Beatles News
“She Loves You,” “All My Loving,” “Love Me Do,” “P.S. I Love You,” “Can’t Buy Me Love,” “And I Love Her.” Are you noticing a theme here? The Beatles began their career singing about love and relationships. Even song titles that did not contain the L-word dealt with relationships and love. “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “From Me to You,” and “Please Please Me” all focus on interpersonal relations.
Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys began looking inward to avoid simply writing about cars and girls. Songs like “In My Room” and “When I Grow Up to Be a Man” were both introspective and thriving on the charts. John Lennon and Paul McCartney had their share of success with songs about love, but they too wanted to expand their subject matter and move in different directions. One such song was “Nowhere Man.” Let’s take a look at the story behind the song.
He’s a real nowhere man
Sitting in his nowhere land
Making all his nowhere plans for nobody
Inspiration
Lennon and McCartney were very prolific in the years following their big breakthrough. Lennon was in search of inspiration for a song. In 1980, he told author David Sheff, “I’d spent five hours that morning trying to write a song that was meaningful and good, and I finally gave up and lay down. Then ‘Nowhere Man’ came, words and music, the whole damn thing, as I lay down.”
Source: Jay McDowell/americansongwriter.com
Six decades ago, the Beatles achieved a first in Billboard chart history. On April 4, 1964, the band occupied the top five positions on the Hot 100, edging out the likes of the Temptations and Beach Boys for their enviable chart domination.
This was at the beginning of Beatlemania in America, a phenomenon ignited just two months earlier by the group's appearances on "The Ed Sullivan Show." In mid-1964, everyone was looking to cash in on the British imports — much to the annoyance of a small Philadelphia label, which had released one of their chart toppers the previous year to a resounding thud.
The label was Swan Records, and one of its founding partners was already a legend on the local music scene. Dick Clark formed the company in 1957 with his "American Bandstand" producer Tony Mammarella and Bernie Binnick, a former salesman. The goal was to have a hand in as many parts of the music business as possible, an aim that would backfire two years later when both Clark and Mammarella got caught up in a payola scandal that ultimately forced Clark to divest. Before that fallout, the TV host owned 50% of the company.
Source:Kristin Hunt/phillyvoice.com
The ‘80s were tough on a lot of classic rock artists who were dealing with the changing sounds of the times. Paul McCartney not only had to deal with that, but also the dissolution of his ‘70s band Wings and death of John Lennon.
McCartney managed to rise to the occasion time and again during the decade. He released a pair of his most beloved solo record in the ‘80s (Tug of War and Flowers in the Dirt). Even those albums that didn’t rise to classic status included several standout individual tracks. Let’s take on the difficult task of ranking McCartney’s five best songs of the ‘80s.
5. “So Bad,” from Pipes of Peace (1983)
Pipes of Peace was meant to play as a kind of companion piece to Tug of War, which was released the previous year in 1982. Unfortunately, it was stuck with the lesser material of the two, although it did get a commercial boost from the inclusion of the Michael Jackson duet “Say Say Say.” We’re partial to “So Bad,” an underdog of a ballad that didn’t exactly break chart records (No. 23 on Billboard) when released as a single. But we love the subtleties of it, from McCartney’s tender falsetto vocals to the way the open spaces in the song give way to the big rush of backing vocals in the middle eight.
4. “Take It Away,” from Tug of War (1982)
When Wings gave up the ghost, it freed McCartney from always having to write with a rocking arrangement in mind. A song like “Take It Away” might have never been tackled in that setting. Instead, McCartney gets to work here with a pair of ace drummers in Ringo Starr and Steve Gadd, and the duo give the song an unconventional hiccup in the opening section. The song delves into sophisti-pop in the verses, before McCartney leads a cavalry charge through the chorus. It’s restrained and thrilling all at once, almost like one of his ambitious song suites contained in one single.
Source: Jim Beviglia/americansongwriter.com
The Beatles made chart history by holding the top five spots on the Billboard Hot 100 simultaneously.
The songs in the top five were “Please Please Me” at #5, “I Want to Hold Your Hand” at #4, “She Loves You” at #3, “Twist and Shout” at #2 and “Can’t Buy Me Love” at #1.
The Beatles went on to become one of the most successful acts in the history of the U.S. charts.
Over the course of their career, they have had 20 number one hits and 35 top 10 singles. The latest is their 2023 release “Now and Then,” which used vocals John Lennon recorded on a demo in the late ’70s, along with guitar the late George Harrison recorded in the mid-’90s, and new recordings from Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr.
The Beatles’ last number one single was in 1970 with “The Long and Winding Road,” from the Let It Be album.
Source: ABC News/kshe95.com
Two photos of ex-Beatle John Lennon and his wife, the artist and performer Yoko Ono, taken at Hell’s Kitchen recording studios feature in a retrospective of renowned photojournalist Bob Gruen’s work at City Winery at Pier 57 (W17th Street & West Side Highway).
John Lennon and Yoko Ono knitting at The Hit Factory, NYC. The show, Rock Seen, spans Gruen’s decades-long career capturing the images of music stars, and is on display through April 30.
Gruen took the photo at the Hit Factory (421 W54th Street, now converted to condominiums) in the fall of 1980, while John and Yoko were mixing the Double Fantasy album. Like many of Gruen’s photos, the black-and-white image of Yoko on a couch knitting while John is at work captures a lesser known, intimate side of the iconic duo’s life.
“A lot of people don’t know how domestic Yoko actually was, that she could knit and she was actually a very good cook,” Gruen told W42ST. “John and Yoko had a domestic life outside of the pop star world.” He believes Yoko was knitting a sweater for their son, Sean Ono Lennon.
The photo at The Record Plant (321 W44th Street) was taken in front of a larger-than-life guitar that John had made for the annual ‘avant garde’ parade during the 1970s. The guitar was so big, Gruen recalled, that it didn’t fit into the elevator at the Dakota. On a December night he visited the couple at the studio to take some pictures for the Village Voice, and asked them to pose in front of it.
Source: Dashiell Allen/w42st.com
If the backing track on Beyoncé’s new recording of the Beatles’ “Blackbird” sounds especially familiar, there’s good reason for that. It turns out that the cover version she recorded for her “Cowboy Carter” album uses instrumental elements — McCartney’s acoustic guitar and foot tapping — taken from the Beatles‘ original master recording, released in 1968.
That information was confirmed to Variety by a rep for McCartney, who cited Beyonce’s team, and other sources.
The still-gradually-expanding credits for “Cowboy Carter” don’t make mention of the backing track being borrowed from the Beatles’ 56-year-old original. While McCartney is listed as playing guitar on the song in the credits (which have been unveiled gradually since the album’s release last Friday and still appear incomplete), and is also listed as one of the new track’s producers, there is no indication in the wording that his work on the track was not newly recorded.
McCartney wrote and recorded the song by himself in 1968 for the Beatles’ self-titled double-LP, aka the White Album, letting the other members of the group sit it out as he accompanied himself on acoustic guitar and percussive foot-tapping. That’s exactly what is heard on Beyoncé‘s fresh rendition, which has been retitled “Blackbiird,” in a spelling alteration similar to others on the album to reflect its “Act II” theme. Although the song is also credited to John Lennon, like a majority of latter-day Lennon-McCartney songs, it was written entirely by just one of them — and, in this rare instance, recorded by just one member as well.
Source: Chris Willman/variety.com
Anyone wondering whether Paul McCartney's dog is a Sun Devil or Wildcat may finally have their answer.
In an Instagram post published on Easter Sunday, the legendary singer and songwriter revealed a photo of his dog wearing an Arizona State University collar.
The ASU-themed merchandise may appear random in an Easter photo taken by one of Britain's most famous celebrities. But McCartney, who's won 18 Grammy awards and been inducted twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, has multiple connections to the Grand Canyon State.
His wife, Nancy Shevell, graduated from ASU before the couple was married in 2011.
McCartney's first wife, Linda Eastman, had attended the University of Arizona and the couple owned a large ranch property in southern Arizona before Linda died of cancer in Tucson, according to the Arizona Daily Star.
McCartney performed at the Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix a few years ago.
Source: Kevin Reagan/12news.com
Elton John and Paul McCartney make a big splash whenever they come to New Orleans for concerts.
But the two rock legends both slipped in and out of town in March without attracting much attention.
They each made a quick trip to New Orleans to film cameo appearances in the sequel to the 1984 mockumentary “This Is Spinal Tap,” which is currently in production in New Orleans.
The original “Spinal Tap,” directed by Rob Reiner, starred Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer as the bumbling members of a fictional British heavy metal band. The spoof of music documentaries and rock music clichés — from getting lost backstage to a comically miniature Stonehenge prop to an amplifier that famously cranked up all the way to 11 — struck a chord with music fans and musicians alike.
Forty years after the original film’s release, Reiner, McKean, Guest and Shearer have reunited to shoot the sequel in New Orleans, where Shearer lives much of the year.
Source: Keith Spera/sunherald.com
A song featuring George Harrison and Ringo Starr has been played in public for the first time, after the composer discovered the tape more than 50 years after it was recorded. Suresh Joshi, 77, said he met The Beatles stars when he was recording music for a documentary at London’s Trident Studios in 1968, at the same time as the group was recording Hey Jude.
He said they recorded the song Radhe Shaam together, which was played for the first time at Liverpool Beatles Museum in Mathew Street on Wednesday. Mr Joshi said that when he first met Harrison, who died in 2001, he came across as “very lonely”.
He said: “He was an intellectual figure who looked very successful but was very lonely in the crowd and I just picked up on that. “What he told me at the time is he always felt the underdog in the group.” Mr Joshi said Harrison told him wanted to do something different, so he composed and produced a “rock song in an Indian style”.
Singer Ashish Khan performed the vocals on the track while Harrison played the guitar and Starr offered to accompany on drums. Mr Joshi said: “It was a miracle for me to have big stars like that play for me.”
Harrison was known to have been inspired by Indian music and culture and Mr Joshi said he turned to meditation to give him confidence.
The song was never released as they all moved on to other projects.
Source: Eleanor Barlow/ca.movies.yahoo.com
A 1960s rock star taught George Harrison a musical trick that helped him write The Beatles’ "Something." John Lennon said that "Something" differed from all of George's previous compositions.
The Beatles‘ “Something” is one of George Harrison’s masterpieces. He probably couldn’t have made it alone. Another 1960s rock star taught George a musical trick that helped him write “Something.” John Lennon would later say that “Something” differed from all of George’s previous compositions.
The Beatles’ ‘Something’ was inspired by someone who was there with them in India
Donovan is a folk/psychedelic rock singer who became famous for 1960s tunes such as “Atlantis,” “Hurdy Gurdy Man,” “Sunshine Superman,” “Mellow Yellow,” and “Season of the Witch.” He famously went on The Beatles’ trip to India to study meditation. Donovan’s personal website says that he taught George a descending chord pattern that the Beatle would later use on the ballad “Something.”
Gold reports that, during a 2024 interview with Record Collector Magazine, Donovan discussed his influence on the “My Sweet Lord” singer. “I became George’s mentor for songwriting,” the Hurdy Gurdy Man recalled. “He was in the shadow of John and Paul for so many years and I said, ‘Look, I’ll show you a few tricks, how to encourage the songs.’
“There’s a way to encourage the song to come,” he added. “You can tease it, like fishing. I told him how to play a chord then put your ear on the guitar, listen to the open chord and try a tempo. You can hear melodies, believe it or not. Melodies appear, but you’ve got to be quick to catch them.”
Source: Matthew Trzcinski/cheatsheet.com
