The Beatles Appreciation Thread

[Doug]

1 Komm, gib mir deine Hand
2 Little Child
3 I Wanna Be Your Man

To be honest I'm not a big fan of any of these songs from this round, though "I Wanna Be Your Man" I'd probably like more if John were the lead singer.

[[email protected]]

 1. Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand
2. This Boy
3. Little Child

[Lin Sunderland]

OK, Matt & Gant,  you asked for it.

Memories of The Beatles at the Cavern Club

Mathew Street Liverpool was a narrow lane between warehouses. At number 10 a normal door opened on to a set of stone steps and that is where the normality stopped.  Once down those steps you were inside The Cavern Club.   I did visit the club more than once and on each occasion the first thing I noticed was the smell, a mixture of tomato soup, smoke, sweat and that musty smell of old buildings.    The tomato soup and a bread roll was the standard thing for lunch Cavern style and it permeated the club.   You could get a drink but I can’t remember if there was a licence or not so I suppose it would have been a soft drink or coffee.      Once you paid your entrance fee and showed your Cavern Club card [(Heavens knows what happened to mine how I wish I still had it) no admittance without one but they gave them out without any problems on the first visit] you walked between the brick archways to the long centre section where girls danced together round their handbags!   Facing you was the stage where the feet of the, then, not so famous stamped, and the multitudes of wires speakers and microphones bounced to the noise.    The sound was deafening, on a par I guess with raves of today.  Around the walls, behind the archways, were bench seats and at one end some small tables.   The place was packed, hot and claustrophobic but the atmosphere was amazing.
“Straight from the Star Club in Hamburg making a welcome return” the MC said or something like that.   The Star Club was where the up and coming stars went to be discovered by German fans,   “ The Beatles”.     Screams and a mad rush to the stage as John, Paul, George and Ringo in their dark blue collarless Beatles suit ran on to the stage.   The hair cut like a mop was copied by so many of the girls and some of the guys too.  One thing you noticed about The Beatles was how clean they were and their hair shone.  They even wore thin ties.   John and Paul did most of the talking and introduced the songs.  She Loves You, Love Me Do, Please Pease Me and Twist and Shout.  When they shook their heads to the Ooooooooooo everyone screamed louder while emulating them.  Ringo was at the back of the stage hidden often by George but allowed to sing one song. I didn’t like his voice much as I was in love with John.   Paul was very popular too and once the bracket was over people crowded around them to get autographs.  (Why didn’t I do that too)  The Beatles were not too big to be amongst their fans and often went to get drinks and walk about the club.  Gerry and The Pacemakers were also on stage but I wasn’t really that keen on them.

I can’t begin to tell you what memories this thread has awoken and how the years dropped away and I was walking down those steps again and smelling The Cavern Club.   How can I express the feelings of seeing those four guys on stage being themselves, talking to each other before they played the next number.  Guitar strings breaking and John forgetting the words once.  Paul playing the piano on a couple of numbers.   They appeared so relaxed and at ease with their music and surroundings and seemed to be having as much fun as we were.  Dancing to the Beatles live music was so much better than dancing around the bedroom at home to a record.     The ceiling in The Cavern Club was quite low so the sound seemed to bounce off the bricks right through your head.  The floor was stone flags which made your feet ache from dancing but who cared?  Walking out of The Cavern Club to the fresh air and the Liverpool sounds was quite a shock to the system as was walking into the sounds of the club.    You could hear the music when you approached Mathew Street along the nearby roads.     There are times I think those bricks must have stored up that wonderful music and if broken open you would hear the faint distant sound of ‘Love Me Do’. 

                   

[Sylvie]

  Oh! Lin !
I like the way you talk about this concert, it's as if I could see them, and I'm certain not to be the only one here thinking that ...
Thank you so much, you're a great "story teller", that must have been fantastic .
You're the only person I "know" who saw The Beatles all together, that's a marvellous thing in one's life !  

[Lin Sunderland]

Thanks Sylvie.

[KC]

Lin, that's a wonderful story, and you told it so beautifully! You really made me feel what it must have been like to be young, living in Liverpool and a Beatles fan in at the beginning!

I can almost smell the Cavern Club now, too! 

EDIT: I turned the page ... anyone who missed it, go back and read Lin's post ...

Memories of The Beatles at the Cavern Club

[Lin Sunderland]

 Did you look like any of these girls?


. 

Probably most like this one.  Like I said I was besotted by John   

[Gant]

Fantastic memories Lin and beautifully told.  I think thats the best description of a Beatles gig at the Cavern Club I've ever read. Thanks for sharing...

[Lin Sunderland]

Concert in Melbourne

The Beatles concert in the Melbourne Festival Hall was brilliant but they were far away on stage surrounded by screaming fans.   It was often hard to hear them.  The atmosphere was electric and once the Fab 4 appeared on stage the place erupted. I can remember feeling a little scared by the out pouring of adulation towards those 4 guys.  After the Cavern Club they seemed somehow remote and unreal.   They too seemed overwhelmed by the fans and that relaxed easy style from the Cavern Club wasn’t there.   I know that I didn’t scream, I never could, I just stared at the bit of the stage I could see through the gaps of girls jumping up and down.  Compared to Liverpool the Australian experience was amazing, however I preferred the intimate atmosphere of the Cavern Club.   You could reach out and touch them in Liverpool but in Melbourne it was on a par to watching 4 little puppets on a stage.  I was a l o n g way from the stage.  I think Liverpool accepted them as their own lads and left them alone to a greater extent.  In Australia the fans went mad, chasing them to their hotel and fighting to get near to them.  I remember girls fainting and being carried out, with great difficulty, between the fans.  Nothing like that happened in Liverpool.  It was an experience I treasure but not so much as the Cavern Club visits.   That was one of the highlights in my life.

Tgy I do remember the day they arrived in Sydney at Mascot airport and waiting in the rain to see them.  If I remember correctly it was early in the morning.    John was supposed to have said “12,000 miles and the weathers just like home” or words to that effect.   They stayed in the Sheraton Hotel in Kings Cross and while they got some sleep I went to Melbourne to stay for a few days and to see the show.   Beatle mania gripped Australia’s girls and I was just as bad.   The fact that they came down under at all was wonderful but as I said before my memories of Liverpool are clearer and closer to my heart.

[Matt]

Fantastic memories Lin and beautifully told.  I think thats the best description of a Beatles gig at the Cavern Club I've ever read. Thanks for sharing...

It belongs in a book. You've made me think that there should be a book published called "Chicken Soup for the Beatles' Fan's Soul", with narratives like yours sharing the experience with the rest of us fans who have never had the pleasure of seeing the band when they were together. No doubt your entry would be the most beautifully written. I've seen pictures of their appearances in the Cavern Club, and I have the record on vinyl. But, one thing I couldn't get from any of that was the feeling of what it was like to have been there. You made it come to life, and yes, I can now imagine what the Cavern Club smelled like too.

Thanks, Lin. That post was a gift.

[Americanbeauty]

Lin, you should get these published 

For a moment I thought I was there with you at the Cavern Club  The smell, the atmosphere, the hysterical screams 

What a wonderful story.
I can't believe you really saw them. WOW 

Thank you so much for sharing this unique experience with us!

[The Schofield Kid]

Fantastic story Lin,sometimes I wish I'd been born 20 years earlier so I could have seen the Beatles play live.
That story about the Cavern Club was brilliant and as others have said should be published.Thanks for sharing those wonderful memories with us all.

I did a bit a searching and came across the official website for Cavern Club.

I was hoping to post a pic of the Beatles playing at The Cavern but they were a bit small.

[Matt]

I was hoping to post a pic of the Beatles playing at The Cavern but they were a bit small.

Good idea, tgy. I did a "Google" search. Here's a few:











And, if you click HERE, you can see a live webcam of Mathew Street.

Here's the Cavern now:

[Matt]

In case anyone still wants to vote this round, you'll find the songs for this round HERE.

[Lucky Punk]

1    Komm, gib mir deine Hand
2    Little Child
3    I Want to hold your Hand

Brilliant game Matt. Now my favourite actor and favourite band on one website cheers mate

Lin thanks for your memories of the cavern.

I grew up in 60s Edinburgh but was just too wee to go see the Beatles. My cousins were old enough but they were daft about the Rolling Stones, did any of your pals or relatives give you the "Stones are cooler" argument?

[KC]

Matt, thanks to you I have had "I want to hold your hand" in my head ALL DAY ... in English and German!

[Matt]

Matt, thanks to you I have had "I want to hold your hand" in my head ALL DAY ... in English and German!

There's a cure for that.....  Play again tonight, and you can get "Sie Liebt Dich" in your head in its place!

Brilliant game Matt. Now my favourite actor and favourite band on one website cheers mate

Great! Another Beatles fan on the board, and participating! Thanks to you, Lucky Punk, we've finally hit 10 players in one round. Come back every night (if you can) to vote in the current round.

did any of your pals or relatives give you the "Stones are cooler" argument?

I think I may have heard that one..... a few hundred times. 

[Matt]

Lucky Punk, have you ever heard the "The Beatles weren't a rock band" argument? 

Boy, if anything gets me steamed up..... (as regular readers of this board well know)

[Matt]

That's the end of Round 8. This round we lose "Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand" and "Little Child".


BEATLES SONG SURVIVOR - ROUND NINE

As promised last night, this round starts out with the "B" side to "Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand", the German version of "She Loves You", "Sie Liebt Dich". Unlike "Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand", instead of just re-recording the vocals, this is a full new recording.

This round also gets us started on songs from the Beatles third album, A Hard Day's Night, released on July 10, 1964. For the first time, all the songs on their album would be original compositions, and they're all by Lennon/McCartney.



Seven of the thirteen songs from this album would be featured in their film of the same name, which was released in the U.K. a few days earlier (July 6, 1964), and in the U.S. on August 11, 1964.

As before, vote off two of the following songs, and list an alternate third choice that will only be used as a tie-breaker if needed. The three surviving songs from this round will be brought back later in the game to compete with the other rounds' survivors.

1.  "Sie Liebt Dich" (Lennon/McCartney); Lead vocal: Lennon, with McCartney and Harrison
2.  "Can't Buy Me Love" (Lennon/McCartney); Lead vocal: McCartney, with Lennon
3.   "You Can't Do That" (Lennon/McCartney); Lead vocal: Lennon
4.   "I Should Have Known Better" (Lennon/McCartney); Lead vocal: Lennon
5.   "And I Love Her" (Lennon/McCartney); Lead vocal: McCartney


(When I end a round and start the next, I'll need to take the songs from the previous round down so that the next round's songs will fit on the website. Therefore the links in each round will still show up, but they won't work once that round has ended.)

NOTE:  You can join in the game anytime. You don't need to have been voting from the beginning to play.

[The Schofield Kid]

1- Sie Liebt Dich
2- And I Love Her
3- You Can't Do That