Beatles News
Sean Lennon has rejected the “assumptions” made about his parents, artist Yoko Ono and the late John Lennon, over their “Lost Weekend” separation.
Sean, also a musician, is preparing to mark the 44th anniversary of the Beatles star’s death in New York in 1980.
In an interview with BBC Radio 6 Music about the recently released, Grammy-nominated expanded box set edition of John’s 1973 album, Mind Games, Sean discussed the influence his mother had on his father’s work.
At the time he was writing his fourth solo album, Mind Games, John was in the middle of his famous 18-month separation from Ono, a period referred to as the “Lost Weekend”.
“A lot of people said like, ‘Yoko wasn’t around for this record, why are they featuring her in the booklet’ or something,” Sean began. “And I think there’s a lot of history, there’s a lot of assumptions made about that time period because they were sort of on their way towards that famous separation that people call the Lost Weekend.
“But the truth is, even when they were apart they were always talking, so I don’t think they ever really broke up, all his stuff was still in the apartment with my mum. It’s not like they had a real separation. And on top of it, all my dad was thinking about was her.”
Source: Roisin O'Connor/the-independent.com
The documentary Beatles ‘64 takes a look at the band’s arrival in the United States in 1964, and among the songs and nostalgia, there’s a pretty dark and sad part in which John Lennon foresaw his own death. Directed by David Tedeschi and produced by Martin Scorsese, Beatles ‘64 was released on Disney+ in November 2024. The film features footage shot by Albert and David Maysles during the Beatles' visit to the United States, which was originally for the 1964 documentary What’s Happening! The Beatles in the U.S.A., along with interviews with fans, producers, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr.
Beatles ‘64 is a look into the band’s feelings and reactions to arriving in the United States, their historic performance on The Ed Sullivan Show, the fans’ intense welcome and reactions to the band’s arrival and presence, and the overall atmosphere as the country had just gone through the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The latter is mentioned multiple times throughout the documentary, and it had a big impact on the band, particularly John Lennon, making way for Beatles ‘64’s saddest part.
Beatles ‘64 goes back and forth between footage from the Beatles’ three-week visit to the US in 1964, some of the aftermath back in England, and interviews with the surviving band members and other people. The documentary offers a close look at the band in their hotel, bus, and more, showing a bit of their personalities, sense of humor, the dynamic between them, their thoughts on their visit to the US, and more. Adding to this is the commentary of the different guests, and one of them makes a sad reveal about John Lennon.
Source: Adrienne Tyler/screenrant.com
Paul McCartney is back in fashion. When, after a three-hour set, McCartney walked off stage at Glastonbury in 2022, the audience seemed to be expressing a country’s gratitude, as 20 days earlier those on the Mall for the Platinum Jubilee celebrations had to the Queen. For Elizabeth II, it was her penultimate public appearance. McCartney, though, is back in December on a UK tour: still hungry at the age of 82 for the appreciation, still, by his sheer virtuosity, wishing to settle scores.
Peter Jackson’s 2021 documentary Get Back on the Beatles’ January 1969 sessions, the Glastonbury concert and the 2023 Beatles single “Now and Then” are all part of McCartney’s attempt to re-elevate the Beatles into the mythical realm, with the songwriting duo of Lennon and McCartney at its heart. His implicit antagonist is still Yoko Ono, who has spent the four and a half decades since her husband’s death insisting that the spirit of John Lennon was bigger than the Beatles.
Since Get Back came out at least, McCartney has been winning. The documentary shows emphatically that when the love between Lennon and McCartney was supposedly obliterated, it was instead very much alive. It is evident in the looks Lennon and McCartney exchange in the first song they practise, “I Have a Feeling”. At the Glastonbury concert, McCartney sang this number in the encore as a virtual duet with Lennon. There being no footage of George Harrison’s lunchtime row with Lennon on the seventh day of the sessions, Jackson has the Beatles’ lead guitarist quit the band after emotionally crumbling as he watched Lennon and McCartney sing “Two of Us” to each other. In perhaps the most powerful scene, Lennon and McCartney work through their anguish in a secret code of wordplay. Lennon’s eye-contact is intense as he spills out his need to connect; McCartney keeps turning his head away and insists that what they require is “a schedule of work”. In this story, Lennon and McCartney appear to be taking steps beyond the wounds they inflicted on each other in 1968 in India and the making of the White Album. It is the imminent appointment of the American mogul Allen Klein as the Beatles’ business manager – despite McCartney’s bitter opposition – that looms after the cameras have stopped rolling, and which will tear them apart.
Source: Helen Thompson/newstatesman.com
Unprecedented excitement and hysteria led thousands of fans to John F Kennedy International Airport in New York City on February 7, 1964, with placards and banners to welcome The Beatles and jumpstart their American invasion.
The rock band consisted of Sir Paul McCartney, 82, John Lennon, who died aged 40 from gunshot wounds, George Harrison, who died aged 58 following a battle with cancer, and 84-year-old Sir Richard Starkey – also known professionally as Ringo Starr – who all originated from Liverpool. “On that plane coming to the United States, they had no idea if anyone would be waiting for them, or the degree to which Capitol Records, writers and reporters did not want them to succeed. They wanted them to fail and worked against them,” says Beatles ‘64 director David Tedeschi, known for Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story By Martin Scorsese, Pretend It’s A City, and Vinyl.
“At Carnegie Hall – their second American concert – the establishment was appalled when they heard the rock and roll music these kids were playing in the hallowed halls and banned their promoter [Sid Bernstein].”
Beatles ‘64 is a new documentary on Disney+ produced by Academy Award-winning American filmmaker Martin Scorsese, 82, who directed Shutter Island and The Wolf Of Wall Street, and producer Margaret Bodde who has worked with Scorsese on Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese, and The 50 Year Argument.
It captures the electrifying moment of The Beatles’ first visit to America. It features never-seen-before footage of the band and their legion of young fans who helped fuel their ascendence. The Grammy, Academy Award – for Best Original Song Score for the 1970 documentary film Let It Be – and Ivor Novello Award-winning rock band, who were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in their first year of eligibility – 1988 – achieved record-breaking levels of critical and commercial success.
Source: Yolanthe Fawehinmi/yorkshirepost.co.uk
One of the things that set John Lennon apart from other songwriters was his fearlessness. He wrote about topics from which others would generally shy away. And he would sing about personal subjects without worrying if they might cast him in an unflattering light.
“Cold Turkey,” a single he released in late 1969, openly described Lennon’s attempts to kick his heroin habit. The song is a harrowing listen but an essential one, in large part due to his courage in going to such a dark place. In From the “Cold”.
The tumult of The Beatles’ final years together has been well-documented, but it’s still easy to overlook just how pressurized that situation must have felt for the four men going through it. In the case of John Lennon, he had bottled up childhood trauma that was about to burst, embarked upon a new relationship with Yoko Ono that people close to him (including other group members) openly disdained, and like others in the band, felt artistically constrained.
Seeking an outlet to escape the reality of that scenario, Lennon and Ono started using heroin heavily during the sessions for the White Album in 1968. When they decided to try and quit the drug in 1969, they did so “cold turkey,” meaning that they simply stopped using it all at once instead of weaning themselves off it.
As always, Lennon couldn’t help but writing about what he was experiencing, which meant he penned “Cold Turkey” about the dark days he and Ono had while trying to get clean. He initially hoped The Beatles would be interested in the song, but that was a no-go. It was a bit of a moot point, because not long after he wrote and performed the song for the first time with the Plastic Ono Band in Toronto, he told the band he was quitting.
Source: Jim Beviglia/americansongwriter.com
Paul McCartney’s tour through Latin America came to an end, and to commemorate this closure the former Beatle shared a series of images of his most memorable performances through his social networks.
Among these highlights are several scenes from his shows at the GNP Stadium, and the closing of the Corona Capital, where he was accompanied by St. Vincent to perform “Get Back” and then he called her along with Jack White to accompany him in the song “The End”, where they had a great guitar duel.
That was the closing of the festival, in which Paul gathered 82 thousand people, according to the official numbers shared by Ocesa.
“15 concerts, 8 cities, and 1 unforgettable show… Thanks to everyone who came to the Latin American dates of Got Back 2024,” wrote the “Hope Of Deliverance” singer on his account and Instagram.
In addition to the shows, there are images of the fans who waited for him outside the Four Seasons hotel, who carried banners and Sargento Pimienta outfits.
The artist performed at the GNP Stadium on November 12 and 14 and made his debut on the Latin American festival scene at Corona Capital.
Source: theyucatantimes.com
George Harrison once drew a simple frame around the Beatles' musical origin story, highlighting the impact of the blues.
"If there was no Lead Belly, there would have been no Lonnie Donegan; no Lonnie Donegan, no Beatles," friend John Reynolds remembered Harrison saying in the Legend of Lead Belly documentary. "Therefore no Lead Belly, no Beatles."
But Donegan's brand of local rockabilly, called skiffle, also drew from country music, old-timey songs and bluegrass. In fact, Liverpool had a bustling country scene, led by Phil Brady, among others. Brady's earliest fame coincided with the Merseybeat fad that played a more celebrated role in shaping the Beatles' sound.
Ringo Starr had long been a fan of country music, but John Lennon was responsible for bringing this influence into the group's songwriting core.
"I grew up with blues music [and] country and western music, which is also a big thing in Liverpool," Lennon subsequently recalled. "One of the first visions I had was one of a fully dressed cowboy in the middle of Liverpool with his Hawaiian guitar, you know? That's the first time I ever saw a guitar in my life. He had the full gear on."
Lennon would favor a similar style with his pre-Beatles band, the Quarrymen, who wore the same string ties made famous by James Garner as a witty Old West card sharp on TV's Maverick in the late '50s. The Quarrymen's business cards, drawn up by manager Nigel Walley, promised a slate of "Country, Western, Rock 'n' Roll, Skiffle."
After the Quarrymen morphed into the Beatles, early visionary Brian Epstein quickly arranged for an audition to appear on BBC Radio. They'd perform for producer Peter Pilbeam in March 1962 at the Playhouse Theatre in London. His comments on the audition report were telling.
Source: Nick DeRiso/ultimateclassicrock.com
The Beatles transformed pop culture during the 1960s and had so many incredible songs that even some of their most obscure compositions could be classified as masterpieces. While there are very few people on planet Earth who wouldn’t recognize hits like “Yesterday,” “Here Comes the Sun,” or “Let It Be,” there are just as many incredible underrated Beatles tracks that deserve way more love. For every “A Hard Day's Night” or “Eleanor Rigby,” there’s another hidden gem that long-time lovers of the Fab Four will point to as a forgotten classic in need of more attention.
What started with two teenagers named John Lennon and Paul McCartney bonding over their love of R&B and skiffle music eventually led to these Liverpudlians becoming some of the most recognizable names on the planet. After they were joined by George Harrison and Ringo Starr, the world was fully introduced to the most trailblazing band pop music had ever seen as Beatlemania went into full swing, and audiences couldn’t get enough of these musical icons. With 213 songs released between 1962 and 1970, it’s shocking just how prolific the Beatles were, as even their most underrated songs remain timeless.
15 “The Fool On The Hill”
It can sometimes feel like songs from the Beatles' EPs, such as Magical Mystery Tour, are unfairly overlooked, which was certainly the case for the beautiful story song “The Fool on the Hill.” With enchanting flutes and an ethereal, otherworldly feel, the slow musical accompaniment of “The Fool on the Hill” complemented its story about a lonesome man, misunderstood by others, who was actually incredibly wise. With hints of the Beatles' more introspective and mindful tendencies, this track was primarily written by Paul McCartney and likely related to the band’s guru and meditation teacher, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
Source: Stephen Holland/screenrant.com
The Beatles landed at JFK Airport on February 7, 1964, greeted by 3,000 of the fans that had sent “I Want To Hold Your Hand” to the top of the Hot 100, and America’s love affair with the Fab Four hasn’t abated in the six decades since. George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr spent just over seven years assembling the most beloved catalog in popular music. While solo careers, films, covers, and archival releases have kept the Beatles brand profitable, it’s really those original albums that have remained durable objects of fascination that still reveal new depths.
Over the years, popular opinion has evolved about the Beatles’ albums, although the second half of their career looms large over those early Beatlemania years. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was for many years their consensus masterpiece, and in subsequent decades, The Beatles (“The White Album”) and Revolver have enjoyed reappraisals. Abbey Road has emerged as their most popular record in the streaming era, and while Let It Be has never surged to the top, documentaries and its prominence on classic rock radio have elevated the divisive album’s stature.
Beatles ‘64, director David Tedeschi’s documentary about the Beatles’ first visit to America in 1964, was released on Disney+ in November. One of the albums the band released that year, Beatles for Sale, turns 60 on December 4, but where does it rank in their towering discography?
Source: Al Shipley/yahoo.com
Sean Ono Lennon has recently opened up about John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s relationship, and how it continues to impact his mother today.
Lennon sat down for an interview with BBC Radio 6 Music recently to discuss the release of Mind Games: The Ultimate Collection. Lennon produced the special edition box set release of his late father’s album Mind Games. The collection also includes a wealth of additional material, from footage to a book to reproductions of advertisements for the album from the 1970s.
During the interview, the subject of his parents’ relationship was brought up, as it naturally would. Chris Hawkins asked Lennon if he learned any new information about his parents while putting together this very intimate project.
“Well one thing I noticed was that my mum was on some of the tapes, you could tell she was in the control room,” said Lennon. “So a lot of people said like, ‘Yoko wasn’t around for this record, why are they featuring her in the booklet’ or something. And I think there’s a lot of history. There’s a lot of assumptions made about that time period because they were sort of on their way towards that famous separation.” Sean Ono Lennon Says Yoko Was A Big Part of ‘Mind Games’ Despite Not Being Physically Present.
The period Lennon spoke about occurred from 1973 to 1974. Yoko Ono and John Lennon separated for a number of months during this time. The period is often referred to as “The Lost Weekend”. Ono and Lennon rekindled their relationship in 1974. Sean Lennon was born the following year.
Lennon went on to say that “even when they were apart they were always talking.” He was also told that all of his father’s belongings were still at his mother’s apartment during the separation. And one can’t deny that it was very obvious that John Lennon was thinking about Ono while working on Mind Games.
Source: Em Casalena/americansongwriter.com
