Beatles News

They were best friends since they were teenagers. Together they wrote some of the greatest songs the world has ever known. In 1971, they tried to destroy each other, one record at a time.

By the time Paul McCartney released Ram in May 1971, The Beatles had been done for just over a year. Those wounds were still very fresh. The lawyers had moved in and buried inside that new album was a line John Lennon just couldn't ignore.

"Too many people preaching practices / Don't let them tell you what you wanna be."

Those lyrics were a shot aimed directly at Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, at their protests, their activism and the whole new life they'd built together. The insult was subtle enough to deny, yet sharp enough to hurt.

Lennon wasn't in the mood to ignore it or let it go. "It starts off with 'too many people going underground. That was your first mistake. You took your lucky break and broke it in two,'" Lennon said later. "Now, if that doesn't mean what it says, I don't know what."

So Lennon sat down and wrote back his reply.

"How Do You Sleep?" came out swinging. Lennon was hurt and went after everything, calling McCartney's solo work "muzak," suggesting the only song he wrot details

There was a time during the Beatles’ rise to fame that Paul McCartney thought he had found the one place he could roam without being spotted.

During an interview on The Zane Lowe Show to discuss his deeply nostalgic new album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane, the 83-year-old musician shared memories of navigating the early days of Beatlemania alongside John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. When looking back at that “very intense period of time” in the Sixties when the band shot to the top of the charts worldwide, Lowe asked McCartney how he managed to “remain relatable” and enjoy his life under the spotlight.

“I remember once in the early days of the Beatles, we were kind of recognized most places, but me and Ringo went on holiday with our girlfriends then to Greece and nobody knew us,” McCartney said, recalling thinking at the time: “This is great. Wow, we must come back here more often. Even when we get really famous, we can always come to Greece and they’re never going to know us.” He added, “But, of course, that didn’t work.” Soon, their music — and faces — reached Greece and beyond.

“I realized, ‘ details

Fans of The Beatles may be aware of George Harrison's solo career, in which he quickly established himself as a successful artist in his own right. Shortly before and following the iconic group's breakup, the musician released a whopping 12 albums under his own name, with many of them enjoying critical acclaim, even more than five decades later.

In 1970, the Beatles' lead guitarist released All Things Must Pass, his third solo album and the first after the breakup of the legendary Liverpool four-piece. The record featured "My Sweet Lord," a song that has now taken the top spot on Grunge's list as the biggest No. 1 hit of 1970.

The track is arguably Harrison's most famous song after it left him in the middle of a huge music scandal that has gone down in history. In 1971, less than a year after the release of "My Sweet Lord," Harrison was accused of plagiarizing The Chiffons' 1963 song "He's So Fine."

Bright Tunes Music, the owners of "He's So Fine," sued the former member of The Fab Four, and the legal battle was dragged out for decades after his former manager, Allen Klein, purchased Bright Tunes and subsequently became the one to be suing his previous client.

Source: yahoo.com/Emma Kershaw< details

It’s incredible to think that just six and a half years after the Beatles’ first single, Love Me Do, had peaked at a modest 17 in the UK chart, the band that went on to shake the foundations of popular culture were trying to find the right words to say goodbye.

The Fab Four’s final year had kicked off in a flurry of activity, with the writing and recording of the Let it Be LP documented in real-time by director Michael Lindsay-Hogg, throughout January 1969.

Beginning at Twickenham Studios before relocating to the Apple Corps studios at 3 Savile Row, the events of that frosty month would become the stuff of legend.

Although intended to be a quite innovative, fly-on-the-wall insight into the songwriting process of the world’s favourite band, which would culminate in a triumphant return to the stage, Lindsay-Hogg’s final edit of the film depicted the Beatles as a band fast running out of road. Their slow demise was seemingly inevitable, or so the footage that made up the spirit-crushing 1970 docu-movie, Let it Be, suggested.

But once the rushes and archive material were finally exhumed, examined and polished-up to produce Peter Jackson’s expansive, eight-hour labo details

Paul McCartney’s new album The Boys of Dungeon Lane is out now. Many of the songs were inspired by his childhood and experiences with former Beatles bandmates John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, who joins him for a duet on the song “Home to Us.” While Lennon and Harrison are gone, Paul said there’s one thing that gives him some comfort about that loss.

Speaking to The Guardian, McCartney said of Lennon, “My collaborator was probably one of the best writers of the century, so, yeah, you’re going to miss him. … But that’s life: you lose people.” He also recalled Beatles producer George Martin telling him about aging, “The terrible thing about it is all your mates start popping off.”

“Now I’m probably at that age, and I’m very conscious of that, having lost John and George – two big touchstones for anything we’re talking about [in this interview],” he continued. He adds “So, yeah, you do miss them. I start to get very sad, and I have to think, ‘Wow, wait a minute, everyone misses them.’ It’s not just me. So that makes me feel a bit better.”

“I think, ‘Wel details

In 1963, The Beatles released “Twist And Shout”, a song that would become one of their biggest hits. Written by Phil Medley and Bert Russell, “Twist And Shout” is on both Introducing…The Beatles, their first record in the United States, and Please Please Me, The Beatles’ debut record released in the United Kingdom.

Before The Beatles recorded “Twist And Shout”, it was first released by R&B group, The Top Notes in 1961. One year later, The Isley Brothers released “Twist And Shout”, a version that inspired The Beatles to put their own spin on the song. Unfortunately, singer John Lennon was ill when they recorded “Twist And Shout”, making it a challenge for him in the studio.

Lennon was already suffering from a cold when The Beatles went in to record “Twist And Shout”. Struggling with a sore throat, The Beatles were at the end of a 12-hour studio session when they decided to record “Twist And Shout”.

“Someone suggested they do ‘Twist and Shout’ with John taking the lead vocal,” studio engineer Norman Smith recalls. “But by this time, all their throats were sore; it was 12 hours details

For Paul McCartney, songwriting isn’t only a job, a craft and an emotional outlet. It’s a compulsion and a craving.

“People say, ‘Well, why do you still write songs?’ And it’s just because I love it. I’m addicted,” he said in an interview at Boulevard Carroll, a warren of recording and rehearsal studios on Manhattan’s Far West Side, where McCartney, 83, had just wrapped up an afternoon of band practice for the season finale of “Saturday Night Live.” “Out of a black hole comes forth milk and honey. And it’s so great, the feeling.”

Prolific as he has been — through the Beatles, Wings and solo albums — McCartney doesn’t follow any songwriting discipline or routine. “I’ll just be somewhere, and with some time to spare, and my guitar will be there, or I’ll be near a piano. And the urge will take me,” he said. “Whenever I’ve hit something, it’s just like, ooh, wow. It’s a great feeling. You know, the whole creative thing is a great thing. I say it beats working.”

Even for a rehearsal, McCartney was nattily dressed. He sported a blue jacket, a black shirt wi details

Paul McCartney has finally made the admission all Beatles fans have been waiting for – that the quartet are the greatest band across the universe.

The musician, 83, has always modestly claimed that the best singer-songwriters of all time were crooning duo The Everly Brothers, whose songs included “Cathy’s Clown” and “All I Have to Do is Dream”.

However, in a TikTok Q&A interview ahead of his new record, McCartney revealed he feels fine saying The Beatles – made up of McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr – probably pip them to the post.

“It is phenomenal, it is really phenomenal,” he said of the band’s stratospheric success.

“When we started out, we were just kids, and rock and roll was just really coming in, and we thought, ‘If we’re lucky, we’ve got a couple of years’ – that’s how long people normally lasted. They couldn’t really sustain much more after that.“

He said he only expected their music would be played for “maybe five years max”, adding: “Then that became 10, and we were kind of still going and the scene’s still t details

In the wake of his 2016 death, Prince left behind an enviable vault containing thousands of unreleased songs, most of which will likely never see the light of day. While the late musician’s estate has shared a few selections from the collection over the years, there’s one in particular that Paul McCartney is hoping they’ll come around to releasing: a cover Prince recorded of the Beatles‘ Let It Be single, “The Long and Winding Road.”

“I was with some guy couple of years ago, so it was after Prince had died, and this guy said, ‘Have you heard Prince do ‘Long and Winding Road?'” McCartney said on BBC Radio 2’s Tracks of My Years. “I said, ‘Well, no, that’s one of my songs. I don’t think he ever did it.’ He said, ‘Well, he did. He did it in rehearsal. He was rehearsing it for something.’ So, he said, ‘I’ll send it to you if you want.’ He sent it to me and it’s really great.”

The guy, McCartney believes, was a personal photographer for Prince. He described the recording as “kind of rocky,” adding, “He plays some really good guitar on it.” McCartney proposed details

With Paul McCartney releasing his first solo album in over five years, The Boys of Dungeon Lane, and the Beatles’ four-film biopic’s main cast already announced, it seems only natural that the actor who’s transforming into Macca – Paul Mescal – had a chat with the legend about his songwriting process. And luckily for the rest of us, it was captured on camera.

“I teach some kids up in my old school in Liverpool, and that's like the first thing [they ask]. I don't know how to do this, which is not very inspiring. I haven’t got a formula,” McCartney tells Mescal.

“They used to ask me and John [Lennon], ‘How’d you do it? Who writes the music, who writes the words?’ I don’t know. To me, I think any story or song you’re gonna do, it’s gotta involve memory. With the Beatles, we always tried to write something different.”

Lennon still serves as a source of inspiration for McCartney – especially considering his upcoming album turns a lens inward and revisits the formative years that not only shaped his own life but the very foundation of the Beatles.

“I ran into this guy called John Lennon, and he w details

Imbuing spiritual philosophy into music was a practice George Harrison started back when he was still a mop-topped Beatle with tracks like “Within You Without You” and “I Me Mine”, so it’s no surprise that he continued this songwriting tradition into his solo career. In fact, two of his first major wins as a solo artist were spiritual numbers, one of which he later referred to as a “prayer and personal statement.”

For many folks, their minds might wander to Harrison’s first No. 1 hit post-Beatles, “My Sweet Lord”. The 1970 chart-topper sounds like a word-for-word prayer, right down to the “hallelujah” refrains. But the one Harrison felt was an even stronger impression of his spiritual state was his second No. 1: the 1973 track “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)” from Living In The Material World.

Whereas “My Sweet Lord” was adoring and reverent, “Give Me Love”, as the title would suggest, was more about his hopes and immaterial desires. “Give me love, give me peace on earth, give me light, give me life,” the song begins. “Keep me from birth, give me hope, help me cope with this heavy details

Pattie Boyd says George Harrison once got upset that she was on the cover of a magazine without him
On a recent podcast, Boyd spoke about whether intense publicity during the height of The Beatles' success affected their marriage
"He couldn't believe that they would put me on the paper and not him," Boyd said of her former husband

Pattie Boyd is opening up about her relationship with The Beatles' George Harrison — and how the late musician once got "jealous" of her own publicity.

The model and photographer, 82, appeared on a recent episode of the podcast Miss O’Dell: Abbey Road to Tulsa Time, hosted by Chris O’Dell. On the podcast, Boyd spoke about whether intense publicity during the height of The Beatles' success affected their marriage.

"I know George was rather upset one time when I was on the cover of one of the trashy newspapers, you know, because I was wearing whatever I was wearing — something mad — and he couldn't believe that they would put me on the paper and not him," Boyd said.

She added: "Jealousy comes in many, many different forms. It's very odd."

Boyd first met Harrison in 1964, on the set of A Hard Day's Night. The pair married i details

Paul McCartney sat down with Paul Mescal, the actor who portrays him in the upcoming films about the Beatles, to discuss his new album.

The two Pauls sat down “In Conversation” for an exclusive short film posted by Amazon. In the 10-minute chat in the same restaurant the album trailer was filmed, the rocker and the actor talked about the nostalgic The Boys of Dungeon Lane.

“How do you feel about being interviewed?” Mescal asked McCartney.

“It depends if I like the person. Which is where we’re running into a problem already,” McCartney joked. “No, I find if I like who I’m being interviewed by, it comes easy.”

Mescal asked McCartney about his songwriting process on The Boys of Dungeon Lane, which features lyrics made up of memories but still “in the present tense.”

“I haven’t got a formula,” McCartney said. “They used to ask me and John [Lennon], ‘How’d you do it? Who writes the music, who writes the words?’ I don’t know. To me, I think any story or song you’re gonna do, it’s gotta involve memory. With the Beatles, we always tried to write som details

The rock legend in the autumn of their years who chooses to release a new album is well advised to get themselves an angle. If the music that made you legendary was written and recorded long ago – and is highly unlikely to be displaced in the public’s affections by anything you do now – it’s good to have something that suggests a sense of purpose, beyond just adding to an already vast back catalogue for the sake of it.

We’ve recently seen it with Bob Dylan’s Rough and Rowdy Ways, rooted in its jawdropping 17-minute survey of American political history, Murder Most Foul; and with Bruce Springsteen’s Only the Strong Survive, with its canny covers of soul and R&B classics. And an angle is clearly something that has occurred to Paul McCartney, too. From its title referencing a road in the suburb of Liverpool where McCartney spent his early childhood, to the circumstances of its launch – the first single Days We Left Behind was premiered not on YouTube or Spotify but BBC Radio Merseyside – his 27th studio album has been presented as a nostalgic look back at what you might call his pre-Fab years.

The idea has certainly generated excitement and not a little emot details

The Beatles’ 1969 magnum opus, Abbey Road, has the same sort of “love it or hate it” legacy as other mega albums like Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon and Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours. Diehard fans will accuse people of choosing the “sell-out” option when they list these albums as their personal favorites, and in some cases, these fans will even argue that the album’s no good.

As silly and subjective as this mindset is, it’s easy to see why albums that have been elevated to such high regard also have an immense amount of pressure to be absolutely perfect. Abbey Road is no exception, with many fans criticizing some tracks for being less-than-ideal offerings from the Fab Four.

That includes these four tracks—although, personally speaking, I can’t get enough of them.
“Maxwell’s Silver Hammer”

Not even the rest of The Beatles liked “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer”, but that’s where I disagree with John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. This Paul McCartney number is catchy, morbidly funny, and a great example of how effective groove switches can really be. My personal favorite part of the song is whe details