Beatles A Day in the Life Blog posts of '1964' 'October'

Odeon Cinema, New St. Birmingham, Warwickshire

17.00 and 19.45. Concerts

A Hard Day's Night' LP number 1, 12th week (UK Record Retailer chart).

18.15 and 20.45. Concerts at the De Montfort Hall, Leicester.

Brian gets the British representation of the American group New Christy Minstrels, and plans to take them to the UK for one week of radio and television promotion in January.

Gaumont Cinema, Bradford

This eagerly awaited British tour, the Beatles' only one in 1964, got underway in Bradford, as had the Helen Shapiro tour in February 1963 and that year's "Christmas Show".

On this tour, earning £850 for two "houses" per date, the Beatles' repertoire comprised "Twist And Shout", "Money (That's What I Want)", "Can't Buy Me Love", "Things We Said Today", "I'm Happy Just To Dance With You", "I Should Have Known Better", "If I Fell", "I Wanna Be Your Man", "A Hard Day's Night" and "Long Tall Sally".

Studio Two, EMI Studios, London

Intended not for the in-the-works LP but for a simultaneous single release, the Beatles recorded Paul's bluesy "She's A Woman" this day, beginning and completing it in just two sessions, 3:30-5:30 pm for the seven-take basic track and 7:00-10:00 pm for overdubs. The song was indicative of Paul's fast growing awareness of other forms of music, and the ease with which he could slip into those styles.

Meeting of the Beatles, Brian and Walter Shenson to discuss plans for the next film.

Studio Two, EMI Studios, London

Recording at Abbey Road from 3:00 to 6:45 and 7:00 to 10:00 pm, taping 13 takes of "Eight Days A Week" and experimenting all the while with various ways of opening and closing this new song - a novel fade-up at the start and fade-down at the end was decided upon, effected at later mix stages. The recording was completed on this day except for some edit pieces done on Sunday, October 18th.

The session tapes reveal that another new song, "I Feel Fine", was being worked out at this time, John strumming its distinctive guitar riff between takes of "Eight Days A Week".

The Beatles not really doing anything today.

The Beatles had a day of rest today

The Granville Studio, London

Afternoon recording for Shindig - a live performance, not mimed, at the Granville Studio, before a specially-invited audience of London-area Beatles Fan Club members. The group sang three songs, "Kansas City"/"Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey" (which was shown at the beginning of the programme), "I'm A Loser" and "Boys" (which came later), and they joined in the finale which was led by the Karl Denver Trio.

The show was networked on US televsion by ABC on Wednesday, October 7, 1964 (8:30-0:00 pm, EST). It wasn't screened in Britain.

The Granville Studio, Fulham Broadway, London

TV rehearsals in London was an English producer but for an American show, the ABC network's Shindig, one of the primetime pop series on US TV in the mid-60's. The producer of Shindig was Jack Good, the englishman who had relocated in Hollywood, while the executive producer was Leon Mirell who would link again with The Beatles in August 1965 filming, "The 5th National Jazz and Blues Festival" for their Subafilms company.

Having just returned from an exhausting North American Tour, there was no way that the Beatles would consent to a return for the purposes of shooting their Shindig appearance, Jack Good came back to his homeland to make a special All-British edition of his series, with the Beatles topping a bill ahead of Sandie Shaw, P J Proby, The Karl Denver Trio, Tommy Quickly, Sounds Incorporated and Lyn Cornell. Since this was a US TV production, and BBC and ITV studios were off limits, an independent London venue was utilized, the Granville Studio, based in the west London premises of the Granville Theatre, formerly a Victorian music hall. This day was set aside for rehearsals - actual taping took place the next day.