Beatles News

On Nov. 2, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr of the Beatles dropped a single titled “Now and Then,” which they have proclaimed is “the last Beatles song.” This track features vocal and instrumental tracks from the two deceased members of the Beatles, John Lennon and George Harrison.

John Lennon originally sang the demo for “Now and Then” in the ’70s, and the tapes were given to the Beatles by Lennon’s partner Yoko Ono in the ’90s. While Harrison, McCartney, and Starr attempted to rework the song in the ’90s, Lennon’s vocals were too obscured by the track’s piano backing to be usable.

Today’s version of “Now and Then” was created thanks to new developments in AI audio software. “The Lord of the Rings” director Peter Jackson’s studio WingNut Films remixed a few Beatles demos for the Disney+ film “The Beatles: Get Back” in 2021. While working on the film, Jackson’s studio also managed to parse out a usable version of Lennon’s voice in the “Now and Then” demo. McCartney and Starr then added Harrison’s ’90s recordings to the track as well as their own modern vocals. details

Ringo Starr wasn't impressed with the interviewers, and that was evident at the start when Paul McCartney was brought up.

Ringo Starr doesn't shy away from Paul McCartney questions and the two are still close friends, according to a recent interview.
Starr had a short fuse during an interview on Loose Women, even asking the panel to get the Paul McCartney questions out of the way.
Starr no longer signs autographs due to his signature being sold online, but he still maintains a strong friendship with McCartney.

Ringo Starr isn't afraid to speak the truth and that held true when he put a Beatles conspiracy theory to bed. The Beatles band member might've also have a short fuse during interviews. According to Sherrie Hewson, that was the case both on and off camera during Loose Women.

We'll take a look back at the interview and how things went off the rails at the start. In addition, we're going to reveal how things just got worse behind the camera when Starr refused to sign autographs for the fans.

Source: Alex Passa/thethings.com

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The group made history last week when Now And Then topped the singles chart a record 54 years after The Beatles’ last number one single with The Ballad Of John And Yoko in June 1969.

Reissues of the foursome’s greatest hits compilations, 1962-1966 and 1967-1970, are now looking to enter the charts 50 years on from their original release in 1973.

Commonly referred to as the Blue Album due to its artwork, 1967-1970 is set to enter at number one whilst 1962-1966, otherwise known as the Red Album, is likely to take the number two spot.

The history of The Beatles’ new single Now And Then spans nearly five decades, beginning with the home demo made by John Lennon on a cassette in the late 1970s, a few years before he was shot dead aged 40 in 1980.

Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, passed the tape to Sir Paul McCartney in the early 1990s and he worked on the recording with fellow Beatles members Sir Ringo Starr and George Harrison, who died in 2001.

They decided that the sound was too poor for use but in 2022 software was able to isolate Lennon’s voice from the original recording, which was then used as the basis for the current version of the song.

Source: PA Media details

George Martin probably had more claim than anyone on Earth to the title of the Fifth Beatle.

He not only produced (almost) everything The Beatles recorded in their peerless eight-year recording career, but also played on oodles of it, and helped push the band further than anyone in pop with their joint studio experiments.

Less than impressed by a demo tape of the band sent by Brian Epstein, a sympathetic Martin agreed to give The Beatles – John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and, at that time, Pete Best – an in-person tryout at Abbey Road.In the flesh, things didn't go any better. The not-yet Fab Four set up at Studio Two on June 6, 1962, and after some difficulties with McCartney's amp, eventually got going with a run through Consuelo Velazquez's 'Besame Mucho'.

Source: Mayer Nissim/goldradiouk.com

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The Beatles icon has discussed Guns N' Roses' famous cover of the Wings single and how his kids' friends never believed he wrote it.

Sir Paul McCartney was happy when Guns N' Roses covered Live and Let Die, but remembers how his children's friends at school wouldn't believe their dad wrote it.

The legendary Beatle penned the Wings track with his wife Linda McCartney for the 1973 Bond film of the same name and he remembered his shock at hearing the US rock band cover it almost two decades later.

Speaking on his A Life In Lyrics podcast, he said: "I thought it was pretty good actually. I was more amazed that they would actually do it, this young American group.

"The interesting thing was my kids would go to school and they would go, ‘My dad wrote that.’ They’d go, ‘No he didn’t, it was Guns N’ Roses,’ so nobody would ever believe them. For a while it was just Guns N’ Roses."

He added: "I was very happy that they had done it. I always like people doing my songs."

Source: radiox.co.uk

Death was something the late John Lennon pondered years before his untimely death in 1980, according to his Beatles bandmate, Paul McCartney.

McCartney reflected on the life of his close friend and musical collaborator in Wednesday’s episode of his iHeart Radio podcast, McCartney: A Life in Lyrics, as he revealed that Lennon, who was 40 when he was killed outside his apartment in New York City, was nervous about how he would be remembered postmortem.

“I remember him saying to me, ‘Paul, I worry about how people are going to remember me when I die,’ and it kind of shocked me,” McCartney, 81, recalled on the podcast. “I said ‘OK, hold on, just hold it right there. People are going to think you were great, you’ve already done enough work to demonstrate that.’ ”

The bass guitarist continued, “I was like his priest. Often I’d have to say, ‘My son, you’re great, don’t worry about it,’ and he would take it. It would make him feel better.”

McCartney also reflected on how well he and Lennon worked together on the episode, which was titled “Here Today” in reference to the 1982 solo track he rel details

Paul McCartney and John Lennon took a hitchhiking trip in the early 1960s. Their fun nearly destroyed The Beatles before they reached fame.

When the early Beatles — John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Pete Best, and Stuart Sutcliffe — were first beginning to see success as performers, they nearly destroyed it. Lennon and McCartney took an impromptu hitchhiking trip together. The rest of the band was so upset to have been left behind that they began looking for other groups to join.

After playing shows in Hamburg, Germany, The Beatles returned to Liverpool triumphant. While they were not yet mainstream successes, they were on their way to fame. This all almost fell apart, though.

Lennon invited McCartney on a hitchhiking trip through France and Spain using his birthday money. To go, they ditched several Beatles gigs and seriously angered their bandmates.

“Accordingly the two just took off together, wearing matching bowler hats — the Nerk twins reincarnated,” Philip Norman wrote in his book Paul McCartney: The Life. “George and Pete Best were so disgusted at being left in the lurch that both started looking around for other bands to join while Stu details

Editor’s Note: This is a bit longer-than-usual piece for us, but 1) it’s an interview with our friend Ken Womack about his newest Beatle book and 2) it’s a great insight to Mal Evans, the constant helpmate to the Fab Four. Settle in and enjoy.I must admit up front that I am a big Ken Womack fan. Along with his 22 published works of non-fiction and 5 novels, Ken has brought to Beatles fans over 16 Beatles titles that have helped expand the world’s knowledge of their history and their impact on music, pop entertainment, and society at large. His entire body of Beatles works, which includes his flagship two-volume biography devoted to the legacy of producer George Martin, along with his vivid reproduction of the last days of his life in the book John Lennon 1980, have been worthy of their inclusion in the permanent collection of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s Library and Archives.

Source: Steven Valvano/culturesonar.com

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On November 13, 1968, Yellow Submarine was released in the United States. The Beatles created a little masterpiece there. Return to a myth that has become timeless.

No clumsy cavalcade through the streets of London. Nor any charming act in front of Ed Sullivan and the American press. Or a coordinated fall in the Austrian powder. The past is the past. As for shaking up the most famous rooftop in music history, that will have to wait. For now, the Beatles are dealing with infernal creatures called Blue Meanies.

1968. Brian Epstein having signed a three-film contract with United Artists, the Beatles were forced to make a sequel to Help! (1965). Yet they have no desire to do so. Epstein therefore asked Al Brodax – one of the producers of the animated series dedicated to the group – if a feature-length animated film could do the trick. Considering the quality of the series, the four musicians are not thrilled. Still, they don’t need to be involved. If it allows them to fulfill their contract, it suits them.

Source: Christopher Johnson/wecb.fm

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John Lennon and Harry Nilsson weren't just friends: they were collaborators. The album the two made together has endured and still influences modern singers.

John Lennon and Harry Nilsson weren’t just friends: they were collaborators. They made a whole album together that includes a mix of classic cover songs and original compositions. Afterward, John was asked if he was influenced by Nilsson in any way. Regardless of what he said, the album the two made together has endured and still influences modern singers.

John produced Nilsson’s record Pussy Cats. The cover of the record depicts the two rockers as anthropomorphic kittens. Pussy Cats features some new songs, most famously “Don’t Forget Me,” as well as recordings of standards such as Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” Bill Haley & His Comets’ “Rock Around the Clock,” and The Drifters’ “Save the Last Dance for Me.”

During a 1975 interview with Rolling Stone, John was asked if he took cues from the “Coconut” singer. “That’s bullsh*t too,” he replied. “I haven’t been influenced by Harry, only that I had a lot of hango details

John Lennon discussed the prospect of producing albums for Bob Dylan and Elvis Presley. It's unclear if Dylan would have wanted to work with John given a comment Dylan made.

The history of music sometimes feels like a history of missed opportunities. John Lennon discussed the prospect of producing albums for Bob Dylan and Elvis Presley. He wasn’t the biggest fan of one of Dylan’s classics. It’s unclear if Dylan would have wanted to work with John given a comment he made about Paul McCartney.

John produced Harry Nilsson’s 1974 album Pussy Cats. Around the same time, he also worked on David Bowie’s “Fame” and “Across the Universe” and Elton John’s rendition of The Beatles’ “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.” During a 1975 interview with Rolling Stone, John was asked if he would like to produce other singers. “Dylan would be interesting because I think he made a great album in Blood on the Tracks but I’m still not keen on the backings,” he said. “I think I could produce him great.

“And Presley,” he said. “I’d like to resurrect Elvis. But I’d be so scared of him I don’t know details

Young, hip and working for a New York record company, she was already living the dream. But when May Pang was asked to become personal assistant to John Lennon and his second wife Yoko, the pretty 21-year-old couldn't believe her luck.

It was 1971. May, a lifelong Beatles fan, threw herself into her new role, diligently managing the couple's office and revelling in more interesting assignments, such as supervising wardrobe for the couple's music video Imagine.

She also found herself in bizarre situations, usually at the behest of the eccentric Yoko — like the time she had to capture hundreds of live flies for one of the Japanese-born activist's avant-garde films, or when she sat inside a black sack on a U.S. chat show as a stunt while Lennon and Yoko spoke earnestly about racism beside her.

Rather more disturbing requests came her way, too. Yoko showed her assistant sketches she'd made of a dress that would expose the breasts and vagina and told the startled May that she would be expected to model it. Thankfully for May, that moment never came to pass.

Source: Barbara Mcmahon/dailymail.co.uk

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Artificial intelligence (AI) has already enabled the creation of the 'last Beatles song', Now and Then, which raced to the top of the charts this week.

Filmmaker Peter Jackson used an AI tool called 'machine audio learning' (MAL) to isolate John Lennon's voice from an old 1970s home demo.

The vocal performance – rendered 'crystal clear' by the AI – was then complemented by new instrumentation from Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, along with guitar recorded by George Harrison for the song in 1995.

But MAL's work may not be finished, as it could be used to salvage the last filmed interview of John Lennon, recorded less than two months before his tragic murder.

Long to the frustration of fans, much of Lennon's answers to questions in the historically priceless clip are drowned out by – somewhat bizarrely – the sound of the first Star Wars movie.

The last filmed interview of John Lennon - which took place in New York on October 10, 1980 - could be restored to

It results in what is a bizarre mashup of two of the greatest cultural giants of the 20th century – Star Wars meets the Beatles.

The interview was filmed on October 10, 1980, a day after Lenno details

According to John Lennon, Ringo Starr had a reputation for being "dumb." John hypothesized what might have happened to Ringo had he never joined The Beatles.

According to John Lennon, Ringo Starr had a reputation for being “dumb.” John discussed his thoughts on the “You’re Sixteen” singer‘s solo career. John also hypothesized what might have happened to Ringo had he never joined The Beatles.

The book Lennon on Lennon: Conversations with John Lennon features an interview from 1975. In it, John discussed Ringo’s solo career. “I’m most happy — I guess we all are, in a way — for Ringo’s success, because of the other three of us … It always went around that Ringo was dumb, but he ain’t dumb,” John said.

“But he didn’t have much of a writing ability and he wasn’t known for writing his own material, and there was a bit of a worry that … you know, although he can make movies and he does make movies and he’s good at it, but how is his recording career gonna be?” John said, laughing. “And in general, it’s probably better than mine, actually.”

Source: Matthew Trzc details

The Beatles have broken UK chart records as they return to No 1 with their “final” song together, Now and Then – their 18th chart-topper in total.

Their 17th No 1 was The Ballad of John and Yoko in 1969, meaning they are now the artists with the longest gap between No 1 singles: 54 years, smashing the record set last year by Kate Bush when she reached the top with Running Up That Hill, 44 years after her No 1 with Wuthering Heights. Neither of the new songs the living members of the Beatles released in 1995 and 1996, Free as a Bird and Real Love, topped the charts.

Now and Then, a midtempo ballad written by John Lennon in the late 1970s, uses his original demo recording combined with guitar lines recorded by the late George Harrison in 1994, plus new parts recorded by Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. McCartney said of the song’s chart-topping success: “It’s mind boggling. It’s blown my socks off. It’s also a very emotional moment for me. I love it!”

Source: Ben Beaumont-Thomas/theguardian.com

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