Beatles News
George Harrison wasn’t overly fussed about his country’s monarchy and Queen Elizabeth II. He cared much more about the only figure above her, God. However, that doesn’t mean the former Beatle disliked the queen. He thought she was a very nice lady, but her niceness “made it worse somehow.”
According to Beatles Bible, Harold Wilson, the prime minister, nominated The Beatles for the award. Many speculated Wilson selected the Fab Four to gain the support of younger voters.
Shortly after, The Beatles held a press conference about the award at Twickenham Film Studios, where they watched a rough cut of Help!
“We thought that MBE stood for Mr. Brian Epstein because we always sign his contracts because he’s our manager,” Paul McCartney joked.
Source: Hannah Wigandt/cheatsheet.com
Paul McCartney admitted he has played The Beatles‘ “A Hard Day’s Night” incorrectly in recent years. In the same vein, he explained why he plays the song wrong. Notably, he revealed what it was like for him to listen to “A Hard Day’s Night.”
During a 2018 interview with GQ, Paul discussed playing “A Hard Day’s Night” incorrectly. “People aren’t you, and they don’t experience it,” he said.
“People haven’t written 300 songs,” he added. “And that’s just with John. They haven’t written … too many songs. So you don’t remember them.”
Paul revealed his band didn’t know how to play the song’s opening chord either when Paul started playing the song again in 2016. “Nobody knows what that chord is,” he said. “It’s a mystical chord.”
Paul discussed his band’s reaction to this conundrum. “We had to investigate it,” he recalled. “I said, ‘I think it’s this,'” Paul then played his guitar. “That’s sort of like it,” he opined. “But it’s not.”
Source: Matthew Trzcinski/cheatsheet.com
George Harrison initially wrote “Cheer Down” for Eric Clapton’s 1989 album, Journeyman. However, director Dick Donner heard the song and snatched it for his 1989 film Lethal Weapon 2.
In 1988, George and Tom Petty became bandmates in The Traveling Wilburys. They also became close friends. George asked Petty to help him write “Cheer Down.”
In a special edition of Rolling Stone, “Remembering George,” Petty explained that he and George based “Cheer Down” on something George’s wife, Olivia, used to say to him when he got overexcited.
“Olivia would say that to George when he got a little too happy,” Petty explained. “He would get a burst of enthusiasm, and she’d say, ‘OK, cheer down, big fellow.'”
Source: Hannah Wigandt/cheatsheet.com
How The Beatles came to use a Riverside-built guitar on the ‘White Album’
The instrument found its way to George Harrison, who played it on the landmark 1968 release.
It seems that a prototype guitar — built in Riverside — was used by George Harrison ofon the 1968 “White Album.”First, how did Riverside get a guitar factory?This story actually starts in the 1920s with a man named Paul Barth. Barth was a quiet, unassuming person who was, in essence, the father of the electric guitar. Starting in the ’20s, he was creating and experimenting with many types of electric methods of amplifying the sound of a guitar, which at the time was being drowned out by other instruments in dance and jazz bands. Barth worked with George Beauchamp in the 1930s to further develop electric guitars and guitar pickups.
Source: L.A. Daily News/headtopics.com
Sir Paul McCartney has joined those offering tributes to Queen Elizabeth II, following her death at 96.
Stars have shared their fondest memories of Her Majesty on social media after Buckingham Palace confirmed that she had died, earlier today.
The Beatles legend was among those, taking to Twitter with a stunning portrait of the monarch.
‘God bless Queen Elizabeth II May she rest in peace Long live The King,’ he captioned the upload.
The 80-year-old wasn’t the only member of the fab four to pay his condolences, with Ringo Starr following suit.
‘God bless Queen Elizabeth peace and love to all the family peace and love Ringo,’ he penned, beside a string of emoji.
Source: Rishma Dosani/Rishma Dosani
George Harrison wrote many songs about the special things in his life, including his wife and son.
The former Beatle began dating Olivia Arias in the mid-1970s, following his separation from his first wife, Pattie Boyd. In 1977, the same year George officially divorced Boyd, Olivia became pregnant with the couple’s only son, Dhani. He was born in 1978, a month before his parents tied the knot.
George and Olivia took a vacation to the Virgin Islands two years before Dhani was born. He had a burst of creativity while away and began a significant songwriting session. Some of the songs he penned on that holiday later appeared on his 1976 album, Thirty Three & ⅓.
Source: Hannah Wigandt/cheatsheet.com
Even as one of rock ‘n’ roll’s best guitarists, George Harrison sometimes turned to the piano to write his songs. The Beatle relied on ivory keys to give him a fresh sound when writing “Old Brown Shoe” and “Something,” not tight strings.
In his 1980 memoir, I Me Mine, George said he wrote “Old Brown Shoe” on the piano. Although, he wasn’t familiar with the instrument.
He wrote, “‘Old Brown Shoe.’ I started the chord sequences on the piano (which I don’t really play) and then began writing ideas for the words from various opposites: ‘I want a love that’s right/ But right is only half of what’s wrong.’ Again it’s the duality of things–yes-no, up-down, left-right, right-wrong, etc.”
Source: Hannah Wigandt/cheatsheet.com
Paul McCartney said one of the lyrics from The Beatles’ “Day Tripper” had a risque meaning.
He compared it to a line from The Beatles’ “A Day in the Life.”
“Day Tripper” was more popular in the United Kingdom than it was in the United States.
Paul McCartney said The Beatles‘ “Day Tripper” included a provocative lyric. Paul felt older listeners would not understand it. Despite this, he felt “kids” got it.
In the 1997 book Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now, Paul discussed The Beatles’ “Day Tripper.” “This was getting towards the psychedelic period when we were interested in winking to our friends and comrades in arms, putting in references that we knew our friends would get but that the Great British Public might not,” he said.
Paul commented on a provocative lyric from the song. “So ‘she’s a big teaser’ was ‘she’s a p**** teaser,'” he added. “The mums and dads didn’t get it but the kids did. ‘Day Tripper’ was to do with tripping.”
Source: Matthew Trzcinski/cheatsheet.com
George Harrison said he never consciously tried copying Bob Dylan’s singing voice. Although Dylan significantly influenced the former Beatle. The pair later combined their musical talents in The Traveling Wilburys.
During a 1989 interview with Mark Rowland (per George Harrison on George Harrison: Interviews and Encounters), George spoke about how Dylan influenced his Beatles song, “Long, Long, Long.”
“Yeah, that was just a sort of funny little tune I wrote one day, basically,” George explained. “The only thing I suppose that’s memorable about it is that I was very hung up on [Bob Dylan’s] ‘Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands’ at the time. It’s got the same chords as ‘Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands.'”
Source: Hannah Wigandt/cheatsheet.com
George Harrison tried cashing in on the money Lorne Michaels promised for a Beatles reunion on his show, SNL. In 1976, the producer went on live television to give an impassioned speech about his love for The Beatles and offered a handsome sum of money to the band if they reunited and played a couple of songs on the comedy show.
George appeared as the musical guest months later and thought he was entitled to the money. However, it didn’t exactly work that way.
During the April 24, 1976 show of NBC’s Saturday Night (Later Saturday Night Live), producer Lorne Michaels cut in to speak directly to John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. He had a special offer for them.
“Lately there have been a lot of rumors to the effect that the four of you might be getting back together,” Lorne said. “That would be great. In my book, the Beatles are the best thing that ever happened to music. It goes even deeper than that – you’re not just a musical group, you’re a part of us. We grew up with you.”
Source; Hannah Wigandt/cheatsheet.com
