Beatles News
64 years ago today, John Lennon wed Cynthia Powell in a small ceremony at the register office in Liverpool. With The Beatles' manager Brian Epstein as his best man and bandmates Paul McCartney and George Harrison present, the couple began what would be a short-lived marriage. But first, The Beatles had a show to play.
For Lennon, not even his own wedding stopped him from performing with The Beatles at the Riverpark Ballroom in Chester. The band played at the ballroom four Thursdays in the summer of 1962, with Ringo Starr joining the group for the first time only two days after they played their first gig there.
As the band began to soar into their newfound stardom, precautions had to be put in place for Lennon and his new wife to have a honeymoon. Their manager, Epstein, joined the couple for a belated honeymoon in Paris weeks after the ballroom shows, ensuring that the wedding news was kept private. But they couldn't hide the news for long — Cynthia was pregnant.
She gave birth to their son, John Charles Julian Lennon, on April 8, 1963, in Liverpool. According to People, Lennon was on tour at the time and wasn't able to see his wife and newborn son until three days later.
In 2011, Lennon's son (who changed his name to Julian Charles John) spoke to The Times and revealed that he didn't have a strong relationship with his father.
"Mum was more about love than Dad," he said. "He sang about it, he spoke about it, but he never really gave it, at least not to me as his son."
Source: yahoo.com/Grace Chaves
A new biography about the six-frame photoshoot for the Beatles’ final recorded studio album asserts that Paul McCartney insisted the Fab Four use the zebra-stripe crosswalk and move single file while crossing Abbey Road.
“The photographer, Iain Macmillan, came to the shoot with a series of wild designs and playful sketches to promote the band’s bubbly, carefree image. One sketch had the band up in a tree. Another had them jaywalking on their hands. Another had all four seated in lotus position, blocking traffic,” said the biographer, Derry Anderson, whose book “Come Together: The Story of the ‘Abbey Road’ Photoshoot” drops later this month. “Paul shut it all down. He said he wanted the band ‘all walking, all in sync, and we’re using the fucking crosswalk!’ Apparently, it was like pulling teeth to get him to hold the cigarette.”
At first, McCartney claimed not to remember that sunny August morning in 1969, but eventually broke down and confessed to having wanted even more restrictions on the band.
“I had us holding hands and looking both ways, yeah? The album was going to be called ‘Safety First.’ I had John and George in helmets looking left, me and Ringo in helmets looking right. But John didn’t go for it. So I said okay, single file, bored stare, no hands in pockets,” said the singer-songwriter, with a little wiggle of his head. “And then John does what? Sneaks his hands in his pockets! I swear, it was like corralling little school children. I tried giving John a timeout, but he just crossed the street and kept walking.”
Source: thehardtimes.net/bobbykorec
THE BEATLES’ brotherhood is to be brought to life in four blockbuster movies – just as series star Barry Keoghan battles real-life ructions with his own sibling.
Barry will play drummer Ringo Starr in The Beatles: A Four-Film Cinematic Event, directed by Sam Mendes.
It will see movies from each of the Fab Four’s perspectives drop simultaneously in April 2028. But off screen, I can reveal the relationship between Irishman Barry and brother Eric has soured.
I’m told Eric previously acted as Barry’s assistant on set and would often accompany him to filming. But now, word is that Eric is no longer welcome and has been absent from filming in recent weeks.
A source said: “Eric is back in Ireland and is not living with Barry at the house he is renting near London.
“Barry is in the honeymoon phase with his new girlfriend, Danica Hall, and she is not Eric’s biggest fan. Barry decided it was best that Eric didn’t stay with him and he has not been seen at filming.
“Eric didn’t always bring out the best in Barry so it is probably better that the brothers are not in each other’s pocket.”
The films also star Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney, Joseph Quinn as George Harrison and Harris Dickinson as John Lennon.
Source: thesun.co.uk/Hannah Hope, Emily Webber
The Beatles’ timing in starting Apple Records wasn’t the best. Right about the time it was revving up, their own inner drama was demanding much more of their attention. Still, the short-lived label produced some outstanding records.
Members of the Fab Four did indeed help out with these artists on occasion. For example, here are four songs that they wrote that were recorded by Apple acts. Paul McCartney’s track record of writing and recording hit singles with The Beatles earned him a lot of credibility from Apple acts. In the case of “Come And Get It”, he essentially demanded respect from Badfinger. He wrote the song and then made a full demo of it for the group. He then told them to make the recording of the song sound as close as possible to his demo. Otherwise, he wouldn’t allow them to have the song. Members of Badfinger initially fought against this insistence. But they eventually decided to relent to Macca’s wishes. That turned out to be a smart move. Their recording of the song, faithful to the demo, turned into their first major hit in 1970.
“Goodbye” by Mary Hopkin
A good chunk of time passed between “Those Were The Days”, Mary Hopkin’s smash debut single, and the release of “Goodbye”, the song that delivered her second big hit in 1969. Paul McCartney produced the former and then got caught up with other business before returning his attention to Hopkin. He went one better with “Goodbye”, writing the song as well as producing it. Here was another case where he came in with a demo. Hopkin’s version added some slight embellishments around her piercing lead vocal. McCartney never quite worked with Hopkin again after he disagreed with her decision to move away from pop-oriented material towards a folk-based sound.
Source: americansongwriter.com/Jim Beviglia
There’s a lot to cover in the life of The Beatles. Which is astounding, given they were together for such a short period of time, comparatively speaking. Many people have tried to tell this band’s story in narrative form. Inevitably, there is always something glossed over or left out for time’s sake. The highly anticipated upcoming films about the Fab Four need to devote serious time to the three songs below. These songs helped shape the band in consequential ways. Without these staples, The Beatles wouldn’t have become what we know them as today.
“Yesterday”
“Yesterday” did a lot for The Beatles. It expanded their demographic, proving they could be more than just pop sensations. The subject matter and song structure were far more sophisticated than their previous material. But more than that, “Yesterday” also opened the door to individualism for The Beatles, a development that would eventually become a thorn in their side.
Paul McCartney took on this song solo. This would develop into a trend, eventually separating him from John Lennon until the divide was too great to bear. There’s an alternative reality where songs like this never made it out of McCartney’s notebook, and he and Lennon stayed strong, formidable partners. Perhaps the outcome of The Beatles would’ve been different as well.
Source: americansongwriter.com/Alex Hopper
Ringo Starr quit The Beatles on August 22, 1968, during the tense recording of the White Album.
Starr recalled telling John Lennon, “I’m leaving the group because I’m not playing well and I feel unloved and out of it.” That account comes from Anthology. Lennon replied, “I thought it was you three!”
Starr reportedly spent two weeks on Peter Sellers’ yacht in the Mediterranean before returning.
Lennon sent him a telegram that read, “You’re the best rock’n’roll drummer in the world. Come on home, we love you.”
Despite the brief split, Billboard has since ranked The Beatles the best rock band of all time.
Arrival and Press Conference of the British Rock and Roll Band The Beatles.Universal History Archive / Getty Images
Inside Ringo Starr’s Brief Departure From The Beatles
Tensions had been building for weeks during the White Album sessions. Starr’s departure came as the band was working on “Back in the USSR.”
The remaining three Beatles recorded the song without him. Paul McCartney played drums on the track, with George Harrison on guitar and Lennon on bass. Starr’s departure was kept quiet at the time.
“I think they were all feeling a little paranoid,” producer George Martin said, describing the tension within the group.
Source: aol.com/Paolo Songco
Thanks to John Lennon, the Beatles played their final Cincinnati concert 60 years ago at Crosley Field on Aug. 21, 1966.
When their concert was rained out the night before — Saturday, Aug. 20 — Lennon was the one who agreed to stay overnight here and perform Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. despite having a Sunday evening concert in St. Louis, DJ Jim LaBarbara said.
LaBarbara was one of seven people I interviewed in 2016 as part of a two-hour 50th anniversary special of the Beatles concert for Cincinnati Public Radio. Here’s the link to both hours, which has interviews interspersed with the songs played that day.
image of a ticket stub
A box seat ticket to see the Beatles cost $5.5.0 in 1966.
LaBarbara credits former WSAI-DJ Steve Kirk, who was one of the five Cincinnati DJs to bring the Beatles to Cincinnati Gardens in 1964, with convincing Lennon to reschedule the show for Sunday.
“John liked Kirkie. He had met him in '64 ... and he remembered how nicely he and the group at the radio station treated the Beatles in '64. So he said, 'We'll stay over and we'll do the show on Sunday. We'll go on at 11 or noon.' And Kirk said, 'Make it 1 o'clock because the kids go to church with their moms and dads.' Thanks to Steve Kirk and John Lennon, the show went on," LaBarbara said.
Source: wvxu.org/John Kiesewetter, WVXU
It's been 45 years since John Lennon was shot and killed outside his New York City apartment, but Beatles bandmate Paul McCartney still checks in on his widow, Yoko Ono, a source tells Closer.
"It's no secret Paul and Yoko weren't fans of each other all those years ago, but they have a great understanding of each other these days and a genuine friendship," reveals the source. "Growing older has mellowed them both and time has healed a lot of the wounds."
McCartney, 84, opened up about his reconciliation with Ono, 93, to Rolling Stone in 2013. "I thought, 'If John loved her, there's got to be something. He's not stupid,'" he recalled. "It's like, what are you going to do? Are you going to hold a grudge you never really had?"
"Paul has also gone out of his way to defend Yoko in recent years and that's been very appreciated by her," adds the source. "They have both suffered a lot of loss over the years and they are able to give each some comfort, sharing old memories and stories and reminiscing about the times they shared with John."
McCartney famously fell out with Lennon when the Beatles broke up in 1970, but the pair were able to patch things up in the years prior to the "Imagine" singer's murder at age 40 in 1980.
Source: yahoo.com/Kaitlyn Monteiro
Sir Paul McCartney, 84, has lived a life that's full of music, from listening to his father James play dancehall songs on the piano as a child, to joining a skiffle group with John Lennon as a teenager, to becoming the biggest band of all time with The Beatles. Then, he forged a solo career as a member of Wings and under his own name that has yielded more number-one hits than any other songwriter.
McCartney's music has been a cornerstone of pop culture for over 60 years, but what are the songs that formed his musical taste? Paul recently revealed the ten songs that have "soundtracked my life" to the BBC's Vernon Kay on his show Tracks Of My Years, which premieres on May 25 on BBC Sounds and iPlayer.
The full episode has since aired, revealing the stories behind each of Paul's 10 song choices.
Paul McCartney reveals 10 songs that soundtracked his life:
10. John Lennon – "Imagine"
09. The Beach Boys – "God Only Knows"
08. Bob Dylan – "Tambourine Man"
07. Prince – "Kiss"
06. The Human League – "Don't You Want Me"
05. The Kinks – "You Really Got Me"
04. Elvis -… pic.twitter.com/rUQyERDQnA
Counting down his top 10 picks
John Lennon – "Imagine"
In 1971, a year after the breakup of The Beatles, John Lennon released what would become his signature song, a wistful (and slightly acerbic) plea for humanity to envision a world without religion, war, or possessions, and to live in harmony. "When we came to not writing together, I think it was difficult for both of us," McCartney once said of Lennon. "But, y'know, he still did 'Imagine.' He still did one of his best things ever."
McCartney has routinely played songs written primarily by Lennon in concert, including "A Day in the Life," "Give Peace a Chance," and "Help!", but he won't touch "Imagine."
Source: yahoo.com/Tod Perry
The Beatles reshaped the course of popular music during their iconic run together. Decades after their split, they remain one of the most celebrated bands in history.
Billboard ranked The Beatles No. 1 on its list of the 50 greatest rock bands of all time. The Rolling Stones came in at No. 2, followed by Led Zeppelin at No. 3.
The publication credited the Fab Four’s seven-year run. That stretch produced 20 Hot 100 No. 1 hits and 12 classic albums. According to Billboard, rock as we know it may not exist without the band’s influence.
On August 20, 1969, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr gathered in a recording studio for the last time. They met inside EMI Studios at 3 Abbey Road in London. No new music was actually recorded that day.
According to Ultimate Classic Rock, the band spent the day’s first part mixing “I Want You (She’s So Heavy).” The session lasted three and a half hours. The details came from Mark Lewisohn’s official Abbey Road session notes. Lennon reportedly wanted the song to end abruptly rather than fade out.
The edit was made in a silent pause, right after the lyric “She’s so…” Afterward, the four bandmates spent roughly seven hours discussing the album’s song order.
Source: aol.com/Paolo Songco
