told me, “It’s all about a queer.”    “Tax Man” written and sung by George, is nice, and Paul’s special “Eleanor Rigby,” with violins as the surprise, is another “Yesterday.”  Glorious.  A superb album.

Peter and Gordon and Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers plus Germany’s Rattles completed the tour bill, and the Britons played well.  “But it’s no use competing with THEM for applause,” said Peter Asher. 

Memories of Germany:  of frauleins in exquisitely embroidered skirts.  They’d actually sewn on the words and music to “All my Loving” and “I want to hold your hand.”  Memories of millions of words and much music.  Of fights and the seedy Reeperbahn, the Beatles old haunt.  Of Germans going raving mad over the British Beatles.

If anyone could have made Hitler get off the war wagon, it would have been John, Paul, George and Ringo.  Achtung!