Beatles News
During its 11-season run, Happy Days featured a large list of guest stars, but one of the biggest star sightings took place behind the scenes. Fifty-two years ago, John Lennon showed up on the Happy Days set—totally unplanned. The Beatles legend’s son, Julian, was a huge fan of the ABC sitcom, so the two snuck over during a tour of the Paramount lot.
In an interview on the Still Here Hollywood podcast posted on Oct. 5, Happy Days star Anson Williams shared details on the singer’s visit to Happy Days. “It was the first year of Happy Days, 1974,” Williams told host Steve Kmetko. “And it was a very cold morning. We’re on the set, you know, bored out of our mind, like kitchen scenes or something at the time. It was before we went live audience, so it was like a movie. And it’s just it was a guest star and the four of us and Jerry, our director.”
Williams added that he went over to get a cup of coffee and saw Lennon standing to the side.
“And there’s this guy with kind of cool glasses and a young kid,” he recalled “Walk back, go to go up to Donny [Most]. ‘Hey, Donny. This guy looks just like John Lennon with a kid.’ And Donny’s going [sarcastically] ‘Oh, yeah. John Lennon is here to hang out with us.’ It was John Lennon there to hang out with us. And it was Julian’s favorite show and he saw the show. He loved the show.”
Williams revealed that Lennon “stuck around for hours” “And pretty soon it was like it was he was like, ‘Hey John,” he said. “I mean it was at first you’re like gaga, and then he becomes a friend. So shy, so nice, and he’s doing all these original doodles for the crew.’ They now could buy houses with them, right?”
“What happened was they were on a VIP tour, and they escaped, and no one knew where they were …’Oh, Happy Days is there,’ and they snuck on,” Williams explained. “So the PR department found out about it, and they brought a guy who shot a picture. There’s a picture. That’s all we got. We have a picture. But we didn’t get a signature or anything … but it’s fabulous. It was fabulous to have that opportunity with a legend like that.”
Williams isn’t the only Happy Days star to talk about that fateful day. In 2018, Henry Winkler (Fonzie on the show) appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and recalled the day that “John Lennon just came to visit and brought with him Julian.”
“He was so—he was so shy, and I didn’t know how to get into a conversation with John Lennon,” Winkler shared. “Then I just started talking about his Imagine solo album. There’s a cut on it called ‘Mother,’ which is like a primal scream. I started talking to him about that, and he opened like a flower. It was amazing.”
Source: parade.com/Victoria Miller
Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr share a musical connection like none other. The two surviving Beatles have worked together for more than six decades across albums, breakups, animated appearances and various musical projects since the Beatles broke up.
Plus, you can usually count on Starr, 86, to show up and drum every so often with McCartney. But until this year, the two legendary British knights have never recorded a duet together.
'Home to Us' was inspired by Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney's working-class youths in Liverpool.
That changed this year with “Home to Us,” a McCartney/Starr duet on McCartney’s new album The Boys of Dungeon Lane, which dropped in May. The album leans heavily on looking back to McCartney’s early days, and the nostalgic song’s lyrics were inspired by their experiences growing up as working-class musicians in Liverpool.
On Jimmy Kimmel Live! on October 2, the 86-year-old McCartney explained the circuitous route that led to the new single, which never actually involved the two of them in the studio at the same time.
Ringo Starr laid down drumming tracks for producer Andrew Watt in hopes they'd be used in Paul McCartney's album.
“It came about because I’d been working with the producer of this, Andrew Watt,” McCartney told Jimmy Kimmel. “Ringo heard I’d worked with him, and after I’d left, Ringo went over to see him and did a bit of drumming with him. I talked to Ringo, and he said ‘Yeah, I’m hoping you’ll make a track out of it.’”
McCartney said the unusual proposal caught him off guard. “I said, I’m not sure that’s how it works! So anyway, Andrew didn’t make a track out of it, and Ringo was well p------."
Source: okmagazine.com/Paul F. P. Pogue
It took George Harrison a few years into the Beatles’ recording career before he started to show a comfort level as a songwriter. Once he reached that point, his unique perspective on the world brought something indispensable to the group’s music.
It’s hard to imagine any of these four songs coming from any other member of the group besides George. His candor and point of view truly set these lyrics apart.
“Don’t Bother Me”
Partly because they got off to a much earlier start as writers, John Lennon and Paul McCartney did most of the composing on early Beatles records. In fact, from 1962 through 1964, Harrison managed just a single writing credit for the group. That came with “Don’t Bother Me”, released in 1963 on the group’s sophomore LP, With The Beatles. Harrison, under the weather one night in a hotel room, forced himself to write a song just to prove he could do it. “Don’t Bother Me” immediately established his fondness for somewhat unorthodox chord patterns. And its standoffish message represented a stark contrast from the typical Lennon/McCartney affability.
“You Like Me Too Much”
After “Don’t Bother Me”, Harrison retreated from his songwriting efforts for another year or so. When he returned to it on the Help! album in 1965, he came up with two originals. The lovely “I Need You” deserves credit as being the better song of the two. But its message is a tad on the conventional side. In terms of this list, the better choice is “You Like Me Too Much”. For all their massive success, The Beatles projected an air of humility. In their songs, McCartney and Lennon often presented themselves as the lovable underdogs. But Harrison tells it like it is in this song. He explains to the girl he’s addressing that he doesn’t believe she’d actually leave him. As a famous rock star, Harrison likely knew that feeling well.
Source: americansongwriter.com/Jim Beviglia
Sixty-four years ago today, the Beatles released the record that started everything—and it hardly looked like the beginning of a global phenomenon. "Love Me Do," released in the U.K. on Oct. 5, 1962, was the band's first single, but it peaked at just No. 17, according to Official Charts. That modest debut looks almost impossible in hindsight. The Beatles' official history of the song confirms that it eventually got a very different reception in America: "Love Me Do" reached No. 1 in the U.S. in 1964.
For the band, simply hearing their own record in public felt enormous. "First hearing 'Love Me Do' on the radio sent me shivery all over," George Harrison recalled, according to The Beatles Story. "It was the best buzz of all time."
Paul McCartney remembered its chart appearance as a dividing line. "If you want to know when we 'knew' we'd arrived, it was getting in the charts with 'Love Me Do'," he said. "That was the one. It gave us somewhere to go."
The breakthrough was particularly meaningful because the Beatles were still proving that audiences would accept their original material. "Love Me Do" was an early Lennon-McCartney composition, and the band had previously leaned heavily on covers.
Related: 58 Years Ago Today: One of the 'Greatest Songs of All Time' Was Released. The Beatles Recorded It With Three Drummers.
The strangest part of the story may be behind the drum kit. The Beatles recorded "Love Me Do" three times in 1962—with Pete Best, Ringo Starr and session musician Andy White each playing drums on a different recording, according to the Beatles' official Anthology history.
The original U.K. single featured Starr on drums. When the group returned to EMI Studios a week later, producer George Martin had brought in White, leaving the newly recruited Starr playing tambourine. The White recording later appeared on Please Please Me.
Source: yahoo.com/Lauren Harrison
Phil Collins has let go of his decades-old grudge against Paul McCartney.
During an interview on Piers Morgan Uncensored on Friday, the famed musician detailed an encounter (one he’s told before) he had with the Beatle back in 2002 during the Queen’s Jubilee Concert at Buckingham Palace. During rehearsals the day before the show, Collins recalled, “I had a first edition Hunter Davis book [on The Beatles], which was a very, quite rare, first edition. I’d been given it by Jill, Lily’s mum.” He added, “And I took it to the rehearsal so Paul could sign it.”
While sitting on the side of the stage, Collins said that he asked McCartney to sign the book and he obliged. However, Collins added, that’s when McCartney remarked to his then-wife Heather Mills, “He’s a big Beatles fan, is our little Phil?'”
Collins said, “I thought, ‘You arsehole’. I couldn’t help it. That’s just what I thought. I probably made more of it than he meant, I did make more of it. But when I was writing the book, and I wanted to write how I felt about certain things.”
When promoting his memoir in 2016, Collins revealed his story to The Sunday Times. After McCartney emailed Collins to sort things out, the Genesis musician didn’t reply.
Source: rollingstone.com/Charisma Madarang
Paul McCartney will release a Special Edition of The Boys of Dungeon Lane in October 2026, expanding the album with four additional recordings. The new edition includes a “flip mix” of “Home To Us,” his duet with Ringo Starr, plus three previously unreleased songs: “City Fox,” “One Night Stand” and “Chelsea Boots.” The original album arrived in May and was McCartney’s first new solo album in more than five years.
The revised version of “Home To Us” swaps McCartney and Starr’s original parts in the song, giving the track a new vocal arrangement while retaining the pairing of the two former Beatles. The three additional songs were created during the same album sessions. The Special Edition will also be issued physically with cover artwork adapted from a silkscreened collage by Kate Gibb, using more than 100 images from McCartney’s personal collection. Formats include a limited-edition 2LP orange-and-blue marble vinyl with a zoetrope etching, with physical editions available for pre-order.
The Boys of Dungeon Lane became McCartney’s 24th UK No. 1 album across his solo career, Wings and The Beatles, and debuted in the Top 5 in more than a dozen countries. In July, the record was shortlisted among the 12 Albums of the Year for the 2026 Mercury Prize, marking McCartney’s first nomination for the award.
The album looks back on McCartney’s early life in post-war Liverpool, including memories of his parents and his friendships with George Harrison and John Lennon before The Beatles became famous. Alongside the autobiographical material, it also includes newly written love songs. Its title comes from a lyric in “Days We Left Behind,” a stripped-back song that references Forthlin Road, Speke and nearby Dungeon Lane. Discussing the song, McCartney said: “This is very much a memory song for me.”
Source: udiscovermusic.com
The best Beatles album debate has raged for decades: "Sgt. Pepper," "Abbey Road" or "Revolver"? But is it time to consider "Rubber Soul"?
The often-underrated 1965 landmark, beloved by the faithful for its introspective and experimental songs and distorted Robert Freeman cover art, is getting the lavish reissue treatment on Oct. 2. Recording quickly in just a month to hit record stores in time for Christmas, the Beatles didn't consciously set out to make a masterpiece.
"They're writing internal songs about themselves. It's an album about breakup and rejection, a lot of it − the rejection of their fans. They didn't enjoy really playing live anymore," says Giles Martin (son of Beatles producer George Martin), who remixed the special edition with engineer Sam Okell. "It is the emergence of the Beatles out of the pupa into sort of psychedelic butterflies."
As the band soaked up Bob Dylan and Motown, "they took the world that was around them and stuck it back onto a 12-inch vinyl," he says. The slyly titled "Rubber Soul" – a punny play on the record's R&B inspirations and rubber-sole shoes − became a statement about where the Beatles were musically.
Up until then, "the single was the State of the Union," says Beatles scholar Martin Lewis. " ‘Rubber Soul' was the first time that the album became the State of the Union." A lost John Lennon song is the 'Rubber Soul' reissue's biggest surprise
The expanded set includes never-released takes and (in the super-deluxe edition) a hardbound book with an introductory essay by Paul McCartney. A banter-heavy recording of the Fab Four working through George Harrison's "Think for Yourself" and McCartney's demo of "We Can Work It Out" will appeal to superfans, though the biggest draw is an unfinished − and until recently, unknown − John Lennon song, "Little Girl."
A working version of the song is captured in Lennon's cheeky demo. "The Beatles would have ideas, and they'd have these reel-to-reel tapes and they'd record over them, wipe over them," Martin says. "Paul played John his idea, or vice versa. That's what they started doing. ... So it's one of those."
Source: thestate.com/Kim Willis
The Beatles had a couple of distinct eras. A better amateur music historian than I could probably split them up further than “Beatlemania,” “psychedelic,” and “folk rock,” but those three categories make the most sense to me. And the band’s smallest but still notable era has to be the latter. Let’s take a look at what I consider the best and worst songs from the Fab Four’s folky era, shall we?
It’s worth noting that I would also consider both Help!, Beatles For Sale, and Revolver to be “of the folk rock era” for the Fab Four, but I already covered them in the other lists in this series.
Best Song on ‘Rubber Soul’ — “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)”
This was an easy pick. That absolutely beautiful sitar à la George Harrison, that swaying, propelling melody… There’s something about “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)” that still entrances listeners after all these years.
Worst Song on ‘Rubber Soul’ — “Run For Your Life”
I was at a crossroads between “Think For Yourself” and “Run For Your Life” as the worst song on Rubber Soul, based less on my opinion and more on the opinions of the masses online. “Run For Your Life” was famously hated by John Lennon in retrospect and has some hard-to-ignore lyrics that are insanely creepy. “Think For Yourself” often ranks at the bottom for “best Beatles songs” lists from what I’ve seen. However, I think “Think For Yourself” is a bit of an underrated Harrison gem. “Run For Your Life”, however, is extremely difficult to defend.
Best Song on ‘The Beatles’ — “Blackbird”
“Blackbird” is one of the folkiest songs on the White Album, and it’s also one of the most beautiful works that the Fab Four ever released. During a time when the group was reluctant to make overt political statements (though this album’s “Revolution” came pretty darn close), Paul McCartney opted to pen a tune as an ode to and balm for Black Americans who were struggling during the Civil Rights Movement. “Blackbird” is such an angelic and soothing song, and one that won’t soon be forgotten.
Source: americansongwriter.com/Em Casalena
Original working lyrics for Paul McCartney's "Hey Jude" song are being offered for $599,415.
The 1968 manuscript shows important notes written by the Beatles songwriter that shaped the iconic finished version.
New Orleans-based gallery M.S. Rau said the lyrics were transcribed by Mal Evans, the band's road manager and studio assistant, before McCartney annotated the sheet by hand.
On the paper, he marked cues for tambourine, as well as for bandmates Ringo Starr and John Lennon.
Most significantly, in the final verse, he revised the closing line to "Remember to let her under your skin, then you'll begin to make it better", the version immortalized in the recording.
The Beatles recorded rehearsals and attempted backing tracks at EMI Studios in July 1968, before moving to Trident Studios, where eight-track equipment allowed them to construct the master recording between July 31 and August 2.
Released later that month, "Hey Jude" remained at number one in the United States for nine weeks.
The lot includes an RIAA Gold Record award for "Hey Jude" and a notarized letter from Craig Inciardi, a founding curator of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, documenting their origin and authenticity.
Source: gjsentinel.com
Paul McCartney is opening up about his late pal. Following a Los Angeles screening of the Wings documentary, Man on the Run, McCartney sat down for a conversation with director Morgan Neville and moderator Judd Apatow for a wide-ranging conversation.
After the Beatles split, McCartney formed a duo with his then-wife, Linda, and released an album titled Ram. Shortly thereafter, McCartney started his band, Wings. In both post-Beatles projects, McCartney’s one-time bandmate, John Lennon, was publicly critical.
“I think maybe he expected more from me,” McCartney theorized of Lennon, according to Variety.” He expected something different from me, and I wasn’t doing that. I was just doing ‘madcap.’”
McCartney noted that he “wasn’t privy” to Lennon’s inner thoughts at the time. However, he admitted that he was pleased when Lennon lightened up on the subject before his death. Paul McCartney Opens Up About John Lennon.
Despite the public spat, McCartney said that none of it affected how he felt about Lennon.
“I loved John and love him to this day and always will,” he said. “And it wouldn’t matter, as it didn’t matter, what he said or did, because I’d known him since I was 15, and so he was like this mad guy I knew, and I really looked up to him.”
“I always thought John was very cool, and I still do. But he could be a complete idiot, over some things,” McCartney added. “He was a lovely guy. And the thing is, if you look at his life, there’s reason for him to be crazy. A lot of bad things happened to him… He had a lot of stuff to get out. And comparatively, I was very lucky.”
Though Lennon may have been critical of McCartney’s post-Beatles work, the singer himself said that he’s come to “like that period” of his life.
Source: americansongwriter.com/Paige Gawley
