WHITAKER: I did a photograph of the Beatles covered in raw meat and dolls and false teeth. And it was part of a series of photographs called Somnabulent Adventure, which basically is a dream sequence about how I saw the Beatles. And having finished that particular picture, it was snatched away from me and sent off to America and produced on a record cover without ever having the completed artwork done for it by me. So it was somebody else's conception. The cover layout itself was somebody else's conception. And I really think it was probably a good idea to ban it at the time, because it made no sense to anyone, it was just this horrific image of four Beatles who everybody loved, covered in raw meat and dolls and false teeth and dolls' eyes and things like that.
There was such an outcry about the whole thing, in fact quote Dr. David Mellor, who's written a text about an exhibition I'm having in London and Brighton called Underground London, this particular image is in it. And Mellor partially describes it as another aspect of the butcher's cover, "for Whitaker was to realize the carnality and mortality of those cosmic stars, the Beatles. They had become idols, so he wished to stress as a countervailing remedy, their gross materiality. Their flesh and blood as a mocking of pomp and vanity. The month after the Beatles' final tour of America which was accompanied by anger from Christian fundamentalists, a destruction of art symposium was held in London..." But that is...part of it.
The actual conception of the dream, which is really what the word somnabulent means, is Moses coming down from Mount Sinai with the ten tablets and he comes across people worshipping a golden calf or many golden calves. And I'd watched people all over the world worshipping like idols, like gods, four Beatles. And to me they were just stock-standard normal people who'd come out of their mothers and performed brilliantly all over the world, but this emotion that the fans poured upon them made me wonder where Christianity was actually heading for.
The interesting first take of "I Feel Fine," performed in a higher key. As the session progressed, the Beatles eventually transposed the song down and recorded it instrumentally, instead of having John sing live on every take.
How does it feel to be One of the beautiful people? Now that you know who you are What do you want to be? And have you travelled very far? Far as the eye can see.
How does it feel to be One of the beautiful people? How often have you been there? Often enough to know. What did you see when you were there? Nothing that doesn't show.
Baby, you're a rich man Baby, you're a rich man Baby, you're a rich man too.
You keep all your money in a big brown bag, Inside a zoo What a thing to do.
Baby, you're a rich man Baby, you're a rich man Baby, you're a rich man too.
How does it feel to be One of the beautiful people? Tuned to a natural E Happy to be that way. Now that you've found another key What are you going to play?
Baby, you're a rich man Baby, you're a rich man Baby, you're a rich man too.
You keep all your money in a big brown bag Inside a zoo What a thing to do (baby).
Baby, you're a rich man Baby, you're a rich man Baby, you're a rich man too.
Oh, baby you're a rich man Baby, you're a rich (baby) man Baby, you're a rich man too. Wuh-oh, baby, you're a rich (oh) man Baby, you're a rich man Baby, you're a rich man too. Oh, baby, you're a rich man. Baby, you're a rich man. Baby, you're a...
I love you 'cos you tell me things I want to know And it's true That it really only goes to show That I know That I - I - I - I should never, never, never be blue.
Now you're mine My happiness near makes me cry And in time you'll understand the reason why If I cry it's not because I'm sad But you're the only love that I've ever had.
I can't believe it's happened to me I can't conceive of any more misery.
Ask me why, I'll say I love you And I'm always thinking of you.
I love you 'cos you tell me things I want to know And it's true That it really only goes to show That I know That I - I - I - I should never, never, never be blue.
Ask me why, I'll say I love you And I'm always thinking of you.
I can't believe it's happened to me I can't conceive of any more misery.
Ask me why, I'll say I love you And I'm always thinking of you, you, you.
Mary Elizabeth "Mimi" Smith (née Stanley) (24 April 1906 – 6 December 1991) is best known as the maternal aunt and parental guardian of the English musician John Lennon. She was born in Liverpool, England and was the eldest of five daughters in the Stanley family.
Lennon lived with Mimi and her husband George Smith for most of his childhood. He remained close to her throughout his life, although Mimi was highly dismissive of Lennon's girlfriends and wives.
The Beatles' success later enabled Lennon to buy her a bungalow in Poole, Dorset, where she lived until her death in 1991.
The Stanley family
According to Lennon, the Stanley family once owned the whole of Woolton village. Mimi's father, George Stanley, was born in the Everton district of Liverpool in 1874, and became a sailor. Mimi's mother, Annie Jane Millward, was born in Chester around 1875, to Welsh parents. Annie gave birth to a boy and a girl, who both died shortly after birth, and then had Mary, known as 'Mimi' (1906-1991), Elizabeth 'Mater' (1908-1976), Anne 'Nanny' (1911-1988), Julia 'Judy' (1914-1958), and Harriet 'Harrie' (1916-1972).
After the birth of all of his daughters, Mimi's father retired from sailing and found a job with the Liverpool and Glasgow Tug Salvage Company as an insurance investigator. He moved his family to the Liverpool suburb of Woolton, where they lived in a small terraced house at 9 Newcastle Road, which is close to Penny Lane. To help her mother, Mimi had to take a matriarchal role in the Stanley house, looking after the whole family. Despite this, Mimi always wore sensible dresses, and always looked as if she was on her way to a weekly garden club meeting. Mimi based everything on decorum, honesty, and a black-and-white attitude: either you were good enough or you were not. Lennon's school friend Pete Shotton later commented that "Mimi had a very strong sense of what was right or wrong". Annie Stanley died in 1945, so Julia Lennon had to take care of her father with help from Mimi.
Career
When other girls were thinking of marriage, Mimi talked of challenges and adventures that arose from her attitude of stubborn independence. She once confided that she never wanted to get married, as she hated the idea of being "tied to the kitchen sink." She became a resident trainee nurse at the Woolton Convalescent Hospital and later worked as a private secretary for Ernest Vickers, who was an industrial magnate with businesses in Manchester and Liverpool. She had long-term plans to buy a modest house in a respected suburb of Liverpool one day so that she could entertain the "scholars and dignitaries of Liverpool society."
Marriage and Mendips
In early 1932 Mimi met George Smith, a tall and stocky milkman, who lived across from the hospital where Mimi worked and to which he delivered milk every morning. George and his brother, Frank Smith, operated a dairy farm and a shop in Woolton that had been in the Smith family for four generations.
George started seriously courting Mimi, but was constantly thwarted by Mimi's indifference and her father's interference. George Stanley would only allow the couple to sit in the back room at Newcastle Road when he or his wife were in the front room, and before it grew too late he would burst into the back room and loudly order George home. The courtship lasted almost seven years, but George grew tired of waiting, so after delivering milk to the hospital one morning he gave Mimi an ultimatum that she must marry him, "or nothing at all!"
On 15 September 1939 she finally married George. They bought a semi-detached house called Mendips — named after the range of hills — at 251 Menlove Avenue (across the road from the Allerton Park golf course) in a middle class area of Liverpool. Menlove Avenue suffered extensive damage during World War II, and Mimi often had to throw a wet blanket on incendiary bombs that fell in their garden. During the war the government took over the Smiths' farmland for war work, and George was called up for service, but was discharged three years later, and subsequently worked in an aircraft factory in Speke until the end of the war. George later left the milk trade and started a small bookmaker's business, which led Mimi to complain later that George was a compulsive gambler and had lost most of their money.
Mimi and John
Julia Stanley married Alf Lennon on 3 December 1938, and on 9 October 1940, the couple's first and only child was born. Mimi phoned the Oxford Street Maternity Hospital that evening and was told that Julia had given birth to a boy. Mimi immediately went to the hospital, despite there being an air raid, and was forced to hide in doorways to avoid the shrapnel. She ran, as she later recalled, "as fast as my legs could carry me." Mimi took Lennon in her arms 20 minutes after he was born. When a parachute-borne landmine fell outside the hospital, Mimi later said, "My sister [Julia] stayed in bed, and they put the baby [Lennon] under the bed. They wanted me to go into the basement, but I wouldn't. I ran all the way back to Newcastle Road to tell Father the news. 'Get under shelter,' the wardens were shouting. 'Oh, be quiet,' I told them."
After Julia separated from Alf Lennon, she and the infant Lennon moved in with Julia's new partner, John Albert "Bobby" Dykins, but Mimi twice contacted Liverpool's Social Services and complained about Lennon sleeping in the same bed as Julia and Dykins. Julia was eventually persuaded to hand the care of Lennon over to Mimi and George, who had no children of their own. Mimi later confided to a relative that although she had never wanted children, she had "always wanted John." Mimi would later say: "John loved his uncle George. I felt quite left out of that. They'd go off together, just leaving me a bar of chocolate and a note saying: 'Have a happy day.'"
In July 1946, the returning Alf Lennon visited Mimi and took Lennon to Blackpool, ostensibly for a long holiday, but with the secret intention of emigrating to New Zealand with him. Julia went to Blackpool and took Lennon back to her house, but a few weeks later she handed him back over to Mimi. Lennon then lived continuously at 'Mendips,' in the smallest bedroom above the front door.
Although Mimi was a caring guardian, she was also known for being very strict, compared to the more relaxed influence of George and Julia. Family friends described Mimi as stubborn, impatient, and unforgiving, but also said that she had a strong sense of humor. On many occasions when she criticized Lennon, he would respond with a joke, and the two of them would be "rolling around, laughing together." Mimi had three Siamese cats that she was very fond of: Tich (a marmalade-coloured half-Persian), Tim (a half-Persian) and Sam (a cat that Lennon found as a stray in the street) and would later have cats of his own.
Mimi bought volumes of short stories for Lennon, and George taught the five-year-old to read by reading aloud the headlines of the Liverpool Echo. Every summer, from the age of nine until he was 15, Mimi sent Lennon alone on a 10-hour bus journey to visit his Aunt Mater and cousin Stanley Parkes at their home near Loch Meadie in Durness, Scotland. Mimi also took her charge to a garden party in Calderstones Park every year, where a Salvation Army band played. Mimi remembered Lennon pulling her by the hand to get there, saying, "Hurry up Mimi – we’re going to be late." Strawberry Field, in Beaconsfield Road, was the name of a Salvation Army house that Lennon would later immortalize it in the song "Strawberry Fields Forever."
Despite the talk of Lennon being working class — as were Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr — he refuted the idea by saying, "I was a nice clean-cut suburban boy, and in the class system I was about a half an inch in a higher class than Paul, George and Ringo, who lived in subsidized government houses. We owned our own house, had our own garden. They didn't have anything like that." Lennon also said that Mendips was "a nice, semi-detached place, with a small garden and doctors and lawyers and that ilk living around ... not the poor slummy kind of image that was projected in all the Beatles' stories." After Lennon became famous, Mimi would berate him for speaking in a Liverpudlian accent, but Lennon replied: "That's show business, they want me to speak more Liverpool."
Mimi's husband George died of a liver hemorrhage in 1955, at the age of 52. Mimi rented a spare room at Mendips out to students for extra income after George's death, even though he had left Mimi £2,000 in his will. Three years after George's death, Julia was killed on Menlove Avenue — shortly after a visit to Mimi's — when she was knocked down by a car driven by an off-duty police officer, PC Eric Clague. Mimi did not witness the accident, but cried hysterically over Julia's body until the ambulance arrived. Calgue was acquitted of all charges, given a reprimand, and a short suspension from duty. When Mimi heard the verdict she was so incensed that she shouted "Murderer!" at Clague.
Mimi and Lennon's music
Although Mimi later claimed that she had bought Lennon's first guitar, it was actually Julia, after John had pestered his mother incessantly for weeks. Julia insisted that the instrument had to be delivered to her house and not to Mimi's.
Mimi and Julia first saw Lennon perform with The Quarrymen at the Woolton St. Peter's Church fête on the afternoon of 6 July 1957. Julia (who knew that Lennon would be performing) heard music coming from a large marquee in the field behind the church hall, and dragged Mimi along with her to listen to it. Lennon saw Mimi coming through the crowd and comically changed the words of a song to feature her name. Mimi related two versions of what she thought that day about seeing Lennon on stage: "Horrified to behold John in front of a microphone," and "as pleased as Punch to see him up there."
With help from Mimi and Lennon's headmaster, Lennon was accepted into the Liverpool College of Art as Mimi was insistent that Lennon should have some sort of academic qualifications, but Lennon was beginning to show an interest in music. Mimi hoped Lennon would become bored with music, and often said, “Music's all right John, but you'll never make a living out of it.”
In later years, Lennon would jokingly remind Mimi of her comment, and after The Beatles' success he presented her with a silver plaque engraved with her words. When later asked about the plaque, Mimi would say that Lennon had it made for her husband George, and not her.
Mimi was against the idea of Lennon forming a band and disapproved of McCartney because he was, she said, "working class" — calling him "John's little friend" — and when Mimi later met George Harrison, she "hated him" because of his thick "scouse" accent and "Teddy Boy" clothes. Lennon and McCartney often met at 'Mendips' to write songs, and rehearsed in the glass-paneled porch at the front of the house, which was the only place Mimi would let them play. Mimi once asked Parkes to take her to The Cavern to see Lennon play, but when she descended into the damp, dark cellar, full of screaming teenagers, she shouted to Parkes, "Get him [Lennon] out, get him out! Tell him to come off the stage! He can't stay here.... We'll have to stop this!" The Beatles' first Hamburg trip also shocked Mimi, as she wanted Lennon to continue his studies, but Lennon ignored her. Lennon later placated Mimi slightly by greatly exaggerating the sum of how much money he would earn in Hamburg.
Lennon's girlfriends and wives
Mimi's attitude to Lennon's partners was either frosty, disdainful, or sarcastic. She constantly criticized Lennon about his relationships, and even criticized Cynthia for divorcing Lennon and allowing him to start a relationship with Yoko Ono.
Mimi and Cynthia Lennon
Mimi once referred to Cynthia Powell as "a gangster's moll," and was particularly unpleasant or cold towards her. In the summer of 1962, Cynthia discovered that she was pregnant with Lennon's child. Lennon proposed marriage, but when he told Mimi she threatened never to speak to him again in order to stop him from going through with it. Lennon and Cynthia were married on 23 August, at the Mount Pleasant Register office in Liverpool, but Mimi did not attend. Lennon had wanted his half-sisters, cousins, and aunts to be there, but Mimi made sure that did not happen.
When Lennon returned to Mendips after a Hamburg trip, Mimi threw a cooked chicken (that Lennon had bought especially for her) and a hand-mirror at Lennon for spending money on a suede coat for Cynthia. After Lennon and Cynthia had been living at Brian Epstein's flat for a few months (and after hearing about Cynthia's near-miscarriage) Mimi offered to rent Mendips' downstairs room to them both. Cynthia remembered Mendips as cold and draughty (it had no central heating system) with only old electric fires in the downstairs rooms.
Whilst Lennon was in Hamburg he would often telephone Mendips, but Mimi always got to the phone first and talked to Lennon until shortly before his money ran out, only then handing over the phone to Cynthia. Cynthia had to boil hake fish for Mimi's three Siamese cats every day, which made the pregnant Cynthia nauseous. After Julian Lennon's birth, Cynthia often found one of Mimi's cats (along with cat hairs) in Julian's cot, and later said, "Mimi's passions throughout her life were money, Lennon and cats — in about that order." Mimi came downstairs one morning and told Cynthia that she had had a dream in which Cynthia's mother had come to the door and she [Mimi] had absolutely refused to let her in the house. This was the final straw and led Cynthia, in November 1963, to leave Mendips and move into a bedsit with Julian and her mother.
Mimi and Yoko Ono
On 14 March 1969, while Lennon and Yoko Ono were visiting Mimi in Poole, Lennon asked his chauffeur, Les Anthony, to drive to Southampton and enquire if it would be possible to get married at sea. On 20 March 1969, Lennon and Ono flew to Gibraltar and were married in the British Consulate.
Before Christmas in 1972, Mimi met Cynthia at the funeral of Mimi's sister, Harriet, in Liverpool. Mimi sternly criticized Cynthia for divorcing Lennon — and letting him start a relationship with Ono — by saying she should have stopped him from making "an idiot of himself." Even though Mimi was described as having been a domineering woman, Ono later compared herself to Mimi when describing her own relationship with Lennon. Mimi complimented Ono by saying that she had to admit that she was a good wife and mother, and that she had told Lennon so. After Lennon's death, Ono and Sean Lennon visited Mimi in Liverpool, where she was staying at Aunt Anne's house because of a heart condition. Mimi said, “Sean is like John in every way — looks and manner — and he has got John's sense of humor. As long as he keeps away from music, he will be all right.”
Ono later bought Mendips and donated it to the The National Trust. It was renovated to make it look as it was in the 1950s when Lennon lived there, and Ono visited it before it was opened to the public. Lennon's cousin, Michael Cadwallader, advised the National Trust on how the house looked when Mimi lived there.
Later years
Mimi had relatives in Eketahuna, New Zealand, as her maternal aunt, Harriet Millward, had married and moved to New Zealand. Mimi exchanged letters with her relatives over the years, so Lennon arranged for a Beatles' tour to visit New Zealand in 1964, in part because he wanted to give Mimi the gift of a visit to her relatives. Mimi stayed there for five months.
The Beatles' success caused a problem for Mimi, as she was constantly pestered by fans at Mendips. She sold the house for £6,000 in 1965, and Lennon bought her a £25,000 bungalow by the beach called Sandbanks, at 126 Panorama Road, Poole, in Dorset, which was Mimi's home for the rest of her life. Lennon, Cynthia and son Julian visited her there in the summer of 1965, which was the last time all three of them visited Mimi together. Lennon later gave Mimi his MBE medal (which she kept on the top of her television) until Lennon asked for it back so that he could return it in protest.
Lennon gave Mimi an allowance of £30 per week, but when Mimi found out that Cynthia's mother was being given the same amount, she phoned the Lennon's house and said, "What has she [Cynthia's mother] done to deserve anything? Tell John, when you speak to him, that I am very, very annoyed", before slamming down the phone. Lennon moved to New York in 1971, and never returned to England. Despite losing touch with several family members, he kept in close contact with Mimi and telephoned her every week. On 5 December 1980, three days before Lennon was murdered, he called Mimi to say he was homesick and was planning a trip back to England.
Lennon's half-sister Jacqui, Julia's daughter, lived with Mimi for a time at Sandbanks, but left after she became pregnant. She later reappeared when she became pregnant for the second time. She often visited on weekends during Mimi's last years. After Lennon's death Mimi was furious to find out that he had never transferred the ownership of the house over to her; this meant that Ono owned the house, and could sell it at any time.
Death
Mimi died on 6 December 1992, at the age of 89, while being cared for at home by Lynne Varcoe, an auxiliary nurse, whose main job was as a mathematics teacher, but worked for her mother for extra income. Varcoe's mother ran the Varcoe Nursing Agency, and was asked by Ono to look after Mimi. During the night, carers from the Cheshire Trust were present. Mimi collapsed on the toilet, so Varcoe helped her to the bed, where Mimi started Cheyne-Stoking. According to Varcoe, Mimi's last words were, "Hello, John."
Although the oldest of the Stanley girls, Mimi was the last of them to die. Cynthia, Sean and Ono attended her funeral on 12 December 1991; McCartney, Harrison, and Starr all sent floral arrangements. Despite the animosity between Cynthia and Mimi, Varcoe remembered Cynthia crying throughout the whole funeral, and said that Mimi had always spoken positively about her. Mimi was cremated at the Poole Crematorium (on the A349 Poole to Wimborne Road) and the reception was at the Harbour Heights Hotel, on Haven Road, Poole, which is close to Sandbanks. The whereabouts of her ashes is unknown. Ono put Mimi's home up for sale on the same day as Mimi's cremation, and sometime later the house was torn down.
Help me if you can I'm feeling down And I would do appreciate you being round. Help me get my feet back on the ground Won't you please help me
When I was younger so much younger than I am today I never needed anybody's help in any way Now those days are gone and I'm not so self assured Now I find I've change mind [sic] And opened up the doors Help I need somebody ___ Not just anybody Help. You know I need someone
As Released by the Beatles (1965)
Help! I need somebody Help! Not just anybody Help! You know I need someone Help!
When ((when)) I was younger ((when I was young)) So much younger than today I never needed ((never needed)) anybody's help in any way But now ((but now)) these days are gone ((these days are gone)) I'm not so self-assured Now I find ((and now I find)) I've changed my mind And opened up the doors.
Help me if you can, I'm feeling down And I do appreciate you being round Help me get my feet back on the ground Won't you please please help me?
And now ((now)) my life has changed ((my life has changed)) In oh so many ways My independence ((my independence)) seems to vanish in the haze But ((but)) every now and then ((now and then)) I feel so insecure I know that I ((I know that I)) just need you like I've never done before.
Help me if you can, I'm feeling down And I do appreciate you being round Help me get my feet back on the ground Won't you please please help me?
When I was younger, so much younger than today I never needed anybody's help in any way But now ((now)) these days are gone ((these days are gone)) I'm not so self-assured Now I find ((and now I find)) I've changed my mind And opened up the doors.
Help me if you can, I'm feeling down And I do appreciate you being round Help me get my feet back on the ground Won't you please please help me?
Norman Smith a.k.a. Hurricane Smith (22 February 1923 – 3 March 2008) was an English musician and record producer.
Biography
Smith was born in Edmonton, North London and served as a RAF glider pilot during World War II. After an unsuccessful career as a jazz musician, Smith joined EMI as an apprentice sound engineer in 1959.
He was the engineer on all of the EMI studio recordings by The Beatles until 1965 when EMI promoted him from engineer to producer. The last Beatles album he recorded was Rubber Soul, and Smith engineered the sound for slightly fewer than 100 Beatles songs in total.
While working with The Beatles on 17 June 1965, he was offered £15,000 by the band's music publishing company, Dick James Music, to buy outright a song he had written.
In early 1967, he began working with a new group, Pink Floyd, producing their first, second, and fourth studio albums The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, A Saucerful of Secrets, and Ummagumma. During the sessions for the song, "Remember a Day," drummer Nick Mason became agitated that he could not come up with the right drum part for the song. Smith, however, knew what he wanted with the drums, so he played the part himself.
In 1968, Smith produced one of the first rock concept albums, The Pretty Things' S.F. Sorrow.
He produced early recordings by Barclay James Harvest, including their highly-rated album Once Again, and many years later was name-checked in John Lees's song, "John Lennon's Guitar."
In 1971, Smith, using a recording artist pseudonym of "Hurricane Smith," had a UK hit with "Don't Let It Die." This recording was a demo of a song that he had written with the hope that John Lennon would record it. When he played it for fellow record producer Mickie Most, Most was impressed enough to tell him to release it as it was. In 1972, he enjoyed a transatlantic hit with "Oh Babe What Would You Say?" which became a U.S. #1 Cashbox and a Billboard Pop #3 hit. Also included on Smith's self-titled debut album was a third hit single, a cover version of Gilbert O'Sullivan's "Who Was It?"
Some minor hits followed, like "My Mother Was Her Name" (1972), "Beautiful Day, Beautiful Night" (1973) and "To Make You My Baby" (1974). However, his subsequent attempts at producing successful recordings proved elusive.
He also recorded an instrumental track entitled "Theme From an Unmade Silent Movie," which the West Midlands based radio presenter Tony Butler adopted as his theme music. Aston Villa F.C. also used the track, much to Smith's displeasure as he was a Tottenham Hotspur supporter. It was performed by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra on 6 June 2008.
In 2004, Smith released a new CD, From Me To You (SFMCD030), including new recordings of his biggest self-penned hits, "Don't Let It Die" and "Oh Babe, What Would You Say?" and includes messages in the liner notes from Sir Paul McCartney and members of Pink Floyd.
Smith wrote a memoir, entitled John Lennon Called Me Normal. It debuted on 16 March 2007 as a limited edition at The Fest for Beatles Fans in Secaucus, New Jersey. There, Smith appeared and sang "Oh Babe." The book contains never before published pictures, newly revealed historical facts about the Beatles and Pink Floyd at Abbey Road Studios, as well as details of Smith's life as an RAF glider pilot.
John, Yoko and Sean return to Japan, where again they stay at the Hotel Okura. Rumors suggest that for the first time in seven years the Lennons intend to visit England, where they will visit John's Aunt Mimi at her bungalow at Poole in Dorset. (This fails to materialize.)
Any time at all, any time at all, any time at all All you gotta do is call And I'll be there.
If you need somebody to love Just look into my eyes I'll be there to make you feel right If you're feeling sorry and sad, I'd really sympathise Don't you be sad, just call me tonight.
Any time at all, any time at all, any time at all All you gotta do is call And I'll be there.
If the sun has faded away I'll try to make it shine. There is nothing I won't do When you need a shoulder to cry on I hope it will be mine Call me tonight and I'll come to you.
Any time at all, any time at all, any time at all All ya gotta do is call And I'll be there.
Any time at all, any time at all, any time at all All you gotta do is call And I'll be there.
Any time at all All ya gotta do is call And I'll be there.
I Wanna Hold Your Hand Oh yea, I'll tell you something I think you'll understand When I say that something I wanna hold your hand Repeat twice Oh please say to me you'll let me be you man and please say to me you'll let me hold your hand
and when I touch you I feel happy inside it's such a feeling that my love - I can't hide I can't hide Oh you got that something I think you understand
Second Manuscript, "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" (1963)
Oh yea, I'll tell you something I think you'll understand When I say that something I wanna . . . . . . Twice Oh please say to me You'll let me be your man and please say to me you'll let me hold your thing.
And when I touch you I feel happy inside it's such a feeling that my love I can't hide etc. .
Oh you got that something I think you understand When I feel that something I wanna hold your hand
3/10 see me. As Released by the Beatles (1963)
Oh yeah, I'll tell you something I think you'll understand When I say that something I wanna hold your hand I wanna hold your hand I wanna hold your hand.
Oh please say to me And/You'll let me be your man And please say to me You'll let me hold your hand And/You'll let me hold your hand I wanna hold your hand.
And when I touch you I feel happy inside It's such a feeling That my love I can't hide I can't hide I can't hide.
Yeah, you've got that something I think you'll understand When I say that something I wanna hold your hand I wanna hold your hand I wanna hold your hand.
And when I touch you I feel happy inside It's such a feeling That my love I can't hide I can't hide I can't hide.
Yeah, you've got that something I think you'll understand When I feel that something I wanna hold your hand I wanna hold your hand I wanna hold your hand I wanna hold your hand.
In this series, In The Life Of...The Beatles presents the top 10 unreleased recordings of the Beatles.
For whatever reason, John Barrett neglected to make a tape copy of take 3 of the superb "Norwegian Wood (Third Bird Has Flown)" when dubbing copies of certain session tapes while he documented Beatles recordings for the Beatles at Abbey Road studio tour that occurred in 1983. Mark Lewisohn, one of the few to have heard it, described it as follows: "Take three was predominantly acoustic, with two acoustic guitars and Paul's bass, and nothing else bar vocals from John and Paul. This take saw the introduction of the acoustic opening which was to remain for the final version. Take four was that final version, with sitar reinstated."
Here's take 4, where John shows that he can master the guitar intro: "I showed ya!"
Rory Storm (21 September 1939 - 28 September 1972) was an English singer and musician. He was born Alan Caldwell in Liverpool. Storm was the singer and leader of Rory Storm and The Hurricanes, a Liverpudlian band who were contemporaries of The Beatles in the late 1950s, and early 1960s. Ringo Starr was the drummer for The Hurricanes before joining The Beatles in August 1962.
The Hurricanes were one of the most popular acts on the Liverpool and Hamburg club scenes during their existence, although their attempt at a recording career was not successful. They released only two singles, the second one being a version of the West Side Story song "America," which was produced by The Beatles' manager Brian Epstein.
When Storm's father died, he returned from Amsterdam to Liverpool to be with his mother at Stormsville, at 54 Broadgreen Road, Broadgreen, Liverpool. On 27 September 1972, Storm developed a chest infection and could not sleep properly, so he took sleeping pills. The next day Storm and his mother were both found dead. A post mortem revealed that Storm had not taken enough pills to kill himself, but it was suspected that his mother had, after finding her son's body.
Early years
Rory Storm was born Alan Caldwell in 21 September 1939, in Oakhill Park Estate, Stoneycroft, Liverpool, to Ernie and Vi (Violet) Caldwell. His father was a window cleaner by profession, and a part-time porter at the Broad Green Hospital, often singing songs to patients. Storm had one sister; Iris Caldwell, who would later date George Harrison when she was 12, and Paul McCartney, when she was 17. Iris would later marry Shane Fenton, later be known as Alvin Stardust. Apart from music, Storm was interested in sports, particularly athletics; he ran for an amateur team in Liverpool called the Pembroke Harriers, and won the Pembroke Athletics and Cycle Club steeplechase record. Instead of being driven home after concerts in Liverpool, Storm preferred to run home. Storm played football regularly and was a good skater and swimmer (once swimming the 12.5 mile length of Lake Windermere). Liverpool F.C. used to train at Melwood and he went to watch them in training, later putting up a large photo of himself training with the team on his wall at home. He was the captain of the Mersey Beat magazine's football team, called the Mersey Beat XI. Storm was born with a stutter (a speech impediment), which did not affect his singing. Because of Storm's bad stammer, his friends never allowed him to tell a joke or to order a round of drinks, as it took too long. He became a cotton salesman (as was Jim McCartney, Paul McCartney's father) before forming a skiffle group.
Music
Storm's first name for a group was Dracula & the Werewolves, but later settled on Al Caldwell's Texans. Still known as Alan Caldwell, Storm opened The Morgue Skiffle Club in the cellar of a large Victorian house at West Oakhill Park, on 13 March 1958. It consisted of two rooms, painted black, that were connected by a long corridor, with skeletons painted on the walls and one blue light. Groups played on Tuesdays and Thursdays for up to 100 people (above the age of 15) starting at 7.30 pm, including Storm's group (later called The Raving Texans) and The Quarry Men, who later became The Beatles. After complaints about the noise, the police closed down the club on 1 April 1958, and Storm reopened it on 22 April 1958. It was in the Morgue Skiffle Club that Harrison auditioned for The Quarry Men, playing "Guitar Boogie Shuffle" by Bert Weedon, before being asked to join. Harrison later asked Storm if he could join his group, but Storm's mother refused, as she thought Harrison was too young.
Storm went to London, on 11 April 1958, to participate in a cross-country running competition. During his stay he took part in a jam session at Chas McDevitt's Skiffle Cellar, which resulted in an appearance on 30 April 1958, on Radio Luxembourg's Skiffle club programme playing "Midnight Special". In 1959, Storm's group consisted of himself on guitar and vocals, Johnny 'Guitar' Byrne (guitar/vocals) Paul Murphy (guitar/vocals) Reg Hales (washboard) and Jeff Truman (tea-chest bass). 'Spud' Ward, a former member of The Swinging Blue Jeans, later played bass guitar. Storm met Ringo Starr at a talent contest called '6.5 Special'. Starr had previously played with The Eddie Clayton Skiffle Group and was then drumming with a group called Darktown Skiffle. Starr's first concert with Storm was on 25 March 1959, at the Mardi Gras in Mount Pleasant, Liverpool.
Rory Storm and The Hurricanes
Storm changed the name of his group to Al Storm and the Hurricanes, Jett Storm and the Hurricanes, and finally, Rory Storm & the Hurricanes. The original line-up was Storm, Byrne, Ty Brian, Lu Walters (b. Walter Eymond) and Starr. Storm and The Hurricanes entered a competition managed by Carrol Levis called, 'Search For Stars', at the Empire Theatre on 11 October 1959 reaching second place ahead of 150 acts. The lineup of The Hurricanes which was finally settled on, until 1962, was Storm (vocals) Byrne (rhythm guitar) Ty (Charles) O’Brien (lead guitar) Walters (bass guitar/vocals) and Starr. The group played at The Cavern Club with The Cy Laurie Jazz Band on Sunday 2 January 1960, and a week later supported The Saints Jazz Band and Terry Lightfoot's New Orleans Jazz Band. Playing rock 'n' roll music was a problem at The Cavern Club, as it was not allowed. When Storm and The Hurricanes played there on 17 January 1960, with Micky Ashman's Jazz Band and the Swinging Blue Jeans, their first song was "Cumberland Gap" (a skiffle song) by Lonnie Donegan but then played "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin On," by Jerry Lee Lewis. The jazz and skiffle audience were outraged, booed and threw copper coins at the group. Ray McFall (The Cavern's manager) fined them 6 shillings, but the coins collected from the stage floor were worth more than the fine.
Storm and The Hurricanes performed at The Liverpool Stadium on 3 May 1960, on the same bill as Gene Vincent. Larry Parnes became interested in The Hurricanes, and invited them to audition at the Wyvern Club as a backing group for Billy Fury. Storm turned up at the audition, but only so he could have his picture taken with Fury. In July 1960, the group secured a residency at Butlins holiday camp in Pwllheli (playing in the Rock 'n' Calypso Ballroom) for £25 each per week. Starr was not sure about giving up his job as an apprentice at Henry Hunt's, where he made climbing frames for schools, until Storm put forward the idea of "Starr-time" (a solo spot) with Starr singing songs like "Boys" by The Shirelles. Starr finally agreed when Storm told him about how many women would be "available." It was during this season that Starr (who had been known as Ritchie until then) changed his name to Ringo. John Lennon refused to work in holiday camps like Butlins, even though they paid well, saying "It would be like playing in Belsen."
Hamburg
After playing for more than 16 hours per week, the group were contacted by Allan Williams, who wanted them to go to Hamburg. Derry and The Seniors were successful there, and Williams wanted an additional group. As Storm and the group were committed to Butlins, they turned Williams' offer down (as did Gerry & The Pacemakers) so Williams sent The Beatles to Hamburg instead. After the summer season ended in early October 1960, Storm and The Hurricanes were free to travel to Hamburg, replacing Derry and The Seniors at the Kaiserkeller. They arrived in Hamburg on 1 October 1960, having negotiated to be paid more than The Seniors or The Beatles. They played five or six 90-minute sets every day alternating with The Beatles. Storm and The Hurricanes were later presented with a special certificate by Bruno Koschmider (the owner of the Kaiserkeller) for their performances.
The stage of the Kaiserkeller was made of planks of wood balanced on the top of beer crates, so the two groups made a bet to see to who would be the first to break it. After punishing the stage for days, a slight crack appeared, and when Storm jumped off the top of the upright piano it finally broke. Byrne remembered that as Storm hit the stage, it cracked loudly and formed a V-shape around Storm. He disappeared into it, and all the amplifiers and Starr's cymbals slid into the hole. Koschmider was furious, and had to replace the live music with a juke box. Both groups went across the road to Harold's cafe for breakfast, but were followed by Koschmider's doormen with coshes, who beat the musicians as punishment.
During their eight-week residency Williams arranged a recording session at the Akoustik Studio, which was a small booth on the fifth floor of 57 Kirchenalle (The Klockmann-House) on Saturday 18 October 1960. Williams asked Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison from The Beatles to play and sing harmonies for Walters (of The Hurricanes) on the recording. Pete Best (The Beatles' regular drummer at the time) was in town buying drumsticks, so Starr played drums, which was the first time all four (Lennon, McCartney Harrison and Starr) played and recorded together. They recorded three songs: "Fever," "September Song" and "Summertime."
Liverpool
Storm and The Hurricanes were the headlining group at the first "Beat Night," in the Orrell Park Ballroom, in March 1961. They were also invited for a season at the Butlins camp in Skegness in Lincolnshire. Sam Leach (a Liverpool promoter) arranged a series of dance nights at the Palais Ballroom in Aldershot, starting on 9 December 1961. The first featured The Beatles, but as the local newspaper forgot to run the advertisement only 18 people turned up. The second Saturday was arranged for Rory Storm and The Hurricanes to perform, and as it was advertised this time, 210 people paid to get in. Leach's idea was to attract London agents to watch the series of concerts, but when he realized they would never travel out of London he abandoned the idea.
Starr considered leaving Storm at that time to join Derry and The Seniors, but accepted a job with Tony Sheridan at the Top Ten Club on 30 December 1961, as Sheridan's offer of more money, a flat and a car was too good to refuse. Starr's stay with Sheridan was short-lived, as he found Sheridan's habit of changing the set list without telling his backing group beforehand frustrating, so he rejoined The Hurricanes. On 5 February 1962, Best fell ill and The Beatles had to play a lunchtime concert at the Cavern and an evening concert at the Kingsway club in Southport. As The Hurricanes had no concert that day Starr played with them live on stage for the first time (although he had recorded with them in Hamburg).
During a Hurricanes' residency at Butlins, Lennon and McCartney drove from Liverpool to Skegness, on 15 August 1962, to ask Starr to join The Beatles. Shortly before, Starr had agreed to join Kingsize Taylor in Hamburg, as Taylor was offering £20 a week, but Lennon and McCartney offered £25 a week, which Starr accepted. Lennon and McCartney offered Storm to swap drummers (with Best replacing Starr) but Best rejected the idea. The Hurricanes would then become known for having a succession of drummers (including Gibson Kemp, Brian Johnson, John Morrison, Keef Hartley (August 1963) Ian Broad, and Trevor Morais) who would all stay with the group for a short period before leaving.
Despite Starr joining The Beatles, both groups would perform on the same bill during 1961, and at many concerts thereafter. In 1962, both groups performed together at St Patrick's Night Rock Gala (Knotty Ash Village Hall) Queen's Hall (Widnes) and with Little Richard at the Tower Ballroom. In 1963, Storm and The Hurricanes were filmed as part of the "Beat City" documentary, which was broadcast by Associated-Rediffusion Television.
Stage persona and lifestyle
When Storm became a professional singer, he changed his name to Rory Storm by deed poll, and changed the name of his family's home in Broadgreen to Stormsville. Storm was known for the extravagant clothes he wore and the cars he drove, once buying a pink Vauxhall Cresta for £800 in cash. A young man was once caught by a porter at Bootle railway station writing "I love Rory" over the walls, and when questioned, it turned out to be Storm himself. The Hurricanes wore matching suits on stage, but Storm wore a pink suit and pink tie, and during concerts he would walk over to the piano and comb his blond hair with an oversized comb. Their stage wear changed from sunglasses and palm tree decorated shirts to red (and blue) suits. Storm also wore an Elvis-style gold lamé suit. When they first appeared at Butlins holiday camp Storm wore a turquoise suit with a gold lamé shirt, while the group wore fluorescent suits.
Rod Punt (also known as Steve Day in Steve Day & the Drifters) remembered Storm arriving at the Orrell Park Ballroom for a concert with a boil on his face. When told about it, Storm pulled out a black velvet hood which had slits for his eyes and mouth, and played the whole concert with the hood on. At one concert at Bankfield House Youth club, Garston, Liverpool, in 1965, the stage lighting failed between sets. Storm was upset until someone walked in with a big flashlight, which Storm used to finish the concert. Storm used a pet monkey in some of the group's performances, as it attracted more people. At a New Brighton swimming baths performance for 1,600 people in 1963, Storm climbed to the top diving board, undressed to a pair of swimming trunks, and then dived into the water at the end of a song. In January 1964, during a performance at the Majestic Ballroom, Birkenhead, Storm climbed up one of the columns supporting the balcony, but slipped and fell 30 feet to the floor below, fracturing his leg. At another performance on the New Brighton Pier, Storm made his way onto the Pavilion roof, but fell through the glass skylight.
Storm and The Hurricanes received the most votes in the first Mersey Beat magazine poll, but many votes were disqualified as they had been posted from the same place at the same time, and were written in green ink. (Although never proven, it was thought that Storm had posted the votes). This meant that The Beatles reached the top position, with The Hurricanes coming fourth, even though The Beatles had also been sending in extra votes themselves. Storm was often photographed for the magazine, such as being surrounded by nurses when he left hospital after breaking a leg during a performance, or playing for the Mersey Beat XI football team.
The Hurricanes' set list
The group's typical 40-minute set list during 1963/1964:
* "Brand New Cadillac" Storm (vocal) Vince Taylor & the Playboys * "Roll Over Beethoven" Storm (vocal) Chuck Berry * "I'll Be Your Hero" Storm (vocal) Taylor & the Playboys * "Beautiful Dreamer" Walters (vocal) Tony Orlando * "Since You Broke My Heart" (Walters/Byrne) The Everly Brothers * "America" Storm (vocal) Leonard Bernstein * "Danny" Storm (vocal) Marty Wilde * "Green Onions" (instrumental) Booker T & the MG's * "Down The Line" Storm (vocal) Jerry Lee Lewis * "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin On" Storm (vocals) Jerry Lee Lewis.
Other songs included in the set were:
* "Fever" Walters (vocal) written by Eddie Cooley and John Davenport (a pseudonym for Otis Blackwell). * "Let It Be Me" Walters (vocals) Gilbert Bécaud * "Summertime" Walters (vocal) George Gershwin. * "Brand New Cadillac" Storm (vocal) Taylor * "I'll Be Your Hero" Storm (vocal) * "Roll Over Beethoven" Storm (vocal) Chuck Berry * "Dr Feelgood" Storm (vocal) * "Since You Broke My Heart", was a duet by Byrne and Walters.
The Hurricanes recorded songs for Oriole's two "This Is Mersey Beat" albums, but only released two singles: "Dr Feelgood"/"I Can Tell," Oriole (45-CB 1858 12/63) and "America"/"Since You Broke My Heart," Parlophone (R 5197 11/64) which was produced by Epstein at IBC Studios in London. Epstein also sang backing vocals on "America," and Starr added percussion and sang. Storm later asked Epstein to manage the group, but Epstein declined. The Hurricanes later recorded two songs at Abbey Road Studios in 1964: "Ubangi Stomp" and "I'll Be There," although they were never released.
Later life and death
In 1967, O’Brien (26) collapsed on stage during a performance, and later died due to complications after an appendicitis operation. Storm disbanded The Hurricanes and became a disc jockey, working at the Silver Blades Ice Rink in Liverpool, in Benidorm (he was also a water-skiing instructor there) in Jersey and Amsterdam. When Storm's father died, he returned from Amsterdam to Liverpool to be with his mother. Storm developed a chest infection and could not sleep properly, so he took sleeping pills. On 28 September 1972, Storm and his mother were both found dead, at Stormsville. The post mortem revealed that Storm had alcohol and sleeping pills in his blood (as had his mother) but not enough to cause his death, which was ruled accidental, although it could not be proven that his mother had committed suicide after finding Storm's body. The funeral for Storm and his mother was at Oakvale Congregational Church, Broadgreen, on 19 October 1972. Mourners sang Storm's favorite song, "You'll Never Walk Alone." The two coffins were carried from the hearse to the cremation (at Anfield Crematorium) by former band members. When Starr was asked why he did not attend, he said, "I wasn't there when he was born either." Although Starr had often offered to arrange for Storm to record whenever he wanted to, Storm was not interested in finding new or original material. His sister said: "He [Storm] was happy to be the King of Liverpool - he was never keen on touring, he didn't want to give up running for the Pembroke Harriers...and he'd never miss a Liverpool football match!"
Fury, whom Storm had met at the Wyvern Club auditions, later played the part of a singer called Stormy Tempest in the film, That'll Be the Day (1973) which was based on Storm. In 1987, a musical was staged in Liverpool about Storm and The Hurricanes called A Need For Heroes.
Please Please Me is the first album recorded by The Beatles, rush-released on 22 March 1963 in the United Kingdom to capitalize on the success of singles "Please Please Me" (#2) and "Love Me Do" (#17). Of the album's fourteen songs, eight were written by Lennon/McCartney, early evidence of what Rolling Stone later called "[their invention of] the self-contained rock band, writing their own hits and playing their own instruments." The album was released by Parlophone in mono (catalogue number PMC 1202) and stereo (PCS 3042.)
Recording
In order for the album to contain fourteen songs (the norm for British twelve inch vinyl pop albums in 1963 was to have seven songs on each side, while American albums usually had only five or six songs per side) ten more tracks were needed to add to the four sides of their first two singles recorded and released previously. Therefore, at 10.00 a.m. on Monday, 11 February, at Abbey Road Studios, The Beatles and George Martin started recording what was essentially their live act in 1963, and finished 585 minutes later (9 hours and 45 minutes). In three sessions that day (each lasting approximately three hours) they produced an authentic representation of the band's Cavern Club-era sound, as there were very few overdubs and edits. Optimistically, only two sessions were originally booked by Martin—the evening session was added later. George Martin initially contemplated recording the Please Please Me LP live at the Cavern in front of their own audience and visited the Liverpool club to experience The Beatles phenomenon for himself. But when time constraints intervened he decided to book them into Abbey Road Studios instead, and simply record them virtually live. Martin said, "It was a straightforward performance of their stage repertoire — a broadcast, more or less."
The day ended with a cover of "Twist and Shout", which had to be recorded last because John Lennon had a particularly bad cold and Martin feared the throat-shredding vocal would ruin Lennon's voice for the day. This performance, captured first take, and generally regarded as a classic, prompted Martin to say: "I don't know how they do it. We've been recording all day but the longer we go on the better they get."
The song "Hold Me Tight" was recorded during these sessions, but was "surplus to requirements" and was not included on the album. "Hold Me Tight" was recorded again on 12 September 1963 for With the Beatles.
The whole day's session cost around £400. George Martin said: "There wasn't a lot of money at Parlophone. I was working to an annual budget of £55,000." This, however, had to cover all of the artists on Martin's roster.
Individually, under a contract with the Musicians' Union, each Beatle was entitled to collect seven pounds and ten shillings (£7.50) session fee, for each three hour session, which they duly did. Martin considered calling the album Off the Beatle Track before Please Please Me was released on Parlophone PCS 3042.
Please Please Me was recorded on a two-track tape recording machine, with most of the instrumentation on one track and the vocals on the other, allowing for a better balance between the two on the final half-inch tape mix-down in mono. A stereo mix was made later, with one track on the left channel and the other on the right, and a layer of reverb was added to better blend the two tracks together. This was common practice for playback on stereo consoles, but has a dramatic effect when listening with headphones.
Release
Please Please Me was officially released on Compact Disc on 26 February 1987 (catalogue number CDP 7 46435 2), along with three other Beatles' albums (With the Beatles, A Hard Day's Night, and Beatles for Sale), all in mono only.
In the U.S., most of the songs on Please Please Me were first issued on Vee-Jay Records' Introducing The Beatles in 1964, and then subsequently on Capitol Records' The Early Beatles in 1965. The unexpurgated Please Please Me was not released in the U.S. until the Beatles catalog was standardized for CD. The album was released on CD in America on 26 February 1987. It was not released on vinyl or tape in America until five months later, when it was issued domestically for the first time in the US on LP and cassette on 21 July 1987.
Please Please Me, along with all the other original UK studio albums, will be re-released on CD in newly remastered versions on 9 September 2009 in stereo and mono editions. The expected 2009 remasters will replace the infamously poor quality 1987 remasters.
Critical reception
In 2003, the magazine ranked the album number 39 on its list of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. It was ranked first among The Beatles' early albums, and sixth of all of The Beatles' albums, with Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Revolver, Rubber Soul, The Beatles (The White Album) and Abbey Road ranked higher.
Rolling Stone also placed two songs from the album on its list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time: #139, "I Saw Her Standing There", and #184, "Please Please Me". According to Allmusic, "Decades after its release, the album still sounds fresh," the covers are "impressive" and the originals "astonishing."
Album cover and label
George Martin, a fellow of London Zoo, thought that it might be good publicity for the zoo to have The Beatles pose outside the insect house for the cover photography of the album. However, the Zoological Society of London turned down Martin's offer, and instead, Angus McBean was asked to take the distinctive colour photograph of the group looking down over the stairwell inside EMI's London headquarters. Martin was to write later: “We rang up the legendary theatre photographer Angus McBean, and bingo, he came round and did it there and then. It was done in an almighty rush, like the music. Thereafter, though, The Beatles' own creativity came bursting to the fore". In 1969, The Beatles asked McBean to recreate this shot. Although the 1969 photograph was originally intended for the then-planned Get Back album, it was not used when that project saw eventual release in 1970 as Let It Be. Instead, the 1969 photograph, along with an unused photograph from the 1963 photo shoot, was used in 1973 for The Beatles retrospective albums The Beatles 1962 - 1966 and The Beatles 1967 - 1970.
Please Please Me was released when Parlophone were in the process of changing their label design. The very first pressings of the LP are the only The Beatles LPs that have the gold and black Parlophone label (gold writing on a black background). This version is highly sought after by collectors and the stereo version (as stereo was a very niche market at the time) is even more so. The next Please Please Me LP label had a yellow and black Parlophone LP label (black with yellow writing) which Parlophone would use until 1969. Later labels are usually black with silver writing and with either one or two EMI boxed logos.
Track listing
All songs written and composed by McCartney/Lennon, except where noted. Side one # Title Length 1. "I Saw Her Standing There" 2:55 2. "Misery" 1:50 3. "Anna (Go to Him)" (Arthur Alexander) 2:57 4. "Chains" (Gerry Goffin, Carole King) 2:26 5. "Boys" (Luther Dixon, Wes Farrell) 2:27 6. "Ask Me Why" 2:27 7. "Please Please Me" 2:03 Side two # Title Length 8. "Love Me Do" 2:22 9. "P.S. I Love You" 2:05 10. "Baby It's You" (Mack David, Barney Williams, Burt Bacharach) 2:38 11. "Do You Want to Know a Secret" 1:59 12. "A Taste of Honey" (Bobby Scott, Ric Marlow) 2:05 13. "There's a Place" 1:52 14. "Twist and Shout" (Phil Medley, Bert Russell) 2:33
Personnel
The Beatles
* George Harrison – harmony and background vocals; lead and acoustic guitars; lead vocals on "Chains" and "Do You Want to Know a Secret"; hand claps * John Lennon – lead, harmony and background vocals; rhythm and acoustic guitars; harmonica and hand claps * Paul McCartney – lead, harmony and background vocals; bass guitar and hand claps * Ringo Starr – drums, tambourine, maracas, hand claps and lead vocals on "Boys"
Additional musicians and production
* George Martin – additional arrangements, producer and mixer; piano on "Misery" and celesta on "Baby It's You" * Norman Smith – engineer and mixer * Andy White – drums on "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You"
Chart positions
Album
Highest chart position Chart Rank Disc Weekly 1 Melody Maker 1 NME 1 Record Retailer 1
It stayed on top for 30 weeks (from 11 May 1963). Weeks in chart: 74 (seventy weeks from 6 April 1963, and four weeks from 7 March 1987)
Singles
Billboard charts (North America) Year Song Chart Rank 1964 "Do You Want to Know a Secret" Pop Singles 2 1964 "I Saw Her Standing There" Pop Singles 14 1964 "Love Me Do" Pop Singles 1 1964 "P.S. I Love You" Pop Singles 10 1964 "Please Please Me" Pop Singles 3 1964 "There's a Place" Pop Singles 74 1964 "Twist and Shout" Pop Singles 2 1986 "Twist and Shout" The Billboard Hot 100 23
Released: 22 March 1963 Recorded: 11 September 1962, 26 November 1962, 11 and 20 February 1963; Abbey Road Studios, London, United Kingdom Genre: Rock and roll, Merseybeat, pop Length: 32:45 Language: English Label: Parlophone Producer: George Martin
Singles from Please Please Me
1. "Love Me Do"/"P.S. I Love You" Released: 5 October 1962 2. "Please Please Me"/"Ask Me Why" Released: 11 January 1963 3. "Twist and Shout" Released: 2 March 1964 4. "Do You Want to Know a Secret" Released: 23 March 1964
I got every reason on earth to be mad 'cos I've just lost the only girl I had. If I could get my way I'd get myself locked up today But I can't, so I'll cry instead.
I got a chip on my shoulder that's bigger than my feet. I can't talk to people that I meet. If I could see you now I'd try to make you sad somehow But I can't, so I'll cry instead.
Don't want to cry when there's people there I get shy when they start to stare. I'm gonna hide myself away-hey But I'll come back again some day.
And when I do you'd better hide all the girls I'm gonna break their hearts all round the world Yes, I'm gonna break 'em in two, And show you what your loving man can do Until then I'll cry instead.
Don't want to cry when there's people there I get shy when they start to stare. I'm gonna hide myself away-hey But I'll come back again some day.
And when I do you'd better hide all the girls 'cos I'm gonna break their hearts all round the world Yes, I'm gonna break 'em in two And show you what your loving man can do Until then I'll cry instead.
Derek Taylor (7 May 1932 – 8 September 1997) was a British journalist, best known as the long-serving press agent for the hugely popular rock band, The Beatles. He was a local journalist in Liverpool who worked for the Liverpool Daily Post and Echo, the News Chronicle, the Sunday Dispatch, and the Sunday Daily Express, and was also a regular columnist and theatre critic for the Northern Daily Express.
Early career
Taylor first met the band after reviewing their stage performance. Instead of the anticipated negative review of a rock-n-roll group, Taylor gave their act the highest praises. Invited to become acquainted with the Beatles camp, he soon became a confidant, and gained his share of exclusives on them.
As the Beatles gained national attention in Britain, Taylor's editors conceived of a running column by a Beatle to boost circulation, under their byline but to be ghostwritten by Taylor. George Harrison was the member chosen. Initially given only the right to approve or disapprove of the content, Harrison's dissection of the first draft turned the column into an ongoing collaboration between him and Taylor, with Harrison providing the stories and Taylor giving them polish.
Brian Epstein hired Taylor away from his newspaper job, putting him in charge of Beatles press releases, and playing media liaison to himself and the band. He also became Epstein's personal assistant. In 1964 Taylor co-wrote A Cellarful of Noise, Epstein's autobiography, then departed, moving his growing family to California. In 1965 he started his own public relations company, managing the PR for bands like Paul Revere and the Raiders, The Byrds and The Beach Boys. (Taylor was the first to apply the controversial "genius" label to Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson.) Taylor was a co-creator and producer of the historic Monterey Pop Festival in 1967.
George Harrison's song "Blue Jay Way" was written during his 1967 visit to California, on a foggy night waiting for Taylor and his wife to come visit ("There's a fog upon L.A. / And my friends have lost their way"). Finding a small electric organ in his rented house (on Blue Jay Way), Harrison worked on the song until they arrived.
Taylor was also a catalyst in Harry Nilsson's musical career; hearing Nilsson's song "1941" on a car radio, he bought a case (twenty-five copies) of his album Pandemonium Shadow Show, sending copies to different industry people – including all four Beatles, who soon invited Nilsson to London. Nilsson became longtime collaborators (and lifelong friends) with John Lennon and Ringo Starr.
In 1968, Taylor returned to England to work for the Beatles again, as the press officer for the newly created Apple Corps. As a VIP at Apple, Taylor had a major role in the company's ups and downs, making or enforcing many crucial business and personal decisions, for the Beatles and Apple's staff, and witnessing many key moments in the latter days of both. His role is well-portrayed in The Longest Cocktail Party, a memoir of Apple by former "house hippie" Richard DiLello, and other Beatles biographies.
Taylor gets a name-check in the last verse of "Give Peace a Chance," along with Tommy Smothers, Timothy Leary, and Norman Mailer, who all participated in the recording.
Later career
Taylor provided the liner notes to Harry Nilsson's Aerial Ballet, and some later albums. He also co-produced Nilsson's A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night in 1973. A "magic lamp" story written by Taylor's daughter Victoria was printed on the back cover of Nilsson's album Harry. He also worked with British jazz stars George Melly and John Chilton.
1973 also saw the publication by Sphere Books of the first of his Beatle memoirs, As Time Goes By, reprinted by their Abacus imprint the following year.
At this time Taylor was working for Warner Bros, Reprise, Elektra and Atlantic Records (later WEA) as their Director of Special Projects; while here he was instrumental in signing seminal Liverpool Art School rock band Deaf School. He moved on to become closely involved with George Harrison at Handmade Films before returning to base at Apple's Soho headquarters in London's West End.
In 1980, Taylor collaborated again with George Harrison, helping to complete I Me Mine, Harrison's autobiography. Taylor followed with one of his own, Fifty Years Adrift (In An Open Necked Shirt), (nicknamed "The Big Leather Job" or "The Fat Book") published in December 1983 by Genesis Publications. Harrison returned the favor by providing a glowing introduction to the signed, limited edition volume. Only 2,000 were ever printed, and the book quickly became a collectors' item.
Five years later, in 1987, It Was Twenty Years Ago Today (Fireside for Simon & Schuster), celebrated the 1967 release of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, providing a detailed documentary of the people and events that shaped the album and the wider events of the Summer Of Love counterculture. The book includes archive interviews and photographs as well as extensive transcripts from a Granada TV documentary also titled It Was Twenty Years Ago Today.
As Time Goes by: Living in the Sixties (Rock and Roll Remembrances Series No. 3) (Popular Culture Ink) was published in June 1990 in the USA, while in the UK Bois Books published What You Cannot Finish and Take A Sad Song in 1995, coinciding with the release of the Beatles Anthology. Posthumous volumes include Beatles (Ebury Press 1999). In addition, an audio CD, Here, There and Everywhere: Derek Taylor Interviews The Beatles, was released on the Thunderbolt label in 2001.
Derek Taylor died of cancer on 8 September 1997. At the time of his death he was still working for Apple.
You're making me say that I've got nobody but you But as from today well I've got somebody that's new I ain't no fool and I don't take what I don't want For I have got another girl, another girl.
She's sweeter than all the girls and I met quite a few Nobody in all the world can do what she can do And so I'm telling you this time you'd better stop For I have got another girl Another girl who will love me till the end Through thick and thin she will always be my friend.
I don't wanna say that I've been unhappy with you But as from today well I've seen somebody that's new I ain't no fool and I don't take what I don't want For I have got another girl Another girl who will love me till the end Through tick and thin she will always be my friend.
I don't wanna say that I've been unhappy with you But as from today well I've seen somebody that's new I ain't no fool and I don't take what I don't want For I have got another girl, another girl, another girl.
Larry Parnes (real name Laurence Maurice Palmer) was born in 1930, in Willesden, London; and died on 4 August 1989, in London. He was an English pop manager and impresario. He was jocularly known as "Parnes, shillings and pence," because of his known reticence in paying performers their worth.
Parnes had a reputation for signing male singers and giving them evocative pseudonyms. These included:
* Marty Wilde (born Reginald Leonard Smith) * Billy Fury (born Ronald William Wycherley) * Vince Eager (born Roy Taylor, 4 June 1940, Lincoln, Lincolnshire) * Dickie Pride (born Richard Charles Knellar, 21 October 1941, at 74 Parchmore Road, Thornton Heath, Surrey; died 26 March 1969) * Lance Fortune (born Chris Morris) * Duffy Power (born Ray Howard) * Terry Dene (born Terence Williams) * Johnny Gentle (born John Askew, 8 December 1940, Nightingale Square, near Scotland Road, Vauxhall, Liverpool) * Georgie Fame (born Clive Powell)
Joe Brown was the only one to resist Parnes' name changing; he intended to name him "Elmer Twitch." Songwriters like Lionel Bart provided original material.
Parnes auditioned, and then turned down The Silver Beetles - who were yet to change their name to The Beatles - as a backing band for Billy Fury, who also came from Liverpool, but he did employ them to back Johnny Gentle.
In 1967, he announced that he had outgrown the world of pop and would be devoting himself to the theatre. In 1972, he bought the 12 year lease for the Cambridge Theatre. During the 1970s, he administered the business affairs of the Olympic ice-skater John Curry, and in the same decade he held the leases of four London theatres and was the first impresario to bring the hit musical Chicago to the UK. Parnes also persuaded actress Joan Collins to perform her first West End play, The Last Of Mrs. Cheyney in 1976.
Parnes was also a horse racing fan, and owned racehorses, including 'Cambridge Gold,' named after his involvement in the Cambridge Theatre and John Curry. He had a penthouse property in the center of London, and a country mansion in Send, Surrey.
Larry Parnes died from meningitis in London aged 59. It is unknown what happened to Parnes's fortune after his death.
One of the other acts Parnes turned down in this era was pop singer William "Billy" Dean who would later tour with Roy Orbison.
WHITAKER: I did a photograph of the Beatles covered in raw meat and dolls and false teeth. And it was part of a series of photographs called Somnabulent Adventure, which basically is a dream sequence about how I saw the Beatles. And having finished that particular picture, it was snatched away from me and sent off to America and produced on a record cover without ever having the completed artwork done for it by me. So it was somebody else's conception. The cover layout itself was somebody else's conception. And I really think it was probably a good idea to ban it at the time, because it made no sense to anyone, it was just this horrific image of four Beatles who everybody loved, covered in raw meat and dolls and false teeth and dolls' eyes and things like that.
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