Beatles News
Paul McCartney recalled the Beatles’ first trip to the United States and how it convinced the members they weren’t just another band that would simply “fizzle out” after a short period of success.
In an excerpt from a book that accompanies his new photo exhibition in London (via The Guardian), McCartney explained his feelings when he rediscovered lost photos he’d taken during the 1964 trip, during which the Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show three times and secured their future.
“Anyone who rediscovers a personal relic or family treasure is instantly flooded with memories and emotions, which then trigger associations buried in the haze of time,” he wrote. “It was a period of – what else can you call it? – pandemonium. We four guys from Liverpool couldn’t possibly realize then the implications of what we were doing. By the end of February 1964, after our visit to America … we finally had to admit that we would not, as we had originally feared, just fizzle out as many groups do. We were in the vanguard of something more momentous, a revolution in the culture.”
Source: wbsm.com
George Harrison wrote The Beatles’ “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” because he liked descending chords. The star who inspired the song also inspired The Beatles’ “Dear Prudence” and “Blackbird.” “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” was not a single in the United States.
A star said he helped inspire George Harrison to write The Beatles‘ “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” The star revealed what he thought of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” when he first heard it. Subsequently, the tune appeared on a hugely successful album.During a 2016 interview with Westword, folk singer Donovan revealed he learned to play the guitar in a fingerpicking style from Maybelle Carter of the Carter Family. For context, the Carter Family was a folk group that recorded songs between the 1920s and the 1950s. Subsequently, Donovan taught John Lennon to play guitar in this style, and he also influenced George.
Source: Matthew Trzcinski/cheatsheet.com
The Beatles all considered Elvis Presley to be one of their rock idols. Much of their love for the genre comes from listening to early records by the king of rock. Paul McCartney said The Beatles tried to utilize some of Elvis’ techniques in their own work, and one song perfected what he called the “Elvis echo.”
One Elvis Presley song that profoundly impacted Paul McCartney was “Heartbreak Hotel”. McCartney was in awe of the Memphis singer’s vocals, but he also was fascinated by the blaring echo that gave the track a distinct sound. The Beatles wanted to replicate that echo, and McCartney said one song that perfected it was “A Day in the Life” from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
“Elvis is a truly great vocalist, and you can hear why on Heartbreak Hotel,” McCartney said in 2005 (via Guitar World). “It’s a perfect example of a singer being in command of the song. Musically it’s perfect, too. The double bass and the walk-in piano create this incredibly haunting atmosphere.
Source: Ross Tanenbaum/cheatsheet.com
Somewhere in the back of my mind, I always knew I had taken some pictures in the 1960s. At first, I couldn’t pinpoint the year, but I was certain we were quite young, just when the Beatles were really taking off. I never tried to find this collection – consciously, that is – but I kind of thought that it would just surface at the right time. There’s often a certain amount of serendipity involved. And while we were preparing for an exhibition of my late wife Linda’s photographs in 2020, I learned that my own had been preserved in my archives. When I first saw them after so many decades, I was delighted that these images and contact sheets had been finally located.
Source: Paul McCartney/theguardian.com
The Beatles released their penultimate album, Abbey Road, in 1969, and it has widely been recognised as one of their best works.
Included in the record - aside from such classics as Come Together and Here Comes The Sun - was Something, one of George Harrison's best-loved songs.
The tender track was written as a love letter to Harrison's first wife, Pattie Boyd. But its origins come directly from another song from American star James Taylor.
He remembered recording his own album while the Fab Four were very close: "I was making my first album at Trident Studios in London, just as the Beatles were recording the White Album nearby. I realised how lucky I was to be listening to the Beatles playbacks and watching their process in the studio, but at the same time that I was surrounded by this holy host of my absolute idols, I missed my home in North Carolina."
Source: Callum Crumlish/express.co.uk
The Beatles rocketed to international superstardom soon after they dumped drummer Pete Best. Ringo Starr entered the fray, the band sent its first album, Please Please Me, to the top of the charts in England, and the rest is history. John Lennon’s last words to Best in 1962 were fitting — a boring and simple sendoff to a band member about to lose his job.
Being remembered as the person who lost his job before the band found fame doesn’t show it, but Pete Best was instrumental to the early success of The Beatles.
His mother, Mona Best, owned Liverpool’s Casbah Club, a venue they frequently played in the early years. She also managed them briefly. The Beatles’ first drummer performed with them during their extended residencies in Hamburg, Germany. Best’s friend, Neil Aspinall, drove the group to gigs.
Source: Jason Rossi/cheatsheet.com
An apology note The Beatles wrote to a schoolgirl back in 1963 has sold at auction in London.
According to The Mail, the band wrote the letter to a young girl named Diana after canceling a visit to see her on the Isle of Wight.
Diana’s aunt worked for Paul McCartney’s cousin Bette Robbins; the band had planned to visit Robbins after their April 1963 show in Southsea, Portsmouth, and Diana was supposed to get to meet them. Unfortunately, the band had to cancel to return to London for some TV and radio appearances.
Source: kslx.com
Paul McCartney said The Beatles’ “Nowhere Man” is “an anti-John song.” In addition, he revealed what he thought about it compared to other Beatles songs. John himself explained the origins of “Nowhere Man.”
In the 1997 book Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now, Paul revealed John penned “Nowhere Man” after a night on the town. “When I came out to write with him the next day, he was kipping on the couch, very bleary-eyed,” he remembered.
“It was really an anti-John song, written by John,” Paul added. “He told me later, he didn’t tell me then, he said he’d written it about himself, feeling like he wasn’t going anywhere. I think actually it was about the state of his marriage.” For context, John was still married to his first wife, Cynthia Lennon, at the time.
“It was in a period where he was a bit dissatisfied with what was going on; however, it led to a very good song,” Paul added. “He treated it as a third-person song, but he was clever enough to say, Isn’t he a bit like you and me?’
Source: Matthew Trzcinski/cheatsheet.com
Lead Beatles guitarist George Harrison passed away after a battle with lung cancer in November 2001.Paul McCartney has again shared a photo of one of his Beatles bandmates as he gears up to release a huge photo collection to the public. Pictures snapped by Paul, using his own camera between December 1963 and February 1964, will be displayed at The National Portrait Gallery this summer.Paul McCartney Photographs 1963-64: Eyes of the Storm will run from 28 June to 1 October as one of two major exhibitions to relaunch the gallery after three years of refurbishments. The never-before-seen photographs were taken by Sir Paul McCartney during the height of Beatlemania when the Fab Four were propelled from being the most popular band in Britain to an international cultural phenomenon.
Source: Kian Rains/liverpoolworld.uk
The Beatles George Harrison was devastated upon seeing Elvis Presley's drastic transformation during their last meeting.
Like many other musicians, The Beatles chose Presley as their inspiration in the music industry. The band members had been open about their love and admiration for the King of Rock and Roll, but they also felt devastated when they noticed massive changes in the singer.
The Beatles lost its second member when Harrison died on Nov. 29, 2001 - decades after John Lennon was murdered. Before his passing, he appeared in an interview and shared what their last meeting with Presley looked like.
"It was a bit sad really, because he had all those squawking singers and trumpet players and that stuff," he said, per Express. "But he had a great rhythm section - James Burton and all that gang - and I just wanted to say to him: 'Just get your jeans on and get your guitar and do [the song] that's alright with me mama and b***er all that other c**p."
Source: Angeline Sicily/musictimes.com
