Beatles News
Pattie Boyd wouldn't go out with George Harrison initially because she had a boyfriend. When she finally agreed, things got serious quickly.George Harrison and Pattie Boyd met on the set of A Hard Day’s Night. Resistant to go out with the Beatle at first, Boyd eventually caved to Harrison’s advances. After their first official date, it wasn’t long before the new couple decided to move into a beautiful country bungalow together. 21-year-old Harrison noticed 19-year-old Boyd on the first day of filming the Beatles movie A Hard Day’s Night. When Harrison met the model, she was blond with a round face and big blue eyes. She wore a short fur jacket and a mini skirt that showed off her long legs. According to The Love You Make by Peter Brown and Steven Gaines, Boyd remembered Harrison staring at her on that first day of shooting. At the end of the day, she asked the Beatles for autographs. Harrison happily signed his name with two kisses for her sisters. When he signed the autograph for Boyd, he added seven kisses.
Source: Kelsey Goeres/cheatsheet.com
George Harrison was proud of doing most of his work solo, but one song from his solo career featured a lyric created by John LennonGeorge Harrison often wrote songs by himself, even when he was with The Beatles. He rarely got help from Paul McCartney and John Lennon, who were busy collaborating. However, Harrison often proved that he didn’t need his other bandmates, as he had a very successful solo career once The Beatles ended. However, George Harrison did need a little help from his friends a few times, including John Lennon on one solo song. All Things Must Pass was the first solo album released by Harrison after The Beatles ended in 1970. The album featured many of Harrison’s best songs, including “My Sweet Lord”, his first solo No. 1 hit. Harrison wrote the titular song on the album before The Beatles broke up. He tried to entice his fellow bandmates into recording “All Things Must Pass” at the Get Back sessions in 1969, but they didn’t have much interest.
Source: Ross Tanenbaum/cheatsheet.com
John Lennon wrote many songs targeted at people in his life but he said one track was definitely not about Paul McCartneyAfter The Beatles disbanded, John Lennon and Paul McCartney were entangled in a public feud for a brief time. The feud manifested in a few of their solo songs, with the two former bandmates exchanging blows in lyrics the best way they knew how. Many theorized that one John Lennon song was about Paul McCartney, but Lennon clarified that it was “for sure,” not about Sir Macca. “Steel and Glass” is a song from Lennon’s fifth solo album 1974’s Walls and Bridges. It’s one of Lennon’s more vicious songs, like “You leave your smell like an alley cat.” This led many to speculate about who the song might be about, and one person who was a possible target was Paul McCartney.
Source: Ross Tanenbaum/ cheatsheet.com
Most of The Beatles most successful songs from their movies came from three soundtracks.It didn’t take long for The Beatles to go multimedia. As Beatlemania took over the world, they added movies to their output with A Hard Day’s Night and Help! in 1964 and 1965, respectively. They were on top of the world; even the songs they abandoned turned into hits. The Beatles kept writing songs to soundtrack their movies, and these were the seven most successful.
The Fab Four made hay in the relatively short time they were together. Between 1963 and 1970, there wasn’t a year where they didn’t release at least one album. Add in hundreds of live shows, scores of interviews, television appearances, and recording hit non-album singles, and it’s a wonder they didn’t keel over from exhaustion.
With that kind of schedule, The Beatles might have preferred built-in time to blow off steam on their movies. Seeing the evolution of their films was quite remarkable.
Source: Jason Rossi/cheatsheet.com
Paul McCartney developed a knack for finding inspiration for his songs in front of him. It wasn’t always that easy. One musician called McCartney and John Lennon idiots as songwriters in the early 1960s. The dynamic duo teamed up to prove him wrong before their partnership ended. In the late 1960s, McCartney snuck in a reference to his wife, Linda McCartney, in a sad Beatles song that also lamented the business affairs that made the band’s split an ugly one.
Despite the bitterness surrounding the band in late 1969, The Beatles managed to crank out a gem of an album with Abbey Road. It was the last record they made together.
“You Never Give Me Your Money,” the song that kicked off the Side 2 medley, expressly mentioned the messy business dealings. The mini-suite began by mentioning funny papers and negotiations. Paul once said the song wasn’t directed at his bandmates. It might be true, but it was also hard to believe, considering they spent the better part of 1969 arguing about their money and how to handle it.
Source: Jason Rossi/cheatsheet.com
The 1968 animated film of Yellow Submarine is inextricably linked with the Beatles – not just their music but their imagination, ideas and identity. But, with the exception of one scene to meet a contractual obligation, the voices of the band featured in the film were provided by actors and not John, Paul, Ringo and George. It later emerged that John Lennon in particular was unsatisfied with the creative involvement the band had and not receiving credit for the ideas they had provided for the film.
YouTube channel Beatles Bible recently cast Lennon's views on the film in a stark light – using audio from The Lost Lennon Tapes radio series that features Lennon's 1980 interview with David Sheff for Playboy, he doesn't hold back when talking about the background to the exclusive song the Beatles provided for the film's soundtrack; Hey Bulldog. He described the people involved in the film as "gross animals" – with the exception of artist Alan Aldridge, who had first illustrated the Yellow Submarine in November 1966 following the Beatles' Revolver album.
Source: Rob Laing/musicradar.com
Released in 1969 on the Abbey Road album, “Octopus’s Garden” has become a fan favorite, a cult hit a curiosity and a wonder. For two reasons: it’s odd lyrical imagery and the fact that it’s sung by the band’s drummer, the beloved though slightly bemused drummer Ringo Starr.
Written by Starr, the song was assisted by the band’s guitarist George Harrison. “‘Octopus’s Garden’ is Ringo’s song,” Harrison previously said of the process. “It’s only the second song Ringo wrote, and it’s lovely.”
But what else did Harrison have to say? And what is an octopus’s garden and why is it so catchy?
Like everyone else, Harrison recognized the high quality of the composition, even if it was a bit goofy. Not only did he call it “lovely” but Harrison said the song gets into a listener’s mind “because it’s so peaceful. I suppose Ringo is writing cosmic songs these days without even realizing it.”
In the end, “Octopus’s Garden” was Ringo’s last song sung for the former Mop Tops. But it was a doozy.
Source: Jacob Uitti/americansongwriter.com
Sir Paul McCartney has spoken of the “privilege” he felt working with “special singer and good friend” Tony Bennett.
The 96-year-old, best known for his 1962 classic I Left My Heart In San Francisco, died in his home city of New York on Friday.
Tributes have continued to pour in from musicians such as Bonnie Raitt, Mariah Carey and Sir Paul along with US President Joe Biden and former American leader Barack Obama.
In a Saturday Instagram post, Sir Paul wrote: “Very sad to hear that Tony Bennett has died. He was a special singer and a good friend.
“I was privileged to work with him on a few occasions and he was always a wonder to behold. Thanks Tony for the joy you brought to our world. Love Paul.”
In 2006, Bennett collaborated with stars including Sir Paul, Sir Elton John, Stevie Wonder and George Michael on his album titled Duets: An American Classic.
Emily Eavis, co-organiser of Glastonbury festival, talked about how, when he played Worthy Farm in 1998, he was “impeccably dressed” despite the wet and muddy conditions.
Source: Charlotte McLaughlin/independent.co.uk
Ringo Starr, John Lennon, Eric Clapton, and Klaus Voormann never recaptured the magic of an all-time great jam Yoko Ono inadvertently broke up.Ringo Starr had a solid relationship with all of his Beatles bandmates, but he was incredibly close to John Lennon. Even after Lennon’s murder, the drummer showed respect by refusing to record a song of his that became a hit. The song we really want to hear, though, is the extended jam Ringo and John played on that Yoko Ono interrupted.
Members of the Fab Four didn’t stop working together even though the band broke up. Ringo drummed on albums by each of his former bandmates. That included the simultaneous John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band and Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band projects in 1970.
The drummer was an early member of the rotating supergroup that orbited around John and Yoko.
Source: Jason Rossi/cheatsheet.com
In 1973 Beatle George Harrison gifted a manor house to the Hare Krishna movement so they could have a base in the UK. Bhaktivedanta Manor in Hertfordshire is now one of the UK's foremost Hindu temples. Leading members share the story of its inception, its fight against closure and the legacy it holds today.
It was no coincidence that Shyamasundar Das met George Harrison at an Apple Records party in December 1968 - although he had not expected them to become lifelong friends.
He had come to England on a mission: To launch the Hare Krishna movement at the bidding of leader Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
Shyamasundar Das decided to aim high and got himself an invite to a party at the Beatles' record label.
He recalls: "We arrived in September of '68, and by Christmas time I had met George Harrison and we were chanting Hare Krishna with the Beatles."
Source: Louise Parry & Deepak Patel - BBC News, Hertfordshire/news.yahoo.com
