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Date: Fri, 7 Mar 2008 17:10:43 -0600
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Subject: Re: I Want To Hold Your Hand {at} #1
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On Mar 7, 1:20�pm, Phil  wrote:
>
> They didn't receive instructions from Brian Epstein? �

Brian had no involvement in the music and by all accounts was almost
never in the studio.

> I didn't know
> this was debunked.
> Which Beatles stated so and what is the source?

Going by memory here, but I believe George and Paul both said it.  One
of them them may have said it in the Anthology, but I haven't watched
it in a while.  The myth was certainly debunked in Bruce Spizer's
excellent book "The Beatles Are Coming: The Birth of Beatlemania in
America."  If I remember, I will post a quote from the book when I am
home.

> > How would any of them know what Americans would like, having never had
> > a US hit and only a scant few hits to date in the UK? �If they
> > actually were shooting specifically for a US hit, the radically new
> > sound of this song would not be the obvious choice.
>
> Most of the covers they were doing in Hamburg/Liverpool were
> American.
> Carl Perkins, Buddy Holly, Everly Brothers, Chuck Berry, Elvis etc.
> etc.
> were all American. �If the Beatles didn't know what Americans liked
> then no one
> else could either.

But IWTHYH is a radically different record than anything those
American artists had ever released.  The more sure bet to have a hit
is to put out "more of the same," which the Beatles always made an
effort NOT to do.

> My original point was that if George Martin knew they had a no 1 the
> same day they
> recorded PPM, then it would not be unreasonable they would feel the
> same for
> IWTHYH since it is far superior. � I don't have anything to back this
> up, but it is
> a possibility. Perhaps some sense of modesty kept them from saying so.

I think Martin was just trying to encourage the band and cheer them
on. He knew PPM was a great record but had no way to know if it would
sell.

Plus, he was wrong, as it went to #2 in England.

> If "I Want to Hold Your Hand" didn't break the barrier then perhaps
> they thought nothing else would. � On November 11 the recording was
> nearly
> a month old.

What broke the Beatles open in the US wasn't the song itself, but
rather the publicity campain that supported it. Capitol invested money
to get the record heard, while VJ, Tollie and Swan didn't have the
budget to market great songs like "She Loves You" and PPM.  Once
Capitol got people to listen the pre-Capitol records, which had
previously flopped, raced up the charts.

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