When They Were Boys (10 page)

“The records that John ordered were ones by the harder-edged R&B artists such as Dr. Feelgood, Inez & Charlie Foxx, Bobby Blue Bland, James Ray, and Rufus Thomas. George went for the Coasters and Ben E. King. Ringo wanted everything in the catalog, particularly the most obscure gospel albums. They all wanted Tamla Motown records which hadn't been released in this country.”

“What about Paul?” I ask.

“Well,” he says, “that's a story that comes a bit later.”

W
HEN THE RECORDS ARRIVED FROM THE
S
TATES
, I
RANG
J
OHN AND HE SAID THEY THAT WERE PLAYING AT THE
F
LORAL
H
ALL
, S
OUTHPORT, THE
FOLLOWING WEEK
. A
S
I
LIVED ACROSS FROM THE
F
LORAL
H
ALL THEY AGREED TO COME TO MY HOUSE AFTER THE SHOW AND HAVE SOME SUPPER AND COLLECT THEIR RECORDS
. T
URNS OUT IT WAS THE DRAMATIC DAY WHEN THEY DISCOVERED THAT THE
B
EATLES WERE INVITED TO THE
R
OYAL
V
ARIETY
P
ERFORMANCE
[
IN
N
OVEMBER
]. T
HAT
, L
ARRY, WAS AS BIG AS IT GOT
. T
HE ROYAL FAMILY WOULD BE THERE, AND SO WOULD EVERY PRESSMAN IN THE WORLD
. I
T WAS HUGE
. I
WENT BACKSTAGE AT THE
F
LORAL
H
ALL AND WE AGREED THAT, WITH ALL THE EXCITEMENT
, I
WOULD DELIVER THE RECORDS LATER
. J
OHN
, G
EORGE, AND
R
INGO ADDED SOME NEW TITLES TO THEIR LIST, BUT
P
AUL SAID NOTHING
.

Ellis is a keen observer. A man who understands the nuances of human behavior, he was, even as a young man, fascinated by the dressing-room behavior of artists, which in the case of the 1963 Beatles was telling. He saw them backstage twice: once in Southport, and then at the Odeon in Liverpool for the group's triumphant Christmas concert in December 1963. It was there that he finally delivered the records to John, George, and Ringo.

A
ND WHEN
I
WENT IN, THEY WERE ALL IN THE DRESSING ROOM AND
P
AUL
M
C
C
ARTNEY WAS MINCING ABOUT, IMITATING
B
RIAN
E
PSTEIN
, “O
H, 'ELLO
, B
RIAN,” AND THIS SORT OF THING, TAKING THE PISS OUT OF HIM
. G
EORGE WAS A QUIET PERSON
; J
OHN WAS VERY PLEASED TO GET HIS RECORDS
; R
INGO WAS, WELL, LET ME TELL YOU WHAT HAPPENED
. B
ILLY
J. K
RAMER AND THE
D
AKOTAS WERE ON THE BILL AT THE TIME AND THEY'D HIDDEN
R
INGO'S
P
OLO SWEATER
. A
ND THEY MADE HIM CRAWL AROUND THE ROOM AND BEG BEFORE THEY'D GIVE IT BACK TO HIM
.

“They . . . liked him?” I ask.

“Oh yeah, they were just joking with him, you know?

S
O
I
LOOKED AT
M
C
C
ARTNEY AND
I
THOUGHT
, “T
HIS IS SOMEBODY WHO'S ON A DIFFERENT LEVEL
.” J
OHN WAS IN IT, YOU KNOW, FOR THE LAUGHS AND THE MUSIC AND THE BIRDS
[
WOMEN
]
AND EVERYTHING
. R
INGO WAS ENJOYING THE RIDE . . . HE WAS LUCKY; SUDDENLY NOW HE'S A NATIONAL STAR, YOU KNOW
? J
OHN LOVED ALL THE MUSIC AND FUN, BUT YOU FELT
M
C
C
ARTNEY'S ON A DIFFERENT LEVEL HERE—HE'S A
BUSINESSMAN, PLAYING AS A MUSICIAN
. T
HAT'S THE IMPRESSION
I
GOT
. H
E WAS VERY SUPERCILIOUS
.

I
THINK HE CAN SEE THE BIG PICTURE, HE CAN SEE WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN TO THE
B
EATLES, AND HE WANTS TO BE IN THERE MAKING SURE HE CONTROLS IT
.

Ellis, who was a fan and curious observer, saw many of the boys' earlier concerts, and with those, got a good sense of their dynamics.

G
EORGE
, I
THINK, WAS AN AMIABLE SORT
. A
ND
I
THINK
G
EORGE WAS AS TALENTED A SONGWRITER AS
M
C
C
ARTNEY AND
L
ENNON WERE, BUT HE NEVER GOT THE OPPORTUNITY
. G
EORGE
, I
THINK, WAS JUST AS TALENTED BUT HE MOVED IN A DIFFERENT DIRECTION
. A
ND
I
THINK HE WAS HALTED BY THE
B
EATLES BECAUSE HE WOULD HAVE PROBABLY BEEN BETTER WITH OTHER MUSICIANS, WHICH HE EVENTUALLY DID, AND THEN THE WORLD SAW
G
EORGE'S REAL TALENT
.

M
C
C
ARTNEY WAS THE BUSINESSMAN
. I
THINK HE WAS THINKING, LIKE
, “W
E'VE GOT A GOOD THING GOING HERE
, I
WANT TO BE IN CHARGE OF THIS
.”

While listening to Ellis talk, I had a flashback to Mal Evans's comments to me, both in Nassau and in Britain, in 1968, about the talents of George Harrison. You will meet Mal later in this book, and in a very personal way.

“You want to know the truth?” asks Ellis. “The truth is that John is the leader Beatle, George is the deep-thinking Beatle, Ringo is the fun Beatle, and Paul is the cute one. But Paul, when it comes to business and those things, Paul was the shrewd Beatle. But I tell you, Larry, that George . . . well, is very talented . . . very.”

Mal knew the inside of the group more than anyone. And researcher Ellis has deeply delved into the idea that Paul and John were controlling George's destiny as early as 1962.

“Lennon and McCartney were controlling what was said,” Ellis tells me. “‘We'll give George a song; we'll give Ringo a song.' I think they put George in the category of Ringo. A song for Ringo, a song for George.”

The sense of Paul's quiet ambition and manipulative powers were shared by
both Beatles press officers, Derek Taylor and Tony Barrow, who play a pivotal role later in this saga. But my own dressing-room experiences, in 1964, were different. Paul never grimaced in my presence. In fact, he “cracked up” at some of my questions. He did, by his comportment, show an aversion to any sort of controversy. He treated Epstein with respect in public, but privately complained to John whenever he believed Epstein was too controlling.

Ron Ellis, in addition to his work in music, is also a deeply respected football (soccer) writer with a keenly developed intuition on team dynamics. Today he teaches adult education courses in music, with one course being dedicated to the Beatles. His stories on the boys are intriguing, along with his analysis of the early group dynamics that flowered into super success, and eventually, contributed to the group's disintegration. But one can argue that the group's breakup was not the end, but just the beginning of the road from early stirrings to enormous success, worldwide domination, and eventually, a state of idolatry and musical immortality.

The Quarrymen—More to the Story

“
Out of this rock, you will find truth
.”

—Motto of the Quarry Bank School

“
We were crap, really, just crap
.”

—Colin Hanton, on his assessment of the band's talent level

Before Paul, George, Stu, Pete, and Ringo joined John to form the Beatles, there were the fascinating Quarrymen.

The students and some of the early buddies at the Quarry Bank middle school who joined John Lennon to form the original lineup of the Quarrymen—Pete Shotton, Eric Griffiths, Rod Davis, Len Garry, and Colin Hanton—in their legend have more than compensated for the memories of John's malicious academic malpractice. The surviving Quarrymen today find solace and gratification in the fact that they were the pre-Beatles and helped John achieve at least the earlier part of his destiny. They knew that John was a little “off-balance,” as former drummer-boy Hanton would say, but they
also knew that his recklessness and vigor for danger was also an asset, especially when he had to make a fast escape.

Hanton's buddy to this day, Rod Davis—scholar, senior pro surfer, and perhaps the intellectual of the group—remembers how the school they attended shaped their future.

“What we [in England] call public school is a paying school. What you [in America] call public school, anybody can go to. We had a good time, studied hard—at least some of us did.”

Quarry Bank was filled with teenagers with dreams. It was a school with strict behavioral standards. That made it a great challenge for John Lennon, who relished his role as troublemaker. But he was also a world-class teenage organizer, recruiting other musicians to join his band. With their washboards, drums, and tea-chest bass, and the nervy leader at the helm, the boys from Quarry Bank performed whenever they were asked. There was very little money, just the pride of a scraggly band of teenage musical novices.

The modern-day views of the Quarrymen are filled not with melancholy, but with a sense of wonder about the history they didn't realize they were making.

“I mean, it was great being on stage in front of all your friends,” Davis recollects, “and, you know, Auntie, Grandmother, and all this kind of thing. It's of quite more significance over the years because, you know, we realized later on how important it was . . . although none of us really wake up and wish we were a Beatle.”

That importance is shared by many of the Quarrymen, but Davis offers a rare admission.

“You know, I'm really not a Beatles fan. But I am proud of the early times with John and especially of all the fun we had in our reunions over the years.”

Len Garry, who became an architect, is an introspective man who occasionally offers some frank dialogue about that period, and enjoys the reunions. He has a different perspective.

“At the time, I thought I had talent. Still do, my friend. I can still sing well,” he says.

I can attest—Garry
can
carry a tune, and his stage presence is marvelous.

He laments, “I mean, I could have made it.”

He smiles broadly.

“But the truth is: I didn't. So the end result is I get to be with my friends and travel the world fifty years later.”

The trio of Davis, Garry, and Hanton are the remaining touring Quarrymen. Although Garry has pride in his early work, drummer Hanton doesn't see it that way. He takes you back to the day with a startling reality check, deflating the ballooning romanticism attributed by many, including me, that the Quarrymen were an important step on the road to the Beatles.

“First of all, Larry, we were crap, just crap,” Hanton admits. “We were sweating our brains out, we were so nervous. I am talking about layers of perspiration. We were not all that close, although some of us became closer in time. I think the main misconception is how the Quarrymen felt when John left to form the Beatles. Of course, he didn't leave the Quarrymen to form the Beatles. . . . Different people came and went from the Quarrymen. It just evolved after he left the Quarrymen. He had no intentions of forming another band, I don't believe.”

Ironically, Hanton, the Quarryman who played longest with John, has the dimmest impression of those days, especially after Davis left the band, with little fanfare.

“No, it didn't upset me [when Davis left]. I was right there with John, Paul, and George right up to early 1959, but the experts told me late 1958. Then I left. I had had enough. I walked out after one drunken session—we blew our chance, I believe. We didn't even have our own car. We had to carry our own equipment, drums and everything, on public transport. Eventually I had enough. We weren't going anywhere.”

I ask, “In terms of the relationship that . . . you [and John] had, and that Len had with John, was it a buddy relationship, or was it just an association? Were you close friends? Did he like you?”

“If he didn't [like you], you knew it,” Hanton says.

H
E EITHER TALKED TO YOU OR HE DIDN'T
. . . . I
NEVER CONSIDERED THAT WE WERE BUDDIES, BUT THAT WE PLAYED TOGETHER
. W
E WERE FRIENDLY, THOUGH
. H
E TOOK ME TO MEET HIS MOTHER—NOT
M
IMI, BUT
J
ULIA—WHICH CAME AS A SURPRISE
. H
E WAS LIVING WITH
M
IMI, BUT WE NEVER
KNEW
[J
ULIA
]
AS HIS MOTHER
; J
ULIA WAS MORE LIKE HIS BIG SISTER THAN HIS MUM
. A
ND YES, SHE WAS VERY GOOD-LOOKING, PLEASANT, AND FUN-LOVING
. A
ND SHE WAS MUSICAL, TOO
. S
HE WOULD GET THE BANJO OUT WHEN
J
OHN ACTED UP, SKIPPED SCHOOL
. M
OST PEOPLE WOULD KICK HIM OUT, TELL HIM TO GET BACK TO SCHOOL, ETC., GET MAD—BUT NOT HER
. S
HE JUST GOT THE BANJO OUT AND STARTED STRUMMING
.

So, although he met and mostly enjoyed John's unpredictable company, in the world according to Hanton, the Quarrymen were just an unsuccessful teenage adventure.