Transcript

© Pearson Education Limited 2002

Penguin Readers Factsheets

The Beatles

by Paul Shipton

Teacher’s Notes

There has never been another band like the Beatles! They arrivedon the music scene just when the world was ready for somethingnew. Teenagers wanted their own bands and their own music to beplayed by people like them. They wanted to experience somethingthat was completely different from anything of their parents’generation. In the 1960s Beatlemania swept first across Britain andthen the world and in this book we set out with the band from theirearly days in Liverpool as they strive and then attain internationalsuccess. We can look at all the important moments in the Beatles’colourful life together.

At the beginning of their careers, the Beatles learned to play livemusic in Hamburg and in Liverpool’s famous Cavern club. Withhours of practice and a little help from manager Brian Epstein, theydeveloped their own style.

We travel with the Beatles to America, where they were the firstBritish band to be truly successful. And in the UK even the Britishgovernment and the Queen wanted to be part of their story. Theirsuccess continued as their music developed, becoming moresophisticated and original. They upset a lot of people along the way,including governments and religious leaders, but they went onmaking records and films.

Things started to change after their manager died and John metYoko Ono. George became interested in Eastern philosophy andPaul wanted to develop the business side of the band. John andPaul both had strong characters and their own ideas – the bookshows us how it became impossible for them to work together andstay part of the same group. But while the band lasted, John andPaul developed a unique song writing partnership that producedsome of the world’s most famous songs. Most of their music is stillpopular today, forty years after four young men with short hair andsuits first played on stage at the Cavern Club in Liverpool.

The Beatles came from Liverpool, a port on the North-West coastof England. This coast looks out to America and in the 1950s whenthe Beatles were growing up, Liverpool was one of the first placesin Europe to hear the latest sounds of Buddy Holly and ElvisPresley, which were brought in on records by ships from across theAtlantic. As teenagers the Beatles wore American style leatherjackets and slicked back hair, like their heroes Marlon Brando andJames Dean.

Following the end of the Second World War there were manypoor people in Liverpool as many of its traditional industries, suchas cotton, had gradually gone into decline. However, throughoutthe twentieth century things have improved for Liverpool and it has

gone on to produce many entertainers, including comedians andone of England’s best football teams. But for many people aroundthe world, the city is still most famous as the home of the Beatles.And Liverpool is very proud of the Fab Four as they came to beknown. Liverpool airport has been re-named John Lennon Airportand a lifesize statue of him was unveiled in the city centre in 2002by Yoko Ono.

For western Europe the decade of the 1960s was known as the‘swinging’ decade. The world was waking up from the dark yearsafter the Second World War. The economy was starting to improveand people had money to spend. In particular, teenagers werebeginning to experience a new identity. A huge gap opened upbetween this new generation and their parents. Teenagers wantedfreedom. They wanted to find out about themselves. They wantedto be individuals and, above all, they wanted their own culture. Atthis time many young people believed that love and peace couldchange the world. Life became much less formal. It was also a timewhen teenagers had money to spend on entertainment andclothes. Their entertainment was pop music, so they could afford tobuy the Beatles’ records that they wanted. The fashion industry wasquick to provide high fashion at cheap prices. Mary Quant broughtthe mini skirt to the high street. Higher education became availableto more people and the world was suddenly full of students,rejecting their parents way of living and inventing their own. Withlyrics like ‘All you need is love’, the Beatles captured the spirit of theyoung age and led the teenage revolution.

The relationship between the Beatles, with their very differentpersonalities, is an important theme in this story. Paul and Johnwrote most of the band’s songs. They were both strong charactersand their rich and creative partnership often became stormy as theymatured in different ways. Their different talents could bothcomplement and antagonise each other. They produced greatworks together when they got on well and great works apart whenthey were angry with each other. Many fans would say that the twonever produced such good work apart as they did together, despitebeing together for less than a decade. John’s work was often roughand angry, while Paul’s was sweet and melodic. Under John’sinfluence, Paul searched for lyrics that had more meaning. Johnwas often ready to give up when something wasn’t working, butPaul would push him to carry on until it did work. Together theycreated mainstream rock music. They took ordinary words andideas, and gave them mystery and magic.

Touring quickly became increasingly difficult and soonimpossible for the Beatles. No one had done what they did before– playing with basic sound equipment in front of thousands ofscreaming fans. The Beatles loved their early concerts in Hamburgwhen they could play together on stage for hours. They reallylearned about music and performing, and got to knoweach other well too. Back in Liverpool they lovedperforming in the Cavern where they knew theaudience. They joked with their friends,

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Summary

Background and themes

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Published and distributed by Pearson EducationFactsheet written by Jane RollasonFactsheet series developed by Louise James

improvised and learned to play as they performed. Then the bigtours started. They played a short set to a different audience everynight. The songs were always the same so they got bored. And theycouldn’t hear what they were playing because of the screaming. Sothey played badly. ‘The noise of the people just drownedeverything,’ said Ringo. And they became prisoners wherever theywent. Even the police who were protecting them wanted theirautographs. After only 4 years on the road and at the height of theirsuccess, they stopped touring. They were the victims of their ownsuccess. Beatlemania made their lives impossible.

The Beatles are still popular in the twenty-first century both withmusicians and fans. You can hear their influence in the music ofeach new generation of pop stars, today, for example, in the musicof Robbie Williams and Oasis. And what about the fans? A surveyof the top 100 albums of all time by a British music magazine inMay 2000 had the Beatles’ 1966 album Revolver at number one,and four other Beatles albums in the top twenty. When acompilation album of Beatles’ number one hit singles, called 1, wasreleased in 2001, it went to number one in the charts and earnedmillions of pounds.

The following teacher-led activities cover the same sections of textas the exercises at the back of the reader, and supplement thoseexercises. For supplementary exercises, covering shorter sectionsof the book, see the photocopiable Student’s Activities pages of thisFactsheet. These are primarily for use with class readers but, withthe exception of discussion and pair/group work questions, canalso be used by students working alone in a self-access centre.

ACTIVITIES BEFORE READING THE BOOK

What do your students know about the Beatles? Divide the classin two. Ask teams alternate questions. Give two points for eachright answer.

1 Which country did the Beatles come from?

2 Which city did they come from?

3 What were their names?

4 Complete this album title – Sergeant Pepper’s …

5 Which Beatle was shot in New York in 1980?

6 When did the Beatles play together – 1950s, 1960s, 1970s or1980s?

7 Which Beatle died in 2002?

8 Which two Beatles wrote most of the Beatles’ songs?

9 Which Beatle started the group Wings in 1971?

10 Which Beatle wrote Imagine?

ACTIVITIES AFTER READING A SECTION

Pages 1–11

Type out the lyrics to the first verse of five or six Beatles’ songs.Cut each verse up into strips. Divide the class into five or sixgroups. Give each group a cut-up verse. Groups put their verseinto the right order as quickly as possible. Each group can readtheir verse aloud to the class. Talk about what the words mean.

Pages 12–25

Students work in groups of five. Four are the Beatles. The fifth isa television interviewer. It’s the end of 1966. The interviewer canuse the information on pages 20 and 22 to ask the Beatlesindividual questions as well as questions about the group. Givegroups time to prepare questions and answers and then act outtheir interviews for the rest of the class.

Pages 26–41

Debate: We believe that pop music is bad for young people. Takea class vote and record the result. Divide the class in two. Onehalf argues for. The other half argues against. They can talk aboutpop music at the time of the Beatles’ success in the 1960s or popmusic today. Give students time to prepare their arguments. Afterthe debate, take a second class vote. Has anyone changed theirmind?

ACTIVITIES AFTER READING THE BOOK

Students work in pairs or small groups. They invent a band andwrite biographical notes for it – name of band, names of bandmembers, instruments, type of music, hits, stories about theirbehaviour on and off the stage. In turn, pairs/groups tell the classabout their band.

Teacher’s Notes

Penguin Readers Factsheets

Communicative activities

Pages 1–11

album (n) recordings of music

audience (n) the people who watchand listen to musicians (or actors) onstage

band (n) a group of musicians whoplay together

bass guitar (n) a musical instrumentwith strings, a long neck and a woodenbody which you play by pulling andpressing the strings and which playsloud repeating notes in a song.

concert (n) hours of live music that youcan buy tickets for

drum (n) a round musical instrumentwhich you play by hitting it with yourhand or a stick

fan (n) someone who likes a sport, kindof music, famous person (etc.) verymuch

guitar (n) a musical instrument withstrings, a long neck and a woodenbody which you play by pulling andpressing the strings

manage (v) to work with the people ina band to look after business matters

mania (n) a very strong feeling ofinterest, excitement and liking forsomeone or something (usually shownby a lot of people at the same time)

rock and roll (n) a type of populardance music that is loud and fast

single (n) a musical record (with onesong on each side)

studio (n) a room where music isrecorded

trumpet (n) a musical instrument. It isoften used in jazz

van (n) a vehicle that can be used forcarrying musical equipment

Pages 12–25

award (n) a prize

explore (v) to travel through a newarea to find out what it is like

instrument (n) something that is usedfor producing musical sounds

lead (v) [to lead a band] to guide/showthe way

string (n) [musical] a long and very thinpiece of metal that is used on somemusical instruments to produce sound

Glossary

© Pearson Education Limited 2002

Student’s activities

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The Beatles

by Paul Shipton

These activities can be done alone or with one or more otherstudents. Pair/group-only activities are marked.

ACTIVITIES BEFORE READING THE BOOK

Read the introduction on page iv. What was Beatlemania? Closethe book and write a sentence to explain what it was.

ACTIVITIES WHILE READING THE BOOK

Pages 1–3

1 All these sentences have mistakes. What’s wrong?

(a) After the end of the Beatles, they always said, ‘We willplay together again soon.’

(b) John Lennon died at his home in New York.(c) Liverpool is in the centre of the United Kingdom, a long

way from the sea.(d) Rock and roll came to Britain from Europe in the 1950s.(e) Ringo was the youngest of the four Beatles.( f ) John and Paul were at school together.(g) John grew up in one of Liverpool’s poorest areas.(h) John was worried at first because he didn’t think Paul

was as good as the rest of the band.

2 Read pages 1–3 and answer these questions.

Who …(a) wanted to be like Elvis Presley?(b) spent hours drawing pictures of guitars until he got his

own guitar?(c) had a trumpet as his first instrument?(d) started playing his instrument when he was ill in

hospital?(e) started the Quarry Men?( f ) met at a church garden party?(g) was with John Lennon when he was shot?

3 Look at the paragraphs about each of the four Beatles onpages 2 and 3. Ask questions to a partner or friend. Find out– when and where he/she was born, what his/her parents did,early interests, musical interests etc. Write a short descriptionof his or her early life.

Pages 4–7

1 Make sentences.

(a) John listened to George play for the first time (b) Stu Sutcliffe bought a bass guitar (c) They played their first tour(d) John said that he grew up(e) Their first trip to Hamburg ended early( f ) Stu decided to stay in Hamburg

(i) because George was not old enough to play in nightclubs.

(ii) and joined the band.

(iii) because he was in love with a German photographer.(iv) in Hamburg.(v) in Scotland.(vi) on the top of a bus.

2 Imagine you are in the audience at The Cavern in the earlydays. Describe what it is like. Talk to a partner.

3 Why did Decca say no to Brian Epstein and the Beatles?

Pages 8–11

1 Find …

(a) the name of the studios where the Beatles recorded theirfirst song.

(b) the name of John’s first wife.(c) the name of the Beatles’ first single.(d) the name of the Beatles’ first number one single.(e) the year they recorded With the Beatles, their second

album.

2 Answer these questions.

(a) Had George Martin produced a lot of pop bands beforehe met the Beatles?

(b) Why did Martin make Pete Best leave the band?(c) How did people across the country hear the new Beatles’

song ‘Love Me Do’?(d) The Beatles wanted ‘Please, Please Me’ to get to

number one. What did they do to make this happen?(e) How many days did the Beatles take to record their first

album, Please, Please Me?

Pages 12–15

1 Look at the words describing the four Beatles on page 12.Write down words to describe your favourite singer ormusician. Use a dictionary if you need to. Compare yournotes with a partner’s.

2 Put these sentences in order.

(a) George met his future wife, Patti Boyd.(b) President Kennedy was shot.(c) The Beatles were the most popular band in Britain.(d) The film A Hard Day’s Night was made.(e) They made the album Beatles for Sale.( f ) They played on the Ed Sullivan show.(g) They went to America again.(h) They went to America for the first time.

3 Find the right name to complete these sentences.

(a) A British newspaper compared Lennon and McCartneywith …

(b) George was worried by the death of …(c) A Hard Day’s Night was written by …(d) People said that Ringo acted like …(e) John and Paul liked the music of …

© Pearson Education Limited 2002

Penguin Readers Factsheets

Student’s activities

Pages 16–19

1 Answer these questions.

(a) What was unusual about ‘Yesterday’?(b) Why didn’t Ringo enjoy the Beatles’ concert in New York

in 1965?(c) Why did Elvis want the government to send the Beatles

back to Britain?(d) What unusual instrument did George play on ‘Norwegian

Wood’?(e) What two different views of life are in the words to ‘We

Can Work It Out’?( f ) Which three cities did the Beatles visit on their tour in

June 1966?

2 These sentences all have mistakes. Make them correct.

(a) The Beatles were not popular in Japan.(b) They were able to walk around Tokyo freely.(c) They were invited to a party by the president of the

Philippines.(d) They pushed the crowd around at the airport and

knocked over a policeman.(e) They made a lot of money from their concert in Manila.

Pages 20–23

1 How did John make people angry in America before their tourin 1966? Read page 21 again and write two sentences toexplain what happened.

2 Why did John think the band was finished after the 1966tour? Talk to a partner. Write down your ideas. Discuss themwith the class.

Pages 24–27

1 Read page 24 and close your book. Put the words of thesesong titles from Sergeant Pepper in the correct order.

(a) Sixty-Four I’m When(b) From Little Friends A Help With My(c) Mr Kite For Of Benefit The Being (d) Sky The With Diamonds In Lucy (e) Life In The Day A

2 At this time the Beatles were interested in the meaning of life.In what ways? Write down some ideas.

Pages 28–31

1 Answer these questions.

(a) Why were the band like ‘chickens without heads’ afterthe death of Brian Epstein?

(b) Why didn’t people like Magical Mystery Tour?(c) How do we know that Ringo wasn’t interested in the

Indian way of life?(d) Which Beatle was most interested in the Beatles as a

business?(e) Why do you think that John being with Yoko was a

problem for the other Beatles?(f) How does the White Album show the ‘slow death’ of the

Beatles?2 Work with a partner. One of you is a newspaper reporter. The

other is one of the Beatles – choose which one. The reporterasks the Beatle questions about two things that changed theBeatles at this time – the death of Brian Epstein and themeeting of John and Yoko.

Pages 32–35

1 There are mistakes in these sentences. Make them correct.

(a) John had big ideas for the Beatles.

(b) The last time the Beatles played together was at a bigLet It Be concert.

(c) George Martin loved Phil Spector’s work on the Let It Bealbum.

(d) John married an American photographer in Gibraltar.(e) John was very pleased with his MBE from the British

government.( f ) Lennon and McCartney wrote ‘Something’, one of the

band’s most famous songs.(g) The Beatles didn’t enjoy making Abbey Road.

2 Work with a partner. Look at the ‘Paul is dead!’ story on page35. Write a radio news report about a music star today. Readit out to the class.

Pages 36–41

1 What do you think were the main reasons for the end of theBeatles? Talk to a partner. Make a list.

2 Read ‘Life After the Beatles’ on pages 37–39. Close yourbook and answer these questions.

Which Beatle ...

(a) played with Bob Dylan in the 1980s?(b) had a big success with ‘Mull of Kintyre’?(c) had a son called Zak?(d) became a ‘Sir’ in 1997?(e) was the voice of a train in a children’s programme?(f ) made the American government angry?(g) played small concerts all over Britain with his new band?(h) became a film producer?( i ) wrote ‘Imagine’?

3 Answer these questions.

(a) Who attacked who on ‘How Do You Sleep’?(b) How did John and Paul feel about each other in the late

70s?(c) How many of the Beatles’ twenty-two singles reached

number one in Britain?(d) How many of their albums reached number one?(e) How many Beatles played on the 1995 recordings?( f ) What was on the Beatles’ successful 2000 album?

ACTIVITIES AFTER READING THE BOOK

1 Can you remember? Which song is it? Choose from the list atthe bottom.

(a) People like John’s singing on this song from the firstalbum. John said he was just screaming.

(b) Paul heard this song in a dream and then wrote it down.(c) Paul wrote the beginning and end of this song in 1965

and John wrote the middle part. (d) This is a happy song about life in Liverpool.(e) John took this idea for a song from Alice in Wonderland

by Lewis Carroll.( f ) This was the first Beatles’ single written by George

Harrison.

‘I Am The Walrus’ ‘Penny Lane’ ‘Something’‘Twist and Shout‘ ‘We Can Work It Out’ ‘Yesterday’

2 You are a young reporter following the Beatles in 1963 (seepages 1 to 11). They have just recorded their second album.Write something for your newspaper about the band’ssuccess so far. Imagine how exciting this new music wasthen.

3 You work for the Beatles’ record company. A new Beatles’ album of old songs is coming out soon. Write something to help sell it.

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Published and distributed by Pearson EducationFactsheet written by Jane RollasonFactsheet series developed by Louise James


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