Billy J Kramer on The Beatles, Brian Epstein and the rejection of Yesterday

It may seem odd that the Beatles were giving hit songs to others while trying to score hits themselves. But the cultural melting pot of Liverpool provided the duo with an opportunity to hone their songwriting skills. “At the time, John and Paul were very keen on being known as songwriters. I think that was how they saw their future,” says Kramer.

Epstein was “intelligent,” “courteous” and “a gentleman,” Kramer says. He takes issue with the claim in Peter Brown and Steven Gaines’ Beatles biography, The Love You Make, that Epstein, who was gay, had a “crush” on Kramer. “I really resent the fact that the only thing people want to talk about is the gay side,” he says. “Brian never seemed that way to me. I’ll be honest with you, it must have been a terrible thing to be gay at the time” — homosexuality was illegal until 1967 — “to me, that was a side of him he kept to himself.”

On one occasion, Kramer felt Lennon’s famous temper. In McCartney’s 21^st birthday party at the bassist’s aunt’s house in Huyton in June 1963, a furious Lennon stormed out of the house after a row with DJ Bob Wooler. “John, his temper flaring, came out onto the marquee. He came up to me and the girl I was with and tried to grab her breasts,” Kramer wrote. “I told him to get out, and he tried to punch me. He started yelling, ‘Get out of my way, Kramer, you’re nothing and we’re the best!’” He bundled the reinvigorated Beatle into a taxi.

In 1964, after another top five hit with Lennon and McCartney’s I’ll Keep You Satisfied, Kramer was worried about being typecast. So he turned down the duo’s One And One Is Two to record Little Children by two American writers. “I thought I couldn’t hang on their coattails forever,” Kramer explains. Little Children was another number one and was dislodged by the Beatles’ Can’t Buy Me Love. The following year, after another hit and success for Lennon and McCartney with Trains and Boats and Planes, McCartney made him a tempting offer.