Interview for Melody Maker

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A 13-YEAR-OLD Italian girl, suffering from Beatlemania, screamed as the group left its van to enter an hotel in Milan last week. Within seconds, the child’s mother “belted hell out of the kid“, in the classic words of Paul McCartney.

“That’s the sort of attitude there is from some of the adults here,” said the Beatle on the phone from their Milan hotel.

“Some of these parents — the big fat Italian mammies — think it’s a disgrace for their kids to scream for the Beatles. We just think it’s a bloody shame.“

Beatlemania in Italy was an unkown quantity until last week. Having conquered Paris, the Beatles moved on to Milan with apprehension. Europe’s attitude to the group is fairly mixed. And because this was their first march on Italy, John, Paul, George and Ringo wondered.

“But really, it’s been a knockout,” said McCartney the day after they had starred in two shows at Milan’s Palais des Sports.

“There have been some reports, I believe, that the Beatles were a flop in Milan. Well, there were 10,000 at the first show and 22,000 at the second. I didn’t think that was too bad. We’ve been enjoying it quite a lot. Working one day, resting the next. Officially the second day is supposed to be for travelling, but that hasn’t been too rough.“

Speaking of their doubts before getting into Europe, Paul said:

“We thought they wouldn’t know anything about us here. We expected it to be just like it was in Paris on our first trip — very cold, from the outset. Well, it hasn’t been, and there have been some fantastic scenes. I think the real reason is that they have found out much more about the international music scene in the last year or so. We’ve made a film, ‘Hard Day’s Night’ that’s been reasonably popular, and I think they simply have more knowledge about us now than we feared.“

Paul reported that pressmen in Italy had gone pretty berserk with enthusiasm.

“There is a corps of these little fellows on scooters — Italian photographers I think they call paparazzi — who never seem to stop taking pictures every time we step out. We’ll probably be very fed up of it by the time we get to Rome. I walked down from my room to the car and I’ll swear there were 30 pictures taken in the second I ran from the door to the car. It’s fantastic.“

Most popular songs in Italy?

“‘Ticket To Ride’ was very popular — lately, it has been getting quite a bit of airplay. Things like ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ and ‘Rock And Roll Music’ have always been good for the Continent. ‘Long Tall Sally’ as well — straight rockers are the most popular. It’s all going well. But we’re all a bit nervous, still. Big crowds have always scared us.“