Beatles News

The Beatles never played in Nashville, but five decades ago, Paul McCartney set up shop in Wilson County. It was June of 1974 when one superstar came to Lebanon. That summer, the former Beatle and his band Wings landed in Middle Tennessee.

Lebanon resident Sandra Bryant referred to those days as Paul McCartney fever and her husband Tick remembered those days vividly.

“Everybody in town eventually knew, they were trying to keep it secret, but he was spotted in so many places,” Bryant said. Fifty years later, those stories are still being shared today. “He’s really cute! Haha, he was so cute! I thought I was going to faint!” said Sandra Bryan.

Legend has it, Paul and Linda McCartney were looking for a summer escape and through music industry connections, they found a farm in Lebanon on Franklin Road.

“It was these two houses, a house here, a house there, 133 acres,” said Troy Putman. Putman’s father, Curly, sealed the deal, and in return a trip of a lifetime in exchange for their family home. “At age 12, we went to Hawaii for six weeks that was sort of a paid vacation,” said Putnam.

Paul McCartney and his band Wings were spotted al details

When Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr reunited The Beatles for their 1995 Anthology 1 in the early ’90s, they revisited a song John Lennon had written but never released. Set as a bonus track on the anthology, the three Beatles started working on “Free As a Bird,” originally written and recorded by Lennon in 1977 but never completed.

A simple piano demo, “Free As A Bird” was recorded by Lennon at his home in the Dakota Building in New York City. Though he never completed it in the studio, it was one of the songs he recorded to cassette during his “Househusband” period between 1975 and 1980.

As Anthology 1 was in the works, the former Beatles used Lennon’s previously recorded vocals from the demo. To complete the song, the three added their vocals to more verses, along with instrumentation. Lennon’s vocals were then weaved throughout the track, something co-producer Jeff Lynne achieved by using analog technology and tricks. To complete the song “entailed doing whatever manipulations [Geoff] Emerick [engineer] and [Jeff] Lynne could achieve to help bring out Lennon’s voice above the piano which was playing along with him,” reco details

This week’s podcast episode of A Life in Lyrics sees Paul McCartney looking back on the Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band track, A Day in the Life.

The Beatles' classic 1967 track is attributed to Lennon-McCartney but was mainly written by John Lennon with Macca contributing to the song’s middle section.

Reflecting on the opening lyrics about a “lucky man who made the grade”, McCartney wondered if the words were inspired by Lennon’s own struggles.

The 81-year-old said: “When John would bring these things in, it's only these days that I would say, ‘Was he talking about himself? Was there some sort of psychological aspect where he's a lucky man who made the grade?’

Mike McCartney, Paul McCartney's brother, was the original Beatles drummer

“And John did, around about this time, get a little bit out in Weybridge doing drugs. And we were a little disillusioned because we'd sort of given up playing live. So him bringing that in, I would just go with the picture that he was painting.”

McCartney also shared how the pressures of Beatles fame inspired Sgt Pepper’s: “Here's the idea. We are these four space cade details

Model and photographer Pattie Boyd is selling handwritten lyrics and personal letters that reveal her relationships with late Beatle George Harrison and guitarist and singer Eric Clapton.

Boyd, who turns 80 on Sunday, was married to both musicians, inspiring songs such as Harrison's "Something" and Clapton's "Wonderful Tonight" and "Layla".

More than 100 lots, including jewellery, clothes, photographs, handwritten lyrics and drawings by Harrison, are for sale in the "The Pattie Boyd Collection", which runs for auction online at Christie's until March 22.

"If I had one big treasure chest that explained me and my life, all these items here would be in it ... these are all examples of the wonderful life I have been living," Boyd told Reuters at a press preview on Thursday.

Lots leading the sale include the original artwork chosen by Clapton for the cover of Derek and The Dominos 1970 album "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs", with an estimated sale price of 40,000-60,000 pounds ($51,228-$76,842) and original handwritten lyrics for Harrison’s 1982 song "Mystical One" (30,000-50,000 pounds).

Source: Natasha Mulenga/reuters.com

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The Beatles' Abbey Road album cover is one of the most iconic in the world - and it features a man who accidentally photobombed the Fab Four as they walked across a zebra crossing

The 'mystery man' on the cover of The Beatles' famous Abbey Road album ended up being part of the world's most epic photobomb. We've all jumped into a photo for fun when we're out and about. But this guy became part of music history without even trying.

On the front of The Beatles' Abbey Road record from 1969, you can see the band crossing a road in a line. But if you look closely, there's a man standing by the road in the background. He's one of the few people caught in the snap, and he didn't mean to be there.

This man, dressed in a brown coat and white shirt, was found years later after numerous people came forward claiming to be him. He's actually an American tourist called Paul Cole, who was waiting for his wife when the picture was taken. He told The Mirror: "[I told her] 'I've seen enough museums. I'll just stay out here and see what's going on outside'."

Source: mirror.co.uk

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The Story Behind “Eight Days a Week” by The Beatles, Which Topped the Charts 59 Years Ago. The Beatles’ classic pop hit “Eight Days a Week” reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on March 13, 1965. The song was the Fab Four’s seventh single to top the Hot 100 in just over a year, the first being “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” which peaked at No. 1 in February 1964.

“Eight Days a Week,” which spent two weeks at the top of the Hot 100, replaced and was replaced, respectively, by a pair of classic Motown tunes— The Temptations’ “My Girl” and The Supremes’ “Stop! In the Name of Love.”

“Eight Days a Week” wasn’t issued as a single in the U.K., and made its first appearance as a track on the 1964 U.K. album Beatles for Sale. In the U.S., the song was released as a single in February 1965, and later appeared on the 1965 U.S. album Beatles VI.

Source: Matt Friedlander/americansongwriter.com

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The Beatles‘ “Love Me Do” is one of those bubblegum pop songs like The Monkees’ “Daydream Believer” or The Archies’ “Sugar, Sugar” that is perfect in its simplicity. Paul McCartney said he and John Lennon had no idea what they were doing when they wrote the song. John said the tune was markedly different from later Beatles tunes like “Penny Lane.”

Paul McCartney need help from ‘grown-ups’ during The Beatles’ ‘Love Me Do’ era

During a 2012 interview with The Independent, Paul recalled what it was like writing songs with John during the “Love Me Do” era. “Writing songs we’d never done, except that when John and I first met, one of our conversations was: ‘What do you do?’ ‘Oh, you’ve written a couple of songs.’ ‘Oh, I’ve written a couple too,'” he recalled. “So we showed our songs to each other and agreed they weren’t...

Source: imdb.com

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They came together.

Paul McCartney during his headlining set at England’s Glastonbury Festival Saturday — also the last night of his “Got Back” tour — made sure to get back with a bang.

The former Beatle, who celebrated his 80th birthday earlier this month, teased “a little surprise” for the crowd at the famed Pyramid Stage roughly 30 minutes ahead of his set’s scheduled end time just before midnight.

“My friend, your hero, from the West Coast of America… Dave Grohl!” McCartney said as he introduced the Foo Fighters frontman, 53.

The pair promptly started playing “I Saw Her Standing There.”

McCartney then asked Grohl to explain the long and winding journey he’d had to take to get to the U.K., which included two canceled flights on Wednesday and Thursday.

“But I swear, I would never miss being right here with you, right now,” said Grohl.

“Well, thanks, Dave. That’s so much appreciated,” said McCartney.

The pair went on to play “Band on the Run,” before McCartney let slip another surprise, this one hailing from the East Coast.

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Ringo Starr's bandmates grew accustomed to his "Ringoisms." They used them to inspire the titles of two classic Beatles songs.

Of all The Beatles, Ringo Starr wrote the fewest songs for the band. He was more interested in supporting his bandmates’ writing with his drumming. Still, Starr played an important role in the inception of a couple of classic Beatles songs. His “Ringoisms” inspired the titles of two songs.

Practically as soon as Starr joined The Beatles, his bandmates grew accustomed to his unique way of speaking. He often coined phrases that they’d never heard before.

“Ringo would always say grammatically incorrect phrases and we’d all laugh,” George Harrison said in The Beatles Anthology. “I remember when we were driving back to Liverpool from Luton up the M1 motorway in Ringo’s Zephyr, and the car’s bonnet hadn’t been latched properly. The wind got under it and blew it up in front of the windscreen. We were all shouting, ‘Aaaargh!’ and Ringo calmly said, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll soon have you back in your safely-beds.’”

Source: Emma McKee/cheatsheet.com

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The singer is the latest in a long line of brilliant artists who've tapped the experimental spirit of the Fab Four's 1965 masterpiece Rubber Soul

Ariana Grande has a whole new era—or should we say, it has her? Her excellent new Eternal Sunshine is a bold personal statement, with her most inventive, pained, reflective songs. “It’s kind of a concept album,” the pop queen said in February. “‘Cause it’s all different heightened pieces of the same story, of the same experience.” So no wonder she’s taking inspiration from the crazy boys who invented the concept album: The Beatles. In a NYC playback session for Eternal Sunshine, the pop queen revealed that she made this amazing album while listening obsessively to the Fab Four’s 1965 classic Rubber Soul. Some of you might not be ready to hear this, but make no mistake: Ariana is the ultimate Beatles geek.

You can hear that secret Rubber Soul connection all over the album, in her combination of sonic experimentation and raw emotion. She fills each track with trippy secret details you might miss the first few listens. Her Number One single “Yes And” has Beatles-inspired flutes in the break—but details

We have so much for which we should thank The Beatles that it’s impossible to narrow it down to one thing. How about we start with the notion that popular music might be a much duller construct without them? Because they restlessly pushed ahead instead of settling for what they’d previously done, they shattered all the boundaries of what listeners could expect.

Songs You Didn't Know Were Digs At Other Musicians—John Lennon, Bob Dylan & More

Let’s focus on five times when The Beatles discovered and/or created innovations they then added to their tracks, and marvel at just how fearless they were. The Fade-Up in “Eight Days a Week”

This track was originally considered as a song for The Beatles’ second film (originally titled Eight Arms to Hold You before being changed to Help!). On the surface, it’s a pretty straightforward up-tempo rocker which utilized one of Ringo Starr‘s unorthodox idioms for a title. But the band decided that they’d do something a little different to start the song. Instead of just kicking into the music at full volume like most songs did, they instead faded up the intro, reversing the process of a fade-out at song’s details

19th May 1967: The Beatles celebrate the completion of their new album, 'Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts ... [+] Club Band', at a press conference held at the west London home of their manager Brian Epstein. The LP is released on June 1st.

The Beatles never have a hard time selling albums in the U.S. They didn’t when they were first starting out and taking over the world, and they still don’t to this day, even though they’ve largely been broken up for many decades. Two of the most popular releases from the pioneering rock band are climbing again on the Billboard charts this week, as Americans aren’t tired of listening to their biggest smashes.

Both of the band’s greatest hits albums released in 1973, just a few years after they split, are on the uptick once again. The titles focus on two chapters of the group’s time together, with the first highlighting the singles from 1962-1966 (sometimes called the Red album), and the second from 1967-1970 (known as the Blue album).

Of the two compilations, 1962-1966 (Red) is doing the best. It seems that fans in the U.S. prefer their older singles–the ones that made them a household name in the first place. That title appears on t details

Paul McCartney the solo artist has done quite well for himself over the years. But it’s easy to forget there was a time when he hadn’t fully ventured out on his own, considering he almost immediately followed up his time with The Beatles by forming Wings. The 1982 album Tug of War proved a major turning point in his transformation from band member to fully fledged solo entity.

The album proved a triumph for McCartney, albeit a bittersweet one, as he was still reeling from the death of John Lennon when he made it. Let’s look back at how Macca ventured into a new portion of his career, which required him jettisoning an old one.

The history books show that the experimental 1980 solo album McCartney II was followed up by Tug of War in the McCartney catalog. That might lead you to believe that Wings were done by the end of the ’70s. But McCartney intended McCartney II as a one-off and was ready to jump back in with his backing band to start the new decade.

He decided he would work with Beatles producer George Martin for his new album. Martin agreed, but insisted that he would only helm an album of high-quality material, meaning McCartney would have to prune until he was left with the details

John Lennon's son Sean Ono Lennon had a sweet message for his mother Yoko Ono as he won his first Oscar in L.A on Sunday night, thanks to War Is Over nabbing the award for best animated short film.

Fans of The Beatles got emotional on Sunday night as one of John Lennon's son's collected an Oscar on stage inside the Dolby Theatre in L.A.

The Oscar for animated short film was presented to War Is Over! Inspired By The Music of John & Yoko during the 96th Academy Awards on Sunday night. Sean Ono Lennon, who wrote the anti-war story featuring tracks from his parents Beatles star John Lennon and his artist wife Yoko Ono, was among those accepting the prize along with Dave Mullins and Brad Booker.

As he accepted the award, Sean, 48 gave a shout out to his mother Ono, who he said was in the UK and asked the audience to join him in saying "Happy Mother’s Day" as British people celebrated Mother’s Day on Sunday. "I just want to very quickly say my mother turned 91 this February and today is Mother's Day in the UK, so could everyone say happy Mother's Day Yoko?" Sean asked.

Source: Zoe Delaney/mirror.co.uk

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An all-star tribute to Jimmy Buffett in April will feature Paul McCartney, Kenny Chesney, the Eagles, Brandi Carlile and more, Variety has reported.

According to Variety.com, the show will take place April 11 at the Hollywood Bowl. It’s titled, “Keep the Party Going: A Tribute to Jimmy Buffett.” Other performers include Jon Bon Jovi, Pitbull, Eric Church, Sheryl Crow, Jack Johnson, Jackson Browne, Zac Brown, Mac McAnally and the Coral Reefer Band.

Variety said ticket pre-sale offers will begin at noon Central time on Wednesday, with a general on-sale starting at noon Friday through Ticketmaster. Ticketmaster listed six pre-sales, with two starting at noon Wednesday and four starting at noon Thursday. Ticket prices were not immediately available.

Many of the featured artists have performed with Buffett or have performed his songs. At least one, Carlile, knew him through a shared enthusiasm for fishing, according to Variety.

In other Buffett news, the video recently was released for “University of Bourbon Street,” a song from his posthumously released album “Equal Strain on All Parts.” Like several other songs on the album, it was co-written by Mobile nativ details