Beatles News
George Harrison didn’t always get his due in The Beatles, but when he did get a song out, it proved to be among the band’s most successful ventures. Harrison was able to remove any blockades—i.e., bandmates who thought they knew better—once he launched into his solo career. His time as a solo artist produced many audience-thrilling tracks, including the three below. These songs rivaled anything he did with The Beatles, proving that any snubs he got while with the band were unfounded.
We’re starting off this list with Harrison’s cover of a Bob Dylan staple, “If Not For You.” This sweet, simple ballad feels as though Harrison could’ve written it himself. He sings it with complete earnestness, and it’s tender enough to be his writing.
Regardless of the fact that this song is a cover, it remains one of Harrison’s most stunning solo songs. The former Beatle did Dylan proud with this intimate redo. It may not beat out “Something,” but it’s a strong contender for Harrison’s best ballad.
“Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)”
Never has a song summed up someone’s ethos better than “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)” did for Harrison. The former Beatle was all about spirituality, and this song is indicative of that. It features the intimate, tender songwriting that became a hallmark for Harrison—both in his time with The Beatles and as a solo act.
Source: americansongwriter.com/Alex Hopper
The Rolling Stones have released a cryptic Instagram post, hinting at the possible release of new music. The rock group shared a 13-second video to their 4.2 million fans on Friday, featuring their signature tongue and lips logo over a moving background including what appears to be different letters, words and symbols.
The posts come amid rumours that the band are preparing to release a new album, which would be their first since their 2023 Grammy Award-winning record Hackney Diamonds. Rumours of new music were first sparked last month when a series of cryptic messages including posters and QR codes linked to The Cockroaches popped up around London, believed to be connected to the band.
The Rolling Stones have also reportedly released music and performed gigs under the pseudonym The Cockroaches, with teaser videos hinting at the name shared to their Instagram.
The Cockroaches later released a limited-edition vinyl single, titled Rough And Twisted on April 11, which was reportedly only sold exclusively at independent record stores.
Formed in London in 1962, The Rolling Stones have a long history of chart-topping albums and number one singles, including (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction, Paint It Black and Start Me Up. The band has had various members throughout the years, with its current line-up consisting of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Ronnie Wood. After the long-serving member Charlie Watts passed away in August 2021 at the age of 80, musician Steve Jordan has stepped in as the group’s drummer.
Source: mirror.co.uk/Myriam Toua
The Beatles broke all sorts of new ground during their decade-long reign, both onstage and in the studio. In the nearly six decades since their 1970 split, few musical acts have come close to matching the Fab Four’s musical impact. That musical dynasty officially began 63 years ago today (May 2, 1963) when they first reached the top of the charts with their single “From Me to You”.
In many ways, “From Me to You” is the earliest example of the masterful songwriting partnership between John Lennon and Paul McCartney, who wrote the song on a coach trip to Shrewsbury while the Beatles were on tour with British jazz-pop star Helen Shapiro.
The title came from the letters section in British magazine the New Musical Express, which they were reading at the time. “We nearly didn’t record it because we thought it was too bluesy at first, but when we’d finished it and George Martin had scored it with harmonica, it was all right,” recalled Lennon in 1980.
The Beatles released “From Me to You” in April 1963, less than a month after their debut studio album, Please Please Me. Their first two singles, “Love Me Do” and “Please Please Me” had done well in the United Kingdom, peaking at No. 17 and No. 2 on the pop charts, respectively. But “From Me to You” catapulted the Fab Four to a new level of fame in their home country, topping what would become the official UK singles chart.
Source: americansongwriter.com/Erinn Callahan
Writing a melody as timeless and moving as The Beatles’ “Yesterday” isn’t something most of us would consider a “problem.” But in the mid-1960s, that’s precisely what that song was for the Fab Four.
Although the song is credited to the Lennon-McCartney partnership and billed as The Beatles (as was “the creed of the day,” per producer George Martin in Anthology), “Yesterday” was solely a Paul McCartney composition. The melody came to him in a dream, he came up with the lyrics, and he’s the only Beatle performing on the album version.
Therein was the problem: The Beatles were a rock band. And “Yesterday” didn’t have rock ‘n’ roll or a band to speak of. Speaking to PBS, Martin recalled the song “presented a problem for me, and I think for The Beatles, too, in that it didn’t fit the pattern. It wasn’t a song you could do with two guitars, bass guitar, and drums. It was something much more delicate.”
So, Martin set out to do the most important producer job of all: getting the roadblock out of the way. George Martin Helped Define “Yesterday,” and Paul Made Sure Some Rock Remained.
Both the band and producer George Martin recounted reaching a consensus that “Yesterday” ought to be performed solely by Paul McCartney. There was nothing that George Harrison, John Lennon, and Ringo Starr could think to contribute, and they preferred to sit out instead of muddying the song’s potential. It was Martin who suggested they bring in strings, though McCartney had his hesitations.
Source: americansongwriter.com/Melanie Davis
A rare set of letters and photos from the early days of the Beatles, in which they write about feeling like stars for the first time, is to go on display in Hamburg.
The collection, from an influential period when the band lived in the German city, includes the only letter in existence with words from both Paul McCartney and John Lennon, which was written to the bassist’s brother, Mike McCartney.
The free exhibition, which runs from 8 to 25 May and is part of Hamburg’s annual port festival, Hafengeburtstag, revolves around the original five members of the band during a period that massively shaped their sound and look between 1960 and 62.
Mike McCartney, who donated some of the letters to the collection put together by the Liverpool city region combined authority and the Hamburg senate, said: “It’s fascinating, because they [give] you so many secrets about them as they are developing.”
“It was quite extraordinary, because our kid is just saying what’s happening there in a foreign land, over the water. And it was a very important stage in their development,” Mike told the Guardian.
The letters, also gathered from The Cavern Club and the Liverpool Beatles Museum, reveal the thoughts of Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison, as well as those of the original bassist, Stuart Sutcliffe, who died shortly after the Hamburg period from a brain haemorrhage at the age of 21, and the original drummer, Pete Best, who was hired specifically for their first visit to Hamburg.
In a letter from Best to his mother, he recalls how he, Lennon and McCartney felt like stars boarding their plane, having been interviewed by a member of the press about them being voted Liverpool’s number one band.
Source: theguardian.com/Robyn Vinter
In his book The Lyrics: 1956 To The Present, Paul McCartney reflects on the “imposter syndrome” he sometimes felt as a member of a band as huge as The Beatles. He also shares the inspiration behind his song “The Other Me”, which appears on his 1983 album, Pipes Of Peace. In the song, McCartney apologizes to the listener for perhaps not acting like the best version of himself.
I know I was a crazy fool
For treating you the way I did
But something took a hold of me
And I acted like a dustbin lid
I didn’t give a second thought
To what the consequence might be
I really wouldn’t be surprised
If you were trying to find another me.
McCartney writes, “We all get into situations where we put our foot in our mouth. We say something we didn’t mean to say, or say something that is taken amiss. So this song is an apology.”
Although he is calling himself out a bit, the song also expresses hope that a better version of him is out there somewhere.
But every time you pull me out
I find it harder not to see
That we can build a better life
If I can try to find the other me.
How Being a Beatle Gave Paul McCartney Imposter Syndrome
“The Other Me” is a fascinating song because, while hoping for a shot to be the other version of himself, McCartney simultaneously wonders what “the other me” might even look like.
Source:
americansongwriter.com/Kat Caudill
At age 83, Paul McCartney shows no signs of slowing down. Just last year, he closed a triumphant North American tour where he proved he could give any young new artist a run for their money. And this year will be just as busy. In May, he will be releasing a new album, titled The Boys of Dungeon Lane. The title and the single he released with the announcement set the tone for what will apparently be a very nostalgic album, looking back on his childhood, his hometown, and, of course, his early years with The Beatles.
And who better to join him in this endeavor than his oldest friend, his former bandmate, Ringo Starr. The two surviving Beatles have joined forces on several occasions through the years, but now, for the first time ever, they will be doing a duet. This piece of news sent Beatles fans into a frenzy, and the story of how the duet came together is even more interesting.
Paul McCartney's New Album Will Feature a Collab With His Fellow Beatle
A few days ago, producer Andrew Watt, who produced Paul McCartney's upcoming album, invited a handful of lucky fans to his home in Los Angeles for a listening party. The invitation was to listen to The Boys of Dungeon Lane ahead of its upcoming release and then discuss it with the producer, but they got the biggest surprise of their lives when Paul McCartney himself showed up and took over the event, sharing insight on the songs and how he'd written them. And revealing that it would feature a duet between the two surviving Beatles.
Source: collider.com/Val Barone
This captivating biography of Beatles manager Brian Epstein proves that Norman (Shout!), one of the band’s most prolific chroniclers, still has plenty left in the tank. It begins with a jaw-dropper about Swinging London gangster Reggie Kray’s scheme to blackmail Epstein by releasing sexual photos of him with another man, payment being control of the Beatles (Epstein died before the plan could be carried out). The narrative doesn’t sustain that level of drama, but Norman still tells a great story by focusing on what made Epstein a crucial partner to the Beatles at a vulnerable time, tracing how the quiet, charming scion of a Jewish Liverpool retail family offered to manage the band after being enthralled by their scorching performances at the Cavern in 1961. (He forgot “even his painful self-consciousness... and long[ed] somehow to be a part of them.”) Epstein began managing the band in 1962 and became a canny negotiator right as Beatlemania exploded, harnessing his meticulous attention to detail and his talent for managing personalities to set them up for fame. The author also doesn’t stint on the complications of success, including how Epstein’s insecurity pushed him toward risky behavior, from dangerous sexual encounters to the drug use that eventually caused his 1967 death. The result is a rip-roaring yet empathetic rock history.
Source: publishersweekly.com
No one can really compare to Paul McCartney. Musicians have been trying to catch up to his impeccable run since the 60s. His lyricism is elite, and his melody-making is unmatched. It’s not easy to write a song and have people go, “Huh, this sounds like McCartney.” He’s far too singular for that.
However, the three songs below all get pretty darn close. They aren’t exact replicas, but they get close enough to be considered part of McCartney’s sonic legacy.
“Grapejuice” — Harry Styles
Harry Styles has long professed his love for Paul McCartney. In the past, he’s talked about being inspired by RAM, and you can hear those kinds of tones in “Grapejuice.” This track, taken from Harry’s House, is all the jaunty, playful lyricism and melodies of McCartney’s work. With a few slight changes, this song could be a McCartney hit.
“Yesterday, it finally came, a sunny afternoon / I was on my way to buy some flowers for you / Thought that we could hide away in a corner of the heath / There’s never been someone who’s so perfect for me,” are the lyrics to “Grapejuice,” but you’d be forgiven if you thought they were taken from one of McCartney’s “granny” songs.
“The Magician” — Andy Shauf
Andy Shauf’s music is more or less the sonic heir to McCartney’s throne. Take “The Magician” for example. Everything about this mid-tempo song screams McCartney. It’s got touches of Beatles psychedelia and others of McCartney’s solo ballads. One listen to the track above, and you’ll clearly see why Shauf made this list.
Source: americansongwriter.com/Alex Hopper
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles was named the greatest rock album ever recorded by Digital Dream Door. Even today, almost sixty years after it was first released, the record remains one of the most influential pieces of music ever released.
The Beatles were already massive rock stars by the time Sgt Pepper's came around in 1967; through albums like Revolver and A Hard Day's Night, the band had cemented themselves as musical pioneers who weren't afraid to take risks with their work.
Sgt. Pepper's was their eighth studio album, and by all accounts, their riskiest. It wasn't just a collection of songs, but rather one of the first instances of a concept album—each member of the Beatles was playing a character, making up the fictional band mentioned in the title.
Since the Beatles had announced they wouldn't be touring in August 1966, the band was no longer under pressure to write songs that they could easily perform live. This meant they could experiment with new producing technologies, such as reversed recording and audio distortion.
This set the frameworks for an extremely psychadelic record, blending typical rock and roll melodies with a sound that most audiences had never heard before. The album's lyrics matched this bold, experimental tone, with songs like "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and "Within You Without You" discussing psychadelics, mysticism, and religion.
Source: yahoo.com/Jack Walters
