Beatles Music

Ringo Starr was often the butt of jokes about The Beatles. Paul McCartney said this began to wear on the celebrated drummer.

Paul McCartney has long praised Ringo Starr’s skill as a drummer, but he didn’t think Starr always felt confident in himself. Starr was often the butt of jokes in the press; a rumor that John Lennon said Starr wasn’t even the best drummer in The Beatles circulated. McCartney eventually spoke about why he thought Starr was paranoid about his abilities.

For years, members of The Beatles and countless other drummers have spoken about Starr’s skill. McCartney thought Starr doubted his abilities because he didn’t do drum solos, though.

“I think Ringo was always paranoid that he wasn’t a great drummer because he never used to solo,” McCartney said in The Beatles Anthology. “He hated those guys who went on and on, incessantly banging while the band goes off and has a cup of tea or something. Until Abbey Road, there was never a drum solo in The Beatles’ act, and consequently other drummers would say that although they liked his style, Ringo wasn’t technically a very good drummer.”

Source: Emma McKee/cheatsheet. details

Ringo Starr discussed Yoko Ono's role in The Beatles' breakup. Shockingly, John Lennon had the opposite perspective on the situation.

Ringo Starr discussed Yoko Ono’s role in The Beatles’ breakup. Shockingly, John Lennon had the opposite perspective on the situation. John also discussed what helped him through the backlash that he and Yoko suffered.

During a 1981 interview with Rolling Stone, Ringo revealed his feelings about The Beatles. “They are my brothers, you see,” he explained. “I’m an only child, and they’re my brothers. I’ve always said that if I ever spend all my bread, I can just go and live with one of them, and vice versa, ’cause we all love to spend it.”

Ringo said he had a special connection to Yoko. “I always know there’s a home for me with Yoko,” he said. “She’s taken a lot of s*** — her and Linda [McCartney]. But The Beatles’ breakup wasn’t their fault.”
Ringo had his own explanation for the band’s dissolution. “It was just that suddenly we were all 30 and married and changed,” he said. “We couldn’t carry on that life anymore. From 1961, &r details

Ringo Starr was aware that fans read a lot into The Beatles' songs. In response, he described his band as just a bunch of buskers.

Ringo Starr was aware that fans read a lot into The Beatles’ songs. In response, he described his band as just a bunch of buskers. John Lennon made similar comments about The Beatles’ music. He analyzed the Fab Four’s appeal — while also claiming music had medicinal properties!

During a 1981 interview with Rolling Stone, Ringo recalled the way people interpreted The Beatles’ songs. “Anyway, we used to get freaked out by what everyone thought our songs were about, because they’d make up all this madness,” he recalled. “The Sunday Times in London brought all this analyzing into the establishment when someone wrote an article about the ‘decading solances’ [Aeolian cadences] in our music and things like that.” An Aeolian cadence is when a tune composed in a major key resolves on the VI chord.

“We didn’t know what the s*** they were talking about,” Ringo continued. “We just play guitar and drums. We’re buskers.”
Ringo had a very humble attitude towards The Beatles&rsquo details

In a Paris hotel room, Paul snapped a black-and-white selfie in a mirror. On the street, his friend John leaned into the camera frame, striking a goofy and almost schoolboy-like pose shortly before they jetted to America on a trip that would change their lives and millions of others’ forever.

World culture was indefinitely altered when they and the rest of the Beatles in February 1964 stepped off a plane onto a New York City tarmac, to a real-life soundtrack of shrieks from the several thousand young women who’d gathered. In America, Paul snapped a picture of newsmen chasing after their car and photographed the photographers who took pictures of him. Out of New York, he used color film to get a bright portrait of a shirtless George in Miami Beach. Once he even went bokeh, using the effect to capture an artistically blurred Ringo Starr smile.

Paul McCartney was a prolific photographer as a Beatle, and 250 of his images are making their U.S. debut in Norfolk at the Chrysler Museum of Art. This exhibition consists of photos he made shortly before and during the band’s first trip to the U.S., providing a taste of the private side of Beatlemania — the Fab Four during their downtime, the quiete details

The Beatles are back at #1: The band’s new single, “Now and Then,” tops the Billboard Adult Alternative Airplay chart for the very first time.

The Adult Alternative Airplay chart launched in 1996, and The Beatles have landed on it one other time — when 1996’s “Free as a Bird” peaked at #11. They now hold the record for the longest time between their first appearance on the AAA chart and their first #1.

In other Beatles news … Sir Patrick Stewart recounted a sweet story of meeting Paul McCartney during an appearance on Live with Kelly & Mark.

He was in Bristol working in an acting company with McCartney’s then-girlfriend Jane Asher and during lunch one day they were playing a game where they shared what they’d buy if they had 1 million pounds; Stewart chose an Aston Martin. Two weeks later, McCartney showed up at Stewart’s dressing room.

“The door opened and there was Paul McCartney and he said, ‘Jane tells me that you like Aston Martins. Here, drive this,’” Stewart recalled, noting he was in his underwear at the time. “He threw me a bunch of keys.” Stewart said they went out on a joyride in details

One of Ringo Starr's albums was going to feature songs written by John Lennon. While discussing this record, Ringo shrugged off the nostalgia fans had for the Fab Four.

One of Ringo Starr‘s albums was going to feature songs written by John Lennon. Ringo decided not to use them, but he still recorded songs for that album by George Harrison and Paul McCartney! While discussing this record, Ringo shrugged off the nostalgia fans had for the Fab Four. John made similar comments about The Beatles around the same time.

During a 1981 interview with Rolling Stone, Ringo discussed his album Stop and Smell the Roses, originally known as Can’t Fight Lightning. “I asked all my friends to help on Can’t Fight Lightning,” Ringo recalled. “George did a couple of tracks, Paul’s done a couple of tracks. But the real drag is that there were tracks made for me by John.”

Ringo decided not to use tracks written for the album by the recently-deceased John. “I won’t use them now, though,” he said. “Well, I might. You never can tell. But they won’t be on this album. The fun was going to be that we’d play together, you know? And we could play real details

John Lennon and George Harrison grew close in The Beatles. Harrison said that their use of LSD greatly improved their friendship.

When George Harrison met John Lennon, he began to idolize him. Harrison was several years younger than Lennon and wanted to spend as much time as possible with the older boy. As they aged, their relationship changed through their collaboration in The Beatles. While Harrison often felt frustrated with Lennon, he also said that he felt closer to him than his other bandmates. Here’s what contributed to this shift in their relationship.

In the mid-1960s, every member of The Beatles took acid. Paul McCartney was the most cautious about the drug, but Lennon and Harrison took it often. Harrison thought that this improved their relationship.

“After taking acid together, John and I had a very interesting relationship,” Harrison said in The Beatles Anthology. “That I was younger or I was smaller was no longer any kind of embarrassment with John. Paul still says, ‘I suppose we looked down on George because he was younger.’ That is an illusion people are under. It’s nothing to do with how many years old you are, or how big your body is. It’s details

In 1961, the 18-year-old George Harrison purchased his first American-made guitar, a 1957 Gretsch Duo Jet, from a former merchant seaman named Ivan Heyward, for 75 pounds sterling, after he saw an advertisement in the Liverpool Echo. After giving it good use on “Please Please Me” and “I Saw Her Standing There,” he eventually passed it to his old friend from the Beatles’ days in Hamburg, Germany, the artist/musician Klaus Voormann. When Harrison was ready to shoot the cover for his new album Cloud Nine in 1987, he retrieved his “old black Gretsch” from storage in Los Angeles, had it refurbished, and posed with it, smiling widely in front of a stratospheric backdrop. You couldn’t see his eyes because of the light flare in his sunglasses, but it’s pretty clear from the content of the album they were twinkling with mischief.

Source: Mark Leviton/bestclassicbands.com

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May Pang, left, who had a relationship with John Lennon, during a period when he was separated from Yoko Ono, will share photos from that time in a show at AnArte Gallery.

For decades, complete strangers have told May Pang they knew all there was to know about her and her 18-month relationship with John Lennon.

“I’ve had many fans or people, they all say, 'I know everything about you,' and I say, 'You do? ' And they go, 'Yes, I’ve read everything,'” Pang said in a telephone interview. “After so many years, my story took on a life of its own, with other people telling it. At first, it doesn’t bother you, but after a while, now it’s bothering me. Now people are hearing different stuff that’s not correct.”

Pang has been working to set the record straight about her time with the former Beatle. They were together from 1973 to 1975 when he was separated from Yoko Ono, an era in his life dubbed “the lost weekend.”

Source: Deborah Martin/expressnews.com

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Paul McCartney‘s hit-making abilities are something of a marvel. It’s no surprise he has secured nine No. 1 songs throughout his career, given he pretty much wrote the book on how to craft a timeless pop offering. Below is our definitive ranking of McCartney’s Billboard Hot 100 hits.

9. “Listen To What The Man Said“

First up we have “Listen To What The Man Said.” We have no qualms with this track. It’s fun and a good listen but we find it to be a little less powerful than some of the other hits on this list.

8. “With a Little Luck“

“With a Little Luck” features a rhythmic melody that is hard not to sing along to. It’s a little quirky and very ’70s, but we see why it was such a hit amongst McCartney fans upon its release. That being said, it’s not one of McCartney’s signature tracks, meaning its appeal hasn’t been as long-lasting as some of his other No. 1’s.

Source: Alex Hopper/americansongwriter.com

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Paul McCartney discussed John Lennon's role in writing The Beatles' "I Am the Walrus." Some of Paul's comments are a little questionable.

Paul McCartney discussed John Lennon’s role in writing The Beatles’ “I Am the Walrus.” Some of Paul’s comments are a little questionable. Regardless, “I Am the Walrus” is one of the key tracks of John’s career.

During a 2009 interview with Clash, Paul discussed his feelings about “I Am the Walrus.” “I think in a way, for instance something like ‘I Am the Walrus,’ someone like John probably doesn’t get enough credit, because those sessions, those preparatory sessions, were very important because they set the style and often gave very accurate briefs of what we wanted,” he opined.

“For instance, all of John’s ‘Everybody’s got one’ and ‘Ho ho ho, hee hee hee, ha ha ha’ [from ‘I Am the Walrus’], all that stuff was from John at a session with [The Beatles’ producer] George Martin, a preparation session,” he added. “We’d be around at John’s house or George’s house, and he’d say, ‘I want details

This story is the second in a two-part series about travel destinations of interest to fans of The Beatles, including a magnificent place I found ‘accidentally’… Read the first part here.

New York City is where John Lennon put down roots in 1971, and where his life was tragically taken nine years later. Right next to Central Park is The Dakota, the historic apartment where he lived with Yoko Ono. I’ll admit it was a little strange to stand across the street from that building, seeing the entranceway where he was shot, and have it feel eerily familiar after seeing it depicted so many times in the media.

Tucked inside the park is Strawberry Fields, a five-acre memorial landscape honouring Lennon’s life as a musician and peace activist. The Imagine mosaic is a peaceful place to stop and reflect, or just sit and watch “the wheels go ’round and ’round” around you.

Source: RoseAnna Schick/winnipegfreepress.com

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See the trailer to the three-part Apple TV+ docuseries, narrated by Kiefer Sutherland, examining the aftermath to the Beatles legend’s assassination

There have been a number of eye-opening Beatles documentaries through the years, from the Beatlemania doc Eight Days a Week; a tribute to the Fab Four’s loyal secretary, Good Ol’ Freda; Martin Scorsese’s poignant George Harrison: Living in the Material World; and last but certainly not least, Peter Jackson’s recent eight-hour opus Get Back, chronicling the recording of the group’s final album, Let It Be, and subsequent demise.

Now, we have what hopes to be the definitive documentary about the aftermath of Mark David Chapman’s 1980 assassination of John Lennon outside the Dakota.

Premiering Dec. 6 on Apple TV+, and narrated by Kiefer Sutherland, the three-part docuseries John Lennon: Murder Without a Trial features new information gleaned from FOIA requests, as well as the first on-camera interviews with a number of people surrounding the tragedy, including Richard Peterson, a taxi driver/witness to the shooting; the Dakota concierge who desperately tried to save Lennon’s life; and Dr. Naomi Goldstein, the first details

Director Rob Reiner revealed that production of the mockumentary sequel begins February

Rob Reiner, who directed the original 1984 mockumentary film This Is Spinal Tap, revealed during a podcast aired Monday that Paul McCartney, Elton John, and Garth Brooks will make appearances in a new sequel.

The original starred David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean), Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer), and Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest) who played band members of the fictional English heavy metal band Spinal Tap. During an interview on Richard Herring’s Leicester Square Theatre Podcast, Reiner said part two, which was announced May last year, would begin shooting by the end of February.

McKean, Shearer, and Guest are expected to reprise their roles as the fictional band, and along with directing the new film, Reiner is set to return as filmmaker Marty DiBergi.

“We never thought we would do a sequel,” the director previously told NME. “It was only because we started to talk to each other and we came up with an idea we think might work — we don’t know it will. We’re going to try. The bar is incredibly high. We debated whether or not we should do it… I said, ‘Look details

Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr recently teamed up to help finish the new Beatles track “Now and Then.” Still, the old bandmates and good friends do more than just make music when they get together. McCartney posted a recent photo of him and Starr on his Instagram that shows them enjoying a plate of vegetarian pasta.

The pic was taken by McCartney’s daughter Mary and is among a variety of images that appear in her new cookbook, Feeding Creativity, which is available now.

In a promotional YouTube video for Feeding Creativity, Mary explains that the publication is a hybrid between a photo book and a vegetarian cookbook. The concept behind the book is that she would visit various creative friends and family members and bring them different meals. During her visits, she would take photos of those friends and family members and would discuss the food that they love and what inspires their creativity.

Source: Matt Friedlander/americansongwriter.com

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The Beatles spent quite some time on the road. Their touring schedule was robust. So much so, that the end of their career saw them all but announce their retirement from the road. Nevertheless, they logged many hours on the tour bus prior to calling it quits. Because of this, life on the open road became a familiar facet of their music. Find our four favorite road songs from the fab four, below.

1. “Magical Mystery Tour“

The Magical Mystery Tour
Is waiting to take you away
Waiting to take you away

Perhaps The Beatles’ most distinctive road song is “Magical Mystery Tour.” The song acted as the title track for both a record and an accompanying film. The made-for-TV project saw the foursome get into all kinds of wacky shenanigans while out on the road. The equally mystifying song pairs perfectly with the off-kilter movie. No other band could pull “Magical Mystery Tour” off.

2. “Two of Us“

Two of us riding nowhere
Spending someone’s hard-earned pay
You and me, Sunday driving
Not arriving, on our way back home

Source: Alex Hopper/americansongwriter.com

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Iconic musician Ringo Starr and His All Star Band have announced six shows on the Las Vegas Strip next year.

According to a news release, Starr and his band — Steve Lukather, Edgar Winter, Colin Hay, Warren Ham, Hamish Stuart and Gregg Bissonette — will return to The Venetian Theatre inside The Venetian Resort Las Vegas for six dates in 2024.

Promoter Live Nation says the performances are scheduled for May 22, 25, 26, 29 and 31 and June 1, 2024 at 8:30 p.m.

“I’ve always said I’m my happiest when I’m playing with great musicians - and this band is one of the very best. But even so,” Ringo said with a laugh, “sometime during and just after every tour I think ok that’s it - I’m going to stop touring. My family don’t believe me anymore and so it comes as no surprise to them that once again, I’m taking the All Starr Band back on the road! We’ll be doing 12 shows in May and June, going back to Mexico - which I love - and we’ll be doing a bit of a residency in Las Vegas at The Venetian. See you out there and until then I send you peace and love.”

Source: FOX5 Staff/fox5vegas.com

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George Harrison’s favorite record, the triple album All Things Must Pass was released a few months after the Beatles’ official implosion

“ It was a great experience making this album., even if I didn’t really believe it » Harrison said a few years later. “ I remember thinking in the studio that it was marshmallowy, but the people around me were enthusiastic. That’s when I realized it was good. »

For the album’s 30th anniversary in 2000, Harrison himself oversaw a new mix, which included a remake of his hit “My Sweet Lord”. And today, to commemorate the album’s 50th anniversary, its rights holders are releasing a sparkling new mix of the title track “All Things Must Pass,” which also heralds a major project in the works.

The songs told Harrison’s story in multiple, sometimes undetectable ways. With subtle references that probably went over most fans’ heads, “Wah-Wah” and “Run of the Mill” were jabs at the Beatles’ crashing reunions and their chaotic histories. “Beware of Darkness” was his take on the less savory side of the music industry, and his newfound devotion to H details

The Beatles never truly got back together.

At least during John Lennon's lifetime, that is, having acrimoniously called it a day in 1970 after a decade together.

Of course, they were dubbed 'The Threatles' when Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr reunited in 1994 to revitalise Lennon's long-lost demos for 'Free As A Bird' and 'Real Love'.

Once the band split, each of the members would fraternise with one another in some way and contribute to each other's albums in some way.

With the exception of John and Paul that is, due to their ongoing dispute which boiled over into thinly veiled digs at one another in songs like Paul's 'Too Many People' and John's scathing 'How Do You Sleep At Night?'.

The Beatles' best albums, ranked
George Harrison's widow Olivia shares "magical" backstory for The Beatles' 'Now and Then' artwork
Ringo Starr says he and Paul McCartney first thought The Beatles wouldn't "last a week"
The inside story of why The Beatles really broke up

Collaboration post-Beatles was more of a frequent occurrence with Ringo however, as John, Paul, and George were happily pursuing their own creative ambitions.

Focusing on his acting career in details

Paul McCartney married for a third time in 2011. At the ceremony, he took time to honor his late friend, John Lennon.

Paul McCartney has been married three times, and John Lennon attended none of his weddings. Lennon died before McCartney’s second two weddings, and The Beatles were at such a low point in their relationships that none had attended McCartney’s first. Still, McCartney took time to bring attention to Lennon during his wedding in 2011. Here’s why McCartney wanted to pay his respects to his late friend.

In 2011, McCartney married Nancy Shevell, whom he began dating in 2007. This was McCartney’s third marriage; his first wife, Linda McCartney, died in 1998, and he finalized his divorce from his second wife, Heather Mills, in 2008.

The couple wed at the Old Marylebone Town Hall in a small ceremony that included both their families, Ringo Starr and his wife, Barbara Bach, and George Harrison’s widow, Olivia Harrison. After the ceremony, the group headed to McCartney’s home for a party.

“They had a lovely dance together,” McCartney’s brother Mike McGear told People, adding that the wedding was “Fabulous. Beautiful. It was just lov details

John Lennon said The Beatles' "I Am the Walrus" was similar to Bob Dylan's music. He even accused the "Lay Lady Lay" singer of getting "away with murder" among intellectuals.

Bob Dylan’s influence is so great that it even extends to a song about an “elementary penguin.” John Lennon said The Beatles‘ “I Am the Walrus” was similar to Dylan’s music. He even accused the “Lay Lady Lay” singer of getting “away with murder” among intellectuals. While John’s comments were spot-on in some ways, he also ignored a major aspect of Dylan’s work.

The book All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono features an interview from 1980. In it, John cited Dylan as an inspiration and also discussed “I Am the Walrus.” “In those days I was writing obscurely, à la Dylan, never saying what you mean, but giving the impression of something,” he explained. “Where more or less can be read into it. It’s a good game. I thought, ‘They get away with this artsy-fartsy crap; there has been more said about Dylan’s wonderful lyrics than was ever in the lyrics at all. Mine, too.&rsquo details

John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote a song for The Rolling Stones together. John explained why he was willing to give the track away in the first place.

In an incredible moment that the world somehow forgot, John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote a song for The Rolling Stones together. John felt the song encouraged The Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger and Keith Richards to write songs of their own. The “Imagine” singer explained why he was willing to give the track away in the first place.
The Lennon-McCartney songwriting partnership wrote “I Wanna Be Your Man.” The Rolling Stones were the first group to release “I Wanna Be Your Man.” It was The Rolling Stones’ second single, following a cover of Chuck Berry’s “Come On.” The Beatles later recorded the tune for their album With the Beatles featuring lead vocals from Ringo Starr.

Source: Matthew Trzcinski/cheatsheet.com

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“OK! This is the All-Starr Band!” declared Ringo Starr last month in New Buffalo, Michigan, dashing onto the stage to begin the evening as emcee before moving to the drum set later. “Every one of you will know at least two songs!” joked the Beatle, setting the stage for the extravaganza to come.

Touring behind his latest EP Rewind Forward, Starr has toured in an array of All-Starr Band iterations since 1989, ceding center stage to his famous band mates throughout a show that functions not just as a trip down Beatle memory lane but recent rock history.

Joined on this run by guitarists Steve Lukather (Toto) and Colin Hay (Men At Work), bassist Hamist Stuart (Average White Band), keyboard player Edgar Winter, drummer Gregg Bissonette and saxophonist Warren Ham, the seven piece group put their spin upon a few tracks from the projects of each member.

Source: Jim Ryan/forbes.com

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Drummer Zak Starkey, son of Ringo Starr, denied any chances of a supergroup forming with other children of The Beatles, including John Lennon’s son Sean Lennon and George Harrison’s son Dhani Harrison. Starkey’s responses came after he posted an image of himself hanging out with Sean Lennon and fans began proposing the supergroup idea.

“What a guy (although he looks completely insane here and he is and so are we),” wrote Starkey in his caption. “It was so great that Sean invited us to hang at the Dakota and actually get to know each other a bit. We had a gas, and I have to say being in the apartment … I experienced such an overwhelming feeling of love that we didn’t wanna leave.”

Starkey’s responses to fans pushing for the Beatles kids supergroup have been mostly light-hearted. “Would I love to see you, Dhani, and Sean do something together,” wrote one fan, to Starkey’s response “[You] mean a three-way right?”
The same fan quickly elaborated “[I] was thinking more musical! You are all so talented and wonderful artists. I think your fathers knew each other, too.” The drummer quipped “If we had spent t details

During his recent tour of Australia – which finished on the Gold Coast last Saturday (November 4) – Paul McCartney swung by Studio 10 for a rare TV appearance on The Project.

For panellist Georgie Tunny, this was a dream come true (let’s be real though, it’s every music journalist’s dream come true), being able to personally pose a question to the iconic Beatle... On national television, no less.

But as wild as it was, the opportunity was also equally daunting; see, Tunny only had the time to ask McCartney a single question – and as any fan of his or The Beatles’ at large would agree, there’s a nigh-on endless list of topics one could want to him to expound on.

In this exclusive essay for TheMusic.com.au, Tunny explains how she decided on the one question she wound up posing to Sir McCartney…

Source: Ellie Robinson/themusic.com.au

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