The ’Birds and The Beatles: Meet The Liverbirds, the Fab Four’s female contemporaries
Aux Features Wiki Wormhole
We explore some of Wikipedia’s oddities in our 5,993,858-week series, Wiki Wormhole.
This week’s entry: The Liverbirds
What it’s about: A lovable foursome of rock-and-rollers from Liverpool, who tore up the Merseybeat scene before moving to Hamburg and playing at the Star Club, mixing Motown covers with their own catchy originals. Yes, it’s The Liverbirds, the female contemporaries of The Beatles who followed the Fab Four’s same early path, but never found quite the same level of success. Still, guitarists Valerie Gell and Pamela Birch, bassist Mary McGlory, and drummer Sylvia Saunders made a name for themselves in Hamburg, and were stars in Germany through the mid ’60s.
Biggest controversy: While The ’Birds knew The Beatles, there’s no evidence they were friends. John Lennon sneered at them, “Girls don’t play guitars,” although they played well enough to take over The Beatles’ slot at the Star Club when the latter band returned to England to begin their recording career. (The Liverbirds would record as well, but they remained in Germany to do so.) In 2019, Ian Salmon’s musical Girls Don’t Play Guitars, which recounted The Liverbirds’ career, premiered at the Royal Court Theater in Liverpool; two members of the band collaborated on the production and appeared onstage as an encore.
Strangest fact: There’s no such thing as a liver bird. Pronounced like “fiver,” not “river,” the bird is a symbol of Liverpool, appearing on the city’s seal, despite not existing. The seal dates back to the 13th century (the city was founded in 1207 and re-incorporated in 1229), and depicts some sort of bird. Historians surmise it was either meant to be an eagle, or a dove with an olive branch, but “shoddy draughtsmanship” means the bird isn’t recognizable as either, and was often seen as a cormorant, which are native to the area. Eventually, Liverpudlians began calling the mystery fowl the Liver Bird, after their city, and the name stuck. In fact, when Sir Paul McCartney was knighted, he was given a crest with a liver bird holding a guitar.
Thing we were happiest to learn: The Liverbirds proved Lennon wrong. They were one of the Star Club’s biggest attractions, (although they were often promoted as “the female Beatles,”) and all of their recordings were released on the club’s private label. They performed on German TV (as mentioned last week), and before breaking up in 1968, did a tour of Japan.
Thing we were unhappiest to learn: One area where The Liverbirds didn’t follow The Beatles’ example was songwriting. While they did write some originals, their four singles were all covers—Smokey Robinson’s “Shop Around” in 1964, Bo Diddley’s “Diddley Daddy” and the Marathons’ “Peanut Butter” in ’65, and Johnny Thunder’s “Loop De Loop” in ’66—with some ’Birds-penned songs on the B side. Based on the title, we assume their 1965 record, Star-Club Show 4, was a live album. It’s not clear what was on the following year’s More Of The Liverbirds, but it was the end of The ’Birds’ brief recording career.
Also noteworthy: Germany loved The Liverbirds and the feeling was mutual. Three of the four members remained in Hamburg permanently after the band split (although Gell lived in Munich for a few years and returned). McGlory even stayed in the music business, forming a music publishing company with her late husband (songwriter Frank Dostal), which she still runs today. Only Saunders left the country, settling down in Spain, although the band reunited in 1998, and Saunders returned to Liverpool for the Girls Don’t Play Guitars musical.
Best link to elsewhere on Wikipedia: This week the best links aren’t on Wikipedia, but YouTube, where several Liverbirds live performances have been preserved, along with studio recordings, clips from the musical, and a brief New York Times-produced documentary about the band. (Also an episode of the unrelated 1970s BBC sitcom The Liver Birds)
Further Down the Wormhole: The Liverbirds were one of the first all-female rock bands, still sadly a rarity as women in music continue to be underrepresented. Women have similarly lacked equal opportunities in the field of piracy, although one 14th-century French noblewoman decided to buck that trend. We’ll hear the scurvy tale of Jeanne de Clisson next week.
65 Comments
I’am made $84, 8254 so far this year working online and I’m a full time student. Im using an online business. Here what I do,.for more information simply open this link thank you….
COPY HERE☛☛☛
http://www.cashin3.com
So… wait… if the “liver” in “liver bird” rhymes with “fiver” then does Liverpool rhime with Fiverpool?
However illogical American English may be, the old country has us beat hands down.
English is a weird language. I mean, why are there so many silent e’s!?
To be fair, we’ve cut the number of silent e’s by at least 50% over the last few centuries.
I blame the Normans.
My mother-in-law has a story about how, when living in Liverpool in the 60s, she didn’t understand the public transport slogan “Treat us Fairly, Travel Early” until she heard a Liverpudlian child say it out loud. Once you realise it rhymes in Scouse, you have the whole accent unlocked.
Based on the way they pronounce “girl”, fairly, girly and early should all rhyme.
This is hearsay, but someone told me about a campaign in Australia that rhymed “petrol” with “Australia”.
One thing I learned from a relative who is from Liverpool is that the Bird is a symbol of the Liverpool Football Club, which only has the allegiance of part of the city.
There is a Cubs-White Sox style split in Liverpool, with a chunk of the city following the Everton Football Club instead, with its symbol being an old tower that was used as a lockup for drunks and criminals. Everton fans often tend to shun anything with a Bird association.The Everton FC – Liverpool FC split is partly along geographical lines in Liverpool, but there also seems to be a religious component, with Everton fans tending to be Catholic and Liverpool fans tending to be Protestant.I get the sense that the rivalry isn’t as intense as some in British soccer, though, such as Manchester United vs. Manchester City.
Brit here – all correct, except the part about it not being very intense. Hoo boy they take that shit seriously.
I’m sure you’re right about the seriousness. The sense I get is that Liverpool v. Everton is far more intense compared to any US sports rivalries, but still calmer than the really crazy ones in British soccer. I get the sense that the craziness is down across the board in the UK compared to the 80s for that matter. Still crazy, but not multiple stabbing crazy.
As do the players. No English football fixture has generated more sendings off than Liverpool v Everton. If you have a few minutes, and an interest in sporting foul play, this is well worth a watch.
That’s not true I’m afraid dude: there’s no geographical, religious or class split between the fans (hence it being a relatively friendly rivalry for a long time – though things have soured a little since the 80s). Many families will have supporters of each team, and it’s always been like that.No idea where your relative got that from – a very minor amount of research will confirm it’s nonsense.
95% untrue with just a hint of validity in my experience. Pre-WW2 Liverpool was still quite sectarian, and there was definitely a slight leaning towards Everton for Catholics, and Liverpool for Protestants. The only remaining evidence of this is the preponderance of Everton fans among the ageing, and shrinking, population of Catholic priests in the city.Geographically, you do still also get pockets where local allegiances skew one way or the other, but I’d agree it’s certainly the most integrated city in the country in terms of its footballing support.(And your username certainly lends credibility to your views on the subject!)
Yes and no. Football is a religion on Merseyside and because of the lack of any clear sectarian or geographic divides, there are many families that are split, and it would be a rare thing indeed for anybody to not have close friends who support the rival team. So it generates more hostility and arguments than nearly any other English football rivalry, but rarely spills over into actual violence.
The Liverbirds were one of the first all-female rock bands, still sadly a rarity as women in music continue to be underrepresented. Those of us of a certain age remember the 1980s group “Katrina and the Waves”, which later became a punchline for jokes of questionable taste after the hurricane.
The real core of that band was guitarist Kimberley Rew and drummer Alex Cooper, with Rew originally fronting The Waves, until he started writing specifically for back-up singer Katrina Leskanich, and she got featured billing a couple years in.Bands like The Go Gos or The Bangles (who put Rew’s “Going Down to Liverpool” on one of their early albums) would be better parallels for the Liverbirds. And I think their success illustrates that whatever obstacles sexism might have posed for such groups, it was primarily behind the scenes — the likes of Lennon might not have taken them seriously, but audiences certainly had no objection to “girl guitarists”.
Bands like The Go Gos or The Bangles (who put Rew’s “Going Down to Liverpool” on one of their early albums) would be better parallels for the Liverbirds.Don’t forget The Runaways!
And Fanny!
LiverbirdsWith that name, I was expecting more jaundice.
“they were often promoted as ‘the female Beatles’”The Fetals?
Confused me too. I grew up in England, and I’m old enough to have watched that sitcom.https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Liver_Birds
That video is amazing. I would expect German teenagers in the 60s to be awkward, but that was beyond what I could imagine.
I prefer this one. I can’t stop smiling:
The guitar and drumming styles are so similar to early Beatles – it’s a nice reminder that the Beatles came out of a particular musical scene, rather than just appearing out of the ether. But seriously, I don’t think any other band of that era had vocal harmonies quite like the Beatles.
Don’t forget The Beach Boys!
The Hollies!
They just sort of jog in place, almost independent of the music.
So would they be considered a “British invasion” band, or would they have had to have more radio & record popularity in the US for that? Regardless they sound interesting & I’d like to check them out. Also John Lennon was kind of a wanker
He was certainly the most dickish of the Beatles. George was probably the nicest.
Yeah, George would never tear a photographer’s assistant a new asshole for innocuously asking whether he wanted to be on the cover of Rolling Stone…
When was that? I’m not saying he was perfect but he didn’t cheat on his finance with a fan or beat his wife, that I know of anyway.
I don’t remember exactly when it was, but I think it was brought up in the Scorsese doc when they were talking about George’s bitchy side. But I’m sick of this false narrative about Lennon being some unrepentant wife-beater. The reason we know he did it was because he talked about it openly to show that he wasn’t blameless when it came to bad attitudes about women and that he felt bad about it and was trying to change…
I was actually rendering to Ringo. He admitted to doing that as well. I agree with you on John, all I can think of was that Onion article. Also I need to rewatch that Scorsese documentary it was great.
John also beat his first wife. He had a really despicable side.
Lennon, later in life, would the first to agree with your judgment of him in his younger years. He is an interesting example of someone changing as he grew up, and feeling deeply guilty for his early behavior.
FWIW I remember reading an article (possibly in Cracked) which suggested that Paul was actually the nicest Beatle, mainly for the reason that unlike the others he’d never been reported to have beat or cheated on his wife (I seem to remember from the same article that apparently George Harrison slept with Ringo’s wife behind his back).
That sounds bad, though I did read an interview with George Harrison’s wife who slept with Eric Clapton that they were all in open relationships & sleeping with each others’ wives so that wasn’t quite as bad as it sounded
Also FWIW, I have a friend who travels with Paul McCartney and does pyro for his shows. Apparently Sir Paul refers to everyone on his crew by a first-name basis, treats everyone with respect, and is every bit as delightful to be around as you’d hope he’d be. And no, I’m not jealous of this friend’s life at all. Why do you ask?
If The Beatles had a female equivalent, does that mean there was a female Monkees running around?
The Clingers?
The Monkees were the male Liverbirds.
Hey hey, we’re the Womonkees, we’re still womonkeeyin’ around…
girls…playing music?
What’s next, boys raising children?
RE the lede photo: I have never seen the hem of one’s trousers cut that way. It is genius. The woman in lavender should get an award for those sassy shoes.
“The Woman in Lavender” would be a good title for a Raymond Chandler mystery novel from that era
Ladies in Lavender is already a movie right?
I hadn’t noticed that, but it’s so simple (as retro looks go) that I’m surprised nobody’s brought it back. The hem, I mean – lavender wingtips never went away, they just migrated into the pimp wardrobe.
From the smaller version on the home page, I thought it was a modern K-pop band.
OK. I can see how that might have transpired. And now I’ll never get to here them cover (G)I-DLE’s “Lion” 🙁 ‘Cause they coulda
Let’s pull a bit more on this cormorant/liverbird thread. Shall we?
Phalacrocoracidae is a family of approximately 40 species of aquatic birds commonly known as cormorants and shags. –Wikipedia.com
The Shaggswere an American all-female rock and outsider music band formed in Fremont, New Hampshire, in 1968. The band was composed of sisters Dorothy “Dot” Wiggin (vocals/lead guitar), Betty Wiggin (vocals/rhythm guitar), Helen Wiggin (drums) and, later, Rachel Wiggin (bass).[…] the band was described in one Rolling Stone article as “sounding like lobotomized Trapp Family singers.”[6] Terry Adams of NRBQ compared the group’s melodic lines and structures to the free jazz compositions of Ornette Coleman.[7] –Wikipedia.comOh, the rich people want what the poor people’s got
And the poor people want what the rich people’s got
And the skinny people want what the fat people’s got
And the fat people want what the skinny people’s got
You can never please anybody in this world -The Shaggs
You’re Welcome.
I’m guessing Prometheus wasn’t a big fan.
The Liver Birds is also a well-regarded sitcom set in Liverpool, so this headline was briefly confusing.
Well regarded? Let’s just say, along with most of Carla Lane’s output, it hasn’t aged well.
I must admit that wouldn’t shock me, though I haven’t been aware Lane had been subject to major re-evaluation. Her work doesn’t get repeated much downunder these days, though it dominated the 1980s.
Great female group that should’ve been huge was Ace of Cups. I saw them open for Hendrix in the Panhandle in 1967. This was before women’s lib was mainstream. Blew my mind. Hendrix was a fan too.
That’s a piece of classic acid-rock!
I just found out that Ace of Cups started playing shows again a couple years ago. This is some cute shit.
there was also a terrible TV series of the same name.
Trying so hard. But, nope.
The song in the video (Why Do You Hang Around Me?) isn’t bad. But that performance is so amateurish. The lead singer can barely carry a tune, and the harmonies are atrocious.It would have been fun to hear what the Go-Gos or the Bangles might have done with the song.
I was going to share this article with my FB friends, but I just can’t approve of the singing. They were cute, though.
That’s why you want Ace of Cups — all the bandmembers could sing. Here they perform a 5-part harmony arrangement for a live show: