Beatles News
The Beatles altered the music world forever. They were voted the most “mood-boosting” band by one recent survey, and are considered the most influential band of all time by many. Though the band parted ways way back in 1969, they have never left the pop culture conversation. Their legacy of timeless hits became a never-ending debate about which are the best Beatles songs. And there are many, many to choose from — which means there isn’t one “right” answer.
Of course, the “best” means different things to different people. In a survey of 2,000 adults, “Let It Be” by The Beatles was listed as one of the most relaxing tunes. For the saddest song, the youngest age range selected “Yesterday.” And “The Long and Winding Road” also made the list of saddest songs ever.
Are magic mushrooms the magic behind the band? Psychedelics became popular during the “Flower Power” movement of the 1960s. They even inspired a host of bands including, reportedly, The Beatles. Or, maybe the magic came from transcendental meditation? This form of meditation first gained international recognition when The Beatles traveled to India to learn its secrets.
Source: Stephanie Vallette/studyfinds.org
Do you Remember?
From the art of writing song lyrics, guitar playing, and stage performance, no other singer has exerted as much influence on John Lennon as Chuck Berry. “When I hear rock, good rock, the caliber of Chuck Berry, I just fall apart,”John admitted in an interview, “and I have no other interest in life. The world could be ending if rock ‘n’ roll is playing.”
He wasted no time singing a duet with his idol while he and his wife, Yoko Ono, co-hosted The Mike Douglas Show in February 1972. The trio performed a killer version of Berry’s 1959 song, “Memphis, Tennessee.”
Berry and Lennon were joined in the rendition by a backing band with Yoko Ono on percussion. A few minutes into the performance, she added an avant-garde wail to the sound, which embarrassed Berry and made him give the cameraman a stern look.Mid-way into the song, she grabs the mic one more time to contribute to the duet, but she lets out another wibble-wobble wail. The engineer who had taken the cue decided to switch off her microphone to avoid further interruptions.
Source: doyouremember.com
One of The Beatles‘ first hits was “I Saw Her Standing There.” The track was written by Paul McCartney, who was still attending school in Liverpool. Before The Beatles were formed, Paul McCartney played hooky with John Lennon to write this future Beatles hit song.
During his youth, McCartney attended the Liverpool Institute High School for Boys. The institute was also attended by George Harrison, who McCartney met during his time there. While this school provided him with an adequate education, McCartney’s true passion was music. One day, McCartney played hooky with Lennon and wrote one of The Beatles’ earliest hits, “I Saw Her Standing There.”
“I wrote it with John,” McCartney said in a 1988 interview (shared via Beatlesinterviews.org). “We sagged off school and wrote it on guitars. I remember I had the lyrics, ‘Just seventeen/Never been a beauty queen,’ which John… it was one of the first times he ever went, ‘What? Must change that!’ And it became, ‘you know what I mean.’”
Source: Ross Tanenbaum/cheatsheet.com
Eric Clapton and George Harrison had a friendship many would admire. Clapton met the Beatles members while he was in the Yardbirds — he was the supporting act for their Christmas Show at London’s Hammersmith Odeon. Although Clapton and the Fab Four had a strong bond that lasted for years, the Beatle he felt closest to was George Harrison. So, the Hammersmith Odeon show marked the beginning of a long-lasting friendship between the two.
Clapton and Harrison teamed up and worked on several music projects throughout the years. On Cream’s fourth and final studio record ‘Goodbye,’ the two collaborated on the song ‘Badge.’ They wrote it together as Clapton couldn’t finish the song by himself on time. Eric also helped George with a Beatles song — during the recordings of ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps,’ the Beatle invited Clapton to help him anonymously.
Source: Elif Ozden/rockcelebrities.net
Sir George Martin, producer of almost the entire awe-inspiring recorded catalogue of The Beatles and a hugely accomplished writer, arranger and musician with countless other achievements to his name, was born in Highbury, north London, on January 3, 1926.
What follows is a selection of comments from the unabridged version of an extensive interview by this writer with Sir George, who passed away in March 2016, two months after his 90th birthday. An edited account of the meeting, which took place at AIR Studios in London in 1998, appeared in Billboard magazine at the time, when Martin was releasing his final album project, the all-star In My Life album.
This came the year after he had produced Elton John’s “Candle In The Wind 1997,” now recognised as the best-selling single worldwide in recording history and Martin’s 30th UK No.1 single. We hope these quotes give an entertaining insight into one of the most remarkable careers in pop music.
Source: Paul Sexton/sports.yahoo.com
The Beach Boys and the Beatles often supported one another musically, with Paul McCartney sharing a friendship with Brian Wilson. John Lennon even shared his thoughts on “The Little Girl I Once Knew,” calling it a “great arrangement.” Here’s what we know about this Wilson original track.Later added to Spirit of America, this was the last Beach Boys track produced before their critically acclaimed album Pet Sounds. What made “The Little Girl I Once Knew” unique, at the time, was two dramatic periods of near-silence. As a result, this wasn’t a preferred radio track.
According to Vancouver Signature Sounds, “in the mid-’60’s radio stations preferred to avoid dead air time. Consequently, the song was poorly received by radio stations, which may account for its relatively low chart rating among the Beach Boys other singles of the period.”
This track was added to 50 Big Ones: Greatest Hits, earning thousands of Spotify plays. On the music streaming platform, Brian Wilson is credited as the sole songwriter and producer for “The Little Girl I Once Knew.”
Source: Julia Dzurillay/cheatsheet.com
Paul McCartney named his favorite love songs of all time. His list includes songs by Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, and The Beatles.
He revealed why he writes love songs so often.
Paul McCartney‘s favorite love songs are primarily by artists who got their start before The Beatles. Some of the songs are by Frank Sinatra. In addition, one of them is a song by The Beatles.
In the 2015 book Conversations With Paul McCartney, Paul was asked to name some of his favorite love songs of all time.
“I’ve always loved ‘Stardust,’ it was one of my all-time favorites, by Hoagy Carmichael,” he said. “A great melody.
“A song that’s become one of my particular favorites is ‘The Very Thought of You,’ which interestingly was written by Ray Noble, a British guy,” Paul continued. “It’s not often that you get these classics that Sinatra and Nat King Cole and Tony Bennett would sing as part of their regular repertoire, written by a British guy. So, well done our team.” Noble was a bandleader known for his recording of “Midnight, the Stars and You” that was featured in The Shining.
Source: Matthew Trzcinski/cheatsheet.com
Paul McCartney said a song from The White Album was a love song about John Lennon’s mother. He revealed what he thought about John’s mother, Julia Lennon. Paul discussed what he thought of the musicianship on the track.
Paul McCartney felt one track from The Beatles‘ The White Album was a love song to John Lennon’s mother, Julia Lennon. Subsequently, Paul discussed what he thought of Julia. Similarly, John revealed his interpretation of the song in question.
The 2015 book Conversations With Paul McCartney includes a section where Paul is asked about love songs. “There’s a kind of timelessness [to love songs], because people are always falling in love,” he said. “There’s people now who aren’t even dreaming of it, who tomorrow will be in love, and there’s people in school who in five years’ time might be in love.
“There’s people now whose hearts are broken, who might find love,” he added. “So they’re very useful things on a practical level, love songs. But more importantly, they touch you.”
Source: Matthew Trzcinski/cheatsheet.com
If you’re going to steal, steal from the best.
For most of humanity, this might mean nabbing a lick or two from Paul McCartney’s playbook.
For Paul McCartney, it meant borrowing from Bach – the fifth movement from Suite in E minor for Lute, to be specific.
As he explained during the above 2005 appearance on the Parkinson Show, when he and his buddy, George Harrison, used to sit around teaching themselves basic rock n’ roll chords, their show off move was a bit of semi-classical fingerpicking that Sir Paul modestly claimed to be “not very good at:”Thusly did the chord progressions of Bach’s Bourree in E minor – a piece which “I never knew the title of, which George and I had learned to play at an early age; he better than me actually” – inspire Blackbird:
Source: openculture.com
The relationship between John Lennon and Paul McCartney is legendary. Yet John and Ringo Starr had a strong bond, too. Even though John bossed Ringo around in The Beatles, the two bandmates grew close over the years. Ringo visited John just before his 1980 murder, and the drummer could help but compliment his friend’s mentality.
Ringo left his London apartment for a sprawling suburban estate while The Beatles were still active. John lived less than a mile away. Yet the drummer still held the lease and let his former abode become a playground for his famous friends.
Jimi Hendrix lived there. Paul recorded some experimental works there. And John and Yoko Ono stripped naked and shot their Two Virgins album cover in Ringo’s former digs.
John became Ringo’s neighbor when the drummer vacated central London. Later, the drummer moved into his former bandmate’s mansion — and burned some of John’s possessions that were left behind. Ringo roomed with John in California for a period in the mid-1970s. When Ringo visited John just before his murder in late 1980, he was blown away by his mindset, which led to him giving him the ultimate compliment.
Source: Jason Rossi/cheatsheet.com
