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| Pool Of Sound |
From the outside looking in, especially through the lens of a TV camera on the west coast of America, it is easy to see why for many, music on Merseyside began with The Beatles.
The noted thinker and psychologist Carl Jung famously once labelled Liverpool 'The Pool of Life', perhaps he too could never have predicted the global impact of the 'Fab Four'. Their roots are often personally explored, but the environment that nurtured them and the culture from which they sprung is often a small footnote in history. Liverpool was a part of the modern recording industry and had their own recording company, the Liverpool Record Company, issuing discs in the early part of the 20th century.
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| Carl Jung Plaque in Mathew Street |
Lita Roza, who was born in Liverpool in 1926, was the first British solo
singer to top the UK singles chart in 1953 and Frankie Vaughan, born
Frank Abelson, in Devon Street in 1928, had many chart successes in the 1950s including 'The Green Door' and 'The Garden Of Eden'. Handsome,
swarthy good looks with a debonair style, earned him the nickname 'Mr.
Moonlight', which remained with him throughout his life. Joining the choir at Princes Road Synagogue he got his stage name because his grandmother called him her "number vorn grandson".
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| 'Mr Moonlight' |
Another young singer/songwriter from Liverpool, Ronald Hulme, a.k.a. Russ Hamilton, made the US Top 10 in 1957 with a song called 'Rainbow', the 'B' side of his British hit 'We Will Make Love' and another Liverpool born artiste, Norman Milne, a.k.a. Michael Holliday, had a number of UK chart hits in the pre-Beatles era, including two No.1 singles 'The Story Of My life' and 'Starry Eyed'.
Folk music, skiffle and jazz had been popular in the city for many years, not to mention the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic which was founded in Liverpool in 1840 by a group of music lovers and is one of the world's oldest concert societies which has been at the heart of Liverpool's cultural life.
With such a large percentage of its population of Irish decent following the 'potato famine' exodus in the 19th century it is not surprising the popular music historian Paul du Noyer has said that Irish people shaped many facets of the 'Scouse' character but their greatest contribution was their view of music as one of life's necessities. Sea shanties were obviously evident in the city due to the amount of sea traffic coming into the port from all over the world and these probably formed the roots for folk music.
In fact the famous 'Z-Cars' theme, which became the anthem of Everton FC, is derived from the Liverpool 'sea shanty' Johnny Todd and a derivative of Irish folk, and the Irish folk ballad: 'The Fields of Athenry' has been adopted by Liverpool FC supporters as 'The Fields of Anfield Road'.
In the months before he died, John Lennon was still making home recordings of 'Maggie May' the sailors' ditty he had known all his life and which is included on The Beatles 'Let It Be' album.
In fact the famous 'Z-Cars' theme, which became the anthem of Everton FC, is derived from the Liverpool 'sea shanty' Johnny Todd and a derivative of Irish folk, and the Irish folk ballad: 'The Fields of Athenry' has been adopted by Liverpool FC supporters as 'The Fields of Anfield Road'.
In the months before he died, John Lennon was still making home recordings of 'Maggie May' the sailors' ditty he had known all his life and which is included on The Beatles 'Let It Be' album.
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| L to R : Mick Groves,Tony Davies, Hughie Jones & Cliff Hall. |
The Spinners, formed in 1958, developed a strong folk music following, particularly at the Gregson's Well pub in Low Hill and, together with Jaquie MacDonald (later to perform in a duo 'Jaquie & Bridie'), were the most successful folk acts from the city. There is a tale that John Lennon and Paul McCartney would sneak in at the back of the Philharmonic Hall to see what Jaquie and Bridie were playing on the night. The Spinners started their Folk Club in October 1958 in an attempt to establish a weekly place where singers, musicians and poets could display their talents. The club would be regularly advertised in the entertainment columns in the local paper, offering an alternative to cinemas, dance halls and jazz clubs. There were lavish ballrooms all over Merseyside and the North West at that time where people would come to have a dance, cop off, or just have a laugh. For a time, such was its popularity, that Liverpool was known as the 'Nashville of England' with some country acts adding beat to their music. The Black Cat Club, above Sampson and Barlow's restaurant in London Road. is claimed to be the place where country music took off in Liverpool. Ringo Starr was a known lover of country music and John Lennon has been quoted as saying, "I heard country-and-western music in Liverpool before I heard rock'n'roll. I started imitating Hank Williams when I was fifteen, before I could play the guitar."
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| The Merseysippi Jazz Band at The Cavern |
Jazz music was also becoming more popular in the 1950s and Paul McCartney's dad, James, had played in ragtime and jazz bands in Liverpool in his younger days and fronted Jim Mac's Jazz Band in the 1920s. It is thought that in Bootle in the 1920s every neighbourhood had it's own jazz band and it was in Liverpool where jazz was first heard in this country. In January 1950 the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall turned down a request by the Liverpool Jazz Club for it to be used as a venue as the council considered the music unsuitable, but by 1952 Picton Hall on William Brown Street had become known as home for lovers of trad jazz and blues with the Temple Bar and the Bluecoat Chambers also hosting jazz events. The Cavern was originally a popular jazz venue with Merseyside's longest running band, The Merseysippi Jazz Band (formed in 1948), playing on its opening night in 1957 when 600 fans managed to get inside with many more queuing outside in Mathew Street hoping to get in.
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| 'Lord Woodbine' with Paul and Pete. |
From Liverpool 1 to Liverpool 8 there was a developing music scene at the many clubs in this mainly black community, such as the New Colony Club and the Cabaret Artistes' Social Club with also 'rent parties' taking place in many houses where the latest American rhythm and blues was being played plus Jamaican blue-beat. Other clubs and pubs such as the Gladray, The Bedford, The Mona, The Masonic and The Whitehouse, were where John Lennon and Paul McCartney were often amongst the regulars enjoying acts such as the Casuals, The Valentinos and the accomplished jazz guitarist Odie Taylor. The area had been influenced by records, stories, guitars and clothing brought back into Liverpool by young sailors who had visited Chicago, Detroit and New York and who, in the 1950s, were nick-named 'The Cunard Yanks'. Also during the two World Wars American soldiers had been based at nearby Burtonwood and black GI's would visit the clubs around Toxteth bringing their records with them as they were not welcomed in the city centre. It is known that George Harrison purchased his black Gretsch Duo Jet guitar from a seaman, Ivan Hayward, who had picked it up several years earlier in New York ( it can be seen on the sleeve of George's album ' Cloud Nine').
Paul McCartney has been quoted as saying how their music was influenced by the different ethnic sounds in Liverpool, in particular calypso music from Liverpool's Caribbean community which is believed to be the oldest in England. In fact Alan Williams, noted as The Beatles first 'manager', had a business partner, Lord 'Woody' Woodbine who ran two clubs in Liverpool 8 where the young John Lennon and Paul McCartney would hang about and drink with him. He was a singer/songwriter, influential in the black music culture and was someone who influenced these two young up and coming singer/songwriters.
Into this 'melting pot' of diverse musical influences then came skiffle and in particular one Lonnie Donegan, a banjo player with Ken Colver's Jazzmen, but who played skiffle during the band intervals, which some were finding more entertaining than the jazz. Television was the new media enabling people to now see performers such as Lonnie playing using just 3 chords. So now, using the simple instruments of a tea chest bass, washboard, plus even a kazoo and comb and paper, to accompany a banjo or acoustic guitar, groups of young men and boys sprung up everywhere. It has been estimated that by the late 1950s there were 30,000–50,000 skiffle groups in Britain. This had been mostly due to the release by Decca of two skiffle tracks by the 'Lonnie Donegan Skiffle Group', particularly the fast-tempo version of 'Rock Island Line', originally adapted and recorded by the blues singer Leadbelly, that transformed the fortunes of skiffle in late 1955 and gave a lot of young people their inspiration.
Lonnie Donegan said, "We had been imbued with the idea that music was for the upper classes. You had to be very clever to play music. When I came along with the old three chords, people began to think that if I could do it, so could they." It was the prominence of the guitar that defined this new music and in a couple of years sales of acoustic guitars went from 5,000 a year to 200,000 a year.
With this foundation of musical appreciation, and hearing the new rock 'n roll that drifted across the Atlantic from artists such as Elvis, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly and Carl Perkins amongst many others, Liverpool reacted quickly. It is part of the Liverpool make up to be confident, enquiring and with an attitude of 'I can do that, only better', it is not surprising that so many groups of young lads, mostly self taught musicians, sprung up so quickly in the late 1950s and early 1960s. In a kind of osmosis, all these music cultures seemed to have been assimilated in the intensity of the time. Liverpool has also a 'village' society' mentality where everyone seems to know what is happening throughout the City and will help each other whenever possible. Everything seemed to happen so fast with people exchanging musical styles and sounds in their self development. When you also study the groups performing around that time it will show how many musicians were close friends and would help each other out by either 'standing in' on the night for missing members of another group, or lending out their instruments.
This earthy nature of 'Scousers', collaborating and supporting each other in bands and at venues, made them a natural bedfellow to the emerging rock 'n roll sounds that were starting to appear on the distorted airwaves from further afield. Once rockabilly and blues had been translated by the pioneers in America and made their way to the banks of the Mersey, the 'Pool of Sound' was about to spawn a few big fish of its own.
Paul McCartney has been quoted as saying how their music was influenced by the different ethnic sounds in Liverpool, in particular calypso music from Liverpool's Caribbean community which is believed to be the oldest in England. In fact Alan Williams, noted as The Beatles first 'manager', had a business partner, Lord 'Woody' Woodbine who ran two clubs in Liverpool 8 where the young John Lennon and Paul McCartney would hang about and drink with him. He was a singer/songwriter, influential in the black music culture and was someone who influenced these two young up and coming singer/songwriters.
Lonnie Donegan said, "We had been imbued with the idea that music was for the upper classes. You had to be very clever to play music. When I came along with the old three chords, people began to think that if I could do it, so could they." It was the prominence of the guitar that defined this new music and in a couple of years sales of acoustic guitars went from 5,000 a year to 200,000 a year.
With this foundation of musical appreciation, and hearing the new rock 'n roll that drifted across the Atlantic from artists such as Elvis, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly and Carl Perkins amongst many others, Liverpool reacted quickly. It is part of the Liverpool make up to be confident, enquiring and with an attitude of 'I can do that, only better', it is not surprising that so many groups of young lads, mostly self taught musicians, sprung up so quickly in the late 1950s and early 1960s. In a kind of osmosis, all these music cultures seemed to have been assimilated in the intensity of the time. Liverpool has also a 'village' society' mentality where everyone seems to know what is happening throughout the City and will help each other whenever possible. Everything seemed to happen so fast with people exchanging musical styles and sounds in their self development. When you also study the groups performing around that time it will show how many musicians were close friends and would help each other out by either 'standing in' on the night for missing members of another group, or lending out their instruments.
This earthy nature of 'Scousers', collaborating and supporting each other in bands and at venues, made them a natural bedfellow to the emerging rock 'n roll sounds that were starting to appear on the distorted airwaves from further afield. Once rockabilly and blues had been translated by the pioneers in America and made their way to the banks of the Mersey, the 'Pool of Sound' was about to spawn a few big fish of its own.
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