Karen and I grew up listening to Beatles music and most of you reading this can probably sing Hey Jude word for word (well, at least the "nah nah" parts) when you hear it on the radio. So, just like if we were in Mark Twain's hometown or Laura Ingalls Wilder's towns we thought we'd dig into the backgrounds of John, Paul, George, and Ringo, The Beatles.
Across from our hotel we met up with a tour bus going to John Lennon's house. We needed to be on this tour in order to be able to go inside both John's boyhood home and Paul McCartney's.
Here's a short version of how the Beatles came to know each other. John and Paul lived within a mile of each other but went to different high schools. They were introduced to each other in 1957 at a church get-together and Paul joined John's band. Paul had a small living room and John would come over and they would compose songs upstairs and practice in the basement.
Paul used to live 3 miles further out of town and he went to school with George Harrison at the Liverpool Institute during that time. Paul suggested that George join the band even though he was only 14 at the time. John, though reluctant, agreed to let him in.
Ringo Starr, also lived in Liverpool during this time but was a sickly boy and after being in a sanitarium for 2 years never went back to school. Eventually the 3 original Beatles along with their then-current drummer, Pete Best, went to Hamburg to do gigs. Ringo was in another band (Rory and the Hurricanes) at the time also playing in Hamburg and The Beatle's manager at the time felt that Ringo was a better drummer. So in 1962 he started playing full time for them and the rest is history.
Unfortunately there were no photos allowed inside either home. John's Aunt Mimi's home where he lived for about 13 years (its a duplex and they lived on the left side).
John's wife, Yoko Ono, is responsible for buying the house and having it restored to the way it was when John lived there. She wanted everyone to come see it.
Back into the van we went and drove the 1 mile to Paul's house. This was a government housing duplex that the McCartney's rented.
They had a small living room and John would come over and they would compose songs upstairs and practice in the basement.
Out back was a roof drain pipe that Paul would recall he would climb up to get back into the house after being locked out.
After a week on the canal boat it was laundry time again. I dropped Karen off in downtown Liverpool and I revisited the laundromat that was closing yesterday.
Since pictures and stories of the laundry make a rather boring blog we'll find out what Karen did while in town.
She went back to the Cavern Club and took pictures in the daylight and got to hear a guy singing Beatles songs downstairs.
Outside the Club was a Wall of Fame of all the bands that had played in the Cavern.
A bronze of John Lennon with the Wall of Fame behind him.
It wasn't until 1982 that the city of Liverpool started to embrass and promote Beatlemania. Since then a lot of jobs have been created catering to those who want to learn about the birth of the Beatles.
Karen and I continued to search the city for Beatle locations that came from some of the songs they wrote. On Penny Lane we found this awesome gate.
"In Penny Lane there is a barber..."
Strawberry Fields was actually a Salvation Army Children's Home that was almost in John's backyard.
"Eleanor Rigby died in the church and was buried along with her name..."
Across the street from the church and cemetery is a church building where John and Paul met with a plaque on the wall commemorating the meeting.
The home where Paul grew up in Speke and where he was friends with George.
The "home" of Ringo when he was growing up. There are about 3 streets in this neighborhood that are all boarded up like this.
By the time our day had came to an end we had a pretty good feel for how the boys grew up and met and where they lived. Four lads formed a band and became one of the biggest influences of music in the 1960's.
