The Beatles: The Playboy Interview

by Playboy Magazine, Paul McCartney, John Lennon

In mid-1962, Playboy founder Hugh Hefner was given a partial transcript of an interview with Miles Davis. It covered jazz, of course, but it also included Davis’s ruminations on race, politics and culture. Fascinated, Hef sent the writer—future Pulitzer-Prize-winning author Alex Haley, an unknown at the time—back to glean even more opinion and insight from Davis. The resulting exchange, published in the September 1962 issue, became the first official Playboy Interview and kicked off a remarkable run of public inquisition that continues today—and that has featured just about every cultural titan of the last half century.To celebrate the Interview’s 50th anniversary, the editors of Playboy have culled 50 of its most (in)famous Interviews and will publish them over the course of 50 weekdays (from September 4, 2012 to November 12, 2012) via Amazon’s Kindle Direct platform. Here is the interview with the rock legends The Beatles from the February 1965 issue.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Music

28 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 17, 2012

Reviews

[Iván Mejía · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good interview, attended naturally and with impudence by the Beatles. Actually, as they themselves say, their mood was not to produce great music, but to get enough money.

[Coleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just fun looking into early Beatle's interview!

Quick, fun read. Any Beatle's fan will enjoy. 12 more words are required in order for this review to be published.

[Ronnie Cramer · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interview of John, Paul, George and Ringo at the height of their 'loveable moptop' phase, before they made a deliberate effort to elevate themselves artistically (see 'Beatles '66: The Revolutionary Year' by Steve Turner). It includes the irreverent quips we came to associate with the Beatles of this period, but what I found most dated was interviewer Jean Shepherd's preamble, which compared them to hula hoops and yo-yos, and included such gems as this: 'They are not prodigious talents by any yardstick.'

[john hoxie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Early life

In ways this interview was very interesting. It is very early on in their careers. The conversation is making fun of their lives but there are moments of insight. Reading about it at this time is amazing. They still have such impact.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting. The Beatles being interviewed at the height of Beatlemania.

[Stephen Chase · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best of the Fab Four!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Rebecca Norton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't really know how to review a book that is an interview- but it was a fun, quick, and quirky read. I finished this in one sitting.

[Goth Gone Grey · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best part of the interview is the quick wordplay between the Fab Four, already clearly done with this interview nonsense. It's very much dated, with a serious question about the "homosexual problem" that the lads don't seem to think is such a problem after all.

Between this and the Lennon-Oko interview, I enjoyed the latter much more.

An example:

Playboy: Apart from these occupational hazards, are you happy in your work? Do you really enjoy getting pelted by jelly beans 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.