The Beatles, press conference
Washington, DC - February 11, 1964



Q: Do any of you have any formal music training?
JOHN: You're joking.
Q: What do you think of President Johnson?
PAUL: Does he buy any of our records?
Q: What do you think of American girls & American audiences?
JOHN: Marvelous.
Q: Here I am, surrounded by the Beatles, & I don't feel a thing. Fellas, how does it feel to be in the United States?
JOHN: It's great.
Q: What do you like best about our country?
JOHN: You!
Q: I'll take that under advisement. Do you have any plans to meet the Johnson girls?
JOHN: No. We heard they didn't like our concerts.
Q: Are they coming to your performance tonight?
PAUL: If they do, we'd really like to meet them.
Q: You & the snow came to Washington today. Which do you think will have the greater impact?
JOHN: The snow will probably last longer.
Q: One final question. Have you ever heard of Walter Cronkite?
PAUL: Nope.
JOHN: NBC News, is he? Yeah, we know him.
Q: Thanks, fellas. By the way, it's CBS News.
GEORGE: I know, but I didn't want to say it as we're now on ABC.
Q: This is NBC, believe it or not.
JOHN: And you're Walter?
Q: No, I'm Ed.
JOHN: What's going on around here?
Q: What do you think of your reception in America so far?
JOHN: It's been great.
Q: What struck you the most?
JOHN: You!
RINGO: We already did that joke when we first came in.
GEORGE: Well, we're doing it again, squire!
Q: Why do you think you're so popular?
JOHN: It must be the weather.
Q: Do you think it's your singing?
PAUL: I doubt it. We don't know which it could be.
Q: Where'd you get the idea for the haircuts?
JOHN: Where'd you get the idea for yours?
PAUL: We enjoyed wearing our hair this way, so it's developed this way.
Q: Well you save on haircutting at least.
PAUL: Roar ...
JOHN: I think it costs more to keep it short than long, don't you?
PAUL: Yeah, we're saving our money.
Q: Are you still number one in Europe?
GEORGE: We're number one in America.
Q: Where else are you number one then?
JOHN: Hong Kong & Sweden ...
PAUL: Australia, Denmark, & Finland.
Q: And you haven't any idea why?
RINGO: We just lay down & do it.
JOHN: In Hong Kong & these other places, suddenly you're number one years after putting out your records. Even here, we've got records we've probably forgotten.
Q: You call your records "funny records"?
JOHN: "Funny", yeah, the ones we've forgotten.
GEORGE: It's unusual because they've been out in England for over a year. Like "Please, Please Me" is a big hit over here now, but it's over a year old.
Q: Do you think they're musical?
JOHN: Obviously they're musical because it's music, isn't it! We make music. Instruments play music. It's a record.
Q: What do you call it, rock and roll?
PAUL: We try not to define our music because we get so many wrong classifications off it. We call it music even if you don't.
Q: With a question mark?
GEORGE: Pardon?
JOHN: We leave that to the critics.
Q: Okay, that's it. Have a good time in America.
JOHN: Thank you. Keep buying them records & look after yourself.




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