Beatles News
When George Harrison, who had briefly quit the Beatles in early 1969, decided to return to the band, he brought with him a secret weapon: keyboardist Billy Preston.
Harrison’s departure was the result of infighting and strained tensions within the Beatles. The bandmates were infamously at each other’s throats by this point, with starkly differing viewpoints on how the band was to proceed.
During his break from the group, Harrison caught a performance by Ray Charles in London. On the stage that night was Preston, whom Harrison and his fellow Beatles had befriended during their years in Hamburg. Excited to see his old pal, Harrison sent Preston a message inviting him to join the Beatles in the studio.
This wasn’t the first time a non-Beatle had joined the Fabs' ranks. Harrison had used the same method during the contentious White Album sessions, having Eric Clapton join the group for “White My Guitar Gently Weeps.”
Source: ultimateclassicrock.com
Beatle fans are getting ready for the 50th anniversary of “Let it Be.” The album was released on May 8, 1970 in the UK and May 9th in the US. (I was at EJ Korvette’s that day.)
Coincidence? The “Let it Be” release falls on Mother’s Day. The song, “Let it Be,” was inspired by Paul McCartney’s late mother, Mary McCartney, who died when he was 14. He dreamt about her, thus the opening lines of “Mother May comes to me.”
Weird, huh?
“Let it Be” was supposed to come out earlier that spring. The Beatles appeared on “Ed Sullivan” in February, and the album was supposed to follow. But Paul McCartney’s first solo album, “McCartney,” was slotted in for that time, and McCartney refused to change it. So “Let it Be” was pushed back a bit.
As it turned out, they were each mega hits and remain so to this day. If only they could have all seen the future.
Source: Roger Friedman/showbiz411.com
We’re dipping into the Far Out Magazine vault to bring you a very special performance as Paul McCartney pays tribute to his Beatles bandmate George Harrison with a rendition of ‘Something’ on the ukulele.
When the city of Liverpool was announced as the European Capital of Culture for 2008 plans for a mammoth musical showcase begun almost instantly. The city’s musical contribution to the world is undoubted and at the top of their list to headline the show-stopping main event, The Liverpool Sound, was one man—Sir Paul McCartney.
One of four world-changing sons of city, Macca would return to his hometown for show for the first time in five years and provide a headline set at the city’s largest football ground, Anfield, the home of Liverpool F.C. The Beatles had long become a global brand but still, being back at home made this tribute all the more powerful.
Source: Jack Whatley/faroutmagazine.co.uk
When you think of the Beatles, you think rock stars, British invasion, the quartet responsible for shaking up and forever changing the face and sound of pop culture. You think “She Loves You” and “I Saw Her Standing There,” or maybe “Rubber Soul” and “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” You think of music!
But during their heyday, the Beatles also spent some noteworthy time making movies. They acted in two features (“A Hard Day’s Night” and “Help!”) and one made-for-British TV film that later had a brief theatrical release (“Magical Mystery Tour”). They were turned into cartoon characters that were voiced by other actors (“Yellow Submarine”) and were the subjects of a documentary (“Let It Be”).
Source: Ed Symkus/metrowestdailynews.com
If there's one phrase that best sums up the Beatles' final album, Let It Be, it is this: "The road to hell is paved with good intentions".
No album made by the Fab Four began with such high hopes and no album ended with so much recrimination and inter-band hostility. Some have even suggested it was the record that broke up the Beatles.
Looking around there's more than a little evidence to support that view. John Lennon described the music as "the shittiest load of badly recorded shit".
George Harrison recalled the album's creation this way: "For me to come back into the winter of discontent with the Beatles ... was very unhealthy and unhappy."
Asked about the feeling in the studio, Lennon was even more scathing: "It was just a dreadful, dreadful feeling ... by the time we got to Let It Be we couldn't play the game anymore."
Source: abc.net.au
As most of the world has known well for decades now, in terms of songwriting, there was no pressing need for Ringo to start writing songs. His bandmates Lennon and McCartney had that handled to a miraculous extent, writing songs which have become timeless, inspirational anthems for humanity.
Paul and John also were remarkably prolific and capable of writing masterpieces overnight (as did Lennon with “A Hard Day’s Night,” written overnight as their movie theme song to this title which came from a Ringo quip.)
So when George Harrison began writing his own, even he had to compete with his bandmates for inclusion on the albums. By Abbey Road, the final album they recorded, George was allotted all of two songs, contributing two of his greatest ever, adding dimensions to that album only he could bring.
Source: Paul Zollo/americansongwriter.com
George Harrison is undoubtedly the coolest Beatle but he was also one of the most dryly funny. Growing up in Liverpool had blessed all the members with a caustic course wit but Harrison only reserved it for the most enjoyable moments.
One such moment came from the below letter from 1968 when Harrison and The Beatles were at the peak of their powers and on top of the world. Literally. After a fan writes to Harrison asking for money to buy a sitar, Harrison responds with a drawing and a smirking retort.
The Beatles had just released the White Album and were in unprecedented demand. Such high demand in fact that the group retreated to the Himalayas, namely Rishikesh in northern India as part of a Transcendental Meditation course with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. It was during these blissful moments that Harrison received a letter from a fan.
Source: Far Out
It’s become an iconic scene: The Beatles carrying out their last-ever live performance on the roof of Apple Corps, joined by keyboardist and general legend Billy Preston, their long hair flipping around in the London wind while they recorded live takes of songs like “Dig a Pony” and “Don’t Let Me Down” before eventually being shut down by the Metropolitan Police.
The event was unannounced. Onlookers gathered on their lunch breaks, looking up at the midday sensation. This was the concert from which the final version of the Let It Be album would in part manifest, preserving takes of three of its songs.
Source: Laura Dzubay/consequenceofsound.net
As President Trump toured an N95 mask manufacturing plant in Phoenix on Tuesday, his visit through the facility was accompanied by a head-scratching musical soundtrack: the Paul McCartney-penned “Live and Let Die,” as performed by Guns ‘N Roses.
The president and his entourage were touring a Honeywell factory that produces the masks, worn by medical workers to protect them from breathing in the deadly COVID-19 virus. Standing next to a green bin filled with hundreds of masks, a notably un-face-masked Trump watched an employee work as the music segued from the Animals’ “House of the Rising Sun” into the song McCartney wrote and recorded for the James Bond film of the same name.
The background music for the tour also included Trump rally stalwarts such as Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.” and Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger.”
Source: Randall Roberts/latimes.com
We’re dipping into the Far Out Magazine vault to bring you a scathing letter written by a furious John Lennon and Yoko Ono to Paul McCartney and his wife Linda. It offers a fascinating insight into the relationship of The Beatles songwriting duo following the band’s split.
The typed letter, which includes multiple handwritten additions from Lennon, is undated but research suggests that is dated back to 1971 in the immediate months after The Beatles called it a day. It’s a stark reminder of hos far the duo’s friendship had come in such a short space of time.
Signed by both Lennon and Ono and written underneath their Bag Productions Inc. letterhead, Lennon is replying to a letter Linda McCartney had sent him prior—a missive that he is seemingly furious about. “I was reading your letter and wondering what middle-aged cranky Beatle fan wrote it,” he began.
Source: Lee Thomas-Mason/faroutmagazine.co.uk
