Beatles News
If you’ve already splurged on the handsome two-volume boxed set of Paul McCartney’s “The Lyrics,” you might logically wonder: Why buy the $30 paperback?
There are fewer photos and no glossy pages in the no-frills soft-cover edition on sale now, which squeezes all the insights of the bestselling 960-page original into a slimmer (624 pp.) single volume. McCartney’s song-by-song narrative, drawn from 50 hours of recorded conversation with poet Paul Muldoon, is intact, as are standardized lyric sheets for 161 catalog picks dating back to 1956.
But the biggest draw for fans is the addition of seven songs, three of them Beatles classics (“Day Tripper,” “Hello, Goodbye” and “Magical Mystery Tour”), three from McCartney's solo and Wings years (“Bluebird,” “English Tea” and “Every Night”) and one (surprise!) written for Cilla Black (“Step Inside Love”).
1973's “Bluebird,” an album cut from Paul McCartney and Wings’ “Band on the Run,” is notable for crediting Linda McCartney as a co-writer. During messy court battles involving The Beatles' publishing rights, “I’d had to sue my best friends from childhood to ensure we could keep control of our songs, rather than ‘other parties’ controlling them,” he says. “Even if I’d written a song by myself, I would often add, ‘and Linda.’ Contractually, those ‘other parties’ couldn’t get at her.”
Source: usatoday.com
The Beatles are widely credited with helping to usher in the dominance of the album as the dominant form of consuming media, cranking out several of the most influential records in popular music - from 1965's Rubber Soul to the final album they recorded together, 1969's Abbey Road.
But while they may still be looked at as the paragons of the album era, The Beatles still hold a monumental place in the centre of music, and as such their back catalogue has easily moved through the times; from the album era, to the time of downloads and to the present day, where streaming is king.
(It does need to be stated, however, that The Beatles' legacy estate, Apple Corps, resisted change for a long time; the band's catalogue didn't join iTunes until 2010 and their full discography was only added to streaming platforms on Christmas Day 2016).
With the Beatles' 'last' song Now And Then heading to a record-breaking jump to Number 1 in the UK, we thought it was high time that, for the first time ever, the Official Charts Company can reveal the official most-streamed songs of all time by The Beatles in the UK.
This is made all the more special by the fact that Now And Then (with just three days of tracking) is the most-streamed Beatles track, ever, in a week, gaining 3.1 million streams. With 1.5 million video streams, it's also the most-streamed official music video by the Beatles in a week too.
Source: George Griffiths/officialcharts.com
Since it launched last month, the podcast Paul McCartney: A Life in Lyrics has captured the artist reflecting on the stories behind songs he recorded with the Beatles and Wings and as a solo artist. In addition to picking apart the lyrics, he has also discussed some of the interesting arcana that has surrounded his life. On upcoming episodes — which premiere on Wednesdays via iHeartPodcasts and Pushkin Industries and can be accessed here — McCartney delves deep into Beatles lore to find some interesting trivia.
In the episode dedicated to his solo track “Here Today,” which airs Wednesday, McCartney recalls his first meeting with John Lennon. The song, which featured on his 1982 album Tug of War — his first release since Lennon’s death — imagines a dialogue between the two of them. While discussing it with the podcast’s host, Paul Muldoon — who collaborated with McCartney on the book The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present — McCartney recalled how Lennon immediately seemed like his counterpart when they first met.
Source: Kory Grow/rollingstone.com
Making the “last” ever Beatles song brought a bit of joy to Paul McCartney – and a spiritual reunion with his old friend, the late John Lennon.
The Beatles released “Now and Then” on Thursday, November 2, a song marketed as the “last” single from The Beatles – McCartney, 81, Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison. Lennon recorded a demo of the song in the late 1970s, and AI was able to extract his vocals for this now-complete track. For McCartney, it was a way to once again work with his friend, who was murdered in 1980.
“When we were in the studio, we had John’s voice in our ears,” McCartney told BBC Radio 1, per Billboard. “So you could imagine he was just in the next room in a vocal booth or something and we were just working with him again, so it was joyful. It was really lovely, you know, because we hadn’t experienced that for a long time, obviously, and then suddenly here we were working with ol’ Johnny.”
Source: Jason Brow/yahoo.com
Last week, Now and Then – which was called the final Beatles song – was released and is expected to hit UK No 1 in the singles chart.
Peter Jackson, who directed The Beatles: Get Back, used modern technology to resurrect John Lennon’s vocals and George Harrison’s guitar strumming for the long-lost track.
He then combined the late duo's work with Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Ringo Starr’s voices and instrumentation today to create a complete new Beatles song, the first in decades.
The Lord of the Rings director also helmed the Now and Then music video which ended with a bow from the Fab Four on The Ed Sullivan Show before they faded away.
Yet despite this goodbye, it may not be the end. After all, there’s much from over 60 houses of footage and 150 hours of audio of the Let It Be sessions that remain unused.
Source: George Simpson/express.co.uk
The Beatles remain perhaps the most successful and beloved musical act of all time. It makes sense, then, that if anyone were to learn that the group was working on new material, it would immediately become headline news and ruin a surprise that was yet to be formally announced. Now that the band has released its new single, Paul McCartney has also detailed how they managed to keep the track a secret for what turned out to be a long time.
The two remaining Beatles—McCartney and Ringo Starr—released what’s being labeled the band’s last song, "Now and Then," on November 2. The tune had been a major topic of interest in the entertainment world for months since its announcement in mid-2023, and only after the single debuted was one of its architects able to share the tricks he had to pull to keep word from getting out.
The session musicians who lent their talents to "Now and Then" played for the recording without realizing it was for The Beatles. The string section for the song was recorded at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles in May of 2022, yet the musicians were kept in the dark regarding the true nature of the project.
Source: Hugh McIntyre/forbes.com
During the 1970s, George Harrison dismissed Paul McCartney's band Wings as a Beatles redux. Meanwhile, Paul said the group was underrated.
He might’ve been a hippie, but he didn’t pull punches. George Harrison dismissed Paul McCartney’s band Wings as a Beatles redux. Meanwhile, Paul said the group was underrated.
During a 1974 interview with Rolling Stone, George said he didn’t just want to repeat what The Beatles did. “I certainly am going to control my own concept of me,” he explained. “Gandhi says ‘Create and preserve the image of your choice.’ The image of my choice is not Beatle George. If they want to do that they can go and see Wings, then. Why live in the past? Be here now and now, whether you like me or not, this is what I am.”
George then discussed his expectations of life and the expectations people had of him. “I don’t have control over anything,” he said. “I believe in God and he is the supreme controller even down to the rehearsal.” George explained why his voice on his then-recent song “Dark Horse” sounded so husky. “It’s more like I am right at this minute,” he revealed. “I’m talking about the emphasis that gets put on a thing.”
Source: Matthew Trzcinski/cheatsheet.com
As soon as I heard John’s voice in the opening lines, I was transported back to December 1980. A 16-year-old schoolboy sitting in a small empty cafe in an outer southern suburb of Brisbane listening to the track Starting Over on the juke box and mourning my songwriting hero’s death. This new song sounds like it could’ve been on the Double Fantasy album. Now and Then has a recurring dreamy quality and Ringo’s beat is beautifully calm, supportive and understated. It filled me with immense joy, sadness and reflection.
I had no idea how emotionally I would react to this song. My youngest brother passed away last year from a brain tumour at 27. He was a big Beatles fan; he chose Beatles songs for his wedding and for his funeral – a lot of people commented that he had the music taste of someone twice his age. I had been wondering, in the lead-up to the release, what he would have thought of the band using AI to finish it, and if he’d have liked the final result.
When I heard the opening lines, and the melancholy in John’s voice, I got chills all over. The sadness of the song encapsulates the emptiness you feel when you lose someone you love, and you know you have to continue on without them. I don’t know if I could have appreciated the song as much without having known this feeling. My brother had a habit of humming Beatles melodies to himself as he was out working in the garden, and I could imagine him singing the Now and Then chorus every time I listened to the song today. I wish my brother had been able to hear it; I think he would have given it a thumbs up. Klara, 33, London
Source:theguardian.com
"Now And Then" is outselling the rest of the top 5 combined, the Official Charts Company reports.
The Beatles’ “last” song “Now And Then” is on track for the U.K. chart title.
Based on sales and streaming data captured from the first 48 hours in the chart week, “Now And Then” is in pole position, outselling the rest of the top 5 combined, the Official Charts Company reports.
If it holds its spot, “Now And Then” will become the Fab Four’s 18th U.K. chart-leader, and their first in 54 years, since “The Ballad of John and Yoko” topped the weekly tally back in 1969.
“Now And Then” actually debuted at No. 42 in the U.K. last week based on just 10 hours of sales, but is now expected to jump 41 places to the top of the Official Singles Chart when chart is published this Friday, Nov. 10.
The crown would cap a remarkable journey for “Now And Then.” The track began life as a demo written and sung by John Lennon, was later developed and worked on by Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, and now completed by Paul and Ringo, the surviving members of The Beatles, more than 40 years after the group began work on it.
Source: Lars Brandle/billboard.com
Paul McCartney never thought the Beatles would last — pop music, after all, was not always such an old man’s game. “When we started,” he says, thinking back to 1960 in Liverpool, “we thought that, maybe, we’d have ten years — that was the maximum span for a rock’n’roll group.” In one way he was right. He jumped ship in 1970 and the Beatles soon split amid rancour and financial wranglings. In another way, though, his band never really went away. “I like the idea of not letting go of each other,” McCartney continues. “You know, when you have somebody you love so much. In many cases it’s a relative, and even though they go, you don’t want to let go — that’s what people
Source: Jonathan Dean/ thetimes.co.uk
