Paul McCartney recently shared a nostalgic story about how he secured his place in the Beatles during a 1999 interview. When he first met John Lennon as teenagers in 1957, McCartney’s impressive guitar skills earned him Lennon’s respect and a spot in his skiffle group, the Quarrymen.
Their significant meeting occurred on July 6, 1957, at the St. Peter’s Church Hall fête in Woolton, Liverpool, where Lennon lived with his Aunt Mimi. McCartney was encouraged to attend by his friend Ivan Vaughan, who knew Lennon.
“Vaughan used to be in one of the little skiffle groups that John was in,” McCartney explained during the interview with British TV host Michael Parkinson. “He said I should come along to see the group play, since my mate John was in it.”
The Quarrymen, a lively skiffle act made up of Lennon and friends from Quarry Bank High School, were performing that day. McCartney and Vaughan arrived just in time to hear Lennon sing “Come Go With Me” by the Del Vikings. Lennon, unable to recall the lyrics, improvised them, which both amused and impressed McCartney.
“John just looked like he had something,” McCartney noted. He recalled that during the band’s break, the members were drinking. By the time Vaughan introduced McCartney to the group, Lennon had a few drinks under his belt. When Vaughan mentioned that McCartney played guitar, Lennon asked him to demonstrate.
“One of them lent me his guitar, but I had to turn it right, because I’m left-handed,” McCartney said. “They wouldn’t let me change the strings. However, since I had a mate with a right-handed guitar, I learned to play upside down. That was a little impressive.”
Moreover, McCartney was familiar with the lyrics to a song that the group loved but didn’t know: Eddie Cochran’s “Twenty Flight Rock.” Cochran’s track, featured in the 1956 musical The Girl Can’t Help It, captivated young guitarists with its catchy riff and Cochran’s distinctive voice.
Despite its popularity, the song was not officially released at that time; Cochran recorded it for later release, but it wouldn’t come out until November 1957, and not even as a single in the U.K.
The absence of a record did not diminish the song’s impact, as The Girl Can’t Help It significantly influenced Liverpool’s youth. McCartney, a dedicated fan of the film, had watched it multiple times during its run at the Scala Cinema on Liverpool’s Lime Street. He described the film as formative, saying, “We idolized these people and always thought they were given crummy treatment—until The Girl Can’t Help It.”
Cochran, then just 19, resonated with musically inclined teens, and McCartney recalled that “Twenty Flight Rock” ultimately connected him with John Lennon, paving the way for the formation of the Beatles.
“So I’ll just do a little bit of it,” McCartney said to Parkinson’s audience. “Show you what got me in the Beatles.”
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