Beatles News
The Beatles have hundreds of fascinating stories involving how they recorded their music. The band had many innovative recording techniques but also did some weird tricks to boost the studio’s atmosphere. During a recording session for one of The Beatles’ more hardcore songs, George Harrison started a fire and ran around the room.
“Helter Skelter” is one of the most hardcore songs by The Beatles. Many consider this song from The White Album to be one of the earliest examples of heavy metal. However, it was a change of pace for The Beatles, who often made calmer and lighter rock music. In an interview with GQ, Paul McCartney said he made “Helter Skelter” after reading comments by Pete Townshend of The Who.
“I can see why people would think it was the precursor of heavy metal,” McCartney said. “How it came about was I had read in a music paper that The Who had done a really heavy track, and Pete Townshend of The Who was quoted saying, ‘We’ve just made the dirtiest, loudest, filthiest song ever.’ So, I was kind of jealous. I didn’t hear their song. I still don’t know what song he was referring to, but I went in the studio, and I said, ‘Guys, we’ve got to do a song that’s dirtier and filthier and louder than The Who.’”
Source: Ross Tanenbaum/cheatsheet.com
It was a sweet slice of cultural history and, at the same time, evidence of an unlikely clash of English social classes. The discovery of a tape recording of an early Beatles concert made in 1963 at a Buckinghamshire private school last week has astonished music experts and fans alike.
And now the crackling, hissing 60-year-old tape, complete with audible banter from the Fab Four, is to be restored for wider listening, according to the BBC journalist who uncovered the story, Samira Ahmed. The former student who made the tape, John Bloomfield, hopes to have it enhanced with the same kind of technology that has recently improved other early Beatles demo tapes and first studio takes.
Source: Vanessa Thorpe/theguardian.com
The Beatles did have some odd songs in their discography. Tracks like “I Am the Walrus” and “Happiness Is a Warm Gun” are perfect examples of when the Liverpool band got weird. One of their most bizarre deep cuts came from Paul McCartney, who wrote and performed it while in an “experimental mode.”
“Wild Honey Pie” is a solo recording from Paul McCartney. It’s a less-than-one-minute track that the artist wrote while in India. It’s a strange track that sounds like many instruments are being bashed together while McCartney annoyingly repeats the titular phrase.
According to McCartney, they weren’t sure what to do with “Wild Honey Pie”, but George Harrison’s wife, Pattie Boyd, liked the song so much they decided to keep it in the album.
“[‘Wild Honey Pie’] was just a fragment of an instrumental that we were not sure about, but Pattie Harrison liked it very much, so we decided to leave it on the album,” McCartney said.
Source: Ross Tanenbaum/cheatsheet.com
Outside of Lennon-McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr formed their own songwriting partnership in The Beatles. They continued working together for decades after the band’s split. They trusted each other as musicians and knew exactly what they’d get when they asked each other to appear in songs. Here are 10 of the best collaborations between George and Ringo, in and out of the recording studio.
10. ‘Octopus’s Garden’
Ringo wrote “Octopus’s Garden” after sailing one day in 1968. He ordered fish and chips, and they accidentally gave him squid. Ringo’s feelings about the tensions between The Beatles are expressed in the lyrics like, “I’d like to be under the sea.” He wanted to be anywhere else but in the recording studio with them. However, he did let George help him throughout the songwriting process.
Source: Hannah Wigandt/cheatsheet.com
Many of The Beatles’ fans were shocked and devastated when the band announced they were splitting up. However, behind the scenes, it was inevitable as tensions between the band members rose. While it’s hard to pinpoint the exact reason why The Beatles called it quits, there are a few songs that hint at their dissolution.
“The Ballad of John and Yoko” was a single released in 1969 that chronicled the events of John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s wedding, along with their honeymoon activities that included the infamous “bed-in” peace protests. The track featured only Lennon and Paul McCartney. George Harrison and Ringo Starr didn’t skip the track out of spite but because it felt like a track specifically for Lennon.
While this song didn’t create turmoil within The Beatles, it was a sign that Lennon was becoming more interested in creating music with Yoko rather than his fellow bandmates. In Anthology, producer George Martin said “The Ballad of John and Yoko” was evidence that John Lennon had already “mentally left the group.”
Source: Ross Tanenbaum/cheatsheet.com
John Lennon and May Pang's relationship is the subject of an upcoming documentary.
Premiering on April 13, the documentary "The Last Weekend" will focus on The Beatles member's 18-month romance with his and Yoko Ono's secretary. The film will hit theaters amid Pang's busy photo exhibitions in New York and Philadelphia.
In the documentary's preview, the now-72-year-old artist recounted her time with the late singer, including her refusal of Ono's offer to become Lennon's girlfriend.
In 1973, Pang started working as Lennon and Ono's personal secretary. But she had a more intimate relationship with the "Hey Jude" crooner, although she disapproved of it at first.
Speaking about the scenes in "The Last Weekend" preview, Pang told People how Ono asked her to fill the time she would be away from Lennon because she "wanted time apart." With that, she aimed for Pang to become Lennon's new girlfriend until she comes back.
According to Pang, she respected their marriage so much that she refused to do it. She added that she was already happy being their secretary.
Source: Angeline Sicily/musictimes.com
In 1970, nearly a year after John Lennon left the band, Paul McCartney announced that The Beatles were no longer collaborating. Not long after, McCartney filed a lawsuit against the band. He wanted to take control of the catalog from their manager, Allen Klein. The rest of his bandmates vehemently opposed him in this, but they eventually realized that he was right. Lennon admitted this on this day in 1973.
The Beatles began working with Klein after the death of their longtime manager, Brian Epstein. McCartney had never wanted Klein as their manager, instead pushing for Lee Eastman, his father-in-law. He didn’t trust Klein, so in 1970, he sued the band to regain control.
“The only way for me to save The Beatles and Apple — and to release Get Back by Peter Jackson which allowed us to release Anthology and all these great remasters of all the great Beatles records — was to sue the band,” McCartney told GQ. “If I hadn’t done that, it would have all belonged to Allen Klein. The only way I was given to get us out of that was to do what I did.”
Source: Emma McKee/cheatsheet.com
When John Lennon‘s first wife, Cynthia, heard their son, Julian Lennon, sing for the first time following John’s 1980 murder, she had to do a double take. She wasn’t alone. Fans worldwide were stunned when they heard the Beatle’s son sing. Cynthia Lennon was John’s first wife from 1962 to 1968. She knew John before The Beatles were swept up in fame and experienced the most hectic moments of the band’s popularity. So, she got to see many of the behind-the-scenes moments of one of the most important bands in history. Her marriage crumbled in the late 1960s after John started his affair with Yoko Ono. However, she never stopped loving the musician. While he started a new life and solo career in the 1970s, she continued as a designer and raised their son Julian, who eventually pursued a music career like his father.
Source: Hannah Wigandt/cheatsheet.com
Choosing George Harrison‘s best collaborations isn’t easy because there are so many. However, for this list, we kept it to the collaborations that happened in the recording studio only, whether they were on one of George’s tracks or another artist’s. Here are 10 of George’s best collaborations. George used Chinese philosophy to write The Beatles’ “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” In his 1980 memoir, I Me Mine, he explained that he read that everything is relative to everything else in I Ching, the Chinese classic Book of Changes. So, he used it to write a song. He randomly opened a book and saw the words “gently weeps,” and the tune was born. It’s one of George’s best collaborations because he asked Eric Clapton to perform on it. The guitarist was hesitant about playing on a Beatles song, but George’s ego was fine with it. Later, George loved how Clapton performed the song on their 1991 Japanese tour.
Source: Hannah Wigandt/cheatsheet.com
Paul McCartney has been one of the most influential figures in the music industry for over six decades. His tenure with The Beatles and his solo career have produced some of the most iconic and timeless music in history, and his legacy continues to inspire new generations of musicians and fans alike. In this article, we will detail the songs that Paul McCartney named his favorites of all time.
McCartney‘s tenure with The Beatles is considered one of the most remarkable musical collaborations in the history of music. Along with John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, McCartney helped revolutionize the music industry and changed the course of music forever. The Beatles‘ innovative and experimental approach to music, coupled with McCartney‘s undeniable talent for songwriting and musical arrangements, led to the creation of timeless classics such as Hey Jude, Let it Be, Yesterday, and Eleanor Rigby.
After the break-up of The Beatles in 1970, McCartney continued his musical journey as a solo artist. He has since released over 25 studio albums, including McCartney, Ram, Band on the Run, Tug of War, and Egypt Station. His solo career has been just as impressive as his work with The Beatles, with many of his songs becoming anthems of the 70s, 80s, and 90s. He has sold over 90 million copies worldwide during his solo career.
Source: Sami Altintas/metalcastle.net
