Time That Was So Hard To Find

John Lennon plays with a miniature figurine of HSV football player Uwe Seeler during a press conference for How I Won The War in Hannover, Germany | 5 September 1966

The Beatles arrive at London Airport after their final concert tour of the United States | 31 August 1966 © Victor Crawshaw (I) (III)

John Lennon doodling on a tablecloth backstage at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, CA | 29 August 1966 © Jim Marshall

John Lennon backstage at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, CA | 29 August 1966 © Marilyn Doerfler

The Beatles take the plane to San Francisco, CA | 29 August 1966

John Lennon & Ringo Starr at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, CA | 29 August 1966 © Koh Hasebe

As the final notes from Paperback Writer drifted past the crowd and into the bay, McCartney blurted out his final stage announcement with the mechanical mumble of a man who just turned in his notice. He doesn't even bother with the title. "We'd like to ask you to join in and, er, clap, sing, talk, do anything. Anyway, the song is … good night." No one was listening, so they played the last number for themselves. It was a song that had made the journey with them from teenage social clubs to stadiums: Little Richard’s Long Tall Sally. It was their showpiece, remaining in their set list almost constantly throughout their career. It had been their opening song when they played the Litherland Town Hall in December 1960, later enshrined as ground zero for Beatlemania. Nearly six years later, it would bookend their touring life. They held nothing back. They had no reason to. McCartney begins the song with an otherworldly shriek in an upper register usually reserved for later verses. This night he started in high gear, and there was nowhere to go but up. In his voice you could hear traces of a teenage boy bewitched by the sound of flamboyant pianist from Macon, Georgia. You could hear traces of the long nights in Hamburg. You could hear the weariness of years on the road. It was probably a performance for the ages. But we'll never be sure, because Barrow's tape cut out. Cassettes contained 30 minutes per side in 1966, and he was unable to flip it over to catch the end. Though devastating for Beatle fans not to have the final live song preserved in entirety, it's oddly poetic – like a cinematic cutaway that spares us the hero's final fall. It's best to remember them still playing. The song eventually ended and they were free. It was over. But the end of their touring career didn't offer the unbridled ecstasy they had anticipated. In fact, it was undeniably sad. Playing music for people was something the Beatles loved. It was what had brought them together all those years ago. Long before they became studio pioneers, performance was the band's ultimate joy. And now it was gone, taken from them by their fame.  Lennon, the most vocal about quitting all this touring nonsense, paused on the stage for a moment, taking it all in. Those who were there that night insist they heard him play the delicate guitar riff from In My Life, the introspective ballad about all he'd experienced and loved in his incredibly young life. The moment passed, and he ducked into the armored car bound for the airport, where the band was to fly back to Los Angeles. They had been in San Francisco for a grand total of five hours that day.

John Lennon at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, CA | 29 August 1966 © Eric Weill

The Beatles in San Francisco, CA | 29 August 1966

John Lennon at Curson Terrace in Beverly Hills, CA | 27 August 1966 (II)

The Beatles at Curson Terrace in Beverly Hills, CA | 27 August 1966 © Koh Hasebe (I)

The Beatles in Seattle, WA | 25 August 1966 © Wallie Funk

The Beatles at a press conference at the Capitol Records Tower in Los Angeles, CA | 24 August 1966 © Jeff Hochberg