"Last year you visited more countries than ever" " Yeah, that's correct" "Which was your favourite?" " America, I think" "Why, in particular?" " Because you make a lot of... no!" "No, because it's good - it's like Britain, only with buttons" "There's more people in America." "You get big audiences, it's all wild and happy" "When we were going back for the second tour of America, they said:" ""We'll start in San Francisco with a ticker tape parade"" "That was once when I actually said I'm not going" "I'm not having a ticker tape parade" "It seemed like only a year since they assassinated Kennedy" "I could just imagine, you know, how mad it is in America" "It was just so much fun" "Everyone got into the mania" "We were getting a little crazy with it all" "We called it the eye of the hurricane." "It was calmer right in the middle" "Altogether I think it's 30 days" "Stadiums hold more people, we normally play theatres in England" "Haircuts, for instance?" "It just happened, you know, you wake up one day and there you are" "We wrote them, we recorded them, we play them every day" "Smiling - that's all we rehearse" "On this tour we don't get much time to do anything" "I've just liked this kind of music for about 8 years, or since it came out" "It's just good fun" "I loved it" "I loved all the decoy cars and all these intricate ways of getting us to the gigs" "People would say, doesn't it drive you mad, all these girls screaming?" "I'd say no." "At a big football match you'll see the men going 'ruuhhhrrrhh'" "This is the girls' equivalent" "We did the same thirty minutes" "Twenty-five if we didn't like you, we'd play it fast" "You could never hear anything." "We played the repetition of our singles" "Just doing our hits, then we only played twenty minutes anyway" "We never realised how fast we played when we were live" "The adrenalin would sometimes make you, instead of..." "Very fast, you know" "With all the adrenalin, we'd be talking fast... and on with the next song" "We'd like to carry on with a song which was on our first Capitol album" "We hope you enjoy the song." "It's called A!" "My Loving" "The Hollywood Bowl 23rd August 1964" "The Hollywood Bowl was pretty tatty lt'll probably go out one day, I suppose" "But we were so nervous." "It was like going on at the Palladium" "I wanted to have a live concert" "George Martin Record Producer Capitol provided their engineers and we recorded at the Hollywood Bowl but the techniques we had then in America was three-track half-inch and the separation wasn't too great" "To begin with, you had the voices in the centre and a mixture of drums, bass and guitars on separate side-tracks" "But pervading the whole lot were the screams from the audience" "It was like putting a microphone by a 747 jet" "It was just one continual screaming sound" "It was difficult to get a good recording with the techniques we had there" "And in fact the Hollywood Bowl tapes weren't issued" "But many years later I dug them up and refurbished them" "And we did actually issue a record" "My idols were Elvis..." "pre-army Elvis..." "I still think that was the most exciting thing going" "Little Richard" " I was a big fan - but we'd met him in Hamburg so we didn't have to go to America to meet him." "He was a big idol" "Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino - we met Fats in New Orleans" "He had a very big diamond watch in the shape of a star which was very impressive" "We started to meet people who'd been in the newspapers or on film" "We were actually rubbing shoulders with them" "He was one of them" "He was our idol" "Bob was our hero" "Not an idol but we heard his record, we'd listen to his album" "It really gave us a buzz and we played it over and over" "I heard of Bob through John" "He played the records to me." "It was just great" "I think it was Freewhee!" "In'" "We loved Bob Dylan" "So by the time we met him we'd heard much more about him" "It was a great honour to meet him." "We had a crazy party the night we met" "I thought I'd got the meaning to life that night" "I said to our roadie "Mal, get a pencil and paper." "I've got it"" "Mal couldn't find a pencil and paper anywhere" "Eventually he found it and I wrote down my message for the universe" "I said "Keep that in your pocket"" "The next morning, he asked if I wanted to see that bit of paper" ""Oh yeah" and I'd written..." ""There are seven levels"" "There were two men in the room and Bob's the well-known one" "Al Aronowitz was there - a journalist, who's like a mate" "That was the first time for me that I'd really smoked marijuana" "I laughed and laughed and laughed" "It was fabulous" "I remember travelling with the boys" "I was almost kicked out of an aircraft by reporters wanting to get on" "I got stuck in a lift between floors when too many people crowded in and being escorted by police cars" "It was just a three-ring circus from which there was no let-up" "Peace only came when they were alone in their hotel rooms hearing the screams outside and watching television" "That was about it." "Hell of a life, really" "Yeah, there was all kinds of stuff" "We flew out of Montreal in order to avoid Ringo getting killed" "We were playing Canada and they decided to make an example of an English Jew" "One major fault is I'm not Jewish" "We were playing the gig and I was always on a high riser" "I had a cop, a plain clothes policeman sitting there with me" "Now for the first time I was worried, really worried" "I had the cymbals a bit like this to give me a bit of protection" "Usually they're like this, but I had 'em up" "Then I started getting hysterical, thinking... if someone in the audience has a pop at me what is this guy going to do, catch the bullet?" "It was getting funnier all the time and this guy was just sitting there" "All that kind of stuff was happening all the time." "It was terrifying" "People would set off firecrackers in the hall and you'd think one of the others had got shot" "But on stage I always feel safe, even though they break through" "I just feel as though I'm all right when I'm plugged in" "I don't feel as though they'll get me" "If you look at any books that say where the Beatles were working you'll find we hardly ever had a day off." "We'd have to complain to Brian" "He had all the pressure of people wanting to book us, with high offers" "We'd say "We gotta have a day off, man"" "Neil Aspinall Tour Manager We didn't get any time off - we seemed to get five minutes here and there" "It might have been longer but it felt like five minutes." "But that was OK" "Everywhere, there were hordes of people trying to get hold of them trying to get their autographs, trying to touch them" "Everywhere they went they were brought cripples" "There was a thing that went around - look out, fellows, cripples coming!" "Paraplegics were wheeled in so that they could touch them, like Jesus almost" "Derek Taylor Beatles' Press Officer There was without doubt a lot of opportunism" "There were people pushing wheelchairs who were bonkers" "The people in the wheelchairs were victims of whatever had got them there and also the prisoners of these people" "That situation did become nightmarish" "There were some really bad cases, God help them but there was really some..." "Poor little children would be brought in." "Some actual basket cases" "I mean they were just in baskets, you know and also some really... just sad thalidomide kids" "It's not very nice to be afflicted but John had this thing that manifest as a joke" "He'd always joke about it because the reality was too much for him" "I think it was fear or something" "You can see, actually, in all these home movies every time the camera is on John, he goes into a spastic kind... his interpretation of what a spastic is" "John would always do daft clapping" "We couldn't really see ourselves as the sort of 'yah', 'c'mon', 'get on'" "It was all..." "There was a lot of that, but it kept us sane, I think" "A bit of irreverent humour." "It meant we weren't falling for the game too much" "It's dead easy." "All you've got to do is clap hands" "Clap your hands" "If you don't want to clap your hands, you can stamp your feet on the floor" "When we left the screaming fans, there were screaming policemen and the Lord Mayors and their wives and the hotel manager and his entourage" "The only place we ever got any peace was when we got in the suite and went to the bathroom" "That was about the only place where you could have a bit of peace" "We'll probably never do another tour like it" "It's been something we'll probably remember for the rest of our days" "We just nipped about very quickly and then we were back home" "Today the Beatles returned from America" "London Airport 21st September 1964 where they played 32 shows in 34 days in 24 different cities" "But there's no rest for the boys." "In two weeks, they'll be on the road in the UK" "John had mucked around with feedback for a while." "Yes, it was intentional" "He found it difficult to get the right amount of feedback" "I think it was the first time that feedback was used on a record" "He loved things like that." "He loved weird effects" "It was his idea, it was great" "I remember that John and George had Everly Brothers 'Gibsons'" "We had these big Gibson round sound-hole... electrics" "They looked like ones the Everlys had used" "They were semi-electrics." "They had electric facilities on them" "And John leaned his against the amp" "We were starting to talk about the song and the A string started feeding back" "What?" "Can we... can you do that?" "Oh yes, I can edit it on the front" "He figured how to do it." "We used to do it on stage then" "John figured out that you just hit the A and get it buzzing by the amp" "So it was a start of all that..." " In a way, he invented Jimi Hendrix" "It probably was, actually" "Once you see somebody messing with feedback it's a whole field of research, isn't it?" "But that's how it happened." "It wasn't engineered, it came from an accident and then we made it something we could edit on to the front" "Funny chaps, who are they?" "Maybe I'll find out as the show goes on" "Most of the boys' songs are taken from their latest LP called..." "It's called Beat!" "es for Sa!" "e" "It's got eight of our songs and the rest are... 8 from 14... 9?" "Please, I'm not very good at counting 6, of course... yes 8 and 6" "Who are the other numbers..." " Kansas City for one" "Two Carl Perkins, one Little Richard, one Chuck Berry and one Dr Feelgood" "What's the Chuck Berry number?" " Rock and Ro!" "Music" "We like the old numbers" " Sing one for us, will you?" "All right then, Kansas City" "Shindig TV Show London" "Palais des Sports Paris" "A problem with their concerts was that they couldn't hear themselves" "Today, everyone's used to the technology and great concerts and everyone has a fold-back speaker at their feet to hear what's going on" "Didn't have that in those days" "John, Paul and George would be standing at microphones in front of a screaming crowd of 60000" "Ringo would be at the back on the drums and he said to me:" ""It was very difficult following, I couldn't do anything clever" ""I couldn't do great drum kicks or drum rolls or fills" ""I just had to keep that back beat going to keep everybody together"" "Killer of demons, gorge on this flesh, our offering... drink!" "Hold!" "The ring, she's not wearing the sacrificial ring" "She cannot be sacrificed without the ring" "We'd done the Hard Day's Night film, which was great" "Dick Lester had done this artsy black and white thing we'd all loved" "So the next things was:" "OK, what next?" "Well, maybe a colour film" "In colour, yeah, wow, there you see, they had more money for that one" "So then things went a bit awry" "We started saying:" "We've never been to the Bahamas, could you write that in?" "It was fabulous" "But we went to the Bahamas for the hot scenes and it was freezing" "We had to run round in shirts and thin trousers but it was actually bloody cold!" "I've never been skiing - could you write in a scene with skiing?" "First time I'd been on skis" "I loved that, not that any of us could ski" "Dick Lester just put us on skis and edged us down a mountain" "Boys!" "Are you buzzing?" "I think this was beginning to get into that period when people were giving up the drink, the stimulant of the times and were getting into the herbal jazz cigarettes" "It was changing things a bit." "Things became more imaginitive, more crazy" "By then we were smoking marijuana for breakfast" "Nobody could communicate with us" "It was just glazed eyes, giggling all the time" "We had fun in those days" "I think that was one reason for not learning the script" "We just showed up a bit stoned, smiled and hoped we'd get through it 'ere you are - cop this one hand" "Ugly though, aren't they?" " Hands?" "Some people's are" " You're light in the kitty again" "Show us your hand, Ringo" "You want to chuck one in" " Get on" "How about drumming?" " Won't affect it" "I don't know many..." " It appears I need one card..." "It's difficult when four people all have to say lines one behind the other" "If one person forgets, you've got to start again and then the next person forgets" "The scenes in Buckingham Palace in He!" "p!" "We were doing that scene for days where they put some pipe..." "and some red smoke comes through" "We shove it out of the window and all the guards fall over" "It must be their tea break" "That scene just went on for ever, we were in stitches, hysterics, laughing" "We pushed Dick Lester to the limit of his..." "He was very, very easygoing" "He was a pleasure to work with" "There's one scene in the film where Victor Spinetti and whoever else in the scene are curling" "You know those big stones they do" "And one of them has a bomb in it" "We find out about this and we have to run away" "Paul and I ran about seven miles" "We just ran and ran so we could stop and have a joint and come back" "We were just off..." "You know we'd run to Switzerland" "I enjoyed filming it" "I'm sort of satisfied but not smug about it, you know." "It'll do" "We couldn't do it any better because we're not capable enough actors" "We were searching around for a title" "That was crucial to us, to get the titles good" "We'd had the Hard Day's Night thing which had been Ringo just making a mistake" "He jumbles his words, not meaning to and you get a new phrase that's better than the two he mixed" "We toyed with Tomorrow Never Knows which was another of his" "We ended up using that as a song title" "I remember us all sitting around trying to think of stuff" "I think John went home" "We came up with..." "With Dick Lester, we came up with the idea of He!" "p!" "Then John went home and happened to write it that evening" "Wait a minute, hold on." "That's wrong" "John got the idea, I think, for the title He!" "p!" "From things he said later, I think it was a bit his state of mind" "He was feeling a bit constricted by the whole Beatle thing" "He never said that when he wrote it" "He said later that was how he felt and that's why he wrote it" "But he was kind of plump" "I think that he just didn't feel right" "I think it was because he felt he was a bit..." "He called it his fat Elvis period" "He got a bit podgy, in his own eyes" "That was depressing him a bit" "But I think John's done inverviews and articles about that" "I'd go into these troughs every few years" "It was less noticeable in the Beatles, their image would carry you through" "I was in the middle of a trough in He!" "p!" "But you can't see it" "I'm singing He!" "p!" "For a kick-off" "But you're protected by the image of the power of the Beatles" "Big Night Out TV Show Blackpool" "I used to live in a little flat at the top of a house" "I had a piano by the bed and woke one morning with this tune in my head" "I thought "I don't know this tune, or do I?" An old jazz tune or something?" "My dad knew a lot of old jazz, maybe I remembered it from somewhere" "I went to the piano and found the chords to it" "It was like G, F sharp minor 7, B... made sure I remembered it then said to my friends "What's this?" "It's got to be something"" "I couldn't have written it, I'd just dreamed it." "You don't get that lucky" "When he'd got the lyric together, we decided to record it" "I said it's a lovely song, I can't see what Ringo can do on it" "I can't really see what heavy electric guitars are going to do" "Why don't you sing it to me with a guitar and then decide?" "It was good because all the others, the guys..." "I look at them, like ooops..." "I mean, a solo record" "They said, it doesn't matter." "There's nothing we could add" "And so for Paul McCartney of Liverpool, opportunity knocks!" "Thank you, Ringo." "That was wonderful" "I remember John listening to it" "There's a particular bit where the cello moves into a kind of bluesy note" "John thought that was terrific" "It was applauded but it wasn't really a Beatle record." "I said to Brian:" "It's Paul's song, shall we call it "Paul McCartney"?" "And he said, no!" "I can't remember him making that suggestion but I wouldn't have done that." "We never entertained those ideas" "It was sometimes tempting." "People would flatter you and say... you should get out front, put this solo record out, but we always said no" "We didn't even ever put it out as a single in England" "We were a bit embarrassed." "We were a rock'n'roll band, a little RB combo" "NME Poll Winners' Concert London" "George's songwriting was painful for him as he had no one to collaborate with" "John and Paul were such a collaborative duo" "They would throw advice to George but they didn't really work with him" "Paul and I really carved up the empire between us" "George didn't even sing when we brought him in." "He was a guitarist" "He wasn't in the same league for a long time." "That's not putting him down" "He just hadn't had the practice at writing that we had" "They'd been writing since we were at school" "They'd written all - or most of their bad songs before we got into the recording studio" "I had to come from nowhere and start writing and to have something at least quality enough to put in the record with all their wondrous hits" "He wrote Don't Bother Me, I remember, one of the first ones" "Then he started to improve and eventually... became very good with a classic - Something in the Way She Moves which I think Frank Sinatra still refers to as his favourite Lennon-McCartney song." "Thanks, Frank" "Now something we don't often do" "Give someone a chance to sing who doesn't often sing" "All out of key and nervous, singing Act Natura!" "y..." "Ringo!" "Thank you very much, everybody" "It's lovely to be here" "We'd like to carry on with a song which is our record before..." "This one's called Ticket to Ride" "I liked it because it was..." "slightly a new sound at the time" "I used to like guitars." "I don't want anything else on the album - jangling piano, or whatever" "It's a heavy record, you know" "George Harrison MBE" "John Lennon MBE" "Ringo Starr MBE and Paul McCartney MBE" "We were in Twickenham film studios when Brian showed up" "He took us to the dressing room rather secretively." "What's this about?" "Brian said:" "They want to give you these MBEs" "We're going to accept." "What do you think, boys?" "At first we were very impressed." "We said, what does it mean?" "You become a Member of the British Empire." "We were honoured, genuinely" "The lowest honour that you could possibly get" "The cynicism crept in and we said, what do you get for it?" "He said, £40 a year, and we said, yeah" "He said, you can go into St Paul's whispering gallery for nothing" "How much does it cost, anyway?" "He said, about a shilling" "I can't really remember any sort of Daily Mirror reaction, 'how dare they'" "A lot of the army..." "that was the only other reaction... was soldiers sent theirs back" "This is a protest to the Queen because this Order is being debased by giving this to people who are not deserving of it" "The Beatles are already rewarded with a tremendous amount of money" "If I had the MBE" "I should be put out at being placed on the same level as a pop singer" "I don't think it was a good idea to return them" "I undertand the surprise that the Beatles would be given the award" "It's a little ridiculous on both sides" "One side values the honour too highly and the other too lowly" "This medal raises the qustion:" "Where is the British Empire?" "It's purely honorary." "I don't think it has any value at all" "Someone always takes exception to someone else getting something" "Most people were pleased" "It's a very good thing, they deserved it" "They're great" "I think they deserved it" "I think the MBE is a bit of a joke" "Hundreds of people have got it in the past, why not the Beatles?" "I think they're great" "I'm glad everyone's delighted" "They deserve everything they've got." "They're very clever people" "They're young, vital, and they give this country a kick and a lift" "And, my God, we need it" "How do you like having an MBE?" " Great." "We're honoured" "I thought it was really thrilling" "We're going to meet the Queen and they're going to give us a badge" "We thought, this is cool" "Buckingham Palace London In days gone by, they'd storm the Royal Palace gates demanding bread or the right to vote, or some other civil right" "These days, it's all for the Beatles" "The mop-haired quartet receive their MBEs from the Queen today" "It was good fun." "We ended up at the Palace." "Quite strange" "An equerry to the Queen, a guardsman took us into a side room and showed us what we had to do" ""You approach Her Majesty like this, and never turn your back on her"" "The other part I remember..." "Paul and I went up together and first she said..." "she felt I had started the band" "I said no, I was the last to join" "She said, well, how long have you been together?" "Without a blink, both Paul and I said:" "We've been together now for forty years" "She just had this strange look on her face like she wanted to..." "I don't know, laugh, or 'off with their heads!" "' You know what I mean" "Had you met the Queen before?" " No, first time" "What did she think of you in the flesh?" "Did she tell you?" "No, she's not going to say, but she seemed pleasant, made us relaxed" "We were standing in line, waiting to go through, hundreds of people" "We'd been grilled by the guardsman, saying, this is what you do" "We were so nervous, we went to the toilet" "We smoked a cigarette there - we were all smokers in those days" "But years later, I'm sure John..." "thinking back and remembering:" ""We went in the toilet and smoked" and it turned into a reefer" "Because the worst thing to do before meeting the Queen is smoke a reefer" "But we never" "I was too stoned to remember." "I don't know" "After all we did for Great Britain selling all that corduroy and making it swing they just gave us a bloody old leather medal with wooden string through it" "It was like the whole momentum had been going for years." "It kept rolling" "And now we were playing stadiums" "That was in the days people were still playing the Finsbury Park Astoria" "And to play at Shea Stadium..." "Now, ladies and gentlemen" "Honoured by their country decorated by their Queen and loved here in America..." "Here are the Beatles!" "Subtitles:" "Screentext"