Beatles News
The Beatles’s influence ranges far and wide. Almost every artist today can trace their musicality back to the foursome in one way or another. While that credit isn’t always given, there are a few artists that have made it a point to pay homage to the Fab Four. Find three such artists and their Beatles-centric songs, below.
1. “Edge of Seventeen” (Stevie Nicks)
Stevie Nicks’ “Edge of Seventeen” has transcended its original meaning. While Nicks wrote this track as an ode to John Lennon (and her uncle who’s name was also John), it now stands as Nicks’ thesis statement of sorts. It has a certain magic that only Nicks is able to deliver. Nevertheless, Nicks’ original intent was to pay homage to the former Beatles member. Because of that, it earns a worthy spot on this list.
Source: Alex Hopper/americansongwriter.com
The Beatles were one of the most successful musical acts when it came to collecting Hot 100 hits during their heyday. The band pushed pretty much every single they released to the ranking of the most-consumed songs in the U.S. for nearly a decade. While many of their beloved smashes reached the competitive tally, plenty of other well-known tunes from the group never had a chance to shine on the chart, based on how it was arranged at the time.
This week, one of The Beatles’ most recognizable songs finds a home on the Hot 100. It does so thanks to an inventive and beautiful cover from one of the biggest musical stars in the world—and it reaches a new peak thanks to the reworking.
A cover of The Beatles’ “Blackbird” by Beyoncé debuts on the Hot 100 this week. The tune opens at No. 27 on the ranking of the most-consumed songs in the U.S.
Beyoncé’s take on the Beatles classic sticks pretty close to the original, though she does make it her own in some ways. For starters, she changed the name, but only slightly. To help differentiate it from the classic, and to keep it in the same format as her other tracks on her latest album, she’s added a second "i," calling it “Blackbiird.”
Source: forbes.com
The Beatles are getting the big-screen biopic treatment in not just one film, but a Fab Four of movies that will give each band member their own spotlight — all of which are to be directed by Sam Mendes.
For the first time, the Beatles, long among the stingiest rights granters, are giving full life and music rights to a movie project. Sony Pictures announced Monday a deal that may dwarf all music biopics that have come before it, with the stories of Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr spread out over a quartet of films.
The films, conceived by Mendes, are expected to roll out theatrically in innovative fashion, with the movies potentially coexisting or intersecting in theaters. Precise release plans will be announced at a later date. Sony is targeting 2027 for their release.
McCartney, Starr and the families of John Lennon and George Harrison have all signed off on the project through the band’s Apple Corps. Ltd. Sony Music Publishing controls the rights to the majority of Beatles songs.
“I’m honored to be telling the story of the greatest rock band of all time, and excited to challenge the notion of what constitutes a trip to the movies,” Mendes said in a statement.
Each film will be from the perspective of a Beatle.
Source: JAKE COYLE /dailycourier.com
One, two, three, four
Those four words kick off the debut album by The Beatles as they explode into the intro with guitar, bass, and drums. After “Love Me Do” reached No. 17 on the British charts and “Please Please Me” hit No. 1, it was time to record an album. When producer George Martin witnessed the audience’s reaction to the band’s live shows, he decided they should record the same songs they regularly performed. On February 11, 1963, the band entered EMI Studios on Abbey Road in London and laid down 10 songs. Let’s take a look at the story behind one of them—”I Saw Her Standing There” by The Beatles.
Well, she was just seventeen
You know what I mean
And the way she looked
Was way beyond compare
So how could I dance with another
Ooh, when I saw her standing there?
The Origin
Paul McCartney began writing the song as he was returning home from a show in Southport, England. He was influenced by the traditional song “As I Roved Out.” He worked out the arrangement on an acoustic guitar at musician Alan Caldwell’s house in October 1962. (Caldwell went by the name of Rory Storm and had a band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, whose drummer at one time was future Beatle Ringo Starr.)
McCartney wrote some of the lyrics during a trip to London with his then-girlfriend, Celia Mortimer, who was 17. About a month later, John Lennon helped complete the song in the living room of McCartney’s home on Forthlin Road in Liverpool when they both skipped school.
Source: Jay McDowell/americansongwriter.com
Described inevitably, but correctly, as ‘a classic’, it’s pretty close to perfection.
That’s not so much because of the discreet studio, where a white grand piano currently takes pride of place, but because of the captivating, white-shuttered 18th century house which looks out, across a terrace arrayed with statues, to the Mediterranean – and which is even blessed with its own chapel, carved into the hillside above.
But, dream South of France property though it may be, I can reveal that Julian Lennon has decided to walk away from it – albeit for £22million.
That’s the price tag which musician, photographer and philanthropist Julian – only child of John Lennon’s marriage to his first wife, Cynthia – has put on the house which he’s owned for the past 25 years or so.
Described as a ‘passion project’, the four-storey house, which has five bedrooms, four bathrooms, and numerous balconies, is the sort of architectural gem which could have appeared in a play by Noel Coward or a novel by Somerset Maugham, who memorably called the Riviera, his home for many years, ‘a sunny place for shady people’.
Source: dailymail.co.uk
During Monday’s (April 8) solar eclipse, a number of well-known hits surged on streaming platforms as Americans got into the spirit of the event. Plenty of songs that had some connection to the sun, or the moon, or, more specifically, eclipses, benefited from the special occurrence. One of the most successful from that day comes from the biggest bands of all time, and it’s way up in terms of plays on the top streaming platforms.
The Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun” gained massively on Monday as millions of Americans focused on all things related to the eclipse–even songs that weren’t really connected to the event. On that one day, the Fab Four’s track earned 656,000 plays on streaming sites, according to Billboard.
More than 600,000 streams in a single day is impressive. Given the fact that “Here Comes the Sun” is already more than half a century old, its performance is even more notable. The Beatles’ cut ranked inside the top 200 on Spotify’s U.S. chart on that day, beating out dozens of more current smashes.
Billboard states that when compared to the Monday before the eclipse, streams of “Here Comes the Sun” were up 58%. That’s a hefty gain, and one that could have real benefits for the band–even if the attention only lasted for one day.
Next week, “Here Comes the Sun” could return to one or two Billboard charts. It could find its way back to the Rock Streaming Songs ranking, which looks only at the most successful cuts on streaming sites like Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, and others in the United States–and specifically those tracks classified as rock.
“Here Comes the Sun” ranked as The Beatles’ biggest hit on the Rock Streaming Songs chart until late last year. It peaked at No. 14 in April 2020–a time when people really needed some sunshine. In November 2023, the group’s first single in decades, “Now and Then,” brought them to the top 10 for the first time when it hit No. 5.
Source: Hugh McIntyre/forbes.com
The Beatles are, well, what can we really say that isn’t obvious? They are probably the biggest band ever. The Fab Four remain icons of music. Throughout their time together, the Beatles created a litany of indelible songs and massive hits. In fact, 20 different Beatles songs hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. And yet, that isn’t the end of the Beatles’ quality output. In fact, these are 30 great songs from the Fab Four that were never chart-toppers in the United States.
“All My Loving”
Interestingly, the Beatles (or their label, more than likely) didn’t go in too heavily on “All My Loving.” It was released as a single in Canada, becoming a number-one hit. Then, eventually, the Canadian single got imported to the United States, but that left it to peak at 45 in America, which is a real surprise.
Source: Chris Morgan/Yardbarker
We love a classic interview where someone famous either nails a future prediction or, better still, they fail miserably at it, so we can gently mock them. We've discovered one that definitely sits in the former camp, and it's with none other than Beatles legend George Martin.
Back in 1983, Martin had, of course, moved on from producing The Beatles and onto other projects including setting up AIR Studios in Montserrat – a fascinating story in itself, which we go into here. That didn't mean he would ever stop getting asked about the band though, but he was always more than willing to talk about them.
It was also the year Martin had written his book, Making Music: The Guide to Writing- Performing and Recording, a compilation of his own "little tricks of the trade" and those from a vast number of his contacts, from Adam Ant to Hans Zimmer. And it was this book that he was being interviewed about in the November issue of Home & Studio Recording.
Source: Andy Jones/musicradar.com
It was 54 years ago today when Paul McCartney put out a press release saying he was no longer working with The Beatles.
Despite this, Macca claimed it was John Lennon who broke up the band in 1970.
Speaking previously with BBC Radio 4, the 81-year-old said: “I’m not the person who instigated the split.
“John walked into the room one day and said, ‘I’m leaving The Beatles’ and he said, ‘It’s quite thrilling, it’s like a divorce.’
“And then we were there to pick up the pieces. I didn’t instigate the split. That was our Johnny, coming in one day and saying I’m leaving the group.”
Hunter Davies, who wrote The Beatles’ only authorised biography during their career, backs up McCartney’s claim. According to The Times, he previously said: “Between 1966 and 1968, when I was hanging around them, it was clear that John had had enough. Of everything really: of his wife, Cynthia, of life, of the whole damn thing.”
Davies claimed Lennon would sit around idle for days, half-stoned and staring into space in total silence. Having become rich and famous, the restless star felt it was all the same and lacked meaning and purpose. But Lennon would find that in Yoko Ono. The biographer said: “The Beatles were dead. Yoko was his future. She mesmerised him and encouraged his dafter, wilder, madder projects.”
Source: George Simpson/express.co.uk
Sir Paul McCartney was "so embarrassed" when he tried to play lead guitar with the Beatles.
The 81-year-old music legend was part of the iconic rock group alongside John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr but explained when he tried playing lead guitar during an early gig instead of bass, he "totally froze" on stage.
Speaking on the 'Paul McCartney: A Life in Lyrics' podcast, he explained: "Mind you, when I first met John. He didn’t play guitar, ‘cause I had to show him guitar chords because he’d been taught by his mum [Julia], and she only knew banjo chords.
" We had this gig and it was like, the first thing I ever played, and I was lead guitar player. John was rhythm. And I had a solo and I totally froze. Could not move my fingers. … It was like, just so embarrassing. My lead guitar playing career melted at that moment and I said, ‘Well, I’m not doing this again. I’m not cut out for this. I’m no good."
The 'Hey Jude' singer provided most of the lyrics for the Beatles and was also co-lead singer alongside John and previously revealed he loves to spend time with his instruments and he even worries that some of them might feel "lonely".
Source: ttownmedia.com
