60 years Ago: BEATLES ON THE ROAD AGAIN; STRANGE HAPPENINGS
The Beatles began the week of August 5, 1963, headlining a Bank Holiday concert at Abbotsfield Park in Urmston, Lancashire. On Tuesday and Wednesday nights, the group played the Springsteen Ballroom in Jersey. Just kidding. They would not travel to New Jersey shore until more than a year later when the group played the Convention Hall in Atlantic City on August 30, 1964. They actually played the Springfield Ballroom in Jersey, Channel Islands. The next evening, the group played at the Auditorium in Guernsey, Channel Islands. The weekend began with a return to the Springfield Ballroom in Jersey for Friday and Saturday concerts. The Beatles concluded the week with a Sunday, August 11, concert at ABC Theatre in Blackpool, Lancashire.
Across the Pond, the Beatles were getting some air play and chart action for their second single on Vee-Jay, From Me To You. That week, KRLA reported the song at number 32. The following week, Billboard magazine would report the single as a Regional Breakout, but it was not to be. Although the record charted on local surveys published by four California radio stations, it could only muster a Bubbling Under The Hot 100 ranking in Billboard of number 116.
Meanwhile, Vee-Jay Records was having severe cash flow problems that caused the company to fail to pay royalties to EMI on its Beatles and Frank Ifield records. By telegram dated August 8, 1963, EMI demanded that Vee-Jay cease manufacture and distribution of all records contain performances by Frank Ifield and the Beatles. This brought phase one of the Beatles stay on Vee-Jay to an abrupt end.
Today’s questions cover the Beatles in America during the summer of 1963.
- What was the first “Lennon-McCartney” song to chart nationally in America?
- Who recorded the song?
- How was the songwriters credit written on the label of the record?
- What record company released the single that was the first Lennon-McCartney song to chart nationally in the United States?
- How much money did Vee-Jay Records owe EMI for royalties for Beatles songs as of August 1963? (A) $85,900 (B) $8,590 (C) $859 (D) $89.50
- From Me To You
- Del Shannon. The American singer/guitarist was on the same bill with the Beatles at a concert in London’s Albert Hall. He was so impressed with the group’s performance of the song, that he recorded the songs shortly thereafter with British musicians while in London.
- “McCartney-Lennon”
- Big Top Records
- (C) Vee-Jay owed EMI a total of $859 for royalties on the sale of Beatles records as of August 1963. The company’s failure to make this payment led to Vee-Jay losing its rights to the Beatles under a five-year licensing agreement.