The Beaters Anthology

On February 1, 2004, The Beaters were informed by Snape that 'I Want to Kiss Your Hand' had reached number one in America, thereby becoming their first number one single in America (interestingly, the single also reached number one in wizarding America). Six days later, the Fabulous Four arrived at JFK airport and were greeted by 5,000 screaming fans (another 5,000 accidentally went to La Guardia). There were so many fans awaiting their arrival that the four lads thought someone else, such as the President, was landing at the same time. Two days later on February 9, the boys appeared on the Ed O'Sullivan Show in New York, with an estimated television audience of seventy-three million people. The Beaters performed five songs that night: "All My Complaining," "Till There Was Me," "She Loves Me," "I Saw Her Eating There," and "I Want to Kiss Your Hand." Seamus talks about the arrival in New York in an interview from 2004:

"We figured we'd have to work our way into America, but they were big fans before we even came over... I'd never seen so many people. Not even on TV. Well, okay, maybe I have... Anyway, there were a lot of fans there [at JFK]. We nearly went deaf. The [Ed O'Sullivan] show wasn't nearly as loud. Of course there weren't as many people. Ed O'Sullivan was a real nice guy, though I don't think he liked our music; I could see him holding his hands over his ears as we played. He claims he had swimmer's ear, but who goes swimming in February?..."

Two days later, the four lads were taken down to Washington, D.C. to play at the Washington Coliseum. They played to seven thousand screaming fans and could barely be heard over the din. Harry, in an interview from 2012, describes what happened:

"They were deafeningly loud. Snape told us afterward that we could have used some sort of charm or something to block out the clamor. It was very thoughtful of him, telling us after the fact... We couldn't hear each other, so we had to play the songs in our heads to keep on time. Even then, we ended at different times. Like we were playing 'She Loves Me'; I finish the song and I looked around me and saw that Seamus and Oliver had stopped too, but Ron was still playing. I tapped him on the shoulder and shouted, 'Ron! Song's done!' He looked at me and shouted back, 'Okay, let's move on to "She Loves Me"!'..."

After D.C., The Beaters played at two sold-out concerts at Carnegie Hall. At the same time, Billbroad magazine was posting, for the first time ever, five singles and three albums from the same group; this group was The Beaters.

On February 16, The Beaters returned to the Ed O'Sullivan Show, playing six songs to an estimated seventy-five million people; the largest TV audience on record. Because of their huge popularity in America, the boys were interviewed a lot more. Oliver talks about the reporters in America from an interview in 2020:

"You hear everywhere that the British reporters are the toughest, so we figured that America would be no problem. We were right. The question we got the most from the reporters was, 'Where did you get your name?' Well, of course the name is from the Quidditch position, but you can't go and say that to Muggle interviewers. So when Harry was asked this question, he came up with this weird story:

"'Well, I tell it to you. We were walking along the road one day and this man came to us on a flaming bicycle. He crashed into a tree or something, and we went over to him and he was dead. So we dressed up in his clothes and went to his house and pretended to be him. Nobody noticed that we were in disguise. So we alternated playing the role of this guy, until one day when Oliver was masquerading. Well, Oliver is allergic to peppers, and stuffed peppers happened to be this guy's favorite food. So when the guy's wife served Oliver this stuffed pepper, he decided to run away.'

"Then the reporter would get all confused and ask, 'How did that inspire the name "The Beaters"?' Then Harry would say, 'Well, when you've got nothing better to do all day, your mind dwells upon thoughts of band names.' After he did this a few times, people stopped asking us what our name meant..."

On March 1, The Beaters were honored with wax effigies of them being placed on display in Madame Taxonomy's Wax Museum in London. They were the first pop group to have that honor. In an interview from 2004, Ron describes what it was like to have a wax figure of himself and the other three in the museum:

"When we saw it, we were all freaked out. I mean, they were identical to us. They were so real looking that we accidentally took the one of Seamus home with us and left Seamus at the museum..."

The next day, the group traveled to Paddington Station to begin filming of their as-of-then unnamed movie. The movie, which was directed by American filmmaker Richard Listerine, showed the Fabulous Four running from overly-enthusiastic fans, touring with Ron's on-screen 'grandfather', and making the witty comments that they were so famous for.

In mid-March, a new single, "Can't Buy Me More Money/You May Not Do That", came out in America (one of the only singles to come out in the US before being released in Britain), reaching number one in the US and UK in a little over a week. Also released around this time was Harry's book, entitled "In My Own, Right?", which featured short, humorous stories that Harry had written over the years. Harry, in an interview from 2005, talks about his book:

"I wrote all of the stories on a little typewriter. A lot of the stories date back to my childhood and teen years, when my most prolific writing occurred. I wouldn't have much of a book if it was all written recently; I've been too busy touring. In my off time, I'm either eating, making a new song, or locking myself in the bathroom to go to sleep. I don't have much time for writing..."

In early April, The Beaters had accomplished something never done before: they occupied the top five slots in Billbroad's Top 100 list. The songs were "Can't Buy Me More Money," "Twist 'n' Scream," "She Loves Me," "I Wanna Kiss Your Hand," and "Please Beat Me".

On April 23, Harry received the UK Literary Prize for his book. His acceptance speech was two sentences: "Thank you all so very much. Where are the refreshments?" That same week, Harry's book was released in the US.

In early June, The Beaters began a world tour of seventy-seven performances that would last until November. The tour would take them to such places as Denmark, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, America, England, and Scotland (Snape also had arranged for them to play in the Soviet Union, only to discover that it had been dissolved in 1991).

On July 6, The Beater's movie, entitled "A Hard Day's Beat", premiered in London. The premier was attended by The Beaters as well as by Prince Charles and his sons, William and Harry, and Sir Reginald, Duke of Chutney. Seamus, in an interview from 2010, tells us about the time:

"It was pretty great. You have royalty and all this watching your movie... The whole movie, you're looking at yourself going, 'Oh, look at that ear; look at that nose...' You become so self-conscience that you can't enjoy the movie... Another thing about the movie is that I came into contact with my future-wife, Lavender Brown, during the filming. We had known each other during Hogwarts, but I never really took notice of her. In the movie, she played the part of a stewardess or something on the train. Ron goes up to her and a group of girls and says something, and then Ron's 'grandfather' comes along and says 'Don't let them fool you ladies, these lads are really freaks on their way to the circus.' Then Lavender says, 'Freaks?' Then she screams and jumps out the window... I bugged her so much for a date afterward that she finally went out with me, and we soon fell in love..."

Harry also talks about the movie from an interview in 2011:

"It was funny how we came up with that title. You see, we didn't even make the song or anything until we were almost done filming. We got back to the hotel or whatever after a long day of shooting, and Oliver sits down on the couch and says 'Boy, it was a hard day.' Then, for some reason beyond our mortal understanding, Seamus came in dressed up in a police uniform, and Oliver strung on the end of his sentence, ''s beat.' So I said, 'Hmm... A hard day's beat...' And that was the birth of that song and the title of the movie... I wrote the song all by myself; the only reason Ron sings the bridge is because I couldn't reach the high notes. That's very much like me: going and writing a song and I can't even sing..."

The lyrics of the song are as follows:

It's been a hard day's beat

Oh, baby, ain't it neat?

Walking down the street

All day.

But the whole day through

I never saw you

You made me a fool

Okay.

It's been a hard day's beat,

I'm kind of slow on my feet,

And I nearly took the heat

Today.

Oh, I've been on my rounds,

Been running all over town,

Please don't let me down

Today.

Well, you know I got down on my knees

And I looked into the sky so blue

And I said, 'Oh, does she still love me?'

'Cause I really love you, yeah, I really need you!

(Guitar Solo)

Oh, I've been on my rounds,

Been running all over town,

Please don't let me down

Today.

Well, you know I got down on my knees

And I looked into the sky so blue

And I said, 'Oh, does she still love me?'

'Cause I really love you, yeah, I really need you!

It's been a hard day's beat

Baby, ain't it neat?

Walking down the street

All day.

But the whole day through

I never saw you

You made me a fool

Okay. Okay. Okay!

A few days after the film was released, the album of the same name was released. 'A Hard Day's Beat' became the first of The Beaters' albums to have every song originally written (every song on the album was made by Potter/Weasley). The British album is much different from the American album; while the British album contains six songs not in the movie, the American version only contains the songs in the film with four instrumental pieces. Also, the single "A Hard Day's Beat/Things We Eat Today" came out and reached number one in both America and Britain. The film 'A Hard Day's Beat' was released in America on August 11.

By September, Beatermania had spread so violently through the world that many countries tried to curb the rising popularity of the Fabulous Four. Beater haircuts were banned by the government in Indonesia. Collar-less suit jackets, as the Beaters wore, were banned in Fiji. Hungary banned Rickenbacker guitars (the same kind that Harry and Seamus used), and they also banned Gretsch electric guitars (as Seamus had used on the Ed O'Sullivan Show). Also, in Iraq, matchbooks with images of The Beaters on them were banned and burned in the streets in huge bonfires. But that didn't quell Beatermania in the least.

In October, while on tour in New York, a knock came at the boy's hotel door. Harry opened it to reveal Bob Dylan, old and frail. From an interview in 2019, Ron describes the visit from the legendary rock star:

"He came in and sat down, and we just stood there looking at him in silence for a few minutes. Then Harry said, 'Bob, what are you doing here? Aren't you dead yet?' The old man shook his head and laughed, if that's what you'd call it. He then pulled a small orange and white box out of his jacket and said, 'Want some?' As soon as I saw what he was holding, I kind of fell back a little. He had a box of Goldfish crackers.

"After a few minutes of silence, Dylan said, 'What's wrong? You've had Goldfish before, haven't you?' We stupidly shook our heads. He explained that in the song 'I Want to Kiss Your Hand' he heard the lyrics 'I get cheesed.' Harry explained the lyrics were actually 'I feel fine,' (obviously, Bob's age had taken a toll on his hearing).

"He said, 'Go on, take some.' He poured a few out in Harry's hands. Harry quickly nibbled on one, then passed the rest to Oliver, who ate the whole handful in one gulp. He soon got the giggles from it all. Bob gave us some more, and we reluctantly tried them. As soon as I ate the crunchy critters, a feeling of warmth spread throughout my body, and I started to think that everything was funny. For example, Bob tried to get up, but fell down, and we all laughed our heads off. Then Oliver tried to get his drumsticks so he could play a rhythm on the old man's head, but he couldn't find them, so we laughed our heads off about that. Then Harry said, 'I wonder what Parvati and James are doing right now...' and we all got the giggles from that. Bob finally said he had to go, and he slowly left the room. He left the box of Goldfish with us; bless his heart..."

While they didn't improve the group's songwriting, Goldfish crackers would indeed prove to be an influence on The Beaters' work.

Also in October, Snape released a book he had written called 'A Dungeon Full of Noise.' The memoirs in the book described the beginnings of The Beaters and Snape's experiences as their manager. The book was first released in wizarding Britain, then it was edited to suit Muggle readers and released in Muggle Britain.

In November, CBS aired the television special "What's Happening? The Beaters in the USA". The film documented the Fabulous Four's visit to America in February 2004. It showed clips from their appearances on the Ed O'Sullivan Show as well as scenes from their concerts in Washington, D.C. and New York. Also, on November 24, The Beaters taped their last performance for the BBC's "Ready, Steady, Hold It!"

At the tail-end of November, The Beaters released a new single, 'I Feel Grand/She's a Girl'. The single reached number one in the UK and US by early December. Also in early December, The Beater's fourth album, 'Beaters On Sale, Aisle Five' came out in the UK (a different album using the same cover called 'Beaters 2005' was released in America) .

Additionally at this time, Snape had arranged for a second Beaters' movie to come out, directed by Richard Listerine once again. The movie was set to start filming in February in the Bahamas.

Two-thousand four had proved to be a very packed year for The Beaters. Harry summed it all up in an interview from 2015:

"I felt like I was made out of lead by December. We conquered America, toured the world, took Goldfish, made a few more number one records, made two albums, a movie, and we were ready to make another movie. Very hectic. But it was also the height of our songwriting at that point. We had developed very good skills by then: Seamus and I on our Rickenbackers made a trademark sound, Ron and his Hofner coupled with Oliver and his rock solid drumming gave us the beat and backbone. But around this time, all of us thrown into this huge popularity, we were starting to wonder if it would last much longer. I mean, I'd wake up some mornings and say 'Is this really happening? It's too good to be real,'..."

Right after The Beaters' invasion of America in 2004 in another interview, Harry answers the question about how long he thinks the Beaters will last:

"Well, you can be big-headed about it and say, 'Yeah, we'll last ten years,' and then you turn around and say, 'Man, we'll be lucky if we last three months,'..."