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America - the promised land for British youth in the '60s.
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I mean, America's the Holy Grail. For music, for us.
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It wasn't...Slovenia.
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From 1964 onwards, a group of British pioneers would get in their covered wagons and go west.
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I wanna hold your hand...
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It was such a thrill to actually go to play in America
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and do a little bit of research,
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blues clubs, things like that, it was just...like heaven.
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The British Invasion would export a new brand of youth to the States.
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The Beatles.
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The Animals.
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The Who.
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Whoosh!
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The Hollies. Ooh!
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And that's just a few.
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Made Bob Dylan and Elvis a bit shaky.
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This is how the Brits rocked America in the '60s.
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I can't hide
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Yeah you got that something
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I think you'll understand
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When I say that something
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I want to hold your hand...
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MUSIC: "Back In The USA" by Chuck Berry
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In the 1950s, we were living in a new world order.
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Oh well oh well I feel so good today...
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The sun had set on the British Empire,
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whilst our American saviours had become the dominant world power.
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Jet propelled back home from overseas to the USA
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New York, Los Angeles Oh how I yearn for you...
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We were poor and they were rich,
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and as we couldn't afford the air fare, American rock'n'roll was one of the key portals
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through which we could explore this exciting new world.
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We heard those Chuck Berry records when we were at school.
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He'd tell these stories, Back In The USA, where he's talking about a hamburger sizzling
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night and day, we really didn't have hamburgers over here at that time.
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Did I miss the skyscrapers? Did I miss the long freeway?
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Uh huh huh, oh yeah
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From the coast of California to the shores of the Delaware Bay...
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The whole lifestyle that he was putting forward,
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and the enthusiasm, the drive of his music...
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It built up this wonderful picture
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of this Mecca, if you like, of music.
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And attitude and freedom.
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And whether it was or wasn't, this is what we all believed.
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Looking hard for a drive-in, searching for a corner cafe...
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It was just absolute magic.
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Where hamburgers sizzle on an open grill night and day...
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However, by 1963, American rock'n'roll actually looked like this.
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Now I love a girl and Ruby is her name
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Hear me talking...
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It was teenagers writing for a teenage market.
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What I say, whoah oh, Ruby, Ruby
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How I want ya
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Like a ghost I'm-a gonna haunt ya
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Ruby, Ruby, Ruby will you be mine?
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There were many of us solo American singers,
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Bobby Rydell, Frankie Avalon, Fabian,
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it was rock'n'roll, but mine was I think more special material.
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- January
- You start the year off fine
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- February
- You're my little Valentine
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- March
- I'm gonna march you down the aisle...
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American pop had ground to a halt.
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The original energy and thrill of rock'n'roll had dissipated
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and had been replaced by an ersatz replica.
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It was a perfectly safe, grown-up soundtrack
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for the Mad Men era.
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The kind of classic rock'n'roll guys,
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Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard and even Elvis to a degree,
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had kind of been swept aside.
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Elvis had gone into the Army and become safe.
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Chuck Berry had been arrested,
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Jerry Lee Lewis had this scandal with his younger cousin.
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They'd been sidelined and music had become a lot safer.
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American pop was self-absorbed.
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Short-lived trends like preppy surf music
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meant all eyes were on the West Coast.
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Nobody so much as thought of looking east, towards the old country.
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There was no sense that these bands or musicians
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were going to be around for a long time and be artists.
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You're just ready for the next thing all the time
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and the next thing was always America.
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Everybody's gone surfin'
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Surfing USA
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Everybody's gone surfin'
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Surfing USA.
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Whether it was going to be the Beach boys,
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having some hits in the early '60s and introducing a new sound.
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The idea that someone would come from England and enrich rock'n'roll
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was just...
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it was literally inconceivable.
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You couldn't formulate that idea. There was no basis for it.
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So on February 7th 1964,
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Britain's hottest rock'n'roll act would set off for America
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with modest expectations.
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How could a band from the crumbling, grey old country,
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hope to have any effect,
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on what to the Beatles, was the capital of their world?
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America, it's where it all came from.
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It's like blues, rock'n'roll, Elvis, the whole thing.
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Before that even, the Fred Astaire thing,
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it's always been coming out of America.
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First memory was getting off the plane
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in New York to a screaming mob that we didn't expect.
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What had happened was we'd heard about it on the plane.
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The pilot had radioed and said, "It's crazy here."
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The journalists heard about that and they said, "It's crazy there."
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That's good.
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We got off the plane, waving. It indeed was crazy.
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The Beatles' ecstatic welcome
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had been preceded by I Want To Hold Your Hand,
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which had topped the US chart a few weeks prior.
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With their cheek and lack of deference
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to the patriarchal American media,
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the Beatles seemed to be from another planet.
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There's a question, would you be quiet, please?
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- Would you please sing something?
- No.
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- Sorry.
- Next question.
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- But you can sing.
- No, we need money first.
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- Are you going to get a haircut?
- No.
- I had one yesterday.
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My brother and I were just in a studio.
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The telephone rings, I pick it up.
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Grenada Television is on the other line
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asking if I'd be interested in making a film of the Beatles.
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They'll be arriving in two hours.
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I turned to my brother and said,
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"Who're the Beatles? Are they any good?"
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How could I dance with another?
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Oooh When I saw her standing there.
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I had a producer on board,
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so we had no difficulty at all in meeting the Beatles
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and being with them day and night for a whole week.
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I fall in love with her
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She wouldn't dance with another...
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We loved it.
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New York, baby.
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We were in the back of a car and we'd have a little tranny radio
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and you'd hear WINS.
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"Here we are, the Beatles are coming..."
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We'd go, "We're on the radio!"
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We're on the radio. Look at the big buildings.
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It's New York and they're talking about us on the radio.
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'Tomorrow night from 7 to 8... '
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We used to phone in the radio stations and they loved it.
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"I've got a Beatle on the line."
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Murray the K was one of the guys who kind of adopted us.
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I want to tell everybody, this is the Beatles station.
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They're telling us what to play.
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I've got more one-week of this
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and I'm going to become the fifth Beatle, baby. All right?
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OK, this is Paul McCartney, on WINS,
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and it's Marvin Gaye, singing, Pride and Joy.
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Yeah, baby, you got it.
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America was still stuck in the '50s,
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but in the UK,
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a Beatle-led youth revolution was in full swing by 1964.
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American kids were a year behind
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and they marvelled at these strange-looking Brits.
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The Beatles were equally shocked by the state of American youth.
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We felt it was a little bit backward.
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It hadn't had the youth revolution that we'd had in the UK
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and in Europe.
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I remember talking to fans and things and asking them questions.
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What about your boyfriend? And stuff.
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He'd be the guy with the flat top, the football playing guy,
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those kind of very old-fashioned values.
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It was like, oh, he's still like that, is he? OK.
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We didn't mind it.
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It just seemed a bit old-fashioned.
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They had a bit of catching up to do.
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Here were American girls going wild for distinctly un-macho Brits,
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an unprecedented threat to American manhood across the land.
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I think what the Beatles brought to America was an awakening
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that was a long time coming.
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We weren't expecting women in 1964
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to be expressing themselves emotionally like that in public,
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to be showing themselves as frenetic and hysterical and sexual.
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You didn't get that.
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Now that you've seen the Beatles, what do you think?
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They're unbelievable.
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I've never seen anything like it in my life.
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We were some exotic beast to them.
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Nobody had ever seen people with their hair all down like that
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and all the gear and the clothes and the mod look, you know?
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They were a little bit in the dark ages about all of that.
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We were very unusual.
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Ladies and gentlemen, the Beatles.
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SCREAMING
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Then we went on the Ed Sullivan Show
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and that really kicked it over the edge.
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Close your eyes and I'll kiss you
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Tomorrow I'll miss you
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Remember I'll always be true
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And then while I'm away
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I'll write home every day
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And I'll send all my loving to you...
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70 million people saw that show.
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It's a lot of attention for 20-year-old kids.
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The Beatles came on the Ed Sullivan Show,
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and it was the most exciting thing in the whole world.
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All New York City went nuts for it.
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All my loving I will send to you...
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It wasn't just New York.
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The Beatles were beamed into living rooms across the nation,
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at a time when the power of television
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had just come into its own.
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It was right after the Kennedy assassination
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and the Beatles were the next media phenomenon.
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Not to diminish what the Kennedy assassination meant here,
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because it was just devastating.
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It also was one of the first big television moments.
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Everybody was watching the funeral
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and that sense that television was the primary means
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by which information was coming to you,
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was really very much solidified right at that moment.
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Right on the heels of that experience
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at this incredible American depression, come the Beatles.
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America's young prince was gone,
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now here were four pretenders at the gates of Camelot.
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The American competition was simply re-cast in a supporting role.
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There's four of them, they're all gifted, talented, gorgeous,
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what can you say?
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They're the Beatles.
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I found it very funny that we'd be booed all the time,
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because people of course would want the Beatles.
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I just loved every minute of it.
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I liked playing Monopoly with George Harrison. Who wouldn't?
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We had a couple of pillow fights on the plane.
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Roll over Beethoven
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And tell Tchaikovsky the news...
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The Beatles gave America back their music
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because I think we had overlooked so many of the great blues artists,
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so many of the great people that we've all learned from
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and I think we had forgotten the basics
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and they gave that back to us.
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Well if you're feeling like it
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Get your lover And reel and rock it
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Roll it over and move on up
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Go for cover And reel and rock it...
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We just loved American music so much that we wanted to play it.
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So we would take something like Twist And Shout by the Isley Brothers
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that we just loved as a record and we had to do it.
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When we went live, that was a great song to do.
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We kind of made it our own.
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Shake it up baby now
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Shake it up baby
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Twist and shout
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Twist and shout
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Come on...
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The Beatles were plugged into that early energy of rock'n'roll.
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I remember Jerry Lee Lewis in an interview saying the Beatles
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swept away all of these guys who had cute names who were making
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rock'n'roll in the US at that time.
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Bobby Benton, Bobby Denton...
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nothing but Bobby's on the radio.
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Thank God for the Beatles.
256
00:16:25,680 --> 00:16:27,360
They showed 'em a trick.
257
00:16:29,440 --> 00:16:33,120
Cut 'em down like wheat before the sickle.
258
00:16:34,880 --> 00:16:37,560
Whilst young America had been slow out of the blocks,
259
00:16:37,560 --> 00:16:40,360
they were now keen to make up lost ground.
260
00:16:40,360 --> 00:16:43,240
In conquering the USA, the Beatles kicked down the door,
261
00:16:43,240 --> 00:16:47,800
and in behind them poured an invasion of British bands.
262
00:16:50,720 --> 00:16:53,480
It looked good, I guess, on film,
263
00:16:53,480 --> 00:16:56,040
but it was a disaster.
264
00:16:59,800 --> 00:17:02,400
ARCHIVE RECORDING: Here they are, The Animals,
265
00:17:02,400 --> 00:17:05,120
Britain's hottest new rock'n'roll export.
266
00:17:05,120 --> 00:17:09,000
Their New York arrival runs into a ban on any tumultuous airport reception.
267
00:17:09,000 --> 00:17:11,800
The Beatles had been there and done it.
268
00:17:11,800 --> 00:17:15,840
The Port Authority were really tired because of the expense.
269
00:17:17,080 --> 00:17:21,080
So when we landed, there was nobody there.
270
00:17:22,840 --> 00:17:26,080
The ride from the airport, over the many bridges
271
00:17:26,080 --> 00:17:28,640
and streets of New York, there was nobody.
272
00:17:28,640 --> 00:17:32,880
There was just each one of us in a Mustang with a girl
273
00:17:32,880 --> 00:17:35,520
dressed up in a silly bunny costume
274
00:17:35,520 --> 00:17:37,600
with fishnet stockings, I remember that.
275
00:17:37,600 --> 00:17:39,640
She's not there
276
00:17:39,640 --> 00:17:41,040
Well let me tell you
277
00:17:41,040 --> 00:17:43,440
'bout the way she looked
278
00:17:43,440 --> 00:17:44,760
The way she...
279
00:17:44,760 --> 00:17:48,600
New York laid on a proper welcome for other British invaders
280
00:17:48,600 --> 00:17:50,360
such as The Zombies.
281
00:17:52,880 --> 00:17:57,880
My parents had packed me a packed lunch to take on the plane...
282
00:17:57,880 --> 00:17:59,880
It was a long time ago.
283
00:17:59,880 --> 00:18:02,640
It was a bigger world in those days, wasn't it?
284
00:18:02,640 --> 00:18:05,160
Nobody told me about her
285
00:18:05,160 --> 00:18:07,440
What could I do...?
286
00:18:07,440 --> 00:18:10,800
When we got off the plane, there were hundreds of people,
287
00:18:10,800 --> 00:18:13,720
I don't know, maybe thousands, and we did that old thing
288
00:18:13,720 --> 00:18:16,200
of looking over our shoulders to see...
289
00:18:16,200 --> 00:18:18,720
Who was on the plane!
290
00:18:18,720 --> 00:18:21,360
And it was us.
291
00:18:21,360 --> 00:18:24,240
Well, it was further away then.
292
00:18:24,240 --> 00:18:27,160
It's hard to imagine now that people go back and forth a lot,
293
00:18:27,160 --> 00:18:30,120
but a trip to America then was still a big deal.
294
00:18:33,840 --> 00:18:35,600
The first time we went to New York,
295
00:18:35,600 --> 00:18:39,280
big, huge, beautiful Cadillac limousines,
296
00:18:39,280 --> 00:18:41,960
screaming girls trying to tear your clothes off.
297
00:18:41,960 --> 00:18:43,000
It was excellent.
298
00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:45,360
I recommend it highly. It was fun.
299
00:18:50,720 --> 00:18:53,840
With so many people, so many fans in the terminal waiting
300
00:18:53,840 --> 00:18:55,960
for Herman's Hermits, with signs,
301
00:18:55,960 --> 00:18:57,760
causing all kinds of commotion,
302
00:18:57,760 --> 00:19:02,000
they couldn't bring the plane into the terminal.
303
00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:04,880
So they parked it on the field and these old businessmen...
304
00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:07,520
Remember, there were no women flying in those days.
305
00:19:07,520 --> 00:19:10,640
So we're on this plane with these older men who were not really
306
00:19:10,640 --> 00:19:15,280
that happy to be messed around, as they took our plane and the police cars came to get us...
307
00:19:15,280 --> 00:19:18,400
"Good. They've been arrested." The police were our escorts.
308
00:19:18,400 --> 00:19:21,480
As far as I can tell I'm her kind of guy...
309
00:19:21,480 --> 00:19:24,880
For a generation that had grown up in bombed-out Britain,
310
00:19:24,880 --> 00:19:29,800
their first experience of New York City would be beyond their wildest dreams.
311
00:19:29,800 --> 00:19:33,120
Something tells me I'm into something good...
312
00:19:33,120 --> 00:19:36,360
It was an unbelievable shock, being taken to a midtown Manhattan hotel
313
00:19:36,360 --> 00:19:39,880
and everybody saying, "Have a nice day."
314
00:19:39,880 --> 00:19:41,600
And, "We love your accent."
315
00:19:41,600 --> 00:19:44,320
Looking down and seeing all these...
316
00:19:44,320 --> 00:19:48,200
They looked like boats to me, the cars.
317
00:19:48,200 --> 00:19:52,680
They were just silly. It was just like Walt Disney come alive.
318
00:19:52,680 --> 00:19:55,840
Start spreading the news
319
00:19:55,840 --> 00:19:59,400
I'm leaving today...
320
00:19:59,400 --> 00:20:02,920
You've only got to go to New York and you're impressed with everything
321
00:20:02,920 --> 00:20:04,920
because it's so big and vast,
322
00:20:04,920 --> 00:20:06,240
skyscrapers.
323
00:20:06,240 --> 00:20:08,840
New York, New York...
324
00:20:08,840 --> 00:20:11,480
I remember the first time we got to New York
325
00:20:11,480 --> 00:20:13,640
and I had seen it on the movies,
326
00:20:13,640 --> 00:20:16,840
the grids in the road, steam coming out of them.
327
00:20:16,840 --> 00:20:21,240
I thought, what is that? We don't have that in England.
328
00:20:21,240 --> 00:20:23,440
The very heart of it
329
00:20:23,440 --> 00:20:26,840
New York, New York
330
00:20:28,520 --> 00:20:31,120
I want to wake up
331
00:20:31,120 --> 00:20:33,320
In a city...
332
00:20:33,320 --> 00:20:36,240
I'd never heard of pizza before I got to America.
333
00:20:36,240 --> 00:20:38,520
I was looking... "What's piz-er?"
334
00:20:40,880 --> 00:20:44,920
(AMERICAN ACCENT) "Hey, man. We eat it all the time here. Pizza, man.
335
00:20:44,920 --> 00:20:47,840
"We're going to get you some." Of course, it was brilliant.
336
00:20:47,840 --> 00:20:49,480
Loved it, pizza.
337
00:20:51,360 --> 00:20:54,960
Long before sex and drugs, there was food...
338
00:20:54,960 --> 00:20:58,200
an eye-opener to a generation raised on rationing.
339
00:21:02,560 --> 00:21:05,080
I was hungry one day and we'd just gotten in
340
00:21:05,080 --> 00:21:07,480
and our stage manager said, "What do you want?"
341
00:21:07,480 --> 00:21:09,600
I said, "Well, we don't have time to go out."
342
00:21:09,600 --> 00:21:11,480
"No, we'll just have it brought in."
343
00:21:11,480 --> 00:21:14,280
"Brought in?! What do you mean?"
344
00:21:14,280 --> 00:21:18,640
"You can order anything you want and just have it delivered right here."
345
00:21:18,640 --> 00:21:20,280
Wow! What a concept.
346
00:21:20,280 --> 00:21:22,720
Great fried potato yeah...
347
00:21:22,720 --> 00:21:27,600
You would sit down, whether it was a diner or a posh restaurant,
348
00:21:27,600 --> 00:21:30,440
you would be handed the menu and a glass of iced water.
349
00:21:30,440 --> 00:21:32,640
Then you'd get a salad first
350
00:21:32,640 --> 00:21:36,280
and you had to eat your salad before your proper food arrived.
351
00:21:49,920 --> 00:21:53,560
- Burger, steak or chicken, that was your meal...
- With fries.
352
00:21:53,560 --> 00:21:57,040
..with fries or baked potato with prime rib.
353
00:21:57,040 --> 00:22:00,320
I particularly like prime rib. They were very good with beef.
354
00:22:03,280 --> 00:22:04,400
Mashed potato
355
00:22:04,400 --> 00:22:06,800
Yeah, yeah, yeah...
356
00:22:06,800 --> 00:22:11,880
- I noticed that a lot of the ladies had larger backsides than our ladies.
- They still have.
357
00:22:14,480 --> 00:22:18,680
Wide-eyed, the Brits poured into New York throughout the mid-'60s,
358
00:22:18,680 --> 00:22:21,160
and those with Bohemian interests
359
00:22:21,160 --> 00:22:24,800
sought out the city's famous artistic side.
360
00:22:26,200 --> 00:22:30,600
When I was in New York, I guess, Ginsberg took me down
361
00:22:30,600 --> 00:22:32,040
to the factory...
362
00:22:32,040 --> 00:22:34,600
Warhol's silver pillow period
363
00:22:34,600 --> 00:22:36,680
and he was making movies.
364
00:22:37,960 --> 00:22:42,880
I went out on one of the "attack New York with Super-8 camera" trips,
365
00:22:42,880 --> 00:22:45,440
where he sent out girls into the city,
366
00:22:45,440 --> 00:22:48,880
and I think one party we arrived at, we met Dali.
367
00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:54,120
Around that time, I would go off down Greenwich Village.
368
00:22:54,120 --> 00:22:57,720
There were lots of jazz clubs down there. I would sit like here,
369
00:22:57,720 --> 00:23:02,000
Miles Davis would be playing there, Charlie Mingus a few yards away. He'd buy a beer
370
00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:05,480
and watch these greats. I saw them all.
371
00:23:05,480 --> 00:23:10,360
There was one particular thing, a very famous bar called the Metropole,
372
00:23:10,360 --> 00:23:13,200
and I remember going in there that first time, 1965,
373
00:23:13,200 --> 00:23:17,560
and one of the great drum idols was playing drums behind the bar
374
00:23:17,560 --> 00:23:19,800
on a long stage.
375
00:23:19,800 --> 00:23:21,640
And it was Gene Krupa.
376
00:23:26,360 --> 00:23:30,760
I thought, wow! You were experiencing the real America.
377
00:23:32,560 --> 00:23:36,880
In 1964 and '65, British music would virtually
378
00:23:36,880 --> 00:23:39,000
own the American charts.
379
00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:42,720
At one point in April '64, the Beatles held all top five positions
380
00:23:42,720 --> 00:23:44,240
on the Billboard Top 100.
381
00:23:44,240 --> 00:23:48,040
Hot on their heels were the Dave Clark Five who were booked
382
00:23:48,040 --> 00:23:51,640
on the Ed Sullivan show an unprecedented 18 times.
383
00:23:51,640 --> 00:23:55,600
From Gerry and the Pacemakers to Freddie and the Dreamers,
384
00:23:55,600 --> 00:24:00,360
it seemed you only had to speak in an English accent to have a hit in the States.
385
00:24:03,680 --> 00:24:07,600
Somebody at some point thought that all people who were English
386
00:24:07,600 --> 00:24:09,680
were multifaceted entertainers.
387
00:24:09,680 --> 00:24:13,680
So we would see these buses stopping in a transport cafe
388
00:24:13,680 --> 00:24:16,960
and there'd be people on the other bus that would be like,
389
00:24:16,960 --> 00:24:21,800
James Brown and the Famous Flames, The Zombies and direct from England, The Hullabaloos.
390
00:24:21,800 --> 00:24:26,280
They weren't known in England. I'd go, "Who's The Hullabaloos?" "We're The Hullabaloos."
391
00:24:26,280 --> 00:24:29,880
"Where are you from?" "Hull." "You've never had a hit in England."
392
00:24:29,880 --> 00:24:32,280
"Yeah, I know, but we were over here..."
393
00:24:32,280 --> 00:24:34,320
So anything that was English would go.
394
00:24:34,320 --> 00:24:37,520
Birds sing out of tune
395
00:24:37,520 --> 00:24:40,760
And rain clouds hide the moon
396
00:24:40,760 --> 00:24:42,320
I'm OK
397
00:24:42,320 --> 00:24:44,400
Here I'll stay
398
00:24:44,400 --> 00:24:46,920
With my loneliness
399
00:24:48,200 --> 00:24:50,120
I don't care what they say
400
00:24:50,120 --> 00:24:53,320
I won't stay in a world without love...
401
00:24:53,320 --> 00:24:56,520
It was the foppish appearance and carefree attitude
402
00:24:56,520 --> 00:24:59,360
of these young Brits that fascinated America...
403
00:24:59,360 --> 00:25:02,280
I will see my true love smile...
404
00:25:02,280 --> 00:25:04,080
..such as Peter and Gordon,
405
00:25:04,080 --> 00:25:07,280
the second British invasion act to top the charts.
406
00:25:07,280 --> 00:25:10,960
When she does I lose So baby until then
407
00:25:10,960 --> 00:25:13,680
Lock me away
408
00:25:13,680 --> 00:25:16,520
And don't allow the day
409
00:25:16,520 --> 00:25:18,320
Here inside
410
00:25:18,320 --> 00:25:20,200
Where I hide
411
00:25:20,200 --> 00:25:21,720
With my loneliness...
412
00:25:21,720 --> 00:25:25,880
It was a funny era because Beatle, or Beed-le as it was in America,
413
00:25:25,880 --> 00:25:30,240
almost became a collective, a sort of generic term.
414
00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:33,320
If you had long hair... I remember getting into a lift
415
00:25:33,320 --> 00:25:35,600
and some kid going, "Are you a Beatle?"
416
00:25:35,600 --> 00:25:38,960
It didn't actually mean he thought I was a member of the Beatles,
417
00:25:38,960 --> 00:25:41,840
the band, it was sort of, "Are you part of that?"
418
00:25:41,840 --> 00:25:44,960
The answer was yes, because they all had crew-cuts.
419
00:25:47,520 --> 00:25:51,680
The youthful revolution that had swept through Britain,
420
00:25:51,680 --> 00:25:55,160
transforming attitudes to sex, authority and ambition,
421
00:25:55,160 --> 00:25:57,480
had simply not happened in the USA.
422
00:25:57,480 --> 00:26:01,080
So it was up to us to make America groovy.
423
00:26:03,200 --> 00:26:09,640
It was, did you know the Queen? Or, hey, you guys look weird.
424
00:26:09,640 --> 00:26:11,840
Yes. You're weird.
425
00:26:11,840 --> 00:26:14,280
They'd all have Ivy League suits on.
426
00:26:14,280 --> 00:26:17,800
That was the first time. The second time you go, they'd loosen up a bit.
427
00:26:17,800 --> 00:26:22,080
The third time, when flower power arrived, they all looked like Jesus Christ.
428
00:26:22,080 --> 00:26:26,280
When rain has hung the leaves with tears
429
00:26:26,280 --> 00:26:28,440
I want you near
430
00:26:28,440 --> 00:26:31,080
To kill my fears...
431
00:26:31,080 --> 00:26:36,280
So this is a new country, only 300 years old, or 400 years old,
432
00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:40,160
and so it was full of wonder for Europe
433
00:26:40,160 --> 00:26:42,680
and I suppose I stepped onto the pavement
434
00:26:42,680 --> 00:26:46,080
as if I'd stepped off a spaceship from another planet.
435
00:26:46,080 --> 00:26:49,120
I may as well try
436
00:26:49,120 --> 00:26:52,560
And catch the wind...
437
00:26:58,200 --> 00:27:02,480
America loved me and others like my pals, as well.
438
00:27:02,480 --> 00:27:04,560
I may as well
439
00:27:04,560 --> 00:27:07,920
Try and catch the wind.
440
00:27:12,080 --> 00:27:14,680
Not everybody loved the new guys in town,
441
00:27:14,680 --> 00:27:18,120
especially the American establishment.
442
00:27:21,160 --> 00:27:25,480
I remember at airports, with our slightly long hair
443
00:27:25,480 --> 00:27:29,240
there would be American businessmen with Samsonite cases
444
00:27:29,240 --> 00:27:31,160
turning round and literally...
445
00:27:31,160 --> 00:27:35,000
Very rude and people spat at us and things occasionally.
446
00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:37,240
They didn't let us into Disneyland,
447
00:27:37,240 --> 00:27:40,400
that was the same year as Khrushchev wasn't let into Disneyland,
448
00:27:40,400 --> 00:27:43,280
because we had slightly long hair and didn't look like them.
449
00:27:49,960 --> 00:27:55,000
Relative latecomers to the British invasion were the Rolling Stones.
450
00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:59,600
Their career in America didn't really take off until 1965.
451
00:27:59,600 --> 00:28:02,680
But as had happened in Britain, their mere presence in the USA
452
00:28:02,680 --> 00:28:04,680
was enough to infuriate the old guard.
453
00:28:07,760 --> 00:28:10,840
The Beatles were kind of wimpy compared to the Rolling Stones.
454
00:28:10,840 --> 00:28:15,480
The Rolling Stones, when they came to America, they were known as the ugliest band from England.
455
00:28:15,480 --> 00:28:19,200
What do you say to a thing like that? Yes, I suppose.
456
00:28:19,200 --> 00:28:22,120
That was scary. It was cool.
457
00:28:23,120 --> 00:28:27,600
Time is on my side
458
00:28:27,600 --> 00:28:30,160
Yes it is...
459
00:28:30,160 --> 00:28:33,760
I remember the first time the Rolling Stones were on The Ed Sullivan Show,
460
00:28:33,760 --> 00:28:37,080
Mick Jagger came out wearing a sweatshirt
461
00:28:37,080 --> 00:28:41,360
and, I mean, every single one of my teachers the next day
462
00:28:41,360 --> 00:28:44,800
was lecturing about how awful the Rolling Stones were.
463
00:28:44,800 --> 00:28:46,920
You come running back
464
00:28:46,920 --> 00:28:50,160
To me...
465
00:28:51,280 --> 00:28:55,000
If the invaders found the metropolitan youth of New York
466
00:28:55,000 --> 00:28:57,720
a little backwards, they were in for a real shock
467
00:28:57,720 --> 00:29:00,520
when they took their music into the American interior.
468
00:29:00,520 --> 00:29:04,680
There they would find the land of their childhood screen idols.
469
00:29:05,960 --> 00:29:10,840
Way out west, a lot of the people still dressed in cowboy outfits.
470
00:29:10,840 --> 00:29:13,880
You know, Oklahoma, Wyoming,
471
00:29:13,880 --> 00:29:17,000
the men would walk round in Stetsons and cowboy shirts
472
00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:18,960
and cowboy boots...
473
00:29:18,960 --> 00:29:20,840
Cowboy influence was still there.
474
00:29:20,840 --> 00:29:26,240
It was literally, "Wow, this place is fantastic. I want to stay here."
475
00:29:26,240 --> 00:29:28,320
It's absolutely brilliant.
476
00:29:28,320 --> 00:29:30,080
I saw her today
477
00:29:30,080 --> 00:29:31,840
I saw her face
478
00:29:31,840 --> 00:29:33,840
It was a face I loved
479
00:29:33,840 --> 00:29:35,240
And I knew
480
00:29:35,240 --> 00:29:37,480
I had to run away
481
00:29:37,480 --> 00:29:39,400
And get down on my knees...
482
00:29:39,400 --> 00:29:41,280
I realised my dream.
483
00:29:41,280 --> 00:29:45,880
I could go into a shop and buy a Colt 45.
484
00:29:46,920 --> 00:29:50,040
Needles and pins...
485
00:29:50,040 --> 00:29:52,760
You could do that in the '60s. Unbelievable.
486
00:29:54,480 --> 00:29:57,520
The tears I've got to hide...
487
00:30:02,160 --> 00:30:03,200
We went to Denver
488
00:30:03,200 --> 00:30:07,320
and we did a gig in Denver. We rented a couple of station wagons
489
00:30:07,320 --> 00:30:13,520
and we drove down, under a full moon, across the desert to New Mexico.
490
00:30:16,880 --> 00:30:20,920
And the window was down in the back and it was a full moon,
491
00:30:20,920 --> 00:30:23,560
and the desert was so light, you know,
492
00:30:23,560 --> 00:30:28,000
it was day for night. It was like, "I'm in a movie.
493
00:30:28,000 --> 00:30:31,520
"This is where I belong. I've always wanted to be in the movies.
494
00:30:31,520 --> 00:30:35,560
"Well, just stay in the back of this car for the whole ride
495
00:30:35,560 --> 00:30:37,920
"until it stops."
496
00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:41,840
We were in Oklahoma doing a concert and the promoter said,
497
00:30:41,840 --> 00:30:43,400
"What would you guys like to do?
498
00:30:43,400 --> 00:30:44,880
"You've got a day off."
499
00:30:44,880 --> 00:30:48,120
And straightaway I said, "Could we go horseriding?"
500
00:30:48,120 --> 00:30:51,240
You know, like my dream to be a cowboy on a horse.
501
00:30:51,240 --> 00:30:53,920
And I can remember getting up on the horse and thinking,
502
00:30:53,920 --> 00:30:56,840
"Wow! This is high."
503
00:31:00,520 --> 00:31:03,160
Like the pioneers in their covered wagons,
504
00:31:03,160 --> 00:31:08,040
the Brits took their music deep into uncharted territory.
505
00:31:08,040 --> 00:31:09,960
In the South they would discover
506
00:31:09,960 --> 00:31:13,120
an America that they never knew existed.
507
00:31:14,680 --> 00:31:19,240
We didn't realise that black Americans had their own separate life,
508
00:31:19,240 --> 00:31:21,880
and that white Americans had their separate life.
509
00:31:21,880 --> 00:31:23,760
They had separate radio stations,
510
00:31:23,760 --> 00:31:27,440
they had separate restaurants, they had different parts of the bus.
511
00:31:27,440 --> 00:31:28,920
They had different toilets.
512
00:31:28,920 --> 00:31:32,640
You know, we were not used to that segregation.
513
00:31:32,640 --> 00:31:35,400
I remember one particular night on the Dick Clark tour
514
00:31:35,400 --> 00:31:39,480
walking into a restaurant, and Colin and I, both in a friendly way,
515
00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:43,600
had our arm around two of The Velvelettes as we walked in.
516
00:31:43,600 --> 00:31:47,400
And there was absolute stunned silence in this restaurant.
517
00:31:47,400 --> 00:31:51,640
And the tour manager rushed up to us and said, "We have to get out now."
518
00:31:51,640 --> 00:31:55,680
He said, "You're going to get us killed, you're going to get us shot.
519
00:32:00,200 --> 00:32:03,280
Many of the British invaders toured the South
520
00:32:03,280 --> 00:32:05,960
with popular black American acts.
521
00:32:05,960 --> 00:32:08,720
Herman's Hermits were paired with Round Robin
522
00:32:08,720 --> 00:32:11,360
and Little Anthony and the Imperials.
523
00:32:12,680 --> 00:32:16,800
But we get to the South, Macon, Georgia,
524
00:32:16,800 --> 00:32:18,600
and, you know, we're pretty naive
525
00:32:18,600 --> 00:32:21,280
but we understand that there's a whole different vibe.
526
00:32:21,280 --> 00:32:25,000
Shimmy shimmy, coco pop, shimmy shimmy bop
527
00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:26,800
Shimmy shimmy, coco pop...
528
00:32:26,800 --> 00:32:29,920
And we find that, some nights, we can't hang out with Round Robin
529
00:32:29,920 --> 00:32:32,120
because they won't let us in that hotel.
530
00:32:32,120 --> 00:32:34,680
You can't go with Little Anthony and the Imperials,
531
00:32:34,680 --> 00:32:37,040
our friends now, our best friends.
532
00:32:37,040 --> 00:32:40,720
Wherever they go, we go, cos they know what's going on, right?
533
00:32:40,720 --> 00:32:44,960
So we go on. We don't even look at the audience until we walk on stage.
534
00:32:44,960 --> 00:32:49,840
And we walk out and it is 12,000, 100% black audience,
535
00:32:49,840 --> 00:32:51,560
with their arms folded.
536
00:32:52,880 --> 00:32:55,120
Like... "Who are they?"
537
00:32:57,480 --> 00:32:59,600
For some reason, we got to them.
538
00:33:01,560 --> 00:33:04,400
I think it was Mrs Brown You've Got A Lovely Daughter.
539
00:33:04,400 --> 00:33:05,720
"Well, that's cute."
540
00:33:08,360 --> 00:33:12,680
They never applauded or anything, but we got through the evening.
541
00:33:12,680 --> 00:33:15,640
But it's sad
542
00:33:15,640 --> 00:33:19,440
She doesn't love me now...
543
00:33:21,680 --> 00:33:26,480
The point is this. Even in 1965,
544
00:33:26,480 --> 00:33:29,440
there was still segregation.
545
00:33:29,440 --> 00:33:32,960
And I think it was illegal by that time, but we were still segregated.
546
00:33:32,960 --> 00:33:38,240
And I remember, the bus would stop, you would go into these little convenience stores,
547
00:33:38,240 --> 00:33:42,480
on sale there were Ku Klux Klan records. There was one called...
548
00:33:42,480 --> 00:33:44,720
Stand up and be counted
549
00:33:44,720 --> 00:33:47,920
And act just like a man Stand up and be counted
550
00:33:47,920 --> 00:33:50,360
And join the Ku Klux Klan.
551
00:33:50,360 --> 00:33:53,400
We are a sacred brotherhood who love our country true
552
00:33:53,400 --> 00:33:58,280
We always can be counted on when there's a job to do.
553
00:33:58,280 --> 00:34:00,960
There were all these records openly on sale,
554
00:34:00,960 --> 00:34:04,920
many of them were recorded by country music's top stars
555
00:34:04,920 --> 00:34:09,160
and of course, the Confederate flag was everywhere.
556
00:34:17,480 --> 00:34:23,200
These Brits experienced first-hand what America was like in the mid-'60s,
557
00:34:23,200 --> 00:34:26,920
unlike most Americans, who harboured some quaint ideas
558
00:34:26,920 --> 00:34:29,400
about life in Britain.
559
00:34:29,400 --> 00:34:32,760
You really have to think about that time.
560
00:34:32,760 --> 00:34:35,160
Only rich people travelled, for the most part.
561
00:34:35,160 --> 00:34:39,760
America, as we well know, is a pretty isolated place,
562
00:34:39,760 --> 00:34:44,480
it's not as if there's a tremendous sense of what the rest of the world is like here very often.
563
00:34:44,480 --> 00:34:47,880
'If you want to talk about England, this is England.
564
00:34:47,880 --> 00:34:50,320
'It's almost the same size as Wyoming.'
565
00:34:50,320 --> 00:34:54,760
I remember as a kid thinking, "God, what am I doing in New York,
566
00:34:54,760 --> 00:34:57,520
"in Greenwich Village where I grew up?
567
00:34:57,520 --> 00:34:59,280
"If only I was in Liverpool!"
568
00:34:59,280 --> 00:35:03,080
Li-i-i-fe
569
00:35:03,080 --> 00:35:06,840
Goes on day after day
570
00:35:08,880 --> 00:35:15,480
Hearts torn in every way...
571
00:35:15,480 --> 00:35:19,560
They thought we were all from Liverpool. We'd go there and they'd go,
572
00:35:19,560 --> 00:35:24,400
"What's Liverpool like?" I'd say, "Actually, I've never been there. By reputation, it's horrible.
573
00:35:24,400 --> 00:35:29,120
"It's a horrible ugly port town and everyone I know, including the Beatles,
574
00:35:29,120 --> 00:35:32,640
"got the hell out of there, soon as they could afford the train ticket."
575
00:35:32,640 --> 00:35:37,160
Meanwhile of course, to Americans, Liverpool would become this magical zone
576
00:35:37,160 --> 00:35:40,520
where all these English bands were from. Of course, we weren't.
577
00:35:45,320 --> 00:35:50,040
In American minds, the image of Britain as one groovy little ol' place,
578
00:35:50,040 --> 00:35:55,000
conflated with more misty-eyed notions of the old country.
579
00:35:55,000 --> 00:36:00,400
On the one hand, they had this feeling that it was swinging London,
580
00:36:00,400 --> 00:36:05,440
and it was the centre of everything in pop culture, which it was, it absolutely was.
581
00:36:05,440 --> 00:36:08,680
At the same time, they couldn't divorce that in their minds
582
00:36:08,680 --> 00:36:12,280
from this quaint image of how England ought to be,
583
00:36:12,280 --> 00:36:15,480
and I think it's summed up in that record.
584
00:36:15,480 --> 00:36:18,360
England swings like a pendulum do
585
00:36:18,360 --> 00:36:21,400
Bobbies on bicycles two by two
586
00:36:21,400 --> 00:36:23,920
Westminster Abbey The tower of Big Ben
587
00:36:23,920 --> 00:36:27,360
The rosy red cheeks of the little children.
588
00:36:27,360 --> 00:36:32,360
What's that got to do with swinging London? It was a very bizarre mix
589
00:36:32,360 --> 00:36:35,160
of... The one thing we found, immediately,
590
00:36:35,160 --> 00:36:40,440
you only had to speak in an English accent and people would swoon, wouldn't they?
591
00:36:40,440 --> 00:36:42,800
Unfortunately, that doesn't happen any more!
592
00:36:42,800 --> 00:36:45,840
England swings like a pendulum do
593
00:36:45,840 --> 00:36:48,080
Bobbies on bicycles two by two
594
00:36:48,080 --> 00:36:50,440
Westminster Abbey The tower of Big Ben
595
00:36:50,440 --> 00:36:53,480
And the rosy red cheeks of the little children.
596
00:36:53,480 --> 00:36:56,840
And you go, "It's like a commercial for Britain!
597
00:36:56,840 --> 00:37:00,720
You huff and puff and you finally save enough money
598
00:37:00,720 --> 00:37:04,000
To take your family on a trip across the sea
599
00:37:04,000 --> 00:37:06,640
Take a tip before you take a trip
600
00:37:06,640 --> 00:37:09,800
Let me tell you where to go Go to England, oh
601
00:37:09,800 --> 00:37:12,480
England swings like a pendulum do
602
00:37:12,480 --> 00:37:14,760
Bobbies on bicycles...
603
00:37:14,760 --> 00:37:19,000
But it was so sweet, so romantic. Americans are a very...
604
00:37:19,000 --> 00:37:24,240
I don't want to sound condescending, a sweet, romantic race.
605
00:37:24,240 --> 00:37:28,440
If you listen to it, it is a slightly quaint lyric.
606
00:37:28,440 --> 00:37:32,360
- Very creaky record, actually.
- Sorry, Roger!
607
00:37:32,360 --> 00:37:34,200
CHEERING
608
00:37:34,200 --> 00:37:39,000
And it wasn't just Nashville crooners like Roger Miller who were cashing in.
609
00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:43,240
Even the British invaders were happy to invoke ye olde England.
610
00:37:45,320 --> 00:37:50,400
Even to this day, Americans think of the English as a bulldog- bites-man-in-the-bum,
611
00:37:50,400 --> 00:37:54,520
and we all live in Tudor houses with bowler hats.
612
00:37:54,520 --> 00:37:59,520
I mean, there was one or two excruciating moments, that we did actually pander to that.
613
00:38:02,120 --> 00:38:05,640
We made it in a field somewhere outside of Windsor.
614
00:38:05,640 --> 00:38:07,320
For your love
615
00:38:10,560 --> 00:38:12,480
For your love...
616
00:38:12,480 --> 00:38:15,560
It was kind of fun, you know. it was fairly harmless.
617
00:38:15,560 --> 00:38:17,360
For your love
618
00:38:17,360 --> 00:38:20,160
I'd give the stars and the sun 'fore I live
619
00:38:20,160 --> 00:38:21,520
For your love
620
00:38:21,520 --> 00:38:24,800
To thrill you with delight I'll give you diamonds bright
621
00:38:24,800 --> 00:38:28,080
There'll be things that will excite...
622
00:38:28,080 --> 00:38:33,640
The Yardbirds also gave a guitarist who would one day conquer the US an American baptism.
623
00:38:35,520 --> 00:38:40,040
At that time I was playing bass for the Yardbirds. It was such a thrill,
624
00:38:40,040 --> 00:38:43,200
to actually go to play in America
625
00:38:43,200 --> 00:38:46,000
and do a little bit of research,
626
00:38:46,000 --> 00:38:49,560
go to blues clubs, things like that. It was just like heaven.
627
00:38:51,920 --> 00:38:54,200
As Anglophilia swept the USA,
628
00:38:54,200 --> 00:38:59,600
it was almost inevitable that imitation became the sincerest form of flattery.
629
00:38:59,600 --> 00:39:02,360
There were American bands who tried to sound like
630
00:39:02,360 --> 00:39:04,480
and look like the British bands.
631
00:39:04,480 --> 00:39:07,720
Some... There's a fabulous record by The Knickerbockers called Lies,
632
00:39:07,720 --> 00:39:09,800
you'd think was almost a Beatles record.
633
00:39:09,800 --> 00:39:13,080
Yeah, baby, one of the greatest. With Lies,
634
00:39:13,080 --> 00:39:17,480
welcome Buddy, John, Bo and Jimmy - The Knickerbockers.
635
00:39:17,480 --> 00:39:18,920
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
636
00:39:18,920 --> 00:39:23,040
Lies lies Telling me that you'll be true
637
00:39:23,040 --> 00:39:26,880
Lies, lies
638
00:39:26,880 --> 00:39:30,240
That's all I ever get from you
639
00:39:30,240 --> 00:39:33,280
Tears, tears
640
00:39:33,280 --> 00:39:36,160
I shed a million tears for you...
641
00:39:36,160 --> 00:39:38,400
Sir Douglas Quintet...they used to dress
642
00:39:38,400 --> 00:39:41,560
in what they thought was an English style. Groups did that.
643
00:39:41,560 --> 00:39:45,680
I suppose people assume that Sir Douglas Quintet is from England,
644
00:39:45,680 --> 00:39:47,600
but I have a surprise for you.
645
00:39:47,600 --> 00:39:51,920
Believe it or not, these fellows are all from my home state of Texas.
646
00:39:51,920 --> 00:39:56,480
They had She's About A Mover that sounded like She's A Woman. That was a big hit.
647
00:39:56,480 --> 00:39:59,920
Wow, yeah, what I say
648
00:39:59,920 --> 00:40:02,880
Heh heh
649
00:40:02,880 --> 00:40:05,400
She's about a mover
650
00:40:05,400 --> 00:40:08,040
She's about a mover
651
00:40:08,040 --> 00:40:10,680
She's about a mover
652
00:40:10,680 --> 00:40:12,880
She's about a mover...
653
00:40:14,360 --> 00:40:17,520
After a while I don't think you can tell who's listening to who.
654
00:40:17,520 --> 00:40:22,280
You know, I think, it's obvious The Byrds' first record, they'd heard the Beatles.
655
00:40:22,280 --> 00:40:25,360
No use keeping you around
656
00:40:25,360 --> 00:40:28,400
If you don't want me all the way...
657
00:40:36,840 --> 00:40:40,400
In 1964, The Byrds were very much a Beatle clone band,
658
00:40:40,400 --> 00:40:41,680
just for a minute.
659
00:40:41,680 --> 00:40:46,320
We had black suits with velvet collars and I remember,
660
00:40:46,320 --> 00:40:50,280
we had them at Zeros, the nightclub, and they were hanging on the rack.
661
00:40:50,280 --> 00:40:55,000
We'd come back and put them on, and go home in jeans and T-shirts.
662
00:40:55,000 --> 00:40:57,560
One night, we got to Zeros and they were gone.
663
00:40:57,560 --> 00:41:01,760
When I met John Lennon, I told him. He said, "I wish they'd stolen our suits!"
664
00:41:03,120 --> 00:41:05,800
Here we come
665
00:41:05,800 --> 00:41:08,560
Walking down the street...
666
00:41:08,560 --> 00:41:13,040
But the ultimate American Beatles tribute hit TV screens in 1966.
667
00:41:14,320 --> 00:41:16,960
Hey hey we're The Monkees...
668
00:41:16,960 --> 00:41:21,080
It was a show about a band that wanted to be the Beatles...
669
00:41:22,840 --> 00:41:27,120
And never made it, on the television show.
670
00:41:27,120 --> 00:41:31,520
That's, I think, why it touched and connected with so many people.
671
00:41:31,520 --> 00:41:35,640
Here was US television cashing in on the British invasion,
672
00:41:35,640 --> 00:41:39,320
by manufacturing their very own band of cute characters.
673
00:41:39,320 --> 00:41:44,560
Take the last train to Clarksville and I'll meet you at the station
674
00:41:44,560 --> 00:41:47,200
You can be here by 4.30
675
00:41:47,200 --> 00:41:51,120
Cos I've made your reservation Don't be slow
676
00:41:51,120 --> 00:41:53,600
No, no, no...
677
00:41:53,600 --> 00:41:57,920
We had a poster of the Beatles on the wall and we'd throw darts at it.
678
00:41:57,920 --> 00:42:00,200
It was about this band
679
00:42:00,200 --> 00:42:03,600
that represented all those bands all over the world,
680
00:42:03,600 --> 00:42:06,640
in their basements, in their garages, playing,
681
00:42:06,640 --> 00:42:10,200
trying to become something like the Beatles.
682
00:42:10,200 --> 00:42:13,040
Warden threw a party at the county jail
683
00:42:13,040 --> 00:42:15,680
The prison band was there they began to wail
684
00:42:15,680 --> 00:42:18,480
The band was jumping..
685
00:42:18,480 --> 00:42:21,920
If an American went to Britain, he might hope to see the Queen.
686
00:42:21,920 --> 00:42:25,720
When the British invaders went to America, they wanted to meet the King.
687
00:42:25,720 --> 00:42:29,640
Unfortunately, since the Brits had conquered all,
688
00:42:29,640 --> 00:42:32,840
Elvis had left the building.
689
00:42:32,840 --> 00:42:38,200
We turned up at Elvis' house and knocked on the door, and said, "Is Elvis in?" No security.
690
00:42:38,200 --> 00:42:40,400
We just walked up and said, "Is Elvis in?"
691
00:42:40,400 --> 00:42:43,000
His father came to the door and said,
692
00:42:43,000 --> 00:42:49,600
"Elvis would love to have seen you guys, he loves you. But he's away filming at the moment."
693
00:42:49,600 --> 00:42:52,920
I wonder if
694
00:42:52,920 --> 00:42:55,000
You're lonesome tonight...
695
00:42:55,000 --> 00:42:58,200
His father said, "Have a look around", and being...
696
00:42:58,200 --> 00:43:02,480
We felt slightly strange about this... Did we actually go in the house?
697
00:43:02,480 --> 00:43:04,760
We mainly walked round the grounds.
698
00:43:09,680 --> 00:43:13,360
As you say, we never actually met him, we only knocked on his door.
699
00:43:13,360 --> 00:43:16,000
He couldn't come out that day!
700
00:43:17,520 --> 00:43:21,720
That's because Elvis was churning out movies in California.
701
00:43:23,720 --> 00:43:26,760
I saw him around in Palm Springs,
702
00:43:26,760 --> 00:43:29,800
especially at the local TV shop,
703
00:43:29,800 --> 00:43:33,680
because he bought one of the early big screens, one of the early ones.
704
00:43:33,680 --> 00:43:39,600
With the projection, and you had to be sitting right in the middle in order to see the image.
705
00:43:39,600 --> 00:43:42,440
Of course, Elvis would always get centre seat
706
00:43:42,440 --> 00:43:47,640
and the guys were always complaining because the football games would fade away at the edges,
707
00:43:47,640 --> 00:43:51,680
so there was constant complaining and the guy who owns it going,
708
00:43:51,680 --> 00:43:54,960
"It's just the way it comes, Elvis, that's the way it is."
709
00:43:56,560 --> 00:44:01,920
It would be up to plucky Mancunian Peter Noone to get an audience with the King in Hawaii.
710
00:44:06,960 --> 00:44:11,840
So I saw Colonel Parker walking through a hotel lobby in Hawaii.
711
00:44:11,840 --> 00:44:16,960
"You think you could find a way to introduce me to Elvis? My sister and I have got all his records."
712
00:44:16,960 --> 00:44:18,800
You know, my sister!
713
00:44:18,800 --> 00:44:23,880
He goes, "OK, actually, he's in town, he's making a movie.
714
00:44:23,880 --> 00:44:25,560
"But you'd have to get up at 6am."
715
00:44:25,560 --> 00:44:28,240
I didn't sleep, I called my sister.
716
00:44:28,240 --> 00:44:32,160
"What questions shall I ask Elvis, they want me to interview Elvis!"
717
00:44:32,160 --> 00:44:34,240
She said, "Ask him, does he dye his hair?"
718
00:44:34,240 --> 00:44:36,320
PETER: 'When are you coming to England?'
719
00:44:36,320 --> 00:44:37,920
ELVIS: 'Coming to where?
720
00:44:37,920 --> 00:44:41,440
'Oh, excuse me, coming to England. I don't know.
721
00:44:41,440 --> 00:44:44,200
'Maybe in a year or so.'
722
00:44:44,200 --> 00:44:48,160
I was looking at his hair going, "It does look dyed, but I'd better not mention it."
723
00:44:48,160 --> 00:44:50,640
PETER: 'How come you made it without long hair?'
724
00:44:50,640 --> 00:44:53,560
LAUGHTER
725
00:44:53,560 --> 00:44:55,960
But the ultimate transatlantic summit
726
00:44:55,960 --> 00:45:01,480
took place in Los Angeles on Friday, August 27th, 1965.
727
00:45:01,480 --> 00:45:05,640
It was negotiated like the, er, Middle East peace treaty.
728
00:45:05,640 --> 00:45:07,720
There were no pictures ever taken.
729
00:45:07,720 --> 00:45:10,280
There is no picture, ever, of Elvis and the Beatles.
730
00:45:11,960 --> 00:45:15,640
Paul, what are your immediate reflections about last night -
731
00:45:15,640 --> 00:45:17,360
your meeting with Elvis Presley?
732
00:45:17,360 --> 00:45:21,960
Very nice, Larry. Very nice. I had a good time. He's a nice fella.
733
00:45:21,960 --> 00:45:23,960
Just what I expected, in fact.
734
00:45:23,960 --> 00:45:27,360
And, er, we tried to persuade him to make some new records,
735
00:45:27,360 --> 00:45:29,720
like the old records.
736
00:45:29,720 --> 00:45:31,600
So we had a good laugh, a few drinks.
737
00:45:31,600 --> 00:45:34,040
Rocking and rolling, playing the instruments,
738
00:45:34,040 --> 00:45:37,600
- and, er, bit of billiards, bit of roulette.
- Roulette?
739
00:45:37,600 --> 00:45:42,920
I had a great time. Yes, yes, gambling away. I lost, of course. I always lose!
740
00:45:47,440 --> 00:45:51,320
Elvis had abdicated but by 1966,
741
00:45:51,320 --> 00:45:54,200
young America had its own bohemian king.
742
00:45:55,320 --> 00:45:57,880
Johnny's in the basement Mixing up the medicine
743
00:45:57,880 --> 00:46:00,520
I'm on the pavement Thinking 'bout the government
744
00:46:00,520 --> 00:46:03,200
The man in the trench coat Badge out, laid off
745
00:46:03,200 --> 00:46:06,080
Says he's got a bad cough Wants to get it paid off
746
00:46:06,080 --> 00:46:08,720
Look out, kid It's something you did
747
00:46:08,720 --> 00:46:12,560
God knows when But you're doing it again...
748
00:46:12,560 --> 00:46:16,400
Bob Dylan's revolutionary blend of poetry and folk rock
749
00:46:16,400 --> 00:46:18,760
put him on an equal standing with the Beatles
750
00:46:18,760 --> 00:46:21,240
in the eyes of many American youth.
751
00:46:21,240 --> 00:46:25,480
And in 1966, the Beatles' American adventure would come to an end
752
00:46:25,480 --> 00:46:27,360
with a third and final tour.
753
00:46:28,720 --> 00:46:32,680
There are places I remember...
754
00:46:32,680 --> 00:46:35,640
A throwaway comment made by John Lennon,
755
00:46:35,640 --> 00:46:38,520
comparing the Beatles to Jesus Christ,
756
00:46:38,520 --> 00:46:41,080
had infuriated the Christian far right.
757
00:46:42,520 --> 00:46:44,760
Ku Klux Klan, being a religious order,
758
00:46:44,760 --> 00:46:49,440
is going to come out here the night that they appear at the Coliseum here,
759
00:46:49,440 --> 00:46:51,520
to stop this performance.
760
00:46:51,520 --> 00:46:53,120
This is nothing but blasphemy.
761
00:46:53,120 --> 00:46:56,240
- Are you burning your Beatles records?
- Yes, sir, I burned 'em.
762
00:46:56,240 --> 00:46:58,800
- You burned them yourself?
- I already burned 'em.
763
00:46:58,800 --> 00:47:01,080
And some are living
764
00:47:01,080 --> 00:47:06,280
In my life I've loved them all...
765
00:47:09,920 --> 00:47:12,600
A reluctant climb-down marked the end of innocence
766
00:47:12,600 --> 00:47:15,720
for the Beatles' special relationship with America.
767
00:47:15,720 --> 00:47:21,360
- Mr Lennon, could you tell us what you really meant by that statement?
- Christ? When I was talking about it,
768
00:47:21,360 --> 00:47:25,760
it was very close and intimate with this person that I know, who happens to be a reporter.
769
00:47:25,760 --> 00:47:29,120
I was using expressions on things that I'd just read,
770
00:47:29,120 --> 00:47:31,600
and derived, about Christianity.
771
00:47:31,600 --> 00:47:36,240
Only I was saying it in the simplest form that I know, which is the natural way I talk.
772
00:47:39,360 --> 00:47:43,600
But more importantly, playing live had begun to limit the band.
773
00:47:43,600 --> 00:47:46,760
Tell me that you've got everything you want
774
00:47:46,760 --> 00:47:49,400
And your bird can sing...
775
00:47:49,400 --> 00:47:53,720
The previous year's Shea stadium gig had broken attendance records,
776
00:47:53,720 --> 00:47:56,600
but also marked the beginning of the end.
777
00:47:57,840 --> 00:48:00,800
It did eventually get to be too much. At first we liked it,
778
00:48:00,800 --> 00:48:05,720
cos it was the novelty and the excitement - it was like, "Wow, we're going down great."
779
00:48:05,720 --> 00:48:08,320
But after a while, we started to get a bit annoyed
780
00:48:08,320 --> 00:48:12,600
that we couldn't hear what we were playing. The novelty wore off a bit.
781
00:48:12,600 --> 00:48:16,120
When your prized possessions
782
00:48:16,120 --> 00:48:18,360
Start to weigh you down...
783
00:48:18,360 --> 00:48:22,560
We still loved the fans and loved that we were going down so well, but we DID want to hear
784
00:48:22,560 --> 00:48:26,480
what we were doing. You know, we WERE musicians, after all.
785
00:48:30,200 --> 00:48:34,000
It was just like... God, you know, it's just, er...
786
00:48:34,000 --> 00:48:36,880
"This isn't good for our musical development."
787
00:48:36,880 --> 00:48:40,360
And we were making records by then
788
00:48:40,360 --> 00:48:45,720
where we were exploring a little bit and moving a little bit further forward from what we'd done -
789
00:48:45,720 --> 00:48:47,600
repackaging American music.
790
00:48:47,600 --> 00:48:51,120
We were now kind of making our own in-roads,
791
00:48:51,120 --> 00:48:55,440
and THEY were now repackaging our music and sending it -
792
00:48:55,440 --> 00:48:57,960
mirroring it - back to us.
793
00:48:59,280 --> 00:49:03,720
Although the Beatles wouldn't return to American soil after 1966,
794
00:49:03,720 --> 00:49:07,120
they would remain avatars for American youth
795
00:49:07,120 --> 00:49:11,280
through their increasingly progressive studio albums.
796
00:49:11,280 --> 00:49:13,640
And for the British invasion as a whole,
797
00:49:13,640 --> 00:49:15,680
the tide was beginning to turn.
798
00:49:17,720 --> 00:49:22,440
In a couple of years, you know, suddenly, the Beatles are making Rubber Soul
799
00:49:22,440 --> 00:49:26,440
and the Rolling Stones are making Aftermath, and you're having a kind of maturity.
800
00:49:30,880 --> 00:49:33,680
Certain of these bands are part of what had been
801
00:49:33,680 --> 00:49:35,880
this fad of rock'n'roll,
802
00:49:35,880 --> 00:49:41,640
and certain of them were really, kind of, creating a new music.
803
00:49:41,640 --> 00:49:43,120
Under my thumb
804
00:49:43,120 --> 00:49:48,200
The girl who once had me down...
805
00:49:48,200 --> 00:49:52,800
And that was where, you know, like, bands like The Searchers or Gerry And The Pacemakers,
806
00:49:52,800 --> 00:49:57,200
or certainly Freddie And The Dreamers, Wayne Fontana And The Mindbenders.
807
00:49:57,200 --> 00:50:02,160
You know, there was a difference between who was doing what,
808
00:50:02,160 --> 00:50:06,360
and who was going to stick around and who wasn't.
809
00:50:06,360 --> 00:50:11,800
I'm leaning on the lamp
810
00:50:11,800 --> 00:50:14,120
Maybe you think
811
00:50:14,120 --> 00:50:15,840
I look a tramp...
812
00:50:15,840 --> 00:50:20,240
A division grew between those Brits who wanted to be part of the counter-culture
813
00:50:20,240 --> 00:50:23,200
and those who were pure entertainers.
814
00:50:24,960 --> 00:50:28,920
Suddenly, the idea that musicians could -
815
00:50:28,920 --> 00:50:31,080
which I always found preposterous...
816
00:50:31,080 --> 00:50:33,800
Musicians could have some political influence.
817
00:50:33,800 --> 00:50:35,920
I thought we were on the other team.
818
00:50:35,920 --> 00:50:39,880
I'd always thought we were on the team with no influence on anybody except girls -
819
00:50:39,880 --> 00:50:44,920
and if you're really lucky, some guys'll like the music, as well, and you'll sell twice as much.
820
00:50:44,920 --> 00:50:49,600
I'm leaning on the lamppost at the corner of the street
821
00:50:49,600 --> 00:50:53,200
In case a certain little lady comes by...
822
00:50:55,920 --> 00:51:00,200
There was a lot of tension because of the Vietnam War.
823
00:51:00,200 --> 00:51:03,000
The old guard was saying, "We must defend the country,"
824
00:51:03,000 --> 00:51:06,880
and young guys were saying, "I don't want to get killed for this. This is stupid."
825
00:51:08,760 --> 00:51:11,440
It was just such a hot issue, and there were so many people,
826
00:51:11,440 --> 00:51:15,600
you couldn't lie about it and say, "Oh, it's great," or, "I have nothing to say."
827
00:51:15,600 --> 00:51:18,160
You were in a corner, so you had to speak the truth.
828
00:51:18,160 --> 00:51:21,600
In America, people keep asking about Vietnam - does this seem useful?
829
00:51:21,600 --> 00:51:25,400
I don't know. If you can say that war's no good and a few people believe you,
830
00:51:25,400 --> 00:51:28,640
it may be good. You can't say it too much - that's the trouble.
831
00:51:28,640 --> 00:51:33,400
It seems silly to be in America and for none of them to mention Vietnam, as if nothing was happening.
832
00:51:33,400 --> 00:51:36,400
But why should they ask YOU? You're successful entertainers.
833
00:51:36,400 --> 00:51:39,920
Americans always ask showbiz people what they think about it.
834
00:51:39,920 --> 00:51:43,000
So do the British. Showbiz - you know how it is(!)
835
00:51:43,000 --> 00:51:48,360
I was chastised by everybody because I supported the war in Vietnam.
836
00:51:48,360 --> 00:51:51,720
Somebody asked me my opinion. I need to be able to sleep at night.
837
00:51:51,720 --> 00:51:52,920
A little more bottom.
838
00:51:54,840 --> 00:51:59,200
Monterey Pop in 1967 was the epiphany for a new counter-culture.
839
00:52:00,360 --> 00:52:03,440
The first major festival, it was a showcase
840
00:52:03,440 --> 00:52:06,880
for the psychedelic courts of both London and San Francisco,
841
00:52:06,880 --> 00:52:08,960
during the Summer of Love.
842
00:52:08,960 --> 00:52:13,720
You had your Monterey Pop festival, which was an enormous influence
843
00:52:13,720 --> 00:52:19,440
on anybody in music or fashion or culture, on that California coast.
844
00:52:21,160 --> 00:52:23,080
The Who were on it.
845
00:52:23,080 --> 00:52:28,520
Jimi Hendrix, who was almost a British act, really, was on it.
846
00:52:30,400 --> 00:52:36,040
A great gathering of people. A great ensemble of music, of all genres.
847
00:52:36,040 --> 00:52:44,560
People there just...for the event, in an atmosphere of peace and love,
848
00:52:44,560 --> 00:52:46,480
and just thoroughly enjoying it.
849
00:52:48,120 --> 00:52:52,080
You know, Monterey was extremely important, in terms of
850
00:52:52,080 --> 00:52:56,680
ushering in this next phase of what popular music generally -
851
00:52:56,680 --> 00:53:00,880
but also popular music from England, specifically - was going to be.
852
00:53:01,880 --> 00:53:06,440
Some of the British invasion would join the new counter-culture.
853
00:53:06,440 --> 00:53:08,440
They had saved American rock'n'roll
854
00:53:08,440 --> 00:53:12,080
and now they were going to save America itself.
855
00:53:12,080 --> 00:53:17,960
And from 1967 onwards, messianic zeal would replace cheeky-chappy.
856
00:53:17,960 --> 00:53:20,600
I think that pop musicians in today's generation
857
00:53:20,600 --> 00:53:23,640
are in a fantastic position - they could rule the world.
858
00:53:23,640 --> 00:53:26,200
We have the power, we have the tolerance.
859
00:53:26,200 --> 00:53:29,120
We can go in front of a television camera, we can go on the air,
860
00:53:29,120 --> 00:53:31,760
and we can say with definition that Hitler was wrong,
861
00:53:31,760 --> 00:53:35,320
that Rockwell is wrong, that people who hate Negroes are wrong, right?
862
00:53:35,320 --> 00:53:38,880
- And we can get up there and shout it to the world, Pete.
- But I don't...
863
00:53:38,880 --> 00:53:42,040
We can shout it to the world, so why don't we do more of it?
864
00:53:42,040 --> 00:53:45,600
I've known Peter for many years, and he's a good Lancashire lad -
865
00:53:45,600 --> 00:53:47,640
got his feet on the ground.
866
00:53:47,640 --> 00:53:52,120
He just thinks a little differently, or did at that point, to me.
867
00:53:52,120 --> 00:53:54,920
I think I kind of viewed him as...
868
00:53:58,080 --> 00:54:02,160
..moving more towards the, er, side of the status quo and that everything was OK,
869
00:54:02,160 --> 00:54:04,600
and I was saying, "No, not everything's OK."
870
00:54:04,600 --> 00:54:06,720
That's what I'm saying - we can...
871
00:54:06,720 --> 00:54:10,800
- We can stop world wars before they ever started.
- I disagree.
872
00:54:10,800 --> 00:54:16,280
- I don't believe that you can...
- You know who start world wars? People that are over 40.
873
00:54:16,280 --> 00:54:19,800
The other people in the interview, like Graham Nash, treated me like...
874
00:54:19,800 --> 00:54:22,960
And Graham Gouldman - who were my friends from Manchester.
875
00:54:22,960 --> 00:54:26,000
"Oh, it's ridiculous - so naive." Well, yeah!
876
00:54:26,000 --> 00:54:28,800
I'm 18 - I can think and say whatever I want.
877
00:54:28,800 --> 00:54:33,360
Look what's just happened - you'd just assassinated President Kennedy, The Beatles just came
878
00:54:33,360 --> 00:54:36,240
and changed your complete culture of this country.
879
00:54:36,240 --> 00:54:40,200
I said, you know, "We can make this a better place.
880
00:54:40,200 --> 00:54:42,000
"We can speak our minds.
881
00:54:42,000 --> 00:54:44,840
"We can utilise music as a form of true communication."
882
00:54:44,840 --> 00:54:47,160
Today, because the kids are so tolerant,
883
00:54:47,160 --> 00:54:51,320
and they really want to understand what people are trying to say,
884
00:54:51,320 --> 00:54:54,600
then they'll go with Donovan 99% of the way,
885
00:54:54,600 --> 00:54:58,840
because what he's trying to put over is best for everybody.
886
00:54:58,840 --> 00:55:02,960
It'll stop... What Donovan's trying to put over will stop wars dead.
887
00:55:02,960 --> 00:55:05,200
MUSIC: "Hurdy Gurdy Man" by Donovan
888
00:55:05,200 --> 00:55:08,000
Thrown like a star in my vast sleep
889
00:55:08,000 --> 00:55:10,280
I open my eyes to take a peep
890
00:55:10,280 --> 00:55:14,440
To find that I was by the sea...
891
00:55:14,440 --> 00:55:17,920
Popular culture was in trouble - two wars and a depression.
892
00:55:17,920 --> 00:55:23,160
A nuclear disaster hovering over the whole world,
893
00:55:23,160 --> 00:55:24,960
and Vietnam War.
894
00:55:26,160 --> 00:55:28,360
A greedy grab for money,
895
00:55:28,360 --> 00:55:32,200
and suffering by the hundreds of thousands.
896
00:55:32,200 --> 00:55:35,360
Hurdy gurdy, gurdy, gurdy, gurdy
897
00:55:35,360 --> 00:55:37,720
Gurdy, gurdy, he sang...
898
00:55:37,720 --> 00:55:44,000
Somehow, through the supposedly safe avenue
899
00:55:44,000 --> 00:55:45,920
of a 45-revs-per-minute single
900
00:55:45,920 --> 00:55:51,080
and a beautiful young boy singer, called Donovan -
901
00:55:51,080 --> 00:55:53,840
that was how we did it.
902
00:55:53,840 --> 00:55:56,960
That's how these issues could be sung - through pop music.
903
00:55:56,960 --> 00:56:00,440
Histories of ages past
904
00:56:00,440 --> 00:56:02,400
Unenlightened shadows cast...
905
00:56:02,400 --> 00:56:05,600
Then the drugs thing came, on top of that.
906
00:56:07,240 --> 00:56:12,440
Everybody suddenly became more, sort of, cool and "my guru" and all that.
907
00:56:12,440 --> 00:56:15,120
Singing songs of lo-o-ove...
908
00:56:15,120 --> 00:56:19,960
And what happened was great, cos all the guys would go in a room to smoke dope and talk about,
909
00:56:19,960 --> 00:56:23,440
you know, the meaning of life, the war in Vietnam...
910
00:56:23,440 --> 00:56:25,840
So we'd take their girls out.
911
00:56:28,480 --> 00:56:32,800
Steal their girlfriends. It all was working out pretty good for us.
912
00:56:32,800 --> 00:56:36,360
We didn't realise that the guru world would eventually take it over.
913
00:56:40,280 --> 00:56:45,560
By 1968, the axis of influence in music had shifted firmly west -
914
00:56:45,560 --> 00:56:48,640
and if you wanted to be significant in this new world,
915
00:56:48,640 --> 00:56:51,160
you had to leave the British invasion behind.
916
00:56:51,160 --> 00:56:54,080
I think it was the difference between people
917
00:56:54,080 --> 00:56:57,440
that drank a lot of beer and people that smoked a lot of pot.
918
00:56:57,440 --> 00:57:01,880
It's a different way of thinking. Pot, for me, opened up my mind to...
919
00:57:03,040 --> 00:57:07,600
..infinite possibilities about what I could do with my life.
920
00:57:07,600 --> 00:57:12,280
We became very different people, you know? I wasn't...
921
00:57:12,280 --> 00:57:15,720
I wasn't happy to be writing Hollies songs any more - you know,
922
00:57:15,720 --> 00:57:20,360
the "moon, June, screw me in the back of the car coming down the hill" kind of pop songs.
923
00:57:20,360 --> 00:57:23,200
We were brilliant at it, but I was a little tired of that.
924
00:57:23,200 --> 00:57:25,320
Teach
925
00:57:25,320 --> 00:57:28,160
Your children well
926
00:57:28,160 --> 00:57:29,960
Their father's hell...
927
00:57:29,960 --> 00:57:33,840
Graham Nash swapped Manchester for Los Angeles
928
00:57:33,840 --> 00:57:36,120
and formed Crosby, Stills and Nash -
929
00:57:36,120 --> 00:57:39,080
a supergroup of transatlantic long-hairs.
930
00:57:41,600 --> 00:57:45,280
I listened to Horace Greeley! "Go west, young man, go west."
931
00:57:46,560 --> 00:57:49,880
I went to where the music was, and the music -
932
00:57:49,880 --> 00:57:54,080
in my mind, right then - was David and Stephen and myself.
933
00:57:54,080 --> 00:57:58,680
They lived in Hollywood, so I came to Hollywood and moved to Laurel Canyon,
934
00:57:58,680 --> 00:58:02,080
and shared the house with Joni Mitchell.
935
00:58:08,560 --> 00:58:13,360
The British invasion, like all fashions, came to an end.
936
00:58:13,360 --> 00:58:16,040
It had been a process of mutual self-discovery.
937
00:58:16,040 --> 00:58:18,080
It's the time
938
00:58:18,080 --> 00:58:19,560
Of the season...
939
00:58:19,560 --> 00:58:21,720
We helped them come of age...
940
00:58:21,720 --> 00:58:24,120
When love runs high
941
00:58:24,120 --> 00:58:25,600
And this time...
942
00:58:25,600 --> 00:58:28,120
..and they helped show us the future.
943
00:58:29,320 --> 00:58:33,320
And let me try with pleasured hands
944
00:58:33,320 --> 00:58:35,920
To take you in the sun...
945
00:58:35,920 --> 00:58:40,720
From now on, America would be the land of opportunity for British rock.
946
00:58:40,720 --> 00:58:44,960
It's the time of the season
947
00:58:44,960 --> 00:58:47,240
For loving...
948
00:58:47,240 --> 00:58:52,160
A new frontier and a new market for the next generation to go west.
949
00:58:54,480 --> 00:58:58,400
This whole British invasion had really taken off over there,
950
00:58:58,400 --> 00:59:03,480
and, er, you know, I just came in and managed to enjoy a major part of it.
951
00:59:13,520 --> 00:59:16,600
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
952
00:59:16,600 --> 00:59:19,880
E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk
81798
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