I'm pretty sure "The Fifth Beatle" is keyboardist Billy Preston....not whoever you said (Stu Sutcliffe, I think you said...I'm too lazy to go back and look...LOL).

I guess there are two "Fifth Beatles"....

Who was the Walrus?

I've never seen it written anywhere about the backup singer on "Back in the USSR," but my ears have always told me it was Yoko. And I feel pretty confident about that.

However, I don't feel confident about the Badfinger question. Were they the first non-Beatle act from Apple Records to have a hit single?

maybe Paul produced their album. or something.

I have no answer for you. Not even a guess.

Now that's an excellent question.

First of all, since John wrote the song entitled, "I Am the Walrus," then you'd have to conclude that John was the walrus. However, in the lyrics for John's "Glass Onion," he clearly states, "The walrus was Paul."

And then you have to consider who is actually wearing the walrus costume on Magical Mystery Tour. Most people believe it is Paul, because the walrus costume was the only black one. However, in one of the inserted photos from Magical Mystery Tour, there is a photo of the Beatles playing outdoors with little eggmen surrounding them, and some policemen standing atop a wall in the distance. Clearly, the figure playing the drums must be Ringo. The remaining three costumed Beatles are a right-handed guitar player, a left-handed guitar player, and a piano player in the walrus costume. Since the left-handed guitar player HAS to be Paul, then the walrus must be either John or George. Since George was never photographed performing on the piano, I'd have to say that John was the walrus.

If you listen close enough you can hear a few members of the Beach Boys singing the backup "oohhhs" on "Back in the U.S.S.R."

Quote:

However, I don't feel confident about the Badfinger question. Were they the first non-Beatle act from Apple Records to have a hit single?

You nailed it on the head!!

Great job.

OK... I think I MAY JUST HAVE YOU on this one...

Which Beatle wrote "I Saw Her Standing There" and WHAT AGE WAS HE when he wrote it (NOT when he recorded it)?

NOT EVEN CLOSE. it is murray the K. bleh.

Actually, I've always felt the "Fifth Beatle" was George Martin.

But, I agree that Murry the K was the originator of the phrase.

Ever since I read your response above I've wondered about your opinion of May Pang but since this information is off the top of my head I haven't had time to research it until tonight. From what I recall May Pang is very attractive. So I did some googling and came up with some very interesting results.

First read May's bio
http://www.maypang.com/maybio1.htm

Then look at her picture
http://www.maypang.com/mayf.htm

Pretty, isn't she?


BTW - I found a great website
http://www.beatlesagain.com/breflib.html

Wouldn't you know it? I felt confident about one answer and completely guessed the other, and I got it backwards.

Thanks for the tip about the Beach Boys, and I'll keep listening.

I may be missing the "significance" of the alarm clock, but I always thought it had a dual meaning. First, to signify the "waking up" portion of Paul's middle verse, and secondly, to signify that Paul was "killed" early in the morning.

The only Sgt. Pepper cover parody of which I am aware/own is Frank Zappa, but I'd love to learn about any others.

Several people were airbrushed out of the final release of Sgt. Pepper due to EMI's nervous feelings about the appropriateness of some of the characters. I think John's entire list was excluded (Jesus, Hitler, and Ghandi), although Ghandi was included in the photo shoot and airbrushed out later. Also, there was an actor who demanded a fee for his likeness and he was airbrushed out, too (can't recall his name).

There are two schools of thought about the Butcher Baby cover. One direction says that the Beatles created the cover as an editorial comment about how the American subsidiary Capitol Records was treating their music like meat on an assembly line. It was an album only released in America, by the way. The other direction says that it contains several early clues to Paul's gruesome death in a fiery and decapitating car crash. Either way, the cover was redressed immediately prior to release, although many copies simply had the new cover glued atop the old. The original Butcher Baby covers are some of the most valuable Beatles memorabilia out there (I've only seen one copy in my life).

I guess to each his own, my friend, but I still find her terribly unappealing.

The easy part is that Paul wrote it. What age was he? Many of the songs that were recorded in 1963-1964 were written during their earlier Hamburg-Liverpool days and stockpiled, so my educated guess is that Paul was 18-19 years old when he wrote it.

OK, you got the Paul part right, but in a little tidbit I heard on the radio the other day, he wrote it at the age of 14, as a matter of fact.

I admit, that's a bit of a toughie... I'll have to compile another one for later.

I'll be damned, as I'm reading this, guess what Beatles song is playing? "I Saw Her Standing There" :)

I also recall hearing that Paul was very young when he wrote this song.

The questions are getting much tougher. I'm breaking out in a sweat, now.

An easier one, to cool the sweat.

What was the name of John Lennon's band when he asked Paul to join him?

No rest for the wicked, because this question is not as easy as it seems.

The quick answer to this is The Quarrymen (named after John's school), but I'm not sure about the historical accuracy of this answer. I think John and Paul played together as the Nurk Twins the year before John formed The Quarrymen. Once The Quarrymen had been formed, John invited Paul to re-join him in the new band, and it was at this time that Paul brought George along.

My wife sent me a great article yesterday on Pete Best, and I realized as I read that article how very little I knew about the early days.

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.