Original subtitles

-[crowd cheering] -[♪ "Help!" playing]

♪ Now I find I've changed my mind ♪

♪ I've opened up the doors ♪

♪ Help me if you can, I'm feeling down ♪

♪ And I do appreciate you being 'round... ♪

[♪ music concludes]

[♪ "Things We Said Today" plays over radio]

♪ Me, I'm just the lucky kind... ♪

[Brian Matthew over radio] I should think that last year

you visited more countries than ever, isn't that right?

[The Beatles over radio] That's correct. Yes.

[John] Oh yes, been away.

[Brian Matthew] Which has been your... your favorite one

-that you've visited? -[John] America, I think, 'cause...

[Ringo] Yes, I'll agree with that.

[John] Ringo agrees with that.

[Brian Matthew] Hmm. Why, in particular?

[John] 'Cause you make a lot of m-- No!

-[The Beatles laugh] -[John] Oh, 'cause...

[John] ...it's good, you know.

It's... it's like Britain, only with buttons.

-[Brian Matthew] I see, yes. -[Paul] Pardon?

[John] That's a sort of abstract statement, Paul.

[Paul] It's a sort of-- Yeah.

Well, there's more people, you know, in America,

so... so we get big audiences, and it's all wild and happy.

[George] I remember once when we...

we were going to go back for the second tour of America,

and they were saying, "Oh, yeah,

we're gonna start in San Francisco

-with a ticker-tape parade." -[♪ music concludes]

And that was once when I actually did say,

you know, "I'm not going."

"I'm not... I'm not having a ticker-tape parade."

You know, I mean, it was only... seemed like a year, uh,

since they just assassinated Kennedy.

And, um...

I could just imagine, you know, this...

how mad it is in America.

-[crowd screaming, cheering] -[♪ "Rock And Roll Music" playing]

♪ Just let me hear some of that rock and roll music ♪

♪ Any old way you choose it ♪

♪ It's got a black beat, you can't lose it ♪

♪ Any old time you use it ♪

♪ Gotta be rock and roll music ♪

♪ If you wanna dance with me ♪

♪ If you wanna dance with me ♪

You know, [chuckling] it was just so much fun.

♪ I've got no kick against modern jazz ♪

♪ Unless they try to play it too darn fast ♪

♪ And lose the beauty of the melody ♪

♪ Until they sound just like a symphony ♪

♪ That's why I go for that rock and roll music ♪

♪ Any old way you choose it ♪

♪ It's got a black beat, you can't lose it ♪

♪ Any old time you use it ♪

♪ It's gotta be rock and roll music ♪

♪ If you wanna dance with me ♪

♪ If you wanna dance with me ♪

You know, everybody got into the mania.

♪ I took my loved one over 'cross the tracks ♪

♪ And she could hear my man a-wailin' sax ♪

♪ I must admit they had a rockin' band ♪

♪ Man, they were blowin' like a hurricane ♪

♪ That's why I go for that rock and roll music ♪

♪ Any old way you choose it ♪

♪ It's got a black beat, you can't lose it ♪

♪ Any old time you use it ♪

♪ Gotta be rock and roll music ♪

♪ If you wanna dance with me ♪

♪ If you wanna dance with me ♪

It was... We were getting a little crazy with it all.

♪ Way down South they had a jubilee ♪

♪ Them Georgia folks, they had a jamboree ♪

♪ They're drinking home brew from a wooden cup ♪

♪ The folks are dancing, they got all shook up ♪

♪ And started playing that rock and roll music ♪

♪ Any old time you use it ♪

♪ It's got a black beat, you can't lose it ♪

♪ Any old time you use it ♪

♪ Gotta be rock and roll music ♪

♪ If you wanna dance with me ♪

♪ If you wanna dance with me ♪

It was like being in the eye of a hurricane,

and so, we never... there was never a time

when you thought... [gasps] You thought, "What's going on?"

And that was about as deep as it got.

"What is happening?" Or "What..." [gasps]

You know, you'd suddenly wake up in the middle of one,

a concert or a happening, and think, "What?

"Wha-- How did I get here?"

-♪ If you wanna dance with me ♪ -[♪ music concludes]

On this tour, we don't get much time,

you know, to do anything.

You know, we wrote 'em, we recorded 'em,

we play 'em every day. What do you rehearse?

Smiling, that's all we rehearse.

-[crowd screaming, cheering] -[car horns honking]

It was just one giant three-ring circus

from which there was no let-up.

Even when we got away from the screaming fans,

there was all the screaming policemen.

-[officers yelling indistinctly] -[crowd cheering]

The only peace they got

was when they were alone in their hotel rooms,

hearing the screams outside.

[fans screaming, cheering]

The only place we ever got any peace

was when we got in the suite and went to the bathroom.

You know, that's... that was about the only place

where you could have a bit of peace.

Altogether, I think it's 30 days.

There's just m... more people here

'cause they're bigger stadiums.

We normally play in theaters in England.

We'd like to carry on with a song

which was on our first Capitol album.

And we hope... we hope you enjoy the song.

The song's called "All My Loving".

-[crowd cheering] -[♪ "All My Loving" playing]

♪ Close your eyes and I'll kiss you ♪

♪ Tomorrow I'll miss you ♪

♪ Remember I'll always be true ♪

♪ And then while I'm away ♪

♪ I'll write home every day ♪

♪ And I'll send all my loving to you ♪

♪ I'll pretend that I'm kissing ♪

♪ The lips I am missing ♪

♪ And hope that my dreams will come true ♪

♪ And then while I'm away ♪

♪ I'll write home every day ♪

♪ And I'll send all my loving to you ♪

[♪ music fades]

Because of the size of the audience

and the volume of the noise,

there was nothing else I could do

through the numbers, bar play the offbeat,

and as a musician you know what that is, you know.

No matter what it was,

I mean, I could only, "crack..." [mutters rhythmically]

You know, and trying to lip-read

where they were up to in the songs

and try and read by their movements,

you know, from the back of, uh, John, Paul and George,

sometimes, where the hell we were up to in the song.

-[♪ music continues] -♪ All my loving ♪

-♪ Ooh ♪ -♪ I will send to you ♪

-♪ All my loving ♪ -♪ Ooh ♪

♪ Darling, I'll be true ♪

-Yeah! -[crowd cheering]

[Paul] People would say, "Don't...

Doesn't it drive you mad, all these girls screaming?"

We didn't mind it, you know, 'cause sometimes it...

it covered, uh,

you know, a multitude of sins. We... We were out of tune.

It wasn't-- Didn't matter.

We couldn't hear it, nor could they, so...

it was handy some nights.

We never realized how fast we played

when we were live, 'cause the adrenaline, uh,

sometimes would just make you, you know, instead of...

♪ All my loving ♪ [imitates beat]

it'd be, ♪ All my loving ♪ [imitates sped-up beat]

Very fast, you know.

Oooh! Very hyper, and all the adrenaline,

and we were talking fast, and... [speaks gibberish] "Thank you!"

[speaks gibberish] On to the next song, you know.

And we were playing the repetition of all our s...

our singles, mainly, you know, just doing our hits.

-[♪ music continues] -♪ All my loving ♪

-♪ Ooh ♪ -♪ All my loving ♪

♪ Ooh, ooh, all my loving ♪

-♪ Ooh ♪ -♪ I will send to you ♪

-[♪ music concludes] -[crowd cheering, applauding]

[John over mic] Thank you, folks.

[John] The Hollywood Bowl was pretty tatty, you know.

It's nice, when... to hear.

It'll probably go out one day, I suppose.

But we were so nervous, you know.

It was like going on the Palladium.

[♪ "She Loves You" playing]

I arranged with Capitol to provide their engineers,

and we... we recorded at Hollywood Bowl,

but the techniques we had then in America

was three-track half inch,

and the separation wasn't too great. To begin with,

you know, you had your voices in the center,

but you had a mixture of drums, and bass,

and guitars on your... your separate side tracks.

But pervading the whole lot

was the enormous welter of screams from the audience.

I mean, it was like...

putting a microphone by the sound of a...

by the end of a 747 jet.

It was just one continual screaming sound.

And it was very difficult to get a good recording out of it

with the techniques we had there.

And, in fact,

Hollywood Bowl tapes weren't issued.

They didn't think it was right to do so.

We listened to that back

and we wouldn't let them release it.

Uh-- Uh, years later, George and Geoff Emerick...

uh, George Martin and Geoff Emerick

did a lot of work on it.

And refurbished them and worked on them,

and we did actually issue a record.

-[♪ music concludes] -[crowd screaming, cheering]

My idols were Elvis.

Uh, pre-army Elvis.

You know, I still think that was, like,

the most exciting thing going.

Um... Little Richard.

I was a big fan of Richard. But we'd met him in Hamburg,

so we... we didn't have to go to America to meet Richard,

but he was still a big idol.

Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino.

We met Fats in New Orleans.

He had a very big diamond watch,

shape of a big, big star, you know,

which was very impressive.

Um...

Yeah, we started to meet... meet these...

these... these people who'd really just been in newspapers

and on film, you know,

we actually were rubbing shoulders with 'em.

[♪ "A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall" playing]

♪ And it's a hard ♪

♪ And it's a hard ♪

♪ And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall... ♪

He was one of them.

He was our idol.

Not, uh, an idol, but we just heard his record.

As I said, we listened to his album

and it really gave us a buzz

and we played it constantly over and over and over again.

I think it was Freewheelin'.

[John] And when I first met Dylan,

I was pretty dumbfounded, you know.

That was back in New York.

He thought "I Want To Hold Your Hand"

was when it goes, "I... I can't hide",

he thought we were singing, "I get high", you see.

We had the biggest laugh all night, forever.

It was fantastic, you know.

-So, when we met him... -[♪ music concludes]

...yeah, well, you know, by that time,

we'd heard much more of him and knew much more about him.

It was a great honor to meet him.

We had a crazy party the night we met.

That was the first time for me

that I'd really smoked marijuana.

And, uh, I laughed and I laughed and I laughed.

It was fabulous.

I thought I'd got the meaning to life that night.

And I went around trying to find our roadie.

"Mal, Mal, Mal, get a pencil and a paper!"

"I've got it! I've got it!" And Mal, who was a bit out of it,

he couldn't find a pencil and paper anywhere.

But eventually, in the end... in the end of the evening,

he found it, and I wrote down my...

my message for the Universe, you know.

I said, "Now keep that."

"Keep that in your pocket." [whispers] "Really."

And Mal did.

The next morning, he said, "'Ere, Paul."

[chuckles] He said, "Do you wanna see that?"

I said, "What?" He said, "That bit of paper."

"Oh, yeah!"

And I'd written, "There are seven levels."

[gulps]

[♪ "The Times They Are A-Changin'" playing]

♪ For the times they are a-changin' ♪

[♪ melodic harmonica playing]

[♪ music concludes]

One trip or another, we met Elvis.

It was... it was, um,

one of the highlights of... [laughs] ...our visit.

-[♪ "Mohair Sam" playing] -♪ Who is the hippie ♪

♪ That's happenin' all over our town? ♪

♪ Tearin' up the chicks ♪

♪ With the message that he lays down... ♪

[George] We were in this Cadillac limousine,

and we had a couple of cups of tea in the back of the car,

and by the time we got to Elvis's house,

we forgot where we were going.

It didn't really matter where we were going.

[Ringo] Bel Air, actually.

And, uh, you know, this meet was arranged.

We were gonna go and see him.

I was pretty excited about it all, and we arrived.

[George] We pulled up and there was these big gates,

and somebody says, "Oh yeah, we're gonna see Elvis!"

And then we all fell out, just like in a Beatle cartoon.

We all fell out the car, all "hee-hee" in hysterics,

trying to pretend we weren't silly.

And then we went in the house,

and there's Elvis sitting on a couch,

playing a Fender bass plugged in an amplifier,

watching the TV.

I said, "Oh, it's Elvis."

I mean, it was Elvis.

He just... just looked like Elvis.

He was the king, wasn't he? It was Elvis.

[chuckles] This is Mr. Hips, you know?

Hip-swiveling man!

[chuckles] Wow! You know, that's Elvis.

And he was playing, um, "Mohair Sam" all evening.

He had it on jukebox.

He just played it, like, endlessly.

That was, like, the record of the moment for him.

So, it was great to see, "Oh, he's a music fan."

You know, he's not just...

'Cause that was one of our big records

-of the moment too. -[♪ music concludes]

[John] He had his... a TV going all the time,

which is what I do anyway.

And in front of the TV,

he had a massive big bass amplifier,

Fender bass amplifier, or just a Fender amplifier.

And-- Oh, yeah, there was a bass, was a bass plugged in it.

And he was playing bass all the time

with the, uh... the picture up on the TV.

[chuckles] So we just got in there

and, uh, played with him,

you know. We all plugged in what was around,

and we all played and sang.

[George] I never jammed with Elvis at all.

-[Paul] No. -[George] Now he...

[Paul] John said he'd--

-John jammed with Elvis. -[George] Yeah.

It must have been when we went out of the room.

He used to go over secretly at night.

I think it was 'cause he had a bass there,

-you know, so I thought... -In the basement.

Right, well, you know, bass, hey,

he's... he's interested in bass.

Ringo was playing football with him, though.

Yeah, I played football with Elvis.

And around about 10:00 or 10:30, um, Priscilla was brought in.

So I think she had a long thing on, and a tiara.

I've got this picture of her, like, as a sort of Barbie doll

with, like, gingham...

kind of, purple gingham, and a bow,

a gingham bow in her very beehive hair.

I don't remember. I spent most of the party

trying to suss out from his gang

if anybody had any reefer. [laughs]

Well, I think, uh, it wouldn't have mattered to me

if she was there, uh...

just, you know, because it was him

I came to see, and...

and I don't remember the boys he had with him.

You know, all his gang, the Memphis Mafia,

whatever they call them, all those guys.

You know, he just was surrounded

by these sycophants.

[imitates Elvis] "Oh, I'm going to go to the loo now."

"Okay, El, we'll all go to the loo with you."

You know, it was just so... strange.

And I was just so angry

because he wasn't making any music.

He was not doing what he should have been doing.

[John] We were asking him about this,

just making movies and, you know,

not doing any personal appearances or TV.

And he seems to enjoy it.

You know, I think he enjoys making movies so much.

'Cause we couldn't stand

not doing personal appearances, you know.

We'd get bored. We get bored quickly.

He says he misses it a bit, you know.

He's just-- No, he was great, you know.

He was just how I expected him.

And it just sort of faded out.

You know, it's... you couldn't get close.

You know, it's not like we could have

become good friends.

It was impossible.

It was... It was great.

It was great. Yeah, you know,

it was really one of the great meetings in my life.

I mean, the saddest part is now, years and years later,

we found out that he tried to have us banished from America

'cause he was very big with the CIA

and everything, and...

that's, uh... that's very sad to me,

that he f... he felt so threatened,

you know, that he thought, like a lot of people,

that we were bad for the American youth. [laughs]

[♪ "Hound Dog" playing]

♪ Well, you ain't never caught a rabbit ♪

♪ You ain't no friend of mine ♪

♪ You ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog ♪

-[♪ music concludes] -[crowd screaming, cheering]

-[♪ "Slow Down" playing] -♪ You better slow down ♪

♪ Baby, now you're moving way too fast... ♪

[Brian Matthew] Today, The Beatles returned from America,

where they played 32 shows in 34 days

in 24 different cities.

But there's no rest for the boys.

In two weeks, they'll be back out on the road here in the U.K.

[crowd screaming, cheering]

If you look at any of those, uh, books that...

that say where the Beatles were working,

you find we... we hardly ever had a day off, you know,

and we'd have to complain to Brian.

He'd have all the pressure of people saying,

"Yeah, we wanna book the Beatles--

Wanna book-- I've got to have them, gonna--"

making him offers he couldn't refuse.

But we were having to say,

"We've gotta have a day off, man!"

We didn't get any time off.

You know, we seemed to get five minutes off here and there.

It might have been longer than that,

but it felt like five minutes.

But that was okay.

[♪ "I Feel Fine" feedback note]

[George Martin] John had mucked around with feedback

for a while, and, yes, it was intentional.

He found it quite difficult to get the right...

the right amount of feedback, you know.

And I think it was the first time, was it not,

that feedback was used on a record?

He loved things like that.

He loved, uh, weird kind of, um, effects.

And it was his idea. It was great.

[John] That's me completely, including the guitar lick.

I had this electric acoustic guitar,

and it would feed back.

[Paul] John and George had Everly Brothers Gibsons.

[George] Yeah, the-- Well, we had these big Gibson,

-round soundhole electric ones. -[Paul] We called them Everly Brothers.

[Paul] They looked like the Everlys had used.

And John leaned his against the amp--

The amplifier, yeah.

And then we were just going to go on

and talk about the song, and suddenly, the...

the A string started feeding back.

It just went... [imitates feedback droning]

We were just, "WHAT!!? Can we-- Can you do that?"

You know, he said,

[imitates George Martin] "Well, yes, if you add it on the front or something."

-So I'm sure that's-- -But he figured out

-how to do it, you know... -Hmm.

...'cause we used to do it on stage then, live.

So John figured out, you know,

you just had to hit the A, and then get it by the...

-[imitates feedback droning] -...buzzing by the amp.

So that was the start of all that Hendrix feedback.

Yes, he invented Jimi Hendrix, and...

It probably was, actually, you know.

[John] And the little intro, which goes...

[imitates feedback droning, guitar riff]

...is the first feedback. I claim it for the Beatles.

[feedback droning]

[♪ "I Feel Fine" playing]

♪ Baby's good to me, you know ♪

♪ She's happy as can be, you know ♪

♪ She said so ♪

♪ I'm in love with her ♪

♪ And I feel fine ♪

♪ Baby says she's mine, you know ♪

♪ She tells me all the time, you know ♪

♪ She said so ♪

♪ I'm in love with her ♪

♪ And I feel fine ♪

♪ I'm so glad ♪

-♪ That she's my little girl ♪ -♪ Ooh ♪

♪ She's so glad ♪

-♪ She's telling all the world ♪ -♪ Ooh ♪

♪ That her baby buys her things, you know ♪

♪ He buys her diamond rings, you know ♪

♪ She said so ♪

♪ She's in love with me ♪

♪ And I feel fine ♪

♪ She's in love with me and I feel fine ♪

♪ Mm ♪

-[♪ music concludes] -Funny chaps. Who are they?

Well, maybe I'll find out as the show goes on.

[Brian Matthew over radio] And most of the boys' songs today

are taken from their latest LP, which is called what, Paul?

[Paul] Called Beatles For Sale.

[Ringo] Paul'll tell you.

[Paul] And-- [chuckles] And, uh...

-it's got eight of our songs... -[Brian Matthew] Of your own.

...and the rest are... the rest are... eight from fourteen?

What's that? Nine, please.

[George] No, six...

[Paul chuckles] I'm not very good at counting.

-[Brian Matthew] So I see. -[Paul] Six, of course.

[Paul] Six. Yes. Eight and six is--

[John] How many GCEs?

[Paul clears throat] Well, I didn't get that one...

...counting. Didn't get counting.

[Brian Matthew] Who are the other numbers, can you remember?

[Paul] "Kansas City" is one.

[John] Two Carl Perkins, one Little Richard,

one Chuck Berry, and one Dr. Feelgood,

and that's the... that's the rest.

[Brian Matthew] What's the Chuck Berry number?

[John] Uh, "Rock And Roll Music",

which goes on for about an hour.

[Paul] We like the old numbers.

[♪ "Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby" plays over radio]

♪ Everybody's trying to be my baby ♪

♪ Everybody's trying to be my baby now... ♪

[George Martin] It was only after the first year

that they started getting

really interested in studio techniques.

They always wanted to get the thing right,

so it wasn't a one-take operation.

They would listen to it and they'd do two or three takes

until they got it pretty well right.

[George Martin] Ringo, can you give us any more?

[Ringo] Yeah, as loud as you want.

[Paul] Let's hope this one turns out pretty darn good, huh?

[♪ "Honey Don’t" playing]

♪ Well, how come you say you will when you won't? ♪

♪ Say you do, baby, when you don't ♪

♪ Let me know, honey, how you feel ♪

♪ Tell the truth now, is love real? ♪

♪ But, ah, ah... ♪

[George] Things like "Honey Don't"

and "Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby",

we'd played live so much,

we just had to get the sound on that and just do it.

But things like "Baby's In Black",

well, that was like

learn the songs and rehearse them,

and I think we were beginning to do

a little bit of overdubbing in those days.

It's probably a four-track.

-[engineer] Take 7. -[John] We goofed, man.

[Paul] Goes...

♪ I think of her but she thinks only of him ♪

♪ And though it's only a whim, she thinks of him ♪

-[John] ♪ Her name is Jim ♪ -[Paul] ♪ Oh, how long will… ♪

-[John] That bit? [chuckles] -[Paul] Okay.

[John] Soon as you hear "Jim", you're in.

[Paul clears throat] One, two, three.

One, two, three.

[♪ "Baby's In Black" playing]

♪ Oh dear, what can I do? ♪

♪ Baby's in black and I'm feeling blue ♪

♪ Tell me, oh, what can I do?... ♪

[Paul] I used to go out to John's house in Weybridge,

uh, to write songs.

And at that particular time,

I had been, uh, busted for speeding,

so I had to have a driver to take me out there.

And we were chatting on the way.

I remember saying to the guy,

"Well, how have you been?" you know. "Have you been busy?"

And he said, "Oh yeah, mate."

He said, "I've been working eight days a week."

And I went into John's house and said,

"Right, I've got the title... 'Eight Days A Week'."

And we wrote it there and then.

[♪ "Eight Days A Week" playing]

♪ I ain't got nothin' but love, babe ♪

♪ Eight days a week... ♪

[Ringo] The rehearsal would go on in the studio,

because, uh, from very early on,

a lot of the songs weren't finished.

The ideas were there for the songs,

or the first verse, or a chorus,

but it... it could be changed by the writers

-as we were doing it. -[♪ music concludes]

[engineer] Take 1, "No Reply".

[John] Sing it?

What was that about not singing it with me?

[Paul] Well, okay, I'll just sing it....

[John] 'Cause my voice is killing me.

[Paul] ♪ This happened once before ♪

[Paul] I'll sing, okay. One...

One, two, three.

[♪ "No Reply" playing]

♪ This happened once before when I came to your door... ♪

[Paul] That is a rather nice cover.

That's Robert Freeman. Nice photos.

We showed up in Hyde Park near the Albert Memorial.

And we were just quite impressed by George's hair there.

It was a marvellous little turnip top he managed to create.

♪ I saw the light ♪

[♪ music concludes]

[♪ "Help!" playing]

-♪ Help! ♪ -♪ I need somebody ♪

-♪ Help! ♪ -♪ Not just anybody ♪

-♪ Help! ♪ -♪ You know I need someone ♪

-♪ Help! ♪ -[♪ music concludes]

We'd done the Hard Day's Night, uh, film,

which was great, and, uh...

Dick Lester had done this kind of slightly artsy

black and white thing that I think we'd all loved.

So the next thing was, "Okay, well, what do we do now?"

"Well, maybe a color film."

In color, yeah, wow.

They-- See, they had more money for that one.

So then things went a little bit, uh, awry, I think,

because what happened then was...

um, we started saying,

"Well, we've never been to the Bahamas.

-Could you write that in?" -[♪ "Another Girl" playing]

-♪ For I have got ♪ -♪ Another girl ♪

♪ Another girl ♪

♪ You're making me say that I've got nobody but you ♪

♪ But as from today ♪

♪ Well, I've got somebody that's new ♪

♪ I ain't no fool ♪

♪ And I don't take what I don't want ♪

♪ For I have got... ♪

It was fabulous.

But the... the problem, we went to the Bahamas,

of course, to do all the hot scenes,

and it was freezing.

And, of course, we had to ride around and run round

in, uh, just shirts

and little thin trousers, and that.

-But it was absolutely bloody cold. -[♪ music concludes]

"I've never been skiing. I wonder if you could

write a scene in with skiing," you know.

-[♪ "The Night Before" playing] -♪ We said our goodbyes ♪

♪ Ah! The night before ♪

♪ Love was in your eyes ♪

♪ Ah! The night before ♪

♪ Now today I find you have changed your mind ♪

♪ Treat me like you did the night before... ♪

First time I'd been on skis.

I loved that.

Not that any of us could ski.

I mean, Dick Lester just put us on skis

and edged us down a mountain.

[♪ music concludes]

Well, uh, I think, you know, this was beginning

to get into that period when, um...

people were, sort of, giving up the drink,

which had been the sort of stimulant of the times,

and were getting into the herbal jazz cigarettes.

I was 14 years older than they were. They knew,

I guess, I was straight,

and they knew I disapproved very strongly of drugs.

I'm afraid I used to smoke cigarettes,

and that's pretty well as bad.

Um... So they never smoked pot in front of me.

They used to just nip down to the canteen below

and have a little drag, you know,

and come out giggling a bit.

I knew what... what they were doing,

but, um, it didn't make any difference.

[George] One, two, three.

[♪ "You’re Going To Lose That Girl" playing]

♪ Yes, yes, you're gonna lose that girl ♪

♪ You're gonna lose that girl ♪

♪ Yes, yes, you're gonna lose that girl ♪

♪ If you don't take her out tonight ♪

♪ She's gonna change her mind ♪

♪ She's gonna change her mind ♪

♪ And I will take her out tonight ♪

♪ And I will treat her kind ♪

♪ I'm gonna treat her kind ♪

♪ You're gonna lose that girl ♪

♪ Yes, yes, you're gonna lose that girl ♪

-♪ You're gonna lose that girl ♪ -♪ Yes, yes ♪

♪ You're gonna lose that girl ♪

♪ I'll make a point of taking her away from you ♪

-♪ Watch what you do ♪ -♪ Yeah ♪

♪ The way you treat her, what else can I do? ♪

♪ You're gonna lose that girl ♪

♪ You're gonna lose that girl ♪

-♪ You're gonna lose that girl ♪ -♪ Yes, yes ♪

♪ You're gonna lose that girl ♪

-♪ You're gonna lose that girl ♪ -♪ Yes, yes ♪

♪ You're gonna lose that girl ♪

-♪ You're gonna lose ♪ -♪ Yes, yes ♪

♪ You're gonna lose that girl ♪

♪ I'll make a point of taking her away from you ♪

-♪ Watch what you do ♪ -♪ Yeah ♪

♪ The way you treat her, what else can I do? ♪

♪ If you don't take her out tonight ♪

♪ She's gonna change her mind ♪

♪ She's gonna change her mind ♪

♪ And I will take her out tonight ♪

-♪ And I will treat her kind ♪ -♪ I'm gonna treat her kind ♪

♪ You're gonna lose that girl ♪

♪ Yes, yes, you're gonna lose that girl ♪

-♪ You're gonna lose that girl ♪ -♪ Yes, yes ♪

♪ You're gonna lose that girl ♪

-♪ You're gonna lose that girl ♪ -♪ Yes, yes ♪

♪ You're gonna lose that girl ♪

[♪ music concludes]

-[indistinct chatter] -[engineer] Yeah, I've heard it.

Boys, are you buzzing?

[John] By then, we were smoking marijuana

for breakfast at that period, and we were well into marijuana,

and nobody could communicate with us

'cause it was just four glazed eyes

giggling all the time, you know, in their own world.

We had fun in those days.

I think that was one of the reasons

for not learning the script.

We just sort of showed up a bit stoned, you know,

and sort of smiled a lot, and hoped we'd get through it.

It appears I need one card...

[George] It's difficult when four people

all have to say, um, lines, you know, one behind the other.

And, uh, you know, if one person forgets it,

you've gotta start again,

and then the next person would forget his lines.

And we did some scenes...

The scenes that were in Buckingham Palace in Help!

We... [chuckling] ...we were doing that scene for days.

You know, where they put some...

There was some pipe

with some red smoke comes through, you know,

and we shove it out the window, and all the guards fall over.

[royal guard] Eyes front!

Must be their tea break.

That scene, it just went on forever, you know.

And we were just in stitches, just in hysterics, laughing.

And we pushed Dick Lester, I think,

to the limit of his, uh...

'Cause he was very, very easy-going.

He was a very... a good... you know, pleasure to work with.

[Ringo] There's one scene in the film

where, um, Victor Spinetti,

and, uh, whoever else is in the scene,

and they're doing that curling.

You know, those big stones they... they do. [chuckles]

And one of them, of course, has a bomb in it.

We find out about this, so it's gonna blow up,

and we have to run. We have to run away.

-[George] Run, Ringo! -[crowd clamoring]

Paul and I ran about seven miles. [laughs]

We... we just ran and ran so we could stop

and have a joint... [chuckles] and... and come back...

We were just off.

You know, we'd run to Switzerland.

[crowd screaming]

[John] I enjoyed filming it.

You know, I'm sort of satisfied, but not smug about it.

You know, it'll do.

We couldn't do it any better than that

because we're not capable enough actors

to make it any better than that.

[George] I had these two guys who used to write songs

whenever we needed some.

I think we just called them up and said,

"Look, we'll be doing a movie now, lads.

Will you come up with a couple of catchy hits?"

[Paul] I would go out to Weybridge,

where John was.

I'd drive out myself, um...

Wake him up, mainly. You know, he'd be...

he'd sort of wait till I got there

and we'd have a cup of coffee or something.

And then we'd just spend the afternoon,

just two or three hours, sit up...

and he had a little room up at the top of the house,

a little music... music room, and we'd just go

and lock ourselves away in there,

and just say, "Okay, what have we got?" you know.

[engineer] "Ticket to Ride". Take 1.

-[Paul] That one? -[engineer] Okay.

[Paul, high-pitched] ♪ The girl that's driving me mad ♪

[John] Come on.

[Paul] ♪ She's going away ♪

[John] Right, George.

[Paul] ♪ Oh, she's got a ticket to ride ♪

[♪ "Ticket To Ride" playing]

♪ She's got a ticket to ride ♪

♪ She's got a ticket to ride ♪

♪ She's got a ticket to ride and she don't care ♪

♪ She said that living with me was bringing her down, yeah ♪

♪ She would never be free when I was around ♪

♪ She's got a ticket to ride ♪

♪ She's got a ticket to ride... ♪

[Paul] I think it was largely John's,

the actual "Ticket To Ride" bit.

We wrote it together.

[John] I liked it 'cause it was

slightly a new sound at the time.

I used to like guitars, you know? [chuckles]

I don't want anything else on the album

with guitars and... jangling piano or whatever.

And it's all happening, and that's a...

it's a heavy record, you know.

♪ I think I'm gonna be sad, I think it's today, yeah ♪

♪ The girl that's driving me mad is going away, yeah... ♪

[Paul] You see, with John and I,

certain songs would nearly always be

the idea of one of us.

One of us had actually said,

"'Ticket to Ride' would be good."

The other one would say,

"Okay, that's what we'll write today."

[♪ "Help!" playing]

-♪ Help! ♪ -♪ I need somebody ♪

-♪ Help! ♪ -♪ Not just anybody ♪

-♪ Help! ♪ -♪ You know I need someone ♪

♪ Help! ♪

John got the idea, I think, for the title "Help!",

and I think from things he said later,

I think it was a bit his state of mind.

You know, he was feeling a bit constricted

by the whole Beatle thing.

He never said that when he wrote it.

He said it retrospectively, that was how he was feeling...

-[♪ music concludes] -...and that's why he wrote that, um...

But he was kind of plump and, um...

and, you know, he had his... he...

I think that he just didn't feel right, you know.

He got a bit podgy, or something, in his own eyes, you know,

and that was depressing him a bit, you know.

But I think John has, uh--

he's done interviews and articles about that.

I mean, I'd go into these troughs every few years.

It was less noticeable in the Beatles

because the Beatles' image

and thing would carry you through it, you know.

I mean, I... I was in the middle of a trough in "Help!" you know,

but, uh, you can't see it really. I mean, I'm sing...

I'm singing "Help!" for a kick-off, you know.

And, uh... but it was less noticeable

because you're... you're protected by the...

the image of the power of the Beatles.

-[crowd cheering] -"Help!" One, two, three, four.

-[♪ "Help!" playing] -♪ Help! ♪

♪ I need somebody ♪

-♪ Help! ♪ -♪ Not just anybody ♪

-♪ Help! ♪ -♪ You know I need someone ♪

♪ Help! ♪

Hey!

♪ When I was younger, so much younger than today ♪

♪ I never needed ♪

♪ I never needed anybody's help in any way ♪

♪ But now these days are gone I'm not so self-assured ♪

♪ And now I find ♪

♪ Now I find I've changed my mind ♪

♪ And opened up the doors ♪

Hey!

♪ Help me if you can, I'm feeling down ♪

♪ And I do appreciate you being 'round ♪

♪ Help me get my feet back on the ground ♪

♪ Won't you please, please help me? ♪

♪ And now my life has changed in oh so many ways ♪

♪ My independence ♪

♪ My independence seems to vanish in the haze ♪

♪ But now and then ♪

♪ And in these clever days I'm not so self-assured ♪

♪ I know that I ♪

♪ I know that I just need you like I've never done before ♪

Hey!

♪ Help me if you can, I'm feeling down ♪

♪ And I do appreciate you being 'round ♪

♪ Help me get my feet back on the ground ♪

♪ Won't you please, please help me? ♪

♪ When I was younger, so much younger than today ♪

♪ Never needed anybody's help in any way ♪

♪ But now these days have gone I'm not so self-assured ♪

♪ And now I find ♪

♪ Now I find I've changed my mind ♪

♪ And opened up the doors ♪

Hey!

♪ Help me if you can, I'm feeling down ♪

♪ And I do appreciate you being 'round ♪

♪ Help me get my feet back on the ground ♪

♪ Won't you please, please help me? ♪

-♪ Help me ♪ -♪ Help me, ooh ♪

-[crowd cheering, applauding] -[♪ music concludes]

I used to live in this, uh, little flat

up at the top of a house, uh, in a little room I had.

And I had a piano by the bed.

And I just woke up one morning with this tune in my head.

Um, and I thought,

"I don't know this tune, or do I?

It's like an old jazz tune or something," and I've--

'Cause my dad used to know a lot of old jazz stuff.

"And maybe I've just remembered it

off somewhere."

[quickly hums tune of "Yesterday"]

So I got... went to the piano, found...

found the chords to it, you know.

It was like in G, F sharp minor 7th, sort of B, and that.

And, um...

I kind of re... just remembered it...

made sure I remembered it. And then I just hawked it round

all my friends and stuff, and said, "What's this?

You know, it's gotta be something.

It's like a good little tune, you know,

and I couldn't have written it

'cause I just dreamed it, you know.

You don't get that lucky."

And it wasn't until he got the lyric together that we...

he de... decided to record it and said,

"How should we do it?"

I said, "Well, it's a lovely song,

super song. I can't really see what Ringo can do on it.

I can't really see what heavy electric guitars

are gonna do on it.

Why don't you just go down there,

and sing it to me with a guitar,

and we'll decide what to do with it then?"

And it was good, actually, 'cause all the others, the...

the guys, I looked at them, I went, "Oops...

I mean, you know, solo record?"

And they said, "Yeah, you know, it doesn't matter.

There's no... nothing we could add to it, so do it."

And I remember John listening to it.

And there's a particular bit

where the cello moves into a kind of bluesy note,

and John thought that was terrific.

So it was... it was applauded,

but it wasn't really a Beatle record.

And I discussed this with Brian.

I said, "You know, this is Paul's song.

Shall we call it Paul McCartney?" He said, "No."

And I can't actually remember him making that suggestion,

but I... I wouldn't have done that.

You know, we... we never entertained those--

It was sometimes tempting.

You know, people would flatter you and say,

"Ooh, you know, you should get out front on the band there,"

or "You should put this solo record out."

But we always said, "Nah."

In fact, we didn't even ever put it out as a single,

um, in England, 'cause we were kind of

a little bit embarrassed about it.

We were a rock and roll band, you know,

we thought we were like a little R&B combo.

And so, for Paul McCartney of Liverpool,

-Opportunity Knocks! -[crowd cheering]

-[♪ "Yesterday" playing] -[Paul] Thank you, George.

♪ Yesterday ♪

♪ All my troubles seemed so far away ♪

♪ Now it looks as though they're here to stay ♪

♪ Oh, I believe in yesterday ♪

♪ Suddenly ♪

♪ I'm not half the man I used to be ♪

♪ There's a shadow hanging over me ♪

♪ Oh, yesterday came suddenly ♪

♪ Why she had to go ♪

♪ I don't know, she wouldn't say ♪

♪ I said something wrong ♪

♪ Now I long for yesterday ♪

♪ Yesterday ♪

♪ Love was such an easy game to play ♪

♪ Now I need a place to hide away ♪

♪ Oh, I believe in yesterday ♪

♪ Why she had to go ♪

♪ I don't know, she wouldn't say ♪

♪ I said something wrong ♪

♪ Now I long for yesterday ♪

♪ Yesterday ♪

♪ Love was such an easy game to play ♪

♪ Now I need a place to hide away ♪

♪ Oh, I believe in yesterday ♪

♪ Mm, mm, mm, mm, mm, mm-mm ♪

-[♪ music concludes] -[crowd cheering, applauding]

Thank you, Ringo. That was wonderful.

Well, we got into the way now of every album we made,

then we expected George to have a song,

and we expected Ringo to sing a song.

Um, it was a kind of--

You know, we'd try and include the boys

as a... in the... in the group.

And George's songwriting was painful for him

because he had no... no one to collaborate with.

And John and Paul were such a...

a, uh... a sort of collaborative duo

that they would...

throw out a... a word of advice to George and so on,

but they didn't really work with him.

'Cause it was an option, you know, to include George

in the songwriting team,

but without wanting to be too sort of mean to him,

we had decided--

I remember walking up through Woolton,

past Woolton Church with John, just one sort of...

one morning, and...

and, uh, you know, going over this question,

should we... should three of us write,

or would it be better just to keep it simple, you know?

And we decided, no, we'd...

we'd just keep the two of us, you know, at it.

So George used to write his own songs.

[♪ "I Need You" playing]

♪ Love you all the time ♪

♪ And never leave you ♪

♪ Please come on back to me ♪

♪ I'm lonely as can be ♪

♪ I need you... ♪

[John] Paul and I really carved up the empire

between us, you know.

George didn't even use to sing when we brought him into the group.

He was a guitarist, you know?

He just wasn't in the same league for a long time.

That's not putting him down.

He just hadn't had the practice at writing that we had.

[George] They'd had a lot of practice, put it that way.

They'd been writing since we were at school.

♪ You told me ♪

And so they'd written all their--

Most of their bad songs they'd written

before we got into the recording studio.

For me, I had to come from nowhere and start writing,

and to have something at least quality enough to be able to,

you know, put it in the record with all their wondrous hits.

♪ So come on back and see ♪

♪ Just what you mean to me ♪

♪ I need you ♪

♪ I need you ♪

♪ I need you... ♪

[Paul] He wrote "Don't Bother Me",

I remember was kind of one of the first ones.

And then he started to improve from that...

-[♪ music concludes] -...and eventually, uh, became very good,

um, you know, get... getting, like, a classic with, like,

"Something In The Way She Moves",

you know, which is... I think, uh--

Frank Sinatra, I think, still refers to it

as his favorite Lennon-McCartney song.

Thanks, Frank.

And now we'd like to do something, um,

we don't often do.

Give someone a chance to sing who doesn't often sing,

and here he is, all out of key and nervous,

singing "Act Naturally"... Ringo.

-[♪ "Act Naturally" playing] -[crowd cheering, applauding]

♪ They're gonna put me in the movies ♪

♪ They're gonna make a big star out of me ♪

♪ We'll make a film about a man that's sad and lonely ♪

♪ And all I gotta do is act naturally ♪

♪ Well, I'll bet you ♪

♪ I'm gonna be a big star ♪

♪ Might win an Oscar, you can never tell ♪

♪ The movies gonna make me a big star ♪

♪ 'Cause I can play the part so well ♪

♪ Well, I hope you'll come and see me in the movies ♪

♪ Then I'll know that you will plainly see ♪

♪ The biggest fool that ever hit the big time ♪

♪ And all I gotta do is act naturally ♪

♪ Hey! ♪

-[♪ music concludes] -[crowd cheering, applauding]

Thank you.

Well, I find myself in distinguished company.

[chuckles]

And may I, without more ado, introduce…

-George Harrison, MBE? -Hello. Hello.

Hello. Oh, thank you.

-John Lennon, MBE. -Oh, ta, yeah.

-Ringo Starr, MBE. -[The Beatles laugh]

-And Paul McCartney, MBE. -How do you do?

[Paul] We were at Twickenham Film Studios

when Brian showed up one afternoon,

and took us to the dressing room all rather secretively,

and we thought, "Oh, what's this about?"

[Ringo] Brian came and said, uh...

"You know, they wanna give you these MBEs, so...

we're going to accept." [chuckles]

"Uh, what do you think, boys?"

And I think at first, you know, we were very impressed.

We said, "Well, what does it mean?"

You know, they said,

"Well, you become a Member of the British Empire."

We said, "Well, okay, it's a great honor."

And we were... we were honored, genuinely.

In days gone by,

they used to storm the royal palace gates

demanding bread or the right to vote

or some other civil right.

These days, it's all for the Beatles.

The mop-haired quartet

receive their MBEs from the Queen today...

their Members of the British Empire.

-[♪ "Eight Days A Week" playing] -♪ Ooh, I need your love, babe ♪

♪ Guess you know it's true ♪

♪ Hope you need my love, babe ♪

♪ Just like I need you ♪

♪ Hold me, love me ♪

♪ Hold me, love me ♪

♪ I ain't got nothing but love, babe ♪

♪ Eight days a week… ♪

[crowd cheering]

[Ringo] I thought it was really thrilling that, uh...

you know, "We're gonna meet the Queen,

they're gonna give us a badge."

I thought, "Yeah, this is cool."

[Paul] It was good fun.

We ended up at the palace, it was quite strange.

And some sort of equerry to the Queen,

a guardsman, you know,

took us to one side in this little side room

and sort of showed us how... what we had to do.

You know, you have to approach Her Majesty like this,

-and never turn your back on her. -[♪ music concludes]

The other part I remember was, um, Paul and I went up together.

And first of all, she said... she felt I'd started the band.

[chuckles] I said, "No, I was the last to join."

And, um...

and she said, "Well, how long have you been together?"

And without a blink, both Paul and I said...

♪ We've been together now... ♪ ♪ ...for 40 years ♪ [laughs]

And she just sort of...

She had this, like, strange look on her face.

Like... [chuckles] ...she wanted to, like,

I don't know, laugh, or what do they...

or, "Off with their heads!"

[interviewer] John, had you met the Queen before?

Uh, no, first time.

[interviewer] What did she think of you in the flesh?

Did she tell you?

No, she's not gonna say either way, you know,

but she seemed pleasant enough to us, you know...

-[interviewer] Mm-hmm. -...made us relaxed.

We were standing in the line, waiting to go through.

It was an enormous line, you know, hundreds of people,

and we'd been grilled by the guardsman saying,

"This is what you do when you get up there."

And then we were so nervous that we went to the toilet.

And in the toilet, we smoked a cigarette,

'cause we were all smokers in those days.

But years later...

I'm sure, John, thinking back and remembering,

"Oh, yes, we went in the toilet and smoked,"

and it turned into a reefer, because, you know,

what could be the worst thing you could do

before you meet the Queen, is smoke a reefer.

But we never.

I was too stoned to remember.

I don't know.

-[♪ "Eight Days A Week" playing] -♪ Eight days a week ♪

♪ I love you ♪

♪ Eight days a week ♪

-♪ Is not enough to show I care ♪ -[♪ music concludes]

I can't really remember any sort of Daily Mirror reaction,

"How dare they!" A lot of... [hesitates]

...a lot of the army,

that... that was the only other reaction,

was, uh, soldiers sent theirs back.

This is a form of protest to the Queen

because this Order is being debased by everybody...

in giving this to, um, uh,

people who are not deserving of it.

Well, I... I think the Beatles

have been adequately rewarded already.

I think they've got a tremendous amount of money for what they've done.

If I had the MBE,

I think I should be slightly put out at being placed

on the same level as a pop singer.

I'm glad everyone's delighted.

And I think the MBE, anyway, is a bit of a joke.

Hundreds of people have got it in the past,

and I cannot see any reason why the Beatles shouldn't have it.

To me, they're young, vital, and they give this country

a kick and a lift, and, my God, we need it.

How do you feel, John, about having the MBE?

I feel great, you know.

[hesitates] We're honored. [chuckles]

[interviewer] What did your wife say

-when she knew you had it? -[John] She said, "Oh!"

'Cause she didn't have a clue what...

really what it was either, but she's pleased, you know.

I tried to get her one, but she couldn't...

[everyone chuckles]

After all we did for Great Britain,

selling all that corduroy and making it swing,

and they just gave us that bloody old leather medal

with wooden string through it.

[chuckles]

-[♪ "Eight Days A Week" playing] -♪ Hold me, love me ♪

♪ I ain't got nothing but love, babe ♪

♪ Eight days a week ♪

♪ Eight days a week ♪

[♪ music concludes]

-[heartbeats] -[siren wailing]

[Neil Aspinall] It was like this whole momentum was going,

you know, that had been going for years,

and it just kept rolling.

[crowd cheering]

[George] You know, that was in the days

when people were still playing the Finsbury Park Astoria.

[Ringo] Now we were playing stadiums.

[crowd cheering]

[George] ...um, to play at Shea Stadium.

[Paul] Shea Stadium.

[Ringo] Shea Stadium.

[Neil Aspinall] Shea Stadium.

[John] Shea Stadium.

Now, ladies and gentlemen...

honored by their country, decorated by their Queen,

and loved here in America, here are The Beatles!

[crowd cheering]

[♪ "If You’ve Got Trouble" playing]

♪ If you've got trouble ♪

♪ Then you've got less trouble than me ♪

♪ You say you're worried ♪

♪ You can't be as worried as me ♪

♪ Oh, oh ♪

♪ You're quite content to be bad ♪

♪ With all the advantage you had over me ♪

♪ Just 'cause you're troubled ♪

♪ Then don't bring your troubles to me ♪

♪ I don't think it's funny ♪

♪ When you ask for money for things ♪

♪ Especially when you're standing there ♪

♪ Wearing diamonds and rings ♪

♪ Oh, oh ♪

♪ You think I'm soft in the head ♪

♪ Well, try someone softer instead, pretty thing ♪

♪ It's not so funny ♪

♪ When you know what money can bring ♪

♪ You better leave me alone ♪

♪ I don't need a thing from you ♪

♪ You better take yourself home ♪

♪ Go and count a ring or two ♪

♪ If you've got trouble ♪

♪ Then you've got less trouble than me ♪

♪ You say you're worried ♪

♪ You can't be as worried as me ♪

♪ You're quite content to be bad ♪

♪ With all the advantage you had over me ♪

♪ Just 'cause you're troubled ♪

♪ Then don't bring your troubles to me ♪

♪ Ah, rock on! Anybody! ♪

♪ You better leave me alone ♪

♪ I don't need a thing from you ♪

♪ You better take yourself home ♪

♪ Go and count a ring or two ♪

♪ If you've got trouble ♪

♪ Then you've got less trouble than me ♪

♪ You say you're worried ♪

♪ You can't be as worried as me ♪

♪ Oh, oh ♪

♪ You're quite content to be bad ♪

♪ With all the advantage you had over me ♪

♪ Just 'cause you're troubled ♪

♪ Then don't bring your troubles to me ♪

♪ Just 'cause you're troubled ♪

♪ Then don't bring your troubles to me ♪

[♪ music concludes]