Beatles News
With Paul McCartney releasing his first solo album in over five years, The Boys of Dungeon Lane, and the Beatles’ four-film biopic’s main cast already announced, it seems only natural that the actor who’s transforming into Macca – Paul Mescal – had a chat with the legend about his songwriting process. And luckily for the rest of us, it was captured on camera.
“I teach some kids up in my old school in Liverpool, and that's like the first thing [they ask]. I don't know how to do this, which is not very inspiring. I haven’t got a formula,” McCartney tells Mescal.
“They used to ask me and John [Lennon], ‘How’d you do it? Who writes the music, who writes the words?’ I don’t know. To me, I think any story or song you’re gonna do, it’s gotta involve memory. With the Beatles, we always tried to write something different.”
Lennon still serves as a source of inspiration for McCartney – especially considering his upcoming album turns a lens inward and revisits the formative years that not only shaped his own life but the very foundation of the Beatles.
“I ran into this guy called John Lennon, and he was kind of fighting life,” he reminisces of his collaborator., whose first single, Love Me Do, was released in 1962.
“He'd had a lot of trouble. His dad had left home, his mom had got run over… so he was putting up a shield, so he's very witty, very biting. And then when it came to writing, that kind of relationship stayed there.
Source: guitarworld.com/Janelle Borg
Imbuing spiritual philosophy into music was a practice George Harrison started back when he was still a mop-topped Beatle with tracks like “Within You Without You” and “I Me Mine”, so it’s no surprise that he continued this songwriting tradition into his solo career. In fact, two of his first major wins as a solo artist were spiritual numbers, one of which he later referred to as a “prayer and personal statement.”
For many folks, their minds might wander to Harrison’s first No. 1 hit post-Beatles, “My Sweet Lord”. The 1970 chart-topper sounds like a word-for-word prayer, right down to the “hallelujah” refrains. But the one Harrison felt was an even stronger impression of his spiritual state was his second No. 1: the 1973 track “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)” from Living In The Material World.
Whereas “My Sweet Lord” was adoring and reverent, “Give Me Love”, as the title would suggest, was more about his hopes and immaterial desires. “Give me love, give me peace on earth, give me light, give me life,” the song begins. “Keep me from birth, give me hope, help me cope with this heavy load.” George Harrison Called “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)” His Personal Statement.
No two songs ever come into being in the same way. George Harrison sat with some songs for years, whether because he was still revising them or because his Beatles bandmates rejected them as a Fab Four tune (often a mix of both). Songs like “Isn’t It A Pity” spent years incubating before Harrison released it on All Things Must Pass, his solo debut. But “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)” was notably different.
“Sometimes you open your mouth, and you don’t know what you are going to say,” Harrison wrote in I Me Mine. “And whatever comes out is the starting point. If that happens, and you are lucky, it can usually be turned into a song. This song is a prayer and personal statement between me, the Lord, and whoever likes it.”
Chart performance would indicate that there were plenty of folks who liked it. “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)” topped the charts on the Billboard Hot 100. It also hit the Top 10 in Harrison’s native United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Denmark, New Zealand, and Norway.
Source: americansongwriter.com/Melanie Davis
Pattie Boyd says George Harrison once got upset that she was on the cover of a magazine without him
On a recent podcast, Boyd spoke about whether intense publicity during the height of The Beatles' success affected their marriage
"He couldn't believe that they would put me on the paper and not him," Boyd said of her former husband
Pattie Boyd is opening up about her relationship with The Beatles' George Harrison — and how the late musician once got "jealous" of her own publicity.
The model and photographer, 82, appeared on a recent episode of the podcast Miss O’Dell: Abbey Road to Tulsa Time, hosted by Chris O’Dell. On the podcast, Boyd spoke about whether intense publicity during the height of The Beatles' success affected their marriage.
"I know George was rather upset one time when I was on the cover of one of the trashy newspapers, you know, because I was wearing whatever I was wearing — something mad — and he couldn't believe that they would put me on the paper and not him," Boyd said.
She added: "Jealousy comes in many, many different forms. It's very odd."
Boyd first met Harrison in 1964, on the set of A Hard Day's Night. The pair married in 1966, but their relationship eventually came to an end, and their divorce was finalized in 1977.
Source: people.com/Virginia Chamlee
Paul McCartney sat down with Paul Mescal, the actor who portrays him in the upcoming films about the Beatles, to discuss his new album.
The two Pauls sat down “In Conversation” for an exclusive short film posted by Amazon. In the 10-minute chat in the same restaurant the album trailer was filmed, the rocker and the actor talked about the nostalgic The Boys of Dungeon Lane.
“How do you feel about being interviewed?” Mescal asked McCartney.
“It depends if I like the person. Which is where we’re running into a problem already,” McCartney joked. “No, I find if I like who I’m being interviewed by, it comes easy.”
Mescal asked McCartney about his songwriting process on The Boys of Dungeon Lane, which features lyrics made up of memories but still “in the present tense.”
“I haven’t got a formula,” McCartney said. “They used to ask me and John [Lennon], ‘How’d you do it? Who writes the music, who writes the words?’ I don’t know. To me, I think any story or song you’re gonna do, it’s gotta involve memory. With the Beatles, we always tried to write something different.”
Mescal then questioned McCartney about new album songs like “Lost Horizon” and “Salesman Saint,” a song written about McCartney’s parents.
“I often remember that my mom and dad had me in World War 2. I’ve always known that growing up, but at certain point you go ‘Wow,” McCartney said. “It occurred to me that it’d be good to just put down some stuff about them carrying on through whatever they had to put up with.”
Source: rollingstone.com/Daniel Kreps
The rock legend in the autumn of their years who chooses to release a new album is well advised to get themselves an angle. If the music that made you legendary was written and recorded long ago – and is highly unlikely to be displaced in the public’s affections by anything you do now – it’s good to have something that suggests a sense of purpose, beyond just adding to an already vast back catalogue for the sake of it.
We’ve recently seen it with Bob Dylan’s Rough and Rowdy Ways, rooted in its jawdropping 17-minute survey of American political history, Murder Most Foul; and with Bruce Springsteen’s Only the Strong Survive, with its canny covers of soul and R&B classics. And an angle is clearly something that has occurred to Paul McCartney, too. From its title referencing a road in the suburb of Liverpool where McCartney spent his early childhood, to the circumstances of its launch – the first single Days We Left Behind was premiered not on YouTube or Spotify but BBC Radio Merseyside – his 27th studio album has been presented as a nostalgic look back at what you might call his pre-Fab years.
The idea has certainly generated excitement and not a little emotion on the part of fans. McCartney seems to have spent the last few years crossing the Ts and dotting the Is on various aspects of his past: reworking the footage of the Let It Be recording sessions to cast it in a more positive light than the 1970 film of the same name; completing the one song left unfinished during the mid-90s reunion of the surviving Beatles; releasing a documentary designed to remind the public that, for all the critical opprobrium thrown their way, Wings were absolutely huge in the 1970s. A burst of sentimental autobiographical reminiscence adds to the faint but detectable sense that his career is drawing to a close.
Source: theguardian.com/Alexis Petridis
The Beatles’ 1969 magnum opus, Abbey Road, has the same sort of “love it or hate it” legacy as other mega albums like Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon and Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours. Diehard fans will accuse people of choosing the “sell-out” option when they list these albums as their personal favorites, and in some cases, these fans will even argue that the album’s no good.
As silly and subjective as this mindset is, it’s easy to see why albums that have been elevated to such high regard also have an immense amount of pressure to be absolutely perfect. Abbey Road is no exception, with many fans criticizing some tracks for being less-than-ideal offerings from the Fab Four.
That includes these four tracks—although, personally speaking, I can’t get enough of them.
“Maxwell’s Silver Hammer”
Not even the rest of The Beatles liked “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer”, but that’s where I disagree with John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. This Paul McCartney number is catchy, morbidly funny, and a great example of how effective groove switches can really be. My personal favorite part of the song is when you can hear McCartney snicker through the line “writing 50 times,” as if even he knew how absurd the song was.
“Octopus’s Garden”
Ringo Starr gets a lot of hate for his songwriting contributions to The Beatles, but “Octopus’s Garden” is downright sweet when you think about it. Starr learned about octopi making “gardens” in their homes under the sea while he was on vacation. Then, he writes a song about wanting to be “warm below the storm” with all of his friends. What whimsy! What tender thoughts! Cranky Beatles fans can pry this one out of my cold, dead hands.
Source: americansongwriter.com/Melanie Davis
Earlier this week, model, photographer, and ex-wife of George Harrison, Pattie Boyd, appeared on the inaugural episode of Miss O'Dell: Abbey Road To Tulsa Time, a new podcast hosted by music industry icon Chris O'Dell, who worked with everyone from the Beatles to the Stones to Bob Dylan. Around the 33-minute mark, O'Dell asks Boyd about the ambitious Beatles biopic project from Sam Mendes that’s currently in the works. Aimee Lou Wood was cast to play Boyd in the upcoming film, which Boyd learned about not because Mendes, or anyone working on the project, reached out to her. And, she does not seem happy about it.
“Now, I might be completely wrong, but I would have thought it would be polite to mention it to me or let me know that they got someone who’s going to be playing me. Don’t you think they’d let me know? Well, I haven’t been contacted by anyone,” she said. “I could have really told them great stories. But I don’t think they want to know. I think they want to create something that’s completely different, like a different story.”
Boyd added that the forthcoming biopics seem to have “nothing to do with the truth. Nothing to do with what really happened because they don’t want to talk to anyone who was there.” Instead, it’s “the filmmaker’s creation of what they think happened.”
I mean, she has a point here. It would make sense that someone would reach out to her, not only to get her perspective, but also because Wood is literally portraying her in the film. In an interview from this March, Wood gave some vague quotes about how intimidating this biopic project is. “I am going to have to really prep, and I am going to have to really be detailed about that, because she is someone who is so recognisable, and obviously not do an impression," she said.
Well, duh. And again, I am confused about why not actually contacting Boyd would be part of the prep. But hey, I know nada about this Hollywood business stuff.
Source: stereogum.com/Margaret Farrell
It’s no secret that President Donald Trump has gotten some intense backlash from notable figures in pop culture, and this even includes the one and only Paul McCartney.
The Beatles icon recently talked about American politics during a podcast interview, where he began making some comments on the current presidential administration. During the interview, he spoke about how he felt Americans were only getting more violent, angry, and more, especially in “Trump’s America.” Though he didn’t dwell on the current state of the country’s politics for long, what he said struck a nerve with some social media users, who weren’t into his comments. Read more about the situation below.
Paul McCartney Calls Out 'Trump's America' & Says Americans Are 'At Each Other's Throats'
Easily one of the most influential musicians in the world is Paul McCartney, whose music, both during his years with the Beatles and afterward, has brought people from all walks of life together for decades.
In addition to his music, Paul has also built a reputation for being more outspoken politically, especially these days, with the controversial Apprentice star as president. Recently, he was a guest on The Rest Is Entertainment podcast, where he talked about a variety of topics as he answered questions from some members of his loyal fanbase. At one point, he began talking about the unifying power of his music, especially the infamous Beatles song, "Hey Jude."
Source: yahoo.com/Abigail Connolly
You might think it would be a thrill to inspire a Beatles song. Well, only if it were a complimentary track. If you landed on their bad side, especially John Lennon’s, you might end up immortalized for all the wrong reasons.
In 1968, Lennon wrote a stinging rebuke that wound up on The White Album later that year. Ironically, it targeted a person who had only recently been the subject of Lennon’s sincere admiration.
A Fateful Retreat
The Beatles headed to India in 1968, intent on studying meditation from the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. After the death of their manager Brian Epstein the previous year, the band was seeking new challenges and inspirational guidance.
John Lennon was all-in with the project when he arrived. He felt that the Maharishi, who seemed to always be smiling, was as good a guru as any to follow. Lennon and the other Beatles received their mantras and did their meditating. They spent the idle hours writing dozens of songs, many of which appeared on The White Album later that year.
Source: americansongwriter.com/Jim Beviglia
George Harrison was known as the "Quiet Beatle," but his songwriting spoke volumes.
The Beatles icon, who passed away in 2001, wrote 22 tracks for the Fab Four, a few of which remain among their most memorable. Unlike many of his peers, Harrison was more reserved and introspective. He wasn’t drawn to the glitz and glamour of fame; instead, he thrived on genuine connection and spirituality. Some of his Beatles songs show this side of him, while others might catch you off guard.
Paul McCartney and John Lennon handled most of the group’s songwriting, with many tracks credited as McCartney-Lennon originals. Ringo Starr, the band's drummer, contributed just two songs.
In an interview, commenting on Harrison as a singer and a songwriter, Lennon once said, "George didn’t even use to sing when we brought him into the group; he was a guitarist. He wasn’t in the same league for a long time. That’s not putting him down, he just hadn’t had the practice at writing that we had.”
A decade later, Harrison was the first Beatle to hit No. 1 as a solo artist following the band's breakup in 1970 with "My Sweet Lord." If that's not proof of his exceptional creativity and lyrical mastery, what is?
Let's drop the needle on five of the 22 tracks Harrison wrote for The Beatles.
"HERE COMES THE SUN"
One of the most well-known Beatles' songs of all time came from the brilliant mind of Harrison. He wrote "Here Comes The Sun" during a stressful time for the Fab Four, escaping business meetings to relax at Eric Clapton's garden estate. That burst of sunshine became one of the band's warmest songs, fusing acoustic guitar with an early Moog synthesizer.
Source: mentalfloss.com/Logan DeLoye
