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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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