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Beatles News
The documentarian opens up about the "obligation to make things better" in the s4 premiere of "Everything Fab Four"
Award-winning filmmaker Ken Burns, who says, "I've always loved the Beatles," joined host Kenneth Womack to explain what the band means to him and his work on the season 4 premiere of "Everything Fab Four," a podcast co-produced by me and Womack (a music scholar who also writes about pop music for Salon) and distributed by Salon.
Burns, widely known for his documentary series such as "The Civil War," "Baseball," "Jazz" and "The Vietnam War," among others (including his latest, "The U.S. and the Holocaust," which premieres this week on PBS) tells Womack that he grew up with music, but wasn't "fully invested" until the Beatles came out with "I Want To Hold Your Hand." Later, as a teen, he worked in a record store in Ann Arbor, MI, and says by far the shop's biggest-selling title at that time was "Abbey Road."
Source: Nicole Michael/salon.com
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One of John Lennon’s songs was supposed to sound like Elvis Presley and Roy Orbison. John wanted audiences to accept the song.
He felt the song brought him back to his childhood.
One of John Lennon‘s songs from his post-Beatles career was supposed to sound like Elvis Presley and Roy Orbison. Notably, John said the song was both serious and “tongue-in-cheek.” Subsequently, the track became his final No. 1 single in the United States.John described the song. “It’s kinda tongue-in-cheek,” he revealed. “You know it’s ‘w-e-e-e-e-l-l-l-l-l, w-e-e- e-e-l-l-l-l-l.’ It’s sort of à la Elvis and that, and I hope people accept it like that. I think it’s a serious piece of work, but it’s also tongue-in-cheek, you know?”
Source: Matthew Trzcinski/cheatsheet.com
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Paul McCartney and Bob Dylan are hugely influential musicians who rose to fame at roughly the same time. They met in the 1960s and have both spoken about the other’s work with admiration. McCartney once said that he wished he was more like Dylan. He explained that not only did he look up to Dylan’s music, he wished he could emulate his personality as well.
McCartney and Dylan met in the early 1960s. At one of their early meetings, Dylan introduced McCartney and The Beatles to marijuana.
“It was at the Delmonico Hotel on Park Avenue and 59th in New York City in August 1964,” McCartney said, per Spin. “We were in a hotel room, all being good lads having our Scotch and Coke – it was an afterparty, I think. Dylan arrived and he went into the bedroom with his roadie. Ringo went along to see what was up. So he finds Dylan, rolling up, and he has a toke.”
Source: Emma McKee/cheatsheet.com
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The Beatles inspired so much of the music that came after them that it’s hard not to think of them as innovators in every way. However, they followed Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra as they waltzed onto the silver screen. George Harrison had strong feelings about viewing Let It Be, and Ringo Starr once said re-watching Help! years later revealed something crazy he hadn’t noticed before.
All the Beatles continued making music after the band split, but George and Ringo’s second acts included working in the film industry.
George appeared onscreen in a few small roles in the 1970s and 1980s, but he racked up more than two dozen producer credits, including Monty Python’s Life of Brian. For Ringo, acting was another creative outlet aside from showcasing his impressive drumming skills.
Source: Jason Rossi/cheatsheet.com
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English musician George Harrison found fame as one-fourth of the legendary rock band the Beatles. With John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr, the Fab Four’s lead guitarist led the British Invasion of America and shot to superstardom. Along the way, he penned hits such as “Here Comes the Sun,” “Something,” and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.”
After the Beatles broke up in 1970, Harrison embarked on a successful solo career. The performer/songwriter recorded popular tunes like “My Sweet Lord,” “All Things Must Pass,” and “Got My Mind Set on You.” He also collaborated with music industry greats, including Ravi Shankar on the Grammy-winning live album The Concert for Bangladesh and Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, and Roy Orbison in the supergroup the Traveling Wilburys.
Source: Emma McKee/cheatsheet.com
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Ringo Starr helped change The Beatles’ fortunes by bringing his impressive drumming skills to the Fab Four. Liverpool’s finest cut their teeth playing live in Hamburg, Germany, grew into sensations in England thanks to their non-stop touring, and became international stars after a lucky run-in with Ed Sullivan. Before any of that happened, though, Ringo’s first band scored better accommodations than the Beatles when they played in Hamburg because of their pink suits.
The Beatles famously played several residencies in Hamburg, Germany, but they weren’t the only band from Liverpool making money in Deutschland.
Before he joined the Fab Four, Ringo drummed for Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, a band that earned a positive reputation in Liverpool and Germany. The Beatles knew Ringo and his Hurricanes bandmates from England, but they rubbed elbows playing some of the same clubs in Germany in the early 1960s.
Source: Jason Rossi/cheatsheet.com
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The Friends theme song “I’ll Be There for You” is one of the most recognizable ones in television history. However, it didn’t necessarily come together overnight. The idea for the song came about in a stroke of genius thanks to the events of one fateful afternoon.
The Beatles had a part to play in inspiring the Friends theme song.American pop rock duo The Rembrandts released the song “I’ll Be There for You” as an original track for Warner Bros. Television to use as the opening on the show. The theme depicts each of the Friends cast members dancing in and around the now-iconic fountain. The song ultimately enjoyed commercial success, largely thanks to the show. It topped the US Billboard Hot 100 Airplay for a total of eight weeks.
Source: Jeff Nelson/cheatsheet.com
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Many music fans would give almost anything to hang out with any of The Beatles. Thanks to his impressive drumming skills and incredible longevity, Ringo Starr has had a chance to rub shoulders with fans and fellow musicians over the years. One three-time member of Ringo’s All Starr Band was lucky enough to meet all of the Fab Four, and he said Ringo was the most approachable of the Beatles because he lacked the pretense of Paul McCartney and John Lennon. After the Beatles broke up, Ringo created a slew of solo albums throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. By the time the 1990s approached, he had the itch to tour. Ringo assembled his first All Starr Band in 1989, and he’s collected several of his high-profile musician friends for All Starr Band tours over the years.
Source: Jason Rossi/cheatsheet.com
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George Harrison once revealed how he wanted people to use his songs. He wanted them to record their own versions. Plenty of artists have covered George’s songs over the years.
After The Beatles broke up in 1970, the band fought tremendously. It left the door open for anyone to come in and take what they wanted. Instead of fighting with each other, they should’ve been protecting their catalog.
Since they lost their catalog, they no longer had the choice of how people used their music. Suddenly The Beatles were in advertisements and other things.
During a 1992 interview with Timothy White for Goldmine, George said he and his bandmates agreed that no Beatles song should be in an advertisement. They had to come together and protect their music.
Source: Hannah Wigandt/cheatsheet.com
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Although The Beatles split up back in 1970, each of the band members continued to release solo music in the decades that followed. While their friendships were ultimately repaired, their rivalries in the charts never came to an end. John Lennon enjoyed a decade of releasing chart-topping hits before he was murdered in 1980. George Harrison dropped ten albums across a decade, nearly all of which hit gold status. And Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney have continued to release albums to this day. But there were some things they couldn't compete on.
In 1997, McCartney was the recipient of an extremely exclusive honour from The Queen herself.
Source: Callum Crumlish/express.co.uk
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John Lennon said one of the songs from The Beatles’ Rubber Soul was about an important topic.
John said he wanted to mimic Jesus Christ and Mahatma Gandhi.
Rubber Soul became a hit in the United States and the United Kingdom.
The Beatles‘ Rubber Soul includes songs about a variety of topics. For example, John Lennon said one Rubber Soul song is about “the underlying theme to the universe.” John revealed the song was written as part of his “marijuana period.”
The book Lennon on Lennon: Conversations with John Lennon includes an interview from 1980. In it, John discussed his views on love. “It sort of dawned on me that love was the answer when I was younger,” he recalled.
Source: Matthew Trzcinski/cheatsheet.com
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The Beatles practically grew up in front of the world. They were barely out of their teenage years when they hit it big in 1962. The public took almost as much interest in their love lives as it did in the music. John Lennon was the first Beatle to get married (George Harrison had some thoughts about it affecting the band’s image), and Paul McCartney knew it was destined to fail.
John Lennon and Cynthia Powell met in school in 1957. The attraction wasn’t mutual at first, but Powell became drawn to John when she saw him play music. John and a pregnant Powell married in 1962, just as the Beatles started to find success, but marriage didn’t seem to suit the songwriter.
John once said he felt embarrassed being the only married member of the group. He likened his marriage to Powell to walking around with his fly open.
Source: Jason Rossi/cheatsheet.com
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George Harrison said he wrote “Not Guilty” about the “grief” he received from his fellow Beatles, Paul McCartney and John Lennon, during the making of The White Album. The “Taxman” singer was getting increasingly angry with his bandmates at the time and needed to vent his frustrations. It all came out in a song.
George wrote his first song, “Don’t Bother Me,” in 1963. Paul and John immediately agreed to keep The Beatles’ songwriting to themselves.
When George came to John, Paul, and producer George Martin with his songs, they only allowed him a couple on an album. Eventually, George grew tired of having to push, so he started stockpiling.
Source: Hannah Wigandt/cheatsheet.com
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In the summer of 1963, the Beatles had some time off, and while the other three members of the band went on holiday to Europe, George Harrison became the first Beatle to visit America, when, on September 16, 1963, along with his brother Peter, he went to Benton, Illinois – population, 7,000 - to visit their older sister, Louise.
According to George, “I went to New York and St Louis in 1963, to look around, and to the countryside in Illinois, where my sister was living at the time. I went to record stores. I bought Booker T and the MGs' first album, Green Onions, and I bought some Bobby Bland, all kind of things.” George also bought James Ray’s single “Got My Mind Set On You” that he later covered in 1987.
Source: Richard Havers/yahoo.com
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Each night during its U.S. tour, the All-Starr Band serves up two hours of jukebox rock ‘n’ roll from the 1950s-1980s, including The Beatles’ “Yellow Submarine,” Toto’s “Africa,” Men at Work’s “Who Can It Be Now,” Carl Perkins’ “Matchbox” and the Isley Brothers’ “Work to Do.”
Every song is a hit,” says guitarist Lukather, the Toto stalwart who has performed with the All-Starr Band since 2012 and recently completed a string of gigs with his own group on a bill with Journey. “Ringo is on fire, and it’s so inspiring to be around him. I love every member of the All-Starrs, they’re all dear friends.”
Lukather says that the All-Starrs’ fifteenth outing (with different member configurations dating back to 1989) is unique for two reasons.
Source: Kristi York Wooten
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