Beatles News
It is no secret that Paul McCartney and John Lennon had a competitive relationship. However, when we hear about this relationship, it’s typically through eyes that have not shared the same lived experience. In other words, it’s not being told through a professional musician’s perspective. That being so, facts are misinterpreted, moments are embellished, and ultimately, the foundational truth is partially lost. One musician with a similar disposition who once set the record straight on the matter was Paul Simon.
When it comes to the greatest songwriters of all time, Paul Simon is certainly one of them, and do you think he got there without a competitive drive? No, as competition is arguably embedded in every endeavor, obtaining a great ambitious mission. Now, that competition doesn’t necessarily need to be against another person, as that competition can also be simply against yourself.
Regarding this drive, Simon states in the book Paul Simon: The Life by Robert Hilburn, “I wanted my own parade. That’s a competitive drive I had, for whatever reason, whether it was in my nature or it came from my family or from my neighborhood — probably a father thing.” The Relatable Lens Looked Through by Paul Simon.
Source: Peter Burditt/americansongwriter.com
On February 9, 1961, The Beatles—John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, bassist Stuart Sutcliffe, and drummer Pete Best—made their debut at The Cavern Club in Liverpool, 65 years ago. This lunchtime performance marked the beginning of their 291-show residency at the venue, which was crucial for developing their stage presence before Ringo Starr joined in 1962.
Key details of this historical milestone:
The Lineup: The band featured the "Fab Five" lineup of Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, Sutcliffe, and Best.
The Gig: They played a lunchtime gig, reportedly earning £5, at the Mathew Street venue.
Significance: This performance helped establish them in the local scene, leading to their discovery by manager Brian Epstein.
Legacy: While Sutcliffe left soon after to pursue art and Best was replaced by Ringo Starr in August 1962, this 1961 date is considered a foundational moment in their rise to fame.
Source: Google
Barry Keoghan transformed into Ringo Starr as he was spotted filming scenes for the upcoming Beatles biopic.
The actor, 33, joins the cast as the legendary drummer alongside Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney, Harris Dickinson as John Lennon and Joseph Quinn as George Harrison. On Saturday, Barry looked the spitting image of the star, whose real name is Sir Richard Starkey, while on set.
He donned an oversized fur jacket layered over a striped purple shirt, paired with cropped trousers for the retro look. Barry also grew out a beard and styled his hair in Ringo’s classic shaggy cut, finishing the transformation with sunglasses as he filmed scenes.
The Daily Mail revealed that the Beatles biopics will be filmed at London's iconic Abbey Road Studios, with production getting underway in November last year despite earlier reports that plans had been blocked.
Barry Keoghan transformed into Ringo Starr as he was spotted filming scenes for the upcoming Beatles biopic. The actor, 33, joins the cast as the legendary drummer alongside Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney, Harris Dickinson as John Lennon and Joseph Quinn as George Harrison. While it was previously claimed that Westminster Council would not allow filming at the famous zebra crossing, the council has since confirmed to the Daily Mail that production will be going ahead.
Mendes, who is directing the films, had wanted to recreate the Beatles' 1969 album cover on the crossing.
Westminster Council told the Daily Mail that they are, in fact, working closely with production teams to facilitate filming, which will involve closing the road. Speaking at the CinemaCon convention in Las Vegas last April, an event the cast also attended, Mendes described the films as the 'first binge-able theatrical experience'.
The project marks the first time Apple Corps Ltd and The Beatles – Sir Paul, Sir Ringo, and the families of Lennon and Harrison – have granted full life story and music rights for a scripted film. Sir Ringo previously hinted that Saltburn star Barry had taken on the role.
Source: Caroline Peacock/dailymail.co.uk
In 1964, the Beatles made their first live American television appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” broadcast from New York on CBS. The quartet played five songs, including “She Loves You” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” to a crowd of screaming teenagers in person and more than 70 million viewers across the country.
Source: LimoOhio.com
In many ways, The Beatles remain the Platonic Ideal of a rock band. Not only did the Liverpool, England-born group write incredible songs and garner giant audiences, but they also broke the mold by breaking the molds. In other words, they were great, in part, because of their distinct personalities.
Each of the four former Mop Tops had specific qualities. And together, they were a complete group. But even despite the unbelievable synergy between the members, there were important musical figures who helped shape The Beatles from the outside. That’s just what we wanted to dive into here.
While the four members of The Beatles were in the recording studio, laying down their tracks, it was producer George Martin in the booth, working the boards and knobs. Where would the band be without his ear for levels and mixes? Where would they be without his influence? Just one example of Martin’s genius is his work on the 1967 album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Much has been written about Yoko Ono and her effect on John Lennon and The Beatles. For decades, she was considered the villain who broke up the band. But more recently, those ideas have been debunked thanks, in part, to footage from the recent documentary, Get Back. For whatever you thought of her, Ono was an artist. She experimented fearlessly and her impact remains on the creative culture today. Who knows, maybe The Beatles’ final album, Let It Be, would never have happened without her influence. Maybe the band’s final album would have halted without her support outside the studio.
Billy Preston
The band was struggling. Members were leaving at inopportune times during the recording session for their final album. Old wounds were opening along with new ones. The Beatles had become a tired, old married couple of four. There was no hope. Until the Houston, Texas-born keys player Billy Preston walked through the door. John Lennon said it himself, Preston saved the recording session for the band’s final record, Let It Be. With his nimble playing, blues background, and immense skill, Preston, who has also played with the likes of Little Richard, Sam Cooke, and Ray Charles, helped to save one of the greatest rock records ever.
Source: Jacob Uitti/americansongwriter.com
Cynthia Powell was the third child of Charles Powell, who worked for the electrical and engineering company GEC, and his wife, Lillian. She was born in the opening days of the Second World War, in Blackpool, to where her expecting mother had been evacuated from the family home in Liverpool along with other pregnant women. As a child, Cynthia was described as "shy, gentle, and studious", and her upbringing was much stricter than her future husband's.
The family later moved back to the Wirral, settling in the seaside town of Hoylake. Cynthia showed artistic flair, and after attending Liverpool's Junior Art School, and at the age of 11 won an art prize in a Liverpool Echo competition. She went on to study at the Liverpool College of Art in 1957 where she met John Lennon.
Cynthia married Lennon in 1962, just before the Beatles released their first single, Love Me Do, after discovering she was pregnant with Julian. The Beatles’ manager, Brian Epstein, was best man.
The marriage lasted just six years and ended after Cynthia reportedly returned home from a trip to Greece to find Lennon and Yoko Ono, in matching towelling robes, gazing at each other.
Cynthia started divorce proceedings after hearing that Ono was pregnant with Sean. Eventually John grudgingly agreed to pay Cynthia £100,000, plus maintenance of £2,400 a year, with another £100,000 placed in a trust fund for Julian.
Cynthia wrote a memoir of John in 2005 in which she said: “Having tried to live an ordinary life for so many years since John and I parted, I have come to realise that I will always be known as John’s first wife."
Source: Amy Fenton/lancs.live
aul McCartney announced a second surprise show at the Bowery Ballroom slated for Wednesday night, but tickets were quickly snapped up. The East Village venue was completely sold out by 11 a.m.
McCartney, 82, shocked New Yorkers on Tuesday afternoon when he announced plans to play the theater that night, making tickets only available in person at the box office. That show almost immediately sold out as well.
By Wednesday morning, people were more prepared, with lines outside the venue all morning in anticipation of a possible announcement, according to the music blog Brooklyn Vegan. The concert was set to begin at 6:30 p.m. McCartney is expected to be in town all week, as he is scheduled to be part of a 50th anniversary celebration on “Saturday Night Live” this weekend.
Tuesday night’s show in the tiny Bowery Ballroom, with hardly more than 550 people in attendance, included a full 22-song setlist from McCartney, along with plenty of chatter. “So, here we are,” McCartney said at the beginning with a grin. “Some little gig. New York. Why not?”
McCartney is famously no stranger to a surprise performance. In addition to the famous Beatles rooftop concert, he appeared on top of Ed Sullivan Theatre marquee in 2009 and set up a performance at Grand Central Terminal in 2018.
When he announced the Tuesday concert, New Yorkers within a reasonable distance of the Bowery Ballroom flocked to snag tickets.
“I thought: I can do this,” Amy Jaffe, who lives about 30 blocks north, told The Associated Press. “I put on jeans, grabbed a coat, called a Lyft.” Jaffe, 69, was one of the lucky few in attendance Tuesday. McCartney played a full show, ranging from Beatles classics like “Hey Jude” to solo efforts such as “Maybe I’m Amazed.”
Source: MSN
A brand-new companion album is on the way, created to sit alongside Man on the Run, the upcoming documentary exploring Paul McCartney and Wings’ remarkable rise through the 1970s. Directed by Academy Award–winner Morgan Neville, the film traces an era of bold creativity, reinvention, and the unstoppable spirit that defined the band’s journey.
To mark the announcement, fans can enjoy two previously unheard gems: 'Arrow Through Me (Rough Mix)' and 'Live and Let Die (Rockshow)', available exclusively on Amazon Music.
The documentary Man on the Run begins streaming worldwide on Prime Video from 27 February. We made what seemed like an impossible dream come true. - Paul
Ahead of the release of Paul McCartney: Man on the Run, the intimate new feature documentary by Oscar, Emmy, and Grammy Award-winning director Morgan Neville, exploring Paul McCartney’s creative rebirth after The Beatles’ breakup, Capitol Records, MPL Communications and UMG have announced details of a companion album titled, Man on the Run - Music from the Motion Picture Soundtrack.
The album includes all-time classics, hits and essential tracks from across Paul McCartney and Wings’ revered catalogue. A snapshot of Paul’s creativity in the 1970s in 12 songs. ‘Arrow Through Me (Rough Mix)’, a previously unreleased rough mix from the 1979 album sessions for Back to the Egg, and ‘Live And Let Die (Rockshow)’, from the 1980 concert film Rockshow, can both be heard exclusively via Amazon Music here, ahead of release. The album will feature a third previously unreleased track in ‘Gotta Sing Gotta Dance’, originally featured in the 1973 The James Paul McCartney TV Special.
Both the soundtrack album and documentary will be released on February 27th, with Man on the Run - Music from the Motion Picture Soundtrack arriving in a variety of formats, including a limited edition New York Taxi Cab Yellow Vinyl LP by Jack White's Third Man Pressing plant, a limited edition Tangerine Peel Orange Vinyl LP Amazon Exclusive, and Black Vinyl LP, through to a 1CD edition and digital release. Each vinyl edition will also come with a Man on the Run poster.
The artwork had creative direction by Paul McCartney and Aubrey ‘Po’ Powell of Hipgnosis - the iconic design studio that worked with Paul for eight Wings albums, including Band on the Run, Venus and Mars, Wings Over America, Wings Greatest, and the 2025 anthology, WINGS. The artwork was designed by Peter Curzon of Storm Studios.
Fans can shop the Amazon exclusive soundtrack vinyl here today and find more merch on Paul McCartney’s official store on Amazon.com and in the Amazon Music app.
Man on the Run - Music from the Motion Picture Soundtrack, Track listing:
1 Wings - Silly Love Songs (Demo)
2 Paul McCartney - That Would Be Something (2011 Remaster)
3 Paul and Linda McCartney - Long Haired Lady (2012 Remaster)
4 Paul and Linda McCartney - Too Many People (2012 Remaster)
5 Paul McCartney and Wings - Big Barn Bed (2018 Remaster)
6 Paul McCartney - Gotta Sing Gotta Dance
7 Wings - Live and Let Die (Rockshow)
8 Paul McCartney and Wings - Band on the Run (2010 Remaster)
9 Wings - Arrow Through Me (Rough Mix)
10 Wings - Mull of Kintyre (2016 Remaster)
11 Paul McCartney - Coming Up (2011 Remaster)
12 Paul McCartney and Wings - Let Me Roll It (2010 Remaster)
Source: paulmccartney.com
10 "Savoy Truffle"
From 'The Beatles' (1968)
Without a doubt, The Beatles (sometimes called “The White Album”) is one of the most important rock albums of all time. It’s one of the wildest and most varied of all time, in a manner that still feels unparalleled within the realms of non-experimental music, since most of the tracks here are legitimate songs. There are a few points where things do get kind of experimental (see “Revolution 9”), but usually, it’s just out there because there are a whole variety of sub-genres covered from song to song.
9 "Run for Your Life"
From 'Rubber Soul' (1965)
To the credit of “Run for Your Life,” it is a successfully creepy song, but whether it was supposed to be truly horrifying is a bit harder to discern. It’s about a very intense man directing a series of statements toward his partner/girlfriend, saying he’d rather see her dead than with another man and stuff, and that if she did that, she should indeed “run for” her “life.”
Maybe it was supposed to be tongue-in-cheek or darkly funny, but the execution is off. It’s just a sour song that really tanks the album it belongs to, Rubber Soul. There is one other sort of weak song on that album, so more on that in a bit, but “Run for Your Life” stands out for being the closing track; one that, because of its placement, ensures the otherwise strong album cannot actually end on a high.
8 "Your Mother Should Know"
From 'Magical Mystery Tour' (1967)
There are some great songs featured on Magical Mystery Tour (especially the LP version, rather than the EP one), but “Your Mother Should Know” is not one of them. It’s a lesser Paul McCartney song that puts on, in full display, his traits that tend to receive the most criticism/scorn. It’s a plinky-plonky, corny, and grating track, and this is coming from someone who honestly doesn’t mind “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da.”
7 "What Goes On"
From 'Rubber Soul' (1965)
This whole ranking is going to be quite kind to Ringo Starr, because while he gets quite a bit of criticism for being the least essential Beatle (it’s not a fair criticism, but you do tend to see it), there are only two songs sung by Starr featured in this ranking. Side-note, but it feels weird to call him “Starr.” It’s much more fun to call him “Ringo.” It’s a bit like awkwardly calling Kanye West “West” when “Kanye” feels so much more appropriate.
Uh, wait, where were we? Oh yeah, Ringo singing. He sings “What Goes On.” It’s not as creepy a song as “Run for Your Life,” nor does it derail Rubber Soul at as pivotal a point as that song does, but it is the most boring and tacky Rubber Soul track. The vibes are bad on “Run for Your Life,” but at least there’s some kind of misguided passion there, and an attempt at making things feel memorable. “What Goes On” is pure filler, and it feels out of step with what’s an otherwise very high-quality Beatles album.
Source: Jeremy Urquhart/collider.com
Beatlemania … in 2026?! Thanks to director Sam Mendes’s upcoming four-part Beatles film series, the Liverpool band is about to become the biggest music act in the world once again. The hubbub is certainly thanks, in large part, to its all-star cast. The Beatles films will star Paul Mescal (Hamnet) as Paul McCartney, Harris Dickinson (Babygirl) as John Lennon, Joseph Quinn (Fantastic Four: First Steps) as George Harrison, and Barry Keoghan (Saltburn) as Ringo Starr. With a lineup that good, the hysteria starts to make sense.
Fans got their first taste of the foursome through a London higher-education postcard event—which revealed the first official images of the actors as their famous counterparts. Released by the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA), which McCartney cofounded, the photos of Mescal, Dickinson, Keoghan, and Quinn were met with immediate excitement. I mean, it doesn’t get more spot-on than Mescal’s McCartney.
Now set photos from one of the films are leaking on social media, showing the four Beatles swarmed in New York City in the mid-’60s. Keoghan poses as Starr snapping photos, while Quinn’s Harrison attempts to trudge through the crowd to their cars. Mescal is also wearing the classic single-sleeved blazer that the Beatles arrived in when they first landed in America. Check out the photos out below.
The four films will hit theaters in 2028, which each film focusing on the perspective of one of the Beatles. Fans have very little to go on so far as to what that exactly means for the Beatles films. Questions remain, including: Do the movies all take place at the same time? Will all four films release in theaters on the same day? Will you need to see all four films to get the full story?
I’m sure we’ll find out eventually. For now, all we know is the cast. Alongside the Beatles, Saoirse Ronan (Bad Apples) is Linda McCartney, James Norton (House of Guinness) is Brian Epstein, Aimee Lou Wood (The White Lotus) is Pattie Boyd, Harry Lloyd (Brave New World) is George Martin, and Anna Sawai (Shōgun) is Yoko Ono.
Of course, the real test of any music biopic is the music. Fans have yet to hear any of the actors speak or sing as their Beatles counterparts, even though I’m sure the campaign for each of them will reach Elvis levels of performance dissection.
According to Sawai, the group already sounds like the real deal. “It’s really amazing, just being on set with the boys and seeing them jam together,” she told Entertainment Tonight. “It really feels like I’m watching the Beatles.”
Source: Josh Rosenberg/esquire.com
