Beatles News
Philip Norman’s aptly titled biography called him ‘the reluctant Beatles’. Those who have watched Peter Jackson’s Netflix documentary Get Back would not have failed to see what years of living in the shadows of John Lennon and Paul McCartney had done to George Harrison’s ego. Despite his immense contribution to the group, he was always considered a minor Beatle, one whose talents were rarely acknowledged. Yet, Harrison composed masterpieces like ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ and ‘Here Comes the Sun’, and his solo debut album All Things Must Pass was the best-selling solo album by an ex-Beatle and appears on many lists of the 100 best rock albums ever.
But more than all this, what’s important to note is that without George Harrison, the Beatles might never have happened. As Ty Burr notes in his review of Norman’s book, ‘The band’s earliest iteration, the Quarrymen, had broken up until George reformed them for a key club date. Their initial 1962 meeting with EMI producer George Martin was going south until Harrison broke the ice by insulting Martin’s necktie.’
George Harrison was the one who goaded the Beatles to abandon live performances and work on their sound in the studio. He became the social conscience of the world of rock music, with his Concert for Bangladesh in 1971, the all-star charity event. And above all, he was the first musician in the West to explore eastern spirituality and played an important role in creating world music, with his discipleship with Pandit Ravi Shankar. He is the one responsible for the Indian sounds that we hear in some of the band’s iconic tracks.
Source: Shashwata Ray Chaudhuri/telegraphindia.com
When the Beatles first began, Paul McCartney and John Lennon wrote songs in close collaboration, often sitting face-to-face as they worked out ideas. They worked together so closely, in fact, that they each learned how to play guitar upside down.
It's common for left-handed guitarists to play right-handed instruments — but most people, like Jimi Hendrix, re-string the guitar so that it's properly configured for lefties.
Not the left-handed McCartney and the right-handed Lennon, however. On the latest episode of McCartney: A Life in Lyrics on iHeartPodcasts, the artist recalled how he and his collaborator would trade instruments during writing sessions: "I was used to turning [guitars] upside down because I worked with John a lot, so I had to grab his guitar. I could play upside down and so could he."
This came in handy during the writing of "Yesterday" (which is the subject of the podcast episode). When he wrote the lyrics (having already thought of the melody in a dream), he was travelling across Portugal en route to the apartment of his friend Bruce Welch (of the instrumental rock band the Shadows). When he arrived, he borrowed Welch's right-handed guitar and played him "Yesterday" — the first time he ever performed the song for another person.
Of course, that song went on to become the most-covered song ever — even though some famous singers were too "macho" for its vulnerable lyrics.
Source: exclaim.ca
Ringo Starr came to work on the set of 'A Hard Day's Night' feeling terrible. He shared how this actually helped him.
In 1964, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr acted for the first time in A Hard Day’s Night. While filming a new movie was an entirely new experience for The Beatles, they all jumped into their roles with excitement. Starr loved movies as kid and loved the experience of filming one. Still, some days on set were a challenge for him. He revealed how feeling terrible while shooting actually helped his performance. Ringo Starr had a rough day on the set of ‘A Hard Day’s Night’
While The Beatles were happy to make a movie, they found it difficult to wake up for the early call times.
“It was a very early start,” George Harrison said in The Beatles Anthology. “We’d have to arrive and get dressed and have our hair and faces done. While all this was going on they would set up with stand-ins. They wouldn’t call us until they were ready to rehearse us for a scene.”
Starr said that one of the early starts was a particular challenge for him. He’d come straight to work from the nightclub.
“I had come directly to work from a nightclub (very unprofessional) and was a little hungover, to say the least,” Starr said. “Dick Lester had all his people there, and the kid that I was supposed to be doing the scene with, but I had no brain. I’d gone.”
Though he felt unwell while filming the scene, he said this helped him give one of his better performances.
“We tried it several ways. They tried it with the kid doing his lines and someone off camera shouting mine. Then they had me doing the lines of the kid and the kid going ‘blah blah blah,’” Starr said. “Or me saying, ‘And another thing, little guy…’ I was so out of it, they said, ‘Well, let’s do anything.’ I said, ‘Let me just walk around and you film me,’ and that’s what we did. And why I look so cold and dejected is because I felt like s***. There’s no acting going on; I felt that bad.”
Source: Emma McKee/cheatsheet.com
The British film director Sam Mendes is creating four scripted Beatles films. The biopics will tell the Fab Four’s story from each band member’s point of view, planned for release in 2027.
In a press release, the Oscar-winning filmmaker said he’s honored “to be telling the story of the greatest rock band of all time.” He teased a unique rollout for the films, and following Peter Jackson’s Get Back documentary series, the appetite for more Beatles footage remains insatiable.
With The Beatles, once again, in the headlines, let’s look at the time Dolly Parton had to prove she could sign-of-the-horns rock and, in doing so, reunited the Fab Four’s two living members.
On her 49th studio album, Rockstar, Parton collaborated with rock’s biggest legends to make a star-studded karaoke-like collection. Her Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nomination in 2022 prompted the country star to make a rock album self-justifying the nomination—to mortals, she had nothing to prove.
Though honored, Parton initially declined and said she hadn’t earned the right. However, she reversed the decision—acknowledging her fans had voted—and appeared at the induction ceremony in Los Angeles.
Source: americansongwriter.com
In November 1976, David Cahn, in charge of Midwest promotions for Warner Bros. Records, was summoned to a Chicago hotel, where he learned the new client he and other regional managers would be working with was George Harrison.
It was six years after the Beatles broke up, and Dark Horse Records, the record label Harrison founded, was now to be distributed and marketed by Warner Bros. Records. The regional managers would be promoting Harrison’s seventh studio album, “Thirty Three & 1/3,” with the team’s goal of making the album a No. 1 seller.
“It was such a thrill to be able to meet George,” said Cahn, who grew up in Rochester and lives in the Buffalo area. “I think the Beatles were the best group ever, and he was my favorite Beatle growing up.”
Cahn, had been in the music industry at that point for six years, the first four as a disc jockey at FM rock radio station WPHD in Buffalo during the golden era of underground, free-form radio. After the station was sold, he went to work for Warner Bros.
Source: buffalonews.com
A national blue plaque to commemorate the life and work of Beatles icon George Harrison is to be unveiled later this year
The life and legacy of Beatles icon George Harrison is to be commemorated with one of the first blue plaques outside London.
Harrison's childhood home in Liverpool is now understood to be a possible location for a commemoration.
The Beatle, who was born on 25 February 1943, lived at 12 Arnold Grove in the Wavertree area of Liverpool until he was seven.
The Historic England scheme had been limited to the capital for 150 years.
Unveiling the first of the national blue plaques, arts and heritage minister Lord Parkinson said he looked forward to "recognising more people who have made their mark on national life".
A national blue plaque to commemorate the life and work of Beatles icon George Harrison is to be unveiled later this year
Source: BBC News
With the announcement of four interconnected Beatles biopics coming in 2027, one for each member, the lives of the men behind history’s biggest-ever band have come into new focus. Nicknamed “the quiet Beatle”, George Harrison‘s contribution to global music and spirituality – thanks to his famous conversion to Hinduism in the 1960s – proves that Harrison’s tranquillity and peace-promoting attitude were mighty in their own way, and should not be understated.
In his final years, Harrison’s religious beliefs as a source of strength and inspiration in the face of a highly-publicized health battle have helped shape his permanent legacy. In many ways, Harrison died as he had lived – encouraging others to keep their hearts and minds open to the beauty of the spiritual world. While his bandmate John Lennon’s death is the more known of the two, due to his 1980 assassination at the hands of a fan and his widow Yoko Ono’s ongoing campaign against gun violence, George Harrison’s death is a reminder that a life’s ending can still be beautiful and meaningful.
Source: wegotthiscovered.com
Never-before-seen candid photos of The Beatles on their first flight to the US, the official beginning of what the world would soon know as 'Beatlemania,' have emerged for sale for £16,000.
John Lennon, George Harrison, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr had no idea that their lives would change forever once they stepped off that very plane in New York and went on to crack America.
Alongside the 10 black and white snaps is a Pan Am flight menu, signed by the band.
The images were taken at a monumental time in their career, just before Beatlemania exploded in the US following their performance on the Ed Sullivan Show.
Flying first class from London to New York on February 7, 1964, they were set to perform on the hugely popular US show two days later - a pivotal moment that catapulted them into international stardom.
These previously hidden images were taken by American businessman Robert Kinderman, who was also in first class, and whose teenager daughter Carol was a huge Beatles fan.
Source: Madison Burgess/dailymail.co.uk
“Yesterday” is one of the biggest and most beloved songs released by The Beatles. The tune was something different from the rock band, and it showed a new, especially thoughtful side of the globe-dominating outfit. Decades after its release, one of the two credited writers on the track has shared how it all came together.
In the latest episode of his podcast, Paul McCartney: A Life in Lyrics, the man himself opened up about the tune and spoke quite a bit about “Yesterday,” admitting that it came to him unconsciously.
“I went to sleep one night and dreamed a tune. Somewhere in my dream I heard this tune. When I woke up, I go I love that tune–it’s great. I love that one,” McCartney stated in the interview. He added that once he was awake and realized he had something special in mind, he “kind of fell out of bed and the piano was right there to the left of my bed and I just sort of thought well I’ll try and work out how this song goes.”
McCartney admitted that when he was first singing what would become “Yesterday,” he assumed that it was something he’d heard before. He simply didn’t believe that he had come up with the melody himself–especially not while he was sleeping.
In the podcast, McCartney shared that for some time after he first created the “Yesterday” tune, he asked around to see where he may have grabbed it from. “The first person I saw was John [Lennon]. I said, ‘What’s this? It’s bugging me. What’s this song?’. He goes ‘I don’t know’,” the superstar revealed, bringing his friend and former bandmate into the conversation.
Source: Hugh McIntyre/forbes.com
The Beatles are each set to have their own movie.
"I'm honored to be telling the story of the greatest rock band of all time, and excited to challenge the notion of what constitutes a trip to the movies," Mendes, director of American Beauty, Spectre, 1917 and Road to Perdition, said in a statement.
Find out everything to know about the upcoming Beatles movies and when you can expect to see them.
According to a statement from Sony Pictures, Mendes' Beatles movies will each tell the band's story from their respective members' point of view, eventually intersecting to "tell the astonishing story of the greatest band in history."
The movies will follow the band from its creation to their 1970 split, and McCartney, Starr and the survivors and estates of Lennon and Harrison have given Mendes and producers their blessing and full rights to their music and life stories for each film.
"We intend this to be a uniquely thrilling, and epic cinematic experience: four films, told from four different perspectives which tell a single story about the most celebrated band of all time," producer Pippa Harris said in a statement. "To have The Beatles’ and Apple Corps’ blessing to do this is an immense privilege."
Are the new Beatles movies documentaries? Nope! The upcoming Beatles movies from Mendes will be scripted movies.
Source: Jessica Sager/jacksonprogress-argus.com
