Beatles News
Even casual fans are familiar with the Beatles' album-opening songs.
Three of them went to No. 1, either in the U.K. or America, including 1964's "A Hard Day's Night," 1965's "Help!" and 1969's "Come Together." "I Saw Her Standing There" hit No. 1 in three other countries in 1963.
Tracks that were never issued as singles – 1965's "Drive My Car," 1966's "Taxman," 1967's "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band/With a Little Help From My Friends" and "Magical Mystery Tour," and 1968's "Back in the U.S.S.R." – have also become broadly familiar through radio and soundtrack spins.
Yet some lesser-known items still appear on the following list of Beatles Opening Songs Ranked From Worst to Best. "No Reply" quickly disappeared as a single in 1964, for instance, but has continued to grow in critical estimation. "Two of Us," from 1970's Let It Be, remains one of their late era's most congenial gems.
Which one's best? Here's a ranked look back at the songs that began every album by the Beatles:
No. 12. "It Won't Be Long"
From: With the Beatles (1963)
"Please Please Me" rose to No. 2 in the U.K. and then "She Loves You" topped the charts. So they stuck with the formula: Pairing "be long" and "belong" echoed their first hit's two-meaning title, and the Beatles' exhilarating "yeahs" remained from the second. John Lennon said as much in David Sheff's All We Are Saying. "It was my attempt at writing another single," Lennon admitted. "It never quite made it."
No. 11. "Magical Mystery Tour"
From: Magical Mystery Tour (1967)
Sessions for this album-opener began just as Sgt. Pepper's was to be released, and the results feel very much like a photocopy. Paul McCartney had another Big Concept and another scene-setting but rather flimsy introductory song. The strange accompanying film flopped, but the soundtrack was far better than its first track. Magical Mystery Tour would become a chart-topping six-times platinum album in the U.S.
Source: ultimateclassicrock.com/Nick DeRiso
After seven decades of writing iconic songs and performing for millions around the globe, fans rallied around McCartney on his special day.
Paul McCartney celebrates his 83rd birthday on June 18, and after more than seven decades of writing iconic songs and performing for millions across the globe, he's showing no signs of slowing down. But as the music legend marks another milestone, fans are rallying around one shared fear. With heartfelt messages pouring in, one thing is clear: the world isn't ready to say goodbye to Sir Paul just yet.
Fans of The Beatles legend took to Reddit to share their best birthday wishes. Most shared their hopes that the musician wouldn't consider retiring anytime soon.
One fan wrote, "I hope that I'll still be able to do three-hour concerts when I'm in my eighties." A second penned, "Long live Sir Paul McCartney!"
"Please don't ever retire, the world needs you. Happy birthday to you," a third fan exclaimed." A fourth admirer added, "Happy Birthday, Paul. Hope you have a wonderful day. May you be blessed with many more healthy and happy years. Keep making music, love you."
Source: Lucille Barilla/parade.com
A dollar bill signed by George Harrison is currently up for auction. It's listed among many items connected to classic rock artists.
Over two decades after his death, George Harrison is still proving how much his name is worth to Beatles fans. Harrison, who found the sale of Beatles memorabilia to be a bit strange, signed a dollar bill for a fan years ago. That item is currently up for auction and will bring in hundreds more than what the bill alone is worth. A dollar bill signed by George Harrison is up for auction.
RR Auction is currently auctioning off items from prominent classic rock artists in their Marvels of Modern Music collection. The collection includes a number of items relating to The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, and more.
One item up for auction is a dollar bill. Writing in black ballpoint pen reads “To Bob, George Harrison.” Though it is unclear when Harrison signed the bill, it is from the 1981 series.
At the time of publication, the signed bill is worth over $600. Fans have until June 19 to purchase this item and more from the collection.
George Harrison was more concerned about the money in his pocket than his bandmates were. While Harrison said he did not get into music for the money, his mother said he did have concerns about what he was making.
“He was always very serious about his music, and the money,” she said in the book The Beatles: The Authorized Biography by Hunter Davies. “He always wanted to know how much they were getting.” Harrison was also the only member of the band who carried money on him in case of emergencies. One night in Wales, the band went out to dinner and, when the bill came, realized no one was carrying a wallet with them.
“When the bill finally came, I found I did not have enough money, nor did anyone else,” wrote Davies. “The Beatles never carried money, just like the royal family, and this time, in the rush from Euston, they were without their normal aides and assistants who carried the purse with them.”
Source: cheatsheet.com/Emma McKee
Born on June 18, 1942, Paul McCartney grew up in Liverpool, England, and ... well you probably know the rest. He hit global fame at a young age as the heartthrob of The Beatles, and has since released album after album of hits while touring and raising a family.
Look back at his epic life in photos as the legendary musician turns 83 on June 18, 2025.
McCartney was raised in Liverpool, England, with his parents and younger brother Peter Michael. His dad was a self-taught musician, and often gathered the family around the piano at night for a musical wind-down.
"I have some lovely childhood memories of lying on the floor and listening to my dad play 'Lullaby of the Leaves' [and other] old songs like [George Gershwin's] 'Stairway to Paradise,' " Paul said in interviews published in The Beatles Anthology.
Paul was a solid student and sang in the church choir while balancing piano and trumpet lessons.
Paul successfully campaigned his dad for a guitar and learned to play Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly and Everly Brothers hits by ear.
At the Liverpool Institute, Paul reconnected with an old school friend, George Harrison, and soon after, met John Lennon.
"You saw him rather than met him," Paul once said of John. "He grew long sideburns, he had a long drape jacket, he had the drainpipe trousers and the crepe-soled shoes."
Their friendship — and shared love of music — affected Paul's schoolwork, much to his father's chagrin.
"I ruined Paul's life," John once told journalist Ray Connolly. "He could have been a doctor. He could have been somebody!"
Source: people.com/Kate Hogan
Beyoncé concluded the final night of her Cowboy Carter tour‘s six-show run at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on Monday, and took to social media to celebrate the moment, while also showing love for one of England’s most influential musicians of all time.
“Thank you, Sir Paul McCartney, for writing one of the best songs ever made,” wrote Beyoncé in an Instagram post. “Every time I sing it I feel so honored.” Beyoncé’s rendition of the Beatles’ White Album classic “Blackbird” was included on her historic, Grammy-winning Cowboy Carter album released last year.
In her post, the singer also included photos of her performing in fringe chaps and a white tee adorned with two blackbirds, crediting McCartney’s daughter, fashion designer Stella McCartney: “it is a full circle moment to wear your beautiful daughter’s design.”
“Thank you, London, for creating unforgettable memories for me and my family,” she wrote, before hinting at her return: “Holla at ‘ya when I come on tour again!”
McCartney previously applauded Beyoncé’s cover of“Blackbird,” stating he was “so happy” with her version. “I think she does a magnificent version of it and it reinforces the civil rights message that inspired me to write the song in the first place,” he wrote wrote alongside a photo of the singers together. “I think Beyoncé has done a fab version and would urge anyone who has not heard it yet to check it out.”
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McCartney has long stated that “Blackbird” was influenced by the Little Rock Nine, a group of nine black students who faced racist outrage in 1957 after enrolling in the all-white Little Rock Central High School. Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus called the National Guard to stop the students from entering the school, sparking the Little Rock Crisis.
Rolling Stone‘s Rob Sheffield praised Beyoncé’s “Blackbiird” as a stroke of “revisionary genius that brings the story of ‘Blackbird’ full circle.” “She claims the song as if Paul McCartney wrote it for her. Because, in so many ways, he did…,” Sheffield wrote. “In so many ways, ‘Blackbird’ has always been waiting for this moment to arise. And Beyoncé makes the song rise higher than ever before.”
Source: rollingstone.com/Charisma Madarang
The Beatles legend was apparently not pleased that the group sacked his son not once, but twice.
Zak Starkey isn’t the only one who has had enough of The Who. In a new Rolling Stone interview posted on Monday (June 16) the veteran session and touring drummer who was fired, rehired and then fired once more by The Who in a head-spinning span of several weeks earlier this year opened up about his current relationship with the band and how his dad feels about the tabloid tussle.
Asked what his father, former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr, thought of the bizarre back-and-forth, Starkey said, “He [Ringo] said, ‘I’ve never liked the way that little man runs that band,'” in seeming reference to The Who singer Roger Daltrey.
After The Who “made a collective decision” to part ways with Starkey in April after his nearly 30 years behind the kit, guitarist/songwriter Pete Townshend relented a few days later and rescinded the firing, saying Starkey was “not being asked” to step down from his position. Then, a month later, Townshend took it all back and said after many years working together “the time has come for a change.” A week later, Starkey claimed that he hadn’t been “fired” from the band, but had “‘retired’ to work [on] my own projects.”
It has all been a bit hard to keep up with, even for Starkey, who revealed to RS that even after all the firings and re-hirings he still has no idea where he stands. “I spoke to Roger last week,” Starkey told the magazine. “He said, ‘Don’t take your drums out of the warehouse, we might be calling you.’ What the f–k? These guys are f–kin’ insane! I’ve been fired more times than [late Who drummer] Keith Moon in ten days.”
Source: billboard.com/Gil Kaufman
Pattie Boyd is one of the very few people in the world who can say she’s been married to not one but two rock icons. The model and photographer, who was famously married to George Harrison, only to leave him for Eric Clapton after a decade, was one of the ultimate musical muses.
Boyd’s name is synonymous with the swinging ’60s, and the many songs she inspired are classics of the era. Now 81, Boyd is still going strong, and her photography exhibitions featuring indelible images of her musical peers have earned acclaim for her keen eye. In 2007, she published a bestselling memoir, Wonderful Tonight: George Harrison, Eric Clapton, and Me, and flipped the narrative on the muse label by finally sharing her side of the story.
Pattie Boyd was in high demand as a model, rocking looks from Swinging London designers like Ossie Clark and Mary Quant, and a 1964 potato chip commercial she starred in ended up being pivotal in her personal life. The ad was directed by Richard Lester, who’d go on to direct the Beatles movies A Hard Day’s Night and Help!, and he was so charmed by Boyd that he offered her a bit part in the Fab Four’s first film.
Source: womansworld.com/Abbey Bender
Paul McCartney makes sweet nod to late wife Linda as he marks Father's Day with throwback snap. The Beatles star Sir Paul McCartney has shared a touching family memory to mark Father's Day. Paul, who is father to five children, celebrated Father's Day (Sunday June 15) with a sweet throwback picture on his Instagram of himself with his daughter Mary as a baby, being cradled in his jacket that was taken by his first wife Linda. In the caption he wrote: "All you wonderful fathers out there, have a great Father’s Day today! - Paul."
Fans have flooded the comments to praise the sweet father and daughter moment from The Beatles star, as one wrote: "My absolute favourite picture of Paul and sweet Mary."
Paul, who turns 83 tomorrow, is a father to five kids including three biological and one adopted with late wife Linda McCartney.
The singer-songwriter, who turns 83 on June 18, first became a father in 1969, when he married photographer Linda Eastman and adopted her daughter from a previous marriage, Heather, 62. The couple eventually went on to welcome three kids: Mary, 55, Stella, 53, and James, 47.
Source: themirror.com/Niamh Spence
George Harrison was an English musician best known as the lead guitarist of The Beatles, one of the most famous bands in history. Often called the quiet Beatle, he brought Indian music and spiritual ideas into the group’s songs.
He wrote classics like Here Comes the Sun and Something for The Beatles. After the band split, he had a successful solo career with hits such as My Sweet Lord and organized the famous Concert for Bangladesh.
About the Song
Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth) is a heartfelt plea wrapped in warm melodies and gentle guitar. The lyrics ask for light, life, and peace, aiming to lift worry and bring calm. The song’s music supports this honest message with smooth rhythm and memorable tunes.
Detail Information
Release Date May 7, 1973
Album Let It Roll: Songs by George Harrison (2009)
Writer George Harrison
Producer George Harrison
Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth) Lyrics
Give me love, give me love
Give me peace on earth
Give me light, give me life
Keep me free from birth
Give me hope, help me cope
With this heavy load
Trying to touch and reach you with
Heart and soul
Om, my Lord
Bridge
Please
Take hold of my hand
That I might understand you
Source: Casey Monroe/gigwise.com
In one of John Lennon‘s final interviews with David Sheff, months before his death in December of 1980, he revealed a song Paul McCartney had written for the Beatles that he wished he had penned, including one of his favorites, “Here, There and Everywhere,” from the band’s 1966 album Revolver.
“I remember John saying, ‘You know, I probably like that better than any of my songs on the tape,’” recalled McCartney in The Beatles Anthology from 2002. “Coming from John, that was high praise indeed.”
Lennon also praised McCartney’s “Hey Jude,” a song he had written to comfort Lennon’s son Julian during his parents’ divorce. “That’s his best song,” said Lennon in a 1972 interview with Hit Parader. “‘Hey Jude’ is a damn good set of lyrics, and I made no contribution to that.”
The third McCartney song by the Beatles, their Abbey Road track “Oh! Darling,” was one Lennon said sounded like something he would have written. Lennon also said he would have given the song stronger vocals than McCartney, who even admitted that his singing was “lukewarm” on the track.
Source: Tina Benitez-Eves/americansongwriter.com
