The Beatles Forever and Ever: Part 2

Despite Stuart’s death, the band had to get back to business. They played a grueling seven week stint at one of the top venues in Hamburg called The Star-Club. This included rubbing shoulders with rock legends such as Gene Vincent and Little Richard.

“We got to Hamburg and met the likes of Little Richard, Gene Vincent,” recalled Paul McCartney. “I remember Little Richard inviting us back to his hotel. He was looking at Ringo’s ring (who at the time was playing with Rory Storm and the Hurricanes) and said, “I love that ring.” He said, “I’ve got a ring like that. I could give you a ring like that.” So we all went back to the hotel with him. (We never got a ring.)

His memories of Gene Vincent were equally vivid.

“We went back with Gene Vincent to his hotel room once. It was all going fine until he reached in his bedside drawer and pulled out a gun. We’ said “Er, we’ve got to go, Gene, we’ve got to go…” We got out quick!

Old habits died hard as the band resumed outrageous antics similar to when they were last seen in the city of sin. John Lennon in particular indulged in drunken and lude behavior, which at times turned violent. Gerry Marsden, the lead singer of Gerry and the Pacemakers remembers an argument that broke out between John and another man.

 “John got up and hit the fellow over the head with a bottle. I thought: That’s out of order.”

The aggrieved man was up within a heartbeat and made short work of the chief Beatle. No one came to his aid and later on Lennon bitterly admitted he deserved the physical pasting.

‘I can’t remember anything without a sadness,’ he wrote to Stuart Sutcliffe in a letter that Astrid kept. ‘So deep that it hardly becomes known to me. So deep that its tears leave me a spectator of my own stupidity.’

In a sense, Lennon was exorcising the demons of losing his friend and the frustration of not seeing his beloved Beatles getting the big break he so desperately yearned for.

However, just when all seemed hopeless, a telegram arrived from their trusty manager, Brian Epstein.

‘Congratulations boys. EMI request recording session. Please rehearse new material.’     

To be continued…