Beatles News
Some people are so musically gifted that they don’t need many lessons to learn how to play an instrument. Paul McCartney is one of these gifted musicians and plays several instruments efficiently, including the guitar and the piano. While the former Beatle can play the piano at a high level, he says he never gravitated toward piano lessons as a kid.
Paul McCartney was born and raised in Liverpool, England, just as all the other Beatles were. He grew up in a working-class family of four, where his dad worked as a salesman while his mother was a midwife. He always had a passion for music, and his home had a piano. In an interview with Wired, McCartney says his dad knew how to play the piano but refused to teach him.
“When I was a kid, we had a piano in the house,” McCartney shared. “My dad played it. I’ve read stuff that lots of people in those days, all over the world really, had pianos in their houses. It was like having a computer these days. Everyone’s got one. That was a way people entertain themselves because there wasn’t much other entertainment, going back like before TV. So, yeah, we had a piano in the house, and I used to just noodle on it, and I asked my dad to teach me, but he wouldn’t.”
Source: Ross Tanenbaum/cheatsheet.com
Paul McCartney will forever be in denial about John Lennon‘s death. That’s his coping mechanism. Coming to terms with the fact that his long-time friend, songwriting partner, and bandmate is gone is not possible for Paul. They had their ups and downs like other bandmates or friends, but Paul and John had a special connection.
After Mark David Chapman shot John dead in front of his New York City apartment in 1980, Paul was shocked along with the rest of the world. However, he had to grieve his friend publicly. It wasn’t easy, especially when fans started treating him differently following the tragedy.
Rolling Stone pointed it out during Paul’s 2001 interview. “It seemed that after John died, people often felt that part of praising him meant putting you down,” they said.
Source: Hannah Wigandt/cheatsheet.com
The Beatles’ albums had unique covers that captured the record’s tone. Whether it’s simplistic like The White Album or visually cluttered like Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, each has a recognizable image that makes each album distinct. While all of the albums contain iconic imagery, Paul McCartney does have a favorite piece of artwork for a Beatles album.
Maybe the most recognizable Beatles album cover outside of Abbey Road is Sgt. Pepper’s. The artwork features the Fab Four in bright, eye-catching outfits, surrounded by images of other celebrities. The image was designed by pop artists Peter Blake, and Jann Haworth Blake suggested that the band would perform in front of a crowd, and the fans could be anyone dead, alive, or fictitious.
“I asked the four Beatles for a list and I did one myself,” Blake said per Americansongwriter.com. “Robert Fraser did a list and I can’t remember whether Brian Epstein did one or not. The way that worked out was fascinating. John gave me a list and so did Paul. George suggested only Indian gurus, about six of them, and Ringo said, ‘Whatever the others say is fine by me’ and didn’t suggest anyone. It’s an insight into their characters. All kinds of people were suggested.
Source: Ross Tanenbaum/cheatsheet.com
There are plenty of arguments regarding who might be the best guitarist in the rock scene. Everyone has their picks, from Jimi Hendrix to Eddie Van Halen, and it seemed that George Harrison also had two favorites. During a new chat with Classic Rock, The Rolling Stones‘ former bassist Bill Wyman recalled how George named his picks for the best guitarists when he asked the late musician for a favor.
In the interview, Bill shared several memories with different artists he worked with, including his collaboration with George Harrison in Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings’ 2001 record, ‘Double Bill.’ Wyman revealed that he had offered Harrison to play one of the guitar solos, to which the guitarist initially refused by stating that he already had the best.
“George played on one of the Rhythm Kings albums just before he died,” recalled Bill. “I phoned him up and said, ‘Can you do a guitar part on this track?’ He went, ‘What are you calling me up for? You’ve got two of the best guitarists in the world in your band – Albert Lee and Martin Taylor. What do you want me for? I only play one note.'”
Source: Melisa Karakas/rockcelebrities.net
After John Lennon left The Beatles, he didn’t frequently do performances. He never even went on a full tour. However, John Lennon performed in front of a large audience after losing a bet to Elton John. John recalls the performance being his first in a while, and he was “physically sick” before getting on stage.
John Lennon and Elton John became good friends. The two collaborated on two songs: A cover of “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” by Sir Elton and Lennon’s “Whatever Gets You Through the Night.” Lennon helped Elton with his cover of the famous Beatles song but was credited as Dr. Winston O’Boogie, with Winston being his middle name. The song was commercially successful and reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100.
Source: Ross Tanenbaum/cheatsheet.com
The Beatles’ breakup shattered the rock and roll industry as fans struggled to believe the band was no more. While fans still debate who is to blame for the breakup, many are surprised about where it happened. The Beatles had already announced their eventual split, but John Lennon made their separation official at Disney World, the most magical place on earth.
In September 1969, John Lennon privately informed The Beatles of his intentions to leave the band. Later, in 1970, Paul McCartney publicly announced he would leave the band. The last collaboration between The Beatles would be Let it Be and Abbey Road, two great albums shrouded by legacies of feuds.
Lennon and McCartney both went on solo careers, with McCartney debuting his first solo album McCartney in 1970. Lennon’s first solo album Plastic Ono Band debuted in December 1970. While The Beatles had been separated for a few years, the dissolution was not official until Lennon signed the necessary paperwork in 1974.
Source: Ross Tanenbaum/cheatsheet.com
In 1980, Paul McCartney found that his celebrity wouldn’t help him avoid arrest when he brought drugs into Japan. The musician arrived in Tokyo with half a pound of marijuana in his bag, an amount that could’ve have landed him in prison for seven years. While McCartney ultimately avoided more than a few days of jail time, he said the experience was frightening. Still, he admitted it was stupid to have even been in the situation.
In 1980, McCartney flew to Tokyo in preparation for a multiple-city concert tour with his band Wings. When he arrived at Tokyo’s Narita International Airport, a customs agent discovered half a pound of marijuana in his bag. While he said it was for his personal use, the amount meant that he was at risk for a smuggling charge and up to seven years in prison.
“We were about to fly to Japan and I knew I wouldn’t be able to get anything to smoke over there,” McCartney said in 2004, per History. “This stuff was too good to flush down the toilet, so I thought I’d take it with me.”
When reflecting on the incident, he said he’d been stupid to try to bring drugs to Japan.
Source: Emma McKee/cheatsheet.com
George Harrison disregarded his ego and allowed his friend, Eric Clapton, to play on his song “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” The Beatle thought Clapton did great work, but they had to make the tune sound more “Beatle-y.”
The Beatle and Clapton briefly crossed paths several times throughout the first half of the 1960s. However, they didn’t become friends until the latter part of the decade.
In Martin Scorsese’s documentary, George Harrison: Living in the Material World, Clapton said George recognized him as an equal because Clapton had a “level of proficiency even then that he saw as being fairly unique too.”
The Yardbirds guitarist also thinks George liked that he was a free agent. “And I think, if anything, he may have already been wondering about whether he was in the right place being in a group,” Clapton said. “Because the group politic is a tricky one. There was a lot about what he had going, which I envied, and there was a lot about what I had going that he envied.”
Source: Hannah Wigandt/cheatsheet.com
Fans were devastated in April 1970 when the Beatles announced they were splitting up. In fact, the band had been falling apart behind the scenes for the previous few years, amid fights, rivalries and resentments. In an extraordinarily frank and unvarnished interview in 1971 with The Daily Express, Lennon opened up about why for the rest of his life the musician would never waver from his conviction he could see "no reason" why they should ever reunite.
The interview was given to Daily Express entertainment journalist David Wigg in October 1971.
Lennon had been increasingly dismissive of some of the Beatles material. Towards the end of the group he also implied McCartney's compositions were rather lightweight.
Source: Stefan Kyriazis/express.co.uk
John Lennon died at the age of 40, after nearly two decades of unprecedented success as a musician. He’d been a creative person all his life and was able to make a career out of it. He said that, in many ways, he was using his creative career as a way to avoid maturing. Lennon didn’t want to age, but he was exhausting himself with his ways of preventing aging. By the time he was in his mid-thirties, Lennon decided that his method of maintaining immaturity was not working for him.
Source: Emma McKee/cheatsheet.com
