"Well. . . Be, bop, a lula. . . "

The Leather Boys -- John and Paul with Gene Vincent in the Cavern Club, sometime during 1961 or '62.

"She's my baby!"  Not surprisingly, the music of Gene Vincent also figured prominently in the Hamburg-era Beatles' set lists.  Two specific songs by Gene included the famous Be Bop A Lula and Dance in the Street.   Click on the highlighted links to hear the tunes in question.

The latter song is discussed by Paul McCartney in the Anthology coffee table book.  He mentions specifically that it was one the band would break into early on, during the band's time at the Indra in the late summer of 1960 before the St. Pauli polizei closed it due to noise complaints.  Dance in the Street was, apparently, a tune the band played in an attempt to pull passers-by into the club from the street outside. . .   the quieter end of the famed Grosse Freiheit.  That and informing club owner Bruno Koschmider that if he lowered his beer prices, more people would enter the club and be inclined to part with their hard-earned cash! 

Another neat Gene Vincent piece was Bluejean Bop.  While I have not been able to ascertain with certainty that this tune was part of the Beatles' set lists during our crucial 1960-62 time-frame, the song was covered by Paul McCartney on his 1999 Run Devil Run album.  It seems likely, then, that the Beatles might have played this song too as they worked hard to fill their nightly stints onstage with new and fresh material.

I've mentioned it on this blog before, but it still amazes me that a bunch of guys, who were in their late teens mind you, worked so hard to develop their stage act and craft in the weeks after they arrived in Hamburg that August.  When I think of my own attempts at that age to generate enthusiasm and drive among my musician friends of the time (it was usually like banging one's head into a brick wall), the early Beatles are. . .  well. . . pretty amazing by contrast.  

John Lennon once remarked in an interview that, "You can't be that hungry twice."  His statement speaks volumes about the raw talent and drive of the very young Beatles.  One more reason why we'll never see another band like them.

George Harrison. . .

What a handsome young devil he was!  At the end of this month, George would have been 68 years old.  Hard to imagine, looking at this photograph.

I'm reading an interesting biography of George Harrison at the moment -- The Quiet One: A Life of George Harrison by Alan Clayson (1996) -- and George was certainly both an interesting personality in his own right and central to the Beatles' sound and collective persona.  Clearly, the band before it became famous wasn't just about John and Paul.  One thing that might surprise some readers of this blog was the frequency with which George was called on to sing the lead vocal during the early Hamburg and Liverpool days of the band when they had to play for hours at a time. 

A fan of American rockabilly guitarist and singer Carl Perkins, George naturally chose to include many of Perkins' songs in the Beatles' own setlists.  One Carl Perkins tune that George liked to sing early on was Your True Love, recorded at Sun Records during late 1956-early 1957.  Click on the highlighted link to hear the original version of the song. 

Sadly, there is no known recording of the Beatles themselves performing Your True Love, but it's easy enough to close your eyes and imagine a 17- or 18-year old George stepping to the microphone late one night at the Indra, the Kaiserkeller, or the Top Ten Club in Hamburg to sing it to an audience of sailors, gangsters, prostitutes, street toughs, and, of course, the gang of 'Exis,' who took the band to heart.  Enjoy!

That "Other" Liverpool Band in Hamburg. . .

Rory Storm and the Hurricanes with some cat named 'Richie' on drums, aka Ringo Starr, "the little nasty, mean looking one with the streak of grey in his hair" to use George Harrison's words before he and his mates in the Beatles got to know Ringo.

Of course, there were many Liverpool bands that made the trek to, and did their time in, Hamburg's Reeperbahn clubs.  Rory Storm and the Hurricanes are probably one of the best remembered though because it was from this band that the soon-to-be-fab four finally got Ringo, who clicked personality-wise with John, Paul, and George when they first met in Hamburg.  As George Harrison mentioned in the Anthology coffee table book, "it felt like a complete unit" when Ringo hung out with them.  But I'm getting ahead of things here! 

All of the Liverpool bands performed many of the same songs from the early rock & roll and rockabilly canon.  While I don't know if the Beatles ever performed it, one of the tunes that figured prominently in Rory Storm and The Hurricanes' shows in the early 60s was Brand New Cadillac, a smokin' rockabilly tune from 1961 that was originally recorded by Vince Taylor and the Playboys.  Many artists have recorded and performed it over the years since, but no recording exists, as far as I know, of Rory and his Hurricanes playing the song. So let's listen to the original.  Here they are with Brand New Cadillac, Vince Taylor and the Playboys (with whom, incidentally, one Tony Sheridan played for a while).  As usual, click on the highlighted song title to hear it.  Enjoy!

P.S.

And hey!  All you teds and judies who are, apparently, reading this blog. . .  spread the good word to your fellow early Beatle afficianados.  Let's see if we can boost the number of visits in 2011.  Right now, there have been more than 8600 page views according to the stats page for The Beatles in Hamburg and Liverpool blog.