Beatles 64 Documentary

Grew up on their music.

Still love it.

My oldest sister was coming of age when they started out, so of course I was there too.

I remember their first appearance on Ed Sullivan. I was 3 or 4, but remember that night clearly.

Remember wondering why my kindergarten class wasn't singing Beatles songs.
Remember all the kids at the pool in the summer singing Yellow Submarine.

Good times.

I remember the night John was killed. My Mom called me at college to tell me. When my roommate walked in later and I was in tears, she asked what was wrong and all I said was, "John is dead." She knew who I was talking about.

We spent the summer of 1964 in England visiting relatives. I was 7, my sister 10. All I understood was that older girls were crazy about them, and their image and souvenirs were everywhere. When we came home to the US our friends treated us like royalty for having been to England where the Beatles came from. It's hard to describe to young folks now, how new and spontaneous all that Beatlemania was at the time, after the last few decades of manufactured celebrity and talentless pop stars-of-the-month. They really were game changers.

“She was just 17.. . You know what I mean. . .”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6FD3z9VzAE

In 1964 I was 17. We danced to the Beatles at our high school dances. This was in Newport Beach, CA and The Beach Boys were also big then (I did not care for them as much). I had no idea at the time that The Beach Boys performed in England and there was a lot of respect between the two groups. You can learn about this in the 2024 movie “The Beach Boys”, directed by Frank Marshall, a 1964 graduate of my high school (Newport Harbor High School).

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt31922530/

1964 also brought the Beatles’ performance on the Ed Sullivan show. My family watched this.

https://www.edsullivan.com/artists/the-beatles/

Lola, Paul originally wrote, "She was just seventeen, a real beauty queen." John thought that was far too pedestrian of a line and they came up with something much better: "You know what I mean." This tight bond was part of the magic of the Beatles but the relationship went awry a few years later. Fortunately, said Paul, they reconnected before John died. Fortunate in that sense anyway.

khansen, my first proper album was Sgt Pepper's, released in 1967 although I got it as a Christmas present around 1972 when I was 11. Imagine a kid of that age experiencing that music. What was this? I'm glad to have seen Paul live several times and boy he sure is a born showman and still going strong at 82, along with Ringo at 83. Funny thing is my older cousin thought Paul looked like a chipmunk.

Stan, if I could go back in time for a couple of weeks, one of the times and places would be Liverpool during the advent of Beatlemania. Certainly a unique time in history that won't be replicated.

George Harrison: "They gave their money, and they gave their screams. But the Beatles kind of gave their nervous systems. They used us as an excuse to go mad, the world did, and then blamed it on us."

My girlfriend and I were from Oklahoma City. After our sophomore year in college (1964), we took a cross-country bus trip with the goal of visiting her older brother in NYC. But first, we went to Washington, D.C. (where neither of us had ever been). On our agenda was seeing A Hard Day's Night at the cinema. The teenage screaming couldn't have been louder if the group had been there is person.

Not my memory but that of my brother-in-law’s father. He was a NYC policeman that rode in a cab with them

Janet, I've heard the screaming could be as loud as a jet engine.

When they arrived on Pan Am in NY Feb. 1964, I was in the 9th grade then and obviously saw them on Sunday two days later on TV.

I followed their music then on my transistor radio that used a 9 volt battery, listening to AM radio in SF playing the music of the British Invasion. Several of the record jackets to their "Capitol" 45s and EPs I have , obviously not all.

"Yeah, Yeah Yeah" The 45 with those words appeared on the "Swan" label

Fred, thank you for the personal recollection. Was there a period or album that was your favorite?

@ BigMike.....On a specific time period, I would say from 1963 to the end of 1965, when the LP "Rubber Soul" was released.

Fred, yes, Rubber Soul and Revolver reflected a huge evolution among the lads (lol) portending Pepper and Magical Mystery Tour. After that they were mostly solo musicians with the other three as session musicians. That's a bit of an exaggeration of course, but the discontent and mutual animus becomes clear with the White Album.

Fortunately they ended strong with Abbey Road. George Harrison often said he knew he was more than done after that and described the Get Back sessions as "miserable" and "the winter of the Beatles discontent." In other words they were sick of each other.

I remember watching them on the Ed Sullivan show and my dad saying that in two months they would be forgotten, a flash in the pan.

It was a thrill to visit John and Paul's homes in Liverpool on a National Trust tour. The docent on duty at Paul's house was the same one who was there when Paul visited while filming Car Pool Karaoke a few years ago. It was a pleasure to meet her and to hear how nice Paul was.

I still love their music.