AboutMelissa Davis Expertise I feel extremely comfortable with my ability to answer questions regarding The Beatles personally - backgrounds, family, education, and the genesis of the group from inception to the end. I do not feel that I have the expertise to answer extremely technical questions regarding equipment, other than to refer the questioner to other sources.
Experience Besides having been the right age at the right time to live through and enjoy The Beatles, I have continued my interest in them, in their music, and their influence on 20th century - in everything from the obvious, music, to fashion, humor, film, politics, and the music industry. As a dedicated Anglophile, I have studied at the University of London as an undergraduate and traveled in the UK extensively - yes, walked across Abbey Road, visited Savile Row - all of it. Beyond that, I am a teacher and a writer with excellent writing, editing, and research skills.
Publications The Copy Workshop advertising series
Colorado Law Journal
Various magazines
Education/Credentials B.A. History & Political Science, M.A. English History, J.D.
Awards and Honors Teacher of the Year, Archdiocese of Dallas (2000)
Expert: Melissa Davis Date: 6/22/2008 Subject: Bangladesh
Question QUESTION: Could you tell me more about The Concert Of Bangladesh?
I don't know much about it.
Also, what was the movie where George plays an interviewer? Was it The Rutles? Is it on DVD?
ANSWER: Hi,
Yes, George played the interviewer in the Rutles' All You Need Is Cash. He was shown interviewing one of the Rutles outside their office, asking if the rumours were true - that their staff was stealing from them. As the interview progressed with denials about that - people were seen leaving the building taking everything from office equipment to plants. Very funny. I don't know if it is on DVD; I would assume so. You might check Amazon.
As for the Bangladesh concert, George became increasingly concerned about the widespread famine in that area as the country gained its independence from India/British rule in 1970. Flooding and lack of preparedness created a confluence of disaster of huge human proportions.
A friend alerted him to the situation and initially, he thought he could make a donation and ask the other Beatles to do the same. Then it occurred to him that it seemed like a small, one time response rather than something that had a better chance of truly helping.
He came up with the idea of giving a benefit performance to raise funds and awareness and enlisted the help of his many friends. John Lennon had agreed to perform; then backed out at the last minute due to either business conflicts or to a disagreement as to whether Yoko could also perform on stage. Ringo performed, as did many others - Eric Clapton, Leon Russell, etc. It was released as an LP and shown as a movie with all proceeds being earmarked for direct benefit of the people of Bangladesh.
The concert is available on DVD and CD.
It was hugely successful, but much of the funding was held up in legal and financial messes that dealt with everything from movie rights to treaties - all of it completely out of George's control. He later said it proved the total scope of his naivette in dealing with people who only wanted to make money for themselves and their companies.
One of the unexpected benefits from the project was that it demonstrated the tremendous fundraising ability of rock stars for charitable causes, thus raising awareness, in the process. LIVE AID, FARM AID and all the rest are a direct result of George's first effort in the early 1970s.
I'm sure you can find out much more, but this is a good start on the topic. I hope it helps.
Thanks for writing; let me know if you have any follow-up questions.
MDavis
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QUESTION: Can you explain why people didn't like George much but likd Paul or John more in the 1960's. Why were George and Ringo always in the back or the outcasts and John and Paul more popular?
Answer Hi Ava,
This is an interesting question... I'm not sure where you have gotten the idea that George and Ringo were not as popular as Paul and John, but it isn't accurate at all. In many cases, it is just the opposite!
When the Beatles got together, they knew from the start that they would never have a leader like many groups that had one guy in the front while the rest were essentially back-ups. This wasn't their style at all, but it went against the way things were in the 50s and early 60s. Most entertainment was a leader and his band. They weren't.
As a result, they were always a pure democracy - that is, if anyone disagree with a decision, the vote was 'no'; majority never won, all decisions had to be unanimous. It worked from 1957 until 1970 when they were unable to agree on a manager.
One of the ways this was expressed was that all their official photographs were of the four of them. They used to say that this way girls were able to find at least ONE of them to like!
Naturally, people had their favorites - John always said he didn't have enough girl appeal, but he got the ones who liked how smart he seemed. Paul was the most obviously handsome Beatle, but their appeal went beyond that and people tended to find something they liked about the perceived personality of each Beatle. George, the shy one - the quiet one - the mysterious one. Ringo the cuddly one - the sad one - the funny one. John the smart one.
George is the only Beatle ever to have his own fan club! At first he wasn't happy about that, because it violated the 'one for all and all for one' policy they had, but his fans were very determined and started an international George Club. The others thought that was fine.
Ringo might actually have been the most popular in the United States, for some reason. He was called 'the cuddly one' and when the company that manufactured Beatle buttons and souvenirs looked at their sales, the I LOVE RINGO buttons sold more than the others in the US. Take a look at the reception he got in Australia when he joined up with the group on tour after being in the hospital for two weeks - it's on youtube. He had a crowd of thousands who showed up just for him.
In their work, Ringo always had a singing solo in concert and a special song on each album, even though he was not a great singer because his fans wanted it. Sometimes, it made him a little self-conscious. Drums are always placed in the back of the stage for acoustic reasons - that's where they always play.
If you look at A Hard Day's Night, you can see the Beatles tease him about how popular he was in the hotel room scene. They all get bundles of mail and he doesn't get any - until a HUGE bundle comes in just for him! They tease him about sending them himself or having his family send all the letters.
The director of their movies, Richard Lester, thought George was the most natural actor and gave him many more scenes to show that off, often deleting Paul's scenes. Ringo got great reviews for his work in A Hard Day's Night - that little solo bit where he leaves the group and goes off on his own won a lot of attention and praise.
Paul and John wrote most of the material the Beatles recorded and were the naturals for singing lead - although they wrote a lot of songs for George, as well, before his songwriting took off. His ability on lead guitar was featured on every song and resulted in major changes in music, for instance the introduction of the sitar in western music.
When the Beatles broke up, people were angry with Paul for releasing the first solo album and upset with John for hooking up with Yoko and releasing often bizarre and unlistenable records. George released his first album, All Things Must Pass, in time for Christmas 1970 and it was a huge success - the #1 album internationally, despite it being a three-album set that cost more than a regular album. It was thought to be an instant masterpiece.
John got a lot of attention after the break-up because he started saying outrageous things about the Beatles, both as a group and individually, and although he was often stoned when he said them or said them just for the controversy, people thought that meant that he was being honest. He was just beginning to correct some of these statements when he died.
And of course, once he was murdered, there was a temptation to make him bigger and better and smarter in death than he would have been comfortable being in life. It's unfortunate, because his accomplishments and his personality were enough without being revised because of his death, but that seems to be a natural phenomenon that happens. It is something I think he would have hated.
So, each Beatle had his followers, but any perception that George or Ringo weren't liked or loved is inaccurate as is any idea that they were somehow in the background or not thought to be as important or full-fledged members of the group. That was never true for them and certainly not true of attitudes in the 1960s.
