Beatles News
With the growing excitement over Sam Mendes’ upcoming quartet of Beatles biopics (which we now know will feature Gladiator II's Paul Mescal), as well as the new documentary film Beatles ’64 wowing critics, interest in the Beatles’ film output is once again skyrocketing. It’s easy to forget the Fab Four released no less than five movies during their time together, including A Hard Day’s Night (1964), Help! (1965), and the concert film The Beatles at Shea Stadium (1966). Those first three were acclaimed to varying degrees, but the winning streak was well and truly broken by 1967's Magical Mystery Tour.
'Magical Mystery Tour's Plotting Is a Feature, Not a Bug
By the middle of 1967, the Beatles were at the height of their creative powers. The previous year had seen the release of their critically acclaimed album Revolver, which was followed by the seminal Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Nevertheless, several members were beginning to look away from the band to other pursuits. John Lennon was spending increasing amounts of time investigating avant-garde art alongside an as-yet unknown artist, Yoko Ono, while George Harrison was immersing himself in Indian culture and spirituality. McCartney, meanwhile, was beginning a decades-long interest in orchestral work, having collaborated with Beatles producer George Martin to record an award-winning soundtrack to the kitchen-sink drama The Family Way earlier in the year, prefiguring his later career.
Source: Craig Jones/collider.com
On June 16, 1966, the Beatles performed “Paperback Writer” and “Rain” on Top of the Pops. Like many artists before, and after them, who appeared on the BBC show, the Beatles lip-synced through the two songs. The episode was lost by the BBC, and only 11 seconds were recovered in 2019, but it did indicate how the band felt about playing the latter song live.
The Beatles continued performing “Paperback Writer,” and it was part of their 1966 tour setlist, it wasn’t the easiest for the four to pull off. The layered vocals were difficult to reproduce live and only frustrated the band.
Written by Paul McCartney and recorded on April 13 and 14 at Abbey Road during their Revolver sessions, and released as a single with “Rain,” “Paperback Writer” was an innovative track in its use of echo. “‘Paperback Writer’ was the first time that we have had an echo on a Beatles track,” said producer George Martin.
Source: Tina Benitez-Eves/americansongwriter.com
Beatles drummer Ringo Starr was a surprise guest at the final gig of former band-mate Paul McCartney's London tour, with the pair reuniting to play some of the Fab Four's greatest hits.
"I've had a great night tonight, it's been a great show," the 84-year-old drummer said late Thursday as he took the stage at London's O2 Arena on the final evening of McCartney's "Got Back" tour.
They then ran through timeless hits including "Helter Skelter" and "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."
"I'm off now, I've had a great night and I love you all," Starr told the packed crowd as he left the stage.
Starr and McCartney have reunited several times since the Beatles break-up, including on McCartney's 2018-19 "Freshen Up" tour.
Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood also joined McCartney for the song "Get Back", with the former Beatle playing his original Hofner bass for the first time in 50 years.
Source: swiowanewssource.com
Only recently given stewardship over his late father’s work, Sean Ono Lennon is on a remarkable run.
The only child of John Lennon and Yoko Ono won an Academy Award this year for a short film based on his parents’ 1971 song “Happy Christmas (War is Over”)” and, a few months later, was nominated for his first-ever Grammy, for producing a box set on the album “Mind Games,” originally released in 1973.
“It feels overwhelming and surreal,” said Lennon, who also recently shared a Webby Award with his mother for Ono’s interactive art project “Wish Tree.”
For Lennon, who was 5 when the former Beatle was murdered in 1980, the work is a way to connect with his father. It’s more than a preservation mission: On “Mind Games,” he takes artistic license, pulling apart the recordings of John Lennon’s music to create something entirely new.
Lennon was inspired, in part, by another Beatle offspring, Dhani Harrison, who helped repackage his own father’s “All Things Must Pass.” Dhani Harrison is also behind this fall’s reissue of his dad’s “Living in the Material World,” but that experience is nothing like what Lennon did with “Mind Games.”
Besides the music, the innovative box is modeled after one of his mother’s art pieces and filled with art reproductions, hidden music, video, messages and puzzles, some only visible through an ultraviolet light that is included — “mind games,” remember? The deluxe box retails for $1,350, but there are less expensive options.
Source: DAVID BAUDER/apnews.com
Julian Lennon has revealed that he's awaiting test results from a biopsy, almost five years after he went public with a "cancer scare."
The musician and photographer, who is the eldest son of late Beatles legend John Lennon, revealed in a Facebook post back in February 2020 that a mole he'd had on his head his entire life was removed after a biopsy revealed it had turned cancerous.
During an appearance on podcast The Joe Rogan Experience this week, Lennon, 61, revealed that his past experience prompted him to recently seek medical advice regarding a complaint with the skin on one of his arms.
As the podcast started, host Joe Rogan asked Lennon about his arm, prompting him to explain that he went to see a dermatologist. Pointing to his arm, he said: "[I have] a little excision here, because it had been bothering me a bit."
Lennon added that the dermatologist "just did a little cutting, and no doubt, I'll hear from her in a few days, once she gets the results."
Newsweek has contacted representatives of Lennon via email for comment.
Source: Ryan Smith/newsweek.com
Maestro Zakir Hussain passed away on December 15 at the age of 73. He was admitted to San Francisco hospital, where he stayed in the ICU for two weeks. His condition worsened and he succumbed to complications arising from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a chronic lung condition.
During an interview with The National, Zakir Hussain had once opened up about an interaction with The Beatles’ George Harrison. While having a conversation about sitar, Harrison noted why he did not choose to play the sitar in one of his songs.“I remember I asked George, ‘Why aren’t you playing sitar on this album?’ and I took it a step further and said, ‘Why don’t you play the sitar on stage?'" Hussain asked. Harrison responded, “I don’t want to insult my teachers by playing the sitar badly on stage. It is not my instrument, and I haven’t grown up with it. But I can take that music, and I can transpose it on my guitar, which I have more control over, and offer my reverence and respect to the art form."
Source: MSN
The more we know about an artist’s personal life, the more it can narrow our views of their songwriting. Too often, we assume the meaning of a particular track, without giving the credit for the imagination of the writer to create something outside their immediate personal experience.
That’s what happened, according to Paul McCartney, with The Beatles’ song “I Will,” which was released on The White Album in 1968. Although it’s a love song and McCartney was still in a relationship with actress Jane Asher at the time, he insisted afterward that he had no one in particular in mind when writing it.
Where There’s a “Will”
“I Will” represents the oft-unorthodox manner of approaching songs that was emblematic of The White Album. Instead of The Beatles taking their specific instruments, they switched things up. McCartney plays acoustic guitar and sings, while vocalizing the bass part. Ringo Starr played bongos and maracas, while John Lennon added extra percussion on wood blocks. George Harrison wasn’t at the session that produced the song.
Source: Jim Beviglia/americansongwriter.com
The Beatles’ final song “Now and Then” is nominated for a Grammy for Record of the Year and Ringo Starr is hoping they win.
“I’d love to win a Grammy,” Ringo tells Music Week. “That’s the business I’m in – and the track is good. The last track ever by the boys.”
The song used vocals John Lennon recorded on a demo in the late ’70s, along with guitar the late George Harrison recorded in the mid-’90s, and new recordings from Paul McCartney and Ringo.
Ringo says it was McCartney who decided to revisit the track, using new AI technology to clean up Lennon and Harrison’s contributions, and says “he did a great job.”
“He put the strings on and the lead guitar that gave the track its emotion,” Ringo says. “It worked out really great and let’s hope for a Grammy. We’ll see; a lot of people are up for Grammys.”
But just because AI worked for them doesn’t mean Ringo is totally embracing it.
“We’re all a bit afraid of it, because it can steal you,” he said. “Anyone who knows how to use it can steal you. If they just play any five of my songs into the computer, AI gets all of it and knows my every vocal move. They can have me sing anything and it will sound like me, because it’s taken from my personality.”
“But the good side is the way we used it on ‘Now And Then.’ God knows where it’s going to go,” he added. “We’re all worrying about it, but nobody’s really stolen anything yet.”
Source: ktlo.com
The Beatles’ John Lennon was never one for mincing his words in speech or music, and the Let It Be track that many speculate was a “dig” at Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger is certainly no exception. The song came on the heels of a longstanding relationship between the bands that oscillated between friendly and contentious, depending on the day (and band member).
As two of the hottest bands coming out of the U.K. in the 1960s, the Fab Four and the Stones became fodder for stories about a rivalry between the two bands. Lennon’s comments in a 1971 interview with Rolling Stone gave these stories even more weight.
John Lennon Criticized Mick Jagger For Copying The Beatles
During his 1971 Rolling Stone interview, John Lennon described his early relationship with the Rolling Stones as incredibly positive. “We were very close to the Stones. I don’t know how close the others were, but I spent a lot of time with Brian and Mick. I admire them, you know.” Still, relationships are wont to change, and Lennon’s relationship with Stones frontman Mick Jagger did, too.
A few questions later in the interview, Lennon said he hardly saw Jagger anymore. “I think Mick got jealous,” the ex-Beatle mused. “I was always very respectful about Mick and the Stones. But he said a lot of tarty things about the Beatles, which I am hurt by. I can knock the Beatles, but don’t let Mick Jagger knock them.”
Lennon then pointed out specific albums and songs he felt like the Stones lifted from the Beatles. He argued that Their Satanic Majesties Request was a ripoff of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which the bands released within six months of each other. “We Love You” by the Stones, Lennon said, was basically the Beatles’ “All You Need Is Love,” and so on.
Source: Melanie Davis/americansongwriter.com
George Martin was an incredibly important figure in The Beatles’ career. The Fab Four’s talent was enough to catapult them to fame, but Martin’s influence, control, and decision-making as the band’s producer and mentor helped them dominate the 1960s. Let’s look at just a few reasons why George Martin deserves his title as the “fifth Beatle”!
1. He Believed In Them From The Beginning
Being a talented musician might be enough to get famous. However, plenty of artists through the years have rivaled the talent of their contemporaries, only to fail to thrive in the music industry. For all we know, this could have happened to The Beatles.
Without George Martin to play the role of the fifth Beatle and invite the band to work at EMI Studios, who knows if anyone would have picked them up? Martin’s decision to believe in the band and sign them to a record contract before even meeting them was a huge deal. Clearly, Martin knew how to identify groundbreaking talent with ease.
2. He Fired Pete Best
Firing a band member is no easy thing to do. And fortunately for The Beatles, George Martin wasn’t exactly afraid of getting his hands dirty. By the time the band was ready to take off, it had become clear that Pete Best was not the right fit as the band’s drummer. None of the remaining three Beatles wanted to break the news to him, so they had their producer do it for them.
“The basic thing was that I didn’t like his drumming, it wasn’t solid and he didn’t bind the group together,” said Martin back in the 1970s.
Source: Em Casalena/americansongwriter.com
