Beatles News
That blurry-sounding guitar line that leads the Beatles' "Think for Yourself" from 1965's Rubber Soul? That's actually no guitar at all.
It's a bass part, played by Paul McCartney and fed through a device called a fuzz box, which creates a kind of grainy, distorted effect. (There's a regular bass part, too.)
And as with many Beatles tracks, it broke new ground — "Think for Yourself," written by George Harrison, marked the first time this device was used on purpose with a bass.
'Don't Worry' and 'Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah'
Four years prior in 1961, a similar sound was created in Marty Robbins' "Don't Worry," a huge No. 1 hit on the country chart. But in that case, the fuzzy bass sound was essentially made on accident, the result of some kind of technical malfunction that Robbins' ultimately decided to keep on the track.
A year after that, producer Phil Spector helped Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans achieve something similar on their cover of "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah." According to Harrison, who worked with Spector on a number of occasions after the Beatles split up, it was a makeshift thing.
"When Phil Spector was making 'Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah,' the engineer who's set up the track overloaded the microphone on the guitar player and it became very distorted," he said for Anthology. "Phil Spector said, 'Leave it like that, it's great.'"
Source: ultimateclassicrock.com/Allison Rapp
Casual Beatles fans might completely overlook Beatles For Sale, the Fab Four’s fourth LP. Released in 1964, it found the band going back to cover songs to fill out the running order. This was after they’d included nothing but originals on A Hard Day’s Night, their other 1964 album.
The originals that they did manage to release on that record often get pushed aside by those discussing the group’s work. But we’re here to tell you that these four somewhat overlooked songs from Beatles For Sale deserve your attention.
“Baby’s In Black”
Any song that gave John Lennon and Paul McCartney an excuse to do some close harmony singing has a great head start. On “Baby’s In Black”, which the two men wrote together, they do their finest Everly Brothers impersonation on the microphone. Both men are pushed to the edges of their respective ranges, making for a thrilling listening experience. At any moment, you half-expect one of them to falter, but they never do. The lyrics for the song are fascinating as well. The idea of the girl that the narrator wants dressing in mourning colors adds a bit of unexpected darkness to the proceedings. No matter what he tries, he can’t replace the lingering memory of her ex.
Source: americansongwriter.com/Jim Beviglia
Samira Ahmed, US: Your brilliant A Hard Days Night that examines the impact of the Beatles’ effervescent first film. Can you talk a little about what compelled you to write this book with this specific focus?
Samira Ahmed, UK: My head has been full of the Beatles since I was 11 and discovered them through their films, which my big brother taped off BBC TV in 1979 onto our Betamax video. In 2023 I discovered the earliest complete concert recording of the band made by a student at a private boys’ boarding school—Stowe—in 1963. And the way I told the story on my Radio 4 show Front Row of that concert—its mix of class politics, social change, and the role of TV and audio technology—really connected with listeners, who weren’t necessarily Beatles fans. Who isn’t fascinated by the 60s?
So I thought this film deserves that kind of all-round viewing. Once you start looking you see there are black and Asian teenagers in the audience, the adult women around the Beatles capture how fast women’s careers and freedoms are developing. How the film makes Britain look like the most exciting place to be in the world. Plus how delightful to realize that the film was created by immigrants—mainly American born director Richard Lester. So all these ideas are fizzing through the book.
Source: lithub.com/Samira Ahmed
In 2006, the BBC’s Radio 2 Music Club asked more than 220,000 people to choose the “Best No. 1 Album of All Time.” Their pick was Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles’ groundbreaking 1967 album that had already become one of the most celebrated records of its era.
The poll was a testament to how well The Beatles’ music had endured. Four of the band’s albums made the top 10, while Sgt. Pepper landed at No. 1 nearly 40 years after its release.
That kind of lasting adoration traces back to how ambitious the album was from the start. By the time Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band arrived in 1967, The Beatles were already among the biggest bands in the world. Albums such as Revolver and A Hard Day’s Night had established them as musical innovators, but their eighth studio album gave them a chance to take that experimentation even further.
The Beatles had stopped touring the previous year, giving them the freedom to make music that didn’t have to be easily reproduced onstage. That gave them room to explore reversed recordings, tape manipulation and distortion in the studio.
With Sgt. Pepper, the band moved beyond their rock-and-roll roots and embraced a more psychedelic sound. Songs like “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” and “Within You Without You” brought in surreal imagery, spirituality and mysticism.
Part of what made the album stand out was its concept. The Beatles imagined themselves as the fictional Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, giving them an alter ego that let them take the music in a different direction.
Soure: parade.com/Isabella Torregiani
When they emerged on the scene, The Beatles quickly gained a reputation as the rare rock band that wrote their own material. But they also proved that they could interpret the songs of others. And they usually made those cover songs their own.
One of the earliest examples of this came with their legendary cover of “Twist And Shout”. They used it as the closing song of their debut album, Please Please Me, in 1963. John Lennon delivered an incredible lead vocal performance, one made all the more amazing by the fact that his voice was running on fumes when he laid it down.
Videos by American Songwriter
Save the “Twist” for Last
Bert Berns and Phil Medley wrote “Twist And Shout”. The Top Notes did the first recording of the song in 1961. A year later, The Isley Brothers put their distinctive stamp on it. Their version hit the US Top 20 in 1962.
The Beatles had been performing the song in their live performances for a while when they headed into EMI Studios in February 1963 to record the bulk of their first album. By that time, the group had scored the hit singles “Love Me Do” and “Please Please Me”. That success earned them the opportunity to lay down their first full-length LP.
Producer George Martin had been checking out the band’s live performances in anticipation of the first album to see what material might work. As such, he knew that “Twist And Shout” was a showstopper.
Source: americansongwriter.com/Jim Beviglia
Paul McCartney paid tribute to Dolly Parton and her “unrivaled” songwriting, singing, and philanthropic efforts in a tribute to the late country legend on Instagram.
The post featured some photos from the time McCartney and his family met Parton and her old performing partner Porter Wagoner during a trip to the Grand Ole Opry in the mid-Seventies. At the time, Parton was already a budding star with Wagoner, about to launch her solo career, and, as McCartney remembered her, “so bubbly and full of life.”
“The magnificent star Dolly Parton has died and it is so sad,” McCartney wrote, adding, “Her songwriting, her singing, and her philanthropy were unrivaled in the world of country music and it is hard to imagine living in a world without Dolly. She was a very clever business woman who understood the value of music and, most importantly, the effect that she had on the people of the world.”
Along with their mid-Seventies meeting, McCartney and Parton crossed paths again when the she recorded the Beatles’ “Let It Be” for her 2023 album, Rockstar.
Both McCartney and Ringo Starr featured on the track, too, as did Peter Frampton and Mick Fleetwood.
“There was no greater honor for me than to have her sing my song ‘Let It Be’ and, even though I only made a small contribution to it, I am so honored that she did it,” McCartney wrote of the collaboration. “I am so proud to have known her and admire her unique talents.”
Source: rollingstone.com/Jon Blistein
RECORDING CAPTURES JOHN LENNON AND PAUL McCARTNEY DEVELOPING ‘DAY TRIPPER’ TOGETHER BEFORE THE SONG’S ICONIC RIFF HAD BEEN WRITTEN
Today, UMG and Apple Corps Ltd. release ‘Day Tripper (Songwriting Work Tape)’ from the forthcoming expanded Special Edition of The Beatles’ landmark 1965 album Rubber Soul. Recorded during the Rubber Soul sessions, ‘Day Tripper’ and ‘We Can Work It Out’ were intended for release as a standalone double A-side single and were kept separate from the album.
The ‘Day Tripper (Songwriting Work Tape)’ offers a rare glimpse into the earliest stages of the song, capturing John Lennon and Paul McCartney working together at John’s home, Kenwood, in Weybridge, Surrey. At this stage, the iconic riff that would come to define ‘Day Tripper’ had yet to be written.
Initially based on an old folk song John had written the previous month, the recording captures the pair developing the song together, highlighting the fun they had when writing as a duo. John and Paul can be heard laughing as they work through the song, with John later making reference to the high level of sound being captured on tape.
Source: thebeatles.com
In the mid '60s, the Beatles were still very much together, but not necessarily on the exact same page.
Ringo Starr was a brand new father, happily soaking in the many blisses of domestic family life, while George Harrison was falling deeper into his studies of Eastern music and philosophy. Paul McCartney was investing his time into London's cultural scene — art galleries, operas, etc.
John Lennon's experience, however, was less stimulating, at least emotionally. He lived in Weybridge then, just far enough outside London for there not to be very much day-to-day excitement. He was regularly taking LSD and his relationship with wife Cynthia and son Julian was, in a word, deteriorating.
"I can get up and start doing nothing straight away," he told the journalist Hunter Davies in 1967 (via American Songwriter). "I just sit on the step, look into space, and think until it's time to go to bed. … If I am on my own for three days, doing nothing, I almost leave myself completely. I'm just not here. … I'm up there watching myself, or I'm at the back of my head. I can see my hands and realize they're moving, but it's a robot who's doing it."
Source: ultimateclassicrock.com/Allison Rapp
Sixty years ago, San Francisco native Gus Tham was living the dream. The 15-year-old was one of the bat boys for his hometown Giants.
"It was a fantastic job," Tham recalled.
At the time, the Giants played at the iconic Candlestick Park, and the team was packed with legends.
"Well, you start with the 3 M's: Mays, McCovey, and Marichal," Tham said.
Tham's tenure at Candlestick included not only the 3 "M's", but the Fab Four: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. On August 29, 1966, the Beatles came to San Francisco as part of their North American Tour.
"This was a big quick tour playing very large venues," music critic Joel Selvin said.
It was the Beatles' third performance in the Bay Area, and as it turns out, their final ticketed concert. The legendary rock band wanted to stop touring and go into the studio to record albums.
The group sent word that they would stop the tour early in Los Angeles. The tour's promoter Tom Donahue then traveled to Los Angeles, to serve them papers that if they did not show up, they would be breaking a legal contract. The Beatles then relented.
"The Beatles were so tired and done," said photo archivist Amelia Davis. "They did not want to come to San Francisco at all."
Source: cbsnews.com/Molly McCrea
More than most artists, Paul McCartney has projected a sunny disposition and a positive outlook within his music. Not unfailingly, of course. But a solid percentage of McCartney’s songs will leave you feeling good when you’re finished listening to them.
He’s maintained that upbeat stance in his songs even when turmoil raged behind the scenes. “With A Little Luck”, for example, kept looking for the bright side, even as Wings, McCartney’s band at the time, was crumbling.
Videos by American Songwriter
Paul McCartney has always been looking for ways to spice up the recording process. In some cases, that meant finding a different location, somewhere that could liven up the somewhat dreary process of going into the studio and playing songs endlessly until they’re perfected.
Perhaps his wildest idea ever was to record a chunk of the 1978 album London Town on a boat. Well, technically, it was a fancy yacht called the Fair Carol that was moored in the Virgin Islands. McCartney chartered two more boats, one for other members of the band and one for him and his family, including wife Linda, who was pregnant at the time.
During those sessions on the boat, which took place throughout May 1977, the band recorded the bones of several songs, including “With A Little Luck”. But the close quarters didn’t necessarily improve band relations. That’s evidenced by the fact that two of the five members of Wings left the band later that year as sessions for London Town moved to other areas.
Source: americansongwriter.com/Jim Beviglia
