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Ringo’s Debut at The Cavern: 22nd August 1962

The Beatles at The Cavern 22nd August 1962
The Beatles at The Cavern 22nd August 1962
The Beatles at The Cavern 22nd August 1962

22nd August 1962

Ringo had made his debut with The Beatles at Hulme Hall, Port Sunlight, on 18th August 1962. However, if the reception wasn’t great at Hulme Hall, he was in for a rude awakening four days later at the Cavern Club. Debbie Greenberg remembers it well.

“Overnight, the Beatles had a following of devoted fans and I was one of them,” recalled Debbie. “The amazing thing about the Cavern was that the Beatles and all the groups were so accessible. We were literally inches away as they played.

“Pete Forever, Ringo Never”

“The girls went crazy when Pete Best was sacked and replaced by Ringo. Pete was sultry, fiercely good-looking and oozed sex appeal. They would heckle the Beatles when they were on stage, shouting; “Pete forever, Ringo never.” We were all outraged and couldn’t understand why Ringo was the new drummer. The sound didn’t seem any different to us.

Rumours about Pete’s dismissal circulated around Liverpool. Some said he was too good-looking and Paul was jealous because he was getting the most attention from the girls. Others said Brian Epstein had decided his drumming wasn’t good enough. I don’t suppose any of us will ever get to the bottom of it; even Pete Best didn’t know why he was dropped.

“Hi there, all you cave-dwellers”

“The Beatles inspired many groups to embrace rock ‘n’ roll – and they all wanted to play the Cavern. The resident DJ, Bob Wooler, would always introduce the show with, “Hi there, all you cave-dwellers. We’ve got the Hi-FI high and the lights down low.” At the end of the night he always played “I’ll Be There” by Bobby Darin and we all knew it was time to leave. It was never the signal to get romantic as it was in other clubs. It was just time to go and catch the bus home.”

GET YOUR COPY OF DEBBIE’S GREAT BOOK ABOUT THE CAVERN

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16 AUGUST 1962 | JOHN AND PAUL DRIVE ACROSS COUNTRY TO GO GET RINGO PART ONE

Ringo Starr
Ringo Starr
Ringo Starr

Go Get Ringo

In the latest excerpt from Tony Broadbent’s book The One After 9:09, Tony looks at the great change from Pete Best to Ringo. Did Paul and John drive to meet Ringo?

August 16 – Thursday | In the early hours of the morning John and Paul drive across country to Butlin’s Holiday Camp, in Skegness, to recruit Ringo Starr | Meanwhile, mid-morning at the NEMS office, Whitechapel, Liverpool, by request of the three other Beatles; and quite without warning; Brian Epstein sacks Pete Best from the group | Not The Beatles’ finest hour; and only understandable in the light John, Paul, and George all thought that if they didn’t act—and get a different drummer—they’d lose their hard-won Parlophone recording contract.

£25 a Week

| Ringo agrees to join The Beatles—for £25 per week—but elects to play on with Rory Storm and The Hurricanes until the weekend | That evening Johnny ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson, of The Big Three, is drafted in as drummer for The Beatles’ scheduled gig at the prestigious Riverpark Ballroom, Chester.

PAUL McCARTNEY pressed his foot down hard on the accelerator and, wheels spinning, tyres screeching, his ‘new’ Goodward-green Ford Consul Classic shot forward from the traffic lights. There wasn’t a minute to lose. He and John had left Liverpool at the crack of dawn to make the 160-mile journey, across country, to the seaside resort of Skegness. Only this was no pleasure trip, but a rescue mission. To rescue themselves, their group, and the recording contract that was almost certainly now within their grasp.

Off to Butlin’s

The sole reason they were speeding to the Butlin’s Holiday Camp, located on the east coast of England, to pick up Ringo Starr. And once they’d got both him and his drums packed safely inside the car and the trunk, they’d turn right round again and make the long journey back home.

Paul had decided not to go via Manchester and Sheffield, but opted instead for the more southerly route through Warrington, Stockport, and Chesterfield, before finally making for Lincoln and Skegness. “It’ll be much faster that way. Less traffic.”

Thermos Flask?

“The speed you drive, Paul, I’m surprised we’re not already meeting ourselves coming back. Just get us there in one piece, will yer?” John yawned and poured himself another cup of coffee from the Thermos flask Paul’s dad had given them. “Incidentally, your dad could’ve put some bloody milk in here,” sniffed John. “It’s just like that Nazi crap we drank in Hamburg.”

“Well if you’d just like to step outside the car and get yourself some, John, I’ll be back this way in about five or six hours.”

“Ha, bloody, ha, but no complaints, it’ll do till we get there. Anyroad, I’m just really glad Ringo said, yes, to our ‘Eppy’.”

“Me, too, as it’s clear Pete can’t help get us where we’re going to.” Paul glanced over at his friend. “So, you’re okay with it, now, John?”

“What? The coffee?”

“No, dafty, what we’re doing now…dumping Pete for Ringo.”

“Yeah, I am.” John nodded. “But only because of the group, Pauly, nowt else. You’ve always got to think of the group, first. That’s what I did when I first met you. You could play better than me, so I didn’t hesitate, the group was that much stronger with you in it.”

Paul nodded and smiled. “I’m glad you did, Mr Lennon. Only, that’s what our George has been on about, all this time, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it is. I thought he was a right drag, going on and on about it, at first, but after both Decca and EMI, well, I changed my mind.”

“Funny, our George, then George Martin coming to the same conclusion…both pushing for a change so the group could sound better.”

Us Being Better

“But that’s it, Pauly, us being better as a group. We’ve always got to do that, you and me, or what’s the bloody point? Just playing the same old things, the same old way, would get us nowhere. It’d kill me, for sure. Kill us, too. And that’s not what it means to be a Beatle.”

“It’s like when we write our songs…always trying to make them better than the last one…then trying to make them better each time we play them. Like that harmonica piece you worked out on, ‘Love Me Do’. It made the song sound so…so much better…real bluesy, like.”

“That was from me listening to that Delbert Clinton play harmonica for Bruce Channel. What a terrific bloke. He showed me some real nice licks on the harp. That’s what I mean, you see, it’s always searching for what’ll make what’s good sound that much better.”

Paul ripped right into ‘Searchin’the root of anything and everything good yet to come.

John started in on ‘One After 909’—one of the first songs he’d ever written that he’d thought was any good.

Paul joined in—right on track—harmonising—seamlessly.

Paul laughed. “Right, then, you bugger, now one of mine.” And then he lit straight into ‘I Saw Her Standing There’.

John nodded, imagined, reached for new and different notes, and harmonised in fourths, as Paul sang in fifths. It sounded great. They both nodded, then. Yeah, that’s a real keeper.

And that’s how they went on for miles and miles. The two of them singing and laughing and joking and thinking and smoking and chatting—in between challenging each other with their favourite songs. Some of which they’d written together.

Discover more from Tony’s book now:

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16th August 1962: Was Pete Best Fired by Brian Epstein?

Pete Best with The Beatles
Pete Best with The Beatles
Pete Best with The Beatles

Was Pete Best Fired by Brian Epstein?

It is a day that has gone down in Beatles history and surrounded by myths, conspiracy theories and misdirection.

What really happened to Pete Best on that day? Was he fired?

The full story is in Finding the Fourth Beatle, but in the following YouTube video, David Bedford explains what really happened. Discover whether Pete Best was fired by Brian Epstein or not.

Pete Best – What Happened?
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The Beatles If I Fell from A Hard Day’s Night

The Beatles If I Fell
If I Fell by The Beatles
If I Fell by The Beatles

“If I Fell” from A Hard Day’s Night by Tim Hatfield

John Lennon said that this was his first attempt to write a “ballad proper,” and was a precursor of “In My Life” (#40), perhaps the most popular ballad he ever wrote.  Paul McCartney pointed out in Barry Miles’ Many Years from Now that although people generally thought of John as:

an acerbic wit and aggressive and abrasive, but he did have a very warm side to him…that he didn’t like to show too much in case he got rejected.

Dripping in Chords

The song was, as Paul described it, “dripping in chords,” and featured very tight two-part harmony by John and Paul, Everly Brothers-like, following an acoustic solo introduction by John.  John sang the low harmony, and when recording in the studio in 1964 the pair used a single microphone for the vocals.  

If I Fell Over?

On the Beatles 1964 tour it was the only ballad on the playlist, which often was a big problem because John and Paul could not hear themselves over the screaming girls in the audience.  Although I’ve not seen them, there apparently are some bootleg videos of them trying to stifle laughs while singing the song, which they jokingly called “If I Fell Over.”  In the film A Hard Day’s Night, the song was featured in a scene in which the band was getting ready for a concert, just one example of their playful side – John sang the sweet introduction to Ringo while he was setting up his kit.

During Hard Times

During hard times of any kind, I hope you can experience some moments of playfulness, despite whatever ongoing legitimate concerns beset you. Stay strong, all.

Tim Hatfield