Beatles News
Paul McCartney is one of the best songwriters in the music industry. He was the other half of The Beatles songwriting duo Lennon-McCartney, which gave fans songs like “Hey Jude” and “Yesterday.” In his solo career, Paul gifted us with hits like “Band on the Run” and “Maybe I’m Amazed.” However, while each McCartney song comes with its own interesting back story, one song doesn’t exactly bring up good memories.
Going into 1970, The Beatles were not on good terms with each other. Ultimately, many factors contributed to the band’s demise after being together for most of the 1960s.
Things started going downhill when their manager Brian Epstein unexpectantly died in 1967. Then the band started to feel that Paul was controlling everything, John Lennon was bringing Yoko Ono to the studio, and each of the members thought the band would be better if they left. Tensions mounted while they were filming Let It Be. Eventually, John told the group he was leaving, and Paul announced he quit in April 1970, which started a media frenzy. The rest of the band quickly started their own solo careers, but Paul had already recorded his first solo album.
Source: cheatsheet.com
At the close of the 1960s, a decade that witnessed a generation explore the expansion of one’s consciousness through the opened doors of perception and a subsequent rise in religious awareness, George Harrison was in the midst of his own personal awakenings.
Life in The Beatles had lost its luster during the making of The White Album in 1968, as his songwriting contributions continued to be unjustly stifled by the group’s dominant Lennon/McCartney partnership, who still viewed him more as a guitarist and secondary vocalist than an author of merit. “As a singer, we allowed him only one track on each album,” John Lennon later admitted. “The songs he and Ringo sang at first were the songs that used to be part of my repertoire in the dance halls. I used to pick songs for them from my repertoire… the easier ones to sing.”
Source: Simon Harper/udiscovermusic.com
In September 1962 The Beatles dismissed their original drummer, Pete Best, after he was deemed "not good enough" to be in the band. In the same year, Ringo Starr was brought in to replace the original performer. In his new documentary series on Disney Plus, McCartney 3, 2, 1, Paul McCartney backed up the band's decision to swap the members around.
During the docuseries, McCartney said Starr's arrival "lifted" the band up.
In an interview, he doubled down on this opinion. He said: "Well, it’s true. He did."
McCartney then compared Starr to Best, forgoing his name in the process.
The singer said: "I don’t want to flip out the previous drummer - he was good and he was efficient and he did the job - but Ringo was magic." (Via Rolling Stone)
Source: Callum Crumlish/express.co.uk
A never before published cassette tape containing an interview and un-released song “Radio Peace” with John Lennon and Yoko Ono is soon going under the hammer in Denmark.
The 33-minute-long recording includes a conversation between the famous couple and four 16-year-old schoolboys, who were allowed to interview Lennon and Ono while they were on a winter stay in Thy, Northern Jutland in 1970.
According to Bruun Rasmussen Auctioneers in Copenhagen, the cassette tape has an estimated price of DKK 200,000-300,000 (€26,000 – €40,000).
Source: Clint Drieberg/nova.ie
Singer and songwriter Julian Lennon is being honoured for his outstanding contribution to literacy.
In an online ceremony this Wednesday marking International Literacy Day, he will be presented with the award by the World Literacy Foundation in recognition of his work in promoting education.
“With support from The World Literacy Foundation, children’s lives are transformed, creating a positive ripple effect worldwide” said the 58-year-old, “I am deeply grateful to be affiliated with this organization and for the acknowledgement of my work with The White Feather Foundation as a recipient of this year’s World Literacy Awards.”
Lennon has pursued a varied career encompassing music, film, photography and writing.
Source: Sally Guyoncourt/inews.co.uk
PAUL MCCARTNEY released a solo project around the same time The Beatles split up. His solo record included a song that acted as a touching farewell to his journey in the band he had grown up in, and also featured his wife for the first time ever.
BBC archive interview with Paul McCartney and girlfriend Jane
The Beatles split up in 1970 after they finished writing and recording their final album, Let It Be. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison all went their separate ways after ten years of being in a world-famous band, selling millions of records and touring the world. McCartney released his first solo record in April 1970 - one month before Let It Be came out in May 1970 - and included within it an ode to his former band, Man We Was Lonely.
Source: Callum Crumlish/express.co.uk
While many of The Beatles’ songs are considered classics, Paul McCartney felt one of their No. 1 hits is not a classic. He thought the best thing about the song was its title. Interestingly, he said the lyrics of the song reflected the relative sexual liberation of the time when it was written.
The Beatles had 20 No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. During an interview with Billboard, Paul discussed the origins of eight of The Beatles’ No. 1 songs. He said he disagreed with the way some journalists characterized one of The Beatles’ chart-toppers.
“When people review my shows, they say, ‘He opened with a Beatles classic, ‘Eight Days a Week,'” Paul said. “I wouldn’t put it as a ‘classic.’ Is it the cleverest song we’ve ever written? No. Has it got a certain joie de vivre that The Beatles embodied? Yes. The best thing about it was the title, really.”
Source: cheatsheet.com
Most people will know who Sir George Martin is from his work with the Beatles in the ‘60s and working with various artists after that. Maybe not so people realize that the producer had built a studio on the Caribbean island of Montserrat in the late ‘70s, and it would become the go-to studio for the likes of Elton John, The Police, Black Sabbath, Dire Straits, and eventually the Rolling Stones. That is, until fate hit the tropical island in a horrible way. One of the defining aspects of Martin’s Air Studios Montserrat was that it was located on an island with an active volcano, which wasn’t so much of a problem… at first. The volcano going off a few years after a horrible hurricane hit Montserrat put an end to Martin’s studio.
Source: Edward Douglas/btlnews.com
Sir Paul McCartney has spoken about the family dogs who inspired some of his chart-topping songs.
There has been much debate over what inspired the animal activity to write Jet by Paul and the Wings.
The rock band released the song in their third studio album in 1973, leaving fans to speculate whether it’s about a pony once owned by Paul or about the first time he met Linda’s father.
However, the song is reportedly about Paul’s beloved dog, Jet.
Explaining how Jet became a part of his life, Paul told Beatles Magazine UK : "We've got a Labrador puppy who is a runt, the runt of a litter.
"We bought her along a roadside in a little pet shop, out in the country one day.
Source: Paul McAuley/liverpoolecho.co.uk
Fans have been debating about the lyrics of Wings’ “Live and Let Die” for years. Different listeners hear the lyrics of the song differently. During an interview, Paul McCartney said he wasn’t sure what the lyrics of “Live and Let Die” were before he definitively pinned them down.
“Live and Let Die” is a song with a major legacy. The title track of the Roger Moore film of the same name, “Live and Let Die” was the first rock song to serve as a James Bond theme. It remains one of the most famous theme songs for a James Bond film. It’s also one of Wings’ most famous songs from the 1970s.
Despite its ubiquity, one aspect of “Live and Let Die” remains mysterious. Some websites say the song includes the lyric “if this ever changin’ world/In which we’re livin’/Makes you give in and cry/Say ‘live and let die.'” Other sites say the lyric is “in which we live in” rather than “In which we’re living.”
Source: cheatsheet.com
