alluded to LSD’s harrowing aspects: Consider the orchestral crescendo on “A Day in the Life,” as well as Love’s brilliant 1967 album Forever Changes and the Move’s 1966 single “Night of Fear.”
“I’m quite proud that”: Jessica Pallington West, ed., What Would Keith Richards Do? Daily Affirmations from a Rock and Roll Survivor (New York: Bloomsbury, 2009), 155.
“Even beyond the usual hysterical”: “Apples for the Beatles,” Time (September 6, 1968), 59.
“That’s why I did it”: The Beatles Anthology, 298.
(“When you talk about destruction”): Lennon and the Beatles recorded three versions of “Revolution.” The record described here, which is the public heard first, was actually recorded after “Revolution 1,” which appeared on the so-called White Album. On “Revolution 1,” Lennon sings “and you can count me out—in,” because he says he was unsure how he felt about revolutionary violence. (The record’s lyric sheet, however, is unambiguous: it says “you can count me out.”) The White Album also contained an eight-minute avant-garde montage, “Revolution 9,” which many consider the Beatles’ worst song ever.
“Cistercian Monk”: “Uncle Gengis F.,” “The Rock Song as Radical Element,” (Peoria, Illinois) The Left Out, n.d. [circa 1969], 14.
“The more political you are”: Ralph Gleason, “The Beatles’ Revolution,” Liberation News Service, No. 111 (October 19, 1968), 10.
“The Beatles aren’t just”: Ralph Gleason, “The Beatles Are More Potent Than SDS,” LNS No. 111 (October 19, 1968), 10.
“the seed of the new cultural”: Roland Muldoon, The Black Dwarf (October 13, 1967).
“the inadequacy of [Lennon’s]”: John Hoyland, “Power to the People,” The Guardian (March 14, 1968).
“Recently your music has”: John Hoyland, “A Very Open Letter to John Lennon,” (Seattle) Helix (July 17, 1969), 15.
“I’ll tell you what’s wrong with”: John Lennon, “A Very Open Letter to John Hoyland,” (Seattle) Helix (July 17, 1969), 15.
The feeling’s [sic] I’ve gotten: John Hoyland, “John Hoyland Replies,” (Seattle) Helix (July 17, 1969), 15.
“ate the Beatles alive”: No author, “Beatles Revolution: Two Views,” (San Diego) Teaspoon Door (November 22, 1968), 8.
Village Voice writer Robert Christgau: See Wiener, Come Together, 60.
“lamentable petty bourgeois cry”: Richard Merton, “Comment on Chester’s ‘For a Rock Aesthetic,’ ” New Left Review 59 (Jan–Feb, 1970).
“betrayal”: As quoted in Wiener, Come Together, 60.
“indifference to politics”: As quoted in Peter Doggett, There’s A Riot Going On (Edinburgh: Canongate, 2008), 197.
“There is freedom in the”: Greil Marcus, “A Singer and a Rock and Roll Band,” in Greil Marcus, ed., Rock and Roll Will Stand (Boston: Beacon Press, 1969), 96.
“However shitty the lyrics”: James E. Curry, “Dallas” (Madison, WI) Connections (February 5–20, 1969), 3.
“more thought and discussion”: Herman Rumper, “The Beatles Below the Surface,” San Diego Free Press (Feb 28–March 14, 1969), 7.
“The Beatles’ politics are terrible”: Joshua Newton, letter to the editor, (Detroit) Fifth Estate (December 11–22), 1969.
The original record sleeve: A rumor circulated that the sleeve showed a Chicago police officer brutalizing a demonstrator at that city’s 1968 Democratic National Convention, but the picture was actually taken in Los Angeles, during the Sunset Strip curfew riots in late 1966. Today, the record with the original sleeve is one of the rarest of records; some collectors sell it for around $75,000.
“throwing rocks and having”: Jonathon Green, ed., Days in the Life: Voices from the English Underground, 1967–1971 (London: Heinemann, 1988), 245.
“Everywhere I heard”: Amusingly, Tariq Ali threw the original, handwritten lyrics that Jagger had supplied into the wastepaper basket. To hold on to or in any way treasure the lyrics sheet would have contradicted The Black Dwarf’s political approach, which opposed the glorification of individuals. It was more important to build group solidarity and create the conditions for collective action.
“I chanted the words myself”: Jonah Raskin, Out of the Whale: Growing Up in the American Left (New York: Link Books, 1974), 119. Actually, “Street Fighting Man” does not contain the lyric Raskin chanted. It goes, “The time is right for palace revolution.” In all likelihood, Raskin is also the author of an article in SDS’s short-lived organ Fire Next Time, which lauded the song but similarly misquoted the lyric.
“and what you did here”: As quoted in sidebar, (Chicago) Seed (November 16, 1969).
Greetings and welcome Rolling Stones: As reprinted in Stanley Booth, The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones (Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2000), 142–143.
“I don’t really want to”: World in Action television program (July 31, 1967).
“They must think a song”: Dave Doggett, (Oxford, MS) Kudzu (Feb. 5, 1969), 10.
“America, with its ears turned to its transistors”: LNS-London, “Beatles, Stones, on Movement,” (Hawaii) The Roach (February 1–15, 1969).
“he grew rather fond of capitalism”: Sanchez, Up and Down, 121.
“[Jagger] did have a genuine revulsion”: As quoted in Doggett, There’s a Riot Going On, 168.
Therefore, culture is war: As quoted in Miller, Flowers in the Dustbin, 272.
In another: Godard was apparently interested in filming either the Beatles or the Stones, and at first he wasn’t sure which band was most suitable for his purposes. Later, after Godard made a snide comment about the Beatles’ lack of political engagement in International Times, Lennon snapped, “That’s sour grapes from a man who couldn’t get us to be in the film. Dear Mr. Godard, just because we didn’t want to be in the film with you, it doesn’t mean to say that we aren’t doing any more than you.” But Mim Scala, a theatrical agent, said that he persuaded Godard to choose the Stones over the Beatles, and that he had to break that news to Lennon over the phone. He “took it on the chin,” Scala said. “I guess he was relieved that this was one more project that the Beatles did not have to worry about.”
“I’m beginning to think he’s”: At that point, Lennon did not know that Mao was one of history’s greatest mass murderers, but nor could he possibly have believed that Mao was in any way a peaceful man. “Revolution is not a dinner party,” Mao had famously said. “A revolution is an insurrection, an act of violence by which one class overthrows another.” Interestingly, Mao’s remark isn’t so dissimilar from Hoyland’s line: “In order to change the world, we’ve got to understand what’s wrong with the world. And then—destroy it. Ruthlessly.”
“If I were black, I’d”: Wenner, Lennon Remembers, 134.
“it’s a very delicate line”: Ian MacDonald, “John Lennon: The John Lennon Anthology,” Uncut (December 1998).
“The lyrics [in ‘Revolution’]”: The Beatles Anthology, 299.
“They could own television”: John Sinclair, (Ann Arbor) Argus (Jan 25–Feb 7, 1969), 10.
“I think it may be safely”: Mayer, “Rock and Revolution” (New York) WIN (June 1, 1969), 12.
“For a long time the”: Francis Moss, “Disengagement and Retreat: Beatles’ Abbey Road,” (Houston) Space City! (Nov. 7–20, 1969), 19.
“probably an honest statement”: As quoted in Mayer, “Rock and Revolution,” 12.
“confirmed institutionalists”: Ron Britain, “A View of the Beatles-Stones,” (Milwaukee) Kaleidoscope (Feb 14–27, 1969), 21.
“What do you think about”: Rolling Stones Press Conference, 1969; You Tube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLC39AfB0Yw.
“I don’t dig hero cults”: Dave Doggett, (Oxford, MS) Kudzu (Feb. 5, 1969), 10.
“strive for realism in”: Jon Landau, “Doing It in the Road,” (Atlanta) Great Speckled Bird (Feb. 24, 1969), 14–15.
“When you hear a Stones”: Jon Landau, “If I Thought It Would Do Any Good, I’d Write My Congressman,” Extra! (December 10–24,
1968) 12.
“The Stones sing to and”: Mike Kerman, “Class Clash—the Beatles vs. the Rolling Stones,” (Detroit) Fifth Estate (Feb. 6–19, 1969), 13. Probably the young writer would have been apoplectic if he knew that around the same time, the Beatles had briefly considered buying a remote Greek island, where they planned to build four hi-tech homes, connected by underground tunnels to a central glass dome with iron tracery.
But the Stones’ bloom was: According to promoters, the steep ticket prices were necessary because the Stones demanded so much money upfront. Most tickets ranged from $4.50 to $6.50, which would amount to between $20 and $33 today. By contrast, tickets for the band’s 2005 US tour were $134, and at some shows, prime seats went for $377. Asked about this, Jagger said the band didn’t control the ticket prices. He also suggested the question was uninteresting. “We’re not really not into that sort of economic scene.” On the Stones’ 2012 American tour, tickets ranged from $85 to $2,000. “If you really can’t afford a ticket, it’s sad,” Jagger told a journalist. “I feel bad about that. We have some cheap ones that are quite good too. There’s a price for everybody, I think.”
This was a new thing: The Beatles’ huge outdoor shows in 1966 were the exception. Usually their music was piped through the stadiums’ existing PA systems; to the extent that anyone could hear them play, they must have sounded terrible.
“Promoters in almost every city”: Norman, The Stones, 290.
“Unlike the Beatles and”: “Angry on the Stones,” (Chicago) Rising Up Angry (July 1969), 6.
To give an example, when the Stones: “Angry on the Stones,” (Chicago) Rising Up Angry (July 1969), 6. Abbie Hoffman was one of the “Chicago Seven” (or Chicago Eight) defendants who were charged with plotting to disrupt the 1968 Democratic National Convention. He had been trying for days to get through to the Stones, even going so far as to call the Ambassador West Hotel and impersonating Elvis. (“Yassuh, I jes’ wanted to see how Mick an’ the boys were doing.”) Although Abbie was one of the most visible antiwar activists in the country, a reporter observed that while he was backstage, Mick was the only one to spend time with him. None of the others seemed to know, or care, who he was.
“If the Rolling Stones”: As quoted in Abe Peck, Uncovering the Sixties: The Life and Times of the Underground Press (New York: Citadel Press, 1991), 226.
“[C]lapping hands, cutting up”: LNS, (Ann Arbor) Argus (October 3–17, 1969), 2.
“It would take a little while longer”: Sanchez, Up and Down, 185.
“Just a few decades ago rock”: Fred Goodman, The Mansion on the Hill: Dylan, Young, Geffen, Springsteen and the Head-On Collision of Rock and Commerce (New York: Vintage, 1998), xi.
“Why does it cost $50,000”: At the time, most LPs were priced between $5 and $6. The Beatles, however, had negotiated an increase in their royalty rate to 69 cents per album. Before long, record prices went up across the industry.
Why can’t rock groups who: Letter to editor, (Seattle) Helix (October 30. 1969), 14.
6: WHEEL-DEALING IN THE POP JUNGLE
“It was simply terrible how lost”: As quoted in MOJO’s The Beatles, 293.
“Meditation gives you comfort”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhNcGdLyvw0.
“I knew that we were in trouble”: Lennon interview with Jann Wenner, Lennon Remembers (audio version).
“In fact, Brian’s answer”: As quoted in Coleman, The Man Who Made the Beatles, 263.
“John may have been”: Tony Barrow, John, Paul, George, Ringo and Me (New York: Da Capo, 2006), 49.
“We’re going into Decca”: Richards, Life, 179.
(“A contract is just a piece”): As quoted in Klein, Playboy (November 1971). Klein continues: “Two parties sign [a contract] in good faith, hoping it indicates what they both want out of a relationship. But situations change, so contracts get renegotiated.”
(“I mean not over us, he was”): Richards, Life, 179.
“They crumbled and we”: Richards, Life, 179.
“Klein said that”: Peter Brown, The Love You Make: An Insider’s Story of the Beatles (New York: NAL Trade, 2002), 227.
“[Epstein] always thought”: As quoted in Coleman, The Man Who Made the Beatles, 265.
“Yeah, well Klein got the Stones”: As quoted in Brown, The Love You Make, 248.
It was a fair question: Paul: “I complained to Brian. I remember it hurting him, too. It was a learning experience for me: don’t do that again. It got to him a bit too much. And he was probably right as well: he had done so much for us and there was me bitching about a penny or two.”
“The whole time Allen was”: As quoted in Oldham, 2Stoned, 243.
“Allen got very obsessed”: As quoted in Oldham, 2Stoned, 206.
“Baby, you’re a rich man too”: George had little to do with “Baby, You’re a Rich Man,” which was arranged and recorded at Olympic Studios on May 11, 1967. In fact, it is one of the rare songs from that period that truly was written jointly by Lennon and McCartney. (John had the part of a song that asks, “How does it feel to be one of the beautiful people,” and Paul had the part that goes, “Baby, you’re a rich man, too.” So they wound up combining the two bits.)
“If you wanted a gold-plated Cadillac”: As quoted in Richards, Life, 179.
The Stones eventually launched: Sue Weiner and Lisa Howard, eds., The Rolling Stones A-Z (New York: Grove, 1983), 74.
“We have made numerous”: As quoted in Wyman, Stone Alone, 496.
“We are still awaiting”: All quotes re: money from Wyman, Stone Alone, 505.
“The phone and electricity”: As quoted in Norman, Mick Jagger, 327.
“I didn’t trust him and”: Wyman, Stone Alone, 329.
“fat check . . . the biggest”: Wyman, Stone Alone, 330.
“Well, maybe you wouldn’t”: As quoted in The Beatles Anthology, 326.
“Mick’s strategy in”: Faithfull, Faithfull, 168.
“done them in financially”: As quoted in Hotchner, Blown Away, 201.
“I was equally certain”: Prince Rupert Loewenstein, A Prince Among Stones: That Business with the Rolling Stones and Other Adventures (New York: Bloomsbury, 2013), 68.
Shortly after their song: John and Mick awkwardly introduce the segment. John calls Mick “Michael” (Jagger’s given name) and Mick calls John “Winston” (Lennon’s middle name). Mick speaks in a dull accent, somewhat in the style of an American talk show host. “As you know, I’ve admired your work for so long, and I haven’t been able to get together with you so much as I want. Do you remember that old place off-Broadway?” John answers with an apparent non sequitur: “Oh, those were the days, I want to hold your man.” After a bit more banter, John gets up, hands Mick a bowl of macrobiotic rice that he’s been eating, and then sneers as he walks off camera. Mick calls after him: “Yer blues, John.” The scene makes absolutely no sense, although it is impossible not to notice that in the end, Mick is left in a subservient position.
An outtake from the film is even more revealing. As the camera rolls, Lennon surprises Mick by pretending to be gay; he pulls at Jagger’s jacket from behind and mock-seductively runs his hands over his chest. Once again, Mick seems lamblike in Lennon’s presence. The scene was rendered unusable because Lennon’s son Julian, age five, can be seen in the background pressing his lips against what is either an unlit, hand-rolled cigarette or (sigh) a joint. “Dad, I’ve got a little cigar!” he says innocently.
“Allen Klein sat next to”: As quoted in Davis, Old Gods, 279.
“We’re in the happy”: As quoted in The Beatles Anthology, 287.
“I remember going [there]”: As quoted in Doggett, You Never Give Me Your Money, p. 53.
“the waiting room of”: Richard DiLello, The Longest Cocktail Party (Chicago: Playboy Press, 1972), 24.
“Mick’s home phone number and”: DiLello, The Longest Cocktail Party, 146.
No, not really: W. Fraser Sandercombe, ed., The Beatles: Press Reports (Ontario: Co
llector’s Guide Publishing, 2003), 254.
Of course, they knew Apple: On January 10, 1969, George Harrison stormed out of Twickenham Studio with the clear intention of quitting the Beatles. Some have speculated that his outburst may have arisen during an argument with Lennon over the Disc and Music Echo interview. No one knows for sure, however. In his memoir, Luck and Circumstance, filmmaker Michael Lindsay-Hogg said he tried to record Lennon and Harrison’s dispute surreptitiously, but the recording was worthless.
“You know this is a small and young”: Coleman, Lennon, 461.
“The day we spoke he”: Coleman, Lennon, 461, 471 (photo insert in the middle).
Why did you want the Beatles?: Allen Klein, Playboy (November 1971), 92.
“[Klein] was so foul-mouthed”: Brown, The Love You Make, 304.
“Klein is essential in the Great”: As quoted in MOJO’s The Beatles, 424.
“Sam, I think they’re”: Allen Klein obituary, The Guardian (July 5, 2009).
Not only that, he predicted: Peter Brown remembers Lennon repeating the million-dollar figure while in his office. “I found this quite astonishing, considering that John and Yoko’s latest cinematic venture was a long [51 minutes] film of them smiling at each other in soft focus.” Some of Ono’s other films included Eye Blink (a slow-motion picture of a lighted match burning out to its end) and Bottoms (consisting only of close-up shots of people’s naked bums).
“Yea, though I walk through the”: As quoted in Norman, Lennon, 589.
“He knew every damn”: Wenner, Lennon Remembers, 145.
“He’s the only businessman”: As quoted in The Beatles Anthology, 324.
“Please give [Klein]”: As quoted in The Beatles Anthology, 325.
Not only was he gross: Not long after Klein bought Cameo-Parkway, rumors circulated that his company was about to merge various other companies. One was Merco Enterprises (a giant distribution company that sold other company’s products—in this case 45s and LPs—in racks and bins). The other was Chappell Music Corporation. Cameo-Parkway’s stock rose astronomically, from $1.75 a share to $72.
“I didn’t want to appear too anxious”: Allen Klein, “Interview,” Playboy (November 1971), 94.
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