warrrreagl

I consider myself to be fairly knowledgeable about The Beatles, so here's the challenge:

Ask me something I don't know about the Fab Four. Try it. I dare ya.

* This includes legitimate trivia questions (What's Paul's middle name?)
* This includes bizarre, stupid questions (How long was John's penis?)
* This includes discussion/essay questions (What was the significance of "Hey Jude" being a 7-minute single?)

Go on, I dare ya. I double dare ya.

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Cynthetiq

well let's start with the 3 gimmes you have up there...

* This includes legitimate trivia questions (What's Paul's middle name?)
* This includes bizarre, stupid questions (How long was John's penis?)
* This includes discussion/essay questions (What was the significance of "Hey Jude" being a 7-minute single?)

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warrrreagl

Ah, thank you, honorable Cynthetiq.

1) Paul's middle name is Paul.
2) John's penis was 5 inches (based on the cover of the Two Virgins album).
3) Since AM radio was based on the 3-minute single format, the AM stations were forced into a dilemma with the 1968 7:40 Beatles single "Hey Jude." Their only options included a) playing the song in its entirety, which would screw up the timing on their formats, or b) playing a chopped-down 3-minute version which fit the format but pissed off everybody who wanted to hear the bulk of the song. The majority of AM stations chose Option B, which encouraged a large number of pissed-off people to try out those new-fangled FM stations which were just starting to appear on the dial playing album-oriented rock, and were quite happy with playing the whole 7:40 original version. Therefore, the Beatles gave FM radio the first big kick it needed to steal away mainstream listeners from AM radio.

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Conclamo Ludus

What is the most overrated Pop act of the twentieth century?

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BulletBob

Nirvana

hawkeye

Why did people think that paul was dead from the abbey road cover? Did they think that the band was prophetic w/ the picture, or did they think that after paul died, they posed him like that for one last cover?

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bullgoose

Which Beatles wife had an extra-marital affair that led to one of the all-time classic rock albums? (Name the album).

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dankitti

an easy one: what is the real title of The White Album?

who was the Fifth Beatle?

what (if any) albums feature Stuart Sutcliffe, Pete Best and Tony Sherridan?

who played with Rory Storm & the Hurricanes before joining the beatles?

Len Garry Eric Griffiths Rod Davis Colin Hanton Ken Brown John "Duff" Lowe Bill Smith Ivan Vaughan Nigel Whalley

do you have ANY idea who those people are?

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In you again
In you again...

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I Have Been In Yo

warrrreagl

Some (but not all) clues to Paul's death (which was supposed to have occurred on November 9, 1966) on the Abbey Road cover:

Paul was the only Beatle with eyes closed and with no shoes. He was also the only Beatle carrying a cigarette. And, he was out of step with the other three Beatles. The procession across the street was to represent a funeral, with John as the preacher, Paul as the corpse, Ringo as the undertaker, and George as the gravedigger. The Volkswagon parked on the curb displayed a license plate that read "28 IF" suggesting that Paul's age in 1970 (the year of Abbey Road's release) would have been 28 if he had lived. Also, the car in the road was pointed straight at Paul, representing his death in a car accident.

And the second part of your question is neither; ever since Paul's death in 1966, he was replaced by look-alike William Campbell, an Ontario police officer.

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warrrreagl

George's first wife Patti Boyd fell deeply in love with Eric Clapton, and they began having a lurid affair in the late 60's. George was unaware, and continued to invite Clapton to appear on his recordings and concerts.

Clapton and Patti had code names for each other, and her code name was "Layla." Therefore, "Layla, and Other Assorted Love Songs," by Clapton's band Derek and the Dominos was penned for Patti Harrison.

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warrrreagl

The White Album was called "The Beatles," and early pressings of the album had the original titled embossed in the lower right section.

The fifth Beatle was bassist Stu Sutcliffe, who left the group in 1961 to stay in Germany with his girlfriend, Astrid Kirchner. Astrid was the one who took the early classic black and white photos of the Beatles in Germany, and she suggested the Beatle haircut. Stu died not long after leaving the group of a brian hemmorrhage.

Although Pete Best was the drummer when the Beatles recorded back-up for singer Tony Sheridan's "My Bonnie," it happened after Stu's death.

Richard Starkey.

You got me on the last one. I do not recognize any of those names. Part of my own rules for this smackdown challenge state that I CAN NOT look up any of these answers; all the answers must come from my memory. Therefore, without looking them up, I don't know them.

Good questions, all.

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Craven Morehead

What is Phil Collins connection to the Beatles?

BTW - I really like this, I hope this thread continues for a long, long time. Great idea!

Craven Morehead

Who taught John Lennon to play harmonica?

warrrreagl

Thanks, I'm having a blast.

Phil Collins was one of the screaming kids used in the studio audience in the filming of "A Hard Day's Night." This was something I didn't know until the AFI started their push to raise money to restore classic films and they used Phil Collins to host the segment on "A Hard Day's Night." He displayed a wonderful freeze-fame of himself in the screaming thong of teens at the filming.

I absolutely love the second question, because Delbert McClinton is one of the coolest people in the biz. McClinton played harmonica backup to a ton of old blues front men, and one of those songs (I think it was "Hey Baby" but I could be wrong on that) hit No. 1 in England and resulted in a British tour. It was during that tour he met John Lennon and gave him some harmonica tips that John added immediately to "Love Me Do."

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Craven Morehead

damn, you are good at this!

Craven Morehead

Who did Paul dedicate P.S. I Love You to?

Tech

this is the only obscure Beatles thing i know...

who sampled "Blackbird" as part of their remake of an old rap song and what did they replace the lyrics with?

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Tech

i thought of another...

in a simpsons episode, bart and milhouse break into someone's house and find their Beatles collection. a) who's house was it and b) what were the names of the beverages that bart and milhouse drank?

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-Tim-

~I swear sometimes i feel like i'm married to a child.
~You better watch who you're calling a child, Lois, cause if i'm a child than you know what that makes you? a pedophile. and i'll be damned if i'm going to stand here and be lectured by a pervert.

Fly

link the beatles to charles manson

allll you've got too.

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dankitti

the white album WAS called The Beatles. that is correct. but the "fifth beatle" was never stuart sutcliffe. the "Fifth Beatle" was supposed to be DJ Murray The K. of course he was NOT a member of the beatles.

MAG: How did you get the nickname The Fifth Beatle?

MTK: It was in Washington. I think it was Ringo who did it. One guy asked them some question, and they gave him a real typical Beatlesque kind of answer. They were really putting the press on. One reporter said, "Who's this fellow we see with you all the time?" They answered "Oh, don't you know him? My goodness man. That's the Fifth Beatle." That's where that was picked up. I was tagged with it after that. Then the station heard about it and started billing me on the air as The Fifth Beatle. I really didn't like it very much, but that was it.

http://beatles.ncf.ca/murrayk.html

everything else is actually quite fascinating. as for those other people i mentioned, they were members of The Quarrymen who, believe it or not, are mentioned in
the all music guide.

__________________
Aw' little girl, there ain't no time
To wash yer stinky hand
Go 'head 'n' roll over
I'm goin' in you again
In you again
In you again
In you again...

--Frank appa
I Have Been In Yo

forseti-6

Here's a few

Who is Julia?

Who is Martha?

Who exploited Helter Skelter?

Which two songs were involved in George Harrison's plagiarism suit?

and finally the toughie...
what model guitar was George's favorite (hint trick question).

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Minx

holy crap....I don't have a question this is just a WOW...if you aren't looking any of this up then kudos to you - you really do know your stuff!

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Craven Morehead

What is a "Helter Skelter"

Craven Morehead

Thought of another one - What was the last song written by Lennon & McCartney?

warrrreagl

Okay, sorry to have taken so long to reply to all the new questions. My wife went into the hospital with pnuemonia and acute anemia this weekend and we spent our 10th Anniversary together in the ICU.

She took a blood transfusion of 4 units of blood, so she's snapping around with much more energy than ever before, and she's back home again doing wonderfully. Therefore, give a bit of slack in response timing.

I can say that after reading through the new questions, I quickly see at least one that I can't answer.

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warrrreagl

I hadn't heard of the Murray the K story before, although I am very familiar with his career. I even have a couple of albums by Murray the K (they're just complilation albums of stuff that he would have likely played, but his name and photo are on the albums).

I have a tape of an old "What's My Line" game show episode that featured Pete Best as the "Fifth Beatle," but I never considered him that. I guess I always just equated Stu with that nickname since there were five Beatles during his tenure.

You completely stumped me on The Quarrymen question. Damn good one.

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warrrreagl

My rap and hip-hop knowledge is lacking, so I'm guessing something I think I heard once; Velvet Crush. But I don't know what they replaced the lyrics with (was it a different Beatles' song, maybe "Getting Better?").


I don't know anything about The Simpson's, so you've easily stumped me on this one.

Both of these were excellent questions, and I eagerly await the correct answers.

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warrrreagl

The aforementioned White Album is the link to Charles Manson. Manson believed The Beatles were speaking directly to him through several songs on this album, including "Helter Skelter," "Blackbird," "Piggies," and "Sexy Sadie." He believed that The Beatles were giving him the clues he needed to spark the racial war that would leave all the whites slaughtered, except for him and his Family, and the surviving inept blacks would then turn to Manson to be their leader.

Therefore, when the two sets of murders occurred at the Tate Mansion and the LaBianca house, several references to these Beatles songs were written in blood by the Manson followers as attempts to spark the racial war.

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warrrreagl

Julia was John's birth mother, accidentally killed by an off-duty drunk police officer when John was 14.

Martha was Paul's sheepdog. The song "Martha My Dear" is Paul's tribute to Martha, the Sgt. Pepper album ends with a long blast from a dog whistle as a message to Martha, and Martha's taped barking can be heard in the fading seconds of "I Feel Fine."

I'm not sure what you mean by "exploited." Although Manson's connections are documented in an earlier post, it was Vincent Bugliosi (the DA in the Manson trial) who authored the book about he murders entitled, "Helter SKelter." I hope that's what you were looking for.

George's plagiarism involved his single "My Sweet Lord," released in 1970, and the Chiffons' "He's So Fine." I don't know if George actually willfully plagiarized that song or not, but musically speaking they are identical. George made many offers to settle the suit, but they were all declined, and the court eventually ruled against him.

I'm not sure about George's favorite guitar. Since you typed in "trick question," that would lead me to guess that he didn't have a favorite. The most famous photographs show him lugging around that enormous Gretsch.

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warrrreagl

Thanks. Made my day with that one.

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warrrreagl

Helter Skelter is the English name for the playground equipment also known as the "slide." The opening line of the song is "When I get to the bottom I go back to the top of the slide."

I hate to sound picky, but what do you mean by the "last song" question? The last recorded song written partially by Lennon and partially by McCartney would be "Real Love."

The last Beatles song recorded by them all together was "I Me Mine," but that one was written by George.

I think the last song the two of them actually collaborated on was either "Getting Better," "Hey Bulldog," or "All Together Now." It's easy to pick out the few full collaboration songs because they have separate chopped out parts featuring each of them singing his own part.

And the last song credited to the writing team of Lennon/McCartney and published under that name was probably something off of "Plastic Ono Band."

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warrrreagl

Hey, Craven buddy, when I re-read the thread I noticed that I skipped this question.

It was dedicated to Paul's steady girlfriend at the time, Dorothy something from Liverpool. After breaking up with her, Paul dated Jane Asher (Peter Asher's sister) until 1969 when he suddenly met and married Linda Eastman.

Part of the fun surrounding the "Paul Is Dead" stuff is that although The Beatles were able to initially fool Jane with Paul's replacement, it was Dorothy who tipped her off and wised her up that something was wrong.

Also notice that I used the phrase "steady girlfriend" in the first paragraph, because it would be the heighth of lunacy for me to suggest that these were Paul's only women. I'll bet there are several 35-40 year old children in towns like Philadelphia, Washington, Minneapolis, etc. who look amazingly like John, Paul, George, and Ringo.

Thanks for the questions, and keep them coming.

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Doc_34465

OK.. This is a bit post Beatles, after the break up, but still counts..

In the song "Silly Love Songs" Where did the words "You'd think that people would have had enough of silly love songs." Come from, and why?

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warrrreagl

They came as a response to John's vicious Paul-bashing single, "How Do You Sleep?" off the "Imagine" album. It's a vicious little song (that features George on lead guitar, too). My favorite line from that song is, "Those freaks was right when they said you was dead." Damn, that's cold.

John even posed himself holding a pig by the ears on the back cover in response to Paul's recently-released "Ram" album showing him holding the horns of a ram on his farm.

John essentially (through his music) accused Paul of not being able to rock anymore, and Paul answered with "Silly Love Songs," which basically says, "You're right, and so what?"

I've always noticed that "Steel and Glass" off John's "Walls and Bridges" album has the exact same melody and chord changes as "How Do You Sleep?" but I've always heard it was about Allen Klein instead of another shot at Paul.

Now, I've got to go listen to "How Do You Sleep?" again, because it's stuck in my head. Good song.

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Doc_34465

WOW! You sure know your Beatles, warrrreagl. Way to go.. You actualy threw in info that I wasn't aware of. Nice job. I'll have to try harder..

I hope that wasn't to "off topic" for being post Beatles.. But then, it wasn't Simpsons..

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"Now.. The mushrooms? Yeah, I'll have some more!"

Does he have a name? Can I name him Dancey Mcgee? Spinach_Indeed

warrrreagl

Thank you very, very much. And no, it wasn't off-topic at all, especially considering the feud that sparked "How Do You Sleep?" and "Silly Love Songs" went all the way back to the break-up.

I am still bugged about that Simpson's question, though. I've got to learn more about that.

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Craven Morehead

Wow.

First of all, hope your wife gets better - and soon.

Dorothy Rhone or Rhome was the girl.

I always thought Get Back was the last true compilation between John & Paul. Both had pieces of different songs that they put together to create Get Back.

A helter skelter is a slide but one that is a spiral rather than straight.

And you are right, that was one cold shot at Paul. I always thought this line was the coldest "The only thing you did was yesterday"

John Lennon - How Do You Sleep lyrics

So Sgt. Pepper took you by suprise,
You better thru that mother's eyes,
Those freaks was right when they said you was dead,
The one mistake you made was in your head,
How do you sleep?
Ah how do you sleep at night?

You live with straights who tell you you was king,
Jump when your mamma tell you any thing,
The only thing you did was yesterday,
And since your gone you're just another day,
How do you sleep?
Ah how do you sleep at night?

A pretty face may last a year or two,
But pretty soon they'll see what you can do,
The sound you make is muzak to my ears,
You must have learnt something all thos years,
How do you Sleep?
Ah how do you sleep at night?



I'm tapped out on Beatles stuff. Probably knew more way back when.

Damn, I miss those guys....

OK, one more. Explain the "bag".

Doc_34465

Here's a question.. Not so much trivia though.. Did John and Paul ever make peace before Johns death?

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"Badgers?!? We don't need no stinking Badgers!!"

"Now.. The mushrooms? Yeah, I'll have some more!"

Does he have a name? Can I name him Dancey Mcgee? Spinach_Indeed

warrrreagl

Thanks for the thoughts for my wife. She's a walking little miracle today.

I'm always anxious to learn more about The Beatles, so I'm curious to read your thoughts about the collaboration on "Get Back." Can you tell which parts belong to whom?

The bag refers to several things. John and Yoko appeared in a large bag or gunny sack in Vienna while on their circus honeymoon, and many believed they made love in public while in the bag. Frequently, Yoko would appear during concerts with the Plastic Ono Band in the bag, either standing at the microphone and shrieking or laying at John's feet (and shrieking). It was part of Yoko's avant garde direction known as bagism, where the outline of the bag and the possibilities of what was inside were more important than what was actually there. Bagism was referenced in the lyrics of "Give Peace a Chance." John and Yoko also published a series of drawings and sketches (many of them highly erotic) entitled "Bag One."

As much as I despise Yoko, I still have to admit that she was quite a powerful force in avant garde circles long before she and John ever met.

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warrrreagl

Yes, they did. John gave several details of their make-up in the famous Playboy interview that was conducted with John and Yoko before his death (obviously) and published at the same time as his death.

The biggest mind-fuck in the whole interview was a juicy section where John described the many nights that Paul would show up at the Dakotas and pop in on John. It was during this time (1976) that Saturday Night Live was running the ongoing gag about promising to give the Beatles a whopping $3000 if they would reunite on the stage at SNL and sing three songs. According to John, on the night that George Harrison was the musical guest (with host Paul Simon), John and Paul watched the live episode from John's Dakota apartment. They spent the entire 90 minutes daring each other to go down to the studios at Rockefeller Center, and they actually got up to leave the apartment several times before chickening out.

Can you imagine what that would have been like if they'd strolled onstage live with George and started playing. WOW!!!

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