The Bell Factory

Why is this blog called The Bell Factory?

Somewhere in North America, sometime in 1964, Paul McCartney said something about a bell factory. The contradictory extracts below show that no-one is really sure where, when and exactly what he said.

And it shows the group, enclosed within the walls of what Paul McCartney had recently likened to a bell factory.

(Can't Buy Me Love: The Beatles, Britain, and America. Jonathan Gould.)

Sunday, 30 August.
Atlantic City, LaFayette Hotel, Eighth Floor.
Interview with Peter Woods, television reporter for the BBC.
Woods: How on earth do you put up with all this noise? It's gone on all night!
Paul: You don't notice it very much.
Ringo: You forget about it.
...
George: We get immune to it. It's a distant thing. It's just one of those everyday sounds, man.
Paul: It's like if you work in a bell factory, you don't notice bells.
John (sarcastically): I didn't know that.

(The Beatles: Off The Record. Keith Badman.)

TV interview
Date: 30 August 1964
Time: afternoon
Location: Lafayette Motor Inn, Atlantic City
Interviewer: Peter Woods
... Then [Woods] is ushered into the Beatles' suite to chat with all four at once about the noisy fans; Paul says they are used to it, just like someone who worked in a bell factory all day would be immune to ringing.

(Way Beyond Compare: The Beatles' Recorded Legacy, Volume One, 1957-1965. John C Winn.)

That summer the Beatles would change a few rules of the game themselves when they performed at Shea Stadium on Sunday, August 15, kicking off their second American tour by whipping 56,000 US fans into a frenzy....How were they supposed to connect with their audience, who seemed like they were sitting half a mile away, and were clearly out of their minds?"The commotion", Paul explained, "doesn't bother us anymore. It's like working in a bell factory. You don't hear the bells anymore.

(This Bird Has Flown: The Enduring Beauty of Rubber Soul, Fifty Years On. John Kruth)

PAUL 1964 (on Beatle fans)
Q: "Paul, why do teenagers scream when The Beatles appear?"PAUL: "None of us know. We kind of like the screaming teenagers. If they want to sit out there and shout, that's their business. We aren't going to be like little dictators and say, 'You gotta shut up'. The commotion doesn't bother us anymore. It's like working in a bell factory. After a while you get used to the bells."
Why do teenagers stand up and scream piercingly and painfully when you appear?Paul: None of us know. But we've heard that teenagers go to our shows just to scream. A lot of them don't even want to listen because they have our records. We kind of like the screaming teenagers. If they want to pay their money and sit out there and shout, that's their business. We aren't going to be like little dictators and say, "You've got to shut up". The commotion doesn't bother us anymore. It's come to be like working in a bell factory. You don't hear the bells after a while.

(http://imagine109.tripod.com/allyouneedisbeatles/id66.html)

"The commotion doesn't bother us anymore. It's like working in a bell factory. After a while you get used to the bells." Thus Paul McCartney on what it felt like to be at the epicentre of Beatlemania.

(The Telegraph. Neil Collins. 12 Nov 2004.)

Some people have taken it be a comment on the constant attention of Beatlemania in general, others think it is a direct response to questions about the screaming of fans during live concerts.

Maybe Paul said it more than once. Maybe Paul heard it from someone else. Maybe Paul kept repeating it at that time, John sounds a bit grumpy in the transcript, ("sarcastically: I didn't know that").

Whatever the origin, and I guess we'll never know exactly, I liked the story and remembered it, so bellfact became the name of this music blog and twitter account.