If you have watched any American comedy show or film over the last 45 years, then it is highly likely that the stars of those have appeared on the iconic American TV show Saturday Night Live. The sketch show with musical performances has been a stalwart for American families for generations. The likes of Mike Myers, Dan Aykroyd, Tina Fey and Eddie Murphy to name a few have earned their comedic chops through the show.
Although it propels most actors and writer’s careers, the show has never been afraid to push the boundaries with musical guests some of which have been memorable. For example, Sinead O’Connor ripped a picture of the Pope live on the show, rap was introduced to the nation via the show and Dave Grohl made his first post-Nirvana appearance with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Even the first show in the pandemic was Jack White covering a Blind Willie Johnson song about the 1918 Spanish Flu outbreak. So, when producer Lorne Michaels asked for his favourite band to get back together on the show as a bit, it came as no surprise that it almost happened. Today the Beat Marches On to 24th April 1976, when The Beatles were at their closest to reforming.
In 1976 the program wasn’t even called Saturday Night Live yet; the live aspect wasn’t added until 1980. The show, in its second season, had already bought back folk heroes Simon and Garfunkel for a mini-reunion and now they wanted to talk The Beatles into performing together for the first time in six years almost to the day of their official split.
The Beatles split in 1970. The split was rough (Paul McCartney and Heather Mills rough) after Paul officially announced the break-up and lawyers got involved. Things were said in song and print mainly by John Lennon, sniping in the song “How Do You Sleep” “All you had was yesterday” and it seemed the Fab Four would not be performing together for a while.
The other half of the Fab Four were enjoying their newfound freedoms. They all recorded albums as solo artists and they have written and achieved success from it, George Harrison’s triple album “All Things Must Pass” is considered one of the best solo Beatles efforts. Ringo Starr through all of it stayed good friends with other Beatles and often had them guest on his recordings and also guested on the other Beatles’ solo work. The only time all four appeared together on a new album post-1970 was 1973’s “Ringo”.
The influence for the sketch was because of a recent hard push by a promoter to get the Beatles back together. Bill Sargent was organising a benefit concert for refugees from Cambodia and wanted the Fab Four to get back to where they once belonged, on the stage. Sargent had hounded the band for a few years up to this point first starting in 1972. The amount started at $10 million and then rose as they stalled with an answer. The final amount in 1976 offered was $50 million equivalent to $235 million in today’s money.
The offers started to grab national attention. Magazine covers started up the rumour mill and quizzed the Beatles whether they would reunite or not. In a 1980 interview with Playboy magazine, Lennon said about a reunion it was always three wanted to and one was too busy. Sargent even bought in the organiser of the Shea Stadium concerts Sid Bernstein to help attract them to the gig.
With rumours here, there, and everywhere about the Beatles reforming NBC’s Saturday Night Live wanted to get in on the act. Midway through the show, producer Lorne Michaels made the announcement. He started by saying “Over 22 million people watch this program, but this goes out to four” He continues how the Fab Four changed and influenced so many people and then exclaims that the broadcaster, National Broadcast Company or NBC, had a cheque for three thousand dollars for the Beatles to reunite and perform three songs on the show. He suggested “She Loves You yeah, yeah, yeah” and didn’t matter how the money was dispersed among the members and even joked about paying Ringo less if they wanted. It was a two-minute sketch that got a few laughs but thought it was a long shot. Check the video below.
SNL Beatles reunion offer April 1976 – YouTube
Little did Michaels know that John Lennon and Paul McCartney were together that night. Watching the show at Johns’s apartment in the Dakota building in New York. Which is only a mile and a half away from the studios where the program was being broadcast. The two seriously debated going down to the set and performing but in the end, they decided they were too tired. Paul was on a break from his Wings Over America tour, and they had spent the day together and although not confirmed probably indulged in some sweet-smelling cigarettes.
Considering the early cheeky-chappie style of the Beatles it’s not unlikely that they would entertain the idea of performing on SNL rather than at a sold-out stadium. Gave some jokey answers a la “A Hard Day’s Night” or “Help” films and as mentioned before SNL had already reunited one 1960s duo. If the sketch was at the start of the show, then John and Paul probably would have journeyed down to the studio.
Michaels got his wish (sort of) in November when George Harrison appeared on the show and performed “Here Comes the Sun” and did a duet with Paul Simon of “Homeward Bound” by Simon and Garfunkel. There is a cold open (the clip which is aired before the opening credits) to the show in which Harrison and Michaels are haggling over his share of the cheque which can be seen here (apologies not the best quality)
George Harrison on SNL – YouTube
As we all know the megabucks reunion didn’t happen. The something in the way wasn’t money but they didn’t like who was on the bill. Following a man who wrestles sharks is not the way, the Fab Four want to be remembered if this performance was their last. After all, at the heart of it, they were four serious musicians who had changed the music landscape.
The meeting between McCartney and Lennon was the last before Lennon’s life was prematurely cut short when he was murdered in front of the Dakota building. If Lennon had survived it’s easy to think the Beatles may have reformed at one of the Live Aid concerts or performed to coincide with the Anthology series or to celebrate 30 or 40 years of the band. It is easy to speculate what would’ve happened or could’ve happened but it’s equally enjoyable to listen to the band’s quality of work over the years they had together.
The Beat Marches On is a music blog written by Jimmy Whitehead. Jimmy has been blogging for six years specialising in Sports (especially American Football). If you want to follow Jimmy on Twitter: @Jimmy_W1987
The Beat Marches On has a Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/The-Beat-Goes-On-Blog-107727714415791 and a Twitter page: @TheBeatGoesOnB1
Websites used for research are:
How John Lennon and Paul McCartney Almost Reunited on ‘SNL’ (ultimateclassicrock.com)
The (almost) Saturday Night Live Reunion | solobeatles
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