Beatles News
The Beatles skated through much of their career, getting nothing but the most laudatory notices from the press. Their music was hailed and set apart as an ideal by music critics. But they eventually took some hits from the press about the quality of their work, especially upon the release of their 1967 television movie Magical Mystery Tour.
The group made the movie themselves and attempted an avant-garde production with a non-linear plot and trippy filming techniques. Unfortunately, the public and the press were expecting something much different. Here is the story of the rare Beatles’ project that was, dare we say it, labeled a flop at the time of its release.
Making the Movie
The Beatles’ first project following the August 1967 death of their manager Brian Epstein, Magical Mystery Tour was planned out just a month later at a group meeting. Filming began almost immediately and continued into October. The group would record six new songs for inclusion in the soundtrack.
Most of the “plot” revolves around a “magical” bus trip featuring The Beatles and a bunch of random passengers. Although there was a rough plan mapped out by the group for what was to be filmed and when and where, they also left room for happy accidents to make their way into the movie. Occasionally, sequences were filmed separate from the bus trip.
Filming didn’t go smoothly, as the band failed to realize the logistics of putting together a film and handling the demands of cast and crew. It didn’t help that the press were following their every move, making it difficult for them to locate the spontaneity they desired. On top of that, arguments between group members about the filming and editing added to the general chaos.
The Reaction
On December 26, 1967, Magical Mystery Tour was broadcast across the United Kingdom. Many fans tuned in excitedly, having heard the songs from the film, including soon-to-be-classics like “I Am the Walrus” and “Fool on the Hill.” But they just weren’t prepared for what they were about to see, and that went double for the critics preparing to review the film.
Source: Jim Beviglia/americansongwriter.com
“I was considered an ugly woman who took your monument away... some of his closest friends told me that probably I should stay in the background, I should shut up”: New Lennon doc throws light on the prejudice Yoko Ono faced
Will Simpson
3–4 minutes
There’s a new documentary on the way about John Lennon and Yoko Ono that focuses on the early years of the couple’s time in New York.
One To One: John And Yoko looks at their first eighteen months in New York and the build up to the One To One benefit gigs for Willowbrook State School, a home for special needs children in August 1972. They would be his last full length concerts.
The documentary features fully restored footage of the shows, with remixed audio produced by John and Yoko’s son, Sean. The film also boasts previously unseen material from the Lennon archives, including phone calls and home movies recorded by Lennon and Ono themselves.
The director is Kevin Macdonald, who was also behind the camera for the Oscar winning One Day In September, as well as Touching The Void (2003), The Last King Of Scotland (2006) and Marley (2012).
Source: Will Simpson/musicradar.com
“I wanted to make a film that surprises and delights even the most dedicated Lennon and Ono fans by focusing on one transformative period in their lives and telling the tale through their own words, images and music,” the director said.
“Built around the
The Beatles never played a lot of their music live, considering the Fab Four called it quits for good just a few years after they retired from touring in 1966. It’s a shame, but we’ve been lucky enough to hear a few Beatles songs performed for the first time by each former member after they kicked off their solo careers.
That being said, quite a few songs still haven’t gotten a live performance. One such song would be the single “The Ballad Of John And Yoko” from 1969. This song didn’t make it to any album. Rather, it was released as a B-side to the May 1969 single “Old Brown Shoe”.
“The Ballad Of John And Yoko” was written by John Lennon and explores the pair’s famous wedding. Lennon wrote the song while he and his new wife were enjoying their honeymoon in Paris, France. It describes their famous “bed-in” in Amsterdam and performance art stunt to demonstrate “bagism”. Lennon even said that the song was less of a love song and more of “a piece of journalism.” The song also happened to be the very last no. 1 single in the UK until the late-released track “Now And Then” came out in 2023.
So, is there a reason why The Beatles never played this lovely little tune in front of a live audience? Why The Beatles Never Played “The Ballad Of John And Yoko” Live
Well, the answer is pretty simple. The Beatles quit touring a few years before this song was even written and recorded. Just as well, The Beatles were already going through the process of breaking up (even if just mentally) by 1969.
Source: Em Casalena/americansongwriter.com
Shortly after the Beatles parted ways in 1970, George Harrison was already well into his third album, a nostalgic retreat into past influences and a new beginning as a solo artist. Harrison’s triple album All Things Must Pass was his first album since the Beatles’ split and became the most successful solo release by a member of the band at the time, going to No. 1 worldwide, including in the UK and on the Billboard 200.
The first single from All Things Must Pass, “My Sweet Lord,” released with the B-Side, and another hit for Harrison, “What Is Life,” met a similar fate, topping the charts and giving Harrison his first No. 1 single as a solo artist. Despite the success of the track, it wouldn’t be long before Harrison found himself in a legal battle over the song and was accused of plagiarizing a 1960s hit.
Months after the release of “My Sweet Lord,” Bright Tunes Music sued Harrison in 1971, claiming that the song infringed the copyright of the Ronnie Mack-penned “He’s So Fine,” which became a hit for the girl group the Chiffons in 1963.
The lawsuit claimed that “My Sweet Lord” sounded too similar to the Chiffons’ hit and that he “subconsciously plagiarized” the song for his own. Harrison’s former Beatles bandmate John Lennon even concurred that “My Sweet Lord” was lifted from “He’s So Fine.”
In All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Lennon said “Well, he [Harrison] walked right into it. He knew what he was doing.” He must have known, you know, he’s smarter than that.”
Source: Tina Benitez-Eves/americansongwriter.com
Almost 29 years after airing on TV and its later expansion on VHS/DVD, The Beatles Anthology remains an epic documentary series.
I became a fan of The Beatles through watching The Beatles Anthology during its three-night ABC broadcast in 1995. It would lead to both Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Abbey Road becoming the first CDs in my collection. I would also pick up a guitar for the first time, later dropping the trumpet. In college, I took a piano course for the same reason but never quite mastered it. Of course, there’s the time that I saw Paul McCartney in concert back in 2011. That’s my Beatles story in a nutshell but none of it happens without ABC becoming A Beatles C. Fun fact: I came into the series because of all the ABC stars promoting it at the time so you can blame the misleading marketing for my becoming a fan.
While the initial broadcast ran about six hours, the expanded DVD is even longer. The eight DVD volumes span 1940 through their breakup after recording Abbey Road. On top of that, there’s another disc with 81 minutes of special features. All of the music is remastered for 5.1. I took in all of it in just over a 24-hour period prior to the Olympics kicking off in Paris. This was my first time sitting down to watch the documentary since the 1995 broadcast. I’ve been wanting to add the box set to my collection but my preference was to wait for a Blu-ray upgrade. While a Blu-ray upgrade now seems unlikely, rewatching has been on my agenda for a few weeks and as they say, it was now or never.
Source: Danielle Solzman/solzyatthemovies.com
In 1964, after playing to a staggering 45% of American households on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in February, the band embarked upon a chaotic tour of North America. The dates included a Sept. 5 show at Chicago’s International Amphitheatre, 60 years ago this week.
“It’s hard to understand how it was before the internet, but there was a thing called word of mouth,” says Beatles historian Martin Lewis. “The Beatles became successful because friends told friends. They said, ‘Have you heard this? It’s astonishing.’ ”
On the podcast “The Excerpt,” Lewis talked recently about how The Beatles went from being virtually unknown in the U.S. in 1963 to global icons in 1964. Here are a few highlights:
Q. What was happening in the American music scene when The Beatles toured the country in 1964?
A.The audience was still in the 1950s. They were still in that gray Eisenhower decade, but The Beatles were in 3D Technicolor … just giddy and optimistic and exuberant with their own energy, their enjoyment of music. And America was sorely in need of that authenticity and that expression of youthful vitality.
Q. What role did The Beatles’ manager, Brian Epstein, play in the band’s rapid success?
A. On Christmas Day 1963, practically nobody in America had heard of The Beatles. And yet, by the time of “The Ed Sullivan Show” 45 days later, 73 million people tuned in. How did that happen? It was triggered mainly by Brian Epstein having secured a contract for them to appear on “The Ed Sullivan Show” at a time they didn’t even have a record contract in America.
He went about convincing Capitol Records to sign The Beatles, and he did that by saying, “Hey, I’ve got them on ‘Ed Sullivan.’ ” The record was released on the day after Christmas, which was crucial because kids were at home. So instead of hearing the record on the radio maybe two or three times a day, they were hearing it 10 times a day.
By the time of “The Ed Sullivan Show” on Feb. 9, 1964, they were already No. 1. It took what was already exploding and just took it into the stratosphere.
If you think of the wonderful enthusiasm for Taylor Swift — a terrific artist — it was like that times 100 million. It is no disrespect to Taylor Swift and her incredible fans, but the electricity of The Beatles and their success without the internet was astonishing.
Q. The Beatles’ music still endures. Do you think that would surprise the Fab Four of 1964?
A. It would have surprised The Beatles to know that their music would last that long. But if we take a broader perspective, it shouldn’t surprise us.
Source: Dana Taylor and Kim Willis | USA Today
Paul McCartney and John Lennon loved to get weird with their songwriting, and it’s part of what made The Beatles so charming. However, there are quite a few lyrics from their songs that just don’t make any sense. Let’s take a look at some of the strangest Beatles lyrics and what they actually mean. This isn’t an exhaustive list; there are quite a few head-scratching lines in The Beatles’ discography. We just think these five songs are worth revisiting.
1. “I Am The Walrus”
“I am the eggman / They are the eggmen / I am the walrus / Goo goo g’ joob.”
“I Am The Walrus” is one of the Fab Four’s most surreal and seemingly nonsensical songs. Could there be a deeper meaning behind these particular lyrics? Lots of fans have tried interpreting the lyrics, and some believe it’s all about the cycle of human life from egg to… walrus? All we know for sure is that Lennon wanted to write a very obscure and bizarre song, so he wrote this one. We’ll likely never know what it’s about; if it’s about anything at all.
2. “Dig A Pony”
“Oh now / I roll a stoney / Well you can imitate everyone you know.”
Many of the strangest Beatles lyrics were intended to be surreal nonsense. Lennon actually said that the whole of “Dig A Pony” was intentional nonsense. However, some fans have interpreted this particular line as a dig at The Rolling Stones. The stoney in question could be a reference to Mick Jagger. Unfortunately, that was never confirmed.
Source: Em Casalena/americansongwriter.com
The new documentary One to One: John & Yoko is ostensibly about John Lennon and Yoko Ono‘s move to New York City in the ’70s and their 1972 One to One concerts, which were Lennon’s only post-Beatles full-length performances. But according to People, the doc also shows Ono airing her grievances about how she was treated because of her relationship with Lennon.
In one portion of the film, People reports, Ono is seen giving a speech at the First International Feminist Conference in 1973, where she told the crowd that after she and Lennon got together, “the whole society started to attack me, and the whole society wished me dead.”
In another part of the documentary, Ono says that because she was made a scapegoat for the breakup of The Beatles, she received letters while pregnant that read, “I wish you and your baby would die,” and was even sent a voodoo doll stuck with pins.
According to People, in the film Ono also expresses disappointment over the fact that, she claims, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney never “set the record straight” about the fact that she wasn’t the reason the band broke up.
Source: wdrv.com
Plenty of Beatles songs never made it to the stage. Whether it’s because the band retired from touring before the song could get a proper performance or some other reason, plenty of fan favorites never got to be experienced live in concert.
One such song is the 1968 track “Good Night” from the band’s self-titled album, also known as the White Album. “Good Night” is one of the Fab Four’s most famous closers. It is the last song on that very album and one of very few that features Ringo Starr as the lead singer. In fact, he’s the only Beatle featured on the song, period. Starr sings his heart out against an orchestral arrangement conducted by the famed English composer George Martin. So, is there a deeper reason as to why The Beatles never performed this incredible closing song live?
The answer to this question is pretty simple: They had retired from touring long before the song was released. Specifically, the Fab Four quit touring in 1966. However, there is another question worth posing: Why didn’t Starr perform the song live throughout his solo career?
“Good Night” wasn’t written by Starr. It was originally written by John Lennon as a tribute to his then-five-year-old son Julian. It’s widely described as a “lullaby”. Even though Starr didn’t write it, he is the main and only Beatle to be featured in the song. It doesn’t make sense why he would avoid performing the iconic piece of work live with his All Starr Band.
Source: Em Casalena/americansongwriter.com
Paul McCartney wanted the Beatles to star in an anti-Vietnam War film at the height of their fame, a new book has revealed.
Philosopher Bertrand Russell had pleaded with the singer and bass guitarist “to do something positive” with the Fab Four’s global following and make a political movie a year after the band’s second big screen outing Help.
But the secret 1966 film project was shelved after thriller writer Len Deighton failed to convince Sir Paul, now 82, that remaking the First World War musical Oh! What a Lovely War was the right vehicle for his stand against US intervention in South East Asia.
In Deighton’s 1966 script, the Fab Four would have played members of the doomed Smith family, who feature in the musical and unwittingly volunteer for the hell of the trenches. By then the Beatles had made two films, A Hard Day’s Night in 1964 and Help in 1965. So the third film would have been at the height of Beatlemania.
Writing in his new book, With The Beatles, Patrick Humphries reveals the idea was born in the summer of 1966 when McCartney met 94-year-old anti-war activist Russell in London.
“Russell had tried to convince Paul to do something positive with the power the Beatles had by then accrued,” writes Humphries. Soon after, at Russell’s suggestion, Sir Paul contacted Deighton, who had shot to fame the same year as the Beatles with his spy thriller The Ipcress File, filmed with Michael Caine in 1965, and re-imagined by Netflix in 2022.
The writer, now 95, had been desperate to adapt the stage play Oh! What a Lovely War for the big screen and the pair discussed the idea over a curry at the writer’s home in Southwark, south London, in August 1966.
Source: Mark Branagan/express.co.uk
