Beatles News

The Beatles‘ 1966 album Revolver is what ultimately cemented the band’s reputation as creative studio geniuses atop the pyramid of commercial music at the time. It may not have the epic range of material as heard on The White Album, or the cohesiveness of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, released the following year, but Revolver marks the first time where the Beatles truly stepped outside of their comfort zone in the studio and expanded the idea of what rock and roll could be.

Coming off 1965’s Rubber Soul, the Beatles were at the peak of their fame. Yet, each member was growing increasingly disillusioned with all that was involved with “The Beatles” and their growing legion of fans. John Lennon was perhaps the most affected, causing a huge uproar in the United States when he proclaimed that the Beatles were “bigger than Jesus Christ.” The demands of the road, the size of the shows, and the non-stop schedule had pushed the band to their limits, so they cleared a few months from their calendar to give themselves time to prepare for their next album. The band used this time to delve deep into their new-found love of LSD–in particular Lennon and George Harrison&md details

George Harrison and Pattie Boyd’s relationship was marred by extramarital affairs.
A former assistant to The Beatles said Pattie Boyd made the right decision when she left George Harrison.
George Harrison and Pattie Boyd had a friendly relationship later in life.

After her divorce from George Harrison, Pattie Boyd was left feeling incredibly guilty. Both were involved in extramarital affairs, and Boyd said that Harrison barely spoke to her toward the end of their relationship. Still, she wondered if she’d made a mistake. After running into The Beatles’ former assistant, though, she felt more assured that the separation was a good idea.

Boyd and Harrison married in 1966. While Boyd said they were very much in love, the connection between them began to wilt as time passed. Harrison conducted multiple affairs, and after dedicated pursuit by Eric Clapton, Boyd began an affair with him.

Harrison grew increasingly distant and cold, but Boyd said the final straw came when he started an affair with Maureen Starkey, Ringo Starr’s wife. To add insult to injury, they conducted the relationship at the home Boyd and Harrison shared, sometimes even while she was home.

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When George Harrison and Pattie Boyd were married, they decided to switch to a vegetarian diet together. Boyd threw herself into finding new recipes for them and found joy in cooking. After their divorce, though, she began reincorporating meat into her diet. Harrison remained a vegetarian for the rest of his life. When he surprised her on Christmas and saw her eating meat, he scolded her.

When Boyd and Harrison began their relationship, she took a great deal of enjoyment in cooking for them.

“When George and I first got together I wasn’t a good cook but quite enthusiastic — I knew there was something better than school food and even Lilie’s fare,” she wrote in the book Wonderful Tonight. “I tried to make the sorts of things I imagined boys from the north would like — shepherd’s pie, roast beef, and Yorkshire pudding — and then George and I became vegetarian, which gave me a whole new interest.”

Source: cheatsheet.com

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John Lennon explained a famous lyric from The Beatles’ “Strawberry Fields Forever.”
He said he was “awake” for his entire life.
“Strawberry Fields Forever” appeared on the soundtrack of one of The Beatles’ movies.

John Lennon was asked if The Beatles’ “Strawberry Fields Forever” represented a “new awakening” for him. Subsequently, John said the song was about being “awake” his whole life. He said his claim wasn’t “egomania.”

“It still goes now, doesn’t it?” John replied. “Aren’t I saying exactly the same thing now?”

John was asked if the lyric was a “new awakening” for him. “No, it wasn’t a new awakening,” he responded. “It was the fact that I was putting it on paper. I was awake all my life. You understand? I’ve always been, all my life.”

Source: cheatsheet.com

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Sir Paul McCartney wrote reams of music and lyrics for The Beatles for the better part of 20 years. Along with his best friend and writing partner, John Lennon, he started the Lennon-McCartney Songwriting Partnership, a collective that was responsible for penning dozens of tracks.

But in 1970 The Beatles announced they were splitting up after the release of their 13th album, Let It Be.

In the same year, McCartney took his creativity into his own hands.

In April 1970 the former Fab Four star released his first solo album: McCartney.

The record was a labour of love for the star, who wrote and recorded every instrument on it.

Looking back at McCartney, the star has commented on how it felt to do his own thing after The Beatles came to an end.

He said via his Twitter account: "I like its bare bones, I mean, talk about honest. You couldn’t get more honest than plugging right in the back of the machine, and if the snare was too loud you moved the mic away from it a bit."

Source: Callum Crumlish/express.co.uk

”The Royal Tenenbaums,“ ”The Social Network“ and ”Withnail & I“ have all made use of classics by the Fab FourThe Fab Four have provided the soundtrack to some great movie moments over the years -- and we're not even counting movies that exclusively use Beatles songs like "Across the Universe," "I Am Sam" and The Beatles' own movies "A Hard Day's Night," "Help!" and "Yellow Submarine."In this wistful moment in Sergio Leone's sprawling epic "Once Upon a Time in America," Robert De Niro plays a gangster leaving New York to the sound of an old fashioned, Ennio Morricone score, only to return years later as a now worn old man. As he steps back into 1960s New York to look back on the memories of his former life, Morricone's score blends into a rendition of "Yesterday" that is as forlorn as the movie itself.

Source: Brian Welk/thewrap.com

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Yoko Ono, the 83-year-old artist and widow of John Lennon, has been hospitalized with a “serious flu,” according to her longtime spokesman.

“It’s just an advanced case of the flu,” Elliot Mintz told media, who initially published reports that Ono had suffered a stroke.

He said: “To the best of my knowledge, she had symptoms along the lines of a serious flu, and her doctor thought it was best that she would get a check-up at the hospital. There is no stroke and there are no life threatening circumstances as has been described to me.”

Source: Sharon Waxman/yahoo.com

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In 1965, John Lennon and the rest of The Beatles met one of their longtime heroes, Elvis Presley. The band had all been fans of the American artist for years and were thrilled that they had the opportunity to meet him. When they met, The Beatles were dealing with Beatlemania and turned to Elvis for advice. He’d been famous for years, and Lennon hoped he could offer insight on how to deal with rabid crowds. The answer Lennon received from Elvis was likely not what he’d been expecting. 

In 1965, The Beatles traveled to America and met Elvis. Lennon told the media that they’d been looking forward to the visit more than anything else. 

“There was only one person in the United States that we really wanted to meet, and that was Elvis,” he said, per the book Here Comes the Sun: The Musical and Spiritual Journey of George Harrison by Joshua Greene. “It was difficult to describe how we felt about him. We just idolized the guy so much.”

Source: cheatsheet.com

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Cilla Black, the iconic singer and TV personality, died this week, on August 1, back in 2015. The actress was 72-years-old at the time and had enjoyed an incredible career that spanned decades.

The origins of her career are rooted in Liverpool under the tutelage of Brian Epstein, the manager of The Beatles. Because of this connection, Cilla was great friends with the Fab Four.

In the 2020 documentary, Cilla: The Lost Tapes, the star's connection with the band was laid bare. The doc revealed that she frequently took exciting getaways with the band on their off-seasons, including skiing trips in Europe.

Although Cilla was great friends with John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison, it was Ringo Starr who thought a romantic connection was blossoming between them.

Source: Callum Crumlish/express.co.uk

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Some things never change. Decades after they broke up, The Beatles remain one of the most important bands of any generation, and George Harrison never shook the quiet Beatle misnomer. Harrison’s exquisite guitar playing and songwriting skills got lost alongside the strong-willed Paul McCartney and John Lennon in The Beatles. Still, he had the biggest solo debut of any of the Beatles. That doesn’t even include Wonderwall Music, Harrison’s forgotten first solo record he made while the band was still together.

It didn’t take Harrison long to prove his songwriting chops after The Beatles acrimoniously split in a slow dissolution that lasted from late 1969 to early 1970.

Harrison dropped his solo debut, All Things Must Pass, in late 1970. It went gold within three weeks of its U.S. release, hit No. 1 on the charts at the start of 1971, stayed at the top for seven weeks, and went platinum six times.

Source: cheatsheet.com

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George Harrison quickly became obsessed with rock ‘n’ roll when he was a kid. He begged his mother to buy him a guitar. Thankfully she obliged. His father was supportive as well, at least initially. Harold Harrison arranged his son’s first guitar lessons, and they changed young George’s life forever.

George loved performing for his family. “He had these animal puppets,” his sister, Louise, said, “and he’d do skits with them for us. He was funny and outgoing and the family doted on him.”

According to Louise, George had fun growing up and was “always the center of attention.” Even then, George made up silly songs like “I’m a Pink Toothbrush, You’re a Blue Toothbrush” and yodeled along with Hank Williams on “Blue Yodel 94.”

When he came home from school, he’d put on the radio and listen to tunes from Jimmie Rodgers, Big Bill Broonzy, Slim Whitman, and various English music-hall numbers.

Source: cheatsheet.com

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The documentary series “The Beatles: Get Back” has viewers buzzing from the level of intimate access the footage provides, and if you’re wondering what other documentaries are out there that might deliver similarly, we’ve got you covered.

Peter Jackson’s three-part “The Beatles: Get Back” assembles candid footage from the band writing and rehearsing what would eventually become the album “Let It Be,” all while tensions slowly simmer underneath. Fans watch knowing full well the band would be broken up for good within a year, but the documentary series offers unique insight into what made The Beatles one of the greatest bands of all time.

So what other documentaries are out there that are similar to “The Beatles: Get Back” and where are they streaming? Find out below.

Source: Drew Taylor, Adam Chitwood/thewrap.com

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A new book examining the middle years of The Beatles’ recorded output is being published this fall. The Beatles Rubber Soul to Revolver, the latest installment in Bruce Spizer’s Beatles Album Series, arrives Oct. 10, 2022. As the announcement notes, the title covers two of the group’s much-loved albums, December 1965’s Rubber Soul and August 1966’s Revolver albums, as well as Capitol Records’ June 1966 U.S. release, Yesterday And Today, as well as the singles associated with these albums.

[The timing of the book follows speculation that the Beatles’ Apple Corps Ltd. is planning a fall 2022 expanded release of one (or both) of the albums. Beginning in 2017, and continuing annually through 2021, the label has delivered Super Deluxe Editions for the 50th anniversaries of Sgt. Pepper, The Beatles aka The White Album, Abbey Road and Let It Be.]

Source:  bestclassicbands.com

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"I didn't want to hurt you, I'm just a jealous guy."

Those haunting lyrics are from one of John Lennon's timeless songs that uncovers the darker side of his iconic relationship with Yoko Ono.

They're words that have rung true to anybody with insecurities and obsessions, likely why it's one of Lennon's most enduring tracks.

But who wrote the song? Who was the song really about? Has anyone else covered it?

Here's all you need to know about John Lennon's 'Jealous Guy':

John Lennon did in fact write the song himself, about his envious streak that would often result in turmoil with him and Yoko.

Lennon admitted that jealousy would regularly dictate how irrationally he'd behave either around her or without her.

Source: Thomas Curtis-Horsfall/smoothradio.com

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The collection of "feel-good lyrics' and "easy-breezy melodies" is due out in September.

Ringo Starr is gearing up to spread a little more love in the world. The former Beatles drummer and solo star revealed over the weekend that he has come up with the best title for the upcoming sequel to his 2012 Change the World EP.

“[The] cleverly-named EP3, featuring four brand-new tracks with longtime collaborators Steve Lukather, Linda Perry, Dave Koz, José Antonio Rodriguez, and Bruce Sugar” is due out on Sept. 16 on CD and download, with cassette and vinyl due out in the fall, according to a statement announcing the project that promises some of Ringo’s “instantly-recognizable vocals, feel-good lyrics, and easy-breezy melodies.”

Source: Gil Kaufman/billboard.com

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