Beatles News
If you go by creative output, The Beatles’ 1968 trip to India was a huge success. During their stay in Rishikesh studying transcendental meditation under the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the members of the world’s most famous band wrote about 30 songs.
The Fab Four recorded most of them for The White Album, and fans know them well. While abroad, Paul McCartney wrote (among other tracks) “Rocky Raccoon,” “Why Don’t We Do It in the Road,” and “Back in the U.S.S.R.” (the last one with a minor assist from Beach Boy Mike Love).
George Harrison came back with “Sour Milk Sea,” “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” and a few others. John Lennon wrote “Julia,” “Dear Prudence,” “Sexy Sadie,” and more. In fact, their time was so productive that John and Paul each wrote a song following the same lecture by the Maharishi.
Paul’s tune, “Mother Nature’s Son,” went out on the White Album later that year. As for John’s song (titled “I”m Just a Child of Nature” at first), that one never went out as a Beatles track. However, it became one of John’s most famous solo works.
Source: cheatsheet.com
Does any album have more acclaim than Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band? If so, we’d like to see someone make that case. For decades, that 1967 release has stood as a monument in The Beatles’ career (and in music in general).
In the ’90s, Paul McCartney he said he’d pick Pepper as his favorite Fab Four album (should he be forced to make such a choice). Looking back some 25 years, Paul thought the album still held up and was proud of his prominent role in its production.
In his typically conflicted way, John Lennon recognized the importance of the record (especially “A Day in the Life“) while poking holes in the concept and general reception. “The Pepper myth is bigger, but the music on The White Album is far superior,” he said in 1971.
Source: cheatsheet.com
Born on October 9, 1940, John Lennon grew up to become one of the most influential individuals of his time. Best-known as a founder and co-lead vocalist of the Beatles, he is renowned for his musical talent and prolific writing abilities, establishing the group as one of the greatest of all time. However, his life went far beyond Strawberry Fields and wanting to hold hands. He was an incredibly complex person that led a life of highs and lows just like any other person. Take a look to see what made John Lennon’s life so interesting and how he became the cultural icon that he is today.
Source: Scott Croker/idolator.com
When The Beatles released the “Get Back” single in 1969, the track instantly connected with the record-buying public. With a toe-tapping pulse and a clutch assist from Billy Preston, the track shot to No. 1 on both sides of the Atlantic.
While promoting the single, Paul McCartney described the composition he wrote as something the band “made it up out of thin air” while working in the studio early in ’69. To paraphrase Paul, once they had the words, they laid down the track and that was that.
It definitely wasn’t that simple, though. John Lennon’s guitar solo on the song is a reminder that George Harrison walked out on the band during rehearsals for “Get Back.” (John took over lead duties with George gone.)
As for the song falling from the sky, you can make a case that didn’t happen, either. A track George originally worked out for The White Album shares several things in common with “Get Back.”
Source: cheatsheet.com
While the songwriting credits on the record never changed, John Lennon and Paul McCartney weren’t collaborating a great deal by the late 1960s. Looking back at The Beatles’ run, many point to Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) as the end of the line for the Lennon-McCartney machine.
“A Day in the Life,” the crowning achievement of Sgt. Pepper’s (and maybe the band overall), might have been the last example of the pair fully working together. If you go by No. 1 singles that were pure Lennon-McCartney, you have to go back earlier.
During the Rubber Soul sessions (1965), John and Paul topped the charts on both side of the Atlantic with the single, “We Can Work It Out.” (In America, the song went out on the Yesterday…And Today album; in England, it was just a single.)
While it started as a hit-in-the-making idea from Paul, the contribution from John pushed in to its classic status.
Source: cheatsheet.com
The Beatles have opened an immersive listening exhibition based on their classic album ‘Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ — which promises to be as close as you can get to experiencing the album being played live.
The event at Royal Albert Dock in Liverpool has been designed by The Beatles’ firm Apple Corps in association with Tate Liverpool, Dolby Laboratories and National Museums Liverpool.
It’s based on the new mix of the album released in 2017 by Giles Martin, son of Sir George Martin, who produced the original ‘Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ album in 1967.
A statement of the presentation of the album in Dolby Atmos sound said: “This is an immersive sound environment which feels as if the band is performing live in the space. It will transport listeners to Abbey Road this Christmas.” Free tickets for the experience are sold out, but further similar events are planned for 2020.
Source: John Earls/nme.com
Elvis Presley was a huge idol for The Beatles in the early days and, when Beatlemania exploded, the band were desperate to get to meet the King of Rock ’n’ Roll. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison tried to set up a meeting with Elvis’ manager Colonel Parker in 1964, but to no avail. The following year, they managed to sort out for the band to go to Elvis, rather than the other way around.
In a newly unearthed interview, Elvis’ ex-wife Priscilla Presley, who was his girlfriend at the time The Beatles came to visit, recalled how the day went.
She greeted the band at the door at Graceland that evening and briefly showed them around before taking them to see Elvis where he was relaxing in the den.
“They were so cute,” Priscilla said. “They were so excited but so nervous.
Source: Minnie Wright/express.co.uk
There’s something overwhelmingly endearing about Ringo Starr’s “What’s My Name?” — the title track off of his 20th studio album, which dropped in October. Perhaps it’s because, despite being all about Ringo, it was written by long-time All-Starr Band member Colin Hay. Or maybe it’s the fact that the chorus comes from a refrain Ringo often throws out at live shows. Or maybe it’s simply because the song is fun — my husband and I often throw up the peace sign while dancing to it in the car.
“Well I’ve seen it all from the mountains of Napal to Reno, Nevada,” Ringo boasts, “I’ve taken all the falls, I was climbing up the walls and now it doesn’t matter/Nothing stays the same, but I’m still in the game/What’s my name? Ringo!”
Source: Brenna Ehrlich/rollingstone.com
One of the more touching friendships to come out of the sixties was the mutual respect and appreciation the legend Bob Dylan held for the late, great Beatles guitarist George Harrison. Here, we’re looking back at a special duet of the Dylan tune ‘If Not For You’ that the pair shared during the rehearsals for ‘The Concert For Bangladesh’.
The track featured on Dylan’s then-current record New Morning as well as Harrison’s solo debut following The Beatles’ split; All Things Must Pass and finds a happy home in this footage.
The two friends stand side by side and perform the song as a duet as a warm-up for their impending live show at Madison Square Gardens on August 1st, 1971. The show would turn out to be a lasting moment in Harrison’s illustrious legacy as the former Beatles organised a benefit gig for the people of Bangladesh following years of turmoil, war, and famine.
Source: FarOut Magazine
The Beatles’ ‘A Day In The Life’ is not just the mercurial ending to one of the greatest records ever in Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, but is also a composite of true stories married, mixed and matched into one of the band’s best songs.
The song’s first verse is possibly one of the most engaging in music history. Written by John Lennon, the first line of the song refers to the loss of one of both Paul McCartney and Lennon’s friends—Tara Browne. In this first verse, Lennon sets out the tone of the entire song; we are all viewing this and many other tragedies together, as one audience.
On this day in 1966, Browne, the heir to the Guinness fortune, was in a fatal car crash. The 21-year-old was a friend of the band’s and his death would’ve clearly rocked Lennon and Co. to their core. A month later, and just a few days before The Beatles would go into the studio to lay down ‘A Day In The Life’, there was an article in the paper surrounding the custody battle for Browne’s two children.
Source: Jack Whatley/faroutmagazine.co.uk
