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Beatles 1962 Auditions

Beatles 1962 Auditions

Before Beatlemania

Auditions were a regular part of the Beatles in 1962. And 1962 will be the year the Beatles move from obscurity to popularity, though certainly not to Beatlemania. Not yet.

Decca

On New Year’s Day 1962 The Beatles conducted their first audition for a major record company, Decca. In its London studio which was and less than 2 miles from EMI’s Abbey Road studios, The Beatles taped 15 songs that had been carefully selected by Brian Epstein to show off their versatility: “Like Dreamers Do”, “Money”, “Till There Was You”, “The Sheik of Araby”, “To Know Her Is to Love Her”, “Take Good Care of My Baby”, “Memphis”, “Sure to Fall (In Love With You)”, “Hello Little Girl”, “Three Cool Cats”, “Crying, Waiting, Hoping”, “The Love of the Loved”, “September In the Rain”, “Besame Mucho”, and “Searchin'”.

It took about an hour to record all the songs and Decca’s Mike Smith (who had arrived late, irritating Brian Epstein) promised to get back to Brian with Decca’s decision; then Smith hurried the Beatles out of the studio because he was running late for a second audition – with Brian Poole and the Tremeloes.

Decca declined to give the Beatles a recording contract. (Independent article)

Beatles 1962 Auditions

More Auditions

February 12, 1962: The Beatles traveled to Broadcasting House, Manchester, Lancashire. Brian Epstein had arranged an audition to perform on radio.

Producer Peter Pilbeam listened to The Beatles perform four songs: Paul McCartney sang “Till There Was You” and his composition “Like Dreamers Do”; John Lennon sang “Memphis” and his composition “Hello Little Girl.”

Pilbeam voted “No” on Paul’s performance, but voted “Yes” on John’s. His final answer was “Yes” and the Beatles were booked to record an appearance on the radio program “Teenager’s Turn” on March 7.

March 7, 1962 The Beatles recorded their first radio appearance, at the Playhouse Theatre, Hulme, Manchester, for the BBC radio program “Teenager’s Turn – Here We Go”.

After a rehearsal, the Beatles put on suits for the first time and, along with the other artists appearing on the program, recorded the show in front of a teenage audience.

The Beatles performed three songs, all cover versions: “Dream Baby”, “Memphis”, and “Please Mr. Postman”. The broadcast was the following afternoon, March 8.

Beatles 1962 Auditions

EMI/Parlophone

June 6, 1962: The Beatles’ first recording session at Abbey Road Studios. George Martin got along well with John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison, but not so with the taciturn Pete Best.

Worse, he considered Pete’s drumming ability to be not up to professional standards and pointed that out to Brian Epstein.

Beatles 1962 Auditions

“Here We Go”

June 11, The Beatles taped for the BBC radio program, “Here We Go.” This is the last Beatle recording on which Pete Best played.

Beatles 1962 Auditions

Summer gigs

During June, July, August, and September, The Beatles had many gigs and their popularity continued to increase, but mainly around their hometown of Liverpool with The Cavern being their mainstay venue. A change was about happen…

The Beatles 1962 Auditions
An early 1960’s photo of The Beatle at The Cavern Club. The Beatles last performance at The Cavern Club was 3 August 1963
Beatles 1962 Auditions

Pete Best out

August 16, 1962: Brian Epstein told Pete Best that the he was out of the band, but, amazingly, Epstein asked Best to perform with the band that night. Though at first agreeing, Best later decided against appearing, and he did not show up.

Many Beatles’ fans were partial to Pete. For a few days, Brian Epstein needed protection to walk down Mathew Street, and his new Best fans scratched Epstein’s car.

Ringo, having already agreed to leave Rory Storm and the Hurricanes (that band will, at one point, use Keef Hartley as their drummer. Keef will leave later to form his own band. It will play at the Woodstock Music and Art Fair!) will play with the Beatles as we now know them for the first time on August 18.

Beatles 1962 Auditions

Beatles @ EMI

September 4, 1962 The Beatles’ first formal recording session at EMI’s Abbey Road studios. George Martin did not consider any of the recordings from June 6 to be good enough for commercial release, so he called the Beatles back into the studio to try again.

They rehearsed six songs, including “Love Me Do” and “Please Please Me”, and two of the songs were picked for recording: “Love Me Do” and Mitch Murray’s song “How Do You Do It.”

The Beatles were unhappy with recording Murray’s song, which they had rearranged from the original demo that George Martin had sent them. However, Martin is insistent and they do record the song. They recorded an unknown number of takes of “How Do You Do It” and over 15 takes of “Love Me Do” with Ringo drumming.

Though Mitch Murray was notified that the Beatles would release his song , the decision was reversed when they chose “Love Me Do” and then “Please Please Me” instead.

Gerry & the Pacemakers later recorded it using the Beatles’ arrangement. the song reached #1 on the charts.

Beatles 1962 Auditions

Beatles back @ EMI

September 11: The Beatles returned to EMI Studios in London for a third attempt at recording their first single. George Martin insisted that studio drummer Allan White take Ringo Starr’s place during the session. Ringo was left to play maracas on “P.S. I Love You” and tambourine on “Love Me Do”.

The band recorded ten takes of “P.S. I Love You” and 18 takes of “Love Me Do,” along with an unknown number of takes of “Please Please Me”.

George Martin suggested that they could improve “Please Please Me” with increased tempo and tight vocal harmonies. They selected “Love Me Do” to be their first A-side, with “P.S. I Love You” on the flip side (a reversal of the original plan).

Beatles 1962 Auditions

Release of Love Me Do

October 5: the UK release of Beatles single “Love Me Do/P.S. I Love You” (Parlophone). It reached #17 and was on the charts for 6  weeks. The featured a September. 4 version of “Love Me Do” (Version I) that had Ringo on drums. The album “Please Please Me”, however, will includes Version II, with Andy White on drums.

Beatles 1962 Auditions

Studio Four, Granada TV Centre

October 17: in between their lunchtime and night shows at the Cavern Club, the Beatles traveled to Studio Four, Granada TV Centre, Manchester, Lancashire, to make their television debut. They appeared live on a local magazine program called “People and Places”, which was broadcast across north and northwest England. After two rehearsals lasting nearly three hours, The Beatles performed two songs for the live transmission, “Some Other Guy” and “Love Me Do”.

Empire Theatre

Oct 28:  The Beatles performed at the Empire Theatre, Liverpool. This was a major performance for The Beatles, their first at Liverpool’s top theatre.

The Beatles had hit the big time…at least locally.

Beatles 1962 Auditions

BBC TV

November 23: The Beatles traveled to St. James’ Church Hall, London, for a 10-minute audition with BBC Television. The audition came about when a Beatles fan, David Smith of Preston, wrote to the BBC and asked that BBC feature the band on television.

BBC assumed that Smith managed The Beatles and wrote back offering him a November 6 audition.  Smith brought the letter to NEMS Enterprises and Clive Epstein (Brian’s brother) arranged for the November  23 audition.

After the audition, the Beatles hurried home for that night’s scheduled performance.

Beatles 1962 Auditions

Record second single

November 26, 1962, The Beatles were in the recording studio (Studio Two, EMI Studios, London), recording their second single. They recorded “Please Please Me” in 18 takes. Epstein, Martin, and the band select it for the A-side of the band’s new single. Then they recorded in 6 takes of “Ask Me Why” for the flip side.

The Beatles also played a third Lennon-McCartney number, “Tip of My Tongue”, for producer George Martin. Martin did not care for the arrangement, and the song will never be recorded by The Beatles. However, “Tip of My Tongue” will be recorded in July 1963 by Tommy Quickly, another artist managed by Brian Epstein.

EMI will issue The Beatles’ second single, “Please Please Me/Ask Me Why” on January 11, 1963. George Martin confidently and accurately predicted that the single will hit #1.

Beatles 1962 Auditions

BBC 

TV thumbs down

November 27: Brian Epstein received a polite “thumbs-down” letter from the BBC  and he realized that The Beatles would need to score a #1 hit before they had a real chance of making their BBC television debut.

BBC Paris Studio

November 27, 1962: The Beatles go to BBC Paris Studio, Regent Street, London, to record their first BBC radio session in London. They perform three songs before a live studio audience: “Love Me Do”, “P.S. I Love You”, and “Twist and Shout”. 

Beatles 1962 Auditions

Others

TWW Television

December 3: The Beatles appeared in a live television broadcast from TWW Television Centre, Bristol, Somerset, on the program “Discs a Gogo”, which was broadcast to that and nearby regions. The Beatles performed live, but lip-sync to “Love Me Do”.

Wembley Studios

December 4: The Beatles appeared in a live television broadcast from Wembley Studios, Wembley, Middlesex. This was their London-area debut on television on a children’s program called “Tuesday Rendezvous.” The Beatles performed live, doing lip-sync performances of “Love Me Do” and 45 seconds of “P.S. I Love You”.

Studio Four, Granada TV

December 17: The Beatles appeared live television from Studio Four, Granada TV Centre, Manchester, for the TV program “People and Places”. They performed “Love Me Do” and “Twist and Shout.”

Back in the Hamburg

With increasing home popularity, The Beatles reluctantly found themselves back in Hamburg for the rest of 1962. It would be their last visit and 1963 will be their best year yet.

Until 1964.

Beatles 1962 Auditions

Beatles November 22 Music et al

Beatles November 22 Music et al

November 22, 1963 is a day that all Baby Boomers remember where they were when they heard of Kennedy’s assassination.

Oddly, November 22 is also a day that is a big part of Beatle history:

November 22, 1963

with the beatles
Beatles November 22 Music et al
The Beatles on November 22: with the beatles

November 22, 1963: UK release of 2nd Beatle album with the beatles. The 14 songs were a mixture of Lennon/McCartney compositions, the first George Harrison Beatle release, and covers. For we US collectors, we likely didn’t realize that what the British kids were buying was more than what we were to get later: 14 songs per album compared to the usual 12 in the USA. Thus the occasional release “singles” albums in the USA to catch up.

Beatles November 22 Music et al
The Beatles on November 22: back cover of “with the Beatles”
Beatles November 22 Music et al

Beatles November 22

Beatles November 22 Music et al
Beatles Ibsen-like cover

November 22, 1968: released The Beatles, usually referred to as the White Album. the “White Album’s” original working title was A Doll’s House, which is the name of Henrik Ibsen’s play first performed in 1879.

In addition, according to Geoffrey Giuliano, author of The Beatles Album, an illustration was prepared for the cover of A Doll’s House by the famed artist Patrick. However the title was changed when the British band Family released the similarly titled Music in a Doll’s House earlier that year. The plain white cover was opted for instead after McCartney then requested the albums sleeve design “be as stark a contrast to Peter Blake’s vivid cover art for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band as possible, the complete opposite of it…” he said.

L’Osservatore Romano

November 22, 2008: the official Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano suggested that the infamous statement by John Lennon of the Beatles– who outraged many people in 1966 by saying that the band was “more popular than Jesus”– should be recognized as “the boasting of an English working-class lad struggling to cope with unexpected success.” In an editorial marking the 40th anniversary for the “White Album,” L’Osservatore Romano said that the influence of the Beatles has shown “an extraordinary resistance to the effects of time, providing inspiration for several generations of pop musicians.” (Guardian article)

Beatles November 22 Music et al

Germany Deports Beatles

Germany Deports Beatles

Hamburg

In 1960, when the Beatles [John Lennon, George Harrison, Pete Best, Paul McCartney, Stuart Sutcliffe] arrived in Hamburg, West Germany they were still seeking success. Beatlemania was three sweaty years away.

The Indra Club had booked them to play and each of them learned many things. For example, how to light a dark room without using electricity, what happens to underage workers, and what happens when authorities arrest foreign visitors.

Germany Deports Beatles
Indra Club, Hamburg, West Germany
Germany Deports Beatles

Indra Club

They had arrived the morning of August 17, 1960 to a closed Indra Club. A manager from a nearby club found someone to open it up and they slept on club’s seats. After performing that evening, they were told that they would sleep in a nearby movie theater’s storeroom.

McCartney later said, “We lived backstage in the Bambi Kino, next to the toilets, and you could always smell them. The room had been an old storeroom, and there were just concrete walls and nothing else. No heat, no wallpaper, not a lick of paint; and two sets of bunk beds, with not very much covers—Union Jack flags—we were frozen.”

Lennon remembered: “We were put in this pigsty. We were living in a toilet, like right next to the ladies’ toilet. We’d go to bed late and be woken up next day by the sound of the cinema show and old German fraus pissing next door.”

They had to use cold water from the urinals for washing and shaving. The schedule was seven nights a week: 8:30 – 9:30, 10 – 11, 11:30 -12:30, and 1 – 2 AM.

German customers found the group’s name comical, as “Beatles” sounded like “Peedles”, which meant a small boy’s penis.

Germany Deports Beatles

Bruno Koschmider

Germany Deports Beatles

The Indra club owner, Bruno Koschmider, urged The Beatles put on an enthusiastic show and John Lennon complied by screaming, shouting, and leaping about the stage. The others followed his example, sometimes playing lying on the floor. Lennon once appeared wearing only his underwear and on another occasion wore a toilet seat around his neck. It worked–The Beatles begin to draw larger crowds, while their arduous schedule sharpened their musical chops.

To keep up their energy and to compensate for insufficient sleep, all of them, except for Pete Best, start to use stimulants. The audiences, who knew little English, applauded as John Lennon shouted out “Sieg Heil” and called them “fucking Nazis.” (click >>> Beatles begin in Hamburg)

 John Lennon, George Harrison, Pete Best, Paul McCartney, Stuart Sutcliffe
John Lennon, George Harrison, Pete Best, Paul McCartney, Stuart Sutcliffe
Germany Deports Beatles

The Kaiserkeller

The Beatles performed at the Indra Club until October 3. Police closed it after neighbors complained about the noise. The band moved to The Kaiserkeller, another of Koschmider’s clubs. They started the next night and played the next 58 nights.

At the Kaiserkeller, The Beatles alternated sets with Rory Storm & the Hurricanes. It was here that John, Paul, and George become friendly with Hurricanes drummer Richard Starkey, whom they liked. This relationship added to the tension between Pete and the other Beatles.

Best did not fit in with the others, especially in their use of drugs and their wild antics. The huge stage at the Kaiserkeller at first awed The Beatles, who were accustomed to the tiny Indra Club stage, but soon they were back to putting on the frantic act they learned at the Indra Club. Often The Beatles performed drunk, mostly due to the generosity of customers who sent beer for them.

Germany Deports Beatles

Rory Storm

Beatles deported
Rory Storm & Hurricanes-Hamburg’s Kaiser Keller, 1960

The Beatles and Rory Storm & the Hurricanes entered into a contest to see which group could be the first to demolish the tottering, rotting wooden stage. Rory Storm won with an athletic leap during a rendition of “Blue Suede Shoes”. Bruno Koschmider gave Rory a heated rebuke and docked his wages to pay for the damage. (click for >>> Documentary about Rory Storm and the Hurricanes)

Germany Deports Beatles

Top Ten Club

On October 16, 1960, Bruno Koschmider extended The Beatles’ contract to play at his Kaiserkeller Club until December 31. October 31 they also performed at Koschmider’s rival Peter Eckhorn’s Top Ten Club. Koschmider was furious and terminated their contract.

Despite the cancellation, they continued to perform at the club for another three weeks.

An additional reason why Koschmider wanted them out was he’d found out that George Harrison was only 17, too young to be working in the club. The official statement read: I the undersigned hereby give notice to Mr George Harrison and to Beatles’ Band to leave [the Club] on November 30th, 1960. The notice is given to the above by order of the Public Authorities who have discovered that Mr George Harrison is only 17 (seventeen) years of age.

Germany Deports Beatles
George, John, and Paul in 1960
Germany Deports Beatles

The beginning of Beatles deported

George Harrison

On November 20 German authorities ordered Harrison deported. He stayed up all that night teaching John his guitar parts, so The Beatles could continue without him. Harrison left on November 21. In his anthology he wrote: It was a long journey on my own on the train to the Hook of Holland. From there I got the day boat. It seemed to take ages and I didn’t have much money – I was praying I’d have enough. I had to get from Harwich to Liverpool Street Station and then a taxi across to Euston. From there I got a train to Liverpool. I can remember it now: I had an amplifier that I’d bought in Hamburg and a crappy suitcase and things in boxes, paper bags with my clothes in, and a guitar. I had too many things to carry and was standing in the corridor of the train with my belongings around me, and lots of soldiers on the train, drinking. I finally got to Liverpool and took a taxi home – I just about made it. I got home penniless. It took everything I had to get me back.

Need For Light

On November 29, the other Beatles had begun moving their belongings from their bathroom/bedroom to an attic above the nearby Top Ten Club. It was, as usual, dark and as McCartney and Best gathered their belongings they lit an object in order to see.

Object? Accounts differ: rags, a wall tapestry, or a condom attached to a nail. There was no damage apart from a burn mark on the wall, and the fire eventually extinguished itself on the damp wall.

Bruno Koschmider, however, was furious, and told the police that Paul and Pete had attempted to set fire to the cinema.

He’d told them that we’d tried to burn his place down and they said, “Leave, please. Thank you very much but we don’t want you to burn our German houses.” Funny, really, because we couldn’t have burned the place even if we had gallons of petrol – it was made of stone. (Paul McCartney, from Many Years From Now, by Barry Miles)

Germany Deports Beatles

 More Beatles deported

Paul McCartney and Pete Best

On November 30, police arrested McCartney and Best and they spent the night in jail. The next morning, they went above the Top Ten Club to get some rest. In the early afternoon, however, two plain-clothes police woke them. They told the boys to get dressed and took them to Hamburg’s Kriminal police headquarters. The officer in charge told them they were to be deported at midnight.

They were taken back to the Top Ten where they had five minutes to pack up their possessions; Pete Best was forced to leave his drums behind. They were then held in prison before being escorted to the airport.

They Beatles were not entirely sure why the Germans deported them as their limited command of German made it difficult to understand the police procedures. The authorities refused their request to telephone the British Consul.

McCartney and Best arrived at London Airport on December 1. They spent their remaining money on a bus to Euston Station and a train ticket to Liverpool. John Lennon stayed behind in Hamburg for a while but returned on December 10, He traveled back to England by train and boat. Stuart Sutcliffe continued stay in Hamburg, effectively ending his time in The Beatles.

In the United States, Elvis Presley’s Are You Lonesome Tonight was the Billboard #1 song.

Germany Deports Beatles

Stu Sutcliffe

Germany Deports Beatles
Stu Sutcliffe and Astrid Kirchherr

Stu Sutcliffe left the band to pursue his career as an artist, enrolling in the Hamburg College of Art, studying under future pop artist, Eduardo Paolozzi, who later wrote a report stating that Sutcliffe was one of his best students. Stu had also met Astrid Kirchherr in Hamburg. They became engaged.

Sutcliffe began experiencing severe headaches and acute sensitivity to light. In the first days of April 1962, he collapsed in the middle of an art class after complaining of head pains. German doctors performed various checks, but were unable to determine the exact cause of his headaches. On 10 April 10, he was was being taken to hospital, but died in the ambulance. The cause of death was later revealed to have been an aneurysm. Stu Sutcliffe was 21.

Germany Deports Beatles
Sutcliffe’s Hamburg Series #13
Mixed media, collage with ink and oil on buff paper
24/26 x 34 in. image / 32 x 40 in. overall mounted. Circa 1961-62
Germany Deports Beatles