Beatles News
Only two members of The Beatles remain, as both Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr are not only still around, but they continue to write and record music and even tour. According to an exciting new announcement made by one of their children, the two musicians may have a new collaboration in the works–or at least, they’re slated to appear on the same project as one another.
Zak Starkey, Starr’s son and a drummer, took to Instagram to reveal he has a new charity musical effort in process. He shared some of the details about a forthcoming project, including confirming–or so it seems–that both his father and McCartney are involved.
Starkey revealed that he has recorded a cover of “Children of the Revolution” by the rock band T. Rex, and this is an all-star affair. The reworking reportedly features vocals by Axl Rose, Duff McKagan recorded the bass, and his own father played the drums. The forthcoming cover of “Children of the Revolution” was then sent to Elton John, who added piano to the tune. Slash recorded the guitar on the song.
Instagramtherealzakstarkey on Instagram: "Around 3pm On the day of the who and gnr show at rock in Rio - duff and I went in a local studio and cut bass for a cover of t.rex children of the revolution -original by trex is playing on the post . My dad played drums in LA (while I fudged the bass) then in Rio duff cut bsss . A couple of weeks after the tour we cut guitars in NYC with slash - sent the track with sshh guide vocal to Elton who played amazing piano. Sshh went to hang with Axl who said he'd like to sing it -wow!-Axl killed it - amazing vocals - he's mixing thee track now I believe (hope) and we will auction the record for teen cancer without greedy bean counting majors wanting 75% (I won't say which label but fuck me this is for sick kids) Produced by me n sshh it's a full album with more than one Beatle a smith a pretender, an Ashcroft , an iggy and many more .... Soon come"
Source: Hugh McIntyre/forbes.com
Ringo Starr is ready to drop some new music.
The Beatles drummer announced that the new song, “February Sky,” will be released Friday, April 12, giving fans their first taste of his new EP, Crooked Boy. Crooked Boy includes four original tracks, written and produced by Linda Perry, who wrote two songs that appeared on Ringo’s 2021 EP, Change the World.
“Linda made me a great EP – she produced it in her studio and then sent me the tracks and I added the drumming and my vocals,” Ringo shares. “’February Sky’ is great – very moody – but since Linda wrote these specifically for me – it of course has to have a positive peace & love element.”
Crooked Boy will be released on limited-edition marble vinyl for Record Store Day on April 20. That will be followed by a digital release on April 26, with the black vinyl and CD versions dropping May 31.
Fans who just can’t wait until April 20 to hear Crooked Boy will have a chance to preview it earlier at a fan listening event at Amoeba Music in Hollywood on April 18. They will also be selling a special red vinyl seven-inch single of the track.
Source: ABC News/everettpost.com
It’s fair to say the two high points of George Harrison‘s solo career were All Things Must Pass, his first post-Beatles solo release, and Cloud Nine, his incredible 1987 comeback. But he delivered a lot of good stuff in between, if admittedly on a less consistent basis. His 1979 single “Blow Away,” for just one example, stands out as a breezy, thoughtful gem.
What was the song about? What inspired Harrison to write it? And how did it bring him back into the world of songwriting and recording at a time when he’d largely abandoned it? Well, to paraphrase “Blow Away,” all you got to do is read on and find out.
A Beatle on a Break
John Lennon wasn’t the only ex-Beatle to take a little break from the album-making grind in the late ’70s. George Harrison largely walked away from the music world for a two-year period as well. After releasing four albums in a four-year stretch, ending with Thirty Three & 1/3 in 1976, the Quiet Beatle lived up to his name by not releasing anything until his self-titled 1979 album, for which “Blow Away” was chosen as lead single.
Why the layoff? Well, Harrison had become a bit fed up with the scene. He never enjoyed the promotional aspects of the record-making process. And he didn’t feel the urge to tour, especially after his earlier ’70s live shows led him to get a bit carried away with excess (and caused his infamous “Dark Hoarse” period when his voice was shot).
Source: Jim Beviglia/americansongwriter.com
George Harrison remained an enigma to many people, even those who were close to him. For a man who lectured passionately about karma and the meaning of existence, he seemed self-protective and closed off. Witty when called upon, there were also moments when he could be quite boorish. Perhaps it was because he was only twenty years old when the Beatles became a global sensation. That might not seem particularly young in today’s world of social media fame, but at the time, it was uncharted territory for the kind of adulation he was experiencing.
It was also difficult living in the shadow of Paul and John. In the beginning, they were openly dismissive of him. Paul said he always thought of George as a little...
Source: Steven Gaines | Peter Brown/thetimes.co.uk
It’s hard to talk too much about John Lennon‘s “Grow Old with Me” without referencing the tragedy that rendered the song’s heartfelt wishes an impossibility for Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono. Let’s instead celebrate it as a beautiful message of enduring affection that can be appreciated by lovers of all ages who want to stick with their significant others into the autumn and even winter years.
What is “Grow Old with Me” about? How did a songwriting challenge between John and Yoko help to create it? And how did the song eventually undergo a few Beatles-adjacent releases? The story begins with the flurry of songwriting and recording activity that John Lennon perpetrated in the final year of his life.
Yoko Throws Down the Gauntlet
Yoko Ono indirectly started the process of “Grow Old with Me” coming into existence with a song of her own. Ono had used Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “How Do I Love Thee (Sonnet 43)” as the basis for her song “Let Me Count the Ways,” and she challenged Lennon to write one of his own based on a Robert Browning poem. On holiday in Jamaica in the summer of 1980, he obliged, using the poem “Rabbi Ben Ezra” as his jumping-off point, even borrowing the lines “Grow old along with me / The best is yet to be.”
Lennon made a demo recording of the song in the month before his death. It was a time when the couple was furiously recording material for both the comeback album Double Fantasy and the planned followup Milk and Honey. Ono explained why they held “Grow Old with Me” off the first album in the Milk and Honey liner notes:
Source: Jim Beviglia/americansongwriter.com
Yoko Ono reportedly told John Lennon how to take heroin, according to an excerpt from a new oral history book on The Beatles.
The Sunday Times shared several new excerpts from All You Need Is Love — a book featuring interviews from the early 1980s with Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, as well as Ono and other loved ones in the band's world.
In one interview from the book, Ono, now 91, reportedly said she advised Lennon on how to take heroin, and denied that she "put John on H," which she claimed his bandmate Harrison had accused her of. Ono also said that Lennon "wouldn’t take anything unless he wanted to do it."
Per the Times excerpt, Ono reportedly said she first "had a sniff of" heroin in Paris and that she experienced "a beautiful feeling" as she did not get sick from it. "It was just a nice feeling," she said in the book, according to the outlet. "So I told John that."
Ono also reportedly said that Lennon would ask her about her experience using the drug, the Times reported. Ultimately, Ono thought he "wanted to take it, that’s why he was asking," per the excerpt. She also said that they "never injected" the drug.
A rep for Ono did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.
Source: Brenton Blanchet/people.com
A controversial book about The Beatles is shining a light on the band’s most contentious years.
The Love You Make was first published in 1983, having been written by Steven Gaines and Peter Brown, who was the personal assistant to the band’s manager Brian Epstein and stepped in to oversee the band’s affairs when Epstein died.
But the band were left “furious” by the revelations made in the book, with Gaines recalling: “Paul and Linda [McCartney] tore the book apart and burned it in the fireplace, page by page.
“There was an omerta, a code of silence around the Beatles, and they didn’t think anyone would come forward to tell the truth.
Now, inspired by Peter Jackson’s acclaimed documentary Get Back, Gaines and Brown are releasing a follow-up book filled with interview transcripts from which The Love You Make was written.
One moment in the book reveals an encounter The Beatles had with Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger that left the musician feeling “very uncomfortable”.
It concerned Allen Klein, the shady accountant who came in to manage The Beatles and eventually sacked everyone the band had been working with at the time. Lennon was a big fan of Klein, with Gaines suggesting to The Times it was due to the businessman offering Lennon’s wife Yoko Ono “a million dollars for her movie project”.
At the time, Brown, attempting to steer the band away from Klein, set up a meeting with Jagger so he could “explain who this Allen Klein was”.
Source: Jacob Stolworthy/independent.co.uk
From her cover of the Dolly Parton hit “Jolene” to the Tina Turner-inspired “Ya Ya,” Beyoncé fans everywhere have been dissecting every inch of her new album, Cowboy Carter, since its release. And while every member of the Beyhive knows that practically everything Ms. Carter does is for the culture, some may be surprised to learn that the Beatles song she chose to cover was originally written as a special tribute to an inspirational group of young Black people. And now, Paul McCartney, who wrote the song in 1968 is giving Bey his blessing on a “magnificent version.”
“I am so happy with @beyonce’s version of my song ‘Blackbird.’ I think she does a magnificent version of it and it reinforces the civil rights message that inspired me to write the song in the first place. I think Beyoncé has done a fab version and would urge anyone who has not heard it yet to check it out. You are going to love it!” McCartney said in an April 4 Instagram post.
The Beatles frontman said Bey thanked him for writing the song, inspired by the Civil Rights Movement, in a FaceTime call. He hopes that herb 2024 version will help continue to ease racial tension.
Source: Angela Johnson/yahoo.com
George Harrison was rarely a provocateur, however, he called his final album 'Brainwashed'. One of George's British Invasion peers explained the origin of that memorable title.
George Harrison was rarely a provocateur, however, he called his final album Brainwashed. Accusing anyone of being brainwashed is pretty bold! One of George’s British Invasion peers explained the origin of that memorable title. Notably, it had a connection to George’s spiritual views. Donovan said George Harrison’s album ‘Brainwashed’ was a reaction to materialism
Two kindred spirits in the 1960s counterculture were George Harrison and Donovan. Both artists were folk-rockers who explored spirituality through their songs. George’s songs were often expressions of his Hindu faith, whereas Donovan sang about common New Age topics like Atlantis and witchcraft. Both of them were also environmentalists.
During a 2018 interview with Goldmine, the “Mellow Yellow” singer discussed his feelings about the planet and George’s — and what they both learned from the books they read. “That the older generation was destroying the ecosystem with no consideration whatsoever for the inner world of plants, for the inner world of children, and they were trying to brainwash the younger generation to follow in their insidious desire for all things materialistic, including an exploitation of natural resources and a greedy lust for as much money as possible,” he said. “These books George and I shared spoke to that.
Source: Matthew Trzcinski/cheatsheet.com
“She Loves You,” “All My Loving,” “Love Me Do,” “P.S. I Love You,” “Can’t Buy Me Love,” “And I Love Her.” Are you noticing a theme here? The Beatles began their career singing about love and relationships. Even song titles that did not contain the L-word dealt with relationships and love. “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “From Me to You,” and “Please Please Me” all focus on interpersonal relations.
Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys began looking inward to avoid simply writing about cars and girls. Songs like “In My Room” and “When I Grow Up to Be a Man” were both introspective and thriving on the charts. John Lennon and Paul McCartney had their share of success with songs about love, but they too wanted to expand their subject matter and move in different directions. One such song was “Nowhere Man.” Let’s take a look at the story behind the song.
He’s a real nowhere man
Sitting in his nowhere land
Making all his nowhere plans for nobody
Inspiration
Lennon and McCartney were very prolific in the years following their big breakthrough. Lennon was in search of inspiration for a song. In 1980, he told author David Sheff, “I’d spent five hours that morning trying to write a song that was meaningful and good, and I finally gave up and lay down. Then ‘Nowhere Man’ came, words and music, the whole damn thing, as I lay down.”
Source: Jay McDowell/americansongwriter.com
