“If two things are two sides of the same coin, they are very closely related although they seem different” – The Cambridge Dictionary
[Source] As one might guess, the name of the world’s most successful (Hotten) band in history – the Beatles – does not completely incidentally sound so similar to that of the influential group of writers that called themselves the Beat Generation. What one might not guess, however, is how manifold and deeply rooted their connections are. It must be said from the outset that there are multiple stories surrounding the origin of the Beatles’ name. Stuart Sutcliffe, the so-called ‘fifth Beatle’, who was a study friend of John Lennon and only a part of the first beginnings of what would later become the Beatles, suggested they call themselves ‘the Beatals’ in January 1960, as a tribute to the then famous rock ‘n’ roll band Buddy Holly and the Crickets. In the months that followed this name changed to ‘the Silver Beetles’ (May), ‘the Silver Beatles’ (July), and eventually ‘the Beatles’ (August) (Lewisohn 18-22). John Lennon himself in 1961, before their enormous success came about, already rejected every notion of a ‘meaning’ behind the name:
Many people ask what are Beatles? Why Beatles? Ugh, Beatles, how did the name arrive? So we will tell you. It came in a vision – a man appeared on a flaming pie and said unto them, ‘From this day on you are Beatles with an ‘A’’. Thank you, Mister Man, they said, thanking him. (qtd. in Coupe 131)
Despite this rather whimsical account, we do have reason to believe that the name of the Beat Generation also played a part in the decision of the Beatles’ final spelling. As Coupe continues, “[f]laming pies aside, we may say that the transition from ‘Beetles’ to ‘Beatles’ must have meant to suggest that Lennon’s group was at the very least a ‘beat’ group” (131). Simon Warner, too, in his amusingly titled book Text, Drugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll: The Beats and Rock Culture, argues that “we have strong suggestions that the group adopted the very spelling of their name as a result of a conversation between John Lennon and Liverpool Beat poet Royston Ellis” (37). Coupe, again, confirms this. In 1960, he says, “the Silver Beetles […] became friends with one Royston Ellis, a pop music journalist who was gaining a reputation as a Beat style poet. Not long after that came the change of name to ‘Beatles’” (133). Perhaps the most convincing argument for the influence of the Beat writers on the naming of the Beatles, however, comes from an alleged phone call between John Lennon and Jack Kerouac. Ellis Ambum describes this moment in her work Subterranean Kerouac: the hidden life of Jack Kerouac: “John Lennon subsequently contacted Kerouac, revealing that the band’s name was derived from ‘Beat.’ ‘He was sorry he hadn’t come to see me when they played Queens,’ Kerouac said, referring to the Beatles Shea Stadium concert in 1965” (342).
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