Beatles Interview: Returning from Paris 2/5/64

Q: "What was the reaction like in France?"

GEORGE: "The audiences were a bit funny, you see. There were more boys than girls, and we missed the good old screams. But you know, there were quite alot of shouts."

Q: "You mean they actually listened to you? That's the difference, is it?"

JOHN AND PAUL: "Yeah."

GEORGE: "Yeah."

Q: "What's the French electrical supply like over there?"

PAUL: "It's good actually. Oh, the equipment's great. But on the first night, as you may know, we had a bit of trouble. Because we suddenly found there was a radio program just sort of plugging into everything, and it overloaded all the amps and everything. They just went, 'Boompf!'"

RINGO: "Three times."

PAUL: "Boompf... Boompf."

Q: "What's the sort of stuff they like over there on the Hit Parade?"

PAUL: "Umm, wilder stuff I think. We stuck in a wilder number to finish off with."

JOHN: (jokingly) "'Gone With The Wind.'"

PAUL: "Gone With The..." (laughs)

Q: "They go for the Elvis Presley kind of stuff, there, do they? I mean, do they go for the older rock and roll stuff?"

PAUL: "I think so, yeah, a bit more. It depended really who was in."

Q: (to Ringo) "I hear that you are going to give us some poetry recitals."

RINGO: "Beethoven's poems."

Q: "When's this? At the City of London Festival?"

RINGO: "Yeah, yeah. (to the others) He knows, you see. It's a secret! Don't tell anybody!"

(laughter)

Q: "What poems?"

RINGO: "Beethoven's. Remember him? Beethoven."

(laughter)

Q: "Looking forward to this American trip, have you had any reaction over there? Have you got any fan clubs going as we speak?"

RINGO: "Well, there's one supposed to be started and they're getting quite a good response, you know. (jokingly) Twelve thousand letters a day!"

(Beatles giggle)

Q: "But the Beatle movement's going over there?"

RINGO: "Yeah. (jokingly) So you needn't be a Beatle Booster, folks!"

(laughter)

Q: "I must tell you, by the way, that Detroit University have got a 'Stamp Out The Beatles' movement."

GEORGE: "I know, yeah."

JOHN: "Yeah, we heard something about that."

PAUL: "We've got a 'Stamp Out Detroit!'"

(laughter)

Q: "They think your haircuts are un-American."

JOHN: "Well, it was very observant of them because we aren't American, actually."

PAUL: (laughs) "True, that."

JOHN: "True. True."

Beatles Press Conference: American Arrival 2/7/64

Q: "Are you a little embarrassed by the lunacy you cause?"

JOHN: "No, it's great."

PAUL: "No."

RINGO: "Marvelous."

GEORGE: (giggling) "We love it."

JOHN: "We like lunatics."

Q: "You're in favor of lunacy?"

BEATLES: "Yeah."

JOHN: "It's healthy."

Q: "Are those English accents?"

GEORGE: "It's not English. It's Liverpudlian, you see."

PAUL: "The Liverpool accent - so, the way you say some of the words. You know, you say GRASS instead of GRAHHSS, and that sounds a bit American. So there ya go."

Q: "Liverpool is the..."

RINGO: (jokingly) "It's the capital of Ireland."

PAUL: "Anyway, we wrote half of your folk songs in Liverpool."

(laughter)

RINGO: "Yeah, don't forget!"

Q: "In Detroit Michigan, there handing out car stickers saying, 'Stamp Out The Beatles.'"

PAUL: "Yeah well... first of all, we're bringing out a Stamp Out Detroit campaign."

(laughter)

Q: "What about the Stamp Out The Beatles campaign?"

JOHN: "What about it?"

RINGO: "How big are they?"

(laughter)

M.C: "There's a question here."

Q: (yelling over the crowd noise) "Would you tell Murray the K to cut that crap out?"

BEATLES: (yelling, jokingly) "CUT THAT CRAP OUT!"

PAUL: "Hey, Murray!"

(laughter)

REPORTER: "Is that a question?"

M.C: (attempting to calm the chaos) "Will you be quiet, please."

Q: "A psychiatrist recently said you're nothing but a bunch of British Elvis Presleys."

JOHN: "He must be blind."

RINGO: (shaking like Elvis) "It's not true!! It's not true!!"

JOHN: (dances like Elvis)

FEMALE FAN: "Would you please sing something?"

BEATLES: "NO!"

(laughter)

RINGO: "Sorry."

M.C: "Next question."

Q: "There's some doubt that you CAN sing."

JOHN: "No, we need money first."

(laughter)

Q: "How much money do you expect to take out of this country?"

JOHN: "About half a crown."

RINGO: "Ten dollars."

Q: "Does all that hair help you sing?"

PAUL: "What?"

Q: "Does all that hair help you sing?"

JOHN: "Definitely. Yeah."

Q: "You feel like Sampson? If you lost your hair, you'd lose what you have? 'It'?"

JOHN: "Don't know. I don't know."

PAUL: "Don't know."

M.C: "There's a question here."

Q: "How many of you are bald, that you have to wear those wigs?"

RINGO: "All of us."

PAUL: "I'm bald."

Q: "You're bald?"

JOHN: "Oh, we're all bald, yeah."

PAUL: "Don't tell anyone, please."

JOHN: "And deaf and dumb, too."

(laughter)

M.C: "Quiet, please."

Q: "Do you know American slang? Are you for real?"

PAUL: "For real."

JOHN: "Come and have a feel."

RINGO: (laughs)

Q: "Aren't you afraid of what the American Barbers Association is going to think of you?"

RINGO: "Well, we run quicker than the English ones, we'll have a go here, you know."

Q: "Listen, I got a question here. Are you going to get a haircut at all while you're here?"

BEATLES: "NO!"

RINGO: "Nope."

PAUL: "No, thanks."

GEORGE: "I had one yesterday."

(laughter)

RINGO: "And that's no lie, it's the truth."

PAUL: "It's the truth."

Q: "You know, I think he missed."

JOHN: "Nope."

GEORGE: "No, he didn't. No."

RINGO: "You should have seen him the day before."

Q: "What do you think your music does for these people?"

PAUL: "Uhh..."

JOHN: "Hmmm, well..."

RINGO: "I don't know. It pleases them, I think. Well, it must do, 'cuz they're buying it."

Q: "Why does it excite them so much?"

PAUL: "We don't know. Really."

JOHN: "If we knew, we'd form another group and be managers."

(laughter)

Q: "What about all this talk that you represent some kind of social rebellion?"

JOHN: "It's a dirty lie. It's a dirty lie."

(laughter)

Q: "What do you think of Beethoven?"

RINGO: "Great. Especially his poems."

(laughter)

M.C: "Can we have the last question now, Gentlemen, please?"

PAUL: "My favorite."

(laughter)

Q: "Have you decided when you're going to retire?"

JOHN: "Next week."

PAUL: "No."

JOHN: "No, we don't know."

RINGO: "We're going to keep going as long as we can."

GEORGE: "When we get fed up with it, you know. We're still enjoying it."

RINGO: "Any minute now."

Q: "After you make so much money, and then..."

BEATLES: "No."

GEORGE: "No, as long as we enjoy it, we'll do it. 'Cuz we enjoyed it before we made ANY money."

(At the conclusion of this press conference, since they were still unknown as individuals to most of the American press, the Beatles chanted their names in the order they were standing at the microphones.)

BEATLES: (in unison) "Paul... Ringo... George... John!! Paul... Ringo... George...John!!"

Beatles Interview: AP & CBS News, Plaza Hotel 2/10/64

Associated Press interview:

Q: "Your program was reviewed by a music critic, and uhh..."

RINGO: (comically exaggerated) "OH NO!!!"

(laughter)

RINGO: "Not again!!!"

Q: (reading from newspaper) "...and he said that you had 'unresolved leading tones, a false modal frame ending up as a plain diatonic.' What would you say to that?"

JOHN: "He ought to see a doctor about that."

(laughter)

PAUL: "No, he's just copying the fella in the London Times who did a review like that. The only difference is, I don't know if that's favorable or not. The London one WAS, you see."

RINGO: "Why doesn't he just say if it's good or bad."

Q: (laughs) "What do you think of the reaction of Amer... What do you think of American girls in the first place, now that you've had your first contact with them?"

PAUL: "Marvelous. They're the same as British girls only they've got a different accent."

Q: "Is it your ambition to continue what you're doing, or what do you plan to do?"

JOHN: "Yeah."

PAUL: "Well, as long as it lasts like this. As long as we keep enjoying it. Once we stop enjoying it, and people stop enjoying it, then uhh..."

GEORGE: "We'll pack in."

RINGO: "We'll HAVE to pack in if people don't enjoy it."

GEORGE: "That's a British saying for 'give up.'"

Q: "One of the big attractions is your haircut and your manner of dress. What prompted that? The haircuts, for instance."

RINGO: "It just happened, you know. (looks up at his own hair) You just wake up one day and there you are."

(laughter)

---

CBS News interview:

Q: "Who came up with the name Beatles, and what does it really mean?"

RINGO: "John thought of the name Beatles, and he'll tell you about it NOW."

(Beatles laugh)

JOHN: "It means Beatles, doesn't it. But that's just a name, you know, like shoe."

PAUL: The Shoes, you see? We could have been called The Shoes for all you know."

Q: "There have been huge crowds of teenage girls outside complaining that they don't want to mob you, they just want to speak to you. What do you think about this? Do you want to talk to them?"

RINGO: "Well, have you ever tried talking to about two hundred people at once?"

JOHN: "We'd love to, you know. If we wave, somebody always says 'Stop that waving! You're inciting them!'"

Q: "How do you feel about your appearance at Carnegie Hall this week, the center of musical culture?"

RINGO: "Umm well, a bit nervous, but not too much, you know. We just hope we go down, 'cuz we're on with a lot of Americans. So we hope they like us."

Q: "What have you done in New York, and what do you hope to see while you're here?"

JOHN: "Well, we've been out to a couple of clubs. Rock clubs, mainly. 'Cuz we just like listening to rock when we're not working, anyway. And we're hoping some of our favorite artists will come up, but you know, they're all out on the road or something. They're not here."

Q: "Who is your favorite American artist?"

JOHN: "There's a lot, you know. Marvin Gaye, Miracles, Mary Wells. Those people."

Q: "When was the last time you had a haircut?"

PAUL: "Uhh, quite a long time, actually. (jokingly, but straightfaced) The last time was about 23 years ago, was the last time I had one."

Q: "Have you met any interesting American girls?"

GEORGE: "Umm... not yet, but hoping."

Q: "What do you think of the police protection you've been receiving here in this city?"

RINGO: "It's marvelous. They're doing a great job, you know, looking after us."

Q: "Are the crowds as large as you expected?"

JOHN: (giggling) "No. We didn't expect anything like this, you know."

Q: (aiming the microphone at Paul) "What is the most interesting offer you've ever received?"

PAUL: "Ahh... Yes... Umm... We've had a lot of interesting offers, actually. (pause) No comment!"

Q: (laughs) "What do you think of the Christine Keeler Profumo affair?"

GEORGE: (dryly) "It's great, yeah."

(Beatles laugh)

PAUL: (laughing) "Good publicity!"

GEORGE: (laughing) "Yeah."

JOHN: "They're all happening."

Q: "Have you heard any reviews of your appearance last night?"

PAUL: "The papers this morning just sort of... we only read two of them, and they weren't very favorable. I think one of the microphones was off, so that may..."

JOHN: "The kids still liked it, you know."

PAUL: "Yeah. The audience was fantastic. Great reception."

Q: "Thank you, gentlemen."

BEATLES: "Thank you!"

Beatles Interview: Carroll James, Washington Coliseum 2/11/64

Q: "Welcome everyone. John Lennon."

JOHN: "Thank you, Carroll."

Q: "And Ringo Starr. Did your drums get off the train safely?"

RINGO: "I hope so. We got a man looking after them."

Q: "Good, good. And over here is Paul McCartney."

PAUL: "How do you do."

Q: "Good to see you, Paul. And over here is George Harrison, who I met the other night in New York."

GEORGE: "Yeah. How do you do."

Q: "I had a 30 second interview with him before a man with the network said, 'Here, put that thing away!'"

GEORGE: "Oh yeah."

Q: "Remember? And Dizzy Gillespie got my Beatle wig, and I still don't have one for tonight. Let me sit down here next to you, John. I have these phenomenal questions. We'll never get to them all. But these are just some of the questions that some of my listeners wanted to know about your careers and your selves."

JOHN: "Mm-hmm."

Q: "What was the first million seller in England that you had, and when was it?"

JOHN: "It was 'She Loves You,' I think. (to the others) Was it?"

PAUL: "Yes."

Q: "And the second was..."

JOHN: "I Want To Hold Your Nose."

Q: (laughs)

JOHN: "Hand."

Q: "And the other side has now become popular here."

JOHN: "Yeah, it's amazing, that. Yeah."

Q: "No it's not, it's a great arrangement."

JOHN: (jokingly) "Okay-yeah-it-is-thanks."

Q: (laughs) "The girls want to know what is your favorite food, and they want to know whether you like fish and chips."

JOHN: "Yeah, I like fish and chips quite a lot."

Q: "What is your favorite food?"

JOHN: "STEAK and chips, I think."

Q: "Paul, they of course want to know about the closest shave you've ever had in a crowd. The toughest spot you were ever in."

PAUL: "Uhh, I dunno."

GEORGE: "Ireland."

PAUL: "Yeah. We were playing in Ireland, and there's a place called (adopts heavy Irish accent) Belfast... no it was in Belfast. (loses accent) Lovely place, it is. We came out of the theatre in the front entrance, and they had sort of things to keep all the crowds back. Crush barriers. They had police on (laughs) mounted police."

(laughter)

PAUL: "Police on mounted dogs... whatever you call 'em."

(laughter)

PAUL: "And just as we were sort of driving away, and there were all motorcycles and things, the crush barriers gave in. And the crowds all sort of..." (imitates comic sounds of motors, felines, and objects crushing to the ground)

(laughter)

Q: "Do you attribute this to the fact that there are so many redheads in Ireland?"

PAUL: "Well I dunno. I didn't see any, actually. There may have been some underneath that crowd."

Q: (laughs) "How many rings do you own, Ringo? How many have your fans sent you?"

RINGO: "They've sent quite a lot. If I counted them all, I got about two-thousand- seven-hundred-and-sixty-one... and a bit."

PAUL: (laughs)

Q: "I see. The girls want to know, to where they should send the rings to you. What would the address be?"

RINGO: "13 Monmouth Street, London. Make sure they're gold!! I only wear gold!!"

(laughter)

Q: "You could possibly make more from your rings than from your records in that case."

RINGO: "Yeah, they send a lot of silver ones."

(laughter)

Q: "Do you play cricket at all, George?"

GEORGE: "No."

Q: "What is your favorite sport? Singing and fighting for your life, but other than that..."

GEORGE: "I don't like many sports. I don't mind watching motor racing. That's about it. I wouldn't mind to have a go."

PAUL: "We all enjoy sleeping, you know. That's one of our favorite sports."

Q: "Well, it's been a long time since that's happened, isn't it?"

PAUL: "No, no. It happens. We try to get to the... you know, every night, actually. We try hard."

Q: "What are some of the American artists that you feel maybe had an influence on your career?"

PAUL: "Definitely Sophie Tucker. Very big influence. VERY big."

Q: (laughs) "Well you know, Tessie O'Shay who appeared on the Sullivan show with you, of course she is British..."

PAUL: "Tessie O'Shay is our favorite American group."

(laughter)

JOHN: (jokingly) "Well, we can't use THAT gag tonight, anyway."

Q: "What about drummers, Ringo?"

RINGO: "I don't know. There's so many."

JOHN: "What about Big Deaf Arthur?"

RINGO: "Oh yeah, Big Deaf Arthur. He's good."

JOHN: (to Carroll) "You know Big Deaf Arthur?"

Q: "No I don't."

JOHN: "He's with Small Blond Johnnie. Yeah."

Q: (laughs) "Really? Is that a..."

JOHN: "Oh yeah. It's really swinging."

Q: "Oh. They want to know if you still like Jellybabies."

RINGO: "No."

Q: "Not at all?"

RINGO: "We used to like them, and then we got about 18 ton sent to us. So, you know, our teeth are dropping out with them."

Q: (laughs)

RINGO: "We give 'em up."

Q: "This is National Dental Health Week here in America so I guess we forget the Jellybabies for the time being."

RINGO: "Yeah."

Q: "They hurt when they hit, don't they George?"

GEORGE: "They do, yeah. They make you stick to the floor, as well."

Q: "What is your dream in life? This is ridiculous because you have achieved more than a dream already. But John, what would be your dream from now on?"

JOHN: "Umm... (comic voice) I don't really know, Carroll. I couldn't honestly say."

PAUL: (giggles)

Q: "Do you drink a lot of tea, incidentally?"

JOHN: "Yeah, but I don't like these teabags so much, 'cuz they sort of stick in the teeth."

Q: "You don't use them at all in England, do you?"

JOHN: "Uhh, some people use them. But they're usually foreigners, you know."

Q: "Americans."

JOHN: "Well, people like that."

Q: "We'll leave England out of this, and America out of this but..."

JOHN: (jokingly) "What's left?"

Q: (laughs) "What is your favorite foreign country of all the countries you have appeared in?"

PAUL AND RINGO: "England."

(laughter)

PAUL: "I dunno. I'd rather have England than any of the foreign countries, I think."

JOHN: "Ireland. We like playing in Ireland. That was quite fun."

RINGO: "I like playing in America."

JOHN: "No, but besides America and England, you see. Sweden was quite nice."

PAUL, GEORGE AND RINGO: (agreeing) "Sweden."

JOHN: "And France."

Q: "Anybody know any foreign languages?"

JOHN: "Oh, we all speak fluent Shoe."

RINGO: "Well, Paul speaks ANY language. He just gets 'em off like wildfire."

PAUL: (gibberish)

Q: "Johnnie Johnson told me I wouldn't be able to understand the Liverpool accent. Was that a Liverpool accent?"

PAUL: (jokingly) "No, that was a London accent. A bit different down there."

Q: "What do you feel about some of the songs that have been written about you? Donna Lynn has a recording called, uhh... You may not even have heard all of these."

PAUL: "Yes."

JOHN AND RINGO "Oh yeah."

GEORGE: "We have."

PAUL: "I've heard 'em. (sings) 'My boyfriend's got a Beatle haircut.'"

Q: "How do you feel about this? You've got a Beatle haircut yourself."

PAUL: "Actually, I haven't heard the record. I've heard about it, though. But it's good publicity, isn't it."

RINGO: "Is it selling?"

Q: "I believe so. Bill Turner tells me it's selling."

RINGO: "Well, I say the best of luck to her."

JOHN: "Yeah, best of luck."

PAUL: "Best of luck, Donna!"

Q: "You, George, are the only Beatle who had been in America before this trip. Is that correct?"

GEORGE: "Yeah. That's correct."

Q: "Went to visit your sister a few months ago."

GEORGE: "Yeah. September."

Q: "At that time, did anybody out there know of the Beatles?"

GEORGE: "Nobody had here, either. In New York, I went into a record shop to ask if they'd ever heard of us and they hadn't."

PAUL: (giggles)

GEORGE: "No, that was October."

Q: "That was October. And then we started hearing things in this country, I guess, first around November. And in December WWDC flew your record 'I Want To Hold Your...'"

GEORGE: "You did?"

Q: "Yes."

GEORGE: "Thanks, that was great."

PAUL AND RINGO: "Thanks."

JOHN: "Thank you very much."

Q: "Well, you're very welcome. I'd like you to meet the young lady, right after we're finished talking here, Marsha Albert is... Come on in here very quickly, Marsha."

RINGO: "Alright, Marsha."

PAUL: "Hello, Marsha."

JOHN: "Good ol' Marsha!"

GEORGE: "Marsha Mellow."

RINGO "Thank you, Marsha."

(each of the Beatles is introduced to Marsha Albert)

Q: (to John) "They call you the chief Beatle..."

JOHN: (jokingly) "Look, I don't call YOU names."

Q: (laughs)

JOHN: "Why do you have to call me names?"

Q: Who is responsible for the haircut?"

JOHN: "Well, I think it's... (pause) bigger than both of us, Carroll. That's all I can say."

Q: (laughs)

RINGO: "Nobody, really."

Q: "When you went to high school... grammar school... what did you have in mind as a career?"

PAUL: "I dunno. At that time I thought of being a teacher, actually. But luckily I got into this business, because I would have been a VERY bad teacher."

Q: "George?"

GEORGE: "I was going to be a baggy sweeger."

(laughter)

Q: "I beg your pardon?"

GEORGE: "A baggy sweeger."

Q: "And what is that?"

GEORGE: "Well, you see, in every city there are twenty-five baggy sweegers."

PAUL: (cracks up)

GEORGE: "And their job is to go out to the airport each morning..."

(laughter)

PAUL: (laughing) "Baggy sweeger!"

GEORGE: "...and baggy sweeging all along the line, man."

Beatles Press Conference: Washington Coliseum 2/11/64

Q: "When did the group first get togther?"

GEORGE: "Well you see, Paul, John and George met at school about five years ago, and we met Ringo when we left school. And we've been the Beatles for three years."

(Paul begins singing, and the other Beatles join in)

BEATLES: (singing) "We've been together now forty yeeeears!"

Q: "Where did you get the name the Beatles?"

JOHN: "I thought of it."

RINGO: "That's John."

Q: "Why?"

JOHN: "Why not!"

(laughter)

Q: "Do the four of you ever fight among yourselves?"

JOHN: "Only in the morning, ha."

RINGO: "No, we're very good friends."

Q: "Did you always have your hair this way?"

JOHN: (laughing) "Only in the morning!"

(laughter)

Q: "Did Ringo get his name from 'The Ringo Kid'?"

RINGO: "No. From all this on me fingers. Can you see 'em?"

Q: "Do you know who 'The Ringo Kid' is?"

RINGO: "He was a cowboy, wasn't he?"

Q: "Thank you."

RINGO: "Thank you."

(laughter)

Q: "How long do you think Beatlemania will last?"

JOHN: "As long as you all keep comin'."

(laughter)

Q: "Do any of you have any formal musical training?"

JOHN: (comically) "You're joking!!"

PAUL: (giggles)

RINGO: "No, we just picked it up."

JOHN: (laughs)

Q: "What do you think of President Johnson?"

RINGO AND JOHN: "Never met him."

JOHN: (comically, to Ringo) "Oh, we're thinking alike!"

PAUL: "We haven't met him."

RINGO: "We don't know. We've never met the man... (pause) Does he buy our records?"

(laughter)

Q: "What do you think of America, Amercican girls, and American audiences?"

RINGO: "Marvelous."

(laughter)

Q: "Can you compare them with Europeans?"

RINGO: "They're all the same, you know."

Q: "Have you visited the United States with any sense of revenge?"

JOHN: "He's been reading that paper, hasn't he!"

RINGO: "No! No, we just... (pause) come for the money."

(laughter)

RINGO: "It's a lie. No. We're..."

PAUL: (comically) "Excuse me?"

(Beatles laugh)

Q: "Are English disc jockeys as important as American disc jockeys?"

JOHN: "They're all as important as each other, if they've got any listeners."

Q: "What was the big break that led to your success?"

JOHN: "Making a record."

PAUL: "Making our first hit record. The BIG success was doing the Royal Variety show in front of the Queen Mother, and then right after that nearly at the same time, doing the London Palladium."

Q: "This phenomenal popularity you have acheived, do you feel you owe it all to press agents?"

JOHN: "We didn't get the press agents until we made it. We couldn't afford 'em before that."

(laughter)

Q: "What do you think about the criticism that you are a bad influence?"

PAUL: "I dunno, you know. I don't FEEL like a bad influence. (to John) Do you?"

JOHN: "Nah, I think you're a GOOD influence, Paul."

PAUL: "Thank you, John."

Q: "Is there any chance of the Beatles becoming knighted?"

(Beatles laugh)

PAUL: "No. (pause) No, YOU may be, though."

(laughter)

JOHN: "Can you imagine, Sir Ringo."

(laughter)

Q: "Who writes most of the songs?"

PAUL: "John and I write most of the records that we recorded. And Brian Sommerville (Beatles' Press Agent) does all the lyrics."

(laughter)

PAUL: "He's a BEAUTIFUL lyricist. Listen to him, now. Go on, Brian."

(no sound from Brian Sommerville)

PAUL: "He's fantastic. No, it just comes and goes, you know."

Q: "Who are the Beatles' favorite performers?"

JOHN: "The Miracles."

GEORGE: "Marvin Gaye."

JOHN AND PAUL: "Tommy Roe."

Q: "How long will you be in America?"

JOHN: "Till we go."

(laughter)

PAUL: "It's just a week. About a week."

Q: "What do you like or dislike about America?"

JOHN: "We like it all."

RINGO: "Yeah. We haven't any dislikes yet."

GEORGE: "Dislike the snow."

(laughter)

PAUL: "I don't. I love the snow."

GEORGE: "I do."

Q: "Have you ever really been afraid of the large crowds?"

BEATLES: "No."

PAUL: "We enjoy it, you know. There's enough police, anyway."

Q: "What has been your most exciting moment in the last year?"

PAUL: "There's been a lot of them. You know, meeting the Queen Mother at the Royal Command Performance, being number one in America, coming to America, traveling..."

RINGO: "...in America?"

(laughter)

PAUL: "We've enjoyed America. Been a lot of them, though."

Q: "Are the Beatles still number one in Europe?"

JOHN: "Well, Europe's got a lot of lists."

GEORGE: "A lot of countries."

PAUL: "A lot of hit parades."

Q: "In England."

PAUL: "Not in England."

JOHN: "No, the record's gone down to 7 or something."

PAUL: "But it's been out about 12 weeks... longer than 12 weeks in England."

JOHN: "It's been out about 3 months."

GEORGE: "'She Loves You' is still in the Top 20 and it's been out 25 weeks."

Beatles Interview: Washington Coliseum 2/11/64

Q: "Here I am surrounded by Beatles and I don't feel a thing. Fellas, how does it feel to be in the United States?"

RINGO: "It's great! Wonderful!"

PAUL AND GEORGE: "Very nice!"

Q: "What have you seen that you like best about our country?"

JOHN: "You!!"

(laughter)

Q: "Thank you very much. I'll take that under advisement. Now, do you have any plans or any arrangements to meet the Johnson girls?"

JOHN: "No. We heard they didn't like concerts."

GEORGE: "I didn't know they were on the show!"

(laughter)

Q: "They may come.... Are they coming to your show tonight?"

RINGO: "We don't know."

GEORGE: "I don't know."

PAUL: "We're not sure. But if they do, you know, we'd love it."

RINGO: "We'd like to meet them."

Q: "You and the snow came to Washington at the same time today. Which do you think will have the greater impact?"

JOHN: "The snow will probably last longer."

RINGO: "Yeah. We're going tomorrow."

Q: "Have you ever heard of Walter Cronkite?"

PAUL: "Nope."

GEORGE: "Yeah. News."

JOHN: "Good old Walter! NBC News, isn't he? Yeah, we know him. See? You don't catch me!"

Q: (correcting) "CBS News."

RINGO: "CBS News."

(laughter)

PAUL: (jokingly) "CUT!"

GEORGE: "I know, but I didn't want to say it. 'Cuz I thought it was CBS."

JOHN: "Yeah?"

GEORGE: (to John) "We're doing ABC..."

JOHN: "Yeah?"

GEORGE: "The other fella is on CBS, and the other one is NBC."

Q: "This is NBC, believe it or not."

JOHN: "And you're Walter!!"

Q: "No, I'm Ed."

JOHN: (jokingly) "What's going on around here!!"

Q: "I don't know! So, we're all together here."

GEORGE: "This is NBC."

(A different reporter begins asking questions)

Q: "What do you think of your reception in America, so far?"

JOHN: "It's been great."

Q: "What struck you the most, so far?"

PAUL: "YOU!! (laughing) We won't do that one again."

RINGO: "When we first came in, you know--- The airport. We never expected nothing like that. It was great."

Q: "You mean the crowds?"

PAUL AND JOHN: "Yeah."

JOHN: "It knocked us out!"

Q: "In spite of the snow, you still got a good crowd?"

JOHN: "Great crowd, yeah. I don't know-- Half of them thought we were coming by air, and we came by train."

Q: "Tell me this. Why do you think you're so popular all of a sudden?"

JOHN: "I don't know. It must be the weather."

PAUL: (giggles) "We've no idea at all why. Really."

Q: "Do you think it's your singing?"

JOHN: (Operatic singing voice) "Eeeeeee Dhhooooo!"

PAUL: "I doubt it. It could be alot of things, and we don't know which it could be."

Q: "Where did you get the idea for the haircuts?"

PAUL: "We didn't. It just the way we..."

RINGO: "Where did you get the idea for yours??"

PAUL: (laughs) "No, it's just something that we liked. We enjoyed wearing our hair this way, so it's developed this way."

Q: "You save on haircutting, at least?"

PAUL: "Yeah, uhhh-- We're saving."

JOHN: "I think it costs more to keep it short than to keep it long, don't you?"

Q: "I don't know. I imagine."

PAUL: "Yeah. We're saving our money."

Q: "Well, where do you go from here?"

RINGO: "Back to, ummm..."

PAUL AND JOHN: "New York."

RINGO: "...New York tommorrow."

GEORGE: "Then Miami at the weekend, just for the next Sullivan show, and then we go home."

RINGO: "On Monday."

Q: "Are you still number one in Europe?"

JOHN: "Well, Europe is alot of countries."

Q: "Where are you number one then?"

GEORGE: "We're now number one in America and England."

JOHN: "Hong Kong and Sweden..."

GEORGE: "Australia, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, France..."

Q: "And you haven't any idea why?"

RINGO: "We lay down and do it."

JOHN: "We're coming out in Hong Kong and suddenly you're number one there years after so many records. Even here, you know, we've got records we've forgotten."

PAUL: "Funny records, yeah."

Q: "You call your records 'funny records'?"

GEORGE: "Yeah!"

JOHN: "They're funny once we've forgotten them."

GEORGE: "You know-- It's unusual because they've been out in England for over a year. Like "Please, Please Me" is a hit over here now, but it's over a year old, you see. And it's funny."

Q: "But, what I'm saying is-- Do you think of your records as funny records?"

BEATLES: "NO!"

GEORGE: "We think it's funny-- peculiar-- that they should be hits after such a long time."

Q: "Do you feel they're musical?"

JOHN: "Obviously they're musical because it's music, isn't it! Instruments play music. It's a record."

PAUL: "It's musical, you know."

JOHN: "It is musical."

PAUL: "It's music, isn't it! (sings) 'Bumm Bumm Bumm.'"

JOHN: "That's music, too."

PAUL: "He's good-- He knows music!"

Q: "Alright, but what do you call it?"

PAUL: "We try not to define our music because we get so many wrong classifications off it. It's no use. We just call it-- MUSIC??? (laughs) ...even if you don't."

Q: "With a question mark."

PAUL: "Pardon?"

Q: "With a question mark?"

PAUL: "No."

JOHN: "We leave that to the critics."

PAUL: "With an exclamation mark!"

Q: "OK. Have a good time in America."

PAUL: "Thank you very much."

JOHN AND GEORGE: "Thank you."

JOHN: "Keep buying 'em."

RINGO: "Look after yourself."

Lennon Interview: British Embassy, Washington D.C. 2/11/64

Q: "Which one are you?"

JOHN: "Eric."

Q: (gesturing to the TV camera) "Eric, here is the American public..."

JOHN: "I'm John."

Q: "You're John?"

JOHN: "Yeah, it was a joke."

Q: "Well John, here is the American public. Forty million American viewers..."

JOHN: "It just looks like one man to me. Oh. It's the camera man."

Q: "What is your impression of the American public? You've been here for a while, now."

JOHN: "They are the wildest."

Q: "Why?"

JOHN: "I don't know. Tonight was, you know, marvelous. Ridiculous. Almost eight-thousand people all shouting at once, and we were trying to shout louder than them with microphones, and we still couldn't beat 'em."

Q: "Was America something like what you thought it would be like?"

JOHN: "No, nothing like it. We thought it would be much quieter. We thought we'd, you know, have to grow on everybody, and everybody seems to sort of know us all, you know, as if we've been here for years. It's great."

Q: "What is your impression of the new American singing group, 'The Cockroaches'? Have you heard them yet?"

JOHN: "I haven't heard them. But it's already been done about eighty times in England. Sorry Cockroaches!" (grins and giggles)