Beatles News
Paul McCartney wrote a song that sounded like something his former bandmate, George Harrison, would’ve written. It’s surprising considering how long Paul pushed George’s songwriting aside while they were bandmates. Paul didn’t appreciate George’s musical contributions and claimed only he and John Lennon were The Beatles’ songwriters.
A couple of years after George died in 2001, Paul wrote “Friends To Go.” It appeared on his 2005 album, Chaos And Creation In The Backyard. Paul later confessed to Gary Crowley (per The Paul McCartney Project) that when he started writing the song, it morphed into something George would’ve written.
“Funny thing about some songs is when you’re writing them you can think you’re someone else,” Paul said. “I mean when I was doing ‘Long and Winding Road’ I thought I was Ray Charles. In actual fact my record of it, the Beatles’ record of it, is nothing like Ray Charles at all. But in my mind, I was being him. I was playing Ray.
Source: cheatsheet.com
Paul McCartney was fond of the instrumentation of The Beatles’ “Lady Madonna.” The song’s instrumentation inspired Paul to sing like another rock star on the track. “Lady Madonna” became a hit twice in the United Kingdom.
The Beatles‘ “Lady Madonna” was Paul McCartney’s attempt to mimic boogie-woogie music. Paul said he was doing an impression of another rock star when he sang “Lady Madonna.” Subsequently, the rock star in question covered the track.
In the 1997 book Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now, Paul discussed the origin of “Lady Madonna.” “‘Lady Madonna’ was me sitting down at the piano trying to write a bluesy boogie-woogie thing,” he recalled. “I got my left hand doing an arpeggio thing with the chord, an ascending boogie-woogie left hand, then a descending right hand.
Source: cheatsheet.com
According to some reporters, George Harrison was direct during interviews with The Beatles. They gathered that he was different from his bandmates.
The band often fooled around to get through exhausting, silly interviews with reporters who knew nothing about them. For the most part, George included himself in the fooling around. However, he sometimes let his true nature come through.
When that happened, George’s temperament scared some journalists because they didn’t know how to talk to him. They wanted silly answers to their silly questions, and sometimes George didn’t play along.
Source: cheatsheet.com
If you ever wondered who took the clean-cut members of the Beatles and turned them into soul searching songwriters capable of penning wildly psychedelic tunes like “Tomorrow Never Knows” and “Within You Without You”, look no further than Bob Dylan. For it was on this day in 1964—so the story goes, anyway—when Dylan introduced John, Paul, George, and Ringo to the glories of smoking the ‘ol jazz cabbage.
Following their sold-out show at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens, NYC on August 28th, Dylan arrived to meet the Beatles at the Delmonico Hotel across the river in Manhattan where the popular folk singer wasted no time in almost immediately pulling out a joint to smoke with the mop-topped foursome. While the band relayed stories to Dylan of trying cannabis once a few years prior in 1960, they said it hadn’t worked. Dylan clearly had the goods–as rock stars typically do–and the Beatles would go on to get ridiculously high on that fateful evening in New York City.
Source: Gideon Plotnicki/liveforlivemusic.com
What would music be without the Beatles? It’s a question we certainly don’t enjoy pondering because the legacy the Beatles created in just 10 years is nothing short of astronomical. It is interesting, though, that their success was created in a relatively short period of time, and their years spent performing live were even shorter. As one of the bands that rarely played live after finding their audience, each performance carries weight.
So, after searching through what film is still available to the public, we’ve rounded up just five of these notable performances. Read and watch below for a few unforgettable performances from Britain’s most beloved mop tops.
Source: americansongwriter.com
George Harrison said one of his songs could’ve had a good dance routine. Not many of George’s songs are danceable, but you could dance if you feel like it.
Granted, George was known for writing love songs and some of the most spiritual tunes, but he did know how to write danceable songs too. In a 1992 interview with Timothy White (per George Harrison on George Harrison: Interviews and Encounters), George said his song “Teardrops” could’ve had a good dance routine.
“That’s quite a nice song,” George said. “That could be done by some black group, because you could make a good dance routine to that one.”
“Teardrops” isn’t a typical George Harrison song, considering its heavy keyboards and pop tones. It’s a surprise the former Beatle even recorded it. George was not a fan of pop music by any means. The genre made him feel “uptight.” Regardless, it could’ve had a good dance routine.
Source: cheatsheet.com
Dedicated fans will go to great lengths to meet their favorite rock stars, staking out hotels, restaurants and backstage doorways to catch a glimpse. A group of teenage girls took things even further on Aug. 25, 1965, when they rented a helicopter to get close to the Beatles.
The band was in Los Angeles to perform a pair of shows at the Hollywood Bowl. Recordings from those concerts, held Aug. 29 and 30, would later be released on the album The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl. The days before showtime provided a rare moment to relax for the group. They'd rented a mansion owned by actress Zsa Zsa Gabor on Benedict Canyon in Beverly Hills.
The location was secluded and offered much more privacy than any typical hotel could – though they'd already run into trouble with a similar plan before.
Source: ultimateclassicrock.com
Beatrice McCartney was born on October 28, 2003 in London, England, and is known to be the daughter of Paul McCartney from his marriage to former model-turned-reality TV star, Heather Mills. A lot of attention has been given to Beatrice since her youth, mainly due to her father who was a member of the iconic band, The Beatles.As of mid-2020, Beatrice McCartney’s net worth is estimated to be over $1 million, largely due to her father’s success. Paul McCartney has an estimated net worth of over $1.2 billion, being one of the most successful musical artists of all time.
Source: shstrendz.com
The Monkees‘ “I’m a Believer” was a huge hit in the 1960s. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 longer than any of The Beatles’ songs except for one. Paul McCartney said he wrote a bad lyric for the Fab Four song in question.
During a 2016 interview with Entertainment Weekly, The Monkees’ Micky Dolenz discussed playing “I’m a Believer” in the 1960s. “I do remember lots of snatches of touring back then,” he said. “Unbelievable. No monitors. Screaming. Screaming, screaming.”
Playing had its challenges. “[When we played ‘I’m a Believer’] I couldn’t hear myself,” he said. “I just had to pound away. Even to this day, I sing with my eyes closed, because I had to close my eyes and hit myself in the leg to keep time on the drums. I had a big bruise.”
Source: cheatsheet.com
In the 1970s, the tight friendship between Eric Clapton and George Harrison hit a snag when Clapton started pursuing Harrison’s wife. Harrison and his wife, Pattie Boyd, had been growing apart, and she appreciated the attention Clapton paid her. Eventually, Boyd and Harrison divorced, and she married Clapton. He believed Harrison hadn’t fought to save his marriage.
Boyd met Clapton through Harrison. The two were close friends and often played together.
“He and George had become close friends; they played, wrote music, and recorded together,” she wrote in the book Wonderful Tonight. “At that time his girlfriend was a model called Charlotte, but I was aware that he found me attractive — and I enjoyed the attention he paid me.”
Source: cheatsheet.com
