Beatle Doubletalk

The following article appeared in Melody Maker on July 9, 1966, page 3.

Have The Beatles changed? Do they think alike? Alan Walsh poses ten questions to John and Ringo.

1. Apart from the money, do you ever wish you were just another unknown beat group again?
John:
I don't ever wish I was in an unknown beat group. Just that I was an unknown person.
Ringo: Not any more.

2. Do you like living in the comparative seclusion of the country?
John:
At the moment I'm quite happy in the country, because I know I'm not there forever.
Ringo: It's great. I love it. I never thought I'd like the country and I was a bit worried before we moved into the house. But we had to move because of the baby. Now I really enjoy it.

3. Were you looking forward to returning to Hamburg?
John:
No.
Ringo: No more than anywhere else.

4. What's happening to Bob Dylan? He was booed on his last trip and he seems to be on his way out. Do you agree?
John:
All that stuff about Dylan being booed had been exaggerated. I saw the London concerts and about five or six people booed. That's all-and everyone else in the audience was shutting them up. The newpaper writers got it completely wrong. They didn't know what they were talking about.
Ringo: When he started the fans turned to him because he was doing something new. Perhaps now they've turned to someone else. Perhaps that's what happened to him.

5. Do you think you're getting too old for this Beatles lark?
John:
I don't think I'm too old to be a Beatle. I never think about being a Beatle until I'm on tour or something. The rest of the time I'm just me.
Ringo: I sometimes do. I think I'm a bit old to be going on stage doing this. Then I look around at all the other people doing the same and I don't feel so bad.

6. Do you have set replies to press questions these days?
John:
No. We just answer them as they come.
Ringo: Not really. You get the same questions in each place, so you give the same answers.

7. Could The Beatles cut out personal appearances and just make records, with the occasional big TV appearance?
John:
Not the way the fans keep moaning about not seeing us all the time.
Ringo: No.

8. Your new album had taken about 10 weeks. Could you face up to this tremendous effort for every new single or album?
John:
I can't even visualise the next one, I really can't. I can hardly remember parts of the new one. I'm not even thinking about the next one.
Ringo: It can only get harder. I think we've achieved a high standard and done the best we can do. But we've spent so long on it because we insisted on having the time to do what we wanted to. As we're quite big with EMI at the moment, they don't argue. There's none of this bit about doing an LP in 10 hours they way we did when we first made it. The important thing is to get it right.

9. Have The Beach Boys' recording methods influenced you at all?
John:
When people are working on similar things, they often seem to be following each other. But it's coincidental.
Ringo: No. Its a natural step to try to make the next thing better than the last. The Beach Boys do the same.

10. Is The Beatles' film career limited?
John:
No one's come up with the right script yet, that's why we've been so long.
Ringo: Being a group of four people didn't limit the Marx brothers. Why should it limit us?

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