Beatles News
The Beatles were around for a long time, and their presence in the world was overtly complex. While there were of course other bands around at the time, none were as stratospherically popular as them, which meant everybody wanted a piece of the fab four. This meant a lot of groupies surrounded the band on their travels.
Over the course of the years the band shacked up in a number of hotels and private venues whilst on the road.
But when their popularity began catapulting in the earlier years, John Lennon brought along his wife, Cynthia Lennon.
Cynthia, who was born September 10, 1939, was happy to accompany her husband on tour, as it had been one of the first times she took a trip to the U.S.A.
Of course, eventually it would come to pass that John marriage with Cynthia would eventually break down once Yoko Ono was in the picture - but until then, Cynthia was extremely supportive of her husband's endeavours.
Source: Callum Crumlish/express.co.uk
The Beatles worked hard to craft their sound over the years, and fans of the band have since fallen in love with the various nuances through each of their albums. Over the years the band created many albums with hugely different styles and themes. The White Album is perhaps one of the most popular albums the band made, as it includes many enormous hits for the band.
Crucially, however, it includes While My Guitar Gently Weeps.
The songs is an emotional display of George Harrison's feelings, and divulges some of his best songwriting of all time.
Despite these facts, the young star struggled to get his band to record it with him.
Speaking out about this experience in Anthology, he explained how he instead turned to pal Eric Clapton when Paul McCartney and John Lennon wouldn't help him out.
Source: Callum Crumlish/express.co.uk
On September 22, "Everything Fab Four," a new podcast devoted to discussing the Beatles' enduring and evolving cultural and personal significance, will launch on Spotify, Apple and wherever you get your podcasts. As the host, I have experienced great joy in exploring our guest stars' tales of Beatles discovery and obsession.
Beatles fans take great pride in relaying their stories about discovering the Fab Four. For many first-generation listeners like Toto's Steve Lukather, the story often centers around "The Ed Sullivan Show" on that auspicious Sunday evening of February 9, 1964, when the Beatles launched the British Invasion by seizing control of millions of American television sets.
For yet others, their Beatles fandom finds its origins in other places, like a darkened movie theater while gazing upon the bandmates' kinetic screen energy in "A Hard Day's Night." There are thousands upon thousands of Beatles fans who proudly display their ticket stubs from a concert experience during the throes of Beatlemania. Veteran rock 'n' roller Michael Des Barres remembers seeing them perform up close and personal at a New Musical Express Poll-Winners concert.
Source: Kenneth Womack/salon.com
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is often seen as the Beatles’ opus — and John Lennon thought a film from the 1960s equaled it. The 1960s gave us many mainstream classics including Psycho, West Side Story, and Planet of the Apes — however, John was talking about a film which was far more bizarre. Interestingly, the movie in question was created by one of John’s musical contemporaries.
John Lennon said this artist was ‘too far out’ to be accepted
As its title suggests, Jann S. Wenner’s famous book-length interview Lennon Remembers includes John reminiscing about his past experiences. In addition, he has lots to say about the work of other artists ranging from William Shakespeare to Blood, Sweat & Tears to Marcel Duchamp. He also discusses an artist who was quite close to him — Yoko Ono. John compared Yoko’s work to that of her fellow avant-garde artist, Andy Warhol.
Source: cheatsheet.com
The Beatles collected a huge amount of music and songs over the years they were active. While the fab four from Liverpool managed to write songs in their bedrooms, recording studios, and other illustrious places, they also attempted to transcend to higher levels of consciousness by visiting India and exploring a spiritual connection.
During the band's visit to India, they were entranced by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who taught them the ways of meditation.
This method of meditation allowed them to look deeper within themselves, and potentially create new music.
It is just after this trip that the band created The White Album - one of their best known works.
However, one of the songs was written by George Harrison, and includes a unique story behind how it came into being.
Source: Callum Crumlish/express.co.uk
Would The Beatles be able to make it in America? In 1963, no one could say. They’d certainly built up a fan base in the U.K. by then. “Love Me Do,” the Fab Four’s very first single, had cracked the top 20 on the British charts in ’62. By April ’63, the group had begun their run of No. 1 U.K. hits.
But over in America few people could tell you anything about The Beatles in those days. “Please Please Me,” the band’s first U.S. single, failed to enter any of the three music-industry charts (including the Billboard Hot 100). And sales were dismal.
In Beatles Anthology, Paul McCartney spoke about those early returns. “‘From Me To You’ was released – a flop in America. ‘She Loves You’ – a big hit in England, big No. 1 in England – a flop in the U.S.A. Nothing until ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand.'”
Indeed, everything happened for The Beatles after “I Want to Hold Your Hand” hit record stores in the last days of ’63. It was a stunning reversal from the “nothing” of just a few months earlier.
Source: cheatsheet.com
If you were an American fan of The Beatles in the ’60s, you had to feel like you were getting the short end of the stick. Take the U.S. release of Rubber Soul (1965). When Americans opened their copies of the new Fab album, they found “Nowhere Man,” “If I Needed Someone,” and “Drive My Car” missing.
To get those tracks, you had to wait until Yesterday… And Today arrived six months later. In a sense, you were experiencing The Beatles on several months’ delay. But it also worked the other way. When “I’m Only Sleeping” appeared on that same album, it beat the U.K. release of the John Lennon track (on Revolver) by two months.
Source: cheatsheet.com
If you were an American fan of The Beatles in the ’60s, you had to feel like you were getting the short end of the stick. Take the U.S. release of Rubber Soul (1965). When Americans opened their copies of the new Fab album, they found “Nowhere Man,” “If I Needed Someone,” and “Drive My Car” missing.
To get those tracks, you had to wait until Yesterday… And Today arrived six months later. In a sense, you were experiencing The Beatles on several months’ delay. But it also worked the other way. When “I’m Only Sleeping” appeared on that same album, it beat the U.K. release of the John Lennon track (on Revolver) by two months.
Source: cheatsheet.com
When speaking about the influences on The Beatles‘ music, John Lennon was always ready to pay tribute to the great musicians who came before him. Speaking about the early hit “Please Please Me,” John said it began as his crack at a Roy Orbison song.
In other cases, he might take an Elvis Presley line and run with it. Or he’d take a Beethoven piano lick and play it backwards to come up with a new theme (as on “Because“). When it came to the 1961 Bobby Parker track “Watch Your Step,” John acknowledged its influence on multiple Beatles songs. And he called it a direct descendant of Ray Charles’ “What’d I Say.”
On “I Feel Fine,” the 1964 single that topped the Billboard charts, John followed Parker’s lead with a riff he played in nearly the same tempo. Meanwhile, the rhythm Ringo Starr laid down also traces back to Charles’ groundbreaking 1959 track via Parker.
Source: cheatsheet.com
John Lennon: Son Julian discusses Yoko Ono in 1999
The Beatles engaged in a tumultuous relationship with their guitarist and singer John Lennon. The supposed "feud" between Lennon and his pal Paul McCartney has been well publicised, especially when it came to discussing Lennon's wife Yoko Ono.
When Ono came onto the scene a lot of speculation began that she was somehow hindering the band.
Despite this, Lennon went on to write a heartfelt song, The Ballad of John and Yoko in a B-side record alongside Old Brown Shoe.
Although Ono was criticised by both McCartney and Lennon's fans, the song is certainly one of the band's more emotionally charged songs.
In 1980 and 1969 Lennon spoke out about the song, and what it really meant to him to write it.
Source: Callum Crumlish/express.co.uk
