The Beatles 'sang rude lyrics' during their gigs - find out how they got away with it

20 March 2020, 18:33 | Updated: 6 October 2023, 10:42

The Beatles reportedly 'sang explicit lyrics' during their gigs
The Beatles reportedly 'sang explicit lyrics' during their gigs. Picture: PA

By Rory O'Connor

The Beatles "sang explicit lyrics" during their gigs, it has been revealed in a new autobiography.

The band got away with it due to their fans' deafening screams drowning them out, it has been claimed.

In a new autobiography titled The Ox: The Last of the Great Rock Stars, late Who bassist John Entwistle recalled how the band changed their lyrics during dhows.

John, who died in 2002, claimed The Beatles changed the line in 1964's 'A Hard Day's Night' to "It’s Been A Hard Day’s C**k" and used another C word on 'I Wanna Hold Your Hand'.

The Who's John Entwistle
The Who's John Entwistle. Picture: PA

The Who supported The Beatles in Blackpool in 1964, when Beatlemania was huge.

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The book reads: "It became apparent that The Beatles had figured that since the screaming couldn’t be stopped and no one out front in the audience could possibly hear a thing, then they might as well have some fun.

Th Beatles in 1965
Th Beatles in 1965. Picture: PA

"Soon, the four of us were crying with laughter at words they were singing and which only we were able to pick up on, ‘It’s been a hard day’s c**k...’ ‘I wanna hold your c***...’"

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The Beatles' songs were often banned by the BBC, most notably 1967's 'A Day in the Life' and 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds', because of drug references and 'I Am the Walrus', which features the line, "You let your knickers down".