Beatles News

“She Loves You,” “All My Loving,” “Love Me Do,” “P.S. I Love You,” “Can’t Buy Me Love,” “And I Love Her.” Are you noticing a theme here? The Beatles began their career singing about love and relationships. Even song titles that did not contain the L-word dealt with relationships and love. “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “From Me to You,” and “Please Please Me” all focus on interpersonal relations.

Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys began looking inward to avoid simply writing about cars and girls. Songs like “In My Room” and “When I Grow Up to Be a Man” were both introspective and thriving on the charts. John Lennon and Paul McCartney had their share of success with songs about love, but they too wanted to expand their subject matter and move in different directions. One such song was “Nowhere Man.” Let’s take a look at the story behind the song.

He’s a real nowhere man
Sitting in his nowhere land
Making all his nowhere plans for nobody
Inspiration

Lennon and McCartney were very prolific in the years following their big breakthrough. Lenn details

Six decades ago, the Beatles achieved a first in Billboard chart history. On April 4, 1964, the band occupied the top five positions on the Hot 100, edging out the likes of the Temptations and Beach Boys for their enviable chart domination.

This was at the beginning of Beatlemania in America, a phenomenon ignited just two months earlier by the group's appearances on "The Ed Sullivan Show." In mid-1964, everyone was looking to cash in on the British imports — much to the annoyance of a small Philadelphia label, which had released one of their chart toppers the previous year to a resounding thud.

The label was Swan Records, and one of its founding partners was already a legend on the local music scene. Dick Clark formed the company in 1957 with his "American Bandstand" producer Tony Mammarella and Bernie Binnick, a former salesman. The goal was to have a hand in as many parts of the music business as possible, an aim that would backfire two years later when both Clark and Mammarella got caught up in a payola scandal that ultimately forced Clark to divest. Before that fallout, the TV host owned 50% of the company.

Source:Kristin Hunt/phillyvoice.com

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The ‘80s were tough on a lot of classic rock artists who were dealing with the changing sounds of the times. Paul McCartney not only had to deal with that, but also the dissolution of his ‘70s band Wings and death of John Lennon.

McCartney managed to rise to the occasion time and again during the decade. He released a pair of his most beloved solo record in the ‘80s (Tug of War and Flowers in the Dirt). Even those albums that didn’t rise to classic status included several standout individual tracks. Let’s take on the difficult task of ranking McCartney’s five best songs of the ‘80s.
5. “So Bad,” from Pipes of Peace (1983)

Pipes of Peace was meant to play as a kind of companion piece to Tug of War, which was released the previous year in 1982. Unfortunately, it was stuck with the lesser material of the two, although it did get a commercial boost from the inclusion of the Michael Jackson duet “Say Say Say.” We’re partial to “So Bad,” an underdog of a ballad that didn’t exactly break chart records (No. 23 on Billboard) when released as a single. But we love the subtleties of it, from McCartney’s tender falsetto voca details

The Beatles made chart history by holding the top five spots on the Billboard Hot 100 simultaneously.

The songs in the top five were “Please Please Me” at #5, “I Want to Hold Your Hand” at #4, “She Loves You” at #3, “Twist and Shout” at #2 and “Can’t Buy Me Love” at #1.

The Beatles went on to become one of the most successful acts in the history of the U.S. charts.

Over the course of their career, they have had 20 number one hits and 35 top 10 singles. The latest is their 2023 release “Now and Then,” which used vocals John Lennon recorded on a demo in the late ’70s, along with guitar the late George Harrison recorded in the mid-’90s, and new recordings from Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr.

The Beatles’ last number one single was in 1970 with “The Long and Winding Road,” from the Let It Be album.

Source: ABC News/kshe95.com

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Two photos of ex-Beatle John Lennon and his wife, the artist and performer Yoko Ono, taken at Hell’s Kitchen recording studios feature in a retrospective of renowned photojournalist Bob Gruen’s work at City Winery at Pier 57 (W17th Street & West Side Highway).
John Lennon and Yoko Ono knitting at The Hit Factory, NYC. The show, Rock Seen, spans Gruen’s decades-long career capturing the images of music stars, and is on display through April 30.

Gruen took the photo at the Hit Factory (421 W54th Street, now converted to condominiums) in the fall of 1980, while John and Yoko were mixing the Double Fantasy album. Like many of Gruen’s photos, the black-and-white image of Yoko on a couch knitting while John is at work captures a lesser known, intimate side of the iconic duo’s life.

“A lot of people don’t know how domestic Yoko actually was, that she could knit and she was actually a very good cook,” Gruen told W42ST. “John and Yoko had a domestic life outside of the pop star world.” He believes Yoko was knitting a sweater for their son, Sean Ono Lennon.

The photo at The Record Plant (321 W44th Street) was taken in front of a larger-than-life details

If the backing track on Beyoncé’s new recording of the Beatles’ “Blackbird” sounds especially familiar, there’s good reason for that. It turns out that the cover version she recorded for her “Cowboy Carter” album uses instrumental elements — McCartney’s acoustic guitar and foot tapping — taken from the Beatles‘ original master recording, released in 1968.

That information was confirmed to Variety by a rep for McCartney, who cited Beyonce’s team, and other sources.

The still-gradually-expanding credits for “Cowboy Carter” don’t make mention of the backing track being borrowed from the Beatles’ 56-year-old original. While McCartney is listed as playing guitar on the song in the credits (which have been unveiled gradually since the album’s release last Friday and still appear incomplete), and is also listed as one of the new track’s producers, there is no indication in the wording that his work on the track was not newly recorded.

McCartney wrote and recorded the song by himself in 1968 for the Beatles’ self-titled double-LP, aka the White Album, letting the other members of the group sit details

Anyone wondering whether Paul McCartney's dog is a Sun Devil or Wildcat may finally have their answer.

In an Instagram post published on Easter Sunday, the legendary singer and songwriter revealed a photo of his dog wearing an Arizona State University collar.

The ASU-themed merchandise may appear random in an Easter photo taken by one of Britain's most famous celebrities. But McCartney, who's won 18 Grammy awards and been inducted twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, has multiple connections to the Grand Canyon State.

His wife, Nancy Shevell, graduated from ASU before the couple was married in 2011.

McCartney's first wife, Linda Eastman, had attended the University of Arizona and the couple owned a large ranch property in southern Arizona before Linda died of cancer in Tucson, according to the Arizona Daily Star.

McCartney performed at the Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix a few years ago.

Source: Kevin Reagan/12news.com

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Elton John and Paul McCartney make a big splash whenever they come to New Orleans for concerts.

But the two rock legends both slipped in and out of town in March without attracting much attention.

They each made a quick trip to New Orleans to film cameo appearances in the sequel to the 1984 mockumentary “This Is Spinal Tap,” which is currently in production in New Orleans.

The original “Spinal Tap,” directed by Rob Reiner, starred Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer as the bumbling members of a fictional British heavy metal band. The spoof of music documentaries and rock music clichés — from getting lost backstage to a comically miniature Stonehenge prop to an amplifier that famously cranked up all the way to 11 — struck a chord with music fans and musicians alike.

Forty years after the original film’s release, Reiner, McKean, Guest and Shearer have reunited to shoot the sequel in New Orleans, where Shearer lives much of the year.

Source: Keith Spera/sunherald.com

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A song featuring George Harrison and Ringo Starr has been played in public for the first time, after the composer discovered the tape more than 50 years after it was recorded. Suresh Joshi, 77, said he met The Beatles stars when he was recording music for a documentary at London’s Trident Studios in 1968, at the same time as the group was recording Hey Jude.

He said they recorded the song Radhe Shaam together, which was played for the first time at Liverpool Beatles Museum in Mathew Street on Wednesday. Mr Joshi said that when he first met Harrison, who died in 2001, he came across as “very lonely”.

He said: “He was an intellectual figure who looked very successful but was very lonely in the crowd and I just picked up on that. “What he told me at the time is he always felt the underdog in the group.” Mr Joshi said Harrison told him wanted to do something different, so he composed and produced a “rock song in an Indian style”.

Singer Ashish Khan performed the vocals on the track while Harrison played the guitar and Starr offered to accompany on drums. Mr Joshi said: “It was a miracle for me to have big stars like that play for me.”

Harris details

A 1960s rock star taught George Harrison a musical trick that helped him write The Beatles’ "Something." John Lennon said that "Something" differed from all of George's previous compositions.

The Beatles‘ “Something” is one of George Harrison’s masterpieces. He probably couldn’t have made it alone. Another 1960s rock star taught George a musical trick that helped him write “Something.” John Lennon would later say that “Something” differed from all of George’s previous compositions.
The Beatles’ ‘Something’ was inspired by someone who was there with them in India

Donovan is a folk/psychedelic rock singer who became famous for 1960s tunes such as “Atlantis,” “Hurdy Gurdy Man,” “Sunshine Superman,” “Mellow Yellow,” and “Season of the Witch.” He famously went on The Beatles’ trip to India to study meditation. Donovan’s personal website says that he taught George a descending chord pattern that the Beatle would later use on the ballad “Something.”

Gold reports that, during a 2024 interview with Record Collector Magazine, Donovan discussed details

BY THE END OF 1972 IT HAD already become clear to John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr that they may have made a mistake hiring Allen Klein as their manager. Paul McCartney, of course, had come to that conclusion long before.

The individual Beatles were flying high in their solo careers, but with their contract due to end, dissatisfaction with Klein and his practices was coming to a head. Former London Records producer Allan Steckler, employed by Klein in 1969 to work with artists including The Rolling Stones and, after their acquisition by Klein, The Beatles, could sympathise.

“Working for Allen Klein had its benefits and its shit days,” states the 89-year-old music biz lifer, philosophically, from his New Jersey home. “Some days he could be the greatest person in the world. Most days he was the biggest asshole you ever met.”

With the Apple organisation that Klein still headed owing product to EMI and Capitol Records, but nothing in the pipeline, the pugnacious mogul called Steckler into his office. “Can you come up with something?” asked Klein.

In late 1971, with The Rolling Stones recently severed from Klein but their existing catalogue still control details

The Trials of Heather Mills, which airs at 9pm on Channel 5 this evening, features the former model’s confidante Pamela Cockerill, who opens up about the early days of Mills’ six-year marriage to the former Beatle.

The couple – who had a 25-year age gap – met in May 1999 at the Pride of Britain Awards in London, just over a year after Sir Paul’s first wife Linda died of breast cancer. McCartney was married to Linda for 29 years and they shared three children together. He also adopted Linda’s daughter from a previous marriage.

Following their 2002 wedding, Mills moved into his home in Rye, East Sussex, which McCartney had bought with Linda in 1973.

During the 90-minute TV special, Cockerill – who wrote Mills’ 1996 biography Out On A Limb – explains how Mills struggled living in the shadow of “inescapable presence” Linda.

She said: “I think Heather found it quite hard to live in the same house that, only a couple of years before, Linda had been living in.

“And the house hadn’t been changed that much. [Linda] was an inescapable presence because obviously, she was a big part of Paul’s life.”

Paul McCartney released “Take It Away” as the second single from his Tug of War album in 1982. The song soared into the Top 10, which wasn’t bad at all considering that it was one that McCartney had originally intended to give away to an old Beatle buddy.

 What is “Take It Away” about? For whom did McCartney originally write the song? And why did he end up playing most of the instruments himself instead of with his band Wings? Here’s the skinny on one of Macca’s truly wondrous pop confections.
Sorry, Ringo

Even with all the tumult surrounding the death of John Lennon in December 1980, the surviving Beatles still entered into a flurry of recording activity in and around that time. Ringo Starr planned a new album, and he reached out to both George Harrison and Paul McCartney for songs. As McCartney explained in an interview for Club Sandwich around the time of the album’s release, “Take It Away” was one of the songs he wrote for his buddy:

Source: Jim Beviglia/americansongwriter.com

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To say The Beatles are one of the most famous musical bands in history would be an understatement. With songs like “Hello, Goodbye,” “Hey, Jude,” “Come Together” and “All You Need is Love,” Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison became the best-selling musical act of all time and rank as some of the 20th century’s most prominent individuals. So naturally more than 50 years after The Beatles’ dissolution, there are still plenty of people interested in them, with proof of that including the release of the three-part documentary The Beatles: Get Back to Disney+ subscribers in 2023.

But now The Beatles are about to be spotlighted on screen in a way that’s never been done before, as it’s been announced that director Sam Mendes is spearheading multiple movies centered on the band. It’s reminiscent of how Kevin Costner is dedicating four movies to the story he’s telling in Horizon: An American Saga, but what exactly can we expect from these Beatles movies? That’s what we’re here to talk about. What Is The Release Date?

Although none of these Beatles movies have specific release dates yet, per Deadline, details

At 87, the dapper insider is releasing a new book of interviews conducted in 1980 and 1981 with the band and people nearest to it.
Peter Brown was a witness to some of the Beatles’ most important moments. His new book with the writer Steven Gaines is the oral history “All You Need Is Love: The Beatles in Their Own Words.

Peter Brown stood in his spacious Central Park West apartment, pointing first at the dining table and then through the window to the park outside, with Strawberry Fields just to the right. “John sat at that table looking through here,” Brown said, “and he couldn’t take his eyes off the park.”

That’s John as in Lennon. And the story of the former Beatle coveting this living-room view in 1971 — and how Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, eventually got their own place one block down, at the Dakota — is just one of Brown’s countless nuggets of Fab Four lore. In the 1960s he was an assistant to Brian Epstein, the Beatles’ manager, and then an officer at Apple Corps, the band’s company. A key figure in the Beatles’ secretive inner circle, Brown kept a red telephone on his desk whose number was known only to the four m details