Showing posts with label The Ed Sullivan Show. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Ed Sullivan Show. Show all posts

Thursday, March 12, 2009

I Want to Hold Your Hand

There are many Beatles facts associated with "I Want to Hold Your Hand," but the most pertinent is that before the issue of this song in the United States, Capitol Records had declined to release the Beatles' successful UK singles in America, songs such as "Please Please Me," "From Me to You," "Love Me Do," and "She Loves You." Producer George Martin believed that the latter song had been good enough to crack the American charts.

In preparation for the Beatles' first tour of America and their debut on The Ed Sullivan Show, Brian Epstein reassured Capitol that "I Want to Hold Your Hand" was a record that would sell well in America.

The song was released as a single in the UK on November 29, 1963. It was released in the U.S. on January 13, 1964 and was the song most responsible, in tandem with the Sullivan appearance, for the beginning of Beatlemania in America.

This early composition was an equal collaboration between Lennon and McCartney, and part of the song was written in Jane Asher's basement. It was then recorded on October 17, 1963 at Abbey Road Studios, this session representing the first time that the Beatles used four-track recording equipment.

The song was performed live by the band in 1963 and 1964, and was performed on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, as well as at the Washington Coliseum and Carnegie Hall on the first American tour in February of 1964. "Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand," a German version of the song (i.e., the song was recorded in German) appeared as a single in 1964 and was later issued on the LPs Something New, Rarities, and Past Masters, Volume 1.

Lennon and McCartney share lead vocals. Lennon plays rhythm guitar, Harrison lead, McCartney bass, and Starr drums.

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Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Beatles History: The Beatles Smash the Nielson Ratings

One of the most staggering Beatles facts is that on February 11, 1964, the Nielson TV ratings reported that 73,000,000 viewers (equaling roughly 25,000,000 American households)had watched the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show the night before, on February 9, 1964. This was a staggering statistic for the time and demonstrated how rapidly Beatlemania was spreading across the country. It was the modern day equivalent of an item going viral on the Internet.

This statistic about the number of people watching the Beatles is all the more impressive when one considers that 1) the population of the U.S. was only about 225,000,000 as opposed to 2009's 300,000,000; and 2) that the spread of Beatlemania occurred only by word of mouth and transistor radio, where the Beatles' hits were starting to play every hour around the clock on all rock radio stations. And, of course, a single night of exposure on American TV.

The number of fans today is probably well over a billion, and few people on the planet do not know who the Beatles are. Europe had been enmeshed in Beatlemania in the latter part of 1963. After a single night of TV on February 9, 1964, history would be changed forever.

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Monday, February 9, 2009

Beatles History: The Beatles Debut on Ed Sullivan

For America, the best of Beatles facts is that on February 9, 1964, the Beatles made their debut on The Ed Sullivan Show. A few of the Beatles' singles had trickled into America by the end of 1963 and January of 1964, and "I Want to Hold Your Hand" forever sealed the deal between America and the music of the Beatles. Word of Beatlemania had begun to spread by the time Sullivan stepped onto his stage that night to introduce the "moptops," as they were called, and an unprecedented number of viewers tuned in to watch the Beatles perform. It has always been alleged that for the fifteen minutes that the Beatles performed that night, not s single crime was reported in all of New York City.

The group performed the following in the first half of the show:

All My Loving
Till There Was You
She Loves You

In the second half, the Beatles performed "I Saw Her Standing There" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand."

During a taped dress rehearsal at 4:30 on February 9, 1964, the Beatles also sang "Twist and Shout, "Please Please Me," and "I Want to Hold Your Hand," songs that would be aired for their thir Sullivan appearance two weeks later. Even earlier in the day, at a dress rehearsal where camera angles were blocked out, roadie Neil Aspinall stood in for George onstage since Harrison was very sick with the flu.

The Beatles would travel to Washington, D.C. within a few days to perform at the Coliseum, with the concert also broadcast on closed circuit TV to cities around the U.S. After that, they headed to Miami for a second Sullivan taping since the variety show hit the road that week.

Beatlemania was in America to stay.

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Saturday, February 7, 2009

Beatles News: Breakfast with the Beatles to Celebrate Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show

One of the best Beatles facts this weekend is that tomorrow on February 8, 2009, Chris Carter, host of Los Angeles-based KLOS Breakfast with the Beatles radio show (also aired on Sirius and XM satellite radio), will play all of the live songs sung by the Beatles on the Sullivan Show. The tracks will include

All My Loving
Twist and Shout
From Me to You
Till There Was You
I Saw Her Standing There
I Want to Hold Your Hand
That Boy
She Loves You
Please Please Me
Yesterday
Act Naturally
I Feel Fine
I'm Down
Help
Ticket to Ride

The Beatles appeared three consecutive Sundays on Sullivan, although their last appearance was actually a taped afternoon rehearsal from February 9, 1964.

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