November 18, 1995. Copyright, 1995, Graphic News. All rights reserved


BEATLES FACTS AND FIGURES
By Nicholas Booth

LONDON, November 18, Graphic News- TheyÕre back, yeah, yeah, yeah. Three decades after they first burst into the national conscience, the Beatles are back with a new record, ÔFree As A BirdÕ, and the first official documentary on their history. Arguably the most popular and influential pop group of all time, here are some amazing facts about Ôfour lads who shook the worldÕ:

* In 1964, when Beatlemania swept the United States, no fewer than 30 of their records entered the Billboard chart, with the top five of the year being ÔTwist And ShoutÕ, ÔCanÕt Buy Me LoveÕ, ÔShe Loves YouÕ, ÔI Want To Hold Your HandÕ and ÔPlease Please MeÕ.

* The best-selling Beatles song was ÔI Want To Hold Your HandÕ, which sold 14 million copies, the worst-selling was ÔThe Ballad Of John And YokoÕ (3.5 million). Not every Beatles song got to number one: in Britain, the double A-Side of ÔStrawberry Fields ForeverÕ and ÔPenny LaneÕ was kept out by Engelbert HumperdinckÕs ÔRelease MeÕ while ÔLet It BeÕ was prevented by  Lee MarvinÕs ÔWandrinÕ StarÕ.

* ÔFree As A BirdÕ is the first time since 1973 that all four Beatles have appeared on the same record Ð then, they appeared on individual tracks on RingoÕs eponymously-named solo album. 

* Other musicians to have worked with the Beatles are Pete Best, their first drummer, and Stu Sutcliffe, JohnÕs art school friend who was their original bassist. Jimmy Nicol stood in for Ringo when he had tonsillitis on an Australian tour in 1964. Eric Clapton played guitar on ÔWhile My Guitar Gently WeepsÕ, while noted keyboard player Billy Preston played in the ÔLet It BeÕ sessions. Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithfull and Graham Nash contributed to the fade-out on ÔA Day In The LifeÕ.

* As for their musical influence, the composer Aaron Copland has said that, to understand the sixties, one has to listen to the music of the Beatles. William Mann, music critic of The Times, preferred obscurity, noting their Ôautocratic but not by any means ungrammatical attitude to tonality.......the quasi-instrumental vocal duetting.....the melismas with altered vowels.Õ

* The most influential Beatles record is probably ÔSergeant PepperÕs Lonely Hearts Club BandÕ. According to George Martin, who produced it, it took 700 hours of work, whereas their first album took just under 10 hours. The album cost £25,000 to make, a small fortune in 1967.


JOHN

About a hundred Lennon-McCartney originals will never be heard. They were written together by the teenage Liverpudlians in an old school jotterbook. Years later, PaulÕs girlfriend, Jane Asher, threw the book out during a spell of spring cleaning.
John used a variety of strange aliases over the years, including Dr Winston OÕBoogie, Mel Torment and the Reverend Fred Ghurkin.

Before his tragic death in December 1980, John gave an extended interview to Newsweek magazine in which he made the following observation about the break-up of the Beatles: ÔI was used to a situation where the newspaper was there for me to read, and after IÕd read it, somebody else could have it......I think thatÕs what kills people like Presley and others of that ilk.....The king is always killed by his courtiers, not by enemies. The king is overfed, overdrugged, overindulged, anything to keep the king tied to his throne. Most people in that position never wake up. They either die mentally or physically or both. And thatÕs what Yoko did for me, apart from liberating me to be a feminist, was to liberate me from that situation. And thatÕs how the Beatles ended.Õ

During his life, John was convinced that the number nine brought good luck. When in 1970, he changed his name to John Ono Lennon, he felt the fact that both his and Yoko OnoÕs name had between them nine letter oÕs, would bring them good luck.

When asked what moment with The Beatles he most regretted , John mentioned the time their manager, Brian Epstein, asked them what should he call his autobiography: he had replied, ÔQueer JewÕ.

PAUL

In 1991, Paul sent George Martin a note and a bottle of claret Ð Ôa superb Ô83 Chateau MargauxÕ Ð with the inscription, ÔBirthday Greetings, Bottle of Wine.Õ The venerable producer smiled as he wasnÕt sixty-four Ð he was a year older!

PaulÕs company owns the rights to ÔThatÕll Be The DayÕ by Buddy Holly, ÔA Chorus LineÕ, ÔGreaseÕ, ÔAnnieÕ and ÔGuys And DollsÕ Ð as well as the theme to televisionÕs ÔCoronation StreetÕ. When asked why he specialised in dead people, Paul replied, ÔYouÕre not screwing anybody and you donÕt get people ringing you at three in the morning asking you what youÕre doing to promote their new record.Õ

In 1969, when Paul and his new bride Linda were living in his remote Scottish farmhouse, rumours spread that Paul was dead and that clues could be discerned from various Beatles records. Perhaps the most ridiculous was the fact that in the photograph of the Sgt. Pepper cover, Paul is wearing a badge marked ÔOPDÕ Ð a wartime phrase for Officially Pronounced Dead. In fact the badge reads ÔOPPÕ standing for Ontario Police Precinct, which was given to him by a fan in Toronto in 1965.

GEORGE

George was named after King George VI and, along with son Dhani, visited a George Formby appreciation society convention in Blackpool last year.

ÔAs far as IÕm concerned, there wonÕt be a Beatles reunion as long as John Lennon remains dead,Õ George said in 1989.

George wrote ÔHere Comes The SunÕ in his friend Eric ClaptonÕs garden. ÔSomethingÕ was written about his then wife, Patti Boyd, with whom Clapton fell in love and about whom he wrote ÔLaylaÕ.

When asked what the Beatles called their haircut, George replied ÔArthurÕ.

RINGO

When Beatlemania hit the U.S., it was Ringo who became the most popular, with some 50 tribute songs released, including one, ÔRingo I Love YouÕ, by Bonnie Jo Mason, better known today as Cher. 

In 1965, Ringo complained that the toilet paper at the Abbey Road studios was too rough. The story made several newspapers, all the stranger for the fact that the roll of paper and its holder were auctioned in 1980, when they sold for the sum of £65.

When asked how he found America, his reply was succinct: ÔTurn left at GreenlandÕ.

Ringo became so disenchanted during the making of ÔThe BeatlesÕ he announced to his then wife, Maureen, that he had quit the group in August 1968. Two weeks later, he returned to Abbey Road to find his drum kit garlanded with flowers.

In 1989, 1991, and this past summer, he toured with his All-Starr band, with The WhoÕs John Entwistle on bass, Billy Preston on keyboards and son Zak as second drummer.

Sources: The Independent, The Making of Sgt. Pepper by George Martin and Shout! by Philip Norman.