ABOUT THIS INTERVIEW:
This brief interview with the Beatles was recorded on July 30th 1963 by the BBC, and was later aired during the month of August on the program 'Non Stop Pop' as a program segment called, 'Pop Chat.' The Beatles were interviewed by BBC announcer and bandleader Phil Tate. The Fabs were in London during a two-day break in their busy performing schedule. It is interesting to notice in this interview, at this transitional stage in their growing fame, John Lennon still refers to songwriting as a hobby.
August 3rd would mark the Beatles last-ever performance at the famed Cavern Club in their hometown. While the Beatles as a group would perform again in Liverpool at both the Odeon and Empire Theatres, future return shows at the Cavern seemed impossible due to it's very small seating capacity and the size of the crowds that they were now responsible for drawing.
- Jay Spangler, www.beatlesinterviews.org
Q: "Our guests this week on 'Pop Chat' are The Beatles -- John, Paul, George and Ringo. Let's start off with you, Ringo. Everybody knows that the Beatles are a Liverpool group, but were you all actually born in Liverpool?"
RINGO: "Yes, every one of us."
Q: "Are you keeping your homes in Liverpool, or do you plan to move into London, or anything like that?"
RINGO: "I don't think any of us are moving. We must have a base in London, you know, because we're there more than we are in Liverpool at the moment. But we're not moving our houses."
Q: "John, over to you for a minute. You do alot of songwriting of late. Do you always work as a team?"
JOHN: "Well, mainly. All the better songs that we have written -- the ones that anybody wants to hear -- those were co-written."
Q: "Do you write the words and music together, or does one of you write the words?"
JOHN: "Yeah, well... Sometimes half the words are written by me and he'll finish them off. We go along a word each, practically."
Q: "Did you write your new record release?"
JOHN: "Uhh... 'She Loves You'? Yeah."
PAUL: "Yeah."
JOHN: "We wrote that two days before we recorded it, actually."
PAUL: "We wrote it in a hotel room in Newcastle."
Q: "This brings me to a question from one of your fans. How did the distinctive hairstyle come about?"
GEORGE: "Well, umm... I don't think any of us had been bothered with having haircuts, and it was always long. Paul and John went to Paris and came back with it -- something like this. And I went to the baths and came out with it like this."
Q: "Another fan was anxious to know how you manage to get any private life. I mean -- If you take a girl out, how do you avoid being recognized, Paul?"
PAUL: "Uhh, I don't know... just sort of run."
Q: "Now, John, I know you have very little time for anything but music at the moment. But if you had spare time -- What sort of hobbies and sports do you enjoy?"
JOHN: "Well, none of us are very sporty, you know. The only sport we do bother with is swimming. We don't count it as a sport, but... And hobbies are just writing songs."
Source: Transcribed by www.beatlesinterviews.org from audio recording of the interview
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