The Beatles Boxed Set (34 page)

            The
Beatles looked at him, stupefied. John then asked him, “Which song?”

            Dylan
replied, “You know…” and then he sang, “and when I touch you I get high, I get
high…” The song was
I Want to Hold Your Hand
.

            John
smiled sheepishly and admitted, “Those aren’t the words. The words are, ‘I
can’t hide, I can’t hide, I can’t hide…’”

            Dylan
then offered John a joint, which the Beatle passed to Ringo whom he called his
“Royal Taster.” Ringo had no idea about the etiquette of sharing a joint, so he
finished the whole thing himself. Al Aronowitz rolled more joints for them.
Epstein was saying, “I’m so high I’m on the ceiling. I’m up on the ceiling.

            The
next morning, their road manager, Mal Evans, handed Paul a piece of paper and
written on it was, “There are seven levels.” Paul remembered, “We pissed
ourselves laughing. I mean, what the fuck’s that? What the fuck are the seven
levels?”

            Dylan’s
introduction of marijuana to the Beatles became a life-altering passion.

“The
world has gone mad.”

            Such
were the words of a cop told to a reporter when the Beatles first stepped afoot
in America for their first tour. And that madness wasn’t about to stop.

            By
September 1964, the merchandising boom showed no signs of subsiding as it
encompassed products such as games, buttons, books, wigs, T-shirts, dolls,
wallpaper and instruments, among others.

            Between
August and October, the Beatles recorded their fourth studio LP, appropriately
titled
Beatles for Sale
. The boys had intended for the album to follow
the format of
A Hard Day’s Night
which contained only original songs.
But the band had nearly exhausted their backlog of songs on the previous
albums. In addition, their constant touring limited John and Paul’s songwriting
efforts. They had to resort to choosing six covers to complete the album.

The Beatles for Sale album replaced A
Hard Day’s Night from the top spot

           
Beatles
for Sale
was the Beatles’ follow up album 21 months after their previous
album. They began recording in August a month after the release of
A Hard
Day’s Night
but constant touring and television appearances delayed the
production. They would record during their days off from performances in the
UK. George Martin recalled: “They were rather war-weary during
Beatles for
Sale
. One must remember that they’d been battered like mad throught ’64,
and much of ’63. Success is a wonderful thing, but it is very, very tiring.”

           
Beatles
for Sale
became available on the markets in December 1964, and its US
counterparts,
Beatles ’65
and
Beatles VI
, all became number one
albums on the charts in their respective countries.
Beatles for Sale
, in
particular, climbed the charts and a week later knocked
A Hard Day’s Night
from the top spot and stayed there for seven weeks. It was replaced on the top
spot but made a comeback in late February by dethroning The Rolling stones and
staying on the top spot for another week.

           
Eight
Days a Week,
from the
Beatles for Sale
album, was released as a
single only in the United States and became the band’s seventh number one hit.
Despite the single’s success in America, they did not think highly of the song
and never performed it live.

            By
1965, the initial wave of Beatlemania had worn off, or so it seemed. The
Beatles set a tiring commercial pace throughout the sixties. With a succession
of copy cat bands, it looked as if the Beatles had found themselves
competition. But as it turned out, these challenges only encouraged the mass
media to further build up the Beatles.

February
was a month of hearts; this also marked the wedding between Ringo and his
longtime sweetheart, Maureen Cox.

Ringo was considered the least attractive of the Beatles,
but he was the biggest ladies’ man. Prior to becoming a Beatle, he had played
in several bands and enjoyed the attention of the girls that came with it.

Ringo found love in Maureen Cox

            What
made Ringo different from the other Beatles when it came to matters of the
heart was the fact that John, Paul and George became obsessed with the idea
that their girlfriends and wives loved them for who they were apart from their
fame. But Ringo accepted that as a pop star, he could take girls who would
never even throw him a look when he was a messenger boy earning 50 bob a week.

            The
Beatles were still the regular band at the Cavern when a beautiful young fan
took notice of the drummer. Fifteen-year-old Maureen Cox had already fallen in
love with Ringo even before they met.

            Mary
Cox was born in Liverpool, England to a ship steward and a housewife. She left
school at 16 and changed her name to Maureen when she began as a trainee
hairdresser in Liverpool.

            She
was just 15 when she became a regular at the Cavern. It was Ringo who caught
her eye when she saw the band play for the first time. One day, Maureen saw him
on the street and chased him. She got his autograph and wrote his car license
number on her exercise book. Ringo did not particularly remember this event
because he was always meeting new girls every time.

            It
was three weeks later that Ringo took notice of the young beauty. And when he
did, they went out regularly when he wasn’t busy. Maureen faithfully went to
Cavern to watch the Beatles perform though it was becoming more dangerous for
her to go. During an interview in 1967, she recalled,

            “The
girls used to hang around the Cavern all day long, just on the off chance of
seeing them. They’d come out of the lunchtime session and just stand outside
all afternoon, queuing up for the evening… The object was to get as near the
front row as possible, so that they could see the Beatles, and be seen. I never
joined the queue till about two or three hours before the Cavern opened. It
frightened me. There would be fights and rows among the girls. When the doors
opened the first ones would tear in, knocking each other over. Then when it got
near the time for the Beatles to come on, if there was a gang of four say, they
would go off in turns to the lavatory with their little cases to get changed
and made up. So when the Beatles came on they’d look smashing, as if they’d
just arrived… They were obviously dying to be noticed and get to know one of
them. But no, it was really just everything about being there. It was terrible,
the mad screams when they came on…”

            Things
became more frightening when the girls found out that Maureen was dating Ringo.
Once, she was scratched on the face by an embittered fan on Valentine’s Day in
1963 while she was waiting in Ringo’s car outside the Locarno Ballroom. She
rolled the window up just in time or, she feared, she would have been hurt much
more.

            Maureen
had to stop working as a hairdresser due to the threats. And when the Beatles
grew more famous than ever, she and Ringo saw each other less. Ringo moved to
London while Maureen stayed in Liverpool with her parents.

            While
in Liverpool, Maureen continued to assist at the Beatles Fun Club, which she
began in 1962, and answered lots of Ringo’s fan mail. In September 1963, after
asking for her parents’ permission, Maureen travelled to Greece with Ringo,
Paul and his then-girlfriend Jane Asher. It was to be their last peaceful
vacation before Beatlemania made it impossible to have any privacy.

            In
May 1964, Ringo, Maureen, Paul and Jane holidayed together again at the
Caribbean, arriving on May 3 at St Thomas, one of the Virgin Islands. Ringo
clearly remembered this particular vacation: “We had a 30-foot motor boat that
we’d rented. It came with a captain and his wife, and a deck-hand. It was
nothing palatial, but we cruised around having a great time. I was with
Maureen, and Paul was with Jane Asher. Jane couldn’t go in the sun and Paul got
sunburnt one day and was screaming all night. Our bedrooms were either side of
the passageway with only curtains dividing them, so you could hear everything.”

            After
their holiday, Ringo introduced Maureen to the press as he announced that she
was now his secretary.

            In
June, Ringo fell ill and had tonsillitis and was rushed to the hospital. Upon
hearing the news, Maureen accompanied Ringo’s mother, Elsie and rushed from
Liverpool and stayed at Ringo’s London flat that he shared with George until he
was released from the hospital. Maureen visited Ringo at the hospital every day
and brought him ice cream. She stayed at his flat through Christmas and was by
Ringo’s side when he returned to the hospital to have his tonsils removed.

            Ringo
proposed to Maureen, on one knee, on January 20, 1965 at the Ad-Lib Club. They
also discovered that Maureen was pregnant. They wedded on February 11, 1965 at
the Caxton Hall Register Office, London in the attendance of their parents,
Epstein, John and George (Paul was in Tunisia that time). The couple had a
brief honeymoon at the holiday home of Epstein’s lawyer but gave an interview
in the back garden on their wedding day.

Ringo Starr wedded Maureen on February
11, 1965

            The
Starrs made their home at 34 Montagu Square, Marylebone, but after Epstein’s
accountant suggested that the Beatles should live near his, in Esher, the
Starrs bought Sunny Heights on South Road, St George’s Hill for £30,000. When
John moved away from the home he bought in St George’s Hill, the Starrs sold
their Sunny Heights home for £50,000, then purchased a mansion in Elstead,
which they then sold to Stephen Stills before moving into Roundhill, on Compton
Avenue.

            In
September 1973, the Starrs bought Tittenhurst Park which had been formerly
John’s home. Ringo had promised to set up a nationwide hairdressing business
for Maureen, but the idea was trashed because Maureen had to look after their
children and being a Beatle wife.

            For
Maureen’s 22
^nd
birthday, Frank Sinatra recorded a version of the
song
The Lady is a Tramp
which Sammy Cahn rewrote and personalized for
Maureen, who was a great Sinatra fan. Sinatra recorded the song as a favor to
Ringo.