Little is known that one of the original Quarrymen, Rod Davis, actually was on an official 45 “release” earlier than the Beatles were. After Rod had left the Quarrymen he played banjo on this 1961 recording. Rod was on this record by The Trad Grads.
The Flip Side of the Record
He signed the slipcase sleeve for this 45 as shown below for this Decca 45 release.
Rod Davis signed the sleeve
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Learn More About The Quarrymen
Just Like Starting Over: John Lennon and The Quarrymen
When John Lennon and his group The Quarrymen stepped onto the back of a wagon in Rosebery Street on 22nd June 1957, Charlie Roberts borrowed a camera and took a few photos of the event. It was just a group of friends having fun at a street party.
What Charlie didn’t know at the time was that he was capturing a piece of Beatles history. This was the first time that John Lennon had been photographed performing with his group. Skiffle was the new music and soon, John would meet Paul McCartney who would then introduce George Harrison to John.
Signed edition of the late Norman Pilcher’s book “Bent Coppers.” Published by Clink Street Publishers in 2020.
The signed copy
Bent Coppers
“Semolina Pilchard“. There is conjecture in Beatles circles that John Lennon used this term in his song “I Am The Walrus” to refer to police officer Norman Pilcher. There was a mass trade edition of this book written by the notorious policeman who was responsible for arresting several of the most important rock figures of the 1960s on drug-related charges.
Norman Pilcher Signing the Books
Norman Pilcher Signing the Books
This book is Norman Pilcher’s version of the stories that captured the imagination of many who were part of the counterculture movement of that era. The version of the book shown below represents the signed edition of which only 250 copies were issued before Norman Pilcher passed away from cancer in March of 2021.
An interesting revelation according to Norman’s good friend, Reg, was that Mr. Pilcher after John had been charged at the police station, Norman sat down with John, and it was then that John and Norman had a long chat. It was there that Norman was swayed by John and what he believed in. John actually did send Norman postcards following his arrest from various locations, 6 in all from Japan France etc.
Back Cover of Bent Coppers
I am sure when the two of them were in the police station neither of them could have envisioned at that time what the long-term consequences of that arrest would be!!!
So what were those consequences? Let me know in the comments below!
If you wish to purchase a limited editioned signed copy of Norman’s book, they are only available through the author’s friend Reg, at contact.bentcoppers@gmail.com and not the publishers.
Full disclosure, David Bedford & friends: while I know that it may be politic to say that I love all of the chapters in the book equally (like our kids, right?), I have to say that the combination of the outstanding song and the wonderful back story of the song to follow are absolutely my favorites. I hope you enjoy it. Tim Hatfield
[Search amazon.com for “Tim Hatfield Beatles,” then download the free App to read on your device]
“While My Guitar Gently Weeps” from The White Album
George Harrison had written songs previously for the Beatles, but the Lennon/McCartney duo continued to dominate. After the residence in the Maharishi’s Rishikesh ashram in 1968, however, George wrote a song and fought to have it included in The White Album. It was worth fighting for.
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
George was more and more interested in Eastern music and philosophy, and when the group returned to England he decided to do a song based on the Chinese Book of Changes, the I Ching. Harrison described it in some detail in the Beatles’ Anthology:
The Eastern concept is that whatever happens is all meant to be, and that there’s no such thing as coincidence – every little item that’s going down has a purpose.
“While My Guitar Gently Weeps” was a simple study based on that theory. I decided to write a song based on the first thing I saw upon opening any book – as it would be a relative to that moment, at that time. I picked up a book at random, opened it, saw “gently weeps,” then laid the book down again and started the song.
A simple acoustic version was recorded by George at his country home – one of the several so-called “Esher demos”—when he invited all the Beatles to do some pre-rehearsals of songs before they went to the studio in the summer of 1968 to record The White Album. But when the song, which George knew was a good one, kept getting ignored, he took matters into his own hands. Again, in Harrison’s own words from Anthology:
We tried to record it, but John and Paul were so used to just cranking out their tunes that it was very difficult at times to get serious and record one of mine. It wasn’t happening. They weren’t taking it seriously and I don’t think they were even all playing on it, and so I went home that night thinking, “Well, that’s a shame,” because I knew the song was pretty good.
Eric Clapton
The next day I was driving into London with Eric Clapton, and I said, “What are you doing today? Why don’t you come to the studio and play on this song for me?” He said, “Oh, no I can’t do that. Nobody’s ever played on a Beatles record and the others wouldn’t like it.” I said, “Look, it’s my song and I’d like you to play on it.”
So he came in. I said, “Eric’s going to play on this one, and it was good because that then made everyone act better. Paul got on the piano and played a nice intro and they all took it more seriously.“
They did. Multiple takes later, the song was completed, and it has had a life of its own long past the demise of the Beatles as a group. The Cirque du Soleil Love show has featured it as a dreamy, slow tempo pas de deux:
And the remembrance for George Harrison at a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony by an all-star band including Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, Steve Winwood, and George’s son Dhani (who won’t be difficult to identify) is astounding. Most notably, at the end of the song my fellow Minnesotan Prince plays an unbelievable solo – he absolutely goes off, and symbolically throws his guitar up to George in heaven at the end of his performance:
Regardless of what kind of difficulty or time of trouble you are experiencing at this moment, I hope that there is no weeping for you today.
Though this is not a book, it certainly represents Beatles-related print material. In the year 2000, Cynthia Lennon created this special box set portfolio of 4 signed prints she did of John as a gift to her son. I was able to obtain one from Ebay several years ago. The photos below are my set that I acquired. I was very happy to acquire this beautiful set for the collection.
Hope you will enjoy this post!!!
The website link provided here has the full description of this wonderful set
In 2000, Cynthia Lennon, the 1st wife of John and mother of Julian, painted four portraits of John and gave them to Julian as a birthday gift on the 20th anniversary of John’s death in 1980. A production company in London contracted to produce a “limited edition” of these portraits in colour lithograph prints. The promotion never went through but there were 300 sets of these prints produced. This example is in near-mint condition.
Inside the John Lennon Book
The four-piece artwork set was printed by Napier Jones to Fine Art Trade Guild Standards
Print #1 (top) is a depiction of how John Lennon looked in the year 1963 in his collarless jacket.
Print #2 is a depiction of how John Lennon looked in the year 1965, the year the Beatles received an accolade from the Queen of England.
John Lennon in 1965 by Cynthia Lennon
Print #3 is a depiction of how John Lennon looked in the year 1967, during the period of time that Sgt Pepper was released and John and the other Beatles had finally stopped touring
John Lennon in 1967 by Cynthia Lennon
Print #4 is a depiction of how John Lennon looked in the year 1980, when John`s life was so quickly and cruelly taken.
John Lennon in 1980 by Cynthia Lennon
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Other Books About John Lennon at the Beatles Bookstore
John’s turn today, although he said in a Rolling Stone interview that he didn’t like the song much:
I never liked ‘Run for Your Life,’ because it was a song I just knocked off. It was inspired from …“Baby, Let’s Play House.” There was a line on it…”I’d rather see you dead, little girl, than to be with another man” – so I wrote it around that but I didn’t think it was that important.
In fact, in the early ‘70s he said that it was his least favorite Beatles song, although he knew that George liked it a lot.
There is an interesting lineage for the song, however, that started with a country and western song written for Eddy Arnold in 1951, “I Want to Play House with You.”
Four years later, that song title had morphed into “Baby, Let’s Play House.”
This was a song written for Elvis Presley by a young songwriter named Arthur Gunter. His song included the following lines:
Now listen to me baby Try to understand I’d rather see you dead, little girl Than to be with another man
The Gunter song was an unambiguous “I want you” song. Ten years later (1965) Lennon, however, remembered a couple lines from it, and made them the centerpiece for a song about a “wicked guy” who was “born with a jealous mind.” It’s an interesting case study in how derivative music can be, and I’ve talked here before about how the Beatles listened to everything they could get their hands on, then made it their own.
For this derivative, “knocked off” song, John sang lead, Paul and George did the harmonies, and everyone played their regular instruments with the exception that John had both electric and acoustic tracks on the song to go along with George’s energetic lead and Paul’s bass.
Flash forward over 55 years to a time when the nation has been running for its collective life, and we all are working to adapt the best we can to the new reality.
From:
When We Find Ourselves in Times of Trouble: The Beatles
(All their songs with encouraging words for challenging times)
By Tim Hatfield
[Go to www.amazon.com, search “Tim Hatfield Beatles” and download the free app to read the ebook on your device]
Tom Hanley had been taking photos of the Beatles as early as ’63/ ’64. He was with them at the end of their collective career as well, taking many ‘fly on the wall’ photos of the business meetings that were to spell the group’s demise. He was also around for John Lennon’s early solo years taking many photos of the Imagine sessions, for example.
Years later, he was also involved with the Beatles as they were coordinating efforts for the Anthology project. He even assisted in helping Apple in acquiring the Beatles’ copyrights for photos taken by other photographers. Tom took several photos of Paul, George, and Ringo during the preparation and making of the BeatlesAnthology.
Tom Hanley was to pass away in November of 2021 and his son, Tony has taken the words to the story that his father authored some ten years previous about his time with The Beatles and curated over 300 of Tom’s images in an excellent limited edition book of 1,000 copies.
Mark Lewisohn with Tom Hanley
Below is a photo of the slip-cased limited edition with a signed Imagine photo exhibition invitation sent by Tom included as I intend to use the signed invitation as a bookplate to the limited edition book making the book, the only signed copy by Tom in existence.
Tom’s limited edition Beatles book ‘With a Little Help From My Lens; was released in October of 2022.
Signed Article about The Imagine Photos by Tom Hanley
With A Little Help From My Lens by Tom Hanley
Here is a signed book of some of Tom’s Imagine photos taken in 1971 published by Pavilion Books in 1995
Imagine – A Celebration of John Lennon
Imagine – A Celebration of John Lennon
Here is the toughest Tom Hanley book to find among collectors. Now, out of print, this book was also signed by Tom. Published by Hodgson Press in 2010, featuring photos of many of the musical icons that Tom had photographed over the years.
The Esher Collection by Tom Hanley
The Esher Collection by Tom Hanley
The Esher Collection by Tom Hanley
Tom was one of the few photographers that was able to capture the stellar images of the four guys from Liverpool who helped change the world through their music all those years ago!!!
