After the Fab Four called it quits for good in 1970, fans around the world were anxiously waiting for the announcement of a proper reunion. Before the sad passing of John Lennon in 1980 and George Harrison in 2001, fans were hoping that at least some semblance of a reunion would happen. It never really did.

However, in the 1970s, a Beatles reunion was apparently on the table. And we can thank George Harrison (not exclusively, but partially) for it not actually taking off. Whether that’s a good or a bad thing, I’ll leave up to the diehard fans. Still, it’s an interesting story if nothing else.

Shortly after The Beatles broke up in the early 1970s, the possibility of a reunion was not even considered. The Fab Four were beefing with each other, there were lawsuits being thrown around, and Paul McCartney and John Lennon had taken to writing a few beef tracks about each other. It was a mess.

Eventually, things died down, and each member of the former band went on to produce excellent solo works. As things settled further, rumors of a potential reunion began to circulate. However, they would never come to fruition. And guitarist George Harrison was pretty dead set on a reunion never happening.

Lennon, however, was open to the idea and pitched it pretty publicly. “If we record, we record,” said Lennon a few years after The Beatles disbanded. “I don’t know. As long as we make music.”

Similarly, McCartney would say that “anything could happen.”

Source: americansongwriter.com/Em Casalena

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When people think of the Beatles, the first thing that comes to mind is not their drug use, at least for most people. When compared to some of their wilder contemporaries, the Fabs feel somewhat innocent. But that certainly doesn’t mean the band didn’t partake from time to time.   

They famously entered into a psychedelic era in the mid-’60s, fueled by LSD and other hallucinogens. They were also not strangers to marijuana. The Beatles’ post-introduction to drugs was markedly more experimental in the studio. Like many of their contemporaries, drugs provided a creative spark. There was one studio session wherein John Lennon accidentally took drugs, luckily leading to one of the Beatles’ best psychedelic songs.

When we think of the Beatles and drugs, it’s hard for the mind not to immediately go to Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Although we don’t have the statistics, this feels like the Beatles’ “highest” album. That’s likely due to the inclusion of “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”–which Lennon swore up and down wasn’t about LSD…However, there is another song that rivals “Lucy” in terms of drug use: “Getting Better.”

John Lennon was in the habit of taking “uppers” in the studio to deal with the long nights. On this particular occasion, Lennon accidentally took a massive dose of LSD instead of his usual fare. It made him noticeably off-kilter in the session.

“We were overdubbing voices on one of the Pepper tracks, and John, down in the studio, was obviously feeling unwell,” George Martin once recalled. “I called over the intercom, ‘What’s the matter, John? Aren’t you feeling very well?’”

“It wasn’t until much later that I learned what had happened,” he continued. “John was in the habit of taking pills, ‘uppers’, to give him the energy to get through the night. That evening, he had taken the wrong pill by mistake – a very large dose of LSD.”

Staying true to his songwriting partner, Paul McCartney decided to join in on the LSD trip, if only so Lennon wouldn’t be alone.

“But Paul knew, and went home with him and turned on as well, to keep him company,” he added. “It seems they had a real trip. I knew they smoked pot, and I knew they took pills, but in my innocence I had no idea they were also into LSD.”
The Beatles and Their Extracurricular Activities

The Beatles haven’t been shy about their drug use. They have been as forthright about their wild years as any of their peers.

Lennon’s LSD-inspired “Lucy” is perhaps their most famous drug-fuelled track, but it certainly doesn’t stop there. There’s “With a Little Help From My Friends” (with its references to getting high). Elsewhere, they penned a love letter to pot with “Got to Get You Into My Life.”

Despite their experimentation with drugs, their journey never took them too far into the heavy stuff. At least, McCartney said heroin and the like weren’t for him.

Source: americansongwriter.com/Alex Hopper

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“Yesterday” by The Beatles is a musical blank canvas, open to interpretation, reinvention, and—sometimes—utter reinvention in genres the Fab Four never saw coming. With over 2,000 known versions out there, here are 10 of the most genre-bending, mood-swinging, mind-tilting covers of “Yesterday” you never knew you needed… until now.

1. Marvin Gaye (1970)
Motown’s smoothest operator took “Yesterday” and wrapped it in satin. His version, from That’s the Way Love Is, lives in a warm, soulful haze—like heartbreak at sunset, with a bassline for a hug.

2. Molly Hatchet (2012)
Southern rock titans Molly Hatchet brought muscle and denim to “Yesterday” on Regrinding the Axes. Imagine a bar fight breaking out in the middle of a memory—that’s how hard this one hits.

3. En Vogue (1992)
If ’60s harmonies got a ’90s R&B glow-up, this is it. En Vogue’s a cappella spin on “Yesterday” doesn’t just cover it—it serenades it with perfect pitch and powerhouse soul.

4. La Lupe (1967)
Known as the Queen of Latin Soul, La Lupe’s fiery version on El Rey y Yo turns “Yesterday” into a dramatic, Havana-flavored rollercoaster. Sad? Maybe. Subtle? Absolutely not.

5. Boyz II Men (1994)
No instruments. No frills. Just four voices, blending like butter. Boyz II Men closed their blockbuster album with an a cappella version that somehow made “Yesterday” feel even more eternal.

6. Count Basie & His Orchestra (1966)
Big band meets Beatle ballad. The Count swung “Yesterday” like it was born for the dance floor, with Bill Henderson on vocals and the horns adding a Gatsby touch to Lennon & McCartney’s melancholy.

7. Dr. John (1975)
Recorded in a studio disguised as a nightclub, Dr. John’s version smokes with New Orleans swagger. It’s voodoo blues for a Sunday hangover, dressed in feathers and funk.

8. Sarah Vaughan (1966)
One of jazz’s greatest voices opened her Pop Artistry album with “Yesterday,” turning it into a smoky lounge confession that sounds like she wrote it herself in another lifetime.

9. Ras Attitude (2013)
Reggae meets Liverpool. Ras Attitude’s take on a tribute compilation gives “Yesterday” an island heartbeat, proving heartbreak feels a little better with a skank rhythm underneath it.

10. Cathy Berberian (1967)
Opera diva meets Beatlemania. Berberian turned “Yesterday” into an avant-garde aria, complete with vibrato and theatrical drama. It’s not background music—it’s a front-row ticket to surrealism.

Source: thatericalper.com/Eric Alper

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When The Beatles broke up, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr all seemed a bit adrift for their first few years as ex-members of The Fab Four. Only George Harrison seemed to be thriving on his own, at least in terms of his career choices.

Maybe that’s because Harrison no longer had to answer to his bandmates when it came down to the material he wanted to present. If he wanted to go the spiritual route, as he did on the 1970 track “Hear Me Lord”, there was no one to stop him. The final year or so of The Beatles as a group was a particularly unhappy time for the four members in terms of their interactions. In one notorious example, George Harrison clashed with Paul McCartney while cameras were rolling in January 1969 on a documentary about the group’s new record.

Earlier that fateful day, Harrison had tried to interest the other members in a new track of his called “Hear Me Lord”. Unfortunately, like so many other Harrison compositions of that era, The Beatles couldn’t be bothered to do much with it. Harrison added it to his stockpile of unrecorded songs. He would unleash that stockpile upon the world as part of the triple album All Things Must Pass in 1970.

As was the case throughout the album, producer Phil Spector preferred a maximalist approach on “Hear Me Lord”. He threw multiple instrumentalists in the mix, including three guitarists, two bassists, three keyboardists, and two horn players. In addition, he multitracked Harrison’s vocals to add to the effect.

But what stands out most about the track is how forcefully Harrison voices his passion. Several of his songs with The Beatles touched on spirituality, but never so overtly. On his own to put forth whatever message he wished, Harrison dove into a direct conversation with a higher power on “Hear Me Lord”, a track that essentially closes out the sung part of All Things Must Pass. (The final album mostly features instrumental jam sessions.)   Examining the Lyrics of “Hear Me Lord”

“Hear Me Lord” is essentially an earnest prayer, albeit one tinged with Harrison’s clever wordplay. He begins by admitting his folly. “Forgive me Lord,” he sings. “Please, those years that I ignored you.” Then he suggests that others see commitment to God as a price they have to pay. “Forgive them Lord / Those that feel they can’t afford you.”

Source: americansongwriter.com/Jim Beviglia

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Beatles history is full of stories about Paul McCartney’s dual life as a bassist and guitarist. After getting saddled with the instrument when Stuart Sutcliffe left the group in July 1961, McCartney didn’t play guitar with the Beatles again until 1965’s Help! album. In addition to performing acoustic guitar on the album cut “Yesterday,” he took electric guitar solos on the songs “Another Girl,” “The Night Before” and “Ticket to Ride.” It was quite a shift for McCartney, considering he’d originally been put off playing lead guitar after his first attempt to do so onstage became a disaster.

In fact, it was that very episode of stage fright that resulted in George Harrison joining the group, at McCartney’s suggestion, seeing as neither he nor John Lennon had any facility for playing lead. Paul’s inability is ultimately what got him stuck playing bass, as Lennon had no ability to play the instrument and Harrison was too vital as a lead guitarist.

Of course, once McCartney began to solo, it was hard to stop him. He took solo sports on Harrison’s Revolver cut “Taxman,” when Harrison was unable to come up with anything satisfactory, and he soloed again on tracks like Sgt. Pepper’s’ “Good Morning Good Morning” and the White Album’s “Helter Skelter.”

What’s less known is that Harrison had a similar fluidity when it came to his guitar skills. Just as McCartney moved between bass and guitar, Harrison filled in for McCartney on bass on several recordings when Paul was playing another instrument or — in the case of one song — when he walked out of the session in anger.

It’s like a lunatic playing. I’m doing ex­actly what I do on the guitar.”
— George Harrison

Harrison is credited with playing bass in 1969 on Abbey Road’s “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” and the medley “Golden Slumbers” and “Carry That Weight,” while McCartney was tickling the ivories. As he recalled in a 1987 interview with Creem magazine, he also played bass on his song “Old Brown Shoe.”

“It’s like a lunatic playing,” Harrison said, to which the interviewer replied, “It sounds like McCartney was going nuts again.” George replied that he was playing bass. “I’m doing ex­actly what I do on the guitar.”

Old Brown Shoe (Remastered 2009) - YouTube Old Brown Shoe (Remastered 2009) - YouTube
Watch On Well before those recordings, Harrison was beginning to pick up the low end on the Revolver album. It’s widely thought he plays bass on McCartney’s “Good Day Sunshine.” Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn said the piano, bass and drums are all recorded on one track. If McCartney played piano, as is assumed, that leaves only Harrison to play bass.

Source: guitarplayer.com/Elizabeth Swann

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Every so often, Paul McCartney and John Lennon would conjure up a Beatles song specifically for Ringo Starr to sing. And as one would expect from songs written for the least singing member of the band, some were better than others (both in chart performance and the general opinion of the rest of the band).

One of the first songs Lennon wrote for Starr was left on the cutting room floor, although the musicians would mention the song in later interviews. To Lennon, it was hilarious. To George Harrison, the throwaway song was just plain weird.
John Lennon Wrote This Beatles Song For Ringo Starr

Although the Beatles originally intended for Ringo Starr to sing John Lennon’s song, “If You’ve Got Trouble,” on the 1965 album Help!, the band decided to scrap the song. From the lyrics to the melody to Starr’s humble performance, the Beatles ultimately left the song in the EMI Studios vault. During a 1965 interview with Melody Maker, Lennon described the song as hilarious.

“It’s the funniest thing I’ve ever done,” Lennon laughed. “I didn’t expect anybody to want to record it.” Guitarist George Harrison had an even blunter take. “It’s the most weird song,” he later said, per Anthology. “It’s got stupid words and is the naffest song. No wonder it didn’t make it onto anything.”

Source: Melanie Davis/americansongwriter.com

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