#JAPAGE 3?

[hiyapandanurse]

Some of my favorite proto-Beatles band names

[kinsfaun]

John and Paul at George's brother's wedding

[i-am-the-oyster]

OYSTERRRR 🦪 beatles themed this or thats

ahdn or mmt? (movie wise)

cavern or casbah?

1957-1962, 1963-1967 or 1968-1970?

japage 3 or the silver beetles?

walruses or eggmen?

imagine or ram?

all things must pass or sentimental journey?

abbey road or penny lane?

NONNYYYYYYY 🥸 this is such a great ask <3

ahdn or mmt? (movie wise)

It's AHDN for me. There are some great moments in MMT, and it was an interesting project, but I don't enjoy the movie as such. AHDN is full of the joy of the early days, before the burden of fame had really started hurting.

cavern or casbah?

This a tough one, but I think I'd want to see them at the cavern, when girls and boys were being swept up in the tide of their collective charisma, but there was no narrative around what that meant.

1957-1962, 1963-1967 or 1968-1970?

Fly on the wall watching John and Paul: '57 - '62 Musical output (I kind of can't believe I'm saying this): '63 - '67 Rancid vibes/fic potential: '68 - '70

walruses or eggmen?

When my kids were little they watched a show about Dora The Explorer's cousin Diego (this is going somewhere, I promise). Diego loved animals, but the show was for really little kids, so whenever the topic of predators came up he'd say '[prey animal] is afraid of [predator]'. So like, "oh no a cat! Mice are afraid of cats!". It has become a bit of an in-joke in my house. All this to say: oysters are afraid of walruses. But on the other hand I don't know what eggmen are? So maybe better the devil you know?

imagine or ram?

Well this is the easiest one for sure. I *have* listened to Imagine, and there are some good songs on there. But I would listen to Ram multiple times a day if that wouldn't ruin it for me. It's perfection from start to finish, wouldn't change a note. And the mix is spectacular. Eirik the Norwegian deserves more credit for that.

all things must pass or sentimental journey?

Sorry Ringo, but we have different tastes in music. You're the greatest drummer in the world, the perfect drummer for the Beatles, but I just can't get into your solo music.

All Things Must Pass.

abbey road or penny lane?

I'm assuming you mean the places, as opposed to comparing the album and the song?

I made the classic mistake of going to the lane instead of the district, but I didn't have much fun in Penny Lane. Abbey Road, on the other hand, is the site of some treasured memories of shared fandom.

Thanks so much for that nonny, I really enjoyed answering :)

[with-eyes-closed]

Fic-related / also-general-curiousity question, but does anyone know when George's sister moved to the US? Everything I can find just says the late 1950s generally, but I'm curious if she ever met Paul and / or John before the '64 US tour.

[kinsfaun]

Amazing! 😍

the revolution wasn't bad we hit the streets with all we had

[delightfullyatomicfest]

Abbey Road

Some of the Wikipedia page for Abbey Road is annoying, although I suppose that’s only because the takes it’s based on are annoying:

“Musicologist Walter Everett interprets that most of the lyrics on side two's medley deal with "selfishness and self-gratification - the financial complaints in 'You Never Give Me Your Money,' the miserliness of Mr. Mustard, the holding back of the pillow in 'Carry That Weight,' the desire that some second person will visit the singer's dreams – perhaps the 'one sweet dream' of 'You Never Give Me Your Money'? – in 'The End.'"

Do they mostly deal with selfishness and self-gratification? The reason I went on the page was because I was thinking about how meaningful all of Paul’s songs are in the medley. I mean, just to run through Paul’s bits:

Golden Slumbers - the theme of this is that you can never go home, yes? Never return to how things used to be.

Carry That Weight - I’ll assume Everett understands that Paul wasn’t literally talking about a pillow, but I’m not sure it really relates to selfishness. Isn’t ‘holding back the pillow’ about the whole reluctant virgin, Paul not being willing to metaphorically get into bed with Klein thing? And the song in general is about how difficult everything was at that time and trying to hold things together. Unless Everett is thinking Paul was being selfish in not going with Klein (Everett’s book was in 1999 so I assume most of the relevant info about that was out there at this time).

The End - bit of a stretch that he chose to focus on “Are you going to be in my dreams tonight” and relate that to the selfish/self-gratification theme (somehow?). I haven’t quoted this bit but on the page Everett also takes the final phrase “and in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make” and splits it into the selfish (love you take) and generous (love you make). I don’t like this take but can’t really articulate why, other than the fact that that I love this line and I love that in a sense it’s the phrase they ended their career with and I don’t think the idea that you get what you give = selfish.

[He’s talking lyrics so I won’t bang on about how The End (i.e. THE END) included one of Ringo’s only ever drum solos, and Paul, George and John all doing guitar solos, harking back to their Japage 3 days, and a final classic Beatles harmony *don’t cry don't cry don’t cry*].

Her Majesty - this is just one small moment in Paul’s lifelong crush on the queen

She came in through the bathroom window - to be fair this song is kind of incomprehensible to me. I had actually thought it was something to do with the fact he and Mike used to have to climb up the drainpipe and through the bathroom window at Forthlin Road when his dad locked them out for getting home too late. The silver spoon thing I thought was about Jane or Linda (posh). Apparently it’s about a fan who broke into his house though, which makes sense for the first few lines. Still don’t see how it fits Everett’s theme though.

You never give me your money - this one is a medley in itself and yes, some of it’s about money and Klein. I suppose whether Paul's decisions about Klein were selfish depends on your view of that period (I don’t), but I also don’t think self-interest is the focus of the song. Plus it’s not the only bit of the song - the middle part is surely about Paul and Linda and freedom. And the last part (1-2-3-4-5-6-7, all good children go to heaven) is, I think, about trying to do the right thing and the perhaps futile, childish hope that this should lead to things being ok in the end *don’t cry don't cry don’t cry*.

As a slight aside, also on the wikipedia page for the album it states for this song:

“McCartney has claimed that the band's dispute over Allen Klein and what McCartney viewed as Klein's empty promises were the inspiration for the song's lyrics.[59] However, MacDonald doubts this, given that the backing track, recorded on 6 May at Olympic Studios, predated the worst altercations between Klein and McCartney.”

I guess it could - maybe, possibly, at a stretch - be about Dick James / Northern Songs, but Klein came on the scene at the end of January and The Beatles signed with him on 8th May. This date fits almost exactly with the recording so surely strengthens the idea that the song is about Klein. That quote from Glyn Jones about Klein turning up to Olympia and trying to bully Paul into signing with him [here, from here] sounds like it would have taken place at around this time, and I don’t see why the fact that their relationship got even worse as they year went on means that it’s not about him. [Confession: I may be talking rubbish about all of this, 1969 is confusing].

I won’t go too into John’s songs, but Polythene Pam and Sun King have ?nothing? to do with the ‘selfishness’ theme. 

It’s like Everett heard Mean Mr Mustard and the phrase (but not the meaning) of You Never Give Me Your Money and built a whole thesis off it because he wanted it to fit his A-chord, C-chord thoughts. He’d fit right in on the internet tbh.

[muzaktomyears]

:) I complain about smushnames for pairings and then I remember 'Japage 3' aka when the other Quarrymen left and it was just John, Paul & George and they formed a band name out of their own names....

[pauls1967moustache]

I didn’t even read any of this bc I saw the little bug doodles at the bottom of each one and was instantly overwhelmed with affection.

Like, that’s literally them. They looked like this in real life.

Don't know if these have been posted, they're from a book called "Up the Beatles' Family Tree" published in 1966, by the centre for heraldic and genealogical research - as a way to get people interested in researching their own ancestry. Found here.

I like that Ringo has a wedding cake with a george guitarist on it.

(Paul's ancestor Robert Clegg was a coroner apparently, not a confused murderer.)

[moreofthatdrowse]

What was it that John, Paul and George used to say during the time it was just them in the band (the Japage 3 period, if you will) and people asked “Where’s the drums?” or something like that? Was is something like “The beat is in the guitar” or what was it? I’m struggling to remember.

Would love it if someone could help me :)

[kinsfaun]

Japage 3

[dirjoh-blog]

Starting off with probably the best known band from the low countries”Golden Earring”. Their name change was very subtle, they were formed in 1961 as the “Golden Earrings” they dropped the S in 1969.

The next name change is a bit less subtle but still subtle enough “the Cranberries” started off as “the Cranberry Saw Us” in 1989. When their male lead singer left and was later replaced with the one and only Dolores O’Riordon history was made as Limerick’s biggest ever Rock act.

1957,Liverpool a group of teenagers called themselves “the Quarry men” after they had tried names like ‘The Blackjacks, Johnny and the Moondogs, Japage 3’ However this skiffle band eventually became known as “the Beatles”. You may have heard of them.

Continuing on a Dutch theme with Van Halen. Eddie and Alex Van Halen formed their first band with three other boys, calling themselves The Broken Combs, performing at lunchtime at Hamilton Elementary School in Pasadena, whereEddie Van Halen was in the fourth grade. Eddie Van Halen would later say that this was when he first felt the desire to become a professional musician.In 1972, The Van Halens formed another band, originally called “Genesis.” The name was changed to “Mammoth” when they became aware of the English progressive rock band of the same name. Mammoth consisted of Eddie Van Halen on guitar and lead vocals, his brother Alex on drums and bass guitarist Mark Stone. Mammoth had no P.A. system of their own, so they rented one from David Lee Roth,a service for which he charged by the night. Eddie Van Halen became frustrated with singing lead vocals, and decided they could save money by adding Roth to the band.Michael Anthony later replaced Mark Stone on the bass guitar. The band opted to change its name because Roth suggested that the last name of the two brothers “sounded cool.”

U2 Ireland’s biggest band. I can hear you say “What’s the Hype?” and you’d be correct. What is the Hype? That would be U2. The Hype started off as a 5 piece band. The Edge’s older brother,Dik Evans, used to be part of the band. After he left the band was renamed U2.

Even though they were called V2 on the posters for their first gig in the UK. About 6 people showed up.

This is the Dublin 4 in my hometown ‘Geleen’ in 1981.

Led Zeppelin were not always called Led Zeppelin, in fact the had several incarnations.The first one being “the Yardbirds”. The band that included 3 of the world’s best guitarists ever. Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page and the man musicians refer to as “God” Eric Clapton. Jimmy Page was actually the bassist.

In 1968 the Yardbirds played their last gig and “the New Yardbirds” were born with Robert Plant on vocals.However the name ‘the New Yardbirds’ didn’t stick, it went down like a lead balloon or even a Led Zeppelin.

    Famous bands that changed their names. Starting off with probably the best known band from the low countries"Golden Earring". Their name change was very subtle, they were formed in 1961 as the "Golden Earrings" they dropped the S in 1969.

[kinsfaun]

1958... Was this when they were Japage 3? Imagine Japagemania. 😂