The year 1964 was the year that Beatlemania took the world by storm. On February 7, 1964, a crowd of four thousand fans at Heathrow Airport waved to John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, as they took off for their first trip to America, and in New York the Beatles arrived to an estimated crowd of about 3,000 screaming fans. Their first live American television appearance was two days later, on the The Ed Sullivan Show. Ray Block, Ed Sullivan’s orchestra leader, predicted that they “wouldn’t last longer than a year.”
Within nine days of the Beatles’ first visit, Americans bought more than 2 million Beatles records and more than $2.5 million worth of Beatle-related merchandise, including Beatles nightshirts, countless Beatles publications, ice cream, soft drinks, wigs, boots, egg cups and bubble bath. At one time there were even plans for a Beatles motor scooter and a Beatles car. Some people even sold canned “Beatles’ breath,” and in Denver, their unwashed bed linen was bought by an enterprising businessman, who cut the sheets into 3-inch squares and sold them, mounted on parchment with a certificate of authenticity, for $10 a square.
In April 1964, the Beatles held all top 5 positions on the U.S. charts, a feat that’s never been duplicated. In mid-1964 the band undertook their first appearances outside of Europe and North America, touring Australia and New Zealand. Over 300,000 people turned out to see them at Adelaide Town Hall. In August, the “Fab Four” returned to the U.S. for another series of concerts, starting at the Cow Palace in San Francisco and ending a month later in New York with a charity benefit.
Here is The Beatles Christmas Fan Club record of 1964 as well as a video for “You Can’t Do That“:
In the early days of Rock & Roll, record executives assumed that if kids loved groups like The Beatles, they would also be interested in Christmas songs about them. 1964 saw the release of a large number of Beatles-inspired Christmas music (which seemed to largely feature references to Ringo), including “I Want Ringo For Christmas” by The Four Sisters, “Christmas With The Beatles” by Judy & The Duets, “Ringo Bells” by Three Blonde Mice, “The Beatles For Christmas”/”Ringo Bells” by Bobby Roberts and the Ravons, and “Santa Bring Me Ringo” by Christine Hunter.
There were also at least four records released in 1964 that were titled “I Want A Beatle For Christmas,” with versions released by Jackie & Jill, Patty Surby And The Canadian V.I.P’s, The Fans and Becky Lee Beck. The version released by Becky Lee Beck was written by legendary luthier John Suhr, who has built guitars and basses for such musicians as Mark Knopfler, Eric Clapton, Peter Frampton, Lou Reed, and Victor Bailey. When discussing the record, John Suhr recalled: “In the fall of 1964, I took Becky Lee, and her brother Bobby, to Nashville to do two tracks for a single. We did ‘I Want a Beatle for Christmas,’ then one titled ‘Puppy Dog‘ for the B-side. Humorously, during the break on ‘Puppy Dog,’ you can hear me barking like a dog. In 1968, Becky returned to Nashville and we cut a spin-off I wrote titled ‘I Want a Chevy for Christmas.’ We put that on one side and the original ‘I Want a Beatle for Christmas‘ on the other side, and used them as promotional giveaways at a local Chevrolet dealership.”
LISTEN TO SONG:
DOWNLOAD MP3:
Becky_Lee_Beck_-_I_Want_a_Beatle_for_Christmas.mp3
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