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impacts the now.
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role The Beatles
played in changing
the modern world.
THE FOLLOWING EVENTS TOOK PLACE ON MARCH 4
1801--Thomas Jefferson is the first US President to be inaugurated in Washington, D.C.
1873--The New York Daily Graphic, the first illustrated daily newspaper in the US, begins publication.
1933--Franklin Delano Roosevelt is inaugrated as the 32nd President of the United States. He pledges to pull the US out of the great Depression and says, "We have nothing to fear but fear itself."
1961--The Beatles perform at Aintree Institute, Aintree, Liverpool.
1962--The Beatles perform at the Casbah Coffee Club.
1963--The Beatles perform at the Plaza Ballroom, St. Helens. This is the first booking for which The Beatles are paid £100.
1964--More train filming for "A Hard Day's Night." Another day's travel to Minehead and back. They stop at the station in Crowcombe, Somerset, to shoot a favorite scene in the film: The Beatles running, outside of the train (they were running on the station platform beside the slowly-moving train), shouting mischievously at the stuffy regular passenger (actor Richard Vernon), "Hey mister! Can we have our ball back?"
1965--The Beatles filming their second movie, "Help!" in the Bahamas.
1966--UK release of The Beatles EP Yesterday (Parlophone). Songs: Yesterday, Act Naturally, You Like Me Too Much, and It's Only Love. Highest chart position: #1.
1966--London's Evening Standard publishes Maureen Cleeve's interview with John Lennon that contains his soon-to-be-distorted "Beatles more popular than Jesus" remarks. Lennon said: "Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue that. I'm right and will be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus right now. I don’t know which will go first, rock and roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right, but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It’s them twisting it that ruins it for me." Although Lennon was making a comment about the irrelevance of organized religion to many contemporary young people, most conservatives interpret his statement as an arrogant insult. No one in the UK is particularly shocked or offended, but when the remarks (quoted out of context) reach the US, American conservatives (particularly those in southern states) go off the deep end and start Beatles bonfires for the burning of Beatles records, magazines, cards, books, posters, and other paraphernalia. The hostile atmosphere surrounding The Beatles' final concert tour of the US has much to do with their decision to quit touring altogether. Although the most controversial part of the Lennon interview was the “Jesus” remarks, he also made some rather prophetic statements about his personal life: “Weybridge won’t do at all. I’m just stopping at it, like a bus stop. I’ll take my time. I’ll get my real house when I know what I want. You see, there’s something else I’m going to do, something I must do...only I don’t know what it is. That’s why I go around painting and taping and drawing and writing and that, because it may be one of them. All I know is, this isn’t ‘it’ for me.”
1969--Glyn Johns begins the process of trying to turn the "Get Back" tapes into an album. John Lennon and Paul McCartney, sick of the whole affair, give Johns free reign. He will complete the job on May 28, but The Beatles will be unable to agree on whether or not to approve the master tape for record release. Johns will be asked to go back into the studio and do some more work on the album. All will be for naught, though, because Phil Spector will be called in to produce the eventual album, Let It Be, from the tapes.
1971--At Abbey Road studios, Yoko Ono re-records her vocals for Open Your Box, due to the insistence of EMI, who demand that the lyrics be cleaned up. This delays the release of the single by a week.
1972--A great week for Badfinger who receive a gold record for Day After Day one day after Harry Nillson gets a gold disc for his cover of their song Without You.
1974--British Conservative Prime Minister Edward Heath resigns after an election; Labour leader Harold Wilson forms a new government.
1986--On her world tour, Yoko Ono performs in Warsaw, Poland. Only a third of the 6,000-seat stadium is filled.
1991--UK re-release of the Ringo Starr album Ringo on CD, with bonus tracks Down and Out, It Don't Come Easy, and Early 1970 (EMI). Also reissued on cassette.
1994--US re-release of The Beatles US single I Want to Hold Your Hand / I Saw Her Standing There (Capitol). 30th anniversary reissue.
1996--Release of The Beatles single Real Love / Baby's in Black / Yellow Submarine / Here There and Everywhere in the US (Capitol) and the UK (Parlophone/Apple). Highest UK chart position is #4. Highest US chart position is #11 (Billboard). [Note: one source gives March 12, 1996, as the correct release date for the US.] On Real Love, Paul McCartney played the stand-up double bass, originally owned and played by Elvis Presley’s bassist, the late Bill Black. Both Paul and George Harrison used six-string acoustic guitars, and Ringo Starr played his Ludwig drumkit.
History offers
1801--Thomas Jefferson is the first US President to be inaugurated in Washington, D.C.
1964--More train filming for "A Hard Day's Night." Another day's travel to Minehead and back. They stop at the station in Crowcombe, Somerset, to shoot a favorite scene in the film: The Beatles running, outside of the train (they were running on the station platform beside the slowly-moving train), shouting mischievously at the stuffy regular passenger (actor Richard Vernon), "Hey mister! Can we have our ball back?"
1966--London's Evening Standard publishes Maureen Cleeve's interview with John Lennon that contains his soon-to-be-distorted "Beatles more popular than Jesus" remarks. Lennon said: "Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue that. I'm right and will be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus right now. I don’t know which will go first, rock and roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right, but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It’s them twisting it that ruins it for me." Although Lennon was making a comment about the irrelevance of organized religion to many contemporary young people, most conservatives interpret his statement as an arrogant insult. No one in the UK is particularly shocked or offended, but when the remarks (quoted out of context) reach the US, American conservatives (particularly those in southern states) go off the deep end and start Beatles bonfires for the burning of Beatles records, magazines, cards, books, posters, and other paraphernalia. The hostile atmosphere surrounding The Beatles' final concert tour of the US has much to do with their decision to quit touring altogether. Although the most controversial part of the Lennon interview was the “Jesus” remarks, he also made some rather prophetic statements about his personal life: “Weybridge won’t do at all. I’m just stopping at it, like a bus stop. I’ll take my time. I’ll get my real house when I know what I want. You see, there’s something else I’m going to do, something I must do...only I don’t know what it is. That’s why I go around painting and taping and drawing and writing and that, because it may be one of them. All I know is, this isn’t ‘it’ for me.”
1969--Glyn Johns begins the process of trying to turn the "Get Back" tapes into an album. John Lennon and Paul McCartney, sick of the whole affair, give Johns free reign. He will complete the job on May 28, but The Beatles will be unable to agree on whether or not to approve the master tape for record release. Johns will be asked to go back into the studio and do some more work on the album. All will be for naught, though, because Phil Spector will be called in to produce the eventual album, Let It Be, from the tapes.
1971--At Abbey Road studios, Yoko Ono re-records her vocals for Open Your Box, due to the insistence of EMI, who demand that the lyrics be cleaned up. This delays the release of the single by a week.
1991--UK re-release of the Ringo Starr album Ringo on CD, with bonus tracks Down and Out, It Don't Come Easy, and Early 1970 (EMI). Also reissued on cassette.
