A so-called “dark day” for George Harrison led to the Quiet One of The Beatles writing one of his most brutal songs.

The track, which featured on his triple album, All Things Must Pass, has been interpreted as a knock at his former bandmates, Paul McCartney and John Lennon. Though the pair were still working with Harrison at the time he wrote the song, it appears clear the words to Wah Wah are a chance for Harrison to channel his frustrations. Fans praised the Here Comes the Sun songwriter for his brutal honesty in both the song and a diary entry which has gone down as a legendary moment for the musician.

Studio session tensions bubbled over for Harrison during the Get Back rehearsals, prompting him to briefly quit the band. Ringo Starr had previously departed the band towards the end of The White Album recording but rejoined a short while later. Starr had felt he “wasn’t playing great” and that he was “an outsider” but after a holiday to Sardinia, he rejoined the band. Harrison’s departure from the Get Back sessions lasted five days and has since been immortalised in a diary entry.

Source: Ewan Gleadow/cultfollowing.co.uk

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In the 1960s, The Beatles were enjoying No. 1 hits like candy. And on this day in 1967, they scored yet another No. 1 in the United States with a psychedelic pop jam. On this very day, March 18, 1967, The Beatles scored a hefty hit with “Penny Lane”. The song peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on this day. It remained at the top for one week. “Penny Lane” would remain on the chart in some fashion for 10 weeks.

The song was released as a double A-side with “Strawberry Fields Forever”. That song ended up being a bit less popular in the United States than “Penny Lane”. “Strawberry Fields Forever” peaked at No. 8 on the Hot 100.
The Origins of “Penny Lane”

“Penny Lane” was written by Paul McCartney. The tune makes some pretty direct references to where he and bandmates George Harrison and John Lennon grew up in Liverpool. The lane in question was a real place, a street in Liverpool that McCartney traversed often in his youth, as did two of his bandmates. “Penny Lane” is the most stark reference to the street. Though, Lennon had previously written the song “In My Life” with an original lyric that referenced the street.

Much of Lennon and McCartney’s songwriting partnership can be linked back to bus rides taken via Penny Lane throughout Liverpool. McCartney confirmed that notion himself.

Source: americansongwriter.com/Em Casalena

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On the 10th of April 1970, Paul McCartney announced what had, by then, been falsely reported so many times as to seem almost impossible—The Beatles, the biggest band to ever do it, were finished.

Within a week, McCartney had released his first solo record. Before the year was out, all three of his former bandmates had done the same. And as of today, the solo Beatles have collectively produced around 85 albums, depending how you count.

That’s a lot to wade through for anyone keen on venturing beyond the band’s tight 12-studio-album discography. But wade we must, and there is so much to learn in our wading. These records are charged with parting barbs and so variously excellent and awful and bewildering. They contain not just a huge quantity of interesting and enjoyable music, but a path toward an understanding of what it was that made the band work as it did. Who was good at what? Who needed what from whom, whose instincts were balanced by whose, and what kinds of adventures might result from the removal of the structures of the band?

If you would like to know the answers to those questions and don’t want to listen through 82 albums to get them, you’re in luck. We’ve done it for you, and then we’ve distilled the discog down to a delightfully diverse dodecahedron of records. And then we’ve ranked them. Sometimes you really are this lucky.

10. Ringo Starr, Ringo (1973)

Source: gq.com/Killian Faith-Kelly

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Paul McCartney is putting on sale two performances in an intimate setting at Hollywood’s Fonda Theater for March 26-27. The appearances at the 1,200-capacity venue are his first shows since wrapping up an arena tour in November.

The concerts could just be one-offs, or a two-off, but the announcement does raise intrigue among McCartney fans that he may have something else up his sleeve, like an album reveal… although history does show that the man also just likes to play.

Registration for ticket offers began at 9 a.m. PT Tuesday morning. The link is through an AXS site here. At the webpage referenced, further information shows that registration will continue through 10 p.m. PT Wednesday night, with no preference given in how early or late anyone registers through the length of that window. Fans are allowed to register for both dates, and only one registration per show will be accepted. The limit is two tickets per customer and, of course, “registering does not guarantee ability to purchase.” “Selected” fans will be sent an invitation to purchase tickets, at an unspecified time.

Source: variety.com/Chris Willman

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Thirty years ago, The Beatles expanded their historical archive with Anthology 2, a collection that revealed rare studio recordings, outtakes and live material from the most experimental years of The Beatles.

When The Beatles released “Anthology 2” on 18 March 1996, the album served as a remarkable continuation of the band’s ambitious archival project, offering a deeper look into one of the most transformative periods in the group’s career. Arriving as the second chapter in the multi-volume “Anthology” series, the release brought together rare recordings, alternate takes and live performances spanning sessions from the 1965 “Help!” era through to the creative build-up before the band’s 1968 trip to India.

Issued by Apple Records, “Anthology 2” followed the commercial success of “Anthology 1”, which had reignited global fascination with the band’s history only months earlier. Like its predecessor, the collection debuted at No.1 on the US Billboard 200 chart, underlining the enduring commercial power of the band decades after their break-up. The album would eventually earn multi-platinum certification in the United States and chart strongly around the world.

At the heart of the project was “Real Love”, the opening track and one of the most historically significant recordings in the Beatles catalogue. Built from a demo originally recorded by John Lennon in 1980 at his New York apartment, the track was completed fifteen years later when Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr reunited to add new instrumentation and backing vocals.

Source: noise11.com/Paul Cashmere

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A BEATLES drumhead used on their first US TV appearance has become one of the band’s most expensive pieces of memorabilia.

Drummer Ringo Starr used the bit of kit on the Ed Sullivan Show in February 1964 as the Fab Four propelled themselves to global superstardom.  A Beatles drumhead played by Ringo Starr on their first US TV appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, above, has sold as one of the band’s priciest memorabilia.

It is also the most expensive item belonging to Sir Ringo to ever be flogged. Earlier in the auction, another drum kit used by the 85-year-old between 1963 and 1964 sold for £1,804,700. Other Beatles items to be sold during the auction include a Broadwood upright piano used by John Lennon when he wrote Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds.

It was estimated to fetch around £450,000, but instead sold for £2,448,968.  

Source: the-sun.com/Thomas Godfrey

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