BEATLES MAGAZINE: BEATLES INTERVIEW ( FEBRUARY 22, 1964)

Sunday, 23 February 2025

BEATLES INTERVIEW ( FEBRUARY 22, 1964)

The Beatles gave a Pathe News interview in London on February 22, 1964, after returning from their initial visit to America.

GEORGE: "Yeah, it was marvelous. You know. Everything. Every bit of it was a knock-out."

Q: "Even the work?"

GEORGE: Yeah, we enjoyed it, you know. It was different working in different places with the audience all around us."

Q: "What impressed you most about the place? Did you have time to take anything in properly?"

GEORGE: "Oh, yeah. I think I enjoyed the sun in Miami most of all. You know-- healthy."

Q: "You're the healthy one of the four?"

GEORGE: "No, but the sun was sort of very healthy."

Q: "Did you have a chance to get away from anybody at any time on the trip?"

GEORGE: "Yeah."

RINGO: "He got away from me-- twice!"

(laughter)

Q: "What did you most like about the trip, Ringo?

RINGO: "Oh, I just loved all of it, you know. Especially Miami-- the sun. I didn't know what it meant till I went over there."

Q: "Don't you get it up in Liverpool?"

RINGO: "No, they're finished up there, you know. They've cut it out."

(laughter)

Q: "Did you ever have a chance, John, to just get away on your own without anybody recognizing you?"

JOHN: "Yeah. We borrowed a couple of millionaires houses, you know."

Q: "You could afford to BUY a couple of millionaire's houses, couldn't you?"

PAUL: "Naw."

JOHN: "Yeah, we'd sooner borrow 'em. It's cheaper.

(laughter)

JOHN: "And we did a bit of water-skiing. Well, sort of, anyway."

RINGO: "Yeah, we had a great time."

Q: (to John) "Did your wife enjoy it over there?"

JOHN: "She loved it. (comically) Who?? Who??"

PAUL: "Shh-Shh."

RINGO: "Don't tell 'em he's married. It's a secret."

Q: "What about the taste of the fans over there. Did you find the same stuff?"

PAUL: "Yeah."

JOHN: "He never bit any."

(laughter)

PAUL: "We expected them to be very different, but they weren't at all. The accent was the only thing, you know. That was the only difference."

Q: "Did they reckon you sang in an English accent or an American accent?"

PAUL: "No, some fella said, 'How come, because you're from Britain, and you still sing in an American accent,' or something. We were trying to explain it to him.... oh, it was funny."

Q: "When you came back from France you told me that they like the sort of quicker numbers."

PAUL: "Yeah."

Q: "But what did you do? Did you just do all the same routine as you do here?"

PAUL: "Uhh, yeah."

JOHN: "We did the older song."

GEORGE: "Most of our records are hits over there."

PAUL: "Oh yeah, we had to do 'Please Please Me' over there. We hadn't been doing that for a long time here, but it's in the charts there."

Q: "That's history, here. What about the Beatles' styles-- all these wigs and suits and things? Are they catching on over there?"

GEORGE: "Yeah, they're selling well."

RINGO: (jokingly) "15 million a day!"

Q: "I hear that the four of you have been millionaires by the end of the year."

GEORGE: "Oh. That's nice."

(laughter)

Q: "Have you got time to actually spend this money?"

BEATLES: (in unison) "What money??"

Q: "Doesn't he (Brian Epstein) give any to you?"

GEORGE: "No, no. Have you seen that car of his?"

(laughter)

Q: "Is there any intention for you to go back to America-- or in fact, join the brain-drain and a big guitar-drain and stay there?"