The Beatles pondered
their past, present and
future during this
insightful dressing room
interview filmed by
BBC-TV. The interview
footage was first
broadcast in Britain
during October 1963 as
part of a BBC
documentary entitled,
"The Mersey Sound."
John: "The best
thing was (Love Me Do)
came to the charts in
two days. and everybody
thought it was a fiddle
because our manager's
stores send in these...
what is it... record
things."
George:
"Returns."
John: "Returns.
and everybody down south
thought 'Oh, aha! He's
buying them himself or
he's just fiddlin' the
charts,' you know, but
he wasn't."
George: "Actually
we'd been at it a long
time before that. We'd
been to Hamburg. I think
that's where we found
our style... we
developed our style
because of this fella.
He used to say, 'You've
got to make a show for
the people.' and he used
to come up every night,
shouting 'Mach schau!
Mach schau!' So we used
to mach schau, and John
used to dance around
like a gorilla, and we'd
all, you know, knock our
heads together and
things like that.
Anyway, we got back to
Liverpool and all the
groups there were doing
'Shadows' type of stuff.
and we came back with
leather jackets and
jeans and funny hair -
maching schau - which
went down quite well."
John: "We just
wore leather jackets.
Not for the group - one
person wore one, I can't
remember - and then we
all liked them so it
ended up we were all on
stage with them. and
we'd always worn jeans 'cuz
we didn't have anything
else at the time, you
know. and then we went
back to Liverpool and
got quite a few
bookings. They all
thought we were German.
You know, we were billed
as 'From Hamburg' and
they all said, 'You
speak good English.'
(smiles) So we went back
to Germany and we had a
bit more money the
second time, so we wore
leather pants - and we
looked like four Gene
Vincents, only a bit
younger, I think.
(smiles) and that was
it, you know. We just
kept the leather gear
till Brian (Epstein)
came along."
Paul: "It was a
bit, sort of, old hat
anyway - all wearing
leather gear - and we
decided we didn't want
to look ridiculous going
home. Because more often
than not too many people
would laugh. It was just
stupid. We didn't want
to appear as a gang of
idiots. and Brian
suggested that we just,
sort of, wore ordinary
suits. So we just got
what we thought were
quite good suits, and
got rid of the leather
gear. That was all."
(Next, the topic of
discussion turned to the
present fame of the
group, and the sudden
glare of media
attention.)
George: "We do
like the fans and enjoy
reading the publicity
about us, but sometimes
you don't realize that
it's about yourself. You
see your pictures and
read articles about
George Harrison, Ringo
Starr, Paul and John -
but you don't actually
think 'Oh, that's me.
There I am in the
paper.' (smiles) It's
funny. It's just as
though it's a different
person."
Ringo: "When we
go home, we go in early
in the morning when
we've finished a job,
and the kids don't know
you're at home. But if
they find out, where I
live, they get the drums
out and beat it out!
(laughs) 'Cuz it's a
play street and, you
know, there's no traffic
or nothing bothering
them. Once when the boys
came for me - they
popped in to see me Mum
and me Dad, you know -
we had to go out the
back 'cuz there were
twenty or thirty
outside. and they
wouldn't believe me
mother, you know,
knocking and saying 'Can
we have their
autographs.' So it built
up so much. There was
about two hundred kids
all around the door,
peeping through the
window and knocking."
(Beatles giggling)
Ringo: (laughs)
"In the end, me mother
was ill, you know -
terrified out of her
life - with just all
these kids and boys and
girls, you know."
George: "They
send us alot of
Jellybabies and
chocolates and things
like that, just because
somebody wrote in one of
the papers about
presents and things that
we'd had given to us.
and John said he'd got
some Jellybabies and I
ate them. But ever since
that we've been
inundated. We get about
two-ton a night.
(smiles) But the main
trouble is they tend to
throw them at us when
were on stage. (laughs)
and, uhh, once I got one
in my eye which wasn't
very nice. (holds finger
to eye) In fact I
haven't been the same
since."
John: "It all
sounds complaining, but
you know, we're not.
We're just putting the
point that it affects
your home more than it
does yourself, you know,
because you know what to
expect but your parents
and family don't know
what's happening."
(The Beatles were then
asked what they saw in
their own future, and
how long their fame
might last.)
John: "'How long
are you gonna last?'
Well, you can't say, you
know. You can be
big-headed and say,
'Yeah, we're gonna last
ten years.' But as soon
as you've said that you
think, 'We're lucky if
we last three months,'
you know."
Paul: "Well,
obviously we can't keep
playing the same sort of
music until we're about
forty - sort of, old men
playing 'From Me To You'
- nobody is going to
want to know at all
about that sort of
thing. You know, we've
thought about it, and
probably the thing that
John and I will do, uhh,
will be write songs - as
we have been doing as a
sort of sideline now -
we'll probably develop
that a bit more we hope.
Who knows. At forty, we
may not know how to
write songs anymore."
George: "I hope
to have enough money to
go into a business of my
own by the time we, umm,
do 'flop.' (laughs) and
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."
Ringo: "I've
always fancied having a
ladies hairdressing
salon."
(Beatles giggling)
Ringo:
(undeterred) "You know,
a string of them, in
fact! Strut 'round in me
stripes and tails, you
know. 'Like a cup of
tea, Madam?'"
Source: Video
copy of original film
footage |
|
|
|
|
|
