Beatles News
The Beatles are famous for struggling to agree, but when it came to this one song Paul McCartney wrote for the Fab Four, three of them agreed unanimously about how much they hated the song. Nearly 60 years ago, the group released one of their most iconic albums, Abbey Road, and McCartney wrote one of their most forgotten hits, “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer”. However, the song and the sessions frustrated the group, and it is considered their worst song. Why Were the Beatles Members Frustrated With Paul McCartney and "Maxwell’s Silver Hammer"?
“Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” almost did not make it onto the album, as John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr disliked the song due to the song’s complexity. McCartney first wrote the song in 1968 after the group’s trip to India, and it was intended for Let It Be. Even after the song was rejected, “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” would soon find its way onto the Abbey Road album, but it almost destroyed the band.
As the songwriter, McCartney wanted the song to sound a certain way, but none of his bandmates were able to match his creative vision. This caused tension in the studio, as McCartney’s perfectionism resulted in many hours and sessions being poured into this one song. McCartney even added a blacksmith’s anvil as part of the recording process, but he still was not satisfied with how “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” sounded.
To add to the tension and the frustration of the bandmates, “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” was Lennon’s first session with The Beatles since his car accident. When he began working on the song with the rest of the group, Lennon was quick to leave, as he felt that he did not have to sit through a tough session while still recovering from his injuries, especially as it was, according to engineer Geoff Emerick, in Lennon’s words, “Granny music.” Lennon returned to the studio after spending two weeks with Yoko Ono for “Come Together”.
Source: Teguan Harris/collider.com
Two Beatles songs — "Real Love" and "I'll Get You" — return to multiple charts as the band's Anthology 4 and the Anthology Collection both debut inside the top 10. LONDON - MAY 19: English singer, songwriter and guitarist John Lennon (1940-1980), English singer, songwriter and bassist Paul McCartney, English musician, singer and drummer Ringo Starr and English musician, singer, songwriter and guitarist George Harrison (1943-2001) of the Beatles attend a press party at the home of manager Brian Epstein supporting the release of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, May 19, 1967, in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Jeff Hochberg/Getty Images)
The Beatles never have a completely quiet week on the charts, as people all around the world stream and buy the band’s music constantly. The group typically performs best in the United Kingdom, where all four musicians — John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr — are originally from and where the outfit got its start.
As The Beatles score two new charting albums with both Anthology 4 and the larger, more all-encompassing The Anthology Collection, multiple tunes from the rockers find their way back to several different tallies, as there has been a lot of buying going on with all things connected to The Beatles. The Beatles Bring “Real Love” Back to Multiple Charts
Between the two Beatles cuts that return to the charts in the U.K., “Real Love” is the bigger winner, as it finds its way to a pair of rosters at the same time. “Real Love” reenters the Official Singles Downloads ranking at No. 82 and the Official Singles Sales tally at No. 89.
“Real Love” appears on both sales charts in the U.K. for only the second time. The track debuted on those rosters back in November 2023, decades after its original release. At the time, “Real Love” launched at No. 25 on the ranking of the most downloaded cuts throughout the nation and No. 29 on the general list of the bestselling songs, and then it quickly disappeared.
When Did The Beatles Release “Real Love”?
The Beatles released “Real Love” in 1996 as a single from Anthology 2. The track, which was originally a demo written by Lennon, was finished by McCartney, Harrison, and Starr and shared along with “Free As a Bird.” Both tracks became hits, and “Real Love” and “Free As a Bird” served as the final Beatles songs until “Now and Then” was finished with the help of artificial intelligence technology and shared with the world in 2023.
Source: Hugh McIntyre/forbes.com
Sam Mendes has added eight to the cast of The Beatles — A Four-Film Cinematic Event, Sony announced on Thursday. They are David Morrissey (The Walking Dead), Leanne Best (Walk-In), James Norton (Happy Valley), Harry Lloyd (The Theory of Everything), Bobby Schofield (The Covenant), Daniel Hoffmann-Gill (Sherwood), Arthur Darvill (Broadchurch), and Adam Pally (Happy Endings).
Morrissey will play Paul McCartney’s father Jim McCartney, with Best as John Lennon’s Aunt Mimi, Norton as manager Brian Epstein, Lloyd as long-time music producer George Martin, Schofield as road manager and trusted confidant Neil Aspinall, Hoffmann-Gill as roadie Mal Evans, Darvill as press officer and friend Derek Taylor, and Pally as controversial music manager Allen Klein.
As previously announced, the films will star Paul Mescal as McCartney, Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr, Joseph Quinn as George Harrison, and Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, with each telling the story of a different member of the band. Mia McKenna-Bruce, Saoirse Ronan, Anna Sawai, and Aimee Lou Wood also star in the respective roles of Maureen (Cox) Starkey, Linda (Eastman) McCartney, Yoko Ono, and Pattie Boyd.
We were first to report on the Beatles films from Mendes, all of which will be released with full theatrical windows in April 2028. Sony Pictures is financing and distribute them worldwide.
Mendes is directing from scripts written by Jez Butterworth, Peter Straughan and Jack Thorne. A collaboration between Sony Pictures Entertainment and Mendes’ Neal Street Productions, the films will be produced by Mendes, Pippa Harris and Julie Pastor of Neal Street, as well as Alexandra Derbyshire, in association with Apple Corps for Sony Pictures.
This marks the first time that The Beatles and Apple Corps Ltd. have authorized the use of the band members’ life stories and music in scripted films.
Source: Matt Grobar/deadline.com
As if four upcoming Beatles biopics aren’t enough, the BBC is ready to give fans more.
The network has picked up a new drama series, Hamburg Days, which will focus on The Beatles’ early days as a band. The six-part series, based on the autobiography by German artist and musician Klaus Voormann, is set in the ’60s when Voormann and photographer Astrid Kirchherr meet a young Liverpool rock band, who are playing in the clubs of Hamburg’s St. Pauli’s red-light district.
“Together, they help spark a transformation that turns a scrappy group of teenagers into the greatest music phenomenon the world has ever known: The Beatles,” reads the series description.
“Hamburg Days is the fascinating story of how, in the space of two short years, a raw young band from Liverpool honed their music skills in Hamburg, before returning home to become an overnight worldwide success,” says Sue Deeks, head of scripted pre-buy acquisitions at the BBC. “It is an incredible story, accompanied (of course) by an amazing soundtrack!”
Voormann will serve as a consultant on the series. Casting on the project has not yet been announced.
Source: ABC News/everettpost.com
Paul McCartney had reached the pinnacle of global fame with the Beatles by the end of the 1960s. What he did for the next decade, after the end of the band themselves a few months later, is captured in this hefty oral history.
Wings: The Story Of A Band On The Run pairs McCartney with historian Ted Widmer, who has dug into archives and been given access to material from Man On The Run, a McCartney documentary due out early next year. There are comments from McCartney himself, ex-Beatles, other Wings personnel, family members and further figures in the Wings orbit – these including Sean Ono Lennon, Chrissie Hynde and graphic designer Aubrey Powell.
We get the inside track on Wings’ entry into the Bond theme annals – 1973’s Live And Let Die, perhaps the greatest example of the form to this day – and their ascent to American stadium rock status. There are also plentiful off-the-wall moments, from an attempted mugging in Lagos to the time some gnarly punk rockers approached McCartney in London, only to lavish unlikely praise on Wings’ exceedingly non-punk Mull Of Kintyre, 1977’s Christmas number one. Albums like Band On The Run itself are thoroughly dissected, alongside a cultural and band-related timeline, a discography and gigography, and a wealth of previously unseen photographs.
McCartney’s 1980 began with a drug bust in Tokyo and ended with the death of his former bandmate, John Lennon. Tired of the madness associated with band life, Wings fizzled out not long after this, but left behind a strong musical legacy, with album sales running into the millions. Their story is revived here with an insightful, revealing and often astonishing book.
Source: buzzmag.co.uk
Exactly 60 years ago today, the Beatles released Rubber Soul, their sixth UK LP album.
Rubber Soul represented a sharp departure from the sound which had brought the group unprecedented worldwide success over the past three years. Even the atmospheric, autumnal cover portrait of the group hinted that what was on the record was going to be something new – more mature and introspective than what had come before. Rubber Soul ushered in the most intensely creative and experimental period of the Beatles’ career, which would continue to play out over the following two years.
Interestingly, this was only the second Beatles LP to completely eschew covers in favour of all-original material, following 1964’s A Hard Day’s Night. Although said by some – including producer George Martin – to be a pioneering example of a pop album being constructed as a cohesive whole rather than simply as a collection of songs, it did feature a few missteps, showing that the group were still in the early stages of honing this particular craft, which they would go on to perfect over their next two LPs, 1966’s Revolver and 1967’s Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Sonically, the group continued to explore new territories, including Hindustani music, folk rock and Baroque forms. Recorded over an intense four-week period in the autumn of 1965 to meet a Christmas release deadline, Rubber Soul proved that even though they were already unquestionably the world’s leading pop group, the Beatles had no intention whatsoever of resting on their laurels.
Track by track
‘Drive My Car’
Right off the bat, the Beatles play a cheeky musical trick with the instrumental intro to this catchy opening track, an auditory illusion which leaves listeners disoriented as to where the beat starts. The musical sleight-of-hand extends to half-spoken, half-sung (sprechgesang) vocals which also leaves listeners unsure of the song’s key – qualities shared with the contemporaneous single ‘Day Tripper’, recorded at the same sessions.
‘Norwegian Wood (This Bird has Flown)’
Vaguely Bob Dylan-esque, this John Lennon-penned track is believed to be a thinly-veiled account of an extramarital affair. More notably, this is when George Harrison first revealed to the world – with the pioneering use of a sitar – his budding yet intense interest in Hindustani music, which began when he took an interest in a sitar displayed on a set for the film Help!, shot a few months earlier.
‘You Won’t See Me’
An underrated Paul McCartney gem, this vivid account of romantic turmoil was inspired by his turbulent relationship with the actress Jane Asher, as was ‘I’m Looking Through You’ on side B. Its elegant chord progression and long running length (the longest Beatles song recorded to date) showed McCartney’s determination to continue pushing boundaries as a songwriter.
‘Nowhere Man’
An enduring Lennon classic, this arresting account of a lost soul (probably a reference to the author himself) ‘making all his nowhere plans for nobody’ is in keeping with the philosophical theme established in his song ‘Help!’ from the previous album, although it strikes a more hopeful tone with its assurance to the ‘Nowhere Man’ that ‘the world is at your command’. Achingly beautiful backing harmonies and a jangly guitar solo evidence the group’s ongoing exchange of ideas with the rapidly-rising US folk-rock act The Byrds.
Source: Chaitanya Ramachandran/thewire.in
Producer George Martin revealed the "traumatic" aspect of making The Beatles' Anthology in the new ninth episode of the project's docuseries.
Thirty years after the original eight-part docuseries aired, the newly restored and expanded Beatles Anthology, which now includes the ninth episode, premiered over three nights on Disney+, starting on November 26. The larger project, The Beatles Anthology 2025, also features a reissued and expanded version of the project's original three double-album Anthology records. Meanwhile, a book, originally released in 2000, has also been reissued.
Anthology Nine offers fans a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the reunion of the remaining Fab Four — George Harrison, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr — and Martin, often referred to as the Fifth Beatle, who came together in the mid-1990s to create the project. While some have called the episode "devastated" and "heartbreaking" to watch, it was just as hard for the "Threetles" and their beloved producer to make.
In one scene of the episode, Martin is seen at Abbey Road, where he plays the "Threetles" some Anthology mixes. Later, he explains how they have all found it "traumatic" listening back to their past work.
That kind of emotional candor is exactly what director Oliver Murray concentrated on showing. He wanted to give fans a glimpse into how The Beatles felt about reuniting for the mammoth project and their legacy. As usual, Harrison has a candid response to it all, too. "The Beatles will go on in people's minds. It exists without us," he says.
He also expresses his wish that John Lennon, who was murdered at age 40 in 1980, had also been given 25 years to come to terms with being in The Beatles. "We've had the opportunity to get together again in a new light."
When The Beatles Anthology docuseries first aired in November 1995, it was a massive event as it reunited the remaining Beatles 25 years after the group's split and 15 years after Lennon's death. At the time, it featured new interviews with McCartney, Starr, and Harrison, as well as archival interviews with Lennon.
Source: Irish Star
Paul McCartney‘s career endured into the music video era, but in the early years of the Beatles and his solo career, visual elements weren’t commonplace. Because of this, many McCartney songs are video-less. Below, find three McCartney songs, from the Beatles’ tenure or otherwise, that would’ve made killer music videos. McCartney should go back and give these songs their moment on screen.
Starting with a Beatles cut, “Yesterday” would be a strong contender for a music video. Though simple, this Beatles hit is narrative enough to lend itself well to visual storytelling. Moreover, the song’s emotionality has the perfect amount of melodrama for McCartney to flex his acting chops, if he had wanted to.
Because this song was released well before the ’80s music video craze, it never got its time to shine in this way. If we could move McCartney to make any visual retroactively, it would be this one.
“Jet”
“Jet” is one of McCartney’s most anthemic songs to date. The punchy, bright musicality of this song begs for a visual just as striking. There are aviation angles, ’70s glam angles, classic rock angles, and many more lenses through which to view this song. It’s a wonder McCartney hasn’t gone back and given this song its visual moment. Even a high-quality performance video would’ve sufficed.
McCartney’s music videos have always been fun-loving, engaging, and impossible to forget. This song seems like the perfect playing ground for all three of those goals.
Source: Alex Hopper/americansongwriter.com
When Rubber Soul arrived in the UK on 3 December 1965, The Beatles stepped into a new phase of their creative lives, a phase that would soon define the sound and ambition of popular music. The sixth studio album from John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr landed during a frantic period in their global rise, yet the work itself came from a rare four-week window where the group were free of touring, filming and radio commitments, a gift they had never been offered before.
Recorded in London across October and November 1965, the album represented a shift away from Beatlemania’s high-volume demands, with the band focusing on the studio as a place of exploration. For the first time they had the space to work as recording artists rather than performers, a change that altered the direction of their career and the wider rock landscape.
Often described as a folk rock record, Rubber Soul grew from a mix of influences that the group absorbed during their August 1965 North American tour. They had played to more than 55,000 people at Shea Stadium, met Bob Dylan in New York and visited Elvis Presley in Los Angeles, events that broadened their sense of possibility. American radio during that trip introduced them to Motown and Stax artists whose vocal styles and rhythmic detail shaped their writing on return to London.
Source: Paul Cashmere/noise11.com
While it’s undeniable that the team of Lennon/McCartney produced some of the world’s most cherished hits, at least one of these gents was not a total fan. And he made no bones about going public with his opinions. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the naysaying Beatle in question was John Lennon.
While John and Paul teamed up brilliantly, John carried an albatross of perfectionism placed on himself. It made his artistic calling disproportionately difficult. This is, after all, the man with one of the most distinctive rock voices who hated hearing his self-described “thin, nasal” tones because they so differed from what he heard in his head.
As a general observation, it’s safe to say that Paul McCartney gravitated towards a more mainstream pop vibe than Lennon, who leaned into an experimental and often surreal approach. Paul had a fondness for old-timey music and rippling keyboards; John preferred more dissonance.
In the post-Beatles years, John came clean with some of his true feelings. His opinions are as enlightening as they are confounding. Here’s a partial list of Beatles standards that weren’t up to John’s exacting standards.
“Run for Your Life” – Rubber Soul, 1965
Lennon objected to “Run for Your Life” for a few reasons. He considered it a cheesy knockoff of Elvis’ “Baby, Let’s Play House.” And as his own sensibilities shifted over the years, he grew appalled by the inherent misogyny of the lyrics: “Well, I’d rather see you dead, little girl, than to be with another man,” for starters. The cringe-y machismo mortified him. All in all? This is Lennon’s least favorite Beatles song.
“Hello, Goodbye” – non-album single, 1967
Lennon objected to what he considered the lightweight commercial pop qualities of the track, especially in contrast to “I Am the Walrus,” which meant infinitely more to him in its wild experimental scope.
To his chagrin, “Hello, Goodbye” got the “A” side of the single while “Walrus” was relegated to the “B” side. He resented this and described “Hello, Goodbye” as “three minutes of contradictions and meaningless juxtapositions.”
“Lovely Rita” – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, 1967
Sgt. Pepper, the Beatles’ 1967 conceptual masterpiece, was filled with wit, psychedelia, and new approaches to music. “Lovely Rita” is a whimsical number that plays like a roguish love song. He differed from Paul’s wider approach to songwriting, where he delved into the lives of people.
Source: Ellen Fagan/culturesonar.com
