Beatles News
Bob Dylan and the Beatles had a memorable 1964 hotel meeting. Dylan’s misunderstanding of a Beatles' song lyrics prompted a 'surreal' evening. John Lennon and Paul McCartney later shared fond memories of the experience.
It goes without saying that Bob Dylan is one of the most influential musicians in history, as anyone with a passing familiarity of rock history knows. But the folk-rock icon’s impact on his peers goes beyond chord structure and lyrical composition, as one particularly entertaining anecdote from the annals of rock history involving the Beatles proves.
In August of 1964, the Beatles were staying at the Delmonico Hotel near Manhattan’s Central Park, according to the Beatles Bible, digging into a room service dinner, when Dylan showed up for a visit.
After being introduced to the band by a mutual friend, the writer Al Aronowitz, Dylan was offered some champagne…but apparently, he preferred “cheap wine” instead. Since there wasn’t any budget booze on hand, Dylan suggested they “smoke grass” instead. When the Beatles’ manager, Brian Epstein, admitted that the band didn’t have much experience with marijuana, Dylan was shocked…all because he apparently misheard the lyrics to one of their biggest hits.
As Peter Brown wrote in The Love You Make: An Insider’s Story of the Beatles, Dylan “looked disbelievingly from face to face” following Epstein’s admission.
“’But what about your song?’ he asked. ‘The one about getting high?'”
Brown continued: “The Beatles were stupefied. ‘Which song?’ John managed to ask. Dylan said, ‘You know…’ and then he sang, ‘and when I touch you I get high, I get high…'”
Of course, those aren’t really the words to “I Want to Hold Your Hand” (the actual lyric is “I can’t hide, I can’t hide, I can’t hide”), but plenty of other listeners have made the same mistake. And the Beatles apparently weren’t completely new to weed at the time, as George Harrison explained in Anthology, but their first experience with the substance was underwhelming.
“We first got marijuana from an older drummer with another group in Liverpool. We didn’t actually try it until after we’d been to Hamburg,” Harrison explained. “I remember we smoked it in the band room in a gig in Southport and we all learnt to do the Twist that night, which was popular at the time. We were all seeing if we could do it. Everybody was saying, ‘This stuff isn’t doing anything.’ It was like that old joke where a party is going on and two hippies are up floating on the ceiling, and one is saying to the other, ‘This stuff doesn’t work, man.’”
Source: Jacqueline Burt Cote/parade.com
The Beatles’ debut album was an attempt to capture the band’s live appeal, according to John Lennon.
Please Please Me would be released in March 1963 and was a chance for the band to showcase their skills as a touring unit. Lennon would share the thought process behind recording Please Please Me as a way to “capture The Beatles live” in interviews given shortly after the album was released. Lennon suggested Please Please Me is the closest the Fab Four could get to capturing the essence of their live performance, though even that was missing the atmosphere of the Hamburg and Liverpool audiences. Producer George Martin had initially suggested the band record a live album as their debut release at The Cavern Club in Liverpool, though these plans would fall through. Instead, the band recorded studio album Please Please Me as an opportunity to highlight their live appeal.
Lennon said: “That record tried to capture us live, and was the nearest thing to what we might have sounded like to the audiences in Hamburg and Liverpool. You don’t get that live atmosphere of the crowd stomping on the beat with you, but it’s the nearest you can get to knowing what we sounded like before we became the ‘clever’ Beatles.”
Lennon would confirm Martin’s influence in the studio would help them find a better route through the title track too. He said: “Our recording manager (George Martin) thought our arrangement was fussy, so we tried to make it simpler. We were getting tired though, and just couldn’t seem to get it right. In the following weeks we went over it again and again.
“We changed the tempo a little, we altered the words slightly, and we went over the idea of featuring the harmonica just as we’d done on Love Me Do. By the time the session came around we were so happy with the result, we couldn’t get it recorded fast enough.”
Later on, Lennon would share the Orbison and Crosby influence which guided the song. Speaking in 1980, Lennon says Only the Lonely by Orbison had been a big factor in his writing process for Please Please Me.
Source: Ewan Gleadow/cultfollowing.co.uk
It's been nine years since the tragic demise of music producer George Martin, best known for his groundbreaking work with The Beatles. Those included Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. Martin worked so closely with the famed British band that he was frequently nicknamed the "fifth Beatle." He died of undisclosed causes on March 8, 2016. Martin was 90 years old, and this is his story.
George Martin was born on January 3, 1926, in Highbury, United Kingdom.
From Please Please Me, the Beatles' initial collected work (released in 1963) to their Abbey Road album (released in 1969), Martin worked diligently with the so-called 'Fab Four' to perfect the unique sound and elements of each of their compositions.
Following the band's dissolution, Martin produced for Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr on their solo albums, specifically McCartney's James Bond movie track release Live and Let Die (1973).
Martin also worked closely with additional music icons such as Kenny Rogers, Celine Dion, Elton John, and more.
On March 8, 2016, Martin passed away quietly in his sleep.
Source: Herbie J Pilato/newsbreak.com
George Harrison was a stoic and quiet individual. He had no shortage of talent both in The Beatles and as a solo artist, and the latter of which was (in my opinion) where he truly shone. He wasn’t the big smack-talker, either. But George Harrison did have a few choice words for some of his musician contemporaries, and even disliked a few famous bands and musicians. Let’s look at a few examples, shall we?
Oasis
I’ll be honest, I was surprised to see this band mentioned in my research for this list of musicians that George Harrison famously disliked. Oasis? Really? A lot of people had some choice words for the Britpop band back in the day, but I wouldn’t have thought George Harrison, formerly of The Beatles, would be paying attention to them, specifically.
Well, it appears that this one is true, and George Harrison was not a big fan of Oasis in the 1990s. In fact, in 1996, Harrison pretty directly said that their music “lacks depth” and that “singer Liam [Gallagher] is a pain, the rest of the band don’t need him.” Ouch. No wonder Gallagher threatened to punch him.
Sex Pistols
The Beatles, in a roundabout way, were pretty punk rock for their time. Nobody was making music like them in the 1960s. They got into trouble for controversial lyrics on more than one occasion. And yet, most punk bands of the 1970s would not consider The Beatles punk.
That didn’t bother Harrison. In fact, he had a few choice words for punk bands as a whole, as well as Sex Pistols, specifically. Though, he also sympathized with the band to a degree.
“As far as musicianship goes, the punk bands were just rubbish,” said Harrison in 1979. “No finesse in the drumming, just a lot of noise and nothing. […] I felt very sorry when the Sex Pistols were on television, and one of them was saying, ‘We’re educated to go into the factories and work on assembly lines,’ and that’s their future. It is awful, and it’s especially awful that it should come out of England because England is continually going through depression; it’s a very negative country. […] But you don’t fight negativity with negativity. You have to overpower hatred with love, not more hatred.”
Source: americansongwriter.com/Em Casalena
James Norton to Play Beatles Manager Brian Epstein in Sam Mendes’ Groundbreaking Biopic Series
Happy Valley actor James Norton is reportedly stepping into the shoes of the man behind the Beatles’ meteoric rise: Brian Epstein. The casting, yet to be officially confirmed, is for Sam Mendes’ unprecedented four-film biopic series chronicling the lives of the Fab Four.
Norton would portray Epstein, the shrewd and stylish manager who discovered the Beatles in a Liverpool basement club in 1961 and guided them to global superstardom before his tragic death in 1967. His role is pivotal to the Beatles’ origin story — and the films are aiming for just that: the full picture.
Announced in 2024, Mendes’ project will present four interwoven narratives, each from the perspective of a different Beatle. It marks a historic moment in music cinema, as Apple Corps has for the first time granted full life story and music rights for such a project.
Slated for a 2028 release, the biopics will star a dynamic ensemble:
Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney
Harris Dickinson as John Lennon
Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr
Joseph Quinn as George Harrison
The behind-the-scenes scriptwriting is just as heavyweight, with Jez Butterworth, Peter Straughan, and Jack Thorne bringing their pens to the Beatlemania saga. Meanwhile, Saoirse Ronan has been tapped to portray Linda McCartney, adding more star power to the ensemble.
Brian Epstein has appeared on screen before — notably in The Hours and Times (1991), Cilla (2014), and most recently Midas Man (2024) — but this marks his most high-profile portrayal yet.
Source: mix93.com
When Carole King made the rounds introducing herself to all four of The Beatles at a party at the Warwick Hotel in New York City, the songwriter came face to face with each musician’s unique personalities (and reputations): Paul McCartney was affable and chatty, George Harrison was quiet but polite, Ringo Starr “was Ringo,” and John Lennon was snarky to the point of being downright rude.
I Can’t Believe That No One Remembers These 4 Hit Rock Songs From 1977
At the time, King didn’t press Lennon to see if his behavior was actually directed toward her or if she was an unfortunate but unintentional victim of one of his sulkier moods. She was hardly a nobody at the party, after all. Even McCartney stopped to tell her what a great influence she and her songwriting partner, Gerry Goffin, were to him. But at 23 years old, getting blown off by one of the biggest rockstars in the world was going to sting, no matter how many hits she had under her belt.
During a 2012 interview at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, King described the memorable moment. Lennon was the last Beatle she had to introduce herself to. “He’s standing with two women, neither of whom was Cynthia [Lennon, his first wife]. He looks high; he looks like he’s totally stoned, whacked out of his mind. I go over to him, ‘Hi, John. I’m Carole King. I’m really glad to meet you.’ Honestly, I cannot remember what he said, but he was so rude. It was like a smack. I’m like, ‘I’m getting out of here.’ I left.”
The moment stuck with her for years until finally, around a decade later, she was able to ask Lennon why he had treated her so coldly at the Warwick.
Source: Melanie Davis/americansongwriter.com
For some people, an album is simply a collection of singles and a few fillers and nothing more. Paul McCartney, however, is an artist who typically considers his work more carefully. He and the Beatles helped define the modern album—work that seems to expand the bounds of what an album was in the decades before their rise to fame. Because of this, McCartney fans were shocked when he made an album full of what he called “throwaways.” Find out which album that was below.
McCartney’s writing always stood in stark contrast to his bandmates’. By the end of their tenure, the band had all but given up on McCartney’s whimsical songwriting voice. To pursue that creative ambition, he needed to shed the weight of the other Beatles.
Though he got his wish, it wasn’t as easy a road as he might have thought before the band broke up. Of course, changing gears might have seemed like heaven to McCartney in the middle of the Beatles’ tenuous relationship, but finding solo success was almost equally as hard.
Fans wanted more of the same, which they couldn’t have after the Beatles parted ways. In hindsight, it would’ve been impossible to please everyone with a debut solo effort, but McCartney made it even harder thanks to his daring introduction, McCartney.
The Risk of Releasing McCartney
McCartney’s debut album was a massive risk for the singer. McCartney swapped the Beatles’ polished perfection for something more akin to the DIY style we know today. He opted to rework older material and even improvise songs. This resulted in a work that was a far cry from what fans had come to know. Though it’s now looked on more favorably, McCartney was a hard pill to swallow upon its release.
McCartney once described this album as a collection of “throwaways.” But he didn’t mean it pejoratively. McCartney wanted to capture the energy of songs that don’t typically make the cut.
Source: Alex Hopper/americansongwriter.com
There has never been a band comparable to the Beatles, so it stands to reason that capturing their music-altering run as a film would require an approach just as unprecedented.
That seems to be the logic behind Sony Pictures' The Beatles — A Four-Film Cinematic Event, the collection of biopics — each told from the perspective of an individual band member — officially unveiled at CinemaCon earlier this year.
The four interconnected films are currently casting up ahead of production and a planned 2028 release. In the meantime, here's everything you need to know about the ambitious project.
Who is playing the Beatles in the movies?
Sony understandably made a spectacle of their casting announcement, revealing the four leads for the "Cinematic Event" at CinemaCon, all of whom are actors on the rise from the British Isles.
Oscar nominee Paul Mescal will play Paul McCartney. Babygirl breakout Harris Dickinson will be John Lennon. The Banshees of Inisherin Best Supporting Actor nominee Barry Keoghan will play Ringo Starr. Stranger Things and The Fantastic Four: First Steps actor Joseph Quinn will be George Harrison. Who else has been cast?
Casting outside of the Fab Four has picked up recently with Mendes adding actors to play romantic partners for each of the Beatles, as well as their manager.
Four-time Academy Award nominee Saoirse Ronan is on-board to play Linda McCartney. Deadline reported that Mia McKenna-Bruce (How to Have Sex) is playing Starr's first wife Maureen Starkey. Variety then claimed that Emmy-winning ShÅgun star Anna Sawai and recent Emmy-nominated The White Lotus player Aimee Lou Wood are "circling" the roles of Yoko Ono and Harrison's first wife, Pattie Boyd, respectively.
Also joining the cast is James Norton (House of Guinness) as the man who helped shape the Beatles into the band that took over the world, manager Brian Epstein. Who is writing and directing?
While Oscar winner and four-time nominee Sam Mendes is taking on directing duties for all four movies, a trio of writers are splitting up the scripts. Jez Butterworth (Ford v Ferrari), Oscar-winning Conclave scribe Peter Straughan, and recent Emmy winner for Adolescence Jack Thorne are all signed up for screenwriting duties, though it's unclear how the workload will be divided.
Source: Kevin P. Sullivan/goldderby.com
An “impractical” song written before She Said, She Said is the first psychedelic song John Lennon ever wrote.
The Beatles member behind hits like Come Together and I Am the Walrus confirmed an earlier song was actually his first test of psychedelic-tinged songwriting. Lennon would confirm this two years after The Beatles had officially split up, giving an interview breaking down his writing style in the early years. Though the song proved “impractical” compared to the popular She Said, She Said, it would be the first time Lennon had written with a psychedelic intention in mind. A few candid reflections on the song in question were shared in 1972, where Lennon wished he had stuck to the “original idea” he had for Tomorrow Never Knows, a song which featured on Revolver.
He said: “This was my first psychedelic song. Tomorrow Never Knows… I didn’t know what I was saying, and you just find out later. I know that when there are some lyrics I dig, I know that somewhere people will be looking at them.
“Often the backing I think of early-on never comes off. With ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ I’d imagined in my head that in the background you would hear thousands of monks chanting. That was impractical, of course, and we did something different. It was a bit of a drag, and I didn’t really like it. I should have tried to get near my original idea, the monks singing. I realise now that was what I wanted.”
Source: Ewan Gleadow/cultfollowing.co.uk
Had he lived, Lennon would have celebrated his 85th birthday on October 9, 2025. Here are five songs written by John Lennon but recorded by other acts.
John Lennon’s body of work is staggeringly impressive. With The Beatles and as a solo artist, he created some of the most enduring music of the rock era. And though it represented a small fraction of his creative output, his work as a writer for (and in one case, with) other artists is worthy of note. In addition to his production credits (for wife Yoko Ono, The Silkie, David Peel and the Lower East Side, Mick Jagger and Harry Nilsson), Lennon composed songs expressly for other artists he admired. Nearly all of that activity took place between his leaving The Beatles in 1969 and the start of his retirement/hiatus in 1975. Had he lived, Lennon would have celebrated his 85th birthday on October 9. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the first of many compilations surveying his solo work – 1975’s Shaved Fish – here are five songs written by John Lennon but recorded by other acts.
“God Save Us” by Bill Elliot & the Elastic Oz Band (single, 1971)
In the years immediately following The Beatles’ breakup, Lennon championed a variety of political and/r social justice causes. One was the London-based underground magazine Oz. The publication had run afoul of obscenity laws in the U.K., and John and Yoko took up their cause. Lennon quickly penned this song with hopes of the single raising money for Oz’s defense. Phil Spector produced the quickie session, which has a flavor not unlike the material on Imagine, and enlisted Bill Elliott of George Harrison protégé band Splinter to record the lead vocal. Sadly, the ad budget to promote the release cost more than the single earned.
Source: Patrick Prince/goldminemag.com
