Beatles News
During the Beatles’ epic run, it wasn’t unusual for George Harrison or Ringo to sing a song written by John Lennon and/or Paul McCartney. Early on, you’ll find George singing “Do You Want to Know a Secret,” a song penned by John.
Later, you couldn’t miss Ringo belting out “With a Little Help From My Friends” on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band or “Yellow Submarine” on the film soundtrack of the same name. (Ringo normally got at least one song to sing on each album.)
By the time they were recording The White Album (1968), George didn’t need John or Paul to write music for him; he had more than enough songs of his own. Even Ringo wrote a song (“Don’t Pass Me By”) for that classic two-disc release.
However, Ringo got another song from John to sing on The White Album — the sweet “Good Night” that served as the closer. Some believed John would have sang it better on his own.
Source: cheatsheet.com
Ringo Starr, the famed Beatles drummer and two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee returned to The Celebirity Theatre in Phoenix on August 26th with his All Starr Band – his first appearance at the theater in the round since a headlining show there in 2016. On this particular Monday, local Arizona night music fans had a choice between seeing Starr or The Rolling Stones at the Cardinals’ football stadium crosstown in Glendale. It was a difficult choice, but this choice was very rewarding.
The experience at the Celebrity Theatre was a very different experience in more ways than one. It has a much more intimate ambiance with a seating capacity of 2650. The stage is in the round and rotates throughout the show. Each fan had an opportunity to view the show up close and personal. The downside is that from any angle in the theatre, you are viewing the back of the band for half of the show. The show was sold out and it was obvious that everyone present was thrilled to be in the presence of a living Beatle.
Source: Mary Andrews/glidemagazine.com
There’s a lot of received wisdom floating around when it comes to the demise of The Beatles and their varying solo careers.
When it comes to George, the story goes like this. Fed up of playing understudy in The Beatles, he spent the band’s final year’s stockpiling incredible tunes that couldn’t get a look in on Lennon and McCartney dominated albums and singles. He then released an amazing triple album, All Things Must Pass, and briefly became the most successful former fab.
He used his cultural currency to organise the first major charity concert, The Concert For Bangladesh, roping in some rockstar mates. After that it was diminishing returns with George letting his solo career trail off to concentrate on producing movies, driving fast cars and shagging Ringo Starr’s wife. Most people know he had a big eighties hit with Got My Mind Set On You and not much else.
Source whatculture.com
By the spring of 1967, The Beatles were as close to the top of the world as could be. They’d been racking up No. 1 singles and albums for three years straight and had annihilated whatever box-office records existed for bands on tour.
In short, they could do whatever they wanted, and they figured they’d use up some of that credit. After leaving touring behind for good, they decided to make the ultimate studio record. That album, which became Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, took an unprecedented five months to record.
With “A Day in the Life” and other brilliant tracks already down, The Beatles knew they had another masterpiece on their hands. So John Lennon thought it was a perfect time to push the envelope. That’s when he came up with a song based on a tagline from a London phone book.
As Paul McCartney recalled, John didn’t have lyrics beyond “You know my name, look up the number.”
Source: cheatsheet.com
If you’re a Beatles fan who’s curious about what the Fab Four had on their mind for any particular song, that information is often available. For example, George Harrison spoke of writing “Savoy Truffle” for his friend Eric Clapton (who had quite the sweet tooth).
John Lennon also wasn’t shy about revealing where he’d gotten ideas for his songs. Take the landmark “In My Life” from Rubber Soul. On that track, John was responding to a journalist who asked why John didn’t include memories from his life in his lyrics.
Paul McCartney has also been willing to talk about the inspiration for his tunes. On “Helter Skelter,” for example, Paul wanted to make a hard-rocking song and simply added lyrics referencing an English fairground ride.
When it came to “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window,” John thought Paul had written the track about his first wife, Linda. However, it seems Paul wrote the song about a fan who broke into his home.
Source: cheatsheet.com
Paul McCartney‘s grandson was recently mugged at knifepoint, as revealed by the Beatles legend himself.
Speaking in a new interview, McCartney said that suspects took his grandson’s mobile phone after he was robbed in London.
Not sharing which grandchild it was, McCartney told The Times that his grandson felt like a “coward” after it happened.
“He was saying the worst thing was that he should have just thumped the guy; he came back and felt a coward,” McCartney explained. “I said, ‘No, no, no, no! The guy had a knife and you don’t know, the guy might be able to use that knife’.”
While discussing his grandson’s ordeal, the Beatle recalled a time during his childhood when he got mugged for his watch.
“When I was a kid it was four guys and they nicked my watch,” he admitted. “I was of a similar age. I just happened to be on my own, bigger kids came along and it was the same feeling. [I thought at the time] ‘I have got to learn karate and be a black belt — and then I’ll get ’em!’ It was the worst thing.”
Source: Will Lavin/nme.com
By early 1968, The Beatles had already made most of their explorations into psychedelic music. Though Yellow Submarine was still to come, “Strawberry Fields Forever,” “Blue Jay Way,” and “I Am the Walrus” were in the past.
After the Magical Mystery Tour film flopped, The Beatles had an urge to get to back to their rock ‘n’ roll roots. The music that would come on The White Album definitely reflects that change in direction. That album, heavy on guitars and piano, featured songs mostly written in India.
From mid-February through March of ’68, all four Beatles spent time practicing transcendental meditation with the Maharishi in Rishikesh. But before they left England, they recorded a single to tide over their fans. That song, written by Paul McCartney, was “Lady Madonna.”
When the band went to record a promotional film (i.e., a video) for “Lady Madonna,” they decided to record a new song by John Lennon instead. That track turned out so well John campaigned for it to go out as the single rather than “Lady Madonna.”
Source: cheatsheet.com
Even for sisters, the bond between them has clearly always been close.
A picture from their childhood shows Mary and Stella McCartney squeezing inside a T-shirt together – and it seems that Sir Paul McCartney’s daughters remain just as inseparable today.
Fashion designer Stella, 47, shared the T-shirt photograph on social media to mark Mary’s 50th birthday on Wednesday. She wrote: ‘Celebrating this soulmate’s birth 50 years ago today. Mary, I love you more than you will ever know, more than I can even put into words. You’re with me every single day... A true stellar sister! x Stella’
Source: Alisha Rouse /dailymail.co.uk
While nothing was set in stone, The Beatles definitely had a lineup. John Lennon played rhythm guitar; George Harrison played lead guitar; Paul McCartney played bass; and Ringo Starr played drums. When that changed, there was usually a specific reason.
For example, when Paul took over at the drums on “Back in the U.S.S.R.,” he did so out of necessity. After getting fed up with the band during the White Album sessions, Ringo had left town. Paul was simply filling in to keep the train rolling.
When Paul took the guitar solo instead of George on Revolver’s “Taxman,” that happened mostly for efficiency’s sake. In those days, the band — and producer George Martin — didn’t plan to spend as much time on George’s songs as they did on songs written by John or Paul.
Source: cheatsheet.com
Fifty years ago, in 1969, The Beatles’ created two classic albums — Abbey Road and Let It Be — but outside the studio the four young men had started living very different lives. This reality would lead them to quietly decide to break up in September 1969.
Now, a new PEOPLE special edition, The Beatles: 1969, examines how a year filled with weddings, babies, musical side gigs and money disputes set the stage for the Beatles’ dissolution and the creation of four new careers.
After years as the last bachelor Beatle, Paul McCartney wed Linda Eastman on March 12, 1969, at the Marylebone Registry in London. With that, McCartney was suddenly a man with a pregnant wife (Linda was four months along at the ceremony) and also a 6-year-old stepdaughter, Heather, whom he would later adopt. Mary arrived on Aug. 28, just days after the Beatles’s final recording session as a group. The following year, she made an appearance on the front cover of her dad’s debut solo album, McCartney. Years later, the birth of Stella and James would follow. “My family had loads of kids,” he once said of the large McCartney clan. “You were always being handed a baby.”
Source: Saleah Blancaflor/people.com
