Beatles Music

I like how completely baffled John Lennon is by the rules of American football here. It doesn’t make any sense to me either, and I’m American.

On December 9th, 1974, Lennon somehow found himself at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum watching the Los Angeles Rams play the Washington Redskins in front of something like 87,000 people. He hadn’t planned some grand promotional appearance, but Frank Gifford had bumped into him earlier that day at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, offered him tickets to the game and, much to Gifford’s surprise, Lennon actually showed up.

This being Monday Night Football in the 1970s, there were celebrities everywhere. California governor and future president Ronald Reagan was there too, and in one of those wonderfully strange combinations of famous people that could only have happened in the ’70s, Reagan apparently spent part of the evening explaining the rules of football to John Lennon.

I’d have paid good money to listen in on that conversation.

Eventually, Lennon was persuaded into the ABC commentary booth for a quick chat with Howard Cosell, whom he’d already met during a lengthy radio interview a couple of months earlier. Cosell a details

Although Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder’s most famous collaboration was the 1982 transatlantic #1 hit “Ebony and Ivory,” the relationship between two of music’s greatest ever minds spans nearly the entirety the length of their careers.

In February 1966, a 15-year-old Wonder, transitioning from the child prodigy label of “Little Stevie Wonder” to one of Motown’s most exciting pop acts, told NME that meeting McCartney, then a 23-year-old bassist and co-lead vocalist and songwriter for The Beatles, two years into the Fab Four’s cultural dominance of American and global music, was one of the highlights of his young career.

“When on tour, I have to write essays about the places I visit,” the teenage Wonder told the publication (via Beatle Radio). “In the essay I’ll be writing when I get back I’ll certainly include my meeting with Paul McCartney. I met him in the Scotch Of St James club. He’s a really swinging guy, the only Beatle I’ve met.”

For McCartney, the feeling was very much reciprocated, with a History article writing that during his time as a Beatle, and likely prior, and all the way through his early pos details

The Beatles have unveiled a previously unheard alternate take of “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)”.

Released today by UMG and Apple Corps Ltd., “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) (Second Version – Take 2)” features on the forthcoming expanded edition of the band’s 1965 album Rubber Soul, due on October 2.

The first version of what was then called ‘This Bird Has Flown’ was recorded during the first day of sessions for Rubber Soul and featured George Harrison’s new discovery, the sitar. The band were not happy with this version, so nine days later they taped three more performances.

On take two, track one featured John Lennon’s acoustic guitar, Paul McCartney’s bass, Ringo Starr on drums and George playing drone notes on sitar. George added more sitar on tracks two and three, with John and Paul’s vocals also recorded on track three. Rather than starting with an instrumental version of the verse melody, as the final version does, this arrangement opens with double-tracked sitar playing the tune of the bridge section.

The release follows the recent unveiling of “Michelle (Take 1)” and “Day Tripper (Songw details

The Beatles were professional music-makers, well-seasoned by the time they started making 1965's Rubber Soul, but they were also something simpler: boys who enjoyed being silly from time to time.

Especially at that time, when the Beatles were moving full steam ahead and continuing to work hard at their craft, it was fun to loosen up a little in the studio as they were recording the song "Girl."

"It was always amusing to see if we could get a naughty word on the record: 'fish and finger pie,' 'prick teaser,' 'tit tit tit tit,'" Paul McCartney recalled in Many Years From Now. "The Beach Boys had a song out where they'd done 'la la la la' and we loved the innocence of that and wanted to copy it, but not use the same phrase.

So we were looking around for another phrase, so it was 'dit dit dit dit,' which we decided to change in our waggishness to 'tit tit tit tit,' which is virtually indistinguishable from 'dit dit dit dit.' And it gave us a laugh. It was to get some light relief in the middle of this real big career that we were forging. If we could put in something that was a little bit subversive then we would. George Martin might say, 'Was that 'dit dit' or 'tit tit' you were singing?' 'Oh, 'dit dit,' Ge details

A seminal track from arguably the best rock band – if not the best band period – of all time included just one of the four Hall of Fame members.

The Beatles released “Yesterday” on this day 61 years ago, but it featured only Paul McCartney and a string quartet. The song was the first of its kind for the band as a solo performance, but sparked the “most covered” song of all time.

Eva Cassidy, Marvin Gaye, Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra all covered the song, which the Guinness Book of World Records claims has been covered over 4,000 times.

McCartney revealed the Beatles were “a little embarrassed about” the song because of their rock roots. The track initially came to the Beatles star upon waking one morning and he hammered it out over the piano where he wondered where he’d heard the song before.

“It was like a jazz melody,” he said. “My dad used to know a lot of old jazz tunes. I thought maybe I’d just remembered it from the past.”

Yesterday’ Named One of the Greatest Songs of All Time

Rolling Stone named “Yesterday” as the No. 13 greatest song of all time, which was the second-hi details

Mr. Moonlight: Brian Epstein and the Making of the Beatles by Philip Norman

Phillip Norman captures the zeitgeist and provides a compelling portrait ... This illuminating work ... brings to life the turbulent and exciting times of the 1960s, when uncommonly inspired innovation seemed commonplace, and nothing felt totally outside the realm of possibility.

Mr. Moonlight: Brian Epstein and the Making of the Beatles is the brainchild of columnist Philip Norman, former rock music critic for The Times and noted biographer of numerous acclaimed musicians and other public figures. Lauded for his first book, Shout!: The Beatles in Their Generation, published in 1981, his current book is a comprehensive biography of the man often referred to as “the fifth Beatle” for discovering the rock band then known as The Quarrymen.

Playing a lunchtime gig on November 9, 1961, at Liverpool’s Cavern Club, a small subterranean venue, the band had returned to Liverpool from working club gigs in Hamburg. Spruced up and renamed The Beatles, they signed a five-year management contract with Brian Epstein in October 1962. His determination, discipline and positive influence transmuted the regional favorite — f details

During their time together, the Beatles released over 200 studio-recorded songs. Out of all of those, Ringo Starr was officially credited with helping to write just five of them.

"I started writing songs and I would, like, tell John [Lennon] and Paul [McCartney] and George [Harrison], 'I've got this song I've written,'" Starr recalled in a 2025 interview for SiriusXM. "And they'd be rolling on the floor laughing because — I didn't know I was doing it — I would just rewrite someone else's song."

That's not to say the others didn't want to include Starr at all — in fact, Lennon and McCartney wrote several songs over the years meant specifically for Starr to sing, and the drummer had at least one lead vocal on most of their albums.

“When you think about it, how many people in rock and roll can sing?" McCartney said to Rolling Stone in 2015. "But Ringo can deliver a song.”

Starr had to start somewhere as far as songwriting went. The very first Beatles song he landed a composition credit on was "What Goes On," which appeared on 1965's Rubber Soul.
The Earlier Origins of 'What Goes On'

"What Goes On" actually dated back a few years in the Beatles' recording ca details

John Lennon once called the Beatles' Ticket to Ride "one of the earliest heavy metal records made."

Try to imagine that song pumping through the house speakers before a Morbid Angel show, and you might conclude that Lennon's statement was a bit of a stretch. Still, the song's lumbering groove and droning riff were unusually heavy for 1965, especially within a pop landscape dominated by tracks like Wooly Bully and Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter.

Ticket to Ride was groundbreaking for another reason, though; It was the first Beatles record to feature Paul McCartney on lead guitar. He'd quietly slipped some gentle acoustic strumming into I'll Follow the Sun the previous year, but Ticket to Ride was different.

His electric leads enthusiastically leaped across the divides between the song's bridges and verses, then returned to playfully bob and weave throughout the outro, introducing listeners to a side of McCartney most fans barely realized existed.

"I guess I think of myself as a guitar player, really," he said in 1990. "If I couldn't have any other instrument, I would have to have an acoustic guitar.

"To the general public, McCartney is, of course, all about that bass. Publications details

On this day (September 11) in 1962, the Beatles recorded the third version of “Love Me Do.” It was their debut single in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at No. 17. The song was also originally meant to be their debut single in the United States. However, the label balked and refused to release it until 1964, when it became their fourth consecutive chart-topper.

The Beatles recorded the first version of “Love Me Do” in June 1962 with Pete Best on drums. This recording didn’t see the light of day until it was included on Anthology 1 in 1995. Then, on September 4, they recorded it again, with Ringo Starr on drums. They released this version as their debut UK single in October 1962. Finally, on September 11, 1962, they cut the song a third time. This time, session musician Andy White played drums, and Starr played tambourine. The tambourine is an easy way to tell the two popular versions apart.

According to Songfacts, Parlophone Records issued “Love Me Do” as a single in the United Kingdom. Sales, especially in the Liverpool area, were good enough to take the song to No. 17. Capitol Records, Parlophone’s US partner, refused to release the single, fearing it would f details

On 26 September 1969, The Beatles released their eleventh studio album Abbey Road. It was the last album the band recorded together and is widely regarded as a masterpiece.

Abbey Road was a triumphal swan song for The Beatles’ astonishing recording career. It also captured them still in their prime, capable of creating music that left most of their contemporaries standing.

Across its 47:03 running time, Abbey Road spans a dizzying array of styles, yet it is a stunningly cohesive work. It is also bold and innovative, as demonstrated by the song that opens the album, Come Together.

Come Together is a strikingly raw and direct song, written by John Lennon. It opens with one of the most iconic bass lines in rock and melds surreal stream-of-consciousness lyrics with a mean and gritty swamp-infused groove.

The initial idea for Come Together was reportedly sparked when American psychologist, writer and early advocate for psychedelic drugs, Dr Timothy Leary, asked John Lennon to write a song. This was to be used for Leary’s campaign to become Governor of California in 1969.

Source: musicradar.com/Neil Crossley

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One man's trash is another man's treasure, as the saying goes…or to put it in classic rock terms, a "throwaway" song for the Beatles was a breakthrough hit for the Rolling Stones.

"I Wanna Be Your Man" was originally released by the Stones as a single in 1963 and became the band's first Top 20 hit in the U.K., peaking at #12. But it was actually written for Ringo Starr to sing by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, who were walking down London's Charing Cross Road when Mick Jagger and Keith Richards passed them in a taxi.

"So they shouted from the taxi and we yelled, 'Hey, hey, give us a lift, give us a lift,' and we bummed a lift off them," McCartney recalled in Many Years From Now by Barry Miles.

"So there were the four of us sitting in a taxi and I think Mick said, 'Hey, we're recording. Got any songs?' And we said, 'Aaaah, yes, sure, we got one. How about Ringo's song? You could do it as a single,'" he added.

"We often used to say to people, the words don't really matter, people don't listen to words, it's the sound they listen to," McCartney continued.

"So 'I Wanna Be Your Man' was to try and give Ringo something like 'Boys'; an uptempo song he could sing from the drums. So again, details

The Beatles changed the face of popular music, releasing 13 studio albums and around 213 songs throughout their decade-long career. The prolific hitmakers also inspired entire subgenres of music, especially with their iconic 1966 record, Revolver. And on this day, 60 years ago, Revolver skyrocketed to No. 1 on the US Billboard 200 chart.
‘Revolver’ by the Beatles Hit No. 1 on Sept. 10, 1966

Released as the Beatles’ seventh studio album on Aug. 5, 1966, Revolver marked a musical shift for the four-piece rock outfit. They built on the artistry established on the preceding album, Rubber Soul, producing an innovative, genre-bending affair with influences from rock, pop, R&B, psychedelia, and Hindustani classical music, as heard in “Love You To.”

The Fab Four released a double A-sided single in promotion of the album: “Eleanor Rigby” and “Yellow Submarine.” The latter fared better than the former, chart-wise, peaking at No. 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100, while “Eleanor Rigby” climbed to the No. 11 spot on the same chart.

Revolver entered the Billboard 200 on Sept. 3, 1966, one week before taking the top spot. It reigned at No. 1 for si details

Filming for The Beatles biopics continued on Tuesday, as the four lead actors were spotted hotting the road in St John's Wood.

Harris Dickinson (John Lennon), Barry Keoghan (Ringo Starr), Paul Mescal (Paul McCartney) and Joseph Quinn (George Harrison) were seen filming the Sam Mendes-fronted films, which will be broken down into four instalments.

Paul, 30, and Barry, 33, were pictured in a Commer PB camper conversion, with the latter flashing two fingers at the camera before he was then seen in a Jaguar E-Type Series 1, during which he raised his middle finger.

The four biopics are due for release next year and are based on each of the members and set for simultaneous release. Last month, the foursome were seen recreating the famous zebra crossing moment at Abbey Road, for the album of the same name as the iconic venue.

The cover image was taken by Scottish photographer Iain Macmillan, a close friend of John, who balanced precariously on a ladder in the middle of the north London road. Filming for The Beatles biopics continued on Tuesday, as the four lead actors were spotted hotting the road in St John's Wood, led by Barry Keoghan making rude gestures

Paul Mescal is taking the r details

John Lennon released his second solo album, Imagine, on Sept. 9, 1971. It became his first solo album to reach No. 1.

By late October, the album had pulled off a rare transatlantic feat. It topped the charts in the U.S. and U.K. at the same time.

Billboard called Lennon "the real British Dylan" in its review, per uDiscover Music.  The title track became one of Lennon's most enduring songs. He later called it his best work.

"Imagine is the best song I've ever written," Lennon told writer David Sheff in 1980, per MusicRadar. "It's almost like a prayer."

The song's origins, though, involved more collaboration than Lennon first let on. The song's title traces back to a poem in Lennon's wife Yoko Ono's 1964 book, Grapefruit. The poem "Cloud Piece" included the line "imagine the clouds dripping."

Lennon borrowed that imagery directly for his own lyrics. For years, though, he never publicly credited Ono for the connection.

That changed in a 1980 interview with BBC Radio 1's Andy Peebles, per MusicRadar. Lennon admitted the song should carry both their names.

"A lot of it, the lyric and the concept, came from Yoko," he admitted.  "But in those days I was a details

Tensions between the four members of The Beatles were clear when it came time to record Abbey Road. George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and John Lennon were pulling in different directions, and the Peter Jackson documentary, Get Back, shows it. But the final time the four were in the studio together proved fruitful despite the animosity in the studio.

Reflecting on the late 1960s and those career-best recordings, Harrison would single out McCartney as the problem in the studio. Contributions made by McCartney were seen by the other band members as far from his best, with Maxwell’s Silver Hammer singled out for scrutiny by Harrison.

He said in 1977: “And it was a good date. Paul would always help along when you’d done his ten songs – then when he got ’round to doing one of my songs, he would help. It was silly. It was very selfish, actually. Sometimes Paul would make us do these really fruity songs.

“I mean, my God, Maxwell’s Silver Hammer was so fruity. After a while, we did a good job on it, but when Paul got an idea or an arrangement in his head… But Paul’s really writing for a 14-year-old audience now anyhow. I missed his last tour, unfo details

George Harrison spent the last three decades of his life falling in love with a garden. The former Beatle purchased an old Victorian mansion known as Friar Park in January 1970. According to Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, which built an entire exhibition around Harrison’s love for gardening, he was only 27 years of age when he acquired this neglected property. This simple purchase grew into a restoration project that continues to thrive under the care of Harrison’s family.

A grand house that had fallen into disrepair

Friar Park was not built by Harrison. Records held by Historic England, the government body that protects the country's important sites, show the mansion was constructed in the late 1800s and was commissioned by Sir Frank Crisp, a lawyer, who designed the gardens that surround the property. By the time Harrison came looking for a new home, much of that splendor had long faded. Historic England's records, along with Selby Gardens' account, describe the magnificent Victorian mansion with its gardens as having run down, with yews having taken over the topiary.

A young Beatle finds his forever home

Harrison purchased Friar Park shortly after the Beatles disbanded, ending one details

We know that The Beatles had many admirers among other musicians. They were also huge music fans themselves. Once they secured their clout in the industry, some of those folks whom the Fab Four held up as idols started recording their songs.

We found four examples where artists that The Beatles greatly adored took on their material. And they did so with fascinating results.
“Something” by Ray Charles

In terms of the number of times that a Beatles song has been covered, “Something” ranks way up there. (“Yesterday”, of course, stands as the all-time leader in that department.) The famous story here is that when Frank Sinatra covered “Something” in concert, he would often credit it as a Lennon/McCartney song. In actuality, George Harrison wrote the track. He initially envisioned it as something that Ray Charles might sing. Two years after The Beatles’ own version appeared, Charles got around to recording the track on his 1971 album Volcanic Actions Of My Soul. The R&B legend used his clever phrasing to wring every last bit of emotional potency from the song.
“Lady Madonna” by Fats Domino

Fats Domino managed to stay true to the r details

In 1979, Paul McCartney and his wife Linda bought a secluded 151-acre ranch near Tucson, Arizona, creating a private family retreat away from the global spotlight surrounding one of music’s most recognisable figures.

Located near the foothills of the Rincon Mountains, the property offered the McCartney family something that was increasingly difficult to find — privacy. Rather than serving as a celebrity showpiece, the ranch provided a modest home, open desert surroundings and isolation where Paul, Linda and their children could spend time together away from cameras and crowds.

Over the years, the Arizona property became an important part of the family’s life, from everyday trips around Tucson to gatherings with friends and neighbours. It also remained deeply significant after Linda’s death in 1998. Decades later, the ranch continues to offer a glimpse into the quieter, more personal side of McCartney’s extraordinary life.

According to Architectural Digest, the main residence was a two-storey home with a tin roof and stucco exterior. Its secluded setting gave the family the peace and privacy they were looking for. The ranch was located on Tucson’s far north-eastern side details

A long-lost interview with George Harrison recorded at the height of Beatlemania has been heard publicly again for the first time in more than six decades.

The previously unavailable telephone interview with George Harrison was recorded in February 1964 and originally broadcast by WJPS radio in Evansville, Indiana, on 17 February, just one day after The Beatles made their second appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.

The recording captures George, then just 20 years old, at one of the most significant moments in The Beatles’ history as their phenomenal rise to fame in America was gathering pace.

The band’s first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show on 9 February 1964 attracted an estimated 73 million viewers and became one of the defining moments in popular culture.

Their second appearance, broadcast live from Miami Beach on 16 February, confirmed the scale of Beatlemania sweeping across America.

The following day, George spoke by telephone from Florida to a teenage schoolgirl who had reportedly won a competition to interview one of The Beatles.

Source: theguideliverpool.com/Rachael Rhodes

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The debate over whether it’s appropriate for musicians to voice political opinions as entertainers often calls back to mainstream bands of yesteryear as if to say, “See? They didn’t have to do it! It was all about the music back then.” The Beatles inevitably fall into this argument time and time again, thanks to a plethora of songs that seem more generically neutral than blatantly political, like “All You Need Is Love”, “Come Together”, and “With A Little Help From My Friends”.

Even Beatles songs that sound political, like “Revolution”, have ambiguous lines like, “When you talk about destruction, don’t you know that you can count me out.” However, to say that The Beatles avoided political songs would be to ignore these five tracks, some of which are more overtly socioeconomically inspired than others.
“Blackbird”

One of The Beatles’ most beautiful, tender guitar ballads was actually a civil rights anthem hiding in plain sight. Paul McCartney wrote “Blackbird” based on the plight of Black men and women in the United States, which shines a whole new light on this heartfelt song.

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A life-size statue of John Lennon displayed on Liverpool's Penny Lane could fetch up to £100,000 at auction.

The bronze sculpture, created by the late artist Laura Lian, has stood outside St Barnabas Church since August 2022. After it is sold it will be replaced by a replica.

Penny Lane was made famous by the Beatles' 1967 song of the same name.

Omega Auctions will offer the statue on 29 September, with an estimate of between £70,000 and £100,000.

Standing almost 6ft (1.8m) tall, the John Lennon Peace Statue depicts the musician leaning against a peace symbol bearing the word "Imagine".

It is cast in bronze with a green patina and mounted on a bronze and steel base.

Artwork on a building which depicts a young Paul McCartney standing on the left holding an acoustic guitar, alongside a young John Lennon seated on the right playing an electric guitar. Words at the bottom read 'PENNY LANE LIVERPOOL'.
John Lennon and Paul McCartney would often meet at the bus terminus near Penny Lane

Dan Muscatelli-Hampson, a director at Omega Auctions, said few modern landmarks associated with the Beatles in Liverpool had become "so instantly recognisable in such a short details

The Beatles’ business empire is about to get a new chapter.

Universal Music Group and Apple Corps have unveiled a new exclusive, long-term global partnership that will expand how The Beatles’ brand is managed and presented to fans around the world. The agreement will bring together Apple Corps’ stewardship of the Beatles’ legacy with UMG’s global expertise in music, merchandising, retail and fan experiences.

It’s a far cry from the way the Beatles’ licensing business began.

In early 1964, as Beatlemania landed in America, Beatles manager Brian Epstein was facing a problem almost no music manager had ever encountered before. U.S. companies wanted to put the Beatles’ name and image on everything they could sell.

The Beatles answer questions for newsmen and journalists in New York after their arrival for their first tour of America. Left to right: Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, George Harrison and John Lennon. 7th February 1964.

There were offers for electric and acoustic guitars, dolls, wigs, T-shirts, clocks, games, jewelry and countless other products. Overwhelmed, Epstein told his lawyer David Jacobs to find someone who could take over the Be details

Paul McCartney returns with a major new studio album in 2026. According to a label announcement and subsequent coverage, his solo record The Boys of Dungeon Lane was released on May 29, 2026 through Capitol Records after several years of work between touring legs.
New album The Boys of Dungeon Lane

On March 26, 2026 McCartney’s official site confirmed that The Boys of Dungeon Lane would arrive on May 29, describing it as his first new solo album in more than five years and highlighting its focus on rarely shared memories and newly written love songs. The label statement on his website notes that the sessions took place in short, efficient bursts between global tour dates, alternating between Los Angeles and his home studio in East Sussex.

Coverage in the British press underscores the introspective character of the record. One detailed report explains that the 14-track album has been presented as a collection of rare and candid insights into McCartney’s past, alongside new love songs, and situates it as a late-period work where detailed sonic memories and reflective storytelling take center stage. The Guardian’s album announcement linked this tone to the way McCartney revisits personal epis details

Sean Ono Lennon, the child of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, welcomed his first child into the world.

Ono Lennon, 50, and his longtime partner Charlotte Kemp Muhl, 39, announced the birth of their baby boy Tuesday evening, sharing photos of their new family on social media.

“Okay so…Charlotte and I would like to announce that we have indeed created a Human Bean!” Sean wrote on Instagram Tuesday evening. “His name is, Aurelius! Thank you!”

Sean also shared a photo of himself holding Aurelius, who was wrapped in a white blanket, as well as a photo of Kemp Muhl with their son in a hospital bed.  “Baby Momma!” he captioned the latter.

Kemp Muhl, a musician and model, also shared photos from the early days of parenthood, including images of herself carrying Aurelius in a baby harness while walking in the water, holding a small crab and looking after their sleeping newborn.

“We made a human! Am convinced DNA is agentic alien quaternary code,” she wrote.

“The sleep deprivation only adds to the surrealism…Burping technique tips welcome. Been playing him Aphex Twin and Stravinsky. Meconium is crazy,” she added.< details

Cameras rolled on Sunday, Aug. 30, for BBC's six-part drama Hamburg Days in Liverpool's city center, according to a report from The Daily Mail. The cast plays The Beatles during their formative stint in Germany. Production kicked off while Sam Mendes' competing four-film Beatles venture kept shooting in London.

Rhys Mannion, Harvey Brett, Ellis Murphy, Louis Landau, and Patrick Gilmore portray John Lennon, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Stuart Sutcliffe, and Pete Best. On Friday, Aug. 28, crews filmed at Lord Nelson Street near Lime Street Station. Mannion appeared in character hailing a taxi outside the station.

The series depicts the band's time in Hamburg's St. Pauli district during the early 1960s, when they honed the sound and stage presence that catapulted them to worldwide fame. The group began playing together in Liverpool and Hamburg in 1960. Pete Best served as the main drummer.

Jamie Carragher, one of the writers behind Succession, penned the series. Christian Schwochow, who directed episodes of The Crown, serves as showrunner and co-director alongside Laura Lackmann.

Source: 963kklz.com/Anne Erickson

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