Extracts from The Teacher - The Tony Sheridan Story
Below are a few extracts from the Tony Sheridan Story which is available for purchase from our front page
Tony Sheridan on John Lennon:
"Well, when we met I kind of liked his caustic lip and secretly admired the Scouser “assuredness”, and blatant, unmitigated abusiveness. He was rude, cruel, witty and unholy. I was, in a way, fortunate ’cause he liked me and he respected, my creativity and musicianship. The Irish in him somehow recognised the Irish in me. He appreciated music, and held it to be a sacred gift of the Gods - which it is."
Tony Sheridan on Paul McCartney
"Sitting down with Paul and two guitars would, within minutes, produce an idea for a song - or at least a title for a song that in itself suggested how a song with that title would probably turn out - the groove, the tempo, the phrasing of a line ...."
Tony Sheridan on George Harrison
"For all his young years, George was an amazingly stable character. (Today I would use the term “an old soul”.) Slow in speech and actions, soft and underfed in appearance, (as many of us were!), thoughtful and considerate… and obsessed with playing guitar!"
Tony Sheridan on His Infamous Fight with Beatles' drummer Pete Best
" Pete and I had been arguing musical policy for some time and it had come to a head that night. We stopped playing in the middle of a number and prepared for a punch-up. The audience were yelling and goading us on. But we didn’t scrap until after the club was closed. Down a dark alley we had a physical argument which lasted for about 2 hours and at the end of it Pete and I were the best of friends."
Tony Sheridan on Ringo Starr
"Ringo really had to suffer torments as we put him through the ropes, forming his playing style into what we expected of him, as the drummer in our band. It brought out the “slumbering” Ringo (and the best in him). He may have moaned now and then on stage at some of my “creative arrangements” (the “longer” ones) - but when the gig finished a couple of months later, he’d become very proficient and had much more expertise, in a wider musical sense, than prior to our mutual collaboration.
Tony Sheridan on being a Non Scouser in Hamburg
"It was scary - they all sounded so damn dangerous - more so than, say, a Cockney - but less so than a Glaswegian from the Gorbals. (By contrast, a Norwich/Norfolk accent “strokes the senses”!). When a Scouser said to: - “Piss Off!” (even when it was meant affectionately) there was nothing endearing about it - at least to my (Norwich) ears. (At the CNS - our school - they couldn’t have spoken that uncouthly…). They sounded hard - but I looked it!
* * *
The book covers the periods of Tony Sheridan growing up in Norwich, his life in London, his sojourns in Hamburg where he was generally regarded as one of, if not the top, guitar player from the United Kingdom and on to his days entertaining American troops in Vietnam and beyond. It gives a fascinating insight into the rock 'n' roll and skiffle years and how a young man from rural Norfolk became a part of the most exciting period in British rock music history.
Tony Sheridan on John Lennon:
"Well, when we met I kind of liked his caustic lip and secretly admired the Scouser “assuredness”, and blatant, unmitigated abusiveness. He was rude, cruel, witty and unholy. I was, in a way, fortunate ’cause he liked me and he respected, my creativity and musicianship. The Irish in him somehow recognised the Irish in me. He appreciated music, and held it to be a sacred gift of the Gods - which it is."
Tony Sheridan on Paul McCartney
"Sitting down with Paul and two guitars would, within minutes, produce an idea for a song - or at least a title for a song that in itself suggested how a song with that title would probably turn out - the groove, the tempo, the phrasing of a line ...."
Tony Sheridan on George Harrison
"For all his young years, George was an amazingly stable character. (Today I would use the term “an old soul”.) Slow in speech and actions, soft and underfed in appearance, (as many of us were!), thoughtful and considerate… and obsessed with playing guitar!"
Tony Sheridan on His Infamous Fight with Beatles' drummer Pete Best
" Pete and I had been arguing musical policy for some time and it had come to a head that night. We stopped playing in the middle of a number and prepared for a punch-up. The audience were yelling and goading us on. But we didn’t scrap until after the club was closed. Down a dark alley we had a physical argument which lasted for about 2 hours and at the end of it Pete and I were the best of friends."
Tony Sheridan on Ringo Starr
"Ringo really had to suffer torments as we put him through the ropes, forming his playing style into what we expected of him, as the drummer in our band. It brought out the “slumbering” Ringo (and the best in him). He may have moaned now and then on stage at some of my “creative arrangements” (the “longer” ones) - but when the gig finished a couple of months later, he’d become very proficient and had much more expertise, in a wider musical sense, than prior to our mutual collaboration.
Tony Sheridan on being a Non Scouser in Hamburg
"It was scary - they all sounded so damn dangerous - more so than, say, a Cockney - but less so than a Glaswegian from the Gorbals. (By contrast, a Norwich/Norfolk accent “strokes the senses”!). When a Scouser said to: - “Piss Off!” (even when it was meant affectionately) there was nothing endearing about it - at least to my (Norwich) ears. (At the CNS - our school - they couldn’t have spoken that uncouthly…). They sounded hard - but I looked it!
* * *
The book covers the periods of Tony Sheridan growing up in Norwich, his life in London, his sojourns in Hamburg where he was generally regarded as one of, if not the top, guitar player from the United Kingdom and on to his days entertaining American troops in Vietnam and beyond. It gives a fascinating insight into the rock 'n' roll and skiffle years and how a young man from rural Norfolk became a part of the most exciting period in British rock music history.