Beatles News
Considering he was one of the most famous people on the planet, George Harrison probably didn’t need too much urging to sing about the damage that can be done by unfounded gossip. When he stumbled upon a clever phrase to represent this phenomenon, he was off and running.
“Devil’s Radio” turned out to be one of the high-energy highlights of Cloud Nine, the 1987 album that rocketed Harrison back to the top of the rock and roll world. His sharp wit is ever-present on the song, although it can’t quite hide his obvious disgust for loose talk.
To Beat the “Devil”
The credits list for “Devil’s Radio” gives you an idea of how many big names were itching to work with George Harrison as he reentered the pop music arena after years away. Eric Clapton plays lead guitar, Elton John adds piano, producer Jeff Lynne handles the bass, and Harrison’s Beatle buddy Ringo Starr lays down the beat on drums.
They combined to make a formidable noise on the song. But it’s Harrison at center stage, as he was throughout the Cloud Nine album, writing, singing, and playing with renewed vigor.
Source: americansongwriter.com/Jim Beviglia
Whenever you release music into the world, you’re no longer in control of how the public will interpret a song’s meaning—something Paul McCartney quickly learned once people started imbuing Beatles songs with extra messages and references the Fab Four didn’t intend to make. On the one hand, these different perceptions are what makes music such an interesting, universal experience.
But on the other hand, it’s rarely a pleasant experience to have someone put words in your mouth. In a 1967 interview with British artist and graphic designer Alan Aldridge, McCartney clarified what some Beatles lyrics actually meant and, perhaps more importantly, what they didn’t. “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” Wasn’t An Ode To LSD
The Beatles’ iconic track “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” is the third song on the A-side of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, a concept album that marked the height of the Fab Four’s psychedelic phase. Consequently, many people believed “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” was an ode to LSD, or lysergic acid diethylamide, a potent hallucinogen commonly referred to as acid. Paul McCartney told interviewer Alan Aldridge that the connection was “cunning” but that the band “never thought about it.”
“What happened was that John’s son, Julian, did a drawing at school and brought it home, and he has a schoolmate called Lucy, and John said, ‘What’s that?’ And he said, ‘Lucy in the sky with diamonds.’ So, we had a nice title. We did the whole thing like an Alice in Wonderland idea, being in a boat on the river, slowly drifting downstream. This Lucy was God, the big figure, the white rabbit. You can just write a song with imagination on words, and that’s what we did.” “Fixing a Hole” Wasn’t About Injectable Drugs.
Source: americansongwriter.com/Melanie Davis
John Lennon’s I Am the Walrus Beatles lyrics deciphered by music expert
One of John Lennon’s favourite of his Beatles songs is 1967’s I Am the Walrus. Arguably the most cryptic of the Fab Four’s tracks, fans have debated the meaning behind the lyrics’ surreal imagery for decades.
In fact, the late star wrote it to confuse people who were overanalysing the band’s songs, such as Strawberry Fields Forever. In reality, it was partially inspired by two of his LSD trips and Lewis Carroll’s famous 1971 poem The Walrus and the Carpenter.
Now, professional musician Margrét Juliana Sigurdardottir, founder of Moombix, an online platform specialising in adult music education, has shared her thoughts on the true meaning of Lennon’s I Am the Walrus lyrics.
“The song begins with a phrase that sounds philosophical but remains open to interpretation. It suggests a sense of togetherness and equality. We are all interconnected, sharing in the same human experience despite our apparent differences. This sense of interconnectedness may possibly be influenced by Lennon's interest in Eastern philosophy, which was blossoming in the late 1960s.
Source: express.co.uk/George Simpson
Critics and music lovers have been scouring the Beatles discography for deeper hidden meanings and profound messages from the Fab Four for decades, but the track Paul McCartney chose as his iconic band’s “most philosophical song” is honestly a bit surprising. To his credit, McCartney offered his pick for the most metaphysical Beatles song in 1967, which predates albums like their eponymous “White Album,” Abbey Road, and their final record, Let It Be.
Nevertheless, even in 1967, McCartney’s choice seems a little odd. But then again, maybe that’s a consequence of assuming philosophy needs to be complex and near-indecipherable.
Paul McCartney Picks Most Philosophical Beatles Song
In 1967, Paul McCartney sat down for an interview with British artist, designer, and illustrator Alan Aldridge. The contemporaries discussed hidden meanings behind Beatles songs that, for the most part, McCartney said were largely fan-produced. “We write songs. We know what we mean by them,” he said. “But in a week, someone else says something about it, says that it means that as well, and you can’t deny it. Things take on millions of meanings. I don’t understand it.”
These “millions of meanings” include covert references to psychedelics, á la “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.” Other misinterpretations included “Dr. Robert,” who some believed to be a psychiatrist, when in actuality, the character was just an inside joke in the Fab Four about doctors who freely prescribed pills in the States.
Source: americansongwriter.com/Melanie Davis
McCartney started with the man in the mirror. He released his first solo album in 1970, only a week after he announced his departure from the world's favorite rock band. The album wasn't a polished work like people had come to expect from The Beatles. After years of creating music to be perfect, grand, and complete, McCartney made an experimental stripped-back album. The very personal project was fittingly titled McCartney. His next album was a joint venture from him and his wife, Linda McCartney; Ram is a work of familial love. While it wasn't beloved by critics at the time, putting years between the listening experience and the immediate sting of grief many felt post-Beatlemania reveals an honest and joyful celebration of domesticity.
It wasn't long before Paul McCartney found himself back in a band. A year after the end of The Beatles, McCartney formed Paul McCartney and Wings, also known simply as Wings. This group is perhaps the most successful venture McCartney had after The Beatles.
Source: screenrant.com/Rebekah Hendricks
We are getting our first look at Ringo Starr’s upcoming CBS special, Ringo & Friends at the Ryman.
The network has shared a clip of Ringo performing his solo track “It Don’t Come Easy,” joined by Sheryl Crow, country star Mickey Guyton and Americana artist Molly Tuttle.
Ringo & Friends at the Ryman premieres Monday at 8 p.m. ET on CBS and Paramount+. It was recorded during Ringo’s two nights at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium in January, following the release of his new country album, Look Up.
Other special guests joining Ringo during the show include Jack White, Brenda Lee, Billy Strings, Rodney Crowell and The War and Treaty.
Source: kshe95.com
On This Day George Harrison Met the Quarrymen. February 6, 1958, is often credited with being the day George Harrison first saw the Quarrymen perform. Fronted by John Lennon, Paul McCartney had also joined the band at this point and seeing the performance left an impression on George.
'I'd been invited to see them play several times by Paul but for some reason never got around to it before. I remember being very impressed with John's big thick sideboards and trendy Teddy Boy clothes. In a way, all that emotional rough stuff was simply a way for him to help separate the men from the boys, I think. I was never intimidated by him. Whenever he had a go at me I just gave him a little bit of his own right back.' - George Harrison
While there is disagreement about 6th February being the day George first saw the Quarrymen, we know that this event, whichever day, would be a pivotal moment in the young Beatles' life.
George went on to join the band himself at the young age of 15, and so the foundations to the Beatles were set. It was Paul's brother and budding photographer, Mike McCartney, who took the first ever colour photo of the trio as they performed at the wedding reception of Paul and Mike's cousin.
In Mike McCartney's Early Liverpool, the early days of the Beatles and their rise to fame is documented through Mike McCartney's exquisite photographs. Featured alongside original commentary, his photographs also capture other talent to come out of Liverpool, including his own group, the Scaffold.
Source: Genisis 50 Publications
Paul tried his hardest to get the vocals right
Paul McCartney and John Lennon didn't always see eye to eye. In the early days of The Beatles, the two would write songs as they sat together in Paul's childhood home on Forthlin Road in Allerton.
However, as they got older and artistic differences emerged within the band in the second half of the 1960s, John and Paul tended to write independently. Often, they would write the basis of a song before presenting it to the other for final tweaks and touches.
Occasionally they would clash and recording sessions for 'The White Album' and what became 'Let it Be' were marked by tempestuous moods, which resulted in Ringo Starr and George Harrison leaving the band for periods. John also shared his disdain for some of Paul's later work with The Beatles, saying he disliked the 1967 album 'Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band', the single 'Let it Be' and the closing medley on 'Abbey Road', which he called 'junk'.
It wasn't just the final songs on 'Abbey Road' that John shared his disdain for. He also wasn't happy with the finished product of 'Oh!
Source: liverpoolecho.co.uk/Dan Haygarth
Because he left us way too soon, and because he didn’t record all that much in the last few decades of his life, the George Harrison solo catalog isn’t all that extensive. He still left behind a wealth of great music, including some excellent album-closers.
One note: For this list, we considered all three LPs included in All Things Must Pass as individual albums. Here are five outstanding final songs that left George Harrison fans wanting more.
5. “I Got My Mind Set on You” from Cloud Nine (1987)
Weird Al Yankovic wasn’t all that far off when he parodied this track as “(This Song’s Just) Six Words Long.” Harrison first heard it, as recorded by James Ray, when he was visiting the United States in 1963, before The Beatles had broken big in America. One day during the sessions for Cloud Nine, keyboardist Gary Wright (of “Dream Weaver” fame) started playing the chords of “I Got My Mind Set on You,” and Harrison immediately chimed in with the lyrics. The fun he’s having singing translates to the listener, as the song sparked his comeback by becoming a surprise No. 1 hit.
Source: americansongwriter.com/Jim Beviglia
The Beatles were blessed with four outstanding vocalists to deliver their wonderful songs. They really didn’t have any need to go looking outside the band for somebody else to bring something to the mic they couldn’t.
But there were a few occasions when someone who wasn’t a member of the group can be heard singing on a Beatles track. Some of them might be obvious to you, while others you might have either forgotten or not even realized.
“All You Need Is Love” from Magical Mystery Tour (1967)
You might not realize it when you hear it on the radio, but “All You Need Is Love,” aside from a prerecorded backing track, was mostly a live take. The Beatles performed the song in front of a worldwide audience for the first-ever international satellite broadcast. In honor of the occasion, the group invited a bunch of friends to come and sit in during the show. These luminaries sang along with the chorus as the song faded out. Among the famous folks included: Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithfull, Eric Clapton, Keith Moon, and Graham Nash.
Source: americansongwriter.com/Jim Beviglia
