Sticky Post
Recently a new book about Paul "Paul McCartney: A life" was released. Today I found an interesting interview with the author, Peter Carlin, where he talks a lot about Paul and John.
( The guy is like a duck: when he bonds, he bonds for life. Or what he thinks will be life. )
SIR PAUL McCARTNEY admits THE BEATLES weren't much cop when they first formed.
Realising they sounded average at best, Macca wasn't surprised in 1962 when record label Decca refused to sign the band - who went on to become the biggest of all time.
In an interview with Xfm's IAN CAMFIELD, he said: "We obviously weren't that good. We were formulating it all.
"You wouldn't have thought we were that great. You'd have turned us down if you were a record company. And they did - Decca turned us down!"
Soon after Decca snubbed the Fab Four, producer GEORGE MARTIN signed them to EMI's Parlophone label and the band - prior to sticksman RINGO STARR's arrival - went on to play a 48-night residency in a Hamburg, Germany, club.
It was during this formative era that they honed their sound and learned the art of wowing crowds.
Macca said: "When we first went to Hamburg, and there'd be no-one in the club.
"You'd see a couple of students, maybe a guy and his girlfriend, and they'd look in a bit tentatively, look up at the price of the beer, see it was too much and start walking out.
"So we'd go, 'Come on, everybody, get back in here! It's all happening!'
"So we'd learned to attract an audience. After a few weeks, we'd be really packing those clubs.
"It taught us that game of how to win over an audience.
"We learned loads of songs, so by the time we got back to England, we had quite a big repertoire.
Having played packed stadiums in The Beatles, WINGS and as a solo artist since the 60s, Macca says nothing beats the adrenaline rush of playing in a little pub.
So much so, he's often tempted to bash out a few songs down the local boozer when he's on a break.
"I've never felt bored, I've never felt like staying at home," he added.
"I always said, if I wasn't allowed to do it, it'd be my hobby.
"I'd show up at some pub, saying, S'cuse me, can I play? I'd love to do that.
"Those are some of my happiest memories, being there among a group of people and having someone buy you a beer."
You can listen to the entire interview on Ian Camfield's Xfm Breakfast Show, week beginning November 16
Source
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They learned in Hamburg...I like that!!
And I would really love to see him bash out a few songs down the local boozer when he's on a break....that reminds me of that trip he made with Tony Bramwell (and Martha), when they stopped in a small town and he played some songs in the pub with the people. I wish I could have been there!
Astrid
Here are some interesting memories by Geoff Emerick, the engineer (written down by someone who talked to him some time ago.....)
They always said it wasn't Yoko who broke the band....it wasn't her, but I am sure the fact that she was in the studio, had even a micro to comment on songs (!!!) and didn't give John the space he needed (but did not ask for of course) was the final bang on the head (Maxwell's hammer, yeah!) for the Beatles.
Astrid
Astrid
Yes I believe in the concept of a soulmate. I believe that you can have more than one soulmate, maybe one of your own gender and two of the opposite. Four soulmates make a whole soul in my imagination, containing both male and female parts. But I won't insist on four, you can pick how many you think are necessary for you.
I met two already...my husband and my best female friend. We are bound in many ways, not only in love or friendship. Sometimes we even know what the other thinks, sometimes we do the same thing although we are far away from each other. My friend, who lives an hour away from me, cut her hair a day after mine without knowing it and it looked exactly the same. Then I dyed my hair...and when she did it some days later we had the same color although we hadn't talked about it.
No, I never worried that the one got away....I knew that I will meet him or her.
The most fantastic soulmates for me btw are John Lennon and Paul McCartney. There wasn't an inch of daylight between them, so close were they.
Astrid
- Location:home
- Mood:
pissed off - Music:The Beatles-Revolution
And here he is with Walter and Achmed on Jay Leno...fantastic!
Astrid
Lucy O'Donnell was a childhood friend of John Lennon's son Julian, and the song title was inspired by a picture that he had drawn of her at school.
"That's Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," Julian explained to his father when he took the picture home.
Many fans believed that the classic 1967 hit, recorded for the "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album, was a thinly disguised paean of praise for the hallucinogenic drug LSD.
But O'Donnell, a housewife whose married name was Vodden, revealed two years ago that she had in fact been the source.
"I remember Julian and I both doing pictures on a double-sided easel, throwing paint at each other, much to the horror of the classroom attendant," O'Donnell told BBC radio in 2007.
"Julian had painted a picture and on that particular day his father turned up with the chauffeur to pick him up from school."
The St Thomas' Lupus Trust charity said O'Donnell had died aged 46 after losing a fight against the autoimmune disease lupus.
It said Julian and his mother Cynthia, Lennon's first wife, were "shocked and saddened by the loss of Lucy."
"It's so sad that she had finally lost the battle she fought so bravely for so long," said Angie Davidson, the Trust's campaign director.
Source
Lucy Vodden
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Now she is really in the sky with diamonds.
Is it strange that on my mp3 "Lucy in the Sky with diamonds" was followed by "Shine on you crazy diamond" by Pink Floyd???
Astrid
- Mood:
amused
( Interview )
- Mood:
curious
Paul McCartney's speech at John Lennon's induction into the Rock Hall of Fame
Paul McCartney gave this emotional and heartfelt speech on Jan. 19, 1994 at ceremonies inducting John into the
Dear John,
‘I remember when we first met, at Woolton, at the village fete. It was a beautiful summer day and I walked in there and saw you on stage. And you were singing "Come Go With Me," by the Dell Vikings, But you didn't know the words so you made them up. "Come go with me to the penitentiary." It's not in the lyrics.
I remember writing our first songs together. We used to go to my house, my Dad's home, and we used to smoke Ty-Phoo tea with the pipe my dad kept in a drawer. It didn't do much for us but it got us on the road.
We wanted to be famous.
I remember the visits to your mum's house. Julia was a very handsome woman, very beautiful woman. She had long, red hair and she played a ukulele. I'd never seen a woman that could do that. And I remember to having to tell you the guitar chords because you used to play the ukulele chords.
And then on your 21st birthday you got 100 pounds off one of your rich relatives up in Edinburgh, so we decided we'd go to Spain. So we hitch-hiked out of Liverpool, got as far as Paris, and decided to stop there, for a week. And eventually got our haircut, by a fellow named Jurgen, and that ended up being the "Beatle haircut."
I remember introducing you to my mate George, my schoolmate, and getting him into the band by playing "Raunchy" on the top deck of a bus. You were impressed. And we met Ringo who'd been working the whole season at Butlin's camp - he was a seasoned professional - but the beard had to go, and it did.
Later on we got a gig at the Cavern Club in Liverpool which was officially a blues club. We didn't really know any blues numbers. We loved the blues but we didn't know any blues numbers, so we had announcements like "Ladies and gentlemen, this is a great Big Bill Broonzy number called "Wake Up Little Suzie." And they kept passing up little notes- "This is not the blues, this is not the blues. This is pop." But we kept going.
And then we ended up touring. It was a bloke called Larry Parnes who gave us our first tour. I remember we all changed names for that tour. I changed mine to Paul Ramon, George became Carl Harrison and, although people think you didn't really change your name, I seem to remember you were Long John Silver for the duration of that tour.
(Bang goes another myth.)
We got to Hamburg and met the likes of Little Richard, Gene Vincent...I remember Little Richard inviting us back to his hotel. He was looking at Ringo's ring and said, "I love that ring." He said, "I've got a ring like that. I could give you a ring like that." So we all went back to the hotel with him. (We never got a ring.)
We went back with Gene Vincent to his hotel room once. It was all going fine until he reached in his bedside drawer and pulled out a gun. We' said "Er, we've got to go, Gene, we've got to go..." We got out quick!
And then came the USA -- New York City -- where we met up with Phil Spector, the Ronettes, Supremes, our heroes, our heroines. And then later in L.A., we met up with Elvis Presley for one great evening. We saw the boy on his home territory. He was the first person I ever saw with a remote control on a TV. Boy! He was a hero, man.
And then later, Ed Sullivan. We'd wanted to be famous, now we were getting really famous. I mean imagine meeting Mitzi Gaynor in Miami!
Later, after that, recording at Abbey Road. I still remember doing "Love Me Do." You officially had the vocal "love me do" but because you played the harmonica, George Martin suddenly said in the middle is the session, "Will Paul sing the line "love me do?", the crucial line. I can still hear it to this day - you would go "Whaaa whaa," and I'd go "loove me doo-oo." Nerves, man.
I remember doing the vocal to "Kansas City" -- well I couldn't quite get it, because it's hard to do that stuff. You know, screaming out the top of your head. You came down from the control room and took me to one side and said "You can do it, you've just got to scream, you can do it." So, thank you. Thank you for that. I did it.
I remember writing "A Day in the Life" with you, and the little look we gave each other when we wrote the line "I'dlove to turn you on." We kinda knew what we were doing, you know. A sneaky little look.
After that there was this girl called Yoko. Yoko Ono. She showed up at my house one day. It was John Cage's birthday and she said she wanted to get hold of manuscripts of various composers to give to him, and she wanted one from me and you. So I said," Well it's ok by me. but you'll have to go to John."
And she did...
After that I set up a couple of Brennell recording machines we used to have and you stayed up all night and recorded "Two Virgins." But you took the cover yourselves -- nothing to do with me.
And then, after that there were the phone calls to you. The joy for me after all the business shit that we'd gone through was that we were actually getting back together and communicating once again. And the joy as you told me about how you were baking bread now. And how you were playing with your little baby, Sean. That was great for me because it gave me something to hold on to.
So now, years on, here we are. All these people. Here we are, assembled, to thank you for everything that you mean to all of us.
This letter comes with love, from your friend Paul.
John Lennon, you've made it. Tonight you are in the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame.’
God bless you.
Paul
Here is the video, a crappy version, but apparently it seems to be the only one at the moment. Anyroad, it isn't the full video, but it is at least a bit more than I got before.... I uploaded it to MyVideo.
http://www.myvideo.de/watch/6937853/Rock
Astrid
- Mood:
bouncy
groggyBeatles artists return to Liverpool - the city where it all began
THEIR lives were intertwined with the rise of The Beatles and now the two famous figures have returned to Liverpool to meet fans and talk about life with a legend.
Photographer Astrid Kirchherr, who captured iconic images of the fledgling band in their Hamburg days and was the fiancée of original member Stuart Sutcliffe, and artist Klaus Voorman made appearances at the Hard Days Night hotel over the weekend.
Voorman is best known to Beatles fans as the man responsible for designing the cover of the Revolver album, a friend and confidante of the Fab Four whose musical and artistic abilities have firmly ensconced him in pop history.
A former member of Manfred Mann and the Plastic Ono Band, he has featured on solo albums by every Beatle except Sir Paul McCartney.
He met the Beatles in their breakthrough days in Hamburg, and first came to Liverpool following the death of close friend Stuart Sutcliffe.
The Beatles’ nostalgia scene isn’t usually his style, he will admit.
It is only his second visit to the Mathew Street Festival.
He prefers to visit the city on his own terms.
The iconic, garish images of the Sgt Pepper or Moptop eras that are inescapable in our surroundings, mean little to a man who knew the band so up close and personally.
But what he can do is use the platform to promote his latest project, which he knows will appeal to Beatles’ fans as much as he would like to present it to them.
On Saturday, he met fans at the Hard Days Night Hotel in North John Street in the city centre and yesterday he presented a video session and talk about his box set project, A Sideman’s Journey, at the Adelphi.
It a collaboration between the musician and some of his closest musical friends, including Sir Paul and Ringo Starr, and a charity project in aid of the Lakota Indians in the US.
He said: “I turned 70 in 2008 and that’s when my wife said ‘why don’t you visit all your old friends and do something’.
“I was very hesitant, but from that first phone call it became much easier.
“Everyone wanted to be part of it.”
This afternoon, he will unveil a new artwork commissioned for the Hard Days Night Hotel.
It’s a coup for the venue, which also has original prints by Astrid Kirchherr on display in its adjoining shop.
Voorman’s work was originally commissioned for Capital of Culture Year 2008.
Of the piece, he said: “To me, it was natural.
“I wanted to try and show the inspiration of the Beatles, the people who put them on the road and started them off.
“I wanted to show them when they were really young, like Georgie when he was 14 or 15, to show people how it really started.
“When people see it, hopefully they will agree it is impressive.”
And although the Mathew Street Festival celebrations are perhaps too flamboyant for the understated artist and musician, the city itself has always been close to his heart.
He said:“I first came to Liverpool when Stuart died, and I loved it, just loved it.
“There is something very special about people here – they’re quick, they’re funny, they’re nice… I have been all over the place and never seen a place with such a bunch of nice people. And I think that was something the rest of the world saw when the Beatles came out, so cocky and fresh.”
Source: http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/live
- Mood:
happy
BEATLES? WE WERE NOWEHERE MAN
Sunday August 30,2009
JOHN LENNON has gone down in history as one of the most successful songwriters of modern times. Yet right up to his death he wanted to scrap the recordings he had made with The Beatles and start all over again.
According to the band’s producer Sir George Martin, Lennon always felt their records fell short of the musical vision he had in his head.
“John always thought in his mind that the music was there and the reality never pleased him,” revealed Sir George.
“It was so much better in his head. I don’t think he was ever satisfied and in fact we were having a chat one night just before he died and he said, ‘You know George if I could I would record everything again that we did.’
“I groaned and I said, ‘You can’t be serious?’ I said, ‘We did some great stuff, John,’ and he said, ‘No, it could be better’. I said, ‘What about Strawberry Fields Forever? And he looked at me, lowered his glasses and said, ‘Especially Strawberry Fields’. So I thought, ‘Oh God’.”
In BBC Radio 2’s The Record Producers, Sir George, 83, who came from a classical music background, says he was initially unimpressed with The Beatles’ musical abilities when they went into the studio for a test session in June 1962.
“They did things like Over The Rainbow... and they threw in a few of their own which weren’t spectacular. The best of the bunch was Love Me Do.
“But what turned me on was the guys themselves because they had this great charisma. They made me laugh and they made me feel good to be with them. They had that quality where you feel rewarded by their presence and when they leave you, you feel as though you’ve lost a little.
“I thought if they have charmed the pants off me what will they do in front of a big audience? On the strength of that I gave them a lousy contract.”
The collaboration of Sir George and The Beatles went on to bring us some of the most memorable music of the Sixties, including songs such as Eleanor Rigby, Yesterday and She Loves You.
The programme will give listeners the first chance to hear a newly restored version of Please Please Me one of the Beatles classics that EMI have recreated from the original master tapes using sophisticated software. The remastered Beatles albums are due for release next month.
The Record Producers – Sir George Martin is on BBC Radio 2 tomorrow at 7pm.
found here: http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/1238Is anyone able to listen to BBC Radio 2 today? And.....even more, is anyone able to record that??
I would be forever grateful!
Astrid
- Mood:
giggly
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