John Lennon's first ever recorded performance with the Quarrymen in BBC Documentary

In 1956 at Quarry Bank School in Liverpool John Lennon started his skiffle group with some school pals
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The night Lonnie Donegan played in a Liverpool living room - after playing the Empire
BY PADDYSHENNAN
15 APR 2016

Paddy Shennan's TV Review: People's History of Pop: 1955-1965 - The Birth of The Fan


Lonnie Donegan, right, playing with Liverpool's Coney Island Skiffle Group after a concert at the Liverpool Empire in 1956

The sweet joy and innocence associated with being a young music fan came over loud and clear in People’s History of Pop: 1955-1965 – The Birth of The Fan (BBC4, Friday).

Presented by Twiggy – and with more eras due to be covered later in the year – the first programme inevitably had a strong Liverpool flavour.

It was heartwarming, soul-enriching stuff with fascinating stories and anecdotes coming thick and fast.


Twiggy

Roger Baskeyfield recalled the magical night in 1956 when skiffle king Lonnie Donegan played the Liverpool Empire – and then accepted an invitation to go and play with Roger’s Coney Island Skiffle Group at his friend’s parents’ house.

Could this sort of thing still happen today? I’d like to think so, but this is an age when some bands actually charge their fans to meet them backstage after their gigs.

“It was really quite hard to take in,” said Roger.

“Afterwards we were thinking ‘Did that really happen?’”

And we heard Rod Davis, who played the banjo for The Quarrymen, talking about the day that changed music, Liverpool and the world forever: July 6, 1957, the day his then bandmate John Lennon met Paul McCartney. The year before, incidentally, the then 14-year-old Macca had seen Lonnie Donegan at the Empire and been inspired to start playing guitar.

We were told how a young chap called Bob Molyneux recorded The Quarrymen playing that evening – shortly after That Meeting.

The historic tape spent a lot of time in Bob’s attic. But then, in 1994, EMI sent employee David Hughes to an auction house where he bought it – and the Grundig machine it was recorded on – for more than £78,000.

David revealed that there had been 14 songs on the tape originally, but only two survived as thunderstorms were later recorded over the rest!


Heady days... the Snack Bar at The Cavern

The real beauty of this documentary was seeing the enthusiasm of ordinary people from all over the country for whom music had been a life-enhancing, if not life-changing, experience.

People like Ernie Sealey of Liverpool, who recalled buying Do You Love Me? – a hit in the summer of 1962 by American band The Contours – from a sailor who had brought it over from the States.

He took it to play to his friends and said: “The whole youth club just stopped dead – there was no music like this in England.”

It wasn’t long, of course, before there was – and Liverpool was at the heart of it... making great music, and great memories for the fans.






www.bbc.co.uk



The Birth of the Fan
The People's History of PopEpisode 1 of 4

Twiggy celebrates the 60s, meeting skiffle musicians, fans of the Shadows, Liverpudlians who frequented the Cavern Club at the height of Merseybeat, Beatles devotees, Ready Steady Go! dancers, mods, lovers of ska, bluebeat and Millie Small, and fans of the Rolling Stones.

Unearthed pop treasures include a recording of John Lennon's first ever recorded performance with his band the Quarrymen.




www.YouTube.com
BBC: The People's History of Pop -1. The Birth of the Fan - Documentary 2016
By Codeproe Abc
April 16 2016







John Lennon & The Quarrymen - Live 7/6/1957
By deviantArt
December 25 2012

Recorded on the day that he met Paul McCartney, & the Beatles' story began. The songs that John was performing were both originally done by Elvis Presley. They are "Puttin' On The Style" & "Baby Let's Play House".


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