Beatles News
In 1969, The Beatles were practically over. Especially after their disastrous sessions in January, which eventually became the album Let It Be. The sessions were filmed with the intent of making a TV show of their recording sessions. In a way, they were pioneering reality TV. But the addition of cameras, as evidenced by Peter Jackson's documentary, The Beatles: Get Back, only served to sour their already deteriorated relationship. John Lennon Asked for Paul McCartney's Help Despite Their Estrangement.
When John Lennon returned to England, newly married and with a new song, his fellow Beatles were scattered. Ringo Starr was on set filming The Magic Christian, and George Harrison was away on vacation. But his best friend and long-time songwriting partner was home, so, of course, Lennon took the song to Paul McCartney. The song was the retelling of his and Yoko Ono's complicated journey towards getting married and their unconventional honeymoon. He titled it "The Ballad of John and Yoko". "It’s a piece of journalism," Lennon described it. "It’s a folk song. That’s why I called it The Ballad Of."
Source: Collider/Val Barone
After his decade-long career as a member of the Beatles, George Harrison released several solo hits, like "Got My Mind Set on You," "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)," and "Ding Dong, Ding Dong."
According to Far Out magazine, Harrison jotted down "Ding Dong, Ding Dong," off his 1974 album Dark Horse, in record time. The publication reported that Harrison discussed coming up with the tune while writing his memoir, I, Me, Mine, published in 1980. He explained his inspiration for the track was the inscriptions near his Victorian estate's fireplace and shed.
“‘Ding Dong, Ding Dong’ was the quickest one I ever wrote. It took me three minutes, except it took me four years of looking at the thing, which was written on the wall at my home, ‘Ring out the old, ring in the new. Ring out the false, ring in the truth,’ before I realised it was a hit song. It makes me laugh because it’s so simple. That song evaded me for four years," wrote Harrison, who died in 2001 at the age of 58.
“Instead of getting stuck in a rut, everybody should try ringing out the old and ringing in the new… [People] sing about it, but they never apply it to their lives,” shared Harrison.
Harrison shared some insight into the technical aspects of writing a song in a 1975 interview with Dave Herman. According to Harrison, "some tunes need an intro to establish a certain mood before you start singing," while others "can come right in."
Source: aol.com/Nicole Moore
Have you heard the Beatles have split up? This distraught cry could be heard echoed by countless voices around the world following Paul McCartney's shocking disclosure via press release on April 10, 1970, that he would no longer be working with the group. In fact, although not known publicly, John Lennon had already informed his bandmates (McCartney, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison) back in September 1969 of his own decision to leave the band.
This wasn't automatically viewed by the others as the end of the road, however. Starr himself had previously quit for two weeks in 1968, and Harrison for five days in January 1969.
The Beatles taking New York City by storm during their groundbreaking North American tour in 1964. But what led to this increasing discontent and the true end of the Beatles? One important factor is pressure. There had been supergroups before, but the rise of the Beatles and resultant Beatlemania, not only in England and America, but around the globe, was unprecedented.
So ardent were the Beatles' fans that, as early as 1966, the group had decided to stop touring, due to a combination of exhaustion, a lack of being able to hear themselves onstage over the screams, and threats to their safety following Lennon's comment that the band had become more popular than Jesus.
"Granny Songs" and Growing Rifts
Another key reason for the Beatles' split lies in a widening gulf between individual members' artistic visions. By the time of McCartney's press statement, both he, John Lennon, and George Harrison had already issued solo albums away from the band. Within the Beatles, internal rifts had been growing for some time.
Source: mentalfloss.com/Chris Wheatley
WhenJohn Lennon wrote "Give Peace a Chance," the anti-war song was a cry for one thing only: "All we are saying is give peace a chance," the track echoed throughout its nearly five-minute runtime. Recorded 57 years ago today on June 1, 1969, it was released on July 4 in the U.K. and July 7 in the U.S., and became a historic peace anthem—without ever hitting No. 1 on the charts.
Despite never reaching the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100, the song peaked at No. 14, enjoying a nine-week tenure on the chart overall. It spent four weeks within the Top 20 and six weeks in the Top 40, records show.
Credited to the Plastic Ono Band, the track itself was created in the moment during one of Lennon's and wife, Yoko Ono's, famous "bed-in" protests, sparking a movement during the anti-Vietnam War era of the late 1960s/early 1970s.
"Lennon and Ono were well-known members of the anti-war movement. They even created the method of protest known as a “bed-in,” involving occupying a hotel room for a week at a time as they did on their honeymoon in Amsterdam. This song was actually recorded during one of their “bed-ins” in Montreal," according to Genius.
While the Montreal bed-in was in progress, the Beatles band member got the idea after inviting celebrities and media representatives into the hotel room to discuss the political climate. It is reported that Lennon kept repeating the phrase "give peace a chance" in various interviews, sparking what became the tune, which was recorded live by producer André Perry, per Song Facts. "Using four microphones and a portable 4-track cassette recorder he borrowed from a local studio," the song came together, featuring a chorus of contributors including Petula Clark, Allen Ginsberg, and Timothy Leary.
Source: yahoo.com/Yasmine Coleman
Paul McCartney has revealed to NME that he is unsure if he will ever retire from recording and touring.
The Beatles legend released his latest solo album ‘The Boys Of Dungeon Lane’ last week (May 29), a poignantly nostalgic record that sees McCartney reflect on his years growing up in Liverpool. It includes a duet with Ringo Starr on ‘Home To Us’, as well as the tearjerker lead single ’Days We Left Behind’.
Ahead of the album’s release, McCartney sat down with NME to look forwards and back on his extraordinary career, and we asked him whether he can imagine ever walking away from being an active musician.
“I don’t know. I never know, y’know?” he replied. “I remember when I was 50 years old, my manager at the time said, ‘Well, are you thinking of retiring?’ I went, ‘Uh, I don’t think so.’ But he obviously thought, 50… which, I get it, because we thought 30 was really old [when] we were 20. So 30 was like that’d be unseemly, but it came, and it went, and people were still playing, and audiences like the music.”
He went on to explain that he is conscious of the fact that there are increasingly few opportunities for fans to hear the music from his era in person. “If the music is from that period, they don’t get to hear it live any other way, so you’ve got to hear Neil Young live to get the whole feel of Neil – the Neil feel. Same with a lot of bands – the Stones, The Eagles. There’s nothing like it.”
McCartney also said that he continues to be inspired by the process of songwriting itself.
Source: nme.com/Max Pilley
Ringo Starr is not slowing down.
The 85-year-old drum legend, who is adored by hundreds of millions of music lovers for his work in The Beatles, just released the brand new album “Long Long Road.”
It’s his second T-Bone Burnett country music album in as many years, following “Look Up” in early 2025.
Starr, who has more than 20 solo studio albums to his credit, also can found on his fellow Fab Four buddy Paul McCartney’s “The Boys of Dungeon Lane” record, which just hit stores last week.
The two Beatles greats team up for their first-ever vocal duet on “Home to Us,” which was released as the second single (following the equally nostalgic “Days We Left Behind”) off McCartney’s album.
Starr is also still heavily involved with His All-Starr Band — the current lineup of which features Steve Lukather (the brilliant guitarist and better-than-decent singer from Toto), Colin Hay (the fun frontman of Men at Work), Warren Ham (another Toto talent who shines on saxophone and vocals), Hamish Stuart (bassit/guitarist/vocalist from Average White Band), Gregg Bissonette (who has drummed for everyone from David Lee Roth to Pat Boone) and Buck Johnson (keyboardist who has worked with Aerosmith and Hollywood Vampires).
I recently had to chance to chat with the Beatles icon, who was just finishing up rehearsals for the concert tour by Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band. That trek includes several stops in the Golden State — June 5 at Thunder Valley Casino in Lincoln, June 6 at Vina Robles Ampitheatre in Paso Robles, June 11 at San Jose Civic and June 14 at The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles.
Here’s our interview.
Q: Hey, Ringo, buddy. So cool to finally get the chance to speak with you. How are you doing?
A: I’m doing good, thank you. What’s happening, man?
Q: Just been looking forward to my chat with you. How are rehearsals going?
A: Rehearsals went great. We only do two days, a couple of hours a day, to get back into it.
Q: I was peering over your discography and, if my math is correct, you’ve now released 22 full-length solo albums. That’s an impressive tally for a guy who was really embarking on a second career, having already carved out his legend in stone with the Beatles. What’s kept you so motivated to record solo albums over the years?
Source: hanfordsentinel.com/Jim Harrington The Mercury News
From its garish artwork to the strange mismatch of covers and originals, Rock ’n’ Roll Music is the unloved outlier of the band’s catalogue
In June 1976, the American monthly Phonograph Record Magazine printed a long piece on the parlous state of pop. “Music has been plagued by both the lack of striking inventiveness and visible leadership,” it declared, “and the record-buying public is seeking a cure”. That cure would involve looking a decade or more backwards, with a double-LP compilation of old Beatles material called Rock ’n’ Roll Music. A “million-dollar promotional campaign” would “recreate Beatlemania”, and so the moribund music industry would be saved.
Meanwhile, in the very same issue, the debut album of punk pioneers the Ramones was being praised (“you have to love anything this moronic – the Ramones have managed to turn this style of heavy metal into something that might just be commercial”) and the Sex Pistols’ legendary 100 Club gig was being very favourably reviewed (“they’ll be so popular they’ll hate themselves”). Sometimes the way forward is begging for your attention and you still can’t see it.
Looked at half a century later, Rock ’n’ Roll Music is that rarest of rare Beatles beasts – the unloved outlier. Ignacio Gomez’s artwork is, if not an outright disaster, then certainly an oddity. The front cover shows a hyper-stylised drawing of the band – looking not at all “rock ’n’ roll” – beneath a neon-effect rendering of the title, while the inside is a curdled mess of 1950s clichés (a hamburger, a jukebox, Marilyn Monroe, a glass of Coca-Cola). The music is a collection of the band’s famous rock ’n’ roll covers (Chuck Berry, Carl Perkins, Little Richard) and some of their own “heavier” material (Get Back, Hey Bulldog, Back In the USSR).
Source: telegraph.co.uk/Rob Fitzpatrick
Paul McCartney is back with a new solo album, “The Boys of Dungeon Lane,” and in doing the press rounds behind the release, he’s opening up about the losses of Beatles bandmates John Lennon and George Harrison.
McCartney’s new solo release takes inspiration from his childhood and the early days with the Beatles, and it even features a duet with Beatles drummer Ringo Starr on the song “Home to Us.”
Speaking with The Guardian, McCartney talked about what gives him comfort in the absence of friends and fellow musicians Lennon and Harrison. “My collaborator was probably one of the best writers of the century, so, yeah, you’re going to miss him,” he said in the interview. “But that’s life. You lose people.”
More entertainment news: Rolling Stones Producer Hypes Upcoming Album as ‘Unbelievable’.
He also remembered what Beatles producer George Martin said to him about aging. “The terrible thing about it is all your mates start popping off,” Martin said. “Now I’m probably at that age, and I’m very conscious of that, having lost John and George – two big touchstones for anything we’re talking about [in this interview],” he also said. “So, yeah, you do miss them.”
McCartney added: “I start to get very sad, and I have to think, ‘Wow, wait a minute, everyone misses them.’ It’s not just me. So that makes me feel a bit better. I think, ‘Well, sod it, it’s life, and it’s what we’ve got.'”
Source: yahoo.com/Anne Erickson
Paul McCartney, like any passionate fan of the Beatles, finds it difficult to choose his favorite album from the iconic rock band.
The legendary musician, 83, is Willie Geist’s latest Sunday Sitdown guest. Together, the two discussed McCartney’s decades-long career in the music industry, both with the band and as a solo artist. During their chat, Willie asked McCartney if he could name one album in the band’s discography that represents the Beatles at their “best.”
“That’s always a very difficult question, you know?” McCartney replied. “My mind went to ‘Rubber Soul,’ because I think that was a change in what we’d been doing.”
He said the 1965 album, their sixth, was a little more “advanced.” But, of course, he couldn’t highlight just one album in the band’s extensive catalogue. “Then I’d have to say ‘Sgt. Pepper’ was, like, a crazy different experience,” he continued, referring to their 1967 album, “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.”
He had one more album to add that is many fans’ favorite. “And then I would probably finish up with ‘Abbey Road,’” he said.
McCartney, who released his 12th studio album, “The Boys of Dungeon Lane,” on May 29, still reflects on his time in the band and their monumental success. He recalled the Beatles making their American debut on the “The Ed Sullivan Show” in 1964.
Source: today.com/Ariana Brockington
The numbers increasingly add up for Ringo Starr, whose sold-out Friday night San Diego performance at Humphreys Concerts by the Bay was the second date on the 2026 spring tour by this two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee and his six-man All-Starr Band.
Ringo Starr, with new San Diego and L.A. concerts set, talks candidly: ‘I’m giving away all the secrets here!’ he says
Their 21-song repertoire ranged from “Matchbox,” the Carl Perkins-penned 1956 rockabilly rave-up that opened the evening, to the concert-closing double-punch of The Beatles’ 1967 classic, “With a Little Help From My Friends,” and the sing-along chorus of John Lennon’s sadly still-timely 1969 anti-war anthem, “Give Peace a Chance.”
In between came an array of favorites from the songbooks of Starr and The Beatles, including “It Don’t Come Easy” and “I Wanna Be Your Man,” plus hits by Toto, Average White Band and Men At Work. Three of those bands’ key members — Toto guitarist-vocalist Steve Lukather, former Average White Bands bassist/singer Hamish Stewart and Men At Work singer-guitarist Colin Hay — are All-Starr Band veterans. Each clearly relishes still sharing the stage with a rock legend who, improbably, is now 85-going-on-just-17.
Starr was featured on drums or vocals (and sometimes both simultaneously) on all but one selection in the 103-minute concert. Still as boyishly slim as Mick Jagger, three years his junior, he was consistently compelling whether singing center stage or drumming in unison with Gregg Bissonette.
Source: sandiegouniontribune.com/George Varga
