Best of the Beatles

by Spencer Leigh

  Vocalist Cy Tucker: “The birds used to go crazy on Pete Best but he was very quiet and laid-back. He was not as full of life as the other three guys. Pete Best wasn’t doing their thing.”

  It is not mandatory that all the members of a group should be close friends, although it helps. Gerry Marsden and Les Chadwick had totally different personalities and yet they jogged along happily together for several years in Gerry and the Pacemakers.

  I shouldn’t think it was easy to fit into a group with John Lennon and Pete Best. If the truth be known, he did well to last 2 years. Paul and George did fortunately share some of John’s sense of humour. Paul McCartney told Mark Lewisohn, “Pete Best had never quite been like the rest of us. We were the wacky trio and Pete was perhaps a little more sensible; he was slightly different from us, he wasn’t quite as artsy as we were. And we just didn’t hang out that much together. He’d go home to his mum’s club, the Casbah, and although we’d hang out there with him, we never really went to other places together.”

  Some light on Pete Best’s sacking comes from Cynthia Lennon: “As far as I knew, there was nothing wrong with Pete Best as a musician in any way. He was a very nice fellow, but I think overall, as far as I could see it from my position, their personalities were not in tune with Pete’s. Musically yes, but as four personalities they didn’t gel. They would have their jokes and Pete wasn’t involved in them. He was an outsider. Ringo was nutty enough to fit in with their unit whereas Pete was too serious for them. I think John felt a bit shy and embarrassed about him going, but it’s one of those things that happen in life.”

  I showed these remarks to Liverpool songwriter Tony Hazzard, who is also a psychotherapist: “Both George Harrison and Pete Best were quiet, but they were quiet in different ways. Pete was on the outside whereas John, Paul and George could pick up on each other – they shared the same ethos, the same culture, the same sense of humour – and Ringo obviously did as well. There was something about Pete Best that didn’t fit. I’d say that Cynthia Lennon had it about right.”

  John Lennon told their press officer, Tony Barrow, “Pete Best was a great drummer, but Ringo was a Beatle.” Tony knew what he meant and adds, “Ringo had a very dry sense of humour, but he had little to say and in the early days he sat back and let the others do the talking, partly because he was the new boy and the other three knew each other so well over the years. He became known as the Quiet Beatle, the silent one except that when he did come out with something it was pretty original and hilarious.”

  Certainly, George Harrison preferred to have Ringo in the Beatles because they were such good friends. However, if Pete Best didn’t fit in with the Beatles, why did it take them 2 years of working together to find out?”

  Alan Clayson, writing in his biography, Ringo Starr, Straight Man or Joker?, explains the sacking thus: “Pete was a Tony Curtis among the pilzenkopfs, a non-partaker of Benzedrine and Preludin, a swain whose intentions toward his Marks & Spencer girlfriend were honourable. Only on the periphery of their private jokes and folklore and as reliable as he was mature, there was no denying that, to his fellow Beatles, Best was a bit, well… you know. Anyway, he had to go.” This sounds impressive, but why should Pete be derided for having a girlfriend who worked at Marks & Spencer? Is it all that different from Ringo’s hairdressing girlfriend?

  Compare this assessment with the February 1965 edition of Playboy where John Lennon says, “Ringo used to fill in sometimes if our drummer was ill. With his periodic illness,” and Ringo adds, “He took little pills to make him ill.” The implication was that Pete Best was a drug addict and Pete obtained damages and an apology.

  That assertion was rich coming from John Lennon. Bob Wooler: “I left the table at the Black Rose one afternoon and when I got back there were two pills floating in my drink. I said, ‘What’s that?’ and Lennon said, ‘Oh, give it here’ and he knocked it back. It was two Preludin tablets and they had brought them back from Germany. They were in metal tubes and I used to say to them, ‘Anyone travelling by tube tonight?’”

  The Ex-Files 7: Pete Refused to have a Beatle Haircut

  We’ve dealt with this earlier and it would be dismissed for triviality were it not often cited. For example, Paddy Delaney, the doorman of the Cavern, believes it to be a major factor. As stated earlier, Pete’s hair was naturally curly and a Beatle haircut would have completely changed his look. In 1965 Pete was talked into having a Beatle haircut for some US appearances, ironically at a time when the Beatles’ looks were changing. However, I don’t feel that this is a factor as who could say in 1962 what a Beatle should look like? Besides, did Charlie Watts ever look like a Rolling Stone?

  Surprisingly, Jimmy Nicol, the stand-in drummer for Ringo Starr when he had his tonsils out, said in a 1986 issue of Drumming magazine: “Best was like a cry-baby. He didn’t want to cut his hair like the rest of the group and he resented Brian telling him that he had to. He soon found out that Brian carried more weight in the Beatles than he believed. The crap he wrote afterwards about the rest of the band being jealous of his good looks was just wishful babbling. Paul McCartney was ten times the looker Pete Best was.”

  Having said all that, the first thing John Lennon said to Ringo Starr when he became a Beatle was “Those sidies will have to go.” From a marketing point of view, Eppy was happier with four moptops.

  The Ex-Files 8: Mona Best’s Interference

  Allan Williams wrote a book, The Man Who Gave The Beatles Away, but the title was a nonsense. He had long since relinquished any management role in the Beatles and if anyone could be said to be the Beatles’ manager, or at least their agent, before Brian Epstein, then it would be Mona Best. Mona Best. She was The Woman Who Gave The Beatles Away.

  Ritchie Galvin of Earl Preston and the TTs: “Mrs Best was a formidable lady. If she said it was Sunday when it was Tuesday, you’d say it was Sunday too.”

  Mona Best was one of the few parents in the early 1960s who understood what Liverpool teenagers wanted. She was very pleasant and very organised, but she could be a harridan with the Best of intentions if she needed to push for the Beatles’ interests. To quote Philip Norman in Shout! The True Story of The Beatles, “Mona Best was a force one did not lightly provoke.”

  Despite the fact that she was coping with a pregnancy late in life in 1962, it seems likely that she would have called Brian Epstein regularly with her ideas for the Beatles’ progress and advice on what he should do next. A case of mother knows Best. We know from Bobby Graham that Eppy resented calls from Mrs Best as he wanted to manage the Beatles in his own way, which included taking them well away from Liverpool. If Pete Best were no longer with the band, Eppy wouldn’t have to justify his decisions to Mona Best.

  There was a flaw in this argument. Brian Epstein offered Pete a replacement job as a drummer with the Merseybeats and so he would still have to deal with Mona Best. I think he was taking a chance. He guessed that Pete Best would be so upset that he wouldn’t want to have anything further to do with NEMS. He primed his friend, Joe Flannery, from another agency, so Pete was instead put with Lee Curtis and the All Stars.

  The Ex-Files 9: Pete Best Rejected Brian Epstein’s Advances

  True, but Eppy was used to being turned down. After all, he could hardly expect most of the heterosexuals he approached to leap into bed with him. His advances were also rejected by John Lennon and Billy J. Kramer, so it is unlikely to have been a factor.

  The Ex-Files 10: Pete Best was Unreliable

  The first Anthology programme in 1996 suggested that Pete Best was unreliable. Pete comments, “That was the first time I’d heard it. It came as quite a surprise that I wasn’t reliable. I was never criticised for timekeeping as I am a prompt, punctual person. I only missed two gigs with them – one was when I had to go to court and the other was when I had flu. I missed the afternoon session at the Cavern but I pulled myself out of my sick bed to turn up for the evening one, but to my knowledge they were the only two I missed.” In case you
’re wondering, the court appearance was for a minor traffic offence.

  Bob Wooler, DJ at the Cavern: “It is absolute rubbish to say Pete was unreliable. The most unreliable person was Paul McCartney who was consistently late. I saw him on TV saying that Stevie Wonder was a bit unreliable, he turned up late, and I thought, ‘Look who’s talking’. I would say to Paul at Aintree Institute, ‘You’ve missed the middle spot and you’ll have to go on last, which is the going home time.’ He’d say, ‘Sorry, I was busy writing a song.’ That didn’t impress me at all at the time as I had a show to put on. John, surprisingly, was quite dutiful. Maybe Aunt Mimi was the one behind him, telling him to get out of the house.”

  The Ex-Files 11: It was Just Hard Luck

  Rick Wakeman: “When you know what the future is it’s easy to criticise the past. Nobody could have foreseen what would happen to the Beatles and Pete was just unlucky. Who knows why some people leave some groups? It can be something that doesn’t have a verbal explanation, something intangible, you know. It didn’t feel right and no-one knows why.”

  Some years ago I broadcast an interview with Michael Clarke, the former drummer with the Byrds, on BBC Radio Merseyside. When I asked him why he left the Byrds, he answered, “Because I hated all of them.” Which seemed a good enough reason to me.

  The next day I met Joe Butler of the Hillsiders and he said, “I’ve never heard anyone say that before and it’s so true. When you’re seeing so much of each other in a band, likes and dislikes get magnified out of proportion. There’s usually someone that everyone hates, then next week, for no reason at all, it’s somebody else.”

  Could that have happened with the Beatles? Did it just happen to be Pete’s week, poor bloke? Probably not, as the plot had been simmering for months, but the only person who might defend him was preoccupied, and it was hard luck from that point of view.

  The Ex-Files12: Instant Karma

  The interview with George Harrison on the Anthology 1 video is revealing. When asked about Pete Best, he looks away from the camera and says, “Historically, it may look like we did something nasty to Pete. It may have been that we could have done it better but the thing was, as history shows, Ringo was a member of the band, it’s just that he didn’t enter the film until that particular scene.”

  This suggestion, treating the Beatles as children of destiny, is typical of Harrison’s later, fanciful ideas and I’m sure he never felt that way in 1963. Nevertheless, it is not far removed from the views of the John Lennon biographer Paul Du Noyer: “Pete Best’s sacking is one of the great enigmas of musical history. Was it because he was too good-looking? You can say with hindsight that Ringo Starr fundamentally affected the chemistry of the group. Lots of things about the Beatles seem slightly magical, not quite explicable in ordinary terms and one of the magical things is the interaction of these four personalities. The presence of Ringo acted as a subtle counterbalance to the personalities of the other three and it was all part and parcel of what made the Beatles happen in the end. Had it not been Ringo they might not have taken off to the same extent. They might not have captured the subconsciousness of the population.”

  In a similar vein, we have George Melly: “I think they were right in getting rid of Pete Best and recruiting Ringo Starr. Pete Best was tremendously popular in Liverpool and undoubtedly it was a great tragedy for him to be sacked at the very moment when they were breaking through, but whoever it was, be it Brian Epstein, George Martin or the Beatles, whoever it was, saw that Ringo’s personality was the perfect foil. He was plain, whereas the others were all rather good looking. He was thick, whereas the others were rather bright. He was working class, whereas the others were basically suburban. Ringo completed the Beatles and made them much more effective, not just musically but as personalities.” I think that’s a brilliant summary, but surely it’s a case of being wise after the event – I’m sure not even Epstein had determined that the Beatles needed a ‘plain, thick, working class’ drummer.

  George Melly has made a good point well. Ringo has taken his fair share of knocks over the years but he was perfect for the job. George Harrison may or may not be correct but, metaphysics apart, Ringo did enable the band to become a powerful, self-contained unit. He could sense what each song wanted and it was to his credit that he wasn’t a flashy, showy drummer like Keith Moon. The good feeling between the four Beatles quickly spread over the footlights to the audiences.

  The Ex-Files 13: Who Knows?

  Some reasons may be kept private. I know someone who left a group because he wanted to bed one of his partners’ wives while they were touring and another who was sacked because he was stealing from his partners. I’ve no grounds for supposing there is anything untoward here, but no-one can ever know for certain.

  I Look to Find a Reason to Believe

  So, why did Pete Best get the Big E? We can summarise the reasons as follows (right) with the ticks marking the significance of each possibility. An (x) represents unlikely statements from the Beatles themselves.

  Everybody wanted Pete Best out of the Beatles but for different reasons.

  The prime mover is Paul McCartney. After moving to the bass when Stu Sutcliffe left, Paul realised Pete’s limitations. In unguarded moments after the sacking, he told Merseybeat musicians, “Pete wasn’t the best drummer in the world – he wasn’t even the best drummer in the Beatles.” He was determined the Beatles should be as strong a musical unit as possible – hence his desire to remove Stu Sutcliffe and then Pete Best. He was not particularly close to Pete and things came to a head when Pete’s drumming was derided by George Martin; Pete would have to go now. Although he never said it, the boyish looking McCartney was also the Beatle who was most jealous of Pete’s good looks.

  Reason for sacking John Paul George Brian Epstein George Martin

  Poor drumming √ √√√ √ √√

  No versatility √√ √ √√

  George Martin disliked drumming √√√ √√√ √√ √√

  Ringo preferred √ √√ √√√

  Jealous of good looks √ √√ √

  Didn’t fit in √ √√√ √√

  No Beatles haircut √

  Mona Best’s interference √√√

  Rejected Eppy’s advances √

  Unreliable (x) (x)

  Hard luck

  Instant karma (x)

  Unknown factors

  George Harrison liked Pete Best, but as the months went by he found he would rather have his friend Ringo Starr in the group. He was pressing for Ringo once Ringo had depped for Pete in February 1962. He, too, was delighted when George Martin thought Pete was the weak link. The fact that George Harrison got the black eye suggests that he played a significant role.

  John Lennon was more devil-may-care when it came to musical ability. He tolerated Stu Sutcliffe’s musical limitations longer than he should have done. He got on well with Pete, although they only had girls and rock ’n’ roll in common. At first he didn’t want to disturb the status quo of the band but, when distracted with a pregnant girlfriend and a forthcoming marriage, Paul and George seized the opportunity to decide that it was time for Pete to go. What’s more, Pete had to be replaced before that all-important first TV appearance.

  John was not the instigator of Pete being sacked. If he was, he wouldn’t bother to cover it up and he’d have sacked Pete himself, perhaps bringing things to a head in an argument. The reason he felt embarrassed later is because he hadn’t done enough to defend him. As he told Hunter Davies from The Beatles: The Authorised Biography (1968): “We were cowards when we sacked him. We made Brian do it. But if we’d told Pete to his face, that would have been much nastier than getting Brian to do it. It probably would have ended up in a fight if we’d told him.”

  Brian Epstein was happy to go along with the plan as it gave him a freer hand with managing the group, while George Martin, who disliked Pete’s drumming, was surprised they’d taken such drastic action.

  Whatever the reas
on, Pete Best’s sacking had dramatic and unforeseen circumstances.

  Tomorrow never knows

  * * *

  “Who’d had a record? Arthur Askey was the last one, I think” Ringo Starr in Anthology 1, Apple video, 1996

  The filming of the Beatles’ lunchtime appearance at the Cavern on 22 August 1962 was a disaster. It wasn’t the Beatles’ fault – just that the Granada technicians hadn’t worked out the best way to capture sound and vision in a noise, vision-restricted dive like the Cavern. They recorded the Beatles with their new drummer, Ringo Starr, performing ‘Some Other Guy’ and ‘Kansas City’.

  The film was not shown but shelved rather than destroyed. Once the Beatles’ became nationally famous it was dusted off and has been screened at regular intervals ever since. Listen hard and you will hear someone shout, ‘We want Pete!’ – and it wasn’t Paul or George.

  Barron Anthony of the Barron Knights: “The first time I saw the Beatles it was a whole new ball game. There were these four blokes who fitted so perfectly – Paul was so economical on bass, and Ringo concentrated on simple rhythm patterns and was unlike most drummers of the day who were too loud or speeding up, putting fill-ins at the end of each verse. The backing was very economical and all three of them harmonised so beautifully and yet it had an oomph to it that I had never heard before. I was knocked out by them and that was before I’d heard their own songs.”

  George Martin had sent Brian Epstein an acetate of a song he wanted the Beatles to learn. It was a bright, bouncy song called ‘How Do You Do It’ and was written by a young Tin Pan Alley songwriter, Mitch Murray. He was hoping for a hit with Garry Mills’ ‘Save A Dream For Me’ and Mark Wynter was about to record ‘That Kinda Talk’ which would become the B-side of his Top 10 hit, ‘Go Away Little Girl’. Mitch says, “I wrote ‘How Do You Do It’ but Adam Faith’s management had not taken it up. The music publisher Dick James had heard ‘How Do You Do It’ along with a comedy number, ‘The Beetroot Song’, and he said, ‘I think “The Beetroot Song” will be a very, very, big hit.’ A singer called Johnny Angel was going to record ‘How Do You Do It’ but he changed his mind and recorded another song of mine, ‘Better Luck Next Time’, so better luck next time, Johnny Angel. The next thing I heard was that a new group from Liverpool was going to record ‘How Do You Do It’ and I said, ‘I’d prefer a big artist but let’s see how it goes.’”