Beatles News
Traditional songwriting rules would dictate that the best compositions stay cohesive from start to finish, but Paul McCartney has been breaking that rule for decades, masterfully turning multiple songs into one in a way that still feels connected and exciting. His threading together of separate musical ideas was sometimes obvious, clearly delineating point A to B to C. Other times, McCartney created medleys so smooth that it’s easy to forget how many standalone ideas came together to form the track.
americansongwriter.coOf all the songwriting masterclasses McCartney has offered through his music, his ability to hodge-podge incredible rock and pop tracks together is impeccable. These are some of his best.
“Band on the Run”
One of the greatest examples of Paul McCartney mashing multiple songs into one track is “Band on the Run.” The 1973 title track to Wings’ third studio album features three distinct sections. It opens with a synth-heavy R&B groove, transitions into a more straightforward rock ‘n’ roll middle section, before finally ending with a jangly, country rock feel reminiscent of the Eagles.
The connecting thread between each section is the lyrics, which describe feelings of oppression by and escape from laborious music business dealings and run-ins with the law over marijuana possession. McCartney said the track (and overall album) marked Wings settling into their own sound. “It had echoes [of the Beatles], maybe inevitably because it was me. But we had established our own style.”
Source: Melanie Davis/americansongwriter.com
The Traveling Wilburys weren’t supposed to exist. But when George Harrison needed a B-side in 1988, what began as a one-off jam between friends became one of the most delightful curveballs in rock history. Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 arrived that October, sounding like it had been playing on your record player for decades—even if you had never heard it before. Let’s dig into five little-known facts about this Grammy-winning, triple-platinum classic that united Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison, Jeff Lynne, and Harrison under one roof and five pseudonyms.
George Harrison didn’t plan a supergroup—he planned a barbecue. The magic started in Bob Dylan’s garage in Malibu. Harrison had rounded up Jeff Lynne and Roy Orbison to help him record a quick B-side. Needing a studio, he called Dylan. Needing his guitar, he swung by Tom Petty’s house and invited him, too. What was meant to be a throwaway track, “Handle with Care,” was so good that Warner Bros. refused to let it be buried. So they turned one song into ten, and a backyard hangout into rock and roll alchemy.
Source: Eric Alper/thatericalper.com
The Beatles had an immense impact on rock ‘n’ roll in a general sense, but some of the most signature sounds of the mid-20th century can be traced back to specific songs by the Fab Four—the 1970s, for example, have “And Your Bird Can Sing” to thank for one of the most popular guitar techniques of the era. Amid other album cuts like “Eleanor Rigby” and “Yellow Submarine,” it’s difficult to distinguish the Revolver B-side as one of the more well-known hits from the record.
Nevertheless, the rock world continued to hear elements of “And Your Bird Can Sing” for years after the Beatles finally called it quits. Even more interestingly, the rock subgenre that would use this Fab Four technique was one far removed from the Liverpool band: southern rock.
Source: Melanie Davis/american songwriter.com
Recently, rare recordings of The Beatles auditioning for Decca Records in 1962 surfaced in a Vancouver record shop. The store’s owner, Rob Frith, posted a demo clip to Instagram. And that clip proved that even in their earliest days, there was something special about The Beatles. And this was before Ringo Starr joined the band, as Pete Best was The Beatles’ drummer until August 1962.
Even when the Fab Four rolled through pop and R&B standards of the time, the collective of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and eventually Ringo Starr was undeniable—even in its rawest form.
It’s amusing now to think about Decca rejecting The Beatles, but McCartney said in the Anthology autobiography, “We weren’t that good; though there were some quite interesting and original things.”
Here’s a look at three early Beatles songs that showcase what Decca missed.
“Money (That’s What I Want)” from ‘Anthology 1’ (1995)
“Your loving give me a thrill,
But your loving don’t pay my bills.”
Written by Motown founder Berry Gordy and songwriter Janie Bradford, The Beatles’ cover appeared as the final track on With The Beatles in 1963. The album version features piano overdubs by producer George Martin. However, the version included here was recorded live in Stockholm, Sweden, in October 1963. It’s a raucous and distorted garage rocker and foreshadows their proto-punk classic “Helter Skelter”.
Source: americansongwriter.com/Thom Donovan
One to One: John & Yoko showcases footage from the only full-length concerts Lennon performed after the Beatles — now stunningly restored in IMAX with a powerful remix by Sean Ono Lennon.
The documentary features unheard private phone calls that capture unfiltered moments of Lennon and Ono’s life, from politics to personal pain. The film reframes their U.S. move as a search for Ono’s kidnapped daughter, Kyoko — a heartbreaking story that shaped much of the period for them.
At a time when it seems like there’s little new left to say about any of the Fab Four, One to One: John & Yoko — which begins its IMAX run on April 11 — is both revelatory and daring.
Co-directed by Oscar winner Kevin Macdonald and Sam Rice-Edwards, the documentary explores perhaps the least celebrated period of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's life: their first 18 months as New Yorkers. Upon their arrival in August 1971, the pair found themselves in a country electrified by sociopolitical change — and they inadvertently became a lightning rod. Their shockingly accessible Greenwich Village home drew all manner of avant-garde artists, leftist activists, and self-proclaimed freaks, who descended in droves to convince the world’s most famous couple to attach themselves to their pet projects and causes. More often than not, they obliged.
Source: people.com/Jordan Runtagh
Paul McCartney and John Lennon wrote classic after classic for The Beatles but they weren't happy with all of them. John famously took aim at a number of Paul's songs after he left the band, sharing his disdain for 'Let It Be', 'Hello Goodbye', the 'Abbey Road' closing medley and 'Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da'.
Paul could also be critical of his own work and was happy to give songs away to other artists if he didn't think they were up to scratch. He gave his track 'A World Without Love' to Peter and Gordon because he didn't think it was good enough for The Beatles but it ended up topping the charts for the pop pair.
Ringo Starr also wasn't afraid to share which songs he wasn't a fan of. In a 2008 Rolling Stone interview, he said: "The worst session ever was 'Maxwell's Silver Hammer.' It was the worst track we ever had to record. It went on for f***ing weeks. I thought it was mad."
But one song that none of the band appeared to be keen on was 'If You've Got Trouble'. Written by John and Paul, the song was intended to be Ringo's vocal performance on the 'Help!' album, which accompanied their 1965 film of the same name.
The Beatles began recording it on February 18, 1965, which was the fourth day of their studio sessions for 'Help!'. That day also saw the band work on 'Tell Me What You See' and 'You've Got to Hide Your Love Away'.
Ringo recorded a vocal and the backing track was sorted, as well as extra guitar from George Harrison. A mono mix of the song was prepared from the session, making it essentially ready for release.
However, it didn't make it onto the album and was replaced by 'Act Naturally', a Ringo-sung cover of the Buck Owens track. 'If You've Got Trouble' was bootlegged before it finally was released officially in a stereo version on the compilation album 'Anthology 2' in 1996.
Source: liverpoolecho.co.uk/Dan Haygarth
Following the culmination of the Beatles’ recording story with 1969’s Abbey Road, the former Fabs had carved out distinctive new solo identities. George Harrison set an early high bar with the exemplary double-album All Things Must Pass in 1970, while John Lennon had positioned himself firmly as a cultural figurehead of the revolutionary left. His utopian anthem Imagine became an enduring hymn for the ages.
Paul McCartney meanwhile, despite being quick off the mark to establish his solo career with 1970's amiable 'McCartney', had yet to garner consistent commercial success, or the same level of critical stock that his fellow Beatles were typically achieving.
Though his early solo offerings were creatively bountiful (1971’s gloriously quirky Ram in particular) and had achieved moderate success, it would take the formation of an entirely new band and a complete change of locale to finally land the song (and album) that would fulfil his solo ambitions. It was a song that channelled both his genius for melodicism with a structural fearlessness. An anthem that did much to cement McCartney as the enduring solo Beatle and one of rock's all-time greats.
This was McCartney's victorious gallop out from his former band's long shadow. The Song: Paul McCartney and Wings - Band on the Run
The Magic Moment. Establishing the band Wings on the heels of 1971’s Ram, McCartney was keen to slot himself back into the security of a band-based dynamic.
He told the Independent Free Apple newsletter in 1970 that, “I like the idea myself of just having a sort of easy little thing like a band thing which is just umm…just a band! A simple idea of a band playing together.”
Source: yahoo.com/Andy Price
Adam Levine is looking back on an awkward run-in with music royalty.
The Maroon 5 frontman said during a Thursday appearance on "The Howard Stern Show" that Beatles vocalist Paul McCartney once cracked a joke about Levine's performing skills, then over-corrected after fearing the quip had fallen flat.
"I told you I've been scared a handful of … times in my life, that was definitely one of them," Levine said of a performance he did alongside bandmates to honor 50 years of The Beatles. The televised tribute show, to mark 50 years since the British band had appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show," saw Maroon 5 cover "All My Loving" − one of the group's signature hits. Footage of The Beatles themselves playing the iconic tune was projected behind them, Levine recalled, then paused to allow Maroon 5's performance halfway through to finish the rest of the song.
"I'm sorry man, you can be too cool, but not always," Levine recalled of performing in front of his heroes. "It's Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney.
Source: usatoday.com/
The Beatles’ breakup during the transition from 1969 to 1970 was a massive cultural shift for the entire world, but even that pales in comparison to the personal effects it had on each of the Fab Four’s lives. Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr’s tenure as a commercial band might have been relatively short, but that seven-year stint was like an artistic lifetime.
For most of the members of the band, their next moves post-Beatles were a little more obvious. McCartney, Lennon, and Harrison were all individually talented songwriters, which made their career transition to solo artists or members of other bands a bit easier. But Starr was the drummer. His path forward wasn’t so clear-cut.
Ringo Starr Reflects On What It Was Like After Beatles Breakup
Depending on which conflict or walk-out you consider to be the final straw in the Beatles breakup, the band’s dissolution started between 1969 and 1970. Logistical issues like collecting contract signatures made the process even muddier. Regardless of the official date, the Fab Four were no more by 1971. Paul McCartney was writing his own music. John Lennon was busy with The Plastic Ono Band with his wife, Yoko Ono. George Harrison was embarking on a highly successful solo career.
Ringo Starr was sitting in his garden. Speaking in a television interview, Starr said the breakup was “horrendous” before jokingly asking the show host, “You want to see me cry?” He continued more seriously, “As I remember it, you see, because I wasn’t a songwriter or, you know, I was the drummer. I’d written a couple of songs, but it wasn’t like my forté was writing songs.
Source: Melanie Davis/americansongwriter.com
Yoko Ono – musician, artist, activist and the 92-year-old widow of the late John Lennon – took the brunt of the vitriol when The Beatles broke up in 1970, and details revealed in a new documentary film “One to One: John & Yoko” highlight her personal struggle.
Audio recordings from the early 1970s – the years that immediately followed the Beatles’ split – are featured in new documentary “One to One: John & Yoko,” out Friday, in which Ono discusses the harassment she faced. While her presence during Beatles recording sessions in the late 1960s famously caused tension, Ono always denied playing such a starring role in the end of the Fab Four.
“I’m supposedly the person who broke up the Beatles, you know? When I was pregnant, many people wrote to me saying, ‘I wish you and your baby would die,’” Ono says in the film.
She goes on to say that when she’d walk down the street with Lennon, “people came to me saying things like I’m ‘an ugly Jap.’ They pulled my hair and hit my head and I was just about to faint.”
Around that time, she added, she suffered three miscarriages.
Source: cnn.com/Alli Rosenbloom
