1964 Beatles Interview Found in Garage

In the best grandma’s-basement discovery of this decade, film enthusiast Richard Jeffs discovered a 44-year-old Beatles interview while rummaging through film canisters stored in a South London garage, Reuters reported Tuesday.

The interview, which was in one of 64 film canisters Jeffs found in the garage, took place in April 1964, shortly after the Beatles’ American TV debut on The Ed Sullivan show, and has never been aired since. In a nine-and-a-half-minute conversation with Scottish television, the band talked about the songwriting process, and how Lennon and McCartney met.

When asked how Lennon and McCartney collaborated during the songwriting process, Lennon replied, “Well, you know, it depends. Sometimes we write them on old pianos, anything that's lying around."

McCartney chipped in, "Normally we sit down and try and bash one out. But then again, there's no formula, because he (Lennon) can come up with one day completely finished. We still say we both wrote it, though.”

Lennon and McCartney’s verbal co-writing agreement would prove a source of frustration later in the band’s career, when the two would offer dissenting views on who wrote what.

As for the story of their meeting, Lennon said the two met when McCartney saw Lennon playing at a garden fete outside of Liverpool.

“I was … playing with a group, and he came along and we met," Lennon summed it up.

Part of the novelty of the interview is its relaxed nature, Jeffs said, as it was rare at the time to catch the band sitting still.

"Most of the interviews from this time were them at airports being rushed from one place to the other, and this is a relaxed nine-and-a-half minute interview with them in a studio where they are very happy,” he said.

We’re all undoubtedly curious as to what’s in the other 63 canisters.