Original subtitles

[crowd cheering]

- [♪ "Help!" playing] - ♪ ...not so self-assured ♪

♪ 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]

[ship horn blaring]

[seagulls squawking]

[♪ "In My Life" playing]

♪ There are places I remember all my life ♪

♪ Though some have changed ♪

♪ Some forever, not for better ♪

♪ Some have gone and some remain ♪

♪ All these places had their moments ♪

♪ With lovers and friends I still can recall ♪

♪ Some are dead and some are living ♪

♪ In my life I've loved them all ♪

♪ But of all these friends and lovers ♪

♪ There is no one compares with you ♪

♪ And these memories lose their meaning ♪

♪ When I think of love as something new ♪

♪ Though I know I'll never lose affection ♪

♪ For people and things that went before ♪

♪ I know I'll often stop and think about them ♪

♪ In my life I love you more ♪

♪ Though I know I'll never lose affection ♪

♪ For people and things that went before ♪

♪ I know I'll often stop and think about them ♪

♪ In my life I love you more ♪

♪ In my life I love you more ♪

[♪ music concludes]

[♪ "Help!" playing]

- ♪ Help! ♪ - ♪ I need somebody ♪

- ♪ Help! ♪ - ♪ Not just anybody ♪

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

- Help! - [♪ music concludes]

[John] Let's go back and get 'em, eh?

- I'm game. - Yeah, let's smash 'em.

- Let's find that temple, eh? - [Paul] Right! To the temple.

A man's got to do what he's got to do.

[George] I don't reckon all this running away.

[John] Let's go back... back, back, back...

[♪ "In The Mood" playing]

...back, back, back, back,

back, back, back, back,

back, back, back, back,

back, back, back, back,

back, back, back, back,

back, back, back, back,

back, back, back, back...

[♪ music concludes]

[♪ "We'll Meet Again" playing]

♪ We'll meet again ♪

♪ Don't know where, don't know when... ♪

[Ringo] My mother used to say that, uh,

because I was born, the Second World War started.

♪ Some sunny day... ♪

[John] I spent some time with Mother up till about four,

then me father split. He was a merchant seaman,

you know, you can imagine, and...

and it was 1940s in the War, and all that.

♪ ...always do... ♪

♪ 'Til the blue skies drive the dark clouds ♪

♪ Far away... ♪

[Paul] My mum was a Catholic. Dad was a Protestant.

They got married quite late.

I think they had me when they were, like, 40,

or something. It was quite sort of late.

♪ ...be long ♪

♪ They'll be happy to know ♪

♪ That as you saw me go ♪

♪ I was singing... ♪

[George] My father was driving a bus at the time I was born,

and I lived in a two-up and two-down, 12 Arnold Grove.

♪ Don't know where, don't know when ♪

♪ But I know we'll meet again ♪

- [machine gun fire] - [explosions]

- ♪ Some sunny day ♪ - [♪ music concludes]

[Ringo] We were all roughly the same age, and we were like the first...

[♪ "I'm Beginning To See The Light" playing]

...group of, uh, people who didn't go in the Army.

[Major] Halt!

[Paul] Me mum was a nurse. She was a midwife as well.

And my dad was a cotton salesman.

[John] I was raised by my auntie.

Me father and me mother split when I was about four.

But I spent some time with Mother up till about four.

Then I was brought up by an auntie.

[Ringo] Dad, uh, was a, uh... he made cakes,

so we always had sugar through the War.

Mum? She ended up doing a lot of jobs

'cause he left when I was three.

He decided that was enough of that,

and, uh, so she did any down-home job she could get

to feed and clothe me.

[George] My mother was, um, from an Irish family

called French,

and, uh, she had lots of brothers and sisters,

uncles who had bald heads,

who used to say they got their bald heads

by knocking pub doors open! [Chuckles]

[Ringo] I was terrible at school because I didn't spend much time there

because I was also very sick as a kid.

I had, uh, peritonitis when I was six and a half,

which just means burst appendix and you're gonna die.

And they said to my mother, "He'll be dead" three times.

But here we are. We're still here.

[Paul] My dad was a musician, amateur musician,

and, uh, he would play piano around the house.

We always had a piano.

And I've got some lovely childhood memories

of sort of lying on the floor and hearing him play.

[George] In those days, they had those radios,

like crystal sets.

You used to have to take the battery

down to some shop on the corner,

and then leave it with them for about three days

to charge it up.

[Ringo] Everybody has their party piece in Liverpool.

You have to sing a song.

And, uh, my mother's was, uh...

"Little Drummer Boy", she would sing to me,

and I would sing "Nobody's Child" to her,

and she'd always cry. [laughs]

[♪ Sings "Nobody's Child"] ♪ I'm nobody's child... ♪ Mum.

[Paul] John really loved his mother,

'cause she was great. I loved her, too.

And she played a little ukulele.

And then, unfortunately, she was, uh, run over

by an off-duty policeman who was drunk at the time.

[Paul] My mum had died, actually, at this point.

My mum died when I was, uh, 14,

which is, you know, the big shock in my teenage years.

- She died of cancer. - [♪ music concludes]

And John's mum having died, this was always a very big bond

between John and I.

[♪ "C'mon Everybody" playing]

[John] Rock and roll was real.

Everything else was unreal. To me, it got through.

It was the only thing to get through to me

out of all the things that were happening

- when I was 15, you know. - [♪ music concludes]

- [♪ "Rocket 88" playing] - ♪ You women have heard of jalopies ♪

♪ You've heard the noise they make ♪

♪ Well, let me introduce my new Rocket 88... ♪

[John] There was no such thing as an English record, you know.

I think the first English record

that was anywhere near anything was "Move It" by Cliff Richard,

and before that, there'd been nothing.

But the fact was that there hadn't been a history

of making that kind of music, whereas there had in America.

- [♪ Music concludes] - [♪ "Ain't That A Shame" playing]

♪ You made me cry when you said goodbye ♪

♪ Ain't that a shame... ♪

[Paul] You can't imagine a time

when rock and roll was only one of the musics.

- [♪ Music concludes] - [♪ "No Other Love" playing]

♪ No other love have I... ♪

[George] Whatever record was being played,

you'd try and listen to it.

You know, you couldn't even get a cup of sugar,

- let alone a rock and roll record. - [♪ music concludes]

So I went to art school. I was at art school for five years.

When I went... this is a sort of college, you know.

I went in there,

they would only allow jazz to be played, you know.

They wouldn't allow rock and roll in.

It was frowned upon those days.

So we had to con them into letting us play rock and roll

there on the record player, by calling it "blues", you know.

- [♪ "That's All Right" playing] - ♪ Well, that's all right, mama ♪

♪ That's all right with you ♪

♪ That's all right, mama ♪

♪ Just any way you do ♪

♪ That's all right... ♪

I remember being in school when I was a kid

and, uh, somebody had a picture in one of the musical papers,

uh, of Elvis.

And I just looked at it and I just thought,

- "He's just so good looking!" - [♪ music concludes]

He just looked perfect.

[John] When I was 16, Elvis was what was happening.

A guy with long, greasy hair,

wiggling his ass, and singing "Hound Dog" and, uh,

"That's All Right, Mama" on those early Sun Records,

which I think are his great period.

[Paul] That's him! That is the guru we have been waiting for.

The Messiah has arrived.

[♪ "Hound Dog" playing]

♪ You ain't nothin' but a hound dog ♪

[crowd cheering]

♪ Cryin' all the time ♪

[crowd cheering]

♪ You ain't nothin' but a hound dog, hound dog ♪

♪ Cryin' all the time ♪

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

♪ You ain't no friend of mine ♪

- [crowd cheering] - [♪ music concludes]

- [crowd cheering] - [♪ "I'm In Love Again" playing]

♪ Yes, it's me and I'm in love again ♪

♪ Had no lovin' since you know when... ♪

[George] I was about 12 or 13

when I first heard Fats Domino, "I'm In Love Again".

That was what I would call

the first "rock and roll" record I ever heard.

- [♪ Music concludes] - And then later on, you know,

Elvis, Little Richard and Buddy Holly.

- [♪ "Peggy Sue" playing] - ♪ I love you, Peggy Sue ♪

♪ With a love so rare and true ♪

♪ Oh Peggy, my Peggy Sue... ♪

[Paul] There were lots of people coming up then,

and one of them was Buddy Holly.

We loved his vocal sound and we loved his guitar playing.

But most of all, I think, was the fact

that he actually wrote the stuff himself.

- [♪ Music concludes] - That's what turned us on.

- [♪ "When Did You Leave Heaven" playing] - ♪ Why... ♪

[George] We got to hear people like Big Bill Broonzy.

I think he might have even done a tour of England.

♪ ...just for these earthly things? ♪

♪ Why did you lose your little halo? ♪

♪ Baby, why'd you drop your wings? ♪

I was a big fan of his...

- [♪ music concludes] - ...and, actually, Frankie Laine.

[♪ "Jezebel" playing]

♪ If ever a pair of eyes promised paradise ♪

♪ Deceiving me, grieving me, leaving me blue... ♪

[Ringo] I was listening to a lot of Country and Western then.

- Skiffle was coming through. - [♪ music concludes]

[John] You know, all those "train" songs

and, uh, you know, "Rock Island Line",

- and all that stuff. - [♪ "Rock Island Line" playing]

♪ Well, the Rock Island Line is a mighty good road ♪

♪ Well, the Rock Island Line is the road to ride ♪

♪ Yeah, the Rock Island Line is a mighty good road ♪

♪ And if you want to ride it, gotta ride it like you find it ♪

♪ Get your ticket at the station on the Rock Island Line... ♪

[George] I think the first music I can remember hearing

as guitar-oriented music...

- [♪ music concludes] - ...was this record my dad brought

from New York.

- [♪ "T For Texas" playing] - Uh, it was a guy called Jimmie Rodgers,

The Singing Brakeman.

♪ T for Texas, T for Tennessee ♪

♪ T for Thelma ♪

♪ That gal that made a wreck out of me... ♪

I went to see, um,

Rock Around The Clock in the Isle of Man.

My grandparents took me there after I came out of hospital.

- [♪ Music concludes] - And it was just sensational

because, um, they ripped up the cinema,

and this was good for me to see.

[♪ "(We're Gonna) Rock Around The Clock" playing]

♪ When the chimes ring five, six, and seven... ♪

[George] In those days, you know,

they say "beggars can't be choosers",

and we were just desperate. You'd just get anything.

Whatever film came, you'd just try and see it.

♪ ...gonna rock around the clock tonight ♪

- [♪ "Ready Teddy" playing] - ♪ Goin' to the corner ♪

♪ Pick up my sweetie pie ♪

♪ She's my rock and roll baby, she's the apple of my eye ♪

♪ I'm ready... ♪

[Paul] So when Girl Can't Help It came along,

instead of us looking at these old black-and-white movies,

suddenly this was in color, and this was in wide screen.

- [♪ Music concludes] - And there's a famous bit at the mi...

at the beginning of Girl Can't Help It,

where Tom Ewell comes on

and he sort of says, "Okay, now..."

"Widescreen!"

[♪ Orchestral instruments imitate fingers clicking and screen rolling back]

[♪ Orchestral instruments imitate fingers clicking and screen rolling back]

"Color!"

[♪ Strings play pizzicato notes]

Gorgeous lifelike color by DeLuxe.

[♪ "The Girl Can't Help It" orchestral music playing]

[♪ Music concludes]

Sometimes you wonder who's minding the store.

[chuckles]

And you cut to Jayne Mansfield. And that's it. The game's over.

[♪ "The Girl Can't Help It" playing]

♪ If she walks by, the menfolks get engrossed ♪

♪ She can't help it, the girl can't help it ♪

♪ If she winks an eye, the bread slice turn to toast ♪

♪ She can't help it, the girl can't help it... ♪

You know, you went to see those movies

with Elvis or somebody in it

- when we were still in Liverpool... - [♪ music concludes]

...and you'd see everybody waiting to see him, right?

And I'd be waiting there too.

And they'd all scream when he came on the screen.

So we thought, "That's a good job!"

- [♪ "Ready Teddy" playing] - ♪ Ready, ready, ready to rock and roll ♪

[John] When I was a kid, I was a fan of Elvis Presley,

and Little Richard, and Chuck Berry.

I was just interested in the music

and how to do it. How can I do that?

And I studied the records.

What did they sing? How are they doing it?

How do they make this music?

What is it that they're doing that excites me,

that I wanna do it?

When I was 16, I re-established a relationship with me mother

for about four years. She taught me music.

She first of all taught me the banjo.

And from that I progressed to guitar. She...

The first song I learnt was "Ain't That A Shame",

an old rock hit, Fats Domino.

It was a joke in the family,

a guitar's all right for a hobby,

but it won't earn you any money.

Me dad used to be a trumpet player himself,

and for my birthday he once bought me a trumpet

from Rushworth and Dreaper's.

It was one of the music stores in, uh, Liverpool.

But I suddenly figured out that I wouldn't be able to sing

with this thing stuck in me mouth.

So I went back to the shop and traded it in for a guitar.

So that was a Zenith. First guitar I ever had.

I think hearing a little bit of guitar music,

um, made me want a guitar.

I used to be at the back of the class, drawing,

trying to draw guitars,

big cello cutaway guitars with f-holes,

and little solid ones with pointy cutaways,

and rounded cutaways.

And, you know, I was totally into guitars.

And I heard about this kid who had a guitar

and it was three pound ten.

It was just a little acoustic, round-hole type guitar.

And I got the three pound ten off my mother.

That was a lot of money in those days.

I used to look in shops and see drums.

That's all I looked at. I never looked at guitars, or anything.

I bought a 30-bob bass drum, 30 shillings.

Huge mother! Just a huge one-sided bass drum.

And in our area

there used to be lots and lots of parties.

You know, your uncle, who would play banjo,

or the harmonica.

My grandparents played mandolin and banjo...

um... There was always someone playing something.

And so I would play my big drum and drive 'em mad.

But because I was a kid, uh, they'd let me do it.

George and I lived very near each other in Liverpool

so, in fact, we were just a bus stop away from each other.

I'd get on the bus, and then the stop afterwards,

George'd get on.

So, being quite close in age, we'd sit together

and we'd talk about stuff, and that.

So, I suppose I used

to talk down to him a little bit.

It might have been a failing of mine

to tend to sort of talk down to him,

'cause I'd known him as a younger kid.

[George] He was always nine months older than I.

Even now, he's still nine months older than me.

Paul and I used to just kind of get together,

played a bit, but it was... we were just schoolboys then.

There was no groups involved

- till a little bit later. - [♪ "Twist And Shout" playing]

- ♪ Whaah! ♪ - ♪ Yeah ♪

♪ Baby, now ♪

♪ Shake it up, baby ♪

♪ Twist and shout ♪

♪ Twist and shout ♪

♪ Come on, come on, come on, come on, baby, now ♪

♪ Come on, baby ♪

♪ Come on and work it on out ♪

♪ Work it on out ♪

- [♪ music concludes] - [John] Paul met me

the first day I did "Be-Bop-A-Lula" live on stage,

and a f... a mutual friend brought him

to see my group called The Quarry Men.

I had a mate at school who was called Ivan.

Ivan Vaughan.

And we were born on exactly the same day, in Liverpool,

so we... we were great mates. And, uh, one day he said,

"Do you want to come to the Woolton Village Fete?"

So I said, "Yeah, all right."

So we went along one Saturday afternoon.

I remember coming into, uh, the field

where they had the fete, and just a bit over there,

there was a wagon, uh, and on the back of this...

or a little stage or something, on...

up on this stage there was a few lads around.

And there was one particular guy I noticed at the front

- had a sort of checked shirt... - [♪ "Come Go With Me" playing]

...sort of blondish kinda hair, a little bit curly,

sideboards, looking pretty cool, and he was playing,

sort of, one of these guitars guaranteed not to crack,

you know, not a very good one. But, um...

But he was making a very good job of it,

you know, and I remember being quite impressed.

And he was doing a song by The Del-Vikings

called "Come Go With Me".

And the thing about it was,

he obviously didn't know the words,

but he was pulling in lyrics from blues songs.

So instead of going, uh...

♪ Come little darlin', come and go with me ♪

which is right, he'd then go...

♪ Down, down, down to the penitentiary ♪

And he'd be doing sort of stuff he'd heard on

Big Bill Broonzy records, and stuff.

So I thought, "That's clever. That's..."

"He's... He's pretty good." That was John.

[John] And we met, and we talked after the show.

And... And I saw he had talent.

And he was playing guitar backstage,

and doing "Twenty Flight Rock" by Eddie Cochran.

- [crowd cheering] - [♪ "Twenty Flight Rock" playing]

♪ Ooh, well, I've got a girl with a record machine ♪

♪ When it comes to rockin' she's the queen ♪

♪ We love to dance on a Saturday night ♪

♪ All alone where I can hold her tight... ♪

But the thing I think impressed him the most was, um,

I knew all the words.

♪ So I walked one, two flight, three flight, four ♪

♪ Five, six, seven flight... ♪

♪ Eight flight more ♪

♪ Up on the 12th I'm startin' to drag ♪

♪ 15 before I'm ready to sag ♪

♪ Get to the top, I'm too tired to rock ♪

♪ Well, called me up on the telephone ♪

♪ Said, "Come on over, baby, 'cause I'm all alone" ♪

♪ I said "Baby, you're mighty sweet" ♪

♪ "But I'm in bed with achin' feet" ♪

♪ This went on for a couple of days ♪

♪ But I couldn't stay away ♪

♪ So I walked one, two flight, three flight, four ♪

♪ Five, six, seven flight, eight flight more ♪

♪ Up on the 12th I'm startin' to sag ♪

♪ 15 before I'm ready to drag ♪

♪ I get to the top, I'm too tired to rock ♪

[♪ goes into guitar break]

[John] I was the singer and the leader.

Well, I made the decision whether to have him

in the group or not. Was it better to have a...

a guy who was better than the people I had in?

Obviously. Or not?

And that decision was to let Paul in,

to make the group stronger.

- [♪ Music concludes] - [John] And I turned around

to him right then on first meeting and said,

"Do you wanna join the group?"

And I think he said yes the next day.

[♪ "A Day In The Life" final chord playing]

[John] Now, George came through Paul.

[Paul] I said, "Well, I've got... I've got...

I've got this friend who's... who's really good, you know."

And they said, "Well, yeah, like, what?" you know.

And I said, "Well, he can play 'Raunchy' perfectly."

[♪ Singing "Raunchy" riff] "Dow, dow, dow, daga-da, dahn."

- [♪ "Raunchy" (Instrumental) playing] - And we all loved that song.

So we said, "Well, gotta... gotta try him out."

I remember we ended up on the top deck of a bus, empty,

late-night-bus kind of thing, and just us there,

and I just, "Go on, George, get your guitar out. Go on."

You show 'em, man." I thought, you know...

And he got it out. [♪ singing "Raunchy" riff] "Dow, dow..."

Sure enough, note perfect. "Raunchy". "You're in!"

[♪ "Something" (Instrumental) playing]

[♪ Music concludes]

We were together much longer than the public knew us.

You know, it wasn't just from '64.

I was 24 in '64,

and I'd been playing with Paul since I was 15,

and he's very nice...

- [host laughs] - ...and... [chuckles]

...and George about a year later, or something.

So it's a long time we spent together in...

in all the most extraordinary circumstances.

[♪ "That'll Be The Day" playing]

♪ Well, that'll be the day, when you say goodbye ♪

♪ Yeah, that'll be the day, when you make me cry ♪

♪ You say you're gonna leave, you know it's a lie ♪

♪ 'Cause that'll be the day when I die... ♪

[John] The first thing we ever recorded

was "That'll Be The Day", a Buddy Holly song,

and one of Paul's, called, uh, "In Spite Of All The Danger".

And somewhere, it might be around,

it's in Liverpool somewhere, that record,

that's the actual first recording we ever made.

[Paul] I think it was starting to dawn on us

that it would be a good idea, if we could,

to write our own stuff,

'cause there were so many people doing cover versions.

And then I sang "In Spite Of All The Danger",

which is a little self-penned thing

which was very influenced by Elvis.

[♪ "In Spite Of All The Danger" playing]

♪ In spite of all the danger ♪

♪ In spite of all that may be ♪

♪ Ah, ah, ah, ah ♪

♪ I'll do anything for you ♪

♪ Anything you want me to ♪

- ♪ If you'll be true to me ♪ - ♪ Ah, ah, ah, ah... ♪

[John] Everybody hung 'round in this...

in this club in Liverpool called the Jacaranda,

which was near the art school, near Paul and George's school,

in the center of Liverpool.

And so we started hanging 'round there

before we really formed a band, you know,

when there was just me, Paul and George.

The early days, we used to show up at gigs

with just three of us, me, George and John, with guitars.

And the fella who booked us'd say,

"Where's the drummer?"

We'd say, "The rhythm's in the guitars."

[George] We... We once tried to do this audition

for Carroll Levis... There was this guy,

Carroll Levis Discoveries. And the scam, what it was,

was that, you know, everybody'd go on and audition

and then they'd pick out somebody for...

to, you know, out of the auditions, and say,

- "Okay, you, you and you." - [♪ music concludes]

And they'd pick out about probably 20 different acts to go on.

And they'd have an audience,

and then they'd have the Clapometer,

and whoever won would go on into the final,

or come back next week,

and it was just something that kept on going.

We went in for one of those.

So we were going up on the train

from Liverpool to Manchester,

rehearsing what we were going to do,

and only me and George had our guitars.

I think John, he must have sold his,

or bust it, or something. He didn't have his with him.

Okay, there's just the two of us with guitars.

And, as it happened, it looked good,

'cause Paul was, like, left-handed,

and I was right-handed, and still am,

and John was in the middle. And, like, John stood there

with a hand on each shoulder, you know.

[singing "Think It Over"] ♪ Think it over what you just said ♪

♪ Pa, pa, pah... ♪

Me and George, John'd do the lead.

And we were also gonna do "Rave On".

So we went. We did it.

He put his arms around us, and stuff, and it was okay.

We didn't win, as usual.

But I believe that day some unfortunate person in that,

uh, theater was relieved of his guitar.

[♪ "I Feel Fine" first feedback note playing]

[Paul] Stuart was John's friend mainly, from art college.

- [♪ Music concludes] - Stuart was a very good painter.

We were all slightly jealous of John's friendship.

So when Stuart came in,

it was a little bit of a sort of...

he was sort of taking a little bit of that position

away from us.

We sort of had to take a little bit of a, um,

back seat.

[George] The famous story is where he sold his painting

to John Moore Exhibition, or something like that.

[Paul] So the question was, "What do you do with 75 quid?"

So we said, "Do you know, that happens to be"

the exact amount it takes to buy a Höfner bass,

"and that'd be a great thing to spend the money on."

He said, "No, no, I'm a painter.

I've gotta spend it on paints, and suchlike, you know."

We said, "No, Stuart, really."

And John and I kind of gave him quite a sort of persuasive argument

that the best thing to do, obviously,

was to buy this Höfner bass. [Chuckles]

Which he did. He went and did that.

And, um, only trouble was, he couldn't play it.

[George] But it was better to have a bass player who,

uh, couldn't play

than to not have a bass player at all.

[♪ "I'll Follow The Sun" playing]

♪ Well, don't leave me alone out here ♪

♪ Have courage and follow me, my dear ♪

- [♪ "One After 909" playing] - ♪ Well, she says she's travelling ♪

♪ On the one after 909 ♪

♪ I said move over, honey I'm travelling on that line ♪

♪ I said move over once, move over twice ♪

♪ Come on, baby don't be cold as ice ♪

♪ She said she's travelling on the one after 909... ♪

[John] Instead of going to school, I'd go down

to his place, he had a piano.

And if I'd started something, or he'd started something,

we'd say, "Here, I've got this." And he'd say, "I've got this."

And we'd start helping each other write our own songs

like that. So any combination of the two of us writing,

that's how we wrote.

[end of tape]

John and Stuart had this... this flat in a place

called Gambier Terrace,

right near the Liverpool Institute,

near College of Art.

And, uh, I remember one day they came up.

John was all excited, saying,

"Oh, I've thought of this name, The Beatles."

[Ringo] John thought of the name "Beatles",

and he'll tell you about it now.

[John] Well, I had a vision when I was 12,

and I saw a man on a flaming pie, and he said,

"You are Beatles with an A." And we are.

[Neil Aspinall] John put this thing in, um,

The Mersey Beat, right, which was also started

by Bill Harry, who went to art college with John,

just saying that, uh, this little guy appeared

on a flaming pie,

you know, in the sky, and said,

"Let there be Beatles with an A."

[John] I was looking for a name, like The Crickets,

that meant two things,

and from Crickets I got to Beatles.

When you said it, people thought of crawly things.

And when you read it, it was beat music.

You know, I realized by watching The Wild One,

that the band... the... the gang was all called the Beetles.

And here it is now.

You know, I've missed you.

Ever since the club split up I missed you.

We all missed you! Do you miss him?

- [The Beetles] Yeah! Sure! - Yeah. The Beetles missed you.

All the Beetles missed you!

[♪ "From Me To You" outro playing]

- [John's voice echoes] And we are. - [♪ music concludes]

When we started off, um, we had a manager

in Liverpool called Allan Williams,

who was a small bloke, uh, a little sort of high voice,

little Welsh accent he had. "All right, lads?"

He was a great bloke. He was a real good motivator.

He was very good for us at the time, you know.

And we did a tour of Scotland.

It was a pretty pathetic tour. By the end of it we were broke.

We had no money.

We were all cold and freezing and,

you know, just miserable and... and that was it, you know.

We all came back to Liverpool and nothing happened really.

We didn't really know...

I felt really sad 'cause we were like orphans,

or something. We didn't have...

Our shoes were all full of holes,

and our trousers were a mess.

[John] I would say to the others when they were depressed,

or we were all depressed, you know,

thinking that the group was going nowhere

and this is a shitty deal

and we're in a shitty dressing room,

I'd say, "Where are we goin', fellas?"

And they'd go, "To the top, Johnny"

in pseudo-American voices.

And I'd say, "Where's that, fellas?"

And they'd say, "To the top per most of the pop per most."

And I'd say, "Right!"

Then we'd all sort of cheer up.

[George] And then later, Allan came to us and said,

"Okay, lads, you can have this job in Germany.

The only problem is you've got to be five people.

He's asked for a five-piece band."

At that point, Paul was the drummer

because all the drummers didn't show up!

And so, oh, that's right,

I said, "Okay. I remember this guy

who went up to this club, and that we're gonna...

you know, Pete Best. And he had this drum kit for Christmas."

[Paul] He was known on Merseyside

as "Mean, Moody and Magnificent Pete Best".

[John] People who owned drum kits were far

and few between. It was an expensive item.

And they were usually idiots, you know.

We got Pete Best just 'cause we needed a drummer

the next day to go to Hamburg.

He came down to the Jacaranda club.

We did a quick audition with him,

and jumped in the van and went to Hamburg.

[♪ "Roll Over Beethoven" playing]

♪ We're gonna write a little letter ♪

♪ Gonna mail it to my local D.J. ♪

♪ It's a rockin' little record I want my jockey to play ♪

♪ Roll over Beethoven, gotta hear it again today ♪

♪ You know my temperature's... ♪

[Paul] We ended up in Hamburg at... um, very late one night.

We'd got the timing wrong.

There was no one there to meet us,

but we could find Hamburg off the map

but then trying to find St. Pauli,

the little district in the Reeperbahn.

But everyone knew.

[in German accent] "Oh, Reeperbahn, ja, it's dis vay,

you von't miss it," you know, "Keep right aus, and..."

[naturally] Okay. So we went down,

and we found the street and the club,

but it was all closed.

But we were there with no hotel or anything,

and it was now... [pretends to yawn] ...bedtime, you know.

So we managed to shake up someone

from a neighboring club, or something.

They... They found the guy, and he opened the club,

and we slept the first night in the alcoves

on the little red leather seats.

[George] The second night we moved in the Bambi Kino,

and then we were there for ages, like, two months, three months.

Everything else was such a buzz,

you know, being right in the middle

of the naughtiest city in the world at 17 years old.

It was kind of exciting.

And learning, you know, about, well, there's all the gangsters,

and there's the transvestites, and there's the...

You know, it was like that, and there's the hookers.

[Paul] At that time, we were just kids

let off the leash, really,

come straight from Liverpool to Hamburg,

and we were used to these little Liverpool girls.

But by the time you got to Hamburg,

if you... if you got a girlfriend there...

- [♪ music concludes] - ...she was likely to be a stripper,

which was the only kind of people who were around

at the time we were around late at night there. So...

I mean, you'd...

And for someone who'd not really had much sex

in their lives before, which none of us really had,

to be suddenly involved with a sort of hard-core

striptease artist,

who obviously knew a thing or two about sex,

um, was quite an eye-opener.

[♪ "Money (That's What I Want)" playing]

♪ The best things in life are free ♪

♪ But you can keep 'em for the birds and bees ♪

- ♪ Now give me money ♪ - ♪ That's what I want ♪

- ♪ That's what I want ♪ - ♪ That's what I want ♪

- ♪ That's what I want, yeah ♪ - ♪ That's what I want ♪

♪ That's what I want... ♪

[John] In Hamburg, 'cause we had to work

six or seven hours a night...

on stage with no rest...

the waiters always had these pills called Preludin.

And so the waiters, when they'd see

the musicians falling over with tiredness or with drink,

they'd give you the pill.

You'd take the pill, you'd be talking, you'd sober up.

You know, you could work almost endlessly

until the pill wore off, then you'd have to have another.

We used to just be up there frothing, you know,

at the mouth, just foaming,

just stomping away, doing this, so... [laughing]

Those were the days.

[John] We had to play all the tunes for hours

and hours on end, you know.

That's why every song lasted 20 minutes

and had 20 solos in it.

But we'd be playing, like, eight or ten hours a night,

or something.

And that's what improved the playing, you know.

We thought we were the best in Hamburg and Liverpool

before anybody else had heard us.

We thought we were the best!

Just a matter of time before everybody else caught on.

And believing that is what made us what we were.

- [♪ Music concludes] - [Ringo] By the time

we all met up in Germany,

they were playing one club, we were playing another, um,

they were just great by then.

[John] Ringo was a professional drummer

who sang and performed, and had "Ringo Starr Time!"

And he was in the... one of the top groups in Liverpool

before we even had a drummer!

Because we used to do long hours.

We used to do 12 hours in a weekend between two bands,

uh, when we ended up on the same club, and that.

So if they had the last set, I'd sort of be semi-drunk

and demanding they play slow songs.

[George] We made friends with a lot of people.

The ones who became our real friends

were Klaus Voormann, Jürgen Vollmer,

and Astrid, who took

all the famous photographs of us at that period.

Well, she was the one who made us look good.

You know, those early Beatle photographs,

they look fantastic. The Beatles look great.

She was dressed like that, the leather kecks,

you know, and the hair like the Beatle haircuts,

and so they gave us confidence to, like, leave it that way.

[Paul] They weren't really Rockers or Mods,

they were something in the middle.

They called themselves "Exis". Existentialists.

They were art students, really. [Laughs]

[♪ "Red Hot" playing]

♪ My girl is red hot ♪

- ♪ My girl is red hot ♪ - ♪ Ooh! ♪

♪ My girl is red hot ♪

♪ My girl is red hot ♪

♪ She ain't got no money ♪

♪ But, man, she's really got a lot ♪

- ♪ My girl is red hot ♪ - ♪ Hey! ♪

♪ I've got a girl that's six foot four ♪

♪ Sleeps in the kitchen with her feet out the door ♪

♪ My girl is red hot ♪

♪ My girl is red hot... ♪

[George] I was 17 when we first went out

and they had this kind of situation in Germany

which I'd never come across before...

- [♪ music concludes] - ...which was a curfew, um,

and after ten o'clock at night,

anybody who was under 18 had to get out.

And I was only 17, I was sitting in the band

and I kept... started getting worried.

And eventually somebody found out

we didn't have any work permits or visas,

so they started closing in on us.

And the police came one day,

and then they just booted me out.

So the second time we went back when I was 18,

this fella came into the club who was... they said,

"Oh, he's this famous record producer and musician,"

and he was called Bert Kaempfert.

He came in the club,

and I remember this buzz went around,

"We've gotta be good. Play really good.

We may get a chance to record,"

which we did, and we got all pleased with ourselves.

And then we got to the studio

and he just wanted us to, like, back up Tony Sheridan.

I remember feeling a little depressed.

But we did, nevertheless, get to do that "My Bonnie".

[♪ "My Bonnie" playing]

♪ My Bonnie lies over the ocean ♪

♪ My Bonnie lies over the sea ♪

♪ Well, my Bonnie lies over the ocean ♪

♪ Yeah, bring back my Bonnie to me... ♪

[Paul] While we were out there, we started to see other groups,

and stuff, and started to get a little bit dissatisfied

with Pete. Not massively,

but just a little bit of dissatisfaction

- started to creep in. - [♪ music concludes]

[George] I seem to remember him, you know,

starting to not turn up for gigs,

and then we kept getting Ringo in.

Every time Ringo sat in with the band,

it just seemed like this was it.

[Ringo] And this happened three or four times,

and then that was the end.

You know, we were just pals, and we'd have a drink after it,

and then I'd be back with Rory.

[Paul] And round about this time,

Stuart and I got a little bit fraught too.

See, 'cause I... I claim that what I was trying to do

was make sure we were musically very good,

but this did create a couple of rifts,

and I can see now how I could have been more sensitive to it.

But who's sensitive at that age? Certainly not me.

[George] Well, when we first met him,

he couldn't play at all, uh, and he learned a few tunes.

Occasionally, it was a bit embarrassing.

He didn't... You know, if it had a lot of changes to it he was...

But he knew that, too. That's why, you know,

he was never really that at ease being in the band,

and that's why he decided to go back to art college.

At that point, Paul was still playing a guitar,

and I remember saying,

"Well, one of us is going to be the bass player."

"I remember saying, "And it's not me.

I'm not doing it." And John said,

"I'm not doing it either."

[Paul] I got lumbered with it, really.

I didn't wanna be the bass player,

but there was no one left. So I went and got...

I went, uh... Before we left Hamburg,

I went and got, um,

my Höfner bass down in the city center.

[George] He went for it.

[♪ "I'm Down" playing]

♪ You tell lies thinking I can't see ♪

♪ You can't cry 'cause your laughing at me ♪

- ♪ I'm down ♪ - ♪ I'm really down ♪

- ♪ I'm down ♪ - ♪ Down on the ground ♪

- ♪ I'm down ♪ - ♪ I'm really down ♪

♪ How can you laugh when you know I'm down? ♪

- ♪ How can you laugh ♪ - ♪ When you know I'm down? ♪

- [♪ Music concludes] - And then we went back to Liverpool

and got quite a few bookings, you know, they all thought

we were German.

You know, we were billed as "from Hamburg",

and they were all saying, "You speak good English..."

[chuckles] ...you know, things like that.

So we went back to Germany,

and we had a bit more money the second time,

so we bought leather pants

and we looked like four Gene Vincents,

only a bit younger, I think.

Anyway, we got back to Liverpool,

and all the groups there were doing

the sort of Shadows type of stuff.

[♪ "F.B.I." playing]

[George] That's why, you know, we became popular

because they couldn't believe it.

There was all these ♪ Dum, de-dum, de-dum, de-dum ♪

♪ de-diddlee-dum... ♪ [chuckles]

...and then suddenly we come on, wild men in leather suits.

[Neil Aspinall] I think it was Pete Best...

- [♪ music concludes] - ...said to them that, uh, you know,

I would, uh, drive them, uh,

to the gigs and stuff. And, uh, I got...

I think I got a pound a night, or a pound a gig, you know.

Five bob off each of 'em.

You know, they needed transport to get them to the Cavern

and wherever, 'cause they were using cabs at the time.

[John] I mean, on the street in Liverpool,

and unless you were in the suburbs,

yeah, I mean, you had to walk close to the wall, you know?

And to get to the Cavern, you know,

for those of you who remember all that,

it was no easy matter, even at lunchtime sometimes.

I mean, it's a tense place.

[George] We played the Cavern before we ever went to Hamburg,

I believe,

in the days when it was a jazz and folk club.

I seem to remember playing there

and them handing us these notes saying,

"Stop playing this music. This is a jazz club."

[Paul] Had a couple of requests to do a tune

called "Kansas City",

so we'd like to do "Kansas City".

One, two, three...

[♪ "Kansas City" playing]

[Paul] So anyway, we did well at the Cavern

and, uh, attracted some big audiences.

And the word got around.

What had happened was a kid had gone

into Brian Epstein's record store

and had asked for "My Bonnie".

[George] And then he found out

that the Beatles were supposed to be a Liverpool band

and they were playing in the Cavern,

so he went down the street and... and checked us out.

Because I remember Bob Wooler, the disc jockey, saying,

"And we have a Mr. Epstein,

who owns NEMS Enterprises, in here."

And everybody was going, "Ooh! Wow!" you know.

Big, big deal.

♪ ...one more time, whoa, whoa ♪

♪ It's just a-one, two, three, four... ♪

[Brian Epstein] This was quite a new world really for me.

Uh, I was amazed by this sort of dark,

smoky, dank atmosphere

with this beat music playing away.

And, um, the Beatles were then just four lads

- on that rather dimly-lit stage... - [♪ music concludes]

...uh, somewhat ill-clad, and their presentation was,

well, left a little to be desired

as far as I was concerned,

'cause I'd been interested in the theatre

and acting for a long time.

But amongst all that, something tremendous came over,

and, uh, I was immediately struck

by their... their... their music, their beat

and, uh, their sense of humor, actually, on stage.

And even afterwards, when I met them,

I was struck again by their personal charm.

And, uh, it was there that really it all started.

Brian had this shop and, you know, it was good.

We used to get... pick a couple of records,

and he had this big Zephyr Zodiac,

and he wanted to manage us,

and we weren't going anywhere anyway, so,

you know, we said, "Yes, he might as well."

Straight away he got us some jobs,

got us a bit more money

and, um, then started getting us radio shows,

and things like that. And then, you know, as we go ahead,

we got into our suits.

You know, he talked us out of the leather suits.

[Paul] It was a bit sort of old hat anyway,

all wearing leather gear,

and we decided we didn't wanna look sort of ridiculous

just going on, because y... more often than not,

sort of people, too many people'd laugh.

It was just stupid. And we didn't wanna

sort of appear as a gang of idiots.

And Brian suggested that we just sort of wore ordinary suits.

[John] I mean, we cleaned up a bit.

Brian cleaned us up a bit when he discovered us...

or we discovered him, as Paul says.

[Paul] It was later put around that, uh,

I'd betrayed our heavy leather image

that we had at the time, and I wanted us to get suits.

But I seem to recall that we, uh, all went quite happily.

I didn't have to drag anyone there, uh, to the tailors.

They all went quite happily.

[John] You know, Brian put us into suits,

and all that, and we made it very, very big.

But we sold out, you know.

[George] So, you know, we gladly switched into suits,

you know, if it was...

if we were gonna get some more money,

get some more gigs.

[John] Brian was a... a beautiful guy, Brian Epstein,

and he was, uh, an intuitive, theatrical guy,

and he knew we had something. He presented us well.

So Brian contributed as much as us in the early days,

although we were the talent and he was the hustler.

[♪ "Three Cool Cats" playing]

[Neil Aspinall] Yeah, I remember we had to drive down to London

on, uh, New Year's Eve,

because we did, uh, a session for Decca.

You know, an audition for Decca.

♪ Well, up popped that first cool cat ♪

♪ He said, "Man, look at that! ♪"

"♪ Man, do you see what I see?" ♪

♪ Well, now, I want that middle chick ♪

♪ I want that little chick ♪

♪ Hey, man, save one chick for me! ♪

- ♪ Yeah! ♪ - ♪ Three cool chicks ♪

♪ Three cool chicks ♪

♪ Ah-hah! ♪

- [♪ "Bésame Mucho" playing] - ♪ Cha-cha boom! ♪

♪ Bésame, bésame mucho... ♪

[John] And when you hear the tape, it's pretty good.

You know, it's not great, but it's good.

And it's certainly good for then.

[George] Dick Rowe, the man who didn't sign us,

the head of Decca, he said,

"Guitar groups are on the way out, Mr. Epstein."

♪ Cha-cha boom! ♪

♪ Bésame, bésame mucho ♪

♪ Love me forever ♪

♪ And say that you'll always be mine ♪

- ♪ Cha-cha boom! ♪ - [♪ music concludes]

So Brian then had this tape which he hawked around.

[John] If he hadn't gone round London on foot

with the tapes under his arm

and gone from place to place, to place to place,

and finally to George Martin...

we would never have made it,

because we didn't have the push to do it on our own.

And I think it was somebody in the HMV shop on Oxford Street

knew George Martin, and told Brian to go

and play the tape to George Martin,

and then he gave us the audition at, um, Abbey Road.

[♪ "Love Me Do" playing]

[George Martin] And, uh, they came down here

and I spent some time with them,

went through all their stuff, and tried to make up my mind

which was the Cliff Richard of the group, you know.

Because one gets... one was focused,

in those days, on a... a lead singer and a backing group.

And, uh, suddenly realized at the end of it all

that it was nonsense.

It was a group that I had to take as it was.

[John] George had done little of...

no rock and roll when we met him,

and we'd never been in the studio,

so we did a lot of learning together.

He had a very great

musical knowledge and background.

[George Martin] Even though they had, uh,

nothing really behind them,

they were still fairly irreverent even in those days,

which I... which I loved, you know.

I... I... I like a little bit of rebel in people,

and I liked their sense of humor.

After all, that was my main stock-in-trade, too.

And I guess they quite liked what I'd been doing

with Peter Sellers and the Goons,

and that kind of thing. Um, no, I... I don't...

They... They had tremendous charisma.

I knew that that alone would sell them.

[Paul] And we did a reasonable audition, not very good.

But the thing he didn't like was our drummer.

We really started to think we, um,

needed the great drummer in Liverpool.

[Ringo] Uh, it was a Wednesday, and Brian called.

- "Would you join the band?" - [♪ music concludes]

[Ringo] And I said, "What do you mean?" He said,

"No, really join the band."

And I said, "Sure. Yeah. When?" And he said,

"Now!" Well, I said, "No, I can't do that

'cause we've got these other four guys here.

There's... We've got a gig for months

"and, you know, I can't just pull out now and it all end."

So I said, "I'll join you Saturday,"

because we used to have Saturday off,

'cause that's when they used to change the campers.

And so I gave Rory Thursday, Friday, Saturday

to bring someone in, 'cause...

to open again on Sunday, which I thought was giving him

a hell of a lot of time. [Laughs]

And... uh, and that was it.

Historically, it may look like we did something nasty to Pete,

and it may... may have been

that we could have done it better.

But the thing was, as history also shows,

Ringo was the... the member of the band.

It's just that he didn't enter the s... the film

until that particular scene, you know?

[John] I met Paul and said,

"Do you wanna join me band?" you know.

And then George joined. And then Ringo joined.

We were just a band who made it very, very big, that's all.

[announcer] At this midday session at the Cavern,

we proudly present The Beatles.

[crowd cheering]

[♪ "Some Other Guy" playing]

♪ Some other guy now ♪

♪ Has taken my love away from me, oh now ♪

♪ Some other guy now ♪

♪ Has taken away my sweet desire, oh now ♪

♪ Some other guy now ♪

♪ I just don't wanna hold my head, oh now ♪

♪ I'm the lonely one ♪

♪ As lonely as I can feel, all right ♪

♪ Some other guy ♪

♪ You're steppin' on my honey like a yellow dog, oh now ♪

♪ Some other guy now ♪

♪ Has taken my love just like a hog, oh now ♪

♪ Some other guy now ♪

♪ Has taken my love away from me, oh now ♪

♪ I'm the lonely one ♪

♪ As lonely as I can feel, all right ♪

♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪

♪ Some other guy ♪

♪ You're making me very, very mad, oh now ♪

♪ Some other guy now ♪

♪ You've taken the padlock off my pad, oh now ♪

♪ Some other guy now ♪

♪ You took the first girl I've ever had, oh now ♪

♪ I'm the lonely one ♪

♪ As lonely as I can feel, all right now ♪

♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪

♪ I'm a-talkin' to you, right now ♪

[crowd cheering]

- [♪ Music concludes] - [audience member] We want Pete!

We played the Cavern.

There was a lot of fighting and shouting.

Half of them hated me, half of them loved me.

There was a few people there who were shouting,

"Ringo never! Pete Best forever!"

And after about half an hour, I said, "Oh, bugger off"

or something and, uh, stepped out of this...

you know, the Cavern had this... it was three tunnels,

and we stepped out of what was the dressing room

into this dark tunnel, and some guy just, like,

butted me right in the eye.

That was a bad day. And then I walked under a bus.

Got hit by a double-deck bus.

[Ringo] George fought for me.

[John] What I think about the Beatles is that

even if there'd been Paul and John and two other people,

we'd never have been The Beatles.

It had to take that combination of Paul, John,

George and Ringo to make The Beatles.

[George Martin] When Ringo came to the session

for the first time,

nobody told me that he was coming.

Ringo turns up expecting to play,

and I said, "Well, you know, I've been bitten once,

I'm not going to have that. I don't even know who you are."

[Paul] He'd originally told us he wanted another drummer

besides Pete Best. We'd gone away. We'd changed.

We brought the new drummer, the best in Liverpool,

and now he didn't like the new drummer!

I'd already booked Andy White,

and I told Brian Epstein I was going to do this.

I said, "I just want the three others,

and that's fine. We're going to have Andy White,

thank you very much."

And I then I had to find a hit song for them.

The best I could find from them was "Love Me Do".

[Ringo] No, I was devastated! I came down, ready to roll, and,

"We've got Andy White, the professional drummer."

But he's apologized several times since,

has old George Martin.

But it was... it was devastating.

And then we did that, which... which Andy plays on,

and then we did the album, which I play on.

You know, so Andy wasn't doing anything so great.

Well, he wasn't doing anything so great I couldn't copy

when we did the album.

Oh, Ringo, to this day, bears those scars.

He says, you know, "You didn't let me play, did you?"

[♪ "Love Me Do" playing]

[John] Well, "Love Me Do" was one of the first ones

we wrote ourselves, you know, and Paul started writing that

when he must have been about 15.

It was the first one we'd sort of dared do of our own.

♪ Love, love me do ♪

♪ You know I love you ♪

♪ I'll always be true ♪

♪ So please ♪

♪ Love me do ♪

Actually, their first record did very well.

It sold 100,000 copies. That was "Love Me Do".

The best thing was, it came to the charts in two days.

And everybody thought it was a fiddle

because our manager's stores send in these,

- what is it, record things? - [George] Returns.

Returns.

And everybody down south thought,

"Ah, he's buying them himself,

"or he's just fiddling the charts," you know.

But he wasn't.

[Ringo] It was bought by the kids.

I mean, we had a big following.

And who'd had a record? It was...

You know, Arthur Askey was the last one, I think,

out of Liverpool.

♪ Someone to love ♪

♪ Someone like you ♪

♪ Love, love me do ♪

♪ You know I love you ♪

♪ I'll always be true ♪

♪ So please love me do ♪

♪ Whoa, oh, love me do ♪

♪ Love, love me do ♪

♪ You know I love you ♪

♪ I'll always be true ♪

♪ So please ♪

♪ Love me do ♪

♪ Whoa, oh, love me do ♪

♪ Yeah, love me do ♪

♪ Oh, oh, love me do... ♪

[George] We made the record of "Love Me Do".

- [♪ Music concludes] - It went to No. 17,

probably based upon the sales in Liverpool.

EMI was kinda happy to have us back.

"Welcome back, lads!"

[Paul] We were starting to be this group

that had done its own material.

But normally you'd be offered a number of songs

by a publisher, and they'd say,

"Get your boys to do this one. This is a hit."

[John] When we first got in the studio,

they tried to give us other people's songs.

They didn't like ours.

Well, it was quite normal in those days to find material

for artists by going to Tin Pan Alley

and listening to all the publishers' wares.

I mean, that was a regular part of my life.

I'd spend a long time looking for songs.

And the songs that I was looking for

for the Beatles was really a hit song,

it didn't matter, so long as it suited their... the group.

And "Love Me Do", as I say, was the best one

they were able to offer.

The kind of song I was looking for,

I did actually find.

And that was a song by Mitch Murray

called "How Do You Do It?"

And I was convinced this was a hit song.

[John] It forced us to do a version of...

♪ How do you do what you do to me? ♪

♪ I wish I knew... ♪

[chuckles] You know, like that.

And we did record it. Um... John took the lead.

- [♪ "How Do You Do It?" playing] - ♪ How do you do what you do to me? ♪

♪ I wish I knew ♪

♪ If I knew how you do it to me, I'd do it to you ♪

George said, "Well, it's a No. 1 song.

If you want a No. 1, this is it."

We said, "Yeah, but we cannot go back up to Liverpool"

singing that.

- We cannot be seen with that song." - [♪ music concludes]

So we didn't ever issue "How Do You Do It?"

But I did later give it to Gerry and the Pacemakers,

and it did become No. 1.

- [♪ "How Do You Do It?" playing] - ♪ How do you do what you do to me? ♪

♪ I wish I knew ♪

♪ If I knew how you do it to me, I'd do it to you ♪

So George Martin says,

"Well, have you got anything you'd like to do?"

- We said... - [♪ music concludes]

..."We've got a song called 'Please Please Me'."

This is one John had just written,

and it was kind of slow Roy Orbison kind of thing.

[♪ Sings "Please Please Me"] ♪ Come on, jum-jum ♪

♪ Come on, please, please me ♪

Big note at the end, just like Orbison.

[John] And I'd heard Roy Orbison doing

"Only The Lonely" or something, and I was trying to...

[sings falsetto] ♪ Please me... ♪

That's where that came from.

And also I was always intrigued by the words of...

[♪ sings "Please"] ♪ Please, lend your little ears to my pleas... ♪

A Bing Crosby song. I was always intrigued by the...

the double use of the word "please".

And I said, "Okay. We'll give it a whirl.

Let's try your song. Let's see if it works."

- And we did. - [♪ "Please Please Me" playing]

And at the end of that session,

I was able to say to them,

"You've got your first No. 1. Great!"

[crowd cheering]

♪ Last night I said these words to my girl ♪

♪ I know you never even try, girl ♪

- ♪ Come on ♪ - ♪ Come on ♪

- ♪ Come on ♪ - ♪ Come on ♪

- ♪ Come on ♪ - ♪ Come on ♪

- ♪ Come on ♪ - ♪ Come on ♪

♪ Please, please me, whoa, yeah, like I please you ♪

♪ You don't need me to show the way, love ♪

♪ Why do I always have to say, love ♪

- ♪ Come on ♪ - ♪ Come on ♪

- ♪ Come on ♪ - ♪ Come on ♪

- ♪ Come on ♪ - ♪ Come on ♪

- ♪ Come on ♪ - ♪ Come on ♪

♪ Please, please me, whoa, yeah, like I please you ♪

♪ I don't want to sound complaining ♪

♪ But you know there's always rain in my heart ♪

- ♪ In my heart ♪ - ♪ In my heart ♪

♪ I do all the pleasing with you ♪

♪ It's so hard to reason with you ♪

♪ Oh yeah, why do you make me blue? ♪

♪ Last night I said these words to my girl ♪

♪ I know you never even try, girl ♪

- ♪ Come on ♪ - ♪ Come on ♪

- ♪ Come on ♪ - ♪ Come on ♪

- ♪ Come on ♪ - ♪ Come on ♪

- ♪ Come on ♪ - ♪ Come on ♪

♪ Please, please me, whoa, yeah, like I please you ♪

♪ Me, whoa, yeah, like I please you ♪

♪ Me, whoa, yeah, like I please you ♪

[♪ vocalizing]

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

And Bob Wooler got on the stage, telegram in his hand.

"I've got news for you.

The Beatles' record, 'Please Please Me'

has reached No. 1 in the national charts."

And the lads themselves just stopped and looked at him.

You know, they thought he was joking,

he must have been.

You know, that was Paul, "He must be joking."

And there... there were a lot of people

who didn't know the Beatles,

and they all started cheering and clapping.

And there were about three rows of girls at the front,

and every one of us started crying.

It was a terrible night. You know, we knew then,

they'll get famous and they'll go away

and they'll belong to us no more.

[♪ "Leave My Kitten Alone" playing]

♪ You better leave ♪

♪ My kitten all alone ♪

♪ You better leave ♪

♪ My kitten all alone ♪

♪ Well, I told you, big fat bulldog ♪

♪ You better leave her alone ♪

♪ You better leave ♪

♪ My kitten all alone ♪

♪ You better leave ♪

♪ My kitten all alone ♪

♪ This dog is gonna get you ♪

♪ If you don't leave her alone ♪

♪ Well, Mister Dog ♪

♪ I'm gonna hit you ♪

♪ On the top of your head ♪

♪ That child is gonna miss you ♪

♪ You're gonna wish ♪

♪ That you was dead ♪

♪ If you don't leave ♪

♪ My kitten all alone ♪

♪ Well, I told you ♪

♪ Big fat bulldog ♪

♪ You better leave her alone ♪

♪ All right! ♪

♪ Hey, hey, hey, come on! ♪

♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah! ♪

♪ Yeah, yeah! ♪

♪ Well, Mister Dog ♪

♪ I'm gonna hit you ♪

♪ On the top of your head ♪

♪ That child is gonna miss you ♪

♪ You're gonna wish ♪

♪ That you was dead ♪

♪ If you don't leave ♪

♪ My kitten all alone ♪

♪ Oh, yeah ♪

♪ Well, I told you ♪

♪ Big fat bulldog ♪

♪ You better leave her alone ♪

♪ Hey, hey ♪

♪ You better leave ♪

♪ You better leave ♪

♪ You better leave ♪

♪ Yeah, you better leave ♪

♪ You better leave ♪

♪ Oh, you gotta leave ♪

♪ Hey, hey ♪

♪ Well, I told you ♪

♪ Big, fat bulldog ♪

♪ You better leave her alone ♪

[♪ music concludes]