Leslie Cavendish, hairdresser to The Beatles and many more stars of the 1960s, caused a storm in 1969 when he revealed that John Lennon was worried about going bald. Of course, the story hit the headlines and suddenly everyone wanted to talk to Leslie about it.
Lennon Could Go Bald
Every publication wanted to tell the story of how one of The Beatles, the biggest names on the planet, was worried about their crowning glory, the famous “mop-top”, could be losing that crown.
John Lennon likely to go bald
Leslie’s Book
The Cutting Edge (Paperback)
The Beatles’ hair changed the world. As their increasingly wild, untamed manes grew, to the horror of parents everywhere, they set off a cultural revolution as the most tangible symbol of the Sixties’ psychedelic dream of peace, love and playful rebellion. In the midst of this epochal change was Leslie Cavendish, hairdresser to the Beatles and some of the greatest stars of the music and entertainment industry.
Out on stage was a lone black grand piano. Lined up behind it was Sounds Incorporated: two sax players, a guitarist, a bass player, drummer, and keyboard player with a Vox Continental electronic organ. All the musicians white guys, yet they looked so damn cool, so hip, in shiny Italian suits and real American ‘shades’. Their bodies, heads, hands, feet in ever-fluid locomotion, readying the audience for what was to come. Pumping out a single, pulsing, bass-heavy chord, over and over again, that made everything electric.
The atmosphere fully charged, crackled for release.
Bob Wooler Production
Bob Wooler’s voice purred into the microphone. His dulcet tones like shiny-black fur on a cat. A sudden wave of clapping and cheering, all but eclipsed his words: “Ladies and Gentlemen, NEMS Enterprises presents ‘A Bob Wooler Production’.” A roar erupted, enough to blow the roof off. “It’s the brightest star in all the Rock ‘n’ Roll galaxy! It’s…Little Richard…at the Tower!”
Then there he was. Little Richard.
Little Richard – Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!
Twisting. Twirling. Leaping. Strutting. Careening from one side of the stage to the other. And not one word yet, sung or screamed. There was only him—Little Richard. Black. Beautiful. Hair ‘conked’, moustache pencil-thin, smile utterly radiant; a rocking body not of this world; a whirling mass of energy—whooping, wheeling, waving, and bouncing nonstop. His sharkskin suit, shiny, sharp, attracting all eyes, both male and female.
And just when it seemed that nothing could cut through the riot and pandemonium in the auditorium, Richard skidded to a stop, twirled, and screamed: “Do you wanna hear it?”
The drummer cracked the snare. Richard screamed: “Yeah?” Everyone in the place screamed: “Yeah!”
Richard twirled, dived; screamed again: “Do you gotta hear it?” Screamed again: “Yeah?” Everyone screamed back: “Yeah!”
Richard shouted: “Do I gotta give it to you?” The crowd shouted: “Yeeeah!”
Lordy, Lord-dee
Then Richard let loose with a scream to end all screams—a long, drawn-out sound that slid up the scale, higher and higher and higher, until it broke into: “Lordy, Lord-dee, Lord-deee, Lord-deeee…Yeeeeaaaah!”
Before the sound had time to echo off the walls, Little Richard ran full-pelt across the stage¾sliding, sliding, sliding¾until, magically, he came to a stop right beside the grand piano.
Aaaah-wop…bop-aah-wop!
He spun around, hit every note on the keyboard with a thundering hand and just stopped dead, a lone finger sounding, ringing out the lowest bass note. Then he threw back his glistening head and gave forth with a wild fevered cry that hit you like a drumstick in the eye. “Aaaah-wop…bop-aah-wop!”
Saxes, guitars, electronic organ, and drums slammed down the first beat of the bar. A wall of rocking, rolling, pulsating sound crashed over him like a tidal wave heralding the end of the old world and the coming of the new.
Tutti-Frutti
“Aaaah…Tutti-Frutti…” The magical incantation repeated over and over and over again until the last incandescent full-throated call for everyone to rock ‘n’ roll.
“Aaaah-wop…bop-aah-wop…bop-aah…Whoooooo!”
Little Richard stood at the keyboard his hands pounding up and down like pneumatic drills. Tireless. Relentless. Unstoppable. Hammering on and on and on. Smashing the piano keys with fists, elbows, his backside and his feet. Screaming, calling, whooping, squealing, singing songs Spike had only ever heard coming out of jukeboxes and record players. Singing with such force, such passion, such belief, it turned rock ‘n’ roll into a living breathing entity you’d willingly give your life to for as long as you lived.
Ripped It Up
Richard sang all his hits. He rocked it up. He ripped it up. He shook it up. He balled it up. He sang so long and so loud it made Spike’s ears ring and his head spin. And the only prayer Spike could pray was: “Dear God, please never ever let Little Richard finish. And if I gotta die, take me right now, right out of this towering cradle of rock.”
Boom-boom-boom-boom…Aaaah-lop-bam-boom!”
Paul McCartney
PAUL McCARTNEY was in seventh heaven because, after Elvis, Little Richard was his ‘number one man’ and he the ‘number one fan’ and every time Richard squealed, whooped or screamed, he did, too. And for one magical moment, he was free to be a rocking schoolboy again, his heart filled to bursting with happiness and joy. Unable to contain himself, wanting to share the moment, he glanced over at John, a huge grin on his face.
John Lennon
JOHN LENNON—a huge grin on his face, too—stood, arms crossed, eyes narrowed, oblivious to all but Little Richard. Nodding in time to the beat. Not missing a thing. Marvelling at the black singer’s effortless display of command. Full of admiration at how Richard could hold the entire audience with a look, a nod, a grin, or a sneer. Then get everyone going again with a single shake of his head or a simple falsetto ‘Whooooooo!’
Brian Epstein
BRIAN EPSTEIN nodded his head, almost in time with the beat. He couldn’t help but smile and feel more than a little pleased with himself. His ‘boys’ were playing the same stage as the great Little Richard and had more than held their own. It was nothing less than the passing of the torch, from one legend to the next, just as he’d always envisioned. Smiling, he turned, stopped short, stood staring at a good-looking young man in an ill-fitting stage suit. It was the same boy he’d seen coming out of Rex Makin’s office; the one he’d seen that night, in Hamburg; the one he’d been meaning to call. “Excuse me, but I think we’ve met somewhere, before, haven’t we?”
“In My Life” is one of the most critically acclaimed Beatles songs, and one that John Lennon himself, so exacting and self-critical, called “my first real major piece of work.” The song was written in 1965, in part spurred by a conversation he had with a British journalist named Kenneth Allsop. Commenting in the David Sheff biography All We Are Saying, Lennon talked about the song:
I think “In My Life” was the first song that I wrote that was really, consciously about my life, and it was sparked by a remark a journalist and writer in England [Allsop] made after ‘[Lennon’s book] In His Own Write came out…. But he said to me, “Why don’t you put some of the way you write in the book, as it were, in the songs? Or why don’t you put something about your childhood into the songs?” Which came out later as “Penny Lane” from Paul – although it was actually me who lived in Penny Lane – and “Strawberry Fields.”
John Lennon on “In My Life”
Lennon first started writing lyrics as if he were on a bus from home, mentioning all the things he saw. He quickly saw that this was not working. From the same interview for All We Are Saying:
And it was ridiculous…. [I]t was the most boring sort of “What I Did on My Holidays Bus Trip” song and it wasn’t working at all. I cannot do this! I cannot do this!
But then I laid back and these lyrics started coming to me about the places I remember. Now Paul helped write the middle-eight melody. The whole lyrics were already written before Paul had even heard it…. [His contribution melodically was the harmony and the middle eight itself].
Recording “In My Life”
When it came time to record the finished song in the studio, Lennon asked producer George Martin if he could write a Baroque-influenced piano solo for the song. Martin did this with beautiful Bach-sounding section that he could not play well at the tempo of “In My Life.” So, as an experiment, the solo was recorded at half speed, then played back at full speed and higher in pitch. It sounded not like a piano, but a harpsichord, and it worked memorably.
The song’s origin has often sparked speculation, parlor game style, about who Lennon was writing about. He never spoke of this, but years later Yoko Ono said that John wrote it for Paul. And over the years, it has been covered by innumerable artists, including Bette Midler. She didn’t sing “In My Life” then, but it would have fit.
What Can We Learn?
In challenging times our task is somehow to continue to do what we can, day by day, to be whole. Perhaps this can be nurtured by some reflection on “the people and things” that have mattered to us, that can help sustain us when it can feel like we are in basic survival mode.
Tim Hatfield
Discover the meaning behind Beatles songs and how we can apply these lessons in our own lives in Tim’s great book.
Beatles merchandise was the subject of so much interest and fascination in the 1960s.
Beatles-themed musical instruments became hot ticket items to manufacture in the mid-1960s. One piece that went into production was the banjo. It seemed to be a stretch in keeping with the theme since the band did not feature that musical instrument. However, it did have a legendary connection to John Lennon, as his mother, Julia, taught him to play Buddy Holly’s classic, That’ll Be The Day, on her banjo. This appreciation of a stringed instrument carried his fascination over to the next instrument…the guitar.
The Beatles Banjo with its packaging
The Beatles Banjo
Mastro Musical Instruments in New York manufactured the 22″ long (56cm) piece. The instrument had four strings, accompanied by an instruction booklet (labeled as a “self-teaching method”). The creation was gold and cream with four headpins and a bridge. Along with facsimile signatures, the banjo’s white head exhibited headshots of each member of the group in either red or blue ink. The description on the skin read “The Beatles Banjo” with “Mastro Industries…The Beatles…Made in the U.S.A. under license.” The gold headstock displayed the words “Mastro Banjo” in red and blue ink.
Advert for The Beatles Banjo
Licensed by NEMS
The plastic banjo arrived either in a cardboard box or attached to a colorful sealed card. The creamy cardboard Mastro Banjo box measured 23½” x9½” x3¾” (59.5cm x 24cm x 9.5cm) and displayed a red and black print. Licensed by NEMS, the banjo initially sold for around $12. Additionally, Mastro included an official leaflet from Mastro, and it advertised various instrumental Beatles items for sale, including the Banjo, Bongos, and a Drum.
Mastro Industries Incorporated was located at 3040 Webster Avenue, New York 67, New York 10467. Their telephone number in the Sixties was 212-KI-7-5600.
Discover this and many more stories in Terry Crain‘s excellent book on Beatles Merchandise
NEMS and the Business of Selling Beatles Merchandise in the U.S. 1964-1966 (2ND EDITION)
The book covers the approximately 150 licensed items that dotted store shelves and helped fuel the band-crazed fan during the time right after the band landed in America and performed on The Ed Sullivan Show. Toys, games, dolls, jewelry, clothing, wigs, and more!
What was the story behind “Nowhere Man” by The Beatles?
John Lennon wrote “Nowhere Man” when he was struggling, as was Paul McCartney, to write new material for the album that eventually became Rubber Soul.
Lennon was working at home in Weybridge, feeling isolated and unproductive. In his biography All We are Saying, David Sheff quoted Lennon’s recollection of that time:
I’d spent five hours that morning trying to write a song that was meaningful and good and I finally gave up and lay down. Then “Nowhere Man” came, words and music, the whole damn thing, as I lay down.
So, at least at that moment, it was Lennon himself who was going nowhere, doing nothing. But something beautiful came of it, indeed. In the studio in October 1965, John, Paul, and George began with the harmonious a cappella introduction, John double-tracked his lead vocal, and the group pestered the recording engineers to make the guitar sound as trebly as they could. Add to that George and John’s tandem guitar solo, followed by the one perfect little note that sounded like a bell, and you have the makings of a beautiful song. It remained in the Beatles’ on-stage repertoire, too, all the way to their last concert performance in San Francisco’s Candlestick Park in late August of 1966.
There must be moments while enduring the uncertainties of the hard times in our lives that we all feel like we, too, have been stopped in our tracks. It’s up to us to persevere, though, until we ourselves or someone else lends us a hand.
Get Tim’s Book
Discover more insights into the Beatles songs from Tim Hatfield in his excellent book:
The Ed Sullivan Show changed the lives of millions of Americans. “I’ve been a Beatles fan for 47 years. I was halfway through my first year of college when, on February 9, 1964, about 20 guys crowded around a tiny black and white TV screen in our dorm to watch a popular Sunday evening variety show hosted by a rather odd-looking man with strange diction named Ed Sullivan. But when he pointed to his left and shouted, “The Beatles!” everything, everything changed. A theater full of teenaged girls screamed nonstop while these 4 young guys, barely out of their teens themselves, sang four songs.
After the Assassination
“A lot of parents were horrified, probably flashing back on the terrible influence of Elvis just a few short years before. But the whole nation, in an extended period of mourning after a young, charismatic President had been assassinated not three months earlier, may have experienced its first sense that perhaps things could begin to be OK again.
The Beatles Conquered America
“In the summer of ’64 the Beatles conquered America in earnest, hopscotching coast to coast with a series of concerts that would pale in comparison to the huge, elaborate stadium shows of today. One of the venues was a modest arena within walking distance of the working class section of Cincinnati where I grew up. I got tickets to the concert, and my younger brother and I walked there to become part of an audience of around 15,000 people that sounded and acted exactly like the kids at Ed Sullivan’s show.
Blood-Curdling Scream
“In fact, when the Beatles took the stage, the girl sitting behind me let out a blood-curdling scream directly into my right ear, and the whole 45 minute or so show was filtered through a tinnitus-like haze. But it was……perfect.
“I came of age with the Beatles, accompanied by them through the turbulent Sixties as they creatively grew and evolved in astounding leaps – absorbing, integrating, mirroring, influencing, leading. I loved their music, always have, and loved the last side of their last album the most of all. To this day, despite loving so many of their songs, I still love the Abbey Road medley above all the others.
The Beatles as Musicians
“Flash forward 41 years. After a career as a high school counselor, followed by a 30-year career as a professor of counselor education, I sat in on the first-ever offering of my colleague Paul Vance’s course “The Beatles as Musicians.” The Beatles always had been a big presence in my life, but this class was like receiving a high-potency transfusion. All the memories, all the joy that the Beatles had brought to my life, came rushing back; and in my retirement a burst of increased curiosity and creativity took me over.
Major Research
“All four of our kids were launched, and I committed to a major research project on the Abbey Road medley. It finally was published in February 2020 on the Beatlefan Magazine website**…..just as it was beginning to dawn on the United States and the entire world that there may be a serious global pandemic to contend with.
“And exactly one month later, after agonizing about whether there was anything I could do to be of help to people so stressed and worried about the relentless coronavirus pandemic, I decided to send out a Beatles song as a little uplifting gift to a small group of family and friends. I’ll include it below. But I’ll close by summarizing that the list of recipients grew bit by bit until over 220 people were hearing from me every day with a different Beatles song – every day until early in December of 2020, when I had randomly sent every Beatles song I could find, early and late, mainstream and obscure, hits and demos. It was a labor of love. It helped me to survive the pandemic. And I heard throughout those months that it helped others survive it as well by providing little upbeat vacations from the anxious times.
This Should Be A Book!
Many recipients kept saying, “This should be a book!” And except for of making the focus the more generic “any challenging time” instead of “the Covid pandemic,” that is the book that grew out of my lifelong love of the Beatles. It was published as an ebook on Amazon in June of 2021: When We Find Ourselves in Times of Trouble: The Beatles (All Their Songs with Encouraging Words for Challenging Times. I hope you enjoy it.
