Hello everyone, I'm John Paul Warne . . . born in 1959 when
The Beatles were still known as The Quarrymen!
I was born in Manila, Philippines of a Filipino father (whose
parents were part-American) and a Filipina mother (who was the
daughter of a Spaniard), thus making me Filipino, Spanish, and
American. Already you can see that I'm unique!
Growing up in the exclusive village (San Lorenzo Village), which closely resembled an American town, I made friends with many expatriates from the U.S., Canada, Australia, Japan, and Europe residing in this village. I also was fortunate to have many Filipino friends who could afford to travel at a time when many could not afford to do so. Therefore, I was quite aware of the world outside the Philippines.
I was raised like an American and could just as well have grown up in any American city. I spoke only English and did not really master the native Tagalog dialect until I was 16 years old. In fact, learning how to converse in the native dialect was like learning a second language to me.
My original name was John Anthony Warne. How and when I changed my name will be revealed, later in this story!
The first Beatles song I ever heard was Sir Paul McCartney's "All My Loving," and the version I first heard was not even an original! It was a cover by another British singer, the late Matt Monroe. It was the first song on his album. Even though I was only 5 years old when I heard that song, I loved it! I could find this album by its Parlophone label, and I would put it on the record player and listen to it over and over again.
Then one morning, I saw another album with the Parlophone
label on it, and out of curiosity, I played it! The first tune
I heard was "Love Me Do," followed by "P. S. I
Love You." The album was, of course, "Please Please
Me," the Beatles' first British release. It was the first
Beatles album I had ever seen or heard.
My parents were definitely fans. Late at night before I'd go to
sleep, I'd hear my parents playing the "Please Please Me"
album on their record player, particularly the song, "Do
You Want To Know A Secret?" I liked what I was hearing; I
liked the good feeling it gave me. My mom and dad used to dance
to "Do You Want to Know A Secret?" I can still see them
in our family room, dancing together. That was such a carefree,
happy time!
But as is true for all of us, the years flew by . . . my parents
purchased the "Beatles 65" album and we all played it
over and over. It was the soundtrack of my youth! It was played
as the opening track of my birthday party that year.
About that time, a new television show called "Student Canteen," which featured rock'n'roll acts, became the rage with my friends and me. On one installment of "Student Canteen," I heard a band perform The Beatles' song, "I Should Have Known Better," and I thought it was fantastic! I wanted to hear it on a record!
So, my dad bought me a copy the Parlophone "A Hard Day's Night," thinking that I'd be thrilled. But when I saw the cover photo on the album, I was a little taken aback. I thought The Beatles were girls....for boys in The Philippines were not yet such long hairstyles. I found the photos so odd that I didn't really plan on listening to the record.
But then my dad put "I Should Have Known Better"
on the record player, and it swept me off my feet! From then on,
I was a dyed in the wool Beatles fan. And John Lennon was my favorite!
My dad got me more and more Beatle albums, like the British "With
The Beatles," the US releases of "Meet the Beatles,"
and "A Hard Day's Night," "Rubber Soul" and
"Yesterday and Today." I also had the famous Remco
Beatle dolls as well as the famous Beatles coloring book!
I began telling everyone that when I grew up I wanted to be a
Beatle! Some of my friends laughed at this idea, but many others
seemed to frown at the notion, and some even got offended. Why?
I was confused and hurt by their reactions.
I knew nothing of John Lennon's quote about The Beatles being
"bigger than Jesus." I didn't know his words had been
lifted out of context and abused in the United States. I had vaguely
heard about The Beatles having come to the Philippines and having
supposedly insulted the people of our country, but I didn't know
what had actually transpired. All I knew was that my mother informed
me, "Everybody doesn't like The Beatles anymore." And
I knew that my nanny was eager to report me to my mom whenever
she heard me talking about The Fab Four or trying to listen to
their songs.
Other forms of persecution were not long in coming. At school,
my class advisor warned me to grease up my hair with pomade, or
she'd turn me in to the janitor, who would lock me up in a closet
with the Devil in there! That terrified me.
In the Philippines, it had become almost a sin to even mention
The Fab Four.
Once, when I brought my Remco Beatle dolls to school, an elderly
lady saw them and started beating them up, while another told
me, "You know, that people in Philippines do not like The
Beatles!" I was devastated at the loss of my collectible
dolls.
One of the cousins shouted at me, "I hate Beatles!" And she was my mom's favorite! And that night, instead of defending me, my mother pointed out to me, "You see, your cousins don't like The Beatles! And you shouldn't either!"
I began to wonder . . .
During my summer vacation in 1967, despite protest from friends,
relatives, and teachers, I continued listening to Beatle albums
and to wear my hair in a Beatle cut. But I was alone in my fan-dom.
No one in the Philippines mentioned them anymore. No one played
their records.
I would often ask my nanny, "Where are The Beatles now?"
And she would reply, "The Beatles are in England. And no
one here likes them anymore!"
So for years, the Fab Four were frozen in time for me. I heard
nothing about their progress. I knew nothing about Lennon cutting
his hair to star as a British soldier in a war film called "How
I Won the War." I didn't even know that an album called "Revolver"
existed. And it went without saying that I knew zilch about "Sgt.
Pepper" being released!
I was gradually drifting away from The Beatles without realizing
it. It seemed that talking about The Beatles or listening to or
singing their songs was an offense or a felony, or a big no-no,
something like talking bad about Adolf Hitler during Nazi Germany
or Josef Stalin in the Communist Soviet Union. That's how I felt
at the time.
By the time school resumed for me as a second grader in 1967,
I had decided to put The Fabs behind me. It was not an easy decision,
but it seemed the wisest thing to do. In fact, on the first two
day of school that year, the class advisor told us all, "I
don't want any of you to comb or grow your hair like the hippies
or The Beatles." That was the first time I heard of the word
"Hippie." I wondered what a hippie was, but I knew it
wasn't something good.
So, under the threat of serious repercussions, I gave up The Beatles
and became a fan of Trini Lopez (my parents and I, in fact, saw
him live in concert!), Ray Conniff, and Claudine Longet. And oddly
enough, through their cover songs, a few Beatle compositions still
filtered out to me.
French singer Claudine Longet performed "Good Day Sunshine"
and "When I'm Sixty-Four," singing them both with her
gorgeous French accent. And Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66 covered
"Fool On The Hill." I loved it! I had banished The Beatles
from my vocabulary, but their music still permeated my world.
No one could escape the influence of The Beatles in the 1960's.
Sometime in 1968, my dad and I went to the same House of Stereo where we bought most of our records. There I saw an album cover with four long-haired men, two of them with growing beards. I couldn't believe it when those strange-looking men turned out to be The Beatles. I was shocked.
Later that year, I heard our house-help playing a song called "Hey Jude," and I thought it was fantastic! But when I picked up the record (that had an Apple label) and saw that it was a song by The Beatles, I hurried back to my room to avoid hearing what I felt should not be heard.
But then . . . in late November and early December 1970, a hurricane
struck the Manila area, knocking out electricity for 17 days.
I wasn't able to watch television during that difficult time,
but I could listen to the radio at night. And the station that
I tuned into was playing quite a few Beatle songs, especially
John Lennon's "In My Life." Sitting in total darkness,
and hearing John sing of the past, I became a Beatles fan once
again. In the midst of tragedy, John's powerful lyrics and haunting
tune reached out to me. It brought back such happy memories.
Then, on Sunday, September 16, 1973, I heard an AM radio station
play The Beatles the whole day; it was the time of martial law
in the Philippines, and nothing got played on air without prior
official approval. That's when I realized that The Beatles were
again being appreciated and listened to once again! Suddenly,
no one was mad at them anymore. I was delighted!
I began listening to my old Beatle records. I began catching up
right where I had left off six years earlier. But I still didn't
know that The Beatles had dissolved until December 1973 when a
classmate mentioned that he liked a band called "Wings,"
led by Paul McCartney.
"Led by Paul McCartney?" I asked him. "How can he do that while he's in the Beatles?"
"What?" my friend looked at me in shock. "The
Beatles are all split up! Where have you been?" I was speechless.
But like so many other Beatles fans, the loss of the actual band
did not curb my enthusiasm for their music. I began buying and
collecting all the Beatles (and solo) albums available, and I
started combing my hair forward in a moptop once again. By 1980,
I started wearing Lennon glasses.
On the afternoon of December 9, 1980, I brought a Beatles magazine
into school and was showing it to the teacher when one of the
other students whispered something to her and the teacher replied
in shock, "What? John Lennon . . . dead?" I thought
that this classmate was playing a cruel prank on me because I
was a Beatles fan but only hours later, upon returning home, my
mom met me at the door and confirmed the dreaded news. John was
gone.
I turned on the television, and watched the tragic events around
the Dakota. This became one of my saddest Christmases and New
Years, though of course I was not alone. But those who shared
my grief were nowhere near me! That's when I began to think about
immigrating to the United States.
The next few months were anything but happy for me. People teased
me left and right, laughing at John's death. One jerk of a college
classmate told me I should also be dead because I carried Lennon's
first name. I informed him that my name was also the same as the
Pope's, and he curtly answered, "What do you care? Your religion
is Lennonism!"
My life in the Philippines became one of persecution. One college
acquaintance accosted me with his belief that John Lennon was
"damned in hell for posing naked on the day he died. "
(For the Rolling Stone cover photo.) Really, no one shared
my grief. I felt so isolated.
When I first visited the United States from April 25th till May
15th, 1981, I felt as if "I belonged." I felt that I
had found the place that was right for me. I knew that immigrating
to the U.S. wouldn't be easy. And it wasn't. In fact, it turned
out to be a tremendously long wait! My dad (who immigrated to
the U.S. on July 20, 1982) could not bring me with him as his
dependent because I was over the age limit. I didn't get my immigrant
visa until May 1994!
Now, for the first time in my life, I was surrounded by other
Beatles fans and Beatle friends! I attended my first Mark Lapidos
Beatlefest in late November 1996 in Burlingame, CA, close to San
Francisco, and met George Harrison's sister, Louise.
By June 2000, I got to finally attend a solo Beatle concert: Ringo
Starr's!!! This was at the Villa Montalvo Winery in Saratoga near
San Jose in the San Francisco Bay Area. And when I became a
U.S. citizen on August 22, 2001, I added "Paul" to my
name, in Sir Paul's honor.
In August 2005, I saw Pete Best in concert for the first time
in Campbell, CA. The opening act was the Bay Area Beatle tribute
band, The Sun Kings, and I was really impressed with their Lennon
impersonator, Drew Harrison!
But the biggest event of that year occurred on November 8, 2005, when Sir Paul performed at the Hewlett-Packard Pavilion in San Jose, and I was there! Not only was I there . . . but I was close enough to be seen by him. I waved at him (way too many times) and he noticed me and waved back at me (also too many times)!!
In early July 2007, I went to the Las Vegas Fest for Beatles Fans and met Gordon Harrison Caldwell, son of his sister Louise, as well as three Wings, Denny Laine, Denny Seiwell, and Laurence Juber.
I also met Sam Leach, an early Beatles promoter, and Paul Saltzman, the Canadian who was with The Beatles in India.
From time to time, I have returned, temporarily, to the Philippines. And their views on The Beatles have finally changed for the better. In fact, when I lived there from 2002 till 2004, I began guest hosting in two Beatle programs: one at DZRJ and the other on DZSR Sports Radio ("MidEvening With the Beatles/Fabcasting With The Moptop"). It is miraculous to me that not only can I finally admit to being a Beatles fan in the Philippines these days, I can also openly host a radio program about them. Things have certainly changed!
One of my greatest honors during my broadcasting years was interviewing
one of The Quarrymen, Rod Davis, on air. Rod was amazed that in
spite of what happened in the Philippines "all those years
ago," The Beatles were now welcome there.
I was amazed as well, and I am happy to finally be able to visit the place where I was born without fear of persecution. My life as a Beatles fan has been a very torturous long and winding road. But honestly, I wouldn't trade it for anything. It has taught me bravery and tenacity; it has taught me to stand up for what I believe. And most of all, it has encouraged me to be unique.
If we ever run into one another at a Fest for Beatles Fans,
please introduce yourself and stop and chat with me. I love to
talk about The Beatles, "any time at all."
THE MOPTOP
John Paul Warne
U. S. Citizen
