Beatles News
Paul McCartney either wrote or co-wrote hundreds of songs for The Beatles during their heyday. It’s almost impossible to pick out his very best songs; each of his songwriting credits appeals to different people for different reasons. That being said, we think these four particular Beatles tracks prove that Paul McCartney is a truly genius songwriter!
4 Tracks That Prove Ringo Starr Is a Genius Drummer
1. “Blackbird”
Few artists can dedicate a song to a struggling group of people with as much tact and reverence as McCartney did with the 1968 track “Blackbird”. McCartney said that he wrote this soothing, beautiful song for black women in the United States who were struggling amidst the Civil Rights Movement. It’s one of McCartney’s few solo performances recorded under The Beatles’ name.
2. “Yesterday”
Paul McCartney has historically been a genius songwriter partly because he knows his way around a ballad. “Yesterday” is one of his greatest works, and it also happens to be one of the most covered songs of all time. This song’s melody is one of the most recognizable of the 20th century. McCartney’s expert songwriting weaves together an anthem for those who are stuck living in the past, and who just need a little push forward.
3. “Helter Skelter”
Source: Em Casalena/americansongwriter.com
It wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume the Rolling Stones got their big break because of their musical prowess or charisma, but doing so would erase an integral player in landing the Stones’ first record deal: George Harrison. While he was enjoying the Beatles’ massive upswing in the early 1960s, the “Quiet Beatle” seized an opportunity to speak up about the Stones, effectively dragging his fellow English rockers along for the ride to stardom.
Indeed, without Harrison’s help, there is a chance the Rolling Stones might have never made it out of their dimly lit nightclub circuit.
In the early days of Beatlemania, the Fab Four would split up to cover more ground as they embarked on publicity ventures and guest appearances. One such endeavor led George Harrison to his native Liverpool, where he served as a judge in a “Beat Group” talent show. Local bands competed for a chance to secure a record deal with Decca Records, whose president, Dick Rowe, was also a judge.
After Harrison and Rowe watched a few hopeful competitors, the Beatle began complaining to the record executive that none of the Liverpudlian wannabe rockers held a candle to a band the Fab Four had recently watched at a nightclub in Richmond: the Rolling Stones.
Harrison later recalled the moment he and his three bandmates saw the Stones for the first time. “They were still on the club scene, stomping about, doing R&B tunes,” Harrison described. “The music they were playing was more like we’d been doing before we’d got out of our leather suits to try and get onto record labels and televisions. We’d calmed down by then” (via Far Out Magazine).
Rowe would later recount, “I pushed my chair back, and I basically ran to my car and got myself down to Richmond to make sure I was there for that Rolling Stones gig.” The Decca Records president knew that Harrison knew what he was talking about—namely, because the Beatle had to deal with Rowe’s bad label decisions before.
Source: Melanie Davis/americansongwriter.com
The early rivalry between the Beatles and the Rolling Stones was, for the most part, a healthy one—except for the time Stones frontman Mick Jagger heard a Beatles song on the radio that made him “sick.” The song in question came out in 1962, one year before the Stones released their debut single.
Over two decades later, Jagger introduced the Beatles during their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. During his speech, he described what it felt like going green around the gills after hearing the Beatles’ hit track. This Beatles Song Made Mick Jagger “Sick”
Mick Jagger set up his story by painting a scene of early 1960s England. American pop overwhelmingly dominated the U.K. charts, and skiffle and rock music were still underground. “At that point, the Stones were playing in these little clubs in London doing Chuck Berry songs and blues and things.”
“We were a pretty scruffy lot,” Jagger smirked. “We thought that we were totally unique. Animals! I mean, there was no one like us. And then, we heard there was a group from Liverpool. They had long hair, scruffy clothes, but they had a record contract.”
“They had a record in the charts with a bluesy harmonica on it called “Love Me Do.” When I heard the combination of all these things, I was almost sick,” the Stones frontman riffed. “I thought, ‘Even if I have to learn to write songs, I’m gonna get this.’”
The Two Bands Helped Push Each Other’s Careers.
The scruffy lads from Liverpool might have been four suit-clad burrs in the Rolling Stones’ sides, but the bands developed a symbiotic relationship pretty quickly. In fact, John Lennon and Paul McCartney are the songwriters behind the Rolling Stones’ first chart success, “I Wanna Be Your Man.”
Just like iron sharpens iron, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones helped push one another to greater realms of creativity, success, and influence. In a way, having two rock and roll bands coming up in the U.K. at the exact same time was one of the best things that could have happened for rock music in general.
Source: Melanie Davis/americansongwriter.com
We haven’t had much of an update about Sam Mendes’ ‘Beatles’ movies. However, the latest bit of info is coming to us from Production List, and it lists a July 2025 shoot in London.
Four separate theatrical films, one on each of the members of music’s most famous and enduring band, The Beatles’ Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, John Lennon and George Harrison. They’ll tell interconnected stories, one from each band member’s point of view.
Mendes plans to release all four of his upcoming Beatles movies on the same date (via TheInSneider). Is this a good idea? Obviously, most people will first and foremost pay to see the John Lennon and Paul McCartney movies, then George Harrison and finally Ringo Starr. That’s just how it’ll go down.
If Sony does end up releasing all four films at once, then it would save them plenty on marketing costs. Mendes is directing all four, and although no casting has been formally announced, Harris Dickinson (John Lennon), Paul Mescal (Paul McCartney), Barry Keoghan (Ringo Starr), and Charlie Rowe (George Harrison) have all been rumored.
For the first time ever, Apple Corps. and The Beatles have granted full life story and music rights for a scripted film. Sony chief Tom Rothman stated that all four films would be released in 2027. There’s also been a rumor that Mendes regular Roger Deakins was asked to be cinematographer on these films.
Source: Jordan Ruimy/worldofreel.com
If The Beatles taught us nothing else, it’s that they were unafraid to follow their muses wherever they might have led, even if that took them way outside the established boundaries of rock and roll. And if that also meant that things got a bit weird at times, well that was part of the deal.
These are five Beatles songs that wear like their bizarre nature like a badge of honor. Let’s look back in chronological order.
“Good Morning Good Morning” from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
On the surface, this Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band track isn’t all that weird. It’s got a peppy rhythmic pulse and some sly John Lennon lyrics about the boredom of everyday life (a pervasive theme on that album). But then there are the little touches the band adds that take this one into strange territory. First, there’s the decision to suddenly switch to the German language at the end of the refrain: Good morning, good morning, gut. Even odder is the wild cacophony of animal noises tacked onto the end of the song.
“Blue Jay Way” from Magical Mystery Tour (1967)
George Harrison, while staying in a rented house in Los Angeles and fighting jet lag, decided to write a song on an old organ so he could stay awake until his friends arrived. The lyrics pretty much tell the story of the night without embellishment. But the music of “Blue Jay Way” (the name of the street where the house was located) tells a different, eerier story. Everything about the accompaniment is just a tad off-kilter, from the creaky organ, to the insinuating strings, to the backing vocals that sound like disembodied spirits haunting the song.
Source: Jim Beviglia/americansongwriter.com
He does think the world needs 'more not less Taylor Swifts' even if he's not personally a fan of her music
The son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono has been praising Taylor Swift, though he admitted there was one lyric in one of her songs which made him 'uncomfortable'.
Seán Ono Lennon took to social media recently to say that, while he'd never been a fan of Swift's music and didn't really know her songs, he thought she 'should be respected and in fact treasured'. His post seemed to hit out at Donald Trump's Truth Social post on 15 September where he wrote: "I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!"
That had followed Swift's endorsement of his opponent in the US presidential race, Kamala Harris. Plenty had been waiting to see whether Swift would go as far as endorsing the Democrats as she did at the last election, and in a lengthy Instagram post she hit out at AI generated images of her claiming she was endorsing Trump.
Instead, Swift has endorsed Harris to be the next US president and signed off as a 'childless cat lady', mocking a comment made by Trump's vice-president pick, JD Vance.
Now you've got all that context, Seán Ono Lennon wrote on Twitter: "I have never been a fan of her music, although I can’t think of a single song so I don’t really know if I like it or not. "But I know she is a uniquely successful American. A young woman who has done things in a way that no one has done before her.
"She is the kind of American that should be respected and in fact treasured. We need more not less Taylor Swifts in our world. People who thrive continually and consistently are exactly the kind of person both parties should embrace.
"So for some old grumpy dude to get angry at her, no that’s not a good look."
Source: ladbible.com
McCartney is still getting high with a little help from his friends.
Paul McCartney crashed Black-ish star Deon Cole’s stand-up set at the Hollywood Improv on Sept. 17 after both reportedly “got high” backstage.
"I got high with my friend tonight, and we had a good time,” Cole told the crowd before telling them to “please give it up for my friend, Paul McCartney." As the surprised audience applauded the legendary musician’s arrival, McCartney leaned in and whispered a few words in Cole’s ear.
"I had to smoke, and that's why this is happening," Cole told the crowd. “See, you never know,” the comedian said of the show’s unpredictable roster. "And y'all motherf---ers did not give no love to me at all tonight,” he joked.
Far from a passive audience member, McCartney came armed with notes. “I’ve just enjoyed seeing you work through this material,” he told Cole. “And you’re right, some of it bombed,” he joked as the audience laughed. “But you got the gems in there, man, that’s great,” he added.
McCartney then offered some consolation, explaining even he had weathered disastrous performances. “In the beginning, when [The Beatles] started out, guys used to throw pennies at us,” he said. “Took a while to know what we were doing.”
Source: Declan Gallagher/mensjournal.com
John Lennon privately informed Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr that he was leaving The Beatles, although the news was initially kept quiet, as the band was about to sign a new recording contract.
McCartney then publicly announced his own departure in April 1970 as he released his debut solo album, angering Lennon, who later shared, “I started the band. I disbanded it. It’s as simple as that.”
The Beatles officially disbanded following McCartney’s announcement. They released their final album, Let It Be, one month after their breakup, although it was recorded before their previous album, Abbey Road, which came out in September 1969.
Although Lennon died in 1980 and George Harrison passed in 2001, The Beatles released a new song, “Now and Then,” in 2023, which used vocals Lennon recorded on a demo in the late ’70s, along with guitar Harrison recorded in the mid-’90s, and new recordings from McCartney and Starr.
Source: kslx.com
Although best known for his work in the pop world (particularly with The Beatles), producer Sir George Martin had a lifelong love of classical music which he put to great use over his career.
Born and raised in North London, Martin saved up for piano lessons as a teenager, desperate to perform the piano sonatas of Beethoven and Mozart. At school, meanwhile, Martin's interest in classical music was further fuelled by a visit from the London Symphony Orchestra and their conductor Adrian Boult.
After serving in the Royal Navy during World War Two, Martin consolidated his grounding in music, studying composition, conducting and orchestration at the Guildhall School of Music. He also took up the oboe to ‘earn a bit of living’ – in later years, he cited Mozart’s Oboe Quartet, K370 as one of his favourite pieces. Martin spent a brief time after his graduation working in the BBC’s classical music department, before his move to Parlophone records in London (a subsidiary of EMI) in 1950. At this time, he developed an interest in comedy recordings. In one of these, the actor Peter Ustinov sang in a 'mock' Mozartian opera style.
Martin's work with The Beatles, whom he famously signed in 1962, saw him gradually introduce classical music elements into their recordings, beginning with a string quartet arrangement to accompany Paul McCartney’s song ‘Yesterday’ in 1965. He later developed more complex orchestrations, including the famous glissando performed by a 41-piece orchestra in ‘A Day in The Life’ on the 1967 album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band.
Source: BBC Music Magazine/classical-music.com
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