Beatles News
Richard Nixon tried to get John Lennon thrown out of America because he saw him as a ‘counter-culture enemy’, according to a new documentary.
The former US President was so paranoid the Beatles singer could inspire the youth vote against him that he wanted him deported.
Lennon biographer Tim Riley said that Nixon regarded the Liverpudlian as ‘dangerous political leader’ and wanted him gone before the 1972 US election. According to ‘John Lennon: It Happened Here’, which is screening on US TV network Reelz, Lennon’s anti-war views and support of free speech made him a target for Nixon.At the time Lennon was living in New York where he recorded ‘Imagine’ in 1971 after the break-up of the Beatles.
He also staged his ‘Bed-In for Peace’ with his wife Yoko Ono where they stayed in bed for a week to call for peace.
All of this turned Lennon into an icon on the left at a time of protests over the Vietnam War and rising suspicion of the US government.
Riley said that the Nixon White House took the threat posed by Lennon so seriously that they ‘decided to attack his immigration status’.
Source: Daily Mail
Sir Paul McCartney has been pretty prolific in the making music department over the past six decades.
But surprisingly, he hasn't recorded as many duets with other artists as often as you might think.
Every now and then, he has teamed up with some of the world's greatest, and here's our very favourites.
1. 'The Girl is Mine' (with Michael Jackson)
Perhaps surprisingly, this pop ballad was the first single to be taken from Michael Jackson’s Thriller.
This song features the pair fighting over the same girl. She clearly has no particular type! Jackson said it was “one of my favourite songs to record” as there was “lots of playing, and throwing stuff at each other, and making jokes.” Many members from Toto also took part in the recording.
2. 'Ebony and Ivory' (with Stevie Wonder)
OK, this one might be a bit on the sickly sweet side, but come on, it's a classic!
It is a self-empowerment anthem that tackles issues of racial equality, and it reached number one on both the UK and the US charts. The title was inspired by McCartney hearing Spike Milligan say "black notes, white notes, and you need to play the two to make harmony, folks!".
Source: smoothradio.com
Musicians can be a fickle lot. They can be unpunctual, slack with returning phone calls and precious about criticism.
But if there's one area they can be some of the most frustrating people on Earth, it's in deciding a band name.
Having played in countless bands, I can safely suggest that the more experienced, talented and democratic your group is, the harder it is to decide on a name.
My last band, for example, had three different names for its first three gigs. In fact, by the third gig we simply went without a name because we couldn't agree.
One of the best ways around it is to have a guitarist who assumes some form of pseudo leadership and everybody just nods, smiles and agrees to prevent them having a hissy fit.
Source: ABC Radio Adelaide By Malcolm Sutton/abc.net.au
SHABBY ROAD
John, Paul, George and Ringo made the crossing a mecca for music fans after it appeared on their 1969 album Abbey Road
WORKERS have dug up the iconic zebra crossing made famous by The Beatles.
The Fab Four were pictured walking over the crossing for the cover of their fabled Abbey Road album — named after the North London recording studio nearby. Workmen pose as The Beatles walking across the iconic Abbey Road crossing.
Workmen pose as The Beatles walking across the iconic Abbey Road crossing. Workmen pose as The Beatles walking across the iconic Abbey Road crossing. The Fab Four were pictured walking across the road outside Abbey Road Studios for the iconic 1969 album cover
Fans flocked to the site to pick up pieces of rubble being left behind by the resurfacing works as the old paintwork was ripped up.
Source: Neal Baker/thesun.co.uk
It’s the 50th anniversary of the release of the White Album (officially titled The Beatles) and the 1968 film Yellow Submarine. Celebrate the world’s love for the Beatles with this exclusive essay from author Ann Hood.
I fell in love for the first time on February 9, 1964. Like all first loves, this one hit hard—the racing heart, the weak knees, the way that everything around me seemed to disappear except me and the shaggy-haired, brown-bedroom-eyed boy singing to me. When he told me, “Darling, I’ll be true,” I believed him. I was 7 years old, and that winter night, I knew that someday I would grow up and marry Paul McCartney.
I was the kind of kid who liked to memorize things—the birthstone for each month, the astrological signs and state capitals. I used that same determination to learn everything I could about Paul. Most of my facts were gleaned from magazines like Teen Talk and 16, so the veracity of much of what I learned was shaky. But he really was, of course, from Liverpool, England.
Source: Parade
As expected, Paul McCartney will appear in a new episode of “Carpool Karaoke,” joining host James Corden for broadcasts of “The Late Late Show” out of London on June 18 through 21. The “Late Late Show” airs on CBS in the U.S. and on Sky One in the U.K. and NOW TV.
Other guests on deck for London week include Chris Pratt, Damian Lewis, J.J. Abrams and Ruth Wilson in addition to the previously announced Cher, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Niall Horan and Foo Fighters.
Variety reported on Monday that the Beatles legend and the British television personality were seen filming together in Liverpool. Said Liverpool Beatles tourguide Jackie Spencer: “[McCartney] was being really nice to everybody. He was backing people in so they could get pictures with him. He and James Corden were taking selfies. And they just walked back, got in the car and disappeared off and went ’round Liverpool. It was fabulous.”
During the “Carpool Karaoke” segment, McCartney gives Corden a tour of his hometown of Liverpool as they sing a few of his hits.
McCartney is expected to announce a new album imminently having provoked some social media talk when, after replacing his Twitter profile picture with a white box Saturday, he changed it Sunday to a drawing that appears to show, depending on your interpretation, a train into a tunnel or a pyramid.
Source: Variety
It’s the opening track from the legendary White Album… but what angst did the jolly rock ’n’ roll classic hide?
With the planet’s football teams heading to Russia for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, we’ve been reminded of the classic Beatles song Back In The USSR.
With the sound of squealing aircraft engines and a screech of guitar, this is a pure piece of Beatles rock ’n’ roll that kicked off the Fab Four’s ninth studio album, titled simply The Beatles, but named by everyone “The white Album” after its blank sleeve design. But the song hid a secret - The Beatles had started to split up.
The song is a perfect Paul McCartney pastiche of the Beach Boys’ happy go lucky style: it’s a spoof of the US band’s carefree California Girls, but with a satirical spin. In this version, the narrator is exclaiming how happy he is to be back behind the “Iron Curtain” in the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
Source: radiox.co.uk
A maritime welfare charity that helped The Beatles when they fell on hard times has released a new book, which includes how it fed George Harrison horsemeat in Hamburg.
Whenever they played Hamburg, the band visited Sailors’ Society’s seafarers’ center. John and George both had fathers who were seafarers and recognized the charity’s name from its center in Liverpool.
Sailors’ Society works with seafarers and their families around the world providing practical and emotional support. It also runs centers where seafarers can take time away from busy ports.
The charity’s CEO, Stuart Rivers, said: “When we started gathering stories together for the book, we didn’t know exactly how we’d supported The Beatles. “There were rumors they composed songs on the center’s piano, but to find out we fed them horsemeat at Christmas was a bit of a surprise!”
Source: maritime-executive.com
"It was twenty years ago today Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play," begins the tune introducing the 1967 Beatles album that music scholars by and large consider the apotheosis of pop. At the time of its release, 20 years probably sounded like an eternity to young Beatles fans. How surreal it is, then, to fast approach the 50th anniversary of Yellow Submarine, the animated film featuring that record's fictional Lonely Hearts Club foursome. Half a century flies when you're having fun.
That's certainly the way Ron Campbell sees it. Over a five-decade career, the Australian-born animator, now 78, brought a mind-boggling array of iconic cartoon characters to life — and not just on the big screen. For television shows, including "The Jetsons," "The Flintstones," "Scooby Doo" and "Rugrats," Campbell has done everything from storyboarding to directing. His work has earned Peabody and Emmy awards along the way.
Source: Rick Kisonak/Seven Days
The Beatles are no longer walking along Main Street, but they will soon return.
The mural painted by artist Gregg Payne, which depicted Fab Four as they were on the “Abbey Road” album cover photograph by Iain Mcmillan, has finally come down after adorning a wall on the 100 block of Main Street for more than 20 years. Workers painted over the mural early last month as part of renovations for an incoming restaurant, but that job went mostly unnoticed as the area was covered by fences at the time.
The decision to remove the mural was a difficult one, building owner David Halimi said, adding that it was part of a compromise with his new tenant and the artwork will be repainted nearby. The new tenant, Will Brady, owner of B-Street Public House and The Banshee, is opening a restaurant in that space.
The new tenant didn’t feel that it went with the theme of his business, Halimi said, and with the building undergoing work to restore it to its original look and add lofts and studios, the art no longer matched the direction in which the building is going.
Source: chicoer.com
