On May 23, 2024, Paul McCartney presented an Ivor Novello award to Bruce Springsteen. There, he took the opportunity to engage in some good-natured ribbing. Springsteen was being awarded with an Academy Fellowship, and was the first international artist to earn the award.

“I couldn’t think of a more fitting recipient,” McCartney began in his introduction. He playfully continued, “Except maybe Bob Dylan. Or Paul Simon, or Billy Joel, or Beyoncé, or Taylor Swift. The list goes on,” according to a report from The Guardian.

McCartney then added, “He’s known as the American working man, but he admits he’s never worked a day in his life.” He switched gears after that, instead reminiscing about Glastonbury 2022 when he and Springsteen performed together. McCartney concluded by calling Springsteen “a lovely boy.”

When Paul McCartney teases you on stage, you take it in stride, because he’s probably right. Bruce Springsteen, for his part, accepted the award and the good-natured ribbing with ease and humor. During his acceptance speech, he made a comment about the typical English weather.

Springsteen and the E Street Band had played in Sunderland the previous night and were faced with intense weather. However, Springsteen revealed that seeing the crowd sparked something in him that made him forget about the rain.

“We came out last night, and I was like: what is this weather? Driving rain, wind roaring,” he said. For the English, that’s just a Tuesday. “But,” Springsteen continued, “standing in front of me, in the rain, I realized: these are my people.”

Bruce Springsteen was the first international artist to receive the Academy Fellowship from the Ivor Academy. He joined artists such as U2, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush, and Annie Lennox. The fellowship recognizes craft, artistry, and impact in music creation. Members include rock and rollers, pop stars, composers, conductors, and singer-songwriters.

Source: americansongwriter.com/Lauren Boisvert

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Yes, we know that The Beatles were never actually part of Motown – either as a band or as individuals.

After that infamous failed audition at Decca ("guitar groups are on their way out"), George Martin signed the band for EMI subsidiary Parlophone in 1962

That's where they stayed until they formed Apple Records in 1968, with EMI still dealing with distribution.

Over in the US things started off in messy fashion with the band bouncing form Vee-Jay and then to Swan Records, before Capitol took the band on in 1964. Again, Apple Records took over from The Beatles on.

So where on earth do we get off with calling The Beatles the ultimate Motown band?

Well, despite not actually being signed to the band, their two-way links to the whole sound of Motown is absolutely vital to the story of The Beatles.

While they're rightly credited for mashing up the influence of early rock 'n' roll and skiffle with their own songwriting, you could hear the influence of Motown on the sound of the Beatles from the very beginning.

What was it that bound these two geographically diverse movements of Motown and Merseybeat?

British label Oriole Records represented Tamla Motown on these shores and with its busy docks, Merseyside was the biggest source of Motown records in the UK.

Mersey Beat magazine founder Bill Harry spoke to Record Collector in 2009 about the links between these two centres of early 1960s pop.

"The Tamla Motown numbers were included in the repertoire of the Liverpool bands," he explained.

"They adapted the songs to fit in with the developing Liverpool sound, the basic three guitars/drums/harmony lineup which produced a hybrid sound which I was to call 'the Mersey Motown sound'."

And The Beatles made that Motown connection explicit with a number of covers of Motown originals during their early live shows. They recorded a few for their radio sessions.

They recorded a few for their radio sessions and even laid down a trio for one of their albums.

The Beatles — Please Mr. Postman

While six of the 14 songs on The Beatles debut Please Please Me were covers, none were Motown originals. It was on the follow-up With The Beatles that they really showed off that side of their sound.

Source: Mayer Nissim/goldradio.com

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The Beatles boast an official catalogue of 213 songs released between 1962 until their split in 1970, including 188 originals and 25 covers, making them the most successful band in music history.

The iconic Liverpool quartet, consisting of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, were all the rage during their eight-year stint thanks to a series of songs written by Lennon and McCartney, though of course Harrison and Starr also contributed classics including 'Here Comes The Sun' and 'Octopus's Garden' respectively.

Even today, The Beatles' songs resonate as strongly as they did during the height of 60s Beatlemania. Devoted followers of the Fab Four have recently taken to Reddit to discuss tracks that featured no involvement from Lennon, who was tragically shot and killed at the age of 40 by Mark David Chapman in New York City in 1980.

A curious fan of the Fab Four on TheBeatles subreddit sparked the conversation by asking: "Which Beatles songs did John Lennon NOT perform on?" In the ensuing discussion, several users pointed out that two of McCartney's legendary singles, 'Blackbird' and 'Yesterday', were created without any contribution from Lennon.

One enthusiast remarked, "Yesterday was the song Lennon always wished he had written," adding an anecdote about Lennon's reaction to his own hit 'Imagine': "Apparently, right after he [Lennon] came up with 'Imagine', he asked someone if it was as good as 'Yesterday'. The response was that the two were impossible to compare. Lennon responded 'you'll see, it's just as good as Yesterday'."

Several fans pointed to 'Mother Nature's Son', from The White Album in 1968, as another song McCartney penned and recorded solo, despite Lennon being co-credited. Meanwhile, a handful of other tracks from The White Album also lacked Lennon's musical touch - 'Good Night', 'Wild Honey Pie', 'Martha My Dear' and 'I Will'.

Source: express.co.uk/Alan Johnson

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Paul McCartney opened up about working with Barbra Streisand on the new duet "My Valentine"
The former Beatle said he found it "nerve-wracking" to perform with the star: "I was pretty terrified".  The song will appear on Streisand's new album The Secret of Life: Partners, Volume Two

It may be hard to believe, but even Paul McCartney gets stage fright. The legendary rocker recently recorded a duet of his song “My Valentine” with Barbra Streisand — and admitted that he found the process “nerve-wracking” and “nail-biting!”

In a blog post shared to his website on Tuesday, May 20, McCartney, 82, opened up about working with Streisand, 83, on the track, which will appear on her upcoming record The Secret of Life: Partners, Volume Two, out June 27.

“I did the session with her in LA and I was pretty terrified. I think the session was about three hours, you know, a normal kind of session, and it was produced by my friend Peter Asher,” McCartney wrote. “But it started off with a big 40-piece orchestra on the Sony lot… and we were on ‘The Barbra Streisand Scoring Stage,’ so no pressure there!”

The studio stage, named after the EGOT-winning star, is a famous one on the Sony lot, as it’s where the soundtracks for films like Gone with the Wind, Forrest Gump and Toy Story were all recorded. The song McCartney and Streisand sang together, “My Valentine,” was written for the former Beatle’s wife, Nancy Shevell, whom he married in 2011.

“I thought, ‘Well, this will be easy because it’s my song, it’s ‘My Valentine.’ What can go wrong?’ But what I’d forgotten was that they’d arranged it so that it had to go in Barbra’s key and then in my key,” he explained. “So, to get from Barbra’s key into mine was kind of difficult, and I had to launch in not knowing what key I was in. Mine was lower, hers was higher. It wasn’t easy at all!”

The “Band on the Run” singer did, however, express pleasure at the idea of the song becoming something of a modern standard, as it’s also been recorded by Michael Bublé.

“That was another reason I did it; I thought if Barbra is going to do my song, I’ve got to encourage that,” he wrote. “And she was great. I didn’t realize how rounded she is, creatively.”

McCartney noted that the recording session was filmed, and at first, he was alarmed by all of the cameras and lights. Before long, however, he remembered that Streisand is an accomplished director (She was the first woman to win Best Director at the Golden Globes, for her 1983 film Yentl).  “I thought, ‘Wow, you’re directing it!’ But then I suddenly remembered she’s directed three big movies. She’s a smart cookie,” he wrote.

Upon the song’s release on May 16, Streisand praised McCartney in an Instagram post that featured a photo of the two of them recording together.

“What a joy it was to record ‘My Valentine’ with @paulmccartney. To share time with him in the studio was truly special!” she wrote.

 The Funny Girl star announced her new album in April. It serves as a follow-up to 2014’s Partners, and includes duets with McCartney, Bob Dylan, James Taylor, Sting, Hozier, Sam Smith, Seal, Josh Groban, Tim McGraw, Laufey, and Mariah Carey and Ariana Grande.

Source: people.comRachel DeSantis

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An Antiques Roadshow visitor was utterly astounded by the jaw-dropping appraisal of a guitar that once belonged to George Harrison of The Beatles fame.

On the beloved UK version of the beloved PBS show, expert Jon Baddeley was visibly thrilled as he examined the remarkable piece, with an eager audience gathered to hear its tale.

Baddeley began his conversation with the guitar's current keeper and music aficionado Paul, remarking: "Now you've brought me in an exceptionally rare guitar with an even more interesting story behind it. But let's focus on the make first. It's a make I have rarely ever seen."

Paul shared that the guitar was a product of Bartell of California from the 1960s, describing it as a "very rare" fretless prototype.

He then unveiled the lore: "And the story goes that the company owner has always said he gave one to John Lennon and he gave one to Jimi Hendrix. This is the Lennon one."  The spotlight then shifted to another guest, Ray, who recounted how this unique instrument came into his life.

Ray reminisced about his days as a session guitarist in the '70s and '80s, particularly his work for Handmade Films, the company founded by George Harrison.  He recalled, "I was asked to play guitar, which was great, had lots of laughs and at the end of the session, George said 'I'm not sure what to do with this. You have a go.'

Ray ended up with the guitar, noting its peculiar nature: "And I just got handed the guitar. It's a strange old thing to play, because there are no frets. "But I played a few notes and he said 'You're definitely getting more out of it than I am.

"'It's doing better for you, why don't you have it.' Baddeley remarked: "Well that's not a bad accolade that you can play better than George Harrison!". The guest humbly responded: "At the time, this was quite rock n'roll as this. It's not the greatest of rock n'roll guitars unless you're going to play slide or something like that."

Turning his attention to a photo brought in by the guest, Baddeley called it the "icing on the cake".

"Because this is George Harrison in his house in Friar Park, and here's George standing at the back and just down here on the left hand side, is the guitar in question.

Source: the-express.com/Hayley Anderson, Hollie Beale

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 In a striking statement, George Harrison stood firm: he'd only play if John Lennon was there. He saw Lennon as The Beatles' big brother, making it plain he clicked better with John than Paul McCartney.

"I'd join a band with John Lennon any day, but I couldn't join a band with Paul McCartney, but that's nothing personal. It's just from a musical point of view," Harrison told The Mirror. Despite their differences, Harrison, Lennon, and McCartney collaborated to create many hits.

As kids, Lennon and McCartney faced hard times. Paul's mom died when he turned 14. Three years later, John lost his mother in a crash. This shared pain brought them close.

Writer Ian Leslie, who studied their work, said, "When they met, they were teenagers, both of them very emotionally intense and both of them had had difficult childhoods in different ways, but in one particular way. They both lost their mothers at a young age," he told The Mirror. He also said that music was a vital outlet for Lennon and McCartney, and it let them channel pain, loneliness, and joy into their songwriting.

The band split in 1970 after McCartney walked away. John wrote the biting "How Do You Sleep?," and Paul shot back with "Too Many People."

Back then, men kept quiet about their feelings, Leslie added. Neither star ever tried therapy or counseling to work through their issues.

Harrison's words hint at deep splits in the group's musical vision. "John has gone through his scene, but it feels to me like he's come around, and we're all at the point," he said of Lennon's direction.

Source: wmgk.com/Laura Adkins

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