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Paul on The Who



Ian,

Thanks for the news about THE LONG KISS.  Re the rest:

>>I remember that
>McCartney said in an interview around that time that Dylan and
>the Who were the Beatles' greatest influences.  (With a bit
>of Beach Boys harmony on the chorus...)<  =


 You *must* be joking. The Beatles' main early influences (before they we=
re
famous) were  Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly. Later, they were influenced =
by
Bob Dylan and (in McCartney's case) The Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" album. T=
he
only influence from The Who that McCartney has ever admitted to, was that=

he
wrote "Helter Skelter" in response to reading about a new Who single. Tha=
t
would hardly qualify as a "greatest influence".<

Nope, sorry, this is not a joke.  Both Nicholas Schaffner (THE BEATLES
FOREVER) and whoever wrote REVOLUTION IN THE HEAD quote
McCartney as telling an interviewer in late 1965, "Dylan...and The Who ar=
e
[our] two great influences."  And I think the Who influence is quite
apparent on "Paperback Writer", if not "Rain" (I'd argue it is on "Rain"
as well)--the structure is similar to the earlier "Substitute".
McCartney told the story about "Helter Skelter" in 1980 to
MUSICIAN magazine, BTW.  Always wondered what Who song
inspired him on that one.

I think you're completely right about Presley, Holly et. al. being major
Beatles influences, but let's not forget Motown, the Everly Brothers,
Chuck Berry, Little Richard...In other words, they threw EVERYTHING
into the mix at one point or another--even Stockhausen. <g>

- --Carolyn