#Tony Barrow

[muzaktomyears]

Paul came across in 1963 as a fun-loving, footloose bachelor who turned on his charm to devastating effect when he wanted to manipulate rivals, colleagues or women he fancied. (...) He had enormous powers of persuasion within The Beatles. He would get his own way by subtlety and suaveness where John resorted to shouting and bullying. John may have been the loudest Beatle but Paul was the shrewdest. I watched him twist the others round to his point of view in all sorts of contentious situations, some trivial, some more significant, some administrative, some creative. George told me that when he joined Paul and John in the line-up of The Quarry Men in 1958, Paul was already acting as though he was the decision-maker in the group. According to George: "I knew perfectly well that this was John's band and John was my hero, my idol, but from the way Paul talked he gave every indication that he was the real leader, the one who dictated what The Quarry Men would do and where they should be going as a group." This made sense to me because, from what I saw for myself in 1963 and later, Paul's opinions and ideas tended to prevail with The Beatles, particularly on matters of musical policy such as whether a new number was worth recording or whether the running order for the group's stage show needed altering slightly. I didn't see any of the others resist him. They seemed to welcome Paul getting his way by winning arguments with John. When Paul wanted something badly enough from Brian Epstein he would speak softly, wooing the man rather than intimidating him. Epstein's defences would melt away as Paul looked him straight in the eye. In terms of song lyrics, Paul's idea of romantic was 'Michelle', John's was 'Norwegian Wood'.

John, Paul, George, Ringo & Me: The Real Beatles Story, Tony Barrow (2005)

[undying-love]

"They [John and Paul] often shared the same hotel rooms, not only in the early days when the group was too poor to afford suites, but even later on when we were touring the world and staying in five-star places. They changed around though; it wasn't always Paul sharing with John..."

-Tony Barrow

[javelinbk]

Paul McCartney gets manhandled while talking to Tony Barrow, while Ringo Starr chats to Dusty Springfield, during rehearsals for The Beatles' first appearance on Ready, Steady, Go, 4th October 1963. Part 3 (part 1, part 2, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9, part 10)

[dateinthelife]

6 September 1963

The Beatles' hit compilation is released five whole months after their first LP and prior to their US success. I'm going to copy part Tony Barrow's sleeve notes here so you can marvel at his sheer audacity:

The four numbers on this EP have been selected from The Lennon & McCartney Songbook. If that description sounds a trifle pompous perhaps I may suggest you preserve this sleeve for ten years, exhume it from your collection somewhere around the middle of 1973 and write me a very nasty letter if the pop people of the 70’s aren’t talking with respect about at least two of these titles as “early examples of modern beat standards taken from The Lennon & McCartney Songbook”.

[eppysboys]

lmao

[sounwise]

In 1965 [the Byrds] toured England and Paul invited us to his club, the Scotch of St James’s [sic]. He sent a limo to pick us up. He said he had been listening to our music. We were blown away. He took us for a ride through London in his Aston Martin, at great speed. He was really hip, he and John were so tight it was like one person at times. Unlike the Byrds, [where] Crosby would just leave you out to dry, the Beatles all defended each other to the hilt. If you criticised, say, George then they would all respond.

[—Roger McGuinn, in Paul McCartney: Now & Then, Tony Barrow and Robin Bextor]

[John and Paul] sort of had their own way of communicating. Hardly anything was spoken, they just knew what the other wanted or was getting at and they had the most amazing talent. […] Paul was an awesome musical presence. He was, like, ten feet tall with music and it was everything: folk, rock, musical hall, choral, it was all there. He was like a different animal with Lennon. When they were together they became something else, more than just the two of them together. That communication was incredible. It was like two high-speed computers just fizzing between each other.

[—Steve Miller, in Paul McCartney: Now & Then, Tony Barrow and Robin Bextor]

[ludmilachaibemachado]

Via Beatles and Cavern Club Photos FB🎸🎸🎸

[mostarkey]

Sources

Most of what is known about Maureen Starkey comes from the writings of others. Below is a collection of links to some books which contain a fair amount of information about her, written by people who actually knew her. All links lead to the Internet Archive, a free and safe to use online library.

1. Miss O'Dell: My Hard Days and Long Nights with The Beatles, The Stones, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, and the Women They Loved by Chris O'Dell

Chris O'Dell is an American woman who worked at Apple in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later went on to be George Harrison's personal assistant (and the inspiration for his song "Miss O'Dell"), and a tour manager for acts like Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, CSNY, Linda Ronstadt, and others. She has been called the "first" female tour manager, and was certainly among the first. She was a close friend with the Starkeys, and knew Mo from the end of the Beatles' career until Mo's death in 1994. Chris O'Dell also lent her voice to the "Hey Jude" chorus and was the Apple employee entrusted with the top-secret task of transporting Frank Sinatra's special recording of "The Lady is a Champ" for Maureen's 22nd birthday in 1968.

2. A Twist of Lennon and John by Cynthia Lennon

Cynthia Lennon, first wife of John Lennon, was the Beatle woman who knew Maureen Starkey the best. Though these sources (especially Twist) are not among the most reliable, due to Cynthia's occasional omissions and truth-bending (seemingly for her own protection), much of the information about Mo seems to be accurate since it can be corroborated by other sources. Cyn offers a fascinating account of her friend Maureen, and gives insight into the kind of person she was.

3. Magical Mystery Tours: My Life with the Beatles by Tony Bramwell

Tony Bramwell, like O'Dell, was an Apple employee; unlike O'Dell, however, Bramwell knew the Beatles from the beginning, just like Maureen, who he calls "Mitch." Tony remembers Mitch fondly as his friend from his teenage years, telling stories of watching the races from upper-story bedroom windows with her and his girlfriend, who was her best friend, and listening to her speak about her early concerns about her relationship with Ringo Starr, who they call "Richie." He also adds to the narrative the fact that Sinatra's "The Lady is a Champ," recorded as a gift for Maureen's 22nd birthday, was actually the very first Apple Records pressing, not "Hey Jude," as has been popularly reported in many Beatles biographies up until the publication of his book.

4. John, Paul, George, Ringo & Me: The Real Beatles Story by Tony Barrow

Tony Barrow was the Beatles' press officer from 1962 until 1968, in charge of maintaining the Beatles' media presence. In his book, he gives deeper background to many of the things previously reported about the Beatles, supplementing with his own background knowledge as someone who knew and worked with them. In particular, in regards to Maureen, he explains many of the things reported about her relationship with Ringo Starr, particularly about their hasty marriage, explaining that no one was surprised by their sudden marriage, and that the fact that she was pregnant at the time of the ceremony was not terribly uncommon in those days, though it wasn't something that could be openly discussed due to post-war English values.

5. The Beatles, Lennon, and Me: The Intimate Insider's Book, or John Lennon: In My Life, by Pete Shotton

These are essentially the same book; one is just a reprint. This book a joint biography and memoir, written by Peter "Pete" Shotton, who was lifelong friends with John Lennon. While this book does not give a lot of information about Maureen's life, or the things she said and did, it does offer a bit of deeper information about the role of the Beatles' women in their inner circle, and the women's relationships to one another and their men. It also paints a picture of Ringo and Mo as an almost inseparable duo, and corroborates the seemingly contradictory personas they maintained as both a traditional Northern couple and extravagant partiers.

6. The Beatles: The Authorized Biography by Hunter Davies

Hunter Davies was the Beatles' official biographer. Though this book does primarily focus on the band, there is also a substantial amount of information about their home lives, their families, and their marriages. Davies sheds light on Mo's artistic side and the kinds of things she liked to do in her leisure times.

[get-back-homeward]

The Beatles’ Summer 1963 Schedule

[wwprice1]

Eight more amazing DC covers for August!

[muzaktomyears]

(...) Epstein flew into a rage and asked where the airline proposed to put us [in Anchorage, Alaska] while we waited for the typhoon to blow itself away. He was not completely reassured by the captain's personally delivered promise that arrangements were in hand to put up our entire party in a downtown Anchorage hotel, probably the Westwood, one of the best in the area and well-known to airline crews. (...) Seeing that Brian was still angry, he returned later to say that he had fixed for John, Paul, George and Ringo to share the hotel's bridal suite and several equally well-appointed adjoining rooms. This caused much amusement among the four boys who instantly began proposing marriage to one another.

John, Paul, George, Ringo & Me: The Real Beatles Story, Tony Barrow (2005)

[undying-love]

"They were intensely close. And Paul would do almost anything for John".

George Martin, With a little help from my friends : The making of Sgt. Pepper (1994)

[javelinbk]

John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Brian Epstein and Tony Barrow during rehearsals for The Beatles' first appearance on Ready, Steady, Go, 4th October 1963. Part 5 (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9, part 10)

[dateinthelife]

24 December 1963

This may not be the first review of the Beatles' acting, but it's the first I know about:

The Beatles were never much for rehearsing. That never really mattered as far as songs were concerned, but the fact that they were so bad at doing the sketches was an added extra for the show – it was organised chaos but it was very funny chaos.

Tony Barrow

[kaaaaamii]

i dont know if everyone ever saw this picture

its so random. First we have Rob (almost bald, he is still absolutely gorgeous) and Tom Cullen (tony gillingham) sit on the sofa. There is a dog in the corner of the picture, clothes thrown everywhere, literally everywhere.

[eppysboys]