From Liverpool to Hamburg
One day, Paul showed John one of his own songs. After that, John began to write his own musical ideas, and soon the two young men were writing song after song. Sometimes they worked together, sometimes alone. But each of them pushed himself harder because of the other one. This was true during all the Beatles years.
Not long after Paul joined, he told John about his friend George. John wasn't sure - George was only fifteen. But George joined after John heard him play. They were on the top of a bus at the time!
Soon John, Paul and George were playing concerts in Liverpool, but there was a problem. They didn't have a drummer or a bass guitarist. One of John's art-school friends, Stu Sutcliffe, looked like James Dean and he was an artist. When he sold a painting, the boys in the band asked him to buy a bass guitar. Stu wanted to be in a band, but there was one small problem: he couldn't play. Stu often turned his back to the crowds in concerts because of this!
What's in a name? John and Stu probably thought of the name 'the Beatles', but there are other stories. John wrote that, at twelve years old, he was told the name by a little man. There was a more serious story, too: they heard it in a Marlon Brando film, The Wild One. But many years later, Paul McCartney named a 1997 album Flaming Pie, for the place where John saw his little man!
People were starting to like the band. The Beatles got a job playing with a rock and roll singer, Johnny Gentle. They toured Scotland under the name the Silver Beetles. For a time, Paul played drums because they couldn't find a drummer. Then, back in Liverpool, they were offered another job. Bands were needed to play in clubs in the German city of Hamburg. The band said yes - but first they needed a drummer. They asked Pete Best, the drummer in another local band (and the owner of some nice drums!). Pete agreed and the band travelled to Germany in the summer of 1960. To five boys from Liverpool, Hamburg was another world - a world of all-night bars and street crime. Concerts weren't always easy. On some nights, John had to push people off the stage. To keep audiences happy, bands had to play well for six or seven hours every night. With all this practice, the band became better and better.
Another of the Liverpool bands in Hamburg was called Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. The band was famous in Liverpool. The band's drummer loved to come and watch the Beatles. Sometimes, when Pete Best was ill, he even played with the band. His name was Ringo Starr.
The first trip to Hamburg ended suddenly. George was sent home by the police because he was too young to play in the clubs - he was only seventeen. But the Beatles returned often to Hamburg. Each time they played to bigger crowds in better clubs.
