George Martin Portfolio

George Martin, head of A&R at Parlophone and the producer of all of the Beatles records except for Let It Be, originally went to work for EMI in 1950, after working in the BBC Music Library. At that time, Parlophone was considered EMI's "junk" label. In 1955, EMI acquired the US record company Capitol as one of its labels. In that same year, Martin became, at 29, the youngest manager of an EMI label, when Oscar Preuss retired.

In the late fifties, Martin kept Parlophone in the black with novelty and comic dialogue records, featuring artists including the Goons and Peter Sellers. When the sixties and rock and roll arrived, EMI's other important label, Columbia, had big rock and roll hits with Cliff Richard and the Shadows. It was most likely with finding a group like that in mind when George Martin consented to that first meeting with Brian Epstein and his demo tape of the Beatles.
Although he wasn't initially impressed with the numbers on the tape Brian Epstein played him that day, Martin detected a rough sound that he liked and set up an audition for June 6, 1962 at Abbey Road. Used to the Liverpudlian humor of the comedy records he produced, George Martin took an instant liking to the boys that first day of their first EMI recording session.

At first, as producer the boys would play the numbers for them and he would make suggestions before they recorded. The first song of many he actually orchestrated for them was Yesterday.

Unhappy with his salary at EMI, he broke away and formed his own production company called AIR (Associated Independant Recording) in 1964. Also moving to AIR to produce were Ron Richards, John Burgess and Peter Sullivan. The Beatles, although under contract to make records for EMI, continued to be produced by George Martin at AIR.


George Martin wrote the orchestral scores for the Beatles movies A Hard Days Night and Yellow Submarine, and also The Family Way and Live and Let Die which Paul contributed songs to. He also produced the music for Robert Stigwood's movie Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Beatles 1966 last interview

Late August 1966, Interview with the Beatles about Jesus statement, shows, and Vietnam war

Beatles Press Conference in Sydney 1964

Jimmy Nicol - Spotnicks documentary 1983

Jimmy Nicol in Spotnicks documentary (Sweden 1983). Drummer Jimmie Nicol was stand-in drummer for Ringo Starr of The Beatles in June 1964 (4th --13th ) and was also drummer from The Spotnicks (Sweden) in the period 1965-1967

The Beatles with Jimmy NicoI

I Saw Her Standing There nn Van Zegen, Holland, 1964

Rare Press with Jimmy Nicols 1964

Here is very rare footage from The Netherlands of The Beatles with fill-in drummer Jimmy Nicols. This is the long version of common footage of them riding the sight seeing boat etc., but you can spot some clips that weren't used. The two interviews with Jimmy Nicols are very rare.

Jimmy Nicol Portfolio

In June 1964, the Beatles were to tour Scandanavia, Holland, the Far East and Australia. On June 3, the day before the tour, Ringo Starr collapsed at an early morning photo session for the Saturday Evening Post at a portrait studio in Barnes, London. He had a 102-degree fever and tonsilitis and was rushed to the hospital. Ringo didn't have his tonsils out till the Christmas break later in the year, but this bout with tonisillitis in June necessitated a stay in hospital and then back at home recuperating for a few days.

During this time, Ringo was temporarily replaced for the Denmark and Holland concert dates by shy 24-year-old session drummer Jimmy Nicol. Beatles producer George Martin suggested Jimmy because he had recently recorded at EMI with Tommy Quickly and he'd also recently become familiar with Beatles numbers while drumming on a recording session for an album called Beatlemania.

Jimmy Nicol started his career as a drum repairer for Boosey & Hawkes. He was briefly a member of the Swedish group, the Spotnicks, then Georgie Fame's Blue Flames, and then formed his own band, the Shubdubs.
At first, George Harrison didn't want Ringo to be replaced and refused to go on the tour without him, but Brian Epstein and George Martin convinced him. Paul McCartney thought he was okay for the tour, but that the fans would definately know the difference if he recorded with them. And Brian thought it was a good choice because he thought he "looked like a Beatle and not an outcast".

During the tour, every time one of the Beatles asked Jimmy how he was getting on, if he was liking it and was he managing okay, all he ever replied was "It's Getting Better". The others used to make fun of this, and later in 1967, it inspired Paul to do a song called It's Getting Better on the Sgt. Pepper's album.
Ringo was discharged from the hospital on June 11, and he rejoined the group in Melbourne on June 15, 1964.

For replacing Ringo on the tour, Jimmy received £500 and a gold Eternamatic watch enscribed: "From the Beatles and Brian Epstein to Jimmy -- with appreciation and gratitude."
Upon Jimmy's return, his group the Shubdubs issued the single Husky/Don't Come Back, but it failed to chart. Pictured below is another of their rare singles, Humpty Dumpty/Night Train. The Shubdubs later disbanded, after which Jimmy moved to South America. He also lived in Australia for a time.

In Their Own Words
On fitting in with the Beatles, Jimmy said:
"The boys were very kind but I felt like an intruder. They accepted me but you can't just go into a group like that -- they have their own atmosphere, their own sense of humor. It's a little clique and outsiders just can't break in."
About after the Beatles, Jimmy said:
"I had a band and Brian put us on the same bill with the Beatles and the Formost one night. Backstage, we talked, but the wind had changed since we last saw each other. They were pleasant."
[The Shubdubs played with the Beatles on July 12, 1964 at the Hippodrome Theatre in Brighton.]

Stu Sutcliffe Portfolio

Stuart Sutcliffe was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on June 23, 1940. At 19, Stu was regarded as one of the most talented and promising students at the Liverpool Art College, when he met fellow art student John Lennon. All of the girls liked Stu because of his moody, romantic scowl, sunglasses, and resemblence to James Dean. Stu even lived like an artist, in a cramped, paint splattered house near the school. John lived there with Stu for a time, spending long nights drinking and sharing their passions for art.

When Stu sold a painting in 1959 for £65, an unheard-of sum for a student's painting in those days, John convinced him to buy a bass guitar and join the band, never mind that he couldn't play. Before their first big break, a two-week tour to Scotland backing Johnny Gentle, Stu is partially credited with coming up with the name Beatles, by jokingly suggesting "Beetles" as a play on Buddy Holly's Crickets.

Back in Liverpool, violence was common at the shows they played at, and one night, after a show at Litherland Town Hall in the north of Liverpool, the Silver Beatles were ambushed as they made their way out into the car park to their van. In the fight, Stu went down and was kicked in the head. Later at home, still bleeding from the gash in his head, he refused to let his mother call a doctor.

Self Portrait

While in Hamburg, Stu met Klaus Voorman, who introduced him to Astrid Kirchherr, and they quickly fell in love. Astrid changed Stu's clothes and gave him a new, distinctive hair style, which all the Beatles later adopted. While on their second Hamburg t rip, Stu started to study art again, at the Hamburg State Art College, where Astrid had studied, allowing him to quit the Beatles gradually.

When the tour ended and the rest of the Beatles went back to Liverpool in 1961, Stu stayed in Hamburg with Astrid . Stu died on April 10, 1962, from a brain hemmorrhage, following a series of violent headaches. Ironically, the Beatles were to arrive the next day to start their third Hamburg tour.

His Artwork:

Beatles' Era - Manfred Mann

Pretty Flamingo - 45 rpm

Beatles' Era - I Jaguars

Non sei sincera (1966)
Italian cover of "Pretty Flamingo"

Beatles' Era - Gene Pitney

Pretty Flamingo (1966)
Released on the 1966 album, "Backstage".

Bookshelf - After The Break-Up

The Beatles - After The Break-Up 1970-2000
by Keith Badman

From 1970 onwards the disbanded Beatles were at last free to follow their individual interests. From that point on there were four separate stories... but they were stories that would form a complex overlapping history of quarrels and reconciliations, personal projects and sporadic collaborations.

For the first time ever, a noted Beatles expert has meticulously documented the entire period of The Beatles after the break-up.
Keith Badman has produced a dazzling and astonishingly detailed day-by-day chronicle of what each of the ex-Beatles did from April 1970 onwards.

It's all here, day by day. All the ... concerts ... solo releases ... known meetings between ex-Beatles ... film, TV and radio appearances ...business deals,legal battles and personal feuds ... Beatles-related births, marriages and deaths.
Starkly punctuated by the murder of John Lennon, here is the as-it-happened story of four individuals emerging from the straitjacket of pop music's greatest ever success story. And for the first time ever their solo careers are shown to be every bit as fascinating as their legendary decade together.

With an introduction by Miles, author of The Beatles: A Diary and Many Years From Now, the authorised biography of Paul McCartney.
Fully illustrated with scores of pictures documenting John, Paul, George and Ringo... after the break-up.

The Beatles After The Break-Up 1970-2000 is the first book ever to catalogue just about everything that John, Paul, George and Ringo did after the group disbanded ... every record, every concert, every TV and radio appearance, every interview ... and much more besides. Every Beatle related event is covered, whether it be as awesome as thetragic death of John, or as predictable as the staggering prices reached in yet another auction of memorabilia.

Author Keith Badman has listed every known encounter between John, Paul, George and Ringo, for whatever reason, whenever and wherever it took place. Included are details of meetings both important and trivial, in the studio, on stage and in their lawyers' chambers. Here are extracts from key interviews which explain the ebbs and flows of the complex relationships between the four, and later three, surviving Beatles.

Here is the ongoing saga of popular music's most enduring 20th Century romance... a comprehensive history of the greatest pop group of them all.

Review :
Carries on where Lewisohn's "Chronicle" leaves off.
Simply a diary of EVERY Beatle event from 1970 to the present day.

ISBN Number 0-711-97520-5
Printing Year 1999
First Edition Original U.K. Cost £19:99

Buy used or new here

Beatles' Memorabilia

Beatles Pic-Plaque

A ceramic Pic-Plaque produced by Proudholme Products, featuring portrait illustrations of the Beatles with their facsimile signatures.

The original box for the Pic-Plaque

Pete Best Portfolio

Pete Best, born Randolph Peter Best in Madras, India on November 24, 1941, joined the Beatles, John, Paul, George, and Stu Sutcliffe, in late 1960. Their previous drummer, Tommy Moore, had left earlier in the year. Pete's mother, Mona Best, ran The Casbah Club, a cellar club in Hayman's Green, where the Beatles had been playing. When Allan Williams got the Beatles booked to play two months in Hamburg, Pete was asked to join the group.

Pete was very quiet in Hamburg, he did not partake of the uppers the way everyone else did, and spent alot of his off time out of the company of the others. The girls in Hamburg were wild over him, and would shout at him on the stage in English and German.

The other Beatles thought Pete was a pretty good drummer, but then in Hamburg they heard and met Ringo. When the Beatles and Pete returned to Liverpool, Mona acted as the booking agent for what she considered "Pete's band". She got them introduced into the Cavern Club. Pete played on "My Bonnie" and the other tracks recorded with Tony Sheridan for Bert Kaempfert in Germany.

In November 1961, Brian Epstein became the Beatles' manager, and in April, 1962, Brian succeeded in getting them an audition with George Martin at Parlophone, which happened on June 6. By this time, both Paul and George were encouraging Brian to help them get rid of Pete, to bring on Ringo permanently, who had been filling in for Pete with the Beatles every now and then.

In late July, George Martin commited to recording the Beatles. When George Martin told Brian that he didn't care for Pete, and that they would use another drummer on the sessions, he didn't know the Beatles were already thinking the same thing. Brian told him during a lunch time meeting in his office on August 15.

Mersey Beat broke the news on August 23. Pete Best fans were outraged. Petitions signed by hundreds were received at Mersey Beat. Cries of "Pete Best Forever---Ringo, never!" were heard at the Cavern Club. The following Monday, one of the many scuffles outside the Cavern Club resulted in a black eye for George Harrison.

Latest news: a new album of original material by Pete Best is out...

John Lennon`s last interview 8th December 1980

Interview in the afternoon before going back to the Hit Factory and work on Yoko`s Walking on Thin Ice. Just a few hours before the killing.

John Lennon On The Tomorrow Show With Tom Snyder

Tom Snyder interviews John Lennon on the Tomorrow Show in 1975.
Part 1

John Lennon On The Tomorrow Show With Tom Snyder

Part 2

John Lennon On The Tomorrow Show With Tom Snyder

Part 3

John Lennon On The Tomorrow Show With Tom Snyder

Part 4

John Lennon On The Tomorrow Show With Tom Snyder

Part 5

John Lennon - BBC Tonight

John is interviewed and reads excerpts from his book A Spaniard In The Works on BBC Tonight.
Lennon is doing some verbal riffing on the General Election of 1964, won by the Labour Party, led by Harold Wilson ["Harris Wilsard"], who became Prime Minister. The losers were the Tories ["Tall trees"], led by Sir Alec Douglas-Home ["Sir Alec Doubtless-Whom"], who owned large estates in Scotland.
The leader of the Trade Unions ("Trade Onions") was Frank Cousins ["Frenk Cummings"], who became a minister in Wilson's government, and was a member of Parliament for the constituency of Nuneaton ["none eating, thank you"]. The previous member for Nuneaton was Frank Bowles ["Frunk - only 62 - Vowels"]. (Not more than 1 in 1000 of Lennon's readers would have known that fact, even at the time).
Outspan ("withoutspan") were suppliers of South African oranges.

John Lennon - Not only ... but also Pt 1

John's entire first appearance on Not Only but Also, with Dudley Moore and Norman Rossington

John Lennon - Not only ... but also Pt 2

(c)1966 BBC Television.
Presented here for review and promotional purposes only.

How I Won The War (1967) Part 1

How I Won The War (1967) Part 2

John Lennon - How I Won The War (1967)

How I Won the War is a black comedy film directed by Richard Lester, released in 1967. The film stars Michael Crawford as bungling British Army Officer Lieutenant Earnest Goodbody, with John Lennon (Musketeer Gripweed), Jack MacGowran (Musketeer Juniper) Roy Kinnear (Musketeer Clapper) and Lee Montague (Sergeant Transom) as soldiers under his command. The film uses an inconsistent variety of styles — vignette, straight–to–camera, and, extensively, parody of the war film genre, docu-drama, and popular war literature — to tell the story of 3rd Troop, the 4th Musketeers (a fictional regiment reminiscent of the Royal Fusiliers) and their misadventures in the Second World War. This is told in the comic/absurdist vein throughout, a central plot being the setting-up of an “Advanced Area Cricket Pitch” behind enemy lines in Tunisia, but it is all broadly based on the landings in North Africa in 1942 to the advance on the Rhine following Arnhem.

Directed by Richard Lester
Produced by Richard Lester
Written by Patrick Ryan, Charles Wood
Starring
Michael Crawford
John Lennon
Roy Kinnear
Jack MacGowran
Michael Hordern
Lee Montague
Music by Ken Thorne
Cinematography David Watkin
Editing by John Victor-Smith
Distributed by United Artists
Running time 109 min
Original language English

Release dates:
UK 18 October 1967
USA 23 October 1967
Sweden 30 October 1967
West Germany 7 November 1967
Finland 22 December 1967

Also Known As (AKA):
Cómo gané la guerra Argentina / Spain
Come ho vinto la guerra Italy
Como Ganhei a Guerra Brazil
Hur jag vann kriget Sweden
Miten voitin sodan Finland
Pos kerdisa ton polemo Greece
Wie ich den Krieg gewann West Germany

Download:
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8

John Lennon Portfolio

John Winston Lennon was born in Liverpool on October 9, 1940, during the height of WWII, his father, Fred Lennon, off at sea. His father didn't turn up again until five years later, and when he did he tried to take john away from his mother, Julia, when she refused to restart her life with him. Instead, he grew up in the Liverpool suburb of Woolton, with his Aunt Mimi and Uncle George Smith, at 251 Menlove Ave, which became nicknamed Mendips. Julia died in 1958, in an automobile accident practically in front of Mendips, when John was seventeen.

Aunt Mimi ran a very strict household. John very quickly became bored at school, preferring drawing and writing about his classmates and teachers rather than his studies. Rebellious at an early age, he had a very rough school history, sagging off from school (going AWOL from classes) and petty stealing. His future looked bleak until Mimi got the headmaster of the Quarrybank school to write a letter of recommendation for John to the Liverpool Art College, because of his drawings.

It was at Liverpool Art College, in 1956, a friend played him Elvis' Heartbreak Hotel, and John's musical interest was piqued. Then he heard Lonnie Donegan's Rock Island Line on Radio Luxembourg, and became part of the new Skiffle craze by begging his Aunt Mimi until she broke down and bought him a guitar, although she forever told him he would never get anywhere with it. He had already learned to play the harmonica during his childhood, and he taught himself the guitar by applying banjo chords that his mother had taught him.

In 1955 he started his own band, the Quarrymen, with his long time pal and fellow troublemaker Pete Shotton, singing all the popular songs, sometimes making up the words when he couldn't get them all off the radio. Also in the Quarrymen were Nigel Walley and Ivan Vaughan, the rest of John's gang. It was Ivan Vaughan who introduced John to his friend, Paul McCartney, in 1957.
John married his girlfriend of four years, Cynthia Powell, in 1962. She was pregnant with their son Julian at the time, who was born in April, 1963.

In His Own Words

About his time in art school, John said:
"My whole school life was a case of 'I couldn't care less'. It was just a joke as far as I was concerned. Art was the only thing I could do, and my headmaster told me that if I didn't go to art school I might as well give up life. I wasn't really keen. I thought it would be a crowd of old men, but I should make the effort and make something of myself. I stayed for five years doing commercial art. Frankly, I found it all as bad as maths and science. And I loathed those. The funny thing was I didn't even pass art in the GCE. I spent the exam time doing daft cartoons. I got into art school by doing some decent stuff and taking it along to show them."

On musical differences:
"From our earliest days in Liverpool, George and I on the one hand and Paul on the other had different musical tastes. Paul preferred 'pop type' music and we preferred what is now called 'underground'. This may have led to arguments, particularly between Paul and George, but the contrast in tastes, I'm sure, did more good than harm, musically speaking, and contributed to our success."

Paul McCartney Portfolio

On June 18, 1942, James Paul McCartney was born at Walton General Hospital in Liverpool, where his mother had previosly worked as a midwife. His brother, Michael, who's full name is Peter Michael McCartney, and who later went by the name of Mike McGear, was born eighteen months later. His family moved a few times, when he was 13, they moved to 20 Forthlin Road in Allerton, just across a golf course and a little over one mile away from where John lived with his Aunt Mimi.

Music was always a part of the McCartney household. Before the war, Paul's father was a Cotton salesman during the day, and a jazz musician with Jim Mac's Jazz Band by night. Both Paul and his brother received piano lessons. His mother Mary died of breast cancer when he was fourteen, while the two brothers were away at Boy Scout camp. The antithesis of John Lennon as a school boy, Paul did very well in school.

When Lonnie Donnegan appeared in Liverpool and the Skiffle craze hit, Jim McCartney scraped together £15 for a guitar for Paul. Paul's friend Ivan Vaughan invited Paul to Woolton to see the Quarrymen play in Woolton on July 6, 1957, but not really to hear the Quarrymen, it was because Vaughan had promised Paul it would be a great place to pick up girls, which Paul was already very interested in at the age of 14. Later in the afternoon, after hearing the Quarrymen play, Paul borrowed a guitar and impressed the boys with all the chords and the words to "Twenty Flight Rock". Paul's first impression of John was that he was drunk. But Paul wrote down the words for "Twenty Flight Rock" and "Be Bop a Lula" for him so that John could learn them. A few days later Pete Shotten told Paul the others wanted him to join the band.

Paul switched to the Bass when the Beatles' bass player Stu Sutcliffe left the group in 1961. When all of the Beatles moved to London in 1963, Paul began to see actress Jane Asher on a steady basis.


In His Own Words

On the creation of Apple, Paul said:
"We've already bought all our dreams. We want to share that possibility with others. When we were touring, and when the adoration and hysteria were at a peak, if we'd been the shrewd operators we were often made out to be, we might have thought -- that's nice! Ah. Click. Let's use this for own evil ends. But there's no desire in any of our heads to take over the world. That was Hitler. That's what he wanted to do. There is, however, a desire to get power in order to use it for good."

While speaking about the Maharishi, Paul said:
"I realize now that taking drugs was like taking an aspirin without having a headache."

George Harrison Portfolio

George Harrison was born February 25, 1943, making him the youngest Beatle. The only Beatle who's childhood was not marred by divorce or death, he had two brothers, Harold Jr. and Peter, and a sister, Louise. His father, Harold, was a bus driver, and his mother a housewife, who all the kids in the neighborhood knew and liked.

George attended Dovedale Primary school, two forms behind John Lennon, and then Liverpool Institute, one form below Paul McCartney. He showed his independant nature at an early age, defying his school's age-old dress code by wearing jeans and growing long hair. His strict parents did not condone his disrespectful attitude and George soon learned to tone down his rebellion. When the skiffle craze hit Liverpool, George and his brother Peter formed a Skiffle band, but because they were so young, they had to sneak out of the house to play their first engagement.

George and Paul took the same bus to school, and soon found they had music and guitars in common. They spent many hours together at each other's homes practicing guitar. In 1956, Paul introduced the skinny and pimple-faced George to the Quarrymen. George was only 14 at the time. Not old enough to join the group, George hung around with the boys, and came to idolize John, doing everything he could to emulate him. George stood in the back of the room at all their shows with his guitar. A few times he filled in for the regular guitarist who didn't show up, and the boys were also welcomed in George's house by his mother to practice and for an occasional "jam buttie", encouragement which infuriated John's Aunt Mimi. Gradually, George became a member of the group, which by then had come to be called Johnny and the Moondogs.

From the very start of the Beatles' popularity, George was as major a vocalist as John and Paul. As the songwriting of Lennon and McCartney became world-known, George started to concentrate more on writing songs as well, although many of the early songs written while with the Beatles went unrecorded. The first Beatles song written by George was Don't Bother Me. George became a very serious musician who worked dilgently to perfect his playing. His concentration to his playing was apparent while on stage, especially compared to the wild antics of John and Paul.

George almost missed the Beatles' biggest appearance in America, the Ed Sullivan Show, on February 9, 1964, because of a sore throat. He met teenage model Patty Boyd while filming A Hard Day's Night and they got married on January 21, 1966.


In His Own Words

At their first session, when the Beatles were asked by George Martin if there wasn't anything they didn't like, George replied:
"Well, I don't like your tie for a start."
About Indian music and philosophy, George said:

"After 'Norwegian Wood', I met Ravi Shankar at a friend's house in London, for dinner. He offered to give me instructions in the basics of the sitar, like how to sit, how to hold it, and the basic exercises. It was the first time I had ever really learned music with a bit of discipline. Then I started to listen to Indian music for the next two years, and hardly touched the guitar, except for recordings. Having all these material things, I wanted something more. And it happened that at just the time I wanted it, it came to me in the form of Ravi Shankar, Indian music, and the whole Indian philosophy."

Ringo Starr Portfolio

Richard Starkey was born in a small two-story terraced house in the Dingle area of Liverpool, on July 7, 1940, making him the oldest Beatle, three months older than John. His father, who's name was also Richard, was originally a Liverpool dock worker, and later worked in a bakery where he met Ringo's mother Elsie. His parents broke up in 1943, and Elsie later married Harry Graves, who little Richie called his "step ladder".

Although remaining cheerful throughout his childhood, it was filled with hospital time, for appendicitis at 6, at which time he went into a coma for two months, and a cold which developed into pleurisy when he was 13, causing him to miss much school. By fifteen he could just barely read and write.

Like the other Beatles, young Ritchie also eventually became caught up in Liverpool's Skiffle craze. After starting his own group with Eddie Miles called The Eddie Clayton Skiffle Group in 1957, he joined The Raving Texans in 1959, a quartet which played while Rory Storm sang. During this time, he got the nickname Ringo, because of the rings he wore, and because it sounded "cowboyish", and the last name Starr so that his drum solos could be billed as "Starr Time".

Ringo first met the Beatles in Hamburg in October 1960 while there performing with what had become Rory Storm and The Hurricanes. Ringo joined the Beatles on August 18, 1962. Rory Storm was magnanimous about the theft of his drummer, but Pete Best fans were upset, holding vigils outside Pete's house and rioting at the Cavern Club, shouting "Pete Best forever! Ringo never!" His health would cause him problems again later, he missed three quarters of the 1964 tour of Scandanavia, Holland, the Far East and Australia, because of acute tonsillitis (he had them taken out later, during the next Christmas break). He was replaced in the Beatles during this time by Jimmy Nichol.

The Beatles' first movie, originally to be called Beatlemania became to be called A Hard Day's Night because it was something Ringo had said one evening after a long and particularly grueling session.

Ringo married his long-time girlfriend Maureen Cox on February 11, 1965, and they had three children, Zak, Jason and Lee.

In His Own Words

About his early drumming, Ringo said:
"I started to be an engineer but I banged me thumb on the first day. I became a drummer because it was the only thing I could do. But whenever I hear another drummer I know I'm no good. John learned me the song I sing. I can only play on the off beat because John can't keep up on the rhythm guitar. I'm no good on the technical things but I'm good with all the motions, swinging my head, like. That's because I love to dance but you can't do that on the drums.

"I figure we're good for another four years. I don't want to invest me money in stocks or anything. I just want to have it and draw twenty or thirty quid a week. The main thing is, I don't ever want to go back to work."

Beatles' Era - Ennio Morricone 1964

Beatles' Era - Ennio Morricone

Per un pugno di dollari / A Fistful of Dollars

Beatles' Era - Ennio Morricone

'Love Circle' from 'Metti una sera a cena' (Italy, 1969)

This film challenges sexual conventions and 'couples-only' ideas about loving, focusing on several characters revolving around a threesome. Starring cult favorite Florinda Bolkan. This is a signature tune, a catchy sexy melody lifted by patented wordless tones. It sums up the Swinging Italia sound of the free-love era perfectly. In recent years it was covered by Mr. Bungle, since Mike Patton is a Morricone afficianado.

Beatles' Era - Money Orgy

'Money Orgy' by Ennio Morricone from the 'Danger: Diabolik' movie (1968)

Beatles' Era - Deep Down

'Deep Down' by Christy both English and Italian versions from 'Danger: Diabolik!' movie (1968)

Bookshelf - A Hard Day's Write

A Hard Day's Write
by Steve Turner

ISBN Number 0-316-91212-3
Printing Year 1994 - First Edition
Original U.K. Cost £16:99

WHO WERE POLYTHENE PAM AND MR. KITE ?
DOES OB-LA-DI OB-LA-DA MAKE SENSE ?
The first pop performers to write their own material, the Beatles raised the quality of song-writing beyond the banal to stand alongside the greats of the golden age of song, Gershwin, Porter, and Berlin. Their lyrics are among the most analysed in pop history.

Rock music journalist Steve Turner reveals the true tales behind the Beatles' songs. Not hearsay, opinion or sensation - but the truth as revealed through in-depth interviews with the real-life subjects of the songs and the people who were at the heart of the Beatles world.

The Beatles have been in the bloodstream of our culture for the past 30 years. Pivotal figures in the history of popular music, they were the first major pop performers to write their own material. Many of their songs are now accepted as pop classics.
But how did the Beatles come to write their songs, and what inspired them ? A Hard Days Write provides the answers to these questions and reveals for the first time the true stories behind the lyrics, beginning with the songs in the group's first compliation in 1963, Please Please Me and ending with their final collaboration, Abbey Road. Rock music journalist, Steve Turner, author of a recent highly praised biography of Van Morrison and a long time Beatles admirer, has tracked down and interviewed the real-life subjects of the songs, such as the anonymous girl in "She's Leaving Home", to discover how they became to be part of music history. He has searched through public records and newspaper archives. He has also talked in depth to people who knew the Beatles to unearth stories that have never before been made public. Illustrated with over 200 photographs A Hard Days Write, breaks new ground in Beatles literature and in the process explodes many well-worn myths. It provides a unique insight into the Beatles personal world and identifies the concerns and preoccupations which shaped some of the worlds best known pop songs.

Review :
An excellent book that discovers all the origins of every Beatle tune.
The people in the songs, the stories, the real-life subjects.

Buy at Amazon.com for 18.50 $

Giorgio Gaber & Caterina Caselli - I Beatles (Italian 60s TV show)

Beatles' Era - The Four Seasons

Big Girls Don't Cry (1962)

Beatles' Era - The Four Seasons

Walk Like A Man (1963)

Beatles' Era - The Kingston Trio

Oh! Cindy!

Very early Kingston Trio performance...special treat for the banjo players...the late Dave Guard plays real old-timey clawhammer banjo!

Beatles' Era - The Kingston Trio

The Reverend Mr. Black (1963)

John Stewart, a member of the Kingston Trio who wrote "Daydream Believer" for the Monkees and recorded more than 40 albums of his own, died Saturday, January 19, 2008 from a stroke surrounded by his family in the same San Diego hospital where he was born. He was 68 years old.

Stewart, who spent most of his adult life living in Marin County, had a Top 10 hit in 1979 with "Gold," featuring guest artists Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac.

He first emerged as a songwriter when the original Kingston Trio recorded a couple of his songs. Stewart had formed a similarly styled folk group, the Cumberland Three. He joined the Kingston Trio in 1961, at the time one of the biggest selling acts in the world, to replace founding member Dave Guard. He quit the group in 1967.

With folk singing partner Buffy Ford, whom he would marry in 1975, Stewart hit the 1968 campaign trail for Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, appearing with him at campaign rallies up until the night of his assassination in Los Angeles.

He released his classic "California Bloodlines" album in 1969, the first of seven solo albums to make the charts through 1980. His biggest solo hit was "Gold," from the "Bombs Away Dream Babies" album, which also produced lesser hits "Midnight Wind" and "Lost Her in the Sun." His songs were recorded by a number of artists, including Rosanne Cash, who scored a 1988 country hit with his "Runaway Train."

He continued to record over the years, releasing a number of recent albums on his own label and selling them through the Internet. He was working on a new album at the time of his death, with Buckingham playing guitar on the record. Recently diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, Stewart wrote a song for the new album titled "I Can't Drive Anymore."

Since 2000, Stewart and fellow former Kingston Trio member Nick Reynolds have held the Trio Fantasy Camp, where campers practice their favorite Kingston Trio song and perform the number with the two former group members. Stewart was visiting Reynolds in San Diego when he was stricken last Thursday in his hotel room.

Friends and family came from across the country on Friday to hold a hospital room vigil. Stewart is survived by his wife, Buffy; three children from his first marriage, Mikael of Camarillo (Ventura County), Jeremy of Mission Viejo (Orange County) and Amy of Alisa Viejo (Orange County); a son, Luke, of San Francisco, from his second marriage; and six grandchildren. Services are pending.

Received - Kingston Trio Vs. Beatles?

I was looking through your site hoping to settle an argument about a certain feat accomplished by the Kingston Trio and the Beatles. In 1959, the Kingston Trio had four albums in the top ten at the same time. Wikipedia states that the Beatles matched this. Your site seems to indicate only that they had three albums in the Top 10 in three successive years. But not four albums. And not at the same time. Or were they at the same time? At any rate, if you can settle this, citing a reliable source, I would be grateful. Bill Grimes

Need Beatles' T-Shirts, Caps, Scarfs, Bags, Posters, Pins, Keyrings, Magnets, Stickers...?

Take a look here...

(Please note that this is not an ad: just a link to a fine place we have found...)

I Met The Walrus

In 1969, a 14-year-old Beatle fanatic named Jerry Levitan, armed with a reel-to-reel tape deck, snuck into John Lennon's hotel room in Toronto and convinced John to do an interview about peace. 38 years later, Jerry has produced a film about it. Using the original interview recording as the soundtrack, director Josh Raskin has woven a visual narrative which tenderly romances Lennon's every word in a cascading flood of multipronged animation. Raskin marries the terrifyingly genius pen work of James Braithwaite with masterful digital illustration by Alex Kurina, resulting in a spell-binding vessel for Lennon's boundless wit, and timeless message.

I HAD BEEN A BEATLES fan since the age of nine and when the White Album came out in ‘68 it immediately became my favourite record – it still is to this day. There was just such a wealth of information, images and sound. It was a real treasure trove. In fact, I was obsessed with those songs. I listened to them incessantly. I didn’t have headphones, so I’d lie in bed with the stereo speakers pressed to my ears.

If I had to pick a favourite Beatle, it would have been John. As a 14-year old, I looked to him for leadership. He was outspoken and exuded confidence in the way he talked and in his ideas. You got the sense that he was the guy in charge. I remember writing a letter to him at Apple. I’d drawn a picture of Canada with an arrow pointing towards Toronto saying “I live here” adding something like “I’m your greatest fan, please come and visit Toronto!” Then one day I was listening to the local FM station and somebody called in to say they thought they’d seen John and Yoko at Toronto airport. That was all I needed to hear. I ran to my room and started calling all the hotels in the city. Most thought I was mad, but when I called the King Edward and asked “is John Lennon there?” they hung up. I knew he was there and quickly made a plan to go and find him. It was Sunday, May 25th 1969. John Lennon had come to my hometown. I had to do something.

The next day I woke up at 6am and tried to dress as I thought a news reporter might dress. I crept into my brother’s bedroom and stuffed his Super 8 camera into my bag. I’d managed to get a copy of John and Yoko’s Two Virgins album before the Mounties confiscated all the stock. I took the record with me in the hope of getting an autograph. Of course, I didn’t share my plans with anyone. I didn’t tell my friends, I didn’t tell my siblings and I certainly didn’t tell my school or my parents. I hit downtown Toronto at about 7am.

I got to the top level of the King Edward Hotel and started knocking on every door, waking up all the guests in the process. I must have covered three floors before I bumped into a cleaning lady with an Irish accent who asked me whether I was “looking for the Beatle”. She mentioned the number of a room on the floor below; “He’s in that one,” she whispered, “but don’t tell anyone I told you!” I went down the fire escape, turned the corner, looked down the corridor and saw Kyoko [Yoko’s daughter] lying on the floor in front of a door with a colouring book and crayons. I knew I’d found them. It was an electric feeling. My heart was beating fast. I remember gulping. This was it.

I hadn’t planned to do anything. I just had to see John. Talking to him never came into the equation. I stood in front of the door with my heart racing. A CBC cameraman and reporter suddenly appeared, knocked on the door and went in. After about 10 or 15 minutes I did the same. The door opened up and, in what must have been a very lame deep voice, I introduced myself as a Canadian newsman. I barged my way in, shuffling through the suite just staring at my shoes. Then I looked up and four feet from me sat John and Yoko. They were in the middle filming an interview. John saw me and laughed.

I took out my brother’s Super 8 camera, got the thing rolling and pointed it at John and Yoko who were still talking on the bed. When the CBS interview finished I took out my Two Virgins vinyl for him to sign. He was really surprised I had it. He wrote “To Jerry, love and peace, John Lennon” and Yoko signed her name. Derek Taylor [The Beatles’ Press Officer] then came in and informed everybody it was time to leave. So, the press left, John and Yoko disappeared, but I really took my time. Eventually I took the wrong turn out of the room and ended up in another part of the suite where John was trying to push a large tea chest onto the bed. “You wanna give me a hand with this?” he asked. I thought to myself, “You gotta do something”. So I asked him whether I could “come back later with a tape recorder and do an interview about peace”. He got so excited and said, “Great, yeah, Yoko! Derek! Great idea, let’s do an interview with him, talk about peace and he can take it to the kids!” I looked at Derek Taylor, who turned to me and said, “Why don’t you come back at 6pm?”

It was great. I was shown such respect. I arrived home, fell on my bed and crashed out utterly exhausted, waking up in a pool of sweat around 4pm with a feeling of abject horror - I didn’t have a tape recorder. I called up radio station CHUM and said I had an interview with John lined up for 6pm and I needed a recording device. They obviously didn’t believe me, but after speaking to Derek Taylor at the hotel, they all became my best friends. The radio producer said there’d be someone at the hotel bar at 5:30pm. I should meet him there. I got the bus back to the King Edward and it was pandemonium. Police, crazy people, protesters, hundreds of kids – everybody was trying to get a glimpse of John. I somehow got through the crowds and headed for the bar, where I met the guy from CHUM. We got to the correct floor and saw a row of reporters – mostly American press – sitting in single file against the wall of the corridor. As I turned the corner, one of the American reporters grabbed my arm and asked where I was going. I told him I had an interview at 6pm and he said, “Yeah, right, like the rest of us!” Then the door opened up – it was Derek Taylor. He asked, “Where’s the lad?” I raised my hand, and to the amazement of all those journalists, I walked in. Then it dawned on me – I hadn’t prepared a single question. John and Yoko appeared from around the corner. The mood was very tranquil. They both seemed very happy and at ease. I started telling them how I much I loved Two Virgins and he said, “Well we’ve just recorded another one called Life With the Lions. I have a copy here” Then Yoko offered me the record. At the end of the interview, you can hear John remind me not to forget the album.

He loved the fact that I wanted to talk about the White Album. I told him my theories about the songs and he just kept batting them back in a brotherly way saying, “No no, you know, there’s messages everywhere, but we’re just four guys. We wake up in the morning, have a cup of tea and a smoke – we’re just normal guys!” Throughout the interview he was constantly trying to take the shimmer off The Beatles, saying things like “I’m just writing about myself”. I mentioned how I was obsessed with Revolution 9 and how I thought I could hear him telling George to fuck off at the beginning and he said, “I may have told George to do whatever but I don’t remember saying it on the album!” There was a lot of talk in the press about The Beatles being on the verge of splitting up. He didn’t show any signs that a break-up was on the cards but I did get the sense that John And Yoko was a far more important entity than The Beatles.

It’s worth noting that I stopped the interview. I thought, “I can’t take any more of this man’s time. He’s an important guy!” So that’s why you hear the stumbling at the end of the tape. Derek Taylor then entered the room and told John that Mary Hopkin [Apple’s latest signing] had just arrived in town to play a show and she sends her love. John simply replied: “Send it back!”

He asked me if I wanted to go to the gig using his ticket. I said yes and he immediately called up Capitol Records and told them to give me the VIP treatment for the entire evening. John flashed a peace sign at me and closed the door. I left that room on cloud nine. Not only that, I left transformed forever. I knew it from the moment I lifted up my head and looked at the two of them on the couch. I knew it was a life-altering experience, I could feel it.

Over the years I’ve been approached by various people, all wanting to do something with the material. Up until recently I’ve never been happy with any of the approaches. I never wanted to do something cheesy or exploitive. It was always such a personal experience. So about thee years ago I thought I’d bring all this to an end. I’ll find some young Toronto artists and have them interpret my story in whichever way they see fit. I met Josh Raskin and he came up with the idea to do a five minute animated short. He introduced me to James Braithwaite, an illustrator who had a style very similar to John’s own drawings. It was a perfect fit.

I did see John again at the Rock‘N’Roll Revival Concert in Toronto in September ‘69. The guy at the record label made sure I got a seat in the front row and I got backstage where John held an impromptu press conference. He looked terrible – almost green. He looked up, whispered something to Yoko, caught my eye and waved. I couldn’t get to him after that. The last time I saw him was when he came to town to announce another concert for peace, which was later scrapped. But the memories I really cherish are all from the day of the interview.

He was part of everybody’s life, but I often felt I had the edge. I was shown such respect that day. He didn’t ask me who I was; he didn’t ask me any questions at all. I left that room and floated out of the hotel. In the rush to see him, I never questioned whether he was going to be cool or not. It never dawned on me that John Lennon would not be cool.

Listen to Jerry and John by watching the beautiful I Met The Walrus animation above and for more on this Academy Award nominated short, head over to the official site at www.imetthewalrus.com

Beatles are "bigger than God"

Charles Wheeler on the reaction to John Lennon's claim in 1966 that the Beatles were bigger than God...

Watch this here

The Beatles - A Day in the Life

The Beatles - Penny Lane

The Beatles - Strawberry Fields Forever

Promotional clip for Strawberry Fields Forever in colours

Beatles - Don't Let Me Down

The Beatles - All You Need Is Love

"All You Need Is Love" is a song written by John Lennon with contributions from Paul McCartney[1] and credited to Lennon/McCartney. It was first performed by The Beatles on Our World, the first ever live global television link. Broadcast to 26 countries and watched by 350 million people, the programme was broadcast via satellite on June 25, 1967. The BBC had commissioned The Beatles to write a song for the UK's contribution and this was the result. It is among the most famous and significant songs performed by the group.

The Beatles - Hello Goodbye

The Beatles - Please Mr. Postman

The Beatles video for their version of the song Please Mr. Postman.

The Beatles began playing the song in their live shows during 1962. It was recorded in-studio on July 30, 1963.

The song was included as the 7th track on the band's second album, With the Beatles, which was released in November of 1963.

The song was originally written by The Marvelettes, and became a #1 single for the group in late 1961. In addition to The Beatles, the song has also been covered by The Carpenters and Lil' Wayne.

Beatles Interviews In Seattle 1964

This is one of a set of thirteen different unpublished photos from the Beatles' press conference in Seattle, taken just before their 8:00pm show at the Coliseum. Most existing press conference pictures from this city are in black & white.

1964 press conference records, issued with this picture sleeve in 1989 by The John Lennon Memorial Society of Oregon (Topaz T-1353). This was a limited, numbered edition of 2000 copies, in which proceeds went to local charities.

The Beatles North American Concert Tickets - 5

Balcony Lt. blue $ 5.00
Balcony White $ 4.00
Behind stage Yellow $ 3.00
Loge Pink $ 5.00
Main floor Green $ 5.00
Orchestra Dark Blue $ 4.00
Orchestra Orange $ 5.00

Beatles' Memorabilia

In My Life in his own write...

A Beatles Timeline and Notes on Beatles Songs - I/J

I Am the Walrus (Lennon and McCartney)
Real Author: John
Recorded: 5, 6, 27 Sep 67
Released: 24 Nov 67 (UK), 27 Nov 67 (US); on "Magical Mystery Tour" 27 Nov 67 (US), 8 Dec 67 (UK EP)
Notes: First line written after an acid trip, second line after one the next weekend. Then filled in after meeting Yoko. The "elementary penguin" was about Ginsberg chanting. Inspired by Dylan, based on Alice. John claims Lear piece was random. John later claimed the Walrus was a capitalist. The "King Lear" broadcast was during the final mixing of 29 Sept where they mixed in the switching of channels. Eric Burden claims he is the eggman because John was in an orgy where Eric broke eggs over nude girls. Cadence is from a police siren. Childhood ditty: "Yellow matter custard, green slop pie, All mixed together with a dead dog's eye, Slap it on a butty, ten foot thick, Then wash it down with a cup of cold sick." Six boys sing "Oompah, Oompah, stick it up your jumper;" six girls sing "Everybody's got one."

I Call Your Name (Lennon and McCartney)
Real Author: Mostly John
Recorded: 1 Mar 64
Released: on "The Beatles Second Album": 10 Apr 64 (UK)
Notes: Written in John's bedroom on Menlove Ave. about 1960, before the Beatles. One of his very first songs. Jamaican middle eight added later,

I Don't Want to Spoil the Party (Lennon and McCartney)
Real Author: Mostly John
Recorded: 29 Sep 64
Released: 15 Feb 65 (US), on "Beatles for Sale": 4 Dec 64 (UK), on "Beatles VI": 14 Jun 65 (US)
Notes: Written for Ringo, inspired by Jimmey Rogers.

I Feel Fine (Lennon and McCartney)
Real Author: Mostly John
Recorded: 18 Oct 64
Released: 23 Nov 64 (US), 27 Nov 64 (UK), on "Beatles 65": 15 Dec 64 (US)
Notes: Opens with feedback.

I Me Mine (Harrison)
Real Author: George
Recorded: 3 Jan 70
Released: on "Let it Be": 8 May 70 (UK), 18 May 70 (US)
Notes: Inspired by a waltz playing Austrian marching band on TV. About the superiority of meditation over LSD.

I Need You (Harrison)
Real Author: George
Recorded: 15, 16 Feb 65
Released: on "Help!": 6 Aug 65 (UK)
Notes: For his wife, Patti. First to use a wah-wah pedal.

I Saw Her Standing There (Lennon and McCartney)
Real Author: Mostly Paul
Recorded: 11 Feb 63
Released: 26 Dec 63 (US); on "Please Please Me": 22 Mar 63 (UK), on "Introducing the Beatles": 22 Jul 63 (US), on "Meet the Beatles": 20 Jan 64 (US)
Notes: Written in the Paul's livingroom, Sep. 1962. Bass line is from Chuck Berry's 1961 "I'm Talking About You."

I Should Have Known Better (Lennon and McCartney)
Real Author: John
Recorded: 25, 26 Feb 64
Released: 13 Jul 64 (US); on "A Hard Day's Night": 26 Jun 64 (US), 10 Jul 64 (UK)
Notes:

I Wanna Be Your Man (Lennon and McCartney)
Real Author: Mostly Paul
Recorded: 11, 12 Sep 63
Released: on "With the Beatles": 22 Nov 63 (UK), on "Meet the Beatles": 20 Jan 64 (US)
Notes: Recorded by Ringo and the Stones. Written very quickly, in a few minutes. Inspired by "Fortune Teller," from Benny Spellman.

I Want Hold Your Hand (Lennon and McCartney)
Real Author: 50/50
Recorded: 17 Oct 63
Released: 28 Nov 63 (UK), 29 Nov 63 (US), 26 Dec 63 (US); on "Meet the Beatles": 20 Jan 64 (US)
Notes: Written at the Asher house. Repeated "I can't hide, I can't hide, I can't hide" inspired by an experimental French composer introduced to John by Robert Freeman, neighbor and photographer of the "With the Beatles" cover.

I Want to Tell You (Harrison)
Real Author: George
Recorded: 2, 3 Jun 66
Released: on "Revolver": 5 Aug 66 (UK), 8 Aug 66 (US)
Notes: Working title: originally "Granny Smith 2" (See "Love You To"), then "Laxton's Superb" (an apple variety).

I Want You (She's So Heavy) (Lennon and McCartney)
Real Author: John
Recorded: 22 Feb, 18, 20 Apr, 8, 11 Aug 69
Released: on "Abbey Road": 26 Sept 69 (UK), 1 Oct 69 (US)
Notes: About Yoko.

I Will (Lennon and McCartney)
Real Author: Paul
Recorded: 16, 17 Sep 68
Released: on "The Beatles": 22 Nov 68 (UK), 25 Nov 68 (US)
Notes: About Linda (first song), and her arriving the next week for good. Did 67 takes. Tune jammed out in India with Donovan.

If I Fell (Lennon and McCartney)
Real Author: Mostly John
Recorded: 27 Feb 64
Released: 20 Jul 64 (US), on "A Hard Day's Night": 26 Jun 64 (US), 10 Jul 64 (UK), on "Something New": 20 Jul 64 (US)
Notes: Precurser to "In My Life." First attempt at a ballad. About an affair and thinking about leaving Cynthia.

If I Needed Someone (Harrison)
Real Author: George
Recorded: 16, 18 Sep 65
Released: on "Rubber Soul": 3 Dec 65 (UK)
Notes: For Patti. Inspired by the Byrds' "The Bells of Rhymney" and "She Don't Care About Time."

I'll Be Back (Lennon and McCartney)
Real Author: Mostly John
Recorded: 1 Jun 64
Released: on "A Hard Day's Night":10 Jul 64 (UK), on "Beatles 65": 15 Dec 64 (US)
Notes: Inspired by a Del Shannon song, "Runaway."

I'll Be On My Way (Lennon and McCartney)
Real Author: Mostly Paul
Recorded:
Released:
Notes: Old song, given to Billy Jo Kramer and the Dakotas.

I'll Cry Instead (Lennon and McCartney)
Real Author: John
Recorded: 1 Jun 64
Released: 20 Jul 64 (US); on "A Hard Day's Night": 26 Jun 64 (US), 10 Jul 64 (UK), on "Something New": 20 Jul 64 (US)
Notes: Rejected from film of "Hard Day's Night," in favor of "Can't Buy Me Love."

I'll Follow the Sun (Lennon and McCartney)
Real Author: Mostly Paul
Recorded: 18 Oct 64
Released: on "Beatles for Sale": 4 Dec 64 (UK), on "Beatles 65": 15 Dec 64 (US)
Notes: Kicking around in Paul's head since a teenager. Influenced by Buddy Holly, whose catalog Paul bought in the '70s.

I'll Get You (Lennon and McCartney)
Real Author: 50/50
Recorded: 1 Jul 63
Released: 23 Aug 63 (UK), 16 Sep 63 (US); on "The Beatles Second Album": 10 Apr 64 (UK)
Notes: Written at Menlove Ave, one of Paul's favorites, Imagery drawn from Alice.

I'm a Loser (Lennon and McCartney)
Real Author: John
Recorded: 14 Aug 64
Released: on "Beatles for Sale": 4 Dec 64 (UK), on "Beatles 65": 15 Dec 64 (US)
Notes: Inspired by Dylan's "Freewheelin'." Also Kenneth Allsop (writer of "Hard Travelin'") encouraged more personal lyrics after reading "In His Own Write."

I'm Down (Lennon and McCartney)
Real Author: Mostly Paul
Recorded: 14 Jun 65
Released: 19 Jul 65 (US), 23 Jul 65 (UK)
Notes: Inspired by Little Richard's "Long Tall Sally."

I'm Happy Just to Dance with You (Lennon and McCartney)
Real Author: Mostly John
Recorded: 1 Mar 64
Released: 20 Jul 64 (US); on "A Hard Day's Night": 26 Jun 64 (US), 10 Jul 64 (UK), on "Something New": 20 Jul 64 (US)
Notes: Written for George as a throwaway.

I'm Looking Through You (Lennon and McCartney)
Real Author: Paul
Recorded: 10, 11 Nov 65
Released: on "Rubber Soul": 3 Dec 65 (UK), 6 Dec 65 (US)
Notes: About argument with Jane and her moving to Bristol, away from Paul.

I'm Only Sleeping (Lennon and McCartney)
Real Author: John
Recorded: 27, 29 Apr, 5 May (backward guitar), 6 May 66
Released: on "Revolver": 5 Aug 66 (UK)
Notes: Paul would show up at noon and John would be asleep. This was the beginning of a very lazy, drugged period for him.

I'm So Tired (Lennon and McCartney)
Real Author: John
Recorded: 8 Oct 68
Released: on "The Beatles": 22 Nov 68 (UK), 25 Nov 68 (US)
Notes: Written in India, like most of White Album.
In My Life (Lennon and McCartney)
Real Author: Mostly John
Recorded: 18, 22 Oct 65
Released: on "Rubber Soul": 3 Dec 65 (UK), 6 Dec 65 (US)
Notes: First song John wrote about his life. Before then, the words were "almost irrelevant." Started out as a bus ride from Menlove Ave. to the docks, mentioning every place he could remember, but changed the lyrics. Inspired by Bob Dylan and English journalist, Kenneth Alsoph. John and Paul retrospectively argued about authorship, Paul claiming he wrote the melody inspired by the Miracles. Line about friends was about Stu.

The Inner Light (Harrison)
Real Author: George
Recorded: 12 Jan, 8 Feb 68
Released: 15 Mar 68 (US), 18 Mar 68 (UK)
Notes: Words from the "Tao Te Ching (XLVIII)" number 48, page 66. On 29 Sep 67 at a George appearance in The Frost Report, Juan Mascaró (who was in the audience) later suggested using I Ching and sent a copy of "Lamps of Fire," which contains poem, "The Inner Light." Became the first of George's songs to appear on a single. Music recorded in Bobmbay at the tail end of the "Wonderwall" sessions.

It Won't Be Long (Lennon and McCartney)
Real Author: John
Recorded: 30 Jul 63
Released: on "With the Beatles": 22 Nov 63 (UK), on "Meet the Beatles": 20 Jan 64 (US)
Notes: John really hated it. Written at Weybridge. Prompted review about "aeolian cadences of the chords."

It's All Too Much (Harrison)
Real Author: George
Recorded: 25, 26 May, 2 Jun 67
Released: on "Yellow Submarine": 13 Jan 69 (US), 17 Jan 69 (UK)
Notes: About LSD, which George celebrated for another three months until meeting the Maharishi.

It's For You (Lennon and McCartney)
Real Author: Paul
Notes: Written for Cilla Black

It's Only Love (Lennon and McCartney)
Real Author: John
Recorded: 15 Jun 65
Released: on "Help!": 6 Aug 65 (UK), on "Rubber Soul": 6 Dec 65 (US)
Notes: He hated it. Working title was "That's a Nice Hat."

I've Got a Feeling (Lennon and McCartney)
Real Author: 50/50
Recorded: 30 Jan 69
Released: on "Let it Be": 8 May 70 (UK), 18 May 70 (US)
Notes: Paul's part was "I've got a feeling," John's was "Everybody had a hard year."

I've Just Seen a Face (Lennon and McCartney)
Real Author: Paul
Recorded: 14 Jun 65
Released: on "Help!": 6 Aug 65 (UK), on "Rubber Soul": 6 Dec 65 (US)
Notes: Written at Wimpole Street (Ashers). Nicknamed "Auntie Jin's Theme," because she liked it so much.

Julia (Lennon and McCartney)
Real Author: John
Recorded: 13 Oct 68
Released: on "The Beatles": 22 Nov 68 (UK), 25 Nov 68 (US)
Notes: Julia was John's mother. Also about Yoko, who helped. Yoko means "ocean child" in Japanese. "Half of what I say is meaningless; but I say it so the other half may reach you" is from Kahlil Gibran, "Sand and Foam." Guitar style was learned from Donovan in India.