The Single that Broke the Beatles in America

There are many reasons why “I Want to Hold Your Hand” was The Beatles’ first American smash. Dig into what makes the record irresistible.

“Beatles for Sale” and The Road to “Help!”

The four bored musicians staring out from the cover of Beatles for Sale, the Beatles’ fourth album for Parlophone Records released in December of 1964, were a far cry from the goofy faces that adorned their previous album, A Hard Day’s Night. On the earlier album, Lennon and McCartney had written all thirteen songs, half of which appeared in the critically acclaimed movie of the same name. They were riding high with their fanbase finally extending to America, and their music becoming more harmonically and lyrically adventurous.

“A Hard Day’s Night” – The Beatles in 1964

The year was 1963, and British rock and roll was booming. Cliff Richard. The Rolling Stones. Frank Ifield. Gerry and the Pacemakers. And, of course, The Beatles….

But not in America.

Despite the best efforts of U.K. labels, managers, and promoters, British artists were largely ignored by their American counterparts. Capitol Records, one of the largest and most successful American labels, was owned by British label EMI, and therefore got first crack at releasing music from their parent label. Although EMI released all of Capitol’s recordings, Capitol refused to return the favor.

The primary culprit in Capitol’s refusal to issue EMI music was Dave Dexter, chief of A&R for Capitol Records. Dexter came from the world of jazz, and he didn’t care much for rock and roll music – especially from Great Britain. When he first heard the Beatles, he couldn’t stand them. In particular, Dexter found John Lennon’s harmonica on “Love Me Do” cringeworthy.  With Capitol choosing to ignore the Beatles, EMI was forced into releasing Beatles music in America on smaller independent labels like Vee-Jay and Swan.

Thus begins the story told in Deconstructing A Hard Day’s Night – the extraordinary period in Beatles history spanning from the end of 1963 to the summer of 1964. During these eight months, the group launched the British Invasion that would include not only The Beatles, but The Rolling Stones, The Animals, Gerry and the Pacemakers, The Who, The Kinks, and so many more great bands. It was during this same period that The Beatles revolutionized movie musicals by creating one of the most celebrated films of all time, A Hard Day’s Night.

Although conquering America was always on the Beatles’ wish list, it was hard to imagine how it might happen. After all, not even British hitmaker Cliff Richard had success in the States. A spark was lit by a teenage girl who saw a news story making fun of The Beatles and a Washington DJ who managed to sneak a copy of “I Want To Hold Your Hand” on the air in December of 1963.  The fire was fed by the Beatles’ manager, Brian Epstein, who managed to book the band on The Ed Sullivan Show – a deal he made over a handshake. Eventually, Capitol Records capitulated, agreeing to release “I Want To Hold Your Hand” and their first American album, Meet the Beatles. Ultimately, it was the Beatles’ music and personalities that won over the American audience and led to American Beatlemania.

By April of 1964, The Beatles occupied the top five positions of the Billboard Hot 100 with seven more of their songs in the top 100 (as well as several Beatles-related novelty records by other artists). The song at number one was “Can’t Buy Me Love,” a Lennon-McCartney, blues-inspired rocker with a hooky chorus that begins the song – a suggestion from Beatles producer, George Martin.

“Can’t Buy Me Love” would play during a pivotal moment in their new film A Hard Day’s Night where the Beatles, having burst out of the confined spaces in which they have found themselves during the first half of the film, celebrate their newfound freedom by goofing around in an open field. Dick Lester’s direction, featuring long helicopter shots and handheld close-ups, helped Beatles fans share in the Beatles’ ebullience.

“Can’t Buy Me Love” is one of seven new songs featured in the film, including “I Should Have Known Better,” “And I Love Her,” and the title track. A Hard Day’s Night was the first example of a jukebox musical with all the songs written by two of their stars (and a score written by their producer). Even more remarkable, Lennon and McCartney wrote another six songs to fill out the B-side of their next album, including such classics as “Things We Said Today,” “You Can’t Do That,” and “I’ll Be Back.”

When A Hard Day’s Night was released in July of that year, along with the companion album, The Beatles achieved international super-stardom at a level that had never been seen before. They had conquered America and the silver screen. Their music was being celebrated by fans and critics alike. But there was more to come. Before the year was out, they would write and record “I Feel Fine,” their next #1 single, release a second #1 album, Beatles for Sale, and lay the plans for their second feature film, Help!

Hard Knox and Dirty Sox: A Peek at the 50th Anniversary "Let It Bleed" Box Set

“Let It Bleed” remains iconic. A newly-remastered 50th-anniversary box set reveals new layers to these classic rock tracks.

Magical Mystery Tour: Some "Mysteries" Solved

Magical Mystery Tour was a rare misstep by The Beatles. But the music saved the project from becoming a total bust. Here’s how it went down.

Deconstructing the Beatles: The Birth of the Beatles

The Beatles’ story has become something of a fairy tale. Four teenagers from Liverpool form a rock and roll band and conquer the world. They transition from loveable mop tops to psychedelic hippies to disgruntled bandmates in less than eight years. They influence dress, speech, film, design, and much more. They leave behind the unforgettable music that has touched every generation since the 1960s.

Yet, what has always excited me about the Beatles’ story is how impossible it was that John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr would ever become The Beatles. For one thing, they came from Liverpool – a northern port city that was more known for its comedians than its musicians. The thought that a band out of Liverpool could make it on the world’s stage was laughable. They wouldn’t even be able to make it to London! Moreover, the four Beatles came from extremely poor backgrounds (you might call Lennon’s upbringing middle class, but barely). They had no formal musical training, although McCartney’s father was a bandleader. Harrison wasn’t even eighteen when The Beatles left for Hamburg to begin their remarkable transformation. Starr spent more time in hospitals than in school.

What they lacked in formal training and parental support, they made up for with their curiosity, their wit, their enthusiasm, and their work ethic. And of course, their fantastic ears. All four of The Beatles individually and collectively soaked up all the music they could find – from jazz standards to American R&B and country & western. Teaching themselves to play instruments so that they could reproduce their favorite songs became a full-time passion. No other band playing the Cavern or the Reeperbahn had as extensive and varied a set list as The Beatles. No other band played as long and as hard, putting in their proverbial 10,000 hours with little sleep, little food, and a lot of amphetamines.

You couldn’t dream up a more unusual supporting cast than the people who helped the Beatles on their journey. There was Mona Best, the Indian-born housewife who used her surprise winnings at the racetrack to create a coffee club where her son and his friends could hang out. Her Casbah Club became one of the first places that the early Beatles could perform. Allan Williams, another club owner who ran a striptease joint on the side, became the Beatles first manager and helped them get their first Hamburg job. Bruno Koschmider, a former circus clown who hired the Beatles to turn his Hamburg strip club into a music club. Brian Epstein, a Jewish homosexual (in predominantly Catholic Liverpool) who had failed at every step (as a student, as an actor, as a data entry clerk) but somehow convinced the Beatles he could manage them and make them “bigger than Elvis.” George Martin, a classically trained producer who didn’t care much for pop music and whose Parlophone record label was on the verge of being shut down when he was introduced to the Beatles.

It is a fairy tale, full of twists and turns, and crazy coincidences. And it’s a tale that I explore in detail in my new film Deconstructing the Birth of the Beatles. From their teenage years in the late fifties until the time they record their first single in 1962, “Love Me Do,” Deconstructing the Birth of the Beatles explores the amazing events and fascinating characters that helped John, Paul, George, and Ringo on the long and winding road to becoming The Beatles.

Revolution 9! The Beatles Musical

April 1, 2018. Just in time for the 50th anniversary of The Beatles’ White Album, Apple Corps has partnered with Hamilton lead producer Jeffrey Seller and the Second Stage Theater to bring a new musical to Broadway this Fall: Revolution 9, The Beatles Musical. Films and plays based on Beatles’ songs are nothing new — from Across the Universe to Cirque du Soleil’s Love. However, Revolution 9! The Beatles Musical takes a different approach. Rather than feature multiple Beatles songs, Revolution 9’s plot is based on a single song, “Revolution 9” from The Beatles’ 1968 self-titled album (commonly referred to as the White Album).

“Revolution 9” seems a strange choice to use as the basis for a musical considering that it has no melody or lyrics. The surrealistic and frequently disorienting sound collage was created by John Lennon and Yoko Ono in the summer of 1968 during the recording of the White Album. Lennon insisted on adding it to the final album despite the pleas of Paul McCartney and George Martin. Beatles scholars alternate between calling it the worst thing The Beatles ever did or the most adventurous.

The idea to base an entire musical on a single song came from book writer Steven Levenson, one of the creators of the hit Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen. “My friends and I were listening to the White Album one night when we heard the start of ‘Revolution 9.’ Normally, I would skip over the song. But this time, something made me listen intensely. For the first time, I really felt there was a story buried in its seemingly random spoken phrases, backwards loops, orchestral swells, and car crashes. (I confess that there might have been some illegal chemicals being consumed at the time.)”

Levenson brought the idea to Seller who quickly began to assemble the creative team, including Hamilton director Thomas Kail who will also direct Revolution 9. Seller also brought the idea to Jeff Jones, the CEO of Apple Corps., the corporation that controls the rights to Beatles-related projects. After consulting with the surviving Beatles, Sir Paul McCartney, and Sir Ringo Starr, along with Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison, Apple Corps. agreed to co-produce the musical with Seller. McCartney even offered to compose additional songs for the musical, but his offer was rejected by Ono.

The production team has remained tight-lipped about the exact plot of Revolution 9! The Beatles Musical. We do know that it is a drama that takes place in the late ’60s based around a transsexual grocer named Desmond and his sometime lover, Molly. Set designer Bunny Christie (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time) has promised that the number nine will feature prominently in the set design. Veteran Broadway choreographer Christopher Gattelli (The Spongebob Musical) has been brought on board to create the choreography (said to prominently feature popular ’60s dances such as the Watusi and the Twist). Despite being based on a Beatles’ song, the musical is not kid-friendly, as it features characters who become naked.

Revolution 9! The Beatles Musical will begin previews at the Eggman Theatre in NYC this Fall, although the opening date has already been changed multiple times. No word yet on plans for a soundtrack album, although we can’t wait to spin it backwards!

Click here for more info.

Searching for the Songwriting Secrets of The Beatles

Like most musicians, the songs of the Beatles were my gateway to learning songwriting. As soon as I could find my way around the piano keyboard, I would spend time picking out the melodies and chords of “Let It Be,” “Yellow Submarine,” “I Saw Her Standing There,” and so many more Beatles songs. I can remember playing Beatles chord sequences over and over again, trying to unlock the secrets of those memorable songs. Often, I would try and write my own songs using some trick I stole from the Fabs.

When I create my Deconstructing the Beatles lectures, I try and make them enjoyable for all viewers, whether they are musicians or not. But I’ve also longed to dive deeper into the songwriting of the Beatles, exploring some of the techniques they used to make their songs so memorable. Now, with Deconstructing the Beatles Chords and Progressions, I get to share some of the wonders of the Beatles’ songwriting.

Take a song like “Day Tripper.” It starts out like a straightforward 12-bar blues based around a great guitar riff. And many other songwriters would have stuck to the 12-bar blues pattern. But, not Lennon and McCartney. They extend the form, throwing in unexpected chords and creating heightened tension. The excitement of the bridge, where the Beatles hold onto a dominant chord for what seems an eternity, is an extension of what the Beatles learned from songs like “Twist and Shout” (the “ahs” that build before each verse) and then reproduced in songs like “Please Please Me” (“come on, come on”).

The Beatles would often blur tonality in their songs, shifting seamlessly between major and minor chords and moving entire sections of a song into a different key. Like Lennon and McCartney, Harrison used these techniques in songs like “Savoy Truffle.” It’s hard to figure out what key that song is in since it starts in E major, ends in G major, passing through E minor along the way. Looking closely at how Harrison creates this puzzle is fascinating.

All songwriters and musicians can learn a tremendous amount from the songwriting mastery of the Beatles. And Deconstructing the Beatles Chords and Progressions is a good way to start.

10 Things You Didn't Know About "I Am The Walrus"

This November marks the 50th anniversary of the release of The Beatles’ “I Am The Walrus.” Written primarily by John Lennon for the TV movie Magical Mystery Tour, “I Am The Walrus” features a cryptic Lennon lyric with a bizarre chorus, an innovative arrangement from producer George Martin that includes sprechgesang (don’t worry, I’ll define it in a moment), studio trickery from engineers Geoff Emerick and Ken Scott, and an excerpt from Shakespeare’s King Lear. All of this adds up to create The Beatles’ psychedelic masterpiece. Here are ten things you may not know about “I Am The Walrus.”

1. The song owes a huge debt to Lennon’s favorite hallucinogenic…
Lennon wrote the bulk of the song during several LSD trips. During one trip, he heard the two-note pattern of a police siren passing by. The sound morphed into the opening notes of “I Am The Walrus.” They are even mimicked in the two-note motif in the verse (“Mis-ter ci-ty p’lice-man…”).

2. … And to Quarry Bank High School
“He has too many of the wrong ambitions and his energy is too often misplaced.” That was a description of John Lennon written by the headmaster of Quarry Bank High School in 1956. Just ten years later, a student at Quarry Bank wrote Lennon to tell him that they were analyzing Beatles lyrics in class. Lennon decided to give the students (along with music critics) something a little more difficult to analyze. So, he turned an old playground nursery rhyme that he sang as a child (“yellow matter custard/green slop pie/all mixed together with a dead dog’s eye”) into the line “yellow matter custard dripping from a dead dog’s eye.”

3. The Mysterious Eggman
The title of the song was based on the poem “The Walrus and The Carpenter” by one of Lennon’s favorite authors, Lewis Carroll. It wasn’t until later that John realized that the walrus was the bad guy in the poem! There is no “egg man” in the poem, although Humpty Dumpty does make an appearance in Through the Looking Glass. Surprisingly, Eric Burdon, lead singer of The Animals, stepped forward to claim that he was the egg man referenced by Lennon. Burdon was known as “Eggs” to his friends, due to his strange fetish of breaking eggs over naked women.

4. The Beatles Were Crying
At the end of each verse, Lennon sings “I’m crying.” The Beatles had been doing a lot of crying around this time since their manager Brian Epstein had recently died. In fact, “I Am The Walrus” was the first song The Beatles recorded after Epstein’s death four days earlier. “I’m crying” could also be an allusion to one of The Beatles’ favorite singers Smokey Robinson who had sung the same phrase in the 1965 song “Oooh, Baby Baby”.

5. A Vocal from the Moon
Lennon, one of rock’s best vocalists, was always frustrated by the sound of his voice. For “I Am The Walrus,” he asked engineer Geoff Emerick to make his voice sound like it was coming from the moon. As always, Emerick turned Lennon’s strange request into the perfect effect. Violating EMI’s strict rules, Emerick had Lennon record his vocals using a low-fidelity talkback microphone (typically used by an engineer in the control room to “talk back” to musicians in the recording studio). This helped create one of rock music’s first distorted lead vocals.

6. The Human Click Track
The recording of “I Am The Walrus” was incredibly complex, ultimately taking 25 takes to complete. On one of the earlier takes, Lennon was playing an electronic keyboard called a Hofner Pianet (some sources say it was a Wurlitzer electric piano) and was making a lot of mistakes. Ringo was having trouble keeping a steady tempo — understandable, considering the song was long with a slow tempo. On top of all this, emotions were high due to Epstein’s recent death. George Martin was getting frustrated and his temper was beginning to show. McCartney jumped into action and saved the day by playing tambourine next to Ringo, acting as a human click track to keep Ringo in sync with Lennon’s keyboard.

7. What the Hell Am I Supposed To Do With This?
When Lennon first performed “I Am The Walrus” for George Martin, he asked Martin for the producer’s opinion. “Well, John, to be honest, I have only one question,” Martin said. “What the hell do you expect me to do with that?!?” Luckily, the always inventive Martin came up with an innovative orchestral arrangement that fit the song perfectly. It features eight violins and four cellos, three French horns, and a contrabass clarinet — a rare member of the clarinet family that was a favorite of Frank Zappa. In fact, Zappa loved “I Am The Walrus,” and played it often in his concerts.

8. Stick It Up Your Jumper
Martin’s arrangement didn’t stop with the orchestral instruments. He clearly felt that Lennon’s song needed something more. So, he hired the Mike Sammes singers, known for their work on Disney films and TV themes. Rather than create a standard vocal arrangement, Martin took advantage of the singers’ excellent score reading skills and created a sprechgesang arrangement. Sprechgesang, which means “spoken singing”, is a vocal technique halfway between singing and speaking. In his score to “I Am The Walrus,” Martin had the Mike Sammes singers make whooping sounds, laugh, snort, and shout phrases like “Oompah, oompah, stick it up your jumper!” Nothing like this had ever been heard on a popular music recording.

9. Thou Hast Slain Me
At the end of the very complicated mixing sessions for “I Am The Walrus”, Lennon had an idea that made Martin roll his eyes — mixing a live radio broadcast into the recording. It took some engineering work from Geoff Emerick (plus some paperwork to get permission from his bosses at EMI) to patch an AM radio into the console. During the mix, Ringo manned the radio while John instructed him when to turn the knobs. Coincidentally, Ringo stumbled on the BBC production of Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of King Lear. The broadcast was at the point of Act IV, Scene VI, where the steward “Oswald” is killed.

10. Walruses in White Satin?
Many artists have claimed that they were part of a Beatles recording even though no proof exists. A few years ago, Ray Thomas of the Moody Blues claimed that he and Mike Pinder sang backing vocals on “I Am The Walrus.” This claim is not backed up by any other source. (Thomas also claimed that it was his idea to put harmonicas on “The Fool on the Hill” and that an adventure with a groupie inspired McCartney to write “She Came In Through the Bathroom Window.”)

Bonus: Who IS the “Walrus?”
When John wrote and recorded “I Am The Walrus,” it was weeks before he donned the costume for the famous sequence in Magical Mystery Tour. Mysteriously, the soundtrack album included a comment below the song listing: “’No, you’re not!’ said Little Nicola.” John confused things even more when he sang, “The walrus was Paul” in the White Albumsong “Glass Onion.”

Some conspiracy theorists claimed that the walrus was a symbol of death in Greek and Eskimo mythology. The fact that this was blatantly false didn’t matter. It was one of the clues (along with the King Lear death scene) that helped to create the “Paul Is Dead” myth.

Eventually, Paul had the last laugh when he wore a walrus mask for the video to George Harrison’s 1988 song “When We Was Fab.” Finally, he was the walrus.

Scott Freiman Takes Us Behind the Scenes of "Deconstructing the Beatles"

Scott Freiman is our go-to Beatles expert here at CultureSonar and for good reason. Not only is he able to articulate the genius behind the Fab Four’s various compositions but his knowledge of music in general and The Beatles in particular is very, very deep. (They hired him at Yale, you know.) On the eve of the release of four Deconstructing The Beatles films exploring their landmark albums Sgt. Pepper’s…, Rubber Soul, Revolver and The White Album, we caught up with the esteemed lecturer with a quick online Q&A. Click here to learn more about the Deconstructing The Beatles films. (Enter PREFAB for your 10% discount.)

Q: You’ve filmed four multi-media presentations exploring four Beatles albums so far. Which record held the most surprises for you when you were researching it? How so?

A: I find surprises with every album I research. I had never realized the pressure The Beatles were under to record Rubber Soul. Thirty days in which they basically wrote, recorded, and mixed an entire album. And what an album! I loved uncovering the individual loops that were “live mixed” to create “Tomorrow Never Knows” on Revolver. Hearing the individual Indian instruments in “Within You, Without You” and juxtaposing them against Martin’s string arrangement made me gain a new appreciation for the song.

Q: I imagine your audience occasionally shares some fun facts. Was there a piece of trivia that a fan once shared at one of your Beatles lectures that really tickled you?

A: Many people tell me about their personal experiences seeing The Beatles in person or discovering their music. One of the best stories I heard was of a young girl visiting England who was invited to come to Abbey Road for a video shoot. It turned out to be the filming of the “Hey Jude” video. After the video, George Harrison offered to drive her home. She said no, but often wonders what it would have led to!

Q: What was it like teaching “The Beatles in the Studio” at Yale? Were most of the students hardcore fans coming in?

A: I had 15 students from all over the world. The students knew the majority of The Beatles’ music, but they had no historical context. To them, “Here Comes the Sun” and “I Saw Her Standing There” were all just Beatles songs. Throughout the class, I tried to show them how The Beatles evolved as a group. I worked them pretty hard, too. Each student wrote three musical analyses where they looked at a single song from multiple perspectives — history, recording, chord structure, song structure, etc. I learned quite a bit from my students!

Q: When did you realize you’d crossed over from being a Beatles fan to being a Beatles fanatic?

A: I’m not sure I would call myself a fanatic! I’m just someone who loves the creative process. When I first became a producer, I re-read some of my more technical Beatles books while listening to outtakes and early takes that I had collected. It was incredibly exciting to see songs and albums evolve. I never expected that my passion would interest so many people, but I’m thrilled it does!

Q: Do you have a favorite Beatles movie?

A: I’ve got two. A Hard Day’s Night is the obvious choice. Not only a great music film, but a remarkable piece of cinema, too. But, I have to also pick Yellow Submarine. I have great memories of watching it with my young children, and it helped to make them all Beatles fans like their Dad.

Q: What’s next for Deconstructing The Beatles?

A: We’ve already filmed three more lectures — one on the Birth of the Beatles, one on the 1963 Beatles, and one on Magical Mystery Tour. We’re hoping to get those to theaters in early 2018. We’re planning to film additional lectures next summer, including Abbey Road. And I’m just beginning work on a graphic novel about The White Album, which I am co-writing with one of my favorite Beatles authors, Kenneth Womack.

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