Playboy: "OK, we're on. Why don't we begin
by..."
John: "Doing Hamlet."
(laughter)
Ringo: "Yeah, yeah, let's do that."
Playboy: "That sounds fun, but just for
laughs, why don't we do an interview instead?"
George: "Say, that's a fine idea. I wish
I'd thought of that."
Paul: "What shall we ask you for a first
question?"
Ringo: "About those Bunny girls..."
Playboy: "No comment. Let's start over.
Ringo, you're the last Beatle to join the group,
aren't you?"
Ringo: "Yes."
John: "A few years probably... sort of
off and on, really... for three years or so."
Paul: "Yeah, but really amateur."
George: "The local pub, you know. and in
each other's uncle's houses."
John: "and at George's brother's wedding.
Things like that. Ringo used to fill in
sometimes if our drummer was ill. With his
periodic illness."
Ringo: "He took little pills to make him
ill."
Playboy: "When you joined the others
Ringo, they weren't quite as big as they are
now, were they?"
Ringo: "They were the biggest thing in
Liverpool. In them days that was big enough."
Paul: "This is a point we've made before.
Some people say a man is made of muscle and
blood... No they don't... they say, 'How come
you've suddenly been able to adjust to fame,'
you know, to nationwide fame and things. It all
started quite nicely with us, you see, in our
own sphere where we used to play, in Liverpool.
We never used to play outside it, except when we
went to Hamburg. Just those two circles. and in
each of them, I think we were 'round the highest
paid, and probably at the time the most popular.
So in actual fact we had the same feeling of
being famous then as we do now."
George: "We were recognized then, too,
only people didn't chase us about."
Paul: "But it just grew. The quantity
grew; not the quality of the feeling."
Playboy: "When did you know that you had
really hit it big? There must have been one
night when you knew it really had begun."
John: "Well, we'd been playing 'round in
Liverpool for a bit without getting anywhere,
trying to get work, and the other groups kept
telling us, 'You'll do alright, you'll get work
someday.' and then we went back to Hamburg, and
when we came back, suddenly we were a 'Wow.'
Mind you, 70 percent of the audience thought we
were a 'German Wow,' but we didn't care about
that."
Paul: "We were billed in the paper:
'From Hamburg - The Beatles.'"
John: "In Liverpool, people didn't even
know we were from Liverpool. They thought we
were from Hamburg. They said, 'Christ, they
speak good English!' Which we did, of course,
being English. But that's when we first, you
know, stood there being cheered for the first
time."
Paul: "That was when we felt we were..."
John: "...on the way up."
Paul: "...gonna make it in Liverpool."
Playboy: "How much were you earning
then?"
John: "For that particular night, 20
dollars."
Playboy: "Apiece?"
John: "For the group! Hell, we used to
work for less than that."
Paul: "We used to work for about three or
four dollars a night."
Ringo: "Plus all the Coke we could drink.
and we drank alot."
Playboy: "Do you remember the first
journalist who came to see you and said, 'I want
to write about you'?"
Ringo "We went 'round to them at first, didn't
we?"
John: "We went and said, 'We're a group
and we've got this record out. Will you...'"
George: "and the door would slam."
Playboy: "We've heard it said that when
you first went to America you were doubtful that
you'd make it over there."
John: "That's true. We didn't think we
were going to make it at all. It was only Brian
telling us we were gonna make it. Brian Epstein
our manager, and George Harrison."
George: "I knew we had a good chance...
because of the record sales over there."
John: "The thing is, in America it just
seemed ridiculous... I mean, the idea of having
a hit record over there. It was just, you know,
something you could never do. That's what I
thought anyhow. But then I realized that it's
just the same as here, that kids everywhere all
go for the same stuff. and seeing we'd done it
in England and all, there's no reason why we
couldn't do it in America, too. But the American
disc jockeys didn't know about British records;
they didn't play them; nobody promoted them, and
so you didn't have hits."
George: "Well, there were one or two
doing it as a novelty."
John: "But it wasn't until 'Time' and
"Life' and "Newsweek' came over and wrote
articles and created an interest in us that
American disc jockeys started playing our
records. and Capitol said, 'Well, can we have
their records?' You know, they had been offered
our records years ago, and they didn't want
them. But when they heard we were big over here
they said, 'Can we have 'em now?' So we said,
'As long as you promote them.' So Capitol
promoted, and with them and all these articles
on us, the records just took off."
Playboy: "There's been some dispute among
your fans and critics, about whether you're
primarily entertainers or musicians... or
perhaps neither. What's your own opinion?"
John: "We're money-makers first; then
we're entertainers."
Ringo: "No, we're not."
John: "What are we, then?"
Ringo: "Dunno. Entertainers first."
John: "OK."
Ringo: "'Cuz we were entertainers before
we were money-makers."
John: "That's right, of course. It's just
that the press drivels it into you, so you say
it 'cuz they like to hear it, you know."
Paul: "Still, we'd be idiots to say that
it isn't a constant inspiration to be making
alot of money. It always is, to anyone. I mean,
why do big business tycoons stay big business
tycoons? It's not because they're inspired at
the greatness of big business; they're in it
because they're making alot of money at it. We'd
be idiots if we pretended we were in it solely
for kicks. In the beginning we were, but at the
same time we were hoping to make a bit of cash.
it's a switch around now, though, from what it
used to be. We used to be doing it mainly for
kicks and not making alot of money, and now
we're making alot of money without too many
kicks... except that we happen to like the money
we're making. But we still enjoy making records,
going on-stage, making films, and all that
business."
John: "We love every minute of it, Beatle
people!"
Playboy: "As hard-bitten refugees from
the Liverpool slums - according to heart-rending
fan magazine biographies - do you feel prepared
to cope with all this sudden wealth?"
Paul: "We've managed to make the
adjustment. Contrary to rumor, you see, none of
us was brought up in any slums or in great
degrees of poverty. We've always had enough;
we've never been starving."
John: "Yeah, we saw those articles in the
American fan mags that said, 'Those boys
struggled up from the slums..."
George: "We never starved. Even Ringo
hasn't."
Ringo: "Even I."
Playboy: "What kind of families do you
come from?"
George: "Well, you know, not rich. Just
workin' class. They've got jobs... just work."
Playboy: "What does your father do?"
George: "Well, he doesn't do anything
now. He used to be a bus driver..."
John: "In the Merchant Navy."
Playboy: "Do you have any brothers or
sisters, George?"
George: "I've got two brothers."
John: "and no sisters to speak of."
Playboy: "How about you, Paul?"
Paul: "I've got one brother, and a father
who used to be a cotton salesman down in New
Orleans, you know. That's probably why I look a
bit tanned... But seriously folks.... he
occasionally had trouble paying the bills, but
it was never, you know, never 'Go out and pick
blackberries, son; we're a bit short this
week.'"
Playboy: "How about you, John?"
John: "Oh, just the same. I used to have
an auntie. and I had a dad whom I couldn't quite
find."
Ringo: "John lived with the Mounties."
John: "Yeah, the Mounties. They fed me
well. No starvation."
Playboy: "How about your family, Ringo,
old man?"
Ringo: "Just workin' class. I was brought
up with my mother and me grandparents. and then
she married me stepfather when I was 13. All the
time she was working. I never starved. I used to
get most things."
George: "Never starved?"
Ringo: "No. I never starved. She always
fed me. I was an only child, so it wasn't
amazing."
Playboy: "It's quite fashionable in some
circles in America to hate your parents. But
none of you seem to."
Ringo: "We're probably just as against
the things our parents liked or stood for as
they are in America. But we don't hate our
parents for it."
Playboy: "It's often exactly the opposite
in America."
Paul: "Well, you know, alot of Americans
are unbalanced. I don't care what you say. No,
really. Alot of them are quite normal, of
course, but we've met many unbalanced ones. You
know the type of person, like the political
Whig."
Playboy: "How do you mean?"
Paul: "You know... the professional
politcal type; in authority sort of thing. Some
of them are just mad! and I've met some really
maniac American girls! Like this one girl who
walked up to me in a press conference and said,
'I'm Lily.' I said, 'Hello, how do you do?' and
she said, 'Doesn't my name mean anything to
you?' I said, 'Ah, no...' and I thought, 'Oh
god, it's one of these people that you've met
and you should know.' and so Derek, our press
agant, who happened to be there at the time,
hanging over my shoulder, giving me quotes,
which happens at every press conference..."
George: "You'd better not say that."
Paul: "Oh yes, that's not true, Beatle
people! But he was sort of hanging about, and he
said, 'Well did you ring, or did you write, or
something?' and she said, 'No.' and he said,
'Well, how did you get in touch with Paul? How
do you know him?' and she said, 'Through God.'
Well, there was sort of a ghastly silence. I
mean, we both sort of gulped and blushed. I
said, 'Well, that's very nice, Lily. Thanks very
much. I must be off now.'"
Playboy: "There wasn't a big lightening
bolt from the sky?"
Paul: "No, there wasn't. But I talked to
her afterward, and she said she'd got a vision
from God, and God had said to her..."
John: "It's been a hard day's night."
(laughter)
Paul: "No, God had said, 'Listen Lil,
Paul is waiting for you; he's in love with you
and he wants to marry you, so go down and meet
him, and he'll know you right away. It's very
funny, you know. I was trying to persuade her
that she didn't in actual fact have a vision
from God, that it was..."
George: "It was probably somebody
disguised as God."
Paul: "You wouldn't hardly ever meet
somebody like that in England, but there seemed
to be alot like her in America."
John: "Well, there's alot of people in
America, so you've got a much bigger group to
get nutters from."
Playboy: "Speaking of nutters, do you
ever wake up in the morning, look in the mirror
and say, 'My god, I'm a Beatle?'"
Paul: "No, not quite."
(laughter)
John: "Actually, we only do it in each
other's company. I know I never do it alone."
Ringo: "We used to do it more. We'd get
in the car. I'd look over at John and say,
'Christ, look at you; you're a bloody
phenomenon!' and just laugh... 'cuz it was only
him, you know. and a few old friends of ours
done it, from Liverpool. I'd catch 'em looking
at me, and I'd say, 'What's the matter with
you?' It's just daft, them just screaming and
laughing, thinking I'm one of them people."
Playboy: "A Beatle?"
Ringo: "Yes."
Paul: "The thing that makes me know we've
made it is like tonight, when we slipped into a
sweetshop. In the old days we could have just
walked into a sweetshop and nobody would have
noticed us. We would have just got our sweets
and gone out. But tonight we just walked in...
it took a couple of seconds... and the people
there just dropped their sweets. Before, you
see, there would have been no reaction at all.
Except possibly, 'Look at that fellow with the
long hair. Doesn't he look daft?' But nowadays
they're just amazed; they can't believe it. But
actually we're no different."
Playboy: "The problem is that you don't
seem to be like real people. You're Beatles."
Paul: "I know. It's funny, that."
George: "It's all the publicity."
Paul: "We're taken in by it too. Because
we react exactly the same way to the stars we
meet. When we meet people we've seen on the
telly or in films, we still think, 'Wow!'"
John: "It's a good thing, because we get
just as tickled."
Paul: "The thing is that people, when
they see you on TV and in magazines and up in a
film, and hear you on the radio, they never
expect to meet you, you know, even our fans.
Their wish is to meet you, but in the back of
their mind they never think they're actually
gonna meet us. and so, when they do meet us,
they just don't believe it."
Playboy: "Where do they find you - hiding
in your hotel rooms?"
John: "No, on the street usually."
Playboy: "You mean you're brave enough to
venture out into the streets without a
bodyguard?"
Ringo: "Sure."
George: "We're always on the street.
Staggering about."
Ringo: "Flogging our bodies."
George: "You catch John sleeping in the
gutter occasionally."
Playboy: "When people see you in the
street, do you ever have any action?"
George: "Well, not really, because when
you're walking about, you don't bump into groups
of people as a rule. People don't walk 'round in
gangs, as a rule."
Playboy: "Can you even go out shopping
without getting mobbed by them, individually or
collectively?"
John: "We avoid that."
Paul: "The mountain comes to Mohammed."
George: "The shop comes to us, as he
says. But sometimes we just roll into a store
and buy stuff and leg out again."
Playboy: "Isn't that like looking for
trouble?"
Paul: "No, we walk four times faster than
the average person."
Playboy: "Can you eat safely in
restaurants?"
George: "Sure we can. I was there the
other night."
John: "Where?"
George: "Restaurants."
Paul: "Of course we're known in the
restaurants we go in."
George: "and usually it's only Americans
that'll bother you."
Playboy: "Really?"
George: "Really. If we go into a
restaurant in London, there's always going to be
a couple of them eating there; you just tell the
waiter to hold them off if they try to come
over. If they come over anyway you just sign."
Ringo: "But you know, the restaurants I
go to, probably if I wasn't famous I wouldn't go
to them. Even if I had the same money and wasn't
famous I wouldn't go to them, because the people
that go to them are drags. The good thing when
you go to a place where the people are such
drags, such snobs, you see, is that they won't
bother to come over to your table. They pretend
they don't even know who you are, and you get
away with an easy night."
George: "and they think they are laughing
at us, but really we're laughing at them... 'cuz
we know they know who we are."
Ringo: "How's that?"
George: "They're not going to be like the
rest and ask for autographs."
Ringo: "and if they do, we just swear at
them."
George: "Well, I don't, Beatle people. I
sign the autograph and thank them profusely for
coming over, and offer them a piece of my chop."
John: "If we're in the middle of a meal,
I usually say, 'Do you mind waiting till I'm
finished?'"
George: "and then we keep eating until
they give up and leave."
John: "That's not true, Beatle people!"
Playboy: "Apart from these occupational
hazards, are you happy in your work? Do you
really enjoy getting pelted by jellybeans and
being drowned out by thousands of screaming
subteenagers?"
Ringo: "Yes."
George: "We still find it exciting."
John: "Well, you know..."
Paul: "After a while, actually, you begin
to get used to it, you know."
Playboy: "Can you really get used to
this?"
Paul: "Well, you still get excited when
you go onto a stage and the audience is great,
you know. But obviously you're not as excited as
you were when you first heard that one of your
records had reached number one. I mean, you
really do go wild with excitement then; you go
out drinking and celebrating and things."
Ringo: "Now we just go out drinkin'
anyway."
Playboy: "Do you stick pretty much
together off-stage?"
John: "Well, yes and no. Groups like this
are normally not friends, you know. They're just
four people out there thrown together to make an
act. There may be two of them who sort of go off
and are friends, you know, but..."
George: "Just what do you mean by that?"
John: "Strictly platonic, of course. But
we're all rather good friends, as it happens."
Playboy: "Then do you see a good deal of
one another when you're not working?"
Paul: "Well, you know, it depends. We
needn't always go to the same places together.
In earlier days, of course, when we didn't know
London, and we didn't know anybody in London,
then we really did stick together, and it would
really be just like four fellows down from the
north for a coach trip. But nowadays, you know,
we've got our own girlfriends... they're in
London... so that we each normally go out with
our girlfriends on our days off. Except for
John, of course, who's married."
Playboy: "Do any of the rest of you have
any plans to settle down?"
Paul: "I haven't got any."
George: "Ringo and I are getting
married."
Ringo: "Oh? To whom?"
George: "To each other. But that's a
thing you'd better keep a secret."
Ringo: "You better not tell anybody."
George: I mean, if we said something like
that, people'd probably think we're queers.
After all, that's not the sort of thing you can
put in a reputable magazine like Playboy. and
anyway, we don't want to start the rumor going."
Playboy: "We'd better change the subject,
then. Do you remember the other night when this
girl came backstage..."
George: "Naked..."
Playboy: "Unfortunately not. and she
said..."
George: "It's been a hard day's night."
Playboy: "No. She pointed at you, George,
and said, 'There's a Beatle!' and you others
said, 'That's George.' and she said, 'No, it's a
Beatle!'
John: "and you said, 'This way to the
bedroom.'"
Playboy: "No, it was, 'Would you like us
to introduce you to him?'"
John: "I like my line better."
Playboy: "Well, the point is that she
didn't believe that there was such a thing as an
actual Beatle 'person.'"
John: "She's right, you know."
Playboy: "Do you run across many like
her?"
George: "Is there any other kind?"
Playboy: "In America, too?"
Ringo: "Everywhere."
Playboy: "With no exceptions?"
John: "In America, you mean?
Playboy: "Yes."
John: "A few."
Paul: "Yeah, Some of those American girls
have been great."
John: "Like Joan Baez."
Paul: "Joan Baez is good, yeah, very
good."
John: "She's the only one I like."
George: "and Jayne Mansfield. Playboy
made her."
Paul: "She's a bit different, isn't she?
Different."
Ringo: "She's soft."
George: "Soft and warm."
Paul: "Actually, she's a clot."
Ringo: "...says Paul, the god of the
Beatles."
Paul: "I didn't mean it, Beatle People!
Actually, I haven't even met her. But you won't
print that anyway, of course, because Playboy is
very pro-Mansfield. They think she's a rave. But
she really is an old bag."
Playboy: "By the way, what are Beatle
people?"
John: "It's something they use in the fan
mags in America. They all start out, 'Hi there,
Beatle people, 'spect you're wondering what the
Fab Foursome are doing these days!' Now we use
it all the time, too."
Paul: "It's low-level journalese."
John: "But I mean, you know, there's
nothing wrong with that, It's harmless."
Playboy: "Speaking of low-level
journalese, there was a comment in one of the
London papers the other day that paralleled you
guys with Hitler. Seriously! It said that you
have the same technique of drawing cheers from
the crowd..."
Paul: "That power isn't so much us being
like Hitler; it's that the audiences and the
show have got a sort of, you know, Hitler feel
about them, because the audience will shout when
their told to. That's what the critic was
talking about. Actually, that article was one
which I really got annoyed about, 'cuz she's
never even met us."
Playboy: "She?"
Paul: "The woman who wrote it. She's
never met us, but she was dead against us. Like
that Hitler bit. and she said we were very
boring people. 'The Boresome Foursome,' she
called us. You know, really, this woman was
really just shouting her mouth off about us...
as people, I mean."
Ringo: "Oh, come on."
Paul: "No, you come on. I rang up the
newspaper, you know, but they wouldn't let me
speak to her. In actual fact, they said, 'Well,
I'll tell you, the reason we don't give out her
phone number is because she never likes to speak
to people on the phone because she's got a
terrible stutter. So I never did actually follow
it up. Felt sorry for her. But I mean, the cheek
of her, writing this damn article about us. and
telling everybody how we're starting riots, and
how we're such bores... and she's never even met
us, mind you! I mean, we could turn around and
say the same about her! I could go and thump
her!"
George: "Bastard fascist!"
Playboy: "Ringo..."
Ringo: "Yes, Playboy, sir?"
Playboy: "How do you feel about the
press? Has your attitude changed in the last
year or so?"
Ringo: "Yes."
Playboy: "In what way?"
Ringo: "I hate 'em more now than I did
before."
Playboy: "Did you hear about the riot in
Glasgow on the night of your last show there?"
John: "We heard about it after."
Playboy: "Did you know that the next day
there was a letter in one of the Glasgow papers
that accused you of directly 'inciting' the
violence?"
Ringo: "How can they say that about us We
don't even wiggle. It's not bloody fair."
George: "Bastards!"
Paul: "Glasgow is like Belfast. There'll
probably be a bit of a skirmish there, too. But
not because of us. It's because people in
certain cities just hate the cops more than in
other cities."
George: "Right."
Paul: "There were ridiculous riots last
time we were there... but it wasn't riots for
us. The crowd was there for us, but the riots
after the show..."
Ringo: "All the drunks come out, out of
the pubs."
Paul: "...it was just beatin' up
coppers."
Playboy: "They just used the occasion as
a pretext to get at the cops?"
George: "Yeah."
Paul: "In Dublin this trip, did you see
where the crowd sort of stopped all the traffic?
They even pulled a driver out of a bus."
John: "They also called out the fire
brigade. We had four fire engines this time."
Playboy: "People were also overturning
cars and breaking shop windows. But all this had
nothing to do with your show?"
Paul: "Well, it's vaguely related, I
suppose. It's got something to do with us,
inasmuch as the crowds happen to be there
because of our show."
John: "But nobody who's got a bit of
common sense would seriously think that
15-year-old girls are going around smashing shop
windows on account of us."
George: "Certainly not. Those girls are
'eight' years old."
Playboy: "This talk of violence leads to
a related question. Do you guys think there'll
be a war soon?"
George: "Yeah. Friday."
Ringo: "I hope not. Not just after we've
got our money through the taxes."
John: "The trouble is, if they do start
another war, then everybody goes with you."
Playboy: "Do you think the Rolling Stones
will be the first to go?"
Paul: "It won't matter, 'cuz we'll
probably be in London or Liverpool at the time,
and when they drop the bomb, it'll be in the
middle of the city. So we probably won't even
know it when it happens."
Playboy: "We brought this up for a
reason, fellows. There was an essay not long ago
in a very serious commentary magazine, saying
that before every major war in this century,
there had been a major wave of public hysteria
over certain specific entertainers. There was
the Irene Castle craze before World War One..."
Paul: "Oh yes."
George: "I remember that well."
Playboy: "and then, before World War Two,
there was the swing craze with Benny Goodman and
Artie Shaw, and all the dancing in the aisles.
and now you- - before...."
John: "Hold on! It's not our fault!"
Playboy: "We're not saying you may have
anything to do with inciting a war..."
Paul: "Thanks."
Playboy: "But don't you think you may be
a symptom of the times, part of an undercurrent
that's building up?"
Paul: "That sort of comparison just falls
down when you look at it, really. It's just like
saying that this morning a fly landed on my bed
and that I looked at my watch and it was eight
o'clock, and that therefore every morning at
eight o'clock flies land on the bed. It doesn't
prove anything just 'cuz it happens a few
times."
Playboy: "Let's move on to another
observation about you. Did you know that the
Duke of Edinburgh was recently quoted as saying
that he thought you were on the way out?"
John: "Good luck, Duke."
George: "No comment. See my manager."
Paul: "He didn't say it, though. There
was a retraction, wasn't there?"
John: "Yeah, we got a telegram. Wonderful
news."
Paul: "We sent one back. Addressed to
'Liz and Phil.'"
Playboy: "Have you ever met the Queen?"
John: "No. She's the only one we haven't
met. We've met all the others."
Paul: "All the mainstays."
Playboy: "Winston Chirchill?"
Ringo: "No, not him."
John: "He's a good lad, though."
Playboy: "Would you like to meet him?"
George:" Not really. Not more than
anybody else."
Paul: "I dunno. Somebody like that you
wish you could have met when he was at his peak,
you know, and sort of doing things and being
great. But there wouldn't be alot of point now,
because he's sort of gone into retirement and
doesn't do alot of things anymore."
Playboy: "Is there any celebrity you
would like to meet?"
Paul: "I wouldn't mind meeting Adolf
Hitler."
GEROGE: "You could have every room in
your house papered."
Playboy: "Would you like to meet Princess
Margaret?"
Paul: "We have."
Playboy: "How do you like her?"
Ringo: " "OK. and Philip's OK, too."
Playboy: "Even after what he supposedly
said about you?"
Ringo: "I don't care what he said, I
still think he's OK. He didn't say nothing about
me personally."
Paul: "Even if he had said things about
us, it doesn't make him worse, you know."
Playboy: "Speaking of royalty..."
Paul: "Royalty never condemns anything
unless it's something that they know everybody
else condemns."
Ringo: "If I was royal..."
Paul: "If I was royal, I would crack long
jokes and get a mighty laugh... if I was royal."
George: "What would 'we' do with
Buckingham Palace? Royalty's stupid."
Playboy: "You guys seem to be pretty
irreverent characters. Are any of you
churchgoers?"
John: "No."
George: "No."
Paul: "Not particularly. But we're not
antireligious. We probably seem antireligious
because of the fact that none of us believe in
God."
John: "If you say you don't believe in
God, everybody assumes you're antireligious, and
you probably think that's what we mean by that.
We're not quite sure 'what' we are, but I know
that we're more agnostic than atheistic."
Playboy: "Are you speaking for the group,
or just for yourself."
John: "For the group."
George: "John's our official religious
spokesman."
Paul: "We all feel roughly the same.
We're all agnostics."
John: "Most people are, anyway."
Ringo: "It's better to admit it than to
be a hypocrite."
John: "The only thing we've got against
religion is the hypocritical side of it, which I
can't stand. Like the clergy is always moaning
about people being poor, while they themselves
are all going around with millions of quid worth
of robes on. That's the stuff I can't stand."
Paul: "A new bronze door stuck on the
Vatican."
Ringo: "Must have cost a mighty penny."
Paul: "But believe it or not, we're not
anti-Christ."
Ringo: "Just anti-Pope and
anti-christian."
Paul: "But you know, in America..."
George: "They were more shocked by us
saying we were agnostics."
John: "Then they went potty; they
couldn't take it. Same as in Australia, where
they couldn't stand us not liking sports."
Paul: "In America, they're fanatical
about God. I know somebody over there who said
he was an atheist. The papers nearly refused to
print it because it was such shocking news that
somebody could actually be an atheist... yeah...
and admit it."
Ringo: "He speaks for all of us."
Playboy: "To bring up another topic
that's shocking to some, how do you feel about
the homosexual problem?"
George: "Oh yeah, well, we're all
homosexuals, too."
Ringo: "Yeah, we're all queer."
Paul: "But don't tell anyone."
Playboy: "Seriously, is there more
homosexuality in England than elsewhere?"
John: "Are you saying there's more over
here than in America?"
Playboy: "We're just asking."
George: "It's just that they've got
crewcuts in America. You can't spot 'em."
Paul: "There's probably a million more
queers in America than in England. England may
have it's scandals... like Profumo and all...
but at least they're heterosexual."
John: "Still, we do have more than our
share of queers, don't you think?"
Paul: "It just seems that way because
there's more printed about them over here."
Ringo: "If they find out somebody is a
bit bent, the press will always splash it
about."
Paul: "Right. Take Profumo, for example.
He's just an ordinary..."
Ringo: "...sex maniac."
Paul: "...just an ordinary fellow who
sleeps with women. Yet it's adultery in the eyes
of the law, and it's an international incident.
But in actual fact, if you check up on the
statistics, you find that there are hardly any
married men who've been completely faithful to
their wives."
John: "I have! Listen, Beatle people..."
Paul: "Alright, we all know John's
spotless. But when a thing like that gets into
the newspapers, everybody goes very, very
Puritan, and they pretend that they don't know
what sex is about."
George: "They get so bloody virtuous all
of a sudden."
Paul: "Yes, and some poor heel has got to
take the brunt of the whole thing. But in actual
fact, If you ask the average Briton what they
really think of the Profumo case, they'd
probably say, 'He was knockin' off some bird. So
what?'"
Playboy: "Incidentally, you've met Mandy
Rice-Davies haven't you?"
George: "What are you looking at 'me'
for?"
Playboy: "Because we hear she was looking
at you."
John: "We did meet Christine Keeler."
Ringo: "I'll tell you who I met. I met
whats-her-name... April Ashley."
John: "I met her, too, the other night."
Playboy: "Isn't she the one who used to
be a man, changed her sex and married into
nobility?"
John: "That's the one."
Ringo: "She swears at me, you know. But
when she sobers up she apologizes."
John: "Actually, I quite like her. Him.
It. That."
Paul: "The problem with saying something
like, 'Profumo was just a victim of
circumstances' or 'April Ashley isn't so bad,
even though she's changed sex' - saying things
like that in print to most people seems so
shocking; whereas in actual fact, if you really
think about it, it isn't. Just saying things
like that sounds much more shocking than it is."
Ringo: "I got up in the Ad Lib the other
night and a big handbag hit me in the gut. I
thought it was somebody I knew; I didn't have my
glasses on. I said, 'Hello,' and a bloody big
worker went 'Arrgghhh.' So I just ran into the
bog... because I'd heard about things like
that."
Playboy: "What are you talking about?"
George: "He doesn't know."
Playboy: "Do you?"
George: "Haven't the slightest."
Playboy: "Can you give us a hint, Ringo?
What's the Ad Lib, for example?"
Ringo: "It's a club."
George: "Like your Peppermint Lounge and
the Whiskey-a-Go-go. It's the same thing."
Paul: " No, the English version is a
little different."
John: "The Whiskey-a-Go-go is exactly the
same, isn't it? ...only they have someone
dancing on the ceiling, don't they?"
George: "Don't be ridiculous. They have
'two' girls dancing on the roof. In the Ad Lib
they have a colored chap. That's the
difference."
Playboy: "We heard a rumor that one of
you was thinking about opening a club."
John: "I wonder who that was, Ringo."
Ringo: "I don't know, John. There was a
rumor, yes. I heard that one, too."
Playboy: "Is there any truth to it?"
Ringo: "Well, yes. We were going to open
one in Hollywood, but it fell through."
John: "Dino wouldn't let you take the
place over."
Ringo: "No."
Paul: "and we decided it's not worth it.
So we decided to sit tight for six months, and
then buy..."
George: "...America."
Playboy: "Have you heard about the
Playboy Club that's opening in London?"
Ringo: "Yes. I've heard about it."
Playboy: "What do you think of our
Clubs?"
Ringo: "They're for dirty old men, not
for the likes of us - dirty young men. They're
for businessmen that sneak out without their
wives knowing, or if their wives sneak out
first, or those who go out openly."
George: "There's no real fun in a Bunny's
fluffy tail."
Playboy: "Then you don't think a Club
will make it here?"
George: "Oh yes, 'course it will."
Ringo: "There's enough dirty old men
here."
Playboy: "Have you ever read the
magazine?"
John: "Yes."
George: "Yes."
Ringo: "I get my copy every month. Tits."
Playboy: "Do you read any of the
philosophy, any of you?"
Paul: "Some of it. When the journey's
really long and you can't last out the pictures,
you start reading it. It's OK."
Playboy: "How about Playboy's Jazz Poll?
Do you read it, too?"
John: "Occasionally."
Playboy: "Do you enjoy jazz, any of you?"
George: "What kind?"
Playboy: "American jazz."
John: "Who, for example?"
Playboy: "You tell us."
Paul: "We only dig those who dig us."
Playboy: "Seriously, who? Anyone?"
John: "Getz. But only because somebody
gave me an album of his... with him and somebody
called Iguana, or something like that."
Playboy: "You mean Joao Gilberto?"
John: "I don't know. Some Mexican."
Playboy: "He's Brazilian."
John: "Oh."
Playboy: "Are you guys getting tired of
talking?"
John: "No."
Paul: "No. Let's order some drinks.
Scotch or Coke?"
John: "I'll have chocolate."
George: "Scotch for me and Paul... and
chocolate for the Beatle teenager."
John: "Scotch is bad for your kidneys."
Paul: "How about you, Ringo? Don't you
want someting to keep you awake while you're
listening to all this rubbish?"
Ringo: "I'll have a Coke."
John: "How about you, Playboy? Are you a
man or a woman?"
Paul: "It's a Beatle people!"
George: "Who's your fave rave?"
Paul: "I love 'you!'"
George: "How gear."
Playboy: "Speaking of fave raves, why do
you think the rock 'n roll phenomenon is bigger
in England than in America?"
John: "Is it?"
Paul: "Yes. You see, in England... after
us... you have thousands of groups coming out
everywhere, but in America they've just sort of
had the same groups going for ages. Some have
made it and some haven't, but there aren't
really any new ones. If we'd been over there
instead of over here, there probably would have
been the same upsurge over there. Our road
manager made an interesting point the other day
about this difference in America. In America the
people who are big stars are not our age.
There's nobody who's really a big star around
our age. Possibly it may seem like a small
point, but there's no conscription... no
draft... here. In America, we used to hear about
somebody like Elvis, who was a very big star and
then suddenly he was off to the Army."
John: "and the Everly Brothers."
Paul: "Yes, the Everly Brothers as well
went into the Army at the height of their fame.
and the Army seems to do something to singers.
It may make them think that what they're playing
is stupid and childish. Or it may make them want
to change their style, and consequently they may
not be as popular when they come out of the
Army. It may also make people forget them, and
consequently they may have a harder job getting
back on top when they get out. But here, of
course, we don't have that problem."
John: "Except those who go to prison."
Paul: "It's become so easy to form a
group nowadays, and to make a record, that
hundreds are doing it - and making a good living
at it. Whereas when we started, it took us a
couple of years before record companies would
even listen to us, never mind give us a
contract. But now, you just walk in and if they
think you're OK, you're on."
Playboy: "Do you think you had anything
to do with bringing all this about?"
John: "It's a damn fact."
Paul: "Not only us. Us and people who
followed us. But we were the first really to get
national coverage because of some big shows that
we did, and because of alot of public interest
in us."
Playboy: "What do you think is the most
important element of your success... the
personal appearances, or the records?"
John: "Records. Records have always been
the main thing. P.A.'s follow records. Our first
records were made, and then we appeared."
Playboy: "Followed closely by Beatle
Dolls. Have you seen them?"
George: They're actually life size, you
know."
Playboy: "The ones we've seen are only
about five inches high."
Paul: "Well, we're midgets, you see."
Playboy: "How does it make you feel to
have millions of effigies of yourselves
decorating bedsides all over the world? Don't
you feel honored to have been immortalized in
plastic? After all, there's no such thing as a
Frank Sinatra doll, or an Elvis Presley doll."
George: "Who'd want an ugly old crap doll
like that?"
Playboy: "Would you prefer a George doll,
George?"
George: "No, but I've got a Ringo doll at
home."
Playboy: "Did you know that you're
probably the first public figures to have dolls
made of them... except maybe Yogi Berra?"
John: "In Jellystone Park. Do you mean
the cartoon?"
Playboy: "No. Didn't you know that the
cartoon character is based on a real person...
Yogi Berra, the baseball player?"
George: "Oh."
Playboy: "Didn't you know that?"
John: "I didn't know that."
Paul: "Well, they're making 'us' into a
cartoon, too, in the states. It's a series."
John: "The highest achievement you could
ever get."
Paul: "We feel proud and humble."
Playboy: "Did you know, George, that at
the corner of 47th Street and Broadway in New
York, there is a giant cutout of you on
display?"
George: "Of me?"
Playboy: "Life size."
Ringo: "Nude."
Playboy: "No... but the reason we mention
it is that this is really a signal honor. For
years on that corner, there's been a big store
with life-size cutouts of Marilyn Monroe, Anita
Ekberg, or Jayne Mansfield in the window."
John: "and now it's George."
Paul: "The only difference is that
they've got bigger tits."
Ringo: "I suppose that's one way of
putting it."
George: "The party's getting rough. I'm
going to bed. You carry on, though. I'll just
stop my ears with cotton... so as not to hear
the insults and smutty language."
Playboy: "We've just about run out of
steam, anyway."
John: "Do you have all you need?"
Playboy: "Enough. Many thanks, fellows."
John: "'Course alot of it you won't be
able to use - 'crap' and 'bloody' and 'tit' and
'bastard' and all."
Playboy: "Wait and see."
Ringo: "Finish your scotch before you
go."
John: "You don't mind if I climb into
bed, do you? I'm frazzled."
Playboy: "Not at all. Good night."
Ringo: "Good night, Playboy."
George: "It's been a hard day's night." |
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