The Creative Road of the Beatles

МУНИЦИПАЛЬНОЕ ОБРАЗОВАТЕЛЬНОЕ УЧРЕЖДЕНИЕ

ВОСТОЧНО – ЕВРОПЕЙСКИЙ ЛИЦЕЙ

The Creative Road of the Beatles

Творческая работа

ученика 11М класса

Урбонавичюса Каролиса

Руководитель Блинова Елена Геннадьевна,

Учитель английского языка

Саратов 2010

Contents

Introduction………………………………………………………………..2

Chapter 1. Early Days……………………………………………………..5

Chapter 2. The Cavern…………………………………………………….7

Chapter 3. On Their Way………………………………………………….8

Chapter 4. Beetlemania and the First Trip to America…………………….9

Chapter 5 Up and Up.…………………………………………………….11

Chapter 6. ‘Here to Stay”. The ‘King’ and the Queen…………………....12

Chapter 7. The Sound of Fortune…………………………………………13

Chapter 8. Burning Records………………………………………………14

Chapter 9 The Great Fours………………………………………………..16

Conclusion………………………………………………………………...20

Bibliography………………………………………………………………21

Introduction

Suddenly, everybody loved the Beatles. When the band played in the concerts, police had to hold back crowds of screaming fans - mainly girls. The same thing happened when the band went to a TV or radio studio. One newspaper thought of a new word to describe the country's love of the boys from Liverpool -'Beatlemania'!                                                                                                                                        

The year was 1963, but Beatlemania was only just beginning. Soon the Beatles had fans all around the world. For the rest of the 1960's, their ideas were astounding. How did the four boys from Liverpool reach this position? What was so special about the Beatles? And why did it all have to end? Their story began from their happy early days in Liverpool and ended sadly for the most famous group in the world. Paul McCartney once said, 'The Beatles were always a great little band - nothing more, nothing less.' Millions of fans around the world disagree with this. To them, the Beatles were a 'great little band' who changed modern music forever. When the Beatles ended in 1970, people around the world couldn't believe it. John, Paul, George and Ringo all followed their own interests successfully. But all the four faced the same question everywhere they went: 'When will you play together again?' The answer always seemed the same – ‘never’ - but fans could hope and dream.

Then, on 8 December 1980, the dream ended. John Lennon and Yoko Ono were returning home to their house in New York. Mark Chapman was waiting in the shadows. He shouted to John and then he shot at the singer’s back and chest. John Lennon died in hospital that night. The news was met with sadness all around the world. The Beatles could never play together again.

As for me I love the Beatles very much because they played great music. Their songs are full of some hidden themes. My favourite album of the Beatles is 'Revolver'. My favorite song is 'Strawberry Fields Forever' or 'A Day in the Life'.

Richard Starkey (Ringo Starr) was born in 1940 and grew up in one of Liverpool's poorest areas. He was often ill, and he first played drums in hospitals. He bought his first drum around 1956 -just one big drum! He played with a few local bands. Then he joined Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. Around this time, Richard took a new name - 'Ringo' - because of all the rings on his hands.

George Harrison, the youngest Beatle, was born in 1943. His father was a bus driver, but before that he had worked on ships. George loved his father's records from the US. At school, he sat in class drawing pictures of guitars. When he did get his guitar, he practiced all the time.

Paul McCartney was born in 1942, the son of a nurse and a cotton salesman. The family loved music. When Paul was old enough, his father bought him a trumpet. But Paul couldn't play the trumpet and sing at the same time. So he changed the trumpet for a guitar. He sometimes talked about music with a younger boy at his school - George Harrison.

John Lennon was born in 1940. After his father had left, his mother sent the four-year-old boy to his Aunt Mimi and her husband's big house in a pleasant part of Liverpool. John loved rock-and-roll. He remembered seeing an Elvis Presley film. When the audience screamed, he thought, 'that's a good job!' John's mother loved music too - and she taught her son well. He started a band, the Quarry Men. The name came from his school, Quarry Bank.

Chapter 1

EARLY DAYS

The four boys from Liverpool were all born during the Second World War. Life in the northern city wasn't always easy after the war. Most people lived in small houses and many were poor. But like many ports, Liverpool was open to new ideas. Sometimes ships brought something that other places in Britain couldn't get- rock –and-roll records from the USA! For the young people of Liverpool in the

1950's, the exciting sound of rock-and-roll was an escape from their daily lives.

One afternoon in July 1957, a friend took Paul to see the Quarry Men at a church garden party. John was singing, but he couldn't remember all the words. This didn't stop him - he sang new words. After the concert, Paul played a song on his guitar for John. Years later, John remembered the meeting. Paul was better than the people in band, but John was a little worried. What was more important - his own strong position in the group, or a stronger group? He chose the group. Lennon and McCartney were together.

One day, Paul showed John one of his own songs. After that, John began to write his own musical ideas, and soon the two young men were writing song after song. Sometimes they worked together, sometimes alone. But each of them pushed himself harder because of the other one. This was true during all the Beatles years. Not long after Paul joined, he told John about his friend George. John wasn't sure - George was only fifteen. But George joined after John heard him play. Soon John, Paul and George were playing concerts in Liverpool, but there was a problem. They didn't have a drummer or a bass guitarist. People were starting to like the band. The Beatles got a job playing with a rock-and-roll singer, Johnny Gentle. For a time, Paul played drums because they couldn't find a drummer. Then, back in Liverpool, they were offered another job. Bands were needed to play in clubs in the city of Hamburg (Germany). The band agreed but first they needed a drummer. They asked Pete Best, the drummer in another local band (and the owner of some nice drums!). Pete agreed and the band traveled to Germany in the summer of 1960.

To the five boys from Liverpool, Hamburg was another world - a world of all-nights bars and street crime. Concerts weren't always easy. On some nights, John had to push people off the stage. To keep audiences happy, bands had to play well for six or seven hours every night. With all this practice, the band was becoming better and better. Another of Liverpool bands in Hamburg was called Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. The band was famous in Liverpool. The band's drummer loved to come and watch the Beatles. Sometimes, when Pete was ill, he even played with the band. His name was Ringo Starr.

Chapter 2

The Cavern

On their second trip to Hamburg, a record producer asked the Beatles to play on a record for the singer Tony Sheridan. The song was 'My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean' and they played as the Beat Brothers. The boys were becoming successful. But the band became more and more popular in their home city. They often played at the club called The Cavern. Hundreds of fans crowed into the small, dark club when the Beatles played there.

The band was famous now in Liverpool, but that wasn’t enough. Everything changed when they met Brian Epstein. He was the manager of a big music shop in the city. When he heard about the Beatles, he went to the Cavern. In his opinion, the band was a little rough. But, he said, ‘I immediately liked what I heard.’ Epstein met the band and offered to become their manager. He promised to make an agreement with a record company.

Brian Epstein gave the band new rules. They couldn’t eat, drink or smoke on stage. The four young men started wearing suits. Epstein worked hard for the band and on the last day of 1962, they drove to London. They played for Decca, a big record company, but it didn’t go well. Two months later, the company said ‘no’ to Brian Epstein and the Beatles. In their opinion, guitar bands weren’t popular then.

During the band’s third trip to Hamburg, they received a message from their manager. Another record company, Parlophone, wanted to hear them in the studio.

Chapter 3

On Their Way

In June 1962, the Beatles were in London again – this time, at the Abbey Road studios. George Martin was one of the producers who was listening to them for the record company. Martin didn’t like their songs much, but he liked the boys.

Before the Beatles, the producer George Martin mainly had produced records of funny songs. But Martin knew a lot about music and about recording. Over the years, he helped the Beatles to grow as musicians. At first, he was really the boss. But after a time, the band told him what they wanted.

A few weeks later, Martin called Brian Epstein. Yes, the band could make a record with him . . . but not with Pete Best on drums. In Paul’s words, they wanted ‘the greatest drummer in Liverpool’ – their friend from Hamburg, Ringo Star. Epstein called Ringo and asked him to join the band. Ringo was a new drummer. Some fans weren’t happy about the change. At The Cavern, some people shouted angrily and held up singer: ‘Pete Is Best!’

The band recorded their first single, ‘Love me Do’, at Abbey Road in September 1962. It was one of Paul’s songs. Fans wrote to radio stations, asking them to play the record. By December 1962, the song had been quite successful at number seventeen. The Beatles were on their way!

Chapter 4

Beatlemania and the First Trip to America

It was time to choose a song for the important second record. George Martin didn’t like any of John and Paul’s songs at the time, so he chose a new song. The group said ‘no’. They wanted to do one of their songs. Today many bands write their own songs, but at that time it was a brave decision for a new band.

Finally, Martin agreed to record one of John’s songs, ‘Please, Please Me’. At first it was a slow song, but the producer asked them to play it faster. After they had recorded it, Martin told them, ‘You have just recorded your first number one.’

The Beatles worked hard to make this true. They drove all over Britain to concerts. In March 1963, ‘Please Please Me’ reached number one. George Martin was right. After that, number one followed number one. Their singles in 1963 were ‘From Me to You’, ‘She Loves You’ and ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’.                                      

The Beatles were selling millions of records in Britain.  The Sunday Times newspaper compared Lennon and McCartney with Beethoven. A lot of young fans dreamt about their favourite Beatle. For them Paul was the sweet and romantic one. George was the quiet one. Ringo was the happy and funny one. John was the intelligent one. He often made jokes, but they weren't always kind.

In the very early days, John was the band's leader and the band became successful, his position wasn't so clear. Both he and Paul wrote songs and sang for the band in front of the cameras, Paul often spoke for the band, but John usually had the last word. To George, John was always the strongest person in the group. Years after John’s death, he said, 'I think he is still the leader now, probably.'

At the beginning of 1964, the Beatles were the most popular band in Britain.

They were famous in Europe, but they were still a little nervous about the United States. Many English stars looked for success across the Atlantic Ocean before the Beatles, but failed.

The Beatles first singles in the US didn't do very well. But the interest grew, and finally 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' reached number one. The band flew there in February 1964. They all knew how important that trip was. Ringo said America was all that they had dreamt about years earlier.

The trip was a big success. When the band played on TV's the Ed Sullivan Show, they were watched by an American TV audience of almost seventy-three million people. It was one of the most important shows in the history of popular music.

The Beatles played in Washington and Miami, and went back home happy. As Ringo said, 'America was ours now'. The band were world stars.

The Beatles returned to the United States later in 1964, as part of a big world tour. This trip was as successful as the previous one. As usual, nobody could hear the music at the concerts because of the screams of the fans. At this time it wasn't a big problem for the band, but it became more and more important later. George's memory of this tour was less happy then Ringo's. President Kennedy had been killed only a year before and George didn't want anyone to shoot one of the Beatles.

Chapter 5

Up And Up.

After the first American tour, the Beatles returned to another world - films. They made ‘A Hard Day's Night’ in the spring of 1964. ‘The title of the film and the song of the same name’ was something that Ringo said. The rest of the band often laughed at the drummer's unusual way of saying things.

The film's writer, Alan Owen, spent a few days with the band. The Beatles were funny, and the film showed this. Owen also understood the band's daily life. For much of the film, they were running away from screaming fans. The band liked making the film but George probably enjoyed it most. He fell in love with one of the actresses, Patti Boyd. They married in 1966.

John even found time to write a book in 1964. John Lennon’s book was full of funny short stories and pictures. It didn't have any serious meaning. In the introduction Paul wrote, 'if it seems funny, then that's enough.' John wrote another book the next year.

In early 1965, the Beatles made their second film. After the success of ‘A Hard Day's Night’, there was more money. But the band just wanted to travel and have a good time. 'We started saying, "We've never been to the Bahamas. Could you write that in?" Paul remembered. George said later, 'We had fun in those days.' But John remembered it differently. That wasn't a happy time for him. ‘You can't see it but I'm singing "Help!"' he said.

Chapter 6

‘Here to Stay’. The ‘King’ and the Queen

George Martin loved the song immediately. But, in his opinion, it needed something different. Paul recorded it without the rest   of   the   band.  He played the guitar alone, while a small group of musicians played strings. The song was one of the band's most famous - it was recorded by many different singers and groups and in many different ways. Paul was sometimes angry when people   called   it   their favourite Beatles song.

In August, the Beatles were back in the United States. Fifty-six thousand fans saw them at a concert in New York. At the time, it was the biggest concert crowd.

Again, not many people at the concert really heard the band. Like at many Beatles concerts, the sound of the crowd was louder then the music. The Beatles couldn't hear much of the music and it was very difficult to play well.

Here Beatles met one of their favourite singers - Elvis Presley ‘'t was one of the great meetings of my life,' Paul said. The boys and the 'King' had a good time. But years later the band discovered that Elvis was worried about the Beatles' success in his country. He asked the American government to send them home. Back in Britain, the government gave all the Beatles the MBE. This award was often given to successful businesspeople or to the people who fought bravely for their country. Many Britons were angry. How could the government give this award to a pop group? But the usual crowd of screaming fans was outside Buckingham Palace when the Queen gave them the award in October 1965.

The next album, ‘Rubber Soul’, came out in December 1965. It was another big step for the band. They were exploring different kinds of music and different subjects. ‘In My Life' was a beautiful song about places and people in the past. Even the album's love songs weren't the simple love songs of the band's early days.

In June 1966, the Beatles were in Hamburg again to begin a new tour. Then they flew to Tokyo and the tour began to go wrong. There were many Beatles fans in Japan. But some people there thought the group was a bad example to young people. The band had to stay in their hotel. They only came out to play in the concert.

Chapter 7

The Sound of Fortune

The 1966 their tour wasn’t a happy one, but in the studio that year the band was going into exciting new areas. George Martin had to find newer and newer sounds to record the band's ideas. The album ‘Revolver’ was his favourite. The album was important for all the Beatles in different ways.

George was growing as a song writer. At first, it was difficult for the guitarist. His very early songs weren't strong, and he was in the band with two of the most famous songwriters in the world. In ‘Revolver's’ 'Love You To', he showed his continuing interest in Indian music. His best song on the album was probably 'Taxman'.

        The band liked Ringo to sing a song on every album. Paul decided to give the drummer a song that wasn't very serious. He thought of 'Yellow Submarine' one night in bed.

        Paul continued to write about new subjects and to explore new kinds of music. 'Eleanor Rigby' was a sad song about the lives of lonely people in a big city. Again, strings were used, and McCartney recorded the song without the other Beatles. 'We were just drinking tea,' said George.

        John was exploring, too. With the songs ‘She Said, She Said’ and ‘Tomorrow Never Knows', he went into strange musical areas. 'Tomorrow Never Knows' was like a promise the wild music at the end of the 1960s. Listen to this song and compare it to any song from the Beatles' first two or three albums. A lot changed in those few years!

Chapter 8

Burning  Records

In 1966 John spoke to a reporter in London. They were talking about the modern church, and he said, ‘We're more popular than Jesus now'. When John's words had been reported in the US a few months later, many people were angry. There were newspaper stories like 'Lennon Says that the Beatles are Bigger than Jesus'. This wasn't what John meant. But some shops refused to sell their records. Some radio stations refused to play them. A few radio stations asked listeners to burn their Beatles records. Years later, Ringo joked. 'It was OK for us. Because then they bought them again!' But at the time, the band and their manager were worried.

 The tour continued, but it wasn't a happy time. Some newspapers in the United States were against the band now. For the first time, there were a few empty seats at some concerts. But it was still impossible to hear the music because of the screams. George said, ‘Touring wasn't 'fun' now’. Their lives were different. Only one Beatle - Paul - wasn't married. It was time to stop traveling.

In the opinion of some newspapers in early 1967 the Beatles didn't have any more ideas. And then came ‘Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band’.

The title of the song was Paul's. He had the idea after a trip to the United States. Bands with very long names were becoming popular there. Paul wanted the Beatles to be a different band for the album. In his mind, the album was to be a concert by this other band. John and George didn't see the album in this way.’

Everything about the album was special - even the cover. It showed the band with a crowd of famous people - writers, singers, actors, thinkers. At first there was a photo of Mahatma Gandhi, but the record company asked the band to take it off. They didn't want to make people in India angry. Today, fans disagree about which is the best Beatles album. But most of them believe that ‘Sergeant Pepper’ was the most important. The world was changing fast in 1967. While the American war in Vietnam continued, young people around the world were exploring new ideas, new sounds. The summer of 1967 became known as 'the summer of love'. ‘Sergeant Pepper’ helped to make that summer.

Epstein's death brought another problem. The Beatles knew nothing about business. 'We were in trouble then,' said John. Ringo described the band as ‘chickens without heads' at that time. At that difficult time, Paul had an idea. He wanted to make a television film. He was trying to help the band, but in John and George's opinion, Paul was trying to lead them. The idea for the film was simple. Forty-three people - with the Beatles - drove around the country in a bus. This time, they didn't have a story to act. They were just to film what happened. There was one problem - nothing really did happen. Magical Mystery Tour was shown on television in Britain just after Christmas, 1967. Almost fifteen million people watched. They loved the songs, like Paul's ‘The Fool on the Hill' and John's 'I Am the Walrus'. But not many people liked the film. The color film was shown in black and white on television. But this wasn't the reason why it wasn't popular. For some people it was boring, for others it was too strange. For the first time, the Beatles really failed.

Chapter 9

The Great Fours

John Ono Lennon, MBE (born John Winston Lennon October 9, 1940 - December 8, 1980), was an iconic English 20th century composer and singer of popular music, best known as the founding member of the Beatles, in which he and Paul McCartney formed the massively successful Lennon-McCartney songwriting partnership throughout the 1960s. Lennon's songwriting was full of pain and hope. His melodies were at times beautiful and at times dark. Lennon's lyrics reflected his personal and career demands, philosophical outlook, his unease with his fame and current events. He and McCartney popularized the use of electronic effects in rock music, paving the way for the harder rock forms of the 1970s and 1980s.Lennon, on television and in films such as ‘A Hard Day's Night’ (1964), and by press conferences and interviews, revealed his rebellious, iconoclastic nature and quick, irreverent wit. Lennon channeled his fame and penchant for controversy into his work as a peace activist, artist and author. He was murdered in New York City on December 8, 1980. In 2002, the BBC polled the British public about the 100 Greatest Britons of all time. Respondents voted Lennon into the eighth place.Sir James Paul McCartney,        MBE (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, instrumentalist and songwriter, who first came to prominence as a member of the Beatles. McCartney is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the most successful musician in popular music history. He has a record of twenty-nine U.S. number 1 singles, twenty of them with the Beatles, the rest with Wings and as a solo artist. McCartney has written or co-written over fifty top ten hits, more than any other songwriter, bassist as well as an accomplished singer, guitarist, pianist, and drummer. With the Beatles, he was one half of the highly successful songwriting team credited as Lennon/McCartney. Their compositions for the Beatles remain among the best known songs in rock and pop music. The most notable of the Beatles' songs generally attributed to McCartney alone include "Can't Buy My Love", "Yesterday", "Hello Goodbye", "Penny Lane", "Hey, Jude", "Let It Be", and "The Long and Winding Road”. After he had left the Beatles on 10 April 1970, McCartney launched a successful solo career (released his first album on 17 April 1970) and formed the band Wings, scoring 30 top ten singles in the United Kingdom and the United States. The keyboardist for Wings was McCartney's first wife, Linda McCartney. At the time of its release in 1977, the Wings single "Mull of Kintyre" became the highest selling record in British chart history (and remained so until 1984). McCartney has also worked in the fields of classical music (with works such as Liverpool Oratorio) and ambient/electronic music (under the pseudonym ‘The Fireman’).

George Harrison, MBE (24 February 1943 - 29 November 2001) was a popular English guitarist, singer, songwriter, record producer, and film producer, best known as a member One of the Beatles.) Harrison was the lead guitarist of the Beatles. During the band's phenomenally successful career, John Lennon and Paul McCartney were its main songwriters. However, Harrison usually wrote and sang one or two songs per album which earned him growing admiration as a considerable talent in his own right, including the popular "If I Needed Someone", "Taxman", "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", "Here Comes the Sun", and "Something".

While still a Beatle, Harrison became attracted to Indian music and Hinduism, sparking unprecedented interest in Eastern beliefs and, music in the Western Hemisphere. Both would subsequently play a prominent role in Harrison's life and music. Around this time he also became a vegetarian, and he remained one until his death. The Beatles' first vegetarian experience came when George led them to India and the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

Harrison also had an uneven but sometimes very successful solo career after the break-up of the Beatles, scoring major hits with "My Sweet Lord" (1970), "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)" (1973), "All Those Years Ago" (1981), and "Got My Mind Set on You" (1987). He also organized the first large-scale benefit concert, the Concert For Bangladesh, which took place on August 1, 1971. Harrison was inducted into the Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist in 2004. Harrison was also a film producer and founded Handmade Films in 1979. The company's films include ‘Monty Python's’, ‘The Life of Brian’ (in which he had a very minor cameo), ‘Time Bandits’, and ‘Mona Lisa’. Harrison also has a cameo role in the Beatles parody film ‘The Rustles’.

Richard Starkey, MBE (born July 7, 1940), known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is a popular English musician, singer, and actor, best known as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr is known for his reliable, innovative drumming and unique fills. He was the oldest member of the band, and the last one to join the now familiar "Fab Four'' line-up.

Starr married Maureen Cox in 1965, and they had three children, Zak, Jason, and Lee. The couple divorced in 1975, and in 1981 Starr married actress Barbara Bach, most famous for her role as Major Anya Amasova (female lead and main 'Bond Girl') in ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’.

Conclusion

The Beatles ruled the music world in the 1960's. They had twenty-two singles in Britain, and eighteen reached number one. Every album of new songs got to number one. In the United States, there were nineteen number one singles. Many people still think that they were the world's greatest band of all times. In one list of best albums, the top five were all by Beatles!

The Beatles ended badly, and some of the band were angry for a long time. On 1971's Imagine, Jon's song 'How Do You Sleep?' was an attack on Paul. But finally, Paul and John became friendlier again. Paul visited John a few times in New York after Sean Lennon's birth. In 1994, years after John's death, both men were given an important music award. On stage, Paul read out a letter to John. In it, he remembered the best times, which they had spent together. He ended, 'This letter comes, with love from your friend Paul.'

But the band’s success wasn't just for their musical past. In 1995, the three living Beatles came together to record two 'new' Beatles songs - 'Free as a Bird' and 'Real Love'. Both songs were written by John. Paul, George and Ringo recorded these songs and had a new success. So I think that the band ended their carrier very well. In future I'm going to continue my work at this great band.

Bibliography

1) Paul Shipton . The Beatles. London Press., 1999.

2) Music Star Magazine . № 14, 2000

3) www beetles com