Beatles News
Death was something the late John Lennon pondered years before his untimely death in 1980, according to his Beatles bandmate, Paul McCartney.
McCartney reflected on the life of his close friend and musical collaborator in Wednesday’s episode of his iHeart Radio podcast, McCartney: A Life in Lyrics, as he revealed that Lennon, who was 40 when he was killed outside his apartment in New York City, was nervous about how he would be remembered postmortem.
“I remember him saying to me, ‘Paul, I worry about how people are going to remember me when I die,’ and it kind of shocked me,” McCartney, 81, recalled on the podcast. “I said ‘OK, hold on, just hold it right there. People are going to think you were great, you’ve already done enough work to demonstrate that.’ ”
The bass guitarist continued, “I was like his priest. Often I’d have to say, ‘My son, you’re great, don’t worry about it,’ and he would take it. It would make him feel better.”
McCartney also reflected on how well he and Lennon worked together on the episode, which was titled “Here Today” in reference to the 1982 solo track he released in light of his friend’s death the year before.
Source: Julia Moore/people.com
Paul McCartney and John Lennon took a hitchhiking trip in the early 1960s. Their fun nearly destroyed The Beatles before they reached fame.
When the early Beatles — John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Pete Best, and Stuart Sutcliffe — were first beginning to see success as performers, they nearly destroyed it. Lennon and McCartney took an impromptu hitchhiking trip together. The rest of the band was so upset to have been left behind that they began looking for other groups to join.
After playing shows in Hamburg, Germany, The Beatles returned to Liverpool triumphant. While they were not yet mainstream successes, they were on their way to fame. This all almost fell apart, though.
Lennon invited McCartney on a hitchhiking trip through France and Spain using his birthday money. To go, they ditched several Beatles gigs and seriously angered their bandmates.
“Accordingly the two just took off together, wearing matching bowler hats — the Nerk twins reincarnated,” Philip Norman wrote in his book Paul McCartney: The Life. “George and Pete Best were so disgusted at being left in the lurch that both started looking around for other bands to join while Stu Sutcliffe in Hamburg told Astrid [Kirchherr] and several other people that The Beatles had broken up.”
Source: Emma McKee/cheatsheet.com
Editor’s Note: This is a bit longer-than-usual piece for us, but 1) it’s an interview with our friend Ken Womack about his newest Beatle book and 2) it’s a great insight to Mal Evans, the constant helpmate to the Fab Four. Settle in and enjoy.I must admit up front that I am a big Ken Womack fan. Along with his 22 published works of non-fiction and 5 novels, Ken has brought to Beatles fans over 16 Beatles titles that have helped expand the world’s knowledge of their history and their impact on music, pop entertainment, and society at large. His entire body of Beatles works, which includes his flagship two-volume biography devoted to the legacy of producer George Martin, along with his vivid reproduction of the last days of his life in the book John Lennon 1980, have been worthy of their inclusion in the permanent collection of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s Library and Archives.
Source: Steven Valvano/culturesonar.com
On November 13, 1968, Yellow Submarine was released in the United States. The Beatles created a little masterpiece there. Return to a myth that has become timeless.
No clumsy cavalcade through the streets of London. Nor any charming act in front of Ed Sullivan and the American press. Or a coordinated fall in the Austrian powder. The past is the past. As for shaking up the most famous rooftop in music history, that will have to wait. For now, the Beatles are dealing with infernal creatures called Blue Meanies.
1968. Brian Epstein having signed a three-film contract with United Artists, the Beatles were forced to make a sequel to Help! (1965). Yet they have no desire to do so. Epstein therefore asked Al Brodax – one of the producers of the animated series dedicated to the group – if a feature-length animated film could do the trick. Considering the quality of the series, the four musicians are not thrilled. Still, they don’t need to be involved. If it allows them to fulfill their contract, it suits them.
Source: Christopher Johnson/wecb.fm
John Lennon and Harry Nilsson weren't just friends: they were collaborators. The album the two made together has endured and still influences modern singers.
John Lennon and Harry Nilsson weren’t just friends: they were collaborators. They made a whole album together that includes a mix of classic cover songs and original compositions. Afterward, John was asked if he was influenced by Nilsson in any way. Regardless of what he said, the album the two made together has endured and still influences modern singers.
John produced Nilsson’s record Pussy Cats. The cover of the record depicts the two rockers as anthropomorphic kittens. Pussy Cats features some new songs, most famously “Don’t Forget Me,” as well as recordings of standards such as Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” Bill Haley & His Comets’ “Rock Around the Clock,” and The Drifters’ “Save the Last Dance for Me.”
During a 1975 interview with Rolling Stone, John was asked if he took cues from the “Coconut” singer. “That’s bullsh*t too,” he replied. “I haven’t been influenced by Harry, only that I had a lot of hangovers whenever I was with him. (laughs) I love him, he’s a great guy and I count him as one of me friends. He hasn’t influenced me musically.”
Source: Matthew Trzcinski/cheatsheet.com
John Lennon discussed the prospect of producing albums for Bob Dylan and Elvis Presley. It's unclear if Dylan would have wanted to work with John given a comment Dylan made.
The history of music sometimes feels like a history of missed opportunities. John Lennon discussed the prospect of producing albums for Bob Dylan and Elvis Presley. He wasn’t the biggest fan of one of Dylan’s classics. It’s unclear if Dylan would have wanted to work with John given a comment he made about Paul McCartney.
John produced Harry Nilsson’s 1974 album Pussy Cats. Around the same time, he also worked on David Bowie’s “Fame” and “Across the Universe” and Elton John’s rendition of The Beatles’ “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.” During a 1975 interview with Rolling Stone, John was asked if he would like to produce other singers. “Dylan would be interesting because I think he made a great album in Blood on the Tracks but I’m still not keen on the backings,” he said. “I think I could produce him great.
“And Presley,” he said. “I’d like to resurrect Elvis. But I’d be so scared of him I don’t know whether I could do it. But I’d like to do it. Dylan I could do, but Presley would make me nervous.
“But Dylan or Presley, somebody up there,” he added. “I know what I’d do with Presley. Make a rock ‘n’ roll album. Dylan doesn’t need material. I’d just make him some good backings. So if you’re reading this Bob, you know….”
Source: Matthew Trzcinski/cheatsheet.com
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
