While The Beatles are famous for their music and creative lyrics, they were adept at placing obscure references and meanings within their songs.
Sometimes this subterfuge would be right in front of the listener without the audience even realizing it.
The Beatles most famous use of “hiding” a lyric is Continue reading
It would be a stretch to say the Beatles are underrated considering they pushed the boundaries of rock ‘n’ roll to new levels. But to listen to how incredibly good they were as singers and at group harmonies when you listen to the vocals only, is pretty amazing.
As we did previously with other rock bands here are 6 songs by The Beatles with isolated vocal tracks.
First is the song that would catapult the Beatles to superstardom in the USA, I Want To Hold Your Hand from 1963.
I’m Looking Through You from 1965 is about Continue reading
Ringo & Sellers At A Party
Peter Sellers and Beatle drummer Ringo Starr are seen playing roulette at a party at Les Ambassadeurs in London. The party was to celebrate the completion of the film “The Magic Christian” in which they co-star. Among other guests at the party were Beatle John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono who have just bought a 72 acre estate and mansion at Tittenhurst Park, near Ascot, Berks. photo:Syndication International (Daily Mirror) May 5, 1969
One does not necessarily associate Peter Sellers with The Beatles. But strange casting for a strange film brought the two stars of different genres together. Continue reading
As pointed out here previously, Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be used in amusing ways. There is another version of this on youtube that is musically virtually the same note for note. But Continue reading
Mae Today
One of Mae West’s most noted successes – a role with which she is now a bit bored – is as a high-living lady in “Diamond Lil”. The play is still being revived. In a New York dressing room in 1949, Miss West puts on some “prop” diamonds – valued at $2,000 – which she wears in the play. photo: Wide World Photos 8/4/1952
Mae West remained in the public eye for decades. First in vaudeville, then the legitimate stage, followed by movies and radio. Topping off her stardom, there were whispers and rumors throughout her career that Mae West was not actually a woman. Continue reading
Which One Is The Beatle?
Ringo Starr, one of the Beatles, puts a cigarette into mouth of his wax likeness during unveiling at Madame Tussaud’s Waxworks in London today. The museum now feature the Beatles among its replicas of well-known people. photo: AP April 29, 1964.
The Beatles wax figures at Madame Tussaud’s were the first rock band effigies to be displayed at the museum.
In 1967 the figures were lent out for Peter Blake’s photo session used on the cover of the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band. Continue reading
The Beatles John Lennon playing guitar and singing in studio c. 1964 photo London Features International
If you were born after 1980, you did not know John Lennon. You couldn’t have, as today marks the 40th anniversary of his death. Continue reading
If you search on YouTube you will find many videos of Beatles covers done by hundreds of artists. I think these guys are among the best.
Twin brothers, songwriters, singers, and guitarists Amiri and Rahiem Taylor from Rockaway Beach, NY, make up the nucleus of Blac Rabbit. The brothers have been featured on the Ellen TV show.
Here the duo play at the Mall in Central Park on September 4, 2020.
While videotaping I was flabbergasted that no one stopped to listen. People kept walking by Continue reading
The Beatles decided to use this photograph for their Yesterday and Today album cover.
The four normally squeaky clean Beatles had dressed in smocks resembling butcher’s garb with dismembered dolls and pieces of meat dripping crimson. It was supposed to be a bit of fun. The Beatles “Butcher cover” ended up a big fiasco.
Maybe today this cover would not even raise an eyebrow. But in 1966 this album cover shocked the music industry.
Billboard Magazine June 25, 1966
‘Salesman of the various Capitol records Distributing Corp’s branches are recuperating from a busy weekend spent stripping the latest Beatles album, “The Beatles Yesterday And Today’.
Some 750,000 albums, which were pressed, packaged and shipped to the factory branches, have been recalled for repackaging. Reason for the recall is the cover art, which shows the Beatles in white smocks surrounded by what appears to be dismembered baby dolls and butcher shop cuts of meat.According to some reliable reports, none of these albums have reached dealer shelves, although some have been received by reviewers and rack jobbers. Capitol has a new cover printed, showing four nearly neatly dressed Beatles inside and draped around a trunk.
Alan W. Livingstone, president of Capitol Records, explained the cover recall: “The original cover in England was intended as ‘pop art satire’. However, a sampling of public opinion in the United States indicates that the cover design is subject to interpretation. For this reason, and to avoid any possible controversy, or undeserved harm to the Beatles’ image or reputation, Capitol has chosen to withdraw the LP and substitute a more generally acceptable design.
Meanwhile, Capitol is making a painstaking effort to recall the covers to make sure they are destroyed. Reviewers are requested to return the cover to Capitol, and dealers who have received streamers are asked to hold them until a salesman calls.
The butcher cover was and still is one of the most controversial record covers ever produced. So what is the story behind it?
Photographer Robert Whitaker had worked with the Beatles previously so he was no stranger to having them before his lens.
On March 25, 1966 Whitaker took a series of promotional photographs of the Beatles. Instead of the typical boring shoot, Whitaker had the Beatles doing wacky things with props in unconventional poses.
Whitaker posed the band holding sausages. George Harrison had his head placed in a birdcage. Continue reading
Feb 7, 1964 – The Beatles Leave London For New York – The Beatles singing group is shown at London airport this morning prior to departing for appearances in New York. From left are Ringo Starr, George Harrison, Paul McCartney and John Lennon. AP wirephoto via cable from London
Our headline (thank you, Sgt. Pepper) points out that remarkably it has been 55 years, not 20 years ago today that the Beatles left London for New York City. The British Invasion was underway. The world would never be the same, not just musically, but in fashion and pop culture.
If you want to get a sense of what Beatlemania was like when the Fab Four first arrived in New York, there is a forgotten little film Continue reading
