Beatles News
The Oscar-winning Scottish filmmaker and Mercury Studios recall the legendary singer-songwriter’s 1972 'One-to-One' benefit concert, his only full-stage performance after leaving The Beatles. Life after The Beatles for legendary singer-songwriter John Lennon and wife Yoko Ono in New York City is the focus of Kevin MacDonald’s latest documentary, One to One: John & Yoko, from Mercury Studios.
The Scottish filmmaker, coming off his fashion doc High & Low: John Galliano, recalls Lennon in 1972 performing his final full-stage performance, the One to One benefit concert, at New York City’s Madison Square Garden, with Ono at his side.
Directed by Macdonald (Whitney, Touching the Void, The Last King of Scotland), One to One features new materials like remixed concert audio produced by Sean Ono Lennon, newly restored footage and personal archives like phone calls and home movies recorded and filmed by Lennon and Ono. Besides earning an Oscar for One Day in September, MacDonald also executive produced the award-winning documentaries Senna and The Rescue.
Related Stories
“I wanted to make a film that surprises and delights even the most dedicated Lennon and Ono fans by focusing on one transformative period in their lives and telling the tale through their own words, images and music,” MacDonald said in a statement about his doc. The project is built around 16mm film footage of the classic One-to-One concert while offering an intimate look at Lennon and Ono charting a new musical course after The Beatles.
Source: Etan Vlessing/hollywoodreporter.com
The Beatles penned hit after hit, all of which demonstrated their mastery of the songwriting form. But while they racked up classic songs for themselves beyond counting, they still found the time to write songs for other musicians.
Not everyone was aware that the song they were hearing on the radio had been written by John, Paul, George, or Ringo, especially if the song had been credited to a pseudonym. Here are some examples of songs that were recorded by other artists but dreamed up by the world’s favorite Liverpudlians.
I Wanna Be Your Man, The Rolling Stones. Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, this song became one of The Rolling Stones' early hits. In fact, it was such a good tune that Lennon and McCartney borrowed it back so they could record their own version of it on their 1963 sophomore album, “With the Beatles.”
Source: Daniel Bukszpan/aol.com
For 18 years, all Cirque du Soleil needed was "Love." But in a few weeks, the kaleidoscopic fever dream known as “The Beatles Love by Cirque du Soleil” will go dark on the Las Vegas Strip.
No more skate ramps and curlicue airborne tricks to imbue “Help!” with the joviality to match the music (if not the lyrics).
No more graceful trapeze routines to the heart-fluttering “Something.” No more venue-sized bedsheet to appear out of nowhere, flap over the heads of the audience and get sucked into the vortex of the stage while the mashup of “Within You Without You/Tomorrow Never Knows” envelops your eardrums, inviting striking sensory overload.
The Beatles' "Help" is performed with a tricky roller skating routine in Cirque du Soleil's "Love."
The end of Cirque’s groundbreaking production – it was the first to feature all prerecorded music and fixate on a singular music act – is July 6. A private performance will take place July 7, and considering the opening of “Love” on June 30, 2006 attracted Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Julian Lennon, Yoko Ono, Olivia Harrison and Dhani Harrison among other VIPs, odds for prestigious sightings are high.
Endings are emotionally turbulent, and for the cast, crew, creative team and fans of “Love,” this finale triggers an ache.
Source: usatoday.com
John Lennon’s long-lost Framus 12-string Hootenanny acoustic guitar is up for grabs at Julien’s Auctions’ upcoming Music Icons auction, and it’s certainly an iconic piece of music history.
“It’s incredible,” Julien’s Auctions Executive Director Martin Nolan tells ABC Audio. “Presumed lost for 50 years.”
The guitar, purchased in 1964, was passed from Lennon to Gordon Waller of Peter and Gordon in late 1965; Waller then gave it to their road manager. It was only recently discovered in the 90-year-old road manager’s attic.
The guitar is an important part of The Beatles history, having been played on songs like “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away” and “Help!” George Harrison even played it on “Norwegian Wood.” And Beatles member Ringo Starr recently got to relive that history when he was reunited with the instrument at his home.
“We brought the guitar and he was so genuinely excited to see it and to play it and to take photographs with it,” Nolan shares. “He loved holding it and just reminiscing.”
Another person who’ll be reunited with the guitar is Lennon’s son Julian Lennon, who was photographed in the studio with it in 1965. Julian is also selling items in the auction, and Nolan notes, “Of course, Julian will come to see this before we gavel it to the new owner.”
Source: kshe95.com/ABC News
We can’t imagine anyone would turn their nose up at a Beatles comparison. The foursome was, undisputedly, one of the greatest bands of all time. So, if someone were to dub a band as next in line for that formidable throne, one would likely feel flattered. Unfortunately, not many bands earn that honor–even fewer were heralded as such by the Beatles themselves. According to John Lennon, Electric Light Orchestra are the “sons of the Beatles.” Find out why Lennon thought so highly of ELO, below.
Many bands have taken a page or two from the Beatles’ book. Their influence knows no bounds. While many of those bands have been chalked up to imitation acts, ELO was the real deal–at least by Lennon’s standards.
Before founding ELO, Jeff Lynne bounced around several other bands. One outfit, The Idle Race, was invited to Abbey Road by the Beatles. There, he got to hear the masterful precision of The White Album. The experience was enough to reshape Lynne’s entire musical perspective. Thus, the experimental, futuristic ELO was born.
ELO was founded in 1970, forged from Lynne’s experience with the Beatles. Luckily for Lynne, it wasn’t just he who was fawning over the Fab Four, the Fab Four was fawning over him–particularly Lennon.
It’s not every day that a Beatle presents you as their progeny. Lynne and ELO received the baton from Lennon in the early ’70s. While appearing on a radio show, Lennon decided to send some praise Lynne’s way.
Lennon was particularly fond of “Showdown.” The song is a feat that makes use of the band’s multi-instrumentalism.
Source: Alex Hopper/americansongwriter.com
Sir Paul McCartney and Jon Bon Jovi have been friends for years, and to this day, Bon Jovi can still hardly believe that he gets to casually hang out with a Beatle.
Jon Bon recently sat down with AARP Magazine to chat about the advantages of aging, his career, struggles he’s endured, and his longtime friendship with McCartney.
The two often have picnics together and spend time at Bon Jovi’s property in East Hampton, New York in the summertime.
“We do this all summer. I’m sitting there with a f–king Beatle. He comes to my house often, I go to his beach house often, and our wives are very close.”
The 62-year-old standout mentioned that he is extremely impressed with McCartney’s work ethic, accompanied by an unmatched enthusiasm for his craft.
The storied Beatles co-founder is 81-years-old and shows no signs of slowing down.
“‘Oh, I’ve got new stuff!’ he tells me. At 81. Crazy,” Bon Jovi recalled of a recent conversation he had with the legend.
Source: Pip Doyle/96fm.com.au
When Brian Epstein offered to serve as The Beatles’ manager, he had no experience in that type of role. He believed in the band, though, and they agreed to work with him. In their years together, Epstein helped The Beatles as they became the biggest band in the world. Despite their success, Epstein continually spoke about selling the band. Paul McCartney said they all found this highly offensive.
Paul McCartney said Brian Epstein insulted the band with suggestions. Though The Beatles became the biggest band in the world with Epstein as their manager, he felt a bit out of his depth. According to McCartney, he spoke on more than one occasion about selling the group.
“Brian was quite often trying to sell us, which was another thing that used to offend us mightily, because I remember one time, when we’d been touring, I think 364 days of the year, I...
Source: imdb.com
On the evening of August 29, 1966, The Beatles, having just completed a show at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, were hustled into a truck to leave the venue. Paul McCartney, who had been the lone holdout on an opinion shared by the other three members of the band, spoke up and finally agreed: This would be the last live show for them in the foreseeable future.
As it turned out, it would be their last live show ever, not counting their abbreviated rooftop performance in 1969. What brought them to that point? And what were the ramifications of that choice? Let’s go back in time to one of the most momentous decisions in the history of music.
Although The Beatles unofficially formed when Paul McCartney met John Lennon in 1957, their steady touring didn’t truly begin until 1960, when they headed to Germany. From that point forward, they maintained an intense schedule of live shows. That schedule was initially manageable by vehicle travel, but, as they gained worldwide popularity, it meant airplane trips galore.
As they climbed the rungs of stardom and began playing bigger and bigger venues, the enthusiasm of the members stayed high. But as they began to accomplish everything they had initially set out to do, the novelty started to wear off. The massive show at Shea Stadium in New York in 1965 could be seen as a kind of tipping point, after which the Fab Four started to lose their taste for touring.
The reasons were numerous. Even as the venues grew, the technology wasn’t keeping up. Somewhat primitive amplifiers in arenas and stadiums reduced the nuances of The Beatles’ sound to an indistinguishable blare. It didn’t help that the kids screaming in the crowd often blotted out the noise the group was making anyway. The four men felt the level of their live performances was rapidly declining because of all this.
Source: Jim Beviglia/americansongwriter.com
Whether it was an artist’s intuition or simply the predictions of a cynic, John Lennon knew that radio stations would ban one Beatles song, in particular, as soon as they got wind of the lyrical content. In fact, Lennon’s convictions were so strong that he insisted Apple press the vinyl before they started any publicity for the track.
As it turns out, Lennon was right. Although the Beatle wrote the “Ballad of John and Yoko” as a romantic ode to his wife, Yoko Ono, the creative liberties he took with the song’s chorus led to radio stations across the U.S. and U.K. banning the track from airplay—just as he expected they would. (We should also note that this was not the first Beatles song that radio stations banned in the 1960s.)
Lennon and Ono’s Journalistic Love Song
John Lennon married his second wife, Yoko Ono, on March 20, 1969, in Gibraltar, Spain. The events leading up to the ceremony were tumultuous at best, as Lennon describes in the “Ballad of John and Yoko.” Opting to forgo metaphors and write plainly, Lennon described how he and his future bride tried to wed in various countries in Europe to no avail.
Eventually, Lennon found a solution, which he describes in the song’s second verse. Peter Brown called to say, “You can make it okay. You can get married in Gibraltar, near Spain.” Indeed, Apple employee Peter Brown advised the couple to try going to Spain instead. The impromptu visit was successful, and Lennon and Ono wed.
“It was very romantic,” Lennon told Rolling Stone two years later. “It’s all in the song. If you want to know how it happened, it’s in there. Gibraltar was like a little sunny dream. I couldn’t find a white suit. I had sort of off-white corduroy trousers and a white jacket. Yoko had all white on.”
Source: Melanie Davis/americansongwriter.com
Paul McCartney has written numerous classic songs, working in a range of genres. Whether it’s The Beatles’ mop-top hits, Wings’ trip to Nigeria, or his own solo electronic diversions – we’re looking at you, ‘Temporary Secretary’ – the Liverpool-born songwriter has a near unrivalled catalogue.
Recently, his song ‘Blackbird’ has re-entered the public consciousness. Covered by Beyonce on her album ‘Cowboy Carter’, the Texas-born star reinvents the song, claiming its central narrative of Black feminine power as her own.
Famously written as an ode to the women of the Civil Rights movement in the United States, ‘Blackbird’ has become a go-to for anyone looking to learn finger-picking on the guitar – beautiful in its simplicity, it boils down some effective techniques into something that is incredibly contagious.
Initially released on ‘The White Album’, the song came as The Beatles experimented with different modes of songwriting. This one seems to have stuck, however, with Paul McCartney later returning to it, and penning a sequel – of sorts.
2005 song ‘Jenny Wren’ was released on his internationally successful solo album ‘Chaos And Creation In The Backyard’, and its tale of yearning echoes McCartney’s earlier work. Simple and relatively unadorned, it immediately earned comparisons with ‘Blackbird’ – comparisons the songwriter himself has encouraged.
Source: clashmusic.com
