I am always still amazed any time I hear a "new" Beatles story after all this time. (I guess most of us feel that by THIS time, we must already know everything there is to know about them!)
But THIS story took me COMPLETELY by surprise ... and I can't believe I had never heard it being told before.
Here's the deal ...
Back in 1963, as part of the hit British music television program "Ready, Steady Go!," Paul McCartney was asked to judge that week's miming contest.
Each week, four contestants would be drawn from their studio audience to go up on stage and lip-sync ... or MIME ... to that week's selected song. On this particular week, the song in question was Brenda Lee's 1961 hit, "Let's Jump The Broomstick," a #12 hit on the British charts in 1961. (It flopped here in The States.)
Each of the four girls did their best to act out and choreograph the song as if it was their very own. Paul picked contestant #4, a 13-year-old girl by the name of Melanie Coe. (Personally, I thought #3 blew everybody else away ... but Melanie Coe being picked is what makes this such an interesting story! Especially since the deciding judge was Paul McCartney!)
Fast forward four years and the now 17-year-old Melanie Coe made headlines when she ran away from home, disappearing without a trace. Her parents couldn't understand ... "We gave her everything money could buy."
Paul McCartney just happened to see the article in "The Daily Mail" and, completely unaware that this was the same girl he presented an album to four years earlier on "Ready, Steady, Go!," was inspired to write the beautiful ballad "She's Leaving Home" for The Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album.
It's funny because as I research it now, I see that it's all over the internet ... but I was caught "completely unawares," as they say, when I read it last week in the Andy Neill "Ready, Steady, Go!" book, recently recommended to me by Harvey Kubernik.
So, in the hopes that I'm not REALLY "the last one to know," I'm sharing this story with you today ... because seriously, what are the odds?!?! These are some pretty amazing circumstances, to say the least! (kk)
