Near the end of John Lennon‘s life, all signs pointed to him never playing a Beatles song live again. He wasn’t frequently on the road as a general rule. The likelihood that he would revisit his old material amid one of his rare appearances was close to zero. Luckily for Beatles fans, Lennon did manage to sneak in one final live performance of a Beatles classic before he was murdered. Find out which Beatles song bookended Lennon’s career below.

One of Lennon’s last performances saw him play alongside Elton John at Madison Square Garden. It seems that only the consequences of a bet (more on that later) could bring Lennon back on stage after so many reclusive years.

Amid the set, Lennon and John decided to play a rendition of “I Saw Her Standing There.” This early Beatles cut is among their most beloved songs. It is indicative of the writing style of Lennon and Paul McCartney. It was one of the first songs they penned together.

“I wrote it with John in the front parlour of my house in 20 Forthlin Road, Allerton,” McCartney once said. “We sagged off school and wrote it on guitars and a little bit on the piano that I had there.”

“We were learning our skill,” he continued. “John would like some of my lines and not others. He liked most of what I did, but there would sometimes be a cringe line, such as, ‘She was just seventeen, she’d never been a beauty queen.’ John thought, ‘Beauty queen? Ugh.’ We were thinking of Butlin’s so we asked ourselves, what should it be? We came up with, ‘You know what I mean.’ Which was good, because you don’t know what I mean.”

In many ways, it seems fitting that “I Saw Her Standing There” would be the last Beatles song Lennon ever performed–poetic almost.
Final Performance with Elton John

Before their MSG performance, Lennon and John wrote a collaborative track, “Whatever Gets You Thru The Night.” The pair already had a strong personal friendship, but this song also connected their careers.

After writing the song, John made a wager with the former Beatle, begging him to join him in New York for a surprise appearance if the song went no. 1. Much to Lennon’s surprise, the song did reach the top of the charts. He went through with his end of the bet, leading to the iconic and bittersweet performance below.

Source: americansongwriter.com/Alex Hopper

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Here’s one for Sir Paul McCartney fans: a house near his long-term St John’s Wood home is for sale with Robert Irving Burns for £3.6 million.

McCartney bought his house on Cavendish Avenue for £40,000 in 1965, embarking on a months-long refurbishment and finally moving in the following year. It has been his London home since.

Cavendish Avenue is one of the capital’s most in-demand streets, where houses rarely come up for sale. According to the Land Registry, there have only been 20 property transactions on the road in the last 30 years.

The average sold price of houses on the road in the last five years is £6.925 million, according to the Land Registry’s figures.

To Lee Koffman, director of Robert Irving Burns, the £3.6 million house now for sale represents an opportunity to “buy the worst house on the best street,” as the old estate agent’s adage goes.

“Cavendish Avenue is the best road in St John’s Wood,” says Koffman. “The houses on the street are few and far between.

“They’re very rare because once people buy there, they stay on the road for decades and don’t move out, because they’ve got the convenience of everything on their doorstep and yet Cavendish Avenue itself is a very quiet road. The security is off the charts because of the types of people who live there.”

Compared to the listed, stucco-fronted 19th century townhouses on the rest of the road, number 20 was built in 1969 and is “in need of modernisation”.

As well as being more affordable than the street’s listed townhouses, its price per square foot is 20 per cent cheaper than the more modern houses too, at £1,448 compared to £1,731, says Antony Antoniou, CEO of Robert Irving Burns.

“If you’re happy with the look outside and you want to be on the best street, then conceivably it’s a deal,” says Koffman. “Houses on the opposite side are trading at £3,500 to £4,000 per square foot. I can’t compare this house to those, but once this house is done, it’s going to be worth quite a lot of money, being Cavendish Avenue. Someone will trade off the aesthetic of the front of the house to be on the best road in St John’s Wood.”

Source: uk.finance.yahoo.com/Emma Magnus

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The Beatles, known for stirring the pot, certainly did so when John Lennon's bold statement in 1966 that they were "more popular than Jesus" sparked outrage among American Christians, contributing to the band’s cessation of touring later that year.

Their knack for pushing boundaries also saw several of their songs slapped with bans by radio stations. The BBC censored 'A Day in the Life' over alleged drug references, while 'The Ballad of John and Yoko' faced bans from some US stations for its mention of Christ.

‌The trend of controversy carried on even after John, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr went on to solo endeavours post-1970. For instance, the ECHO delved into how Paul McCartney and Wings' 'Hi, Hi, Hi' was shunned by the BBC for perceived nods to sex and drugs.

‌John's Beatles legacy includes one particularly infamous tune, 'Happiness Is a Warm Gun', penned by him in 1968 and presented under the Lennon-McCartney songwriting banner like all compositions from the duo for the Fab Four.

The title, which kick-started the song, was lifted straight from the May 1968 issue of American Rifleman magazine, where an article by Warren W. Herlihy depicted his experience teaching his son shooting skills, reports the Liverpool Echo.

Regarding his first impression upon seeing it, John remarked, "I just thought it was a fantastic, insane thing to say. A warm gun means you just shot something."

The song was part of the Beatles' iconic 'White Album', released in November 1968, a tumultuous time for the band as creative differences began to emerge. Despite their differences, they collaborated to craft this intricate track. John revealed that he merged "three sections of different songs" to create the final piece, which tackled various themes. ‌

Upon its release, certain sections of the song were interpreted as references to sex and drugs. The 'warm gun' in the title was seen as a metaphor for John's desire for Yoko Ono, leading to a ban by the BBC and commercial radio stations.

The line 'I need a fix' was also perceived by some as a reference to heroin. However, John disputed this, explaining: "'Happiness Is A Warm Gun' was another one which was banned on the radio – they said it was about shooting up drugs. But they were advertising guns and I thought it was so crazy that I made a song out of it. It wasn't about 'H' (heroin) at all".

Source: mirror.co.uk/Michael D. Carroll, Dan Haygarth

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The Beatles hit #1 with their eighth studio album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which featured such classic Beatles tunes as the title track, “With a Little Help From My Friends,” “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” “When I’m Sixty Four,” “Lovely Rita” and “A Day in the Life.”

Sgt. Pepper’s was The Beatles eighth #1 album and spent 15 weeks at the top of the charts in the U.S. It went on to win the Grammy for album of the year, the first rock album to ever win the top award, and was inducted into the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress in 2003.

A critical and commercial success, Sgt. Pepper’s has been certified 11-times Platinum by the RIAA.

Source: everettpost.com/ABC News

In the emotional aftermath of John Lennon's 1980 assassination, a then-17-year-old Julian Lennon was thrust into a world of grief, confusion, and suspicion.

 Julian, Lennon’s son from his first marriage to Cynthia Lennon, had been living quietly in the U.K. when Yoko Ono summoned him to the Dakota, the Manhattan home she shared with John. The purpose, at first, seemed rooted in grief. But what unfolded was far more complicated.

“She was falling apart,” Julian recalled of Ono. “I had to be strong for myself — and strong for her. She hadn’t even told Sean [John and Yoko’s son] that dad had died yet. She asked me how she should break the news.”

But things soon took a tense turn. According to Julian, Ono grew suspicious when a guitar that had belonged to John was anonymously delivered to him in England. That delivery, she believed, might be linked to the theft of some of Lennon’s missing diaries.

“Shortly after Dad died, Yoko found out about the guitar being given to me and sent someone over from New York so I could sign for it,” Julian said. He continued: “Then I was flown to New York and asked to sign a confession, saying I knew nothing about the missing diaries.”

Julian complied, though he maintains he had no connection to the stolen items. “Apparently, someone told Yoko the diaries were given to me, which they weren’t,” he said. “Some have now been recovered, but not all.”

Julian recounted the episode with an eerie calm manner, but the implications were stark: amid mourning, he was caught in a web of distrust within his father’s inner circle. He had little financial support at the time. John had left a modest trust fund for him years earlier, which had largely dried up.

Source: irishstar.com/Connor McCrory

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The Beatles' rise to global stardom was meteoric, with their fame skyrocketing in under a year and a half following the UK release of 'Love Me Do' in October 1962. By February 1964, an astonishing 73 million viewers in America were glued to their screens watching the Fab Four on the Ed Sullivan Show as 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' swept the nation.

This track not only marked their first chart-topper in the States but also kicked off a period of unrivaled chart success for the Liverpool lads. After a seven-week reign, 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' handed over the number one spot to 'She Loves You', and this was just the beginning—four more hits soared to the top within six months.

Paul McCartney, George Harrison, John Lennon, and Ringo Starr, four young men from Liverpool, had become the most recognizable faces on the planet, and it all happened at breakneck speed. Adjusting to such intense fame wasn't a walk in the park for them.

Lennon, in particular, found the transition challenging, a struggle that influenced his songwriting. Reflecting on those times in a 1980 Playboy interview, he confessed: "The whole Beatles thing was just beyond comprehension. I was subconsciously crying out for help".

His inner turmoil manifested into the classic tune 'Help! which became the lead single for the band's sophomore film and its soundtrack album. The inspiration struck John in the spring of 1965, right after the movie's title was decided, reports the Liverpool Echo.

John's mate Stanley Parkes recalls the moment John had to pivot creatively due to the film's title change: "Came in from the studio one night. 'God,' he said, 'they've changed the title of the film: it's going to be called 'Help!' now. So I've had to write a new song with the title called 'Help!'"

Lennon delved into his own personal battles with fame when writing the hit song. Reflecting in 1980, he revealed: "When 'Help!' came out, I was actually crying out for help. Most people think it's just a fast rock 'n' roll song."

Source: John O'sullivan, Dan Haygarth/irishstar.com

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