Wow, I did not know that. That would have been 1956, which was the year he met John. Very good stuff.

Actually I always heard the name of John's band was "Johnny and the Moondogs", but that may have been before Paul joined.

Johnny and the Moondogs came after The Quarrymen, and included George along with John and Paul. The Silver Beatles followed Johnny and the Moondogs, and The Beatles followed as the final name.

The Quarrymen featured nearly dozens of John's friends from school coming and going (often for only one gig each) along with John and Paul. The basic core of Johnny and the Moondogs were John, Paul, and George. Once the name became Silver Beatles and Beatles, only six humans can claim to have been members; John, Paul, George, Stu Sutcliffe, Pete Best, and Ringo.

Well then, there you go.

Tried to stump you, but did not have the correct info.

You are certainly up on your Beatles info, and I salute you.


I'll try and come up with another one later. Not necessarily to stump you, but because this is a fun thread. :thumbsup:

You cannot possibly imagine how much fun this is for me. I always wanted to teach a class on The Beatles, but it's not a part of anybody's curriculum. This is close enough.

Okay I thought of another one, here it goes.


What was the name of the drummer who replaced Ringo briefly on tour in Australia when he got sick.

To tell you the truth, I don't even remember myself without looking it up.

Jimmy Nicol.

He resembles Ryan Seacrest of American Idol a little bit.

I get amused watching those film clips of that Beatles World Tour where Jimmy Nicol sat there and waved at all the fans like a big goofbag, as if anybody was actually waving at him.

That would be one hell of a tough position to be in.

I read someone's ideas once that the "Jimmy Nicol" episode is what originally gave birth to the idea of "killing" off Paul and replacing him with an imposter that would try to fool the fans into believing he was the "real" Paul.

Good work, now that I see it, I remember the name.

Got another one for ya. (Am I the only one with Beatles triva anymore??)

It's about Eric Clapton, but it's about a song George Harrison helped him write, so it's kinda related.

How did the song "Badge" get is name?

My second-favorite Cream song. It's odd, because I had never heard about this until George died and I saw it as part of a George trivia page. George saw Eric's handwritten manuscript for the song as they worked on it together, and he thought the word "Bridge" (identifying the middle section of the song) was the word "Badge." He thought that was what Eric had tentatively titled the song, and it stuck.

It's only blind luck (or maybe Blind Faith!) that I knew the answer to that one.:suave:

Blind Faith, another great band.

But, that's another thread.

Back to the question, once again your knowledge prevails and you win.

Ahh, if only George and Eric had done more together...

Hey warrrreagl, great thread! I'm quite impressed with your knowledge and recall.
Another vote here for George Martin as fifth beatle. Even though you've proved this wrong, I feel he deserves the "title", if you will.

Anywho, here's a couple for you:

What is the meaning/significance/deal with "eight arms to hold you"?

In "Glass Onion", what was John referring to with the line "standing on a cast iron shore (yeah)"?

I sure hope you know that first one, cos I'm a little foggy myself.

"Eight Arms to Hold You" was the working title for the movie "Help!" Although I've never seen it written anywhere, I've always thought the eight arms referred to the Hindu idol featured in the sacrificial ceremony scenes.

The Cast-Iron Shore was the beach back home in Liverpool.

And I'll go along with anybody who wants to nominate George Martin for the Fifth Beatle.

Good stuff, good stuff! I didn't think many people'd know that as a bit of L'pool geography.
Oh, and I suppose, the eight arms of the Beatles themselves. ;)

I really like your "eight arms" interpretation. I'd never thought of that before. Makes more sense.

And the only reason I know about the Cast Iron Shore is from analyzing the lyrics of "Glass Onion" in terms of Paul's death clues. If it weren't for that, I would have never learned about it.

and the 5th beatle was

Well, to recap the earlier posts on this subject:

5th Beatle A - George Martin
5th Beatle B - Billy Preston
5th Beatle C - Murray the K
5th Beatle D - Stu Sutcliffe

Okay, so now I thought I'd take a turn at this. I'd like to ask all of you a question that I've never been able to resolve.

In the song, "Can't Buy Me Love," written by Paul and released in 1964, which do you think is the correct interpretation of the title?


A) You can't buy my love (using the British "me" as a substitute for "my)

B) You can't buy me, my love (I'm not for sale)

C) I am unable to buy love for myself (I can't seem to buy me some love)


What are your thoughts?

I think it's more of a

d) Forget what we said about money on our second album, because it can't purchase love. Not that I'm actually trying to purchase love, I'm just kinda announcing that the money I have doesn't do much for me.

Possibly, possibly.

I will be out of touch for the next week, and I will return to revive this thread the first of August. Everybody keep posting your thoughts on "Can't Buy Me Love," and certainly keep posting any other questions for the challenge.

I'll answer all when I return.

Here's one
What alias did John use when checking in at hotels?

I'm completely stumped on this one. Dr. Winston O. Boogie is the only alias for John that comes to mind, but that can't be right.

I'm very curious to know.

what religious event really pissed george & ringo off?

Here's two in a row that I do not know.

I've never heard this, but I'm anxious to learn.

john paul being made pope.......

[QUOTE]Originally posted by warrrreagl
[B]I'm completely stumped on this one. Dr. Winston O. Boogie is the only alias for John that comes to mind, but that can't be right.

Right on the money, as usual. The only reason i can think of is that Winston was his middle name (until he married yoko and then had it legally changed to ono.)

Now THAT'S pretty damned funny!!

Wow, what a great thread. Okay, I got one for you, a multi-part question with some easy and tricky parts.

At the end of "All You Need Is Love," an old Beatles tune is reprised.

1) What is the song?
2) What lyrics are sung? (be specific)
3) Who sings them?

Have two for ya:

What was the real reason John and some others left early from their excursion to India?

And do you believe the that the four of them did smoke pot at the Queens palace?

During the fadeout, John sings "She loves you, yeah yeah yeah. She loves you, yeah yeah yeah," from "She Loves You."

The Beatles were also sued over a saxophone quote from a swing tune that was used during that same fadeout. It's almost incomprehensible today to consider that people used to get sued for using direct quotes from other people's music.

The Mahareshi was pursuing some rather "wordly" pursuits as he chased after Mia Farrow's tail. It tended to disillusion the boys a bit. And I've always believed the story about the pot smoking prior to receiving the MBE's, so yes, I believe it.

I award you partial credit. :) I asked the question because there is actually a lot of controversy over who is singing those lines. First off, John also sings the word "Yesterday" right before the "She Loves You" part. Second off, I think it's been determined that both John AND Paul sing the lines together, and they actually might be singing "she loves to/she'd love to" instead of "she loves you."

This will probably be of no interest to anybody but Warrrreagl, but check out this webpage, which goes into way more detail than anybody needs...but I did find it fascinating:

All You Need Is Love: The Story So Far

Let me know what you think!

Fascinating website, thanks. They touched on my reason for naming John as the singer, because I can still picture him in the film singing that part at the end. It was also a great source of irritation for the maturing Lennon that people were still begging for him to sing "She Loves You," and he was often quoted as saying that he would rather quit music entirely than have to sing "She Loves You" when he was 30.

I started a thread a while back about putting together a fantasy concert for John Lennon if he were still alive. It would be something similar to what Paul keeps doing (new stuff mixed in with all the old Beatle favorites). However, the more I think about it, the less I can ever picture John Lennon "stooping" to the level of rehashing his old Beatle songs.

I'm thankful to have seen Paul in concert singing those old tunes, but there is a certain dignity with Lennon's death in that he will never have to do that.

That may be the dumbest thing I've ever typed, but it's what I feel.

I just found this thread when trying to find out the lyrics to "How do you sleep"... I read through it, and it's great! I hope somebody still remembers this, since the last post is a year old.. I'm a pretty new Beatles fan, I used to listen almost strictly to rap, but then I rediscovered the Beatles whom I had loved as a child (I'm 21 now).

At any rate, a little more on the Beatles on the Simpsons...

In the episode where Lisa becomes a vegetarian, she encounters Paul and Linda McCartney on the roof of the Quik-E-Mart, and they support her decision to be a vegetarian. This leads to Apu (the Indian owner of the Quik-E-Mart) doing his own rendition of Sgt Pepper. Quite funny.

In the episode where Homer reminisces about being in a barbershop quartet, there are several Beatles references... For instance the group breaks up after Barney and his eccentric Japanese girlfriend (Yoko anyone?) become distant from the other members, and record a track called "Number 8" (which just goes, 'Number 8, BELCH, Number 8, Belch, Numver 8....'). Later in the episode the group gets back together to do a concert on the roof of Moe's Tavern (a la Apple rooftop concert). During the concert a limo pulls up, the window rolls down, and George Harrison sticks his head out and says "It's been done."

Hrmm that's all that comes to mind right now about the Beatles on the Simpsons...
Interestingly, I'm watching Dumb and Dumber right now, and the two goofballs were in a diner, examining the jukebox and they say, "Hey they have the Monkeys!, You know they were a huge influence on the Beatles" hehee

Well I hope somebody reads this, and maybe this forum could get going again, cause I love taking in all this Beatles knowledge.

Thanks

No one could be happier if this thread revived....

wow, a reply! Thanks warrrreagl :)
Now lets hope more people notice hehe

Somehow, people go through life and miss certain things that everybody else seemed to experience. As for me, I completely missed The Simpsons. I can't explain it. I don't hate them, nor avoid them. I just somehow missed them. Therefore, all of The Simpsons connections with The Beatles are news to me. Thanks.

Not so much trivia as a question for a hard-core Beatles buff who likely has a strong opinion on this.

Do you think the disappointing recordings of "Real Love" and "Free As a Bird" reflect:

a) That George Martin truly was the 5th Beatle (and that Jeff Lynn didn't have what it takes)
b) That age made the members not as good as they used to be
c) That the best Beatles music came out of closer collaboration among the members throughout the songwriting process (possibly more collaboration than has been acknowledged by the Beatles themselves), and that it's awfully tough to make a "Beatles" song out of an old Lennon demo
d) The recordings were not disapointing at all, so this is a silly question
e) Other

I'm somewhere in between C and D. Although I don't think of the recordings as a disappointment, they're more novelty than they are solid Beatles music. They certainly wrote and recorded a lot of crap (some of which made it to vinyl), but I don't think they would have taken these songs seriously in 1969.

Their collaboration was very real yet very covert at times. And speaking as a former performing musician, sometimes the best collaboration is a knock-down drag-out fight; something they seemed to have quite a bit throughout their time together.


On a personal note: DAMN it feels good to be answering these questions again! Quadro, God of Thunder, Craven, and others: can you smell what the Beatle is cooking??!!??

I've been following the resurgence. All I can say is "Dig it." :)

BTW, my opinion on the recent subject is this: listening to the two newer Beatle tracks is kind of like watching the new Star Wars movies. The Beatles oevure is so revered that anything new added is bound to be a disappointment. How could anything live up to the legendary status of the Beatles catalogue?

I like both songs. I think they're both catchy. I don't love them. I suspect some of that has to do with Lennon's demos - they're in such bad shape that the distance between John and the other three is really painfully obvious. I know I shouldn't expect anything better from it, but I heard these songs shortly after hearing "Made in Heaven," the album made by Queen after Freddie Mercury died, and that one was done so masterfully. (Yes, I know that Freddie recorded those songs in 1991 and not way back when, like John did...but still.)

I don't know why they didn't use George Martin. (Do you, warrrreagl?) I think Jeff Lynne does what he always does: makes 'em sound like Wilbury tunes. :D (It's that damn snare drum!)

For what they are, they're good tracks, and it's nice to hear those harmonies again. I dig 'em.

I feel along the same lines as the above two... I like the songs, but think they aren't up to Beatles standards. It could have something to do with the lack of collaboration or with the lack of George Martin, but I tend to lean more towards the prior.

This is pure speculation on my part since I've never read an official explanation as to why Jeff Lynne was used instead of George Martin, but I think it had to do with their ages. When they were lovable lads, George Martin was like a father-figure to their creativity and he guided them along into brilliance. In 1995, they were all over 50, and probably felt like they would be insulted (not the right word) to have to use the old man again. Jeff Lynne was a contemporary and equal, and they wouldn't have to fall back into a subservient (not the right word again) role to him like they would have had to do with Martin.

What would they have sounded like if they had used Brian Eno instead of Jeff Lynne?

I'm surprised no one followed up on the very first question (unless everyone knows it already):
It's obvious you already know the answer: What was Paul's FIRST name?

James. Full name James Paul McCartney. I'm not entering the full name to be cocky, but the TFP driver won't allow me to enter a short reply of "James."

While we're on the subject of George Martin...

Is George Martin still producing pop acts today?

What was the last pop album George Martin produced?

(and this is cheating on my part b/c I don't know the answers)

Holy crap, this is a tough one. I'm confident that he's retired and is no longer producing. I think he retired and was knighted the same year (2000?).

However, I'm not sure what his last pop album was. I know he worked with Celine Dion in the early-90's, and I'm positive he produced Elton John's "Candle In the Wind 1997" tribute to Princess Diana. Other than that, I don't know for certain.

I knew I should have looked him up when you first started asking about him, balderdash.

I don't know if this is already on this thread, but George Martin produced an album of his own, In My Life, which consisted of other artists covering Beatles tunes. That was in 1998.

It's an "interesting" album, in that you have people like Robin Williams, Goldie Hawn and Jim Carrey covering songs - plus Sean Connery doing a spoken-word "In My Life." There are some great tracks on there, though - John Williams' classical rendition of "Here Comes The Sun," Jeff Beck's instrumental "A Day In The Life," and Phil Collins does a pretty good job on "Golden Slumbers/You Never Give Me Your Money/The End." And, to be honest, Jim Carrey's take on "Walrus" is actually pretty cool. :)

Don't know if that counts as pop. He also produced the Broadway version of "The Who's Tommy" in 1993.

Okay, I remember that "In My Life" thing now. The only track I've heard is the Sean Connery recital, and I was so dumbfounded that I avoided listening to anything else. I also remember Martin did a "tour" to promote the album, which consisted of speaking engagements. I would LOVE to have attended one of those, but learned about them too late.

I didn't know about "Tommy." Was it a live Broadway recording, or a studio recording of the cast pretending to sing "live?"

Tommy was the Original Broadway Cast Recording - so yes, it means it was a studio recording of the cast singing "live." That's the way 99% of all Bway recordings are done.

George Martin has hosted a few shows aimed towards children on the Ovation network - a 3-part series called The Rhythm of Life. The first part was rhythm, followed by melody, and then harmony. I saw part 3. Maybe it was for kids, but I absolutely loved it. Great insight from George Martin (I had no idea one of John's favorite classical artists was Ravel) and great interviews with other artists. Unfortunately it doesn't look like it's playing again anytime soon. :(

george martin did all the string arrangements for the beatles, yes?

Roachboy, I've always believed he did ALL the arranging for them (string, brass, woodwind, percussion, whatever). I remember seeing an interview with him where he described that they would come to him and say things like, "George, I want some old-fashioned sounding brass on this song, please," and it was completely up to him at that point.

I also love reading about all the non-standard ways he and the Beatles mutually discovered to record standard instruments, such as; microphones stuck down into the bells of brass instruments, microphones attached to headphones, then put around violins, vocals sent through the Leslie amp in a Hammond organ, etc.

Don't count these out too quickly. I have also seen snippets of these, and I know it came on within the past month (saw it on a shared TV in the gym, so couldn't force everyone else to stay on that channel)

Ok, an easy one to get the questions moving again:

The authorship credit of one Beatles song has been the subject of some dispute in the past handful of years. What song is it, and why the dispute?

(I do know the answer to this one)

That would be "Give Peace a Chance," which is credited to John Lennon & Paul McCartney, but Yoko wants to have Paul's name taken off since he had nothing to do with it, and it was never recorded by the Beatles.

Both Paul and Yoko are being just plain silly about the authorship disagreement surrounding several Beatles songs, as well. It basically boils down to three different controversies:
1) Paul wants to reverse the authorship credits to all Beatles songs he wrote. He and John agreed to credit all songs that either of them wrote as Lennon-McCartney no matter who actually wrote it. Paul is seeking to change all the Beatles songs he wrote to be listed as McCartney-Lennon rather than Lennon-McCartney. He even attempted to do this on the live versions of several of his recent solo tour recordings, but Yoko has blocked everything so far.
2) Yoko wants Paul's name removed from "Give Peace a Chance" since it was never recorded by the Beatles, and even though John honored the old agreement and listed it as Lennon-McCartney. It was recorded with Plastic Ono Band before the Beatles broke up.
3) If Paul won't agree to remove his name from "Give Peace a Chance," then Yoko has half-heartedly threatened to have John's name added to all the songs on Paul's first solo album "McCartney," which was released before the Beatles had actually broken up but didn't contain John's name in any of the writing credits.

They're both nuts.

I stand in awe. I guess I didn't know the answer, I just knew part of the larger story.

All I knew about was a request by Paul McCartney to reverse the credits on "Yesterday" but I guess that was just part of a larger beef about all the songs he'd written.

What I can't figure out is "why?" You just know neither one of them needs the money.

Does it not matter given the fact that Wacko Jacko owns all of their songs?

Not really, he has been borrowing against the songs for a longtime. Last I heard Sony's record division held 75% of the ownership.

I look for McCartney to buy the songs back before he dies (Paulie's worth is something like $750 Million.... it's God awful for a sub par pop song writer).

As for switching names around and so on. I think Lennon would be turning in his grave seeing how greedy everyone has gotten over their music. It's not like anyone in Lennon or Mccartney's family will be starving (or even having to truly work for that matter) for many, many generations.

Also, Michael Jackson does not actually own the songs themselves. He owns the publishing rights, which basically gives him no control over the songs, but entitles him to share in the profits.

Thanks for filling me in about Sony's growing ownership against Jackson's borrowing, because I'm not keeping up with that like I should.

For this next portion, I did in fact break one of my own Rules of Engagement and turn to some of my references for clarification. Taken from Cecil Adams...

"The last reason not to feel sorry for Paul is that if he got skunked it's his own fault. In the 60s, to avoid confiscatory British taxes, he and Lennon turned their publishing rights over to newly-organized Northern Songs, a publicly-held company in which they owned sizable but apparently not controlling blocks of stock. In 1969 music mogul Lew Grade launched a takeover bid for Northern Songs in which he offered seven times the stock's original offering price. Lennon and McCartney, feuding as usual, were unable to organize an effective defense and the company was sold out from under them. This made them even more fabulously wealthy than they already were, since their stock was now worth seven times as much. However, they were still pissed on account of, you know, the principle of the thing. The Teeming Millions can surely sympathize."

Not that I need to point anything out to you warrrreagl, but Jacko does not own the publishing right to ALL Beatles recordings, just the Northern Songs LTD portion. The Beatles as a whole still own the Apple portion.

I'm not sure where the split is, you can provide that info I'm sure. I think they started Apple right before Sgt. Pepper.

Hey, I need plenty of stuff pointed out to me about this topic, because I'm way behind.

And this is where it gets fuzzy. Apple is not a publishing company, but is a recording label. Songs that were recorded and released on Apple Records were still published under either Northern Songs, MACLEN Music, or sometimes both.

The Beatles originally recorded with EMI/Capitol Records and published/copyrighted under Dick James or MACLEN Music (a combination of McCartney-Lennon). Then, when the EMI/Capitol contract expired in 1967, they formed their own label, Apple Records. At about this same time, they turned over rights (and I'm still not sure if this is copyrights or publishing rights, which are not always the same thing) to Northern Songs.

The first Beatles song recorded and released on the Apple label was the single "Hey Jude" in 1968.

Usually, the only time you'll see a publishing or copyrighting company name on an album is if the lyrics are printed. Abbey Road, for example, makes no mention of MACLEN or Northern Songs. To make things more confusing, the master recordings are owned by several separate entities (including George Martin), and the Beatles were originally managed by their manager Brian Epstein's company, NEMS Enterprises, which wound up getting sued by the Beatles for mismanagement of funds.

For all of these reasons, when somebody asks me who owns the Beatles songs, I usually shrug and say, "I don't know," and I think to myself, "It all depends on what you mean by 'songs.' Do you mean copyrights, publishing rights, recording rights, performance rights, or licensing rights?"

The last three years of the Beatles existence just goes to show what happens when peace, love, and understanding starts bouncing checks.

I gotta agree that Lennon is turning in his grave about the whole ordeal...
In my opinion Paul and Yoko are a bit nutty over this thing also, but at least Yoko's side of the story it consistent... According to John and Paul's agreement, John puts Paul's name on Give Peace a Chance and Paul puts John's name on his solo album. Or am I misunderstanding their agreement?

As far as the whole legal issue goes... BLEH!
(best answer ever)

Thanks for the clarification. Now I'm just as confused as you. I always thought (untill now) that Jacko only owned the earlier stuff.



That's the funniest thing I have read in quite some time.

this is all super entertaining for me. having never really been into the beatles, my g/f made me get the beatles anthology on my netflix acct. so now i'm really hooked and just coming off the buzz of learning so much from the dvds. keep the questions and factoids coming. and if i can think of a question, i'll definitely ask.

No, you're not misunderstanding it. That's the way I see it, too. And McCartney's first solo album is really the heart of the Paul and John feud. Prior to that album, all three of the other Beatles walked out and "quit" at some point, and it was always, always, always Paul that pep-talked them back into the group. So when Paul released his solo album without their knowledge and quit the group (being the only one of them to file for dissolution in court), it was a sizeable public slap.

Yet, to make matters worse, he released the solo album in April of 1970, less than one month BEFORE the release of the last Beatles album, "Let It Be." It was an obvious example of him trying to undercut the Beatles' publicity.

And then the final topper was that he'd left John's name off the songs, many of which were rehearsed and rehashed by all of the Beatles while filming "Let It Be," even though John stuck to the agreement and put Paul's name on "Give Peace a Chance."

I remember seeing an interview with Ringo where he said that John, George, and Ringo secretly referred to Paul as "Boogaloo," and that's the source of the title of one of Ringo's solo hits, "Back Off Boogaloo."

By the way, the "Let It Be" film is supposed to be released on DVD this year (if not already), and I haven't seen it in its entirety in over 20 years. It is a full documentation of the breakup and decomposition of a supergroup.

The three scenes that still stick out in my mind are as follows:
1) Paul trying to tell George how he wants a certain guitar solo played. This would be the exact same George who's been playing Beatles guitar solos since 1957 perfectly fine on his own. George eventually loses his cool in a Hare Krishna kind of way, and retorts, "I'll play whatever you want, and if you don't want me to play, I won't play at all."

2) The rooftop recordings, where all these staid, stoic Londoners are trying to go about their daily business while live Beatles music is sailing all around them downtown.

3) George lovingly and patiently sitting at the piano with Ringo, helping him compose "Octopus's Garden."

Can't wait to own it. I've never seen it in its entirety.

The memories are flooding back now. More great scenes include:

* The horrible mistake of allowing road manager Mal Evans to play the "hammer" on "Maxwell's Silver Hammer," in which he NEVER gets it right. All he has to do is play CLANG CLANG, by God, and he screws it up every damn time. It's hilarious.

* Jamming with keyboardist Billy Preston. Whenever the Beatles had a guest artist sitting in with them in the studio, they were on their happiest, best behavior, and the sessions with Billy Preston are phenomenal.

* "Long and Winding Road." Prior to the release of "Anthology" and "Let It Be...Naked," this was the ONLY place to hear the raw, unmixed version of this beautiful song.

* Overhead ceiling shots of John and Paul jamming while seated.

* Paul's impromptu Elvis-style version of "Two of Us."

I have a terrible, zillionth-generation copy on VHS. It'd be nice to see the real thing. How fascinating that what was supposed to be a documentary of a band recording an album and moving on to a tour wound up becoming a documentary of a band falling apart.

Also, I've always wondered about the material from that film that wound up on the cutting room floor. Might there be a "Let It Be" outtakes coming one day, similar to "Anthology?"

Ok, I've got a few questions about Paul's violin bass:

1) What is the make and model?
2) He has a few of these, but where and when did he aquire his first (original)?
3) How many basses were made _exactly_ like the original?

name some more "Apple" bands

Gogogo has a stumper, here. As I said, the rules of the challenge force me to answer from memory without Internet aids. It would be so easy to look all this up, but no fun, either.

I *know* that the bass is a Hoffner, but that's it. My *guess* is that the first one was bought in Hamburg in '59 or so when the Beatles played the strip clubs there.

When I saw McCartney in Atlanta in 2002, he played a Hoffner bass, of course, and he told a story to the audience about the scratches on it. Early in the Beatles' career, he taped a set list to the body of the Hoffner, and it scratched the finish when he pulled it off. Now, each Hoffner he buys is scratched in the same place to make it a more authentic-looking replica.

I don't have any idea how many there are, but I'd love to know where the original one is.

Do you mean we need more questions on TFP about Apple bands, or the world in general needs more Apple bands?

How about this instead? In addition to your stumper questions to me, I'll serve up a few big fat hanging curves right over the plate and let everybody play home-run derby.

Feel free to look these up and see who's the first to get them all correct. And keep posting your stumpers to me in the meantime.

1) In “Paperback Writer,” which London newspaper is mentioned?

2) Which Beatles song begins with “Try to see it my way?”

3) What was the Beatles' last No. 1 song in the US?

4) Which Beatles hit contains the line, “When I was younger, so much younger than today?”

5) Which Beatles song begins with, “If there’s anything that you want?”

I know the great James Taylor was signed to Apple by Paul, and that Fire and Rain is about the Beatles breakup and Apple.

I remember in the 80's watching the "Today" show before school. They had on some guy that wrote a Beatles book and they asked him if any of the beatles helped colloborate.

I will never forget his reply, because it was very true.

His reply was this, "Well, it's hard to truly know what went on between the 4. John, of course is dead, Ringo was so drunk it was all a haze to him, Paul changes his stories like he changes his socks so he's very unreliable. The only one that could ever truly tell us what happened between the 4 is George, and he won't say anything. I guess they didn't call him the quiet Beatle for nothing."

Ya know, the KINKS had an apporpriate nickname for Paul (after the first time they played together and Paul seemed very aloof and snobbish)......Mr. Pull Me Cock Off. I wonder if Lennon ever heard it and said "that's Pull.... I mean Paul."

1) The Daily Mail
2) We Can Work It Out
3) IIRC, the Long and Winding Road
4) Help!
5) From Me To You

Correct-a-mundo. Nice work, KWSN!

Next batch...

1) In what year was "Eight Days a Week" No. 1 in the US?

2) Which Beatles' song mentions "a man named Lear?"

3) Which Beatle is the only one whose name appears in the title of a Beatles No. 1 hit song?

4) Which Beatles No.1 song had the longest run at No. 1?

5) Which animal is mentioned in the song “A Hard Day’s Night?”

Can you name the Shakespeare play that's sound-sampled towards the end of "I am the Walrus"?

Macca's orignal bass is a Hofner 500/1 bought in 1961 in Hamburg. Only three of this exact configuration (left handed) were made and Paul owns two. Although the bass was bought in '61 it's considered a '62 model since similar basses were made in '62, but with some differences. I happen to know the owner of the third copy and Paul has called him numerous times offering to buy the bass. There is a rumour about the existance of a fourth bass, but that is unconfirmed.

It's interesting to note that Hofner claims only one of these were made, and Paul never mentions the second copy in interviews. He also claims, wrongly as one can see in pictures, that the bass is 'right handed'. Paul stopped playing the bass live somwhere around the Rubber Soul album, but took it out again for the '98 tour IIRC and has used it on tours since.

I am curious if this is a tough question or an easy one. I like to use it to stump friends when trivia questions are flying around:

1) Who shot John Lennon?
2) What book was he carrying?
3) What type of gun was used? (the only reason I know is that I used to own one)

King Lear. Some of the quoted lines are, "What? Is he dead?" and "Sit you down, father. Rest you," and "O! Untimely death!" and "Bury my body," all of which went straight to the "Paul Is Dead" stuff. I've never seen or read King Lear, but I remember reading that one of the characters, Edmund Earl of Glocester, was deceived by an imposter. Hence, the "Paul Is Dead" connection.

1) Mark David Chapman (up for parole again this year).
2) Catcher in the Rye, which has now leaped into conspiracy immortality.
3) No idea.

I'm not worthy! You know someone who's talked to Paul. I'm not worthy!

Thanks for the correct information, by the way. I knew none of that.

1) 1965
2) Paperback Writer
3) John Lennon (Ballad of John and Yoko)
4) (a total guess) Hey Jude?
5) Dawg, er, dog. :)

100% correct, quadro.

the only other apple band i remember is badfinger

Speaking of which...have you ever heard the "Miss Him" bootleg (I may be getting the name wrong)? It's like eight discs of radio broadcasts and interviews, all focusing on the Paul Is Dead controversy. It starts off with the very first mention of it ever on the radio and goes on from there. I tried to get through it, but it was just too exhausting. I do have it somewhere, though.

No, I've never heard of this. I'm very intrigued...

And it gets me in the mood for more trivia:

1) How many times do the Beatles say, "Yeah" in "She Loves You?"

2) The line, “I can’t hide, I can’t hide, I can’t hide,” comes from what Beatles song?

3) In the film “Help!” what are the Beatles doing while “Ticket to Ride” is being played?

4) Also in the film "Help!" what makes Paul start to laugh during the performance of "Another Girl?"

5) Name all five "official" Beatles movies (in chronological order).

1. Yeah, yeah............29 times
2. I want to hold your hand..........
3. They are skiing................
4. He gropes her chest
5. Hard Day's Night
Help
Magical Mystery Tour
Yellow Sub
Let it Be...................

Now, a few questions for you....Mr. BeatleMan

How tall was John?
How tall was George?
How tall is Paul?
Who said, "America: It's like Britain, only with buttons" ?
Only one Beatle had formal music training.....who?

I didn't think anybody was going to get these. Kudos, Grancey.

The funny part about "Another Girl" is that his accidental chest grope made it into the film. Paul was standing behind the girl as she had her arm stuck out to the side. He was strumming her body like a guitar, with her arm representing the guitar's neck and her belly representing the guitar's body. One of his strums went a little bit too high and he hit breast. The girl's eyes widened ever so slightly, and Paul visibly starts laughing while he's lip-synching.

"Help!" is out now on DVD, so it's fun to check it out.

Now this is interesting. The first three questions are the kind where if I answer them, everybody will protest that there's no way I could possibly know trivia like that without looking it up first. But when you see the answer, you'll understand how I could know it without having to look it up.

John - 5'11"
George - 5'11"
Paul - 5'11"

Only Ringo was of a different height (5'8" on a good day). This factors into the "Paul Is Dead" stuff, because Paul suddenly seemed a good deal taller in the photos that appear in Sgt. Pepper and Magical Mystery Tour ("evidence" that an imposter had taken his place).

"Britain with buttons?" I've never heard that before, but it sounds like Ringo.

George had received some musical training as a child.

Good questions, Grancey, and welcome to the mosh pit.

Correct, Mr. BeatleMan.
Wonder which Beatle had the most formal education, of any kind? hmmmm

Oooh, there's a good one. I know John went to Art College in Liverpool, but I don't remember learning that any of the others went to college at all. So, my guess is John.

How about some lyric trivia? I'll post the lyrics, you name the song.

1) "Life is very short and there's no time…"

2) "You're asking me will my love grow"

3) "Here comes old flattop"

4) "When I find myself in times of trouble"

5) "He buys her diamond rings you know."

I really have no idea. I just thought you might know....

1) We Can Work It Out
2) Something
3) Come Together
4) Let It Be
5) I Feel Fine

An A+ for present_future. Nice work!

More lyric trivia:

1) "It's so hard to reason with you, oh yeah."

2) "You don't take nothing with you but your soul. Think."

3) "Semolina Pilchard climbing up the Eiffel Tower."

4) "Darning his socks in the night when there's nobody there."

5) "There's nothing for me here, so I'll just disappear."

I'll take a shot at these off the top of my head.

1. 1965

2. "Paperback Writer"

3. John, in "The Ballad Of John And Yoko"

4. "Hey Jude"

5. "Dog", as in "working like a dog".