On This Day, February 9, 1964…
The Beatles made their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, which was their first exposure to an American audience.
The band performed the songs “All My Loving,” “Till There Was You,” and “She Loves You” and then later returned to perform “I Saw Her Standing There” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand.”
The performance was seen by a then-record 73 million viewers, and helped Sullivan top the nightly ratings for the first time in seven years.
The show is considered one of the seminal moments in pop culture and launched Beatlemania in America.
In November, The Beatles dropped their final song, “Now and Then,” featuring vocals John Lennon recorded on a demo in the late ’70s along with new recordings from Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, and guitar parts George Harrison recorded in the ’90s during the sessions for their Anthology series. The tune debuted in the top 10 in the U.S. and at #1 in the U.K.
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