Beatles News

Had The Beatles been able to successfully fulfill the vision they originally conceived for the album that was released over a half-century ago as Let It Be, we might not have seen that LP as we now know it.

Fresh off the recording and release of The White Album (a/k/a The Beatles) in late 1968, the foursome reconvened early in the new year to work together in a more straightforward fashion than on that double set and Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band of 1967.

Notwithstanding the production of a feature length film (or the idea of a live performance bandied about at various points), the emphasis was on simplicity, the goal to capture the quartet as they played and sang together, without much, if any, subsequent elaboration via overdubbing or effects.

Hindsight of fifty-five years suggests the Beatles would most likely have achieved this goal with the astute guidance of manager Brian Epstein and/or long-time studio producer George Martin. But the former had passed suddenly in August of 1967, leaving the group essentially rudderless, while the latter had been shunted aside during the recording sessions of the previous year, an oversight that unfortunately continued here in favor of then-young details

The Beatles were at the peak of their powers in 1967. The album 'Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' had been released that May and spent 27 weeks at the top of the British charts, defining the 'summer of love' and changing popular music forever.

During that summer, the band had signed up for a huge television event. Conceived by the BBC, 'Our World' was the first ever live multi-satellite, global television event and it would include the band playing at EMI Studios on Abbey Road in London during its broadcast on June 25.    ‌The Beatles would represent Britain and they needed to write a new track for the show. After signing a contract in May, they had a month to prepare, but left it late. 

Recording engineer Geoff Emerick recalled in the book 'The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions': "I don’t know if they had prepared any ideas but they left it very late to write the song. John said, ‘Oh God, is it that close? I suppose we’d better write something.’"

The song they wrote was 'All You Need Is Love'. Mainly John Lennon's work, it had a simple message. About that, manager Brian Epstein said: "It was an inspired song and they really wanted to give the worl details

Yoko Ono has long been associated with The Beatles through her marriage to and creative collaboration with John Lennon. Even decades later, there are still people who believe she was solely responsible for breaking up the Fab Four. This theory completely ignores the group’s own interpersonal problems at the very least, but at its worst, it paints Ono in a negative light that she didn’t deserve.

Lennon once called Ono “the world’s most famous unknown artist.” He added that “everyone knows her name but no one knows what she actually does,” according to a post from online gallery Arthive. This remains true to this day, despite Ono’s far-reaching and prolific influence.

Overall, she’s more known for being married to a Beatle than for her own artistic endeavors. These, as a whole, are varied and many. It could be argued that, for the uninitiated, her legacy has been boiled down to being John Lennon’s wife. However, Yoko Ono is far more influential in the music and art worlds than just that.  Yoko Ono Did Not Exist in a John Lennon Vacuum

Yoko Ono has always been avant-garde. Her entire art and music career has been about pushing boundaries of wh details

It has taken fans over six decades to actually realize how The Beatles ended up being called what they are today and it turns out the name has a dual meaning too
 
The Beatles were initally called The Beetles and The Silver Beatles.  Founded in 1960, everyone now knows The Beatles as The Beatles, but they initially had several other names until John Lennon had his say.

The story behind The Beatles' naming has gone down many routes before, and this is believed to be because of the band’s famously mischievous nature. Throughout their time together, they offered a mix of stories about the origin of the name, including accounts of dreams involving flaming pies, floating buns, and mysterious men visiting them on flying carpets.

These bold explanations are likely because they found the real, much more straightforward origin of the name was not as 'out-there' enough for their standards.
Looking back to where it all began in 1960, the band, then just a trio consisting of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison, was still undecided on a band name, though they had recently performed as Johnny and the Moondogs.

Lennon’s friend from art school, Stuart Sutcliffe, joined t details

Many artists have covered the 1969 Beatles classic “Come Together” over the years, for better or worse.

John Lennon originally wrote “Come Together” as a song for Timothy Leary’s 1969 campaign for governor of California against incumbent Ronald Reagan. Leary didn’t end up using the song or winning his bid for office. When the Beatles began recording their album “Abbey Road,” Lennon started singing “Come Together” in the studio and fleshed out the rest of the lyrics.

Em Casalena, a music writer for American Songwriter, admitted that those lyrics are pretty nonsensical, and Beatles fans have been trying to parse through them for years to find meaning. Still, Casalena said, the song became a hit and inspired countless musicians to cover it.

Joe Cocker, the late rock and blues singer, was recently posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in part for his covers of Beatles hits. Paul McCartney even wrote a letter of support about Cocker to push for his induction.

Source: wbaa.org/Ashley Locke, Peter O'Dowd

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Is it getting "Hot In Heree" or is a "Cruel Summer" approaching?

With the sunshine season just around the corner, there's no better time to blast a bright, feel-good track to match the mood.

Now's the perfect time to kick back and listen to sunshine tracks on repeat with one legendary hit, hailed as the ultimate summer song, at the top of your playlist.

Whether you enjoy "Walking On Sunshine" or basking in a "Summer Breeze" that makes you feel fine, there's one song that's so synonymous with summer that you can't help but crack the windows and turn the volume up every time it's played.

Not only is this timeless tune the best summer song ever written, but it single-handedly cures long, cold, lonely winters and returns the smiles to the faces!

According to a list compiled by TimeOut, the best summer song of all time is The Beatles classic, "Here Comes The Sun."

Other songs that made the list include "Espresso" by Sabrina Carpenter, "Lovely Day" by Bill Withers, "Everybody Loves The Sunshine" by Roy Ayers, and "Summertime Sadness" by Lana Del Rey to round out the top five.

Here's what TimeOut had to say about the best summer song of all time:

"We know, this isn’ details

EXCLUSIVE: The director of Borrowed Time: Lennon's Last Decade refused to feature one key thing in the film.

John Lennon's final ten years are forensically examined in director Alan G. Parker's new documetary Borrowed Time: Lennon's Last Decade. With contributions from musicians, journalists, and close friends of John the film promises to set the record straight on the truth behind many famous Lennon moments, including when Yoko Ono first came on the scene. However, one thing that doesn't get a mention is the name of the man who murdered the former Beatle on December 8, 1980. Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk in advance of the movie's release on May 2, Alan explained his reasoning.

“There's two things we had right from the get go. Number one was…if anybody mentions his name, they're not going in the movie. His name is not mentioned in the movie, because my belief is that part of the reason that killing took place was for a bit of the fame to rub off on the man himself," he said.

"He won't be getting any of it (fame) from me, because I won't put his name anywhere. The plan was, if any interviewees mentioned him we'd suddenly say 'sorry, camera off, there's your money, goodbye!'"

Many Americans learned that John Lennon had been gunned down when sportscaster Howard Cosell broke the news during a Monday Night Football broadcast on Dec. 8, 1980. But painter Robert Morgan knew much sooner. He heard the shots outside his apartment on Manhattan’s Upper West Side just before 11 p.m. that night. After running to his window, he peered down and saw his famous neighbor splayed on the sidewalk.

Sensing that he was witnessing history, Morgan instinctively reached for his camera. As his finger hovered over the shutter, he stopped.

Morgan tells his story in the new documentary Borrowed Time: Lennon’s Last Decade, which premieres in U.K. cinemas and on the Icon Film Channel on May 2. Directed by Alan G. Parker — who previously covered the Beatles in the 2017 documentary It Was Fifty Years Ago Today... Sgt. Pepper and Beyond — the film captures the flurry of activity in Lennon’s final months as he emerged from his self-imposed exile from the music industry and returned to the recording studio.

Borrowed Time, named for one of the last songs the rock legend would ever record, details sessions for Lennon’s comeback album, Double Fantasy, as well as plans for a pro details

By the end of the Beatles‘ tenure, John Lennon and Yoko Ono were inseparable. Despite the band working on their final albums together, Ono was a fairly constant presence in the studio. That is, until the band recorded their send-off song, “The End”. Find out why Lennon didn’t want Ono in the studio for this particular session, below.

“The End” is sparse lyrically. The majority of the song is made up of impressive playing from each member on their respective instruments. The jam session feel to this song, brought Lennon back to his roots as a musician, according to engineer Geoff Emerick.

In fact, he felt so thrilled to be playing around in the studio with his bandmates that Lennon asked Ono to stay out of the room–which was against the norm at the time. From Emerick’s point of view, Lennon seemed to want a pure moment with the band before they fully fractured into pieces.

“Yoko was about to go into the studio with John–this was commonplace by now–and he actually told her, ‘No, not now. Let me just do this. It’ll just take a minute,’” Emerick once said of the recording session for “The End”. “That s details

Ringo Starr has opened up about the one Beatles song he believes 'ruined his career' - and it's all down to a track written by John Lennon for his son Julian.

Ringo Starr has confessed there's one Beatles song that's always made him nervous - John Lennon's track Good Night.

The song, written for John's five year old son Julian, was the closing track on the 1968 album, The Beatles, and featured Ringo on vocals.

However, the drummer wasn't thrilled with the song, recalling, "They ruined my whole career when they gave me Good Night. I wanted to be a rocker. A lot of it was John or whoever wrote it saying, 'Well, you do this one Ringo.'"

Despite his reservations, Ringo acknowledged that his fellow Beatles thought he could bring something special to the song, saying, "They'd written it and they felt I could present that in a great way which was a nice feeling."

He also credited Paul McCartney with helping his career.   "I thank Paul you know because I'm on tour because I do A Little Help from My Friend.

Source: the-express.com/Scarlett O'Toole

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On This Day, May 1, 1966 …

The Beatles performed a 15-minute set at the New Musical Express Annual Poll-Winners All-Star Concert at the Empire Pool in London.

The performance, which took place in front of about 10,000 people, wound up being the band’s final scheduled live performance in Britain. Their actual final live show was the 1969 concert on the roof of Apple Studios, but that was a surprise.

The Beatles performed a five-song set at the NME show, with performances of “I Feel Fine,” “Nowhere Man,” “Day Tripper,” “If I Needed Someone” and “I’m Down.”

Other artists on the bill that night included The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Yardbirds, The Spencer Davis Group, Herman’s Hermits and Roy Orbison.

Source: KSHE 95

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The Beatles had to keep a bruising schedule in the early years of their recording career. In addition to their constant touring and live appearances, they were generally expected to crank out a pair of albums and a couple of singles per calendar year.

This itinerary helped them develop as writers, especially John Lennon and Paul McCartney. The duo handled pretty much all the group’s original compositions at that time. It explains how fascinatingly offbeat tracks like “I’ll Be Back”, which appeared on A Hard Day’s Night in 1964, came into existence.

If you’re looking for a turning point in The Beatles’ career in terms of their writing skills, A Hard Day’s Night is a great choice. Their third album also represented the first time that Lennon and McCartney wrote every single one of the tracks.

It was an extremely atypical feat in the rock and roll world. Cover songs still loomed as a huge part of the average band’s recording repertoire. Lennon and McCartney were essentially getting songwriting reps that their peers lacked. You can understand why their writing was vastly improving.

John Lennon came up with the idea for “I’l details

Paul McCartney, who recently revealed his favorite Beatles track, has shed light on the unexpected roots of the iconic Beatles tune Golden Slumbers.

Featured on The Beatles' Abbey Road album, the song has been reimagined by various artists, including Neil Diamond and Mumford & Sons. While the melody is well-known to fans, many were taken aback to learn that the lyrics originated from a Victorian song named Cradle Song.

In an episode of his podcast Paul McCartney: A Life In Lyrics, Paul - who admitted to being outraged after a fan theory emerged on a classic Beatles track - delved into the creation of the song. "That chorus that I've used as a chorus, literally, is the lyrics to an old Victorian song," McCartney, who will be played by a hit Irish actor in the upcoming Beatles biopic, said.

When queried if this was what's referred to as sampling, Paul's response was more forthright. He candidly responded, "Well, it's called stealing."

Source: irishstar.com/Scarlett O'Toole

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Ringo Starr and Barbara Bach's love story is more than 40 years in the making.

In fact, on April 27, 2025 it will be exactly 44 years since the pair tied the knot in front of 70 guests in London after meeting on the set of the movie Caveman not long before.  In celebration of the couple's anniversary, here's a look back at some iconic photos from the early days of their relationship!

Starr and Bach first met more than 40 years ago on the set of the 1981 movie, Caveman, in which they played love interests.

The two were both in relationships at the time and told Playboy in 1981 that they "weren't together" until the end of the filming.

"A lot of garbage has been written about us, none of it interesting," Bach said. "The truth is, we weren't together until the very end of Caveman. Working, we got along fine, but we each had other people, our respective friends. Then, all of a sudden, within a week — the last week of shooting — it just happened. We changed from friendly love to being in love."

Source: uk.news.yahoo.com

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On their 1972 album Some Time In New York City, John Lennon and Yoko Ono featured a controversial song with an overall well-meaning message. However, as well-intentioned as it may have been, the song “Woman Is The [Redacted] Of The World” may not have been the radically supportive statement that Lennon and Ono were hoping for.

According to the 2016 book Public Interests: Media Advocacy And Struggles Over U.S. Television by Allison Perlman, Ono initially uttered the phrase in a 1969 interview with Nova magazine. The phrase has been partially attributed to Zora Neal Hurston’s book Their Eyes Were Watching God, in which one of its characters relays a similar statement.

Additionally, Lennon stated in a 1972 television interview that James Connolly, an Irish revolutionary, was also an inspiration, specifically via his quote, “the female worker is the slave of the slave.” The song was apparently meant to express that “women were the most oppressed group in the world and within oppressed groups themselves, women are the most mistreated and relegated to the lowest status rung,” according to Perlman.

Source: Lauren Boisvert/American Songwriter

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