Beatles News
The Beatles' early singles really catapulted the band into superstardom in the early 1960s.
And, during their journey, no song was bigger for them than the 1963 single She Loves You.
However, when they were in the recording studio, they had a lot of work to do to get it on the airwaves.
While writing and recording the track with their producer, George Martin, the boss wasn't happy about a final alteration George Harrison made to the song.
Harrison included a sixth interval chord at the end of the track, changing the feel of the final moments of the song. And Martin hated how it sounded.
Paul McCartney came to his pal's defence, however, noting that She Loves You would not be a finished song without it.
"It was corny," he said. "[Martin] thought we were joking. But it didn’t work without it, so we kept it in and eventually he was convinced.
Source: Callum Crumlish/express.co.uk
John Lennon once accidentally took LSD. When they realized he was on a roof alone, Paul McCartney and George Harrison raced to help him.John Lennon frequently used LSD, but one trip was so dangerous that Paul McCartney and George Harrison rushed to help him. Lennon accidentally took the drug during a recording session. He stepped onto the roof for fresh air and remained up there alone. When McCartney and Harrison realized this, they were terrified, knowing Lennon could have easily stepped off the roof.In a recording session for the song “Getting Better,” Lennon took what he thought was an amphetamine to keep him energized. Soon, though, he realized he’d actually taken LSD. He told Martin he felt sick, and the producer, completely unaware that Lennon had taken anything, took him to the roof for fresh air.
Source: Emma McKee/cheatsheet.com
George Harrison had a more critical views of some of The Beatles' albums than John Lennon did, at least in retrospect.
George Harrison liked The Beatles’ albums Rubber Soul and Revolver. He was not a fan of other albums like Yellow Submarine, Yesterday and Today, and Please Please Me. John Lennon had his own take on the band’s discography.
George Harrison said each of The Beatles’ albums had highlights. Despite this, he had some harsh words for a few of the Fab Four’s records. On the other hand, John Lennon said he liked some of the band’s albums more over time.
The book George Harrison on George Harrison: Interviews and Encounters includes an interview from 1977. In it, George was asked which of The Beatles’ albums he revisited. “I liked when we got into Rubber Soul, Revolver — each album had something good about it and progressed,” he said.
George wasn’t a fan of every Beatles album. “There were albums which weren’t any good as far as I was concerned, like Yellow Submarine,” he said. “We put all the songs together into an album form — I’m talking about the English albums now, because the States we found later that for every two albums we had, they’d made three because we put fourteen tracks on an album, and we’d also have singles that weren’t included on albums in those days. They’d put the singles — take off a bunch of tracks, change all the running order and then they’d make new packages like Yesterday and Today, just awful packages.”
Source: Matthew Trzcinski/cheatsheet.com
Set for auction on June 30th is a copy of the 1974 document freeing the Beatles from their legal partnership to each other, which was signed by all four members. The “break-up” agreement is expected to sell for up to $500,000 at via Gotta Have Rock And Roll auctions.
According to the auction house: “By 1974, after years of litigation, the band had reached an accord, and the documents were supposed to be signed on December 19th at a meeting at the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan (where the Beatles had stayed during their first trip to the United States). (Paul) McCartney and (George) Harrison were there in person, while (Ringo) Starr, having already signed the document, was on the telephone. Although (John) Lennon lived a short distance from the Plaza, he left his former bandmates waiting, purportedly giving the excuse: 'the stars aren’t right' (in reality his absence was due to lingering concerns over taxation). Ten days later, the stars aligned in Disney World of all places.”
Source: Music News/myradiolink.com
'Here Comes The Sun' is a gorgeous ode to new beginnings and remains a firm favourite of The Beatles' entire repertoire.
This is arguably the most feel-good song The Beatles ever wrote, a continual favourite when the summer finally comes around again after the long winter.
It's almost impossible not to feel optimistic listening to 'Here Comes The Sun' - you can tangibly hear the sense of relief about the seasons changing, or the new dawn beginning.
In recent years, the song has even provided solace and hope for people living in dark, difficult times, as there's always the prospect of a new day and a fresh start.
Despite the sheer amount of chart hits and classic tracks that have soundtracked people's lives since they formed, the gorgeous ode to change remains a firm favourite of The Beatles' entire repertoire.
Source: Thomas Curtis-Horsfall/smoothradio.com
Sir Paul McCartney has dedicated a segment of his exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery to his ex-fiancée, Jane Asher.
The iconic musician, who was famously dumped by Asher on live television in 1968, has now paid tribute to her and her family in his latest show, titled ‘Paul McCartney Photographs 1963-64: Eyes of the Storm’.
The exhibit titled ‘At Home with the Ashers’ features black and white photographs of Asher and describes her as an “inspiration”. The pictures, according to a description panel, offer a more intimate and thoughtful perspective than McCartney’s other works from that time period.
The exhibition also reveals that McCartney met Asher when he was 21 and she was 17, at a concert broadcasted on the BBC.
Source: samacharcentral.com
George Harrison felt undervalued by his bandmates, but George Martin admitted he treated him the same way. He shared why he overlooked Harrison.For years, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr worked with producer George Martin. While Martin was initially hesitant to produce for The Beatles, he ultimately settled into a long and prosperous career with the band. He enjoyed working with the group but shared that he had one regret. He explained that he didn’t do enough to encourage Harrison’s music. While they resolved their problems, Martin said he only really tolerated Harrison while he was in The Beatles.Harrison often complained about how Lennon and McCartney made him feel undervalued in The Beatles, but Martin also played a role in this. He didn’t think Harrison was as talented as his two bandmates, so he didn’t pay as much attention to him.
Source: Emma McKee/cheatsheet.com
The Beatles catalog includes so many classic and timeless songs, it's easy to forget that not all of them are gold. As their albums got better, and their creative impulses grew stronger, picking out the lesser numbers gets more difficult, as you'll see in the below list of the Worst Song on Every Beatles Album.
Sometimes it was a hastily written and recorded track to fill out an LP length; other times, it was a cover song that was the most skippable song on an album. There are in-studio goofs, foreign-language remakes of a big hit and solo throwaways that don't even make it to the minute mark found below.
Nobody was spared. Paul McCartney and George Harrison are the most represented – the former's love of old-timey music didn't often fit in with the band's experimental nature; the latter didn't hit his songwriting stride until later – but John Lennon takes the lead on a song or two, and even Ringo Starr can be heard in the background of one track, though the songs in which he sings lead are so few that the law of averages works in his favor here.
Source: ultimateclassicrock.com
James McCartney showed his support for his famous father's new venture on Monday evening.
James, 45, attended the private view of the Paul McCartney Photographs 1963-64: Eyes of the Storm exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London alongside his dad, 81, and siblings.
Looking the spitting image of his father, James was sharp in a black suit and white shirt for the star-studded event.
James' sisters Mary, 52, and Stella, 50 were also showing their support alongside the Beatles star's wife Nancy and Ronnie Wood and his wife Sally,
After largely shunning the limelight, even working as a waiter in Brighton, James later followed in his father's musical footsteps.
Source: Joanna Crawley/dailymail.co.uk
Contrary to rumor, there is no reason to believe a member of the band T. Rex helped write Ringo Starr's "Back Off Boogaloo."
Ringo Starr’s “Back Off Boogaloo” was inspired by a 1970s rock star who was close friends with Ringo.
Contrary to rumor, the 1970s rock star in question did not co-write the song.
The tune was Ringo’s highest-charting single in the United Kingdom.
Ringo Starr‘s “Back Off Boogaloo” became one of the most famous songs by a former Beatle. Ringo revealed a rock star from the 1970s inspired the song. In addition, the “Photograph” singer said he had to use a child’s toy to complete the hit.
According to the 2015 book Ringo: With a Little Help, Ringo said Marc Bolan, the lead singer of the glam rock band T. Rex, inspired “Back Off Boogaloo. “Marc was a dear friend who used to come into the office when I was running Apple Movies, a big office in town, and the hang-out for myself, Harry Nilsson, and Keith Moon,” he said.
“We’d go on to various venues, but we’d always start down in the office, and Marc was so much fun; he’d tell us how many he was gonna sell and what chart position he’d have,” he said. “We were only 30, then, but we were looking at him like he was some crazy kid.”
Source: Matthew Trzcinski/cheatsheet.com
