Beatles News
On October 9, 1969, seven weeks and a day after The Beatles' final recording session together at Abbey Road Studios, Giles Martin was born in London. It was John Lennon’s 29th birthday.
On July 7, 2024, The Beatles: Love, the acclaimed Cirque du Soleil show that has run for 18 years, closes permanently in Las Vegas. It will be Ringo Starr’s 84th.
“It’s quite sad. They’re knocking down the casino, and even the powers that be can’t change that,” Martin, 54, laments to The National.
“I was with Paul McCartney last week and we were talking about how long it’s been. It was the first thing I did on this journey, and it changed my life, genuinely speaking – making that show,” he continues. “And I’m very proud of it.”
The show wouldn’t have existed without Martin. In the early aughts, plans for a collaboration between the French circus and the Fab Four nearly fell apart before Martin, the son of legendary Beatles producer George Martin, had an idea of how to make it work.
“The whole thing was collapsing in on itself and out of pure desperation I went to Neil Aspinall, who was the head of the Beatles at the time, and I said to him, ‘I think I can create a show just by chopping up the Beatles tapes.' He was like, ‘well, I’ll give you three months. You have until Christmas, and we’re not going to pay you.’”
Martin was undeterred. The collaboration had been George Harrison’s idea before he died in 2001, as he was friends with the circus’s founder Guy Labierte. Martin wasn’t about to let the whole thing fall apart.
Source: William Mullally/thenationalnews.com
The Beatles arguably the most iconic band to have ever graced the global stage, formed in Liverpool in 1960, yet their legendary music continues to resonate with both young and old fans alike.
John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr - the celebrated Liverpudlian foursome - crafted a legacy that transcends the confines of Merseyside, sweeping across continents and carving their name into musical history. By 1964, The Fab Four were global sensations, earning the adulation of fans worldwide.
The Beatles not only conquered the UK but also took America by storm, landing stateside on February 7, 1964. But it seems our friends across the pond are only just now clocking onto the clever wordplay behind The Beatles' iconic spelling.
Source: Ariane Sohrabi-Shiraz/liverpoolecho.co.uk
The Beatles rose to prominence in tandem with the hippie movement. Their 1967 album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club featured psychedelic imagery and linked the band to the countercultural movement. According to those who knew the band, though, they could not stand hippies. George Harrison’s wife, Pattie Boyd, spoke about how the band felt about the youth movement.
The Beatles’ later albums reflected changing social trends in the 1960s, and the band members’ appearances shifted as well. While they seemed to fit in with the hippie movement in some ways, Boyd said the band did not like it.
“That whole hippie movement, which by the way, The Beatles found disgusting,” she said in the book All You Need Is Love: The Beatles In Their Own Words by Peter Brown and Steven Gaines. “I think the hippie movement … I went to Haight-Ashbury with George. There was really no grace. It was summer and we understood that it was a beautiful and nice, a charming place to go to.”
Source: Emma McKee/MSN
It’s impossible to underestimate the influence of Richard Lester’s Beatles collaboration A Hard Day’s Night, released 60 years ago on 6 July 1964. Its imagery of the Fab Four rapidly entered the lexicon of popular culture, its antic approach to pop music on screen going on to influence everything from fashion, attitudes and culture to music videos and MTV. With an initial background in advertising, Lester’s third feature proved he was an astute and vibrant filmmaker, all but defining the fun, energetic surrealism of 1960s British culture in one fell swoop.
Scripted by Alun Owen, A Hard Day’s Night follows a day in the life of the lads at the height of Beatlemania. John, Paul, George and Ringo, playing themselves, are joined by Paul’s conniving but very clean grandfather (Wilfrid Brambell) as they make their way to a live television concert in London. Unable to be restrained from misadventures by their manager Norm (Norman Rossington) and their roadie Shake (John Junkin), the Fab Four find themselves in the upper echelons of the capital: a world filled with ad agencies, high-end casinos and wine soirées with the music press. With Ringo going AWOL only hours before the show, however, will the group reunite in time for their live broadcast concert?
As the film was intended as promotional material for its music as much as a feature (one which United Artists funded so they could exploit the loophole of being able to distribute the soundtrack), Lester approached the project with his creative verve firing on all cylinders. Rather than simply being a string of music videos, A Hard Day’s Night is a beautiful and atmospheric portrait of London just as it started to swing. From lavish venues to industrial landscapes, all filmed on location, Lester’s film is one of the great London portraits of the decade.
Source: bfi.org.uk
From a self-portrait sketch to a never-before-released ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’ drawing, Ocean Blue Galleries, 109 Duval St., offers 50 to 60 limited-edition prints of John Lennon’s artwork July 5 and 6. CONTRIBUTED
Sure, you’ve heard “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” but have you SEEN it?
The song, of course, is one of 73 that John Lennon wrote for The Beatles, but it’s also a drawing, also by Lennon, showing a bespectacled figure in an A-line dress floating above a field.
That drawing, along with dozens of others by John Lennon, are now on display and available for sale at Ocean Blue Galleries, 109 Duval St., Key West. Celebrations of the never-before-released, limited edition prints by John Lennon will take place at the gallery Friday and Saturday, July 5 and 6, from 2 to 7 p.m.
“I’m always shocked by how many people, including some diehard Beatles fans, don’t know about the art component to John Lennon’s career,” said Daniel Crosy, the Los Angeles-based art representative who has been working with Lennon’s wife, Yoko Ono, for the past 15 years, releasing Lennon’s drawings and handwritten lyric sheets to the art-, music- and peace-loving public.
“Yoko had been releasing some of John’s prints at pop-up galleries and art shows for years, but recently wanted my help in bringing it to the fine art world, and Ocean Blue Galleries is a perfect fit,” said Crosby, who had worked previously with the gallery owners Amber and Jay Shaffer. “The estate of John Lennon has a connection with Key West given its legendary open-mindedness and welcoming atmosphere. And listen, let’s be honest, John Lennon knew how to get his party on, too.”
Source: Mandy Miles/keysweekly.com
Elton John headlined England’s Glastonbury Festival in 2023, and he just revealed the surprising gift he received from Paul McCartney following the performance.
At one point during the Glastonbury set Elton was heard complaining about his pants falling down, which apparently prompted the gift from McCartney.
During a Glastonbury-focused online Q&A, Elton was asked why his pants were dropping during the show and he replied, “Because they were too big!”
He then revealed that McCartney, who was on hand to witness the set, later sent him gold suspenders “to keep my trousers up the next week,” noting the gift “made me laugh so much!”
Elton’s Glastonbury set was his first time playing the iconic festival. It was also his final U.K. performance. He retired from the road in July 2023 after a show in Stockholm, Sweden.
Source: Classic Rock News
The Beatles can almost always be found on at least one chart in the U.K. The band remains the most successful of all time pretty much everywhere in the world, but especially in the country where they got their start.
The rockers regularly fill at least one spot on the U.K. albums chart, though they don’t have just one title that sticks around. Instead, the band trades one studio effort for another almost every frame, as streaming activity and the tastes of fans mean that there’s some pretty consistent switch-ups when it comes to the Fab Four.
This week, The Beatles’ 1962-1966 compilation is back on the U.K. albums chart. The project, which includes their biggest hits from the years mentioned in its title, reappears at No. 83.
1962-1966 has now spent 64 weeks on the ranking of the most-consumed albums in the U.K. The compilation peaked at No. 3 decades ago, and recently, it’s managed to return more frequently than in many years.
The Beatles’ 1962-1966 is the band’s third title to hit the U.K. albums chart in just the past month. The group almost always appears on the list with a gathering of hit singles, as those are the releases that sell well and rack up the most streams. But due to what fans prefer, and a number of other factors, the rockers keep swapping one title for another.
Source: Hugh McIntyre/forbes.com
Paul McCartney’s second band, Wings, gave him the freedom to write about more personal topics than he was able to while with the Beatles. Naturally his wife and bandmate, Linda, played a significant role in the personal side of his songwriting. Though he penned many songs for her, there is one song in particular that stands out in Macca’s mind. Check out which song that is, below.
Meaning Behind “You’re in My Heart' by Rod Stewart and the Famous Girl Who Inspired It
[RELATED: The Beatles Song That Paul McCartney Was Scared to Record]
Paul McCartney’s Favorite Wings Song
A love so warm and beautiful
stands when time itself is falling,
A love so warm and beautiful
never fades away
We have to agree with McCartney’s laud of the song “Warm and Beautiful.” The simple ballad captures the feeling of all-encompassing love. Though he might lay it on a little thick, the sentiment reads as heartfelt and not schmaltzy.
McCartney once named “Warm and Beautiful” one of his all-time favorite Wings songs. Partly because of how gushing it was of Linda and partly because it’s nostalgic to him.
“A love so warm and beautiful/Stands when time itself is falling,” McCartney wrote in The Lyrics: 1956 To The Present. “I like that idea instead of just saying, ‘It will go on forever.’ I got a good feeling writing this song and listening to it now, I still do. ‘Love, faith and hope are beautiful.'”
“The brass solo is lovely for me,” he continued, explaining why the song reminds him of childhood. “Because it harks back to the brass bands that were so common when I was a kid; there would often be brass bands in the park or in the streets. My dad played trumpet, as I never fail to mention, and he had his own little band – Jim Mac’s Jazz
Source: Alex Hopper/americansongwriter.com
As the old adage goes, life imitates art, and in the case of George Harrison’s memorial tree, life imitates art in laughably ironic ways. Just over a decade after Harrison died from cancer at 58 in Los Angeles, California, the city honored the former Beatle and avid gardener with a botanical memorial in Griffith Park.
The L.A. City Council planted a pine tree sapling shortly after Harrison’s passing in the scenic park that overlooks the sprawling metropolis. By 2013, the tree had grown to over 10 feet tall. One year later, the tree had met its tragically humorous demise.
An Insect Invasion Killed George Harrison’s Memorial Tree
The pine tree overlooking Los Angeles was a touching tribute to the musician who spent his final years in southern California. Beneath the tree, the city installed a small plaque that read, “In memory of a great humanitarian who touched the world as an artist, a musician, and a gardener.” The plaque also included one of George Harrison’s favorite quotes from Maharishi Mahesh Yogi: “For a forest to be green, each tree must be green” (via BBC).
Source: Melanie Davis/americansongwriter.com
The Beatles‘ “In My Life” stands as one of the most thought provoking rock ballads of all time. As such, it’s beloved by fans the world over–including a fair few musicians. Check out three of our favorite covers of this Beatles classic, below.
Madison Cunningham makes quick work of whatever song she decides to cover. She sounds particularly enchanting on her cover of “In My Life.” Recorded in an intimate setting, nothing distracts from Cunningham’s vocals. While the original version of this song has something upbeat about it, Cunningham’s version highlights the poignant qualities of the lyrics.
There are places I’ll remember
All my life, though some have changed
Some forever, not for better
Some have gone and some remain...
Source: Alex Hopper/americansongwriter.com
