Legendary record producer & manager Peter Asher
7/7/202646 min
Asher remembers when Paul McCartney and John Lennon played “I Want to Hold Your Hand” for him for the first time. “I thought, am I losing my mind, or is this one of the best songs I've ever heard in my life?” McCartney, who was dating Asher’s sister at the time, was living with his family. A new documentary, ‘Peter Asher: Everywhere Man,’ chronicles Asher’s life in the record industry. He spoke with Terry Gross about his own band in the British Invasion (Peter and Gordon), discovering James Taylor and launching Linda Ronstadt.
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First 90 secondsSpeaker 10:00
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Terry Gross· Host0:14
This is Fresh Air. I'm Terry Gross. One of the successful British Invasion bands of the '60s was the duo Peter and Gordon. Peter is my guest Peter Asher, who later became a famous record producer. The first record Peter and Gordon released became a number one hit in England and the U.S. That song, A World Without Love, was written by Paul McCartney for The Beatles. But John Lennon didn't like it, so Paul put it away until Peter asked to record it. Paul had been living in the Asher family home where Peter, his sisters, and his parents lived. We'll hear why a little later. It's a great story. So here's A World Without Love from 1964.
Speaker 3· Soundbite0:54
Please lock me away. And don't allow the day. Here inside where I hide with my loneliness. I don't care what they say. I won't stay in a world without love. Birds sing out of tune. And rain clouds hide the moon. I'm okay. Here I'll stay with my loneliness.