Tell Me Why, 1964
If I give my heart to you, I must be shure from the very start that you would love me more than here.
If I Fell, 1964
Just to dance with you is everything I need. Before this dance is through I think I’ll love you too. I’m so happy when you dance with me.
I’m Happy Just To Dance With You, 1964
Don’t wanna cry when there’s people there. I get shy when they start to stare. I’m gonna hide myself away, but I’ll come back again someday.
I’ll Cry Instead, 1964
When you need a shoulder to cry on I hope it will be mine. Call me tonight and I’ll come to you.
Any Time At All, 1964
C’mon if you please, I got no time for trivialities. I got a girl who’s waiting home for me tonight.
When I Get Home, 1964
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The people that are moaning about us not being here are people that never even came to see us when we were here. You know, we could count on our fingers the original fans we had here, and the ones that really followed us. And most of them gave up being teenagers anyway. They’re all sort of settled in and different things. The ones that are moaning probably came to see us about once, or after we’d made records.
John Lennon in Liverpool anlässlich der dortigen Premiere des Films „A Hard Day’s Night“ bei einem Gespräch für die BBC am 10. Juli 1964.
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The rockers think we’re mods, and then the mods think we’re rockers.
John Lennon bei einer Pressekonferenz in Vancouver am 22. August 1964.
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I was looking for a name like The Crickets that meant two things, and from crickets I got to beetles. And I changed to B E A because B E E T L E S didn’t mean two things, so I changed the E to an A. And it meant two things then. … When you said it, people thought of crawly things, and when you read it, it was beat music.
John zur Namensgebung in einem Gespräch am 24. August 1964 in der US-TV-Show „Pop Chronicles“.
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George and I passed through Los Angeles on our way back from a holiday in Tahiti, unannounced. And we just did a trip ‘round, because we had about four hours. So we just went ‘round to L.A. and nobody knew at all. Several people spotted us, but they thought we were fakes.
John Lennon bei einer Pressekonferenz in Denver am 26. August 1964.
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We’re not trying to get any message across.
John Lennon bei einer Pressekonferenz in New York City am 28. August 1964.
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Paul and I make more money out of songwriting than we do out of doing everything else. So we’ll just carry on with that, probably.
John Lennon bei einer Pressekonferenz in Chicago am 5. September 1964.
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We’re just singers, you know. Or shouters, whatever you like to call it.
We like the Stones, you know. Dave Clark’s alright, but we prefer the Stones.
John Lennon bei einer Pressekonferenz in Detroit am 6. September 1964.
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This is! A fella described it on the radio yesterday as a typical Liverpool dockers outfit. … I got it at Key West.
We’ll still have the money, so we’ll miss the fans. They’ll be the ones that have gone. The money will still be there.
If I can find out which one takes the least tax, I’ll vote for them.
Ringo’s mother is pretty hot. … Only joking, Elsie.
Enough to get around in the Reeperbahn in Hamburg.
John Lennon beantwortet Fragen zur Herkunft seiner Kleidung, die er gerade trägt, zur Bedeutung der Fans im Vergleich zu Geld, zu wählbaren Politikern, zu den attraktivsten Frauen der Welt und zu seinen Deutschkenntnissen bei einer Pressekonferenz in Kansas City am 17. September 1964.
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We enjoy it! We always try to get a copy of these people that do our songs. The thing about the ‘Chipmunks’ and the ‘Boston...’, they do it so differently from us and from each other. It’s very interesting. And also we, Paul and I, get alot of money when they make these so it’s very good for us, you know.
John Lennon über Coverversionen: Im Gespräch mit Larry Kane in Maryland am 13. September 1964. Dann fragt Kane, was er an New York besonders mag. Die Antwort Johns widerlegt Spekulationen, dass es ausschließlich Yoko war, die ihn für New York begeistert hat.
Man vergisst gerne, wie oft John in den Anfangszeiten der Beatles Munharmonika gespielt hat. John ist 1964 stolz darauf.
Schließlich äußert sich John noch zur Frage, ob es eine Methode gebe, um den Krieg zu beenden.
I just like cities, you see, and preferably big ones. That’s why I liked it. And we met some good people like Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, you know, and I enjoy meeting people I admire.
There’s quite a few we did with mouth organ. I played it on the early hits „Please Please Me“, „From Me To You“, „Love Me Do“, „Little Child“ from the LP, „I Should Have Known Better“ on the film, I stuck mouth organ on that.
I don’t think there is one, you know. Not if everybody was all rich and happy, and each country had all they wanted, they’d still want the next bit. I don’t think there’ll ever be any solution – only, just, you know, a sort of power block where everybody’s got the same weapons.
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I’m so glad that she’s my little girl. She’s so glad, she’s telling all the world.
I Feel Fine, 1964
(Der Song erscheint als A-Seite auf einer Single im November 1964 und ist vermutlich der erste in der Rock-Geschichte mit Gitarren-Feedback veröffentlicht auf Vinyl.)
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‚Watch Your Step’ (von Bobby Parker) is one of my favourite records. The Beatles have used the lick in various forms. The Allman Brothers used the lick straight as it was.
John Lennon im Gespräch mit Dennis Elsas 1974. John meint damit insbesondere „I Feel Fine“ und „Day Tripper“. The Allman Brothers nutzen „Watch Your Step“ in „One Way Out“.
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Mit dem vierten Studioalbum „Beatles For Sale“, das im Dezember 1964 erscheint, fällt ein neuer und nachdenklicher Ton in den Songs von John Lennon