Year: 2022

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The Beatles If I Fell from A Hard Day’s Night

The Beatles If I Fell
If I Fell by The Beatles
If I Fell by The Beatles

“If I Fell” from A Hard Day’s Night by Tim Hatfield

John Lennon said that this was his first attempt to write a “ballad proper,” and was a precursor of “In My Life” (#40), perhaps the most popular ballad he ever wrote.  Paul McCartney pointed out in Barry Miles’ Many Years from Now that although people generally thought of John as:

an acerbic wit and aggressive and abrasive, but he did have a very warm side to him…that he didn’t like to show too much in case he got rejected.

Dripping in Chords

The song was, as Paul described it, “dripping in chords,” and featured very tight two-part harmony by John and Paul, Everly Brothers-like, following an acoustic solo introduction by John.  John sang the low harmony, and when recording in the studio in 1964 the pair used a single microphone for the vocals.  

If I Fell Over?

On the Beatles 1964 tour it was the only ballad on the playlist, which often was a big problem because John and Paul could not hear themselves over the screaming girls in the audience.  Although I’ve not seen them, there apparently are some bootleg videos of them trying to stifle laughs while singing the song, which they jokingly called “If I Fell Over.”  In the film A Hard Day’s Night, the song was featured in a scene in which the band was getting ready for a concert, just one example of their playful side – John sang the sweet introduction to Ringo while he was setting up his kit.

During Hard Times

During hard times of any kind, I hope you can experience some moments of playfulness, despite whatever ongoing legitimate concerns beset you. Stay strong, all.

Tim Hatfield

When We Find Ourselves in Times of Trouble: The Beatles: All Their Songs with Encouraging Words for Challenging Times

When We Find Ourselves in Times of Trouble: The Beatles: All Their Songs with Encouraging Words for Challenging Times

KINDLE (OR DOWNLOAD THE FREE APP TO READ ON YOUR LAPTOP)

This book addresses all the songs of the Beatles, from their earliest demos to Abbey Road, in a conversational, accessible format. Special attention is devoted to the band’s creative process and its influence on and synergistic relationship with the culture at large. The book’s genesis was the author’s hope that a daily Beatles song could provide a brief respite from the significant stress and uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic, and beyond that, from the challenges of any personally difficult time – our times of trouble.

£3.60
Shop now
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The First Colour Photo of John Paul and George, but When?

George Harrison, John Lennon Paul McCartney
George Harrison, John Lennon Paul McCartney
George Harrison, John Lennon Paul McCartney

John Paul and George, and Who?

This was the very first colour photo published of John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison, taken in those early days, but when was it taken?

When working on my book, “The Fab One Hundred and four: The Evolution of The Beatles” way back in 2011, there was no date to be found. Memories were hazy and all we knew was that it was taken at Paul McCartney’s cousin Ian Harris’ wedding reception, most probably during 1958.

John, Paul, George and Denis

I managed to track down the guy on the right of the photo having a drink, Denis Littler, who was one of Ian Harris’s best friends, remembered the day, jamming with John, Paul and George, but not the date of the wedding.

Find out how I dated the photo in this video:

Get your copy of my book below too:

The Fab One Hundred and Four: The Evolution of The Beatles

The Fab One Hundred and Four: The Evolution of The Beatles

The Fab one hundred and Four: The Evolution of The Beatles tells how the four Quarrymen became the Fab Four of John, Paul, George and Ringo.

Original price was: £49.00.Current price is: £20.00.
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She Said She Said by The Beatles

She Said She Said
She Said She Said
She Said She Said

“She Said She Said” from Revolver

From When We Find Ourselves in Times of Trouble: The Beatles (All their songs with encouraging words for challenging times) By Tim Hatfield

This was the last song recorded for the Revolver album, a John Lennon song with some help from George, and harked back to a strange incident in a rented home in Los Angeles while the Beatles were doing several concerts on the West coast. 

LSD and The Byrds

Roger McGuinn and David Crosby of the Byrds were among a bunch of people in the home that day for an LSD party with the Beatles (all except Paul, who abstained).  At one point, George Harrison said he was afraid he was dying, and actor Peter Fonda, also present and tripping, did what he could to reassure George that he would be OK.  But he also went on at some length about how he had almost died when he was a young boy, and then said, “I know what it’s like to be dead.” 

When I Was A Boy

John Lennon heard him and went ballistic; he didn’t want anyone to be talking to his friend about being dead, let alone some guy in sunglasses who he didn’t know.  But Fonda’s one-liner proved to be very generative – it stuck with Lennon, who changed “he” to “she” and softened his rage so that early iterations of the lyrics also were more even, more accessible.  By the time that George stopped by John’s house one day the next year, John had fragments of more than one song he was working with, including one about childhood innocence (“When I was a boy everything was right”) that George helped him combine into what would that be the final version of “She Said She Said.”

McCartney Opted Out

It may be no coincidence that, as at the party in California, McCartney opted out of this song as well, one of the only Beatles tracks on which he does not appear at all.  The song is officially attributed to Lennon/McCartney, but it would have been more accurate to describe it as a Lennon/Harrison piece.  McCartney recalled in Many Years from Now,

I think we’d had a barney [a noisy quarrel]…and they [John, George, and Ringo] said, “Well, we’ll do it.” I think George played bass.

George Played Bass

And they did.  John sang lead, played rhythm guitar, and added a track on a Hammond organ; George did the harmonies, played a raspy, sitar-like lead guitar, and played the bass guitar track; and Ringo’s drumming was described by Rolling Stone as “spirited.”

No LSD

It would not be much of a stretch, I think, to say that we have been living in a surreal time in 2020 and 2021.  No LSD is necessary for us. And we – the collective WE – need to persevere and do something about our major national challenges before (how many more?) people know, quite literally, what it’s like to be dead.

by Tim Hatfield

When We Find Ourselves in Times of Trouble: The Beatles: All Their Songs with Encouraging Words for Challenging Times

When We Find Ourselves in Times of Trouble: The Beatles: All Their Songs with Encouraging Words for Challenging Times

KINDLE (OR DOWNLOAD THE FREE APP TO READ ON YOUR LAPTOP)

This book addresses all the songs of the Beatles, from their earliest demos to Abbey Road, in a conversational, accessible format. Special attention is devoted to the band’s creative process and its influence on and synergistic relationship with the culture at large. The book’s genesis was the author’s hope that a daily Beatles song could provide a brief respite from the significant stress and uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic, and beyond that, from the challenges of any personally difficult time – our times of trouble.

£3.60
Shop now
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Paul McCartney and My Grandmother!

Paul McCartney and Leslie Cavendish
Paul McCartney and Leslie Cavendish
Paul McCartney and Leslie Cavendish

Leslie Cavendish, hairdresser to the Beatles, recalls one of his favourite Paul McCartney stories.

My Grandmother who lived with us said to me when I got home in her thick eastern European accent  that “a Paul McCartney” phoned for you. Really? What did you say to him? 

“We had a nice little chat and told him that I would pass on the message.”

She wasn’t quite sure who he was so I said to her that he was a member of The Beatles, and she replied, “Oh, when you speak to him tell him he needs a haircut.”

Grandma, you do know that I cut his hair?

Really!

Discover more great stories in Leslie’s fascinating book:

The Cutting Edge (Paperback)

The Cutting Edge (Paperback)

The Beatles’ hair changed the world. As their increasingly wild, untamed manes grew, to the horror of parents everywhere, they set off a cultural revolution as the most tangible symbol of the Sixties’ psychedelic dream of peace, love and playful rebellion. In the midst of this epochal change was Leslie Cavendish, hairdresser to the Beatles and some of the greatest stars of the music and entertainment industry.

£14.50
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Paul McCartney and Penny Lane

Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney

         “Penny Lane” from Magical Mystery Tour

The iconic character in the movie Almost Famous notwithstanding, Penny Lane is a place, not a person.  Paul wrote this loving tribute to a street in his hometown of Liverpool. In the Barry Miles biography Many Years from Now, McCartney talked about the song and Penny Lane itself:

Childhood Reminiscences

“It was childhood reminiscences: there is a bus stop called Penny Lane. There was a barber shop called Bioletti’s with head shots of the haircuts you can have in the window and I just took it all and arted it up a little bit to make it sound like he was having a picture exhibition in his window. It was all based on real things; there was a bank on the corner so I imagined the banker, it was not a real person, and his slightly dubious habits and the little children laughing at him, and the pouring rain.

“The fire station was a bit of poetic license; there’s a fire station about half a mile down the road, not actually in Penny Lane, but we needed a third verse so we took that and I was very pleased with the line “It’s a clean machine.” I still like that phrase, you occasionally hit a lucky little phrase and it becomes more than a phrase. So the banker helped me with the third verse, as often was the case. We were writing childhood memories: recently faded memories from eight or ten years before, so it was a recent nostalgia, pleasant memories for both of us. All the places were still there, and because we remembered it so clearly we could have gone on.“

Lennon and McCartney

This song and the flip side of the double-A-sided single – “Strawberry Fields Forever” – are an object lesson of Lennon and McCartney at the peak of their creative collaborative powers. And if you would like a true visual and auditory treat to go with today’s Beatles song, scroll 31 minutes into this special show in the East Room of the Barack Obama White House:

https://www.pbs.org/video/in-performance-at-the-white-house-celebrating-the-music-of-paul-mccartney

Elvis Costello

Play Elvis Costello’s rendition of “Penny Lane.”  And I’ll defy you not to get goosebumps when Master Sergeant Matthew Harding of the Marine Corps Band absolutely nails the piccolo trumpet solo.  The entire hour and a half show is all-star performances of some of Paul McCartney’ songs, capped by McCartney himself and his band. 

Think of Penny Lane

I’d invite all of you to think of “Penny Lane” as an invitation to pay attention to what is going on in your community.  Notice what is happening, what is not happening, who is in need, what you’re willing to do to be involved. These would be important goals for any community, and especially during any challenging time.

Find out more about the songs the Beatles wrote in Tim Hatfield’s great book:

When We Find Ourselves in Times of Trouble: The Beatles: All Their Songs with Encouraging Words for Challenging Times

When We Find Ourselves in Times of Trouble: The Beatles: All Their Songs with Encouraging Words for Challenging Times

KINDLE (OR DOWNLOAD THE FREE APP TO READ ON YOUR LAPTOP)

This book addresses all the songs of the Beatles, from their earliest demos to Abbey Road, in a conversational, accessible format. Special attention is devoted to the band’s creative process and its influence on and synergistic relationship with the culture at large. The book’s genesis was the author’s hope that a daily Beatles song could provide a brief respite from the significant stress and uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic, and beyond that, from the challenges of any personally difficult time – our times of trouble.

£3.60
Shop now