“Jeff Lynne, George Harrison, Eric Clapton And Elton John At A Worcester Match To Watch Ian Botham.

Rare photos

May 23, 1957. The Liverpool band Eric Clayton's Skiffle Band performs. This is the first shot of Ringo playing the drums (far left).

The photo on July 6, 1957 (the day John met Paul), where Lennon sings standing on an open truck, has become a textbook and is found in many books and websites. And this picture, taken a little later in the day, is not well known to many people.

The bassist and an important member of the early line-up of the band was Stuart Sutcliffe, who unfortunately passed away early. In all his short life, only one color shot of him was taken, this one, where he is captured with singer Tony Sheridan. Stewart is on the right.

Most likely, you don't know who it is. Meanwhile, this man turned the history of world music around. This is Kurt Raymond Jones, the same customer who came into the store and asked for the Beatles record My Bonnie, which is why Brian Epstein first heard about the band, began looking for them and eventually turned into a manager. For a long time it was believed that there was no Raymond Jones. Like, it's just a character invented for the convenience of telling a story. However, here he is!

The only shot where you can see drummer Pete Best, who will later be fired, and Ringo Starr, who will take his place, together.

The Beatles are on the verge of fame performing in Liverpool. As you can see, they have someone else's drum kit, left on stage after the previous band.

Have you ever seen John's mother-in-law? Here she is, the mother of his first wife, Cynthia, next to him.

The only picture where Brian Epstein holds a musical instrument in his hands and seems to extract sounds from it.

This is a giant shoe from the movie "Help!", which was needed to shoot a scene where the Floor shrank in size. As the photo shows, this piece of props later became a decoration in the garden near Lennon's house.

The Beatles in a hippie look ride in an ordinary subway car, and no one recognizes them? How can this be? This is 1967, the picture was taken in Greece, where a harsh political regime reigned at that time and the group was not so well known.

I did a little concert for somebody in Hollywood. Paul McCartney was there. I've never met him before, but I'm a fucking fan of The Beatles. I'm in the back smoking, and they're like, "Sir Paul would like to meet you." I'm like, "For real? Hold on," and I put that blunt out. Cuh walk in the room like, "Don't put that down."

Snoop Dogg on meeting Paul McCartney

"On the subject of coloured landscapes, I was the last in the group to take LSD. John and George had urged me to do it so that I could be on the same level as them. I was very reluctant because I'm actually quite straitlaced, and I'd heard that if you took LSD you would never be the same again. I wasn't sure I wanted that. I wasn't sure that was such a terrific idea. So I was very resistant. In the end I did give in and take LSD one night with John. I was pretty lucky on the LSD front, in that it didn't screw things up too badly. There was a scary element to it, of course. The really scary element was that when you wanted it to stop, it wouldn't. You'd say, 'Okay, that's enough, party's over,' and it would say, 'No it isn't.' So you would have to go to bed seeing things." - Paul McCartney, The Lyrics, 2021

HE WHAT

A style selection, 1956-1969.

A continuation of sorts from this post.

“[George’s] idea, which he ordered [in Liverpool in the 1950s], was a four-button jacket with cloth-covered buttons. Two breast pockets which were slitted (jetted) and in the shape of a bird in flight, the two side pockets corresponded. The cuffs had to be folded back with a cloth-covered button. His trousers had no pleats in the front, not normal in those days, and he was by far the very first person to have two slits at the bottom side seam of the trouser and he wanted them folded back with cloth covered buttons to match the cuffs on his jacket. The workshop queried the order when they received thinking we had gone bonkers. George got his suit and was pleased with the outcome. Later lots of guys were walking about town with cut back cuffs and side seams on their trousers, but George was the first.” - Rollo Torpey, The Beatles and Me (2015)

“At Iris’s 14th birthday party, I remember George turned up in a brand-new, Italian-style stuff with covered buttons. He looked very grown-up.” - Violet Caldwell (mother of Iris, and Alan, a.k.a. Rory Storm), The Beatles Monthly September 1965

“[George’s mother Louise] took an unusually benign view of George’s luminous pink shirts, yellow waistcoat, and drainpipe trousers.” - Pete Shotton, The Beatles, Lennon, And Me (1984)

“Going in for flash clothes, or at least trying to be a bit different, as I hadn’t any money, was part of the rebelling. I never cared for authority. They can’t teach you experience; you’ve got to go through it, by trial and error.” - George Harrison, The Beatles: The Authorized Biography (1968)

“At the Institute, George was known from the beginning as a way-out dresser. Michael McCartney, Paul’s brother, was a year below him. He remembers George always having long hair — years before anybody else did. […] ‘George used to go to school with his school cap sitting high on top of his hair,‘ says Mrs. Harrison. ‘And very tight trousers. Unknown to me, he’d run them up on my machine to make them even tighter. I bought him a brand-new pair once and the first thing he did was tighten them. When his dad found out, he told him to unpick them at once. “I can’t, Dad,” he said. “I’ve cut the pieces off.”’” - The Beatles: The Authorized Biography (1968)

“I’d started to develop my own version of the school uniform. I had some cast-offs from my brother. One was a dog-toothed check-patterned sports coat, which I’d dyed black to use as my school blazer. The color hadn’t quite taken, so it still had a slight check design to it. I had a shirt I’d bought in Lime Street, that I thought was so cool. It was white with pleats down the front. and it had embroidery along the corners of the pleats. I had a waistcoat that John had given me, which he’d got from his ‘uncle’ Dykins (his mother’s boyfriend), Mr. Twitchy Dykins. It was like an evening-suit waistcoat — black, double-breasted, with lapels. The trousers John also gave me, soon after we first met — powder-blue drainpipes with turn-ups. I dyed them black as well. And I had black suede shoes from my brother. […] That outfit of mine was very risky, and it felt like all day, every day, for the last couple of years I was going to get busted. In those days we used Vaseline on our hair to get the rock n’ roll greased-back hairstyle. Also, you were supposed to wear a cap and a tie, and a badge on your blazer. I didn’t have my badge stitched on, I had it loose. It was held in place by a pen clipped over it in my top pocket, so I could remove it easily, and the tie.” - George Harrison, The Beatles Anthology (2000)

“He was always a pretty snappy dresser, and he did always like that waistcoat look. And he used to wear a V-neck Fair Isle jumper. Sometimes he’d be a little too outrageous, like purple trousers with bright green, but it was fine. Everything seemed to be fine then.” - Pattie Boyd, interview for the British Beatles Fan Club

“The boys are wearing all sorts of fantastic clothes for their film and introduce a very new, unusual gimmick. If they’re wearing corduroy, for example, then they have corduroy boots to match. If they’re seen in velveteen suits, then they’re coupled with velveteen boots. George first thought of the idea two years ago, but when he put the idea to a local bootmaker, he told him it couldn’t be done. Well, that’s one cobbler that’s been proved wrong.” - The Beatles Monthly, June 1965 (x)

RINGO & PAUL: A MINI COMPILATION

McCartney offers a further, more emotional reminiscence: “I probably bore him by telling him the moment when the three of us realised he was The Guy. In my recollection it’s at the Cavern and there’s me, John and George — which, right there, is pretty cool — standing at the front doing our thing, facing out on the mics. And then behind us there’s this new guy depping, who we knew we liked — we’d seen him in another band. But now he was playing with us. And it just felt so different. It felt so amazing, and it just locked in with what we were all about. And I have this very vivid recollection of kind of looking at John and him looking at me and looking at George and him looking at me, and the three of us are going, ‘What the fuck, this is fucking amazing!” As McCartney describes this, he wipes his eye. “And as you can see, it gets emotional. There was a moment.”

Keith Smith, Assistant Engineer: All I can say about Ringo is that you just have to listen and watch him playing drums with Paul on bass, it’s pure synergy. I can’t think of any other way to describe it. He is a completely unique drummer and when they play together it’s as near to perfect and natural as I have ever witnessed. It is something that still to this day hasn’t changed.

McCartney digresses for a moment to describe the most recent example of getting-together-with-Ringo, nine days before this conversation, at the end of his show at Dodger Stadium: “Just the other night we finished our tour in Los Angeles and Ringo got up and we were doing ‘Helter Skelter’ together, and when I wasn’t on the mic, in the solo breaks and stuff, I really made a point of turning round and watching this guy drum. And thinking, ‘My God, you know, the memories across this ten-yard gap here,’ with him on the drums and me on the bass. The lifetime that’s going on here, and here he is! And I was just listening to him during that song. I was doing my performance but basically [he sings] When I get to the bottom I go back to the top — as I’m doing that bit, there’s normally just the guitars sort of playing, but Ringo did what’s on the record” — McCartney sings the drum part to demonstrate — “building. So I’m going, 'Oh yeah, great.’ So you know it’s a sort of magic.”

“It’s always a special experience to play with Paul,” says Ringo now. “I love Paul and I love his playing and, you know, we spent a lot of time together in the sixties.”

Paul & Linda McCartney photographed by Robert Rosen, April 22nd, 1982.

❝ There was a Music Awards Party at Abbey Road, the famous recording studio. It was 1982 and I crashed it. Paparazzi were outside, it was snowing and they were there freezing with their zoom lenses. My snappy was in my pocket, the security guy saw me and because I always liked to dress well must have mistaken me for a pop star. He said, "Hurry up inside the awards are starting," and whisked me through the doors. Next thing I know I am inside standing next to Paul and Linda McCartney. We began a conversation and I asked to take a shot, they were in a joyous mood and most accommodating as you can see. On the third click they kissed - I got it! That photo went worldwide and I sent them a print to say thank you. Six months later I bumped into them again, but didn't assume they would remember me; however Linda called to me, "Darling are you ignoring us? Come on, give me a hug." It meant so much to me, maybe more than anything, that she loved that photograph. ❞

— Robert Rosen

Beatles Resources Masterpost

I've never seen anyone collect different Beatles resources all in one place, so I thought it would be nice to create a masterpost for newer or less research savvy Beatles fans looking for where to find them and learn more

Included below are Beatles movies, autobiographies, biographies, magazines, miscellaneous files, archive sites, and much more

This is by no means a comprehensive list of Beatles resources, as there is an often overwhelming amount of sources relating to and informative about the Beatles; this is simply a post to gather more important, prominent, and larger Beatle related texts and media together, as I would love for the online Beatles fan community to be more organized in its research and archive efforts

This is an extremely long post, enjoy!

*PLEASE READ DISCLAIMERS*

This post does not include links to Beatles music videos or where to listen to their music; however, I highly recommend listening to the updated remasters of The Beatles' albums done by Giles Martin, George Martin's son (the remasters done AFTER 2009) instead of the 2009 remasters when possible

There is a plethora of misinformation online about The Beatles so PLEASE do your own research, using reliable sources

Some sources have disclaimers attached, in case I believe they may to any degree be misleading or require additional context

All sources have been listed within sections chronologically, not in order of importance

If at any point any of the hyperlinks are broken or are not working, let me know and I’ll try my best to fix or update them

Some of the literary sources here are no longer being published, which is why I’m happy to supply the links here to read them online. However, if they are still in print and you’re able, please go borrow them from your local public library! Some of the movies and documentaries linked below can also be found on streaming or bought online; they are linked below for those unable to easily access them or for whatever other reason

There are some other important sources I could not find reuploads or scans of, but are still listed below in case someone is looking for more important sources

If I come across links to said sources I will edit this post and add them as hyperlinks. Additionally, if someone finds a working, safe link for anything listed without a link or for something they believe should be listed, they can message me and I'd be happy to add it

Movies Starring The Beatles as a Group

A Hard Day's Night (1964) dir. Richard Lester

Help! (1965) dir. Richard Lester

Magical Mystery Tour (1967) dir. The Beatles, Bernard Knowles

Yellow Submarine (1968) dir. George Dunning (The Beatles themselves do not voice their cartoon selves in this film)

Fictional/Partially Fictional Movies made by and/or Starring Beatles (A short selection of the films most often mentioned by Beatles fans)

How I Won the War (1967) dir. Richard Lester

Two Virgins (1968) dir. John Lennon, Yoko Ono

Candy (1968) dir. Christian Marquand

The Magic Christian (1969) dir. Joseph McGrath

Imagine (1972) dir. John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Steve Gebhardt (Some of the aspects in this film are fictional, and some are akin to a documentary)

Give My Regards to Broad Street (1984) dir. Peter Webb

Documentaries/Docuseries

Bed Peace (1969) dir. John Lennon, Yoko Ono (Yoko Ono has since said in 2020 she and John were naïve to think that doing the Bed-Ins would change the world)

Let It Be (1970 Original) dir. Michael Lindsay-Hogg

Let It Be (2024 Remaster) dir. Michael Lindsay-Hogg

The Concert for Bangladesh (1972) dir. Saul Swimmer

Imagine: John Lennon (1988) dir. Andrew Solt

The Beatles Anthology (1995) dir. Geoff Wonfor, Kevin Godley, Bob Smeaton (Focuses mainly on pre-1966 Beatles history and does not cover post-breakup events)

ep. 1 ep.2 George Harrison: Living in the Material World (2011) dir. Martin Scorsese

The True History of the Traveling Wilburys (2007) dir. Willy Smax

ep.1 ep.2 ep.3 Get Back (2021) dir. Peter Jackson

Yoko's Films (including films that list John Lennon as a co-director)

Rape (1969) dir. Yoko Ono, John Lennon

Fly (1970) dir. Yoko Ono, John Lennon

Up Your Legs Forever (1971) dir. Yoko Ono, John Lennon

Movies Made about The Beatles

The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash (1978) dir. Eric Idle, Gary Weis (Beatles parody)

I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978) dir. Robert Zemeckis

The Hours and Times (1991) dir. Christopher Munch (This film is speculative)

Two of Us (2000) dir. Michael Lindsay-Hogg (This film is speculative)

The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch (2003) dir. Eric Idle (Beatles parody)

Books Written by The Beatles

In His Own Write (1964) by John Lennon

A Spainard in the Works (1965) by John Lennon

I Me Mine (1980) by George Harrison

Skywriting by Word of Mouth (posthumous, 1986) by John Lennon (Partially autobiographical and partially fictional)

The Beatles Anthology (2000) by The Beatles (Book version of the docuseries)

Postcards from the Boys (2004) by Ringo Starr

The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present (2021) by Paul McCartney

Books Written about The Beatles

A Cellarful of Noise (1964) by Brian Epstein

Yellow Submarine Comic (1968) by Paul S. Newman

The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics (1969) ed. Alan Aldridge

The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics 2 (1971) ed. Alan Aldridge

A Twist of Lennon (1978) by Cynthia Lennon

Loving John (1983) by May Pang

Rock 'N' Roll Times: The Style and Spirit of the Early Beatles and Their First Fans (1983) by Jürgen Vollmer

John (2005) by Cynthia Lennon

Wonderful Today (2007) by Pattie Boyd with Penny Junor

Miss O'Dell: my hard days and long nights with the Beatles, the Stones, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, and the women they loved (2009) by Chris O'Dell

George Harrison: Living in the Material World (2011) by Olivia Harrison

George Harrison: Behind the Locked Door (2013) by Graeme Thomson

NOTE: Many beginner Beatles fans tend to read books written by authors Mark Lewisohn and Philip Norman as introductions to the Beatles; however, both of these authors can be incredibly biased for and against certain figures in Beatle history and require often hefty amounts of context to properly analyze them in an accurate manner, Norman in particular.

Magazines

The Beatles Book (Only Original 77 Issues) (1963-1969)

Paul McCartney Playgirl (1982)

Paul McCartney Playgirl (1985)

Archive and Timeline Sites

Meet The Beatles For Real (A site with mostly paparazzi, fan, and personal photos of the Beatles and their associates, along with some transcribed interviews, fan stories, and much more)

Beatles Bible (Primarily useful for basic information surrounding The Beatles' music together and solo can be found here, such as album/single release dates, in addition to pictures, a fan forum, and other basic info; not cumulative)

DM Beatles (Basic outlined timelines for 1963-1970 and album/single releases; not cumulative)

The Beatles On Film (A collection of almost every publicly available filmed video of The Beatles, together and solo, logged for reference purposes)

Beatles Interviews Database (Not cumulative)

Harrison Archive (Actively updating archive of interviews, fan encounters, quotes, and stories from or surrounding George Harrison; fun fact: Olivia Harrison, George's widow, follows the Instagram version of this archive)

The Paul McCartney Project (Archive of Paul McCartney interviews, dates for concerts, and more)

Misc. Documents/Videos

Around the Beatles (1964) dir. Rita Gillespie

The Beatles in Rishikesh Home Videos (1968)

The Beatles in Rishikesh Archival Footage and Home Videos (1968)

The John Lennon and Yoko Ono Playboy Interviews Transcript (1980)

The John Lennon and Yoko Ono Playboy Interviews Audio (1980)

John Lennon FBI Files

The Beatles FBI File

The Beatles Accepting Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction (1988)

The Beatles/Threetles Reunion at Friar Park (1994)

The Beatles/Threetles Studio Footage (1995)

Paul and George Anthology 3 Studio Interviews for VH1 (1997)

Concert for George (2002)

Animatics and Test Footage for Scrapped Motion Capture Yellow Submarine Remake (2009)

Audio Files

Beatles Christmas Records 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969

The Beatles Artifacts (Different takes/demos of songs along with studio chatter; the link supplied simply lines out what is on all of these Artifacts, as many of them are currently unavailable on Internet Archive)

John Lennon Last Interview (1980)

Hold up ,,, Mal called Paul his love in his diaries?

Yes. In his autobiography. He also analyzed their relationship in his diaries. For some context, here's a longer passage from Ken Womack's book, Living the Beatles Legend (Chapter 31).

As January 1970 came to close, Mal began drifting into an emotional slide that had been developing over the past several years. "Seem to be losing Paul," he wrote on January 27. "Really got a stick from him today. He let me down," and ominously added "Fixing a hole," "Pepper," and "directorship" to a growing list of disappointments. Apparently, the conversation had turned yet again to the issue of Mal's servile role in Paul's life, with the roadie believing that the association was bounded by friendship and love. "A servant serves," Mal wrote, "but he who serves is not always a servant," he added, echoing John's philosophy from December 1968. "Love is as sharp and piercing as a sword, "Mal reasoned, "but as the sword edge dulls — you sharpen it. So love's keenness needs honing — needs honesty." *

[...]

On February 11, Mal joined John and Yoko for a lip-synched performance of "Instant Karma!" on Top of the Pops, with the roadie, clad in beige suit and a light-green tie, playing the tambourine. By this juncture, Mal's long-standing relationship with Paul was in freefall. A few days earlier, he have been awakened by a 1 p.m. telephone call from the Beatle. It went "something like this," he wrote in his diary:

Mal: yeah? Paul: I've got time at EMI over the weekend. Would like you to pick up some gear from the house. Mal: Great, man. That's lovely. Session at EMI?! Paul: Yes, but I don't want anyone there to make me tea. I have the family – wife and kids there. Mal: [thinking to himself] Goes my poor head, "Why????" **

By the next week, Mal found himself behind the wheel of the Apple van, moving Paul's gear from EMI Studios to Morgan Studios, another Northwest London facility where Paul could work incognito. At one point, Neil cornered Mal about Paul's surreptitious recording sessions, demanding to know more. "Where's Paul?" he asked, to which Mal tersely replied, "Not telling you."

In other instances, Mal ordered a Mellotron for Paul, while keeping him fully stocked with plectrums and other gear. In late February, Paul asked Mal to move everything back to EMI, where he was set to record "Maybe I'm Amazed" in Studio 2. For Mal, everything came to a head at 7 Cavendish Ave., when "my long love, Paul, to whom I have devoted so many years of loyalty, turned around to me and said, I don't need you anymore, Mal." *** *, ** : Evans, "Diaries." [1963—1974.] 10 vols. Malcolm Frederick Evans Archives. Entries from Jan 27 & Feb 5, 1970.

***: Evans, Mal, 'Living the Beatles Legend: Or 200 Miles to Go.' Unpublished MS, 1976. Malcolm Frederick Evans Archives.

“George was younger, the little one. He was very sweet, with his little tooth and the cocky songs he was singing. He was really cute, and was an essential part of the team. When all of them were harmonising together was incredible!”

— Klaus Voormann, “Hamburg Days” (1999)

“When he has that funny grin on his face, so that his little Dracula-tooth was showing — that was it! There he was, this little cocky underage boy singing cocky little songs like “C[‘mon] every body” or Joe Brown’s “I’m [Hen]ery the eight[h], I am” and then he played his little guitar solos, unmistakable George, nearly breaking his fingers on this cheap guitar, he hated so much. He couldn’t wait to earn enough money, to at long last be able to buy an expensive guitar. So when he got his first Grets[c]h, he proudly showed it to everybody. 1971 George let me have this Guitar. I loved it. Finally I had to give it back to him, which I think is perfectly right. He gave me a beautiful tel[e]caster as a replacement. Ain’t that great?”

— Klaus Voormann, “Hamburg Days” (1999)

“…George grinned his cheeky, crooked boyish grin beneath his thick brown head of hair. He was irresistible, and not just for the girls.”

— Klaus Voormann, on the first time he saw The Beatles; translated from “Warum spielst du Imagine nicht auf dem weißen Klavier, John?” (2003)