Beatles News
Had he lived, Lennon would have celebrated his 85th birthday on October 9, 2025. Here are five songs written by John Lennon but recorded by other acts.
John Lennon’s body of work is staggeringly impressive. With The Beatles and as a solo artist, he created some of the most enduring music of the rock era. And though it represented a small fraction of his creative output, his work as a writer for (and in one case, with) other artists is worthy of note. In addition to his production credits (for wife Yoko Ono, The Silkie, David Peel and the Lower East Side, Mick Jagger and Harry Nilsson), Lennon composed songs expressly for other artists he admired. Nearly all of that activity took place between his leaving The Beatles in 1969 and the start of his retirement/hiatus in 1975. Had he lived, Lennon would have celebrated his 85th birthday on October 9. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the first of many compilations surveying his solo work – 1975’s Shaved Fish – here are five songs written by John Lennon but recorded by other acts.
“God Save Us” by Bill Elliot & the Elastic Oz Band (single, 1971)
In the years immediately following The Beatles’ breakup, Lennon championed a variety of political and/r social justice causes. One was the London-based underground magazine Oz. The publication had run afoul of obscenity laws in the U.K., and John and Yoko took up their cause. Lennon quickly penned this song with hopes of the single raising money for Oz’s defense. Phil Spector produced the quickie session, which has a flavor not unlike the material on Imagine, and enlisted Bill Elliott of George Harrison protégé band Splinter to record the lead vocal. Sadly, the ad budget to promote the release cost more than the single earned.
Source: Patrick Prince/goldminemag.com
The Beatles had wanted to put on a final performance before they split up.
Though Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr would play out a show on the roof of Abbey Corps Headquarters, the four had spoken of playing a regular, attended show. Lennon would say it’s the reason he had agreed to a television special, which had been scrapped during the making of the band’s final two albums. Harrison would also say he “really wanted to play” but that the opportunity to do so had simply not occurred during their sessions together. McCartney would also suggest a live show was the right time to “light a rocket and really take off for the end” of the band. Plans for a show beyond the rooftop gig never came to be, though it seemed the band were keen on performing together in front of a planned, ticketed audience.
Lennon would say during the Get Back sessions in 1969 that he would have liked to play live with The Beatles again. He said: “I would dig to play onstage, you know? I mean, if it was all… everything was all right and there was no messing and we’re just gonna play onstage.
“You know, that’s why I said yes to the TV show. I didn’t want the hell of doing it, but nobody else wants to go on the stage or do a TV show. You know, that’s what it’s about. Nobody wants to get out there. You know?”
Harrison, Lennon, McCartney, and Glyn Johns would then speak on the possibility of doing the live set and even got as detailed as discussing an order for the songs. Johns would suggest the band needed to find a way to “change from the acoustic numbers to the electric numbers” and that the band would need a “run-through on each number to get the balance set for it”.
Harrison would then say: “No, really, you know, I mean. And also we’ve played… This is the most I’ve ever played by playing every day. And I can just feel myself getting… My fingers getting loose a bit. But really I just want to play. That’s what it was about.”
Even McCartney was up for a show and said it would be a way for The Beatles to “go and have fun with it.” He said: “I think all I wanna do is, like, uh… I probably, you know, having got it together, I probably just wanna go and have fun with it. Rather than just, sort of, finish off exactly as we started.
Source: Ewan Gleadow/cultfollowing.co.uk
English actor James Norton will play Brian Epstein, the influential manager of the Beatles, in the upcoming four-part musical biopic by director Sam Mendes.
He’ll star in “The Beatles — A Four-Film Cinematic Event,” as the unconventional project has been dubbed, alongside Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney, Harrison Dickinson as John Lennon and Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr and Joseph Quinn as George Harrison.
Epstein, a legend among Beatles fans and often considered the band’s fifth member, met the Fab Four in 1961 and helped propel them into a global phenomenon. He was with the group until he died in 1967 from a drug overdose at age 32. (Epstein’s own epic story was immortalized in the 2024 biopic “Midas Man.”)
Sony, the studio behind the films, declined to comment on Norton’s casting, which was first reported by Deadline.
Mendes is making four separate movies, one from each Beatles member’s point of view. All four installments will debut on the big screen in April 2028. The films are expected to intersect to capture the band’s improbable journey from Liverpool to the center of global culture, leading to their 1970 breakup. Given Epstein’s influence, it’s likely that he’ll appear in each of the films.
It’s unclear how other key figures in the Beatles universe will factor into the cinematic quartet. As previously announced, Saoirse Ronan is playing Linda McCartney, “Shogun” star Anna Sawai will portray Yoko Ono, “The White Lotus” breakout Aimee Lou Wood is circling the role of Harrison’s spouse Pattie Boyd and Mia McKenna-Bruce will appear as Starr’s first wife Maureen Starkey.
Norton, 40, recently appeared in another musical biopic, last year’s “Bob Marley: One Love,” as record producer Chris Blackwell. His other credits include Netflix’s limited series “House of Guinness,” “Grantchester,” “Happy Valley” and HBO’s third season of “House of the Dragon.”
Source: Rebecca Rubin/variety.com
The story of how one of The Beatles' biggest ever songs was almost not released under the band's name.
The Beatles were always so much more than the sum of their parts. Despite the delights of John Lennon and Paul McCartney's solo careers (and those of George Harrison and Ringo Starr, too), when the Fab Four were together they genuinely changed the history of popular music and the whole society.
But even when they were together there were moments when individual members of the band were in complete creative control.
That was especially true on The Beatles (aka The White Album), when each corner of the band was frequently off doing their own thing. But there's one much earlier example that really stands out, too. 'Yesterday' is one of the most famous Beatles song that very nearly wasn't a Beatles song. This is why.
Who wrote 'Yesterday'?
Like the vast majority of The Beatles' original songs, 'Yesterday' was credited to Lennon–McCartney. It says it right there on the label.
But we all know that while some of the duo's songs for the Fab Four were true co-writes and many were driven by one of the pair and polished by the other, there were songs that were pretty much or actually entirely written only by either Paul McCartney or John Lennon.
These songs were still credited to the duo, thanks to an agreement they had from their earliest days writing songs together.
So 'Yesterday' was a Lennon–McCartney song, but it was actually written almost entirely by Paul McCartney.
In one interview in 1966, Lennon suggested he'd pitched in a little ("we just held finish off the ribbons 'round it"), but by his Playboy interview in 1980 he said plainly: "That's Paul’s song, and Paul's baby. Well done. Beautiful – and I never wished I'd written it."
There was a little bit of afters, decades later, when Sir Paul tweaked the songwriting credits for The Beatles songs on 2002 Back in the US live album to "Paul McCartney and John Lennon".
Yoko objected, ad a year later he switched it back, and told the Sunday Herald: "I'm happy with the way it is and always has been. Lennon and McCartney is still the rock 'n' roll trademark I'm proud to be a part of – in the order it has always been." Regarding the actual writing, the "official" story goes that Paul McCartney woke one night at the family home of his then-girlfriend Jane Asher at 57 Wimpole Street with the melody for the song in his head.
In those pre-voice note days, he jumped on to the nearby piano and played it out so he wouldn't forget it.
"There wasn't any room for me to keep my records," McCartney said in The Lyrics book of his room at Jane's. "They had to be kept outside on the landing. But somehow I had a piano in there - a small, sawn-off piano that stood by my bed."
That top line was so incredibly, obviously brilliant that Macca was initially convinced that he'd pinched it from somewhere.
As well as friend, singer and pop fan Alma Cogan ("I think she may have thought I was writing it for her," McCartney later recalled), Paul revealed in Hulu doc 3, 2, 1 that he played the melody to George Martin: "George's got a wider knowledge of particularly older songs.
"So I said, 'What's this?' He said, 'I don't know.' I said...it's this melody, y'know, 'cause I can't have written it. There was no conscious effort involved. I just woke up and it was there.'"
Source: Mayer Nissim/goldradio.com
Saoirse Ronan is set to play photographer and musician Linda McCartney in the upcoming Beatles biopic.
The Oscar nominated actress will play alongside Paul Mescal, who takes up the role in the four films, directed by Sam Mendes.
The films are set for simultaneous release, with each film focusing on one of the four band members. Saoirse Ronan is set to play photographer and musician Linda McCartney in the upcoming Beatles biopic.
Linda married Paul in 1969, with the pair going on to have three children together. Born and raised in New York City, Linda was the second of four children to Louise and Lee Eastman. Linda attended Scarsdale High School and then Vermont College, where she obtained an Associate of Arts in 1961.
She majored in Fine Arts at the University of Arizona, where she also developed a fondness for photography. Linda didn’t complete her studies due to the tragic death of her mother in a plane crash in 1962. Linda got her start in photography when she took up a receptionist and editorial assistant gig with Town & Country magazine.
Before Paul, Linda was married to Joseph Melville See Jr. They married in 1962 and divorced three years later in 1965. Their only daughter, Heather, was born in December 1962.
Five years later, Linda met Paul for the first time during a photo job in London. Linda eventually made the move to London with her daughter Heather, with the pair marrying in 1969. It was a devastating time for Beatles fans as Paul was the last of the band members “unattached.” The pair went on to have three children — Mary, Stella and James — with Paul also adopting Heather. Paul is also father to Beatrice McCartney, 21, who he shares with his second wife, Heather Mills.
The children have all forged great careers for themselves with Heather an artist, Mary a photographer and documentarian, Stella a fashion designer and James a musician and songwriter.
Source: Extra ie
Jack Walters is a film and television journalist based in Newcastle, UK. He is a Senior Writer on Screen Rant's New Movies team, and has also published work at Loud & Clear Reviews, Next Best Picture, and ScreenSphere.
Another important casting announcement was recently unveiled for Sam Mendes' four Beatles biopics. Saoirse Ronan will officially play Linda McCartney in the four-movie cinematic event, while Anna Sawai, Aimee Lou Wood, and Mia McKenna-Bruce are reportedly circling the roles of Yoko Ono, Pattie Boyd, and Maureen Starkey, respectively.
Mendes' Beatles films will be released simultaneously in April 2028, with each movie detailing the Beatles' story from a different band member's perspective. This will be a very interesting step forward for the biopic genre, and it crucially means that certain characters will appear multiple times across the movies - so it's even more important that they're accurately cast.
8. Cynthia Lennon - Depending on which era of the Beatles' career these movies take place throughout, Cynthia Lennon will need to be present to some degree. Even if Sam Mendes decides to set his stories after John and Cynthia's breakup, there's no way to write her out of the story entirely without undermining a huge portion of Lennon's background.
7. Brian Epstein - Epstein was with the Beatles long before they were the "Fab Four", and his death had an immeasurable impact on their dynamic towards the end of the '60s. There would never have been "The Beatles" as we know them today without Epstein, so it's inevitable that he'll show up in Mendes' movies in some measure.
Source: Jack Walters/screenrant.com
Before he was known as a writer, producer and one of the world’s foremost fingerstyle guitarists, Laurence Juber spent three years, from 1978 to 1981, as a member of Wings. Prior to that, he had established himself as an in-demand London session guitarist. An invitation to jam with Wings guitarist-bassist Denny Laine soon changed into a life-changing event when Paul and Linda McCartney joined in.
After playing a few blues and reggae tunes, Paul turned to Juber and asked, “What are you doing for the next few years?”
“It was in that nanosecond that everything flashes in front of you,” Juber says. “I had spent my entire teenage years and beyond becoming a studio musician, and then there's Paul McCartney offering me a gig.
“On the one hand, you think, What am I giving up? On the other hand, I was in a place in my life where, if there was going to be a big change, the universe was kind of leading me to it. How could I say no?”
Juber contributed guitar parts to the 1979 Wings album, Back to the Egg — his fire-spitting solo on the punk-rockabilly number “Spin It On” is a particular standout — and he played with Wings on their 19-date U.K. tour that year.
Source: Joe Bosso/guitarplayer.com
Paul McCartney will release "McCartney III" in December, a new collection of stripped-back songs all written, performed and produced by the ex-Beatle, 50 years after his first solo album.
Recorded this year in Sussex in southern England, McCartney III is mostly built from McCartney's live takes on vocals and guitar or piano, overlaying his bass playing and drumming.
It joins two other albums - McCartney and McCartney II - created single-handedly by the 78-year-old at critical times in his life, in 1970 and 1980, when he was seeking a creative rebirth.
"I was living lockdown life on my farm with my family and I would go to my studio every day. I had to do a little bit of work on some film music and that turned into the opening track and then when it was done I thought what will I do next?" said McCartney.
He turned to half-finished fragments he'd created over the years. "Each day I'd start recording with the instrument I wrote the song on and then gradually layer it all up, it was a lot of fun. It was about making music for yourself rather than making music that has to do a job. So, I just did stuff I fancied doing. I had no idea this would end up as an album."
McCartney's most recent album is 2018's Egypt Station, and the musician was still touring last year.
McCartney III is described as offering a vast and intimate range of modes and moods, from soul searching to wistful, from playful to raucous and all points between.
Source: reuters.com
Most of what made The Beatles magical was, of course, the band members themselves. The Fab Four had such a perfect mix of songwriting, performing, and instrumental talent packed into the band. But themselves alone weren’t what made The Beatles so great. Their producers, agents, and occasional collaborators also helped produce some of the Fab Four’s best songs. Let’s take a look at just three very famous Beatles collaborators who made a few noteworthy contributions.
The OG Rolling Stones leader was involved with The Beatles in a few ways. He was around during the process of producing “Yellow Submarine”, but he was also brought into the mix a few years later during sessions for the song “You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)”.
This song was recorded during sessions for Magical Mystery Tour, but the song itself wasn’t released until after Jones’ passing. Specifically, you can hear the tune on the 1970 finale Let It Be. Jones can be heard playing the sax on the song. Considering he was better known as a guitarist, some people may not know that’s him on “You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)”.
Eric Clapton was associated with The Beatles for some time, namely for his friendship with George Harrison. Though, that friendship wasn’t without its serious drama, particularly when it came to the love triangle involving Harrison’s wife (and eventually Clapton’s wife, too), Pattie Boyd. What better way to duke it out over a love affair than to record music in lieu of fisticuffs? Regardless, before things got particularly tumultuous, Clapton offered his guitar skills to the 1968 song, “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”, which was famously written by Harrison.
Source: Em Casalena/americansongwriter.com
When The Beatles first arrived on the international music scene via their introduction to America, they were the good boys of rock ‘n’ roll. Clean-cut, boyishly charismatic, well-behaved, and in line with the societal standards of the time. Many of their contemporaries, such as The Rolling Stones, were not that. For the early years of their career, Paul McCartney and The Beatles held onto that image, and while they never went full “bad-boy”, they did start to drift away from this innocent and respectable image.
3 Nostalgic Songs From the 1970s That Will Bring You Back to Your First Love
There is no way to know if The Beatles did this on purpose. In reality, who cares if they did or didn’t? Nevertheless, The Beatles’ image went from the boys next door to counter-culture figures around 1966. Of course, there was not one thing that marked this transition, but a big one was seemingly when Paul McCartney confessed to taking a psychedelic drug on national television in 1967.
In retrospect, do people care that The Beatles did drugs? No, but given the day in age and their former reputation, it was a huge deal. An enormous deal given that the media of the time sensationalized, scrutinized, and spread it across the world.
Source: Peter Burditt/americansongwriter.com
