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)
Question How many women, by name, are mentioned in all Beatles songs?
Answer Hi Paula,
Fun question!
The Beatles deliberately avoided personalizing songs wanting to maximize the appeal to all girls. That's why so many of their early songs have pronouns in the titles: She Loves You, And I Love Her, etc. It was only later that they added some names to make the songs more vivid. Julia and Mary are the only two that could be called songs that were specifically written and dedicated to a woman, in both cases to John's and Paul's mothers who died when they were teenagers.
In original songs only, I count 14, possibly 15, if you count a nickname:
Michelle
Eleanor (Rigby)
Lucy (Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds)
Rita (Lovely Rita, Meter Maid)
Vera (one of the grandchildren in When I’m Sixty-Four)
Prudence (Dear Prudence)
Molly (Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da)
Martha (Martha My Dear – Paul’s very large English Sheepdog)
Lill (Nancy) McGill – Rocky Raccoon
Julia
Sadie (Sexy Sadie)
Pam (Polythene Pam)
Loretta Martin (Get Back)
Mary (Let It Be)
Here's the one that is a maybe, Honey Pie. It is capitalized, so it's a name, but it's rare that a girl is named Honey, these days, so it was probably a nickname.
As far as any song being actually about a particular woman, only three: Julia was written about John’s mother; Let It Be is about Paul’s mother, Mary; and Prudence, Mia Farrow’s younger sister who was in India at the same time the Beatles were and became so overwhelmed with meditation that she could not leave her room - they actually went to her door and sang the song to get her to ‘come out.’
Lucy was a classmate in Julian Lennon’s kindergarten class; he drew a picture of her and when he showed it to his father, John asked what the picture showed. Julian said, “That’s Lucy and she’s in the sky with diamonds.” The picture still exists and it looks a lot like a girl in the sky surrounding by diamond shapes - at least the best that a five year-old could draw!
The song, Sexy Sadie, was called, “Maharishi” but John changed it to avoid a libel suit.
Paul McCartney claims that the song, Eleanor Rigby, actually started as Daisy Hawkins. It was thought that he changed it to Eleanor after Eleanor Bron who was their co-star in Help! He said he saw the name ‘Rigby’ on a sign outside a shop. However, if you take a look at a headstone in the churchyard of St. Peter’s Church in Liverpool, you’ll see the name, Eleanor Rigby. John and Paul met at St. Peter’s and they spent a lot of time ditching school and going over to the churchyard, laying on the grass near the headstones, writing lyrics to songs, and sometimes smoking. You can Google the cemetery and see the headstone.
There is a woman who claimed to be Rita, the meter-maid, who said she gave Paul a parking ticket, but that was never confirmed. There was a rumour that Polythene Pam really was someone John had met, but, again, that was just a rumour.
A very good friend from Liverpool, in fact the friend who introduced John and Paul at St. Peter’s, Ivan Vaughn, was married to a French language teacher and after John encouraged Paul to ‘finish that French song you keep playing,’ they asked Jan Vaughn to translate a few words into French. Michelle rhymed with ‘ma belle,’ which means, ‘my pretty girl.’
Michelle, Vera, Molly, Loretta Martin, Lil (who was always known as ‘Nancy’) McGill in Rocky Raccoon, and Honey Pie don’t seem to have been about anyone in particular, or anyone we know of from the Beatles themselves. John came up with the names of the grandchildren for When I’m 64 – Vera, Chuck, and Dave.
Those are what I came up with today; let me know if you can think of any others!
I specifically excluded Anna, Long Tall Sally, and Maggie (from Maggie May) as those were not written by the Beatles, but were cover versions.
MDavis
P.S. Here's the other side: Would you say there are as many male names?
Some hints: two politicians, a guy with some sexual identity issues, a cheapskate, a military man, two grandchildren, two gunslingers, a traveling preacher, a priest, a hunter, a singer, a father who runs a stall in the marketplace, a horse, a showman, and one Beatle. There also seems to be a performing family of some kind. There's an inanimate object and a doctor, too.
Let me know how you do!
Hi Again, Paula,
I came up with one more for the female list; two for the male list. The additon to the female list would be, Yoko, who was metioned in The Ballad of John and Yoko, of course. So, there's another addition to the male list, as well: John. That song contains another male name, of an assistant, and I remembered yet ANOTHER male name from another song, an associate producer, so that puts the male list at around 20, depending if you add the physician and the circus family!
How are you doing on that list???
Hi Paula!
Well, add THREE more to the female list: Joan, Rose, and Valerie (Maxwell's Silver Hammer)!
And you can add Maxwell, of course, to the male list, but also two more men: another doctor and a police constable (no name - just P.C. 31 from Maxwell's Silver Hammer, too!).
Continues to be a fun question!
MDavis
Hi Paula!
How about 'Sir Walter Raleigh' from "I'm So Tired'? I know it's a male name, but you've gotten everyone I know interested in stumping everyone else and this is the latest I've come up with for Beatle names!
