Beatles News

Musician Sean Lennon has released a song he co-wrote with late Star Wars actress Carrie Fisher. The track, titled Bird Song, was penned "years ago" by Fisher, Lennon – the son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono – explained in a note on Soundcloud. He said he felt the need to record the unreleased song following Fisher's death from a heart attack in December, aged 60. "Carrie and I used to stay up 'til dawn chatting and pontificating about life. They were my best moments," Lennon, 41, wrote.

“Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Penny Lane” were an early clue to a new direction. The first songs that opened The Beatles' contribution to the summer of love bridged the gap between the experiments of Rubber Soul and Revolver and the massively ambitious George Martin production that became Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Both songs were originally the twin pillars of that album but the Beatles had a policy of leaving off pre-released singles because they were “filler” material. But there’s nothing to get hung about, there is an unsubstantiated rumor going round that an upcoming re-release of the Beatles’ classic album will remedy that. No worries, though, the rumors give us reason to explore the childhood memory song couplet by songwriters John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

In the mid-Nineties, while Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr were working on the Beatles' massive Anthology project, they got together with George Martin, their old producer, at Abbey Road Studios to discuss and dissect a few classic Beatles tracks. In the incredible clip below, you can watch as they go through the various parts of John Lennon's Revolver masterpiece, "Tomorrow Never Knows," a song that signaled the band's new direction for 1966.

To hear Olivia Harrison tell it, it wasn't unusual for George Harrison to stroll through the house spouting words at random — a process that could cause an outsider to wonder whether the ex-Beatle had suddenly started speaking in tongues. “George would throw out words one after another,” she said in a recent interview. “He knew he’d find the word. He was good at that. Sometimes he was quiet and just thought about it, sometimes he just kept writing down words that began with ‘S’ until he got the right one. … It didn’t matter what they were — he knew he would get to something.” In fact, that method is exactly what helped him get to Something — and While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Here Comes the Sun, Give Me Love, Give Me Peace on Earth, My Sweet Lord, Awaiting on You All, Brainwashed and so many other songs he wrote in the Beatles and as a solo artist.

My sophomore year of high school, I decided to make a mockumentary about my experiences in marching band that fall. Somehow I convinced my good-natured band teacher, Mr. Moore, to let me film all kinds of footage during my down time and then show the finished film during class at the end of the semester. When I was looking for an opening credits song, my dad half-jokingly suggested the Paul McCartney & Wings song “Band on the Run” from their hit 1973 album of the same name. Though the song alludes to a band of criminals on the run, I liked the idea of interpreting it as an ode to marching band members running around a football field. I was hooked immediately by its dramatic yet playful structure. Twelve years and one music degree later, Band on the Run has become one my favorite albums, never failing to delight and surprise me with its ever-changing sound and occasionally kooky lyrics.

Two of the Beatles ’ most famous songs will finally be included on Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club when the album is re-issued on June 1 to mark 50 years since its release. Despite being written specifically for their eighth studio album, record label EMI chose to put out Strawberry Fields Forever and Penny Lane as a double A side single. Fans were furious it never made the final collection. Regarded as one of the best albums of all time, Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club won four Grammy awards, including making history as the first rock collection to be named Album Of The Year.

Entering to the strains of Billy J. Kramer’s version of Lennon & McCartney’s Do You Want to Know a Secret; actor Ian Sexon takes the audience on a blisteringly paced account of the life of Neil Aspinall. A man at the very heart of The Beatles’ story, a man who shared their brightest and darkest moments, a man, who, unlike almost everyone else associated with the group, took his secrets to the grave. Aspinall went from school pal of Paul McCartney and George Harrison to trainee accountant to first ever roadie, driving his beat-up Commer van the length of the country, to CEO of Apple Corps, The Beatles’ global business conglomerate. Notably, in helping to sustain The Beatles’ legacy, it was Aspinall who masterminded the creation of the world-wide, best-selling, Beatles Anthology documentary, three-volume double album and book.

For this week's CL cover story, "Mammal Gallery braces for an unwritten future," Richard Miller relived the moment former Beatles singer and bass player Paul McCartney wandered into his South Broad drugstore. Here is his story. "He was here at the Merchandise Mart watching his daughter Stella sell some of her wears. She made dishes and such, and he was here with his son James watching. They got bored and wanted to go check out 'the funky side of town' — Little Five Points. He got into a limousine with his son James, and he must've told the driver, 'Take us to Five Points,' which is just a block from the drugstore. So the limousine driver pulled up in front of the store because the next block is not available for cars. Paul got out of the limousine and saw a display for a product we carry called Run Devil Run in our window and said, 'Oh, that’s a cool thing, let’s go in and see what it’s all about.'

Ron Howard’s 2016 documentary The Beatles: Eight Days a Week offered an unprecedented look at the group’s touring years from 1963 through 1966. Among the many rare snippets was color footage recorded at a November 20, 1963, date at the ABC Cinema in Manchester, England. That clip is a Beatles fan’s dream. High-quality color footage of the group from before its February 1964 arrival in the U.S. is hard to come by. What’s readily available is mostly in black and white and often has poor audio quality.

Nearly 15 years after his death, the legacy of George Harrison and his fellow Beatles continues to reveal itself. At the moment, it's in the form of a rare black-and-white photograph in the hands of Olivia Harrison, wife of the late singer-guitarist: It shows the early Beatles posing with their instruments in a barren stretch of Liverpool, England, dressed in matching suits but still looking tough behind their smiles. "Look at the tones in John's face," Olivia says, marveling at the image of a young John Lennon. She is sitting with family friend Nicholas Roylance, publisher at U.K.-based Genesis Publications, who hands her a batch of smaller pictures of George, capturing him as both a Beatle and solo artist. "Where did that come from?" Olivia says, examining one of the pictures. "That's super cute."