Beatles News
In an inflammatory 1964 essay on the “menace of Beatlism”, the historian and commentator Paul Johnson described the fans who screamed themselves into hysteria as “the least fortunate of their generation, the dull, the idle, the failures”.
He wasn’t alone. A newly revealed letter from George Harrison’s mum shows that she was similarly horrified.
“Last Wednesday I went to Manchester and I was really disgusted at the way the so-called fans just screamed right through the whole of the Beatles act,” Louise Harrison wrote.
“Nobody with any sense would pay and queue for a ticket just to stand on a seat and scream and not hear one sound from the stage. I was really ashamed I was a female.”
Source: Mark Brown/theguardian.com
John Lennon’s “Give Peace a Chance” includes a lot of unusual, disjointed lyrics. John worried that a single word in the lyrics would cause controversy. The tune was a bigger hit in the United Kingdom than it was in the United States.
John Lennon‘s “Give Peace a Chance” would not inspire controversy today. Despite this, John censored the tune’s lyric sheet. In addition, he worried one of The Beatles’ songs from the same era would cause an uproar. John Lennon’s ‘Give Peace a Chance’ had 1 risque word that he replaced on the lyric sheet
The chorus of “Give Peace a Chance” repeats the song’s title over and over. The rest of the song is mostly nonsense. The verses mention a bunch of random things, including rabbis, evolution, psychedelic guru Timothy Leary, and masturbation.
Source: Matthew Trzcinski/cheatsheet.com
During a recent appearance on QFM96's "Torg & Elliott" radio show, legendary rocker Alice Cooper, whose 1970s "Hollywood Vampires" celebrity drinking club included THE BEATLES members Ringo Starr and John Lennon, was asked if he thinks THE BEATLES would have reunited at some point for at least one concert had Lennon not been murdered back in 1980. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Absolutely. Here's the thing about them. When they were after each other's throats, when it came to the breakup and all that stuff, if anybody in the 'Vampires' back in those days — that was our drinking club — if anybody said anything bad about Paul [McCartney], John would take a swing at you. Because that was his best friend. If anybody said anything about John to Paul, Paul was not like that, but Paul would walk out of the room; he'd just walk out. Because you are not allowed to talk about their best friends. They were best friends no matter what was going on in the whole thing. One went one way and one went the other. I think John wanted to be more political; Paul was not into that that much. John was always trying to get me into politics, and I said, 'John, you're trying to save the world. I'm just trying to entertain them.'"
Source: blabbermouth.net
The Beatles are one of the greatest musical groups that have ever walked the earth, there is no doubt about that. Their music was at the tip of the 1960s counterculture and its timeless quality has made it as popular today as it has ever been.
Along with a few other bands, they were among the first to release songs with longer run times than people were used to. This was considered very risky, but of course, The Beatles did not allow anything to hold their creativity back.
With such exceptional songwriting and musical ability, you could listen to their albums over and over again, as most fans do.
Sometimes you just don’t want their songs to stop, which is why I put together the 10 longest Beatles songs!
1. Revolution 9 – 8:22
Album: The Beatles
Released: 1968
Source: Alex Kelly/tonestart.com
A song from The Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour was inspired by a mishap from the band’s press officer. George Harrison received all credit for the song even though Paul McCartney helped create it. Paul revealed what he thought about the tune’s appearance in a famous film.
The Beatles‘ Magical Mystery Tour contains one of their most unusual songs. Sadly, the tune in question causes street signs in Los Angeles to get stolen. In addition, it’s the only song from a famous Beatles album that George Harrison wrote by himself.
According to a 2014 article from Iowa State University’s Institute for Transportation, signs are often stolen if they are perceived as containing a reference to something famous. For example, the signs for Abbey Road were stolen regularly. To deal with this problem, the city of London has Abbey Road signs painted onto curbsides or placed so high that nobody can reach them without a ladder.
Street signs for LA’s Blue Jay Way have also been repeatedly stolen, as the song is the inspiration for The Beatles’ track of the same title. While the song isn’t one of The Beatles’ most well-known pieces, it’s one of their most psychedelic. It also played during a surreal sequence from the film Magical Mystery Tour.
Source: Matthew Trzcinski/cheatsheet.com
Paul McCartney will be bringing his renowned Got Back tour to Australia in October. What makes this tour particularly special is the inclusion of a virtual John Lennon, made possible through the use of AI-based machine learning technology.
This technology was first utilized during the filming of Peter Jackson’s Beatles documentary, ‘The Beatles: Get Back’. The machine learning model has been trained on old Beatles tunes, allowing it to identify and isolate each instrument’s sound.
The result is the ability to isolate John Lennon’s voice and have McCartney perform alongside his late bandmate once again. McCartney expressed his excitement about the technology in an interview with ABC, stating, “We could isolate John’s voice out. And that would mean [I would] be singing with John again.”
The virtual John Lennon made his debut at the Glastonbury Festival in 2022. During McCartney’s performance, Lennon was projected on a mega screen as they sang together. McCartney described the experience as emotional, saying, “The first time I ever did it was very emotional. And it keeps being emotional. Because, you know, I’m singing with my old buddy again.”
Source: Deborah Taylor/fagenwasanni.com
John Lennon played "Imagine" for communist activists before the rest of the world got to hear it. Subsequently, one of the communists discussed someone who significantly influenced John's views.
Members of the International Marxist Group heard John Lennon’s “Imagine” before its release. One of them revealed what he thought of the song. Yoko Ono felt the album Imagine had more appeal than some of his previous work.
John Lennon‘s “Imagine” has plenty of social themes. John played “Imagine” for a pair of communist activists before the rest of the world got to hear it. Subsequently, one of the communists discussed someone who significantly influenced John’s views.
John was interviewed by communist activists Tariq Ali and Robin Blackburn for the magazine Red Mole. That magazine was controlled by the now-defunct International Marxist Group and supported causes like feminism and Irish republicanism. In a 2010 article for The Guardian, Ali discussed his friendship with John. “We stayed in touch and talked to each other a great deal,” he wrote. “He invited Blackburn and myself over when ‘Imagine’ was being composed.
Source: Matthew Trzcinski/cheatsheet.com
A new book may just be the perfect gift for any Beatles fan who also loves to travel.
Beatles Blackouts: Trips Around the World in Search of Beatles Monuments is written by Jack Marriott, a Beatles fan who embarks on a two-year journey through 23 countries to find tributes and monuments to the legendary band all over the world.
Described as “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas meets a drunken Eat, Pray, Love,” Marriott set off on his quest after dealing with some personal problems, including alcohol issues and a girlfriend who left him. The trip leads him to discoveries of Beatles monuments in Kazakhstan, Brazil, Mongolia, Peru, Japan and more.
Beatles Blackouts: Trips Around the World in Search of Beatles Monuments is available to order now and will be in stores September 26.
Source: deltaplexnews.com
How do you separate fact from fiction about the group that has arguably become the world's biggest band, the Beatles?
Since the band's inception well over 50 years ago, there have been thousands of accounts from the international tabloids, overwhelmed venue owners, miniskirted blondes, flabbergasted hotel maids (what they were called at the time), intense production people and countless other "firsthand" resources. Even though the band was really only together just a few years (formed in 1960, first hit in 1962, "Love Me Do" exploded in America in 1964 and they broke up in 1969-70), the number of behind-the-scenes stories outnumber the amount of days the band was in existence altogether.
Rarely do you get a firsthand account of anything major when it comes to an iconic group such as the Beatles. And not only was Alan Parsons (from the studio session band, the Alan Parsons Project) one of the very few people to witness the Beatles' very last public concert, he told me all about it before a show he was about to perform at the Arcada Theatre.
Source: Ron Onesti/dailyherald.com
Billy Joel has announced he’s finally winding down his record-breaking residency at Madison Square Garden, after a decade of playing one sold-out concert a month at the New York venue.
Legions of fans have flocked to the arena to see him in that time, but early in the residency Joel said he wouldn’t sell tickets to the front rows, because, he told Billboard in 2014, they were often sold at inflated prices to rich people; he’d see them “sitting there puffing on a cigar, ‘entertain me, piano man.’ They don’t stand up, make noise.”
He wanted the “real fans” at the front – so he began sending crew members to the back of the venue to scout them out. “They get people from the worst seats and bring ’em in to the front rows. This way you’ve got people in the front row that are really happy to be there,” he said.
Source: Matthew Cantor/theguardian.com
