Deconstructing the Beatles

- Did you know that America almost missed out on the Beatles?

Back in 1963, when Beatlemania was spreading across the world, most of us in the USA didn't have a clue about the Fab Four.

Thankfully, that would all change in December of 1963.

All it took was a little help from a former sports reporter and a 15-year-old girl from Washington DC.

Welcome to "Deconstructing the Beatles."

The Beatles come to America.

(upbeat music) Hi, I'm Scott Freiman.

I have been fascinated by the music of The Beatles all my life, and over the last 20 years I've been sharing insights into the Beatles creative process.

- [Person] 1, 2, 3, 4.

- The Beatles are so well known and their music is so pervasive, that it's hard to imagine a time when America did not know who the Beatles were.

Back in 1963, it would've seemed absurd that a British band from a poor town most Americans had never heard of would win the hearts and minds of Americans and forever change popular music.

Yet these four boys barely out of their teens, were somehow able to win over America in a way that no previous foreigners had ever done before.

Let's begin by rewinding back to the early 1960s.

the Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and later Ringo Star had started playing in bands in the late '50s.

After countless hours honing their craft in the depths of Liverpool's Cavern Club and gritty venues in Hamburg, St. Pauli District, they had evolved into exceptional musicians and captivating performers.

And unlike most of their contemporaries, the Beatles, specifically Lennon and McCartney, were also songwriters.

In 1961, the manager of the NMS record store in Liverpool, Brian Epstein heard about the Beatles from his customers and went down the street to the Cavern Club to check out one of their lunchtime performances.

He instantly fell in love with the group.

He offered to manage them and to get them a record contract.

After most labels passed on recording the Beatles, they were finally signed to Parlophone Records by producer George Martin.

He supervised the recording of their songs, including their chart topping hit "Please Please Me."

By the end of 1963, the Beatles had two number one albums in their home country, plus four number one singles penned by Lennon and McCartney.

Along with the growing popularity of the Beatles, was the spread of Beatlemania.

It was pandemonium that no one had ever seen before, and it followed the Beatles wherever they went.

Except the one place they had yet to conquer: America.

By the fall of 1963, Lennon and McCartney had perfected the art of writing a hit single, and their new song, "I Want to Hold Your Hand," was another guaranteed smash.

Let me show you a few things that make the song so memorable.

Lennon and McCartney wrote, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" sitting eyeball to eyeball in the basement apartment of Paul's then-girlfriend, Jane Asher.

The recording has a dual vocal from John and Paul, as well as strong performances from the entire band.

The record seems to explode right out the gate with a repeated phrase that sets up the first verse.

(bright piano music) Oh yeah, I - "I Want to Hold Your Hand" is the first song that The Beatles recorded using four-track technology.

This made it easier for them to add overdubs, like the hand claps that help add energy to the verses.

The idea may have come from, "Please, Mr. Postman," the Marvelettes song that the Beatles recorded around the same time as, "I want to Hold Your Hand."

The hand claps and postman use this pattern.

Wait.

Oh yes, wait a minute, Mr. Postman - The Beatles add one additional clap.

So it sounds like this one.

Yeah, I'll tell you somethin' - The music seems more subdued in the bridge as Ringo switches from the ride cymbal to a high hat, and John and Paul harmonize, "When I touch you, I feel happy inside."

But suddenly their feelings burst out and those intro chords repeat.

"I can't hide, I can't hide, I can't hide."

I can't hide, I can't hide, I can't hide Yeah, you got that something - John and Paul were masters at writing a catchy intro on an infectious melody and a dramatic bridge, but they also excelled at creating surprising endings.

For "I Want to Hold Your Hand" they used two tricks.

First of all, they could have just ended the song the way the other verses ended.

(light piano music) But instead, they surprise us with a second ending.

I want to hold your hand I want to hold your hand - Now that's pretty great, and they could have ended the song right there.

But their final trick is to extend the last chord with a series of triplets that delay the final note of the song.

I want to hold your hand I want to hold your hand - "I Want to Hold Your Hand" shows The Beatles uncanny ability to create a catchy song full of energy, excitement, and surprises.

It's no wonder that "I Want to Hold Your Hand" shot to the top of the British pop charts.

Back in England, the Beatles manager, Brian Epstein was getting frustrated.

He was convinced that the Beatles could be successful in America, but try as he might, he was unable to get Capitol, EMI's American affiliate, to release any Beatles music.

Brian turned to a friend for advice, Peter Pritchard.

Pritchard was a British music promoter as well as a talent coordinator for a former sports-reporter-turned-talk-sho, Ed Sullivan.

On Sunday nights in the United States, families all across the country gathered around their TV sets to watch "The Ed Sullivan Show."

If you wanted to break an act in America, "The Ed Sullivan Show" was the way to do it.

Sullivan had actually encountered the Beatles back on October 31st, 1963 when he and his wife were changing planes in London's Heathrow airport, just as the Beatles were arriving back from Sweden.

The myth is that he decided to book the Beatles on the spot after seeing Beatlemania firsthand at the airport.

The truth is a little more complicated.

The true story is that Peter Pritchard had already tried to convince Sullivan to book the Beatles, but since no English musical groups had broken through in America, they weren't considered for a booking.

Now, Epstein was planning a trip to America in November of 1963, and Prichard offered to set up a meeting with Sullivan.

But first Prichard needed to persuade Sullivan to take the meeting.

Remembering the Beatles appearance at the Royal Variety Show earlier that month, he tells Sullivan that the Beatles are the first long-haired boys to perform for the Queen of England.

That convinces Sullivan to take the meeting.

Now, Pritchard had twisted the story just a little bit.

The Beatles had performed for the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret, but not the Queen.

But luckily, Sullivan trusted Pritchard and agreed to meet with the Beatles manager.

Epstein and Sullivan meet at the Delmonico Hotel on November 11th, and they hit it off, continuing their meeting over a dinner the next day.

By the end of their dinner, the two men have agreed that the Beatles will appear on "Sullivan's" February 9th, 1964 show live from New York, and then the following week on a special remote show broadcast live from Miami Beach.

They will also pre-tape a third appearance to air on February 23rd.

As was often the case with Epstein's negotiations, the deal was sealed with a handshake.

Sullivan offered the Beatles a measly $3,500 for each show, but Epstein was thrilled to accept it along with fees to cover the group's transportation and lodging.

For Sullivan, it was a $10,000 gamble, since at the time of the agreement, the Beatles were virtually unknown in America.

With the Sullivan deal struck, and "I Want to Hold Your Hand" riding high on the British pop charts, Epstein finally decided to call the president of Capitol, Allen Livingston.

He explained that the Beatles were going to be appearing on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in February, and it was ridiculous that the music wasn't on Capitol.

Finally, Livingston agreed to release "I Want to Hold Your Hand" on Capitol in mid-January, just before the were to appear on "The Ed Sullivan Show."

Remarkably, Epstein also got Livingston's agreement to spend $40,000 promoting the single, an unprecedented sum to spend on marketing a pop act in those days.

Now as fate would have it, Capitol wouldn't be able to wait until January.

Not long after Epstein shook hands with Sullivan, a news clip on the Beatles was broadcast on CBS, the afternoon of November 22nd.

The report was supposed to air again later that day, but just hours after the feature on the Beatles was broadcast, Walter Cronkite was on the air informing the country that President Kennedy had been shot in Dallas.

So it wasn't until December 10th, that CBS rebroadcast their story on the Beatles.

Watching the show that night was Marsha Albert, a 15-year-old girl from Silver Spring, Maryland.

That evening she wrote a letter to WWDC in Washington asking why they weren't playing Beatles music on the radio.

Well, they weren't playing it because no major label had released it yet.

WWDCs disc jockey Carroll James decided to take matters into his own hands.

He arranged to have a single of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" brought back from Britain by a flight attendant he knew.

When the single arrived, he invited Albert on the show to introduce the song.

- [Carroll] So Marsha Albert of Dublin Drive of Silver Spring has the honor of introducing something brand new and exclusive here at WWDC.

Marsha, the microphone here on the Carroll James show is yours.

- [Marsha] Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time on the air in the United States, here are the Beatles singing "I Want to Hold Your Hand."

- After that initial broadcast, the WWDC switchboard lit up with requests for the song.

Soon, "I want to Hold Your Hand" was being played all the time on the station.

While it didn't take long for Capitol to learn that a Washington station had jumped the gun by playing, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" on the air four weeks prior to its scheduled release date, Capitol telephoned WWDC and requested that the single be pulled off the air.

But the station refused.

After all, there was an enormous demand to hear it.

Realizing that they could not stop the radio station from playing the record and believing that it was just an isolated incident, Capitol decided to press a few thousand copies of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and Send them to the Washington area.

Well, that strategy might have worked had WWDC opted to keep their exclusive.

But Carroll James sent a tape of the song to a disc jockey buddy of his in Chicago, who then played it on his show.

Then a St. Louis disc jockey started playing it on his show, and suddenly, with Christmas less than a week away, stations in three major markets were playing "I Want to Hold Your Hand."

At the time these unauthorized copies of the song were circulating among the nation's disc jockeys, teenagers were out of school for the Christmas holiday and they were all spending their time listening to the radio.

So they all wanted to buy this Beatles music that they were hearing.

Capitol quickly came to the realization that it was too late to put the genie back in the bottle.

Since Capitol's business was to get records played on the radio, it made no sense to try and halt airplay just because the record scheduled release was weeks away.

Instead, they got all their factories to work overtime producing the 45, and they even enlisted RCA and Decas Pressing Plants to manufacture additional copies.

"I Want to Hold Your Hand" backed by "I saw Her Standing There" was officially released the day after Christmas, 1963, and it quickly went to number one on the US charts.

As Livingston had promised, Capitol created a large marketing campaign around the Beatles with radio and print ads and in-store displays.

They even sent instructions to record store staff to put on their Beatles buttons and wear their Beatles wigs.

Capitol also pushed forward the release of the Beatles first American album, "Meet the Beatles."

They pushed it up to January 20th, 1964.

The album sold over 3.5 million copies within two months of its release outselling the "I Want to Hold Your Hand" single.

This would mark a big change in the music business, since it showed that they were huge profits to be made in rock albums, not just singles.

As 1964 began and Beatlemania exploded across America, the Beatles arrived at the recently renamed JFK airport for their "Ed Sullivan" appearance.

On February 7th, as the Beatles flew towards New York, radio stations were broadcasting hourly reports of the group's impending arrival, several thousand teenagers playing hooky from school, as well as quite a few adults, rushed to JFK to meet the Beatles plane.

Only moments after arriving, the Beatles gave their first American press conference.

Immediately, their humor and their personalities win over the press.

- Can we please have quiet?

(people yelling) - Let the feasting begin!

- Unless you keep quiet, we can't even have a press conference.

Will you please shut up?

- [Person] Will you tell the Murray K to cut that crap out?

- [The Beatles] Cut that crap out!

- Hey, Murray?

- [Person] Is that a question?

- There's a question there.

- [Person] How many are bald that you have to wear those wigs?

- All of us.

- I'm bald.

- [Person] You're bald?

- Oh, we're all bald, yeah.

- Don't tell anyone, please.

- And deaf and dumb too.

- The next day, Saturday, February 8th, it's dress rehearsal day.

Unfortunately, George Harrison has strep throat and a temperature of 104 degrees.

His sister Louise, who had come into town to visit George, stayed with him in his hotel room, giving him his medicine every hour.

At 1: 30 PM, The Beatles minus George traveled by limousine to CBS Studio 50 for the first of several rehearsals for their debut appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show."

During the journey, their cars were charged by fans.

10 mounted police and 52 officers were stationed at the studio while the Beatles were inside.

At the studio, the Beatles had to have people sit in for George, while the director rehearsed camera positions for the show.

Notice also the set.

This was the original backdrop.

Colored lights were supposed to change while the Beatles played.

Now Sullivan rarely came into the studio on weekends, but this Saturday he decided to show up to pose for the reporters who were there covering the Beatles.

When he saw the set, he demanded a change.

Everyone knew who the Beatles were, he said, so there was no need to show their name.

His team quickly replaced the set with one made up of arrows pointing towards the stage.

Finally, the day of the show arrived.

George was given a shot of antibiotics and a lot of amphetamines, and the Beatles headed to the studio.

First on the agenda, the Beatles recorded "Twist and shout," "Please Please Me" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand."

This was for the pre-taped segment that would be broadcast on February 23rd.

After that, they were ready for the live show.

The song they opened with was a highlight of the just released "Meet the Beatles" album, "All My Loving."

"All My Loving" has some incredibly difficult parts that The Beatles played perfectly in front of the massive TV audience.

Paul sang beautifully while simultaneously playing a walking bass.

John strummed rapid fire guitar triplets without missing a beat, da da da.

George Harrison, still sick with the flu, flawlessly executed the song's rockabilly guitar solo.

And behind them all was Ringo switching his sticks against the cymbals with a huge smile on his face.

It was an amazing way to open their first appearance on American television.

Here they are, the Beatles.

- Ladies and gentlemen, the Beatles.

(audience cheers) Close your eyes and I'll kiss you - [Scott] Lennon's fast-paced rhythm triplets may have been influenced by the Crystals' current US hit, "Da Do Ron Ron."

Ringo pees his high hats with his trademark swing.

And I'll send all my lovin' to you - [Scott] You'll notice there were only two microphones for the three vocalists.

So John and George share one for their backing vocalists.

All my lovin', darlin, I'll be true - George is playing his solo on a 1963 Gretsch Chet Atkins country gentleman guitar.

(audience cheers) The Beatles followed up their performance of "All My Loving" with their cover of "Till There Was You," a song from "The Music Man" that had been a hit for Peggy Lee and was probably chosen to appeal to the adults watching the program.

Finally, the Beatles played "She Loves You," a song that had sold fewer than 1,000 copies when it was released in America in September, 1963.

Soon it would be number one on the Billboard singles chart.

The Beatles' first appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show" had 73 million viewers, the largest television audience ever for a TV show, until the finale of "Mash" in 1983.

In just a few months, the Beatles had gone from complete unknowns in America to a phenomenon that the country had never seen before.

Just two months after the first Ed Sullivan broadcast, the Beatles would occupy the top five positions of the Billboard Hot 100 chart with seven other songs in this hot 100, and The Beatles were just getting started.

That summer, they would release their first feature film, "A Hard Day's Night," growing their fan base even further.

Beatlemania had finally conquered America, and we would never be the same.

(cheerful music) (cheerful music continues) (dramatic music)