“Cry for a Shadow” is the only Beatles song to be credited to John Lennon and George Harrison alone. It’s an instrumental that was written by John and George as a parody of The Shadows style. The Shadows were Cliff Richard’s backing band and the biggest British instrumental rock & roll group at the time. “Cry for a Shadow” was recorded on June 22, 1961 in Hamburg, Germany, while The Beatles were backing up Tony Sheridan in the recording studio.
According to Mersey Beat newspaper editor Bill Harry, the original title of the track was “Beatle Bop”.
“Don’t Bother Me” was the first song written by George Harrison alone. He had received co-writing credit for two earlier Beatles songs, “In Spite of All the Danger” (Paul McCartney/George Harrison) and “Cry for a Shadow” (George Harrison/John Lennon).
George wrote “Don’t Bother Me” while he was sick in bed at a hotel room in Bournemouth, England. The Beatles were playing some shows in the town during the summer of 1963. Harrison wasn’t too fond of the song, as he had stated, “‘It was a fairly crappy song. I forgot all about it completely once it was on the album.” He would later say, in effect, that John and Paul had started honing their writing skills years before him and that they had already gone through their “bad” songs period earlier. George was essentially saying he would have to write a few “clunkers” first to catch up as a skilled songwriter.
“Don’t Bother Me” originally appeared on the albums ‘With the Beatles’ (UK, 1963), and ‘Meet the Beatles!’ (U.S., 1964). The song also plays during a scene in ‘A Hard’s Day’s Night’, where The Beatles dance at a nightclub.
When the Beatles landed on US soil in February 1964, it was George Harrison‘s second trip to the states. While on vacation in September 1963, he visited his sister, Louise, at 113 McCann Street in Benton, Illinois. The home where he stayed in is now the Hard Day’s Nite Bed and Breakfast. While in Illinois, Harrison also performed with a band at the Veterans of Foreign Wars hall in Eldorado.
In an interview, Louise recalled “his real first visit to America was when he came to the midwest in September of 1963 and he met these wonderful, warm, friendly, real warm Midwesterners… school teachers, retired miners and all kinds of just wonderful people… and a little band. He had a fantastic time. He thought they were just wonderful people.”
Pete Best was the original drummer of The Beatles. He became a member of the band on August 12, 1960, just one day before they were to leave for Hamburg, Germany to play a series of shows there.
Two years later, on August 16, 1962, he was dismissed from the group but was never given a satisfactory explanation why. The only reason manager Brian Epstein gave was, “The lads don’t want you in the group anymore”. Although there were probably a few reasons why the lads were wanting to replace him, Pete’s fate was sealed when producer George Martin indicated that he wanted to use a session drummer instead of Best for their studio recordings. The other three Beatles asked Epstein to fire him and replace him with Ringo Starr, who had occasionally sat in with the band when Pete was unavailable.
— Here’s a few quotes from the Beatles about Best’s firing:
“We were always going to dump him when we found a decent drummer.” – John Lennon
“We were cowards when we sacked him.” - John Lennon
“I was quite responsible for stirring things up. I conspired to get Ringo in for good; I talked to Paul and John until they came round to the idea.” – George Harrison
“We weren’t very good at telling Pete (Best) he had to go.” – George Harrison
“I never felt sorry for Pete Best. I was not involved.” – Ringo Starr
“I felt I was a much better drummer than he was.” – Ringo Starr
“It was a strictly professional decision. If he wasn’t up to the mark… then there was no other choice.” – Paul McCartney
“I do feel sorry for him, because of what he could have been on to.”- Paul McCartney
Related post: Who was the original bass player of The Beatles?
Related article on BeatlesLane.com: Whatever happened to former Beatle Pete Best?
