The Beatles- Tell Me What You See
Page 1
THE BEATLES
TELL ME WHAT YOU SEE
Peter Checksfield
Copyright © 2019 Peter Checksfield
All rights reserved.
The editorial arrangement, analysis, and professional commentary are subject to this copyright notice. No portion of this book may be copied, retransmitted, reposted, duplicated, or otherwise used without the express written approval of the author, except by reviewers who may quote brief excerpts in connection with a review.
FOR HEATHER
ALSO FOR MY BROTHER ROBERT
WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS
Unlike with my previous books, I haven’t asked anyone else for help in research. However, this book still wouldn’t have been possible without the help of a great many archivists and music historians over the years. These include James Ross, Gordon Irwin, Jock Barnson, Bobby Baity, Gary Quinn and Alex Radov.
Like any book on The Beatles, this wouldn’t have been possible without the groundbreaking work that went on beforehand. These authors / researchers include, but are certainly not limited to, Hunter Davies, Mark Lewisohn, Spencer Leigh, Keith Badman, Doug Sulpy, Chip Madinger, Mark Easter, Richie Unterberger, Bamiyan Shiff and Mike Carrera. See the Bibliography at the back of this book for a fuller list of important books and websites.
Lastly, I’d like to thank my better half Heather. Without her love and support I wouldn’t even be an author, let alone write three books.
CONTENTS
1
Introduction
2
THE BEATLES
3
JOHN LENNON
4
PAUL McCARTNEY
5
GEORGE HARRISON
6
RINGO STARR
7
Bibliography
8
About the author
INTRODUCTION
PAPERBACK WRITER
‘The Beatles – Tell Me What You See’ is my third book, following 2018’s ‘Channelling The Beat – The Ultimate Guide to UK ‘60s Pop on TV’, and 2019’s ‘Look Wot They Dun – The Ultimate Guide to UK Glam Rock on TV in The ‘70s’. I never initially planned a book on The Beatles, but in late 2018, following unexpected but fortunately temporary health issues, I visited the moving and life-affirming ‘John and Yoko: Double Fantasy’ exhibition in Liverpool, as well as (for the first time) The Cavern, The Beatles’ childhood homes, etc. I then knew what my next book had to be about.
WHAT GOES ON
I’ve attempted to list all complete or near-complete professionally-filmed musical performances by The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, whether that is on TV shows, in Promo Videos, as live concert footage, and in movies. NOT usually mentioned are movies that don’t feature musical performances (such as ‘How I Won The War’ and ‘The Magic Christian’, excellent though they are), documentaries (unless they include full-length, exclusive, performances), interviews, news reports, and amateur footage filmed from the audience.
YOU KNOW MY NAME (LOOK UP MY NUMBER)
For TV shows, I’ve used broadcast dates, adding taping dates when known. For concerts, I’ve usually listed them by date of performance, adding broadcast dates when known. For Promo Videos, I’ve rounded up release dates to the nearest month; these often coincide with the release dates of the corresponding singles, though occasionally videos wouldn’t be made until sometime later. Additionally, to give the footage some context, I’ve listed both UK and US chart positions throughout the book.
NOT A SECOND TIME
Also, I’ve mentioned when alternate Promo Videos were made. Everyone has a different opinion on what constitutes an ‘alternate’: Some, such as the 3 best-known versions of ‘Hello Goodbye’, Paul’s 2 very different ‘This One’ and George’s 2 ‘Got My Mind Set On You’ videos, are very different. But what about when just a few seconds of different footage is featured, or a live vocal is replace by the studio recording, or a 4:3 picture is cropped to 16:9? These things are generally mentioned, but are not usually regarded as ‘alternates’ for the purposes of this book. Also, please be aware that what you see on YouTube and bootlegs are often elaborate fakes rather than officially sanctioned promo videos.
YOU WON’T SEE ME
A number of performances, mainly from the 1962 – 1966 era (but sometimes well into the ‘70s), sadly no longer exist on video or film, though occasionally they do survive as audios. All details of these ‘lost’ performances have been listed when known.
ALL TOGETHER NOW
There are 5 main sections to this book: The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. For the sake of simplicity, The Plastic Ono Band is under John Lennon, Wings is under Paul McCartney, The Traveling Wilburys under George Harrison, etc.
I hope, in researching and writing this tome, I’ve done John, Paul, George and Ringo’s TV & video careers justice. Enjoy the book, and if you’ve any serious comments or further info, let me know.
PETER CHECKSFIELD
www.peterchecksfield.com
THE BEATLES
22-08-62 – The Cavern, Liverpool (UK)
Some Other Guy
This incredible footage isn’t the earliest filmed performance of The Beatles: that honour goes to a 39-second silent colour 8mm film of the boys performing at St. John’s Presbyterian Church Hall in Birkenhead on the 10th of February 1962. However, this live performance of The Beatles performing Ritchie Barrett’s ‘Some Other Guy’ remains THE most historically important footage ever of The Beatles. Not only is it the earliest professionally filmed performance of the band to feature original audio, but it is also the only footage of them filmed in The Cavern, capturing the band just a week after Pete Best was replaced by Ringo Starr, with feelings still running high enough for someone to heckle ‘We want Pete!’ at the end of the song. Although originally taped by a Granada TV crew for a programme called ‘Know The North’, it was deemed unsatisfactory, so wasn’t actually screened until 06-11-63, when it was broadcast on ‘Scene At 6.30’. Also performed for the cameras at the time was ‘Kansas City – Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey’, as well as some silent ‘inserts’; the former only survives on audio, but the latter, as well as an alternate audio of ‘Some Other Guy’, still survive. This has resulted in at least four different edits of this performance, each with alternate visuals and/or audio. One of these was released on the ‘Anthology’ official VHS and DVD box-sets. The only official audio release of a performance of the song by The Beatles though, was from the radio show ‘Easy Beat’, taped on 19-06-63 and broadcast on 23-06-63, and issued on the ‘Live At the BBC’ album in November 1994.
17-10-62 – ‘People and Places’ (UK) – MISSING/LOST
Some Other Guy / Love Me Do
Between two performances at The Cavern on this day, The Beatles made their debut in a TV studio, for viewers in the northern Granada TV area only. Performing live in the studio, the band plays their current concert favourite ‘Some Other Guy’, and the A-side of their debut single (discounting the earlier ‘My Bonnie’ where they anonymously backed Tony Sheridan), ‘Love Me Do’. Unfortunately, like a great many of their early TV appearances, this footage no longer survives, though an audio, taped from in front of the TV by a fan, does still exist, and they put in a strong performance. ‘Love Me Do’ peaked at No. 17 in the UK charts, and, following their breakthrough in early 1964, No. 1 in the US charts.
02-11-62 – ‘People and Places’ (UK) – MISSING/LOST
Love Me Do / A Taste Of Honey
The Beatles’ second appearance on the show, this time they pre-taped on 29-10-62, probably due to the fact that they were due to fly o
ut to Hamburg on 30-10-62 for a 14-night residency at The Star Club. As well as more TV promotion for their single, The Beatles perform Lenny Welch’s ‘A Taste Of Honey’, a song that would be issued on the ‘Please Please Me’ album over 4 months later. For ‘Love Me Do’, John didn’t have a guitar, but instead sat down singing in front of all the others, while Paul and George stood behind him playing their usual instruments alongside Ringo on drums. This no longer exists on video, but an audio of ‘A Taste Of Honey’ survives.
03-12-62 – ‘Discs A Go Go’ (UK) – MISSING/LOST
Love Me Do
‘Discs A Go Go’ was a TV show made by TWW (Television Wales and the West), and only broadcast in that area. Making their only ever appearance on the show, the band mime to their current hit single.
04-12-62 – ‘Tuesday Rendezvous’ (UK) – MISSING/LOST
Love Me Do / P.S. I Love You
At last appearing on TV in the London area, the band mime to both ‘Love Me Do’, and the B-side, ‘P.S. I Love You’, the only time they performed the latter song on TV.
17-12-62 – ‘People and Places’ (UK) – MISSING/LOST
Love Me Do / Twist and Shout
The day before flying to Hamburg for their final, 13-night, residency at The Star Club, the band returned to ‘People and Places’ for the 3rd time. Yet again performing ‘Love Me Do’, they also perform a song that they’d learnt via The Isley Brothers, Twist and Shout. Forever associated more with The Beatles than anyone else following the song’s release on the ‘Please Please Me’ album, it would also become the title track of a chart-topping UK EP, as well as a No. 2 hit in the USA.
08-01-63 – ‘Roundup’ (UK) – MISSING/LOST
Please Please Me
Although not released until 3 days later, The Beatles mime their next single ‘Please Please Me’ for their only appearance on this Scottish TV show. The record would go on to just miss the UK top spot at No. 2 – or did it? It was listed as No. 1 on both the ‘New Musical Express’ and ‘Melody Maker’ charts, yet it got to No. 2 on the ‘Record Retailer’ charts, a far less-seen and allegedly less-accurate chart at the time. However, it is this chart that is now generally recognised as the official one for much of the ‘60s and early ‘70s, so, latter day history records the single as stalling at No. 2. Whatever, it was a big achievement, propelling the group to the big time, as well as giving a huge shove to the whole “Mersey Beat” scene, with such acts as Gerry and The Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer with The Dakotas, The Swinging Blue Jeans, The Searchers and Cilla Black following The Beatles to the top of the charts within the next year or so. A US flop on its initial release, ‘Please Please Me’ eventually got to No. 3 on the US Billboard charts.
16-01-63 – ‘People and Places’ (UK) – MISSING/LOST
Ask Me Why / Please Please Me
Performing live on their 4th and final appearance on the show, this time the band play both sides of their current single. This was to be the only time ‘Ask Me Why’ was performed on TV.
19-01-63 – ‘Thank Your Lucky Stars’ (UK) – MISSING/LOST
Please Please Me
Prior to ‘Ready, Steady, Go!’ starting in August 1963 and ‘Top Of The Pops’ debuting in January 1964, the UK’s top music TV shows were ‘Juke Box Jury’, a show that didn’t actually feature acts performing, and this one, ‘Thank Your Lucky Stars’. So, despite only miming to one song, this was a very important TV appearance for the band. It was pre-taped in Birmingham on 13-01-63.
23-02-63 – ‘Thank Your Lucky Stars’ (UK) – MISSING/LOST
Please Please Me
Making their 2nd appearance on the show, and miming to the same song as before, this was taped on 17-02-63 in ABC’s Teddington Studios in London.
09-04-63 – ‘Tuesday Rendezvous’ (UK) – MISSING/LOST
From Me To You / Please Please Me
Performing on this London-based show for the 2nd time, The Beatles mime to their new single ‘From Me To You’, as well as, over the closing credits, a brief excerpt of ‘Please Please Me’. Topping the UK charts, from now onwards it would be No. 1’s (nearly) all the way in their homeland, though at this point the band still meant almost nothing in the USA, where ‘From Me To You’ got to just 116. A year later, as the B-side to the re-promoted ‘Please Please Me’, it would become a US No. 3.
16-04-63 – ‘The 625 Show’ (UK) – MISSING/LOST
From Me To You / Thank You Girl / Please Please Me
Up till now, all of The Beatles’ TV appearances had been on the various ITV (Independent Television) channels, but now even the staid old BBC were waking up to this new phenomenon, with the group appearing on one of their TV shows for the first time. Pre-taped on 13-04-63 and with the band playing live, this included the only TV performance of ‘Thank You Girl’, the B-side to ‘From Me To You’, while ‘Please Please Me’ was a finale with the entire cast of the show, including compere/singer Jimmy Young, Rolf and Tino, Hank Locklin, Wout Steenhuis, Micky Greeve, Johnny Pearson and Edwin Braben.
16-04-63 – ‘Scene At 6.30’ (UK) – MISSING/LOST
From Me To You
By now Granada TV’s ‘People and Places’ had been replaced by a new show, ‘Scene At 6:30’, and while the programme’s news and magazine format was much the same, the big difference is that bands now tended to mime instead of play live, with The Beatles being no exception. Here they perform their new single.
20-04-63 – ‘Thank Your Lucky Stars’ (UK) – MISSING/LOST
From Me To You
Taped on 14-04-63, the band returns to London’s ABC studios to plug their new single. After the taping, The Beatles all go to London’s Crawdaddy Club to see and meet, for the first time, their future rivals The Rolling Stones.
16-05-63 – ‘Pops and Lenny’ (UK) – MISSING/LOST
From Me To You / Please Please Me / After You’ve Gone [with entire cast]
A BBC TV show starring puppet Lenny The Lion along with host Terry Hall, for this performance the band play, live, their two biggest hits to date. Afterwards they are joined by Terry, Lenny, The Raindrops and Patsy Ann Noble for the grand finale of ‘After You’ve Gone’, an old standard from the ‘20s. All that survives of this show is a poor quality, incomplete, audio of ‘From Me To You’.
18-05-63 – ‘Thank Your Lucky Stars’ (UK) – MISSING/LOST
From Me To You / I Saw Her Standing There
By now, The Beatles were deemed too important to perform just one song on the UK’s premiere music show, so, taped in Birmingham on 12-05-63, they perform both their biggest hit and the opening song to their No. 1 ‘Please Please Me’ album.
29-06-63 – ‘Lucky Stars – Summer Spin’ (UK) – MISSING/LOST
From Me To You / I Saw Her Standing There
For the summer season, ‘Thank Your Lucky Stars’ was given a new title ‘Lucky Stars – Summer Spin’, and this edition, taped in Birmingham on 23-06-63, was a ‘Mersey Beat’ special. Headlining over Gerry and The Pacemakers, The Searchers, Billy J. Kramer with The Dakotas, The Vernons Girls, Kenneth Cope and The Breakaways, The Big Three and Lee Curtis, The Beatles reprise the two songs they performed on the show the previous month, ‘From Me To You’ and ‘I Saw Her Standing There’.
14-08-63 – ‘Scene At 6.30’ (UK)
Twist and Shout
Not including the yet-to-be-broadcast footage from The Cavern, The Beatles had performed on TV 16 times to date, with every one of them lost, almost certainly forever. Now, at last, here’s a performance that survives. Dressed casually in black roll-neck jumpers and jeans, The Beatles mime to the closing track of their ‘Please Please Me’ album and the title track of their best-selling EP, ‘Twist and Shout’. Frustratingly included on the ‘Anthology’ telecast/VHS/DVDs as part of a montage (along with clips from ‘The Mersey Sound’, ‘The Royal Variety Performance’, ‘Drop In’ and ‘Pathe News – The Beatles Come To Town’), it was finally officially released in full on the ‘1+’ DVD set in 2015.
19-08-63 – ‘
Scene At 6.30’ (UK) – MISSING/LOST
She Loves You
Taped on the same day as the ‘Twist and Shout’ performance on 14-08-63, here they perform, for the first time anywhere on TV, their new single, ‘She Loves You’. Another UK No. 1, it would also, eventually in 1964, get to No. 1 in the USA.
22-08-63 – ‘Day By Day’ (UK) – MISSING/LOST
She Loves You
A regional TV show in the south, here the band mime to their new single in a Southampton TV studio, before heading back to Bournemouth to perform 2 shows, the 4th of a 6-day residency in the town’s Gaumont Cinema.
24-08-63 – ‘Lucky Stars – Summer Spin’ (UK) – MISSING/LOST
She Loves You / I’ll Get You
Taped in Birmingham on the morning of 18-08-63, en route to Torquay where they performed two shows that evening, The Beatles mime to both sides of their current single.
07-09-63 – ‘Big Night Out’ (UK)
From Me To You / She Loves You / Twist and Shout / I Saw Her Standing There
Taped on 01-09-63, and miming on a set that unconvincingly attempts to recreate The Cavern, The Beatles perform their two biggest hit singles plus the opening and closing tracks of their top selling album. During ‘I Saw Her Standing There’, the other acts on the show dance in front of the band, including hosts Mike and Bernie Winters, Patsy Ann Noble, Billy Dainty, Sally Barnes, Bobby Beaumont and The Lionel Blair Dancers. Excerpts from this show appear in ‘Anthology’.