Beatles News
On This Day, January 2, 1969…
The Beatles began rehearsals for what would wind up being their final studio album together, Let It Be.
Rehearsals took place at Twickenham Film Studios and were marred by tension within the band, which was captured on film as cameras were recording the sessions for a documentary.
Let It Be was released in May 1970 along with the documentary of the same name, which featured The Beatles’ unannounced rooftop concert, their last public performance together. The album, which featured such classic Beatles songs as the title track, “Get Back” and “Across the Universe,” went to #1 in the U.S., the U.K. and several other countries.
The footage from the Let It Be documentary was later used by director Peter Jackson for the Emmy Award-winning docuseries The Beatles: Get Back, which was released in 2021.
Source: ABC News/kshe95.com
After a busy year, Sir Paul McCartney sat down to answer 23 fan questions on his official website.
Asked what his highlight of 2023 was, the 81-year-old didn’t hesitate to say: “The GOT BACK tour!”
As for what is his favourite song to play live on his solo tour, which has been to Oceania, Mexico and South America this year, he chose a Beatles classic.
He replied: “Probably Hey Jude, just to see all those thousands of people singing in harmony with each other.”
Admitting that his favourite does “vary” from time to time, he’s certainly not short of choices.
Another fan asked: “Would you ever release a soundcheck album featuring some of the covers you do before the live show?”
McCartney replied: “It’s a thought! We have the ‘jams’ – we always start the soundcheck with a made-up piece, and there’s a lot of them. So, we might go through those and do something someday.”
Check out the full list of questions here.
Source: George Simpson/express.co.uk
Best of 2023: There’s a memorable scene in Peter Jackson’s 2021 documentary Get Back where a microphone concealed in a pot of flowers in the dining room at Twickenham Studios picks up a discussion between John Lennon and Paul McCartney. It’s early afternoon on Monday 13 January, 1969 and the pair are discussing the sudden departure of George Harrison from The Beatles and an unsuccessful meeting the previous day to try and resolve the situation.
“It’s a festering wound and yesterday we allowed it to go even deeper and we didn’t give him any bandages,” observes Lennon drolly. “I do think that he’s right,” concedes McCartney, “that’s why I think we’ve got a problem now.”
Harrison left after McCartney allegedly accused him of “vamping” on the rehearsals for the song Get Back. But there was a deeper issue at stake. By then Harrison had emerged as a songwriter of real merit. Wedged between two mercurial talents, both unable to rescind creative ground, he doggedly and delicately chose his moments to push his own material forward.
Source: Neil Crossley/musicradar.com
George Harrison was sued for "My Sweet Lord," and saw his bandmates from The Beatles go against him in court.
George Harrison was sued for his song "My Sweet Lord" sounding too similar to "He's So Fine" by The Chiffons.
Harrison claimed he was not aware of the similarity and would have made changes if he had known.
John Lennon seemed to side with The Chiffons, while Ringo Starr defended Harrison in the lawsuit.
Made up of Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, The Beatles are the biggest and best band to make it in music. Though their time together was short, the band changed the face of music, leaving a lasting impression on pop culture as a whole.
Eventually, the guys all took to solo careers, and each of them found success. This includes George Harrison, whose double album propelled him to solo stardom, and showed the world that he was an underrated part of the band's success.
Source: Anthony Spencer/thethings.com
On December 31, 1970, Paul McCartney sued John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr in the High Court of Justice in London, England for the legal dissolution of the band’s partnership. At the time, McCartney’s move may have been considered the beginning of the end of The Beatles, but it ultimately salvaged the band’s control over their music catalog, ownership of Apple Corps Limited, and more through the present day.
“I was thought to be the guy who broke The Beatles up and the bastard who sued his mates,” said McCartney in 2020. “And, believe me, I bought into that. It was so prevalent that for years I almost blamed myself.”
Problems first arose when the band hired New York City accountant Allen Klein as their manager shortly after forming Apple Corps in 1968.
The rest of the band (Lennon, Harrison, and Starr) wanted to work with Klein, who founded ABKCO Music & Records Incorporated and had previously managed Sam Cooke in the early ’60s and was also working with British acts like Herman’s Hermits and Donovan.
Source: Tina Benitez-Eves/americansongwriter.com
If this New Year’s Celebration at Times Square follows the pattern set since 1986, just before the ball drops and we turn our calendars forward, someone will sing John Lennon’s classic song, "Imagine." It is a good thing to close out the past and look to the future by imagining the world as it could be.
John Lennon sat down at his piano in Berkshire, England one morning in early 1971 and composed the song that became his most popular single. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation named it the greatest song of the last 100 years. Australians chose “Imagine” as the greatest song of all time. But for many of us, there is a greater vision of how the world could be.
Every time we quote the Lord’s Prayer, we are invited to imagine the world as it is meant to be. Jesus taught us to pray, “Our Father who art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven ….” What would the world look like if that prayer were answered? How would the world differ from the world we know?
If God’s will were done on earth, there would be no more crime. Theft, violence and murder would end. Prisons would empty. Neighbor would no longer sue neighbor. Court dockets would clear.
Source: timesrecordnews.com
During John Lennon and Yoko Ono‘s 1969 bed-in-for-peace recording of “Give Peace a Chance,” at the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, the couple had an unexpected guest performing along with them. Joining Lennon on guitar was Tommy Smothers of the Smothers Brothers.
Lennon and Smothers had become friends years earlier and shared similar social and political views. Smothers, who died on December 26, 2023, at the age of 86, naturally connected to the anti-war sentiment of Lennon’s protest song since his father was a U.S. Army officer who died in 1945 as a prisoner of war in Japan.
Smothers, along with his brother Dick, never shied from giving a comical spin to socio-political issues penetrating the late ’60s, including their opposition to the Vietnam War and views on civil rights, and more on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. The repeated censorship of the show by CBS ultimately led to its demise just two years after its premiere.
Source: Tina Benitez-Eves/americansongwriter.com
Paul McCartney has said that The Beatles’ ‘Let It Be’ was subconsciously inspired by William Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
The music legend spoke about the origins of this classic track from the Fab Four, during an episode of his podcast show, McCartney: A Life in Lyrics.
According to McCartney, his late mother Mary said the phrase ‘Let It Be’ to him in a dream, with the musician stating that Hamlet may have inspired him to write the hit.
Mary McCartney passed away from cancer in 1956, when Paul was just 14 years old.
In this episode of McCartney: A Life In Lyrics, Macca addressed how this track came about.
“In those days [at school], I had to learn speeches off by heart. So I could still do a bit of ‘to be or not to be’, or ‘O that this too too solid flesh”, he said.
McCartney continued, “And it had been pointed out to me recently that Hamlet, when he has been poisoned, he actually says, ‘Let it be’ – act five, scene two. He says ‘Let be’ the first time, then the second time he says, ‘Had I but time — as this fell sergeant, Death, Is strict in his arrest — oh, I could tell you. But let it be Horatio”.
Source: Dalton Mac Namee/nova.ie
Paul McCartney is undoubtedly one of the biggest stars in the world. He began his music career as a member of one of the biggest rock bands in history. Then, after The Beatles parted ways, he started Wings, another massively popular band. Currently, McCartney is pursuing a solo career and sharing his story with the world. Recently, he shared a series of photos looking back on 2023.
McCartney has had many “big” years since The Beatles formed. This year, however, may have been one of the biggest in recent memory. 2023 saw the release of a new song from the Fab Four, McCartney’s photos getting time in a gallery, and a new tour for the former Beatle. He also started a podcast in which he gave an in-depth and intimate look at his life and career. You can see his collection of photos from 2023 here.
Source: Clayton Edwards/americansongwriter.com
Six decades ago sent shockwaves through the entertainment industry and changed popular culture forever.
The Beatles had become megastars in Europe starting in late 1962, with the release of their first British single, “Love Me Do.” In 1963, they spent eight weeks atop the UK singles chart. Meanwhile in America, they were almost completely unknown. The Beatles’ British label, EMI, had had no luck placing the group’s records with its American affiliate, Capitol. Beatles releases had instead come out on small, regional labels like Vee-Jay and Swan, with little success.
Finally, manager Brian Epstein urged the group to write a song which would appeal to American teenagers, while simultaneously insisting that Capitol release his group’s records.
“I Want to Hold Your Hand” was the song. Once it was released, it was reportedly selling 10,000 copies an hour at one point in New York City alone. By the time the group landed in America in February, the song was in the midst of a seven-week run at the top. It would be replaced by their own “She Loves You,” which would give way to “Can’t Buy Me Love.” Three more chart-toppers followed in 1964, and the Fab Four would eventually notch 20 number-one singles.
Source: Kabir Bhatia/ideastream.org
