Beatles News
Paul McCartney reflects on Lennon’s 1980 death in his new book. McCartney recalls their last conversation as positive and without conflict.
He describes working in shock after learning about Lennon’s murder.
Beatles icon Paul McCartney is reflecting on the 1980 death of lifelong friend and former bandmate John Lennon in his new book Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run.
“It was just too crazy,” McCartney, 83, recalled. “We just said what everyone said; it was all blurred. It was the same as the Kennedy [assassination]. The same horrific moment, you know. You couldn’t take it in. I still haven’t taken it in. I don’t want to.”
Although the Beatles split in 1970, a decade before Lennon was shot and killed outside his New York City home, McCartney revealed he and Lennon were on good terms at the time. “That is a nice thing, a consoling factor for me, because I do feel it was sad that we never actually sat down and straightened our differences out,” he continued. “But fortunately for me, the last phone conversation I ever had with him was really great, and we didn’t have any kind of blowup.”
According to McCartney, he received a call from his manager “early in the morning” informing him of Lennon’s December 8, 1980, murder.
Lennon was shot in the back while entering his New York City home with wife Yoko Ono, after a day in the studio. He was pronounced dead at the hospital. Lennon was just 40 years old. “Nobody could stay home with that news,” he added, explaining that he and former Beatles Ringo Starr and George Harrison headed to the studio after learning the news. “We all had to go to work and be with people we knew. Couldn’t bear it. We just had to keep going. So, I went in and did a day’s work in a kind of shock.”
Source: Kayla Aldecoa/parade.com
As many people ask Sir Paul McCartney about his second band Wings as they do The Beatles, the veteran musician has said.
"Suddenly Wings has found its moment," said 83-year-old McCartney. "There's a generational shift at play and it's like being transported back on a magic carpet." Speaking ahead of the launch of the book Wings: The Story Of A Band On The Run, which McCartney has written alongside American historian Edward "Ted" Widmer, he said he found many people tell him Band On The Run is their favourite album.
Wings had 12 UK top 10 singles, including the Christmas number one Mull Of Kintyre, as well as eight UK top 10 albums, including two number ones. The band is best known for songs such as Jet, Silly Love Songs and Live And Let Die, the theme to the 1973 James Bond film.
McCartney said he "didn't really know how to be in a band" after The Beatles split up in 1970. "It was a complete blank canvas," he said.
"We would go on the road with no plans, no hotels booked, no gigs lined up and we thought the only place we might find a captive audience was at a university - a completely off-the-wall idea but I'm glad we did it."
'The big time'
McCartney started Wings in 1971 with his late wife Linda McCartney and former Moody Blues guitarist Denny Laine. "The times with Wings were exciting because we built up to it and eventually we hit the big time," he said. "There was a particular kind of excitement in achieving that goal."
The singer and bassist explained: "I don't spend a lot of time looking back in general. "I like to live in the moment. Like everything else, it's a timing thing. "In recent years, I noticed I'd be asked just as many questions about Wings in interviews as I would about The Beatles.
"People would tell me that the first thing they heard of mine was Band On The Run or Jet, or that their favourite album was a Wings one.
"The reception for these songs in our live shows often takes me by surprise too."
Source: Paul Burnell/bbc.com
These are some of the behind-the-scenes Beatles photos from A Hard Day's Night and Help! Unseen photos of The Beatles, taken by a crew member shooting their films, have been sold at auction.
The archive was listed as three lots by auctioneers Richard Winerton in Lichfield, Staffordshire, on Monday and went under the hammer for a total of £1,720. The Beatles photos had a guide price of £500 to £700 and sold for £660, film scripts and movie photos estimated at £750 went for £600, while pop music and 1980s autographs expected to fetch £250 to £350 went for £460.
The collection came to light during a day of filming in Coventry for ITV antiques programme Dickinson's Real Deal.
The collection belonged to Edward Tucker, from Cambridgeshire, who worked for decades in the movie industry, before he died eight years ago aged 83. Items also included behind-the-scenes images from Help! and A Hard Day's Night, and were brought to auction by Mr Tucker's family.
Photos from the set of A Hard Day's Night feature Ringo Starr filming in April 1964 in Edgehill Road, West Ealing.
Director Richard Lester was in one shot taken while "working out the comedic scene where the hapless drummer is arrested after a woman falls down a hole in the road he covered with his coat," according to the auctioneers.
Other photos showed Sir Paul McCartney and George Harrison. The auctioneers said Mr Tucker was a grip - a technician responsible for building and maintaining equipment supporting cameras and other production gear.
Source: Richard Price/bbc.com
John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band begins darkly, with tolling bells that Lennon had slowed down in the studio to mimic a horror film he’d recently watched. The bells open “Mother”, a despairing song revealing Lennon’s feelings of abandonment.
But the anguish in “Mother” quickly gives way to “Hold On”, a comforting hymn aimed inward. He was reeling from the chaos of The Beatles’ break-up, global events, and fame. And he needed to be sure he’d survive.
Midway through the album, Lennon sings “Love”, a song one might view as both a declaration and a plea. With The Beatles, he once sang how love is all you need. But the Summer of Love had come and gone. The 1970s arrived, war continued, and so he soothed himself with “Hold On”.
About “Hold On”
Lennon directs the comforting message of “Hold On” mostly at himself, but also at Yoko Ono and the rest of the world. Written against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, Lennon’s optimistic lyric reads like a lonesome and desperate appeal.
When you’re by yourself,
And there’s no one else,
You just have yourself,
And you tell yourself,
Just to hold on.
The track was co-produced by Lennon, Ono, and Phil Spector. It features Ringo Starr on drums and Klaus Voormann on bass. And the sparse mix stands apart from the dense and highly orchestrated mixes Spector was famous for creating. Subconsciously, Lennon may have preferred a spacious arrangement to combat his fears at the time. The last thing he needed was Spector’s overwhelming Wall of Sound.
Oh, and when you’re one,
Really one,
Well, you get things done,
Like they’ve never been done,
So, hold on.
Source: americansongwriter.com/Thom Donovan
Behind every great man there’s a great woman, the saying goes – and now the fabulous four women behind The Beatles are to be portrayed by four great Hollywood actresses.
Skyfall director Sam Mendes, who is producing four linked films, each focusing on a different member of The Beatles, has now cast the Fab Four’s wives for the ambitious project.
White Lotus star Aimee Lou Wood, 31, will play George Harrison’s wife Pattie Boyd, while Irish Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan, 31, has been cast as Linda McCartney, the muse to many of Paul McCartney’s songs.
Anna Sawai, 33, who has made a name for herself in the US drama series Shogun, will appear as John Lennon’s wife Yoko Ono, and British actress Mia McKenna-Bruce, 28, will play Maureen Cox, the wife of Ringo Starr.
In Mendes’s four films, Saltburn star Barry Keoghan, 33, plays Starr, Fantastic Four actor Joseph Quinn, 31, will be Harrison, leading Triangle Of Sadness cast member Harris Dickinson, 29, takes on the Lennon role and Gladiator II hunk Paul Mescal, 29, will be McCartney.
Irish Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan , 31, has been cast as Linda McCartney, the muse to many of Paul McCartney’s songs
Paul McCartney and his wife Linda McCartney, of British rock group Wings, at Abbey Road Studios to record the album 'Venus And Mars' in 1974
White Lotus star Aimee Lou Wood , 31, will play George Harrison’s wife Pattie Boyd. Guitarist George Harrison poses for a portrait with his Pattie Boyd in 1966. Anna Sawai, 33, who has made a name for herself in the US drama series Shogun, will appear as John Lennon ’s wife Yoko Ono
John Lennon and Yoko Ono at their home at Tittenhurst Park in 1970.
Source: Katie Hind Consultant/dailymail.co.uk
The strangest rumour started floating around just as the Beatles were breaking up – that I was dead. We had heard it long before, but suddenly, in that autumn of 1969, stirred up by a DJ in America, it took on a force all its own, so that millions of fans around the world believed I was actually gone.
At one point, I turned to my new wife and asked, “Linda, how can I possibly be dead?” She smiled as she held our new baby, Mary, as aware of the power of gossip and the absurdity of these ridiculous newspaper headlines as I was. But she did point out that we had beaten a hasty retreat from London to our remote farm up in Scotland, precisely to get away from the kind of malevolent talk that was bringing the Beatles down.
But now that over a half century has passed since those truly crazy times, I’m beginning to think that the rumours were more accurate than one might have thought at the time. In so many ways, I was dead … A 27-year-old about-to-become-ex-Beatle, drowning in a sea of legal and personal rows that were sapping my energy, in need of a complete life makeover. Would I ever be able to move on from what had been an amazing decade, I thought. Would I be able to surmount the crises that seemed to be exploding daily?
Source: Paul McCartney/theguardian.com
On January 30, 1969, for just shy of 45 minutes, The Beatles delivered what would be the final public performance of their decade-long career. A bittersweet but ultimately very cool moment, the Fab Four took to the roof of Apple Corps headquarters in London, with session musician (and often-labeled Fifth Beatle) Billy Preston in tow. The group performed nine songs. However, they only performed different takes of five new songs that would be found on their final record, Let It Be. The Beatles’ rooftop concert also featured a rendition of “God Save The Queen”.
This is one of The Beatles’ best songs of all time, and one of John Lennon’s most impassioned performances. Interestingly enough, “Don’t Let Me Down” would go through quite a few changes before this first public performance of the song. In the weeks leading up to the concert, “Don’t Let Me Down” went through a number of changes before it was completed. Lennon also admittedly struggled with the high notes found in the chorus of the song. Lennon also hoped that the recording of that first take during The Beatles’ rooftop concert would be good enough for the album. Sadly, Lennon forgot the lyrics in the last verse, which led to a second take later.
If you were there or remember this performance, it was around this time that the cops started to show up to shut down the impromptu concert.
Source: Em Casalena/americansongwriter.com
On a November day in 1970, at a momentous time in the most consequential year of his life, one of the most famous people in the world was sitting alone on a blanket by the ocean south of the pier in Deerfield Beach, as far away from the pressure of being George Harrison as he could get.
The Beatles guitarist and songwriter had just days before put the finishing touches on his solo album, “All Things Must Pass,” a deeply personal statement that would forever change critical perceptions of Harrison as an artist. As he sat on the beach, the album was mere weeks away from being revealed to the public on Nov. 27.
At the same time, the album’s release would be tangible evidence, if the world still needed it, that the long and winding road of the Beatles’ fractious breakup was coming to an end. Paul McCartney would file a lawsuit to dissolve the partnership the following month.
The rumor of Harrison’s presence over the course of some 10 days in Deerfield Beach — closely guarded by locals, some who admit to never having actually seen him — sounds so unlikely, so fantastical, that it’s fair to wonder if it actually happened. George Harrison in Deerfield Beach? Seriously?
Longtime resident Jeff Fisk, a Beatles fan from an early age who bought the 45 of Harrison’s single “My Sweet Lord” on the day it was released, was a fifth-grader when the chatter hit the playground at St. Ambrose Catholic School in January 1971.
The story he heard, which had spread through the local surfing community, was too good to be true: Harrison was at the beach when he was recognized by a surfer chasing after his board and, upon questioning, admitted his identity. The surfer, a respected figure on the waves in Deerfield Beach, was named Paul McCartney.
Source: Ben Crandell, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Director Sam Mendes' "The Beatles – A Four-Film Cinematic Event" has cast some power women actors for pivotal roles.
Sony Pictures announced Friday, Oct. 31, that "Shogun" star Anna Sawai will play John Lennon's wife Yoko Ono, and "White Lotus" star Aimee Lou Wood will star as George Harrison's wife Pattie Boyd, who later married Eric Clapton.
Mia McKenna-Bruce will star as Ringo Starr's first wife, Maureen Starkey (née Cox), and Saoirse Ronan will play Paul McCartney's wife, Linda McCartney (née Eastman). "Maureen, Linda, Yoko and Pattie are four fascinating and unique figures in their own right - and I’m thrilled that we’ve managed to persuade four of the most talented women working in film today to join this amazing adventure," Mendes said in a statement.
At CinemaCom in April, Mendes announced the stars of these intersecting music biopics: Paul Mescal is playing McCartney, Joseph Quinn will play Harrison, Barry Keoghan will be drumming as Starr, and Harris Dickinson has been cast as Lennon.
"The Beatles changed my understanding of music. Pretty much, they made up my first memories," Mendes said in April. He revealed that all four films – which will be in production for over a year – will come out in April 2028, calling it "the first binge-able theatrical experience."
Here's the brief bios on the real-life characters:
Linda Eastman (Ronan) was a celebrated photographer when she met Paul McCartney in 1967. There was an instant attraction and McCartney later said, "The first time I saw her, I just knew."
John Lennon first met the Japanese artist Yoko Ono (Sawai) at a London exhibition of her work. Although Lennon was married at the time, he was immediately intrigued by Yoko, and the two eventually became inseparable creative partners for the rest of his life.
Pattie Boyd (Wood) was a successful model when in 1964 she met George Harrison on the set of the Beatles movie "A Hard Day’s Night." The two began dating and later married, with Boyd sharing Harrison’s growing interest in Eastern mysticism.
Maureen Cox (Mia McKenna-Bruce) was an early fan of The Beatles who met Ringo Starr at the Cavern Club in 1962. Their romance blossomed quickly. They married in 1965 and had three children together.
Source: Bryan Alexander/usatoday.com
Legendary drummer Ringo Starr reportedly fell on stage during a recent concert.
TMZ reported Starr, 83, took the tumble while he was performing with his "All-Starr Band"at Rio Rancho Events Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico Wednesday night.
The media outlet said Starr tripped while he was singing "Give Peace A Chance" during the show's encore. "But he got right back up and made light of the sitch -- while continuing the show," TMZ reported.
Starr and his band, which is comprised of artists such as Edgar Winter, Steve Lukather, Colin Hay, Warren Ham, Gregg Bissonette, and Hamish Stuart, just kicked off a fall 2023 tour. With a little help from my friends, we're getting together again. I know we're going to be in a city near you, so peace and love," Starr says in a video he shared on social media. "Hope to see you."
The band was forced to postpone several shows in 2022 because he and a few fellow members tested positive for COVID. The shows were originally planned for 2020, but were initially postponed due to the pandemic.
Starr, whose real name is Richard Starkey, is a nine-time Grammy Award winner. He and Paul McCartney are the two surviving members of the classic rock band The Beatles.
John Lennon was 40 years old when he was shot and killed outside his New York apartment building on Dec. 8, 1980. George Harrison died at the age of 58 on Nov. 29, 2001 after a long battle with cancer.
Source: JESSICA A. BOTELHO /wgxa.tv
