The Beatles

Released: November 30, 1994

Featuring: Bernie Matthews

Songwriter: Brian Matthew John Lennon The Beatles

Producer: Bernie Andrews Jimmy Grant

[Brian Matthew] But despite the fact that the next request comes from Anton, 32 Perry Road, Sherwood, in Nottingham, it's headed "Up the Pool" and starts, "Dear Wack!" So, John, you take it from there

[John] "Dear Wack! Please, ask those gorgeous lads (hee hee) called the Beatles (buh-buh-buh-buh-buh-buh-buh) to sing You Really Got a Hold on Me for Di, Gus, Vizz, and me, also for the Beatles themselves, especially Paul, ha, and everybody that was in the Roy Orbison Tour. I'm a regular listener of Pop Go The Beatles, good lad-if you're a lad, and please, tell the boys that all the girls in our office think it is a fab show. Thank you."

[Brian] All right, oh, stop the band. Whoa, that's splendid and now, what are you gonna sing for us?

[John] You Really Got a Hold on Me... Mother

The Beatles are arguably the most famous, critically-acclaimed, and successful rock band of all time—certainly the preeminent group of the 20th century. They started out as four teenagers playing grimy basement clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg, but they progressed to become world-beating rock stars who are still influential to this day.

John Lennon first formed a skiffle group called The Quarrymen in March 1957. A fifteen-year-old Paul McCartney joined shortly thereafter, eventually inviting his friend George Harrison to audition for the band. After finally impressing John with his guitar skills, George was asked to join—but this juncture would be short-lived as John’s departure to college signaled the other quarrymen to go their separate ways.

By 1960, Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison had re-branded from ‘Johnny & the Moondogs’ to ‘The Silver Beetles’ at the behest of their new bass player, Stuart Sutcliffe. The name would eventually evolve into ‘The Silver Beatles’ by July of that year, before settling on ‘The Beatles’ come August—just in time for their trip to Hamburg with new drummer, Pete Best. Though club residencies in Germany would prove fundamental to the group’s progress as a whole, the tour turned out to be a blessing and a curse, following the deportation of a then-seventeen-year-old George Harrison, and the eventual tragic death of Stuart Sutcliffe.

more tracks from the album

Live At The BBC

From the album

Live At The BBC (1994)

The Beatles popular songs

Dear Wack! (Live at the BBC for “Saturday Club” / 24th August, 1963)The Beatles

The Beatles

Live At The BBC