On February 7th, 1964, The
Beatles flew from London to New York City for a ten-day American visit.
Unprecedented hysteria filled John F. Kennedy Airport, the Plaza Hotel, and the
streets of New York City, surrounding the Beatles' every move.
This first American press conference occurred at Kennedy International Airport on February 7th. The
scene shoveled chaos, and the noise level
in the room made it sometimes difficult for the reporters to hear the questions
and answers. Therefore, for your enjoyment, I have a transcript of this
hilarious unfolding.
Q: "Are you a little
embarrassed by the lunacy you cause?"
JOHN: "No, it's great."
PAUL: "No."
RINGO: "Marvelous."
GEORGE: (giggling) "We love it."
JOHN: "We like lunatics."
Q: "You're in favor of lunacy?"
BEATLES: "Yeah."
JOHN: "It's healthy."
Q: "Are those English accents?"
GEORGE: "It's not English. It's Liverpudlian, you see."
PAUL: "The Liverpool accent - so, the way you say some of the
words. You know, you say GRASS instead of GRAHHSS,
and that sounds a bit American. So there ya go."
Q: "Liverpool is the..."
RINGO: (jokingly) "It's the capital of Ireland."
PAUL: "Anyway, we wrote half of your folk songs in
Liverpool."
(laughter)
RINGO: "Yeah, don't forget!"
Q: "In Detroit Michigan, there handing out car stickers
saying, 'Stamp Out The Beatles.'"
PAUL: "Yeah well... first of all, we're bringing out a Stamp
Out Detroit campaign."
(laughter)
Q: "What about the Stamp Out The Beatles campaign?"
JOHN: "What about it?"
RINGO: "How big are they?"
(laughter)
M.C: "There's a question here."
Q: (yelling over the crowd noise) "Would you tell Murray the
K to cut that crap out?"
BEATLES: (yelling, jokingly) "CUT THAT CRAP OUT!"
PAUL: "Hey, Murray!"
(laughter)
REPORTER: "Is that a question?"
M.C: (attempting to calm the chaos) "Will you be quiet,
please."
Q: "A psychiatrist recently said you're nothing but a bunch
of British Elvis Presleys."
JOHN: "He must be blind."
RINGO: (shaking like Elvis) "It's not true!! It's not
true!!"
JOHN: (dances like Elvis)
FEMALE FAN: "Would you please sing something?"
BEATLES: "NO!"
(laughter)
RINGO: "Sorry."
M.C: "Next question."
Q: "There's some doubt that you CAN sing."
JOHN: "No, we need money first."
(laughter)
Q: "How much money do you expect to take out of this
country?"
JOHN: "About half a crown."
RINGO: "Ten dollars."
Q: "Does all that hair help you sing?"
PAUL: "What?"
Q: "Does all that hair help you sing?"
JOHN: "Definitely. Yeah."
Q: "You feel like Sampson? If you lost your hair, you'd lose
what you have? 'It'?"
JOHN: "Don't know. I don't know."
PAUL: "Don't know."
M.C: "There's a question here."
Q: "How many of you are bald, that you have to wear those
wigs?"
RINGO: "All of us."
PAUL: "I'm bald."
Q: "You're bald?"
JOHN: "Oh, we're all bald, yeah."
PAUL: "Don't tell anyone, please."
JOHN: "And deaf and dumb, too."
(laughter)
M.C: "Quiet, please."
Q: "Do you know American slang? Are you for real?"
PAUL: "For real."
JOHN: "Come and have a feel."
RINGO: (laughs)
Q: "Aren't you afraid of what the American Barbers Association
is going to think of you?"
RINGO: "Well, we run quicker than the English ones, we'll
have a go here, you know."
Q: "Listen, I got a question here. Are you going to get a
haircut at all while you're here?"
BEATLES: "NO!"
RINGO: "Nope."
PAUL: "No, thanks."
GEORGE: "I had one yesterday."
(laughter)
RINGO: "And that's no lie, it's the truth."
PAUL: "It's the truth."
Q: "You know, I think he missed."
JOHN: "Nope."
GEORGE: "No, he didn't. No."
RINGO: "You should have seen him the day before."
Q: "What do you think your music does for these people?"
PAUL: "Uhh..."
JOHN: "Hmmm, well..."
RINGO: "I don't know. It pleases them, I think. Well, it must
do, 'cuz they're buying it."
Q: "Why does it excite them so much?"
PAUL: "We don't know. Really."
JOHN: "If we knew, we'd form another group and be
managers."
(laughter)
Q: "What about all this talk that you represent some kind of social rebellion?"
JOHN: "It's a dirty lie. It's a dirty lie."
(laughter)
Q: "What do you think of Beethoven?"
RINGO: "Great. Especially his poems."
(laughter)
M.C: "Can we have the last question now, Gentlemen,
please?"
PAUL: "My favorite."
(laughter)
Q: "Have you decided when you're going to retire?"
JOHN: "Next week."
PAUL: "No."
JOHN: "No, we don't know."
RINGO: "We're going to keep going as long as we can."
GEORGE: "When we get fed up with it, you know. We're still
enjoying it."
RINGO: "Any minute now."
Q: "After you make so much money, and
then..."
BEATLES: "No."
GEORGE: "No, as long as we enjoy it, we'll do it. 'Cuz we
enjoyed it before we made ANY money."
(At the conclusion of this press conference, since they were still
unknown as individuals to most of the American press, the Beatles chanted in the
order of which they were standing
at the microphones, their names.)
BEATLES: (in unison) "Paul... Ringo... George... John!!
Paul... Ringo... George...John!!"
And there you have it, another successful opportunity that turned
golden toward our favorite pop idols conquering America.
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