Beatles FAQ

The best-known interpretation of a Beatles song was performed sensationally at Woodstock in 1969. On Sgt. Pepper With a Little Help From My Friends is a charming sing-along, ideally suited to Ringo's vocal range.  Joe Cocker takes it to a different place. Paul's opinion Paying tribute to the late Sheffield singer, Paul McCartney said:   I remember him and [producer]  Denny Cordell  coming round to the studio and  Saville Row  and playing me what they recorded. It was just mind-blowing. He totally turned the song into a soul anthem, and I was forever grateful to him for doing that."

Photo by Saubhagya gandharv on Unsplash George Harrison’s first serious attempt at an ‘Indian’ composition had the unpromising working title of “Granny Smith”. George revealed his 'difficulty with words' in an interview with Maureen Cleave for the London Evening Standard in February 1966. Beautiful Words? He wishes he could write fine songs like Lennon and McCartney do, but he has difficulty with the words. “Pattie keeps asking me to write more beautiful words,” he said. He played his newest composition… ’Love me while you can: before I’m a dead old man…’ George was aware that these words were not beautiful. Evening Standard readers may have had the impression that “Love You To” was a love song celebrating George’s recent marriage to new Pattie (Boyd). The couple had, after all, just returned from a honeymoon in the (then) impossibly glamorous Barbados. Perhaps more pertinent, however, was another Maureen Cleave’s observation from the same interview. Indian music and culture,...

Pete Best was The Beatles' drummer from August 1960 until August 1962. He was with them in Hamburg and at their first Abbey Road recording session.  Best also played an important role in establishing The Beatles' popularity in Hamburg and Liverpool, but had a slightly distant relationship with the others. By the summer of 1962, the other Beatles were plotting against him. Using the pretext that George Martin had rejected his drumming as substandard, they approached Ringo Starr, an old friend of the band from Hamburg. Read the full story behind the sacking of Best (free on Medium 6 mins)

  At Abbey Road, George Harrison had a reputation for taking a long time to write songs. The biggest issue was completing lyrics with 'beautiful words'.

The first meeting between The Beatles and Bob Dylan took place in a room at the Delmonico Hotel in New York on Friday, 28 August 1964.

  “We’ve just come across... the most weird song.  I’ve no recollection of ever recording it.” George Harrison Anthology

  I play guitar: A, D, E./  I don't play bass cause that's too hard for me./  I play the piano if it's in C .  From Early 1970

I could never see the difference between a beautiful melody and a cool rock ’n’ roll song. I learned to love all the ballady {sic} stuff through my dad and relatives,  Paul McCartney

Basically, it was our stage show, with some new [original] songs.  Paul McCartney