Beatles News
Micky Dolenz and Paul McCartney came together in the ’60s.
The Monkees drummer, 80, is looking back at the first time he met the Beatle, 82, decades ago.
“The first Beatle I met was Paul [McCartney], the night before at dinner at his house,” Dolenz told People in an interview published Wednesday. “I’d gone over to England to do a press junket, just myself. As it turned out, a publicist got involved and made it a ‘Monkee Meets Beatle’ thing at Paul’s house for dinner. Just me, him and Martha the sheepdog.”
From what transpired next, it seems like the fellow musicians quickly formed a friendship.
“He invited me to Abbey Road [studios] the next day,” recalled Dolenz. “I don’t even know if he told me the name at the time, but they were working on ‘Sgt. Pepper.’ I just about peed in my pants, but I’m trying to be cool. I got all dressed up thinking … I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“I guess I thought it was gonna be some sort of Beatlemania fun-fest freakout psycho-jello happening thing,” the singer confessed. “So I got dressed up in paisley bell bottoms and tie-dyed underwear and my glasses and beads and hair. I looked like a cross between Ronald McDonald and Charlie Manson.”
But when Dolenz got to the session, things weren’t what he expected. “I walk in and, well … there’s nobody there! I was like, ‘Where are the girls?!’ ” he shared. “It was just the four guys sitting there under fluorescent lighting, like my high school gymnasium, in the middle of the day. John Lennon looks up and says, ‘Hey Monkee Man, you want to hear what we’re working on?’ From then on he called me Monkee Man.”
Dolenz rose to fame after being cast in the 1966 television sitcom “The Monkees” before landing the role as the drummer and lead vocalist in the band that was created for the series.
The performer is the only surviving member of the group after Michael Nesmith died in 2021. Peter Tork passed in February 2019, and Davy Jones died in 2012.
Source: nypost.com/Alexandra Bellusci
The Beatles Song That Reunited John, Paul, George, and Ringo
Then, John Lennon brought in a song that changed the game. Happiness Is a Warm Gun forced the members to work together and rekindle the magic that made them great in the first place. The complexity of the song made it difficult to get through, but the Fab Four came out of it with their enthusiasm renewed. It was one of Paul McCartney's favorite songs, and every fan has a soft spot for it.
When they got back from India, the Beatles set to work on their eponymous double album, commonly known as the White Album, but despite their productivity, their relationship only got progressively worse as the sessions went on. On his return from India, John Lennon officially left his first wife, Cynthia, and got into a relationship with Yoko Ono. As fans know, the couple became inseparable, with Lennon bringing her over to the recording sessions with him, which no other member of the band did with their partners. Ono's presence in the studio was uncomfortable for all the other Beatles, and they frequently got into arguments about it.
The Beatles_ Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years - 2016
Paul McCartney believes this one John Lennon song helped shape the world as we know it. The drummer went to see Lennon to tell him he was quitting the band, saying, "I’m leaving the group because I’m not playing well, and I feel unloved and out of it, and you three are really close." Surprisingly, Lennon replied, "I thought it was you three!" When he went to see McCartney, he received the same response. Despite the reassurance, Starr ended up leaving the band for a couple of weeks and going away with his family to recharge, but eventually rejoined at his bandmates' insistence.
After his return, the band did their best to improve their working and personal relationships. It worked, to some extent. They were more communicative and productive, but even then, for most of the songs on the White Album, they didn't record together. Except, of course, for this great song.
Source: Val Barone/collider.com
Ringo Starr has insisted he got by with help from his friends when it comes to drumming. The Beatle says he didn’t become a top drummer through practice, but simply by constant performing with pals. The Fab Four beat man described prepping moves at his home alone as “boring" and never took lessons.
Ringo, 84, admitted that his work behind the kit improved because he just went out and played shows. And at that started as a teenager working in a school equipment factory playing with pals to workers during lunch breaks. Asked whether he spent hours in his bedroom or having lessons to become so good behind the kit, Ringo confessed: “I didn't. I hate practicing.
“I hated sitting there. I tried it when I first got the kit upstairs in the back room like in all those movies that were made. And it was the most boring thing ever. "I did all my learning with other musicians, other bands. I was lucky because there were a lot of us around and we weren't all great players. We were all learning.
“So I learned everything with everyone else at that time in Liverpool." Ringo got lucky by having pals who loved to do jam sessions during lunchtimes at their local factory.
“But I was lucky in the factory. The guy who lived next door to me in the street worked in the factory. He was Eddie Miles, a great
guitarist. He's just one of those guys, who could play anything. And my best friend Roy had made a tea chest bass and I had a snare
drum and brushes. “And we used to play to the men at lunchtime in the basement. And that's how I started. And now look at me.”
Ringo recalled to AXS TV in the US how he had a great well respected role as a drummer with a bigger band than The Beatles in the early 1960s.
Source: mirror.co.uk/James Desborough, Mark Jefferies
The origin of a song doesn’t matter quite as much as the finished product. John Lennon proved that in “Come Together”. It’s a song that veered off from its initial intent into a wildly different location.
The Beatles ended up with a No. 1 single in the US with the track, Lennon’s most significant contribution to Abbey Road. “Come Together” proved that his way with words was often too elusive and potent to be cooped up once it got started.
Lennon and Leary
John Lennon missed a good chunk of the Abbey Road sessions due to injuries he suffered in a car accident. Who knows if he would have even been able to contribute something as substantial as “Come Together” if the song hadn’t already been in the works for another purpose?
During his bed-ins for peace that he held in 1969 with his wife Yoko Ono, Lennon crossed paths with noted LSD enthusiast Timothy Leary. Leary was considering the possibility of running for governor in California. Who better to write a theme song than John Lennon?
Lennon agreed to do it, but, as he explained to David Sheff, things got away from him a bit:
“It’s gobbledygook,” Lennon said. “‘Come Together’ was an expression that Leary had come up with for his attempt at being president or whatever he wanted to be, and he asked me to write a campaign song. I tried and tried, but I couldn’t come up with one. But I came up with this, ‘Come Together’, which would’ve been no good to him – you couldn’t have a campaign song like that, right?”
Source: americansongwriter.com/Jim Beviglia
John Lennon insulted Paul McCartney on a number of occasions, calling his songwriting “granny music”. Despite the juvenile connotation of that insult, it likely cut McCartney deeply. Many of McCartney’s most famous songs fall into this Lennon-defined category. He made his name off of wearing his heart on his sleeve and never shying away from the fanciful.
His fans love him for this, but there are times when he took it too far. No one’s track record is perfect–not even a Beatle’s. Below, find three McCartney songs that are confusing listens, even for Macca superfans.
McCartney has many songs about domestic bliss, but few are as odd and on-the-nose as “Cook Of The House.” In this off-kilter rock anthem, Linda McCartney sings about her household duties. Ground rice, sugar, vinegar, Seco salt / Macaroni too, she sings, with some heavy vocal editing. This song feels like the kind of thing you’d hear in a dream or a children’s show you’d shut off quickly. We can never knock McCartney for trying new things. That’s a large part of his charm. But songs like “Cook Of The House” make it hard to deem all his experiments success stories.
Source: americansongwriter.com/Alex Hopper
Paul McCartney continues to champion aspiring musicians, dedicating his time to the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA).
The 82-year-old singer-songwriter — who rose to fame with the Beatles in the 1960s, thanks to their iconic hits including “Help!” and “Come Together” — regularly visits the institution to support graduating students.
David Stark, a colleague at LIPA, attested to McCartney’s motivating commitment.
“For the last 20 years I’ve been involved with LIPA, which Paul is the patron of, and he was instrumental in getting that off the ground in the early 90s,” Stark told The Mirror US. “They have the graduation day every year in July and I give out the SongLink Prizes every year. And Paul’s always there. So he makes a big effort.” McCartney reportedly also dedicates time to teaching and mentoring songwriting students prior to their graduation.
“He’ll sit down with each of them for half an hour or so to talk about their songs. He’s great. He really is,” Stark said. “He makes a big effort and I’m very proud to work with him.”
Source: yahoo.com/Connor McCrory
Ringo Starr has revealed the real story behind his famous catchphrase. The legendary drummer is well known for frequently signing off with the words, “Peace and love.” Many fans have long believed the 84-year-old legend came up with the phrase during the Beatles’ spiritual trip to India in 1968 - but this isn't the case.
Speaking to the Associated Press, Ringo finally set the record straight – and the roots of his mantra lie not in the East, but on the West Coast of America. “It actually came, for me, from San Francisco, where the hippies were,” Starr said. “They were, of course, great peace and lovers, and then it changed. But I found a picture the other day of the four of us [giving the peace sign]... I didn’t invent it, I just picked it up. John was a big proponent of peace and love, and it just came to me.”
Decades later, Ringo admits the message is still important today, saying, “I think it’s important every day — and right now the world is going through a madness. Maybe it’ll help."
The Beatles drummer was flung into the spotlight after joining the Beatles in 1962, and has since faced the highs and lows of fame. He has held onto his optimism since childhood, despite facing some difficult challenges early in life regarding his health.
Source: themirror.com/Ayaan Ali
Few things are more exciting than getting to go on the road with your band, let alone a world tour, but in early June 1964, Beatles drummer Ringo Starr had to wait a little while longer to join in on the fun. Indeed, as exciting as embarking on a tour can be, it can be equally devastating when you find out that circumstances beyond your control will be keeping you from following through with your plans.
Beatlemania was in full swing as the Beatles set off for what would be their first world tour in early June 1964. The band began in Denmark on June 4, and from there, they traveled to the Netherlands, then-British Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, England, Sweden, and back home again to England. It was a massive trek for the Liverpudlian band, lasting from June 4 to August 16. But for the first six performances, they were notably missing a member of the Fab Four: Ringo Starr.
The morning before the Beatles left for Denmark (it’s always the morning before, right?), the drummer fainted during a photoshoot. After team members rushed him to the hospital, doctors diagnosed Starr with acute tonsillitis and pharyngitis. He had a notable fever, and other likely symptoms included a very sore throat, headache, body aches, and a cough. Not exactly the best shape for going on the road—at least, that’s what the doctors thought when they ordered him to rest. He wouldn’t be leaving with the rest of his band, and that was that.
Producer George Martin suggested the band reach out to Jimmie Nicol, a talented session drummer who had recently played on a Beatles cover album called Beatlemania. “I was having a bit of a lie down after lunch when the phone rang,” Nicol later recalled, via BeatlesBible. “It was EMI asking if I could come down to the studio to rehearse with the Beatles. Two hours after I got there, I was told to pack my bags for Denmark.”
Source: americansongwriter.com/Melanie Davis
Years before the Beatles sold hundreds of millions of albums themselves, they were looking for a record deal that would save them from playing racy Hamburg venues, only to be given an uncredited performance opportunity on an album they didn’t even like that much. As the old adage goes, beggars can’t be choosers, right?
The recording process might not have been everything the band dreamed of. Still, it was an interesting precursor to a life they would soon become well-acquainted with: that of an original recording artist. But before that could happen, the lads had to pay their dues.
As is so often the case in the music industry, the Beatles got their start as a backing band, not the original band we know and love today. The group cut their teeth across Europe, performing for hours on end for solo performers, entertaining nightclub attendees into the wee hours of the morning, and other kinds of “jukebox” gigs that make playing music feel like, well, a real job. Countless green performers will “pay their dues” in this way in the hopes that these backing gigs will lead to something bigger for themselves, and the Beatles were no exception.
When solo performer Tony Sheridan needed a backing band to cut a few records in the studio, the Beatles obliged. But once they got there, they quickly realized that this wasn’t the “big break” they had been looking for. As George Harrison recalled in Anthology, “It was a bit disappointing because we’d been hoping to get a record deal ourselves.” Moreover, the band walked into the session with a great deal of confidence. “We thought it would be easy,” John Lennon added. “The Germans had such s***** records. Ours were bound to be better. We did five of our own numbers. But they didn’t like them.”
Source: americansongwriter.com/Melanie Davis
He's known for this three-word mantra.
When the average person hears the name Ringo Starr, a few things might come to mind: The Beatles. Drums. "Yellow Submarine." Thomas and Friends. And, of course, there's always the musician's iconic catchphrase: "Peace and love."
It's long been assumed by many that Starr, 84, came up with his motto after visiting India with the other Beatles — John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison — in 1968. But as he recently told the Associated Press, Starr was actually inspired to coin the phrase after spending time in a particular American city.
“It actually came, for me, from San Francisco, where the hippies were,” Starr said. “They were, of course, great peace and lovers, and then it changed. But I found a picture the other day of the four of us [giving the peace sign]...I didn’t invent it, I just picked it up. Johnwas a big proponent of peace and love, and it just came to me.”
In the years since, however, Starr has come to appreciate the true value of his message, which the world might need to hear now more than ever.
“I think it’s important every day — and right now the world is going through a madness. Maybe it’ll help,” Starr said.
Later in the same interview, the drummer admitted that he's naturally “an optimist, not a pessimist," referencing the challenges of his early life (which included contracting tuberculosis and spending two years in a sanatorium, where he learned to play the drums).
Source: parade.com/Jacqueline Burt Cote
