Beatles News
Young, hip and working for a New York record company, she was already living the dream. But when May Pang was asked to become personal assistant to John Lennon and his second wife Yoko, the pretty 21-year-old couldn't believe her luck.
It was 1971. May, a lifelong Beatles fan, threw herself into her new role, diligently managing the couple's office and revelling in more interesting assignments, such as supervising wardrobe for the couple's music video Imagine.
She also found herself in bizarre situations, usually at the behest of the eccentric Yoko — like the time she had to capture hundreds of live flies for one of the Japanese-born activist's avant-garde films, or when she sat inside a black sack on a U.S. chat show as a stunt while Lennon and Yoko spoke earnestly about racism beside her.
Rather more disturbing requests came her way, too. Yoko showed her assistant sketches she'd made of a dress that would expose the breasts and vagina and told the startled May that she would be expected to model it. Thankfully for May, that moment never came to pass.
Source: Barbara Mcmahon/dailymail.co.uk
Artificial intelligence (AI) has already enabled the creation of the 'last Beatles song', Now and Then, which raced to the top of the charts this week.
Filmmaker Peter Jackson used an AI tool called 'machine audio learning' (MAL) to isolate John Lennon's voice from an old 1970s home demo.
The vocal performance – rendered 'crystal clear' by the AI – was then complemented by new instrumentation from Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, along with guitar recorded by George Harrison for the song in 1995.
But MAL's work may not be finished, as it could be used to salvage the last filmed interview of John Lennon, recorded less than two months before his tragic murder.
Long to the frustration of fans, much of Lennon's answers to questions in the historically priceless clip are drowned out by – somewhat bizarrely – the sound of the first Star Wars movie.
The last filmed interview of John Lennon - which took place in New York on October 10, 1980 - could be restored to
It results in what is a bizarre mashup of two of the greatest cultural giants of the 20th century – Star Wars meets the Beatles.
The interview was filmed on October 10, 1980, a day after Lennon's 40th birthday and less than two months before he was brutally gunned down outside his home in New York's Dakota building by a 'fan' with easy access to firearms.
Source: Jonathan Chadwick/dailymail.co.uk
According to John Lennon, Ringo Starr had a reputation for being "dumb." John hypothesized what might have happened to Ringo had he never joined The Beatles.
According to John Lennon, Ringo Starr had a reputation for being “dumb.” John discussed his thoughts on the “You’re Sixteen” singer‘s solo career. John also hypothesized what might have happened to Ringo had he never joined The Beatles.
The book Lennon on Lennon: Conversations with John Lennon features an interview from 1975. In it, John discussed Ringo’s solo career. “I’m most happy — I guess we all are, in a way — for Ringo’s success, because of the other three of us … It always went around that Ringo was dumb, but he ain’t dumb,” John said.
“But he didn’t have much of a writing ability and he wasn’t known for writing his own material, and there was a bit of a worry that … you know, although he can make movies and he does make movies and he’s good at it, but how is his recording career gonna be?” John said, laughing. “And in general, it’s probably better than mine, actually.”
Source: Matthew Trzcinski/cheatsheet.com
The Beatles have broken UK chart records as they return to No 1 with their “final” song together, Now and Then – their 18th chart-topper in total.
Their 17th No 1 was The Ballad of John and Yoko in 1969, meaning they are now the artists with the longest gap between No 1 singles: 54 years, smashing the record set last year by Kate Bush when she reached the top with Running Up That Hill, 44 years after her No 1 with Wuthering Heights. Neither of the new songs the living members of the Beatles released in 1995 and 1996, Free as a Bird and Real Love, topped the charts.
Now and Then, a midtempo ballad written by John Lennon in the late 1970s, uses his original demo recording combined with guitar lines recorded by the late George Harrison in 1994, plus new parts recorded by Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. McCartney said of the song’s chart-topping success: “It’s mind boggling. It’s blown my socks off. It’s also a very emotional moment for me. I love it!”
Source: Ben Beaumont-Thomas/theguardian.com
Giles Martin has shared that he wanted to “rip off his dad”, the late George Martin, for The Beatles‘ ‘Now And Then‘.
Martin was approached by surviving Beatles member, Sir Paul McCartney, with a demo for what would be deemed as the “final” Beatles song ‘Now And Then’. The track stems from a demo tape recorded by late bandmate John Lennon and was completed with the help of AI – which lifted the songwriter’s vocals off the initial recording and allowed the surviving members to work with them.
Speaking about the process of working on ‘Now And Then’ in an interview with The Sun, Martin said: “Paul played me what he’d started working on from the ’94 demo plus the extras he’d already done — new bass, piano, the guitar solo. Then we discussed whether to do more things with it.”
Sourc: Anagricel Duran/nme.com
John Lennon had hits over and over and over again. But he didn't think always hitting the top 10 was a good long-term goal.
John Lennon had hits over and over and over again. But he didn’t think always hitting the top 10 was a good long-term goal. He said part of the reason he felt this way was because he was “34 going on 60.”
John was one of the most popular singers who ever lived. He also made a lot of music that just wasn’t commercial, from the avant-garde soundscape of Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins to the screaming sadness of “Mother.” John felt that always being accessible would hurt his work.
During a 1975 interview with Rolling Stone, John discussed a personal revelation. “I’ve come to learn something big this past year,” he said. “I cannot let the top 10 dominate my art. If my worth is only to be judged by whether I’m in the top 10 or not, then I’d better give up,” he said. “Because if I let the top 10 dominate my art, then the art will die. And then whether I’m in the top 10 is a moot point.”
Source: Matthew Trzcinski/cheatsheet.com
The mild 2023 version of Beatlemania hardly compares to the wild 1964 version, but it has brought new musical products.
“Now and Then,” the “last” song from the band, was released Nov. 2 to promote the Nov. 10 release of expanded versions of two collections, “The Beatles 1962-1966” and “The Beatles 1967-1970.”
Fewer people noticed the Oct. 24 release of George Harrison: The Reluctant Beatle, Philip Norman’s new 510-page deep-dive bio of the so-called “quiet” Beatle.
Norman, the author of four previous Beatles books, including biographies of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, helps readers understand Harrison’s musicianship, songwriting, Hindu spirituality and essential role in forming the Beatles from the ashes of the Quarrymen.
Norman paints a portrait of an “endlessly self-contradictory” artist who: “railed against ‘the material world,’ yet wrote the first pop song complaining about income tax; who spent years lovingly restoring Friar Park, his 30-room Gothic mansion, yet mortgaged it in a heartbeat to finance his friends the Monty Python team’s Life of Brian film; who, paradoxically, became more uptight and moody after he learned to meditate; who could touch both the height of nobility with his Concert for Bangladesh and the depths of disloyalty in his casual seduction of Ringo’s wife.”
Source: Steve Rabey/baptistnews.com
Billboard takes a look back at the iconic moments of one of rock n' roll's greatest success stories.
After John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison met each other in the late 1950s, coming together for the latter’s skiffle band The Quarrymen, the world would never be the same. The band faced two notable lineup changes: first, with former bassist Stuart Sutcliffe departing for art school, and then with manager Brian Epstein booting drummer Pete Best in favor of Ringo Starr — and The Beatles as the world knows them were born.
After two years of diligently working and releasing singles, The Beatles made their debut in America, appearing on the The Ed Sullivan Show on Feb. 9, 1964, to an estimated audience of 73 million, and performed five songs — “All My Loving,” “Till There Was You,” “She Loves You,” “I Saw Her Standing There” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand”; the performance would change the trajectory of their career. Just two months after The Beatles’ appearance on the show, the group dominated the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the first act ever to occupy the top five spots on the chart, and giving birth to Beatlemania in the process.
Source: billboard.com
The Beatles' last ever track sent fans into a frenzy when it hit the airwaves last week.
And now Giles Martin, the son of the band's unofficial fifth member George Martin, has shared insight into the making of the track, which was completed with the help of modern day technology over five decades after it was first recorded.
Speaking to The Sun, Giles, whose father George was a producer on many of the band's albums, shared that Paul McCartney contacted him about finishing the demo after John Lennon's widow Yoko Ono handed it to the band in 1994.
He said: 'I know Paul and he has an amazing memory. I'm sure it bothered him that they never finished it.'
Giles added that there was 'no marketing plan' behind releasing the track, and Yoko simply handed over the song to the band as it was 'a beautiful tune' John had written.
Source: Laura Fox/dailymail.co.uk
When John Lennon was shot and killed outside his apartment building in New York City in 1980, the remaining three members of The Beatles were understandably devastated. It was a horrible time for all of them, and one of them turned to one of the only constants in his life as a means to grieve and move on: songwriting.
In the latest episode of his podcast Paul McCartney: A Life in Lyrics, the former Beatle talked at length about a song he penned following the tragedy, "Here Today." The singer-songwriter shared that the track is "basically a memory song" and "a love song to John."
He went on to comment that the inspiration for the track wasn't anything grand. It isn't about the most important conversation they had or the most impressive moments from their time with The Beatles. Instead, the tune sees him "remembering things about our relationship and things about the million things we'd done together. From just being in each other's front parlors or bedrooms, or walking on the street together, or hitchhiking."
McCartney referred to the experience of writing the somber "Here Today" as both "very moving" and "very emotional." "I was just sitting there in this bare room thinking of John and realizing I'd lost him," the Grammy winner stated in the conversation.
Source: Hugh McIntyre/forbes.com
