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The Beatles · S3 E4
Tony Sheridan
The Beatles record as a backing band for Tony Sheridan at Friedrich-Ebert-Halle. My Bonnie: the record that will accidentally lead Brian Epstein to a cellar in Liverpool
June 22, 1961. The Beatles walk into a school gymnasium in Hamburg-Harburg that doubles as a recording studio. For the first time in their lives, a red light means the tape is rolling.
Paul wrote this as a letter, begging for a chance at getting published. In a Hamburg gymnasium, the Beatles were exactly that: five unknowns hoping a German orchestra conductor would give them a shot at a real record.
Paperback Writer (1966)
The whole track sits on a single chord for most of its length, a bold choice that shouldn't work but does. Paul had just bought a Rickenbacker, and the new instrument pushed him to play more melodically. The vocal harmonies were inspired by the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds. Engineer Ken Townsend used a loudspeaker as a microphone to capture the bass, creating a heavier low end than anything else on pop radio.
The Teacher
Tony Sheridan is the reason the Beatles get into a studio. A British guitarist banned from UK television for moving too suggestively during a live broadcast, Sheridan fled to Hamburg where he became the best musician on the Reeperbahn. The Beatles worship his playing and jump at the chance when he needs a backing band.
TAP TO REVEAL: Why were the Beatles credited under a fake name on their first record?
“That was the first proper recording studio we'd ever been in. We were dead nervous, but thrilled.”
— John Lennon, The Beatles Anthology, 2000
Ain't She Sweet (The Beatles)
Recorded the same day as 'My Bonnie,' June 22, 1961. This is John Lennon at twenty years old, singing lead on a 1920s vaudeville number with everything he's got. The recording is rough, the gymnasium reverb obvious. You're hearing the Beatles in a studio for the very first time.
What was 'Cry for a Shadow,' recorded at the Tony Sheridan sessions?
The Hamburg sessions give the Beatles their first record, but they also mark the beginning of the end for one of their own. Stuart Sutcliffe stays behind with Astrid, and something is terribly wrong with his health.
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