Beatles News
Ringo Starr is back touring and he wouldn’t have it any other way.
The two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee recently spoke to CNN about his current tour with his All Star Band.
“We all have a lot of fun. I mean, I love to play, you know, as a drummer it’s pretty awkward to go out just on your stage on your own. You need a few guitars and I call up friends … I had to stop calling people, otherwise we’d been like an orchestra.”
The band is considered a rock supergroup, with a rotating lineup of Starr’s musician buddies that has featured everyone from its current members like Colin Hay to former members Joe Walsh and Billy Preston.
Last year, Starr had to pause his North American tour after testing positive for Covid-19. The tour, which is primarily taking part on the West Coast with dates in states like California, Arizona and Nevada, will wrap up on June 17.
One of Starr’s longest standing friendships is with his fellow Beatles bandmate, Paul McCartney.
“Paul called me the other day … We’re close, close friends. We’re brothers and you know, for me it was great because I’m an only child and suddenly I had three brothers that I could love, I could rely on, I could help out. You know, it was a great moment for me.”
Source: Chloe Melas/cnn.com
Beatles producer George Martin didn't want the band to reunite. He didn't think the band could call themselves The Beatles if they got back together.
Producer George Martin worked with The Beatles for years, seeing them at their highest and lowest points. Martin was well aware of fans wishing the band would reunite, and he would have benefited from a new Beatles album. Still, he didn’t think it was a good idea. He didn’t even think the reunited group could be considered The Beatles. Martin spoke about why he didn’t think the band should make more music.
Shortly after The Beatles broke up, fans began clamoring for a reunion. The band had left the door open for the possibility, noting in interviews that they thought they might get back together. Of course, while the individual members collaborated over the years, all four Beatles never played together again. Martin believed that this was for the best.
Source: Emma McKee/cheatsheet.com
Sir Paul McCartney has reflected on The Beatles’ first-ever trip to the US, which took place months after the assassination of president John F Kennedy, and said the band’s presence seemed to have “lifted” people.
In a discussion with American actor Stanley Tucci about his new photo exhibition, Paul McCartney Photographs 1963-64: Eyes Of The Storm, McCartney said people were still feeling the after-effects of Kennedy’s death when the band arrived in the US in February 1964.
He said: “That was one of the big things for us … we felt it like the whole world had felt it.
“We had really felt it, but then, it was a few months after that we went to America. We, without meaning to, lifted people.”
Kennedy was assassinated in November 1963 while he rode in a motorcade through Dallas, Texas.
After conducting some 25,000 interviews, the FBI concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald had shot the president and acted alone.
With his photographer daughter Mary McCartney in the crowd, at a talk given at the National Portrait Gallery, the singer also discussed what it was like to rediscover photos taken during the height of Beatlemania.
Speaking on his decision to document their trip, McCartney said: “The four of us got cameras and just started to enjoy taking pictures of what was going on around us.
Source: breakingnews.ie
In 1969, three years after The Beatles’ last tour, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr put on a historic show on the roof of Apple Records. The band hadn’t initially planned to put on the show on the roof. Up until the last minute, they weren’t even sure they wanted to go through with it. They decided it was worth it to perform but found it was so cold it was hard to play their instruments. Harrison even had to use a cigarette to keep his fingers warm.In Jan. 1969, The Beatles climbed up to the rooftop of Apple Records to perform an impromptu concert. Despite the chilly winter weather, they decided the show would be a good idea. When the band got onto the roof, the temperature was in the low 40s. It made playing their instrument more challenging, but Harrison found an innovative solution.
Source: Emma McKee/ cheatsheet.com
In 1968, The Beatles released Yellow Submarine, their fourth film. While they enjoyed the process of making their first movie, A Hard Day’s Night, working on Help! hadn’t been as enjoyable, and Magical Mystery Tour had been a disaster. They did not want to work on a new film, but their contract with United Artists required it. They saw the film as an annoyance, but they hardly had any involvement with it.The Beatles had a three-film contract with United Artists, meaning they had to produce a third film even if they didn’t feel like it. As a result, they put out an animated movie, fulfilling their deal without having to act on screen. They didn’t even voice their characters. The band appeared, unanimated, in one scene to fulfill their contractual obligation. Otherwise, actors voiced them.
Source: Emma McKee/Emma McKee
George Harrison's "All Those Years Ago" is a John Lennon tribute song with some confusing references to God. The tune was a big hit.
George Harrison’s “All Those Years Ago” says that John Lennon was controversial. The lyrics of “All Those Years Ago” are layered and confusing. The tune was a much bigger hit in the United States than it was in the United Kingdom.
George Harrison‘s “All Those Years Ago” is one of the most famous John Lennon tribute songs. Some of the references to John’s music in “All Those Years Ago” are pretty straightforward. On the other hand, some of the callbacks to John’s life are a little more ambiguous.“All Those Years Ago” quotes the title of one of the most famous songs John Lennon ever wrote: “All You Need Is Love.” In addition, George praises John’s imagination. This is a clear throwback to John’s “Imagine.”
Source: Matthew Trzcinski/cheatsheet.com
John Lennon was famously shortsighted and in the early days of The Beatles didn’t wear his glasses in public out of vanity.
Sir Paul McCartney took photos of his collaborator in private, some of which are on display at his new photography exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, which opened today in London.
During a conversation about one of these snaps with Conan O’Brien at a live recording of the comedian’s podcast, the 81-year-old shared a hilarious story of one time Lennon refused to wear his specs.
The tale took place back in Liverpool when Lennon and McCartney would meet up at each other’s houses to write songs together.
Macca recalled: “John was really shortsighted and he used to come down from his house which was a mile or two away from where I lived and we would write songs and have a little session.”
McCartney shared: “On this occasion it was Christmas. So John, after we’d finished, he would walk back in the dark to his place.
Source:George Simpson/express.co.uk
The Beatles' early singles really catapulted the band into superstardom in the early 1960s.
And, during their journey, no song was bigger for them than the 1963 single She Loves You.
However, when they were in the recording studio, they had a lot of work to do to get it on the airwaves.
While writing and recording the track with their producer, George Martin, the boss wasn't happy about a final alteration George Harrison made to the song.
Harrison included a sixth interval chord at the end of the track, changing the feel of the final moments of the song. And Martin hated how it sounded.
Paul McCartney came to his pal's defence, however, noting that She Loves You would not be a finished song without it.
"It was corny," he said. "[Martin] thought we were joking. But it didn’t work without it, so we kept it in and eventually he was convinced.
Source: Callum Crumlish/express.co.uk
John Lennon once accidentally took LSD. When they realized he was on a roof alone, Paul McCartney and George Harrison raced to help him.John Lennon frequently used LSD, but one trip was so dangerous that Paul McCartney and George Harrison rushed to help him. Lennon accidentally took the drug during a recording session. He stepped onto the roof for fresh air and remained up there alone. When McCartney and Harrison realized this, they were terrified, knowing Lennon could have easily stepped off the roof.In a recording session for the song “Getting Better,” Lennon took what he thought was an amphetamine to keep him energized. Soon, though, he realized he’d actually taken LSD. He told Martin he felt sick, and the producer, completely unaware that Lennon had taken anything, took him to the roof for fresh air.
Source: Emma McKee/cheatsheet.com
George Harrison had a more critical views of some of The Beatles' albums than John Lennon did, at least in retrospect.
George Harrison liked The Beatles’ albums Rubber Soul and Revolver. He was not a fan of other albums like Yellow Submarine, Yesterday and Today, and Please Please Me. John Lennon had his own take on the band’s discography.
George Harrison said each of The Beatles’ albums had highlights. Despite this, he had some harsh words for a few of the Fab Four’s records. On the other hand, John Lennon said he liked some of the band’s albums more over time.
The book George Harrison on George Harrison: Interviews and Encounters includes an interview from 1977. In it, George was asked which of The Beatles’ albums he revisited. “I liked when we got into Rubber Soul, Revolver — each album had something good about it and progressed,” he said.
George wasn’t a fan of every Beatles album. “There were albums which weren’t any good as far as I was concerned, like Yellow Submarine,” he said. “We put all the songs together into an album form — I’m talking about the English albums now, because the States we found later that for every two albums we had, they’d made three because we put fourteen tracks on an album, and we’d also have singles that weren’t included on albums in those days. They’d put the singles — take off a bunch of tracks, change all the running order and then they’d make new packages like Yesterday and Today, just awful packages.”
Source: Matthew Trzcinski/cheatsheet.com
