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I Was Paul
A Personal Remembrance
"Till There Was You"
In 1964, I was performing in a group called the East Orange Variety Players
in New Jersey which put on free variety shows for handicapped people
in hospitals and senior health care facilities.
One of the things we did was a medley of songs
sung by the Beatles. When our group director decided
who would sing several Beatles songs,
I was chosen to be Paul McCartney.
Three other friends played the other Beatles: Bob played John,
Martin was George, and Raphael was Ringo --
and he was just like that animated drummer.
For my part, I especially liked the song that Paul had recorded,
"Till There Was You"
from THE MUSIC MAN musical. So I lip-synched that song. We also did a few
other Beatles songs and the one that got the biggest response
was "She Loves You." That song always made the audience happy with big
smiles on their faces. Many of them were in wheelchairs or on crutches.
It was a real joy to act like the Beatles,with our fake wigs and non-electric guitars, some even with no strings!!
That didn't matter to the audience since we were bringing themjoy with some fun recorded music.
Because our Beatles tribute made those hospital patients happy,
I was happy too --
because I got to impersonate Paul, my favorite Beatle,who was born the same year as me.
"The Soho Serenade"
A few years earlier I wrote the words to a new song.
I was thinking of the London district I had visited
when on leave from my Army duties while stationed
at Rhein Main Air Base in Frankfurt, Germany.
I was also thinking of the early Beatles hit records:
"Love Me Do" and "Please Please Me."
At that time I was dating an English girl by the name of Sadie.
I dedicated the song to her. She was thrilled to receive
the melody and words and said she would try to find a group
to perform my song when she returned to England.
I guess she never found that group. At least she never mentioned it
in her many letters she wrote me after returning to England.
As far as I know, “The Soho Serenade” was never sung in England.
After I returned to the U.S. in 1963, I prepared a lead sheet
of "The Soho Serenade" and it was copyrighted in 1964.
That was the same year The Beatles appeared for the first time in America
on The Ed Sullivan TV Show.
The following year I went to a recording studio in Bloomfield, NJ
and had a demo record made of my song.
The song was nicely sung by a talented young singer, Ethel Regan
with a nice small combo accompanying her.
After I had the demo tape I went to New York City
and went to the same recording studio where The Four Seasons recorded
their songs.
Moving ahead fifty years later...
when preparing my newest CD, I decided to include
"The Soho Serenade" as recorded on the demo tape back in 1965.
It is now available for the first time on this AMRC album:
Now you can listen to "The Soho Serenade" on YouTube -- here
I thank Paul McCartney for his popularity and letting me be him
as I lip-synched the songs he sang back in the early 1960s.
So Paul, if you ever get to see this web page, I say to you ---
My sincere thanks, mate!
-- Roger Lee Hall, former singer-songwriter
Read about his early songwriting days in his music memoir:
"Free As The Breeze" - A Songwriter's Joys and Sorrows
Another memoir book by Roger Lee Hall
"Dream World" -
Songs, Poems and Stories
"Please, Please Me" - Memories of The Beatles
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Center for American Music Preservation (CAMP)
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