It’s 8 o’clock on Sunday, February 9, 1964 and I’m getting ready to sit down with my family to watch the Ed Sullivan Show. I didn’t know it at the time, but we were getting ready to experience something that would change our lives forever!
People had been talking about it for weeks: The Beatles’ first live performance on U.S. soil, performing on the Ed Sullivan Show. In the coming weeks as the show got closer, would you believe that over 50,000 requests for seating came in to the CBS studio, but the Ed Sullivan Show, which originated from CBS TV Studio, could only hold an audience of 700 people at the time.
That night, America tuned in to CBS and the Ed Sullivan Show, but that night was different in many ways. A whopping 73 million people gathered, just as we had, to save front row seats right in front of their black and white TV sets to see The Beatles.
Ed began the show by briefly mentioning a telegram to The Beatles from Elvis himself and his manager Ole Colonel Tom Parker!
They both congratulated them and then the show went to advertisements for Aero Shave and Griffin Shoe Polish.
After the commercials, Ed Sullivan began the most famous and memorable introduction he ever gave in his entire life in showbusiness.
“Now yesterday and today our theatre has been jammed with newspapermen and hundreds of photographers from all over the United States and these veterans agreed with me that this city has never witnessed the excitement stirred by these youngsters from Liverpool who call themselves The Beatles. Now tonight you’re gonna twice be entertained by them. Right now, and again in the second half of our show. Ladies and gentlemen, The Beatles! Let’s bring them on.”
At last, the moment we had all been waiting for. John, Paul, George and Ringo walked up on the stage and opened with “All My Loving” to screaming teenage girls throughout the audience. The Beatles followed that hit with Paul McCartney taking the spotlight to sing “Till There Was You.” During that song, one of the cameras cut to each member of the band and introduced them to the audience by displaying their first name on the screen.
The camera then cut to John Lennon and the caption below his name read “sorry girls, he’s married.” The Beatles finished the first set with “She Loves You,” and the show went to a commercial.
The hour-long show concluded with The Beatles singing two more of their hits, “I Saw Her Standing There” and “I Want To Hold Your Hand.”
Before their performance on the Ed Sullivan Show, The Beatles recorded “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and it was leaked to radio stations across the United States in advance of its planned release. When attorneys for Capital Records were unable to stop American DJ’s from playing that tune, the record company label relented and on December 26, 1963, they dropped the album ahead of schedule. The record sold 250,000 copies in the first three days. On January 10, 1964, over 1 million records were sold and “I Want To Hold Your Hand” was the number one song on the Billboard charts by the end of that month.
When the Beatles hit the stage, I was watching every move they made. Paul was playing the bass guitar. John and George were playing rhythm and lead guitars and of course Ringo was on drums. “They all wore suits and their hair seemed like it was really long for the time.
I centered in on Ringo and read the word Ludwig that was printed on the front of the kick bass drum. I had already had guitar and piano lessons. Those two instruments were ok, but I thought about playing drums once I saw Ringo. I thought, “how hard can that be,” just hit the drums, but you would have to know when to hit them and how hard. I soon learned that you have to have rhythm to do that and keep the right beat going or you will be off for the whole band. Not an easy instrument to play by any means!
Never has a massive event changed my generation so much in just one night. But it did! There is no telling how many bands were influenced by The Beatles. I know that I was. Rock and Roll has never been the same since.
With a girl like that, you know she can’t be bad.
With a girl like that you know she can’t be sad!
Yeah, yeah yeah! Yeah, yeah, yeah!
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!
Good night and Thank you!
Now you know what it was like to experience the first concert by the one and only, The Beatles.
Jeff Reeves is a lifelong resident of McDonough. He and his wife, Betsy, have one son.
