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Cavern Club celebrates 50th anniversary of Beatles 'Some Other Guy' history

BY: STEVE MARINUCCI

AUGUST 22, 2012

On Aug. 22, 1962, 50 years ago today, the Beatles were filmed onstage at the Cavern Club by Granada TV singing “Some Other Guy,” a song that was a regular part of their live shows and performed on the BBC.

Today, the Cavern Club paid a special tribute to that day as the Cavern Club Beatles took the club's stage to sing the song as the Beatles did all those years ago. You can see the group's performance in the video spot .

The event was the kickoff for Liverpool's International Beatle Week 2012. Jon Keats of Cavern City Tours welcomed those in attendance to this year's celebrations.

Video: "Some Other Guy"

Liverpool Beatles fan Donna Jackson, who attended the show today, told us, “The Cavern was packed when the Cavern Club Beatles took to the stage to recreate the performance of 'Some Other Guy.' As they started to play, you could feel such a strong sense of occasion and history. Everyone who was there agreed that we'd witnessed something really special today, just as I'm sure everyone in the Cavern must have done on that historic occasion 50 years ago."

Jimmy Coburn played John Lennon, Tony Coburn was Paul McCartney, Steve Finnegan was Ringo Starr and Paul Jones was George Harrison.

According to Alli, who also attended, the group performed many of the songs the Beatles would have done back then.

“I can't remember all the songs The Cavern Club Beatles did today,” she told us, “but I know they definitely did 'Slow Down,' 'Twenty Flight Rock,' 'Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby,' 'I Wanna Be Your Man,' 'I Saw Her Standing There,' 'If I Fell,' 'This Boy,' 'Do You Want To Know a Secret' and 'Twist and Shout.'”

According to Jőrg Pieper and Volker Path's “Beatles Film and TV Chronicles 1961-1970, ”the original filming in 1962 was prompted by the many letters about the group that Granada TV had received from fans. You can see the Beatles' original performance on YouTube here.

They first scouted the Beatles at Cambridge Hall in Southport on July 26, 1962. Granada's Dick Fontaine later visited the Cavern to see the club and determine lighting conditions. The TV crew returned on Aug. 22 to film the band.

The film shows only a view of the band from the front, but cutaway shots showed different views, including a sweating Paul McCartney. A fan can also be heard yelling “We want Pete” for the recently fired Pete Best.

An audio version of the song recorded by Granada made for overdubbing but never used was discovered in the 1990s. A complete audio tape of the Cavern performance was unfortunately later discarded by Granada. A second filmed take was interspersed with the first take for use in the “Beatles Anthology.”

International Beatles Week will continue through Aug. 29 with events including music, the Mathew Street Festival and a Beatles convention.

(Thanks to Donna Jackson, Alli and the British Beatles Fan Club.)