Australia celebrates the Beatles

Beatles tribute CD coming

There are lots of 50th anniversay celebrations planned from the countries the Beatles visited in 1964. One of those countries is Australia, and down under they are staging not only concerts and exhibitions, they are also doing a TV documentary and a 2CD of Australian acts who covered Beatles songs.

TV Documentary: When the Beatles Drove us Wild, Tuesday June 10 8:30pm on ABC1

Fifty years after their only Australian tour, the ABC will screen a documentary on The Beatles ‘down under’ called When the Beatles Drove us Wild.
Narrated by Brian Dawe, who queued for three days to buy his tickets to the first concert in Adelaide, this features interviews with many leading Australians about their direct experiences.

Among those reminiscing are Glenn Shorrock, Jim Keays, Glenn A Baker, Blanche d’Alpuget, Jenny Key, ‘Little Pattie’, Chantal Contouri, ‘Molly’ Meldrum, Bob Francis, Bob Rogers and Bob Katter.
Squeaky clean by day and musically charged at their concerts – it was a different story behind closed doors. Much of what really occurred on the Beatles’ Australian tour has never been told before. Like JFK before them the media indulged in the spoils of being on tour with the Beatles and turned a blind eye to the bedroom antics!

In June 1964, the Beatles made their one and only visit ‘Down Under’ and turned the southern hemisphere on its head!
The social turmoil caused by scenes of mass hysteria and the loss of control of public spaces was new and very unsettling for conservative authority figures.
In Adelaide a crowd estimated to be around 300,000 people (half the City’s population at the time)turned out in the streets to welcome the Beatles. It was the biggest reception the Beatles ever experienced, anywhere in the world.
In Melbourne the army was called in to help police control the crowd.
In Sydney over 10,000 girls entered a competition to win one of just 17 invitations to attend Paul’s 22nd birthday party!
The Beatles and their music embodied the future – a future of infinite possibilities. This was a future that promised a world of freedom and promised it to the young! For the first time in Australia and New Zealand, jobs were plentiful and there were a lot of people under twenty with disposable income. It was fun!

The obligatory didgeridoo photo, whenever we talk about Beatles and Australia

In Australia and NZ, the older generations, shaped by depression and war, seemed bewildered and alarmed at their children’s reaction to the Beatles.
What happened ‘Down Under’ in June 1964 was a mirror to what was evolving worldwide.
This was a time when the ‘baby boomer’ generation was just starting to find its voice and unwittingly flex its muscles. Youth culture was inventing itself, marshalling its forces and was on the march to change Australia, New Zealand and the World!

CD: Then & Now – Australia Salutes The Beatles


The Beatles one and only Australian tour was in June 1964. The band touched down in Sydney on June 11, 1964 and played 20 shows on the tour.
EMI Records has compiled‘Then & Now – Australia Salutes The Beatles’ with covers of Beatles songs from The Bee Gees, The Seekers, Master’ Apprentices, Sulky Parkinson, The Zoot, Glenn Shorrock, John Farnham, The Hoodoo Gurus, You Am I, The Vines, Josh Pyke, Bob Evans, Katie Noonan, John Waters, and many more.

The album was compiled by Glenn A. Baker who said, “it is as close to being a collection of the very best treatments of Australia Saluting The Beatles. It’s taken us fifty years to get to it but the wait has been so very, very worthwhile.”

Then & Now – Australia Salutes The Beatles

Disc One

1. FROM ME TO YOU – The Bee Gees
2. YESTERDAY – The Seekers
3. FOR NO ONE – Little Pattie
4. IT WON’T BE LONG – The Rajahs
5. YOU’VE GOT TO HIDE YOUR LOVE AWAY – Ronnie Burns
6. ALL MY LOVING – Johnny Young
7. OBLA-DI, OBLA-DA – The Executives
8. I FEEL FINE – Masters’ Apprentices
9. WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS – Sulky Ashdown
10. TOMORROW NEVER KNOWS – Wendy Saddington
11. HEY JUDE – Max Merritt & the Meteors
12. COME TOGETHER – The La De Das
13. DEAR PRUDENCE – Sulky Parkinson In Focus
14. ELEANOR RIGBY – The Zoot
15. CARRY THAT WEIGHT – Colleen Hewitt
16. NOWHERE MAN – Sherbet
17. PAPERBACK WRITER – Glenn Shorrock

Disc Two

1. HELP – John Farnham
2. OH! DARLIN’ – The Models
3. BIRTHDAY – Sunnyboys
4. I’VE JUST SEEN A FACE – Jenny Morris
5. BABY YOU’RE A RICH MAN – Company of Strangers (w/James Reyne)
6. A HARD DAYS NIGHT – The Hoodoo Gurus
7. I’M SO TIRED – You Am I
8. I’M ONLY SLEEPING – The Vines
9. TWO OF US – Josh Pyke & Bob Evans
10. GIRL – Glenn Cardier
11. BLACKBIRD – Katie Noonan
12. ACROSS THE UNIVERSE – Rachael Leahcar
13. DAY TRIPPER/LADY MADONNA – Tommy Emmanuel
14. THINGS WE SAID TODAY – Marty Rhone
15. LIKE DREAMERS DO – The Beatnix
16. ‘TIL THERE WAS YOU – Harrison Craig
17. STRAWBERRY FIELDS FOREVER – John Waters