Beatles News
Magnolia Pictures has landed North American rights to “One to One: John & Yoko,” a documentary that offers an expansive and revealing look at the transformative 18 months of one of music’s most famous couples.
The sale went through before “One to One” is set to screen at Sundance Film Festival, which is taking place in Park City from Jan. 23-Feb. 2, 2025. The doc had its world premiere at Venice Film Festival and played at Telluride Film Festival before making the trek to Utah’s snowy mountain town.
Magnolia plans to release “One to One: John & Yoko” exclusively in Imax on April 11 before expanding to additional theaters. It will land on HBO and Max at a later date in 2025.
Kevin Macdonald (an Oscar winner for “One Day in September”) directed the documentary, which captures the time that Lennon and Ono spent living in New York City’s Greenwich Village in the early 1970s. The film includes never-before-seen material and newly restored footage of Lennon’s only full-length, post-Beatles concert, which includes audio that was remastered by the couple’s son, Sean Ono Lennon.
Source: Rebecca Rubin/variety.com
One morning in the mid-1970s, a solemn announcement came over the intercom at Friends Seminary: “Noted person John Lennon is now in the meetinghouse. Walk, don’t run.”
We didn’t run. But we wanted to.
I ended up perched with the rest of my second-grade class on a hard wooden pew in the balcony of our Quaker school’s meetinghouse on East 16th Street in Manhattan. Built in 1860, the meetinghouse was old, dignified and a little creaky; it had absorbed the echoes of abolitionist debates, suffragist meetings and restless kids failing to sit still. That morning, I wasn’t sitting still. We were children, but we knew the Beatles.
And then, suddenly, there he was: John Lennon.
I remember the hush — a collective inhale — and then the whispers. I’m pretty sure Lennon was dressed in black when he entered. That’s how I always remembered him. He soon stood onstage in his wire-rimmed glasses, looking exactly like the face I’d seen staring from album covers. He was right there.
A ripple of laughter broke the tension. I can still hear his voice, his dry jokes, the wry expression when one boy asked about the beautiful woman who’d accompanied him — not Yoko Ono, but someone else. But the words themselves? Gone. Did he talk about music? Politics? Did he sing? Why was he even there?
For years, I clung to the memory like a relic. It was one of those surreal childhood moments that made me wonder if I had imagined it. It was a story I could tell anywhere — When I was in second grade, John Lennon came to my school! My 22-year-old daughter had heard it so many times she could recite it. But recently, when I brought it up, she looked at me skeptically. “Did that happen?”
Source: nytimes.com/Laurie Gwen Shapiro
In February 1972, Paul McCartney‘s band Wings debuted with the single “Give Ireland Back To The Irish.” Written by McCartney and his wife, Linda, the song was a rare political statement from the ex-Beatle, and he was condemned in the U.K. upon its release for seemingly expressing support for the Irish Republican Army during the height of the Troubles.
Supporting the IRA at the time, especially as a citizen of the U.K., was a bold move. While the song was more of a general statement supporting the Irish people as a whole in their fight for independence, the press took it in a different direction. The single was banned from U.K. radio stations and largely ignored in the U.S. In addition to being condemned for the apparent IRA support, McCartney was also accused of leeching off of the Bogside Massacre in order to announce his new band.
However, “Give Ireland Back To The Irish” hit No. 1 on the Irish Singles Chart for a week in March. Lyrically, the song is simplistic, which was one of the larger criticisms. As a political statement, though, it does its job—”Give Ireland back to the Irish / Don’t make them have to take it away / Give Ireland back to the Irish / Make Ireland Irish today” is a simple yet effective chorus, and also featured Northern Irish guitarist Henry McCullough.
The Bogside Massacre—also known as Bloody Sunday, a moniker that inspired U2 to write their own song in 1983—was an unjustifiable murder by British soldiers of unarmed Irish protesters in Derry, Northern Ireland, in late January 1972. 13 men were killed, with a 14th succumbing to his wounds months later. According to an account compiled by the Conflict Archive on the Internet, many of the protesters were gunned down as they fled from the soldiers. Some others were beaten, and two were killed when they were run over by British Army vehicles.
Source: americansongwriter.com/Lauren Boisvert
George Harrison, The Beatles' legendary guitarist and songwriter of Here Comes the Sun and Taxman, had been opposed to playing in the group's final performance at Abbey Road studios
The Beatles' George Harrison had no interest in playing the group's final performance in 1969. Harrison, the often overlooked songwriter behind Here Comes the Sun, Something, and While My Guitar Gently Weeps, voiced his concerns about a rooftop performance at the Abbey Road studio just a short while before the Fab Four headed upstairs for what would be their final performance together. Harrison's opposition to the performance was seen in the 'Get Back' documentary from Peter Jackson, but it seems the legendary musician, who went on to form The Traveling Wilbury's with Bob Dylan and Electric Light Orchestra's Jeff Lynne, was convinced to take part.
His wavering on playing The Beatles' impromptu, final show, came just a short while after Harrison had briefly quit working with the band. A now infamous diary entry from the All Things Must Pass mastermind saw he had dropped out of the Fab Four. Growing tensions in the studio and frustrations around the making of Abbey Road and Let it Be saw Harrison suggest they put an advert in the New Musical Express to source another set of guitarists who could finish what he had written for the 1969 album. But he returned soon after, and eventually agreed to a rooftop performance.
An unconvinced Harrison can be seen in the clip of 'Get Back' where The Beatles' guitarist said he would "do it" but wanted to make it clear he did not want to be on the roof.
He said: "You know, whatever, I'll do it if we've got to go on the roof. But you know, I mean - but I don't wanna go on the roof. Of course I don't wanna go on the roof."
Source: liverpoolecho.co.uk/Ewan Gleadow
Beatle George Harrison married model Pattie Boyd, with his bandmate Paul McCartney serving as best man.
Harrison and Boyd met on the set of the 1964 movie A Hard Day’s Night.
The couple separated in 1974 and divorced in 1977, with Pattie blaming the split on Harrison’s infidelity.
During her marriage to Harrison, his good friend, Eric Clapton, actively pursued her. He even wrote the song “Layla” about his secret love for Pattie. Boyd and Clapton would eventually marry in 1979, although their tumultuous union ended in 1989.
Harrison would go on to marry Olivia Trinidad Arias in 1978 and they were married until his death in 2001.
Source: everettpost.com/ABC News
The Beatles and Bob Dylan were among the artists inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, in a ceremony held in New York.
The Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger inducted the band into the Rock Hall. George Harrison and Ringo Starr were on hand to accept the honor, along with Yoko Ono, Julian Lennon and Sean Lennon, accepting on behalf of John Lennon.
Paul McCartney did not attend, citing “still-existing business differences among The Beatles.”
Dylan’s induction was handled by Bruce Springsteen, and the night’s other inductees included The Beach Boys, The Drifters, The Supremes and Ben E. King.
The night ended with an all-star jam that featured such songs as “I Saw Her Standing There,” “All Along the Watchtower,” “Twist and Shout,” “Stand By Me,” “Stop! In the Name of Love,” “Barbara Ann,” “Blue Bayou,” “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” and more.
Source:
Bob Dylan had a big creative impact on John Lennon, particularly after The Beatles got to hear The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan for the first time in 1963. Lennon and Paul McCartney realized that pop music could be so much more than what was being manufactured at the time. Folk and poetry had their places in pop, and that notion led them to do a bit of creative soul-searching.
The result of that influence was “I’m A Loser” from the 1964 album Beatles For Sale, which was primarily written by Lennon.
“Instead of projecting myself into a situation, I would try to express what I felt about myself,” said Lennon of the writing process for the song. “I think it was [Bob] Dylan who helped me realize that.”
But was the relationship that one-sided? There’s some (tepid) evidence to support that Dylan was as influenced by The Beatles as Lennon was influenced by him. However, Dylan’s response to Lennon’s admiration of him wasn’t exactly… great. He would go on to write “Fourth Time Around” as a response to Lennon’s “Norwegian Wood”, and it was more or less an attempt to make fun of the Beatle.
Bob Dylan had a big creative impact on John Lennon, particularly after The Beatles got to hear The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan for the first time in 1963. Lennon and Paul McCartney realized that pop music could be so much more than what was being manufactured at the time. Folk and poetry had their places in pop, and that notion led them to do a bit of creative soul-searching.
The result of that influence was “I’m A Loser” from the 1964 album Beatles For Sale, which was primarily written by Lennon.
“Instead of projecting myself into a situation, I would try to express what I felt about myself,” said Lennon of the writing process for the song. “I think it was [Bob] Dylan who helped me realize that.”
Source: americansongwriter.com/Em Casalena
In 1997, Queen Elizabeth II knighted Paul McCartney. He became the first of two Beatles to receive a knighthood and has described the experience as an honor. Still, he admitted that he felt a bit embarrassed about it. He shared why he winced at some people’s reaction to the news.
He was already famous — and had been for decades — but people he knew began questioning if they should treat him differently.
“At first, the whole thing was a bit embarrassing, to be honest,” he told the LA Times in 2006. “Even the people on my farm went, ‘Do we have to call you Sir Paul?’”
Ultimately, though, he said most people he knew were happy for him.
Source:Emma McKee/Showbiz Cheat Sheet
More than their guitar playing, bass playing, or drumming, The Beatles were known for their songwriting. Their lyrics, storytelling, and the way they keyed into the collective consciousness with their ideas. It’s how they articulated the world that made the same world fall in love with them over the few short years the band was together.
Here below, we wanted to explore three examples of what made them so good as a group. How lyricism helped an audience get to know the group and their music instantly. Indeed, these are three of the best opening lines from songs by The Beatles.
A melodic song of loneliness. And an especially interesting song coming from perhaps the most famous musician on the planet at the time of its writing. What did Paul McCartney know about loneliness? Well, it turns out a lot. He composed an exquisite song that is both lovely to listen to and deep to think about. And he gets you from the top of the track, as he sings,
Ah, look at all the lonely people
Ah, look at all the lonely people
Eleanor Rigby
Picks up the rice in the church where a wedding has been
“Across the Universe” from No One’s Gonna Change Our World (1969)
Source: americansongwriter.com/Jacob Uitti
Performing at the Cavern Club carries extra meaning for Zak Starkey. The 59-year-old drummer, who is Ringo Starr's oldest son, has played some of the world's biggest stages with The Who and Oasis but this weekend he made his debut at the club that was made famous by his dad's band.
Zak, who has also been part of Liverpool bands the Lightning Seeds and the Icicle Works, brought his supergroup Mantra of the Cosmos to Liverpool for two gigs at the Cavern on Sunday. Made up of Shaun Ryder (Happy Mondays), Zak, Andy Bell (Oasis, Ride) and Bez (Happy Mondays), the band's new single 'Domino Bones (Gets Dangerous)', which features Noel Gallagher, was released exclusively at the Cavern.
The Beatles played at the Mathew Street venue 292 times between 1961 and 1963. Ringo joined the band in August 1962, replacing Pete Best, and photographs of the Dingle-born drummer adorn many of the Cavern's walls.
Saturday night saw Zak perform there for the first time, playing with the Icicle Works' Chris Sharrock, at its live lounge before his band's gigs yesterday. The weight of the occasion and the club's Beatles history had played on his mind beforehand, but a text message from famed Beatles fan Noel Gallagher put him at ease.
Zak told the ECHO: "It was very surreal. I was s***ting it - proper s***ting it until I got on there and it was amazing. The music is like holy music isn't it.
"Before I was s***ting my pants. I was sitting in my room and I text Noel saying I was s***ting it. He said 'get down there and get on, what are you talking about?'.
Source: liverpoolecho.co.uk/Dan Haygarth
