Tune In (The Beatles: All These Years, #1)

by Mark Lewisohn

Bob Wooler would write that the power of the Beatles’ performances

and old-rock repertoire made them “explode on a jaded scene,” but those who saw them actually heard a broad variety of musical styles—country and western, rhythm and blues, instrumentals, tender ballads, standards and much more.

its range that people never saw the same show twice. John, Paul and George were always fascinated by the pursuit of new sounds, and in 1961 this still meant American sounds.

So quiet did John and Paul keep the fact that they’d written anything, no one around the Beatles in 1961 (with the possible exception of Bob Wooler) was aware of it, and it appears they wrote no new numbers this year.

An early obscure find was “You Don’t Understand Me” by Bobby Freeman, an intense and dramatic “doo-wop” number located on the B-side of a Parlophone

“Who’s Loving You” and “Shop Around” to the Beatles’ repertoire, but the songs lived within him regardless and enriched his personal tastes. R&B! He loved Elvis, Eddie, Chuck, Carl, Gene, Buddy, Little Richard, Jerry Lee and all the other great Fifties heroes (all R&B- or C&W-style rock and rollers), and now he loved this 1960s black pop music from the northern United States—and when he shared his passion with Paul and George, they loved it too

“Will You Love Me Tomorrow” by the Shirelles. This one record effectively launched the “girl-group sound”—R&B with beat, rhythm, melody and harmony—and no musical force beyond rock and roll was ever as crucial to the Beatles’ development.

“Will You Love Me Tomorrow” was written by a composer partnership new to those who studied record labels: the husband-and-wife pairing of Gerry Goffin and Carole King, 21 and 18, words and music respectively.

among an array of talented young songwriting teams who arrived each day at the same building to work for the publishing company Aldon Music. Each pairing, and a piano, were squeezed into neighboring cubicles in a modern Tin Pan Alley scenario—a Teen Pan Alley.

it seemed everyone was the child or grandchild of European Jews.† There was Goffin and King, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, Burt Bacharach and Hal David, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, and Neil Sedaka and Howie Greenfield, writing songs for producers like Phil Spector and Jerry Wexler. Sedaka sang the numbers he and Greenfield wrote,

And they were girls singing to girls, a revolutionary departure in pop music.

George Martin production, the atmospheric West Indian folk song “Long Time Boy,” by Nadia Cattouse, who hailed from British Honduras. Good called it “the most magical record I have heard for months: this could be sensational”—but

The Beatles’ fee, ranging from £6 to £8 10s per booking, was much more than anyone else earned: few other groups were paid more than £2

twelve rock groups played a twelve-hour LJS session, 8PM to 8AM, admission 6s 6d for members and 7s 6d for non-members.‖ Unsure whether to name it The First All Night Rock Ball or Rock Around the Clock he’d ended up calling it both, and nothing like this was happening anywhere else in Britain, or even in America.

John, Paul and George loved the eleven-minute comedy The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film and this was where they saw it, several times, enjoying the surreal humor of Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan and their director Dick Lester.

At other hours, the girls were clueless about what their boys were up to, having no idea of what Paul called “the occasional knee-trembler after a gig” or the females who, as John called it, “would be available for functions.”48

Playing up to thirty-eight hours a week added greatly to his natural flair and talent, confirming him as easily the Beatles’ best pianist. John was self-taught to a pleasingly basic level and George could pick out some chords, but Paul was now just like his

dad: unable to read music but a fine, confident and inventive player.

Paul’s bass is strong on “My Bonnie.” He’d been desperate to avoid the instrument for three years, his real experience of playing it extended to perhaps three weeks, and he was using a new and not yet familiar guitar. Taking these factors into consideration, this was a virtuoso performance, the mark of a naturally gifted musician.

… and Stu’s swan song. He’d been with the Beatles through eighteen remarkable months, joining a group that had no name and no discernible clue, and leaving one that had acclaim, drive, abundant talent and originality, rich ambitions and a recording contract. He’d mostly taken grief for all his time and trouble, but given hugely, if not so much musically then certainly in terms of attitude and appearance.

higher level: now a foursome, all in leather, even more dynamic, packing yet more punch and charisma, and bursting with the experience that only another 503 extraordinary hours on the Hamburg stage could have given them.‖

The running total from their two Hamburg visits: 918 hours’ playing—the equivalent of 612 ninety-minute shows or 1,836 half-hours—in just twenty-seven weeks.

note in Johnny Guitar’s 1961 diary records “140 appearances, Jan/May 22,” in other words, 140 in 142 days—they weren’t going forward.

“140 appearances, Jan/May 22,” in other words, 140 in 142 days—they weren’t going forward.

grabbed “Buzz Buzz A-Diddle-It” by Freddy Cannon but it was probably the title as well as the chugging Bo Diddley–like rhythm that swung it; this and the fact that they were checking out all the imports on EMI’s Top Rank label.

George would recall, “Every time we did ‘Hully Gully’ there would be a fight … On Saturday night they would all be back from the pub and you could guarantee Hully Gully.”

He and Neil Aspinall got along very well very quickly; so too did George with his old smokers’ corner pal from the Institute; and also Paul, though to a lesser extent.

he’d always be clear and adamant that the Beatles “nearly split up in the summer of 1961, because they felt they were getting nowhere.” It’s an extraordinary statement.33

they wanted somebody with nous, somebody with clout,

Cavern all-nighters were real occasions, sweltering, rowdy, six-act, ten-hour parties for musicians and audience alike.

sang the frantic “Red Hot,” found on a 1960 EP by Ronnie Hawkins; John

Other artists came and went, but Chuck Berry was always part of the Beatles’ set—they were still regularly playing “Almost Grown,” “Carol,” “I Got to Find My Baby,” “Johnny B. Goode,” “Little Queenie,” “Maybellene,” “Rock and Roll Music,” “Roll Over Beethoven,” “School Days,” “Sweet Little Sixteen,” “Thirty Days,” “Too Much Monkey Business” and “Memphis, Tennessee.”

This boredom, felt by Paul and particularly by John, was quite a problem now. It was getting to be make-or-break time for the Beatles, and it could be that Wooler’s insistence they consider their fans as well as George and Pete helped swing the decision to carry on.

French press for songs with the “yeah yeah” shouts of rock and R&

Vollmer was responsible nonetheless for the greatest legacy of this Paris fortnight: it was at the Hôtel de Beaune, two hundred steps from the Seine, that he cut and restyled John’s and Paul’s hair. This was the moment they finally shed the greased quiffs of youth, the Ted hair that had been their image for four or five years, and went instead with the clean, combed-down Paris style.

“One Track Mind” by Bobby Lewis.

he enjoyed singing the new country sound of Brenda Lee’s “Fool #1.”

It’s fortunate Brian was a gambler, because the risks were his alone to shoulder. He was the only one who felt sure of a return on his time and investment.

“I shouted about a bit, and I thought ‘This is very disgraceful indeed!’ and ‘How can he be so late for an important thing?’ and George, with his slow, lopsided smile, just simply replied—it was very typical

he’s very clean.’ ”67

said their value was greater, and he intended to do something about it. (“I hoped that even if I were not to run their affairs completely I could at least secure a decent rate for their performances.”)

“That is where Brian was good. He knew how to get it happening. We had felt cocky and certain but when Epstein said ‘You’re going to be bigger than Elvis you know,’ we thought, ‘Well, how big do you have to be? I mean, I doubt that.’ That seemed outrageous, yet he did have the right attitude.”

sometimes they’d keep it going for a long time—and then there was John Lennon’s voice as he came in with “The best things in life are free!” No one had ever sung like this before. It was so dirty and horrible, but horrible-great.

The Beatles had a big following of males. Other groups didn’t. They didn’t follow Gerry and the Pacemakers but they followed the Beatles, which you knew was another good thing for them.

You had to be a Paul fan or a John fan or a George fan or a Pete fan—you had to be identified with one Beatle, you couldn’t only be a fan of the band.

somebody wanted to borrow George’s leather jacket but he said no because “the people will wonder who that skeleton in the corner is”—he thought he was that skinny.

When they did “Honey Don’t” they used to do a little foot shuffle in the middle.

only politeness, prefacing every request with “Could we …” and “Would it be possible …,” which no doubt is how he first suggested they become more professional in their attitude.

did want to get somewhere they had to stop eating, drinking, smoking and cussing on stage and start to put a little more care into their presentation—and, above all else, they had to turn up for bookings on time.

Fontana, gave no clue to the US origin of “Please Mr. Postman” by a Michigan girl-group called the Marvelettes …