Every generation has it seminal events — for Baby boomers one of them was February 9, 1964, when The Beatles played on the “Ed Sullivan Show.”
That night 73.7 million viewers watched. It was more than 45 percent of all households. Today, only the Super Bowl gets those kinds of numbers.
The Beatles opened the show with “All My Loving”, “Till There Was You” and “She Loves You.” They closed with our Song of the Day, “I Saw Her Standing There” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” The Beatles appeared on the show the next two weeks.
Sullivan’s guests rarely got paid. They looked at it as a shot in the arm for their careers.
Sullivan paid for The Beatles’ travel costs and $10,000 (equivalent to $80,000 today). Their appearances ushered in the British Invasion and influenced a generation to buy guitars, grow their hair long, and play music.
Some would become rock stars. Others just drove their parents crazy.
Sullivan’s musical director, Roy Bloch, wasn’t impressed with The Beatles. He made one of the worst predictions ever. He said, “The only thing that’s different is the hair, as far as I can see. I give them a year.”
Our Song of the Day, “I Saw Her Standing There,” was one of the early Lennon and McCartney songs. McCartney originally called it “Seventeen.”
His lyrics started out “She’s just 17, never been a beauty queen.” Lennon thought the line was a joke. They changed it to “and you know what I mean.”
The song ended up on the B-side of “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” The Beatles first number one hit in the U.S. Our Song of the Day reached number 14.
Song of the Day is created by Sheldon Zoldan, and produced by Pam James for WGCU. Audio production is by Simon Dunham, WGCU. To receive the Song of the Day in your inbox every day, email shzoldan@comcast.net with the subject line ADD ME TO SOTD.
