The revolution sparked by the Beatles seemed all-encompassing because of its influence on so many different aspects of the culture of the day: music, fashion, media, merchandising, etc. Although the music is the lasting contribution to our world, each aspect of their initial impact served to heighten their explosion onto the world stage. To have THAT accent, to sound THAT different, to be THAT glib and funny, to dress THAT differently, to have THOSE haircuts – each amplified the effect that Steven Van Zandt encapsulated so incisively in the observation that an alien spaceship landing in Central Park would not have been more astonishing.
Beatlemania had raged across Great Britain in 1963 and had already impacted the Continent; by the time they landed in New York they were a well-oiled professional outfit and had been with Brian Epstein long enough to have been schooled in the importance of the total presentation. As the Beatles mounted the stage of the Ed Sullivan Show, America didn’t stand a chance.
“Close your eyes and I’ll kiss you, tomorrow I’ll miss you.”
The first song the Beatles chose to perform was not lyrically the hand-holding, boy-band callowness of their latest hit, but a song with a more mature and poignant theme.
It starts with Paul – singing what clearly sounds to be an upbeat song. But the lyrics imply sadness over a pending departure. From the first verse of the first song, Paul sets the template for a motif that stays with him for the rest of his life – he takes a sad song and makes it better, in this case with the promise of letter writing and fidelity.
An earlier popular crooner could have framed the lyrics and chords around a wistful arrangement; no chance of that with Paul’s natural attitude and the musicians arrayed on this stage.
To flip the all-too-standard script, let’s start with Ringo.
How often does his brilliant drumming get overlooked or downplayed? Charles Connor, who got his professional start as a teenager playing with Professor Longhair, came into his own with Little Richard’s band The Upsetters (he later was scooped up by James Brown, and is widely credited as the drummer who “brought the funk to the beat”). As The Beatles played on the same bill as Little Richard in the fall of 1962, Ringo had a chance to take in the master during live performance. The modified R&B half-shuffle made popular by Mr. Connor imprinted on the DNA of young Richie Starkey, who added his own nuances to an already irresistible beat. It is deliciously propulsive and heretofore unheard outside of high-energy R&B. Yet here it is in a pop song the chord structure and lyrics of which could easily fit in the context of a soft ballad.
This arrangement is supported and energized by John Lennon’s sixteenth-note triplets on rhythm guitar, supercharging the song throughout. The feel is John’s alone, an evolution of the Bo Diddley driving rhythm guitar approach. The combination of drums and rhythm guitar firmly establish the R&B bona fides of the arrangement.
And then there is George, whose star-turn lead guitar performance is pulled whole cloth out of the Carl Perkins school of Rockabilly.
Paul’s walking bass line certainly supports the R&B with a jazzy feel, even as his vocal delivery is closer to the “hip crooner” persona that Bobby Darin had staked out in the late 1950s.
To contextualize: in 1954, Elvis Presley sat in Sun Studio with two country musicians and taught them a blues song, making his version of “That’s All Right Mama” a fusion of two genres and changing popular music forever. Ten years later, the Beatles took the current evolution of R&B and Rockabilly influences and infused them into what could earlier have been the pop music of a crooner’s ballad.
Pop? The toppermost of the poppermost.
And that’s just the music; for this first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, the stagecraft was equally unprecedented.
For the night of February 9, 1964, the stage was constructed as pop-art in a manner not yet the norm; arrows as though drawn in a comic book, all pointing to the center of the stage. The stage itself was pointing to that which was drawing more attention than had ever been focused on a television broadcast before; visually and literally at that moment the center of America’s cultural universe.
The arrangement of the band onstage turned them into their own proscenium: the necks of instruments pointing outwards on both sides of the stage, the drummer on a platform (!) behind and above the others with “The Beatles” logo prominent on the front of his bass drum. Not simply behind, secondary; all four, by the stage construction, were featured performers.
The suits worn that night can only be regarded as futuristic, avant garde even today. Years later, they would have fit easily on an episode of Star Trek.
The hairstyle – virtually identical for the four – were both fashionably appealing and outrageous (on men) for their time. The total fashion statement inspired commentary of androgyny.
Then the performance.
Paul, stage right, begins as clearly the initial focus; the lead singer. But a lead singer playing an electric bass!
The first commercially successful electric bass guitar was developed and sold by Leo Fender in 1951. Any bass player seen on television up until 1964 was most likely playing a Fender bass and was undoubtedly a background musician. No one had ever seen a lead singer playing bass, not to mention an instrument heretofore unseen in America. Looking like a mutant violin, the now-famous Hofner 500/1, forevermore to be known as the “Beatle bass”, was introduced in 1955 by a company then located in West Germany but having been established in what is now the Czech Republic in 1887 (post World War II, any Germans living in that area were persona non grata, necessitating the move).
For anyone who has tried, playing bass while singing lead has a difficulty factor approximately equal to playing a lead on guitar while simultaneously singing lead. It takes a remarkable talent to do both at a high level. Being introduced to a bass-playing lead singer was one more unprecedented aspect to the night, generations of future bass players cementing their love of the instrument on that night.
George Harrison is the key to how amazing the stagecraft is – and what it said about the band.
When Sir George Martin first met the Beatles, one of the things he wanted to establish was to determine the “leader” of the band – one who would be out front, singing lead while the rest served as a backing band. In bands before this point others could sing, but only as background singers. He quickly surmised that he had something quite different.
There were two microphones, Stage Left and Stage Right, in front of Paul McCartney and John Lennon, with George Harrison center stage. As the chorus to the song comes around, George joins John at the microphone Stage Left to sing in a background chorus to Paul’s lead. Lead guitarist as background singer; no major surprise. Immediately after the chorus, George returns Center Stage to take his star turn as lead guitarist, the essence of cool.
As verse three begins, George moves Stage Right to join Paul in…a duet! From instrumentalist to background singer to spotlight lead guitarist to spotlight duo singer. And as the verse turns to the final chorus, he smoothly moves to Stage Left to rejoin the backing vocals, leaving Paul to finish as a solo lead singer!
The band operated as an amoeba, constantly shifting to meet the demands of the song and the arrangement.
Nothing close to this stagecraft had ever been seen before.
And this was how the Beatles introduced themselves to America:
Four professional musicians
Three (at that time) singers
Two sets of vocal duos
On one song drawing from multiple musical genres – with a phenomenal R&B back beat.
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Paul McCartney then delivered a sweet performance of “Till There Was You”, a song that started its life in 1950 as “Till I Met You” but was repurposed in 1957 for the Broadway show “The Music Man”. As there were many covers, including its use in the film based on the Broadway show, whose version the Beatles heard can only be said to have been sung by a female – likely either Shirley Jones in the film or Anita Bryant in a cover that hit the Top 20 in 1960. The futuristic clothing and androgynous haircuts seen on stage were underscored by the sight and sound of a young man singing a song that had previously been presented as a female song. For this utterly otherworldly band to deliver so “safe” and well-known song after the initial selection served to lull older viewers into more of a comfort zone, androgyny notwithstanding.
And that was before the third song of the evening, “She Loves You”, established beyond doubt that an unprecedented musical phenomenon had arrived (separate analysis of this revolutionary song to come).
The Beatles then left the stage, to return near the end of the show with “I Saw Her Standing There” and their current hit, “I Want To Hold Your Hand”. It would have been easy for a viewer to presume that Paul McCartney was the ostensible leader of the band as he sang lead (solo or duet) on all five numbers. This presumption would not last long.
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The point is underscored in the second Ed Sullivan Show performance, February 16, 1964. From a recap of “She Loves You” for those who couldn’t quite believe their ears the week before, the band again morphs amoeba-like into a trio of singers Center Stage, the three singing harmonies through a single microphone à la The Lettermen on the song “This Boy”. The look may have been Lettermen, but the sound was once again a blending of the current and the unprecedented. The harmonies harkened to the softer of the doo-wop bands, then John’s solo on the chorus erupted into the sound of a blues shouter – his voice displayed the dynamics and timbre of a wailing R&B saxophone. It was an unexpected, bravura performance from a singer whose lead vocal credentials took a back seat to no one. The only other new song introduced that night was “From Me To You”, bringing the number of self-penned songs presented over two nights to six.
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The third appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, on the night of February 23, 1964, delivered the first televised performances in America of the songs “Twist and Shout” and “Please Please Me”, as well as the current hit “I Want to Hold Your Hand”. The first two underscored John Lennon’s vocal bona fides with the dynamics and timbre of a great R&B singer. The energy on stage and in the audience was palpable. Less than a month later “Can’t Buy Me Love” was released as a single and reached the top of the charts, though “I Want To Hold Your Hand” and the song that overtook it an #1 on March 21, “She Loves You”, remained in the Top 5. On the strength of the February 23 and previous performances, the Billboard Hot 100 of April 4, 1964 had one act occupying the first five positions, adding “Twist and Shout” and “Please Please Me” to the unprecedented – and unmatched – accomplishment:
1. Can’t Buy Me Love
2. Twist and Shout
3. She Loves You
4. I Want To Hold Your Hand
5. Please Please Me
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The following year, the final Ed Sullivan Show appearance, September 12, 1965: a six-song tour de force.
John begins on lead vocal with the power pop of “I Feel Fine”, then proves to be a multi-instrumentalist by switching from guitar to organ for “I’m Down” (Paul on lead vocal). When had a lead singer turned into a back-up multi-instrumentalist before?
From the pop of “I Feel Fine” to the Rock & Roll rave-up of “I’m Down”, Ringo becomes the third lead vocalist, bringing Country to the show with Buck Owens’ hit “Act Naturally”. Three lead vocalists, three genres of music – and the performance is only half over.
“Ticket to Ride”, an evolutionary step forward from folk-rock (with a hootenanny-style finale) gives us the historical record of a John/Paul duet sung into a single microphone…
…and then three members leave the stage.
Paul dispenses with his Hofner bass and grabs an acoustic guitar.
Another multi-instrumentalist. And within the context of a band, a solo performer.
Supported by a string quartet. Not a syrupy modern string section – a string quartet. From the world of Classical (!) music.
That’s the moment when even parents who, until then, dismissed Beatlemania as a silly temporary fad, looked at each other, thinking “These fellows aren’t going away anytime soon, are they?”
The world was already set on its ear the previous year, but in a context that suggested a passing bit of excitement. With “Yesterday” the world heard with fresh ears the birth of a timeless standard – from a band that would stand the test of time.
And the stagecraft. The record that was issued made plain that we didn’t hear Paul McCartney, solo performer; we heard The Beatles, as always giving each song exactly – and only – what it needed. This was no ordinary band. This was an alliance of artists with one mission; to deliver to the world music that would surprise, delight and move us release by release, year by year.
The final song The Beatles performed on the Ed Sullivan Show was the theme song from their second MOVIE in two years: “Help”.
John later confessed that it was an honest expression from a young man the success of whose band must have become simply overwhelming. But to the audience watching what had just unfolded there was only one assessment:
Help? They already had everything they needed.
Postscript
The Beatles first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show was the moment that took an act previously international in the Continental sense and catapulted them worldwide. The world was kept enthralled by a band that went from the most riveting stage act to the most impactful songwriters to the masters of the recording studio. The growth through all of their changes was evolutionary for the arts and revolutionary for the culture.
The story arc is too perfect for fiction: the first song of the first album begins with “One, two three, FOUR!” and the penultimate song on the last album they recorded is entitled, simply, “The End”. Then, mischievously, a little ditty – because, for the millions still tuning in, and the millions upon millions who continue
to…
…this story has no end.