Thursday, June 30, 2011

Playing Out the 1961 String

June 30, 1961

The Beatles are finishing up their trip to Hamburg and surely are looking forward to a bit of a rest back home in Liddypool.

I really like one of the reminiscences of Tony Sheridan about the dorm style living they have been enduring for the last couple of months.

"We all lived in an attic... There were bunk beds, and I remember John used to have the top bunk.  He'd crash around when he got up because he could never see a thing without his glasses.  Once he started banging around, we all had to get up...  Our day began at about two in the afternoon when we would swagger down to the Seaman's Mission for a meal.  I don't know why, but we always used to have the same meal all the time, everywhere - tea and cornflakes."

Hamburg Seaman's Mission

The Hamburg harbor and the mission is less than 1/4 mile from  the Reeperbahn so they didn't have far to go.

Yeah, that kind of life would be getting old about now, and a couple of weeks at home with loved ones close at hand would be pretty attractive.  (Even if she was a little tightly wound, Aunt Mimi always made sure John had proper meals to eat.)  But fear not, fans.  The siren song of rock and  roll would be too strong to resist and pretty soon the Beatles would be up to their old tricks in the hotbed of music that was Liverpool.  And with a some real recordings "in the can" things would soon be taking a dramatic turn for the better.

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