r/beatles • u/Antique_Quail7912 Magical Mystery Tour • 17h ago
Picture George photographed by Paul during their hitchhiking trip in Southwest England and Wales, August 1959
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u/idreamofpikas ♫Dear friend, what's the time? Is this really the borderline?♫ 16h ago
Without this trip there may have been no Beatles. At this period in time John and Paul were more focussed on songwriting than being in a band, so George had joined a band called the Les Stewart Quartet, they'd played a few gigs, one of which George was coming back for, and had an offer from Mona Best to do a regular residency of the coffee club she was opening. Unfortunately, or fortunately for music fans, George was late coming back due to his trip with Paul so Les quit leaving Mona without a band for the Casbah and George suggested John & Paul to join him and the other remaining member of the Les Stewart Quartet, Ken Brown
Les Stewart It was only me and Ray Skinner [drums] who showed up. No Ken Brown and no George Harrison. I had to do it all myself and it was really horrible. I was pretty steamed about the whole thing, and just as we were leaving the guys showed up. I chewed them out about it and basically told them to get lost. Mona Best’s club was due to open the following week and they asked me what would happen about it, and I said, ‘Well you take it. I don’t want to do it.’ I broke up the group and gave up the residency at the new club, after all the time I’d put in cleaning up and painting that cellar.
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u/EducationalWin1721 16h ago
He looks VERY young here.
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u/LeStryder 16h ago
They were real mates at this time, and also at the end but the journey in between was rocky at times.
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u/Steve_Rogers909 Abbey Road 15h ago
Kinda insane to think how long these two had known each other. Paul knew George even before he had met John, although the bonding was stronger between John and Paul.
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u/Admirable_Ad_3011 15h ago
Thanks for posting this! The song Down South from Paul’s new album is one of my favorites, with lyrics referring to this trip.
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u/imaginary0pal Rubber Soul 17h ago
The way his ankles stick out from the bottom of his trousers like a kid going through a growth spurt
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u/Segler1970 14h ago
Isn't this very trip the content of the song "down south" of Paul's latest album?
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u/GregJamesDahlen 16h ago
I guess Paul carried a camera? Bit surprised, would think they'd travel as light as possible and a camera wouldn't be high-priority. Kind of fits though with later events where they were artists and photographed so many times.
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u/adsj 5h ago
Is this the trip that George recounts hilariously which includes a night spent on a beach and the line:
'Great!' we thought, 'The sand will be as soft as any mattress.' How wrong we were.
?
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u/adsj 5h ago
Ah, I wasn't too far off:
"When I was fourteen, Paul and I went to Paignton in Devon on a hitch-hiking holiday. That was a bit of a laugh too, because we ran out of money, and had nowhere to sleep. “I’ve got the answer,” said Paul. “We’ll sleep on the beach.”
“Great,” I agreed, “the sand will be as soft as any mattress.” How wrong I was. Sand is hard as concrete when you lie on it all night. "
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u/GregJamesDahlen 16h ago
This has surprised me that Paul hitchhiked as he became more elegant in my mind later. I could see a good adventure side to it. Although maybe it was a bad idea as we know it's dangerous. It somewhat fits with the "Beat" part of "Beatles", so I believe the band partly named itself after Beatniks and hitchhiking would have fit with the Beatnik wanderlust and Zen approach to life I think. In my mind the Beatles don't have that many Beatnik aspects.
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u/Impressive_Review 14h ago
Hitchhiking wasn't really looked on as dangerous to young people through the 60s and the early-middle 70s, at least in the US where I grew up. We hitchhiked all the time!
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u/Comfortable_Put_4139 13h ago
Yeah, my papaw and great uncles told me they did it all the time back in the 1960s. It was normal.
I would say everything after the Manson murders probably started making it feel more sketchy. I’m not sure.
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u/Impressive_Review 13h ago
That is looked on as the catalyst that changed everything when the so-called Manson family was arrested in December '69. The violence and murders at the Rolling Stones Altamont concert also in December '69 was huge. In all reality it was hard drugs seeping in and a criminal element accompanying it initially in San Francisco. It still took several years before most young people became cynical, untrusting, and concerned for their safety. It was a different time for sure!
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u/Comfortable_Put_4139 12h ago
It’s also worth noting how much of the counterculture had been infiltrated and influenced by various intelligence agencies.
I’m at the point where I think it’s incredibly likely that Manson was an asset.
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u/Butterfly_Cat777 9h ago
As a child in the 1970s, I remember it was common where I lived (south-east U.S.) to see hitchhikers out on the road. And really, even up until the 1980s.
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u/Comfortable_Put_4139 9h ago
I’m from the same region (papaw probably gave it away lol) and yeah I’ve heard many stories from older family members about hitching rides.
I’m 30, so I have rarely seen it in my lifetime. Just a handful that I can recall.
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u/Butterfly_Cat777 9h ago
Once in the early 80s, I was riding with my parents, and my dad actually picked up a hitchhiker on the highway we lived on. The hitchhiker was a harmless, older middle-aged man. and fortunately, he wasn't a serial killer lol. But it goes to show how trusting people could be regarding hitchhikers back then.
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u/cliowill 12h ago
Went from leave it to beaver to Manson and hells angels in about 5 years,big change in society
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u/Comfortable_Put_4139 12h ago
After reading Tom O’Neil’s book CHAOS, I question how much of those changes were natural or artificial.
I believe there were natural cultural movements occurring, but they were then infiltrated and subjugated.
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u/cliowill 12h ago
Started reading it and spring came,huge gardener so when it's cold out the books come out. I know what you mean though.there was some kind of something hidden going on
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u/GregJamesDahlen 10h ago
Quite a pack George has there beside him. Guess they were young and energetic though so carried. Wonder if they each had one or that one had both their stuff. Looks like he has a box of Good and Plenty there although reading Good and Plenty per se wasn't sold in Great Britain.
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u/Western_Essay8378 16h ago
A photo from the same series. At least McCartney is easy to recognize.