Is Tony in?
Who are you?
I’m John Garnett, from Number 7, I’m a Beatles fan and I wonder if …
Does our Tony know you?
No, I’m at Harrogate Grammar School and Tony isn’t, so I don’t know him, but I heard he has the new Beatles record and I’d like to hear it, please.
What’s that name again young un?
John, er some people call me Fred.
John Fred?
Er yeah…
Tony! She shouted indoors whilst continuing to guard the door, Tony, there’s some lad your age at the door. Says he likes The Beatles.
Tony was at his front door in seconds. I’d say in his rush he managed it in about minus two of our Earthly seconds.
The door opened wide with one urgent, decisive pull.
You like the Beatles then?
Whoah, YEAH!
Big smiles from both of us. Making friends took us about six words and two smiles. No time had passed during any of this.
I heard you had the new Beatles record. My Dad wont let me buy it!
Who needed to say more than that to a fellow Beatles fan?
Come in then! Come on and listen to it with me. Then he uttered a magic incantation. “Its a double A-side”.
Double A-side? What’s that?
More mysteries from The Beatles.
Both sides are as good as each other.
That’s impossible! How do you turn the record over if it’s got two A-sides then?
Tony laughed at my naivety. But then I only owned two records. Well half of two records. Only one of which was any good. My qualifications as an arbiter of taste concerning music extended to one half decent record; mostly guitar with good drums and no lyrics. Didn’t really make me a good judge of Beatles songs and records. Tony was a great judge of Beatles records, not least because, as it turned out, he had all of them. Soon he was to become the epitome of cool amongst ALL of the twelve and thirteen year-olds in Gordon Avenue, Bilton and the neighbouring streets; all eight of us in fact. Tony was that cool.
OK! I’m going to play you a song and you have to tell me what it is.
No, No! Please play From Me To You, I can’t hear it at home at all, except on Pick of the Pops. Thank heavens it’s been number one for weeks.
What about Saturday Club? Brian Matthews plays the Beatles.
Oh yeah we listen to that sometimes; when we don’t go shopping or play football. But it’s on Saturday mornings, when we’re busy. Do you think it’s good then?
It’s really good! I listen to it all the time.
Obviously great then I thought. I made a note to try harder on Saturday mornings from now on.
Tony took the treasured single out of the soon to become iconic dark green Parlophone paper sleeve. It was the first time I had seen a Beatles single; holy plastic made flesh.
As it’s a double A-side I could play Thank You Girl.
I didn’t realise he was teasing me. He could see how desperate I was to hear From Me To You.
In fact I think that is the better song so…
How can it be better? From Me To You is the hit.
Its a double A-side, you have to make your mind up which one you like.
Then I’ll like both of them just the same.
You don’t have to!
Da da da da da dum dum da
Da da da da da dum dum da
The Beatles usual distinctively cheery opening but slightly slower paced and less urgent than Please Please Me
If there’s anything that you want
If there’s anything I can do
Just call on me and I’ll send it along
With love from me to you
Big smiles between us. We didn’t need any analysis to know that Beatles songs were great.
Tony had the classic Dansette record player. In red! We didn’t. Just Mum’s Philips that we had driven back with us from Germany. It was a good enough record player; I didn’t realise how good in fact, but it wasn’t cool like Tony’s Dansette. And we were in the Front Room. Tony’s Mum hadn’t said a word when he had dragged me into the Front Room. It had a bunch of records and the Dansette lying on the floor. He’d taken over their Front Room to play his records!
I got everything that you want
like a heart that’s oh so true
So he was playing his Beatles records anyway before I arrived. I was just adding to the fun he was already having all on his own. Unlike me back at home. I had been right to come round.
Just call on me and I’ll send it along
With love from me to you
The lyrics are great aren’t they? Just call on me and I’ll send it along with love from me to you.
Like you did! Just call on me, I mean…
Oh yeah like I did! How funny… I hope you don’t mind?
Are you joking! It’s fab you coming round. What made you call on me anyway?
I smiled back at my fellow Beatles fan. Our instant friendship was the best answer to that question.
Well I heard you had the new Beatles single and I just had to hear it. So I thought I’d come and ask you. You had to be nice, if you liked the Beatles.
Tony laughed. I’m not sure that makes me nice, but I definitely like the Beatles. They are the best thing I’ve ever heard.
I got arms that long to hold you
and keep you by my side
We smiled across our new found friendship
I got lips that long to kiss you
and keep you satisfied
I think I’d like to kiss a girl. Have you ever kissed a girl?
One or two…
What’s it like?
A bit squelchy. But they smell nice
What kisses?
No girls. Girls smell nice. And they are nice to hold.
Oh!
The conversation was getting a bit complicated for me. And far too sophisticated; I was out of my depth here. I regretted mentioning kisses. I’d only kissed that Italian girl Anna in Germany when I was six. And only because she had tricked me into going down the cellar stairs with her on her sixth birthday. I didn’t want to be tricked into talking about that, so I concentrated on the sophisticated complications of the lyrics instead.
If there’s anything that you want
If there’s anything I can do
Just call on me and I’ll send it along
With love from me to you
Phew, no kisses there!
There is that magic harmonica again!
From Me
I love the way they use harmonica. That’s the secret to Please Please Me you know.
To You
Oh there are lots more secrets in Please Please Me…
Just call on me and I’ll send it along
We smiled again at the reference about me calling on Tony.
With love from me to you
So who is your favourite Beatle then?
Paul of course, he’s the best.
Why do you like Paul?
Well he’s the best looking. He’s even better looking than Cliff.
At this point I’d spent more time looking at pictures of The Beatles than actually listening to them, which was partly why I’d invited myself over to Tony’s.
My Mum likes him the best too. I bet he gets loads of girls.
Do you like Cliff then?
Yeah and the Shadows! My brother and I like guitars and drums.
And The Beatles are really good at guitars and drums.
And harmonica too! They play so many instruments. The Beatles are the first beat group I’ve really liked. I think I like them just because they are The Beatles. Who’s your favourite then?
John Lennon.
John Lennon? Why? What’s so special about John Lennon? My Dad hates him. Well I am pretty sure he does.
Tony laughed again. I frowned, what was wrong with Paul McCartney? Sometimes this Pop Music was even harder than Biology.
Well John Lennon has loads of confidence. That’s the secret of life you know; Confidence.
But Paul’s a better singer, listen…
I got arms that long to hold you
and keep you by my side
I got lips that long to kiss you
and keep you satisfied
That’s the two of them harmonising. That’s another of their secrets.
But John’s voice is harsher. Paul’s is really sweet and he sings nicer.
It’s both of them singing together, that’s what makes the Beatles special. Its not just Cliff or Elvis with some backing singers. Its all the Beatles, as a group, working together. Listen to it carefully.
If there is anything that you want
If there is anything I can do
Just call on me and I’ll send it along
With love from me to you
He was right! Their voices dropped in and out in various ways that emphasised almost every syllable in a different way. You could hear John and Paul both together and alone throughout the record. Blimey, such subtlety; no longer just a simple lead singer to worship and adore.
Do you think we could become Beatles too?
We’ll need guitars and drums. And a harmonica!
We laughed at the complexity of it all.
My brothers got a guitar, he likes Hank Marvin.
Oh, good! What about drums?
Um, well I’m a drummer.
Have you got any drums?
Er, I’ve got drumsticks.
No drums then?
Oh yes I’ve got drums. Not real ones though.
Not real drums? What does that mean?
Um, biscuit tins. I’ve got two biscuit tins. But I know how to hit them properly!
Tony laughed. Again! The record ended, cleverly reprising the opening whilst changing it into punctuation.
To You
To You
And out in less than two minutes this time; by tiny fractions…
Can I look at it please Tony?
Yeah, here have a good look. The label design is really interesting. How long have you liked the Beatles then?
Since I first heard them silly!
What since Love Me Do?
No! Please Please Me, of course. Their first hit record and and their first number one.
Love Me Do was their first hit record. Tony corrected my ignorance.
Love Me Do? What’s Love Me Do?
Their first hit record. I thought you liked the Beatles!?
I love them, but I’ve never heard of Love Me Do.
I’ve got to play it for you then. Its their first record, its great.
Is it as good as Please Please Me?
Not really. But if you heard it first, like me, then it’s really special.
Oh! What’s this Northern Songs on the label?
Only their publishing company; wait a second what about this instead?
1!
2!!
3!!!
4!!!!
Well she was just seventeen
You know what I mean
And the way she looked
was way beyond compare
Blimey that’s good! What is it?
I Saw Her Standing There. It’s from the album.
The album?
Please Please Me!
I raised my head and a sharp look passed from me to Tony
You’ve got the Album?
Tony lifted up the sleeve to show me
You’ve got the The Beatles Album!
Yeah!
The only albums we’ve got at home are The Pyjama Game and South Pacific. How on earth did you get it?
I’d never known anyone who wasn’t a grown up own an album before, not even Caroline.
Tony, the seriously cool Tony of Gordon Avenue, Bilton, Harrogate, located on the very same latitude as Liverpool, and so part of all songs Northern, let out his radiantly secretive smile
Listen, Do You Want to Know a Secret?
Of course I do!
That’s my secret!
And he laughed
Magic word secret.
I was in awe of Tony from that day forth. He played me loads of Beatles songs over the next hour before I had to go home for supper. I’d never heard so much good music in my life before. Gordon Avenue suddenly had its own oracle of all things Beatle.
I knew then that I only had to like The Beatles for everything to be alright in the future.
By Fred Garnett, London, UK
The above is an extract from Fred's learning novel, 63/68 A Visceral History
It's 1972, I'm 14 years old and go to secondary school in Chorley, Lancashire . OFSTED is no more than a bitter twinkle in Chris Woodhead's eye, boys still get the cane, we do 'O' levels, our school uniform is gradually being adapted to look fashionable and we have a record club. It takes place in a classroom and we organise it ourselves, borrow a big wooden record player from the music teacher, push the desks and chairs against the walls and listen to music. We dance too because this is Lancashire in the early 70's and we are playing Tamla Motown records and learning about Northern Soul.
Some of the older kids are expert dancers, the lads are athletic and cool, the girls more contained but following an incredibly fast paced set of steps. You can hardly see their feet move. One girl who is my age dances very confidently. She talks about going to the soul clubs in Manchester, the Twisted Wheel, the Five Bar Gate and in almost hushed tones, the holy of holies, the Highland Room at Blackpool Mecca. No mention as yet of the place that would really come to be seen as the home of Northern Soul, Wigan Casino. That isn't going to happen for another year. We are in awe of her, this girl who has a much older boyfriend (shocking in retrospect) and whose school uniform is customised so she looks like a proper soul girl with a big flowing skirt, and platform shoes.
It is at the record club, leaning against a desk which probably has an inkwell full of blue ink in it, that I first hear Road Runner by Junior Walker. It is a revelation, a call from another world. I'm desperate to go in to the centre of the grey tiles on the classroom floor and dance with the fifth formers but I'm far too shy. My friend and I practice our moves in the girls toilets and we dare each other to dance. We sidle to the edge of the dance area and begin to slide along the floor. We are doing it!
More practice in other toilets, youth clubs and pub discos, Monday nights at Leyland Civic Hall and finally a year later and 10 miles down the road on the 113 bus, we make it to Wigan, dancing round our handbags, talking about rare records imported from America and wearing those 70's clothes that will never, ever make a comeback! One night, amazingly, Junior Walker is there playing with his All Stars. The floor is packed. It is a magical night.
I buy my own copy of Road Runner and take it to parties, insisting that it be played and played. I love the sexy sax breaks and the on-the-road sentiment.
The summer before university I live with my uncle and auntie in North London, work on a play scheme in Hackney and go out with my cousin's friend Bill. Bill is not from the north but he loves Northern Soul and he buys us tickets to see Junior Walker at Hammersmith Odeon. It is so different from Wigan! We have to dance in the aisles and we are the only ones who get up. Everyone else sits in their seats! We can't understand how they can stay still .Junior Walker appreciates our exuberance though.
He gives us a big wave.
A little background by Ruth
Northern Soul was a big cultural phenomenon of 1970's northern England. Its origins lay in the R and B clubs which had existed throughout the country during the 60's. They were Mod clubs, heavily associated with amphetamine use and many were closed down because of this. The ones that were left were mostly in the north and they developed the focus on rare soul singles imported from America. The dancing, always an important part of the Mod scene, became faster and incredibly energetic and the clothes were baggier and sporty for the boys, floaty and a little bit reminiscent of the 50's for the girls. The drugs were still there but All Nighters in Wigan weren't licensed so people drunk cartons of milk to help them power through the dancing.
The first All Nighter at Wigan Casino was in September 1973 and there were Friday evening sessions from 8-11 that under 18's could go to. The Casino was a shabby old fashioned ballroom with a huge dance floor and a balcony tier running round three sides. It had a stage area too. Being well under 18 with anxious parents, I went to the Friday sessions which were less frenetic but still exciting. Everyone always danced, sliding, spinning, back flipping (boys mainly, showing off!) sometimes clapping and singing along to the music. There was never the awful cattle market feel of some of the other discos at the time. People just went for the music and the dancing. It felt very companionable and egalitarian.
