Beatles News
George Harrison was known as the "Quiet Beatle," but his songwriting spoke volumes.
The Beatles icon, who passed away in 2001, wrote 22 tracks for the Fab Four, a few of which remain among their most memorable. Unlike many of his peers, Harrison was more reserved and introspective. He wasn’t drawn to the glitz and glamour of fame; instead, he thrived on genuine connection and spirituality. Some of his Beatles songs show this side of him, while others might catch you off guard.
Paul McCartney and John Lennon handled most of the group’s songwriting, with many tracks credited as McCartney-Lennon originals. Ringo Starr, the band's drummer, contributed just two songs.
In an interview, commenting on Harrison as a singer and a songwriter, Lennon once said, "George didn’t even use to sing when we brought him into the group; he was a guitarist. He wasn’t in the same league for a long time. That’s not putting him down, he just hadn’t had the practice at writing that we had.”
A decade later, Harrison was the first Beatle to hit No. 1 as a solo artist following the band's breakup in 1970 with "My Sweet Lord." If that's not proof of his exceptional creativity and lyrical mastery, what is?
Let's drop the needle on five of the 22 tracks Harrison wrote for The Beatles.
"HERE COMES THE SUN"
One of the most well-known Beatles' songs of all time came from the brilliant mind of Harrison. He wrote "Here Comes The Sun" during a stressful time for the Fab Four, escaping business meetings to relax at Eric Clapton's garden estate. That burst of sunshine became one of the band's warmest songs, fusing acoustic guitar with an early Moog synthesizer.
Source: mentalfloss.com/Logan DeLoye
Paul McCartney old and new, ancient and contemporary, come together on The Boys of Dungeon Lane, the 27th studio album of his post-Beatles career. The melodious pop genius of his youth and the venerable elder statesman of rock culture look back with rheumy, sentimental eyes on the memories and influences of his youth.
“Grandpa Paul sounds old,” you might think during the opening bars of As You Lie There. Really, every one of McCartney’s 83 years can be detected in his shaky, thinning voice, reminiscing saucily about a teenage crush over dreamy acoustic chords.
Yet in a snap he can bring the past sharply into the present with musical flourishes akin to colourising a black-and-white film, his own deft harmonies rising to expand his vocal timbre, his sustained electric guitars snaking nimbly into the flourishing bass and thumping drums of the greatest one-man band in pop history. When McCartney hits the high chorus of the epic, shapeshifting As You Lie There, then unleashes a joyous background roar of “yeah yeah yeah” with that Little Richard wail and mop-top head shake, you hear the very same joyful enthusiasm he brought to the Fab Four when he embarked on his recording career in 1962, aged 20.
Dungeon Lane was one of McCartney’s Liverpool childhood haunts, and his own past infuses this album. The elegant Salesman Saint sentimentally recalls the stoic struggles of McCartney’s parents and the whole post-war generation, concluding with a cheery slice of horn-rippling jazz as if a swing party had broken out in McCartney’s front room.
His ebullient duet with Ringo Starr, Home To Us, is a rocking singalong romp to rival Get Back, the trilling harmonies of Chrissie Hynde and Sharleen Spiteri adding Wings-style vocal flavour, whilst Ringo’s thumping drum fills will put a smile on every Beatles fan’s face. Down South offers scruffy acoustic whimsy about hitch-hiking with George Harrison, whilst John Lennon is recalled on the tender ballad Days We Left Behind, with McCartney really leaning into the vulnerability of his older voice.
Source: telegraph.co.uk/Neil McCormick
While on the whole the '70s are known for uplifting disco numbers and epic rock hits, music groups did put out a few quiet, sad tunes in the decade. The publication Far Out recently shared a list of the "five most tragic songs of the 1970s."
The ranking, published on May 21, featured devastating '70s hits likeJim Croce's "Time in a Bottle" and "Fire and Rain" by James Taylor. George Harrison's 1970 song, "Isn't It a Pity," which deals with the end of a partnership, was named the "most tragic song" released in the 1970s. According to the publication, Harrison shared some insight into the lyrics of the song, off his 1970 record All Things Must Pass, while writing his autobiography, I, Me, Mine.
"‘Isn’t It a Pity’ is about whenever a relationship hits a down point. It was a chance to realise that if I felt somebody had let me down, then there’s a good chance I was letting someone else down. We all tend to break each other’s hearts, taking and not giving back," shared the former Beatle in the book, published in 1980.
Harrison played some of the seven-minute song during a 1974 interview on Rock Around the World with Alan Freeman. After he was finished singing, Harrison said the tune was about him "breaking everybody’s heart." When asked to clarify what he meant, the musician, who died in 2001 at the age of 58, replied, "I don’t know."
Source: yahoo.com/Nicole Moore
Paul McCartney, a surprise guest on the final episode of “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” provided a poignant capper to the series by being given the ceremonial honor of turning out the lights in the Ed Sullivan Theater, a location with which he has plenty of history.
The final number had McCartney and Colbert singing the Beatles‘ classic “Hello Goodbye,” accompanied by Elvis Costello, former band leader Jon Batiste and current band leader Louis Cato, eventually joined on stage by a parade of staffers dancing through and around the stag in a line, as the house band finally gave the ’60s tune a New Orleans-style coda.
Then Colbert was seen in a filmed bit taking McCartney backstage to the electrical breakers, where the legendary rocker was seen flipping a switch that not only turned the lights out but sent the Sullivan Theater into a green interdimensional portal introduced earlier in the show by Neil deGrasse Tyson.
The symbolic gesture followed McCartney’s stint as the show’s final interviewee as well as last musical performer, in which the host asked him to share stories about his first visit to the theater 62 years ago.
“Hello Goodbye” was not the only musical number toward the end of the extended final telecast. In another filmed segment, Colbert was joined by Costello and Batiste for a seated rendering of a song that was surely unfamiliar to 99% of the viewing audience: “Jump Up,” a bluesy song Costello wrote in the mid-1970s that was not released until decades later, as a demo included as a bonus track on a “My Aim Is True” deluxe edition.
Source: variety.com/Chris Willman
Ringo’s rhythm and voice have provided the soundtrack for multiple generations. From his groundbreaking work with The Beatles to a remarkable solo career featuring 20 studio albums between 1970 and 2023, plus a recent string of popular EPs, Ringo brings an unparalleled musical legacy to every stage, making each concert on his tour a historic event.
Ringo's creativity shines beyond the music. He's an accomplished actor with over 15 film credits and an Academy Award®, an author of eight books, a visual artist with multiple global exhibitions, and even a photographer. His annual July 7th Peace and Love initiative has blossomed into a worldwide movement, and in recent years, Ringo was knighted, received an honorary degree as a Doctor of Music from Berklee College of Music, and was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame with the Joe Chambers Musicians Legacy Award.
In January of this year, Ringo released Look Upopens in a new tab, his first country album in more than 50 years, which earned him his first top 10 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart, as well as landing him on multiple other Billboard charts. In the UK, the album secured Starr his first solo #1 album on the Official Country Chart, overtaking Taylor Swift and leading to him making his Grand Ole Opry debut. And now he brings his musical talent back to Las Vegas for a run of shows at The Venetian Theatre from September 17th through the 27th.
Ringo Starr & His All Starr Band tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at any box office at The Venetian Resort or by calling 702.414.9000 or 866.641.7469.
Source: venetianlasvegas.com
A tour to help heal the rifts between members of The Beatles had been suggested by Paul McCartney, but amounted to nothing, the veteran songwriter has claimed.
McCartney, who would leave the band in the late 1960s, had hoped that getting back on stage with John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, might help the band work through the problems laid bare in documentaries Let It Be and Get Back. But it appeared the tensions were too much for the Fab Four, with Lennon confirming his departure from the group privately to his bandmates. McCartney, who would go on to form Wings and later enjoyed a successful solo career, commented on his hopes of getting The Beatles back on the road and why it never came to pass.
In response to criticism from Philip Norman in his book, Shout!, the Blackbird songwriter says he tried his best to keep the band together in the late ’60s.
He said: “What the book says, about me being the great manipulator simply isn’t true. Nothing happened in The Beatles unless everyone wanted it to happen. But when there was a decision to be made, somebody had to say it out loud — and that usually turned out to be my job. I accepted it.
“I certainly wasn’t responsible for splitting up the Beatles, as some people think — in fact, I was the last one to come to that view. I’d wanted us to tour, to bring us closer together again.
“It all gets absorbed into the myth, your image builds up, it gets into plays and books, and it becomes the truth. Except that it wasn’t. There’s a story that I used to straighten John’s tie before we went on stage. That seems to have become a symbol of what my attitude was supposed to have been. I’ve never straightened anyone’s tie in my life, except perhaps affectionately.”
Source: cultfollowing.co.uk/Ewan Gleadow
By the late 1960s, the Beatles were driving much of pop culture’s direction, from electric guitars to psychedelia to Indian music and meditation. But their influence also became entangled in the era’s more controversial shifts — including widespread experimentation with drugs. That tension surfaced directly when George Harrison appeared on The Dick Cavett Show in November 1971. The host asked whether the Beatles bore responsibility for America’s growing drug culture.
“You had this tremendous influence on young people,” Cavett said. “Everyone knows you went through a drug phase. Did it ever occur to you that the fact that was known, and the fact that you were the Beatles, might have caused thousands of people to have drug problems that might not have otherwise?”
The audience bristled at the question, but Harrison responded without hesitation, beginning with a story that reframed the premise entirely.
So we had it; we went out to a club, and it was incredible.” “First of all, when we took the notorious wonder drug LSD, we didn’t know we were having it,” he said. “John and I had the drug when we were having dinner with our dentist. He put it in our coffee and never told us.”
The doctor, John Riley, had invited the two Beatles to dinner in spring 1965, where he spiked their coffee. At the time, Harrison said, neither he nor John Lennon knew much about LSD at all.
“It’s a good job we hadn’t heard of it,” he said, “because there’s been so much paranoia now created around the drug that people, if they take it, they’re already on a bad trip before they start.”
All the latest guitar news, interviews, lessons, reviews, deals and more, direct to your inbox! “So we had it; we went out to a club, and it was incredible.”
Source: guitarplayer.com/Phil Weller
While some popular songs aren't everyone's cup of tea, a handful of the top tunes are universally beloved. For instance, on May 20, Far Out magazine released a ranking of "10 songs that are too perfect to hate." According to the publication, a few songs "that are impossible to hate" include Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide" (1975), "Fast Car" by Tracy Chapman (1988), "Friday I’m in Love" by The Cure (1992), and "Mr. Brightside" by The Killers (2004).
Far Out named the Beatles' beloved 1969 song, "Here Comes the Sun," as the top tune simply "impossible to hate."
While "Here Comes the Sun," off of Abbey Road, has received constant praise from critics and fans alike, its songwriter, George Harrison, revealed he wasn't overly impressed with the tune. During a 1969 interview for Scene and Heard, Harrison described "Here Comes The Sun" and his song, "Something," also from Abbey Road, as "ok... maybe a bit more commercial but as songs not much better than the songs on the last album."
"But I've been writing for a couple of years now. And there's been lots of songs I've written which I haven't got 'round to recording. So, you know, in my own mind I don't see what the fuss is, because I've heard these songs before and I wrote them, you know quite a while back. And it's really nice that people like the songs, but," continued Harrison, who died in 2001 at the age of 58.
Source: yahoo.com/Nicole Moore
The flute that features on the Beatles' iconic song The Fool On The Hill is to go under the hammer.
Owned by leading British flautist Jack Ellory until his death in 2009, the flute will be sold at auction at Gardiner Houlgate in Wiltshire on 12 June – and is expected to fetch up to £20,000.
Ellory was a prolific session musician who played on classical and pop music records as well as soundtracks for the Sean Connery-period James Bond films, Pink Panther films, and the musical Oliver!
His son Brian Ellory said he hoped the restored instrument, which was held together by elastic bands when he inherited it, goes to someone "who can make music with it" and "appreciates its incredible history".
In 1967, Beatles producer George Martin asked Ellory to play flute for The Fool on the Hill, which was recorded for their Magical Mystery Tour project and topped the UK chart.
The flute was also used in numerous adverts of the period including the Cadbury's "fruit and nutcase" campaign featuring the Nutcracker Suite, which was later voted as one of the greatest adverts of the century.
Brian Ellory said: "I wanted to learn to play it but soon found I had no talent.
Source: Matty Edwards/bbc.com
The paths of rock legends George Harrison and Bob Dylan first crossed in 1964, sparking a friendship that would profoundly shape both their lives and music. This unexpected bond inspired a deeply personal co-written song that opened Harrison's iconic debut solo album, a poignant ballad celebrating loyalty and connection.
The Beatles, already global sensations, first encountered Bob Dylan in 1964 during their American tour. This meeting proved pivotal, with Dylan famously introducing the Fab Four to marijuana and influencing their shift towards more introspective songwriting. George Harrison, in particular, was drawn to Dylan's lyrical depth and unique artistic vision.
By late 1968, a frustrated George Harrison, feeling stifled within The Beatles, sought refuge at Bob Dylan’s home near Woodstock, New York. Dylan, recovering from a motorcycle accident, was at a quieter, more guarded period in his life. Harrison noticed Dylan's reticence, prompting a desire to connect.
Source: MSN/Jose Williams
