Beatles News
Before becoming much better known for their original music, most bands start out doing their own versions of their favorite songs from other artists. The Beatles were no exception, as it would be way too much to assume they came out swinging with "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and magically transformed popular music as we know it with their brilliant compositions. As any Beatles fan worth their salt will tell you, the band, once they had fully evolved from John Lennon's skiffle band the Quarrymen, got their start by covering songs from American rock 'n' roll performers, of which there were many who would eventually reach legendary status. But which of these acts did they cover the most?
Source: Lorenzo Tanos/grunge.com
The Beatles were not afraid to express their political views, especially Paul McCartney and John Lennon. They often expressed their opinions through their music in subtle and direct ways. One class Beatles song, written by McCartney, led to the bassist having a full circle moment years after the band disbanded. “It was in the era of civil rights, and I was watching the Little Rock episode where the kids were being booed and shouted at and as the black kids as they were going into the school,” McCartney shared. “And so this idea of ‘Blackbird’ became black girl in my mind.”
Source: Ross Tanenbaum/cheatsheet.com
Ringo Starr had a bit of a rocky start with The Beatles. Producer George Martin replaced him when the band recorded the single “Love Me Do.” and Ringo got replaced again when he struggled to play the drums on his solo debut. Still, his timekeeping skills helped propel the Fab Four to international fame. When it came time to finally record a drum solo with The Beatles toward the end of their run, Ringo copied a famous 1960s song to get the job done.Ringo called the B-side “Rain” one of The Beatles’ weird tracks because he played in a way he never had before. The song is almost like one big solo since he drops impressively busy fills throughout it. Still, he never grabs the spotlight for himself in the tune. Ringo never wanted to take center stage in The Beatles.
Source: Jason Rossi/cheatsheet.com
John Lennon had a particular affinity for his wife’s long, blonde hair. That is, until she cut it short and he didn’t speak to her for two days. Here’s what Cynthia Lennon said about the Beatles’ member and his reaction to her short locks in her 2005 memoir John.
John Lennon began writing and performing music while in college. He partnered with Paul McCartney and George Harrison for the Quarrymen. Around the same time, he started a relationship with Cynthia Lennon (then Cynthia Powell). She was also a student at Liverpool College of Art.
In her 2005 memoir, Cynthia Lennon noted John Lennon’s particular affinity for her hair. At one point, she even dyed her locks a lighter shade of blonde to grab his attention. It worked — the two started their relationship shortly after.
The couple remained together as the Beatles rose in popularity, with John and Cynthia Lennon officially marrying in 1962 after an unexpected pregnancy. They had their first child, Julian, in 1963.
Source:Julia Dzurillay/cheatsheet.com
That's exactly what happened when he guested on an episode of "Carpool Karaoke." The legendary performer rolled through his hometown of Liverpool with host James Corden, sharing memories of the city, surprising fans in his favorite pub, and bringing all of us a badly needed emotional release with his music.
The most prevailing themes in The Beatles' music are those of love, peace, joy, and togetherness. It's the kind of music that you put on during the happiest times and when you've had a really rough day.
One of the most comforting songs in difficult times is "Let It Be," and that's no accident. During their road trip, McCartney told Corden it was inspired by a dream of his late mother.
"My mum, who died, came to me in the dream and was reassuring me, saying it's gonna be OK, let it be." McCartney said. "I wrote the song 'Let It Be,' but it was [inspired by] her positivity."
Source: Mark Shrayber/upworthy.com
Despite receiving all kinds of treatment for various cancers worldwide, George Harrison still made time to work on music in his last months. He worked on his final album, Brainwashed, and contributed to some of his friends’ albums.
In 1997, doctors diagnosed George with throat cancer. They successfully removed the lump, and George underwent two radiation treatments at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London.
George downplayed his illness by saying, “I am very lucky. I’m not going to die on you folks just yet.” Shortly after becoming cancer-free, George almost died in a home invasion in 1999. The former Beatle also downplayed the injuries he sustained during the attack. However, George’s son, Dhani, later said they likely took years off George’s life.
Source: Hannah Wigandt/cheatsheet.com
While The Beatles was their band name, the four members were always themselves. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr shared their authentic selves in their songwriting and public personas. However, on one album, The Beatles pretended to be different types of people.
In an interview with Barnes & Noble’s James Daunt, Paul McCartney asked if he ever pretended to be Wings or The Beatles while performing. McCartney said he has always been himself during his music career, except for one album with The Beatles. The album was Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
“We weren’t pretending to be beetles. That was just, we thought that was just a great group name that a lot of girls particularly thought was creepy,” McCartney explained. “I wasn’t pretending to be Wings. It was, again, it was a group name. But we were pretending to be Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band because that was the whole idea of that record.”
Source: Ross Tanenbaum/cheatsheet.com
Ringo Starr and George Harrison collaborated musically for years, but they had shared interests far outside of writing and performing music. Harrison was an avid gardener — his wife said he would want to be remembered as this over a musician — and his keen interest drew in Starr as well. The Beatles drummer talked about the way a series of gifts from Harrison fostered an interest in gardening for him as well.
In 1970, Harrison bought Friar Park, a sprawling estate in Henley-on-Thames, England. The mansion’s extensive grounds were what first interested Harrison in gardening. He threw himself into the hobby.
“He’d be like, ‘Get that pond, put it over there, and move that hill. Don’t like that hill,'” his son Dhani Harrison said in the documentary George Harrison: Living in the Material World. “And the next week, it would be pond over there, hill over there. And it would look better.”
Source: Emma McKee/cheatsheet.com
The Beatles were known as The Fab Four. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison were all super famous as a band in the ‘60s. Even after The Beatles broke up, each musician had their own lucrative solo career. Of course, Beatlemaniacs each had their favorites, and that included the bandmates themselves. Starr was a guest on the Broken Record with Rick Rubin podcast on Sept. 21, 2021. He was promoting his EP, Change the World, his second of that year after Zoom In. Of course, Rubin couldn’t help but ask about the Beatles, and Starr came up with this juicy tidbit about rooming with McCartney. Being in The Beatles together meant more than just playing together. Lennon and McCartney were a prolific songwriting duo. They also spent lots of time together on the road. McCartney even shared that when their car broke down, the four huddled in a “Beatle Sandwich” to keep warm.
Source: Fred Topel/cheatsheet.com
As December beckons, our Christmas classic playlists will begin booming away with their festive merriment if they haven’t already. One song Brits will no doubt hear over and over again in shopping malls, supermarkets and at parties over the holiday period is Slade’s 1973 hit Merry Xmas Everybody. The band’s best-selling single has sold in excess of one million copies and beat Wizzard’s I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday to No 1 that year. But did you know that Noddy Holder’s band have The Beatles’ John Lennon to thank for their most famous track?
Slade guitarist Dave Hill spoke with Jackie Brambles on her Greatest Hits Radio show this evening when he made the reveal. The 76-year-old confessed that his band only went into a US studio after Lennon had cancelled a solo recording session that day.
The rocker shared: “We were in New York in the summer of 1973 – it was 100 degrees, it certainly wasn’t Christmas! – and we didn’t' really know this song, but when John Lennon cancelled his time in Record Plant Studios we went in just to do this Christmas number. The studio is in an office block, so we were all in the foyer at half nine in the morning trying to get the vocals going and singing ‘So here it is Merry Christmas...’ in front of a load of American businessmen.”
Source: George Simpson/express.co.uk
