The Beatles Anthology (1995) s01e02 Episode Script

1
[crowd cheering]
-["Help!" playing]
-not so self-assured ♪
Now I find
I've changed my mind ♪
I've opened up the doors ♪
Help me if you can,
I'm feeling down ♪
And I do appreciate
you being 'round ♪
[music concludes]
I mean, we don't know,
it may be next week,
it may be two or three years,
but I think we'll be
in the business,
either up there or down there,
for at least another four years.
You can be big-headed and say,
"Yeah, we're gonna last ten years."
But as soon
as you've said that, you think,
you know, "We're lucky if we
last three months," you know.
Probably, the thing that John
and I will do, uh,
will be write songs,
as we have been doing,
as a sort of sideline now.
We'll probably develop that
a bit more.
But before they showed
evidence of that,
I still had to have
an album out.
And so what I did was, I mean,
I'd been up to the Cavern
and I'd seen
what they could do,
I knew their repertoire,
I knew what they were
able to perform,
and I said, "Let's record
every song you've got.
Come down to the studios,
and we'll just whistle
through them in a day."
-[bass guitar noodling]
-[George Martin] Here we go.
[John] You 'right?
Get this bloody little mic
out the way. [clears throat]
-[Paul] Don't be nervous, John.
-[John] I'm not.
[Paul] Don't be nervous. Don't be nervous.
[engineer] Take 7.
[Paul] One, two, three, four!
["I Saw Her
Standing There" playing]
Well, she was just seventeen ♪
You know what I mean ♪
-["Chains" playing]
-Chains ♪
My baby's got me
locked up in chains ♪
[Ringo] But we knew
those songs, you see,
because that was the act
we did all over the country.
-["Anna (Go to Him)" playing]
-You say he loves you more than me ♪
So I will set you free ♪
Go with him ♪
-["Baby It’s You" playing]
-'Cause, baby, it's you ♪
Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la ♪
Baby, it's you ♪
Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la ♪
Sha-la-la-la ♪
[John] Rock and roll
was brand new
when it came out,
and excited everybody.
It had roots in blues and jazz.
But you can't say
that rock and roll
is like the Twenties music,
although if you look for it,
you can find out
where it came from.
And you can find out
where Beatles music came from,
or any music came from.
It's just like it has
its history.
Oh, it doesn't matter
what they say ♪
[George Martin] They were always
very influenced
by American rhythm and blues.
I think this is probably what
the so-called "Beatle sound" was
because maybe they heard
the records before we did.
But they knew much more
about Motown
-and all the Black music
-[music concludes]
much more about it
than anybody else did,
and that was a tremendous
influence on them.
And the Beatles just carried it
a bit further, made it
a little more White
even than Elvis did,
because we were English, you know?
-[guitar noodling]
-[John] I can I can 'ardly strum
with all these microphones
about here. [chuckles]
-["Boys" playing]
-My girl says when I kiss her lips ♪
Gets a thrill
through her fingertips ♪
Hey, hey ♪
Bop shuop, m'bop bop shuop ♪
Hey, hey ♪
Bop shuop,
m'bop bop shuop ♪
[George] We'd all say,
"Well, what about this?"
"What about this?"
'Cause basically this album
was just what we did live
in the clubs.
[engineer] "Do You Want To Know
A Secret" Track 2, Take 8.
[John] Shall we just do it
on the second verse,
-like we said?
-[George] Second and last.
-[George Martin] Just the second verse.
-[John] Okay. So we wait.
["Do You Want
To Know A Secret" playing]
Listen ♪
Do you want
to know a secret? ♪
Do you promise not to tell? ♪
Whoa, oh, oh ♪
Closer ♪
[John] The first album
was recorded in a--
one long 12-hour session,
which the the last song
to be done was a song called
"Twist And Shout",
which nearly killed me.
-[music concludes]
-You can hear that
I'm just some frantic guy,
you know, doin' his best,
but it's about the nearest
it could get
to knowing what we sounded like
before we became
the clever Beatles.
-["Twist And Shout" playing]
-Well, shake it up, baby, now ♪
Shake it up, baby ♪
Twist and shout ♪
[Paul] John had to save
"Twist And Shout"
till the last, and he was
sucking Zubes all day,
those little throat tablets.
And he finally
had to do "Twist And Shout",
knowing he had to do it last
'cause it would just rip
his throat apart to do it.
It was great.
You can still hear that
on the record.
Look so good ♪
You know
you got me going, now ♪
Got me going ♪
Just like I knew you would ♪
Like I knew you would, ooh ♪
Well, shake it up, baby, now ♪
Shake it up, baby ♪
Twist and shout ♪
Twist and shout ♪
Come on, come on, come on,
come on, baby, now ♪
Come on, baby ♪
Come on and work it on out ♪
Work it on out, ooh ♪
You know you twist,
you little girl ♪
Twist, little girl ♪
You know you twist so fine ♪
Twist so fine ♪
Come on and twist
a little closer, now ♪
Twist a little closer ♪
And let me know
that you're mine ♪
Let me know you're mine, ooh ♪
Ah ♪
Ah ♪
Ah ♪
Ah ♪
Whaah! ♪
Yeah! ♪
Baby, now ♪
Shake it up, baby ♪
Twist and shout ♪
Twist and shout ♪
Come on, come on, come on,
come on, baby, now ♪
Come on, baby ♪
Come on and work it on out ♪
Work it on out, ooh ♪
You know you twist,
you little girl ♪
Twist, little girl ♪
You know you twist so fine ♪
Twist so fine ♪
Come on and twist
a little closer, now ♪
Twist a little closer ♪
And let me know
that you're mine ♪
Let me know
you're mine, ooh! ♪
Well, shake it, shake it,
shake it, baby, now ♪
Shake it up, baby ♪
Well, shake it, shake it,
shake it, baby, now ♪
Shake it up, baby ♪
Well, shake it, shake it,
shake it, baby, now ♪
Shake it up, baby ♪
Ah ♪
Ah ♪
Ah ♪
[George Martin] We started
at 10 o'clock in the morning,
finished 11 at night.
And that was the record made.
[Paul] That's it. It's a master.
[music concludes]
[Neil Aspinall]
When we used to to tour,
do those, um,
Arthur Howe touring shows
where you'd have quite
a number of people on the bill,
you know, Roy Orbison,
Tommy Roe,
Gerry and the Pacemakers
um, Helen Shapiro, whoever.
But there'd be a number
of people on the bill,
and everybody got like
12 minutes, 15 minutes,
-20 minutes, whatever.
-["Look Who It Is" playing]
And it was really
just in that length of time,
you know, all anybody could do
was, uh, plug their hit records,
the ones that the
the audience, uh,
the audience knew.
With Helen Shapiro
it was really embarrassing,
'cause we were quite happy
just to be
on a first nationwide tour
of the proper theatres.
She was kind of established.
She'd been around
and had a bunch of hits
and we were quite happy
just to be on that tour.
But it was embarrassing
'cause I think
"Please Please Me"
got to No. 1,
right, while we were on the road.
And all the people coming
to the show, um,
and in the concert,
were just waiting
for the Beatles and, uh,
it was kind of embarrassing,
'cause she was very nice,
nice person.
-[music concludes]
-I think it was the tour after that
-when it was Tommy Roe
-["Thank You Girl" playing]
and Chris Montez
and the Beatles,
they moved us to being,
you know,
actually closing
the first half of the show.
[John] We were performers
in Liverpool, Hamburg
and other dance halls,
you know, and what we generated
-was fantastic.
-[music concludes]
And there was nobody
to touch us in Britain.
-["There's A Place" playing]
-There's a place ♪
Where I can go ♪
[Ringo] We never
stopped anywhere.
You know, if we were in Elgin
on a Thursday
and, uh, we needed to be
in, like, Portsmouth
on Friday, you would just drive.
You know, we didn't know
how to stop this van.
I think of you ♪
[Ringo] Neil'd drive
and there'd be the passenger seat,
and then the three of us'd sit
on the bench seat,
whichever three, you know.
But the rest of us [chuckles]
would sit on this bench seat,
which was pretty miserable.
And we would just
go everywhere in this van,
and the kit would, you know,
and the amps,
everything would fit in it.
Some nights it was so foggy
that you would be doing
at one mile an hour,
and you'd still just keep going.
It was like, you know,
we were like homing pigeons.
We just had
to keep getting home.
[George] We knew this guy, Mal,
'cause he used to come,
he worked for the GPO,
and he used to come
and be a part-time bouncer
on the Cavern.
We got to know him and, uh,
it was somebody suggested
he drive for us,
so he drove us a couple of times
when Neil couldn't make it.
And then there was
so much happening
we needed another person,
so we just employed him
full time.
[Paul] I do remember, however,
one one moment,
uh, we were going
up the motorway,
and the the windscreen
got knocked out by a pebble.
So Mal just put his hat
on backwards vzzz!
punched the windscreen
out completely
and, like, drove, you know.
But, of course, this was winter
in Britain, and it was freezing.
And because it was foggy,
he was having to look
for the curb all the time,
all the way up to Liverpool,
you know, it's like 200 mile.
[clears throat]
So we were very, very cold.
And I remember what we did
was we, we lay on each other
with a bottle of whisky.
And then when the one
on the top got so cold
it was, like,
hypothermia was setting in
[laughs] it was his turn
to get on the bottom,
and then, you know,
we'd warm each other up
that way,
and keep swigging the whisky.
But it was quite an image,
you know,
if-- You know,
you'd think, you know,
people think "stardom"
and "it's glamorous", you know.
And there's us, freezing,
lying literally on top
of each other. [chuckles]
Oh yeah, we were tight.
That was one thing
to be said about us.
We were really tight,
you know, as friends.
We could argue a lot
amongst ourselves,
but we were very,
very close to each other.
-["It Won't Be Long" playing]
-It won't be long, yeah ♪
Yeah, yeah ♪
It won't be long,
yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
It won't be long, yeah ♪
Till I belong to you ♪
Every night
when everybody has fun ♪
Here am I,
sitting all on my own ♪
It won't be long,
yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
It won't be long,
yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
It won't be long, yeah ♪
Till I belong to you ♪
Since you left me,
I'm so alone ♪
Now you're coming,
you're coming on home ♪
I'll be good
like I know I should ♪
You're coming home,
you're coming home ♪
Every night the tears
come down from my eyes ♪
Every day
I've done nothing but cry ♪
It won't be long,
yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
It won't be long,
yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
It won't be long, yeah ♪
Till I belong to you ♪
Well, since you left me,
I'm so alone ♪
Now you're coming,
you're coming on home ♪
I'll be good
like I know I should ♪
You're coming home,
you're coming home ♪
So every day
we'll be happy, I know ♪
Now I know that you won't
leave me no more ♪
It won't be long,
yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
It won't be long,
yeah, yeah ♪
It won't be long, yeah ♪
Till I belong to you ♪
[music concludes]
One of the things
I was grateful for was that
-we had a kind of staircase
-["I'll Be On My Way" playing]
to climb,
through clubs like the Cavern,
through, uh, up to ballrooms,
which were now instead of
-[crowd cheering]
-400, 500 people,
it was now a couple
of thousand people.
Then it was like, "Well, what's left?"
Well, uh, radio.
We wanted to be
on the Saturday Morning Club
Brian Matthews did,
which was a huge show.
And the great thing
I loved about the show
was you'd wake up
after your week of school,
or whatever it was,
and you'd lie in.
And I had a radio by my bed,
and I'd lie in
until about 11:00.
Great! The most delicious
lie-in ever of your life,
you know,
those teenage lie-ins, Saturday.
Lie in, and feeling great.
Turn the radio on, and this
this program would be on there
still for another hour,
Saturday Club.
So then we really wanted
to be on that.
That was--
We knew that there were--
people listened to that.
It was a huge, um, audience.
[John] We did a lot of tracks
that were never recorded
on record
-for Saturday Club
-["Lonesome Tears In My Eyes" playing]
a lot of stuff
we'd been doing
at the Cavern
or Hamburg, you know.
There was some good stuff,
and they were well-recorded too.
Oh baby, baby,
baby, blues and sorrow ♪
And I love you tomorrow ♪
Just suit you just fine ♪
Oh baby, baby,
baby, blues and sorrow ♪
I love you tomorrow ♪
Just suit you just fine ♪
I can't forget
that you told me ♪
So many promising lies ♪
I'm a-tryin' to forget these ♪
Lonesome tears in my eyes ♪
["So How Come
(No One Loves Me)" playing]
They say that everyone ♪
wants someone ♪
So how come no one wants me? ♪
And they say that everyone ♪
needs someone ♪
So how come no one ♪
needs me? ♪
Well, if you wonder
who the loneliest creatures ♪
in the world can be ♪
Well, they're
the ugly duckling ♪
the little black sheep
and me, uh-huh ♪
-[music concludes]
-[John] We come along ♪
on Saturday morning ♪
Greeting everybody
with a smile [laughs]
[Brian Matthew] Isn't that nice?
Thank you, dear Beatles.
I heard they were coming
to Manchester Odeon
and I'd-- uh, the Odeon Cinema.
And we didn't cover--
we "theatre critics" so called,
didn't cover one-night stands
of pop stars
because there was no
there was no continuity.
But, anyway, I bought tickets
at a pound each, I think,
and Gerry and the Pacemakers
had been on before,
and Roy Orbison
-preceded the Beatles.
-["Oh, Pretty Woman" playing]
'Cause I need you ♪
I'll treat you right ♪
Come with me, baby ♪
Be mine tonight ♪
Pretty woman ♪
[John] It was pretty hard
to keep up with that man.
He really
put on a show, you know?
Well, they all did, but Orbison
had that fantastic voice.
[Paul] I remember
we'd be on the tour bus,
and Roy would be
at the back of the bus.
He'd be writing something like
"Pretty Woman", or something.
I remember him
playing that to us.
We said [inhales sharply]
"Great song."
From this,
a little bit of competitiveness
would come in,
a little bit of competition,
'cause we'd think,
"We've got to write one
-as good as that."
-[music concludes]
So we were just trying
to improve all the time.
And we'd listen to something
that somebody else had done
and we'd just try
and beat it a bit.
We'd try and beat
what we were doing.
And, I mean,
by the time we got to something
like "From Me To You",
it was nice,
'cause the the I remember
being very pleased
with the chord in the middle,
which was different
from what we'd been using.
If there's anything
that you want ♪
And then it went
arms that long to hold you
and keep you, da da da ♪
Just that
Arms that long ♪
Going to that minor chord there,
was like, "Ooh!"
You know, this is something
we hadn't done before.
-["From Me To You" playing]
-I got arms that long to hold you ♪
And keep you by my side ♪
I got lips that long
to kiss you ♪
And keep you satisfied, ooh! ♪
If there's anything
that you want ♪
If there's anything I can do ♪
Just call on me
and I'll send it along ♪
With love from me to you ♪
To you ♪
To you ♪
To you ♪
You'd always know when
they were gonna be on the radio.
[music concludes]
And so, you know, Brian is,
"Oh, it's gonna be on at"
"Hello, boys. It's going to be
on at twenty past seven."
[laughs] And we'd all be
in the car,
and we'd stop! Wherever we were
we would hope,
so we could listen to this.
-["From Me To You" playing]
-Just call on me ♪
And I'll send it along ♪
With love from me to you ♪
[Brian Matthew] The Beatles
and "From Me To You".
Their third single release
which, incidentally,
is this week sitting
at the top of the Hit Parade.
-[music concludes]
-And the other great deal was every time
it moved in the charts,
we'd have a celebratory dinner,
you know, so
You notice, uh,
if you look at the Beatles
from when they started,
in the first 18 months
they went
[imitates inflating]
They just went blumph right up,
because we were eating
all this food.
That's when I discovered
smoked salmon.
Never had any salmon that didn't
come out of a tin
until I was 22! [laughs]
[John] In the early days,
we'd make a record in 12 hours,
-or something.
-["Thank You Girl" playing]
[John] And they'd want a single
every three months.
And we'd have to be writing it
literally in the hotel
or on-- in a van.
The demand on us was tremendous.
been good to me ♪
[Paul] I remember sitting
on a pair of twin beds
in a hotel bedroom.
Had a day off, so we were
going to write a song.
All our early songs
had always had--
"Please Please Me",
"From Me To You",
"P.S. I Love You",
they'd always had
this very personal thing,
"Thank You Girl".
And we hit on the idea of doing
a kind of reported conversation.
"I saw her yesterday.
She told me what to say.
She said she loves you!"
So it just gave us another
little dimension, really.
It just meant that the song then
was something different
from what we, and other people,
-had written before.
-[music concludes]
-[crowd cheering]
-[Brian Matthew] I have it
from a reliable source
that a half million
advance orders have been made
for the Beatles'
latest single release,
-"She Loves You".
-[crowd screaming, cheering]
It looks as though
it could well be
three No. 1s in a row
for the Liverpool boys.
[crowd screaming, cheering]
-It's called "She Loves You". Ha-ha!
-["She Loves You" playing]
She loves you,
yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
She loves you,
yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
She loves you,
yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
Yeah ♪
You think
you've lost your love ♪
Well, I saw her yesterday ♪
-[screams]
-It's you she's thinking of ♪
And she told me what to say ♪
She said she loves you ♪
And you know
that can't be bad ♪
She loves you ♪
And you know
you should be glad ♪
She said you hurt her so ♪
She almost lost her mind ♪
Now she says she knows ♪
You're not the hurting kind ♪
She said she loves you ♪
And you know
that can't be bad ♪
She loves you ♪
And you know
you should be glad ♪
Ooh! ♪
She loves you,
yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
She loves you,
yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
With a love like that,
you know you should be glad ♪
You know, it's up to you ♪
I think it's only fair ♪
Pride can hurt you too ♪
Apologize to her ♪
Because she loves you ♪
And you know
that can't be bad ♪
She loves you ♪
And you know
you should be glad ♪
Ooh! ♪
She loves you,
yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
She loves you,
yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
With a love like that,
you know you should be glad ♪
With a love like that,
you know you should be glad ♪
With a love like that,
you know you should be glad ♪
Yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
-[crowd screaming, cheering]
-[music concludes]
When we go home, you know,
we go in early in the morning
when we've finished the job,
and the kids, you know,
they don't know you're at home.
But if they find out,
well, where I live,
they get the drums out,
you know, and beat it out.
-[crowd cheering]
-["I'll Get You" playing]
Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah ♪
[Ringo] It was getting
really big.
I think we noticed as we tried
to move around town
we started, you know, started
being noticed in the street.
It was impossible to go home.
And also, it's very true,
if you're in our business,
you go to London.
And that's where it happens.
The recordings are there.
The places to be seen are there.
Where it's happening is there.
It's just a natural move,
you know.
You know, and George and I
shared an apartment
in Green Street, Park Lane,
wow, 45 quid a week.
A fortune!
And we'd go
to The Saddle Rooms,
used to be a club.
And, uh, they used
to have this horse
and, uh, coach outside,
and there'd be two little
drunken Beatles
in the back of this coach
being taken home
to Green Street,
up Park Lane, clip-clop.
And this is two shit-kickers
from Liverpool.
I mean, this is
far-out news here. [laughs]
"Oh, let's take the carriage!"
[chuckles] "Okay."
[clicks tongue]
[John] And it was great,
you know. We were kings.
And we all,
you know, just at the prime.
And we all used to just
-go round London in our cars
-[music concludes]
and meet each other
and talk about music
with the Animals and Eric,
and all that.
And we were very close
to the Stones.
They needed a record.
They'd put out "Come On"
by Chuck Berry,
and they needed
a quick follow-up,
"I Wanna Be Your Man",
which we virtually
finished off in front of them.
["I Wanna Be
Your Man" playing]
I wanna be your man ♪
I wanna be your man ♪
I wanna be your man ♪
I wanna be your man ♪
Tell me
that you love me, baby ♪
Tell me you understand ♪
Tell me
that you love me, baby
Tell me you understand ♪
Yes, I wanna be
your lover, baby ♪
I wanna be your man ♪
Yes, I wanna be,
I wanna be your baby ♪
[John] They did it first.
We did it with Ringo after.
["I Wanna Be
Your Man" playing]
I wanna be your man ♪
I wanna be your man ♪
I wanna be your man ♪
I wanna be your man ♪
Tell me that you love me,
baby ♪
Let me understand ♪
Tell me that you love me,
baby ♪
I wanna be your man ♪
I wanna be your lover, baby ♪
I wanna be your man ♪
I wanna be your lover, baby ♪
I wanna be your man ♪
I wanna be your man ♪
I wanna be your man ♪
I wanna be your man ♪
I wanna be your man, wah! ♪
We were always kinda, you know,
a little nervous
before each step
we went up the ladder.
We were a little nervous.
But we always had that confidence.
[Eric Morecambe] Eyaahh!
-[audience laughing]
-[laughs]
It's the Kay Sisters.
They've got on wigs.
-[audience laughing]
-Fabulous.
The Kay Sisters? This is The--
-Have you dyed your hair?
-This is The Beatles!
Hello, Beatle.
-[audience laughing]
-All right?
-Where is he?
-Where is he?
There he is! Hello, Bongo!
[all laugh]
That's Ringo!
[Eric Morecambe] Oh, is he there as well?
Oh, good.
[audience laughing]
-By golly!
-Boys, as you can gather,
this is Eric. Say hello to Eric.
-Yeah.
-Hello, Eric.
-Hello, mate.
-I remember you.
You're the one
with the short fat hairy legs.
No, no, no. He's He's the one
with the short fat hairy legs.
-Oh, I thought it was--
-No, him.
-Yeah.
-We're the ones with the big,
fat hairy heads.
-[audience laughing]
-[laughs]
-Get out of that!
-Hey!
[laughs] What's it like being famous?
Well, it's not like in your day,
you know.
-[laughs]
-[audience laughing]
What?
No, no, that's an insult,
that is.
-[laughs]
-[audience laughing]
What do you mean,
"Not like in my day?"
Well, me dad used to tell me
about you, you know?
-In the old days.
-You've only got a little dad,
-have you?
-[all laugh]
Your dad used to tell you
-That's a bit strong, innit?
-No, he's right.
-[Eric Morecambe] All right, Bonzo?
-[audience laughing]
-It's Ringo!
-Yeah, him as well.
Get 'em off, Ern,
they've done enough now.
What do you mean, "done enough"?
No, well, they're getting
insulting now. Get 'em off.
And that was the good thing
about being four together,
not like Elvis, you know,
I always felt sorry
later for Elvis
'cause he was on his own.
He had his guys with him,
but there was only one Elvis.
Nobody else knew
what he felt like.
But for us,
we all shared the experience.
[Paul] One, two, three, four.
["What You're Doing"
intro playing]
-[music concludes]
-[Paul] George? What did it sound like
with the bass
doing a funny thing?
Did it sound any good, or did it
sound just like utterly crap?
[George Martin]
It sounded rather magnificent.
[Paul] Did it? Well, there! See!
Told you! Nerrhh!
Hello to you,
and see how you like it!
[George Martin] We had
a great time in the studio.
They were enormously
happy times.
And, uh, they would
fool around a lot, you know,
and have
have a bit of a laugh,
particularly
when overdubbing voices.
Um, but my memory
of those times
were very happy ones.
-["This Boy" playing]
-would be happy just to love you ♪
But, oh my ♪
This boy ♪
[John sings] That boy ♪
[chuckles] Stop!
[Paul sings] This boy,
that boy, that boy ♪
[John] I've got
"This boy, that boy."
[Paul sings]
That little boy ♪
[engineer]
Take 2, "This Boy", Take 2.
[guitar strumming]
[John clears throat] Try it now
and say, "This boy."
[Paul] And if I don't, well,
it's just too bad, i'nt it?
Yer daft get!
[John] You don't have to say it,
you just have to sort of look
and I'll think, "What is it?"
and I'll think--
[engineer] Take 13.
[Paul laughs] I was just
thinking of that
[sings] That boy ♪
I just went dead loud
on one bit.
[John] Oh, come on!
A-one, two, three, fower!
["This Boy" playing]
That boy ♪
Took my love away ♪
Though he'll regret it
some day ♪
But this boy
wants you back again ♪
That boy ♪
Isn't good for you ♪
Though he may want you too ♪
This boy
wants you back again ♪
Oh, and this boy ♪
Would be happy
just to love you ♪
But, oh my ♪
That boy won't be happy ♪
Till he's seen you cry ♪
This boy ♪
Wouldn't mind the pain ♪
Would always feel the same ♪
If this boy
gets you back again ♪
This boy ♪
We do like the fans and enjoy
reading the publicity about us.
But, from time to time,
you don't realize
that it's actually
about yourself.
-[music concludes]
-You see your pictures
and read articles about,
you know, George Harrison
and Ringo Starr,
Paul and John, uh,
but you don't actually think,
"Oh, that's me.
There I am in the paper."
It's It's funny.
It's just as though
it's a different person.
It all sounds complaining,
and that, but you know, we're not.
We're just putting
the point is that,
you know, it affects your home
more than it does yourself,
you know, because you know
what to expect.
But your parents
and your family, you know,
they don't know
what's happening.
[Ringo]
You were treated differently,
and you had to get
used to that then.
Then you, you know,
you find yourself in
-in a weird land
-[crowd cheering]
because of all these people
you've grown up and lived with.
Suddenly, you--
It was the one place
you didn't want it to change.
Because it all changed
out there.
And you were never secure,
really, who your friends were,
unless you had 'em before.
[George] You know,
people are so in awe of fame.
I mean, all you have to do
is go on the radio
-or the television once
-[crowd cheering]
and if somebody
sees you on there
and then they see you
down the street,
they act different, don't they?
But the Beatles
was being on the papers
every day for a year or so.
Everybody changes, you know.
They're so impressed by it.
People forget how to act normal.
The one absolute clear vision,
was I was at my auntie's
which I'd been
a thousand times before,
and, uh, anyway, we were having
a cup of tea one night
may have even been
after an Empire show,
or a Southport show
[chuckles]
or one of those shows,
and, uh,
somebody knocked
the little coffee table
and my tea went in my saucer,
and suddenly it was,
"He can't have that.
We have to tidy it up,"
where that would never
have happened before,
uh, just-- And I thought,
"Oh, things are changing."
I mean, it was an absolute
arrow in the brain, you know.
-["Long Tall Sally" playing]
-I'm gonna tell Aunt Mary ♪
'bout Uncle John ♪
Said he had been busy
but he got a lot of fun ♪
Oh, baby, yeah, now, baby ♪
Woo-ooh-ooh, baby ♪
Some fun tonight ♪
Saw Uncle John,
bald-headed Sally ♪
Saw Aunt Mary coming
and he ducked back in the alley ♪
Oh, baby, yeah, now, baby ♪
Woo-ooh-ooh, baby ♪
Some fun tonight
Aaah! ♪
Yeah, we're gonna have
some fun tonight ♪
Have some fun tonight, wooh! ♪
Everything's all right ♪
Have some fun tonight ♪
Oh, have some fun, yeah ♪
Yeah, I'm gonna have
some fun tonight ♪
Have some fun to-aaah! ♪
Everything's all right ♪
Have some fun tonight ♪
Have some fun,
some fun tonight, yeah ♪
-[crowd cheering]
-[music concludes]
[Brian Matthew] Today,
the Beatles returned from Sweden
to be greeted by what
the British press are calling
"Beatlemania".
We'll see what the Queen Mother
thinks of Beatlemania
when the Beatles perform
at The Royal Variety Show
-on the 4th of November.
-[crowd cheering]
[Derek Taylor] I was sent to,
uh, pursue them,
to harass them in,
uh, September '63
by the News Editor
of the Daily Express,
who said they'd had it.
They were about to betray
their young fans
by agreeing to appear
on The Royal Variety Show.
"Go and get them. Get a quote.
Get them
to condemn themselves
[chuckles] out of their own
mouths and say,
'We shouldn’t be doing it.
We know that.
We're betraying our fans'
and so on, and so on."
Well, the long
and short of it was,
uh, we all turned up,
the Daily Mail,
the Express, the Mirror.
They were very defiant.
And Ringo did the perfect quote,
"I want to play me drums
for the Queen Mum."
All that sort of stuff.
We were the first
working-class singers
that stayed working class
and pronounced it,
didn't try and change
our accents,
which in England are looked--
were looked down upon,
probably still are.
[interviewer] John, in
in this Royal Variety Show,
when you're appearing
before royalty,
uh, your language has gotta be
-pretty good, obviously.
-[chuckles softly]
[interviewer] This thing
about Ted Heath saying
that he couldn't distinguish,
uh, you from,
-say, the Queen's English.
-[in RP accent] I can't understand Teddy.
I can't understand Teddy
saying that at all, really.
[all chuckling]
-I'm not gonna vote for Ted!
-[chuckles]
[interviewer] Paul, uh, have you thought
about your act for the show yet?
Uh, any changes in the act,
or is it going to be, you know,
the usual routine?
No, we'll have to change it,
I'm sure. We can't--
-Hey, stop hitting me.
-[John laughs]
We We'll have to change it,
but we can't, uh,
do the same thing all the time.
We haven't thought
about what we're gonna do yet.
[interviewer]
Suits with collars on?
-Brushed, parted hair
-You never know.
-something like that?
-We may not wear suits.
You never know.
[chuckles] We've no idea.
[crowd applauding]
Thank you.
For our last number,
I'd like to ask your help.
The people in the cheaper seats,
-clap your hands.
-[crowd laughing]
And the rest of you, if you'd
just rattle your jewelry.
[crowd laughing, applauding]
Thank you. We'd like to sing
a song called "Twist And Shout".
-[Paul] One, two, three!
-["Twist And Shout" playing]
-Yeah!
-[Paul] Everybody! Hey!
Well, shake it up, baby, now ♪
Shake it up, baby ♪
Twist and shout ♪
Twist and shout ♪
Come on, come on, come on,
come on, baby, now ♪
Come on, baby ♪
Come on and work it on out ♪
Work it on out, ooh ♪
Well, work it on out, now ♪
Work it on out ♪
You know you look so good ♪
Look so good ♪
You know
you got me goin', now ♪
Got me goin' ♪
Just like I knew you would ♪
Like I knew you would, ooh ♪
Well, shake it up, baby, now ♪
Shake it up, baby ♪
Twist and shout ♪
Twist and shout ♪
Come on, come on, come on,
come on, baby, now ♪
Come on, baby ♪
Come on and work it on out ♪
Work it on out, ooh ♪
Well, you twist,
you little girl ♪
Twist, little girl ♪
You know you twist so fine ♪
Twist so fine ♪
Come on and twist
a little closer, now ♪
Twist a little closer ♪
And let me know
that you're mine ♪
Let me know you're mine, ooh ♪
Ah ♪
Ah ♪
Ah ♪
Ah ♪
-Aaah! ♪
-Ow! Ow! ♪
Yeah! Shake it up, baby, now ♪
Shake it up, baby ♪
Twist and shout ♪
Twist and shout ♪
Come on, come on, come on,
come on, baby, now ♪
Come on, baby ♪
Come on and work it on out ♪
Work it on out, ooh ♪
Well, you twist,
you little girl ♪
Twist, little girl ♪
You know you twist so fine ♪
Twist so fine ♪
Come on and twist
a little closer, now ♪
Twist a little closer ♪
And let me know
that you're mine ♪
Let me know you're mine ♪
Well, shake it, shake it,
shake it, baby, now ♪
Shake it up, baby ♪
Well, shake it, shake it,
shake it, baby, now ♪
Shake it up, baby ♪
Well, shake it, shake it,
shake it, baby, now ♪
Shake it up, baby ♪
Ooh ♪
Ah ♪
Ah ♪
Ah ♪
Yeah ♪
-[crowd applauding]
-[music concludes]
["Twist And Shout"
orchestral instrumental playing]
[music concludes]
-["It Won't Be Long" playing]
-It won't be long, yeah ♪
Yeah, yeah ♪
It won't be long, yeah ♪
Yeah, yeah ♪
It won't be long, yeah ♪
Till I belong to you ♪
-[music concludes]
-[George Martin] With The Beatles was
the first, kind of put-together album
of of
first songbook, so to speak.
And they gave me a list
of their songs and
and they were all thinking
in terms of singles, still.
-["I Wanna Be Your Man" playing]
-I wanna be your man ♪
I wanna be your man ♪
[George Martin]
We weren't thinking in terms
of an album being
an entity by itself.
It was a collection
of their songs,
and I think one or two
other people's songs as well.
[George] There was a bunch
of cover versions on this,
"Mister Postman".
-["Mister Postman" playing]
-Wait! Oh yes ♪
Wait a minute,
Mister Postman ♪
-Wait ♪
-Wait, Mister Postman ♪
Mister Postman,
look and see ♪
[Ringo] It was interesting
when I joined the Beatles,
and we didn't really
know each other.
But if we looked at each other's
record collection,
the four of us virtually had
the same records.
From that girl of mine ♪
There must be
some word today ♪
From my girlfriend
so far away ♪
Please, Mister Postman,
look and see ♪
If there's a letter,
a letter for me ♪
I've been ♪
[George Martin] And all we did
was to record singles.
And the ones
that weren't too good,
we wouldn't issue as singles,
we'd put them on an album.
-["All My Loving" playing]
-Close your eyes ♪
And I'll kiss you ♪
Tomorrow I'll miss you ♪
[John] In the early days,
we were really set
on giving people
their money's worth
off the record.
And that was our policy first,
just to put 14 tracks a side,
it was brand new,
and never put singles
on the albums,
which everybody did,
was have a hit single
and make an album round it.
all my loving to you ♪
["Roll Over Beethoven"
playing]
Well, if you feel it
and like it ♪
Get your lover
and reel and rock it ♪
Roll it over and move on up
just a trifle further ♪
And reel and rock it,
roll it over ♪
Roll over Beethoven ♪
Dig these rhythm and blues ♪
[George] Robert Freeman,
who took this picture,
copied our request, actually,
he copied
Astrid Kirchherr’s photographs.
We showed him the pictures
that we took in Hamburg
with Astrid, and said,
"Why can't you do it like this?"
[Brian Matthew] The Beatles'
second LP, With The Beatles,
has broken the record
for advance sales of an LP.
With The Beatles has an advance
of a quarter of a million.
The record was previously held
by Elvis Presley's Blue Hawaii.
Brian Epstein
could well be right
in his prediction
that the Beatles,
one day, will be bigger
than Elvis Presley.
-[music concludes]
-[crowd cheering, applauding]
[John] You know, our goal
was to be as big as Elvis,
but we didn't actually think
we were gonna do it.
We We couldn't think
in terms of going to America.
I mean, that was like a dream.
I mean, you think locally.
And first of all, it was making
it big in Liverpool.
And then
being the best group in the
in the county, you know.
Then being the best group
in England.
And then we go up to Scotland
and break them in,
and things like that.
And your goal was always,
you know, just a few yards ahead
rather than right up there.
I think one of the cheekiest
things we ever did
was say to Brian Epstein,
"We're not going to America
till we've got a No. 1."
And the reason we did that,
we'd seen a lot of people like,
er, Adam Faith,
Cliff Richard, British stars,
quite big stars over in Britain,
go over to America and be like
third or fourth on the bill
to people like Frankie Avalon.
George had been over there, uh,
to America,
er, a little before we'd gone,
and nobody knew about us.
And he came back
and got us all worried
'cause he'd go
into record shops saying,
"Have you got the Beatles, uh,
records?"
[chuckles] And they'd say,
"Who?"
And the EMI company wouldn't,
which was Capitol,
wouldn't put out our records
for some reason.
Somebody else may be able
to fill us in on that.
I don't know why.
I would send them to my friends
in America at Capitol Records,
and say,
"This group is fantastic.
You've got to issue them
and you've got to sell them
in the States."
And each time,
the Head of Capitol Records,
like St Peter,
would turn it down
and deny them, and say, um,
"Sorry. We know our market
better than you do,
and we don't think
they're any good."
So I would then take
the record back from them
and try and get it out
with another label.
And I did negotiations
with Swan and with Vee-Jay,
each of whom,
just very tiny labels
in the States,
took one or the other titles,
and they put those records
out in America.
And, of course,
being a small label,
they didn't make a great deal
of, uh, of of, um, success.
And that was the way
it worked out.
We released, uh,
"Please Please Me".
-["Please Please Me" playing]
-Please, please me, whoa, yeah ♪
-[music concludes]
-Flop! "From Me To You".
-["From Me To You" playing]
-With love from me to you ♪
-[music concludes]
-Flop! Changed record labels
-["She Loves You" playing]
-She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
[Paul] Released "She Loves You".
They'd all been big hits in
-in England. All been No. 1.
-[music concludes]
All of them flops. Nothing!
[engineer] Take 2.
[John] No. I think
it should start loud,
you know,
'cause when you first hear it.
[George Martin] We're rolling.
Here we go.
-[John] Thing I didn't like about--
-[Paul] Shh. Shh.
Clean beginning.
One, two, three.
["I Want To Hold
Your Hand" playing]
-[track breaks down]
-[engineer] Take 9.
[guitar intro
to "I Want To Hold Your Hand"]
-[George Martin] Here we go.
-[Paul] Shh.
[John continues playing]
I love that.
[Paul] Shh. Ready? Shh.
First one very
initial attack.
-One, two, three.
-[intro starts, stops]
-[Paul] No. The first one a loud
-[guitar being tuned]
-[John] Oh.
-[Paul] attack!
The second one
not quite so loud.
Just try it.
Oh Well, do it anyway.
We'll just blast that bit,
that one bit.
-[George Martin] Here we go.
-[engineer] This is 13.
[Paul] Hang on, George has
-[John] What?
-[Paul] Just do it! Do it!
One, two, three.
["I Want To Hold
Your Hand" playing]
Oh yeah, I ♪
[track breaks down]
-[John] Do it slower.
-[Paul] No!
[John laughs] I couldn't hear
what chords they were going to.
-[Paul] One, two, three!
-[intro starts, breaks down]
[John] Missed it again.
It's me hand's going.
-[engineer] 17.
-[Paul] One, two, three
["I Want To Hold Your Hand" playing]
[George Martin]
"I Want To Hold Your Hand"
wasn't designed specifically
for the American market,
but like the ones before it,
it was a great record.
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 ♪
You'll let me be your man ♪
And, please, say to me ♪
You'll let me hold your hand ♪
Now let me hold your hand ♪
I wanna hold your hand ♪
[George Martin] By this time,
the news from England and Europe
was overwhelming,
that they were a hit group.
And also, uh,
the Swan and Vee-Jay labels
were making inroads,
they were selling by this time.
So Capitol were forced
to release
"I Want To Hold Your Hand".
[George] But at that time,
I didn't realize
that Capitol Records
had been told,
you know, "You can Okay."
They wanted
to have the Beatles, you see.
Then Brian Epstein said, "Okay.
Well, you can have 'em then,
on condition you spend 70,000
dollars advertising them,"
which sounded enormous,
but they did.
So that was part of the deal.
They had to promote us.
I wanna hold your hand ♪
I wanna hold your hand ♪
[music concludes]
["All You Need Is Love"
intro playing]
-[music concludes]
-[Paul] The funny thing about France was,
it was boys screaming.
It was boys. So we got
[in French accent]
"Le Beatle! Le Beatle!
Voilà!" [speaks indistinctly]
"Paul! John!"
It was, like [chuckles]
"Yeah. Oui. Okay,"
you know, like, "Dear me!"
[George] We had visions of all
these French girls, you know,
"ooh la la" and all that,
and instead, the audience,
at least on the opening night
-[crowd chanting] Ringo!
-all seemed to be boys,
shouting, "Ringo! Ringo!"
We didn't see any
of the Brigitte Bardot kind
that we were expecting to see.
[Ringo] It was very strange
because, uh,
suddenly we had all these boys.
And the audience was like a
a roar instead of a scream,
where we'd been so used to
the girls, you know.
-["Twist And Shout" playing]
-[Paul] But I don't think
we went down that well,
but I think we built it over the few days,
we kind of built it up.
And, uh, eventually it was
it was a bit
of a success, you know.
But it wasn't quite
what we were used to.
We were used to
a little bit more
instant success than that.
Ah ♪
Yeah! ♪
-[music concludes]
-[crowd cheering, applauding]
[Paul] We got a telegram
in the evening.
After one of the shows, we were
having a drink at the hotel,
and it came it came, uh,
"CAPITOL RECORDS
CONGRATULATIONS, LADS!
NO. 1 IN U.S. CHARTS!"
or something.
So we all hit the roof.
I remember riding around
on Mal Evans's back
for about 20 minutes, or so,
"Yeah-he-hey! Whew!"
And he was, you know,
happy to bear me.
It was just very high, uh,
hysterics, you know.
[George Martin]
And Brian rang me
round about half past one
in the morning.
He said, "I know
you won't mind being woken up."
I said, "Well,
I wasn't asleep anyway."
He said, "Well,
I've just heard from America.
We're No. 1!"
[inhales deeply] "Fantastic!"
And he said, "Do you want
to come round?" "Not half!"
So we all went round
and had a great drink-up.
And it was lovely. Super.
We never went to bed that night.
It was a great feeling
because we were booked
to go there
directly after the Paris trip,
so it was,
you know, it was handy
to have a No. 1.
John, so far,
all British pop stars
have not made
a tremendous impact
on the States. How do you
think you're going to fare?
Well, I can't really say, can I?
I mean, is it up to me? No.
I mean, I just hope
we go all right, you know.
["I Want To Hold
Your Hand" playing]
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 ♪
[John] Yeah,
I know on the plane over,
I was thinking,
"Oh, we won't make it,"
or I said it on a film
somewhere, you know.
But that's the side [chuckles]
that's that side of me.
We knew we would wipe it,
wipe 'em out, if we could
just get a grip on you.
And, please ♪
[Neil Aspinall] It was like
flying into the unknown.
You didn't know what to expect.
You know, we were going to
going to America, right?
And it was the first time
for everybody,
except George, you know.
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 ♪
[Ringo] I remember
before landing,
it was so exciting.
As the plane flew over New York,
I really felt like some,
you know, sci-fi movie
had gone down and a big octopus
grabbed the plane
and was dragging us down
to New York,
and it was all just so exciting.
This was America, you know.
Things we'd dreamt about
and heard about,
and all the music
we loved had come out of.
[Paul] All the music we'd loved
had come from there
so, I mean, just to
just to be there was exciting.
But because we'd made
this strange condition
of being No. 1 before we went,
it was like going as princes.
I mean, you were just, you know,
there were millions of kids
at the airport,
which nobody expected.
And we heard about it mid-air,
as I recall, you know,
'cause there were journalists
on the plane
and, you know,
the pilot can ring ahead.
And, um, he said,
"Oh, you know, tell the boys
there's a big crowd
waiting for 'em there."
[Brian Epstein] There was
a turning point in their career,
a specific date on which
the breadth and scope
of their future
was to be altered
and it was the day their Pan Am
jet touched down
at Kennedy International
in New York
to a welcome which has
seldom been equaled
anywhere in history.
your hand ♪
[music concludes]
["One After 909" playing]
Well, my baby said she's travelling ♪
On the one after 909 ♪
I shaid move over, honey ♪
I'm travelling on that line ♪
I shaid move over once,
move over twice ♪
Come on, baby, don't be cold as ice ♪
She said she's travelling
on the one after 909 ♪
Well, I begged her not to go ♪
And I begged her on my bended knee ♪
I shaid you're only fooling round ♪
Only fooling round with me ♪
I shaid move over once ♪
Move over twice ♪
Come on, baby, don't be cold as ice ♪
She said she's travelling ♪
On the one after 909 ♪
Pick up my bag ♪
Run to the station ♪
Rail man says ♪
You've got the wrong location ♪
Yeah ♪
Pick up my bag ♪
Run right home ♪
Then I find ♪
You got the number wrong ♪
Well ♪
She said she's travelling ♪
On the one after 909 ♪
I shaid move over, honey ♪
I'm travelling on that line ♪
I shaid move over once ♪
Move over twice ♪
Come on, baby, don't be cold as ice ♪
She said she's travelling ♪
On the one after 909 ♪
Oh yeah, ow! ♪
[guitar solo]
Well, my baby said she's travelling ♪
On the one af ♪
[John] Oh, fuckin' hell! I told you!
[Paul] It's you! It's you!
[John] You said we'd miss out
the middle eight. Oh.
[Paul] You've come in on the wrong--
halfway through the solo.
[John] What was it, 12-bar?
[George Martin] Yeah, yeah. 12-bar solo.
[Paul] It wasn't, it was
[strums guitar chord]