Beatles News

John Lennon could have made it easy on himself with his first solo album by sticking close to what he had done with The Beatles. Instead, he delivered a searing opus called John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band that stunned fans with its confessional intimacy and unpretty musical presentation.

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This was not in any way some kind of premeditated move by Lennon, but rather a case of him releasing this music because he had to do it if he wanted to retain his sanity. Let’s take a look back at the circumstances surrounding this fierce, brave LP.

The rest of the world knew about The Beatles’ breakup in spring of 1970, but the group themselves found out in late ’69 when John Lennon announced at a meeting he was flying the coop. When that reality started to set in during the early part of 1970, Lennon was in a somewhat raw state. He was still struggling to kick his addictions, while also processing what his life would be outside the cocoon of the Fab Four.

Around that time, he was sent a book by Dr. Arthur Janov, who was gaining notoriety for a new kind of therapy known as “primal scream.” It intrigued Lennon and wife Yoko Ono s details

When it comes to popular music, there is one fact more than any other that is universally agreed upon and that’s that the British-born band The Beatles is rock music’s best ever. Pop stars, innovators, masterful songwriters—the Mop Tops, Fab Four or whatever else you want to call them are just the cream of the musical crop.

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One of the reasons why this is so is because the band, despite being together for just a decade, boast some of the most memorable musical compositions of all time. While not every song garnered them an A+ grade, many do. And some songs from the band can even be thought of as eternal. Here below, are three songs from the Beatles that fit the criteria, three that are simply forever.

“Hey Jude”

Released in 1968, this standalone single was written by frontman Paul McCartney, inspired by John Lennon’s son Julian in the wake of the split between Lennon and Julian’s mother when Lennon then began dating Yoko Ono. The Billboard 100 No. 1 hit was the first single released on the band’s Apple Records label. It’s a song of encouragement, to see the silver lining, to let the bad details

In the latest episode of iHeartPodcast series McCartney: A Life In Lyrics, The Beatles' grand finale to the Abbey Road album is under the microscope with the songwriter and host, poet Paul Muldoon. The closing medley of the 1969 album's mini-suite with Golden Slumbers, Carry That Weight and The End of captured the ambition and inventiveness of the band, but Paul McCartney's songwriting is its centre. And he explained the roots of Golden Slumbers especially actually go back to discovering a piece of sheet music his step-sister Ruth had.

"I always look in a piano bench seat because people always have sheet music in there – they always used to, definitely," remembered McCartney in the podcast interview. "Now, sometimes they can be empty, but I always look to see. This time it was either in the piano seat or it might have been up on the music stand, it was this song Golden Slumbers."

The original Golden Slumbers is a Victorian lullaby by Peter Warlock in 1918, written to accompany a 17th poem called Cradle Song by Thomas Dekker from the 1603 comedy Patient Grissel. Dekker's poem would directly inspire McCartney.

"Golden slumbers fill your eyes / Smiles await you when you rise / Sleep, pretty baby, do n details

A Japanese tea service bought by George Harrison when Beatlemania confined him to a hotel room has gone on display. It is one of three bought by Harrison when the band was on tour in Japan in 1966.

Roag Best, who runs the Liverpool Beatles Museum, said: "Beatlemania had truly hit Japan [and] they couldn't go out." The tea service is on display at the museum, in Liverpool's Mathew Street. Mr Best, the half-brother of the band's original drummer Pete Best, and son of tour manager Neil Aspinall, said: "The Beatles had gone to play the Budokan.

"They played five shows in a three-day period and were playing to in excess of 10,000 people a show." He said his and John Lennon had had to leave their Tokyo hotel in disguise, and Paul McCartney had done the same. But Ringo Starr and Harrison stayed confined to their rooms.

"They liked buying stuff when they were touring but because they couldn't go out they were having people bringing their wares up to their rooms to sell," Mr Best said."George bought three really ornate Japanese tea services, which he then had shipped back to England."He kept one and gave my dad the choice of the other two, then the third he gave to his mother."

The crockery made its way b details

The rest of the world may have moved onto the eight-generation Chevrolet Corvette, but don’t tell that to Paul McCartney.

The Beatles founder was recently spotted out and about in Southern California in his trusted C5 ‘Vette. It’s no shock that the rock legend drives a sports car, but it is surprising to learn that he’s still driving one that is over 20 years old.

Video of the moment was posted to TikTok late last week by an account named truecelebritypop (via Road & Track). In the clip, McCartney can be seen exiting the parking lot of a recording studio in Hollywood while driving his C5 convertible. Ever the crowd pleaser, the rocker pauses briefly to wave to the gathered crowd before looking both ways, taking a right, and speeding off on his way.

If you’re a fan of Macca, chances are you know he’s a bit of a car buff. That’ll happen when you spend six-plus decades touring the world as one of its most successful (and well-renumerated) musicians of all time. At various times, his collection has included Aston Martins, Lamborghinis, and Rolls-Royces. It makes sense that he’d own a Corvette—it is the American sports car after all—but the C5 is details

The Beatles never have a hard time moving copies of their music. They still rank as one of the most successful and bestselling artists in U.S. history, even though they haven’t released a new album in decades. This frame, one of the group’s most successful compilations is back on a pair of Billboard charts, proving that the American masses are still in love with their work today, just as they were half a century ago.

1 by The Beatles returns to two Billboard rankings this frame. That title wasn’t present on any lists last week, so its comeback is a bit unexpected, but perfectly welcome.

On the Billboard 200, 1 reappears at No. 172. The compilation blasts back onto the list of the most-consumed albums of all styles, ages, and genres thanks to 8,644 equivalent units shifted. That sum includes 413 actual sales, according to Luminate.

The same title also manages to crack the Top Rock & Alternative Albums roster as well. That list ranks the most-consumed albums and EPs in the U.S. that Billboard classifies as rock or alternative, which of course The Beatles’ music fits.

1 lands at No. 41 on the Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart this week, easily breaking back onto the details

Paul McCartney and Wings' long-bootlegged One Hand Clapping album will finally get an official release.

The sessions were recorded in August 1974 at Abbey Road Studios when the band went into the venue to lay down some music for a documentary and a possible live record. The 55-minute show aired later that year but has been rarely seen since then. The accompanying record, however, has remained a favorite bootleg album for decades. The official release will arrive on June 14.

Paul and Linda McCartney were joined by Wings members Danny Laine, Jimmy McCulloch and Geoff Britton.

The project was recorded in four days by McCartney and Wings, who performed live-in-the-studio versions of favorites such as "Jet," "Maybe I'm Amazed" and "Band on the Run." The upcoming album features the tracks recorded for the show plus several numbers made off-camera. What's on Paul McCartney and Wings' 'One Hand Clapping' Album?

The group was still at the top of the charts with the Band on the Run album when they started conceiving One Hand Clapping. While many of the songs they performed during the sessions come from that LP, they also dipped into the past.

In addition to some earlier McCartney material ("My Love details

The Framus 12-string Hootenanny acoustic guitar used by the late John Lennon in making the Beatles' iconic 1965 Help! album is expected to sell for up to $800,000 (£650,000) in an upcoming auction slated for next month.

Julian's Auctions said Tuesday in a news conference at London's Hard Rock Cafe in Piccadilly Circus that the prized musical instrument will be for sale in its MUSIC ICONS auction slated for May 29-May 30.

The guitar - described by the auction house as 'one of the most historically important Beatles guitars in rock history' - will be sold in an auction stemming from the Hard Rock Cafe in New York and online at juliensauctions.com.

The guitar was 'long forgotten and believed to have been lost' until it was 'recently found in an attic in the UK after being unseen for over 50 years,' according to Julian's.

'The discovery of John Lennon's Help! guitar that was believed to be lost is considered the greatest find of a Beatles guitar since Paul McCartney's lost 1961 Höfner bass guitar,' said Darren Julien, Julien's executive director and co-founder.

The Framus 12-string Hootenanny acoustic guitar used by the late John Lennon in making the Beatles ' iconic 1965 Help! alb details

Paul McCartney's son James McCartney and John Lennon's son Sean Ono Lennon came together for a surprise new single.

More than 60 years ago, the Beatles legends formed one of the most successful songwriting partnerships of all time, famously known as Lennon-McCartney. James, 46, recently revealed he had teamed up with Sean, 48, for a second-generation collaboration of Lennon-McCartney as he debuted a new song, "Primrose Hill," that the pair co-wrote.

"‘Primrose Hill’ is here! Today I am so very excited to share my latest song co-written by my good friend @sean_ono_lennon . With the release of this song it feels like we’re really getting the ball rolling and I am so excited to continue to share music with you," James captioned a photo of himself with Sean.

"Enjoy the song," James added, reminding his followers to enter his "Primrose Hill" music video contest. On April 2, James announced the contest on his official website. He invited fans to submit videos of couples capturing the "essence of love and romance" that might be included in the official music video for "Primrose Hill." Submissions for the contest have closed.

James also teased the release of "Primrose Hill" in an Instag details

By the time the Beatles got around to recording Get Back, it’s a wonder all four of them managed to be in the same room at the same time. As anyone who watched Peter Jackson’s 2021 documentary about the album will know, the band was rife with in-fighting.

The main culprit behind the rift seemed to be Paul McCartney and his uncompromising vision. As the story goes, Macca would often shun anything that didn’t fit his personal goals for Let It Be. George Harrison certainly found it unbearable, causing him to hang up his Beatles hat on January 10, 1969.

Though he eventually tempered his emotions long enough to embark on that iconic rooftop concert (you know the one), it was one of the final nails in the coffin for the Fab Four.

Soon after announcing his temporary leave, Harrison took to his guitar to write one of his most enduring solo tracks, “Wah Wah.”

Wah-wah
You’ve given me a wah-wah
And I’m thinking of you
And all the things that we used to do
Wah-wah, wah-wah

While the lyrics above may not seem particularly cutting, they were aimed at his Beatles bandmates and their constant squabbling.

“That was the song, when details

It was the fall of 1980, and the ex-members of the Beatles were engaged in a cold war — largely with John Lennon.

A decade after the legendary band’s toxic implosion, George Harrison described his notoriously temperamental band mate as a “piece of s–t.”

“He’s so negative about everything,” Harrison, typically known as the quiet one, said of Lennon. “He’s become so nasty.”

The usually diplomatic Paul McCartney aired out his own bitter grievances at Lennon — his beloved boyhood friend and longtime writing partner — and wife Yoko Ono.

“The way to get their friendship is to do everything the way they require it,” McCartney bristled about the couple. “To do anything else is how to not get their friendship. I know that if I absolutely lie down on the ground and just do everything like they say and laugh at all their jokes and don’t expect my jokes to ever get laughed at … if I’m willing to do all that, then we can be friends.”

Source: Keith Murphy/nypost.com

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Not everyone likes The Beatles. That said, trashing cultural icons is a modern phenomenon amplified by social media and done, largely, to attract attention. Yet whether you hate them or love them (yeah, yeah, yeah), their influence on pretty much everything pop music has offered since is, surely, undeniable.

Sixty years ago they left an indelible imprint on both music and film that continues to this day. In April 1964, John Lennon and Paul McCartney sat down in a hotel room and wrote a song to accompany the title of the band’s first (and best) feature film, ‘A Hard Day’s Night’. The song itself is typical of their early output. A sugary song about love, less than three minutes long yet its significance cannot be underestimated.

The film of the same name was a black and white, only slightly fictional account of 36 hours in the lives of the band in which they played themselves. But for the first time it showed chart topping pop stars not as spoilt millionaires singing songs written by other people contracted to their record company but as ordinary boys from ordinary backgrounds with extraordinary talent who talked, joked and acted just like those who bought their records.

It was the details

The Beatles succeeded for countless reasons, but their chemistry as four instrumentalists had a lot to do with it. For the vast majority of their songs, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, with some production expertise from George Martin, made the magic in the studio without any outside help.

On occasion, they looked for guest performers who could augment their sound. Some of these folks were relatively unknown outside their fellow musicians, while others were stars in their own right. Here are five special guests who made a big difference on specific songs of the Fab Four. (Listed in chronological order.)

Alan Civil wasn’t the first guest to appear on a Beatles record, but his part on “For No One” made an impact that seemed to open the doors for the group to try it again. The song features McCartney singing about a guy whose relationship is crumbling before him, even though he’s too far in denial to see it. If McCartney’s vocals can’t get through to him, Civil’s lovely, melancholy horn part should do the trick. McCartney and Martin forced him to hit a high note that the instrument doesn’t normally reach, but Civil came through in details

Editor’s Note: Former radio executive Laurie Kaye is the author of Confessions of A Rock ‘N Roll Name-Dropper: My Life Leading Up to Lennon’s Last Interview.She was part of the RKO radio team that interviewed John Lennon before his death on that same day of Dec. 8, 1980, and shared this excerpt with us from her book.

On December 8, 1980, I was overflowing with excitement, anticipation, and disbelief as I approached the Dakota Apartments on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. I was there to play my part in John Lennon’s one and only US radio interview following the release of his and Yoko Ono’s brand-new album, Double Fantasy, and the voices in my head were telling me that this was without a doubt about to become the best day of my life that I could ever even begin to imagine, and that I was truly the luckiest person on the planet.

Visions of thousands of screaming Beatles fans packed into Dodger Stadium so many years earlier swirled through my brain like milkshake in a blender, and I could barely keep myself from swaggering down the sidewalk as my associates and I approached the security booth area right outside the Dakota’s entrance.

I’d flown out one day earlier details

Peter Brown, 87, worked for the Beatles, introduced Paul McCartney to his wife, Linda Eastman, was best man at John and Yoko’s wedding and was immortalized in John Lennon’s lyric, “Peter Brown called to say you can make it OK, you can get married in Gibraltar.” But the McCartneys reportedly ceremonially burned his 1983 book with coauthor Steven Gaines, The Love You Make, a warts-and-all Beatles bestseller many have called “The Muck You Rake.”

Brown and Gaines, who conducted hundreds of interviews with the Fab Four, their spouses, friends, families and business associates in the early 1980s for the book, had a lot more material than what made it into The Love You Make. Now Brown and Gaines present All You Need is Love: The Beatles in Their Own Words — Unpublished, Unvarnished, and Told by The Beatles and Their Inner Circle, an oral history created from those original transcripts. Though light on musical insights, the book is heavy on personal drama and a piercing look inside the band. Here are 10 juicy takeaways.

Source: Tim Appelo/AARP

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