Beatles News
George Harrison had a successful solo career but didn’t see it as a career. To him, he just did what he loved, which was making music. He couldn’t call it a job.
Once he was free of the constraints of being a Beatle, George did what he wanted. If he wanted to make music, he did. However, he never actively pursued a solo career. George went on tour and released albums here and there, but only as it pleased him. Nothing tied him down.
It might’ve looked like George had a successful solo career, but he only saw it as doing something he loved. It wasn’t a profession.
“You invented your own job with a freshness and a heartfelt originality that made it so much more rich than a mere career,” White said.
George replied, “See, I never really did much [as] far as a career. There’s a lot of people out there who really plan what they’re doing. They got their publicists and their managers and they plan their tours like a Desert Storm campaign. But mostly it’s just me…. It’s all just been haphazard.”
Source: cheatsheet.com
It’s been more than 58 years since the Beatles appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show and Beatlemania hit American shores. At the time, critics believed the Lads from Liverpool — John, Paul, George and Ringo — would be a flash in the pan. But we’re still talking about them and their music.
Here’s a curious fact: The Beatles toured the United States from 1964 to 1966 but only appeared once in Minnesota — Aug. 21, 1965 — and their management swore they’d never come back.
Lori Lundstrom’s father David Lundstrom owned a Minneapolis ambulance company and provided limos to the Beatles during their stay. Lundstrom joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer to talk about her father’s connection to the legendary performers.
Source: Cathy Wurzer and Britt Aamodt/mprnews.org
Paul McCartney wrote of one of The Beatles’ songs while he was in the woods with Linda McCartney. Paul said the song was “poetic” and “lyrical.” The track appeared on The Beatles’ Let It Be.
Paul McCartney intentionally got lost with Linda McCartney. During the excursion, he wrote one of the songs from The Beatles’ songs from Let It Be. Paul said the song was “lyrical” and “poetic.”
During a 2021 interview with Rolling Stone, Paul discussed going on a road trip with Linda. “I’ve got a very vivid memory of driving out of London in my Aston Martin with Linda, just the two of us,” he recalled. “She was always keen on getting lost. Whereas most of us guys driving, particularly driving a loved one, a new girlfriend in my case, you’re nervous about getting lost.”
Paul contrasted London with New York City. “Oh God, in London you can really get lost,” he opined. “It’s not like New York where there’s a grid. This is London. You can be in Streatham or it might be Haringey, there’s no telling. But she would always just say, ‘Yeah, so let’s get lost,’ and we went out just like, ‘Right.'”
Source: cheatsheet.com
Paul McCartney revealed one of The Beatles’ songs was inspired by tarot cards. In addition, he said the track in question had a message meant for his generation. The song appeared on the soundtrack for one of The Beatles’ movies.
In the 1997 book Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now, Paul discussed the artist Marijke Koger. “I used to know Marijke, she was a quite striking-looking girl,” he recalled. “She used to read my fortune in Tarot cards, which was something I wasn’t too keen on because I didn’t want to draw the death card one day. I still don’t like that kind of stuff because I know my mind will dwell on it.”
Paul kept drawing the same card. “I always steered a bit clear of all that s***, but in fact it always used to come out as the Fool,” he remembered. “And I used to say, ‘Oh, dear!’ and she used to say, ‘No no no. The Fool’s a very good card. On the surface it looks stupid, the Fool, but in fact it’s one of the best cards, because it’s the innocent, it’s the child, it’s that reading of fool.'”
Source: cheatsheet.com
Fans dreamed of a Beatles reunion long after they broke up in 1970. They came close to getting one a few times over the years. The Fab Four almost attended Eric Clapton and Pattie Boyd‘s wedding in 1979. However, one couldn’t make it.
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 offered The Beatles $3,000 to play three songs on SNL.
“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.”
He then made his offer. “It’s for this reason that I am inviting you to come on our show. Now, we’ve heard and read a lot about personality and legal conflicts that might prevent you guys from reuniting. That’s something which is none of my business.
Source: cheatsheet.com
There was one drummer besides Ringo Starr that George Harrison often depended on; Jim Keltner. Ringo and Keltner helped George make his 1987 album, Cloud Nine, sound authentic.During their time in The Beatles, George and Ringo worked well together. Ringo was the first drummer George connected with. They collaborated on each other’s songs. That didn’t change once The Beatles split.
George supplied guitar and songwriting help on many of Ringo’s albums. Meanwhile, Ringo added drums to several of George’s records. During a 1988 interview with Ray Martin (per George Harrison on George Harrison: Interviews and Encounters), George explained that he didn’t need to tell Ringo how to play his songs; he just understood and got to work. George knew what he was getting, asking Ringo to drum on a song.
“With Ringo, there’s certain songs with Ringo that, you know, I don’t have to tell him what to play, I just play him the song, and he just picks up his sticks, and he just does it, you know,” George said.
Source: cheatsheet.com
George Harrison didn’t enjoy listening to The Beatles‘ music on CD. He preferred to listen to his band’s music some other way.
During a 1987 interview with Charles Bermant (per George Harrison on George Harrison: Interviews and Encounters), George spoke about how he thought The Beatles’ music sounded on CD. He liked the older versions better.
“I did buy a CD player when they issued them, yeah,” George explained. “I listened to some of them. I still prefer the old versions, how I remember them on vinyl. There’s a lot of stuff that you can hear now that’s good.
“In some cases, there’s a lot of stuff that you shouldn’t hear so loudly, that’s somehow come out in the mix. On Sgt. Pepper I keep hearing this horrible-sounding tamborine that leaps out of the right speaker. It was obviously in the original mix, but it was never that loud.”
Source: cheatsheet.com
George Harrison said no one knew how to operate sound at The Ed Sullivan Show. However, The Beatles were used to not sounding well during their shows.
Playing on The Ed Sullivan Show was a massive honor, especially for up-and-coming artists and acts from overseas. However, The Beatles, who already had a No. 1 hit in America, didn’t come cheap.
According to Mental Floss, The Beatles “would only agree to appear if the show covered their travel expenses and paid them a $10,000 fee (which would be just under $90,000 in 2022 dollars). Sullivan and his producers agreed, but only if The Beatles would commit to making three appearances. They had a deal.”
The performance turned out to be mutually beneficial. The Beatles got immense exposure that catapulted them into superstardom, and The Ed Sullivan Show got more viewers than ever before.
Source: cheatsheet.com
Paul McCartney disliked a lyric from The Beatles’ “Hey Jude.” John Lennon convinced Paul to keep the line. “Hey Jude” became a hit single twice in the United Kingdom.
The Beatles‘ “Hey Jude” has some of the most famous lyrics in the Fab Four’s catalog. Paul McCartney felt he had to change one of the lyrics in the song. Subsequently, John Lennon convinced him to keep it.
In a 2021 Rolling Stone article, Paul said John discouraged him from changing a line in “Hey Jude.”
“I know exactly where I was,” Paul said. “I was in London, my music room at the top of the house, playing my little painted magic piano. John and Yoko were standing right behind me, on my shoulder, in fact.”
Paul was still experimenting with the song’s lyrics.
“They’re standing right behind me as I’m playing, ‘Hey Jude, da-da-da-da, da-da-da,’ and I get to, ‘The movement you need is on your shoulder,’ and I just looked by and I said, ‘I’ll fix that one,'” Paul recalled.
Source: cheatsheet.com
John Lennon said he had an easier time writing lyrics for The Beatles‘ songs than Paul McCartney did. In addition, he revealed he and Paul wrote two of The Beatles’ hits in the back of a van. Notably, one of those songs became a No. 1 single in the United States and the United Kingdom.
“I always had an easier time with lyrics, although Paul is quite a capable lyricist — who doesn’t think he is, therefore he doesn’t try,” John added. “He would avoid the problem rather than face it.”
John felt The Beatles’ early songs were vague. “In the early days lyrics didn’t really count as long as we had some vague theme: ‘She loves you, he loves her, and they love each other,'” he said. “It was the hook and the line and the sound we were going for. That’s still my attitude, but … I can’t leave lyrics alone; I have to make them make sense apart from the song.”
Source: cheatsheet.com
