Vikki Reilly - The Beatles 101

A POCKET GUIDE

IN 101 MOMENTS, SONGS,
PEOPLE AND PLACES

VIKKI REILLY

This edition first published in 2020 by

POLARIS PUBLISHING LTD
c/o Aberdein Considine
2nd Floor, Elder House
Multrees Walk
Edinburgh, EH1 3DX

Distributed by
Birlinn Limited

www.polarispublishing.com

Text copyright Vikki Reilly, 2020

ISBN: 9781913538149
eBook ISBN: 9781913538064

The right of Vikki Reilly to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form, or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the express written permission of the publisher.

Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and obtain their permission for the use of copyright material. The publisher apologises for any errors or omissions and would be grateful if notified of any corrections that should be incorporated in future reprints or editions of this book.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available on request from the British Library.

Designed and typeset by Polaris Publishing, Edinburgh

Printed in Great Britain by MBM Print SCS Limited, East Kilbride

Photos courtesy of:
Getty Images
Alamy

The things is, were all really the same person.
Were just four parts of the one.
Paul McCartney

For Mum, Dad and Jillian

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

I cant remember the first time I heard The Beatles but I do remember rummaging through my mum and dads small album collection shelved in the cabinet under the defunct record player and in amongst the Billy Connolly, Gilbert OSullivan and ABBAs greatest hits was Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band. The cover disturbed me; the collage of serious faces, the drooping doll and the stern stone bust made more of an impression on me than the flowers and colourful uniforms. I also remember being dragged away, protesting, from watching Yellow Submarine to go to a family party, just as Fred and Ringo had got John, Paul and George on board to save Pepperland. Still, it wasnt until I started investigating The Beatles as a teenager that I realised how familiar their music already was to me. Thanks to my familys habit of playing the radio all day every Sunday, their songs had been with me all along.

In the summer holiday of 1992, when I was thirteen, a friend told me that her big brother had been playing her Beatles songs. I asked her to make me a mixtape, and she came back to me with a C90. I still have it, the tape sleeve covered in doodles of creepy crawlies and VW cars. The tracklist, which she didnt write down, was a bit haphazard; it was made up of Sgt. Pepper songs and a random collection of album tracks and some of the well-known singles. It didnt matter to me; I didnt know any better. All I know is that I was hooked. My Beatles education continued with another mixtape made by a schoolfriend after Id been evangelising about my new discovery. Raiding her parents record collection, she gave me another strange, unlisted compilation I still sometimes refer to Beatles songs by their first line rather than their title from Revolver, Beatles for Sale and the Love Songs compilation. Everything crackled and skipped (it would be another couple of years before I heard the full second verse of I Dont Want to Spoil the Party), but I loved it anyway.

On my way to becoming Ms Ringo Starr in the local church hall, the only place I was allowed to practice. You may recognise our band name on the drum.

I was never in a hurry to buy all the Beatles albums. I was happy to wait for Christmas and birthdays to add to my collection, which means that their music has always meant celebration to me. But like all teenage girls with their favourite bands, my friends, my sister and I fell hard for the Fabs, and we would go round shops and flea markets searching for posters, postcards, badges, stickers and old magazines to cut up (sacrilege!) to adorn our bedroom walls, coats, bags and school jotters. We subscribed to The Beatles Book monthly magazine, and I even started a Ringo Starr fan club, making pen pals across the world. We hunted down pirate videos and CDs of interviews and their Christmas records, we visited Liverpool, bought tickets for Beatles tribute acts, searched for the old Edinburgh home of John Lennons aunt and uncle, read all the books, watched all the films, got excited by the Anthology project (new releases!) and always, always listened to the music. We got guitars, I got a drum kit, and we tried to perfect every harmony in every song. Sometimes we cracked them, sometimes we could only marvel at the way John, Paul and Georges voices blended together. We busked the streets of Edinburgh, and my favourite memory is of singing in Rose Street when a guy and his girlfriend walked past us. Can you do Helter Skelter? he asked sarcastically. Of course we could; we played the opening guitar line and screamed at the tops of our voices. He had the grace to walk back to us and give us a couple of quid.

What do I love most about The Beatles? Their audacity. Now, in 2020, The Beatles are part of our cultural fabric, beloved yet often taken for granted, seen as safe, and, if youre really cynical, just a billion-dollar industry. No. It still blows my mind after all this time as a fan, watching the Anthology documentary for the ninetieth time, to see just how explosive, how daring, how new they were. Four Northern lads so effortlessly themselves honest, cheeky, irrepressible, boundlessly curious, funny, charming, challenging, unpredictable, utterly confident in their abilities in a world that didnt know how much they needed them. Cosy? Never not if youre really paying attention.

So, of course, there is the music, their joyous music. But its their story too that is so unrivalled; its a near perfect narrative. There are humble beginnings, global triumphs, heroes, villains, momentous shifts, drama, adventure, twists, turns and tragedy, and there are plenty of books out there that delve deep into their life and work. You should read them. (Have a look at the bibliography at the back where Ive included some of my favourites.) What I hope to do here with Beatles 101 is to give you a taster of their amazing story, to encourage you to join the legion of Beatlemaniacs. Dip your toe in here and then dive in the waters FAB.

V.R.
Edinburgh, 2020

AND IN THE BEGINNING...

John Winston Lennon

Born: Wednesday, 9 October 1940

James Paul McCartney

Born: Thursday, 18 June 1942

George Harrison

Born: Thursday, 25 February 1943

Richard Starkey (Ringo Starr)

Born: Sunday, 7 July 1940

RINGO STARR was the first Beatle born and the last member to join the group, so he can claim to be both the oldest and youngest of the Fab Four. He was born to Elsie and Richard Starkey in the Dingle, one of Liverpools roughest, most depressed areas, and just as he was born, the air raid sirens blared. At the time, there was no local shelter ready, so the family rushed into the coal hole to hide. According to Elsie, baby Ringo screamed all the way, and it wasnt until she had settled in that she realised she had been carrying her newborn upside down. She calmed him down and he slept through the rest of the air raid.