An End and a Beginning

Fame was having its effect on each Beatle by late 1964. The initial novelty of the mass hysteria they had caused was wearing off, leaving them dazed in the settling dust. They had certainly inspired frenzied excitement in a very short period of time. For instance, 300,000 people had greeted them when they arrived in Adelaide, Australia, during their world tour; only a year or so earlier, the four of them had been touring northern England in a freezing van, huddled together for warmth. Touring itself had become a prison for them, and each concert, usually lasting only thirty minutes, was completely drowned out by the screams of the crowds. In the absence of today's high-quality sound systems, most of the fans at their shows could only see the group's lips moving, not really hearing them at all. Paul, always looking on the bright side, would later say that all the screaming “covered a multitude of sins: we were out of tune. It didn't matter—we couldn't hear it, nor could they.”