Beatles News
The Beatles kept up a very prolific recording pace throughout their time together in the ’60s. Even when they gave themselves a little breathing room between records, they pushed the pedal to the metal when they returned to action. For example: the double LP The White Album in 1968.
As a result, the group’s songwriters had to keep their ears open for inspiration so they could fill out these records. On “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da,” which appeared on The White Album, Paul McCartney used the motto of a musician acquaintance as a crucial jumping-off point to writing the song.
The Beatles headed to India in 1968 to study meditation. In between their mantras, however, they had a lot of free time on their hands. And with their minds cleared of distractions, they were able to churn out a boatload of fresh material, which is why they ended up recording a double album when they got back to work.
“Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” was one of those songs they wrote during their stay. Paul McCartney was responsible for writing it. But, as he explained in The Beatles Anthology, the title was donated to him:
“I had a friend called Jimmy Scott who was a Nigerian conga player, who I used to meet in the clubs in London. He had a few expressions, one of which was, ‘Ob la di ob la da, life goes on, bra.’ I used to love this expression. … He sounded like a philosopher to me. He was a great guy anyway and I said to him, ‘I really like that expression and I’m thinking of using it,’ and I sent him a cheque in recognition of that fact later because even though I had written the whole song and he didn’t help me, it was his expression.”
While writing the song might have come easily to McCartney once he had Scott’s phrase in hand, getting it right in the studio was another matter. The band recorded it in several different styles, including one that included Jimmy Scott playing his instrument. They eventually scrapped all that and went for a slightly reggae feel, which was new for the band.
Source: Jim Beviglia/americansongwriter.com
French horns used to create the sound of one of The Beatles’ most acclaimed albums have gone on display.
The brass instruments can be heard on Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which was released by the group in 1967 and was number one in the UK charts for 23 straight weeks. Two of the four French horns used on the album have been exhibited at Liverpool Beatles Museum. Sian Kenrick, whose late father Tony Randall played the horn, got in touch with the museum in December.
After officials confirmed they would like to put the instrument on display, Mr Randall’s family got in touch with the relatives of John Burden, another of the four French horn players on the album.
Museum owner Roag Best said: “He was the guy Paul McCartney stood next to and, because Paul couldn’t transcribe music, he would hum the tune and say ‘can you write that down?’ “He would have to write the music for the other French horn players.”
Before he died, Mr Burden remembered the session saying: “They didn’t really know what they wanted. I wrote out phrases for them based on what Paul McCartney was humming to us and George Martin.
“All four Beatles were there but only Paul took an active interest in our overdub.”
Families of both musicians flew in from Ireland and New York to be at the museum on Thursday to see the items unveiled, with members of Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra providing music. Mr Best said: “None of the instruments from the album have ever appeared and it is an iconic album.
Source: Eleanor Barlow, PA/uk.news.yahoo.com
Most Beatles fans will recognize the name George Martin as the band’s prolific and hit-making producer, but on January 27, 2024, a different producer broke the honorary Beatle’s record of most chart-topping hits in an entirely different world of pop music than the one Martin and the Fab Four dominated in the late 1960s. Interestingly, the two producers even share a surname.
While there’s no familial relation, the producers’ long-lasting legacy in the pop music world certainly connects them in a significant way.
George Martin earned his title as the “fifth Beatle” through his extensive work with the Fab Four throughout their short-lived career as one of the biggest bands in the world. A producer, musician, and arranger, Martin steered John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr in the right direction when they were feeling wayward. (Or grumbled at the board when they insisted on doing things their way, like when they recorded a song Martin “flat out didn’t like” for the Beatles’ 1967 Magical Mystery Tour.
The Beatles had already parted ways by the time future pop producer Karl Martin Sandberg was born. He adopted the professional name Max Martin by the early 1990s, likely unaware of the connection he would come to have with the Beatles’ Martin. Max began his fast ascent as one of the greatest pop producers of all time when Zomba, a branch of BMG at the time, hired Swedish recording studio Cheiron Studios to work with the Backstreet Boys on their eponymous debut. Max worked with the boy band on hits like “As Long As You Love Me” and “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back).”
Max’s producing career continued to take off from there as he collected other A-list clients like Celine Dion and Britney Spears. The latter artist ended up recording “…Baby One More Time” as her debut single after the Backstreet Boys and TLC both turned down the song, which Max wrote and co-produced. Max worked with Spears on her next two records, Oops!… I Did It Again and Britney. They briefly parted ways as Spears tried to find her footing outside of teen pop before reuniting for her 2008 album, Circus, The Singles Collection from 2009, and Femme Fatale in 2011.
Source: americansongwriter.com/Melanie Davis
On December 29, 2024, a pair of glasses that had belonged to John Lennon sold for $52,000 at a charity auction. The Gala One event, an exclusive charity evening that supported three charities (Amend, OneDrop and Well/Beings), took place in Eden Rock, Saint Barths. It was a star-studded affair, with guests including Leonardo DiCaprio, Mike Tyson, and Wyclef Jean.
Many extraordinary items were auctioned that night for charity, and one such treasure was a pair of round metal glasses that John Lennon had once owned. Alexander Bitar, a collector and dealer specializing in high-end historical memorabilia, donated the item to the gala, and sources at the event told me that the winner of the extraordinary eyeglasses was none other than the actor Leonardo DiCaprio, whose agent I have contacted by email to obtain confirmation.
In Bitar’s opinion, few artefacts from pop culture history are more significant and iconic than John Lennon’s round eyeglasses—an artist whose music reached unprecedented popularity when the four-piece rock band The Beatles was formed in Liverpool in 1960. Alexander told me that he thinks the specs are synonymous with Lennon, as he wore them practically every day from 1966 to his death in 1980. The model of the glasses auctioned is called “Windsor”, this being a vintage pair there is no visible maker’s stamp on them.
“I applaud the buyer for his generous donation, which will help the three charity organizations with their important work,” says Bitar, “and in addition to the donation, the buyer also receives a priceless historical item—so it’s a win-win for all.”
Source: forbes.com/Laia Farran Graves
‘One to One: John & Yoko’ Documentary Revisiting Pivotal 18 Months in Late Beatle’s Life To Stream on Max
The Kevin Macdonald movie will get an exclusive release in IMAX on April 11 first. A new documentary chronicling a crucial 18-month period in the lives of late Beatle John Lennon and wife/Plastic Ono Band co-leader Yoko Ono, One to One: John & Yoko, will be released exclusively in IMAX on April 11. The film directed by Kevin Macdonald will then make it’s streaming debut later this year on Max, according to Deadline.
A description of the film says that it is a, “moving look at the couple’s life upon their entry into a transformative 1970’s New York, exploring their musical, personal, artistic, social, and political world. Set in 1972 against the backdrop of a turbulent era in American history.” The core of the film will focus on the couple’s One to One Concerts, a two-show charity event for children with special needs that took place at Madison Square Garden in August 1972, the only full-length performances by Lennon following the Beatles’ split two years earlier. The benefit shows also featured performances form Stevie Wonder, Sha Na Na and Roberta Flack, among others.
Source: billboard.com/Gil Kaufman
Paul McCartney is credited with some of the most beloved Beatles songs of all time. His songwriting catalog while with the iconic group seems too vast to be true. His fellow musicians have taken note of that fact more than a few times. Check out four of the best covers of McCartney-penned Beatles songs, below.
4 of the Best Covers of Paul McCartney-Penned Beatles Songs
1. “Let It Be” (Bill Withers)
Bill Withers turned “Let It Be” from a somber ballad to a jaunting gospel track. The tempo is given a swing, which stands in stark contrast to McCartney’s straightforward piano chords. As always, Withers’ vocals stand supreme. Though we’re partial to the original, Withers did wonders with this Beatles hit.
And when the broken hearted people living in the world agree
There will be an answer, let it be
For though they may be parted, there is still a chance that they will see
There will be an answer, let it be
Source: americansongwriter.com/Alex Hopper
Released earlier this month Ringo Starr’s new album Look Up finds the former Beatle reconnecting with the country music that started it all for him, way back in a Liverpool cinema in the 1940s. As part of our extended interview with Starr in the latest issue of MOJO, Paul McCartney discussed his old bandmate’s “natural genius”, affinity for country music and why he was the perfect drummer for The Beatles...
Ringo’s new album Look Up is a collection of country songs. What is it about his personality – and singing voice – that is so perfectly suited to country music?
He always loved country from the first minute I met him. He liked the old country singers like George Jones and people like that, and he was a big fan of that. So I think, you know, maybe, it suits his personality. He’s a very sincere, straightforward guy, and I think that’s the sort of theme behind a lot of country music.
Ringo was the perfect drummer for The Beatles. But why?
Impossible to say why – he just was.
When you first hit America, why do you think Ringo was so particularly endearing to the fans? And could you get behind the Ringo For President campaign?
Ringo for President? Yeah, absolutely! He would do a great job. President of what is the question?
When The Beatles split, Ringo immediately launched a solo music career and pursued a parallel film career. Was it clear that he wouldn’t just join another band as a drummer, that he had more strings to his bow?
Like all of us, he wanted to continue in music. And besides country music, he’s a big fan of old standards, so that’s why he did Sentimental Journey as his first album.
On the rare occasions you get together on-stage these days, do you find you both lock back into some long-practised groove?
Yeah, it’s just amazing, actually. It’s just, yep, it’s like wearing a very comfortable pair of shoes, if that’s the right metaphor.
You once described Ringo to MOJO as “a natural genius”. In what ways?
Source: mojo4music.com
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
