Interview for Melody Maker

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BEATLEMANIA is back again! The Beatles’ new single ”Paperback Writer”, released last Friday, has roared straight to number one in the MM’s Pop 50, nudging aside Sinatra and putting the fabulous four back into the pop limelight.

Beatle Paul spoke to the MM from his St John’s Wood home on Monday after the news had been broken: “it’s great,” he said jubilantly. “And it shows again the Melody Maker is best.”

George, too, was delighted. “Oh, that’s great,” he said, while manager Brian Epstein said he was “absolutely delighted.“

“The Beatles are as thrilled as they always are, because you never know in this business.”

This is the Beatles first single since “We Can Work It Out” / “Day Tripper” topped the charts six months ago. And it’s the first since last July’s “Help” which has gone straight to number one. “Paperback Writer” is the seventh Beatles single to leap straight to number one.

What did Paul think of the Sinatra disc?

“Well, it’s not my kind of record, but it’s well done. He’s done better, though.”

Did the Beatles consciously try for a different sound on “Paperback Writer“?

“We always try to do something different,” went on Paul. “The idea’s a bit different. Years ago, my Auntie Lil said to me: why do you always write songs about love? Can’t you ever write about a horse or the summit conference or something interesting. So I thought, all right, Auntie Lil. And recently we’ve not been writing all our songs about love.”

Paul gave the MM the exclusive inside story on their new LP due out later this summer. This is the album which has taken hours of work by the Beatles — and be one which Paul says is their best yet.

It will have 14 tracks — all originals penned by the Beatles. Three have been written by Beatle George and the remaining 11 by John and Paul. In addition to the jazzmen used on one track — reported in the MM last week — Paul said that the group had used some odd instruments on the other tracks.

“We have used a few odd instruments, but because they sound like they ought to be in the song. Some of them are unusual for us.”

The Beatles have used jazz trumpeters on one track — but only one.

“It’s like an evening’s TV. When they put a jazz programme on, they never put a jazz programme on straight afterwards. It’s not a jazz number anyway. We put trumpets on because it sounded like a trumpet number. None of the others did so we haven’t used them on any other tracks, so it’s a nice novelty.”

Paul said that the numbers which will sound unusual when the album comes out were composed that
way.

“They are purposely composed to sound unusual. They are sounds that nobody else has done yet—I mean nobody… ever.”

But the LP wasn’t really a question of unusual instruments, stressed Paul.

“It’s sort of verging on the electronic,” he said. “When I tell friends that the LP has a very different type of sound, they never believe me. But when I play it to them, they say ‘it’s like nothing we’ve ever heard before’.”

The Beatles have almost finished the album now.

“I’m just writing one more number, then it’s finished.”

Why has this LP taken so much longer than the others?

“Well, normally we go into the studios with, say, eight numbers of our own and some old numbers like ‘Mr Moonlight’ or some numbers we used to know, which we just do up a bit. This time, we had all our own numbers — including three of George’s — and so we’ve had to work them all out. We haven’t had a basis to work on just one guitar melody and a few chords and so we’ve really had to work on them. Some of them have taken more work than others, too. That’s why it’s taken more time than other LPs. Taking more time only means that it’s better in the end. I think it’ll be our best album yet.”

The whole of the pop world looks forward expectantly to the fruits of months of Beatle recording activity. The only things you can bet on are: it’ll be different, it’ll be original in concept — and it’ll be copied.

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