Original subtitles

Last year you visited more countries than ever - Yeah, that's correct

Which was your favourite? - America, I think

Why, in particular? - Because you make a lot of... no!

No, because it's good-it's like Britain, only with buttons

There's more people in America. You get big audiences, it's all wild and happy

When we were going back for the second tour of America, they said:

"We'll start in San Francisco with a ticker tape parade"

That was once when I actually said I'm not going

I'm not having a ticker tape parade

It seemed like only a year since they assassinated Kennedy

I could just imagine, you know, how mad it is in America

It was just so much fun

Everyone got into the mania

We were getting a little crazy with it all

We called it the eye of the hurricane. It was calmer right in the middle

Altogether I think it's 30 days

Stadiums hold more people, we normally play theatres in England

Haircuts, for instance?

It just happened, you know, you wake up one day and there you are

We wrote them, we recorded them, we play them every day

Smiling-that's all we rehearse

On this tour we don't get much time to do anything

I've just liked this kind of music for about 8 years, or since it came out

It's just good fun

I loved it

I loved all the decoy cars

and all these intricate ways of getting us to the gigs

People would say, doesn't it drive you mad, all these girls screaming?

I'd say no. At a big football match you'll see the men going 'ruuhhhrrrhh'

This is the girls' equivalent

We did the same thirty minutes

Twenty-five if we didn't like you, we'd play it fast

You could never hear anything. We played the repetition of our singles

Just doing our hits, then we only played twenty minutes anyway

We never realised how fast we played when we were live

The adrenalin would sometimes make you, instead of...

Very fast, you know

With all the adrenalin, we'd be talking fast... and on with the next song

We'd like to carry on with a song which was on our first Capitol album

We hope you enjoy the song. It's called All My Loving

The Hollywood Bowl 23rd August 1964

The Hollywood Bowl was pretty tatty

It'll probably go out one day, I suppose

But we were so nervous. It was like going on at the Palladium

I wanted to have a live concert

George Martin Record Producer Capitol provided their engineers and we recorded at the 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 had the voices in the centre

and a mixture of drums, bass and guitars on separate side-tracks

But pervading the whole lot were the screams from the audience

It was like putting a microphone by a 747 jet

It was just one continual screaming sound

It was difficult to get a good recording with the techniques we had there

And in fact the Hollywood Bowl tapes weren't issued

But many years later I dug them up and refurbished them

And we did actually issue a record

My idols were Elvis... pre-army Elvis...

I still think that was the most exciting thing going

Little Richard - I was a big fan - but we'd met him in Hamburg

so we didn't have to go to America to meet him. He was a big idol

Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino - we met Fats in New Orleans

He had a very big diamond watch in the shape of a star

which was very impressive

We started to meet people who'd been in the newspapers or on film

We were actually rubbing shoulders with them

He was one of them

He was our idol

Bob was our hero

Not an idol but we heard his record, we'd listen to his album

It really gave us a buzz and we played it over and over

I heard of Bob through John

He played the records to me. It was just great

I think it was Freewheelin'

We loved Bob Dylan

So by the time we met him we'd heard much more about him

It was a great honour to meet him. We had a crazy party the night we met

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

I said to our roadie "Mal, get a pencil and paper. I've got it "

Mal couldn't find a pencil and paper anywhere

Eventually he found it and I wrote down my message for the universe

I said "Keep that in your pocket"

The next morning, he asked if I wanted to see that bit of paper

"Oh yeah" and I'd written... "There are seven levels"

There were two men in the room and Bob's the well-known one

Al Aronowitz was there - a journalist, who's like a mate

That was the first time for me that I'd really smoked marijuana

I laughed and laughed and laughed

It was fabulous

I remember travelling with the boys

I was almost kicked out of an aircraft by reporters wanting to get on

I got stuck in a lift between floors when too many people crowded in

and being escorted by police cars

It was just a three-ring circus from which there was no let-up

Peace only came when they were alone in their hotel rooms

hearing the screams outside and watching television

That was about it. Hell of a life, really

Yeah, there was all kinds of stuff

We flew out of Montreal in order to avoid Ringo getting killed

We were playing Canada

and they decided to make an example of an English Jew

One major fault is I'm not Jewish

We were playing the gig and I was always on a high riser

I had a cop, a plain clothes policeman sitting there with me

Now for the first time I was worried, really worried

I had the cymbals a bit like this to give me a bit of protection

Usually they're like this, but I had 'em up

Then I started getting hysterical, thinking...

if someone in the audience has a pop at me

what is this guy going to do, catch the bullet?

It was getting funnier all the time and this guy was just sitting there

All that kind of stuff was happening all the time. It was terrifying

People would set off firecrackers in the hall

and you'd think one of the others had got shot

But on stage I always feel safe, even though they break through

I just feel as though I'm all right when I'm plugged in

I don't feel as though they'll get me

If you look at any books that say where the Beatles were working

you'll find we hardly ever had a day off. We'd have to complain to Brian

He had all the pressure of people wanting to book us, with high offers

We'd say "We gotta have a day off, man"

Neil Aspinall Tour Manager We didn't get any time off-we seemed to get five minutes here and there

It might have been longer but it felt like five minutes. But that was OK

Everywhere, there were hordes of people trying to get hold of them

trying to get their autographs, trying to touch them

Everywhere they went they were brought cripples

There was a thing that went around - look out, fellows, cripples coming!

Paraplegics were wheeled in so that they could touch them, like Jesus almost

Derek Taylor Beatles' Press Officer There was without doubt a lot of opportunism

There were people pushing wheelchairs who were bonkers

The people in the wheelchairs were victims of whatever had got them there

and also the prisoners of these people

That situation did become nightmarish

There were some really bad cases, God help them

but there was really some...

Poor little children would be brought in. Some actual basket cases

I mean they were just in baskets, you know

and also some really...

just sad thalidomide kids

It's not very nice to be afflicted

but John had this thing that manifest as a joke

He'd always joke about it because the reality was too much for him

I think it was fear or something

You can see, actually, in all these home movies

every time the camera is on John, he goes into a spastic kind...

his interpretation of what a spastic is

John would always do daft clapping

We couldn't really see ourselves as the sort of 'yah', 'c'mon', 'get on'

It was all...

There was a lot of that, but it kept us sane, I think

A bit of irreverent humour. It meant we weren't falling for the game too much

It's dead easy. All you've got to do is clap hands

Clap your hands

If you don't want to clap your hands, you can stamp your feet on the floor

When we left the screaming fans, there were screaming policemen

and the Lord Mayors and their wives

and the hotel manager and his entourage

The only place we ever got any peace was when we got in the suite

and went to the bathroom

That was about the only place where you could have a bit of peace

We'll probably never do another tour like it

It's been something we'll probably remember for the rest of our days

We just nipped about very quickly and then we were back home

Today the Beatles returned from America

London Airport 21st September 1964 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 on the road in the UK

John had mucked around with feedback for a while. Yes, it was intentional

He found it difficult to get the right amount of feedback

I think it was the first time that feedback was used on a record

He loved things like that. He loved weird effects

It was his idea, it was great

I remember that John and George had Everly Brothers 'Gibsons'

We had these big Gibson round sound-hole... electrics

They looked like ones the Everlys had used

They were semi-electrics. They had electric facilities on them

And John leaned his against the amp

We were starting to talk about the song and the A string started feeding back

What? Can we... can you do that?

Oh yes, I can edit it on the front

He figured how to do it. We used to do it on stage then

John figured out that you just hit the A and get it buzzing by the amp

So it was a start of all that... - In a way, he invented Jimi Hendrix

It probably was, actually

Once you see somebody messing with feedback

it's a whole field of research, isn't it?

But that's how it happened. It wasn't engineered, it came from an accident

and then we made it something we could edit on to the front

Funny chaps, who are they? Maybe I'll find out as the show goes on

Most of the boys' songs are taken from their latest LP called...

It's called Beatles for Sale

It's got eight of our songs and the rest are...

8 from 14... 9? Please, I'm not very good at counting

6, of course... yes 8 and 6

Who are the other numbers... - Kansas City for one

Two Carl Perkins, one Little Richard, one Chuck Berry and one Dr Feelgood

What's the Chuck Berry number? - Rock and Roll Music

We like the old numbers - Sing one for us, will you?

All right then, Kansas City

Shindig TV Show London

Palais des Sports Paris

A problem with their concerts was that they couldn't hear themselves

Today, everyone's used to the technology and great concerts

and everyone has a fold-back speaker at their feet to hear what's going on

Didn't have that in those days

John, Paul and George would be standing at microphones

in front of a screaming crowd of 60000

Ringo would be at the back on the drums and he said to me:

"It was very difficult following, I couldn't do anything clever

"I couldn't do great drum kicks or drum rolls or fills

"I just had to keep that back beat going to keep everybody together"

Killer of demons, gorge on this flesh, our offering... drink!

Hold!

The ring, she's not wearing the sacrificial ring

She cannot be sacrificed without the ring

We'd done the Hard Day's Night film, which was great

Dick Lester had done this artsy black and white thing we'd all loved

So the next things was: OK, what next? Well, maybe a colour film

In colour, yeah, wow, there you see, they had more money for that one

So then things went a bit awry

We started saying:

We've never been to the Bahamas, could you write that in?

It was fabulous

But we went to the Bahamas for the hot scenes and it was freezing

We had to run round in shirts and thin trousers

but it was actually bloody cold!

I've never been skiing-could you write in a scene with skiing?

First time I'd been on skis

I loved that, not that any of us could ski

Dick Lester just put us on skis and edged us down a mountain

Boys! Are you buzzing?

I think this was beginning to get into that period

when people were giving up the drink, the stimulant of the times

and were getting into the herbal jazz cigarettes

It was changing things a bit. Things became more imaginitive, more crazy

By then we were smoking marijuana for breakfast

Nobody could communicate with us

It was just glazed eyes, giggling all the time

We had fun in those days

I think that was one reason for not learning the script

We just showed up a bit stoned, smiled and hoped we'd get through it

'ere you are-cop this one hand

Ugly though, aren't they? - Hands?

Some people's are - You're light in the kitty again

Show us your hand, Ringo

You want to chuck one in - Get on

How about drumming? - Won't affect it

I don't know many... - It appears I need one card...

It's difficult when four people

all have to say lines one behind the other

If one person forgets, you've got to start again

and then the next person forgets

The scenes in Buckingham Palace in Help!

We were doing that scene for days

where they put some pipe... and some red smoke comes through

We shove it out of the window and all the guards fall over

It must be their tea break

That scene just went on for ever, we were in stitches, hysterics, laughing

We pushed Dick Lester to the limit of his...

He was very, very easygoing

He was a pleasure to work with

There's one scene in the film

where Victor Spinetti and whoever else in the scene are curling

You know those big stones they do

And one of them has a bomb in it

We find out about this and we have to run away

Paul and I ran about seven miles

We just ran and ran so we could stop and have a joint and come back

We were just off... You know we'd run to Switzerland

I enjoyed filming it

I'm sort of satisfied but not smug about it, you know. It'll do

We couldn't do it any better because we're not capable enough actors

We were searching around for a title

That was crucial to us, to get the titles good

We'd had the Hard Day's Night thing

which had been Ringo just making a mistake

He jumbles his words, not meaning to

and you get a new phrase that's better than the two he mixed

We toyed with Tomorrow Never Knows which was another of his

We ended up using that as a song title

I remember us all sitting around trying to think of stuff

I think John went home

We came up with... With Dick Lester, we came up with the idea of Help!

Then John went home and happened to write it that evening

Wait a minute, hold on. That's wrong

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

From things he said later, I think it was a bit his state of mind

He was feeling a bit constricted by the whole Beatle thing

He never said that when he wrote it

He said later that was how he felt and that's why he wrote it

But he was kind of plump

I think that he just didn't feel right

I think it was because he felt he was a bit...

He called it his fat Elvis period

He got a bit podgy, in his own eyes

That was depressing him a bit

But I think John's done inverviews and articles about that

I'd go into these troughs every few years

It was less noticeable in the Beatles, their image would carry you through

I was in the middle of a trough in Help! but you can't see it

I'm singing Help! for a kick-off

But you're protected by the image of the power of the Beatles

Big Night Out TV Show Blackpool

I used to live in a little flat at the top of a house

I had a piano by the bed and woke one morning with this tune in my head

I thought "I don't know this tune, or do I?" An old jazz tune or something?

My dad knew a lot of old jazz, maybe I remembered it from somewhere

I went to the piano and found the chords to it

It was like G, F sharp minor 7, B...

made sure I remembered it

then said to my friends "What's this? It's got to be something"

I couldn't have written it, I'd just dreamed it. You don't get that lucky

When he'd got the lyric together, we decided to record it

I said it's a lovely song, I can't see what Ringo can do on it

I can't really see what heavy electric guitars are going to do

Why don't you sing it to me with a guitar and then decide?

It was good because all the others, the guys...

I look at them, like ooops... I mean, a solo record

They said, it doesn't matter. There's nothing we could add

And so for Paul McCartney of Liverpool, opportunity knocks!

Thank you, Ringo. That was wonderful

I remember John listening to it

There's a particular bit where the cello moves into a kind of bluesy note

John thought that was terrific

It was applauded but it wasn't really a Beatle record. I said to Brian:

It's Paul's song, shall we call it "Paul McCartney"? And he said, no!

I can't remember him making that suggestion

but I wouldn't have done that. We never entertained those ideas

It was sometimes tempting. People would flatter you and say...

you should get out front, put this solo record out, but we always said no

We didn't even ever put it out as a single in England

We were a bit embarrassed. We were a rock'n'roll band, a little R&B combo

NME Poll Winners' Concert London

George's songwriting was painful for him as he had no one to collaborate with

John and Paul were such a collaborative duo

They would throw advice to George but they didn't really work with him

Paul and I really carved up the empire between us

George didn't even sing when we brought him in. He was a guitarist

He 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

They'd been writing since we were at school

They'd written all - or most of their bad songs

before we got into the recording studio

I had to come from nowhere and start writing

and to have something at least quality enough

to put in the record with all their wondrous hits

He wrote Don't Bother Me, I remember, one of the first ones

Then he started to improve and eventually...

became very good with a classic - Something in the Way She Moves

which I think Frank Sinatra still refers to

as his favourite Lennon-McCartney song. Thanks, Frank

Now something we don't often do

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

All out of key and nervous, singing Act Naturally... Ringo!

Thank you very much, everybody

It's lovely to be here

We'd like to carry on with a song which is our record before...

This one's called Ticket to Ride

I liked it because it was... slightly a new sound at the time

I used to like guitars. I don't want anything else on the album -

jangling piano, or whatever

It's a heavy record, you know

George Harrison MBE

John Lennon MBE

Ringo Starr MBE

and Paul McCartney MBE

We were in Twickenham film studios when Brian showed up

He took us to the dressing room rather secretively. What's this about?

Brian said:

They want to give you these MBEs

We're going to accept. What do you think, boys?

At first we were very impressed. We said, what does it mean?

You become a Member of the British Empire. We were honoured, genuinely

The lowest honour that you could possibly get

The cynicism crept in and we said, what do you get for it?

He said, �40 a year, and we said, yeah

He said, you can go into St Paul's whispering gallery for nothing

How much does it cost, anyway? He said, about a shilling

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

A lot of the army... that was the only other reaction...

was soldiers sent theirs back

This is a protest to the Queen because this Order is being debased

by giving this to people who are not deserving of it

The Beatles are already rewarded with a tremendous amount of money

If I had the MBE

I should be put out at being placed on the same level as a pop singer

I don't think it was a good idea to return them

I undertand the surprise that the Beatles would be given the award

It's a little ridiculous on both sides

One side values the honour too highly and the other too lowly

This medal raises the qustion: where is the British Empire?

It's purely honorary. I don't think it has any value at all

Someone always takes exception to someone else getting something

Most people were pleased

It's a very good thing, they deserved it

They're great

I think they deserved it

I think the MBE is a bit of a joke

Hundreds of people have got it in the past, why not the Beatles?

I think they're great

I'm glad everyone's delighted

They deserve everything they've got. They're very clever people

They're young, vital, and they give this country a kick and a lift

And, my God, we need it

How do you like having an MBE? - Great. We're honoured

I thought it was really thrilling

We're going to meet the Queen and they're going to give us a badge

We thought, this is cool

Buckingham Palace London In days gone by, they'd 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

It was good fun. We ended up at the Palace. Quite strange

An equerry to the Queen, a guardsman

took us into a side room and showed us what we had to do

"You approach Her Majesty like this, and never turn your back on her"

The other part I remember...

Paul and I went up together

and first she said... she felt I had started the band

I said no, I was the last to join

She said, well, how long have you been together?

Without a blink, both Paul and I said:

We've been together now for forty years

She just had this strange look on her face like she wanted to...

I don't know, laugh, or 'off with their heads! ' You know what I mean

Had you met the Queen before? - No, first time

What did she think of you in the flesh? Did she tell you?

No, she's not going to say, but she seemed pleasant, made us relaxed

We were standing in line, waiting to go through, hundreds of people

We'd been grilled by the guardsman, saying, this is what you do

We were so nervous, we went to the toilet

We smoked a cigarette there - we were all smokers in those days

But years later, I'm sure John... thinking back and remembering:

"We went in the toilet and smoked" and it turned into a reefer

Because the worst thing to do before meeting the Queen is smoke a reefer

But we never

I was too stoned to remember. I don't know

After all we did for Great Britain

selling all that corduroy and making it swing

they just gave us a bloody old leather medal with wooden string through it

It was like the whole momentum had been going for years. It kept rolling

And now we were playing stadiums

That was in the days people were still playing the Finsbury Park Astoria

And to play at Shea Stadium...

Now, ladies and gentlemen

Honoured by their country

decorated by their Queen

and loved here in America...

Here are the Beatles!

Subtitles: Screentext