CLUB SANDWICH 72

            What are your hopes for the future of LIPA?
            from Paul Dean, Liverpool, England

            My original aim was two-fold. One was to save the Liverpool Institute - not only because I have a lot of memories of going to school there but also because, as a building, it dates back to 1825 and we should look after buildings of that age. The other was to start a "Fame School" after the Toxteth street riots of 1981.
            Now my greatest hope for LIPA is that we give young people hope for the future. The street that runs between the Catholic cathedral and the Anglican cathedral is called Hope Street, and I'd like to think that this is symbolic. We may produce stars, roadies, lighting people, dancers, songwriters, managers, whatever, but the main thing is for them to do well and to enjoy life. I want LIPA to breed hope because there's a lot of doom around at the moment -if I was a kid growing up now I'd be more worried about the future than I was when I was young.

            Apart from the 1958 disc of That'll Be The Day' and In Spite Of All The Danger', which we've known about for years, did the Beatles, the Quarry Men, or whatever, cut any other private recordings in Liverpool or the north-west before signing with a record company?
            from Linford Smith, Warrington, England

            I don't think so. We helped out on a recording of'Fever', with Lu of Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. That was done in a little demo studio in Hamburg, where you could go in and make your own record. This was before the Bert Kaempfert/Tony Sheridan recordings.
            'That'll Be The Day' and 'In Spite Of All The Danger', which we made in 1958, was our first session, but there were some other recordings that we made at home, which will be included in The Beatles' Anthology. Sometimes I'd borrow a tape recorder - a Grundig with a little green eye - or John would manage to borrow one, and we'd go around my house and try to record things. I seem to remember recording 'Hallelujah, I Love Her So' because I had the Eddie Cochran record. They were very much home demos, very bad sound quality.

            What the heck is "monkberry moon delight"?
            from Shelli Bennion, North Highlands, CA, USA

            When my kids were young they used to call milk "monk", for whatever reason that kids do - I think it's magical the way that kids can develop better names for things than the real ones. In fact, as a joke, Linda and I still occasionally refer to an object by that child-language name.
            So, monk was always milk, and monkberry moon delight was a fantasy drink, rather like 'Love Potion No 9', hence the line in the song "sipping monkberry moon delight". It was a fantasy milk shake. Being an American, Linda has always been very good at making milk shakes and our family is quite into them.

            Why do you rate the album Wild Life as a failure? Though not as great as Band On The Run or Tug Of War you do sound so soulful on it.
            from Jeremy Westcott, Bristol, England

            Why, thank you, Jeremy! It's not really a favourite, I must admit, although there are one or two tracks on it that I like. I have one overriding thought about Wild Life, which is that we were driving along Sunset Strip in LA, Linda and I, when a camper van pulled up along side of us. I'll never forget this: the driver of the camper, an old hippie, lifted up the sleeve of Wild Life and showed it to me out of his window, shouting "Hey Paul, great album, man!". Linda and
            I just turned to each other and said "Right, that's it, it is a great album, no question. That's enough, what that guy just said makes it all worthwhile!"

            Of all the TV shows the Beatles appeared on, what was your favourite?
            from Samantha Walker, Bournemouth, England

            The Morecambe And Wise Show, because we loved them, it was one of the most professional shows and it was very simple to do. They were very, very big idols of ours, Eric particularly but Ernie as well. (Perhaps I should add, for our overseas readers, that Morecambe and Wise were a classic British music-hall act.)
            Anyway, we admired them greatly, and they were both so nice and friendly, and very professional, and their production team nursed us through the rehearsals and recording with great finesse. It was an honour to be on TV with them.
            The Royal Command Performance and The Ed Sullivan Show were other highlights but they weren't as much fun because they were a bit more nerve-wracking.

            Did you appear in George Harrison's video for "When We Was Fab'? There were stories that it was you inside the walrus costume.
            from Peter Nash, London, England

            No. George wanted me to be in it but I wasn't available. So I suggested that he put someone else in a walrus costume and tell everyone that it was me. We've always had fun with the walrus thing. We don't lay many false trails but the walrus has always been one of them.
            Anyway, though it was me in the walrus costume in Magical Mystery Tour, it wasn't me in 'When We Was Fab' - it was a joke between George and me, which we purposely decided not to tell anyone.