Beatles News
John Lennon once explained the meaning of The Beatles’ “I’m Only Sleeping.” Paul McCartney revealed why the song features the sound of a guitar getting played in reverse. The tune appeared on Revolver, which was more popular in the United States then the United Kingdom.
The Beatles‘ “I’m Only Sleeping” was inspired by an aspect of John Lennon’s life. Subsequently, Paul McCartney explained why the song features the sound of a guitar played backward. “I’m Only Sleeping” isn’t the only time The Beatles sang about wanting to sleep.
The book All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono features an interview from 1980. In it, John was asked about the meaning of “I’m Only Sleeping.” “That’s me — dreaming my life away,” he said.
In the 1997 book Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now, Paul discussed the origin of “I’m Only Sleeping.” “It was a nice idea, there’s nothing wrong with it,” he said. “I’m not being lazy, I’m only sleeping, I’m yawning, I’m meditating, I’m having a lay-in the luxury of all of that was what it was about.”
Source: Matthew Trzcinski/cheatsheet.com
London’s EMI/Abbey Road Studios were a microcosm of musical evolution in the 20th century. So, it makes sense that the connecting thread through a lot of that development is the most innovative band ever to exist in a year with a 19 in front of it. The monolithic discography The Beatles created at 3 Abbey Road both benefited from and inspired loads of other classic records made within those hallowed walls.
The elaborate three-studio setup built at that august address by EMI opened for business in 1931. The first client at what was then called EMI Studios was Sir Edward Elgar, the British composer most famous for writing Pomp and Circumstance. He led the London Symphony Orchestra through that perennial graduation march to cut the ribbon on the place.
The Beatles album Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band can be bought here.
Source: Jim Allen/udiscovermusic.com
Paul McCartney rarely says anything negative about The Beatles and the band’s songs. He has said slightly negative statements about specific pieces, but it’s not usually a mean or biting comment. With that being said, he disliked a few Beatles songs, even if it can be hard to tell.
Here are 5 Beatles songs disliked by Paul McCartney ‘She Said She Said’ Paul McCartney and George Harrison | Edward Wing/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
“She Said She Said” is a favorite song for many Beatles fans, but Paul McCartney doesn’t share the same attachment. However, it may have to do with the story behind the song rather than the track itself. “She Said She Said” is based on an acid trip that George Harrison and John Lennon embarked on with actor Peter Fonda.
Source: Ross Tanenbaum/imdb.com
Paul McCartney revealed there’s a secret chord in The Beatles‘ “I’ll Get You.” He and John Lennon wrote the song while still living in Liverpool. The songwriting partners didn’t know many chords back then, but they had recently learned a new one when they wrote the tune.
The Beatles’ “I’ll Get You” was the B-side of their 1963 hit single, “She Loves You.” However, Paul and John wrote it years before while still living in Liverpool.
In The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, Paul wrote that he and his songwriter partner wrote the tune at John’s house on Menlove Avenue. John’s Aunt Mimi raised him starting from when he was a toddler. She was a strict, strong-willed woman who didn’t want her nephew to waste his life on music.
According to Paul McCartney, John was “the posh one,” living in a nice neighborhood, but Mimi hated when John’s friends came over to play music. She treated them like they were the worst company in the world.
Source: Hannah Wigandt/cheatsheet.com
Sir Paul McCartney has been named as the UK's top choice to perform at King Charles' coronation.
King Charles III's coronation will take place on May 6. Reports in the past week claimed several artists had turned down the opportunity to perform at the event, including Harry Styles and Sir Elton John.
A survey by pub chain Hungry Horse asked 2,000 people for their choice on the ideal performer.
Adele, who came out as the UK’s favoured choice to perform with 16% of the vote, has also reportedly ruled out a coronation performance, meaning Sir Paul McCartney (8%) is the top artist yet to rule themselves out of the celebrations.
1980s icon Kate Bush took 8% of the vote, after her 1985 hit Running Up That Hill saw a huge resurgence throughout 2022 thanks to its use in TV series Stranger Things. Lewis Capaldi (8%), Stormzy (7%) and Tom Jones (6%) also finished within the top ten.
The Beatles were heavily influenced by Bob Dylan, especially John Lennon. Lennon gravitated toward Dylan’s more introspective songwriting style and brought that into his music. While many of Lennon’s songs for The Beatles were inspired by Bob Dylan, the “Blowin’ in the Wind” singer thought he went too far with one song.
“Norwegian Wood” is from The Beatles’ 1965 album Rubber Soul. The song was written by John Lennon and was a veiled admission to an affair he was involved in. It was also the first song that featured George Harrison playing the sitar. The song is influenced by Dylan’s songwriting, with Lennon delivering more reflective and personal lyrics.
While Lennon channeled Bob Dylan for many Beatles tracks, Dylan was particularly enraged by “Norwegian Wood”. According to author David Dalton’s book Who Is That Man? In Search of the Real Bob Dylan, Dylan grew frustrated with other artists copying him. Sonny & Cher admitted their hit “I Got You Babe” was influenced by him, and “Norwegian Wood” pushed him over the edge.
Source: Ross Tanenbaum/cheatsheet.com
On March 2, 1964, nearly 60 years ago today, The Beatles began filming A Hard Day’s Night. This was The Beatles’ first film, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. The band, having enjoyed success in the United Kingdom throughout 1963, were now international stars. On this day, George Harrison also met his future wife, Pattie Boyd.
When The Beatles traveled to America in early 1964, Beatlemania followed them across the Atlantic. They were at the height of their fame, and those around them decided to capitalize on that by putting the band in a movie. They wanted to do something different than typical music movies, too.
“We’d made it clear to Brian [Epstein] that we weren’t interested in being in one of those typical nobody-understands-our-music plots where the local dignitaries are trying to ban something as terrible as the Saturday night hop,” John Lennon said, per Pop Matters. “The kind of thing where we’d just pop up a couple of times between the action. Never mind all our pals, how could we face each other if we had allowed ourselves to be involved in that kind of movie?”
Source: Emma McKee/cheatsheet.com
No artist did more to legitimize rock music as a serious art form than the Beatles — and perhaps no accolade symbolized that shift more than the band's magnum opus, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the first rock LP to win Album of the Year at the 10th Annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 29, 1968.
The Fab Four had shown a staggering amount of growth since winning their first two Grammys — Best New Artist and Best Performance by a Vocal Group for "A Hard Day's Night" — in 1965. The Rubber Soul track "Michelle" earned them another trophy for Song of the Year in 1967. Still, the most coveted prize of the ceremony had eluded them so far, with Help! and Revolver losing back-to-back years to Frank Sinatra's September of My Years and A Man and His Music, respectively.
Source: Doug Podell/1067wllz.iheart.com
The Beatles worked together to make some of the most enduring music of the twentieth century, but they didn’t do that without some fights along the way. The band met as young teenagers and spent most of their time together; arguments were bound to happen. There is, of course, the long-running feud between Paul McCartney and John Lennon and the court case after the band broke up. Some of their lesser-known fights were just as explosive, though. Somewhat surprisingly, George Harrison was at the center of many of them.Before The Beatles were famous, they played in German nightclubs and had five members. Their one-time guitarist Stuart Sutcliffe was often the butt of the band’s jokes, and he frequently clashed with McCartney. During a concert, something McCartney said about Sutcliffe’s girlfriend led to a fistfight.
Source: Emma McKee/cheatsheet.com
Ringo Starr could always rely on a little help from his friends. The drummer’s 1973 solo album was the only post-Beatles record to feature every member of the Fab Four (albeit on different songs). Yet Ringo got stood up by Bob Dylan as the ex-Beatle worked on a solo album in 1987. Similar to the time Paul McCartney threatened him and made Ringo emotional, Dylan wasn’t very kind to one of his friends.
The story of The Beatles conquering the United States is practically rock history 101 at this point. After winning over English fans with their earliest singles, the Fab Four won over millions of U.S. fans with their Feb. 9, 1964, appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.
The band met Dylan when they toured the U.S. more extensively later that year. That was also the first time The Beatles got high, and Ringo was the first to smoke Dylan’s stash.
Source: Jason Rossi/cheatsheet.com
