LL-L "Songs" 2007.05.31 (04) [E]

[Lowlands-L List]

L O W L A N D S - L  -  31 May 2007 - Volume 04

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From: "list at marcusbuck.org" <list at marcusbuck.org>
Subject: LL-L "Songs" 2007.05.31 (03) [E]

From: Karl-Heinz Lorenz <Karl-Heinz.Lorenz at gmx.net>
> Subject: LL-L "Songs" 2007.05.29 (02) [E]
>
> Ron, you wrote
>> (If I remember correctly, it's were the Star
>> Club was in which the Beetles started their career.)
>
> The Beatles' first studio recording where done in Hamburg featering Tony
> Sheridan and Bert Kaempfert as a producer (btw another ae, but this is
> definitely alternatively for a Umlaut ä, not a Dehnungs e, as it's a
> [high-]german name and was changed by Kaempfert himself, see:
> http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bert_Kaempfert).
>
> The Beatles had to change their name into Beat-Brothers according to
English
> wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Sheridan :
>
> " ... The word "Beatles" was judged to sound too similar to the German
> "Pidels" (pronounce peedles), the plural of a slang term for penis, hence
> the album was credited to "Tony Sheridan and The Beat Brothers"..."
>
> Is this translation/interpretation of "Pidel/Pidel" correct, because the
> German wiki doesn't mention this.
>
> Greetings,
> Karl-Heinz

It's more commonly written "Piedel", but yes, it's a German slang term
for penis (northern German and Low Saxon too). But I can't imagine
they really thought "Beatles" sounded like "Piedels"... They sound
close, but cause of the difference between b and p and d and t not
close enough to be associated. Unless the Beatles performed in (the
Bundesland of) Saxony, where b/p and t/d are articulated the same (but
I guess they don't know the word "Piedel" there).

Marcus Buck
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