Beatles News
Another engaging review of a Beatles album. Still details I didn't know! And challenging interpretations. Rubber Soul and Revolver are indeed their most interesting album titles (if only Abbey Road would have been called Everest..)
I really like Wait (lesser overplay helps) but The Word is definitely one of my favourite Beatles tunes. It's so out there, like a mad religious (sect) leader screaming its selling points and all. Way more interesting than the by-request "All You Need Is Love" (perfect as it is, of course), a bit out of place here, even.
I like What Goes On amongst Ringosungs. The instrumentation in this album in general is really my thing. Power pop should I call it? Folk rock (apparently that's what they label the US version)?
I never liked Nowhere Man a lot, as important as it is, for some reason (I highly prefer "There's a Place" as an *almost* non love song, at least "that" line). You Won’t See Me is a favourite too, and yeah I cannot listen to Michelle anymore (but still I can bear it more than Yesterday, specially in the album context). John's and George songs are all great for me too.
Source: George Starostin/onlysolitaire.substack.com
When you’re part of the biggest rock band of the 20th century, it’s pretty easy to get sick of at least a few of your biggest songs. For most of the members of The Beatles, quite a few songs in their discography were worthy of being hated from the get-go. Let’s take a look at just a few songs that The Beatles produced and famously hated!
The Meaning Behind the WEIRDEST Beatles Song, “I Am The Walrus”
1. “Birthday”
Paul McCartney was inspired to pen this classic rock track after watching the 1956 film The Girl Can’t Help It. “Birthday” ended up making it to the third side of The Beatles’ White Album. McCartney, interestingly enough, spoke fondly of the song in later years. John Lennon, however, was not a fan of the song at all.
“‘Birthday’ was written in the studio,” said Lennon. “[…] I think Paul wanted to write a song like ‘Happy Birthday Baby’, the old ’50s hit. But it was sort of made up in the studio. It was a piece of garbage.”
2. “Little Child”
The Beatles hated mostly their throwaway songs, but this one was more neglected and unrespected than hated. And sadly for Ringo Starr, quite a few songs that McCartney and Lennon didn’t want to use themselves went straight to their drummer. Not everyone can be a multi-level threat, after all. Starr was a great drummer, but his singing ability was limited. “Little Child” ended up featuring the vocals of Lennon and McCartney, but it was originally given to Starr for the album With The Beatles.
Source: American Songwriter.com/Em Casalena
John Lennon played a rare live show in New York City.
John Lennon is one of the greatest songwriters and performers of all time.
He also was an experienced live performer, racking up 1,500 odd shows first with The Quarrymen and then The Beatles.
But The Beatles quit touring after a final show in Candlestick Park, San Francisco, only playing live once more on the roof of Apple HQ during the fractious Get Back sessions.
When John Lennon went solo after the breakup, it seemed as though he'd lost his taste for live performance. Despite releasing six studio albums during the 1970s, Lennon didn't go on a proper tour. In fact, Lennon barely played live at all after The Beatles. His only full-length shows came on August 30, 1972.
On that date, Lennon and Yoko Ono performed two sets at Madison Square Garden in New York City for the One to One Concert. They were backed up by the Plastic Ono Band with Elephant's Memory and Special Guests.
Some of the songs from the first set were available on the much-maligned Some Time in New York City album, but many of the performances from that momentous day have never seen an official release.
Source: goldradio.com/Mayer Nissim
Berry and the team at Selby created an exhibition to celebrate Harrison’s love for nature and music. It’s an exhibit set to open on Feb. 9 called George Harrison: A Gardener’s Life.
After his time with the Beatles, George Harrison lived on a country estate in England and continued to write music.
But there developed another passion for gardening.
“It sort of makes sense. You can see the prevalence of garden imagery on album covers, videos, and even references in his songs,” said David Berry, chief museum curator at the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens.
Berry and the team at Selby created an exhibition to celebrate Harrison’s love for nature and music.
It’s an exhibit set to open on Feb. 9 called George Harrison: A Gardener’s Life.
“It’s wonderful to celebrate his life and legacy and then to tell an aspect of his story that is a little less familiar to most people,” said Berry.
Selby CEO Jennifer Rominiecki says her family actually told her about George’s connection to gardening.
“I did not know that he was such a significant gardener. We are all Beatles fans. And in fact, Something is my wedding song,” she said.
There are displays representing Harrison’s songs, like While My Guitar Gently Weeps.
Angel Lara is in charge of the Tropical Conservatory.
“There’s not too many hanging guitar waterfalls out there,” he said.
The exhibition will be open until June 29.
It features many George-inspired touches, from the sundials he loved so much to the Gnmoes that were on the cover of his All Things Must Pass album.
Source: abcactionnews.com/Erik Waxler
The Beatles took their first steps on American soil on Feb. 7, 1964, before their ground-breaking performance on the Ed Sullivan Show on Feb. 9, 1964. Take a look back at the British Invasion, which sent America into a state of Beatlemania.
They're here! The Beatles arrived at Kennedy Airport in New York for the very first time to thousands of screaming fans on Feb. 7, 1964.
A throng of screaming fans was on hand to greet The Beatles as they stepped triumphantly off their plane at Kennedy Airport from London for the first time on Feb. 7, 1964.
Look who has arrived! Paul, Ringo, George and John were greeted at Kennedy Airport in New York by a swarm of press and fans at the start of their 10-day tour on Feb. 7, 1964.
Everywhere The Beatles went, thousands of screaming, crying and fainting fans followed during their 10-day tour in the U.S. Here, fans await a chance to see the Fab Four outside the Plaza Hotel on Feb. 11, 1964.
A frenzy of mass hysteria broke out when thousands of Beatles fans ran against traffic to the Plaza Hotel in New York City where The Beatles were staying during their first trip to New York City in 1964.
Viewed by 73 million people, The Beatles’ appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show” was the single most significant moment in pop music 56 years ago on Feb. 9, 1964. Here, the Fab Four chat with the host himself. The historic show marked the beginning of the Beatles’ first U.S. 10-day tour.
Source: nydailynews.com/New York Daily News
The Beatles were no strangers to in-fighting. The end of their career was rife with spats, eventually leading to the band’s breakup. Though fans might not be aware, that affinity for a row was present throughout the entirety of their career–publicly too. Learn more about an early Beatles show that saw Paul McCartney get into a brawl with a bandmate on stage, below.
Stuart Sutcliffe was the Beatles’ original bassist. Prior to McCartney taking over the duty, Sutcliffe led the rhythm section to success during their Hamburg residencies. Though he would eventually leave the band to focus on other artistic pursuits, it’s a wonder one on-stage fight with McCartney didn’t send him packing earlier.
As the story goes, McCartney committed the cardinal sin of talking about Sutcliffe’s girlfriend. Naturally, the bassist wasn’t too pleased with Macca.
“Paul was saying something about Stu’s girl–he was jealous because she was a great girl, and Stu hit him, on stage,” John Lennon once explained. “And Stu wasn’t a violent guy at all.”
Source: Alex Hopper/americansongwriter.com
As The Beatles' primary songwriters, Paul McCartney and John Lennon composed a catalogue of classics, but it wasn't always easy. John and Paul wrote the bulk of the band's hits, with all of their Beatles work jointly-credited to Lennon-McCartney, even if one of them did the majority of the writing on a song.
In the early days, the two sat together and wrote in tandem - beginning at Paul's childhood home on Forthlin Road in Allerton. Once they moved to London, that writing base became the family home of Jane Asher, Paul's then-girlfriend.
About their process, John told Playboy in 1980: “We wrote a lot of stuff together, one on one, eyeball to eyeball. Like in 'I Want to Hold Your Hand', I remember when we got the chord that made the song.
“We were in Jane Asher's house, downstairs in the cellar playing on the piano at the same time. And we had, 'Oh you-u-u/ got that something ...' And Paul hits this chord and I turn to him and say, 'That's it!' I said, 'Do that again!' In those days, we really used to absolutely write like that—both playing into each other's noses.”
However, one song in particular took a lot of work to make right. 'Drive My Car' was written predominately by Paul (with contributions to the lyrics from John) and it became the opening track of the band's 1965 album 'Rubber Soul'. It follows a woman who believes she will make it big as a Hollywood star and offers a man the chance to be her driver, though Paul later said it was a euphemism for sex.
Source: Dan Haygarth/liverpoolecho.co.uk
The Beatles drummer Ringo Starr has always seemed one of the more affable members of the Fab Four, swinging his head back and forth with a lopsided grin as he kept a steady rhythm for his bandmates. But not even the amiable Starr could hide his disdain for some of his least favorite songs the band ever recorded, and that dislike wasn’t lost on his bandmates, either.
Paul McCartney later said he believed Starr never “got over” the sting of hearing the Beatles track he always not-so-secretly hated. And while there seemed to be no grave animosity between bandmates (regarding this track, in particular, anyway), there certainly seems to be truth to McCartney’s claim.
Before the Beatles made their Ed Sullivan Show debut and sparked a tidal wave of Beatlemania across the globe, the future Fab Four were still cutting their teeth at EMI Studios under the strong influence of producer George Martin. The band was preparing to release their first singles, which would be an arduous task in and of itself. But considering the band had just recently lost drummer Pete Best, they were in an even greater flux. Martin, ever the businessman, hired a session drummer to fill in for Best.
There was only one problem: the Beatles had already found another drummer, Ringo Starr. Starr got on well with the rest of the band and provided a steady beat for the three guitarists up front, but Martin wasn’t sold. While recording what would become the Beatles’ debut single, “Love Me Do,” Martin told the band he wanted to cut the record without Starr. As Starr recalled in Anthology, “George Martin used Andy White, the ‘professional,’ when we went…to record “Love Me Do.” The guy was previously booked anyway because of Pete Best.
Source: americansongwriter.com/Melanie Davis
Fans of The Beatles appear to have found the art exhibit that “started” John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s relationship.
A preview night for Ono’s exhibit in Soho, London, marked the meeting point between the two, with Lennon in attendance after hearing of “a bit of a happening,” according to fans of the band. According to Paul McCartney, the exhibition had been a way of attracting musicians in the UK to contribute to a book Ono was making as a birthday present for avant-garde artist, John Cage. Her exhibition at the INDICA on November 7, 1966, is believed to mark the first time Lennon and Ono ever met.
While Lennon’s recollection of events leaves out the making of Cage’s book, Notations, which features The Words from the Fab Four, he did provide similar circumstances to his and Ono’s first meeting. Lennon is believed to have been a fan of Ono’s work before the pair met, with The Beatles member liking the humour of her exhibit, Apple. The Ceiling Painting/Yes Painting exhibit is said to have pushed Lennon into pursuing Ono as he felt “relieved” by its message.
Those at the exhibit were asked to climb a ladder and, using a magnifying glass which was dangling from the board hanging from the ceiling, could read what was printed. It says “yes”. Lennon says he “climbed the ladder, looked through the spyglass, and in tiny little letters it said ‘yes’…So it was positive. I felt relieved.”
Source: cultfollowing.co.uk/Ewan Gleadow
One of the most ambiguous and cryptically weird songs of The Beatles is Paul McCartney’s “Why Don’t We Do It In The Road?” Released in 1968 on The Beatles’ infamous White Album, the song’s meaning and subtext have consistently stumped listeners and fans of The Beatles ever since its release.
When people listen to the song, they seemingly ask themselves what in the world it is about. Well, given that the song features essentially one repeated phrase, it’s pretty difficult to surmise what Paul McCartney is singing about in the song. However, McCartney divulged where he acquired the inspiration for the song and the meaning behind it, and you would never guess where and what it is.
In Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now, McCartney relayed the whole story of the song’s origin to author, Barry Miles. McCartney started off his anecdote by stating, “I was up on the flat roof meditating” and “I’d seen a troupe of monkeys walking along in the jungle and a male just hopped on to the back of this female and gave her one, as they say in the vernacular.”
Source: americansongwriter.com/Peter Burditt
