5 'Dirty' Things You Didn't Know About The Beatles (RMBers do know some of this stuff)

[P-Dub]

5 'Dirty' Things You Didn't Know About The Beatles

The Huffington Post | By Todd Van Luling

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/27/beatles-dirty-things_n_7152266.html
Email
Posted: 04/27/2015 1:20 pm EDT Updated: 04/27/2015 1:59 pm EDT
THE BEATLES

The Beatles may now be thought of as squeaky clean, wholesome rockers that are a safe bet to play for all ages and sensibilities, but a closer look into their lyrics and legacy will probably make you think twice about that perception. Somehow "Why Don't We Do It in the Road?" wasn't actually their most explicit moment ...

The Huffington Post has done quite a few dives into The Beatles over the last year and here are a few of the more scandalous details that somehow still aren't common knowledge.


1. The Beatles purposely pronounce "Sie Liebt Dich," the German version of "She Loves You," incorrectly. This essentially makes the song "She Loves Dick."

The Beatles recorded German versions of both "She Loves You" and "I Want To Hold Your Hand" in 1964. For "Sie Liebt Dich" the band completely mispronounced "dich" as "dick," a mistake that seems suspicious since The Beatles spent years in Hamburg.

HuffPost spoke with super fan Mike Brown, who has maintained arguably the most in-depth list of Beatles anomalies -- What Goes On -- since the '90s. "Is that an intentional little joke? I think they probably knew, and just tried to slide it past the establishment," he said. "They spent long enough in Germany to have picked up the correct pronunciation."

On Mike Brown's "She Love You" entry, he explained, "I'm sure Paul and John knew that "dich" is not pronounced as "dick" but the boys are clearly singing 'Sie Leibt Dick. Ja! Ja! Ja!'"

The American version might have a dirty element to it as well. Brown writes that The Beatles actually might be singing something other than the official lyrics. "Sounds like 'She loves you, She'd love to, She loves you,' as opposed to the official lyrics! If these are the lyrics being sung, it's just their naughty little joke. 'She'd love to, and you know that can't be bad, wink, wink ...'"


2. George Harrison lost his virginity while the other Beatles secretly watched. They cheered when he finished.

"Tune In," Mark Lewisohn's 3,000-page behemoth of a research anthology on The Beatles highlights the following quote from George Harrison:

My first shag was in Hamburg, with Paul and John and Pete Best all watching. We were in bunkbeds. They couldn't really see anything because I was under the covers but after I'd finished they all applauded and cheered. At least they kept quiet whilst I was doing it.

3. The Beatles concerts were said to smell heavily of urine due to overexcited girls.


Multiple people have claimed Beatles shows were known for their urine. Notably, John B. Lynn, son of the owner of a venue The Beatles played, told The Washington Post that the concert hall smelled like the pee of over-excited girls after the show. Bob Geldof told Q Magazine in 2010:

The Beatles was a case of watching females in excelsis. It's the old cliché, but you couldn't hear them for all the screaming. I remember looking down at the cinema floor and seeing these rivulets of piss in the aisles. The girls were literally pissing themselves with excitement. So what I associate most with The Beatles is the smell of girls' urine.

4. George Harrison and Paul McCartney harmonizing "tit tit tit tit" in the background of "Girl" was a dirty joke.


You'd think it'd be obvious that a "tit tit tit tit" harmonizing on a song called "Girl" was a dirty joke, but this usually goes unnoticed. The Beatles Bible points out that Paul McCartney is quoted in the book, Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now, talking about the origin of the joke:

It was always amusing to see if we could get a naughty word on the record: 'fish and finger pie', 'prick teaser', 'tit tit tit tit.' The Beach Boys had a song out where they'd done 'la la la la' and we loved the innocence of that and wanted to copy it, but not use the same phrase. So we were looking around for another phrase, so it was 'dit dit dit dit,' which we decided to change in our waggishness to 'tit tit tit tit,' which is virtually indistinguishable from 'dit dit dit dit.' And it gave us a laugh.

It was to get some light relief in the middle of this real big career that we were forging. If we could put in something that was a little bit subversive then we would. George Martin might say, 'Was that "dit dit" or "tit tit" you were singing?' 'Oh, "dit dit," George, but it does sound a bit like that, doesn't it?' Then we'd get in the car and break down laughing.

That "fish and finger pie," McCartney mentions is from "Penny Lane." Brown, who runs What Goes On, talked to HuffPost about the "four of fish and finger pie" line and explained McCartney has been pretty open about the dirtiness of that line saying, "Paul acknowledged [the line] as 'a bit of smut, for the lads' if I recall correctly!"


5. After bathing in urinals for almost a year, The Beatles got kicked out of Germany for lighting a condom on fire.


In Hamburg, Germany, the band spent most of 1960 living behind the screen of a cinema called Bambi Kino. Paul McCartney described the situation: "We lived backstage in the Bambi Kino, next to the toilets, and you could always smell them." Apparently the band was forced to use the urinals for bathing and shaving water. Eventually, George Harrison got kicked out of the country for being underage.

The Beatles then made plans to leave the Bambi Kino, but before McCartney and then-drummer Pete Best left, they lit a condom on fire in the room which angered the owner and got them arrested. McCartney and Best were deported.

Later, The Beatles returned to Hamburg and on December 25, 1962, the band ate a horse for Christmas dinner.


Here's something from the opposite spectrum ... This announcement came in a 2010 article, despite the Vatican famously condemning The Beatles for being satanic after John Lennon said the band was "more popular than Jesus."

The Vatican "forgave" The Beatles later in 2010, which Ringo Starr thought was unnecessary.

All images Getty unless otherwise noted.

P-Dub: Bathing in urinals? Ewwwwww...

[BlackMonk]

On 4/28/2015 8:46 AM, P-Dub wrote:

>
>
> 1. The Beatles purposely pronounce "Sie Liebt Dich," the German
> version of "She Loves You," incorrectly. This essentially makes the
> song "She Loves Dick."
>
> The Beatles recorded German versions of both "She Loves You" and "I
> Want To Hold Your Hand" in 1964. For "Sie Liebt Dich" the band
> completely mispronounced "dich" as "dick," a mistake that seems
> suspicious since The Beatles spent years in Hamburg.
>
> HuffPost spoke with super fan Mike Brown, who has maintained arguably
> the most in-depth list of Beatles anomalies -- What Goes On -- since
> the '90s. "Is that an intentional little joke? I think they probably
> knew, and just tried to slide it past the establishment," he said.
> "They spent long enough in Germany to have picked up the correct
> pronunciation."
>
> On Mike Brown's "She Love You" entry, he explained, "I'm sure Paul
> and John knew that "dich" is not pronounced as "dick" but the boys
> are clearly singing 'Sie Leibt Dick. Ja! Ja! Ja!'"
>
> The American version might have a dirty element to it as well. Brown
> writes that The Beatles actually might be singing something other
> than the official lyrics. "Sounds like 'She loves you, She'd love to,
> She loves you,' as opposed to the official lyrics! If these are the
> lyrics being sung, it's just their naughty little joke. 'She'd love
> to, and you know that can't be bad, wink, wink ...'"
>
>

They didn't do any re-recording for the vocals on the American release,
did they? If they didn't sing that on the original release, it's not there.

As for the German version, it's one thing to know how to correctly
pronounce something that isn't in your native language, it's another to
comfortably sing it. Isn't what they're singing more "deek," anyway? I
haven't heard it in a long time.

[hislop]

On 28/04/2015 10:46 PM, P-Dub wrote:
> 5 'Dirty' Things You Didn't Know About The Beatles
>
> The Huffington Post | By Todd Van Luling
>
> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/27/beatles-dirty-things_n_7152266.html
> Email
> Posted: 04/27/2015 1:20 pm EDT Updated: 04/27/2015 1:59 pm EDT
> THE BEATLES
>
> The Beatles may now be thought of as squeaky clean, wholesome rockers that are a safe bet to play for all ages and sensibilities, but a closer look into their lyrics and legacy will probably make you think twice about that perception. Somehow "Why Don't We Do It in the Road?" wasn't actually their most explicit moment ...
>
> The Huffington Post has done quite a few dives into The Beatles over the last year and here are a few of the more scandalous details that somehow still aren't common knowledge.
>
>
> 1. The Beatles purposely pronounce "Sie Liebt Dich," the German version of "She Loves You," incorrectly. This essentially makes the song "She Loves Dick."
>
> The Beatles recorded German versions of both "She Loves You" and "I Want To Hold Your Hand" in 1964. For "Sie Liebt Dich" the band completely mispronounced "dich" as "dick," a mistake that seems suspicious since The Beatles spent years in Hamburg.
>
> HuffPost spoke with super fan Mike Brown, who has maintained arguably the most in-depth list of Beatles anomalies -- What Goes On -- since the '90s. "Is that an intentional little joke? I think they probably knew, and just tried to slide it past the establishment," he said. "They spent long enough in Germany to have picked up the correct pronunciation."
>
> On Mike Brown's "She Love You" entry, he explained, "I'm sure Paul and John knew that "dich" is not pronounced as "dick" but the boys are clearly singing 'Sie Leibt Dick. Ja! Ja! Ja!'"
>
> The American version might have a dirty element to it as well. Brown writes that The Beatles actually might be singing something other than the official lyrics. "Sounds like 'She loves you, She'd love to, She loves you,' as opposed to the official lyrics! If these are the lyrics being sung, it's just their naughty little joke. 'She'd love to, and you know that can't be bad, wink, wink ...'"
>
>
> 2. George Harrison lost his virginity while the other Beatles secretly watched. They cheered when he finished.
>
> "Tune In," Mark Lewisohn's 3,000-page behemoth of a research anthology on The Beatles highlights the following quote from George Harrison:
>

> My first shag was in Hamburg, with Paul and John and Pete Best all watching.. We were in bunkbeds. They couldn't really see anything because I was under the covers but after I'd finished they all applauded and cheered. At least they kept quiet whilst I was doing it.

>
> 3. The Beatles concerts were said to smell heavily of urine due to overexcited girls.
>
>
> Multiple people have claimed Beatles shows were known for their urine. Notably, John B. Lynn, son of the owner of a venue The Beatles played, told The Washington Post that the concert hall smelled like the pee of over-excited girls after the show. Bob Geldof told Q Magazine in 2010:
>
> The Beatles was a case of watching females in excelsis. It's the old cliché, but you couldn't hear them for all the screaming. I remember looking down at the cinema floor and seeing these rivulets of piss in the aisles. The girls were literally pissing themselves with excitement. So what I associate most with The Beatles is the smell of girls' urine.
>
> 4. George Harrison and Paul McCartney harmonizing "tit tit tit tit" in the background of "Girl" was a dirty joke.
>
>
> You'd think it'd be obvious that a "tit tit tit tit" harmonizing on a song called "Girl" was a dirty joke, but this usually goes unnoticed. The Beatles Bible points out that Paul McCartney is quoted in the book, Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now, talking about the origin of the joke:
>
> It was always amusing to see if we could get a naughty word on the record: 'fish and finger pie', 'prick teaser', 'tit tit tit tit.' The Beach Boys had a song out where they'd done 'la la la la' and we loved the innocence of that and wanted to copy it, but not use the same phrase. So we were looking around for another phrase, so it was 'dit dit dit dit,' which we decided to change in our waggishness to 'tit tit tit tit,' which is virtually indistinguishable from 'dit dit dit dit.' And it gave us a laugh.
>
> It was to get some light relief in the middle of this real big career that we were forging. If we could put in something that was a little bit subversive then we would. George Martin might say, 'Was that "dit dit" or "tit tit" you were singing?' 'Oh, "dit dit," George, but it does sound a bit like that, doesn't it?' Then we'd get in the car and break down laughing.
>
> That "fish and finger pie," McCartney mentions is from "Penny Lane." Brown, who runs What Goes On, talked to HuffPost about the "four of fish and finger pie" line and explained McCartney has been pretty open about the dirtiness of that line saying, "Paul acknowledged [the line] as 'a bit of smut, for the lads' if I recall correctly!"
>
>
> 5. After bathing in urinals for almost a year, The Beatles got kicked out of Germany for lighting a condom on fire.
>
>
> In Hamburg, Germany, the band spent most of 1960 living behind the screen of a cinema called Bambi Kino. Paul McCartney described the situation: "We lived backstage in the Bambi Kino, next to the toilets, and you could always smell them." Apparently the band was forced to use the urinals for bathing and shaving water. Eventually, George Harrison got kicked out of the country for being underage.
>
> The Beatles then made plans to leave the Bambi Kino, but before McCartney and then-drummer Pete Best left, they lit a condom on fire in the room which angered the owner and got them arrested. McCartney and Best were deported.
>
> Later, The Beatles returned to Hamburg and on December 25, 1962, the band ate a horse for Christmas dinner.

Different stories about their 1962 Christmas, I don't recall a horse,
only horseradish.

This is Lewisohn on their 1962 Christmas, no horse at all:

The Beatles were enduring a Hamburg Christmas they already wanted to
forget. George seems to have been the most vocal in his intolerance:
whenever fed up with something, he’d miss few opportunities to grumble
or wish an end to his ordeal, and in Hamburg this extended even to the
date Christmas was celebrated. In a letter to one of his regular
Liverpool correspondents, Margaret Price of Edge Hill, George complained
about the Germans having it on the 24th, and concluded, ‘We have 5 more
days to go, then we’ll be away from this place for good [I HOPE].’

Several would later claim to have entertained the Beatles to 24
December festivities. They apparently went to a Star-Club party in their
hotel, where tables groaned under the weight of food and drink, and Paul
did a show for everyone at the piano. Fredi Fascher also spoke of John,
Paul and Ringo sitting on the floor of his living-room, eating pea soup
and frankfurters cooked by Mama Fascher in the huge cauldron she used
for boiling their laundry. Paul must have divided himself in three,
because he also experienced, separately, ‘one of the worst Christmases I
ever had’.

We were all really miserable – spending Christmas away from home is
never much fun. This German girl invited me to spend a traditional
Christmas with her family, and I thought of all the food and said Yes.
Instead of turkey there was this huge fish on the table, looking at me,
and I also spied this huge bowl of white stuff. So I had a tiny bit of
fish and piled a whole lot of this mashed potato on my plate, took one
huge mouthful and it was horseradish sauce. It tasted foul but I had to
eat every bit of it – this girl’s granny was sitting there watching me
all the time. That was just about the end as far as I was concerned –
definitely a dreadful Christmas.*

George didn’t fancy going to the Faschers – he went for more
familiar fare at the British Sailors’ Society, the seamen’s mission, but
food here came with the bible. As the Dominoes’ rhythm guitarist John
Frankland remembers, ‘When they put out the soup, the minister attached
to the mission asked, “Would anyone like to say grace?”, and George
said, “Yes, thank Christ for the soup” in that wonderful deadpan voice
of his. The minister said, “Any more of that and you’re all out.”’

*The girl was Heike ‘Goldie’ Evert and the fish was a carp, cooked by
her mother and grandmother.

[Gentle Giant]

I didn't know a lot of this aside from the "tit-tit-tit" in "Girl."

The lines "The ushers are sniffing, Eau-de-cologning" in the Who's "5:15" are about concert venue seats that concert venue seats that have been peed in by over-excited girls.