Paul McCartney's speech at John Lennon's induction
into the Rock Hall of Fame
Paul McCartney gave this emotional and heartfelt speech on Jan.
19, 1994 at ceremonies inducting John into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of
Fame. Those in attendance included Yoko Ono.
Dear John,
I remember when we first met, at Woolton, at the village fete. It was
a beautiful summer day and I walked in there and saw you on stage. And
you were singing "Come Go With Me," by the Dell Vikings, But you didn't
know the words so you made them up. "Come go with me to the penitentiary."
It's not in the lyrics.
I remember writing our first songs together. We used to go to my house,
my Dad's home, and we used to smoke Ty-Phoo tea with the pipe my dad
kept in a drawer. It didn't do much for us but it got us on the road.
We wanted to be famous.
I remember the visits to your mum's house. Julia was a very handsome
woman, very beautiful woman. She had long, red hair and she played a
ukulele. I'd never seen a woman that could do that. And I remember to
having to tell you the guitar chords because you used to play the ukulele
chords.
And then on your 21st birthday you got 100 pounds off one of your rich
relatives up in Edinburgh, so we decided we'd go to Spain. So we hitch-hiked
out of Liverpool, got as far as Paris, and decided to stop there, for
a week. And eventually got our haircut, by a fellow named Jurgen, and
that ended up being the "Beatle haircut."
I remember introducing you to my mate George, my schoolmate, and getting
him into the band by playing "Raunchy" on the top deck of a bus. You
were impressed. And we met Ringo who'd been working the whole season
at Butlin's camp - he was a seasoned professional - but the beard had
to go, and it did.
Later on we got a gig at the Cavern Club in Liverpool which was officially
a blues club. We didn't really know any blues numbers. We loved the
blues but we didn't know any blues numbers, so we had announcements
like "Ladies and gentlemen, this is a great Big Bill Broonzy number
called "Wake Up Little Suzie." And they kept passing up little notes
- "This is not the blues, this is not the blues. This is pop." But we
kept going.
And then we ended up touring. It was a bloke called Larry Parnes who
gave us our first tour. I remember we all changed names for that tour.
I changed mine to Paul Ramon, George became Carl Harrison and, although
people think you didn't really change your name, I seem to remember
you were Long John Silver for the duration of that tour. (Bang goes
another myth.)
We'd been on a van touring later and we'd have the kind of night where
the windsceen would break. We would be on the motorway going back up
to Liverpool. It was freezing so we had to lie on top of each other
in the back of the van creating a Beatle sandwich. We got to know each
other. These were the ways we got to know each other.
We got to Hamburg and met the likes of Little Richard, Gene Vincent...I
remember Little Richard inviting us back to his hotel. He was looking
at Ringo's ring and said, "I love that ring." He said, "I've got a ring
like that. I could give you a ring like that." So we all went back to
the hotel with him. (We never got a ring.)
We went back with Gene Vincent to his hotel room once. It was all going
fine until he reached in his bedside drawer and pulled out a gun. We'
said "Er, we've got to go, Gene, we've got to go..." We got out quick!
And then came the USA -- New York City -- where we met up with Phil
Spector, the Ronettes, Supremes, our heroes, our heroines. And then
later in L.A., we met up with Elvis Presley for one great evening. We
saw the boy on his home territory. He was the first person I ever saw
with a remote control on a TV. Boy! He was a hero, man.
And then later, Ed Sullivan. We'd wanted to be famous, now we were
getting really famous. I mean imagine meeting Mitzi Gaynor in Miami!
Later, after that, recording at Abbey Road. I still remember doing
"Love Me Do." You officially had the vocal "love me do" but because
you played the harmonica, George Martin suddenly said in the middle
is the session, "Will Paul sing the line "love me do?", the crucial
line. I can still hear it to this day - you would go "Whaaa whaa," and
I'd go "loove me doo-oo." Nerves, man.
I remember doing the vocal to "Kansas City" -- well I couldn't quite
get it, because it's hard to do that stuff. You know, screaming out
the top of your head. You came down from the control room and took me
to one side and said "You can do it, you've just got to scream, you
can do it." So, thank you. Thank you for that. I did it.
I remember writing "A Day in the Life" with you, and the little look
we gave each other when we wrote the line "I'd love to turn you on."
We kinda knew what we were doing, you know. A sneaky little look.
After that there was this girl called Yoko. Yoko Ono. She showed up
at my house one day. It was John Cage's birthday and she said she wanted
to get hold of manuscripts of various composers to give to him, and
she wanted one from me and you. So I said," Well it's ok by me. but
you'll have to go to John."
And she did...
After that I set up a couple of Brennell recording machines we used
to have and you stayed up all night and recorded "Two Virgins." But
you took the cover yourselves -- nothing to do with me.
And then, after that there were the phone calls to you. The joy for
me after all the business shit that we'd gone through was that we were
actually getting back together and communicating once again. And the
joy as you told me about how you were baking bread now. And how you
were playing with your little baby, Sean. That was great for me because
it gave me something to hold on to.
So now, years on, here we are. All these people. Here we are, assembled,
to thank you for everything that you mean to all of us.
This letter comes with love, from your friend Paul.
John Lennon, you've made it. Tonight you are in the Rock 'n' Roll Hall
of Fame.
God bless you.
Paul
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