Beatles News

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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Tensions ran high during The Beatles' final days. After the sessions for 1968's 'The White Album' were marked by disagreements, which saw Ringo Starr leave the band temporarily, the mood remained difficult during the 'Get Back' sessions, which resulted in their final album 'Let it Be'.

Recording of 'Let it Be' commenced in January 1969 at Twickenham Studios, with the idea that The Beatles would work on an album and prepare for a return to performing live - having retired from touring in 1966. It was all captured on camera for an accompanying documentary.

Things did not quite go to plan and George Harrison walked out of the studio, quitting the band, on January 10, 1969. It came after an argument with Paul McCartney about George's guitar playing.

George had also pitched a number of songs to The Beatles, including 'All Things Must Pass', during those sessions, but they didn't show much interest. About that time, George told Musician Magazine in 1987: "I just got so fed up with the bad vibes – and that arguments with Paul were getting put in the film. I didn't care if it was The Beatles, I was getting out".

Though he would return to the band on January 15 - on the conditions of leaving Twicken details

For years, fans of The Rolling Stones and The Beatles thought the “rivalry” that was often explored in pulpy magazine articles was (more or less) fabricated. However, according to Paul McCartney, it looks like that beef was actually real.

“I’m not sure I should say it, but they’re a blues cover band, that’s sort of what The Stones are,” McCartney said in an interview with The New Yorker from 2021. “I think our net was cast a bit wider than theirs.”

A week after McCartney made his comments, Mick Jagger took to the stage at a Rolling Stones show as said that McCartney should be “joining us in a blues cover.” There’s your proof, folks. The rivalry was real, even though it was likely pretty tame and playful.

So, why was the rivalry between The Beatles and The Rolling Stones a good thing? In my opinion, it resulted in some really killer music.
A Legendary Rivalry That Yielded Some Killer Rock Tunes

The Beatles and The Rolling Stones first met back in 1963 and even partied together for a bit. The Stones would then sign a big record deal with Decca, after being recommended to do so by none other than George Harrison.

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John Lennon was a perfectionist of sorts, both as a solo artist and as a part of The Beatles. Like anyone with a perfectionist bone in their body, he outright criticized and slandered a few of his own songs, as well as Paul McCartney’s contributions. Sometimes, that criticism was well-placed. Other times, it definitely was not. Let’s look at just a few songs that John Lennon famously hated, and why I personally think he was wrong to be so harsh about them.

1. “It’s Only Love”

This track from Help! took quite a few takes to make it to the record. Even then, it never got a proper single release and only made it to American audiences via the US version of Rubber Soul.

“That’s the one song I really hate of mine,” Lennon said of “It’s Only Love”. “Terrible lyric.”

I really don’t agree with that. I don’t think Lennon was some otherworldly god that couldn’t produce bad music or anything. But, he definitely penned worse tracks than “It’s Only Love”. (“Run For Your Life” is just one example, and Lennon also hated that one as well.)
2. “Paperback Writer”

John Lennon’s Power to the People live EP debuts in the top 10 on three U.K. charts, earning the ... More rock, Yoko Ono and The Plastic Ono Band new smashes. 16th August 1966: John Lennon (1940 - 1980) of the Beatles, after making a formal apology for his controversial statement that the group were 'more popular than Jesus'. 

Decades after his death, John Lennon is still collecting hit singles in the United Kingdom. If he’s still doing so to this day, after so many decades have passed, he may never stop scoring new wins.

The musician created an enormous amount of material during his lifetime, both on his own and as part of The Beatles… not to mention his many collaborations with his wife, Yoko Ono. That wealth of recordings – studio, live, demo, and otherwise — has turned into a near-bottomless well of releases that continue to attract interest from devoted fans and collectors. And with the help of repackagings, remasterings, and a steady flow of special releases, Lennon seems to reach the U.K. rankings with something “new” with real regularity.
John Lennon’s Latest Hit Is a Record Store Day Exclusive

Lennon, alongside Ono and the Plastic Ono B details

Fans of The Beatles’ soundtrack album, A Hard Day’s Night, say the lack of a Ringo Starr-led song is disappointing.

Though George Harrison, Paul McCartney, and John Lennon each received at least one song with lead vocal work on A Hard Day’s Night, Starr did not have any. A post to the r/Beatles subreddit saw fans share their thoughts on why Starr may not have been given any work to do on the album. One user shared: “It’s a shame that Ringo didn’t get a lead vocal song in A Hard Day’s Night. I recently noticed that while John, Paul, and George have lead vocals in a lot of the tracks, only Ringo didn’t have any. I wonder why.”

Fans are now speculating on why Starr had not been given a lead vocal role on The Beatles‘ 1964 album. One suggested that while it may be disappointing he did not receive any vocal work on the album, his work on the film led to him becoming the main star of the follow-up film. The user wrote: “Ringo did get a scene that was so well received he became the focal point for the film Help!”

Another added: “The camera definitely loved Ringo the most. John always had the good lines and Paul is Paul, but Ringo is a details

Brian Epstein had served as the Beatles’ manager for longer than the band had even been popular in the public eye. The band had initially caught Epstein’s attention in 1961, as they had begun to garner more attention in Liverpool’s local markets. After catching a local show, Epstein, who was new to the music management business, drew up a contract and signed on as the Beatles’ manager. Epstein was responsible for a number of different decisions regarding the band’s direction in their early years, including the shaping of their overall image, and he (reluctantly) played a key part in the dismissal of the Beatles’ original drummer, Pete Best in 1962, when he was replaced by Starr.

Throughout the life of the band, Epstein often served as the North Star for business decisions, and was a key mediator in managing conflicts and egos within the band. Most notably, Epstein was responsible for the Apple Corps venture that put all four band members in a legal partnership as a tax shelter. However, in 1967, Epstein died unexpectedly of a drug overdose, leaving the Beatles, who were not very business-minded, at a loss for what to do next.

Less than a year after Epstein’s death, The F details

A new exhibit of photographs taken by Beatles legend Paul McCartney in late 19963 and early ’64 will open this Friday, April 25, at the Gagosian gallery in Beverly Hills, California. The exhibition, titled “Paul McCartney: Rearview Mirror: Photographs, December 1963–February 1964,” includes 36 images snapped by McCartney during and shortly before The Beatles’ historic first visit to the U.S.

A video feature capturing McCartney signing prints of various photos from the exhibit and chatting with Joshua Chuang, the gallery’s director of photography, about the images, has been posted on the Gagosian’s YouTube channel. The presentation was filmed during a recent visit Sir Paul paid to the Griffin Editions fine-art photography destination in Brooklyn, New York.

At one point during the video, McCartney is shown looking at photos he took of John Lennon, and he shared some emotional reflections about his late former bandmate.

“He was a great guy,” Paul said. “And I’m so proud and happy to have known him, to have worked with him, and to have done all that stuff with him, you know? So it’s a huge thing in my life.”  Many of the pics details

Paul McCartney and John Lennon wrote the majority of The Beatles' hit songs, with Paul penning Let It Be after experiencing a heartbreaking family tragedy.   Let It Be is still thought of as one of the best songs by The Beatles, but there's a heartbreaking story behind its creation.

The song was written and sung by Paul McCartney and ended up being the band's final single before Paul announced his departure. Years later, Paul opened up about the meaning behind Let It Be and explained how it had been inspired by his mom's death.

Paul's mother Mary Patricia McCartney sadly died of an embolism as a complication of surgery for breast cancer when her son was just 14 years old. Speaking to James Corden on his segment of Carpool Karaoke, Paul explained, "I had a dream in the 60s where my mum who died came to me in a dream and was reassuring me, saying, 'It's gonna be OK. Just let it be...'"

With Paul's mother being called Mary, it's often believed she is the inspiration for the "Mother Mary" lyric in the song. However, there is another version of the story.  Mal Evans was a road manager and personal assistant employed by The Beatles. He worked closely with Neil Aspinall as the band's general go-t details

Beatles fans are only just realising why Ringo Starr is always seen wearing dark glasses.

Starr, who gained international fame as the drummer for the legendary band, is known for sporting dark glasses or sunglasses. However, the reason behind this is not very well-known.

A lot of fans assume the glasses are just part of Starr’s look but this isn’t the case. Charlie Brown, a user on Quora, the American social question and answer website, has shed some light.

In his answer to the question ‘Why is Ringo Starr always wearing sunglasses?’ Charlie said: “According to numerous sources over the decades that have addressed this popular fan question about the celebrated drummer of The Beatles…

"Sir Ringo is usually seen in dark glasses (or ‘sunglasses’) because his eyes have an acute sensitivity to light - and he has occasionally cited that reason himself when asked about it. I’ve never heard an official reason for that to have developed as Ringo has aged (he’s now 81), but given the serious illnesses he lived through as a child - the light sensitivity his eyes developed as he matured might be related to his childhood health challenges.”

Steven Soderbergh is out to the town with an untitled feature doc, centered on the final interview of John Lennon, multiple sources tell Deadline.

This is the first doc in many years for Soderbergh, who released And Everything Is Going Fine — on the life of multi-hyphenate artist Spalding Gray — through Sundance Selects in 2010. We’re told Soderbergh is in production now, and the search for a distributor is on, with the film to be completed by end of year.

EPs on the project include Soderbergh, Michael Sugar and David Hillman of Sugar23, and Nancy Saslow and David Hudson of Mishpookah Entertainment Group.

Lennon’s final in-depth interview took place alongside wife and creative collaborator Yoko Ono on the fateful day of December 8, 1980 — the only radio interview granted around the release of their album, Double Fantasy. That afternoon, the pair met a team of three from RKO Radio at their Dakota apartment. The conversation was extraordinary and wide-ranging, reflecting the duo’s open and reflective moods. John had just turned 40 and emerged from a five-year hiatus from the music industry to care for his son, Sean. The future seemed limitless.

Source: deadline.c details

The Beatles are well-known for their iconic hits including Eleanor Rigby and Hey Jude.

However, they also had moments in which they broke away from pop music conventions. Paul McCartney pointed to one obscure B-side, You Know My Name (Look Up The Number), as a prime example of this unconventional approach.

Created over numerous sessions from 1967 to 1969, You Know My Name (Look Up The Number) marked a departure from the band's typical output. Dubbed "insane" by Paul, the song is recognized for its surrealistic humor. You Know My Name (Look Up The Number) was first worked on in May 1967, but was set aside for close to two years.

When The Beatles resumed work on the song in 1969, they opted for radical change. Turning their backs on their signature style, the musicians created a mix of musical interludes and spoken word sections.

Even by the unusual standards of the late Beatles, the song broke away from conventional structures. It takes listeners on a ride through genres like lounge jazz, ska, cabaret and even includes comedic voice-overs from Paul and John Lennon.

Reflecting on the song years later, Paul remarked, "People are only just discovering the B-sides of Beatles singles. They're o details

Balancing work and family life can prove difficult for folks in just about any occupation. Now imagine trying to do it when you’re a famous rock star, facing constant travel and professional obligations to sustain your career. The Beatles’ own Macca always seemed to handle those pressures with grace. Understandably, his kids would occasionally find their way into the songs he wrote. “Waterfalls”, a song Paul McCartney released in 1980, gives out some charming fatherly advice in the lyrics.

When Paul McCartney started making the album that would become McCartney II, he did it in part because he needed a break from Wings. The band he started in the aftermath of The Beatles’ breakup had undergone many lineup changes and had come to a bit of a creative crossroads at the end of the decade.

As a result, McCartney wanted to switch things up with a solo album that wasn’t afraid to get a little experimental. He initially planned that the album would have nothing but freshly-written material. But he knew enough not to be so rigid about those guidelines.

After writing a bunch of new songs, McCartney decided to go against his earlier edict. He dusted off a song that he had worked details