1964 ~ Part 3

August and September brought madness with The Beatles first American Tour. The itinerary alone of the first Beatles tour of America was complete madness: 32 shows in 24 cities in 34 days. The mayhem that surrounded their everyone from plane to hotel to gig and back again was constant. It started when they arrived in San Francisco for the first concert and were driven 50 yards to a fences enclosure where photographers were waiting inside and 9,000 fans outside. They escaped seconds before the fences collapsed. In Kansas City their bed linen was cut into three-inch squares and sold for $10 apiece. It was the same with their towels at the Hollywood Bowl. Much of the time they were playing with shoddy equipment, although the no one could hear. They baulked only when disabled people were brought into their dressing room to be 'cured '. The only moment of light relief came when Bob Dylan came to visit them in New York and turned them on to marijuana.


Once fans find out about something that the band members or the band itself like, they take it out of proportion. This is what happened to George and the lads during September of 1964. Early on in The Beatles career, in one of the thousands of articles that were being written about them, George Harrison happened to mention that jelly babies were his favorite sweet. As a result at many Beatles concerts were generally performed in a hail of jelly babies hurled by hysterical fans. This was unpleasant but at least the jelly babies were soft and squashy. In America, jelly babies didn't exist so fans switched to jelly beans that were sugar coated and harder. And they hurt. 


Soon after the end of the American Tour, The Beatles were back at it again for their UK Tour. The schedule for The Beatles only British Tour of 1964 was almost as manic as the American Tour: 54 shows in 25 cites in 33 days. And if the concerts were smaller, the same cinemas and theaters they'd been playing a year earlier, and the crowd numbers proportionally less, the strain of constant isolation was the same. And at every opportunity they'd have to dash back to London for recoding sessions for their next album.

Like 'A Hard Day's Night', 'I Feel Find was instantly recognizable from the first note, in this case an acoustic guitar string distorted by feedback. George Martin: "People thought the feedback was an accident. It wasn't. John and Paul spent a lot of time trying to get that sound". It was John Lennon's song but George Harrison carried if with a fiendishly difficult riff and a guitar solo that was ahead of its time. Paul McCartney supplied the rhythmic rocker 'She's A Woman' on the B-side.

On December 1st, Ringo checked into London's University College Hospital to have his tonsils removed. The press reported that he brought red pajamas, a pink toothbrush and an unnamed science fiction thriller. He also had a record player delivered in his room. A dedicated phone line was set up with a recorded message on his progress. 2 fans who had hoped to buy tonsils were left disappointed however. Ringo: "Nobody is getting my tonsils as a souvenir. Believe me, I will burn them". 

At the end of the tumultuous year The Beatles came down to earth and returned to earth with their second season of 20 Christmas Shows, this time at London's Hammersmith Odeon. The scripts were marginally better: one sketch had the Fab Four dressed as Arctic explorers looking for the Abominable Snowman. The support acts included Elkie Brooks, Freddie & The Dreamers and The Yardbirds. John Lennon supplied the drawing for the front and back cover of the program, thus making it an instant collectors item.