Download - The Beatles: Interviews 1962-1963

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Page 1: The Beatles: Interviews 1962-1963

THE BEATLES FIRST-EVER RADIO INTERVIEW OCT. 28th, 1962BACKSTAGE, HUME HALL, PORT SUNLIGHTINTERVIEWED BY MONTY LISTER

MONTY LISTER: It's a very great pleasure for us this evening to say hello to an up-and-coming Merseyside group, The Beatles. I know their names, and I'm going to try andput faces to them. Now, you're John Lennon, aren't you?"JOHN: "Yes, that's right."MONTY: "What do you do in the group, John?"JOHN: "I play harmonica, rhythm guitar, and vocal. That's what they call it."MONTY: "Then, there's Paul McCartney. That's you?"PAUL: "Yeah, that's me. Yeah."MONTY: "And what do you do?"PAUL: "Play bass guitar and uhh, sing? ...I think! That's what they say."MONTY: "That's quite apart from being vocal?"PAUL: "Well... yes, yes."MONTY: "Then there's George Harrison."GEORGE: "How d'you do."MONTY: "How d'you do. What's your job?"GEORGE: "Uhh, lead guitar and sort of singing."MONTY: "By playing lead guitar does that mean that you're sort of leader of the group orare you...?"GEORGE: "No, no. Just... Well you see, the other guitar is the rhythm. Ching, ching,ching, you see."PAUL: "He's solo guitar, you see. John is in fact the leader of the group."MONTY: "And over in the background, here, and also in the background of the groupmaking a lot of noise is Ringo Starr."RINGO: "Hello."MONTY: "You're new to the group, aren't you Ringo?"RINGO: "Yes, umm, nine weeks now."MONTY: "Were you in on the act when the recording was made of 'Love Me Do'?"RINGO: "Yes, I'm on the record. I'm on the disc."(the group giggles)RINGO: (comic voice) "It's down on record, you know?"MONTY: "Now, umm..."RINGO: "I'm the drummer!"(laughter)MONTY: "What's that offensive weapon you've got there? Those are your drumsticks?"RINGO: "Well, it's umm... just a pair of sticks I found. I just bought 'em, you know, 'cuzwe're going away."MONTY: "When you say you're going away, that leads us on to another question now.Where are you going?"RINGO: "Germany. Hamburg. For two weeks."MONTY: "You have standing and great engagements over there, haven't you?"RINGO: "Well, the boys have been there quite a lot, you know. And I've been there with

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other groups, but this is the first time I've been there with the Beatles."MONTY: "Paul, tell us. How do you get in on the act in Germany?"PAUL: "Well, it was all through an old agent."(laughter)PAUL: (chuckles) "We first went there for a fella who used to manage us, and Mr. AllanWilliams of the Jacaranda Club in Liverpool. And he found the engagements so we sortof went there, and then went under our own..."JOHN: "Steam."PAUL: "Steam... (laughs)JOHN: "...as they say."PAUL: "As they say, afterwards, you know. And we've just been going backwards andforwards and backwards and forwards."MONTY: (surprised) "You're not busy at all?"PAUL: (jokingly) "Well yes, actually. Yes. It's me left leg. You know. The war."(laughter)MONTY: "George, were you brought up in Liverpool?"GEORGE: "Yes. So far, yes."MONTY: "Whereabouts?"GEORGE: "Well, born in Wavertree, and bred in Wavertree and Speke -- where theairplanes are, you know."MONTY: "Are you all 'Liverpool types,' then?"RINGO: "Yes."JOHN: "Uhh... types, yes."PAUL: "Oh yeah."RINGO: "Liverpool-typed Paul, there."MONTY: "Now, I'm told that you were actually in the same form as young RonWycherley..."RINGO: "Ronald. Yes."MONTY: "...now Billy Fury."RINGO: "In Saint Sylus."MONTY: "In which?"RINGO: "Saint Sylus."JOHN: "Really?"RINGO: "It wasn't Dingle Vale like you said in the Musical Express."PAUL: "No, that was wrong. Saint Sylus school."MONTY: "Now I'd like to introduce a young disc jockey. His name is MalcolmThreadgill, he's 16-years old, and I'm sure he'd like to ask some questions from theteenage point of view."MALCOLM THREADGILL: "I understand you've made other recordings before on aGerman label."PAUL: "Yeah."MALCOLM: "What ones were they?"PAUL: "Well, we didn't make... First of all we made a recording with a fella called TonySheridan. We were working in a club called 'The Top Ten Club' in Hamburg. And wemade a recording with him called, 'My Bonnie,' which got to number five in the German

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Hit Parade."JOHN: "Achtung!"PAUL: (giggles) "But it didn't do a thing over here, you know. It wasn't a very goodrecord, but the Germans must've liked it a bit. And we did an instrumental which wasreleased in France on an EP of Tony Sheridan's, which George and John wrotethemselves. That wasn't released here. It got one copy. That's all, you know. It didn't doanything."MALCOLM: "You composed 'P.S. I Love You' and 'Love Me Do' yourself, didn't you?Who does the composing between you?"PAUL: "Well, it's John and I. We write the songs between us. It's, you know... We've sortof signed contracts and things to say, that now if we..."JOHN: "It's equal shares."PAUL: "Yeah, equal shares and royalties and things, so that really we just both writemost of the stuff. George did write this instrumental, as we say. But mainly it's John andI. We've written over about a hundred songs but we don't use half of them, you know. Wejust happened to sort of rearrange 'Love Me Do' and played it to the recording people, and'P.S. I Love You,' and uhh, they seemed to quite like it. So that's what we recorded."MALCOLM: "Is there anymore of your own compositions you intend to record?"JOHN: "Well, we did record another song of our own when we were down there, but itwasn't finished enough. So, you know, we'll take it back next time and see how they likeit then."(long pause)JOHN: (jokingly) "Well... that's all from MY end!"(laughter)MONTY: "I would like to just ask you-- and we're recording this at Hume Hall, PortSunlight-- Did any of you come over to this side before you became famous, as it were?Do you know this district?"PAUL: "Well, we played here, uhh... I don't know what you mean by famous, you know.(laughter)PAUL: "If being famous is being in the Hit Parade, we've been over here-- we were hereabout two months ago. Been here twice, haven't we?"JOHN: "I've got relations here. Rock Ferry."MONTY: "Have you?"JOHN: "Yes. Oh, all sides of the water, you know."PAUL: "Yeah, I've got a relation in Claughton Village-- Upton Road."RINGO: (jokingly) "I've got a friend in Birkenhead!"(laughter)MONTY: "I wish I had."GEORGE: (jokingly) "I know a man in Chester!"(laughter)MONTY: "Now, that's a very dangerous thing to say. There's a mental home there, mate.Peter Smethurst is here as well, and he looks like he is bursting with a question."PETER SMETHURST: "There is just one question I'd like to ask. I'm sure it's thequestion everyone's asking. I'd like your impressions on your first appearance ontelevision."

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PAUL: "Well, strangely enough, we thought we were gonna be dead nervous. Andeveryone said, 'You suddenly, when you see the cameras, you realize that there are twomillion people watching,' because there were two million watching that 'People AndPlaces' that we did... we heard afterwards. But, strangely enough, it didn't come to us. Wedidn't think at all about that. And it was much easier doing the television than it wasdoing the (live musical performance) radio. It's still nerve-wracking, but it was a bit easierthan doing radio because there was a full audience for the radio broadcast."MONTY: "Do you find it nerve-wracking doing this now?"(laughter)PAUL: (jokingly) "Yeah, yeah."MONTY: "Over at Cleaver Hospital, a certain record on Parlophone-- the top side hasbeen requested. So perhaps the Beatles themselves would like to tell them what it's goingto be."PAUL: "Yeah. Well, I think it's gonna be 'Love Me Do.'"JOHN: "Parlophone R4949."(laughter)PAUL: "'Love Me Do.'"MONTY: "And I'm sure, for them, the answer is P.S. I love you!"PAUL: "Yeah."

FEBRUARY 1st 1963 NEW MUSICAL EXPRESSINTERVIEWED BY ALAN SMITH

Things are beginning to move for the Beatles, the R&B styled British group whichcrashed into the NME charts this week at No. 17. The disc -- 'Please Please Me' -- followsclosely on the heels of their first hit 'Love Me Do,' written by group members JohnLennon and Paul McCartney.Says Paul: "We also wrote 'Please Please Me,' but that hasn't exhausted our supply ofcompositions. We've got nearly a hundred up our sleeves, and we're writing all the time!"I suppose 'writing' is the wrong word. John and I just hammer out a number on ourinstruments. If we want anyone to hear it, we record it, then send them a tape."We've had disappointments, but coming in at No. 17 has pleased-pleased us!" hequipped.The boys are rehearsing their act for the forthcoming Helen Shapiro tour when I met themin their hometown of Liverpool on Sunday. And at Norrie Paramor's request, they werecomposing a song for Helen to record when she goes to Nashville shortly.Said Paul: "We've called it 'Misery,' but it isn't as slow as it sounds. It moves along atquite a steady pace, and we think Helen will make a pretty good job of it. We've also donea number for Duffy Power which he's going to record."This isn't the Beatles' first taste of success. The clipped negro sound they achieve hasbrought them a fantastic following in Germany, where they had a Polydor single in thecharts more than a year ago. They spent Christmas performing in Hamburg -- their fifthvisit.

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In the North of England, too, they've built up a reputation that takes some beating. In thepast I've seen them billed with equal prominence alongside such names as Little Richardand Joe Brown!Talking of Little Richard, the rock 'n' roll star became one of the Beatles' biggest fansduring his recent visit. He told me: "I've never heard that sound from English musiciansbefore. Honestly, if I hadn't seen them with my own eyes I'd have thought they were acolored group from back home."So far it seems that only Northern fans and visiting American stars have appreciated theirtalents (the Crickets went overboard when they heard them), but 'Please Please Me' willchange everything. Already Southerners have been flocking to buy the disc since it wasreleased two weeks ago.Comments John: "We tried to make it as simple as possible. Some of the stuff we'vewritten in the past has been a bit way-out, but we aimed this one straight at the hitparade."At the sessions at which 'Please Please Me' was recorded, shortly before Christmas, theboys' recording manager, George Martin, told me: "The thing I like about the Beatles istheir great sense of humor as well as their talent."It looks like a bright future for the Beatles, but knowing them, I don't think they'll let it goto their heads. It'll be a long time, for instance, before they forget the time they providedthe music for Janice the Stripper in a Liverpool nightclub...!

JUNE 22nd 1963 TELEVISION THEATRE, LONDONJOHN LENNON APPEARANCE ON JUKE BOX JURYHOSTED BY DAVID JACOBS (AIRED ON JUNE 29th 1963)

Song heard: So Much In Love - The TymesJOHN: "Uhh, I thought it was Rolf Harris at first. And then I thought, 'No, it's theDrifters.' And then it's just... you know. It's nobody."(giggling from the panel)JOHN: "I don't think it's a hit."DAVID JACOBS: "You didn't like it?"JOHN: "Well, it was alright, you know. The style was alright but it wasn't good enoughin that idiom. (pause, then comically) Idiom?"(laughter)(John votes by holding up the MISS card)Song heard: The Click Song - Miriam Makeba and the Belafonte SingersJOHN: "It's nice you know... Not for that reason. Because, you know, these foreignrecords -- this kind of, you know, the language -- It just didn't go. It's quite nice actually,but if it was in English it'd mean even less."(laughter)JOHN: "It's intriguing because it's foreign, you know. But you can pick them out a mileaway with all the gimmicks and all the different styles."(John votes by holding up the MISS card)

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Song heard: Flamenco - Russ ConwayJOHN: "I like pianos and things, but not sort of pub pianos playing flamenco music, with'click click.' It doesn't work, you know. It still sounds... It still sounds honky, you know. Itdoesn't sound anything like flamenco."DAVID JACOBS: "Yeah."JOHN: "He hasn't pinched the best bits of real Spanish music, I don't think. Sorry."(John votes by holding up the MISS card)Song heard: Devil In Disguise - Elvis PresleyJOHN: "Well, you know, I used to go mad on Elvis, like all the groups, but not now. Idon't like this. And I hate songs with 'walk' and 'talk' in it -- you know, those lyrics. Shewalks, she talks. I don't like that. And I don't like the double beat: doom-cha doom-cha,that bit. It's awful. (pause) Poor ol' Elvis."(laughter)BRUCE PROCHNIK: "Your heart bleeds for him."JOHN: "Well, I've got all his early records and I keep playing them. He mustn't makeanother like this. But somebody said today he sounds like Bing Crosby now, and hedoes."(laughter)JOHN: "There'll be people writing in now. I know what they're saying (comically in alow, slow voice) 'What d'ya mean!?'"(laughter)JOHN: "I don't like him anymore."KATIE BOYLE: "If he did sound like Bing Crosby, would it be bad?"JOHN: "Well, for Elvis... yes."(laughter)(John votes by holding up the MISS card)Song heard: On Top Of Spaghetti - Tom GlaserJOHN: "Oh. I can't stand these all-together-now records. I like the idea of one shoutingand one answering, but not that. I prefer the recent Little Eva, Smokey-Locomotion,folks. But not that, you know. (describing the group-sing-a-long nature of Glaser's song)It's like an outing."DAVID JACOBS: "Yeah."JOHN: "A coach trip."(John votes by holding up the MISS card)Song heard: First Quarrel - Paul and PaulaJOHN: "Well, I like their first record (Hey Paula), because I like the octave singing -- hersinging, you know, one above him. And it wasn't bad. I didn't buy it. And the second one,you know, wasn't worth bothering. And this.. this has 'Jim' in, you know. All theseAmerican records are always about Jim and Bobby and Alfred and all this."(laughter)JOHN: "I don't like it."(John votes by holding up the MISS card)Song heard: Don't Ever Let Me Down - Julie GrantJOHN: "Ahh, I can't think of a thing to say. At the beginning I thought, you know, 'Oh,it's one of those with an intro,' but the intro wasn't strong enough."

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DAVID JACOBS: "Do you like girls records or not?"JOHN: "Yeah, I like girl singers. I like Shirelles and Chiffons, you know. They'redifferent. But I can't think of any girl in particular."DAVID JACOBS: "But not that particular record."JOHN: "No."(John votes by holding up the MISS card)

JULY 30th 1963 PLAYHOUSE THEATRE, LONDON, BBCINTERVIEWED BY PHIL TATE FOR 'POP CHAT' SEGMENT OFNON-STOP POP

Q: "Our guests this week on 'Pop Chat' are The Beatles -- John, Paul, George and Ringo.Let's start off with you, Ringo. Everybody knows that the Beatles are a Liverpool group,but were you all actually born in Liverpool?"RINGO: "Yes, every one of us."Q: "Are you keeping your homes in Liverpool, or do you plan to move into London, oranything like that?"RINGO: "I don't think any of us are moving. We must have a base in London, you know,because we're there more than we are in Liverpool at the moment. But we're not movingour houses."Q: "John, over to you for a minute. You do alot of songwriting of late. Do you alwayswork as a team?"JOHN: "Well, mainly. All the better songs that we have written -- the ones that anybodywants to hear -- those were co-written."Q: "Do you write the words and music together, or does one of you write the words?"JOHN: "Yeah, well... Sometimes half the words are written by me and he'll finish themoff. We go along a word each, practically."Q: "Did you write your new record release?"JOHN: "Uhh... 'She Loves You'? Yeah."PAUL: "Yeah."JOHN: "We wrote that two days before we recorded it, actually."PAUL: "We wrote it in a hotel room in Newcastle."Q: "This brings me to a question from one of your fans. How did the distinctive hairstylecome about?"GEORGE: "Well, umm... I don't think any of us had been bothered with having haircuts,and it was always long. Paul and John went to Paris and came back with it -- somethinglike this. And I went to the baths and came out with it like this."Q: "Another fan was anxious to know how you manage to get any private life. I mean --If you take a girl out, how do you avoid being recognized, Paul?"PAUL: "Uhh, I don't know... just sort of run."Q: "Now, John, I know you have very little time for anything but music at the moment.But if you had spare time -- What sort of hobbies and sports do you enjoy?"

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JOHN: "Well, none of us are very sporty, you know. The only sport we do bother with isswimming. We don't count it as a sport, but... And hobbies are just writing songs."

AUGUST 23rd 1963 BACKSTAGE, GAUMONT CINEMA, BOURNEMOUTHINTERVIEWED BY KLAS BURLING FOR SWEDISH RADIO

KLAS: "On my left is a boy... sounding like what?"RINGO: "Uhh, Ringo. That's me. You know me. (imitates drums) Ting-cha, bump bah-bump!"KLAS: "This would be the drums."RINGO: "Yeah, that's... Well..."KLAS: "Well.."(Beatles giggle)KLAS: "And after that we've got..?"GEORGE: "George Harrison."KLAS: "Playing..?"GEORGE: "Guitar."KLAS: "Solo guitar."GEORGE: "Yes. (imitates guitar) Dee deena-lee, deena-lee dee dee."(laughter)KLAS: "Next in line is..?"JOHN: (imitates guitar) "Ja-jing jing jing, ja-ja jing jing."(laughter)JOHN: "John."RINGO: "Lennon."JOHN: "Rhythmus."(Beatles giggle)KLAS: "And on my right side is..?"PAUL: (imitates bass) "boom bah-boom boom, bah-boom boom. Paul McCartney."KLAS: "All from Liverpool, known as..?"PAUL & JOHN: "The Beatles."KLAS: "Yeah, that's right. You've had some hits in Sweden, and have you ever thoughtabout coming to Sweden?"RINGO: "Well, we'd like to, you know. But we're so busy at the moment. I don't thinkwe'll get there until sometime next year, if we go at all."PAUL: "Actually, you know, we want to come because we've heard about the girls inSweden. All gorgous blondes. you know."GEORGE & JOHN: "Yeah."KLAS: "That's Paul, and he's supposed to be the sweet boy in this family, no?"PAUL: (jokingly) "Aww, shuttup."(laughter)JOHN: "His dad was a Mars bar."

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PAUL: (laughs)KLAS: "And George, you would like to go..."GEORGE: "I would like to go to Sweden, yes."KLAS: "By the side, by the way, is Michael Cox. An old fried of yours..."RINGO: "Yeah...!"JOHN: (loudly) "Hello, Michael Cox!"PAUL: "He's from Liverpool, too."GEORGE: "How is he?"MICHAEL COX: "Fine, fine."KLAS: "And he has told you a lot about Sweden, and so on."GEORGE: "Yes."KLAS: "You're still interested?"BEATLES: "Yeah!"RINGO: "More than ever."KLAS: "After this we'll get to your recording of 'Twist And Shout.' I watched you, andJohn you are singing..."JOHN: "Shouting it."KLAS: "Yeah, you're shouting it, really. How do you feel from that... the throat?"JOHN: "Well, ehm, at first it was hard. But when I do it twice a night, it's easy."(imitates dog barking)(laughter)JOHN: (giggling) "It's quite easy now. Practice, you know, if I keep shouting every night.But a year ago I couldn't sing it."KLAS: "And another thing in your stage act, John, is all that SICK humor. You've gotfunny hands, and..."JOHN: "Well, I thought it was quite healthy."KLAS: (laughs)RINGO: "It's not sick. He's just a cripple."(laughter)JOHN: (giggling) "I'm not, I'm not!"(laughter)JOHN: "I'm quite normal, my Swedish friends."(laughter, the Beatles recording of 'Twist And Shout' is played)KLAS: "The songwriters in the Beatles, they are John Lennon and Paul McCartney."JOHN: (monotone) "Hurray."KLAS: "Tell us something about how you find a song... how you get the idea about asong, to write it down."JOHN: "Well, sometimes it's the words first, and then the music after."KLAS: "Very often you've got a title, you know... Me and you, and everything like that?"PAUL: "Yeah. We try to do that, to make it personal so it's... so we really mean it. Whenwe sing a thing about 'I love you,' it's easier."JOHN: (singing) "'And don't you forget it!'"JOHN & PAUL: (singing together, jokingly) "'I love you and don't you forget it!'"PAUL: "Well, you see, it's easier than singing something about the cat that lives on thehill, man."

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(laughter)PAUL: "It's a lot easier just to sing about what you feel yourself."KLAS: "And you've given a lot of nice numbers to Billy J. Kramer."JOHN: (loudly) "Well, he's our good friend and mate... buddy... pal... friend."PAUL: "Yeah. Listen to 'Bad To Me,' folks."KLAS: "Your latest recording is called..?PAUL: "It's called 'She Loves You.' And there's story to this one, how we wrote it. Wewere on tour with Roy Orbison, and Gerry and the Pacemakers. And we were inNewcastle, up north of England, and we were in a hotel room. We had about three daysleft in which to write a song. We had a recording date set for three days from this date. Sowe went to the hotel and we booked in a room, and we just decided that we have to writea song very quickly. So we sat down, no ideas came for a bit. But eventually we got anidea. 'She Loves You' came, you know. It was just lucky."KLAS: "But from the start that was supposed to be the B-side, John?"JOHN: "The B-side of 'She Loves You' was meant to be the A-side. And the same for'From Me To you.' The B-Side of 'From Me To You' was the A-side, and then we wroteanother song after."KLAS: "Well, it..."JOHN: "Came out better."PAUL: "Yeah, see, we write one song, then we can get going then after that and get moreideas after having written one song. So we wrote 'I'll Get You' which is the B-side, first.And then 'She Loves You' came after that, you know. We got ideas from that, and werecorded it."KLAS: "Yes."PAUL: "And there ya go."KLAS: "It sounds very easy, all of it."JOHN: "Sometimes it's easy. Sometimes it's hard."RINGO: (jokingly) "We find it difficult sometimes!"(laughter)KLAS: (jokingly) "Thanks Ringo."(John and Paul giggle)KLAS: "Well, singing too. All of you. You're singing, actually."PAUL: "Yeah, we all sing."JOHN: "The Singing Dogs."RINGO: "You know me... 'Boys.'"(Beatles laugh)PAUL: "We've written a new song for Ringo which we are gonna do on our new LP."KLAS: "Yes, what about that new LP? When?"JOHN: "It's September, isn't it?"PAUL: "No, it's November."JOHN: (jokingly perturbed at being corrected) "Okay, okay!"(laughter)PAUL: "Don't know when it'll get to Sweden, though, but we hope it'll get there inNovember. (nasal voice) And we hope it sells!"KLAS: "Alright."

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PAUL: "That's all I can say."KLAS: "Alright. RIght now, we'll listen to 'She Loves You.'"(Beatles yell 'Hurray!' and applaud)PAUL: "More!"RINGO: "Play it twice."('She Loves You' is played)

AUGUST 28th 1963 BBC STUDIOS MANCHESTERINTERVIEWED FOR THE MERSEY SOUND DOCUMENTARY(STUDIO SET UP TO LOOK AS IF THEY WERE IN A DRESSING ROOM)INTERVIEWED BY DON HAWORTH???

JOHN: "The best thing was (Love Me Do) came to the charts in two days. Andeverybody thought it was a fiddle because our manager's stores send in these... what is it...record things."GEORGE: "Returns."JOHN: "Returns. And everybody down south thought 'Oh, aha! He's buying them himselfor he's just fiddlin' the charts,' you know, but he wasn't."GEORGE: "Actually we'd been at it a long time before that. We'd been to Hamburg. Ithink that's where we found our style... we developed our style because of this fella. Heused to say, 'You've got to make a show for the people.' And he used to come up everynight, shouting 'Mach schau! Mach schau!' So we used to mach schau, and John used todance around like a gorilla, and we'd all, you know, knock our heads together and thingslike that. Anyway, we got back to Liverpool and all the groups there were doing'Shadows' type of stuff. And we came back with leather jackets and jeans and funny hair--maching schau-- which went down quite well."JOHN: "We just wore leather jackets. Not for the group-- one person wore one, I can'tremember-- and then we all liked them so it ended up we were all on stage with them.And we'd always worn jeans 'cuz we didn't have anything else at the time, you know. Andthen we went back to Liverpool and got quite a few bookings. They all thought we wereGerman. You know, we were billed as 'From Hamburg' and they all said, 'You speak goodEnglish.' (smiles) So we went back to Germany and we had a bit more money the secondtime, so we wore leather pants-- and we looked like four Gene Vincents, only a bityounger, I think. (smiles) And that was it, you know. We just kept the leather gear tillBrian (Epstein) came along."PAUL: "It was a bit, sort of, old hat anyway-- all wearing leather gear-- and we decidedwe didn't want to look ridiculous going home. Because more often than not too manypeople would laugh. It was just stupid. We didn't want to appear as a gang of idiots. AndBrian suggested that we just, sort of, wore ordinary suits. So we just got what we thoughtwere quite good suits, and got rid of the leather gear. That was all."

(Next, the topic of discussion turned to the present fame of the group, and the suddenglare of media attention.)

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GEORGE: "We do like the fans and enjoy reading the publicity about us, but sometimesyou don't realize that it's about yourself. You see your pictures and read articles aboutGeorge Harrison, Ringo Starr, Paul and John-- but you don't actually think 'Oh, that's me.There I am in the paper.' (smiles) It's funny. It's just as though it's a different person."RINGO: "When we go home, we go in early in the morning when we've finished a job,and the kids don't know you're at home. But if they find out, where I live, they get thedrums out and beat it out! (laughs) 'Cuz it's a play street and, you know, there's no trafficor nothing bothering them. Once when the boys came for me-- they popped in to see meMum and me Dad, you know-- we had to go out the back 'cuz there were twenty or thirtyoutside. And they wouldn't believe me mother, you know, knocking and saying 'Can wehave their autographs.' So it built up so much. There was about two hundred kids allaround the door, peeping through the window and knocking."(Beatles giggling)RINGO: (laughs) "In the end, me mother was ill, you know-- terrified out of her life--with just all these kids and boys and girls, you know."GEORGE: "They send us alot of Jellybabies and chocolates and things like that, justbecause somebody wrote in one of the papers about presents and things that we'd hadgiven to us. And John said he'd got some Jellybabies and I ate them. But ever since thatwe've been inundated. We get about two-ton a night. (smiles) But the main trouble is theytend to throw them at us when were on stage. (laughs) And, uhh, once I got one in my eyewhich wasn't very nice. (holds finger to eye) In fact I haven't been the same since."JOHN: "It all sounds complaining, but you know, we're not. We're just putting the pointthat it affects your home more than it does yourself, you know, because you know what toexpect but your parents and family don't know what's happening."

(The Beatles were then asked what they saw in their own future, and how long their famemight last.)

JOHN: "'How long are you gonna last?' Well, you can't say, you know. You can be big-headed and say, 'Yeah, we're gonna last ten years.' But as soon as you've said that youthink, 'We're lucky if we last three months,' you know."PAUL: "Well, obviously we can't keep playing the same sort of music until we're aboutforty-- sort of, old men playing 'From Me To You'-- nobody is going to want to know atall about that sort of thing. You know, we've thought about it, and probably the thing thatJohn and I will do, uhh, will be write songs-- as we have been doing as a sort of sidelinenow-- we'll probably develop that a bit more we hope. Who knows. At forty, we may notknow how to write songs anymore."GEORGE: "I hope to have enough money to go into a business of my own by the timewe, umm, do 'flop.' (laughs) And we don't know-- it may be next week, it may be two orthree years. But I think we'll be in the business, either up there or down there, for at leastanother four years."RINGO: "I've always fancied having a ladies hairdressing salon."(Beatles giggling)RINGO: (undeterred) "You know, a string of them, in fact! Strut 'round in me stripes and

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tails, you know. 'Like a cup of tea, Madam?'"

OCTOBER 3rd 1963 NEMS OFFICES, LONDON, BBC, THE PUBLIC EARINTERVIEWED BY MICHAEL COLLEY

PAUL: "It wasn't so much that we foresaw a big success. We just never thought thatanything particularly bad would happen to us. We never felt... never sat down at oneparticular point at all and, sort of, worried about anything. We've always thought thatsomething would turn up sometime."GEORGE: "We have been misquoted -- people saying we make 7,000 a week, and allthat."PAUL: "I wish we did."GEORGE: "We probably do make quite a bit but we don't actually see it, because recordroyalties, things like that, take months before they come in. And anyway..."JOHN: "Hotel cost a fortune."GEORGE: "Yeah, my mother cost a fortune."(Beatles laugh)GEORGE: "But we've also got an accountant and a company, Beatles Limited. They seethe money. The thing is, indirectly, we are and we aren't doing it for the money, really,because don't forget -- We played for about three or four years or maybe longer justearning hardly anything. Well, we wouldn't have lived on that. If we were doing it for themoney, we wouldn't have lasted out all those years. But the money does help, let's face it.Yeah, we all love being on-stage and..."JOHN: "I haven't got the patience to practice to become a 'perfect' guitarist, you know.I'm more interested in the combination of my voice and the guitar I know, and to writesongs, than I am in the instrument. So I never go through a day hardly without playing itwhether I'm performing or not, you know."PAUL: "George is the one of us who is interested in the instrument.GEORGE: "Well, I don't PRACTICE."PAUL: "But the other three of us are more interested in the sound of the group."GEORGE: "To be a guitarist, you're supposed to practice a couple of hours a day. But, Imean, I don't do that."RINGO: "To be ANYTHING, you're supposed to practice a couple of hours a day."PAUL: "Yeah."GEORGE: "Well you know, I mean, the thing is... Individually we're all... (pause) Isuppose we're all crummy musicians, really."

OCTOBER 4th 1963 ASSOCIATED-REDIFFUSION TV STUDIOS, LONDONINTERVIEWED BY DUSTY SPRINGFIELD FOR READY STEADY GO!

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DUSTY: "Paul, I've got some questions to ask you here. Please could you tell me thename of your racing greyhound?"

PAUL: "Uhh, I haven't got one, actually."

DUSTY: "You haven't?"

PAUL: "No. Well, a girl sent in a letter to me, and she said, 'Would you like a gra... agracing rayhound!' And I said 'Yeah!' but she hasn't sent it yet."

DUSTY: "She hasn't? Awww."

CROWD: (in exaggerated sympathy) "Awwww!!"

DUSTY: "I'm sure she loves you."

PAUL: "She hasn't sent it yet, but I hope she does though."

DUSTY: "Is it true you sleep with you eyes open?"

PAUL: "Umm, well you know, I haven't seen myself do it..."

(laughter)

PAUL: "But actually, the fellas say that I do. They've, sort of, seen me sleeping with myeyes open."

DUSTY: "How can you do that?"

PAUL: "I don't know, you know... just sort of half open."

DUSTY: "You're just clever... you're just Brilliant, Paul."

(crowd giggles)

DUSTY: (reading) "Please ask Paul if he plucks his well-shaped eyebrows."

(laughter)

PAUL: "Umm, no."

DUSTY: "You don't. It doesn't look so. You're absolutely beautiful. Paul, do you mindgirls screaming all through your act?"

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PAUL: "Uhh, no. We like 'em screaming, generally, all of us. But it's a bit much all theway through. But we love 'em screaming."

JOHN: (comically) "Hear, hear!"

(the girls cheer and applaud in approval)

DUSTY: (turning to John) "This is a question which you've been asked a thousand timesbefore but you always, all of you, give different versions or different answers. So you'vegot to tell me now... How did the Beatles get their name?"

JOHN: "I just thought of it." (comically proud facial expression)

(crowd cheers)

DUSTY: "Were they called anything else before?"

JOHN: "They were called the Quarrymen." (comically giggles)

DUSTY: "You rugged character! ...Oh John, listen. (reading) Do you have false teeth, asthey always look so even?"

JOHN: "No! (scratches front teeth with fingernail) They're all chipped and battered."

(laughter)

DUSTY: "Girls, would you say his teeth were chipped and battered?"

CROWD: (in unison) "NO!"

JOHN: "No, they're real."

DUSTY: "Is it true that, when you were a kid, you were shot at for stealing apples?"

JOHN: "Yeah."

(laughter)

DUSTY: (gesturing to the side of his face) "Is that what these beautiful marks are?"

JOHN: "No, they're scabs."

(laughter)

DUSTY: "There's nothing there at all, really. He's got a quite beautiful complexion."

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JOHN: (suggestively, joking with Dusty) "Let me see YOUR scabs!"

PAUL: (objecting comically) "HEY!"

(laughter)

OCTOBER 16th 1963 PLAYHOUSE THEATRE, LONDONINTERVIEWED BY PETER WOODS FOR BBC RADIO

Q: "Well lads... Almost unknown in January, and now going to the Royal CommandPerformance in November. This is quite a rise even for 'your' business, isn't it Paul?"PAUL: "Yes a bit. It's been very quick and we have been very lucky."Q: "How much of this is due, do you think, to your musical talent?"PAUL: "Uhh, dunno. No Idea. You just can't tell, you know. Maybe a lot of it, maybenone of it."Q: (to john) "How much would you have said?"JOHN: "I agree with Paul, you know."Q: "How much of this is getting popularity by acting the fool a bit and playing around?"JOHN: "Well I mean, that's just natural. We don't... We do it anyway, whether we're on-stage or not."Q: "But your funny haircuts aren't natural?"JOHN: (comical voice) "Well, we don't think they're funny, ya see... cobber?"(laughter)Q: "George, can I turn to you now? How long do you think you're going to be successful?You've had this monumental rise. Obviously this sort of thing can't go on, but do youthink you can settle down to a life in show business?"GEORGE: "Well, we're hoping to. I mean, not necessarily a 'life' in show business, but atleast a couple more years."Q: "A long run."GEORGE: "Yeah. I mean, if we do as well as Cliff (Richards) and The Shadows havedone up to now, well I mean, we won't be moaning."RINGO: "Very happy."GEORGE: "I mean, naturally, it can't go on as it has been going the last few months. It'djust be ridiculous."Q: "How do you find all this business of having screaming girls following you all overthe place?"GEORGE: "Well, we feel flattered."JOHN: "...and flattened."(Beatles laugh)GEORGE: (giggling) "Yeah, and flattened. But I mean, if the screaming fans weren'tthere then we wouldn't be here, would we."

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Q: "Paul, coming quickly back to you again. Mister Edward Heath, the Lord Privy Seal,has said that the other night he found it hard to distinguish what you were saying asQueen's English."PAUL: "Ah, yes."Q: "Now, are you going to try and lose some of your Liverpool dialect for the Royalshow?"PAUL: "No, are you kidding. No, we wouldn't bother doing that."GEORGE: "We just won't vote for him."(Beatles laugh)PAUL: (jokingly, in upperclass dialect) "We don't all speak like them BBC posh fellas,you know?"Q: "Right well, with that, I better wish you good luck in the show. What song will you besinging most there, do you think?"PAUL: (upperclass dialect) "Well, I don't know, but I should imagine we'd do 'She LovesYou.'"(Beatles erupt in stuffy, mock-upperclass laughter)PAUL & JOHN: "Jolly good, jolly good."

OCTOBER 31st 1963 LONDON AIRPORT, INTERVIEWER UNKNOWN

Q: "Paul, have you thought about your act for this show yet? Any changes in the act, or isit going to be, you know, the usual routine?"

PAUL: "No, we'll have to change it I'm sure. We can't do the same thing all the time. Wehaven't thought about what we're gonna do yet."

Q: "Suits with collars on? Brush part in hair? Anything like that?"

PAUL: (jokingly) "You never know. We might not wear suits! You never know! Noidea."

Q: "John, in this Royal Variety Show when you're appearing before royalty, you'relanguage has got to be pretty good obviously-- this thing about Teddy saying that hecouldn't distinguish your... The Queen's English."

JOHN: (mock upperclass dialect) "I can't understand Teddy! I can't understand Teddysaying that at all, really." (smiles)

(laughter)

JOHN: (serious look into camera) "I'm not going to vote for Ted."

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PAUL: (quietly) "Oooo."

Q: "But you're not going to change your act for the Lord Privy Seal?"

JOHN: (exaggerated lowerclass dialect) "Ah no, like, we'll keep, like, the same kindathing, like. Won't we?"

PAUL: "Oh! Aye, yes!"

JOHN: "That's right."

PAUL: (laughs)

NOVEMBER 7th 1963 TV INTERVIEW, DUBLIN AIRPORT, IRELANDINTERVIEWED BY FRANK HALL

Q: "Tell me first of all, is the haircut an act by accident or design?"JOHN: "Accident."Q: "You didn't have time to get your hair cut in the first place?"JOHN: "No, it just happened, you know. Ringo's was by design because he joined later."RINGO: "Yeah, I designed it."(laughter)Q: "How often do you get your hair cut, by the way?"JOHN: "Uhh, well we don't -- we try not to mention that."PAUL: "It's a dirty word."Q: "This new breed that's coming up -- the Liverpool Sound -- It's a bit of a puzzle tosome of us older people especially in Ireland. Could you define it for me?"GEORGE: "It's a puzzle to us, too."PAUL: "It's not really a Liverpool Sound, you know."JOHN: "There's no such thing."PAUL: "It just so happens that the new groups that have come out all happen to havecome from Liverpool, so people sort of generalize a bit and say, 'Aha! The LiverpoolSound!' but really, you know, if you listen to the groups they're all quite different. It's notall one big sound that's coming out."Q: "Well, it's no use saying, 'Are you surprised by your success,' because quite clearlyyou're not a bit surprised."PAUL: "We are!"JOHN: "Oh, we are surprised, but you're just sort of, you know, so surprised that itdoesn't even register."PAUL: "I mean, you can't... If we look surprised everyday, we'd look off our heads!"

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Q: (laughs) "About your Irish backgrounds..."PAUL: "Yeah, I think we've all got a bit."(screaming airplane engine drowns out the interview. John comically plugs his ears andgrins. Paul yells "Cut!!" Everyone waits several moments for the noise to pass. Paul nodsand smiles at the camera man and asks, "Still going?")Q: (laughs)JOHN: "Irish backgrounds, we were on."Q: (to john) "I think I saw you being greeted by somebody outside."JOHN: "No, no, that was George."GEORGE: "That was me, that was me. Yeah. Well actually, it was my mother."(Beatles laugh)GEORGE: (laughs) "She came over here, you know, because she's got hundreds ofcousins and relatives over here, and then she hadn't seen us for weeks anyway 'cuz we'vebeen away. So she's come to see the show and to see her cousins. And one of the cousinswas here with her."Q: (jokingly) "Your mother has to come to Ireland to see you?"GEORGE: "Yeah." (laughs)Q: "Well, this in a way kind of typifies the kind of extraordinary upset that must occur inyour private lives. Do you get home at all?"GEORGE: "Uhh, yeah. Sometimes you get home for a whole week. But sometimes youdon't get home for months on end."PAUL: "It's normally about one day in, say, three weeks."GEORGE: (jokingly) "Mind you, a new idea -- telephones -- help a bit, you know."Q: "Oh, I'm sure. God bless Graham Bell."PAUL: "Yeah."GEORGE: "Freddie Bell."(laughter)Q: "Does the continuous living together and working together cause any tempermentalstress on you?"PAUL: "No, actually it's quite lucky because we've been..."BEATLES: (singing together) "'We've Been Together Now For Forty Yeeeears!'"PAUL: "You know, we've all been mates for quite a long time so we don't get on eachother's nerves as much as we could."(mock fighting breaks out between them)PAUL: "We're quite friendly."Q: (laughing) "Yeah, so I see. So far as I can see, the greater portion of your public seemsto be female. To what do you attribute this extraordinary success? Alot of people herewould be very interested to know this."RINGO: "You can't make it out, you know."JOHN: "We're male, aren't we!!"(laughter)JOHN: "It'd be a bit funny if they were all fellas. (effeminate voice) 'Oh! get away!'"(John, Paul and George share a private joke quietly, ignoring Ringo's response)RINGO: "It's very nice, you know. We don't know why. If we knew we'd be 'made' moreor less. You'd just go and get about six groups like us who are attractive to women..."

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(Realizing he is rattling on and no one is listening anymore, Ringo comically beginsstraying from the topic completely.)RINGO: "I forgot my mac, and so I said to John, 'If you don't fetch yours, it's gonna rain,'you see. And he said..."(Beatles crack up at Ringo's gibberish)PAUL: "What are you talking about?!"Q: "We're talking about your appeal to the feminine sex. I've come to the conclusion thatwhatever it is, it's bigger than the four of you."PAUL: "Oh aye! That's right."

NOVEMBER 12th 1963 TV SHOW 'DAY BY DAY'INTERVIEWED BY JEREMY JAMES

Q: "Are you beginning to find the strain of this going around the country at thistremendous speed getting you down a bit?"BEATLES: (laughing) "NO!!"JOHN: (giggling) "No, we like it. It's great."PAUL: "You know us."Q: "You don't find it frightening, this business of being mobbed and having to go throughall these rigamaroles to get here?"JOHN: "No. The police get mobbed, we don't."PAUL: "It's always well organized, you know. Tonight was very good."Q: "How did you get here tonight?"PAUL: "A van."Q: "You're getting so much publicity these days, and even the 'egghead' papers arewriting about you. Have you been just a little bit worried that you might be going over thetop fairly soon?"JOHN: "No, you know. When you gotta go, you gotta go."(Beatles laugh)Q: "What are you going to do when your time comes?"GEORGE: "Sail on me yacht."(laughter)JOHN: "Yeah."RINGO: "We don't know. We haven't got any definite ideas what we're all gonna do."JOHN: (gesturing to Ringo's scarf) "Been to college, have you?"RINGO: "Yeah, it's me school scarf. Borstal High."(laughter)Q: (to Ringo, referring to the reason for the scarf) A touch of throat?"RINGO: "Yeah. (coughs, then continues jokingly) There's nothing wrong with it!!"(laughter)RINGO: "I always talk like this."Q: "You're not thinking of giving up the Big Beat stuff and going in for some harmony

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singing? Because one or two people said you're very good harmony singers."JOHN: "Well, we do it, you know. There's harmony in the big beat. It just happens tohave a beat as well. All of our records have had some kind of harmony on them."Q: "I noticed in the Royal show that you did one ballad number. Is this something you'regoing to do more of?"JOHN: "We've been singing it for about five years, and we've always done numbers likethat. It's just that we're known for faster numbers."Q: "Do you like the ballads?"JOHN: "If they're good. You know, there's good ballads and good beats."Q: "How did you enjoy the Royal Variety show?"GEORGE: "It was great. Fabulous. It was very good, you know. The audience was muchbetter than we expected."JOHN: (jokingly) "Much taller."GEORGE: "Yeah."

NOVEMBER 13th 1963 WESTWARD TV STUDIOS, PLYMOUTHINTERVIEWED BY STUART HUTCHISON FOR MOVE OVER DAD

HUTCHISON: "Well Paul, how are you after your collapse we read about?"PAUL: "I didn't really collapse. That was just the naughty newspapers, writing it.Misquote! Nah, I just had a bit of flu, you know. I'm fine today, thank you."HUTCHISON: "You're feeling alright?"PAUL: (comical voice) "Lovely. Real lovely."HUTCHISON: "How are the rest of you? How are you going to avoid catching...?"JOHN: (in pathetic voice) "We're fine, thank you."GEORGE: "Oh, we're OK. Yeah, great."HUTCHISON: "Are you taking any cold prevention, now?"PAUL: "Yeah, I'm taking 'em all. Got 'em all."JOHN: (quietly) "It's only one-and-six a tube."(Paul giggles)HUTCHISON: "How about these escape plans you keep beating about? You got out ofone place disguised as policemen."BEATLES: "No, no!"GEORGE: "We didn't, actually. We put the policemen's helmets on..."PAUL: "Just for a laugh, you know."GEORGE: "Yeah."PAUL: "The policemen said, 'Aww, let's have a laugh, and put these helmets...'"GEORGE: "We jumped out of the van, and you know... The press were there to take thephotographs, so we jumped out with the helmets on. So the next day it was..."PAUL: "The next day you read in the papers..."GEORGE: "...here they are, disguised."RINGO: "Have you ever seen a policeman in a corduroy coat?"JOHN: "I have. I saw one back in 1832, I think."

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RINGO: "He knows, you see."HUTCHISON: "Did you put the helmets on over the haircuts?"PAUL: "Yeah."RINGO: "Sure."JOHN: "Well, we couldn't put them underneath."(Beatles laugh)PAUL: "And I also read in the papers today, there's a man who said we wear wigs!"RINGO: (loudly) "WE DON'T!"PAUL: "We don't. Honest. Feel it."HUTCHISON: "True. It's lovely, yes. Oh, on this program a few weeks ago, somebodysaid the Beatles haircut was going out because the fringe was so long you couldn't see thebirds. What comment have you got to make on that?"JOHN: (yells) "IT'S A DIRTY LIE!"GEORGE: (laughs)PAUL: "We can see quite well. I can see quite well, thanks, John."GEORGE: "Well, some of us can."(laughter)HUTCHISON: "Are you looking forward to doing it tonight?"BEATLES: "Yeah!"PAUL: "Of course."HUTCHISON: "Well, they've all been looking forward to seeing you, and they're outthere now. Thank you very much, boys."BEATLES: "Thank you."JOHN: "Pleasure."

NOVEMBER 29, 1963 BACKSTAGE, ABC CINEMA, HUDDERSFIELDINTERVIEWED BY GORDON KAYE

Q: "What do you think of (the fans) coming in and then screaming..?"GEORGE: "Well, they've payed the money so they can scream, can't they. I mean, if theyhaven't payed and they were screaming, it'd be a liberty, wouldn't it!"(Beatles laugh)PAUL: "Oh aye, oh aye."RINGO: "Would, that, Georgie."Q: "What is your, sort of, 'perfect touch' in music? Beethoven, for instance?"GEORGE: "No. I like trad jazz, you know, Kenny Ball and all that."PAUL: (to George) "You don't... you told me you didn't."GEORGE: "I do. I changed. Washington Square, got it."Q: "Now then, let's know a little bit about your personal life. What do you like to do inyour spare time when you get it?"PAUL: "Spare time? Ehh, Go to the pictures or watch telly, or umm read. (laughs) Readcomics, you know."(Beatles giggle)Q: "What sort of films do you like?"

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PAUL: "What sort of films... uhh, just ordinary films like 'The Trial,' 'The Servants.'"(Beatles laugh)PAUL: (laughing, jokingly) "Just ordinary, you know... Love Walt Disney. You know,'The Trial' by Walt Disney."Q: "Mmm."PAUL: "It's great."Q: "What sort of music do you like personally?"PAUL: "Just, I like everybody else. Stravinsky, Beethoven, all that."(Beatles laugh)PAUL: (laughs) "No, American groups actually, I listen to."Q: "Female groups..?"PAUL: "But mainly American records generally."Q: "Now then George, what do YOU like to do on your spare time?"GEORGE: "Umm. (pause) Well, I umm, uhh. (to the others) What do I do?"PAUL: "What does he do? I'll tell ya what George does. He goes to the pictures."GEORGE: "I go to the pictures, yeah."PAUL: "He reads Tolstoy."GEORGE: "I read Telstar."PAUL: "Tolstoy."GEORGE: "And umm..."RINGO: "Beethoven's poems."(Beatles laugh)GEORGE: "And play records and play the banjo!"PAUL: "Beethoven's poems."Q: (laughs) "What have you got ambitions in, George?GEORGE: "Umm, to join the Navy."JOHN: (laughs)GEORGE: "I want to join the Navy and be a lieutenant commander on HMS QueenVictoria."Q: (to the group, regarding their upcoming TV appearance in December) "You've neverbeen on 'Juke Box Jury' before?"RINGO: "Oh no. John's been on."JOHN: (yelling, from a distance) "I'VE been ON! I was ON!"Q: "How long?"JOHN: "For twenty minutes!!"(laughter)

DECEMBER 10th 1963 BACKSTAGE, GAUMONT THEATRE, DONCASTERINTERVIEWED BY DIBBS MATHER

Q: "Ringo Starr, it's been suggested that boys coming from the particular area that you'vecome from, if you'd hadn't found an interest in music, might have found it much moredifficult to get out and make a go of life. Would you comment on this?"

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RINGO: "I think it's true, you know. I mean, when I was sixteen I used to walk along theroad with the rest of the lads, and we'd have all our trade coats on. You know, we'd had afew knocks with other rival gangs, sort of thing. But then I got the drums, and the blokenextdoor played a guitar. And I got a job..."JOHN: (sings) "'Teddy Booooy!'"RINGO: (laughs) "...and we started playing together. And another bloke from work madea bass out of an old tea chest... you know them days. This was about '58, mind you. Andwe played together, and then we started playing on dances and things, you know, and wetook an interest in it. Then we stopped going, you know, out to sort of hanging aroundcorners every night."Q: "Would you say that the enormous difference which your success in this field has had,has greatly influenced you, Ringo, as far as your philosophy of life or what you want toget out of it?"RINGO: "Oh, yeah."Q: "George Harrison, how different is your life now as a member of the Beatles to what itwas, say, even four years ago?"GEORGE: "Everything's completely changed. We don't have a private life anymore. Andwe, umm, are public property now. Not that we mind."Q: "You don't mind being such public property with no private time at all?"GEORGE: "Well, you get accustomed to it, and after a while you just take it for grantedand you just do everything automatically... like signing autographs and (laughs) waving atpeople."Q: "What about homelife with your own family? Do you ever get any these days?"GEORGE: "Yeah. Occasionally, say once every fortnight, we manage to get home. And,umm, if we're not appearing in our hometown then it's usually OK; they don't expect us tobe there, and we... It's, you know, quite quiet."Q: "Does this change the status for the family much?"GEORGE: "Umm, not really. It makes 'em more popular (laughs) and people sort ofafter a while spot 'my' parents, anyway. You know, it's the same with the others. They'llsay, 'There's George's dad,' whereas before they wouldn't know him from Adam. But, youknow, they're just still the same as before."Q: "What about the wealth that comes with this kind of success? Has that made a greatdeal of difference to the way you live... and the way your family live?"GEORGE: "No. It hasn't made... not so far anyway... it hasn't made any difference.Except for holidays and things like that. You know, we can just get the money out of thebank and go wherever we want."Q: "You are one of the reputive deep-thinkers in this group. How do you see it as a peakin your life? What happens to you after this is over?"GEORGE: "Well, umm, I suppose we'll stay doing this sort of stuff for a couple of years.Whether we're... I mean, naturally we wont be able to stay at this level. But, umm, weshould have another two years at least, I think."Q: "What happens to George Harrison then?"GEORGE: "I don't know. I'll know by the time that comes along. Probably I'll have alittle business or something like that."Q: "You don't want to go on in the profession?"

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GEORGE: "Probably, yeah. I'd like to make records, you know, with other artists. I don'tmean perform... I mean as a producer."Q: "The technical side."GEORGE: "Mmmm. But I don't know. You can't really tell at this stage."Q: "Paul McCartney, you're one of the original Beatles. Where did the name Beatlesoriginate?"PAUL: "Well Dibbs, uhh, John thought of it first of all. Just as a name; just for a group,you know. We just didn't have any name. Well, oh yeah; we did have a name, but we hadabout ten of 'em a week, you know... and we didn't like this idea so we had to settle onone particular name. And John came up with the name Beatles one night. And he sort ofexplained how it was spelled with an 'E-A,' and we said, 'Oh yes, it's a joke.'"Q: "Since then, it's come to represent a large section of the young population-- called the'Beatle People.' Do you people regard yourself as leaders of this particular group?"PAUL: "No, we're not leaders of any sort of group. The thing is-- people always say,'Well, you started great trends and things,' but in actual fact all that we've done is gonealong with the trends. And if, in going along with it, we sort of encourage other people togo along with a couple of our ideas, you know; all very well. But we haven't triedconsciously to start anything like a trend, you know."Q: "Now, you were very much younger when this enormous success started, and you'reriding the summit of it now. Do you see it as a peak... a mountain... interfering with theflow of your life?"PAUL: "I don't really know what you mean by 'very much younger.' It was only a yearago."Q: "But you've been working since '58, haven't you?"PAUL: "Well, yeah... not working, you know. I mean, strictly speaking we've been out ofwork since '58 and we've been doing this as a hobby. 'Cuz we've only been doing it assemi-pros. I left school and went right into it. And we were only sort of picking up a fewquid a week, you know. It really wasn't work. I think the main thing is now that, as we'vegot ourselves a bit of security... we don't really have to worry, at the moment anyway,what we're gonna do after it. So we don't."Q: "None of you are really concerned with going on in this field as a profession?"PAUL: "Yeah, of course we are. I think all of us really, if it suddenly flopped, then wewould do something in this profession. But what we mean by Ringo and George'sanswers, that we don't really want to do... like the conventional answer is, 'I'd like to doballads and films and straight-acting,' which is so corny. Because half the people who saythat can't act or ballad or film. So, umm, we probably wouldn't want to do that unless wethought we could do it. We're having a bash at a film next year, and if we find that any ofus can act, say, one out of us may become actors. But we haven't got any great hopes ofbeing actors at the moment."Q: "It's said, John Lennon, that you have the most 'Goon-type' humor of the four Beatles."JOHN: "Who said that?"Q: "I think I read it in one of the newspapers."JOHN: "You know what the newspapers are like."Q: "I don't know. What are they like?"JOHN: "Wrong."

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Q: (laughs) "This is going wrong... I want to get a nice 'Personality' bit."JOHN: "I haven't got a nice personality."Q: (laughs) "Is this evidence of Goon-type humor?"JOHN: "No, I don't think I really have Goon-type humor. That's just an expressionpeople use."Q: "What has the success you've enjoyed with the Beatles meant to you personally?"JOHN: "More money than I had before. That's the good bit."Q: "Is it going to make any difference to your life the way you live it after, say, this calmsdown... the enormous excitement you're generating at the moment?"JOHN: "I don't know, you know. Really."Q: "Do you think your career as a comic might open up to you?"JOHN: "No. (laughs) I don't stand a chance being a comic."Q: "Why not?"JOHN: "I'm not funny enough."Q: "Umm, you were interested in poetry in school."JOHN: "Who said?"Q: "It's printed in a book compiled by the Beatles and entitled, 'The Beatles.'"JOHN: (laughs) "I haven't read that book. We don't normally write those things."Q: "Written any good comic poems lately?"JOHN: "Yes."(interviewer hands John a piece of paper containing one of Lennon's poems. The otherBeatles giggle)Q: (laughs) "I just happened to have it here by sheerest coincidence."JOHN: "'Dressed in my brown...' Oh no, I've lost it. Hold on. I can't read it, you see. I'veonly just written it. (giggles) Well, that's how it starts, actually!"Q: (laughs)JOHN: (reads) "Dressed in my teenold brown sweater I easily micked with crown atNeville Club, a seemy hole. Soon all but soon people accoustic me saying such thing as'where the charge man?'"JOHN: "I'm turning it over--" (reads) "All too soon I noticed boys and girls sitting in ahubbeled lump; smoking Hernia and taking Odeon, and getting very high. Some wereonly 4 foot 3 high, but he had Indian Hump which he grew in his sleep.'JOHN: "But things like that just help me keep sane."Q: "Is this business enough to drive you insane?"JOHN: "No, I'm quite normal really. If you read in the Beatle books... it says I'm quitenormal."

DECEMBER 7th 1963 TV APPEARANCE, JUKE BOX JURYODEON CINEMA, LIVERPOOLMODERATED BY DAVID JACOBS

Song heard: Kiss Me Quick - Elvis PresleyPAUL: "The only thing I don't like about Elvis now is the songs. You know, I love hisvoice. I used to love all the records like 'Blue Suede Shoes' and 'Heartbreak Hotel,' lovely.

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But I don't like the songs now. And Kiss Me Quick, it sounds like Blackpool on a sunnyday."(laughter, followed by applause)RINGO: "I didn't like it at all, no."GEORGE: "I must admit I didn't like it very much. Not at all. It's an old track. And Ithink, seeing as they're releasing old stuff, if they release something like 'My Baby LeftMe' it'd be number one. Because Elvis is definitely still popular, it's just the song's a loadof rubbish. I mean, Elvis is great. He's fine. But it's not for me."JOHN: "Well, I think it'll be a hit because it's Elvis, like people said. But I don't think it'llbe very great. (comically) I like those hats, though, with 'Kiss Me Quick' on it!"(laughter)(Beatles vote by holding up cards. Consensus: HIT)Song heard: Hippy Hippy Shake - The Swinging BluejeansRINGO: "I liked it. I thought it was good. But it's not as good as the original by ChanRomero. It still swings, and it should sell. I hope it does, anyway."GEORGE: "I think it could possibly be a hit, because I know for a fact that The HippyShake's a very popular song around here. We used to do it ourselves."(John laughs comically, the crowd of fans cheer)GEORGE: "I know a lot of the groups around here do this song, and they're expectingsomebody to come up with a new version of it. I think it could possibly be a hit. I like theway the Bluejeans did it, but I still prefer Chan Romero's version."JOHN: "Yeah, I think it'll be a hit because they sort of re-made it for the last one, and it'sbetter. Especially without that banjo. I like Bill Harry's version as well. I think it'll be asmall hit, at least."(laughter)PAUL: "I think it'll be a hit too, because I don't think it matters much about the ChanRomero record being greater, 'cuz I don't think many people will remember the fact thathe did it, and he wrote it as well. You know, I don't think people will remember. They'lljust think of it as a new song."(Beatles vote by holding up cards. Consensus: HIT)Song heard: Did You Have A Happy Birthday - Paul AnkaGEORGE: "Well, I had a happy birthday, yeah."(laughter)GEORGE: "But I mean, If I'd have heard the record first, I maybe would have cut thatout."(laughter)GEORGE: "You know, I definitely don't like it. It's not for me. (jokingly) And I didn'tget the flowers either that he sent me."(laughter)JOHN: (jokingly, at the top of his voice) "I LIKE IT !!!"(laughter)JOHN: "I don't like these sort of sob songs, and it sounds as though he's on tremelo,technically. You know, it sounds a bit wobbley. Anyway, I don't like it."PAUL: "Well, I don't like it either, because of that little crack in his voice. He sounds,you know, off his head."

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(laughter)PAUL: "Instead of 'Happy Birthday' it's (comically) 'Woo woo woo!'"(laughter)PAUL: "It's a bit off, and I don't like it."RINGO: "Uhh, I didn't like it at all. It's such a big drag, man, the way it sounded, youknow."(Beatles vote by holding up cards. Consensus: MISS)Song heard: The Nitty Gritty - Shirley EllisJOHN: "Uhh yeah. I like it. I thought it was somebody else. I've never heard of ShirleyEllis. I like all those kind of things. I'll buy it. But I believe it won't be a hit."DAVID JACOBS: "Who did you think it was?"JOHN: "At first I thought it was Mary Wells. I liked that."PAUL: "The same as he said. In fact, I will say exactly the same 'cuz I agree with him. Ilove these kind of records but I don't think this one will be a hit, 'cuz I dunno... It doesn'tsay anything."RINGO: "You know, we all like this sort of thing. I'd buy it, but I don't think it'll be ahit."GEORGE: "Well, it definitely won't be a hit, in England anyway. It probably will be, orprobably is already in the States. But I don't think it'll be a hit. The public haven't got'round to that sort of stuff yet. When they do, I mean, that would be..."DAVID JACOBS: "So, you mean you think that our teenagers are behind the Americansin their tastes?"GEORGE: "Yeah I mean, just lately they've been going for some more way-out stuff,and Rhythm and Blues, and THIS sort of thing we've always liked. We've liked it foryears. And it still hasn't caught on in England."PAUL: "Well it's just that people who buy the records, their taste doesn't match theteenagers generally. Lots of teenagers love this kind of music but don't buy it, becausethey don't buy records."(Beatles vote by holding up cards. Consensus: MISS)Song heard: I Can't Stop Talking About You - Steve And EydiePAUL: "Uhh, yeah. I don't think it's a good'n. It's alright. That kind of thing is catchy. Itmay be catchy, but I just don't think it's good, generally."RINGO: "I like it, you know. I think she carries them, actually."(laughter)GEORGE: "I think it's equally as good as (sings) 'da de-de-de-de de-de da-deee.' It'sgreat, I like it, the sort of relaxed style of both. Yeah, I like it and I think it's a hit."JOHN: "I don't like it as much as their last one. I don't even like it... I usually likeeverything Goffin and King write, but not this one. It's too sweet, you know. de-da-de,you know. A bit Christmassy, maybe. I don't like it, though. It'll be a vague hit."DAVID JACOBS: "A vague one."JOHN: "A vague hit."(Beatles vote by holding up cards. Consensus: HIT)Song heard: Do You Really Love Me Too - Billy FuryDAVID JACOBS: "Do you really love me too, Ringo?"RINGO: "Not you."

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(laughter)RINGO: "I didn't like it, you know. I've never bought one of his records, but he's verypopular, so it's just uhh... no."GEORGE: "Not bad, but it was okay, but I wouldn't buy it. And I thought the guitar isjust exactly the same as Cliff's. In fact, it's only about a note difference."JOHN: "He just said the bit about the beginning, didn't he, being like Cliff's one. Thetune's not bad. It's quite pleasant. It's one of those you gotta hear again... uhh, tomorrow."(laughter)PAUL: "I quite like it, and the same things John said jokingly. The only thing I thought,as well as the guitar bit being like the Cliff Richard bit, the tune is just a little bit like(sings) 'Well I feed the cows and I milks the sheep and I...'"(laughter, followed by applause)PAUL: "But I still think it'll be a hit."(Beatles vote by holding up cards. Consensus: HIT)Song heard: There I've Said It Again - Bobby VintonGEORGE: "Umm, it's quite nice, but I mean, I don't think the record buying public buysthis sort of stuff, I mean, the majority -- which will make it a miss. But you know, it'squite alright. I wouldn't buy it me-self."JOHN: "Uhh, well, I dunno. What is Bobby Vinton doing? He's bringing the oldies back.He might do it, but people always cover them over here. But especially anything old. Youknow, everybody does it all at once. And he missed it with the last one here. (loudly,comically) I THINK HE'S GONNA MISS IT WITH THIS ONE TOO!!"(laughter)PAUL: "Umm, yeah. I think the thing about bringing back old songs and doing themthese days, teenagers don't really want old songs brought back. I'm sure they'd like to havesongs that they can call their own instead of bringing back their mum and dad's songs."DAVID JACOBS: "Well now, just a minute. What about Frank Ifield and all that lot?"PAUL: "Yeah, okay."GEORGE: "What about Mule Train?"(laughter)PAUL: "Yeah well, you're probably right. But I'm sure that if you could get songs thesedays as GOOD as the old ones, only new songs, that would be ten times better."JOHN: "Frank Ifield... that's just practically the same as the old."DAVID JACOBS: "I might tell you that I'm terrified of disagreeing with you chaps, youknow, in front of all these people. However, let's see what Ringo says. Ringo."RINGO: "I liked it, you know. It's nice and smooth. And if you're sort of staying in onenight, put it on."(laughter)RINGO: "But yeah, right. It won't sell."DAVID JACOBS: "Thank you, Don Juan Starr."(Beatles vote by holding up cards. Consensus: MISS)Song heard: Love Hit Me - The OrchidsDAVID JACOBS: "Three Coventry school girls called the Orchids on 'Love Hit Me.'John Lennon."JOHN: "Well you know, it's just a big cop, or pinch. It sounds... If it had come out before

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the Crystals and the Ronettes it would've been great. They've even got that, what is it...castanets?"RINGO: "Tambourine."JOHN: (loudly, giggling) Tambourine, is THAT what it's called!!"(laughter)JOHN: "It's quite nice, but it's sort of the British version, you know, which... althoughthe song's original, I think. But it sounds... doesn't sound right."PAUL: "It's okay. It sounds great for an English record, though, you know. Becauseabout a year ago, if someone had brought this out and said 'Listen to this record,' I don'tthink you would've believed that it was an English one. It's marvelous, the sound things.And I think it's great. I like it."RINGO: "It's good, you know. I wouldn't buy it. It may sell a few but not that many."(Beatles laugh)GEORGE: "I thought it was quite nice. I liked the idea of the British records sort ofbeing on the way to boom-chicka-boom-chicka, all this. I like the American stuff like theCrystals, I mean, even though it is a pinch, you know. I'd rather they pinch the Crystalsthan carry on doing the stuff they've been doing."(Beatles vote by holding up cards. Consensus: MISS)DAVID JACOBS: "They say that it will be a miss, which in fact is most unfortunate,because we do have sitting in the audience three young ladies called The Orchids. Standup, young ladies. There they are"(crowd applauds)GEORGE: (jokingly) "Sorry! Didn't mean it!!"JOHN: (switching his card) "I'll change it to hit!"(laughter)JOHN: "I'll buy it! I'll buy two!"DAVID JACOBS: (laughs)JOHN: (comically) "I didn't know you were here!"DAVID JACOBS: (laughing) "John thinks it's a lousy trick but we'll get on to the nextrecord."Song heard: I Think Of You - The Merseybeats(As time was running out in the program, the Beatles did not share their comments on thissong, but simply held a quick vote. Consensus: HIT)DAVID JACOBS: "This is where I say that unfortunately we have to take our leave ofyou. So, on behalf of the Jury, that's John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, andGeorge Harrison. Don't forget to join the Beatles later at 8:10 on BBC television tonight.And join us at the usual time next week for another session of Juke Box Jury.Goodnight."