Rare Beatles’ butcher comes knocking

Local store’s namesake has links to controversial Beatles album cover. Beatle butchers pasted over after tidal wave of complaints sends Capital Records scrambling in 1966.

By Tom Peterson

The infamous “butcher” cover was hated when it was first distributed in 1966, said Mark Thomas, owner of Yesterday & Today Music in The Dalles.

Thomas is an epic Beatles fan, even naming his music store after this controversial album The Beatles Yesterday And Today.

But the Beatles, hated?

Thomas said the albums were burned in the bible belt.

But why?

The cover artwork featured the Beatles in butcher smocks, with baby dolls and raw meat.

“They got so many complaints, Capital recalled the (750,000) albums and pasted a new slick to the front cover,” Thomas said. The new cover features John, Paul, Gorge and Ringo around a steamer trunk.

Yawn.

But a few butchers were purchased before the switch, making them highly collectible and valuable. 

So, when Thomas had five come through his door a year ago, he bought 'em all.

“The cover was just too much for 1966,” Thomas said, noting people read too much into it as being some sort of statement from the Fab Four. 

“It was the photographer's idea, and The Beatles just went with it,” he said.

A 1970s Rolling Stone article was published about the rare cover, and prices shot through the roof.

It went to $300 or $400 for the album, Thomas said. That’s around $2,500 in today's money. 

Not bad for a B-sides compilation record. However, a Beatles B-side included Drive My Car, Yesterday, and We Can Work It Out.

“I was 35 the first time I ever got one in my hands,” he said. 

And now he’s got several. 

Mark Thomas at home at Yesterday & Today new and used music in downtown The Dalles.

The butcher image was taken by Robert Whitaker, a 26-year-old Australian photographer who had a dark sense of humor and a love of surreal art. 

“I got fed up with taking squeaky-clean pictures of the Beatles, and I thought I’d revolutionize what pop idols are,” he told author Jon Savage who published the quote in his book 1966: The Year the Decade Exploded

Click here to take a tour of Mark’s Store Yesterday & Today Music at 414, E. Second, The Dalles.