Urban Legends -- Nazi Beatles (All Lies)

The Legend

Collected on the Internet in January 2009

Apple is going to be adding songs by The Beatles to the iTunes store later this year. This has to be stopped!

You might think that they are progressive and innovative and cool, but the truth is that The Beatles are completely un-American! First of all, they are British -- which isn't American at all! Second, Paul McCartney is a vegetarian -- gross! And lastly, they aren't even original at all -- they're based on a 1940's era secret German Nazi rock band, The Reichtles!

Just look at the titles of some of the Reichtles songs: "Happiness Is a Warm Gun," "Back in the USSR," "Yellow Unterseeboot," "With a Little Help from the French," and the horribly offensive "Hey Jew." Sound familiar? Add this to the fact that German President Hindenburg was commonly known as "The Walrus," and there's no debating the point!

Boycott Apple! Boycott The Beatles! Defeat Hitler! Again!

Behind the Legend

This one is just silly. The Beatles were not, in any way, influenced by The Reichtles -- a Nazi-youth quartet that achieved some small measure of popularity with cover versions of popular songs (such as "Roll Over Wagner," "Adolf B. Goode," and "Poland (That's What I Want).") Although the Reichtles went on to write some of their own music, they never achieved significant popularity, eventually breaking up after one of their members formed an alliance with Japan.

Some have suggested the titles of Reichtles songs are too similar to Beatles' titles for it to be a coincidence. So, to put the rumors to rest, let's take a look at actual Reichtles lyrics and see if they have any similarity to Beatles lyrics:

In a beer hall back in '23,
Adolf Hitler organized the free.
He was going in and out of jail,
But Mein Kampf made all the fascists smile.
So may I introduce to you,
The act that you will love to fear,
Adolf Hitler's Nazi Youth Club Band.

We're Adolf Hitler's Nazi Youth Club Band,
If you hear protests let us know.
Adolf Hitler's Nazi Youth Club Band,
Sit back and watch your neighbors go.
Adolf Hitler's mighty, Adolf Hitler's manly,
Adolf Hitler's Nazi Youth Club Band.

It's wonderful to march here,
And rioting's a thrill,
You're such a loyal audience,
We'd like you to join up with us,
(Not like you have a choice).

I don't really want to start a war,
But all Europe should be ours once more.
We'll give everyone a stein of beer,
And we'll rule you for a thousand years.
Now let me introduce to you,
The one and only Heinrich Himmler,
And Adolf Hitler's Nazi Youth Club Band!

Anyone with even a little bit of music-history knowledge can immediately see that these lyrics have almost nothing in common with most Beatles songs. There's just no resemblance. And what's with all the references to Hitler? Aside from a single back-masked reference in "Revolution 9," the Beatles hardly mentioned Hitler at all.

Face it: The Beatles are just as American as The Rolling Stones, The Bee Gees, The Police, and Billy Idol. No Nazi German influence here.

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