Beatles News
The Beatles' repertoire of music was made up largely of tracks written by the band's main songwriting duo, John Lennon and Paul McCartney. However, on a few occasions throughout the Fab Four's career, Ringo Starr and George Harrison were given opportunities to include some tracks of their own on the records. One of Harrison's biggest and best known was Taxman, which was put into their seventh studio album, Revolver. But the recording process was bogged down in politics.
Taxman was written and performed by Harrison on the record. However, he just could not find a way to finish the song perfectly. He felt it needed a solo but couldn't come up with anything good enough for the song.
Source: Callum Crumlish/express.co.uk
A small café in Basking Ridge, New Jersey was recently graced with an unexpected visit from international music icon, Sir Paul McCartney and his wife Nancy Shevell.
Blue Café is well-known for its delicious food and great service as pointed out by Dolores Cirra, admin of the BaskingRidgeMoms Facebook group. TAPinto got to sit down with Barbara and Chris Chutnik who own Blue Café where they recounted their distinguished guests' visit - all thanks to Ms.Cirra's arranging.
Barbara immediately recognized the famous pair and warmly invited them to sit down while keeping it low-key as requested by their guests. As McCartney enjoyed a cappuccino, he chatted with Barbara about accompanying his wife on adventures involving her trucking business.
Source: Bobbie Peer/tapinto.net
Paul McCartney has discussed finding it difficult to properly grieve and put into words what John Lennon meant to him after his former Beatles bandmate was killed in late 1980.
“It was difficult for everyone in the world, ’cause he was such a loved character, and such a crazy guy. He was so special,” McCartney said during a recent interview with SiriusXM’s The Beatles Channel about the making of his 1982 solo album ‘Tug Of War’.
“It had hit me, so much so that I couldn’t really talk about it,” McCartney said, explaining that he felt unable to share in the mass outpourings of tributes and collective grieving that took place following Lennon’s death.
Source: Alex Gallagher/nme.com
In 1980, Ringo Starr called Cynthia Lennon, John Lennon’s ex-wife, to break the news that the musician had died. She said that in the grief, chaos, and confusion that followed, she had two clear thoughts. One was of a warning Lennon received from a psychic, and the other was of a number that had a bizarre importance in his life. She shared all the ways that it had cropped up in both his life and death.
In 1980, Mark David Chapman shot Lennon outside his New York City apartment building. Cynthia was in England, staying with Maureen Starkey, Starr’s ex-wife. That night, she was awoken by Starkey’s screaming.
“I was asleep in the spare room when screams woke me,” she wrote in her book John. “It took me a few seconds to realize that they were Mo’s. At that moment, she burst into my room. ‘Cyn, John’s been shot. Ringo’s on the phone — he wants to talk to you.'”
Source: Emma McKee/cheatsheet.com
It is well known that the Beatles had stopped performing live by the late 1960s.
By 1966, the Fab Four were working hard on what would be their eighth album - but they wanted to majorly switch it up. Instead of just stringing together another batch of singles into an album, the band's primary songwriters, Paul McCartney and John Lennon, wrote a concept album: Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
The album has become one of The Beatles' biggest and best-known albums of all time. Not only did it include such iconic hits as its title track and Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, but it also housed With a Little Help from My Friends and A Day in the Life.
Source: Aaron Curran/liverpoolecho.co.uk
George Harrison claimed The Beatles couldn’t do anything creative without people hassling them. The press and fans were always trying to figure out the group’s creative process. Meanwhile, the record companies and executives were always trying to change things.
With how popular The Beatles were, all eyes were constantly on them. Everyone, the press, fans, and even fellow musicians, wanted to know their secret to success. They didn’t exactly have one, according to George.
During a 1967 interview, Melody Maker (per George Harrison on George Harrison: Interviews and Encounters) asked George if he could explain where The Beatles were at musically.
“We’re not trying to do anything,” George said. “This is the big joke. It’s all Cosmic Joke. Everyone gets our records and says ‘wonder how they thought of that?’ or ‘wonder what they’re planning next?’ or whatever they do say.
Source: Hannah Wigandt/cheatsheet.com
John Lennon and Paul McCartney might not have taken The Beatles to legendary heights without Ringo Starr and George Harrison’s help. Still, there’s no denying that John and Paul were the creative driving forces behind the band and responsible for some of The Beatles’ biggest hits. Paul and John kept writing hits after the Fab Four fractured, including some all-time great Christmas songs. Between John’s “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” and Paul’s “Wonderful Christmastime,” which has been covered more? Let’s find out.
Paul and John grew up as friends who shared similar life experiences before they formed a band. Both lost their mother at young ages, for instance. Their similar backgrounds and love for music helped them bond.
When they started playing and later writing music together, John and Paul were a tight-knit twosome. They often wrote in tandem and bounced ideas off each other. At the same time, the pair remained competitive against each other, striving to write more and bigger Beatles hits.
Source: Jason Rossi/cheatsheet.com
From the explosive opening of Can't Buy Me Love to the closing chords of The End, Sir Paul McCartney played one of Glastonbury's greatest ever sets this summer.
Over the course of three hours, he brought new life to the classics that established him as the planet's most successful and influential living songwriter.
Along the way, he duetted with Bruce Springsteen and Dave Grohl; played Something on George Harrison's own ukulele; and blew the fireworks budget for a thrilling Live And Let Die.
It was an emotional night from the outset, when fans stopped Sir Paul in his tracks by singing Happy Birthday.
"For me?" asked the star, who'd turned 80 a week earlier.
It was equally moving when Sir Paul played I Got A Feeling as a duet with John Lennon, whose vocals had been isolated for Peter Jackson's Get Back documentary.
For a moment, the two friends were reconnected and trading melodies again; Lennon frozen in time, as Sir Paul surveyed an audience they could, in a different universe, have shared.
Source: Mark Savage/bbc.com
Being two rock music icons of the same era isn’t the only thing David Crosby and George Harrison share. These two musicians also had a close friendship, so much so that the CSNY icon wrote a song dedicated to the Beatles’ lead guitarist earlier in his time with the band. During a recent interview with Goldmine, he remembered its creation process as well as his relationship with Harrison.
When the interviewer mentioned the 1973 Byrds reunion album, Crosby first said, “It is a better album than most people give it credit for, I think. Thanks, man.” He then went on to talk about ‘Laughing,’ revealing that the song had an intention, “I think ‘Laughing’ is one of my better songs. It was written with a purpose.”
Later in the conversation, David Crosby opened up about his relationship with the Beatles members and said, “I was friends with George Harrison. He was the Beatle who I was closest to. I was friends with all of them, and I am still friends with Paul and Ringo, but I was closest with George. I would go to his house for dinner. We hung out. We talked a lot. He was very friendly. We played a bunch of music together. We had a long and fruitful relationship. I liked him a lot.”
Source: Melek Nur Pervan/rockcelebrities.net
From 1963 to 1969, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr headed to the studio to record Christmas singles for The Beatles’ fan club. Their earliest Christmas records captured the camaraderie of the band members. Over the years, the records lost some of their early playfulness, particularly with Harrison’s parts. His final contribution clocked in at just six seconds long. In 1963, The Beatles sent their first Christmas record to paying members of their fan club. Backed only by chimes, the band performed a heavily ad-libbed version of “Good King Wenceslas.” Included with the song was a great deal of banter back and forth between the band.
Source: Emma McKee/cheatsheet.com
