Beatles News
The forthcoming documentary Get Back revisits The Beatles' final days together. McCartney says he took the band's breakup hard: "It was quite difficult, because I didn't know what to do at all."
This is FRESH AIR. I'm Terry Gross. It is my great pleasure to say that my guest is Paul McCartney, and we're going to talk about his life and music through two new projects. He has a new two-volume set of books called "The Lyrics," collecting his lyrics and the stories behind them, starting with songs he wrote before the Beatles and ending with songs from his latest album, "McCartney III," which was released late last year.
There's also the new documentary "Get Back," which is about the three weeks the Beatles spent in 1969 writing, rehearsing and recording the songs on their album "Let It Be" and giving their final performance together on a rooftop in London's Savile Row. The band broke up before the album "Let It Be" was released in 1970. This documentary draws on footage that was not used in the 1969 film "Let It Be" that documented the same sessions. "Get Back" will premiere in three two-hour installments over Thanksgiving weekend on Disney+.
Source: Terry Gross/gpb.org
The Beatles, as they were quick to point out, in many ways resembled a family. Sure, there was a lot of love. But like all families, they could fight with the best of 'em. This was especially true in the aftermath of their split in the spring of 1970. Though they'd quietly agreed to go their separate ways the prior fall, it wasn't until the news went public that April that the mudslinging truly began.
Now, in his new book Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, Sir Paul McCartney is opening up about that troubled time in his relationship with John Lennon, his friend and musical soulmate. "When we broke up and everyone was now flailing around, John turned nasty," McCartney, 79, writes. "I don't really understand why. Maybe because we grew up in Liverpool, where it was always good to get in the first punch of a fight." Thankfully, he was able to make peace with Lennon before his tragic murder on Dec. 8, 1980.
Source: Jordan Runtagh/people.com
The press should have dubbed George Harrison “the cheeky Beatle” instead of “the quiet Beatle” because he always had some audacious comment for any occasion. When The Beatles first met their producer George Martin, George boldly told him he didn’t appreciate Martin’s tie. In interviews, George was quiet for the most part until he came out with some witty remark. This skill of his came in handy when The Beatles found themselves hungry at a party. A certain princess in attendance had overstayed her welcome, and George had no problems telling her to leave so he and his bandmates could eat.
Source: cheatsheet.com
Neighbors often say their house is more like a Beatles museum.
They’re Charles and Sherry Heard, and they’re serious Beatles fans.
“They transcend our time,” Sherry says.
Our neighbors are not brokers or sellers; they’re collectors. But they are taking two Beatles-related pieces to Heritage Auctions this week. One is a Bible that George Harrison gave to the band’s manager, Brian Epstein, as a joke gift in 1964. He kept it until he died in 1967.
The Heards aren’t sure how much it will fetch, but they hope the Bible stays in Dallas. It was one of a few given to the band by members of First Baptist Church Dallas.
The second piece is a Grammy awarded to Danny Laine in 1974 for “Best Pop Performance” for the song “Band on the Run.” Paul and Linda McCartney were the other two recipients of the award.
Source: Renee Umsted/lakewood.advocatemag.com
George Harrison cared less about awards, even if the queen herself was awarding them. He used to tell his wife Olivia to let some other monkey get them. George couldn’t wrap his mind around people wanting to give him awards for making music. He never saw what he did as a career, and he didn’t need justification. So it’s understandable that George felt a little awkward being awarded an MBE by Queen Elizabeth with his fellow Beatles.
Source: cheatsheet.com
A new movie about the man who managed The Beatles unexpectedly shutdown this week and while there are a lot of details that are unclear, it appears, following a rather ominous announcement, that director Jonas Akerlund is now off the film and is likely to be replaced.
The movie, Midas Man, focuses on Brian Epstein, the man who acted as the Beatles manager from 1962 until 1967. The Queen’s Gambit’s Jacob Fortune-Lloyd stars as Epstein. Exactly what has happened to the film is being left vague, as a statement to Deadline has confirmed that while filming has currently stopped, it is expected to restart later this month, but the stoppage is due to the director "taking a break.". The statement simply says...
Source: Dirk Libbey/cinemablend.com
In 1968, The Beatles went to Rishikesh in northern India to study meditation with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. They were all big on spirituality and expanding their consciousness. In 1967, George Harrison was interviewed by the International Times about his thoughts on God and the meaning of it all. One thing Harrison was excited to talk about was “the buzz of all buzzes,” and how to attain it naturally.
Harrison told his interviewer, Barry Miles, that communicating with people reminded him that “we are all one.”
“Communication, just the realisation of human love reciprocated, it’s such a gas, it’s a good vibration which makes you feel good,” he said, as recorded in the book George Harrison on George Harrison.
In addition to simply talking to people, Harrison was passionate about the feelings elicited via chanting.
Source: cheatsheet.com
George Harrison played 26 instruments. But in his early days of being a musician, the guitar was all he thought about. When he was just becoming proficient in the instrument, he dreamed of the day when he’d finally have one of the most coveted guitars in all of Liverpool. It took a lot of searching, but George eventually got the holy grail of guitars. In the very early days of The Beatles (pre-Ringo, to be exact), George didn’t like his sound. At the time, he had a Vox amp and a Gretsch guitar, but that equipment just wasn’t doing anything for him. He was thankful he had a guitar, though, because they weren’t cheap in those days. However, George still really wanted a Fender Stratocaster, which back then was highly coveted. American-made guitars were tough to find in England in the late 1950s.
Source: cheatsheet.com
Who was George Harrison’s musical guru, Ravi Shankar?
Music and spirituality were very connected for the Beatle.
Harrison thought Shankar was a “brilliant” teacher.
In the late 1960s, George Harrison became incredibly passionate about expanding his consciousness and spirituality. He used music as a tool to help him explore his curiosities. In a 1967 interview, the Beatle said Ravi Shankar was his “musical guru.” Here’s who he was and what Harrison had to say about him.
Source: cheatsheet.com
Foo Fighters were welcomed into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame at last night’s induction ceremony. Paul McCartney was on-hand to introduce them, and in his speech he drew a parallel to his experience with the Beatles and Dave Grohl’s with Nirvana: “We had a great time with our groups, but then eventually tragedy happened, and my group broke up. The same happened with Dave: His group broke up under tragic circumstances. And so then the question is, what do you do now?”
Source: James Rettig/stereogum.com
