Beatles News
In the mid-1960s, America found itself in the grip of a public health crisis.
“The British Beatles broke out here in New York [like] an epidemic of the German measles,” announced a breathless American TV newsreader. “Unlike measles, Beatles strike teenagers almost exclusively but the symptoms are the same – fever and an itching rash that produces contortions on behalf of the victims.”
It was February 1964 and The Beatles had touched down in the States for the first time. The band’s 14-day trip kickstarted American Beatlemania and the subsequent British invasion of bands including the Rolling Stones and the Dave Clark Five. The Fab Four’s appearance on CBS’s The Ed Sullivan Show on Sunday, February 9 broke TV records with a staggering 73 million viewers – more than 40 per cent of the entire US population.
Hysteria swept Manhattan. Around 50,000 fans applied for the 728 places at the Broadway theatre where Ed Sullivan was recorded. The band were pursued everywhere by screaming fans, kept – with limited success – at bay by cordons of arm-linked policemen. Banners appeared saying “Ringo for President”. A national obsession had begun – an obsession that had a lasting impact on people who were there.
“It’s like the light came on,” says American writer Joe Queenan in Beatles ’64, a new Martin Scorsese-produced documentary on Disney+ about the band’s landmark first trip Stateside. It was a revelation for the band too. “This was ‘Give us your huddled masses’. This was to us the land of freedom,” Paul McCartney recalls in the documentary of his expectations of that first trip.
The Beatles appeared on two more Ed Sullivan episodes that February before heading home. That same month I Want to Hold Your Hand started a seven-week stint at number one in America, only to be knocked off by another Beatles song, She Loves You.
Source: James Hall/telegraph.co.uk
Sean Ono Lennon has shared an insight into the relationship between his parents John Lennon and Yoko Ono.
In an interview with PEOPLE Magazine, Lennon spoke about his father ahead of the box set release of ‘Mind Games’, the fourth album by the Beatle first released in 1973.
Sean, who was born in 1975, oversaw the production of the ‘Mind Games’ boxset, and he calls the era during which the album was made as “really terrifying” for both his parents.
This fraught period led to a temporary separation between John and Yoko – however, Sean disagrees with fans who call ‘Mind Games’ a breakup album.
“My mother is this giant mountain in the distance,” he explained to PEOPLE, referring to the ‘Mind Games’ album art, “and dad is this diminutive little man receding into nowhere.”
He added: “His entire life and art was infused with his relationship with my mom,” emphasizing that ‘Mind Games’ is “mostly love songs about her”.
“My dad declared to the world that ‘John and Yoko’ were one word. I think he always had his heart set on her. He was so in love with her. They had a legendary love and I think that this album is infused with that love. You can hear it.”
He also shared that ‘Mind Games’ was an album that saw the couple “stepping away from radical activism a little bit”.
“I think they felt like they didn’t want to be in that world anymore. They realized that it was not a fun road for them and so they wanted to make music that was less directly attacking the establishment and focusing more on peace and love again.”
Sean was recently nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package for the ‘Mind Games’ reissue, for which Sean oversaw new “meditation” mixes.
Earlier this week, the young Lennon revealed that he started making music in order to “fill the void” left by the death of his father.
“I never played music because I was good at it,” he explained. “I lost my father and I didn’t know how to fill that void. Learning how to play his songs on guitar was a way to process the loss with an activity that made me feel connected to him.”
Source: Daniel Peters/nme.com
John Lennon was a beloved musician, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t attract a few enemies here and there. There are several artists that entered into feuds with Lennon–though he may not have been an active member in them. Find three such feuds, below.
1. Joni Mitchell
John Lennon felt that Joni Mitchell was a product of an “overeducation.” Mitchell has long been known for her visceral tracks that speak to the human condition. While that practice is what she’s made her name on, Lennon felt it was too good to be true.
“I played him something,” Mitchell once said, referencing her first time meeting Lennon. “[He said] ‘Oh, it’s all a product of over-education. You want a hit, don’t you? Put some fiddles on it!’”
That comment was enough to sour the Beatle in Mitchell’s eyes. Her reverence for him (that we can only assume she had at least a portion of before this incident) was forever sullied.
2. Elvis Presley
All of the Beatles loved Elvis Presley. Like all burgeoning rock stars of their era, they found Presley to be a deity of the genre. You’d be hard-pressed to find a rock n’ roller who wasn’t obsessed with The King in the ’50s and ’60s. Unfortunately, the feeling wasn’t mutual–at least after the band became more involved with America.
Presley famously spoke with the president, offering to become a spy on his behalf. He planned to be dedicated to snuffing out whatever “Anti-American” propaganda the Fab Four were behind.
“Presley indicated that he thought the Beatles had been a real force for anti-American spirit,” a member of the White House council, Egil “Bud” Krogh, once said. “He said that the Beatles came to this country, made their money and then returned to England where they promoted an anti-American theme. The President nodded in agreement.”
Of all his bandmates, Lennon was arguably the most political. As such, we have to assume Presley had a proportionate problem with him.
3. Paul McCartney
This wasn’t always the case. Paul McCartney and John Lennon were once as close as two songwriters could be. Unfortunately tensions within the Beatles drove a wedge in their relationship. In the wake of their breakup, Lennon spent much time bashing his former bandmate–both in press and in song.
Source: Alex Hopper/americansongwriter.com
A handwritten letter that John Lennon wrote to Eric Clapton inviting him to be part of a new supergroup is to be offered at auction next month.
The eight-page letter sees Lennon express his heartfelt admiration for Clapton and his music, as he outlines his vision for a musical project that he hoped would have a “revolutionary” effect on live performances.
Dated September 29, 1971, the signed draft — which features several corrections and deletions — sees Lennon outline his plans for a “nucleus group” that would include musician and producer Klaus Voormann, drummer Jim Keltner, pianist Nicky Hopkins and producer and songwriter Phil Spector, all of whom had previously worked with the Beatles.
Lennon told Clapton he believed the prospective group, which would also be joined by his wife, Yoko Ono, would “bring back the balls in rock ‘n’ roll.”
The letter is expected to fetch up to €150,000 (around $158,000) when it goes up for auction on December 5. International Autograph Auctions Europe SL, which is holding the online sale, described it in a media statement as “one of the rarest forms of Lennon’s personal communications available.”
Lennon wrote: “You must know by now that Yoko and I rate your music and yourself very highly. You also know the music we have been making and hope to make. Anyway… after missing the Bangla-desh concert we began to feel more and more like going on the road but not the way I used to with the Beatles, night after night of torture.”
Source: Lianne Kolirin/cnn.com
The Beatles‘ George Harrison released his third studio album, the triple album All Things Must Pass, which would go on to spend seven weeks on top of the Billboard Album chart.
The record, co-produced by Phil Spector, was Harrison’s first full-length album following the breakup of The Beatles and featured guest appearances by Harrison’s Beatles bandmate Ringo Starr, as well as Eric Clapton, Billy Preston and others.
All Things Must Pass contained the #1 single “My Sweet Lord,” which made Harrison the first former member of The Beatles to score a solo #1 in the U.S. The track, which was released as a double A-side single with “Isn’t It a Pity,” also went to #1 in several other countries, including the U.K. and Australia.
A commercial success for Harrison, the record has been certified seven-times Platinum by the RIAA.
Source: Jill Lances/1430wcmy.com
Many rightly recognize All Things Must Pass as George Harrison’s solo masterpiece.
But Harrison followed it in 1973 with Living in the Material World, which details his personal and spiritual struggles. The recording differs from the dense and ambitious production of All Things Must Pass with its stripped-back and earthy performances of Harrison contemplating a higher power.
Mostly self-produced, Harrison also returned to the sitar, which he’d abandoned for years. Apart from the religious pronouncements, Harrison’s life had descended into an abyss of sex and drugs. Legal issues surrounding The Beatles and mismanaged funds raised from his Concert for Bangladesh left him in despair. So he turned his despair into yet another great work.
Though it was a commercial success upon release, Living in the Material World was quickly forgotten. And its 50th anniversary arrived last year without recognition. But Dhani and Olivia Harrison have overseen the release of a newly mixed and expanded version of the album, shining a light on an overlooked masterpiece.
Here are three classics from Harrison’s equally timeless Living in the Material World.
“Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)”
In 1971, Harrison raised awareness and money for millions of refugees fleeing East Pakistan during the Bangladesh Liberation War with a pair of benefit concerts at Madison Square Garden. Then he took a break. During this period, the former Beatle also dedicated himself more fervently to Hinduism. “Give Me Love” lives in the same spirit as “My Sweet Lord,” and Harrison said the song just fell from his lips. “Sometimes you open your mouth, and you don’t know what you are going to say, and whatever comes out is the starting point,” he said in his 1980 autobiography I, Me, Mine.
Source: americansongwriter.com
Fans were left in shock after Paul McCartney snuck into the Beatles '64 documentary premiere at Hudson Square Theater in New York City on Sunday. The musician, 82, looked relaxed as he settled into a random seat in the middle of the venue alongside his wife Nancy, 65, and behind comedian Chris Rock.
While the crowd around him remained calm, Paul was seen waving to a few fans before watching the new film which is produced by famed filmmaker Martin Scorsese, 82. It was announced that Paul was in attendance right before the screening started, but the majority of the crowd saw him as they were taking their seats. Overwhelmed by Paul's appearance, the fan wrote: 'trying to watch the new beatles documentary and HE SHOWS UP'.
She added in the caption: 'and if i said i cried during the first ten minutes…' Fans were left in shock after Paul McCartney snuck into the Beatles '64 documentary premiere in NYC on Sunday alongside his wife Nancy
Other fans couldn't believe he had snuck into the theatre as they took to the comments to share their surprise. They penned: 'Nah but imagine watching the beatles documentary and PAUL MCCARTNEY sits next to you'; 'omfg y’all are breathing the same air'; 'No matter how rich and famous a person can be. When Paul walks in the room everyone else looks smaller.';
'Paul McCartney is the one celebrity I would absolutely die if I saw in person'. Others joked: 'he probably whispered "i know them" to the person sitting next to him, pointing at john ringo n george'; 'there to fact check'.
Earlier in the night the star took to the red carpet with his wife as he donned a mixed-material jacket with grey tweed and light-wash denim details along the cuffs, collar and buttons down the center.
Source: dailymail.co.uk
Nothing else that might happen in their careers could be bigger than going to America. Or so The Beatles thought in 1964.
“They're all so free on this trip, and joyful,” says David Tedeschi, director of the new Disney+ documentary “Beatles ‘64” (streaming Friday), which follows the Fab Four and their most devoted fans through the chaotic days before and after the band’s Feb. 9 appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” “Even later on in 1964, it wasn't the thrill that it was in February.”
The footage, shot by Albert and David Maysles for a rarely seen 1964 TV documentary (“What’s Happening! The Beatles in the USA”), is supplemented with fresh interviews with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, interspersed with recollections from those early admirers. Martin Scorsese, a producer on the project, also gets a tour of Starr's well-preserved Beatles wardrobe, including the drummer's hot pink “Sgt. Pepper” uniform and green pinstriped “Hey Jude” jacket.
Most thrilling for the audience will be the restoration of the original 16 mm film, with the live performances demixed by “Get Back” director Peter Jackson’s WingNut Films and remixed by Beatles producer Giles Martin. The band’s famous concert at Washington Coliseum − their first in America − finally can be heard over the screaming, weeping and rhapsodic crowd.
Source: usatoday.com
Ringo Starr appears to have confirmed the rumors that Saltburn star Barry Keoghan is going to play him in Sam Mendes’ upcoming Beatles movies.
Back in February, Mendes announced plans to make four separate Beatles movies, one for each member — Ringo, Paul McCartney, John Lennon and George Harrison — and almost immediately speculation began as to who’ll play the Fab Four, with Keoghan’s name mentioned for Ringo.
In a recent interview with Entertainment Tonight, the 84-year-old Ringo appeared to let it slip that the rumor is true.
When asked how he feels about Keoghan playing him, Ringo shared, “Well, I think it’s great. I believe he’s somewhere taking drum lessons, and I hope not too many.”
So far there’s been no official announcement about the casting.
Mendes’ films will be made by Sony Pictures, and will mark the first time Apple Corps Ltd. and The Beatles have granted a studio the rights to the life stories of band members and their legendary catalog of music. Each film will be told from the point of view of one of the band members.
Source: kslx.com
It’s often claimed, I’m not sure on what authority, that the Beatles’ arrival in America, three months after the assassination of President Kennedy, in some unquantifiable way lifted the spirits of a depressed nation, allowing it to move forward into the light. Perhaps reliving it in 2024 will bring similar relief, though of course, some will just long for the past.
It’s a thought repeated by Paul McCartney himself in a delightful new-old documentary “Beatles ’64,” premiering Friday on Disney+, in what, after “The Beatles Anthology” in 1995 and “Get Back” in 2019, might be seen as an infrequent Thanksgiving tradition. The film, produced by Martin Scorsese and directed by David Tedeschi, is the latest repurposing of footage shot by Albert and David Maysles, when the band crossed the pond to appear on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in February 1964.
The Maysles’ footage was originally used for the BBC documentary “What’s Happening! The Beatles in the U.S.A.,” and formed the substance of the 1991 “The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit.” (Bits and pieces have appeared in various Beatles docs over the years; it is foundational stuff.) But there is more of it here, interspersed with new interviews with McCartney, Ringo Starr and fans and friends who participated in the moment, along with archival interviews with George Harrison and John Lennon and some needless social context from Marshall McLuhan and Betty Friedan. Happily absent are later-generation pop stars testifying to the band’s genius, or worse, singing their own versions of Beatles songs. Not even the Beatles testify to their own genius.
“You must be kidding with that question,” says McCartney, when a reporter asks about their place in “Western culture.” “It’s not culture, it’s a good laugh.”
Source: Robert Lloyd/latimes.com
