Beatles News
Before they were the Fab Four, there were five Beatles. The Beatles’ former bandmates, Stuart Sutcliffe and Pete Best, never saw the level of success the band enjoyed, only playing with them in the group’s earliest days. While they left for different reasons — Sutcliffe wanted a career change, and Best was fired — neither was treated particularly well by their former bandmates. Here are three ways that The Beatles treated their former bandmates poorly.
John Lennon was good friends with Sutcliffe, who played with The Beatles as a guitarist. Still, he often mistreated his friend.
“[Lennon] was a bit aggressive at first. If he found he could browbeat you then you were under his thumb,” a friend, Billy Harry, told The Guardian. “He used to treat Stuart [Sutcliffe] really badly at times, humiliate him in front of people.”
Still, Lennon said that he wasn’t the only one who was consistently rude to Sutcliffe. Lennon noted that everyone teased him, particularly Paul McCartney.
“We were awful to him sometimes,” Lennon said, per The Beatles: The Authorized Biography by Hunter Davies. “Especially Paul, always picking on him. I used to explain afterwards to him that we didn’t dislike him, really.”
Source: Emma McKee/cheatsheet.com
George Harrison didn’t get the same opportunities to lead Beatles songs as Paul McCartney and John Lennon. He did write several hits, including “Something” and “Here Comes the Sun,” but many of the songs he wrote were rejected or saved for future projects. The Beatles almost used one of the biggest hits from his solo career, but Lennon and McCartney ultimately rejected it.
George Harrison became known as the “dark horse” of The Beatles due to his surprising success in his solo career. However, in 1982, Harrison took a five-year hiatus from music. He returned in 1987 with “Got My Mind Set on You,” the first single from his upcoming album, Cloud Nine. The song is a cover of a little-known song written by Rudy Clark and recorded by James Ray.
“I had a lot of demos,” he said. “I played them to [the Eclectic Light Orchestra’s] Jeff [Lynne]; he picked them out. I asked him to write me a song, too. Since I’ve been not making albums, I’ve done a lot of other people’s songs. Just as demos, some old tunes, I do a quick version. I like the idea of singing somebody else’s songs.”
Source: Ross Tanenbaum/cheatsheet.com
Paul McCartney said The Beatles watched Roy Orbison write “Oh, Pretty Woman.” The song’s co-writer had a different story to tell.
The track reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Paul McCartney said Roy Orbison’s “Oh, Pretty Woman” came together while The Beatles watched. However, one of the song’s co-writers had a story that completely contradicts Paul’s. Notably, the song had an impact on cinema.
In the 1997 book Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now, Paul discussed going on tour during The Beatles’ early days. “We were starting to meet other musicians then and we’d start to see other people writing,” he recalled.
“After that, on another tour bus with Roy Orbison, we saw Roy sitting in the back of the bus, writing ‘Pretty Woman,'” he said. “It was lovely. We could trade off with each other. This was our real start.”
Source: Matthew Trzcinski/cheatsheet.com
There were many songs where George Harrison was venting his frustrations, starting with the first song he ever wrote. Here are the top 11 songs George used to vent.
11. ‘Don’t Bother Me’
“Don’t Bother Me” was the first song George ever wrote. He used it to experiment to see if he could write a tune, but he also vented in the lyrics. George was sick while The Beatles played a gig in Bournemouth, England, and the doctor treated his symptoms with morphine. He was exhausted and vented about wanting to be left alone in the song.
10. ‘Taxman’
George dared to call out the tax man on the Revolver track. He was so sick of how much money they took from him that he had to release “Taxman.” In The Beatles Anthology, George said he was so happy when he finally started making some money for doing what he loved. However, he discovered he had paid the taxman 19 shillings and sixpence out of every pound. “That was a big turn-off for Britain,” he said. “Anybody who ever made any money moved to America or somewhere else.”
Source: Hannah Wigandt/cheatsheet.com
The Beatles‘ first-ever recording is one of the most valuable records on the planet, and Paul McCartney only got it back in 1981. The little shellac disc contains a cover of Buddy Holly’s “That’ll Be the Day” and their own “In Spite of All the Danger.” It doesn’t seem like much. However, it embodies The Beatles’ early days. The single recording was integral to their transformation into one of the best rock ‘n’ roll bands.
In the summer of 1958, The Beatles were called The Quarry Men. It was John Lennon, Paul, George Harrison, drummer Colin Hanton, and Paul’s school friend, piano player John “Duff” Lowe. The Quarry Men, who would become The Beatles in four years, wanted to make their first-ever recording.
In his book The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, Paul wrote that he and the band found an ad for a little recording studio owned by Percy Phillips in Kensington, Liverpool. It cost only five pounds to record something on shellac. They split the price and set out to Phillips’ recording studio, which turned out to be a small room with a microphone.
Source: Hannah Wigandt/cheatsheet.com
When a Beatles song appears in movies and television shows, it usually means that the production paid a good deal of money for the right to use it. The Beatles have maintained such a powerful influence on popular culture that the weighty price tag is typically worth it. Here are seven perfect uses of Beatles songs in movies and television.
1. ‘With a Little Help From My Friends’ in ‘The Wonder Years’
One of the most prominent examples of a Beatles song in popular culture is “With a Little Help From My Friends” in The Wonder Years. The show uses Joe Cocker’s version of the song over the opening credits. According to actor Dan Lauria, Paul McCartney pushed Apple Records to let the show use the song. They agreed, as long as it was Cocker’s version (via Mel Magazine).
The song was a perfect fit for The Wonder Years. Cocker’s version has the ideal amount of nostalgia for a show about friendship and growing up.
2. “Here, There and Everywhere’ in ‘Friends’
In the tenth season of Friends, “Here, There and Everywhere” plays in the episode “The One With Phoebe’s Wedding.” The rendition of the song is played on steel drums as Phoebe walks down the aisle.
Source: Emma McKee/cheatsheet.com
Paul McCartney is surprised that not everyone knows the backstory of The Beatles’ “Yesterday.” “Yesterday” was released as a single many years apart in the United States and the United Kingdom.
The tune became far more popular in the U.S. than it was in the U.K.
The Beatles‘ “Yesterday” has an interesting backstory. Paul McCartney said he’s surprised he’s had to tell that story repeatedly. In addition, he said he’s had to tell one anecdote about John Lennon again and again.In a 2021 Rolling Stone article, Paul and producer Rick Rubin interviewed each other. Rubin is a major producer known for working with artists such as Aerosmith, the Beastie Boys, Kanye West, Lana Del Rey, Lady Gaga, and numerous others. In the interview, Rubin discussed watching the documentary The Beatles Anthology.
Rubin said it was incredible how much footage of The Beatles existed, especially since the band predated camera phones. “There’s so much stuff out there,” Paul said. “But I think that’s one of the reasons The Beatles keep going — because you keep discovering another little thing.”
Source: Matthew Trzcinski/cheatsheet.com
Paul McCartney’s most influential music came with The Beatles, but he never stopped writing songs. His ex-wife Heather Mills foolishly trolled Paul for working with Rihanna and Kanye West and totally missed the mark. His work beyond The Beatles has been nearly as successful. Let’s look at the five most successful Paul solo songs.
Note: We ranked Paul’s solo songs based on weeks atop the Billboard singles chart, not total weeks on the chart. Wings’ songs appear as Macca was the primary songwriter on those hits.
1. ‘Ebony and Ivory’
Macca’s 1982 collaboration with Stevie Wonder got banned in South Africa but became a rousing success in the United States. The tune spent seven weeks at No. 1 during its 19-week stay on the singles chart.
Paul’s solo tune about racial harmony nabbed three Grammy nominations for song of the year, record of the year, and best pop performance by a duo or group. “Ebony and Ivory” also achieved gold status from the Recording Industry Association of America.
Source: Jason Rossi/cheatsheet.com
Paul McCartney’s prowess as a songwriter is undisputed. He disliked some of his Beatles songs, but his hits overshadow his misfires. One part of Macca’s personal life was a major snafu, though — his marriage to Heather Mills. Their union ended in a bitter divorce. Ringo Starr, usually very pleasant in public, uncharacteristically called out Paul’s wife with three simple and vicious words.
Paul’s wedding to Linda in 1969 showed how far apart The Beatles had grown. Yet they enjoyed a decades-long marriage that saw them work as musical partners in Wings as they raised three children.
Macca moved on with Heather Mills after Linda died. Paul met Mills in 1999, a year after Linda’s death, and they became an official couple just a few months later. They married in 2002, but the partnership didn’t last.
Source: Jason Rossi/cheatsheet.com
George Harrison may not have been given enough of a chance to write and record many of his songs for The Beatles records, but the ones he did squeeze through have become all-time greats. Tracks like Here Comes the Sun, Something, I Me Mine and I Need You are just a few examples, but one of his best-known tracks appeared on The White Album, While My Guitar Gently Weeps. However, he almost didn't get it recorded until he started thinking outside the box.
Harrison wrote While My Guitar Gently Weeps and at his mother's house in the 1960s and instantly knew he had a hit.
When he took it to the recording studio in the following days, however, he found himself struggling to get the song laid down by the rest of the band.
"We tried to record it," Harrison recalled. "But John and Paul were so used to just cranking out their tunes that it was very difficult at times to get serious and record one of mine."
Source: Callum Crumlish/express.co.uk
