1959
Lennon made a key friend in this quiet period, meeting
and falling in with fellow student Stu Sutcliffe, but little else of
note was happening. It is quite conceivable that the Quarry Men could
have terminated in 1959. The group’s peripheral members all drifted off
to jobs and the like, leaving just Lennon, McCartney and Harrison to
struggle on together (under the temporary collective name, the Japage
3). Their last gig for some time took place in May, and Harrison even
began playing in a different group, the Les Stewart Quartet, leaving
the Quarry Men hanging by a thread.
So far as songwriting was concerned, it was still McCartney leading the way, at least so far as the history books show. It seems the bulk of the group’s early-1959 songs were instrumentals, which is a little curious for members of a band with three singers. It possibly reflects the fact that the group were quiet, McCartney reverting to his early method of writing tunes for his own interest rather than for the Quarry Men to perform. This supports the idea that he and Lennon did not regard songwriting as part of their group activity, and we know that they relied mostly on cover versions until 1962.
So far as songwriting was concerned, it was still McCartney leading the way, at least so far as the history books show. It seems the bulk of the group’s early-1959 songs were instrumentals, which is a little curious for members of a band with three singers. It possibly reflects the fact that the group were quiet, McCartney reverting to his early method of writing tunes for his own interest rather than for the Quarry Men to perform. This supports the idea that he and Lennon did not regard songwriting as part of their group activity, and we know that they relied mostly on cover versions until 1962.
[18] |
michelle (mccartney)
This song started life as a French-tinged instrumental for acoustic guitar. It’s difficult to find an authoritative source confirming when it was written, although it is widely supposed to be circa 1959.
In his autobiography, Many Years From Now, McCartney offers some good circumstantial evidence: “‘Michelle’ was a tune that I’d written in Chet Atkins’ finger-pickin’ style. There is a song he did called ‘Trambone’... I wanted to write something with a melody and a bass line on it, so I did. I just had it as an instrumental in C.” Having connected the song with “Trambone” (1957) he goes on to recall parties held by one of Lennon’s art school teachers, Austin Mitchell: “My recollection is of [wearing] a black turtleneck sweater and sitting very enigmatically in the corner, playing this rather French tune. I used to pretend I could speak French, because everyone wanted to be like Sacha Distel ...” All of this strongly implies “Michelle” was written, or at least begun, while Lennon was a student, pointing mostly at 1959, although the earliest independent evidence of the song is a 1963 home demo. This has surfaced on bootlegs such as The Garage Tapes and has the track in its original instrumental-only state. Another instrumental version is known from 1965, but the song found a permanent home, with the addition of a full lyric, on Rubber Soul. (It seems Lennon recalled those early parties when prompting McCartney to get the song recorded, and the title may even have been derived at that point, from Austin Mitchell’s name.) When covered by the Overlanders in 1966, “Michelle” topped the British singles charts. |
[19]
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cayenne (mccartney)
Another guitar instrumental written by McCartney in early-1959. This is one of several early songs to have been captured on tape during home recording sessions at Forthlin Road in early-1960. By then the Shadows were a big deal, with the Beatles among their fans, and the arrangement captured on tape shows a distinct influence.
As available on bootlegs, “Cayenne” clocks in at more than two minutes, but when it was pulled in for the Anthology project, it was edited down to 1:13. McCartney has referred to the track as “Cayenne Pepper” suggesting that might have been its original name. |
[20]
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hot as sun (mccartney)
Dating to the first half of 1959, “Hot As Sun” sits with McCartney’s period instrumentals. No Quarry Men recording survives, but we do have a snippet from January 24, 1969, where McCartney runs through it on guitar, improvising some garbled lyrics and spoken sections. These are probably made up on the spot, and don’t form part of his original conception for the tune. (The fact that he sings “la, la, la” for much of it implies there are no actual words.)
In the event, McCartney recorded an instrumental version in 1970 for his first solo album. There is a curious footnote, however: in 1980, Tim Rice took up the song and added his own lyric for a recording with Elaine Page. So after the passage of some 21 years, it finally became an orthodox pop song! |
[21] |
looking glass (lennon ?)
This song is an instrumental believed to be from the early part of 1959. There is no recording known, and so details are extremely vague. We know it mainly via McCartney’s letter of 1960 in which he lists it as one of the group’s original compositions.
We can speculatively ascribe it to Lennon thanks to its title, which hints at Lewis Carroll’s Through The Looking Glass, known to have been a favourite of Lennon’s. (The phrase also turns up in one of his later lyrics: “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds”, with its “looking glass ties”.) We came tantalisingly close to obtaining an audio recording during the Get Back sessions. On January 24, 1969, McCartney was running through the early song “Hot As Sun”, when he turned to Lennon to ask how “Looking Glass” went. Lennon replied that he had no idea – but the fact that McCartney didn’t know it, and asked Lennon for a cue, again suggests that it was the latter’s song. McCartney then likens it to “Winston’s Walk” – presumably another of Lennon’s – and plays a snippet of guitar indicative of the general style of the two songs. It’s a real pity that both Lennon and McCartney’s memory failed them, since the exchange was being recorded on tape and the song might otherwise have been preserved in some form. It is, in all probability, now gone for good – although there remains a faint hope that the rumoured 1962 tape will surface (it is supposed to contain a version). |
[22]
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winston's walk (lennon ?)
This song is probably the work of Lennon, whose middle name was Winston. (He was born during a World War II air raid, and given the name in respect of Churchill.) “Winston’s Walk” sounds like something it may have been called informally, which points firmly in Lennon’s direction. (Compare working titles for Beatles songs such as “Don’t Pass Me By” (“Ringo’s Tune”) or “For You Blue” (“George’s Blues”).)
No recording of it has ever been released, but it was apparently taped at Forthlin Road in 1960, and lies unheard on the so-called Charlie Hodgson Tape. It is also one of several tracks rumoured to have been recorded in 1962, but without any evidence. An additional record of the song’s existence is its mention in McCartney’s promotional letter of 1960. McCartney brought the song up in conversation during the Get Back project, on January 24, 1969. His impromptu demonstration of the song’s general style reveals an up-tempo, intricate guitar number, although it must be said that the evidence is slight. Dating the song is speculative, but Mark Lewisohn points to early-1959, which is good enough for us. |
[23] |
like dreamers do (mccartney)
“Like Dreamers Do” was written in early-1959. Years later, McCartney and Harrison noted the similarity of style to Paul Whiteman’s orchestral oldie “I’ll Build A Stairway To Paradise”, suggesting an original influence from McCartney’s father.
The song was played live by the group and became a fan favourite, appearing in their Cavern sets as late as 1962. When the Beatles auditioned for Decca, “Like Dreamers Do” was their opening track, and one of just three self-composed titles on offer that day. Although Decca of course turned them down, Brian Epstein kept a copy of the audition tape and had the songs cut onto a series of 78rpm discs to hawk around the industry. Interestingly, on one of his London trips Epstein managed to get an audience with EMI’s music publishing executive Sid Colman, who took the 78 containing “Like Dreamers Do” over to EMI House to plug it, but could not raise much interest. Nevertheless, the fact that he selected that particular disc shows that he too heard something appealing in the track. As history turned out, it was Colman’s interest in bagging the copyright on the song which eventually resulted in EMI signing the Beatles (see appropriate point in the narrative). Once the group were signed, they would have had plenty of chances to record the track, but curiously, they never did. But in 1964 they met Birmingham group The Applejacks at a television rehearsal, and offered them the song. The Applejacks’ version was released as a single in June 1964 but peaked at a disappointing number 20. The Beatles’ 1962 audition version surfaced on Anthology 1, giving us a definitive take. |
[24]
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i'll be on my way (mccartney)
Another of McCartney’s compositions dating to the first half of 1959. Originally it was a gentle guitar ballad, and it seems it was performed live during 1961 – but in the autumn of 1962, the group roughed it up and filled it out with a stronger arrangement. Lennon though never warmed to it, accounting for its not finding a place in the Beatles’ official EMI discography.
Apparently a decision was made to give it to Billy J Kramer and the Dakotas in early-1963, and an acetate is believed to exist containing a demo by McCartney (and possibly the rest of the group), which was given to Dakota, Mike Maxwell. The Dakotas recorded their version on March 14, but then on April 4, the Beatles themselves performed it for BBC radio, in a recording now available on Live At The BBC. On April 26, the Billy J Kramer version came out on the B-side of their “Do You Want To Know A Secret”, which climbed up to number 2 in the UK charts. Nevertheless, we should view the Beatles’ own BBC recording as the definitive document. |
[25]
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i'll follow the sun (mccartney)
To a large extent written in early-1959, in the parlour at McCartney’s Forthlin Road home, this composition survives on one of the 1960 tapes recorded in that same house. There, it is a choppy, though not actually rocking, group number.
Even in this rudimentary form, years before the song was made famous, it is essentially presented in its finished form, although the middle-8 would eventually be altered somewhat by its author. (The underlying chords were in place in 1960, but the vocal lines needed work and were eventually changed.) It was performed live in Quarry Men days but it seems the group considered its style to be at odds with their harder public image, causing it to fall out of favour during the early Beatlemania days. It was eventually brought to the studio on October 18, 1964, for inclusion on Beatles For Sale, in the format we know and love. Before the LP was issued, they taped it again at the BBC, in a version now available on the On Air album, released in 2013. The ‘hard-image’ explanation for why the track was left dormant for several years is difficult to accept for a group which had meantime recorded numbers such as “Till There Was You” and “A Taste Of Honey”. Other early songs such as “Ask Me Why” and “PS I Love You” were hardly wild rockers either! |
[26]
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love of the loved (mccartney)
Mark Lewisohn dates this song to the first half of 1959, and his supporting details are convincing. McCartney devised the song on his acoustic, during a night-time walk home. (He is said to have often burst into song on such occasions if he had his guitar with him.) His girlfriend of 1959, Dot Rhone, has corroborated this by stating that McCartney told her the song was written in her honour, which makes sense chronologically – except that Pete Best would state the song was written just prior to the group’s Decca audition, meaning that by his reckoning, it dates to late-1961.
On balance, the first account is probably the more reliable. Pete Best’s confusion might stem from the fact that “Love Of The Loved” apparently only appeared in the group’s stage act towards the end of 1961; he may not have known it was an oldie, and assumed it had just been written. In any case, it quickly found favour and was selected as one of just three originals in the group’s Decca session of January 1962, a recording from which survives. The Beatles themselves could have recorded it for Please Please Me in February 1963, but passed it by. It seems the song was instead considered suitable for other artists, landing with Cilla Black just as Brian Epstein was agreeing management terms with her. For Black’s benefit, McCartney recorded a demo on guitar which is apparently lost. She recorded the song with McCartney’s help on August 28, and on release as her debut single, it made the UK charts (albeit peaking at a modest number 35). The Beatles’ Decca version is the only one by the group. For reasons unclear, when the Decca tapes were (semi-) officially released, the three Lennon-McCartney songs were left off. The other two (“Like Dreamers Do” and “Hello Little Girl”) subsequently made the Anthology collection, leaving “Love Of The Loved” the only track from the day still commercially unavailable, although it had inevitably been bootlegged several times. The situation was resolved to some extent when the previously unissued “Love Of The Loved” fell out of protection after 50 years in the can, allowing it to finally surface legally on the double LP, I Saw Her Standing There in 2013, on the Rock Melon label. |
[27]
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GEORGE'S INTR (HARRISON ?)
This song is known from the group's listed repertoire, and is one of several instrumentals in the list. There is literally nothing else known, but it is possible (with due regard to the known songwriting history) that Harrison devised it himself. If not, it's likely Lennon or McCartney wrote it and, as the lead guitarist in the band, Harrison was the one who played it.
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[28]
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winston'S--STUART (Lennon ?)Another title known only via the 1959 repertoire listing. This could be "Winston's Walk", with a note indicating Stuart had some sort of key role in performing it, or it could be something else completely. Possibly it's a Lennon-Sutcliffe co-write! It's impossible to deduce any further details, other than it was listed as an instrumental tune.
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The Quarry Men would quite possibly have collapsed in mid-1959, had it not been for one key event: the opening of the Casbah Coffee Club – and even then it was luck which brought them their opening. The club was owned and run by Mona Best – mother of Pete – who had Harrison’s other group, the Les Stewart Quartet, lined up for the opening night, and an ongoing residency.
A week before the club was due to open, The Les Stewart Quartet had a fatal falling out, but Harrison recognised an opportunity worth seizing. He contacted Lennon and McCartney and had them offer their services as a replacement band at the Casbah. (Harrison brought with him yet another guitarist, Ken Brown, from his other group.)
No audio remains of the Quarry Men from this period, but with four guitarists and no drums or bass, they must have sounded pretty rough! In the event, the Casbah residency brought the group back from the brink, and gave them a regular Saturday night booking to focus their energies.
A week before the club was due to open, The Les Stewart Quartet had a fatal falling out, but Harrison recognised an opportunity worth seizing. He contacted Lennon and McCartney and had them offer their services as a replacement band at the Casbah. (Harrison brought with him yet another guitarist, Ken Brown, from his other group.)
No audio remains of the Quarry Men from this period, but with four guitarists and no drums or bass, they must have sounded pretty rough! In the event, the Casbah residency brought the group back from the brink, and gave them a regular Saturday night booking to focus their energies.