Day 22 - Liverpool: Beatles Tour

Can’t believe we are starting week 4!

Today we went on a Beatles tour around Liverpool. As you know this is where the Lads grew up. Our tour guide John was most knowledgeable, and while hard to understand occasionally, very entertaining.

We started with Ringo, whose dad left early in his life and never made contact. Interesting, considering how big a star Ringo became.

Ringo lived in a council house which is a kind of government support area (aka Section 8 housing). The whole area was set to be torn down, but the economic downturn delayed that decision. Now the area is being restored. Only the windowsill of Ringo’s house left as people took pieces for remembrance. Apparently, only John and Paul’s houses are allowed to be museums and are managed by the National Trust. The owner of Ringo’s house in undecided as to its fate. See later about George's house.

Also, Ringo’s first solo album was Sentimental Journey with the local bar as the album cover. The first picture is current day, the second one is the album cover.

And there was a cat in the window near Ringo’s house, which indicated we were totally on the right path, lol.

Sidenote: John and Paul decided to make an album of songs about their childhood. But they only finished two: Paul-Penny Lane, and John-Strawberry Field. So, those two songs ended up on the Magical Mystery Tour album.

On to Penny Lane. The street marker that Paul signed in Carpool Karaoke now has a plexiglass cover. Apparently, it took a few weeks for the local council to realize its importance, as it began to fade. Penny Lane was on the bus route that Paul rode to school. If somehow you haven’t seen this carpool karaoke, here is the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjvzCTqkBDQ

From the lyrics, the barbershop is still a barbershop

"Penny Lane, there is a barber showing photographs

Of every head he's had the pleasure to know

And all the people that come and go

Stop and say, "Hello" "

From the lyrics, the firehouse has fallen into disrepair but is being refurbished into apartments.

"Penny Lane, there is a fireman with an hourglass

And in his pocket is a portrait of the Queen

He likes to keep his fire engine clean

It’s a clean machine"

From the lyrics, the shelter became Sgt Pepper Bistro, but that has since closed too.

"Behind the shelter in the middle of a roundabout

A pretty nurse is selling poppies from a tray

And though she feels as if she's in a play

She is anyway"

Also, from the lyrics the bank is now a surgery center because our driver explained that large banks are taking over small banks here and all of the branches are closing. (We can relate to that.) Sorry, no picture of that one.

On to Strawberry Field. It operated as a children's home between 1936 and 2005. The house and grounds had originally been built as a private residence in the Victorian era, before being acquired by the Salvation Army in the 1930s. John Lennon’s aunt lived very close, and John would sneak through the fence and play with the kids and on the grounds. He was often caught, and his aunt (or security) threatened to turn him over to the police if he was caught again. The police apparently hung people for crimes such as that at the time, hence the phrase in the song “And nothing to get hung about Strawberry fields forever.”

The area is now a park, with a soon to be bandstand, a cafe, and offices for the Salvation Army.

Paul’s house - carpool karaoke was staged as no one lives in the house.

John's house which is now owned by Yoko Ono.

George’s house - private owner so….

St. Peter’s Church is where John and Paul met on July 6, 1957. TG for Maggie golfing tomorrow so we avoided the anniversary chaos. Here's the story - John was singing with his former band, the Quarry Men, Paul was in the audience listening to John and his severely out of tune guitar. After the set, Paul called John over, tuned the guitar, and the two struck up a conversation - the rest is history.

Eleanor Rigby is buried at St. Peter's Church in a grave with a whole lot of other people. The interesting thing is that she was married but kept her maiden name. This was unheard of in her day, hence the line from the song, "Died in the church and was buried along with her name."