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Beatles News
During an early performance with The Quarry Men, Paul McCartney realized George Harrison should take over his role in the band. Before the future Beatle was a bassist, he favored the guitar. While his skill at the instrument landed him a position in the band, he struggled to make it through his first performance. His moment of stage fright ultimately secured Harrison’s position with The Beatles.
McCartney first met John Lennon after his band, The Quarry Men, performed at a church fest. He introduced himself to the group afterward and played the guitar for them. McCartney impressed Lennon and, shortly thereafter, accepted an invitation to join the band.
McCartney joined the band in rehearsals and proved he was talented enough to play a solo during his first performance with the band. Once he got on stage, though, things didn’t go as planned.
“For my first gig, I was given a guitar solo on ‘Guitar Boogie,'” McCartney said, per The Beatles Anthology. “I could play it easily in rehearsal so they elected that I should do it as my solo. Things were going fine, but when the moment came in the performance I got sticky fingers; I thought, ‘What am I doing here?'”
The Beatles had an extensive catalog and a relatively brief touring career; as a result, there were a number of songs they never performed live as a band. In his solo career, Paul McCartney has dusted off some previously unplayed songs in concerts, but many have still gone unperformed. Here are five songs The Beatles never performed live.
‘And Your Bird Can Sing’
John Lennon wrote the Revolver song “And Your Bird Can Sing” in 1966, and it has puzzled listeners since. People have speculated that the song is about anyone from McCartney to Frank Sinatra to Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull. Lennon did little to clear it up. When reflecting on the song, Lennon rolled his eyes at it.
Because The Beatles stopped touring in 1966, they didn’t perform many songs from Revolver. Per NME, this was one that never saw the light of day during concerts.
Source: Emma McKee/cheatsheet.com
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The world was shocked to hear the news of John Lennon’s death in 1980. Each member of The Beatles had a different reaction to the news, as they never expected to lose their bandmate and friend so soon. Ringo Starr was on vacation when he heard John Lennon was shot, and he immediately abandoned his trip to be with Lennon’s wife, Yoko Ono. On Dec. 8, 1980, Lennon was shot and killed just outside his apartment building in New York City. The former Beatle lived in New York with Ono, and their son, Sean Lennon. The news broke worldwide soon after, and tributes to the “Imagine” singer began emerging. The Beatles’ former drummer Starr was on vacation in the Bahamas at the time. In an interview with Howard Stern, Starr said he quickly abandoned his trip and flew to NYC to be with Yoko.
Source: Ross Tanenbaum/cheatsheet.com
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Paul McCartney and John Lennon often collaborated on early drafts of Beatles songs. One would bring the song to the other, and they were often brutally honest about changes that needed to be made or if it was just plain bad. McCartney brought an unfinished draft of “Drive My Car” to Lennon, but the pair decided to change it with a different title.
Paul McCartney and John Lennon formed a songwriting partnership before The Beatles were even a concept. They became friends in Liverpool and bonded over their love of rock n’ roll. Once The Beatles started, the Lennon-McCartney partnership became responsible for hits such as “I Want to Hold Your Hand”, “Eight Days a Week”, and “Can’t Buy Me Love”.
After The Beatles ended, McCartney wondered if he would ever find another partner as perfectly suited for him as Lennon. In an interview with Rolling Stone, McCartney said it was impossible to find somebody as compatible as his former bandmate, saying they were practically “soulmates.”
Source: Ross Tanenbaum/cheatsheet.com
When Mike McCartney first saw his brother Paul on TV, he could only think of one thing: Where had his thick accent come from?
“I could not believe how Scouse our kid sounded,” Mike, 79, says. “I said to him after, ‘What was that all about?’
“He said he was putting it on so they would all sound more authentically Scouse. But only Ringo really had a strong accent, and George. We never did… Mum wouldn’t allow it.”
Matriarch Mary McCartney was very particular, setting high standards for herself, her children and her home.
The family’s post-war council house – 20 Forthlin Road in Allerton, south Liverpool – would become the birthplace of the Beatles.
It was where Paul, and his Beatles bandmates would create the sound that changed music for ever. It was the only home on the street with a phone – Mary was a midwife and always on call. It was also the only house in the area with a living room that had mismatched wallpaper, but wallpaper of the highest quality.
Source: Sanjeeta Bains/mirror.co.uk
Paul McCartney played a huge role in The Beatles’ success. As one of the group’s main songwriters (along with John Lennon), Macca created some of the band’s biggest hits. Producer George Martin was also a key player. He was responsible for making the songs sound great. Paul and Martin worked together on Beatles songs for years, but there’s a connection between the producer and the self-professed instigator of The Beatles.
The influx of money that came with being pop stars meant The Beatles could afford to live almost anywhere. His bandmates settled in the London suburbs, but Paul remained in the city.
He moved in with his girlfriend, Jane Asher, and her family: Parents Richard and Margaret, and her older brother Peter.
Paul and Martin both had a connection to Margaret Asher. As Peter Ames Carlin writes in Paul McCartney: A Life, the bass-playing Beatle lived with her for several years, and Martin had her as a music teacher at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama years before he became a renowned producer of the most famous band in the world.
Source: Jason Rossi/cheatsheet.com
Paul McCartney is a huge fan of The Beatles’ “Here, There and Everywhere.” He said the track reminds him of Fred Astaire’s version of Cole Porter’s “Cheek to Cheek.” The song isn’t as good as other Beatles ballads like “Yesterday,” “Something,” and “In My Life.”
During a 2021 interview with NPR, Paul was asked why The Beatles’ “Here, There and Everywhere” is one of his favorite songs. “I think the structure of it,” he said. “I like it. It always reminds me, in structure, of a great Cole Porter song, ‘Cheek To Cheek,’ which Fred Astaire sang.
“And it starts off, ‘heaven, I’m in heaven, da la la la la,'” he added. “It goes through it. And then in the middle, it goes, ‘We’re out together dancing, da da da da da da.’ But it takes me back to heaven. And it’s so neat the way it just wraps itself up that I always thought, ‘Wow, that’s a great trick, you know?'”
Source: Matthew Trzcinski/cheatsheet.com
George Harrison spun musical gold throughout a four-decade-long career. Whether his talents were lent to the Beatles, the Traveling Wilburys, or to his own solo endeavors, he crafted great masterpieces in song. His works sounded unearthly and were lyrically profound, textured by inventive arrangements, and set alive with spirituality.
While the Harrison name itself carries a lot of weight, his style is unmistakable and instantly recognizable in the recordings of others. We’ve touched on a few, but here are three more songs George Harrison wrote for other artists that still echo his mystifying songcraft.
1. “Far East Man” – Ron Wood (1974)
Harrison joined forces with another great rocker, The Rolling Stones’ Ronnie Wood, to produce the slow grooving 1974 hit, “Far East Man.” They both would release recordings of the tune that year only months apart. Wood’s appeared on his solo debut, I’ve Got My Own Album to Do, released that September with Harrison’s arriving on his acclaimed Dark Horse in December.
While it was a collaboration that was born from the pair’s various romantic entanglements at the time, the result was a song about friend details
Paul McCartney said he wrote a song for The Beatles’ The White Album with Donovan. The track was originally about the moon but it turned into a song with simple lyrics. Paul is a big fan of the song but it’s nothing compared to a Hollies song with a similar name.
Paul McCartney said one song from The Beatles’ The White Album has one of his best melodies. Notably, he said another rock star helped him write the song. Despite Paul’s feelings about the track, it’s nothing special.
“I remember sitting around with Donovan, and maybe a couple of other people,” he continued. “We were just sitting around one evening after our day of meditation and I played him this one and he liked it and we were trying to write some words.”
Paul and Donovan had difficulty writing words for “I Will.” “We kicked around a few lyrics, something about the moon, but they weren’t very satisfactory and I thought the melody was better than the words so I didn’t use them,” he said. “I kept searching for better words and I wrote my own set in the end; very simple words, straight love-song words really. I think they’re quite effective.&rdqu details
John Lennon said The Beatles’ “Tomorrow Never Knows” and “Rain” reflect his early sonic experiments. Paul McCartney said “Tomorrow Never Knows” contains some loops that sound like seagulls. The birdlike sounds are actually sped-up clips of Paul’s laughter. A seagull | Spencer Weiner / Contributor
The Beatles‘ “Tomorrow Never Knows” is one of the Fab Four’s most mystical songs. Paul McCartney said it sounds like seagulls. Despite this, the birdlike sound on the track is not actually the sound of seagulls.
John Lennon said some of The Beatles’ songs reflected the experiments he did at home
The book Lennon on Lennon: Conversations with John Lennon includes an interview from 1980. In it, John discussed how “Tomorrow Never Knows” came together. He said used to “make kinda freaky music at home” when he was still living with his first wife, Cynthia Lennon.
Source: Matthew Trzcinski/imdb.com
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John Lennon’s antiwar activism in his solo career caused people to see him as the most political member of The Beatles, but Paul McCartney said this was not the case. While Lennon might have been the most outspoken about politics in his solo career, McCartney claimed that he was the one to introduce political messages to the band. He explained that he felt more politically motivated after a conversation with Bertrand Russell.
A black and white picture of Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, and John Lennon of The Beatles wearing black jackets.
The Vietnam War raged as The Beatles rose to success, but McCartney said they didn’t pay much attention to it. This changed after he met with Russell.
“Just when we were getting to be well-known someone said to me, ‘Bertrand Russell is living not far from here in Chelsea why don’t you go and see him?’ and so I just took a taxi down there and knocked on the door,” McCartney told Prospect Magazine in 2009. “There was an American guy who was helping him and he came to the door and I said, ‘I’d like to meet Mr Russell, if possible.’ I waited a little and then met the great man and he was fabulous. details
By the late 1960s, George Harrison was ready to leave The Beatles and go off alone. Not only did he feel creatively stifled by Paul McCartney and John Lennon, but he was also fed up with the band’s business side. He wrote a few songs to air out his grievances, and one song he referred to as a ‘piss-take.’
“Only a Northern Song” is a Beatles track written by George Harrison that debuted on 1969’s Yellow Submarine soundtrack. The lyrics consist of Harrison sharing his discontent with The Beatles’ publishing company as he says none of the chords he’s playing or lyrics he’s singing matter since it’s “only a Northern song.”
In a 1999 Billboard interview (shared via Rolling Stone), Harrison wrote the song as a “piss-take” after realizing he owned none of his music and the business profits more from his work than he does.
Source: Ross Tanenbaum/cheatsheet.com
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When Cynthia Powell first met John Lennon, she wasn’t impressed. In fact, she was turned off by his rude, boyish behavior. But she eventually fell for the future Beatle and did what she could to woo him. Part of their origin story, though, is a lie she told him after he asked her to dance.
The two both attended Liverpool Art College, where they met. When Cynthia first got acquainted with John, she brushed him off as not her type. He didn’t look like the clean-cut boys she was used to, and his behavior was devilish.
“His outspoken comments and caustic wit were alarming: I was terrified he might turn on me, and he soon did, calling me ‘Miss Prim’ or ‘Miss Powell’ and taking the mickey out of my smart clothes and posh accent,” Cynthia wrote in her 2005 book titled John.
When he wasn’t teasing Cynthia, John was often making fun of his teachers. This caused many of the Art College teachers to refuse him entrance to their classes.
“He’d give us a wicked commentary on the teacher,” she wrote, “or provoke hoots of laughter with his cruelly funny and uncannily accurate cartoons of teachers, fellow students, or of twisted, grimac details
Paul McCartney has been a longtime activist for animal rights. He is a well-known vegetarian and frequently tries to teach people about the benefits of not eating meat. While he became a vegetarian with his first wife, Linda, another inspiration for his love of animals came from Disney, who taught him some important life lessons.
Growing up in Liverpool, Paul McCartney ate meat frequently, as it was challenging to eat a veggie diet then. His first brush with vegetarianism came in 1968 during the Beatles’ trip to India. However, he didn’t commit to the lifestyle until the mid-1970s.
In an interview with The Guardian, McCartney shared when he became a vegetarian. He and Linda were eating meat when they looked out the window, saw a group of adorable lambs, and decided to stop devouring meat then and there.
“It was like, the penny dropped,” McCartney shared. “The light bulb lit up. We thought, ‘We might just give this up.’”
Source: Ross Tanenbaum/cheatsheet.com
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Paul McCartney is an impressive musical talent who knows how to play numerous instruments, including the guitar, the bass guitar, the piano, and the drums. He hasn’t played the ukulele much in his songs, but he once surprised George Harrison by playing one of his most famous Beatles songs on the instrument.
George Harrison wrote “Something” for The Beatles’ Abbey Road. It’s a stunning love ballad that proved Harrison was capable of writing hit songs for the band, since his songwriting talents were limited with the fab four. Many famous artists, such as Frank Sinatra and Ray Charles, have covered it. However, the most surprising rendition might have come from his fellow bandmate, Paul McCartney.
McCartney performed the song in 2022 at Glastonbury, but before playing it, he told the crowd about a time when he played it on the ukulele for Harrison.
“I was round at his house one day,” McCartney said. “We were sitting there just jamming, and I said to him, ‘I’ve learned one of your songs on the ukulele. So we played it together that day, and we’d like to play it for you now.”
Source: Ross Tanenbaum/cheatsheet.com