Beatles News
John Lennon was shot and killed by Mark Chapman outside the home he shared with Yoko Ono in Manhattan, New York, on December 8, 1980. As the 39th anniversary of his death approaches, an unearthed interview with Ono sees her opening up about losing her husband in such a sudden and devastating way.
Back in 2012, Ono spoke out about her approach to life, telling The Telegraph: “I want to tell you this story.
“When I was in elementary school in Japan they had a textbook with a picture of a Japanese warrior who asked to be given seven sufferings and eight disasters, because he wanted to take over everybody’s suffering and disasters,” she recalled.
“It’s a courageous thing to do, and I was only a little girl and I thought that sounds good and I wanted to be like him. Do good for the world in the sense of taking everyone’s pain away.
“I asked for the seven sufferings and my life became terribly difficult. All sorts of misery,” Lennon’s wife explained.
Source: Minnie Wright/express.co.uk
As the years passed, John Lennon seemed to think less and less of his Beatles songs. In 1980, while sitting for his last major interview, John labeled a number of his well-liked compositions as either “throwaways” or “pieces of garbage.”
That list included tracks as diverse as “And Your Bird Can Sing” from Revolver (“another horror”) and “Cry Baby Cry” from The White Album (“a piece of rubbish”). And while John was proud of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, he labeled “Good Morning, Good Morning” as more junk.
However, there was one Sgt. Pepper’s song that gained in stature in John’s eyes over the years. Though he described it as a rush-job around the time he wrote and recorded the song with The Beatles, he ended up calling it “pure, like a painting, a pure watercolor” shortly before he died.
Source: cheatsheet.com
Beatles fans are being invited to listen to ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ at an immersive event that aims to give the impression that the Fab Four are performing live.
The pioneering experience, which is set to take place in Liverpool, will present fans with a remixed version of the legendary 1967 album.
The record will be played in Dolby Atmos with speakers being placed around the fans in a bid to transport them to Abbey Road Studios, where the album was recorded.
Producer George Martin’s original tapes have been remixed by his son Giles Martin – who is also a Grammy winning producer.
“Without Liverpool there would be no ‘Sgt Pepper’s’. Liverpool is where it should be,” he told the Liverpool Echo.
Source: Nick Reilly/nme.com
The Beatles were an English rock band that formed in Liverpool and went on to completely change the course of popular music. Although the group broke up over forty years ago, fans still love and obsess over the band and the music they wrote still resonates with people today. From soft-rock hits like “Strawberry Fields” and “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” to sweet ballads like “Hey Jude,” there is a Beatles song for every occasion.
The Beatles even have some holiday hits to jam to, although they never achieved the level of success that some of their other songs did. Although not even the most devout Beatles fan may know what the band did especially for the holidays each year that was a special treat just for their fan club.
The Beatles spent their early years as a band playing clubs around Liverpool. Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr had what it took to make it big and after their first big hit, “Love Me Do,” debuted on the airwaves. It was only a few short years until they achieved worldwide stardom. By 1964, the Beatles were the biggest stars in the world and led what became known as the “British Invasion” of English pop artists on the United States music charts.
Source: cheatsheet.com
In February of 1962, Beatles manager Brian Epstein arranged an audition for the band in front of BBC Radio executives. After struggling to find the then-unknown mop tops a record deal, Epstein hoped that some radio exposure would lead the group to a contract.
BBC producer Peter Pilbeam was impressed with the group’s four-song audition and booked them to appear on the program Teenagers Turn (Here We Go), to be taped on March 7. The line-up for that initial broadcast featured John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Pete Best (Ringo Starr wouldn't join the group until August that year).
“They were very nervous, obviously,” Pilbeam later recalled on a radio interview. “I was very impressed with them. I booked them straight away for another date after that first show.”
Thus began a relationship that would span roughly three years, with the Beatles delivering 52 performances for the BBC between 1962 and 1965. Decades later, recordings from these shows would make up the compilation album Live at the BBC.
Source: ultimateclassicrock.com
Ludwig van Beethoven is one of the most acclaimed musicians of all time. Yoko Ono is a touch less acclaimed. Despite the difference in perception of the two musicians, they both inspired one of the most intriguing Beatles compositions: “Because.”
Like many Beatles records, “Because” is is a bridge between the new and the old. The track’s appeal to contemporary audiences was rooted in its Beach Boys-style vocal harmonies and psychedelic lyrics. To appeal to an older generation, the song has a stiff, almost mathematical chord progression which recalls classical music.
The classical elements of “Because” were intentional. Snopes quotes John Lennon explaining the song’s origins: “[Yoko] trained as a classical musician. I didn’t know that until this morning. In college she majored in classical composition. Now we stimulate each other like crazy. This morning I wrote this song called ‘Because.’ Yoko was playing some classical bit, and I said ‘Play that backwards,’ and we had a tune.”
Source: cheatsheet.com
Todd Rundgren may be on the phone to draw attention to an all-star tribute to the Beatles' "White Album" on which he'll share a stage with Micky Dolenz of the Monkees, Joey Molland of Badfinger, Christopher Cross, and Jason Scheff of Chicago.
But that doesn't mean he has to like it.
And by "it," I mean "The White Album."
"I make no bones about it," Rundgren says.
"I think it's a contender for the Beatles' worst album. And it's not necessarily a judgment about the music on it. I'm talking about a Beatle album, not a bunch of half attempts at solo albums, which is what 'The White Album' is. So as a Beatle album, it's terrible. Very rarely do all four of them play at the same time on the record. Having said that, it was a great start for a George Harrison solo record."
Rundgren laughs, as he does often in the course of casually dismissing one of rock's most celebrated albums with a disarmingly playful irreverence that couldn't be more charming.
Source: Ed Masley/azcentral.com
1. The Beatles got the idea for their name from Buddy Holly and The Crickets
The band liked the idea of using the name of an insect as a band name, and they were fans of Buddy Holly and the Crickets. Because John Lennon loved puns, he altered the spelling of “Beetles” to “Beatles”.
2. John Lennon’s father was absent for much of his early life but showed up when his son became famous
John Lennon’s father, Alfred Lennon, was a merchant mariner who had a stormy relationship with Lennon’s mother and was gone for most of his son’s youth. John Lennon was mostly raised by his aunt. When the Beatles exploded on the pop scene, Alfred Lennon tried to reconnect with his son and also made a novelty recording that was somewhat successful to capitalize on the fame of the Fab Four.
Source: Bo Weber
A pair of John Lennon's trademark round sunglasses are going up for auction along with a parking ticket given to Beatles drummer Ringo Starr -- items kept for half a century by a former driver for the band.
Alan Herring, who worked as a chauffeur for Starr and bandmate George Harrison in the late 60s, said Lennon had given him the glasses after leaving them on the back seat of his Mercedes.
"When John got out of the car I noticed that he'd left these sunglasses on the back seat and one lens and one arm had become disconnected," he said. "I asked John if he'd like me to get them fixed for him. He told me not to worry, that they were just for the look."
The vintage glasses and the parking ticket -- issued on April 25, 1969 in London outside the band's own label Apple Records -- will be sold online by Sotheby's with other Beatles memorabilia next month. Herring said the decision to sell the objects was an emotional one, but that "the memories I have of this very special time in my life working with the Beatles are far more important to me".
Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com
Jay Walker, the founder of Priceline and a visionary who has over 750 patents, told me “My advice to CEOs is to pay more attention to history.” As I think about it, one of the greatest lessons on innovation and success comes from none other than the Beatles.
On April 4, 1964 the Beatles made history by having all of the top five songs on the music charts:
#1 “Can’t Buy Me Love,”
#2 “Twist and Shout,”
#3 “She Loves You,”
#4 “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” and
#5 “Please Please Me.”
Even with this unprecedented success the Beatles proceeded to completely reinvent themselves in what might be called one of the most profound examples of creative destruction.
Source: Robert Reiss/forbes.com
