Paul McCartney Dared John Lennon to Tell a Royal Audience to 'Rattle Their Jewelry' at The Beatles
If you were looking for a Beatle who respected the British royal family and could be counted on to say the right thing at the right time, John Lennon wasn’t your guy. Over the years, John made it clear he wasn’t gunning for a knighthood, starting with the return of his MBE to Queen Elizabeth in 1969.
But even in the pre-Beatlemania days, John wanted to get a few shots in when the Fab Four played the Royal Variety Show of 1963. “I cracked a joke on stage,” he said in Anthology. “I was fantastically nervous, but I wanted to say something to rebel a bit, and that was the best I could do.”
Before diving into “Twist and Shout,” John calmly approached the microphone and requested some help from the audience. “Would the people in the cheapest seats clap your hands,” he said. “And the rest of you, if you’d just rattle your jewelry.”
Source: cheatsheet.com
