Beatles News
It Was Fifty Years Ago Today! The Beatles: Sgt. Pepper & Beyond is a 2017 documentary film directed by Alan G. Parker. It explores the creation of the Beatles’ album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The film features interviews with musicians, family members, and journalists.
Here’s how you can watch and stream It Was Fifty Years Ago Today! The Beatles: Sgt. Pepper & Beyond via streaming services such as Peacock.
Yes, It Was Fifty Years Ago Today! The Beatles: Sgt. Pepper & Beyond is available to watch via streaming on Peacock.
It is a documentary that goes into detail about the making of the Beatles’ famous album “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” The film looks at the creative process behind the album and how it came into existence. It also looks into the impact the album created on the music world and the culture of the 1960s.
The documentary is full of interviews with people who were there at the time of the creation of this album, including Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr themselves. It also includes other musicians and those close to the Beatles.
Source: Elton Fernandes/yahoo.com
English musician, singer, songwriter, and composer Paul McCartney records the Lennon-McCartney ... [+] composition 'Thingumybob' with the Black Dyke Mills Band in Saltaire, City of Bradford, West Yorkshire, 30th June 1968.
Paul McCartney is in the middle of sharing some incredible insights and backstories behind some of the biggest songs of his career. The singer-songwriter is deep into season two of his podcast Paul McCartney: A Life in Lyrics (via iHeartPodcasts and Pushkin), which sees the rocker and his friend Paul Muldoon digging into how some of his greatest works were created and what they mean. In the latest episode, he opened up about “Hey Jude,” which is both an uplifting and very sad tune.
The former Beatle stated that he once drove to see Julian Lennon, son of his bandmate John, and the boy’s mother, Cynthia. During the 45-minute trip, he began writing the song that would be “Hey Jude” for the boy, as John Lennon had just left the family.
McCartney detailed how the words came together in a seemingly very simple fashion, stating, “In my mind… ‘Hey, Jules, don't make it bad. I know this is tough for you, but take a sad song and make it better. Your dad's just left you.’” It seems so matter-of-fact when the songwriter puts it like that, but of course, anyone who has ever tried to create something as memorable and beautiful as “Hey Jude” knows it’s not that simple.
Source: Hugh McIntyre/forbes.com
What Janet DiGangi recalls most vividly about the day the Beatles came to town is eating cake and ice-cream with furious impatience. It was 12 September 1964, and DiGangi was 12, living in Boston, Massachusetts, the oldest of seven siblings. The Beatles were about to play Boston Garden but the family couldn’t leave until they’d celebrated her brother Peter’s second birthday with candles and presents.
“I was furious, because I didn’t want to be late,” recalls DiGangi, now 72. She had saved up all her babysitting money to buy the band’s second US album, Meet the Beatles! “I was so excited.” Thankfully, DiGangi made it to the show on time. It was “electric”, and sent fans wild. “It was just an explosion of screaming and hysteria,” she says.
Like many Americans who watched the Beatles arrive in the US – either on 9 February 1964 on their first Ed Sullivan Show, or those who caught their North American tour later that year – the experience for DiGangi fostered a lifelong love and fascination with the band from Liverpool. As she grew up from a schoolgirl to an adolescent to a young woman, she tagged along as the band’s sound developed, from the boys next door of A Hard Day’s Night to the mop-haired artists of Revolver to the mature and creatively fractious White Album.
Source: Jem Bartholomew/theguardian.com
There’s no question that the overall success of the Beatles was made possible through the contributions of Sir George Martin. He was responsible for many of the musical and technical innovations that appeared on their 12 studio albums recorded between 1962 and 1970. He is often referred to as “The Fifth Beatle” because of his importance to the group. Recently, David Bennett reviewed George Martin’s contributions in detail, specifically the parts where his performances appear on the recordings.
In various interviews, Martin stated that he initially wasn’t impressed with very early Beatles recordings, but appreciated the band’s dry wit (especially George Harrison’s), and – based on that – agreed to sign them. He worked closely on their first releases, specifically “Love Me Do”, “P.S. I Love You”, and “Please Please Me”, often providing polish or music arrangement sensibility. The latter song went on to reach #1.
Though his contributions initially involved listening and brainstorming suggestions for songs by Lennon and McCartney, he began contributing actual musical parts to some performances. In many cases, he wrote, arranged, and conducted background movements. In others, he’d perform certain parts either because Paul or John couldn’t play them well enough, or the band needed additional “hands.”
Source: Will Wills/culturesonar.com
Ringo Starr is already one of the most successful musicians of all time in the U.K., but that track record doesn’t mean he’s done creating. The drummer, singer, and songwriter has a new tune out with a bevy of other superstars, and it could hit No. 1 in the U.K., giving him another winner…at least, in some regards.
The former Beatle is one of the many members of the rock supergroup Mark Knopfler's Guitar Heroes, which was put together by the Dire Straits frontman and solo star whose name fronts the band. The rocker gathered together many of his famous friends to re-record a new version of the song “Going Home (Theme From Local Hero),” which is currently making a play for the No. 1 spot on the U.K. singles chart, according to the Official Charts Company.
“Going Home (Theme From Local Hero)” is a new superstar collaboration that’s aimed at raising funds for a worthy cause. All proceeds from the tune will go toward supporting both Teenage Cancer Trust UK and Teen Cancer America. The mix of celebrity names and the charitable aspect mean the track has a lot going for it, and it could debut at No. 1 in the U.K.
Mark Knopfler's Guitar Heroes counts more than 50 musicians as members, though it’s likely that this will be their only release together. Starr is credited as playing drums on the tune. He is joined by dozens of other well-known names on the song, such as Eric Clapton, Sheryl Crow, Peter Frampton, Joan Jett, Nile Rodgers, Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Keith Urban, and many, many others.
Source: Hugh McIntyre/forbes.com
This week’s podcast episode of A Life in Lyrics features Sir Paul McCartney reflecting on one of his best-loved Beatles tracks, Hey Jude.
Macca admitted he likes it when fans mishear his lyrics, saying: “I like my songs to be [for] every man or every woman, because I know people are going to listen to them.
“And I like the fact that they put their own interpretations on them and I'm always glad when the lyrics get a bit screwed up and when they mishear them, because it's yours now.
“I’ve let it go, and so now you should make of it what you will.” The recording of Hey Jude famously features accidental swearing if you listen carefully.
Podcast host Paul Muldoon said: “[McCartney] had accidentally begun the song while Ringo was out of the room but Ringo managed to return from the toilet at just the right moment, hitting his drum entrance perfectly.
“It was the most spirited take, though not without mistakes. If you listen really carefully, you may hear one of the band members swearing. When Paul flubs the piano part, remember.”
The 81-year-old Beatles also shared how he came up with Hey Jude for John Lennon’s son Julian, after his father left his first wife for Yoko Ono.
Recounting the events, Macca dispelled the rumour that he was in love with Cynthia Lennon.
Source: George Simpson/express.co.uk
Paul McCartney has five children – and his role as a parent has evolved over the years. Right now, let’s focus on Beatrice Milly McCartney, his youngest daughter.
Lately, she has garnered quite a bit of attention, as many believe she bears an uncanny resemblance to her famous father. Comparing celebrities and their children with each other is quite inevitable. I mean, we constantly compare our own children to ourselves – or maybe they’re an exact copy of their uncle or grandparents. It’s quite human to try to find signs that connect us, it helps us feel a sense of belonging.
Looking at 20-year-old Beatrice Milly McCartney, there’s hardly any doubt about who her father is…
Paul McCartney, one of the co-founders of The Beatles, has an indisputable place in music history, and since he is arguably one of the most famous Britons of all time, his private life has also become widely known to the public. He married his first wife, Linda McCartney, in 1969, and together they had four children – Heather, Mary, Stella, and James McCartney. Sadly, Linda passed away in 1998. She died from breast cancer, at the age of 56.
Two years after Linda’s tragic passing, rumors began to surface that the legendary musician had found love again.
Source: en.newsner.com
Ariana Grande scores a chart double in the U.S. this week, which means she sits at No. 1 on both the singles and albums tallies. The superstar’s latest full-length, Eternal Sunshine, launches atop the Billboard 200, while the second official single from the project, "We Can't Be Friends (Wait for Your Love)," also begins its time on the Hot 100 in first place. As Grande earns another leader on the most competitive songs tally, one of her collaborators helps break a momentous milestone.
"We Can't Be Friends (Wait for Your Love)" credits just three people as writers on the tune–Grande, Ilya, and Max Martin. With one more Hot 100 No. 1 to his credit, the latter of those three talents moves up on the ranking of the most successful songwriters in American history.
Martin has now written 27 songs that have risen to No. 1 on the Hot 100 throughout his decades as an in-demand hitmaker. As "We Can't Be Friends (Wait for Your Love)" opens in first place, he breaks his tie with John Lennon for the second-most Hot 100 champions among songwriters, according to Billboard.
Before this week, Martin and Lennon were tied, with 26 No. 1s on the Hot 100 apiece. Martin added to his sum earlier this year, thanks to another collaboration with Grande. The two co-wrote the lead Eternal Sunshine single “Yes, And?” (along with Ilya), which likewise started atop the tally.
The songwriter with the most No. 1 successes on the Hot 100 in history remains Paul McCartney. He and Lennon collected many of their leaders together, but after The Beatles split, they both went on to collect more on their own during their prolific solo careers. McCartney has scored 32 No. 1s on the chart.
Source: Hugh McIntyre/forbes.com
Badfinger scored one of their biggest hits with “Come and Get It” in 1970. Little did folks know at the time that the song was not only written for them by none other than a Beatle, but the Beatle pretty much spoon-fed the track to the band.
What is the meaning of “Come and Get It”? What was their relationship to Paul McCartney, who wrote and produced the track? And what ultimatum did he make of the band before they were allowed to record the song? Let’s find out, shall we, Sonny?
Badfinger formed in the early ‘60s as The Iveys, until a name change took place at the request of their new label Apple Records. The Beatles-run company signed a wide variety of artists in their first few years of business. But Badfinger performed music in a similar vein to the Fab Four: rock with smart, melodic songwriting and thrilling vocal harmonies.
Unfortunately, they didn’t feel they were receiving enough attention from the label in their earliest days of recording for them. In fact, Badfinger member Ron Griffiths even gave an interview to that effect. Apparently, the old saying that the squeaky wheel gets the grease proved correct in this case, because the band were about to get not just attention from the Fab Four, but a ready-made hit single.
McCartney had recently written a song he intended to give to the soundtrack of the upcoming film The Magic Christian, which would include fellow Beatle Ringo Starr in a starring role. On a whim, he decided it would be a perfect track for Badfinger to use as a single. But he had some conditions, which he described in The Beatles Anthology book:
Source: Jim Beviglia/americansongwriter.com
With the Beatles being the musical giants that they are, few people focus on the times when they’ve fallen flat. Though their low moments couldn’t possibly compare to their many high points, the three songs below are among the least loved Beatles songs–at least those evidenced by low streaming stats.
We will admit that we love any song that allows Ringo Starr to shine for a moment. Though he has far more famous bouts behind the microphone, this cover of a Carl Perkins song has its charms. Starr does a bang-up job toe-tapping his way through this snappy track. Though, it’s not surprising that this song has more or less fallen beneath the cracks. It’s not particularly memorable.
Source: Alex Hopper/americansongwriter.com
