Beatles FAQ

  The Beatles first flew into New York in February 1964. They had what to many American ears was a charmingly fresh approach to the  English language.  Interestingly, this came across more in their spoken interviews than their lyrics. Early Beatles songs consciously followed the established 'American' style: 'I Wanna Be Your Man'. In fact 'I want to hold your hand' arose from a direct request from Brian Epstein for a single tailored to the US market.  Atlantic Crossing Success gave The Beatles to licence (or license!) to 'act naturally' as their song put it.  They were influenced by Dylan's looser 'freewheeling' approach but could not draw on the same Americana heritage, even at one remove. We now know that Dylan was not a former f reight-train riding  hobo but he looked the part. Part of the appeal of The Beatles was that they loved America but clearly did not come from it. Made in Britain On occasion Paul McCartney did write in a directly A...

The Beatles first flew into New York in February 1964 to find an adoring new audience. To American ears their new music came with a charmingly fresh approach to the  English language.  Interestingly, this initially came across more in their spoken interviews than their song lyrics - the early ones followed the established 'American' style ('I want to hold your hand'). But success gave them the confidence to draw on British cultural and linguistic references. Many were unknown to most American listeners. the  National Health Service  (from ‘Dr Robert’) or the  News of the World  (‘Polythene Pam’), and British English vocabulary like ‘ ring  my friend’ (‘Dr Robert’ again: Americans would say  call ), ‘time for  tea ’ (‘Good Morning, Good Morning’: see sense 3  here ), and  dressing gown  (‘She’s Leaving Home’ – it’s a  bathrobe  in American English). Not to mention those  plasticine  porters in ‘Lucy...