Beatles News
The Beatles practically grew up in front of the world. They were barely out of their teenage years when they hit it big in 1962. The public took almost as much interest in their love lives as it did in the music. John Lennon was the first Beatle to get married (George Harrison had some thoughts about it affecting the band’s image), and Paul McCartney knew it was destined to fail.
John Lennon and Cynthia Powell met in school in 1957. The attraction wasn’t mutual at first, but Powell became drawn to John when she saw him play music. John and a pregnant Powell married in 1962, just as the Beatles started to find success, but marriage didn’t seem to suit the songwriter.
John once said he felt embarrassed being the only married member of the group. He likened his marriage to Powell to walking around with his fly open.
Source: Jason Rossi/cheatsheet.com
George Harrison said he wrote “Not Guilty” about the “grief” he received from his fellow Beatles, Paul McCartney and John Lennon, during the making of The White Album. The “Taxman” singer was getting increasingly angry with his bandmates at the time and needed to vent his frustrations. It all came out in a song.
George wrote his first song, “Don’t Bother Me,” in 1963. Paul and John immediately agreed to keep The Beatles’ songwriting to themselves.
When George came to John, Paul, and producer George Martin with his songs, they only allowed him a couple on an album. Eventually, George grew tired of having to push, so he started stockpiling.
Source: Hannah Wigandt/cheatsheet.com
In the summer of 1963, the Beatles had some time off, and while the other three members of the band went on holiday to Europe, George Harrison became the first Beatle to visit America, when, on September 16, 1963, along with his brother Peter, he went to Benton, Illinois – population, 7,000 - to visit their older sister, Louise.
According to George, “I went to New York and St Louis in 1963, to look around, and to the countryside in Illinois, where my sister was living at the time. I went to record stores. I bought Booker T and the MGs' first album, Green Onions, and I bought some Bobby Bland, all kind of things.” George also bought James Ray’s single “Got My Mind Set On You” that he later covered in 1987.
Source: Richard Havers/yahoo.com
Each night during its U.S. tour, the All-Starr Band serves up two hours of jukebox rock ‘n’ roll from the 1950s-1980s, including The Beatles’ “Yellow Submarine,” Toto’s “Africa,” Men at Work’s “Who Can It Be Now,” Carl Perkins’ “Matchbox” and the Isley Brothers’ “Work to Do.”
Every song is a hit,” says guitarist Lukather, the Toto stalwart who has performed with the All-Starr Band since 2012 and recently completed a string of gigs with his own group on a bill with Journey. “Ringo is on fire, and it’s so inspiring to be around him. I love every member of the All-Starrs, they’re all dear friends.”
Lukather says that the All-Starrs’ fifteenth outing (with different member configurations dating back to 1989) is unique for two reasons.
Source: Kristi York Wooten
George Harrison said you can hear traces of two of his Beatles songs in his 1987 tune, “When We Was Fab.” The former Beatle wrote it with Jeff Lynne (who George once called a Beatle copycat) after he found he wanted to write a Beatlesque tune. That itself was surprising.
Being a Beatle was often hard for George. He realized being in one of the most famous bands in the world came with a price. The whole experience aged him. It wrecked his nerves and made him paranoid. Everyone wanted a piece of him, and he wasn’t willing to give it to them.
Meanwhile, The Beatles were making uninspiring music. In the mid-1960s, George craved change and wanted answers to who he was and what he was doing on Earth.
Source: Hannah Wigandt/cheatsheet.com
The Beatles split up in 1970 just after they released their final album, Let It be. The Fab Four then all went their separate ways and began working on solo music. George Harrison released his seminal album All Things Must Pass in late 1970. And a year later, he began working with John Lennon on the star's second studio album, Imagine.
Lennon ultimately released Imagine on September 9, 1971. It was a smash hit on the charts and reached number one in both the UK and USA album rankings. Imagine has also since been voted 80th in Rolling Stone's list of 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Harrison did not have completely fond memories of working on the record, however. He was brought on board to contribute some guitar on a few hits across the ten-track album.
Source: Callum Crumlish/express.co.uk
Remixed "Revolver" to reveal new layers of the Beatles' extraordinary musical powers
The deluxe box set and remix, coming October 28, used machine learning to produce its pristine sound
This week, producer Giles Martin held a listening session at New York City's Republic Studios, where he unveiled his remixed version (prepared with engineer Sam Okell) of the Beatles' legendary "Revolver" album. As the key feature of an upcoming boxed set, slated for release on October 28, the remixed "Revolver" is a revelation made explicitly possible by recent advances in sonic technology.
Source: Kenneth Womack/salon.com
Paul McCartney said the lyrics of his solo songs contain a “schoolboy prank.” In addition, he said the lyrics of The Beatles‘ “Day Tripper” are similar. Notably, “Day Tripper” was a hit twice in the United Kingdom.
During a 2018 interview with GQ, Paul discussed the origin of his song “Fuh You.” “This song was coming to a close and we were just getting a bit hysterical in the studio, as you do when you’re locked away for long hours, and I said, ‘Well, I’ll just say, “I just wanna shag you,” he said. “And we had a laugh.”
And I said, ‘No, I’ll tell you what we can do is, I can make it questionable as to what it is I’m singing,'” Paul added. “So the actual lyrics are ‘You make me wanna go out and steal / I just want to f*** you’ or … ‘I just want it for you.‘ It’s a schoolboy prank.”
Paul said “Fuh You” was born out of a libertine approach to songwriting. “I mean, it’s intended as a popular song,” he said. “So you don’t feel like you’ve got to adhere to any rules.”
Source: Matthew Trzcinski/cheatsheet.com
George Harrison said he had to “punch” a doctor out for mistreating his mother, Louise, in her last months. The Beatle had enough on his plate in 1970; he didn’t need a doctor carelessly taking months off his mother’s life.
When George was 10, Louise gave him money to buy a beginner’s guitar from a boy at school.
From the day that George came home and asked for his first guitar, Louise supported her son. She encouraged him musically and let him leave school to travel to Hamburg, Germany, with The Beatles.
When the band played at The Cavern Club, she always cheered them on in the front row. After The Beatles became famous and Beatlemania exploded, Louise found that the only way she could support her son from home was to support his fans.
Soon, excited girls started visiting George’s house. Louise sometimes invited them inside for tea. She answered fan mail and communicated with fan clubs.
Source: Hannah Wigandt/cheatsheet.com
A line in George Harrison‘s “Badge” came from a drunk Ringo Starr. He gave a few nonsensical lines to George’s humorous song, which he later gave to Eric Clapton.
In the late-1960s, George became friends with Eric Clapton. The Beatle asked Clapton to perform on his White Album hit, “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” and George wrote “Savoy Truffle” for Clapton.
Then, in 1968, George learned that Clapton’s band Cream was about to make their last album.
“Each of them had to come up with a song for that ‘Goodbye’ Cream album and Eric didn’t have his written,” George told Mitch Glazer at Crawdaddy in 1977 (George Harrison on George Harrison: Interviews and Encounters). George took it upon himself to help his friend write a song.
According to George’s 1980 memoir, I Me Mine, Clapton had the song’s melody before George started writing the lyrics.
Source: Hannah Wigandt/cheatsheet.com
