On the 5th October 1962, The Beatles released their first single Love Me Do, on Parlophone Records. Wednesday 5th October 2022 was the 60th anniversary of that release.
What better way to celebrate that anniversary, than to have a party and take a brief look back at how a 50’s skiffle group called The Quarrymen became The Fab Four.
Easy Listening Isn’t Easy
I first discovered The Beatles in 1964 when my dad bought the album “A Hard Day’s Night” which was something of a ‘departure’ for him, since he was all Glenn Miller, Classical and Easy Listening.1
Ever since then I’ve wondered about the Beatles stories I’d heard from that mythical place in the North: Liverpool. So, a few months ago when Vikki was asking what I wanted to do for my birthday I suggested a Beatles Tour of Liverpool. I don’t think a tour of a historical northern port was necessarily at the top of her agenda but we went away.
International Rescue
Then we discovered my birthday coincided with International Beatles Week. It was like the ghost of John Lennon was beckoning me to visit his ancestral home. I didn’t visit his home exactly, but I did visit a lot of other places.
Magical
After visiting the Beatles Story Museum (concessions for over 60’s!), we hopped straight on the Magical Mystery Tour (step right this way), a coach tour that looks remarkably like the one in the film. The thing about the tour was although it stopped at lots of places like Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields (Forever), it didn’t stop at the place; the place where it all started. No, not Brookside Close. Woolton Village Church Hall.
St. Peter’s Church Hall, Woolton has obvious religious connections, but it’s also a veritable shrine to the Gods of Rock ‘n’ Roll. It is no other than the birthplace of The Beatles. This for me is like going to Jerusalem to visit the birthplace of Jesus and as we all know, The Beatles were bigger than Jesus, once upon a time anyway.2
Leafy Avenues
So, one morning we took a drive over to Woolton, through the leafy, middle-classed suburbs of an area of Liverpool I didn’t know existed. And there, in the church hall we bumped into a man by the name of Colin Hanton, who in the 1950’s was the drummer in a band called The Quarrymen. And the leader of The Quarrymen then, was a sixteen-year-old scally by the name of John Lennon.
The Quarrymen were a skiffle group, skiffle being a form of DIY band where, if you couldn’t afford proper instruments, you made your own. Many followed in the footsteps of the legendary Lonnie Donegan after his cover of the song Rock Island Line hit the UK charts in ’56.
R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.
Lots of kids were enthralled by the rock ‘n’ roll scene in the USA, and they loved Elvis, Bill Hailey (and his Comets) and Little Richard but they couldn’t afford guitars and amps, so skiffle was the next best thing. With skiffle, it was acceptable to use a washboard as a percussive instrument, to make a bass from a wooden tea chest, broom handle and a length of string, or to strum cheap, acoustic guitars or a banjo.
John & Skiffle
John Lennon started his musical career by borrowing a guitar from a friend at school called Geoff Lee who had given up learning how to play it. “John, since you like playing the guitar,” he said one day, “you should start a skiffle band.” And in doing so, he unsuspectingly kicked off a chain of events that meant music would never be quite the same ever again.
So, Lennon coerced a few schoolfriends from Quarry Bank High School, into joining the band. Pete Shotton on washboard, Eric Griffiths on guitar, Len Garry on Tea Chest Bass and then later, Colin Hanton (who didn’t go to Quarry Bank) on Drums.
Rumble in Rosebery Street
One of their early bass players, Nigel Whalley, had been drafted back in as manager and he’d secured them a gig in Rosebery Street , where he lived. They played their first proper ‘gig’ there in June ’57 and the gig is fondly remembered by many for ending somewhat abruptly, as some lads in the crowd were planning to ‘do the singer in’ (Lennon). The band weren’t from that part of Liverpool, and someone had seen Lennon chatting to some local girls before the gig. So that was reason enough.
Once word got around that the band were going to get a thumping, they finished the next song, grabbed their gear (which didn’t amount to much) and hightailed it down the street to Nigel’s house where they barricaded themselves in the back room. A crowd gathered, banging on the windows and shouting for them to come out. They didn’t. They called the Police who sent a constable round to escort them to the bus stop.
Village Fete
But soon things would change forever for the fledgling Quarrymen. They were offered a gig at St Peter’s Church Fete, Woolton, on Saturday 7th July 1957. They played a set on the field at the back of the hall in the afternoon and were scheduled to play again in the evening in the hall, on the stage.
And while the lads kicked back and relaxed between sets, another old bass player Ivan “Jive with Ive” Vaughan turned up with a friend in tow. “This is a friend of mine who plays guitar,” he said. “His name’s Paul. Paul McCartney.”
Eddie Cochran Audition
They chatted and John asked what sort of music Paul liked. He mentioned Elvis, Bill Hailey, Little Richard. In other words, everything John liked. Then he mentioned Eddie Cochran’s Twenty Flight Rock.
John asked Paul if he could play it. Legend has it, he picked up a guitar, flipped it upside down (as he was left-handed), tuned it up (which was impressive enough on its own) and then proceeded with a flawless rendition of the Cochran classic. Lennon was impressed because McCartney knew all the words and didn’t have to make up his own (as Lennon often did).
Then he played Little Richard’s Long Tall Sally on the piano. The Quarrymen were blown away by this young upstart’s virtuosity and decided he had to join the band.
I’m Just The Drummer
It was another week, at the next rehearsal before McCartney was mentioned again. Ivan Vaughan was there and when he discovered they hadn’t asked McCartney to join, he hit the roof. “He’ll just join another band and make them better instead of this one,” he reasoned. John asked Colin for his thoughts about Paul joining. “I’m happy John,” said Colin. “But it’s your band and I’m only the drummer.”
Power Struggle
Colin thought John was struggling with a dilemma over Paul; because he was the leader and because Paul was very good, he knew he would have to relinquish some of his control of the band to McCartney. However, he needed Paul in the band to improve The Quarrymen, and to thus realise his dream of being a successful musician.
They decided to offer Paul a place in the band. But it was still another week before they did.
Pete Shotton saw McCartney cycling down the street and stopped him and invited him to join. Paul thanked him and said he’d let them know. He sounded casual. In reality Paul was fearful of joining because to him The Quarrymen were “seasoned professionals” whereas he’d only ever played guitar in his bedroom.
First Gig Nerves
But he joined and in October ’57 played his debut gig. He fancied his chances as lead guitarist but was struck with stage fright and his fingers wouldn’t work the fretboard (we’ve all been there – well I have).
“For my first gig, I was given a guitar solo on ‘Guitar Boogie’. I could play it easily in rehearsal so they elected that I should do it as my solo. Things were going fine, but when the moment came in the performance I got sticky fingers; I thought, ‘What am I doing here?’ I was just too frightened; it was too big a moment with everyone looking at the guitar player. I couldn’t do it. That’s why George was brought in.”
Paul McCartney
Paul suddenly decided lead guitar might be beyond him but…
I Know This Other Guy
But he knew someone who could play lead guitar. He was a guy at school who he used to see on the bus from Penny Lane. His name was George Harrison. So, George got to audition for The Quarrymen, on a bus on the way home from a Quarrymen gig.
Recording
Next stop for The Quarrymen (now boasting the soon-to-be stellar line-up of John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison) was to record the rarest record ever made. The McCartney/Harrison song entitled In Spite of All the Danger cost the band 17s 6d to record.
The one original copy of the recording is owned by Paul McCartney. In 2022, Record Collector estimated its value at £200,000. It disappeared for many years and was almost turned into a plant pot before someone noticed the names McCartney/Harrison written on the label!
Tragedy
But the exuberance of recording was shockingly curtailed when, three days later John’s mother Julia died in a car accident. The band took a back seat for a while and perhaps never fully recovered.
The Fab Four…Sort Of
Colin Hanton could feel the tide was turning and soon he realised he didn’t fit in with the band anymore. He was older, he had a steady job and a steady girlfriend. His outlook and priorities were different. They were a four-piece now, John, Paul, George and…Colin (it would never have worked would it), they were younger than he, high-spirited and suddenly the other three seemed a lot closer. Colin was on the outside, looking in.
After an argument where the three future Beatles had a bit too much to drink at a gig in January 1959, Colin stormed off and stopped going to rehearsals. The other three never apologised or went to see him to ask him to come back, so he never did.
The Casbah
The other three continued gigging (without drums) until they were offered a residency in Hamburg. They’d been playing at a small coffee club in Liverpool called The Casbah, and the owner Mona Best suggested her son Pete join. He became their drummer and stayed all the way up until they recorded Love Me Do at Abbey Road in June 1962.
Love Me Do
EMI Producer George Martin wasn’t overly impressed with his timekeeping (during the songs, not whether he arrived promptly) and so suggested they record Love Me Do again at a later date. They did but by now Ringo Starr (Ringo because he wore lots of rings) had replaced Pete.
However, George Martin wasn’t overly impressed with Ringo either. Ringo said of Martin, “He didn’t rate me because I couldn’t do a drum roll. He was right. I still can’t.”
Session Drummer
The band came back for a third time to record the song, but this time George Martin had recruited session drummer Andy White to play drums. Ringo turned up with the band to discover someone sitting in his seat. Literally.
George Martin said of the session, “Andy White was the best and most expensive session drummer in London. There was no way I wasn’t going to use him, so I had to relegate Ringo to Tambourine and Maracas. He never let me forget it.”
One Song, Three Drummers
So, there are three versions of Love Me Do, with three different drummers.
Version 1, from June 1962 with Pete Best on drums can be found on The Beatles – Anthology 1 album.
Version 2, from September 1962 with Ringo Starr on drums can be found on the 45 rpm single.
Version 3, also from September 1962 with Andy White on drums can be found on The Beatles – Please, Please Me album.
It wasn’t just Ringo and Pete Best who felt the pressure of recording though. Paul struggled too.
“George Martin said, “Wait a minute, there’s a crossover there (between vocal and harmonica). Someone else has got to sing ‘love me do’ because you’re going to have a song called Love Me Waahhh. So, Paul, will you sing ‘love me do’? God, I got the screaming heebie-jeebies. … I can still hear the shake in my voice when I listen to it.”
Paul McCartney
So, what happened to Colin Hanton? Well, he still lives in Liverpool, he has written a book about his time in The Quarrymen, called Pre-Fab! Look out for the film release too.
Watch the film trailer here – PRE FAB! – Movie
In between that he tours the globe with The Quarrymen and does the occasional book signing which is where I bumped into him.
And whatever happened to The Beatles then? Well, they went on their own Magical Mystery Tour, and some of them haven’t got off it yet.
Thank you for your time.
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