Since I'm not keen on turning Bob's "On This Day In Rock History" thread into an "all-Beatles, all-the-time" gig, I thought I'd start this seperate "Beatles only" thread to answer any and everyone's questions.

Just so everyone knows, I'm a second-generation Beatles fan (I knew who they were in the 60's, but I was too young to really care) I didn't really "discover" the Fab Four until 1976 (musta been something in the water that year - I also started collecting comic books then, too!) and since then I have amassed a HUGE collection of books, videos, DVDs, records, tapes and CD's of their work both as a group and as solo artists. And while I feel very confident in referring to myself as something of an expert on the band, I've met plenty of people who put my puny little self to shame, so if I get something wrong, leave something out, or if you've got the answer to any of the questions that pop up in here, feel free to jump in!

On to the questions:

Do you think the Beatles would be regarded the same if they had stayed together like the Stones or is the fact that thaey broke up part of their popularity??

Bob from Wisconsin writes:



The Apple stable of artists included (in no particular order):

The Beatles (duh!) (both group and solo recordings)
James Taylor
The Modern Jazz Quartet
John Foster & Sons Brass Band
Mary Hopkin
Jackie Lomax
Brute Force*
Richard Brautigan
Delaney & Bonnie
Trash
The Iveys/Badfinger
Hot Chocolate Band
Billy Preston
Doris Troy
John Tavener
The Radha Krishna Temple
Ronnie Spector
Stevio Ciprioni
Yoko Ono
Bill Elliott and the Elastic Oz Band
Ravi Shankar
Alexandro Jodorowsky
David Peel
Elephant's Memory
Lon & Derek Van Eaton
Chris Hodge
Sundown Playboys

(* you haven't lived until you've heard their unreleased single "The King of Fuh!")

Technically, The Beatles were the first act signed to the label. I don't know who the first non-Beatles act was that was signed up, but the first releases on the Apple label took place on August 26, 1968 (in the US) with their first four singles: The Beatles' "Hey Jude/Revolution", Mary Hopkin's "Those Were The Days/Turn, Turn, Turn", Jackie Lomax's "Sour Milk Sea/The Eagle Laughs At You" and the John Foster & Sons Brass Band's "Thingumybob/Yellow Submarine"


Ed, from Florida asked:



I don't rightly know, but here's where you can find info on their current holdings (with Sony):

http://www.sonyatv.com/frontdoor/index. ... h/1/0.html

Hard to say. The fact that they split and never got back together certainly adds to their mystique. Their effect on popular culture was so vast that it's hard to imagine them being able to sustain it any longer than they did. Around the time of their split, all but Paul maintained that after doing some solo projects they would almost assuredly get back together for more Beatles ventures, but it just never happened.

Did Elvis and the Beatles ever meet??

Frank can probably add a LOT more to this, and I don't want to bogart the thread, either, but I just wanted to drop a link before I forget it: Beatles & Elvis

That's fascinating, Bob. Thanks for the link.

Reading through that one can see why I say that when it comes to the facts of any event in the Beatles lives, Mark Lewisohn is the go-to guy. (The stuff about Priscilla kills me! )

Here's what Lewisohn writes: "Late in the evening of 27 August, the [Beatles] drove across to Perugia Way, Beverly Hills, to meet their one-time idol Elvis Presley, a summit conference arranged by Presley's manager, "Colonel" Tom Parker, and greatly anticipated by the Beatles and Brian Epstein. But the meeting was not a great success, although Elvis and the Beatles did have a brief jam session, a poor-quality tape of which has long been rumoured to exist, although this has never been confirmed and must be considered unlikely."

Okay, so it's not as entertaining or as colourful as "I thought Priscilla was wearing a tiara.", but it's definitely a lot more accurate.

When did the Beatles go from the classic Beatles haircut look to the hippie look??

It sorta gradually morphed over the years, but the first real big change to the "mop-top" look was in late '66 early '67 when they were recording "Sgt. Pepper" and they were all sporting facial hair of some sort.

Holy shit! Richard Brautigan? He's like, my all-time favorite hippie poet! Trout Fishing In America had a profound effect on me, especially the stories "The Cleveland Wrecking Yard" and "The Kool-Aid Wino."

I had no clue he was signed to Apple.

He did one album for them which was one of only three albums released on the "Zapple" label (which was supposed to be for Apple's more "non-traditional" recordings) in May of 1969 called "Listening to Richard Brautigan". It was only released in the UK.

Dear Professor,

What is the significance of the Number 9? (number 9, number 9 number 9...)

Thanks,
Twisting in Texas

If you play it backwards, it becomes "Turn me on, dead man."

Neat little aural trick, ain't it?

A little history: The Beatles began recording their album "The Beatles" (more commonly referred to as "The White Album") on May 30, 1968. The first song to be recorded was "Revolution" (or, as it eventually became when released on the LP, "Revolution 1") They did 16 takes of the song on May 30 (takes 1-10 and 13-18, there were no takes 11 or 12) All of the takes were of varying lengths but all averaged out at about 5 minutes. Except the last one. Take 18 was the version that eventually wound up on the album, except that in this initial recording, the Beatles didn't stop playing at 5 minutes, they kept playing on and on eventually running out at just over 10 minutes. The last six minutes were (as Mark Lewisohn describes them) "pure chaos" with the Beatles jamming discordantly and John and Yoko screaming and moaning and generally just making a lot of noise! At this point the Beatles were considering this song as their next single and, obviously, it couldn't be released as it was recorded! So they lopped off the last six minutes of the song and John then used that section as the basis for the other "White Album" track, "Revolution 9". At this point it was shelved until June 6, when John began recording random sound effects to add to the mix. The "number nine" voice was added in on Thursday, the 20th of June and was described by Mark Lewisohn in his book "The Beatles Recording Sessions" (which I affectionately refer to as "The Bible".


So, there you go. No significance other than "John thought it was a real hoot". Just some random guy saying "Number nine". Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

Thanks for the explanation. The White Album is my favorite Beatles album. I've got a copy of the LP that the vinyl is actually white. I think it was some special German pressing.

tot tot tot Uncle Frank. You are on the wrong side of right on this one. Number 9 was quite significant, to John anyway. He was born on October 9, 1940. Consequently, he believed 9 was his lucky number. He slipped 9 into his work in a variety of places, such as "One after 909" on "Let it Be" and "Number 9 Dream" from "Walls and Bridges." I am now the true Beatle professor! Bwahahahahahahahaha.

Stephen

You are correct. John's life seemed to attract the number nine like a magnet (Sean's birthday was Oct. 9th as well). But I was merely referring to the significance of the repetative "number nine" voice from "Revolution 9".

Dunno if I'd include "One After 909" in the list of "9's", though. It was an early Lennon/McCartney composition (back when they really DID write the songs together! ) so who knows who came up with the "909" (side note: The 1963 attempt at recording "One After 909" produced one of my all-time favorite Beatles outtakes. The guitar solo on take 2 was SO bad, that at the end of the take, you can hear John turn to George and ask him "What kind of solo was THAT?")

As I understand it, the Fab Four played up a completely untrue news broadcast indicating that Paul had died.

On the veiled references to Paul's "death" I know about

Revolution #9 played backwards produces the phrase Turn me on, dead man

Speeding up the tail end of the 33 1/3 version of Strawberry Fields Forever to 45 RPM, one can hear John state I buried Paul

Paul is barefoot ( as I understand it, in the UK, the dead are often buried without shoes? ) on the Abbey Road cover and another ( Sgt. Pepper ? )

The make reference to Billy Shears ( who was supposed to have been Paul's replacement ) in Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club band.

Are there others?

Many, many more! In fact, the "Paul is dead" stuff is what first drew my attention to the Beatles. Unfortunately, I'm at work right now, but when I get home later today, I'll post all of the clues I've ever heard of.

There's all sorts of fun clues, the license plate on the VW saying 28IF, the phone number on the upside-down MMT cover, the hands above heads...

Which reminds me, I have a framed print of the Silver Beatles playing the cavern, autographed by Pete Best. Names of bands are scrawled on the bricks behind the band. And the brick above Pete's head says Rory Storm & The Hurricanes. Who was their drummer?

Ringo Starr.

The story behind the clues is that Paul was supposed to have died in a car wreck sometime in 1965. A look-alike was found by the other three Beatles, and the world was supposed to never know the difference. Except for all the "clues" they gave us pointing to what had happened.

Here's about as complete a list as I've ever seen, culled from Ron Schaumburg's book "Growing Up With The Beatles." (it should be noted, these are from the US versions of the albums):

1965:
"Help!": Inside the fold-out cover, Paul is shown as the only one not wearing a hat.
"Rubber Soul": The song "I'm Looking Through You" contains the lyric: "I'm looking through you, you're not the same..." while the song "In My Life" gives us "lovers and friends I still can recall. Some are dead and some are living..."

1966:
"Yesterday and Today": The original cover with its theme of death was censored then "covered up". On the new cover, Paul is sitting a coffin-like trunk. Also, in the song "Yesterday", Paul sings: "I'm not half the man I used to be"
"Revolver": Paul is the only one drawn in profile on the cover. He also sings "I was alone, I took a ride, I didn't know what I would find there." in the song "Got To Get You Into My Life".
"Strawberry Fields Forever" as the song fades out for the second time, John says "I buried Paul"

1967:
"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band": On the cover, Paul is standing under an upraised hand, a sign of benediction. He also holds an oboe, which is the only instrument shown which is not found in a marching band. The Beatles are standing in front of an open grave. The guitar made of out of flowers is a left-handed bass. In the lower right corner a small doll appears to be watching a toy car plummeting in flames over a cliff.
Inside the fold-out Paul is seated in the position associated with the burial of the dead in India. on his sleeve is a patch with the letters "O.P.D." which some have interpreted as "Officially Pronounced Dead"
On the Back cover, Paul has his back to us. If you look at the Beatles hands, George's form an "L", John's form a "V" and Ringo's form an "E". Paul (standing between George and John) fails to provide the letter "O". (more on this further down the list)
In "A Day In The Life" John sings, "He blew his mind out in a car"
"Magical Mystery Tour": In the picture book, on page 3, Paul is seated behind a sign that reads "I Was". Paul is barefoot on page 13, but his shoes can be seen next to Ringo's drum which has a small "3" painted on it - (three Beatles?). On pages 18 and 24 Paul is seen again under an upraised hand. On page 23 Paul wears a black carnation while the others wear red ones. In the song "Magical Mystery Tour" Paul tells us that "The Magical Mytery Tour is dying to take you away..."

1968:
"The Beatles": In the song "Glass Onion" aside from the numerous references to Paul songs, John sings "Here's another clue for you all, the walrus was Paul" (the walrus is supposedly a symbol of death in Scandanavia). In "Don't Pass Me By" Ringo sings "You were in a car crash, and you lost your hair" and "Revolution 9" has many buried references to death and dying and the "Number nine, number nine" voice when played backwards sounds amazingly like "Turn me on, dead man"

1969:
"Abbey Road" On the cover, Paul is again barefoot and he is walking out of step with the others. He has his eyes closed and he carries a cigarette in his right hand (odd for a southpaw). The cover represents a funeral procession: John, dressed in white, is an angel, Ringo, in black, is a minister, Paul is dressed as a corpse would be in Italy and George is dressed as a grave-digger. On the left hand side of the cover is a white Volkswagen beetle (Beatle?) with a licence plate that reads "28IF" interpreted by many as Paul's age, IF he had lived. (When one points out that Paul would ACTUALLY have been 27 in 1969, one is told that The Beatles were believers in Eastern Mysticism which holds that a person is 1 when they are born.)
On the back cover, there is a crack running through the word "Beatles" symbolizing a "flaw in the structure" of the group. There is a chip in the "O" in the album title "Abbey Road", aside from being the only Beatle without an "O" in his name, Paul also failed to provide the missing "O" in the word "LOVE" on the back of the "Sgt. Pepper" album (see? toldja we'd get back to that!)
In "Come Together" John tells us that "one and one and one is three"

Schaumburg then relates the story of how Kansas City radio station KUDL deciphered the "phone number" from the word "Beatles" on the cover of "Magical Mystery Tour". By turning the cover upside-down one gets the number "834-1735" (on page six of the MMT booklet you can just make out the number "834" on the blackboard behind John as the mustachioed ticket man). They announced that they would call the number (in London) on a Wednesday morning at five o'clock, the time referred to in the lyrics of "She's Leaving Home" that George is pointing to on the back cover of "Sgt. Pepper". The person who answered was an older sounding man who, when asked to identify himself said "PMC, is that enough?" (Paul McCartney?) The KUDL deejay asked if he might have any information to give them. "Of what sort?" the man asked. "Well, about the Beatles." said the DJ. "About the Beatles..." mused the Englishman. "I don't have anything for you right now. Perhaps you could call back tomorrow; say at nine o'clock?" (Nine o'clock is the other time mentioned in "She's Leaving Home") KUDL really played up the return phone call doing it live on the air. When they called the number the next day, it had been mysteriously disconnected.

(insert your own spooky music here )