Beatles News
There are lots of opinions swirling on the internet about The Beatles’ final years as a band, with some Fab Four fans posthumously judging the musicians for what they did (and didn’t do) in the tumultuous last few years of the 1960s. However, I would argue that Paul McCartney showed tremendous foresight when he—along with Ringo Starr and George Harrison—rejected a song John Lennon proposed the band release as their next single in the fall of 1969.
For some context, The Beatles had just released their penultimate album, Abbey Road, on September 26 of that year. The album’s lead single, “Something”, with “Come Together”, was set to come out on October 6. On September 30, fresh from the album release, John Lennon went into the studio to record “Cold Turkey” with the Plastic Ono Band, having been turned down by his other bandmates.
The Plastic Ono Band version came out on October 20. The songwriting credit was solely John Lennon. This marked a first for the musician who previously released all of his other compositions, even the personal ones, under the Lennon-McCartney partnership.
“Cold Turkey” Never Would Have Worked as a Beatles Song
It’s true that “Cold Turkey” is an intensely, viscerally personal song by John Lennon. But that’s not the sole reason why The Beatles didn’t record the song. After all, “Ballad Of John And Yoko” couldn’t have been more personal and specific to Lennon’s life. Yet, the Fab Four recorded and put out that personal song in May 1969. Perhaps that spring release played its own role in the band’s refusal. After all, “Ballad Of John And Yoko” had already been banned by radio stations worldwide. It wouldn’t have been unreasonable for the band to assume “Cold Turkey” would bring much of the same.
And indeed it did. As Lennon later recalled, “Cold Turkey” was “banned again all over the American radio, so it never got off the ground. They were thinking I was promoting h****n, but instead… I’m not preaching about ‘em. I’m just saying a drug is a drug, you know. Why we take them is important, not who’s selling it to whom on the corner,” Lennon told David Sheff in one of his final interviews in 1980.
Had The Beatles followed through and released “Cold Turkey”, the band would have had yet another highly controversial song in their catalogue for radios to ban. Who knows what effects that could have had on their musical legacy? On the legacy of the individual musicians? Most importantly of all, Lennon releasing “Cold Turkey” by himself was highly effective in distancing himself from the Fab Four. If he hadn’t released it, there’s a chance his former Beatles persona would become too sticky and hard to shake.
Source: americansongwriter.com/Melanie Davis
There's quite a lot of ground to cover in the upcoming Beatles biopics, but a source tells Closer that one of the four-part films' heartbreaking plotlines will center around the death of Paul McCartney's beloved first wife, Linda.
"Linda is a big character in the world of the Beatles," reveals the source, and director Sam Mendes "has opted to make her a huge part of these movies by hiring Saoirse Ronan, who is a four-time Oscar nominee, to play her."
McCartney, 84, wed Linda in 1969 and the pair, who shared daughters Mary, 57, and Stella, 55, and son James, 49, were married for nearly 30 years. He also adopted the photographer's daughter Heather, 63, from a previous marriage.
After the Beatles broke up in 1970, "it was Linda who saved" McCartney from his "deep, deep anger," the "Maybe I'm Amazed" singer told biographer Tom Doyle, per The Times U.K., and the pair went on to play together in the band Wings.
Then in 1998, Linda tragically lost her battle with breast cancer at the age of 56.
"When it comes to Linda's illness, the movies will go there, and they're doing it in a tasteful way that is fully aligned with Sir Paul's own wishes for the project," insists the source, adding that McCartney has given his full blessing.
Paul Mescal's portrayal of McCartney opposite Ronan, 32, will be key to bringing the legendary Beatle's love story to life on the big screen, Closer's source notes.
"The love and the tears have to be real and ultimately, Mescal is great at that stuff," the source says of the Hamnet star, 30. "It's genuinely going to be an event for audiences to see … but it could be a little much for the real-life Sir Paul to sit through himself."
After all, "it's one thing to read a script for a movie and it's quite another to see incredible actors playing out your own personal, tragic love story on the screen," the source admits.
Source: yahoo.com/Kaitlyn Monteiro
There are lots of opinions swirling on the internet about The Beatles’ final years as a band, with some Fab Four fans posthumously judging the musicians for what they did (and didn’t do) in the tumultuous last few years of the 1960s. However, I would argue that Paul McCartney showed tremendous foresight when he—along with Ringo Starr and George Harrison—rejected a song John Lennon proposed the band release as their next single in the fall of 1969.
For some context, The Beatles had just released their penultimate album, Abbey Road, on September 26 of that year. The album’s lead single, “Something”, with “Come Together”, was set to come out on October 6. On September 30, fresh from the album release, John Lennon went into the studio to record “Cold Turkey” with the Plastic Ono Band, having been turned down by his other bandmates.
The Plastic Ono Band version came out on October 20. The songwriting credit was solely John Lennon. This marked a first for the musician who previously released all of his other compositions, even the personal ones, under the Lennon-McCartney partnership.
“Cold Turkey” Never Would Have Worked as a Beatles Song
It’s true that “Cold Turkey” is an intensely, viscerally personal song by John Lennon. But that’s not the sole reason why The Beatles didn’t record the song. After all, “Ballad Of John And Yoko” couldn’t have been more personal and specific to Lennon’s life. Yet, the Fab Four recorded and put out that personal song in May 1969. Perhaps that spring release played its own role in the band’s refusal. After all, “Ballad Of John And Yoko” had already been banned by radio stations worldwide. It wouldn’t have been unreasonable for the band to assume “Cold Turkey” would bring much of the same.
Source: Melanie Davis/americansongwriter.com
On October 24th, John Lennon filed a lawsuit against the US government, accusing it of tapping his phone.
After Lennon and Yoko Ono held their famed "bed-ins" in Montreal and Amsterdam, the FBI began keeping elaborate records on the muscian, including taking notes on his media appearances and wiretapping his phone.
During the tumult of the Vietnam War, the famous couple were self-proclaimed "peaceniks," frequently criticizing Nixon and the conflicts. The couple was vocal about their anti-war opinions, creating a huge anti-war movement in the USA and making friends with several members of the "New Left." Their political movement advocated for civil rights, gay rights, drug reforms, and feminism.
The FBI took note of their political opinions and affiliations. They became concerned that Lennon and Ono were planning a "large rock concert" in front of the convention hall in Miami Beach, where the Republican National Convention was being held. They were concerned this would interfere with the presidential election.
So, the FBI, tapped Lennon's phone and sent their agents to follow the former Beatles. He was very aware of this, admitting these practices made him "scared" and "paranoid."
"When it first started, I was followed in a car and my phone was tapped," Lennon said in a 1975 interview. "I think they wanted me to notice, to scare me.
"[The administration was] coming for me one way or the other; I mean, they were harassing me. And I'd open the door and there'd be guys standing on the other side of the street. I'd get in a car, and they'd be following me in a car and not hiding," he told an up-and-coming London-based DJ, Nick Horne, at the time.
At the time, Lennon wanted to become an American citizen, although he was fighting drug charges in his native UK. The Immigration and Naturalization Service admitted he was "more likely to be immediately deportable" should he be arrested in the US for possession of drugs.
Source: yahoo.com/Amelia Harvey
Brian May believes George Harrison deserves more recognition for his contributions to the electric guitar’s legacy. In his view, guitarists who dazzle with speed and fireworks have overshadowed the quieter virtues of the instrument — qualities Harrison possessed in abundance.
May knows a thing or two about making an electric guitar speak. He was crowned the world’s greatest guitarist in Total Guitar’s 2020 rankings, narrowly beating Jimi Hendrix to the top spot.
His work with his fabled Red Special is testament to his own formidable talent, though May’s playing often falls on the flashier end of the spectrum. Consider his solo on “Don’t Stop Me Now,” which he fought to include after Freddie Mercury argued that the song was better suited to piano. Yet, speaking to the Express in 2022, May explained why Harrison’s less showy approach deserves equal respect.
George Harrison plays his 1963 Rickenbacker 360/12 guitar on stage during rehearsals for the TV show 'Thank Your Lucky Stars' Summer Spin at Teddington Studios in London on 11th July 1964.
“At every stage in their career and their music development, they were models,” he said of the Beatles more broadly (via Far Out). “And they still are to me, I must say.
“They are the pinnacle of writing, performance and ethos of rock music,” May added. “They broke down so many barriers, they changed the world many times. I will always love The Beatles without any reservation.”
But membership in one of the most successful and influential bands in history doesn’t guarantee individual recognition. Harrison’s legacy has often been overshadowed by those around him. Within the Beatles, he struggled to make room for his songs alongside the dominant Lennon-McCartney partnership.
Source: guitarplayer.com/Phil Weller
Though it would showcase the strengths of George Harrison as a songwriter better than The Beatles ever did, All Things Must Pass was not a smooth time for the so-called quiet one.
Harrison’s breakout solo album would come just a year after The Beatles had formally dissolved. His fellow bandmates had released projects of their own, but it was All Things Must Pass and songs like My Sweet Lord that gave Harrison a head start in his post-Beatles career. Despite the triple album featuring some of Harrison’s all-time great songs, including the Bob Dylan-inspired I’d Have You Anytime, the Something songwriter found himself feeling musically “paranoid” as a result of working with Paul McCartney and John Lennon. The songwriting duo would hardly let Harrison’s songs feature on The Beatles’ albums, leaving Harrison with a backlog of quality material that he placed on All Things Must Pass.
Speaking back in 1977 to Crawdaddy Magazine, Harrison confirmed that having Derek and the Dominos play on most of the songs, as well as finding a love for the Dylan-inspired I’d Have You Anytime, helped with the pains of recording his massive studio album.
He said: “I liked different songs for different reasons. I liked the first song that was on the album, I’d Have You Anytime, and particularly the recording of it, because Derek and the Dominos played on most of the tracks and it was a really nice experience making that album– because I was really a bit paranoid, musically. Having this whole thing with the Beatles had left me really paranoid.
“I remember having those people in the studio and thinking, ‘God, these songs are so fruity! I can’t think of which song to do.’ Slowly I realised, ‘We can do this one,’ and I’d play it to them and they’d say, ‘Wow, yeah! Great song!’ And I’d say, ‘Really? Do you really like it?’ I realised that it was okay… that they were sick of playing all that other stuff. It’s great to have a tune, and I liked that song, I’d Have You Anytime because of Bob Dylan.”
Source: cultfollowing.co.uk/Ewan Gleadow
Kev McManus, Head of Liverpool UNESCO City of Music, reflects on this week’s announcement about a new home for The Beatles Story and how it will help support future talent…
Apple Corps will be opening a huge, new state of the art Beatles attraction in Liverpool in 2028. It is great news for the city in so many ways but for me what really struck home were the quotes from Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. Both acknowledged that The Beatles and Liverpool are inseparable. The city made them, and their ongoing love for the place shone through in their words.
The other really exciting element for me was the announcement that every ticket sold to The Beatles Story will contribute to the Apple Corps Liverpool Trust, a charitable initiative established to provide financial support and opportunities for emerging Liverpool artists. This type of support is absolutely vital at the moment – a time when it is increasingly difficult for emerging artists to breakthrough into a music industry that has changed beyond all recognition since the days that The Beatles did so.
This gift back to the city and its musicians is a brilliant gesture and it is why during the local press launch we had some musicians who had benefitted from our own talent development programme, LIMF Academy. Bethane, Koj, Michael Aldag and Astles are all now forging successful careers in the music industry. They were all able to talk about how important the type of support that this funding will facilitate can be. Yaw Owusu, who developed the LIMF Academy concept and has managed it alongside the team from Culture Liverpool, was also there to give his insights into why programmes like this are invaluable in helping emerging artists to develop sustainable careers.
In May this year Liverpool partnered with Hamburg for the Hamburg River Festival. There is obviously a very strong link between the two cities because it is widely recognised that their stints in Hamburg helped forge The Beatles into the all-conquering group they became. In recognition of the fact the Liverpool’s musical development didn’t end with The Beatles, we sent over five emerging artists from the Academy stable who showcased the strength and diversity of our incredible music offer. And as a nod to the historic link we did send over a young Beatles cover band, Beatles Complete. To be honest I think this is what The Beatles themselves would have wanted. They were a group that always pushed forward and rarely looked back. They were constantly innovating musically and taking in influences from all over the world, pushing boundaries and looking forward. So it feels only fitting that they are looking to support the next generations of musical talent with funding from what will be an amazing attraction that will bring in visitors from all the world.
Source: liverpoolexpress.co.uk/Paul Johnston
I like the Beatles, and I'm almost definitely sure that you do too. But I'm afraid their 21st-century omnipresence – impressive for a band that split up 56 years ago – is starting to bring me slightly down.
It has been revealed that there is to be a ginormous new Beatles museum in Liverpool, opening in 2028. Its 9,290 sq m will be packed with props and costumes from the four – yes, four – biopics of the band to be released the same year under the auspices of Sam Mendes. All this will come on top of the opening to the public of the band's former Apple Records headquarters in Savile Row, repurposed as another sanctum. This one promises seven floors of memorabilia.
Oh, and the dodgy Richard Curtis film Yesterday is being transformed into a stage musical, featuring the songs of Showaddywaddy – no, not really, it's The Beatles again.
One can't help feeling a little bit over-Beatled. Growing up in the Seventies, I naturally found the Sixties a bit naff, and the lingering overhang of The Beatles a bit tedious. Were people ever going to stop boring on about them?
After all, when you grow up after a big sensation has flared and died, you take it for granted. It will never be a surprise to you, just part of the furniture. Like everybody else I was reared on Beatles tunes, but I inevitably developed the usual teenage disdain for the kind of music that everybody likes.
Like the moon landings, it was only years later, in adulthood, that I appreciated the momentous quality of The Beatles, the almost uncanny combination of genius-level talents, their constant innovation, where every record surpassed and expanded on the one before.
In fact, I realised that their ubiquity concealed their strangeness. There is the oddly pristine, unsexy, clean-as-a-whistle quality of their sound, which unwittingly future-proofed them in a way that no other band or artist could quite match. Their songs are both very Sixties and so tuneful and memorable that they seem to exist outside time. Even their weirder excursions are strangely, hypnotically beguiling. Their records tower over you, which is something pop music never normally does.
Source: yahoo.com/Gareth Roberts
John Lennon was one of the first writers whose lyrics were studied by fans for their insight and depth. But Lennon became a little bit wary of those who’d try to find meanings that he didn’t think were there.
As a result, he adjusted late in The Beatles years and early in his solo career. He started keeping the lyrics simple. And he still found ways to captivate with his words and music.
“Don’t Let Me Down”
Lennon’s first response to those who went diving deep into his lyrics was to make them deliberately obtuse and nonsensical. The Beatles’ tracks “I Am The Walrus” and “Glass Onion” offer excellent examples of this approach. He eventually decided that he’d try to keep things as simple and direct as possible. “Don’t Let Me Down”, released as a B-side in 1969, offered the first evidence of this approach. Still relatively new to his relationship with Yoko Ono, Lennon used the song to plead for reliability from her. He doesn’t do anything fancy with the lyrics. Instead, he relies on his impassioned vocals, recorded during The Beatles’ rooftop concert at the start of 1969, to communicate.
“I Want You (She’s So Heavy)”
Lennon missed the first chunk of sessions for the Abbey Road album in 1969 while recuperating from minor injuries suffered during a car accident. That’s part of the reason his songwriting output was somewhat diminished compared to what fans had come to expect from him on a Beatles album. “Come Together” was his major offering on the record. Meanwhile, “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” doesn’t expand much, in lyrical terms, beyond the wording in the title. Over and over, Lennon professes his unquenchable desire for his significant other. The Beatles take the focus off the words by working up quite a maelstrom of sound behind him, especially in the extended coda.
Source: americansongwriter.com/Jim Beviglia
George Harrison may not have been part of The Beatles’ legendary songwriting partnership of Paul McCartney and John Lennon, but he had a talent early on for songwriting that deserved to be nurtured. He really stepped into his own in 1969 with a few self-penned Beatles tunes that would go on to change songwriting forever. These tunes were just a preview of what Harrison would do with his solo career.
“Something” from ‘Abbey Road’
Let’s start with the obvious. “Something” is one of The Beatles’ most enduring hit songs. And it’s easily one of the biggest releases from the Fab Four in 1969. Harrison penned “Something” as a love song with a beautifully constructed melody. The way those harmonics shift throughout the song is gorgeous. Many listeners at the time couldn’t believe how little Harrison had contributed to the band as a songwriter up until that point. “Something” would be Harrison’s first composition to get the A-side single treatment.
“Something” was a smash hit across the board back in 1969. It peaked at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart and No. 4 on the UK Singles chart. “Here Comes The Sun” from ‘Abbey Road’
How about a sweet, flowery number? “Here Comes The Sun” is one of those Beatles songs that younger listeners have caught on to. Just look at how much love it gets on streaming services. This enduring classic was written by Harrison and has that beautiful simplicity to it often associated with folk pop. Those vocals that come in layers, the use of the ol’ Moog synth; the entirety of “Here Comes The Sun” is still a delight after all these years.
Source: americansongwriter.com/Em Casalena
