Beatles News
The Beatles icons Paul McCartney nearly punched John Lennon for being on drugs and behaving poorly, White Album recording engineer Geoff Emerick reports in his book Here, There and Everywhere (via Cheat Sheet). John started referring to “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” as “more of Paul’s ‘granny music sh*t.’”
Recording was extended, and by the fourth or fifth day, Emerick said John “went ballistic” and walked out of the studio “ranting and raving.” When he returned visibly high, things got even worse.
Emerick said when Lennon returned to the studio, he made the grand proclamation that he was on drugs, and feeling very high. “I am fucking stoned!” he yelled walking in the door, to the shock of everyone present.
“I am more stoned than you have ever been,” John continued shouting. “In fact, I am more stoned than you will ever be! And this is how the f*cking song should go.” With that, he hammered the opening chords to “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” on the piano. Emerick said Paul was furious.
Source: Brett Buchanan/alternativenation.net
Looking back, it’s hard to imagine The Beatles without Ringo Starr. For all the knocks he’s taken over the years, most would agree now that Ringo was the ideal drummer for the band. It has as much to do with his personality (wry, happy) as it does with his talent (steady, always tasteful).
But that certainly wasn’t the case in 1962. Then (and for the previous two years), Pete Best played drums for the group. He’d joined the band at the invitation of Paul McCartney, just before The Beatles went to play Hamburg for the first time.
In August ’62, just as the band was about to get its first real recording contract, Beatles manager Brian Epstein called Best into his Liverpool office and fired him. Considering an angry fan head-butted George Harrison over the move, it’s fair to say not everyone agreed with the decision.
Contrary to some stories that went out over the years, the move didn’t come because Best’s hair didn’t fit in or he was so pretty he made the other Beatles jealous. Bringing Ringo aboard was mainly about business.
Source: cheatsheet.com
In August 1965, The Beatles ended their North American tour with two concerts at San Francisco's Cow Palace. This video includes Channel 7 reporters with The Beatles as they arrive, excited fans who got to see them and a wide ranging news conference held in between performances.
Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr answered questions in their own sly style on everything from police protection to criticism of music with electronic amplification to what they think of San Francisco.
The Beatles played San Francisco three times. The first concert was at the Cow Palace in August 1964 when the city was their first stop on an American tour. They returned a year later in 1965. Then in August of 1966, the Beatles played at Candlestick Park in what would be their last stage performance ever.
Source: Jennifer Olney/abc7news.com
Luke Hobbs of Gardiner Houlgate with the letters and the number plate set to go under the hammer,
A Beatle’s car numberplate that was first sold in Leeds in return for free haircuts could fetch thousands of pounds next month when it goes up for auction.
The numberplate KMT 499C was removed from an Aston Martin DB5, once owned by the late George Harrison, by a mechanic at Arnold G. Wilson Limited’s Regent Street dealership in Leeds in the early 1970s.
It was one of two plates being replaced with new style reflective plates while the car was being serviced. The rear numberplate remained at the dealership for several years until a member of staff sold it to a local barber, who collected car memorabilia, in return for free haircuts for life. The numberplate was subsequently sold to the collector.
Source: Emma Ryan/yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk
While Beatles fans learned the band split up in April 1970, the four members of the group had already gone their separate ways. That’s how Paul McCartney managed to release his own album before Let It Be (the Fab Four’s last) hit record stores that year.
Paul’s debut album, which John Lennon dismissed as “rubbish,” nonetheless found plenty of fans. It hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart in May and stayed there until Let It Be bumped it from the top spot after a few weeks.
Later in the year, fans got a look at what the two other major songwriters in the group had to offer on their own. George Harrison, who delivered the triple-disc All Things Must Pass in November, came next.
Source: cheatsheet.com
A new exhibit, set in the early '60s, will transport visitors back to the time when Beatlemania was all the rage.
"Ladies and Gentlemen...The Beatles!" will debut at the Oregon Historical Society in Portland on Friday, May 10.
“It doesn’t take a hard day’s night of thinking to understand the impact that The Beatles had on the history of music and popular culture,” said OHS Executive Director Kerry Tymchuk. “The Oregon Historical Society is excited to bring to Portland this fun, interactive exhibition celebrating the band that forever changed rock and roll.”
Source: Destiny Johnson/kgw.com
Paul McCartney's brother addresses claims of singer’s death
Despite being one of the most well-known singers of his generation, a select few Beatles fans believe Macca died way back in 1966.
The legend goes that McCartney was killed in a car crash and was replaced by a lookalike.
The band – conspiracists claim – then left hidden clues in their albums which revealed the truth.
Yesterday And Today is one such album that sparked a frenzy and the conspiracy surrounding it has re-emerged ahead of an auction of a £125k copy on May 9.
Source: Simon Green/dailystar.co.uk
The Beatles legend Paul McCartney’s official web site published a recent article about Paul McCartney & Wings song My Carnival.
Paul McCartney stated that he admitted that the bass line of the song was very ‘Professor Longhair-styled but he said that He also talked with Professor Longhair about the song.
Here is what he said:
“I just loved the style so much that I composed something called ‘My Carnival’ and it’s got the same riff, basically, that he plays… I just couldn’t play it as well! But it’s the bass line definitely [sings Professor Longhair-style bass line].
It was very similar. So I thought, well I can’t just rip him off and have him find out about it and think, “Oh, he’s just ripped me off!”
So I’ll invite him to the session and be honest about it! So I did and said: “Hey listen, you’ve totally influenced me, but I’ve done this song.'”
Source: Enes K./metalheadzone.com
“You know, in 1973, Ringo Starr hit #1 on the Billboard charts with the song ‘You’re Sixteen (You’re Beautiful, And You’re Mine),’ and it was a remake of an earlier song. He was thirtysomething at the time, singing about a 16-year-old. Do you want to take away Ringo Starr’s achievement?”
That was Breitbart editor Joel Pollak, talking on CNN in 2017. At the time, Roy Moore was running for Senator, staying in the race even after multiple women came forward with stories about him dating children when he was an adult. Pollak was trying to make the case for why that wasn’t such a big deal. CNN host Chris Cuomo reacted with total disbelief, and the clip went lightly viral, just like so many other clips of right-wing pundits saying outrageous bullshit on news stations.
Even running as a Republican in Alabama, Roy Moore lost. Maybe everyone in Alabama just wanted to take away Ringo Starr’s achievement.
Source: Tom Breihan/stereogum.com
If you read about the breakup of The Beatles, it’s impossible to ignore the various hostilities among the band members. The feud between John Lennon and Paul McCartney always attracted the most interest, but there were others.
In the Let It Be documentary, you see a particularly testy exchange between Paul and George Harrison in early ’69. George also had problems with John, who wasn’t giving George’s songs the respect they warranted. All this ended up with George quitting the band, and it took some doing to bring him back.
However, you never see anyone warring with Ringo Starr. Though Ringo left the group for a spell during the White Album sessions, he didn’t seem to have personal beefs with other band members. In fact, while trying to get George back into the group, Ringo’s house was the site for negotiations.
Source: cheatsheet.com
