Beatles News
Paul McCartney wrote his iconic Bond song, “Live and Let Die,” without having seen the script.
In his book The Lyrics, McCartney spoke about writing the iconic rock song on instinct, with very little knowledge about the plot.
“Writing a Bond song is a bit of an accolade, and I always had a sneaking ambition to do it,” he shared. “Ron told me the film was called Live and Let Die. The screenplay wasn’t finished at that point, so I got the Ian Fleming book, and it’s a real page-turner.”
The music icon was originally approached to make music for the 1971 film Diamonds Are Forever. While McCartney had no idea what the Roger Moore film was about, he had an idea for the Bond theme.
“I didn’t want the song to be, ‘You’ve got a gun. Now go kill people. Live and let die.’ That’s just not me,” he shared. “I wanted it to be, ‘Let it go. Don’t worry about it. When you’ve got problems, just live and let die.’ Once I had that thought in my head, the song almost wrote itself,” the Beatle explained.
McCartney and Wings recorded “Live and Let Die! at the end of the sessions for 1973’s Red Rose Speedway. It was produced by his frequent Beatles collaborator, George Martin. While Eon was keen to have McCartney write the theme song, the production company’s producer Harry Saltzman wanted Shirley Bassey or Thelma Houston to record the final version.
“The film producers found a record player. After the record had finished they said to George, ‘That’s great, a wonderful demo. Now when are you going to make the real track, and who shall we get to sing it?’ And George said, ‘What? This is the real track!’” McCartney explained, per Far Out Magazine.
McCartney would only allow “Live and Let Die” to be used in the Bond flick if it was the Wings version of the track, something that Eon eventually agreed to.
Source: mensjournal.com/Amelia Harvey
It’s no secret that The Beatles weren’t seeing eye to eye by the end of their tenure. That tension was especially a shame in the collaborative partnership between John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Though they still shared ideas even as they fell out, it wasn’t like their early years, when the Lennon-McCartney credit more accurately reflected the writing process.
One example of how their working relationship changed came when Lennon was working out “Come Together.” This classic hit features all four Beatles, but it wasn’t without pushback. Lennon reportedly dismissed McCartney from his typical duties on this track.
“Come Together” is one of the most beloved songs on Abbey Road. By the time this album came out, the band was all but done. Despite breaking at the seams, this album proved a stellar body of work. It wasn’t thrown together, even though the band wasn’t in the best headspace while working on it.
“Here come old flat-top, he come grooving up slowly / He got ju-ju eyeball, he one holy roller / He got hair down to his knee / Got to be a joker, he just do what he please,” the off-kilter lyrics to “Come Together” read. For all its weirdness, this song became one of The Beatles’ most beloved late-career tracks.
Source: americansongwriter.com/Alex Hopper
Just like the Beatles influenced countless musical contemporaries, the Fab Four drew inspiration from many of the other talented artists of the era. One of those legendary peers was Bob Dylan, particularly in the case of George Harrison's songwriting (which makes sense, considering the pair would later become bandmates in the Traveling Wilburys).
In fact, a song Dylan stayed up all night writing during the recording of his 1966 album Blonde on Blonde inspired Harrison to write a classic track which appeared on the so-called White Album.
The Dylan song in question? "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands."
Sean Wilentz (author of Bob Dylan in America) shared firsthand accounts of the night "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands" was written in a 2007 essay for the Oxford American.
"I saw Dylan sitting out in the studio at the piano, writing all night long by himself. Dark glasses on," recalled Kris Kristofferson (who was working as a studio janitor at the time). With the aid of Coca-Cola and chocolate bars, Dylan stayed up until four o'clock in the morning working on the lyrics, which have been said to be about his first wife, Sara Lownds.
It wasn't the lyrics of "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands" that Harrison took his cue from while writing "Long, Long, Long," however…it was the chords themselves. "I can't recall much about it ['Long, Long, Long'] except the chords, which I think were coming from 'Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands' – D to E minor, A, and D – those three chords and the way they moved," Harrison explained in an interview shared by uDiscoverMusic.
Source: yahoo.com/Jacqueline Burt Cote
Ringo Starr is often ignored or underappreciated, but his influence on The Beatles' sound is larger than a lot of people realize. Much like George Harrison, when the band first started, he stayed away from songwriting, since John Lennon and Paul McCartney had a monopoly over it. Harrison quickly started writing his own songs, but Starr was a late bloomer, but eventually, he also decided to try.
As all Beatles fans know, it was almost a rule to have Ringo Starr take the lead vocal on a song. There were very few albums that don't include a cover of a Beatles original sung by the drummer. And today, we're ranking all of them, from the early covers, to Starr-penned hits.
11 "Good Night" (1968)
10 "I Wanna Be Your Man" (1963)
9 "Matchbox" (1964)
8 "Honey Don’t" (1964)
Clearly, Ringo Starr's voice was great for Carl Perkins' covers. Another iconic track that Starr sang lead on for the band was "Honey Don't," a short and upbeat rockabilly track that Lennon used to sing before Starr joined, but that the drummer was clearly a better fit for. In addition to the album version included on Beatles for Sale, Starr also sang it for the On Air – Live at the BBC Volume 2 compilation, and he sounds just as great live as he did in the studio.
7 "Act Naturally" (1965)
6 "What Goes On" (1965)
5 "Boys" (1963)
"Boys" is a great example of how unafraid The Beatles were to push boundaries. They were a revolutionary group in many ways, and the way they easily dismantled what was considered as music for women and music for men was one of them. In 1963, for their debut album, Please Please Me, they decided to do a cover of The Shirelles' 1960 track, "Boys," and it was a big hit. McCartney later spoke about their decision to do a song by an all-girl group: "It was a Shirelles hit, and there were girls singing it, but we never thought we should call it ‘Girls’, just because Ringo was a boy. We just sang it the way they’d sung it and never considered any implications." It really worked, and it was a great way to help dismantle stereotypes in the music industry.
4 "Yellow Submarine" (1966)
The ultimate Ringo Starr classic. "Yellow Submarine" was not, as people might think, first released on the 1968 Yellow Submarine album. Instead, it was a part of the 1966 masterpiece that was Revolver. It is, to this day, the most popular Starr song which makes sense, most likely thanks to the beautiful imagery and catchy chorus. And, of course, the fact that it was especially made for him. "'Yellow Submarine' is Paul's baby," Lennon explained. "I helped with the lyrics too. We virtually made the track come alive in the studio, but based on Paul's inspiration. Paul's idea. Paul's title... written for Ringo."
Source: collider.com/Val Barone
No one can blame Paul McCartney for being a bit trepidatious about starting another band venture after breaking up with the world’s biggest outfit. That kind of heartbreak must have stung every time he got on stage, at least for a little while. Nevertheless, McCartney built a second life as frontman of another band, Wings. They may not have earned the recognizability or the cultural cachet of The Beatles, but they were successful in their own right; even if McCartney couldn’t always see that.
According to the rock legend, one of his peers, David Bowie, helped put things into perspective for him. The avant-garde star made
Wings always had a big burden to overcome. The Beatles’ success was unprecedented. Fans expected a lot from McCartney’s follow-up, and that pressure certainly weighed on him. ”Anything Wings did had to be viewed in the light of The Beatles,” McCartney once said.
Under that constant lens, McCartney struggled to block out the noise. Even though Wings did well for themselves, they didn’t go toe-to-toe with The Beatles, and that sullied any hope of reveling in that success.
“The interesting thing is that, looking back on some of the work, some of the stuff, it’s better than you think it was, but because it got such harsh criticism…from me,” McCartney once explained.
“The critics gave us a hard run, but I was particularly hard on us,” he added. “I remember looking at a book, there was an album we did, I think it was Back To The Egg, which didn’t do well, and I remember thinking, ‘God, complete disaster.’”
David Bowie’s Help
It wasn’t until he revisited that time in his career with Bowie that he realized things weren’t all that grim. Bowie, who experienced some momentary downslides himself, helped to put things in perspective.
“Years later, I remember looking at it with Bowie in this old book—one of these who-did-what Hit Parade books, looking it up—and it was like number eight in America,” McCartney continued.
“And I thought most people would give their right bloody arms to be number eight,” McCartney continued. “But eight, and I wasn’t satisfied. The Beatles had been number one. This is all right, keeps you going. But yes, a lot of the stuff is underrated, because of that.”
Understandably, McCartney couldn’t see the forest for the trees as he tried to make his second band work. However, time has been kind to Wings. Surely now, McCartney can revel in the unlikely success of his post-Beatles band. Not just any band could have stepped out of that monumental shadow as much as Wings did.
Source: americansongwriter.com/Alex Hopper
There has never been a band with more influence over popular music than The Beatles. It is an inarguable fact. They incorporated countless genres into their work, pushing the boundaries and exponentially expanding what was possible for music. Over their decade-long career as a group (can you believe it was only ten years?) they produced a vast variety of music that literally changed the world.
5 “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” (1967)
Starting off on a wonderfully strange note: “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.” As iconic as it is perplexing, the otherworldly track is the third on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – hands down the most psychedelic album in The Beatles' catalog. The song was inspired by a drawing Lennon’s nursery-aged son, Julian, brought home from school one day. It is also often posited that the first letter of each noun in the title, which spell out “LSD” when put together, is an obvious drug reference. Lennon refuted this theory emphatically. That being said, it was no secret that The Beatles’ music was influenced by hallucinogens during this time.
4 “In My Life” (1965)
John Lennon called “In My Life” his “first real major piece of work,” despite its being released halfway through the band's career. It was the first time he had written autobiographically, approaching songwriting from a literary angle rather than as a means to an end for a pop song. This song, and the entire Rubber Soul album upon which it appears, marks a departure from traditional Western music.
Source: collider.com/Audrey Connelly
An eight-year legal battle with Universal Music over a long-lost demo tape held by a famed Abbey Road sound engineer is finally set for a showdown in court. A Los Angeles judge says Universal Music Group (UMG) can keep pursuing a legal battle demanding the return of what the label has called the “first known Beatles recording” from the estate of a famed Abbey Road sound engineer.
In a decision this month, Judge David Cowan ruled that Calderstone Productions — a UMG unit that administers the Beatles catalog — had legal standing to seek to recover the rare tape from the estate of Geoff Emerick, who the label claims stole it decades ago.
The Beatles records
Emerick’s estate, which says he rescued a piece of history from destruction, had argued UMG couldn’t show a “chain of title” to prove it was the rightful legal successor to Abbey Road, meaning it lacked ownership rights in the first place.
But in an Oct. 16 ruling, Judge Cowan rejected that argument: “Calderstone shows how the chain of title gives it the right to pursue its underlying conversion claim,” the judge said, using the legal term for the civil law equivalent of theft.
The decision, exclusively reported by Billboard, sets the stage for a trial early next year over the big remaining issue: Whether Abbey Road legally abandoned ownership of the tape. The estate says it was basically thrown away and that Emerick saved it. UMG argues back that it was always company property: “At issue in this action is a highly valuable artifact of rock and roll history that was stolen.”
But before then, the estate is already pushing the judge to reconsider his ruling. In a motion last week, lead counsel Kenneth Fruendlich argued that the decision “rewrites” the decades-old documents at the heart of the case and would create “a manifest injustice.” That motion remains pending.
Neither side immediately returned requests for comment on Judge Cowan’s decision.
Source: billboard.com/Bill Donahue
From pre-fame Matt Damon to Danny DeVito in Jordan Marsh and Yoko Ono in Boston, this Newton native has seen it all. We asked him about his decades-long career as a Boston culture photog.
I called Jamaica Plain photographer Roger Farrington ostensibly to talk about his photos of John Lennon and Yoko Ono.
It speaks volumes about his decades-long career as a Boston-area photographer that those photos — the last ever taken of Lennon in a studio— were the tip of the iceberg.
Soon the Newton native is telling me about the time he’d photographed Matt Damon before “Good Will Hunting.” Danny DeVito riding the escalator in Jordan Marsh. Now-King Charles talking to shoppers on Newbury Street.
“It was ridiculous! It was a circus! I mean — oh, I had Elizabeth Taylor!” he says, jumping into a tale of Liz’s Hasty Pudding parade that ends with locals chasing her entourage “all the way through Harvard Square to the Lampoon Building, shouting ‘Liz, Liz, Liz!’”
Oh! And that time Andy Warhol was on Newbury Street. Farrington photographed the Queen of Thailand’s royal visit to Boston. Vanna White. Richard Pryor. Oh, and Alec Baldwin! Stories spill out, each more colorful than the last.
Farrington, 74, doesn’t speak about past gigs— he exclaims! There is a palpable wonder in his voice that he was there. That he captured these moments! He vividly remembers each assignment, and his enthusiasm oozes in each tale.
After graduating from Connecticut College in 1975, Farrington worked five years as a publicity photographer for the Charles Playhouse before going freelance in 1980.
And that summer, he got one helluva gig in New York. Ono needed a press release photo for a major announcement: Lennon and Ono were returning to the recording studio after a half-decade absence.
Source: boston.com/Lauren Daley
When Dick Rowe infamously passed on four young Liverpudlians on New Year’s Day 1962, he didn’t just make a historic blunder—he also kicked off the greatest vinyl detective story in rock history.
New Year’s Day 1962.
Most of London was sleeping off a hangover. But The Beatles arrived at Decca Studios in West Hampstead, London.
They arrived after a grueling 10-hour overnight drive from Liverpool through a severe snowstorm. They were in London to perform a high-stakes audition that their manager, Brian Epstein, hoped would secure their first major recording contract.
Over the course of the session, the group dashed through 15 tracks chosen specifically by Epstein to showcase their range.
Rather than unleashing the raw, sweaty rock-and-roll energy that was currently tearing the roof off the Cavern Club, the setlist leaned heavily into polite pop covers and stage standards.
This is the 15-song track list from the audition session.
Lennon-McCartney originals:
“Like Dreamers Do”
“Hello Little Girl”
“Love of the Loved”
Covers and standards:
“Money (That’s What I Want)”
“Till There Was You”
“The Sheik of Araby”
“To Know Her Is to Love Her”
“Take Good Care of My Baby”
“Memphis, Tennessee”
“Sure to Fall (In Love with You)”
“Three Cool Cats”
“Crying, Waiting, Hoping”
“September in the Rain”
“Bésame Mucho”
“Searchin’”
After the audition, Decca said “no, thanks” to The Beatles. Executive Dick Rowe allegedly uttered the ultimate line of music-industry regret: “Guitar groups are on the way out.”
Decca chose Brian Poole and the Tremeloes over The Beatles because the Tremeloes were based in London, making it more convenient for regular studio and session work.
As the saying goes, “Location is everything.”
Decca viewed the Tremeloes as more polished at the time, leaving The Beatles’ audition tapes to gather dust in corporate vault obscurity.
But while Decca wrote off the session as a dead end, those 15 songs captured four young artists right on the threshold of reshaping global pop culture.
Source: culturesonar.com/Thomas Clifford
Much has been said and written about the break-up of The Beatles - and what might have been the catalyst that drove the final nail in the coffin. It was a combination of things - band members feeling neglected, resentment (“We’re the grooves, so just watch it, okay?”), pressure to deliver new music, the aftermath of Brian Epstein’s premature death, the drudgery of living in each others pockets day-to-day for years... and according to the narrative at the time, Yoko’s presence while the group was at work.
The Fabs fall apart
It’s not even entirely clear who split the group. John Lennon claimed he wanted out but didn’t know how to break it to the other three so rather than confront them, he let it simmer - perhaps hoping it would all run its natural course and peter out. Then, in April 1970, Paul McCartney let slip that it was all over in a press release interview for his new solo album that there would be no more Beatles - no new music, no tours or shows, no more writing collaborations with John.
To the question, “Are you planning a new album or single with the Beatles?” Paul bluntly replied, “No”. He elaborated, citing “personal differences, business differences, musical differences, but most of all because I have a better time with my family”. He added that he didn’t really know if the break from the Beatles would be ”temporary or permanent".
By this time, all four members had left the band at one point or another only to be persuaded to come back. Ringo had had a bellyful by the time of the White album and slipped off to Sardinia. George (“I’ll play whatever you want me to play, or I won’t play at all”), upped and left during the Get Back sessions, hurling a sarky potshot: “I’ll see you ‘round the clubs”. His bandmates’ embarrassment was captured and can be seen in Peter Jackson’s documentary.
Source: en.as.com/Andy Hall
