Displaying items by tag: John Lennon Paul McCartney George Harrison Ringo Starr

1. The last time all four Beatles were in the studio at the same time working on a song was when they were recording “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” from Abbey Road, recorded on August 20, 1969.

2. While everyone knows that Lennon & McCartney were the primary songwriting duo, there is actually one Beatle song credited to Lennon & Harrison. It’s a pure instrumental called “Cry for a Shadow,” recorded in 1962 in Hamburg, Germany, during sessions the boys cut backing up Tony Sheridan. It was finally released on the Beatles Anthology I set in 1995. It was one of the only official recordings featuring Pete Best on drums.

3. On the cover their Help! Album, people think the lads are spelling out “Help” in semaphore, but actually, the flags spell our ‘N-U-J-V.” (You’ll also notice that Capitol Records changed the position of the Beatles so they’re spelling out “N-V-U-J” in the States.)

4. The first Beatle to perform in America was George Harrison. His sister married an American and settled in Illinois. George came to visit her long before Beatlemania took hold and performed a few times with local Illinois bands.

Lots of bands have logos. Chicago made a recording career out of spinning endless variations of their logo into album covers. But the oldest and certainly most iconic is the Beatles logo – the one with what is known as the “Drop-T” design. But who the heck created it?

The Beatles original logo was a somewhat uninspired affair that played on the insect-like nature of their name. And as he did with so much of the Beatles physical look, it was manager Brian Epstein who brought about the change in the boys’ logo.

In 1963 as the band was starting to really take off in the UK, Epstein called on local Liverpool music retailer Ivor Arbiter to obtain a better drum kit for Ringo. He also asked Arbiter if he had any ideas for a revised logo for the group. Arbiter quickly sketched out the design we all know so well.

How much was Ivor paid for the design? Five pounds (or $6.50 American).

But Arbiter had one other condition. The Beatles had to leave the Ludwig logo on the bass drum. That little move probably netted the Ludwig drum company millions in the years that followed.

And now you know the story of a little piece of artwork that will outlive us all!

1967: Paul McCartney boards a flight from the U.S. back to London. Once in the air, he gets an idea. By the time his plane touches down, he’s written “Magical Mystery Tour” and come up with an outline for the eventual made-for-TV film.

1966: In a photo session, the Beatles pose in butcher’s smocks with dismembered doll parts and pieces of meat. The lads decide to use that photo as the cover for an American album called “Yesterday… And Today.”

For the boys, it’s a cheeky commentary on what their American label, Capitol Records, did to their British albums, cutting them up, omitting some songs, adding other tracks never intended for a particular album and changing the playing order of other songs.

American parents are horrified when the album hits the stores. Capitol pulls the album. It replaces the photo with a more sedate shot of the group sitting in and around a steamer trunk.

However, many of the original “butcher covers” were simply pasted over with the new photo, creating a collector’s item that is still highly sought after today.

1967: The Beatles are in the studio today recording one of their legendary Christmas records. These records were sent to members of the Beatles Fan Club from the years 1963 until 1969 with an LP compilation of the previous 7 going out in 1970, the year the band dissolved. They featured spoken messages, snippets of specially composed music and lots of general Beatles tomfoolery.

Today, they are among the most sought after Beatles collectibles and have never been reissued officially to the general public in any form, although one of the little song snippets, “Christmas Time Is Here Again” did appear on The Beatles Anthology CDs in 1995.

1967: Brian Epstein’s funeral is held in Liverpool. Fearing their appearance would become a media circus, the Beatles do not attend out of respect for the Epstein family’s privacy.