Beatles News
More than fifty years after The Beatles broke out into still unparalleled success, we look at five key songwriting techniques imparted onto us by the fab four.
The Beatles showed the world that you could write and perform your own songs. Fifty-six years after “Love Me Do” was released, there is still so much to learn from The Beatles and their innate sense of songcraft, which is both timeless and arguably unrivaled, even to this day.
So here is our list of five things The Beatles taught us about songwriting, in reverse order of randomness.
Source: Owen Davie/hypebot.com
Fifty-five years after their legendary performance at the Ed Sullivan Theater, The Beatles have come back to New York as a holiday pop-up.
Running from Dec. 11 to 22 in the SoHo district of Manhattan, the store features “the first wave of products” since Sony Music took over the licensing rights for Beatles merchandise in North America.
The mix ranges from holiday sweaters, hats and scarves to albums, books, tree ornaments, coffee mugs, branded toys, a turntable and a pinball machine. Items include an Abbey Road 50th Anniversary long sleeve tee, Help! striped pom beanies and I Feel Fine totes.
Source: Tom Ryan/retailwire.com
After months of rumours and speculation from fans, Taylor Swift has been confirmed as the second headliner for Glastonbury 2020.
The US superstar, who celebrated her 30th birthday this week, shared the news on Twitter on Sunday evening.
Swift shared a picture of herself holding a poster for the event, which included a nod to her recently-released festive track, with the line: "From Christmas Tree Farm to Worthy Farm."
Next to it, she wrote: "I’m ecstatic to tell you that I’ll be headlining Glastonbury on its 50th anniversary - See you there!"
The Lover singer had long been rumoured to be performing, after fans spotted a gap in her 2020 tour plans.
She's now the second headliner confirmed for the event, following Paul McCartney's announcement that he will close the Pyramid Stage on the Saturday night of the annual event.
Source: Rachel McGrath/standard.co.uk
Ringo Starr has never been shy about naming favorite songs from his time with The Beatles. When interviewers ask him about the dark days of The White Album, Ringo brings up the good memories, including the boys bashing their way through “Yer Blues” in a tiny Abbey Road studio.
If you ask Ringo about the favorite song as far as his own drumming goes, he’s also got an answer. That would be “Rain,” the rocking Revolver-era B-side to “Paperback Writer.” “I feel as though that was someone else playing,” Ringo once said about his drum part. “I was possessed!”
But that was the Beatles era. Once it ended and Ringo found himself as one of four solo musicians with the “former Beatle” label, things were different. At that point, he had to construct a live set using his own material.
Source: cheatsheet.com
35 years ago, one of the founders of heavy metal, Deep Purple were joined on stage by their longtime friend and Beatles guitarist George Harrison to deliver a stunning jam in Sydney, Australia.
The connection between George Harrison and Deep Purple’s drummer Ian Paice, who were also one time neighbours, and the band’s late keyboardist Jon Lord clearly runs very deep. One moment you can see this strong bond is in this footage which sees Harrison join the band for a special performance.
Harrison had been on holiday in Australia when Paice and Lord got in contact with The Beatles man to invite him to perform in Sydney. One fun moment in the performance is how Harrison was introduced, the band reference Harrison’s childhood address by welcoming “Arnold Grove from Liverpool”.
With Harrison on board, there was only one more thing left to bring, the rock and roll. So Deep Purple, accompanied by George Harrison, run through an extended jam session on Little Richard’s iconic bop, ‘Lucille’.
Source: Jack Whatley/faroutmagazine.co.uk
Glasses from the estate of John Lennon are pictured during a press conference on Nov. 21, 2017 in Berlin. German police on Nov. 20, 2017 had arrested a 58-year-old man in Berlin on suspicion of handling the stolen items, including the late Beatle's diaries. The items were stolen from Lennon's widow Yoko Ono in New York in 2006. (dpa / AFP /Maurizio Gambarini)
A pair of John Lennon's sunglasses The Beatles legend once left behind in the back seat of a car sold Friday for nearly $200,000 at an auction in London.
Billed as one of the most famous specs in rock-and-roll, the round, green-tinted lenses and their golden frame belonged to Alan Herring, the chauffeur for the Liverpool quartet's drummer Ringo Starr and band mate George Harrison.
Source: The Jakarta Post/thejakartapost.com
Over the years, there have been some dynamite covers of Beatles songs, and they started coming soon after the Fab Four released their versions. That certainly applied to “Something.” When Ray Charles and James Brown recorded the great love song, George Harrison was thrilled.
The same went for Stevie Wonder’s 1970 rendition of “We Can Work It Out.” Wonder’s cover stands above most versions of the Lennon-McCartney original. (Some would even argue it surpasses the Beatles’ own.) But Wonder wasn’t the only one leaving a unique mark on Fab Four tracks.
When Joe Cocker released “With a Little Help From My Friends” in 1968, it sounded miles from the Sgt. Pepper version Ringo Starr sang the previous year. To Paul McCartney, it was more than just a great cover. Paul called Cocker’s rendition “mind-blowing.”
Source: cheatsheet.com
About five years ago I told a friend I was thinking about writing a book. He said, "About the Beatles?" I replied sarcastically, "Yeah, because that's what the world needs. Another book about The Beatles."
It's impossible to pinpoint a number, but there are thousands, maybe in the tens of thousands, of books written on The Beatles. I found an author, Mark Lewisohn, who has written more than twenty by himself. So, yeah, the world really didn't need another book about the Fab Four.
But yet, when I found out that Peter Asher was writing a Beatles book, I could help but to be excited. Here's a guy who is a musical legend in his own right. He was the first name in the duo "Peter & Gordon." He's been a long time record producer and manager; working with illustrious names like Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor and Cher. In fact, he was the one who brought Taylor to the attention of The Beatles and had him signed to his first record deal with Apple.
Source: Howard Moore/chicagonow.com
Paul McCartney has revealed he's recorded a ‘secret’ Christmas album – but the chances of fans ever getting to hear it are slim, as the former Beatles icon created it “just for the family.”
McCartney was speaking with BBC Radio 4’s World At One when he revealed that the material takes the form of Christmas carol instrumentals, explaining: “Years ago, I thought, ‘There's not very good Christmas records,’ so I actually went into my studio over a couple of years and I made one.
“But it’s just for the family. It gets brought out each year, I’ve just got a little demo of it, but the kids like it. It’s kind of traditional – it's something they've heard through the years and now it's the grandkids getting indoctrinated with my carols record.”
Yesterday, it was revealed that McCartney’s 2005 children’s book High In The Clouds which he created with Geoff Dunbar and Philip Ardagh, is to be adapted into an animated film on Netflix.
Source: loudersound.com
Take an unforgettable journey down Penny Lane with The Beatles LOVE, a flower-power fantasy that's the closest you'll come to a real, live Beatles concert. Featuring a custom-crafted soundtrack with elements from more than 100 cherished songs, The Beatles LOVE is a trippy multimedia presentation that only Cirque du Soleil could create.
LOVE is a departure from traditional circus-based productions and Cirque's first foray into the works of other artists. Based on an idea by Cirque co-founder Guy Laliberté and band member George Harrison, LOVE re-creates, through dance and acrobatics, the origins of the Fab Four, their meteoric rise to fame and the profound impact of their music on the world.
Presented in an astounding 360-degree theater with 2,000 seats and more than 6,300 speakers, LOVE blends hi-tech wizardry with live performance on a scale that few can rival. Surreal, dazzling and full of color, it breathes life into familiar names like Sergeant Pepper, Father McKenzie, Lucy In The Sky and Lady Madonna.
Source: By Sam Novak /lasvegasmagazine.com
