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correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 1 | 49 | https://sethrogovoy.substack.com/p/let-it-be-proves-that-george-harrison | en | 'Let It' Be Proves That George Harrison Never Quit the Beatles | https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1200,h_600,c_fill,f_jpg,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcbbf16d2-0843-4dcc-b20f-4a99bbce1f98.heic | https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1200,h_600,c_fill,f_jpg,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcbbf16d2-0843-4dcc-b20f-4a99bbce1f98.heic | [
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"Seth Rogovoy"
] | 2024-05-16T16:05:42+00:00 | Peter Jackson's new restoration of Michael Lindsay-Hogg's original Beatles doc reveals the Fab Four (mostly) happy together -- including George | en | https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F99f9cde4-58ab-4ec8-9936-34cf904f3718%2Ffavicon.ico | https://sethrogovoy.substack.com/p/let-it-be-proves-that-george-harrison | THE BEATLES DOCUMENTARY LET IT BE, released in 1970 and directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, has been given the Peter Jackson treatment. Using state-of-the-art technology in the same way Jackson transformed the dozens of hours of original and mostly unused Lindsay-Hogg footage plus over a hundred hours of audio into the monumental eight-hour, 2021 documentary Get Back, Jackson has gone back and made Lindsay-Hogg’s original film brighter and clearer with crisper sound.
Jackson has not tampered with the original documentary -- which until now has not been widely (or legally) available since its release -- as constructed by Lindsay-Hogg. The new version, currently streaming on Disney+ (there are no plans I know of to make it available for purchase on DVD), plays out the same as the original, whose release in spring 1970 immediately followed upon the news that the Beatles had broken up.
Never intended to be a valedictory, the movie wound up being seen in the context of the crackup of the most popular rock group of all time. Viewers examined the film, which captured the band in rehearsal over a few weeks in January 1969, for hints of dissension. A short exchange between Paul McCartney and George Harrison over their differing approaches to arranging songs in rehearsal, particularly regarding Harrison’s guitar parts, was seized upon as evidence of unrest or dissatisfaction within the group, particularly on Harrison’s part, leading to wholesale overestimation of Harrison’s role in the eventual breakup of the band. Otherwise, Let It Be contained almost nothing that would hint at unrest or dissatisfaction within the group. Rather, the movie presents the Fab Four enjoying making music together even while Lindsay-Hogg’s cameras were rolling, capturing the proceedings for a potential film or TV special.
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PETER JACKSON’S EIGHT-HOUR GET BACK was a phenomenal glimpse inside what made the Beatles tick – and what ticked them off – in January 1969. Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s 80-minute Let It Be quietly captured the foursome as a working band, enjoying jamming with each other on original songs and rock ‘n’ roll and soul classics and collaborating on the writing and arranging of new songs that would eventually find a home on their next two albums, Abbey Road and Let It Be. Harrison-watchers see a George fully committed to working with the group and a group that welcomed his participation and his songwriting and instrumental contributions. The Lindsay-Hogg film shows Harrison working closely with Ringo Starr on the writing of “Octopus’s Garden.” (If I’m not mistaken, in a different take from the one that was included in Get Back). The film gives equal time to all four Beatles, both alone and engaging with each other, devoting their efforts and creativity to making the best possible music. Far from being ignored, Harrison is given plenty of face time in the movie, introducing the group to newly written songs including “I Me Mine” and “For You Blue” – with Lennon contributing lap-steel guitar on the latter – and leading them through the old R&B chestnut by Smokey Robinson, “You Really Got a Hold on Me,” a version of which the Beatles included on their second album. Yoko Ono is indeed glued to John Lennon’s side for most of the rehearsals, but her presence appears to be relatively innocuous.
Viewing the new Let It Be now in context with Peter Jackson’s Get Back, which included lengthier scenes and dialogue that did reveal some occasional frustration among the Fab Four – particularly on the part of Paul McCartney, who expressed unhappiness that the role of rehearsal manager had fallen totally to him – one struggles to understand how the myth developed on the basis of Let It Be that Harrison was so frustrated he quit the band, thereby setting in motion the breakup of the group the following year. First of all, no footage of or reference to Harrison’s five-day hiatus from the rehearsals was included in the original Let It Be. Nor were any scenes included wherein the musicians discuss and debate what the purpose of these sessions were in the first place. As we know from Get Back, there were a handful of ideas about what the group would be working toward that month. Lindsay-Hogg had the wild idea that it would culminate in a concert at a 2,000-seat amphitheater in a Libyan desert. Also bandied about was the possibility of inviting members of the public into a rehearsal room for a live TV broadcast. Different members of the group felt differently about each idea, often changing their minds.
Eventually, they all came around to agreeing to stage an unannounced concert on the roof of the Apple building in downtown London, which served as their business headquarters, clubhouse, and recording studio. Harrison was indeed the last holdout for not going up on the roof (he had just generally been burned out by performing live with the Beatles and preferred they continue working as a studio-only band), but he acceded to the idea after it was clear that the consensus was to perform on the roof. And, as Let It Be shows, once he was in, he was all in, applying himself to the task at hand with the same dedication and devotion he gave to the rehearsal sessions leading up to the rooftop concert. In fact, when the London police arrived on the roof and demanded that the Beatles stop playing, it was Harrison who took it upon himself to not allow the Beatles to be bullied: Let It Be captures him switching on the guitar amplifiers that Beatles assistant Mal Evans had turned off by order of the police.
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WE HAVE LONG KNOWN THAT HARRISON did leave the recording sessions early in January 1969, saying “I’m leaving the band” as he packed up his guitar and left, seemingly without any provocation. Something was eating away at him, and as I discuss in my forthcoming book, Within You Without You: Listening to George Harrison, this something could well have been events in Harrison’s personal life rather than what was happening at Twickenham Studios. This is not to say that Harrison did not experience inner conflicts about what was going down at Twickenham or felt long-suppressed frustrations about his role in the band bubbling up to the surface. In one of several interviews I conducted with Michael Lindsay-Hogg – who was in the room the whole time at Twickenham – for my book, the director pretty much affirms these interpretations of what went down there.
When Harrison said, “I’m leaving the band,” he was being provocative and maybe, perhaps, calling their bluff. The fact, as we can all see when we watch Get Back, is that the rehearsal sessions up to that point were largely meandering and pointless – although, for us as fans and viewers, still a lot of fun. Harrison forced the issue, insisting in ongoing negotiations over the course of the next few days that the band move its efforts to Apple’s own, more intimate and comfortable recording studio (Twickenham was a cavernous, cold barn typically used for making movies) and drop all talk of traveling to North Africa by way of the Queen Mary to perform in the desert. The result once Harrison returned to the fold, as we see in both Get Back and Let It Be, is a foursome newly rededicated to working together (especially with the addition of keyboardist Billy Preston), all together in a room at the same time (which had not been the case since the 1966 sessions for Revolver) rather than working separately on their parts (as was increasingly the practice beginning with Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and especially in the recording of The Beatles, aka The White Album). This was the “getting back” in the song “Get Back” that lent its name to Jackson’s documentary.
It was Harrison’s insistence on focusing on the careful creation of recordings befitting the Beatles, and the decision to once again work with George Martin at the helm as producer (which was not the case for the recording of the songs that wound up on the album Let It Be), that helped steer the Beatles to the recording of what became their final studio album, Abbey Road, often regarded as their greatest success, and an album on which Harrison rose in status to become a full-fledged co-equal to Lennon and McCartney, having written and sung that album’s two best songs, “Something” and “Here Comes the Sun,” songs which to this very day rank at the very top of the list of the most-streamed Beatles songs.
As I write in my book, and as we can see in Get Back and Let It Be, George Harrison never quit the Beatles. The Beatles quit him.
Seth Rogovoy is the author of the forthcoming Within You Without You: Listening to George Harrison, to be published by Oxford University Press on October 1, 2024, and which is currently available for pre-order at your favorite independent bookstores and at all the major online book retailers.
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Roll Call: Founding Members | |||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 3 | 11 | https://www.comedy.co.uk/film/a_hard_days_night/cast_crew/ | en | A Hard Day's Night cast and crew credits | [
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"Cast Crew Credits Casting List Of Actors Writer Director Producer Production Team A Hard Day's Night"
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"British Comedy Guide"
] | null | A credits list of the actors, writers, producers, directors and other cast and crew involved in A Hard Day's Night. | en | British Comedy Guide | https://www.comedy.co.uk/film/a_hard_days_night/cast_crew/ | A Hard Day's Night
1964 film | |||||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 2 | 92 | https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/music-news/fred-armisen-vanessa-bayer-george-harrison-my-sweet-lord-video-1235063353/ | en | Fred Armisen and Vanessa Bayer Lead Star-Studded Music Video for George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord” | [
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"Chris Gardner"
] | 2021-12-15T21:53:18+00:00 | George Harrison's My Sweet Lord music video features Fred Armisen, Mark Hamill, Ringo Star, Taika Waititi, Jon Hamm and Vanessa Bayer. | en | The Hollywood Reporter | https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/music-news/fred-armisen-vanessa-bayer-george-harrison-my-sweet-lord-video-1235063353/ | A parade of stars is making sure that the 50th anniversary of George Harrison‘s solo album All Things Must Pass isn’t passed over without a special tribute. A selection of more than 40 bold-faced names appears in a new music video for the album’s track “My Sweet Lord.”
Directed by Lance Bangs, and executive produced by Dhani Harrison and David Zonshine, the video stars Fred Armisen and Vanessa Bayer as metaphysical special agents who are tasked by the head of a clandestine agency, played by Mark Hamill, to “search for that which can’t be seen.” As they set off on the journey, dozens of agents team up to look high and low for what may have been right in front of them all along. The clip also features Harrison’s wife, Olivia, and son, Dhani, who appear opposite actress Aimee Mullins and actor Rupert Friend.
It’s not the first notice the album has received recently. The 50th-anniversary uber-deluxe edition received a nomination for best boxed or special limited edition package for the upcoming Grammy Awards, set for Jan. 31. | |||||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 1 | 90 | https://www.goldradiouk.com/news/tv-film/george-harrison-monty-python-life-of-brian/ | en | How George Harrison saved Monty Python's Life of Brian film from being axed | https://imgs.goldradiouk.com/images/271930?width=1200&crop=16_9&signature=GWWaIHOhNFddSUnmS13xR5EQrRQ= | https://imgs.goldradiouk.com/images/271930?width=1200&crop=16_9&signature=GWWaIHOhNFddSUnmS13xR5EQrRQ= | [
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"Mayer Nissim"
] | 2023-02-22T09:36:50+00:00 | When EMI Films backed out, The Beatles' George Harrison stepped in and saved the day to rescue Monty Python's Life of Brian. | en | /assets_v4r/gold/img/favicon-16x16.png | Gold | https://www.goldradiouk.com/news/tv-film/george-harrison-monty-python-life-of-brian/ | When EMI Films backed out, a Beatle and Python superfan stepped up to save one of the best British films of all time.
George Harrison was one quarter of The Beatles and a solo rock superstar in his own right.
That would be more than enough to secure anyone's legacy, but The Quiet One also has another major claim to fame: he's the man who saved Monty Python's Life of Brian.
Released in 1979, it was the Python troupe's third film after And Now for Something Completely Different and Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and is rightly hailed as one of the funniest comedies of all time.
Gold's Hall of Fame: George Harrison
But the film almost never got made at all.
After Eric Idle jokingly claimed that the follow up to Holy Grail would be called Jesus Christ – Lust for Glory the idea burbled of actually making a biting satire on organised religion.
Life of Brian doesn't actually mock the real (or textual) Jesus, or his teachings, but instead his a hilarious takedown of the mess of organised religion.
Instead of Jesus, the protagonist is his little-known contemporary Brian Cohen, who is mistaken for the Messiah but really doesn't want to be.
Read more: How The Beatles' George Harrison coined the word "grotty" and deconstructed influencer culture in 1964
Originally titled The Gospel According to St. Brian, the Python team had a first draft of the screenplay ready by Christmas 1976, and the final draft all done-and-dusted by January 1978.
But days before production was due to start, EMI suddenly got cold feet about the whole thing.
Despite Jesus himself not being a target of the gags, were worried about the potentially controversial subject matter, and pulled the rug out from under the whole production just before they were due to fly to Tunisia.
It's believed that late in the day, Chairman of EMI Lord Bernard Delfont finally thought it was worthwhile to perhaps look at the screenplay of the film his company was about to make.
"They pulled out on the Thursday," Terry Gilliam told The Guardian in 2003. "The crew was supposed to be leaving on the Saturday.
"Disastrous. It was because they read the script... finally."
So what do you do when you need about four million dollars in a hurry (around $20m in today's money)?
You go to California, apparently, which is what producer John Goldstone and Python Eric Idle did.
Read more: John Cleese remembers "glorious madness and generosity" of George Harrison for saving Life of Brian
It just so happened that ex-Beatle, Python fan and pal of Eric's, George Harrison was in Hollywood, because of course he was.
Eric got in touch to share his woes, and George calmly assured him that he'd find the money to get the film made.
"I sort of put that out of my head," Idle said years later. "I just didn't believe anybody could actually pay for it. Then eventually he said, 'Look, I'll pay for this. I'm going to set this up'."
Apparently, what happened was that Harrison had spoken to his US business manager Denis O'Brien who urged him to fund the film himself.
But even a Beatle doesn't have a couple of million quid lying around. He had to mortgate his Henley-on-Thames mansion and O’Brien’s London offices.
Goldstone was dumbstruck. "I can't remember whether he'd read the script already or not... it didn't really seem to matter. I just couldn't believe it. I felt... rock 'n' rollers, no sense of reality at all."
Idle agreed that it was "really unheard of" and acknowledged that without the cash "Life of Brian would never have been made".
As John Cleese later told us here at Gold: "Eric couldn’t believe it. He said, 'Why are you doing this?.'
"George said, 'I want to see the movie'. But what an act of generosity and utter, glorious madness."
Shooting got underway on September 16, 1978, and we ended up with a masterpiece of comedy and British filmmaking.
George apparently called his investment "the most expensive cinema ticket ever issued" but while we've not read the contract, we're pretty sure he made his money back.
On a budget of around $4 million, Life of Brian went on to gross over $20 million at the box office.
So – apart from wanting a good movie to watch – just why did George Harrison decide to put a small fortune into a film that had a very real chance of flopping, or being outright banned?
Terry Jones said: "When Eric rang George and asked, 'What can we do?', George said, 'Well, you know, when the Beatles were breaking up, Python kept me sane, really, so I owe you one.'
By way of thanks, Harrison was given a tiny cameo role in the film as owner of the Mount, Mr Papadopoulos.
Mr P shakes hands with Brian (Graham Chapman) in one scene, and has a single word of dialogue in the film – a decidedly Scouse "ullo".
The very much not Scouse Michael Palin later revealed in his diary that he actually had to dub that line in later.
To get Life of Brian off the ground, Harrison and O'Brien formed the production company HandMade Films, which went on to produce or distribute the classic films Time Bandits and Withnail and I.
And as with Life of Brian, it also saved the Bob Hoskins career highlights The Long Good Friday and Mona Lisa when EMI pulled out.
After some less successful films (Shanghai Surprise being one), before closing down in 1991, and eventually re-emerging under new owners later in the decade. | ||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 1 | 86 | https://www.dailynews.com/2024/02/21/sam-mendes-to-direct-four-beatles-movies-one-for-each-member/ | en | Sam Mendes to direct four Beatles movies, one for each member | [
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] | 2024-02-21T00:00:00 | McCartney, Starr and the families of John Lennon and George Harrison have all signed off on the project through the band's Apple Corps. Ltd. Sony Music Publishing controls the rights to the majority of Beatles songs. | en | Daily News | https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/02/21/sam-mendes-to-direct-four-beatles-movies-one-for-each-member/ | By Jake Coyle | Associated Press
NEW YORK — The Beatles are getting the big-screen biopic treatment in not just one film, but a Fab Four of movies that will give each band member their own spotlight — all of which are to be directed by Sam Mendes.
For the first time, the Beatles, long among the stingiest rights granters, are giving full life and music rights to a movie project. Sony Pictures announced Monday a deal that may dwarf all music biopics that have come before it, with the stories of Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr spread out over a quartet of films.
The films, conceived by Mendes, are expected to roll out theatrically in innovative fashion, with the movies potentially coexisting or intersecting in theaters. Precise release plans will be announced at a later date. Sony is targeting 2027 for their release.
McCartney, Starr and the families of John Lennon and George Harrison have all signed off on the project through the band’s Apple Corps. Ltd. Sony Music Publishing controls the rights to the majority of Beatles songs.
“I’m honored to be telling the story of the greatest rock band of all time, and excited to challenge the notion of what constitutes a trip to the movies,” Mendes said in a statement.Each film will be from the perspective of a Beatle.
“We intend this to be a uniquely thrilling, and epic cinematic experience: four films, told from four different perspectives which tell a single story about the most celebrated band of all time,” said producer Pippa Harris. “To have The Beatles’ and Apple Corps’ blessing to do this is an immense privilege.”
The Beatles’ most famous forays into film were in their early years. Between 1964 and 1970, they appeared in five movies, including “A Hard Day’s Night” (1964) and the animated “Yellow Submarine” (1968). They’ve, of course, been the subject of many documentaries, most recently Peter Jackson’s 2021 “The Beatles: Get Back.”
In 2023, the Beatles reunited with the aid of artificial intelligence in the newly released song “Now and Then.” The recording was made possible by technology used by Jackson on “Get Back,” and featured a music video made by the New Zealand director.
Attempts to dramatize the Beatles’ story have been more sporadic and less impactful. A 1979 biopic, made when Lennon was still alive, called “The Birth of the Beatles” was produced with Beatles original drummer Pete Best as an adviser. The 1994 indie drama “Backbeat” chronicled Lennon’s relationship with Stuart Sutcliffe before the Beatles were famous. “Nowhere Boy” (2009) starred Aaron Taylor-Johnson as a teenage Lennon.
But in the last decade, music biopics have become big business. Box-office hits like “Bohemian Rhapsody,””Rocketman” and “Elvis” have sent Hollywood executives chasing the next jukebox blockbuster. Over Presidents Day weekend, “Bob Marley: One Love,” produced with the Marley estate, was the No. 1 movie in theaters. A Michael Jackson biopic is in production.
“Theatrical movie events today must be culturally seismic. Sam’s daring, large-scale idea is that and then some,” said Tom Rothman, chair and chief executive of Sony Pictures’ Motion Picture Group.
The combination of Mendes’ team “with the music and the stories of four young men who changed the world, will rock audiences all over the globe,” Rothman said. “We are deeply grateful to all parties and look forward ourselves to breaking some rules with Sam’s uniquely artistic vision.” | |||||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 3 | 5 | https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-a-hard-days-night-1964 | en | A Hard Day's Night movie review (1964) | [
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] | null | When it opened in September, 1964, "A Hard Day's | en | /assets/fav/apple-touch-icon-57x57-9e12b6d6d15bfb3e86f09c3fc7d58a6f8a2d808cb856df9c1ada23480cda1dae.png | https://www.rogerebert.com/ | https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-a-hard-days-night-1964 | In 1964, what we think of as "The '60s” had not yet really emerged from the embers of the 1950s. Perhaps this was the movie that sounded the first note of the new decade--the opening chord on George Harrison's new 12-string guitar. The film was so influential in its androgynous imagery that untold thousands of young men walked into the theater with short haircuts, and their hair started growing during the movie and didn't get cut again until the 1970s.
It was clear from the outset that "A Hard Day's Night" was in a different category from the rock musicals that had starred Elvis and his imitators. It was smart, it was irreverent, it didn't take itself seriously, and it was shot and edited by Richard Lester in an electrifying black-and-white, semi-documentary style that seemed to follow the boys during a day in their lives. And it was charged with the personalities of the Beatles, whose one-liners dismissed the very process of stardom they were undergoing. “Are you a mod or a rocker?” Ringo is asked at a press conference. “I'm a mocker,” he says.
Musically, the Beatles represented a liberating breakthrough just when the original rock impetus from the 1950s was growing thin. The film is wall to wall with great songs, including "I Should Have Known Better," "Can't Buy Me Love," "I Wanna Be Your Man," "All My Loving," "Happy Just to Dance With You," "She Loves You," and others, including the title song, inspired by a remark dropped by Starr and written overnight by Lennon and McCartney.
The Beatles were obviously not housebroken. The American rock stars who preceded them had been trained by their managers; Presley dutifully answered interview questions like a good boy. The Beatles had a clone look--matching hair and clothes--but they belied it with the individuality of their dialogue, and there was no doubt which one was John, Paul, George and Ringo. The original version of Alun Owen's Oscar-nominated screenplay supplied them with short one-liners (in case they couldn't act), but they were naturals, and new material was written to exploit that. They were the real thing.
The most powerful quality evoked by "A Hard Day's Night" is liberation. The long hair was just the superficial sign of that. An underlying theme is the difficulty establishment types have in getting the Beatles to follow orders. (For "establishment,” read uptight conventional middle-class 1950s values.) Although their manager (Norman Rossington) tries to control them and their TV director (Victor Spinetti) goes berserk because of their improvisations during a live TV broadcast, they act according to the way they feel.
When Ringo grows thoughtful, he wanders away from the studio, and a recording session has to wait until he returns. When the boys are freed from their "job,” they run like children in an open field, and it is possible that scene (during "Can't Buy Me Love”) snowballed into all the love-ins, be-ins and happenings in the park of the later '60s. The notion of doing your own thing lurks within every scene.
When a film is strikingly original, its influence shapes so many others that you sometimes can't see the newness in the first one. Godard's jump cuts in "Breathless" (1960) turned up in every TV ad. Truffaut's freeze frame at the end of "The 400 Blows" (1959) became a cliche. Richard Lester's innovations in "A Hard Day's Night" have become familiar; because the style, the subject and the stars are so suited to one another, the movie hasn't become dated. It's filled with the exhilaration of four musicians who were having fun and creating at the top of their form and knew it.
Movies were tamer in 1964. Big Hollywood productions used crews of 100 people and Mitchell cameras the size of motorcycles. Directors used the traditional grammar of master shot, alternating closeups, insert shots, re-establishing shots, dissolves and fades. Actors were placed in careful compositions. But the cat was already out of the bag; directors like John Cassavetes had started making movies that played like dramas but looked like documentaries. They used light 16mm cameras, hand-held shots, messy compositions that looked like they might have been snatched during moments of real life.
That was the tradition Lester drew on. In 1959 he'd directed "The Running, Jumping and Standing Still Film," starring Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan among others: It was hand-held, anarchic, goofy, and contains the same spirit that infects "A Hard Day's Night." Lester had shot documentaries and TV commercials, could work quick and dirty, and knew he had to, because his budget was $500,000 for "A Hard Day's Night.”
In his opening sequence, which shows the Beatles mobbed at a station as they try to board a train, Lester achieves an incredible energy level: We feel the hysteria of the fans and the excitement of the Beatles, intercut with the title song (the first time movie titles had done that), implying that the songs and the adulation were sides of the same coin. Other scenes borrow the same documentary look; a lot feels improvised, although only a few scenes actually were.
Lester did not invent the techniques used in "A Hard Day's Night," but he brought them together into a grammar so persuasive that he influenced many other films. Today when we watch TV and see quick cutting, hand-held cameras, interviews conducted on the run with moving targets, quickly intercut snatches of dialogue, music under documentary action and all the other trademarks of the modern style, we are looking at the children of "A Hard Day's Night."
The film is so tightly cut, there's hardly a down moment, but even with so many riches, it's easy to pick the best scene: The concert footage as the Beatles sing "She Loves You.” This is one of the most sustained orgasmic sequences in the movies. As the Beatles perform, Lester shows them clearly having a lot of fun--grinning as they sing--and then intercuts them with quick shots of the audience, mostly girls, who scream without pause for the entire length of the song, cry, jump up and down, call out the names of their favorites, and create a frenzy so passionate that it still, after all these years, has the power to excite. (My favorite audience member is the tearful young blond, beside herself with ecstasy, tears running down her cheeks, crying out "George!”)
The innocence of the Beatles and "A Hard Day's Night" was of course not to last. Ahead was the crushing pressure of being the most popular musical group of all time, and the dalliance with the mystic east, and the breakup, and the druggy fallout from the '60s, and the death of John Lennon. The Beatles would go through a long summer, a disillusioned fall, a tragic winter. But, oh, what a lovely springtime. And it's all in a movie. | ||||
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Although the song "A Hard Day's Night" was entirely written in 1964, its origins go back to sometime in 1963. "Ringo would always say grammatically incorrect phrases and we'd all laugh," George Harrison recalls. McCartney concurs, "Ringo would do these little malapropisms; he would say things slightly wrong, like people do, but his were always wonderful, very lyrical, very Lewis Carroll, lovely. They were sort of magic even though he was just getting it wrong."
As to one particular malapropism, Paul continues, "he said after a concert, 'Phew, it's been a hard day's night.' John and I went, 'What? What did you just say?' He said, 'I'm bloody knackered, man, it's been a hard day's night.'" Ringo explains, "I seem to be better now. I used to, while I was saying one thing, have another thing come into my brain and move down fast. Once when we were working all day and then into the night, I came out thinking it was still day and said, 'It's been a hard day,' and looked 'round and noticing it was dark, '...'s night!" In his 2021 book "The Lyrics," Paul supposes Ringo's inspiration for the phrase. "Part of what lies behind this song is, of course, Eugene O'Neill's play 'Long Day's Journey Into Night.' It was playing at the time in London. So, we werre kind of aware of that phrase."
John Lennon liked the phrase so much that he used it in a poem he was writing for his book "In His Own Write." The poem was entitled "Sad Michael," which includes the line, "He'd had a hard day's night that day, for Michael was a Cocky Watchtower." Since the poem was written in late 1963, this dispels the rumor that Ringo came up with the phrase during the shooting of the movie. Lennon himself credits Ringo for the phrase, saying in 1980 "I had used it in 'In His Own Write,' but it was an off-the-cuff remark by Ringo, one of those malapropisms - a Ringoism - said not to be funny, just said."
McCartney continues the story of how it became a title for a song. "We'd almost finished making the film and this fun bit arrived that we'd not known about before, which was naming the film. So we were sitting around at Twickenham Studios having a little brain-storming session; director Dick Lester, us, Walter Shenson, Bud Ornstein and some other people were sitting around trying to come up with something and we said, 'Well, there was something Ringo said the other day...'."
Bud Ornstein was said to have exclaimed, "We just got our title," while Walter Shenson told United Artists, "You're never going to improve on it. It's very provocative. It means nothing and has nothing to do with the film. But it sounds like a Beatles title." Lennon continues the story, "I was going home in the car and Dick Lester...said 'We are going to use that title,' and the next morning I brought in the song." In his book "The Lyrics," McCartney adds: "The title is certainly a commentary on the craziness of our lives. I would say it was predominantly John's commentary on things. But we were all knackered, so it was the perect phrase for our state of being."
In the 1995 documentary "You Can't Do That! The Making Of A Hard Day's Night," producer Walter Shenson recalls his role in the writing of the title song. "I mentioned to John one night that we needed to have another song, one titled 'A Hard Day's Night.' His reaction was to ask what I was talking about. I explained by asking what kind of a producer would I be to have a film called 'A Hard Day's Night' starring the Beatles, and then not have a Beatles song called 'A Hard Day's Night.' I asked him to please write this new song. The next morning, he and Paul called me into their dressing room - we were still shooting - and they played and sang to me their new song, 'A Hard Day's Night.' Now, think about this: I got a hit song on demand! That's almost impossible. And it was one of their biggest hits ever." Shenson also recollected on another occasion how John initially inquired what the lyrics should be, to which he replied, "A hard day's night, I come home to you," which made Lennon respond, "That's terrible!" Although Shenson then stated, "That's why you're the songwriter and I'm the film producer," John ended up using this idea to formulate the lyrics of the song.
April 13th, 1964, appears to be the day that the decision was made to name the film "A Hard Day's Night." Therefore, that evening, John Lennon took it upon himself to write the title track to the movie himself. Since McCartney had slid in his self-penned song "Can't Buy Me Love" as the current #1 Beatles hit around the world, Lennon asserted himself to make sure he got the next one. He scribbled the lyrics on the back of a matchbox cover and went to sleep.
"John said, 'I'll write it,'" Paul continues, "and he did; he came back the next day with it. I think he might not have had all the words. I might have been in on that middle eight. Something like that would only have taken twenty minutes. That would have been plenty of time to run through it." Since McCartney can't quite remember if he really did have a hand in writing the song, it's more than fair to estimate "A Hard Day's Night" as a 90/10 composition in favor of Lennon.
That next day, April 14th, 1964, John propped up the matchbox cover on the dressing-room table as he and Paul premiered the song to Walter Shenson. With his approval, the song was ready for recording. One finishing touch was needed, however, which we'll see below.
Recording History
On April 16th, 1964, a last minute recording session was scheduled at EMI Studio Two for recording the title track for their nearly completed first movie. Three hours was all that was needed, from 10 am to 1 pm. Present on this day, besides producer George Martin and engineers Norman Smith and Geoff Emerick, was journalist and friend Maureen Cleave as well as the film's director Richard Lester.
Maureen Cleave remembers helping them put the finishing touch on the lyrics in the studio on this day. John apparently re-wrote the lyrics on the back of a birthday card meant for his son Julian, which contained the line "But when I get home to you, I find my tiredness is through, and I feel alright." Maureen Cleave told him that she thought "my tiredness is through" was a weak line, so John immediately took out a pen, crossed out the line, and came up with "I find the things that you do will make me feel alright."
Maureen Cleave also emphasizes how new the song was for the group when they entered the studio. "The song seemed to materialize as if by magic," she recalls. "It consisted of John humming to the others, then they would all put their heads together and hum and three hours later they had this record." Other evidence of how unrehearsed they were on this day can be heard by examining take one, which is included on the "Anthology 1" album. McCartney's bass guitar flubs are evidence of his not being sure of the chord changes, as well as his concluding the vocal line on the bridge with the phrase "all through the night, oowh" instead of "tight, tight, yeah" as we're used to hearing. Harrison also performs a very crude guitar solo, which he apparently hadn't had time to work out yet.
Director Richard Lester's presence in the studio, on the other hand, was not strictly for observation purposes. "Usually, the only people in the control room while the band played in the studio down below were George Martin, Norman Smith, and whoever was assigned to be the assistant engineer," explained Geoff Emerick, who was the assistant engineer on that day. "On this morning, however, we were joined by the film's director, Dick Lester, and his presence was definitely not appreciated."
Dick Lester had a definite agenda that day. "Dick kept insisting that something 'blockbuster' was needed for the opening of the film," Geoff Emerick continues, "hence John and George's crashing guitar chord that heralds the first notes of the song. But that wasn't enough for Dick, who kept making one odd suggestion after another. 'Tell them I need it more cinematic,' he shouted to George Martin at one point."
George Martin concurs, "We knew it would open both the film and the soundtrack LP, so we wanted a particularly strong and effective beginning. The strident guitar chord was the perfect launch." On another occasion George commented, "In those days, the beginnings and endings of songs were things I tended to organize. We needed something striking, to be a sudden jerk into the song. It was by chance that (John Lennon) struck the right one. We knew it when we heard it."
Although just what this unique introductory chord consists of has been the subject of much debate, it appears to have been George playing a hybrid F chord on his twelve-string Rickenbacker with unique fingering as follows: 1st set of strings = G on the 3rd fret (pinky), 2nd set of strings = C on the 1st fret (index finger), 3rd set of strings = A on the 2nd fret (middle finger), 4th set of strings = F on the 3rd fret (ring finger), 5th set of strings = C on the 3rd fret (thumb), and 6th set of strings = G on the 3rd fret (thumb also). Paul then plays a low D on his bass while John plays an Fadd9 chord on his six-string acoustic Gibson guitar as an overdub. Also evident on the master tape is a piano, presumably played by George Martin, playing low D and G notes, probably also recorded as an overdub.
Another suggestion by Dick Lester was the song's conclusion. "Lester kept insisting that he needed a 'dreamy' fadeout in order to segue into the movie's first scene," Geoff Emerick explains. Both of Dick Lester's suggestions had to have been made prior to the first attempt at recording the song, since both of these elements (the introduction and conclusion) were attempted on the first take.
As for the actual performance of the group, they were in top form on this day. "I hadn't been on a session with The Beatles for some six months," Geoff Emerick continues, "and I was impressed by how much more professional they had gotten in that relatively short span. Not only was their playing tighter, but they were acting very much like seasoned veterans in the studio, knowing exactly what they were trying to accomplish and getting it done with a minimum of fuss, very much like a well-oiled machine."
This "well-oiled machine" did do its share of sputtering on this day however. Even through to takes six and seven, McCartney still hadn't gotten his bass part down yet, nor had he worked out the bridge vocals or lyrics properly. Since Harrison was having such a hard time with the guitar solo, he stopped performing it altogether with the intention of overdubbing it afterward. Nonetheless, all four Beatles played their usual instruments and sang simultaneously. The practice of putting down a rhythm track without vocals did not become standard practice until the following year.
With John and Paul "brimming with confidence" and Ringo "attacking his drums with a ferocity I hadn't seen or heard before," according to Geoff Emerick, "take nine" was the keeper. Lennon announced that he was satisfied and George Martin agreed. When Dick Lester called for another take, "George Martin was smart enough to keep him well away from the talkback microphone and pretended not to hear his dissent," Geoff Emerick remembers.
Track one of the four-track master tape contained the original rhythm track while track two contained John and Paul's lead vocals. It was now time for overdubs. Track three comprised one elaborate overdub consisting of John double-tracking his lead vocals while playing an acoustic guitar (including the introductory chord), Paul double-tracking his vocal part and Ringo playing bongos during the verses and a cowbell during the bridges.
The last overdub sessions pertained to George Harrison's contributions to the song, which were overdubbed onto track four of the master tape. First to be tackled was his guitar solo. Geoff Emerick explains: "After some discussion about having Paul play the part instead...George Martin finally decided to instead employ the same 'wound-up piano' technique he had done the year previous on the song 'Misery.' I was told to roll the tape at half speed while George went down into the studio and doubled the guitar solo on an out-of-tune upright piano. Both parts had to be played simultaneously because there was only one free track, and it was fascinating watching the two Georges...working side by side in the studio...as they played the rhythmically complex solo in tight unison on their respective instruments." George Martin undoubtedly recorded his piano contribution to the introductory chord at this time as well.
Regarding the "wound-up" technique utilized for the guitar solo, Paul explains it well in his 2021 Hulu documentary series "McCartney 3,2,1": "The great thing about four-track machines is, if you take it down, you take it down by an octave. (We) could always play it an octave lower. That was always a great experiment thing, just with one flick of the wrist. So we used that quite a lot, that feature. On 'A Hard Day's Night,' there's a great guitar solo, half speed, sped up. It's up the octave...you can't hear the effect...(to) get it really accurate. And also, these were the great fun experiments. If George is having trouble, 'ok, wait a minute, let's think!' So George Martin probably said, 'We'll give you...if we took it half speed.' So you can hear that and then it comes back up, and it's got a ringy - it's got a slightly synthetic sound to it. We loved all of that. It was like being professors in a laboratory. We were just discovering all these little things.
After this was done, Harrison then went over the "dreamy" fadeout that Dick Lester suggested. Since he was having trouble performing this during the actual takes, the overdub was performed by slightly slowing down the tape. This then completed the song.
The first mixing session for the song was on April 20th, 1964 with only George Martin, Norman Smith and engineer A.B. Lincoln present. Mono and stereo mixes were completed on this day, intended exclusively for United Artists to release on their soundtrack album.
April 23rd, 1964 saw another mono mix of the song made which was intended for the record release only, not the movie. Only George Martin, Norman Smith and engineer David Lloyd were present on this day.
On June 9th more mix work was done for the song, first for mono tape copying so that two identical tapes of the best mono mixes could be sent to both United Artists and Capitol Records in America for release purposes. Also prepared on this day was an extended mono mix to be used for the film. An edit was performed to extend the ending, and this was sent to United Artists for use in the movie only, not the soundtrack album.
A further stereo mix was needed for release on the British "A Hard Day's Night" album, so this was done with the rest of the tracks on June 22nd, 1964. This session was attended by George Martin, Norman Smith and Geoff Emerick only.
On July 14th, 1964, The Beatles entered Studios B7/S2 of Broadcasting House in London to record a version of "A Hard Day's Night" for BBC radio, this session being produced by Bernie Andrews between 7 and 11 pm. This recording was broadcast on July 16th, 1964 on a brand new BBC evening radio show entitled "Top Gear" between 10 and 11:55 pm. A noticeable edit is heard during the solo section of the song, which was necessary to include the complicated solo section of the song that was edited in from the record. George Martin apparently was scheduled to show up in BBC studios on that day to contribute his piano part but didn't show up. In order to hide the truth, The Beatles do a fade-out at the conclusion of the recording while talking with host Brian Matthew in order to convince the listening audience that they were doing this live, not just playing the record. A second BBC recording of the song was made on July 17th, 1964 at BBC Paris Studio in London between 2:15 and 6:15 pm for the fourth edition of their series "From Us To You," which was produced by Brian Marriott and broadcast on August 3rd between 10 am and 12 noon.
Three more recording sessions were done for the song "A Hard Day's Night," these being live performances at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California. The Beatles performed there three times, on August 23rd, 1964, and on August 29th and 30th, 1965, all of these being recorded on a three-track recording machine for possible inclusion on proposed live albums for those years. The 1964 recording was produced by Capitol vice-president Voyle Gilmore and George Martin and engineered by Hugh Davies, this recording being shelved because of "the technical quality of the tapes," as the press stated at the time. The August 29th, 1965 performance was produced by Karl Engemann and engineered by Hugh Davies, but was also deemed unsuitable because of Paul's amplifier malfunctioning. The August 30th, 1965 recording was much better, this being produced by Voyle Gilmore and engineered by Pete Abbott. On January 18th, 1977, George Martin and engineer Geoff Emerick were given all of the Hollywood Bowl master tapes to finally prepare "The Beatles At Hollywood Bowl," their work on "A Hard Day's Night" and the rest of the 13 songs being complete on January 23rd of that year.
Giles Martin (son of George Martin) and Sam Okell revisited the original master tape of "A Hard Day's Night" in Abbey Road Studios sometime in 2015 to create a new stereo mix, the result appearing on a re-released version of the compilation album "Beatles 1."
Then again in 2023, Giles Martin was given the task of creating a "demix remix" of "A Hard Day's Night" for inclusion on the 50th Anniversary edition of the compilation album "The Beatles / 1962 - 1966" (aka "The Red Album"). With Peter Jackson's AI technology at his disposal, Giles Martin was able to utilize this "new machine-learning techology" so that "individual elements that were put to tape...and were therefore impossible to separate" could be "untangled, allowing Giles to put the original recordings back together with even greater clarity and impact," as stated by John Harris in the liner notes of the above mentioned album. The vibrancy and clarity of the opening chord alone makes this the best stereo mix yet, let alone Ringo's noticeable but well placed bongo performance in the right channel with mostly centered vocals by John and Paul.
Song Structure and Style
"A Hard Day's Night" follows the common structure that the Lennon/ McCartney songwriting team had used thus far, this being the verse/ verse/ bridge/ verse formula (or aaba). With the addition of a quick introduction, a solo section, a repeat of the bridge, a lengthened final verse and a faded conclusion, we have a pattern that has been used many times before, but to good effect.
A noteworthy point to mention is the bluesy melody line and chord pattern that is used on this track. This influence was creeping into their original songs more frequently at this point, as can be heard on both sides of their last single, namely "Can't Buy Me Love" and "You Can't Do That," as well as many of the tracks on their upcoming album, such as "When I Get Home" and "I'll Cry Instead." Not to say that this was new in their arsenal, as traces of a "blues" influence can be heard as early as "One After 909."
The much talked about introduction, the sudden crisp and vibrant opening chord, was described by George Harrison as an "F with a G on top." It is actually a G eleventh suspended fourth. It has also been described as a superimposition of the chords D minor, F major and D major. Either way, it has a "wake me from the dead" surprising urgency that demands attention, which works perfectly in its intended purpose as the introduction to their first film. (See detailed information about this chord in the "Recording History" section above.)
Upon close listening, you'll notice that the introduction, the guitar chord, is exactly two measures long. At the beginning of take seven, Lennon informs the rest of the group that he would "tap toe" the beat after he and George Harrison played the opening chord so that everyone would know exactly when to come in.
After the introduction, we jump headlong into the twelve measure first verse, which is sung primarily by John alone except for the ninth and tenth measures. These two measures feature McCartney singing a high harmony to the clever rising and falling melody line. A second verse is then heard, which is identical except for different lyrics.
The major/minor chord structure of the song now appears as we enter the eight measure bridge. Paul takes over the vocals (sung only because John couldn't reach the higher register) as the chords shift in a similar manner to the bridge on "From Me To You."
We now hear the first verse again. "We would often repeat the first verse," McCartney explains. "The last verse was no problem - 'Two hours is up! C'mon, just put "Repeat 1".' That's how a lot of our songs end, 'Repeat 1'...which was good if it was hooky, it meant that you've heard those lyrics twice, so we'd rammed 'em home, and it saved us having to think of a third verse." Being that the song was written quickly and under pressure, repeating the first verse was economical as well as effective. Because of the extended pattern used in this song, that first verse is actually heard three times in the song, which 'rams home' the title of the song for all to remember.
We now enter into the solo section of the song, which is heard above the twelve measure verse chord structure. George Harrison's precise Rickenbacker 12-string flourishes, coupled with George M George Martin's piano mimicking, repeat themselves twice throughout the first eight measures of this section, while the final four measures show a return of the Lennon / McCartney harmonies heard in the second verse.
After a carbon copy of the bridge is heard, the first verse is repeated for the third time, but this time it is extended three more measures in order to emphasize the final lyric line of the song three times. This practice has also been heard before in The Beatles cannon, such as on "Please Please Me."
We then hear something that is quite uncommon thus far for The Beatles, although it became very common shortly thereafter, this being an actual "fade-out" ending. The conclusion, which was tagged on at director Dick Lester's insistence, comprised a jangling guitar riff played by Harrison on his above mentioned Rickenbacker 12-string. The riff comprises notes from the strident chord heard at the beginning of the song, played in a less commanding but suspenseful fashion. An impressive final touch to a song that demands attention.
Writing a song made-to-order from a 'Ringoism' phrase for the title may have been difficult, especially in regard to not wanting the lyrics to sound forced. "Usually, John and I would sit down and if we thought of something we'd write a song about it," McCartney relates. "It seemed a bit ridiculous writing a song called 'A Hard Day's Night' - it sounded funny at the time, but after a bit we got the idea of saying it had been a hard day's night and we'd been working all the days, and get back to a girl and everything's fine."
You can't help but notice the not-so-subtle sexual references among the lyrics, one of which is the "things" that the girl will do that makes the singer "feel alright." The second verse goes there again, referring to how working hard for his girl is "worth it" when she tells him she's 'gonna give him everything' when he 'gets her alone.' So did the singer have more in mind than "feeling you holding me tight," as the bridge states? "I don't think we were trying to be particularly suggestive with the lyrics," McCartney relates in his book "The Lyrics." "I think we were just young guys."
The lyrics also suggest that Lennon was relating something about his personal life in 1964. After all, when you examine Mark Lewisohn's book "The Complete Beatles Chronicle," you can easily see that their day to day life was indeed a never-ending hectic 'hard day's night.' They truly were 'working like dogs' and being sleep deprived. It probably wasn't a fictional thought that he couldn't wait to get home to his wife Cynthia. And since his hard work with The Beatles was financing the Kenwood twenty-seven room mansion that he would purchase three months later, the lyrics about working "all day...to buy you things" definitely rings true.
Performance-wise, John again is to the fore with his convincing vocal delivery. His rhythm work done with electric guitar during the basic track, coupled with the acoustic guitar performed in an overdub, lays a proficient foundation for the song. McCartney ends up hitting the nail on the head with his double-tracked vocals in the bridge and harmony work in the verses, even though it took him all nine takes to perfect. Equally difficult for Paul were his bass lines which, unusually for him, were also giving him trouble throughout most of the song's takes. Rather than saying he was having an off day, it was probably due to his unfamiliarity with the newly written song.
George Harrison was especially having trouble on this day for the same reason. Engineer Geoff Emerick described George in his book "Here, There And Everywhere" as "even more ham-fisted than usual as he gamely plowed his way through one mediocre guitar solo after another." But with focused attention at the end of the session on that day, he provided what became the impressively elegant touches to the song, namely the quickly paced triplet-based guitar solo (which was doubled by George Martin on piano) and the jangling fade-out riff. This riff, which reportedly inspired The Byrds' Rickenbacker guitar sound used throughout their career, was an alteration between major and minor used as a counterpoint to the major / minor chord pattern used in the song.
Ringo's excited performance remained constant throughout, staying locked onto the open hi-hat sizzle which helped create the "wall of sound" effect heard through the whole song. With only one track open for overdubs, Ringo gamely plays bongos during the verses and then quickly switches to cowbell during the bridges while both John and Paul perform their overdubs at the same time. In regards to Starr's performance, Geoff Emerick recalls, "I remember thinking that Ringo seemed especially "on" that morning, attacking his drums with a ferocity I hadn't seen or heard before."
American Releases
America first got to hear the song "A Hard Day's Night" on the highly anticipated United Artists soundtrack album of the same name, which was rush-released on June 26th, 1964, well ahead of the intended general release of the film in the US on August 12th. Since United Artists was anxious to get this album released as soon as possible, they used the mono mixes they received from EMI around June 10th, 1964 to create "High Fidelity Stereo" mixes for the stereo pressings of the album. The stereo mix of the title song was made by transferring the mono master to two seperate channels and boosting the bass frequencies in the left channel and raising the treble frequencies in the right channel. They also created a panning effect by increasing the volume in the left channel and lowering the volume in the right channel during the song's bridges, making it appear that Paul's lead vocals were being heard more from the left, the opposite being done during the instrumental section to make it appear that the guitar/piano solo was coming from the right channel. The fading guitar passage at the song's conclusion is also panned to the right. Very creative fakery indeed!
United Artists kept this album in print until the label was purchased by Capitol Records in 1978, Capitol beginning their reprints of this soundtrack album on August 1st, 1980. The album got its compact disc release on January 21st, 2014, both the mono and true stereo versions of the album being contained on a single CD.
Capitol followed quickly after by releasing the song as their third blockbuster single on July 13th, pairing it with another soundtrack song, "I Should Have Known Better" as the b-side. This differed from the British release, which featured the non-soundtrack song "Things We Said Today" as the b-side. The reason was that Capitol, although in competition with United Artists for record sales, wanted the movie to be promoted as much as possible in order to generate more sales for them. Therefore, they could advertise the film, including a plug for United Artists, on the label of both sides of the single
Sometime in July of 1964, United Artists manufactured a one-sided single entitled "A Hard Day's Night - Theatre Lobby Spot" which was to be distributed to US movie theaters to be played in their lobbies in promotion of the August 12th premier of the film. "Listen to the big news about The Beatles" begins the track, followed by news reports and rave reviews of the movie after its British premier on July 7th, 1964. The song "A Hard Day's Night" is also included on this disc, as well as encouragement to purchase advance tickets for its US premier. The opposite side of the disc consists of a raised textured pattern to discourage anyone from playing the wrong side. The label on the a-side contains the words "(record plays continusously and automatically)," this obviously only occuring when using an automatic turntable.
A partial release of the song appeared on November 23rd, 1964 on the album "The Beatles' Story." Since Capitol didn't get permission to release "The Beatles Live At The Hollywood Bowl" album, which they intended to be made available for the Christmas season, they settled for this hastily put together documentary double album which included snippets of Beatles music. The track "A Hard Day's Night - Their First Movie" started off with the first verse of the song. Surprisingly, "The Beatles' Story" was also released on compact disc on January 21st., 2014, but only as contained in the 13 album box set "The US Albums."
Sometime in 1967, United Artists Records released a unique version of the soundtrack album for "A Hard Day's Night" on a brand new but short-lived format called "Playtapes." These tape cartridges did not have the capability to include entire albums, so a truncated eight-song version of the album was released in this portable format, the title track being one of these songs. These "Playtapes" are highly collectable today.
Sometime in 1970, United Artists released their 8-track version of the "A Hard Day's Night" soundtrack album. It is of special note here because, on the version of the title song, the record company artificially extended it in order to decrease the amount of blank space that would have resulted at the end of track one of the tape. The extended version, therefore, includes John repeating the line "you know, I feel alright" three additional times.
The next appearance was on the first of many "greatest hits" packages to come. "The Beatles/1962-1966" (aka "The Red Album") appeared in the US on April 3rd, 1973. The mix used on this release was the mono mix that was used for the single even though two stereo mixes had been in existence since 1964. The British release of this double album contained the stereo mix made on June 22nd, 1964, but since Capitol only had the mono mix that they used for the single, they hastily put this on the album. With the release of this compilation album on compact disc in 1993 and its remastered re-release on October 19th, 2010, the stereo mix has been substituted.
May 4th, 1977 saw a live version of the song released on the long-awaited album "The Beatles At The Hollywood Bowl." This live album comprised a combination of tracks recorded during both their 1964 and 1965 visits to the Hollywood Bowl, "A Hard Day's Night" being recorded on August 30th, 1965. This album was eventually remastered by Giles Martin and re-released under the new title "Live At The Hollywood Bowl" on September 9th, 2016.
On March 22nd, 1982, Capitol released a compilation album entitled "Reel Music," which featured songs from all of The Beatles' movies. This album coincided with the theatrical re-release of the movie "A Hard Day's Night," which was visually enhanced and included Dolby sound. The album was quite successful, peaking at #19 on the Billboard album chart and certified gold by selling over 500,000 units. Over 12,000 promotional copies were also printed, these being on translucent gold vinyl. This album contained the first stereo version of the song "A Hard Day's Night" heard in America.
Also released on March 22nd, 1982 was the single "The Beatles Movie Medley," which was a combination of snippets of seven Beatles songs that were featured in their movies. The popularity of the single "Stars On 45 Medley," which featured many Beatles songs sung by soundalikes and became a US #1 hit, spurred Capitol to put together this single as well, which peaked at #12 on the Billboard Hot 100. A bit of "A Hard Day's Night" is heard as the fifth of seven songs in the medley.
The song then appeared on the Capitol album "20 Greatest Hits," which was released on October 11th, 1982. This now out-of-print album, which only peaked at #50 on the Billboard album chart, may have been one compilation album too many for American consumers.
The first time "A Hard Day's Night" was paired with "Things We Said Today" on a single in the US as it was in Britain was on December 6th, 1982 as featured in the vinyl box set "The Beatles Singles Collection." Interestingly, "The Beatles Movie Medley" single detailed above was also included in this box set since it was a newly released official Beatles release at the time. When this box set was released as "The Beatles CD Singles Collection" on November 11th, 1992 and as a reissued vinyl collection titled "The Singles Collection" on November 22nd, 2019, the "A Hard Day's Night" single was included but "The Beatles Movie Medley" was not.
In 1984, CBS Songs released an album entitled "Radio's Million Performance Songs," which featured fifteen diverse recording artists, including The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Carly Simon and Barry Manilow. This promo album contained "A Hard Day's Night."
The first time the original British "A Hard Day's Night" album was made available in the US was the "Original Master Recording" vinyl edition released through Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab in February of 1987. This album was prepared utilizing half-speed mastering technology from the original master tape on loan from EMI. This version of the album was only available for a short time and is quite collectible today.
On February 26nd, 1987, the first batch of four Beatles albums on compact disc was released, including the original British mono version of "A Hard Day's Night." This was released as a vinyl album in the US on July 21st, 1987. The stereo remastered version of this album came out on CD on September 9th, 2009 and on vinyl on November 13th, 2012.
"A Hard Day's Night" was paired up once again with the original British b-side "Things We Said Today" when Capitol released it as a jukebox single in November of 1994. This rare mono single, under the Cema series with the words "For Jukeboxes Only" on the label, was printed on white vinyl.
"Live At The BBC" was then released by Apple Records on December 6th, 1994, which included the version they recorded on July 14th, 1964 for the BBC program "Top Gear," which aired on July 16th of that year as mentioned above. On November 11th, 2013, this album was remastered, re-packaged and re-released.
On November 21st, 1995, the highly anticipated "Anthology 1" album was released, which featured "take one" of "A Hard Day's Night." With this first run-through of the song, we hear a slightly slower version played by four musicians that are all unsure of themselves. It's an interesting listen, knowing that within three hours they came up with the confident, Grammy winning performance that we are all so familiar with.
November 14th, 2000, saw the release of the immensely popular compilation album "Beatles 1," which also included "A Hard Day's Night." The album reportedly sold 31 million copies worldwide as of 2017. Everybody seemed to want a copy. A remastered version of this album was released in September of 2011 and a newly mixed version was released on November 6th, 2015.
Not to be forgotten is the song's brief inclusion on the November 21st, 2006 released album "Love," which was a Grammy-winning soundtrack compilation album co-produced by George Martin and his son Giles Martin. The Beatles' music was being mixed specifically for the Cirque du Soleil production of the same name, so that snippets of Beatles songs were interlaced to create an interesting time capsule of the '60s. At the very beginning of the track "Get Back," you hear the ever-popular opening chord of "A Hard Day's Night," which is then heard played backward as the drum solo of the Abbey Road song "The End" is heard in the forefront.
The original mono mix of the song has been remastered and is available in the box set “The Beatles In Mono,” which was released on September 9th, 2009. This crystal clear version is the closest to what the EMI engineering staff intended the public to hear.
A 50th Anniversay edition of the compilation album "The Beatles / 1962 - 1966" (aka "The Red Album") was released on November 10th, 2023, the new stereo mix of "A Hard Day's Night," as detailed above, being included. This expanded release included 12 additional songs for a total of 38 tracks, and was made available as a double CD and as a triple vinyl release on both black and red vinyl. | ||||||||
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] | null | Download this stock image: Original film title: A HARD DAY'S NIGHT. English title: A HARD DAY'S NIGHT. Year: 1964. Director: RICHARD LESTER. Stars: THE BEATLES; RINGO STARR; GEORGE HARRISON; PAUL MCCARTNEY; JOHN LENNON. Credit: UNITED ARTISTS / Album - PNJEJC from Alamy's library of millions of high resolution stock photos, illustrations and vectors. | en | https://www.alamy.com/original-film-title-a-hard-days-night-english-title-a-hard-days-night-year-1964-director-richard-lester-stars-the-beatles-ringo-starr-george-harrison-paul-mccartney-john-lennon-credit-united-artists-album-image219838820.html | Original film title: A HARD DAY'S NIGHT. English title: A HARD DAY'S NIGHT. Year: 1964. Director: RICHARD LESTER. Stars: THE BEATLES; RINGO STARR; GEORGE HARRISON; PAUL MCCARTNEY; JOHN LENNON. Credit: UNITED ARTISTS / Album
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correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 2 | 47 | https://www.rockstarsguitars.com/products/beatles/george-harrison/george-harrison-used-1956-fender-stratocaster-featured-in-the-story-of-the-fender-stratocaster/ | en | George Harrison Used 1956 Fender Stratocaster Featured In The Story Of The Fender Stratocaster | https://www.rockstarsguitars.com/wp-content/themes/rsguitars/favicon.ico | https://www.rockstarsguitars.com/wp-content/themes/rsguitars/favicon.ico | [
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] | null | [] | 2020-07-24T20:17:15+00:00 | en | https://www.rockstarsguitars.com/wp-content/themes/rsguitars/favicon.ico | Rock Stars Guitars | https://www.rockstarsguitars.com/products/beatles/george-harrison/george-harrison-used-1956-fender-stratocaster-featured-in-the-story-of-the-fender-stratocaster/ | Dave Brewis, owner of Rock Stars Guitars, is pictured here holding his 1956 Fender Stratocaster that was used by George Harrison. When Musician and author Ray Minhinnet and Bob Young came to make a TV show and book in 1995 about the story of the Stratocaster, with help from Fender, they reached out to as many famous Fender players as they could for input. Most gave interviews which were used in the TV show, and highlights were included in the book. Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Nile Rodgers, Keith Richards and many more stellar players came forward, but perhaps none had quite the profile of Beatle and solo artist George Harrison. George rarely gave interviews about guitars, but happily brought along his famous painted “Rocky” Stratocaster to the film session, along with his guitar tech Alan Rogan. As “Rocky” was set up for George’s trademark slide playing, a nice original 1956 Fender Stratocaster was borrowed for the day, set up for regular playing. George described how he and fellow Beatle John Lennon acquired their blue Stratocasters on the same day, and used them in unison to play the guitar break on the Beatles “Nowhere Man”. He then played the solo from the song on the 1956 Stratocaster that he was holding throughout the interview.
This is featured in the TV show, and we have the whole show, dubbed onto DVD. The show was called “The Story Of The Fender Stratocaster, Curves, Contours, and Body Horns”, and the accompanying book had the same title. After filming was completed, the 1956 guitar was returned to its owner. We subsequently bought it and have owned it since around 2001. It is in the same original condition, with its tweed case, and comes with a copy of the book, and the DVD copy of the TV show.
This guitar was shown in the National Music Museum in Bologna, Italy, along side Rory Gallagher’s Stratocaster in an exhibition organized by Fender Europe. We’ve included a picture of it in the stand at the Fender exhibition at Bologna, Italy . It is currently on display at the British Music Experience in Liverpool, England.
The guitar was so nice an example of the mid-1950s Strat, that the book features it several times on its own in picture form, and also with George, in his section of the book. It is 100% original with the tweed case. Guitars played by George Harrison are extremely rare, and we cannot think of another example where such detail is given, and where George plays a section of a Beatles song on film as a demonstration.
This is a truly unique opportunity to zone in on the wonder and talent of George Harrison, by owning a guitar that he played on film, featuring a Beatles tune. Please call or email for price.
Photo credits for George: Minhinett & Young/Scheme Global Limited. | |||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 1 | 53 | https://www.dannydutch.com/post/george-harrison-said-he-wanted-to-see-life-of-brian-so-he-handed-us-the-money | en | George Harrison Said He Wanted To See 'Life of Brian' - So He Handed Us The Money | [
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"dthholland"
] | 2019-08-18T20:17:00.321000+00:00 | From the Michael Palin interview with Cahal Milmo in 2001George Harrison was the man who saved Life of Brian for the simplest of reasons.When I asked him why he stepped in with the money in 1978 to make our Monty Python spoof on the life of Christ, he said: "Well, I wanted to see the film."It was typical of a man who was ready to ignore all the shouts of "blasphemy" at the time and make a movie because he had enjoyed the script and thought he and others might want to have a look at it.He was ult | en | DannyDutch | https://www.dannydutch.com/post/george-harrison-said-he-wanted-to-see-life-of-brian-so-he-handed-us-the-money | From the Michael Palin interview with Cahal Milmo in 2001
George Harrison was the man who saved Life of Brian for the simplest of reasons.
When I asked him why he stepped in with the money in 1978 to make our Monty Python spoof on the life of Christ, he said: "Well, I wanted to see the film."
It was typical of a man who was ready to ignore all the shouts of "blasphemy" at the time and make a movie because he had enjoyed the script and thought he and others might want to have a look at it.
He was ultimately proven right. Just a few days before his death, Life of Brian was voted as one of the top 25 of the 100 greatest films ever made in a Channel 4 poll of viewers.
George was a man who had the courage of his convictions. He actually mortgaged his house in Henley to put the money down to set up Handmade Films, the production company that backed Life of Brian. It then went on to make a series of films that put it at the forefront of British film throughout the 1980s.
There were some productions which did not win critical acclaim but without Handmade we would never have had the likes of Mona Lisa, Withnail and I, The Long Good Friday or Time Bandits.
George's natural curiosity and his sense of humour took him to a wide range of other interests – from his spirituality to gardening to the Pythons.
When he saw the first episode in 1969, he was supposed to have sent a note to the BBC saying how much he had enjoyed it and was looking forward to the rest of the series. We never actually got the note. I suspect some BBC official took one look at it, saw it was signed George Harrison and threw it away saying: "Yeah, and I'm the Duke of Edinburgh."
But I later found out why Monty Python appealed to George – it was subversive and anti-authoritarian. The Pythons and The Beatles were both groups who stood together on their own terms and weren't bought by anybody.
He always saw the absurd side of life and so enjoyed the Pythons' take on it all. When you have been deified as The Beatles were, the world can seem insane. I think he saw the Pythons as a form of sanity.
George was pretty laid back as a producer, though he did come along to play a cameo in Life of Brian – Mr Papadopolous, a music promoter eager to propel Brian to fame.
Ironically, he didn't particularly like the trappings of stardom. George just wanted to be himself and pursue his own interests, whether it was creating his garden in Henley, spending time with his wife Olivia and son Dhani, or getting on with his next project.
George Harrison was not the quiet Beatle who sat in the corner – he was quite strong and stubborn and very mistrustful of big organisations and big groups.
He was very intelligent and had an instinctive curiosity. He would talk a lot about his spiritual side, almost boringly sometimes, but he never tried to proselytise – he just liked to explore the area of a superior spirituality.
I think it was this serious side which made him well-equipped to deal with his illness. He saw the body as a temporary refuge for the soul and, despite the pain and suffering of his cancer, believed that our time on Earth was just one stage of existence.
When I last saw him in August this year, I could see that all the treatment he had been through had taken a physical toll. But there was still a spark and inner energy about him.
His enthusiasm was undimmed. After dinner he got out all these CDs of the jazz player Hoagy Carmichael, which he played until the early hours. I was absolutely exhausted.
I shall remember George as a very generous man – generous not only with any financial commitment but with his time as a listener and with other people who hadn't done as well.
He took life on. This wasn't a man who was just prepared to go with the flow. Whatever he did, he maintained a sense of proportion and humour. I will miss him. After all, there was still so much to talk about. | |||||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 2 | 91 | https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/george-harrison-said-production-company-handmade-films-good-became-big-shots.html/ | en | George Harrison Said His Production Company, HandMade Films, Was Good Because No One Became Big-Shots | [
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"Hannah Wigandt"
] | 2022-10-30T16:22:20+00:00 | George Harrison liked that his production company, HandMade Films, was humble. He didn't want the company to become a big-shot. | en | Showbiz Cheat Sheet | https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/george-harrison-said-production-company-handmade-films-good-became-big-shots.html/ | George Harrison was humble about everything in his life, including his production company, HandMade Films. He liked that his small business didn’t become some big-shot American company that hired big-shot actors. Being a Beatle taught George he had to remain humble.
George Harrison started HandMade Films when he decided to produce Monty Python’s ‘Life of Brian’
In the late 1970s, Eric Idle told George that EMI had dropped out of producing Monty Python’s new film, Life of Brian. The company thought it was blasphemous. However, George loved the idea of the film and thought of funding the comedy.
“I asked Denis O’Brien, who had been my business manager since the end of ’73,” George told Film Comment. “After thinking about it for a week, he came back and suggested that we produce it. I let out a laugh because one of my favorite films is ‘The Producers,’ and here we were about to become Bialystock and Bloom.
“Neither of us had any previous thought of going into the movie business, though Denis had a taste of it managing Peter Sellers and negotiating some of the later Pink Panther films. It was a bit risky, I guess, totally stepping out of line for me, but, as a big fan of Monty Python, my main motive was to see the film get made.”
Life of Brian was George’s initial step into the film business, and, purely by accident, he never stepped out. However, if George was going to keep HandMade Films, he wanted it to remain a small British business.
George knew that HandMade Films had to make films that would do well in America. It was the only way to make a real profit. However, he didn’t want his company to become American.
“I personally would not like to see HandMade Films turn into an American company in New York or Los Angeles,” George said. “I like it being in a nice little office in England.”
If HandMade Films became an American company, it would become a big-shot company. They’d also have to hire big-shot actors.
George liked that HandMade Films wasn’t a big-shot company
Fortunately for George, HandMade Films didn’t become an American company. However, the former Beatle and his production company did make a massive mistake by signing one of America’s notorious couples onto a film.
George and the company green-lit Shanghai Surprise featuring then-husband and wife Sean Penn and Madonna because they thought the couple’s star power would push the film. However, it tanked, and George lost a lot of money.
After that, George didn’t want HandMade Films to think it was a big-shot company. He wanted it to remain humble.
“We have to keep tabs on our budgets and not get carried away thinking we’re big shots,” George touched on Shanghai Surprise. “Many companies, with some success behind them, move into big, posh air-conditioned offices that all interconnect with private bathrooms.
“You see them swarming around in these limousines. It’s ‘Sod’s Law’: Even if we made hundreds of millions of dollars, once we moved out of our tiny, overcrowded office in London and got into the Big Time, I’m sure the bottom would fall out. The answer is to be humble. That’s it. Be humble.
“It would be nice, I suppose, from a staff point of view, to have a bit more space—our own viewing theaters, cutting rooms, and sound studios. But for me, as an ex-Beatle, I’m not into that trip of being a big shot. I peaked early. I got all that out of my system in the Sixties.”
The former Beatle didn’t want big-shot actors either
George didn’t want HandMade Films to become a big-shot company. However, that also meant he didn’t want to work with big-name actors either. He was burned enough by working with Penn and Madonna on Shanghai Surprise. Still, the company did work with some big-name stars that were humble.
Film Comment asked, “Part of Disney’s current success is die to the stable of actors it has signed in what some see as a return to the old studio system. Are you making a conscious effort to do the same?”
George replied, “It’s not an out-and-out strategic move, though we have worked with the same people a number of times. Bob Hoskins, of course, is one of them. He was the main reason ‘Mona Lisa’ was so successful.
“We said, ‘He’s done good for us. We’ve all enjoyed him. Let’s let him direct his own film.’ We take a little chance here and there, calculated risks, not only because he’s good but because he’s a joy to be with. His charm is that no matter how famous and popular he is, he’s so straight and down to earth.
“He makes the Seans and Madonnas look ridiculous. We’ve also had the pleasure of working with Michael Caine, Sean Connery—’name people’ who go about doing their roles. They’re not as complicated. They’re very professional.”
George managed to keep HandMade Films the way he wanted; humble, like everything else in his life. | |||||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 1 | 85 | https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/films/1888998/The-Beatles-Let-It-Be-movie-streaming-Disney-John-Lennon-George-Harrison | en | The Beatles’ original Let It Be movie to release after over 50 years in limbo | [
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"George Simpson"
] | 2024-04-16T15:26:00+01:00 | The Beatles' original Let It Be movie, starring John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, has been restored and is finally set to get its streaming release after over 50 years of being unavailable. | en | https://cdn.images.express.co.uk/favicon.ico | Express.co.uk | https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/films/1888998/The-Beatles-Let-It-Be-movie-streaming-Disney-John-Lennon-George-Harrison | Watch the first clip from The Beatles: Get Back
Back in 1969, Michael Lindsay-Hogg directed the Let It Be album sessions with The Beatles, including the last-ever live performance by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr together on the roof of Apple Corps HQ on Savile Row.
Upon its cinematic release in 1970, the film was viewed through the lens of the band’s break up and hasn’t been officially available for over 50 years aside from the odd early 1980s home video release.
Then in 2021, Peter Jackson was given access to the hundreds of hours of footage and audio, much never before seen or heard, and put together his eight hour revisionist documentary The Beatles: Get Back for Disney+.
From what he’d seen, the footage proved the Fab Four hadn’t wanted to break up at the time and were having a ball working together.
Now the original 1970 film Let It Be has been meticulously restored by Jackson’s team for release on Disney on May 8, 2024 with the support of the original director Lindsay-Hogg.
Read more... The Beatles – John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s sons come together for new song
Michael Lindsay-Hogg said: “Let It Be was ready to go in October/November 1969, but it didn’t come out until April 1970. One month before its release, The Beatles officially broke up. And so the people went to see Let It Be with sadness in their hearts, thinking, ‘I’ll never see The Beatles together again. I will never have that joy again,’ and it very much darkened the perception of the film.
“But in fact, there’s a great deal of joy and happiness and creation going on, and Let It Be is – especially when you get to the roof, and you see the exchange and the way that they look at each other – essentially a happy and ‘up’ movie. I was knocked out by what Peter was able to do with Get Back, using all the footage I’d shot 50 years previously.”
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Jackson said: “I’m absolutely thrilled that Michael’s movie, Let It Be, has been restored and is finally being re-released after being unavailable for decades.I was so lucky to have access to Michael’s outtakes for Get Back, and I’ve always thought that Let It Be is needed to complete the Get Back story. Over three parts, we showed Michael and The Beatles filming a groundbreaking new documentary, and Let It Be is that documentary – the movie they released in 1970.
“I now think of it all as one epic story, finally completed after five decades. The two projects support and enhance each other: Let It Be is the climax of Get Back, while Get Back provides a vital missing context for Let It Be. Michael Lindsay-Hogg was unfailingly helpful and gracious while I made ‘Get Back,’ and it’s only right that his original movie has the last word...looking and sounding far better than it did in 1970.”
Let It Be is streaming on Disney+ from May 8, 2024 and The Beatles: Get Back is streaming now. | ||||
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] | 2021-11-17T11:52:07+00:00 | The new Disney+ Beatles Documentary is being released this month, and recently, some famous faces showed up for its premiere. More here. | en | <https://theguideliverpool.com/wp-content/themes/theguide/assets/images/favicon.png | The Guide Liverpool | https://theguideliverpool.com/george-harrisons-son-praises-the-new-beatles-documentary-as-the-stars-show-up-to-its-premiere/ | George Harrison would have been “very happy” that relationships between Beatles’ members are cast in a more positive light by a new documentary, his son has said.
The film aims to provide an honest insight into the relationship between the men and their creative process during the January 1969 recording sessions.
Dhani Harrison said his father had always been “bummed out” that this part of the world-famous rock band’s history was associated with negativity.
The documentary, to be released later this month and directed by Peter Jackson, is made entirely from never-before seen footage.
Mr Harrison and his partner, musician Mereki Beach, joined a host of famous faces at its premiere in Leicester Square, including Noel Gallagher, Martin Freeman and former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney himself.
Mr Harrison, who was involved in the creation of the documentary, said Jackson had “really delivered”.
“(My father) was always bummed out that this was portrayed in bad light and they were always a bit sad about it and that’s why Peter has been given such a big crack at it,” he told the PA news agency.
“He’s really delivered.
“Sure, there were arguments, but what you’re going to see is way more of just a band squabbling, and it’s nice.
“(The documentary) creates a new dynamic, and anyone who gets to see the whole thing will see that the behaviour changes and they really come together.
“He’d be very happy to see what Peter came out with.”
George Harrison, who was the Beatles’ lead guitarist, died of cancer in 2001.
Mr Harrison’s son also admitted his own fashion sense was “not quite up to the level” of his father’s in the film.
“He did have very cool outfits, I’m not quite up to his level of outfit. There were some pretty bizarre shirts,” he said.
“At one point he puts a bow tie just around his neck without a shirt.
“(His fashion sense) was pretty awesome, balls to the wall – I don’t fit in his suits, I’m too fat.”
Ringo Starr’s son, Zak Starkey, who also attended the red-carpet event, said the band remained “unbeatable”.
“It’s going to be great – I haven’t seen (the film) yet,” he said.
“Remember, my dad was the greatest rock and roll drummer in the world. The music is great and it always will be great.”
Mr Starkey said he had not yet spoken about the documentary to his father but would do so when he had seen it.
Fellow musicians called the band’s influence “absolute”.
Former Oasis lead guitarist Noel Gallagher said: “They influenced everybody who influenced everybody else, who influenced everybody that came and went.
“Their influence is absolute.
“I don’t know a single guy playing the guitar or writing songs that wouldn’t cite the Beatles as an influence.
“And if he doesn’t, he’s undoubtedly going to be s**t.” | ||||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 1 | 46 | https://www.instagram.com/georgeharrisonofficial/reel/C6otS2ev8Yk/ | en | See George and The Beatles in the 1970 film, Let it Be, fully restored for the first time, streaming May 8 only on @DisneyPlus. | [] | [] | [] | [
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] | null | [] | null | 23K likes, 147 comments - georgeharrisonofficial on May 6, 2024: "See George and The Beatles in the 1970 film, Let it Be, fully restored for the first time, streaming May 8 only on @DisneyPlus.". artificial intelligence, machine learning, natural language processing, text analysis, information retrieval | en | Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/reel/C6otS2ev8Yk/?img_index=georgeharrisonofficial | ||||||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 2 | 13 | https://www.alamy.com/original-film-title-a-hard-days-night-english-title-a-hard-days-night-film-director-richard-lester-year-1964-stars-the-beatles-ringo-starr-george-harrison-paul-maccartney-copyright-editorial-inside-use-only-this-is-a-publicly-distributed-handout-access-rights-only-no-license-of-copyright-provided-mandatory-authorization-to-visual-icon-wwwvisual-iconcom-is-required-for-the-reproduction-of-this-image-credit-united-artists-album-image207074431.html | en | Original Film Title: A HARD DAY'S NIGHT. English Title: A HARD DAY'S NIGHT. Film Director: RICHARD LESTER. Year: 1964. Stars: THE BEATLES; RINGO STARR; GEORGE HARRISON; PAUL MACCARTNEY. Copyright: Edi | [
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correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 2 | 52 | https://www.ranker.com/list/the-best-movies-with-george-in-the-title/reference | en | The Best Movies With George in the Title | https://imgix.ranker.com/list_img_v2/6491/2546491/original/the-best-movies-with-george-in-the-title | https://imgix.ranker.com/list_img_v2/6491/2546491/original/the-best-movies-with-george-in-the-title | [
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] | 2017-03-06T00:00:00 | The Best Movies With George in the Title, as voted on by fans. Current Top 3: George of the Jungle, Curious George, George Washington Slept Here | en | /img/icons/touch-icon-iphone.png | Ranker | https://www.ranker.com/list/the-best-movies-with-george-in-the-title/reference | How many movies with George in the title can you name? This list ranks the best movies with the name George in the title, whether they're documentaries, dramas, horror movies, or any other genre of film. Do you have a favorite movie with George in the name? Categorizing movies by words in their titles is kind of uncommon, but that's a big part of why this list is so fun to scroll through. There's probably one movie with George in the title you think of right away, but you might be shocked to see how many others exist as well.
Notable films with george in the title include George of the Jungle, The Madness of King George, and Curious George, although there are many more examples on this list. This poll is interactive, meaning you can vote the George movies up or down depending on how much you like them. | ||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 1 | 4 | https://www.themoviedb.org/person/10593-george-harrison%3Flanguage%3Den-US | en | George Harrison | [
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] | null | [] | null | George Harrison, MBE (* 25. Februar 1943 in Liverpool; † 29. November 2001 in Beverly Hills, Kalifornien), war ein britischer Musiker und Komponist. Bekannt wurde er als Leadgitarrist der Beatles. Er wurde oft als der „stille Beatle“ oder auch als der „dritte Beatle“ bezeichnet, da er lange Zeit im Schatten von John Lennon und Paul McCartney stand. Ein weiterer Grund war seine fast schon schüchtern zu nennende Zurückhaltung und Bescheidenheit. Durch die Verwendung orientalischer Instrumente und Kompositionen ab der Mitte der 1960er Jahre wurde er zu einem Wegbereiter der Weltmusik. Mit dem Konzert für Bangladesch (1971) überführte er Benefizkonzerte in eine neue Größenordnung. Auch entfaltete er große Wirkung in der westlichen Welt als Türöffner für Meditationstechniken aus Indien. Zudem war er Produzent einiger Monty-Python-Filme und Mitglied der Supergroup Traveling Wilburys. | de | /assets/2/apple-touch-icon-57ed4b3b0450fd5e9a0c20f34e814b82adaa1085c79bdde2f00ca8787b63d2c4.png | The Movie Database | https://www.themoviedb.org/person/10593-george-harrison | You need to be logged in to continue. Click here to login or here to sign up. | ||||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 1 | 50 | https://www.tumblr.com/amoralto/68869540883/when-george-harrison-learned-that-his-company | en | When George Harrison learned that his company, Apple, was going to produce my film The Holy Mountain on John Lennon’s recommendation, he asked to read the script. Then he expressed a desire to play th | [
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] | null | [] | 2013-12-03T10:30:38+00:00 | Alejandro Jodorowsky, The Spiritual Journey of Alejandro Jodorowsky: The Creator of El Topo. (2008) | en | https://assets.tumblr.com/pop/manifest/favicon-0e3d244a.ico | Tumblr | https://www.tumblr.com/amoralto/68869540883/when-george-harrison-learned-that-his-company | When George Harrison learned that his company, Apple, was going to produce my film The Holy Mountain on John Lennon’s recommendation, he asked to read the script. Then he expressed a desire to play the lead role, that of the thief. Dressed completely in white, he received me in his elegant suite at the Plaza Hotel in New York. He offered me some melon juice with cinnamon and congratulated me on the script. He said that he was prepared to play the role on condition that we cut one scene, which he read aloud: “At an octagonal sink, next to a veritable hippopotamus, the alchemist bathes the thief, turns him over on his back, his buttocks facing the camera, and rubs soap over his anus.” With an amiable grin, he said, “It’s quite out of the question for me to expose my anus in public.” I felt as if the sky had fallen in. In those days, for me, a film was not a commercial or merely a work of art. I wanted this film to be the record of a sacred experience capable of enlightening an audience. For this, I needed actors—but only those who were prepared to put aside their egos. If Harrison played the lead role, it was important that he provide an example of total humility, exposing himself with the innocence of a child. This shot lasted only ten seconds, but it was vital to the work. It was obvious that if George Harrison played the role, the film would be assured of worldwide success, making millions—but this success would weaken the film, catering to the squeamishness of a famous musician. What a difficult koan! Abruptly, and in total defiance of my own rationality, I rejected Harrison and hired a modest, young Mexican comedian to play the role of the thief. It was a choice between self-honesty and money and fame.
Alejandro Jodorowsky, The Spiritual Journey of Alejandro Jodorowsky: The Creator of El Topo. (2008) | ||||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 2 | 72 | https://www.beatlesbible.com/songs/and-i-love-her/ | en | And I Love Her | [
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] | null | [] | 2008-03-14T16:48:52+00:00 | And I Love Her was one of Paul McCartney's major contributions to the A Hard Day's Night album, along with Things We Said Today and Can't Buy Me Love. | en | https://www.beatlesbible.com/wp/media/favicon.ico | The Beatles Bible | https://www.beatlesbible.com/songs/and-i-love-her/ | And I Love Her | ||||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 1 | 27 | https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/apr/03/george-harrison-beatle-monty-python-life-of-brian-handmade-studios | en | How George Harrison – and a very naughty boy – saved British cinema | [
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] | 2019-04-03T00:00:00 | The Beatle loved Monty Python so much, he set up HandMade Films to make Life of Brian – and rehabilitated the UK movie industry. But the studio’s fun couldn’t last | en | the Guardian | https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/apr/03/george-harrison-beatle-monty-python-life-of-brian-handmade-studios | In 1978, just as Monty Python’s Life of Brian was about to go into production, the chairman of EMI, Lord Delfont, got around to reading the screenplay his company had bought. He didn’t like it. He was so appalled, in fact, that he washed his hands of the whole outrageous venture, and the Pythons had to raise £2m in a hurry.
Eric Idle had the idea of phoning George Harrison, the richest person he knew; Harrison in turn consulted his American business manager, Denis O’Brien, who suggested that they fund the film themselves. The only snag was that they would have to remortgage Harrison’s mansion in Henley-on-Thames as well as O’Brien’s London offices. The ex-Beatle would go on to call it “the most expensive cinema ticket ever issued”. But, he reasoned, how else could he see the new Monty Python comedy?
So begins the story of HandMade Films, now the subject of a documentary called An Accidental Studio. It’s a story of friendship and falling-out, of stunning success and catastrophic failure, of an independent company that seemed to be making things up as it went along, but which could lay claim to several classics of British cinema – Life of Brian, The Long Good Friday, Time Bandits, Mona Lisa, Withnail and I. In Robert Sellers’ Very Naughty Boys: The Amazing True Story of HandMade Films, Idle puts it like this: “If you looked at the British film industry [in the 1980s] and took HandMade’s films out, there would be almost nothing left.” But, at the time, the company garnered hardly any Bafta nominations, let alone any Baftas. “They were ignored, really,” says Ben Timlett, co-director of An Accidental Studio. “The British film industry was much more interested in Merchant Ivory, whereas HandMade was down and dirty and different, and doing things the establishment couldn’t get its head around.”
The story of HandMade is really a love story: at heart, it’s about the love that Harrison had for Monty Python. When the first episode of Monty Python’s Flying Circus was aired in 1969, Harrison sent a fan letter via the BBC (they never received it, says Michael Palin), and he liked to say that the Beatles’ mischievous spirit migrated to the Pythons at around that time. Having brought Life of Brian back to life, though, he realised that he wanted to help other creative people, too – whether or not that made commercial sense. “If something’s really good,” he said, “it deserves to be made.”
What this meant was that HandMade repeatedly bet on first-time directors and unknown actors, and repeatedly salvaged films that other studios had thrown away. One of these was Mona Lisa, which, like Life of Brian, was dumped by EMI. Another was an earlier Bob Hoskins gangster film, The Long Good Friday, which was picked up by HandMade after it was dropped by Lew Grade – that is, Lord Delfont’s brother. The secret was Harrison’s own positivity, as his former right-hand man, Ray Cooper, confirmed at a question-and-answer session hosted by the actor Sanjeev Bhaskar last week. “If he believed you had passion,” said Cooper, “he would make your dream come true for you.”
Cooper’s appointment was typical of the company’s intuitive approach. He was, and is, a rock percussionist extraordinaire, as opposed to a movie-biz mover and shaker, but Harrison said: “I think I’ve got a film company on my hands. Why don’t you be me in the office?” This was a masterstroke. Cooper turned out to be a gifted script reader and problem solver, and while his new job appeared to be a far cry from pummelling kettle drums and cymbals on stage with Elton John, he felt that it was his musician’s ability to listen and to play along with others that was crucial to the company. His lack of experience in the film world was a plus. “The people at HandMade weren’t coming to it with lots of baggage,” says Bill Jones, co-director of An Accidental Studio, and the son of Monty Python’s Terry Jones. “They weren’t trying to follow trends, they weren’t looking at spreadsheets of figures. They just said, if you’ve got a great idea, we’ll back it.”
A significant part of Cooper’s job was to balance Harrison’s wishes with those of his partner, O’Brien. Harrison was content to keep the company as small and personal as its name implied, whereas O’Brien, in rock’n’roll terms, hoped to break America: he thought that he could build HandMade into a big international studio by bankrolling ever more costly films. What’s more, he was determined to oversee the artistic side of the company, as well as the financial side, thus alienating the Pythons and many other film-makers. “Denis became more and more convinced that his ideas were better than our ideas,” said Terry Gilliam last week.
Among those ideas were that Time Bandits should be a musical, and that Cathy Tyson’s role in Mona Lisa should be played by Grace Jones. He also complained to Bruce Robinson, the writer-director of Withnail and I, that he was behind schedule by lunchtime on the first day of shooting. In Richard E Grant’s film diaries, With Nails, the actor recalls the arrival of “the incredibly tall, incredibly bald Big Noise from HandMade Films who is a Bilko identikit on a giant scale”. Robinson raged that he would rather quit than put up with this outsized Bilko, and, as ever, it was left to Cooper to smooth things over.
“Denis was trying to make HandMade a self-sufficient company that didn’t need George’s money, says Timlett. “It’s not that that wasn’t the right thing to try, but that’s ultimately where it all went wrong.” The would-be blockbusters of the mid-1980s were the turning point. In 1985, there was Dick Clement and Ian LeFrenais’s Caribbean caper, Water, which, LeFrenais avers, is highly entertaining as long as you’re high while you’re watching it. The following year there was Shanghai Surprise, starring Madonna and Sean Penn, which went almost as smoothly as the rest of their marriage. Both films flopped. “I have the feeling that George never quite recovered from that,” Palin writes in his foreword to Very Naughty Boys. “He remained generous, but felt compromised and he began to draw back. Once that happened, the end was in sight.”
After the early glory years, HandMade invested in too many films that barely saw the light of day, or the dark of the cinema. Cold Dog Soup with Randy Quaid, anyone? Checking Out with Jeff Daniels? Even the promising likes of Bob Hoskins’s directorial debut, The Raggedy Rawney, and Nicolas Roeg’s Track 29 were panned before vanishing without trace. With O’Brien in control, HandMade was losing money and Harrison was losing faith. Looking back at the company’s later projects, Harrison confessed to an interviewer that he frequently didn’t “like the script or the film” at all, but he didn’t want to rock the boat. In 1991, HandMade ceased to be. Its name and back catalogue were sold off three years later.
What An Accidental Studio doesn’t mention is that this hurtling rise and fall wasn’t just a case of too much expansion and too little quality control. Harrison sued O’Brien in 1995, and was awarded $11.6m in damages. The lyrics he had written for his Time Bandits theme song were weirdly prescient about HandMade’s ride: “Greedy feeling, wheeling dealing, losing what you won. See the dream come undone.”
Still, what a dream it was. In only a decade, HandMade was responsible for an astonishing number of genre-bending gems that wouldn’t be made today, and were lucky to get made back then. And, for a while, Harrison had the satisfaction of supporting his friends. The most touching part of An Accidental Studio is the footage of HandMade’s 10th anniversary party at Shepperton in 1989. It was more of a wake than a birthday bash: everyone knew that the company’s days were numbered. But the gallows humour of Harrison’s rueful speech was lightened when he professed his feelings for Monty Python – feelings that had got him into the film business in the first place. “I love them so much,” he says, “they’d be embarrassed if they ever realised.” | |||||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 2 | 25 | https://grammy.com/news/george-harrison-all-things-must-pass-50-year-anniversary | en | It's Not Always Going To Be This Grey: George Harrison's 'All Things Must Pass' At 50 | [
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] | null | [] | null | As the world's leading society of music professionals, the Recording Academy is dedicated to celebrating, honoring, and sustaining music's past, present, and future. | https://grammy.com/news/george-harrison-all-things-must-pass-50-year-anniversary | In 1970, Let It Be, the documentary chronicling The Beatles' final studio album of the same name, hit theaters worldwide, providing a blunt answer to the whys and the hows for those who might still be in denial about the group's inevitable separation. The film unmercifully exposed numerous cracks in their interpersonal relationships, only letting us see fragments of what had once been a cohesive, seemingly indivisible unit. Although incredibly frustrating to many fans, this portrayal proved crucial for an adequate understanding of each member's personal and professional motivations at the time—particularly George Harrison, whose creative persona was undergoing a vital and revolutionary change.
Those sessions, which author Peter Doggett describes in his book, "You Never Give Me Your Money," as "a drama with no movement or character development," showcase Harrison's growing exasperation with the part he'd been given to play within The Beatles' equation as well as a certain impatience and dissatisfaction replacing his acquiescence of previous years. Recently returned from a stay with Bob Dylan at Woodstock to what he would later call "The Beatles' winter of discontent" in "The Beatles Anthology," Harrison continued to see his musical contributions systematically met with disdain from his bandmates. It soon became obvious that challenging the John Lennon/Paul McCartney power axis would be an impossible task while the band was still together—a realization that further accelerated The Beatles' disintegration.
All Things Must Pass is a direct result of this unmaking. Released November 27, 1970, All Things Must Pass was technically Harrison's third studio album yet his first fully realized solo release following two slightly niche LPs prior: Wonderwall Music (1968), the mostly instrumental soundtrack to Joe Massot's film, Wonderwall, and Electronic Sound (1969), a two-track avant-garde project.
The imbalance in group dynamics made evident in the Let It Be documentary is essential to understand the genesis of All Things Must Pass since the two projects are irrevocably intertwined—perhaps more so than Lennon's or McCartney's respective debuts, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band and McCartney, which also released in 1970. While his bandmates had long made peace with their prime status as composers, Harrison's mounting refusal to be repeatedly pushed to second best was reaching a boiling point, and his creativity soared in proportion. By then, the material he'd been putting in the drawer was far too vast to fit in a single album alone.
For anyone doubting Harrison's ability to stand on his own two feet as a solo artist, All Things Must Pass must have hit like a ton of bricks. Composed of three records, two LPs plus an extra disc titled Apple Jam that mostly contained improvised instrumentals, the album emerged as Harrison's definite and irrevocable declaration of independence.
Still, the album was colored with references to a painful recent past: These are visible in the cryptic album art showing Harrison in his Friar Park estate surrounded by four gnomes, often interpreted as the musician removing himself from The Beatles' collective identity. There are also the not-so-veiled attacks on his bandmates in "Wah-Wah," the sad contemplation of a breakup in "Isn't It A Pity?" and the inclusion of several compositions that had been turned down by The Beatles, such as "Art Of Dying," "Let It Down" and the album's title track, which Harrison can be seen playing to the other three in Let It Be.
The album, recorded between May and October in 1970, gathered an impressive supergroup of backing musicians that included bassist (and Revolver cover artist) Klaus Voormann, members of Badfinger and Delaney & Bonnie, Let It Be keyboardist Billy Preston, Eric Clapton and even Ringo Starr, the only Beatle who seemed to have no major feud with the other three.
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Although Harrison had a very clear idea of what he wanted, things did not always go so smoothly. By summer, sessions came to a temporary halt as he made regular visits to see his dying mother in Liverpool. At the same time, further pressure came from EMI, who grew preoccupied with the alarming costs that a triple album would ensue. This, combined with Clapton's escalating heroin addiction and infatuation with Harrison's wife, Pattie Boyd, who he would eventually marry, contributed to a strained ambience that might at times have struck a chord of déjà vu for the Beatle.
Producer Phil Spector's erratic behavior didn't help either: Having been recruited by both Harrison and Lennon for their solo debuts following his impressive work on Let It Be, he was frequently unfit to function or nowhere to be found, forcing Harrison to take production matters into his own hands.
Despite all the delays and behind-the-scenes tension, some of it still resulting from the ongoing legal disputes between the four Beatles, All Things Must Pass triumphed. The album received a nomination for Album Of The Year at the 1972 GRAMMYs, while its No. 1 single "My Sweet Lord," for which Harrison was sued for copyright infringement and ultimately lost, was nominated for Record Of The Year. All Things Must Pass was ultimately inducted into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame in 2014; Harrison was honored with the Recording Academy's Lifetime Achievement Award one year later.
While a triple album could have easily been dismissed as self-indulgence as pop crossed over to the individualistic '70s, the reception of All Things Must Pass was so indisputably solid and favorable that some music critics claimed it eclipsed Lennon's and McCartney's solo efforts. Maybe it was the surprise factor, too. Melody Maker's Richard Williams would best summarize this in his review of the album with the famous line, "Garbo talks! - Harrison is free!"—a reference fitting of how it felt to witness "the quiet one" finally raising his voice.
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All Things Must Pass opened the gates to a world the public had only glimpsed during The Beatles years, proclaiming a coming of age that had been delayed for too long. Encapsulating Harrison's serenity without falling into a trap of passiveness, the album acted simultaneously as epilogue and opening chapter by precipitating both public and personal healing.
But the ghost of Beatles past would still come back to haunt Harrison as he, like the other three, quickly realized one doesn't simply cease to be a Beatle. Recurrent comparisons and undeclared fights both in and outside the charts persisted throughout the years, bringing back the vestiges of a narrative he hadn't fully absconded yet no longer defined him. "We've been nostalgia since 1967," Doggett quotes Harrison as saying at the time of the album's release, commenting on The Beatles' inability to escape a very specific, even if outdated, image that had been crystallized in the public's collective imagination.
Fifty years later, All Things Must Pass remains an important landmark in George Harrison's legacy and his most enduring solo testimony—something music journalist Paul Du Noyer points out on the text "When 1 Becomes 4" as a slight irony, since the title refers precisely to "the impermanence of things." But more than that, the album is a fascinating and detailed snapshot of the exact moment Harrison officially announced he was willing to move on from a game whose rules had long ceased to serve him.
Celebrating The Beatles' 'Sgt. Pepper's' 50th Anniversary
HARDY has not only been an architect of this genre blending, but also its chief proponent — so much that in 2023, the L.A. Times crowned him "Nashville's nu-metal king." On Quit!!, he cashes in that currency with the gargantuan guitar riffs and bombastic beats popularized by acts like Limp Bizkit, and leans deeper into the rhythms and playful lyricism of hip-hop, a skill he recently flexed at the request of Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre on a hicked-up rendition of Snoop Dogg's G-funk classic "Gin and Juice."
Ironically, the further HARDY gets from straightforward country music, the closer he gets to who he really is as an artist. Below, the chart-topping star details the backstory of Quit!!, his conflicted relationship with the country-music formula, and how he'll continue pushing boundaries within the genre and beyond.
You grew up in the small town of Philadelphia, Mississippi. What role did music play in your upbringing?
My dad introduced me to rock and roll in general, but it was his era of rock and roll. Whatever you define as classic rock and everything under that umbrella. But music was a big deal in Philadelphia and it still is. There were tons of cover bands, and a lot of [my] buddies were into music. So that had a big influence on me.
I, thankfully, was in that last era of kids that the only time they got to hear a song was on MTV or on the radio. And I remember hearing "In the End" [by] Linkin Park, and then getting Hybrid Theory on CD. I remember the first time I saw [Limp Bizkit's] "Nookie" video on MTV. I was heavily influenced by all that stuff. I'm very thankful that I grew up in the era before the internet was really big.
Were you into country music back then?
Surprisingly, not at all. Not until Eric Church, Brad Paisley, a couple of people started singing about stuff that really piqued my interest. But no, I didn't really listen to much country.
I think the only country that I listened to, if you even call it that, was Charlie Daniels. He played at the Neshoba County Fair. I got to see him twice. But even he was more of, like, you'd almost call it more Southern rock. For some reason, country music at the time didn't do it for me. It took me a long time to get into it.
You recently re-envisioned "Gin and Juice." Were Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre big artists for you when you were younger?
Yeah, especially Snoop. Snoop was in his later years when he started doing more pop stuff. I was a little too young for Doggystyle. I was 4 years old when Doggystyle came out, so my folks weren't letting me listen to that. But I will say, [Dr. Dre's 1992 album] The Chronic and especially [1999's] Chronic II, those records were huge. And anything that Dre touched after that, like all the beats he produced for 50 Cent, and obviously I'm a huge Eminem fan. I mean, all the way up to Kendrick [Lamar]'s early stuff.
I don't know how much they influenced me musically, but I definitely listened to both of them at the time.
You've got so many projects and co-writes and stuff going on, always. Is it easy to pinpoint where your journey to Quit!! began?
I can tell you for a stone-cold fact that "BOOTS" [from A ROCK] is responsible for the album Quit!! That was the first song that I ever wrote that had a breakdown in it. And when I played that live before it came out, people didn't know it, so it was a little different then. But once the song came out, and we started playing it live, it was bigger than "ONE BEER." It was bigger than "REDNECKER." It was the biggest song in our set, and to this day, it's still one of the biggest songs in the set.
But because I love the rock and roll sound so much, that's the song that I was like, Okay, this is working, because these people are losing their s— when we go into this song. So, then, that inspired me to write "SOLD OUT," and once "SOLD OUT" came out, and we started playing that song, that song was even bigger than "BOOTS," and it was heavier than "BOOTS." After "SOLD OUT," it was "JACK," and it's just a snowball of writing heavier songs and having the courage to keep going. "BOOTS" crawled so that Quit!! could run, you know? That was definitely the song that started it all.
The new album builds on the mockingbird & THE CROW and the direction you were heading.
Yeah, I think it builds on it maybe in the sense that there's a lot more screams, and maybe more breakdowns, and it's a little heavier than the mockingbird & THE CROW at times. But it is also very different. There's a lot more, like, pop-punk stuff and, I don't even know what you would call it, post-hardcore-sounding s—.
But all of the rock and roll stuff stands on the shoulders of THE CROW. It will always be that cornerstone moment that defined who I am. I mean, it definitely teed me up. It gave me the courage to do this Quit!! record.
I like that word, courage. It's not a word I expected to hear out of you based on your persona, but that's a very interesting way to phrase it.
No, I mean, the metal and country cultures are very, very, very different. There's never fear, but there's definitely, what's the right way to say that? You know, there's like when we throw like the goat horns and s— on the screen. Country has a big Christian background, and metal is like the exact opposite of that, and those can clash a lot, but there's definitely a little bit of some reserve — it seems to not get too much push back — mixing the two. My mom's not crazy about it, but what can you do?
And you have moments like "wait in the truck," where you're not writing for the party. Do you see yourself pursuing those avenues more often? Does the world want to hear HARDY reflect?
You mean like more of the deeper country stuff?
Correct, yeah.
I hope. That's the s— I love. I feel like they're so few and far between. Like, "wait in the truck," we just got so lucky. I feel like "ONE BEER" was kind of the same. Like, it's gotta be the right day, and the right time, and the right people in the room to really tell a story. It's tough. But I would love to continue to have those cool story songs.
But what I will say is there's a lot of gray area between the black-and-white of HARDY country and HARDY rock and roll. I'm still going to put out country songs. The gray area is that to me and to a lot of people, they're all just HARDY songs. But I have so many songs that I have written that I wanna put out that are so, maybe if they're not storylines, they're even deeper down the rabbit hole of thought-provoking stuff, like "A ROCK," or maybe even "wait in the truck," or even a song I have called "happy," on the last record — just songs that are very, very thought-provoking.
Just trying to push my own boundaries of country music, and not everything is right down the gut, you know, "let's go to radio with it." But just really trying to experiment with what I wanna say with country music. So, yes, there's definitely more of that coming.
You're playing your first headlining stadium gig in September. How has performing in those venues, and anticipating that, informed how you write? Are you writing for the stage?
Yeah, 100 percent. I would say, 75 percent of the time you're writing for the stage — even if it's not for myself, if I'm writing for somebody else — I'm definitely writing for the stage. I cannot tell you how many times I've sat in the room and been like, This s— is going to pop off live! And then try to put the other writers in that headspace.
Like on [Quit!! track] "JIM BOB," when we did the pow-pow-pow! thing, I'm like, just think about how cool it's gonna be live, and living in that headspace, because that's where it all comes to life. That's the end product.
Writing for the stage is something that a lot of people do. And that's why songwriters love going out on the road, is because they go out and they write songs with these artists, but they love watching the show because they get to see what really translates live, and then take that back to the writing room and try to recreate that.
Did that kind of experience have anything to do with you making the move to a marquee artist? Because not all songwriters can make that jump. Or was that always the plan?
Yeah, I mean, it was always that kind of thing. I was fortunate that I got to see Morgan [Wallen] perform "Up Down," and FGL perform a couple of their songs before I made the jump into an artist. I kind of already scratched that itch a little bit.
The Nashville writing scene can seem like a 9-to-5 kind of boring thing. But it doesn't sound that way from the way you describe it.
It's a little bit of both. The funny thing about that is like, if you walk into a publishing company, 10:30, 11 o'clock, whenever people start getting there, it's a bunch of dudes or girls standing around drinking coffee, hanging out. It's like a break room, and then everybody's like, "All right, well, y'all get a good one." And then everybody goes into their own rooms. That part of it is very 9 to 5.
But there is definitely — especially with our group of people, when you get on something that is so special, it's beyond, like, "We're writing a hit today." There's just something that transcends that. I don't know how to describe it, man. That's when it's really, really, really, really great. The Nashville process, that's what it's all about — having those moments in the room where you're like, "This is special," and, like, "We're witnessing something special that is going to affect people on a global or on a nationwide scale."
I remember when we wrote "wait In the truck" and how we were all just gassing each other up because we were like, "Dude, this song is gonna help a lot of people." And that's when the 9 to 5 goes away. We're being creative together, and it's a special thing.
There's been so many moments like that, where you're just so thankful to be a part of a great song, and how hyped everybody is. It's a feeling that's really, really hard to beat.
All Music Videos, Forever
Right from that starting gun of an opening chord, A Hard Day's Night's camerawork alone — black and white, inspired by French New Wave and British kitchen sink dramas — pioneers everything from British spy thrillers to "The Monkees."
Across the film's 87 minutes, you're viscerally dragged into the action; you tumble through the cityscapes right along with John, Paul, George, and Ringo. Not to mention the entire music video revolution; techniques we think of as stock were brand-new here.
According to Roger Ebert: "Today when we watch TV and see quick cutting, hand-held cameras, interviews conducted on the run with moving targets, quickly intercut snatches of dialogue, music under documentary action and all the other trademarks of the modern style, we are looking at the children of A Hard Day's Night."
Emergent Folk-Rock
George Harrison's 12-string Rickenbacker didn't just lend itself to a jangly undercurrent on the A Hard Day's Night songs; the shots of Harrison playing it galvanized Roger McGuinn to pick up the futuristic instrument — and via the Byrds, give the folk canon a welcome jolt of electricity.
Entire reams of alternative rock, post-punk, power pop, indie rock, and more would follow — and if any of those mean anything to you, partly thank Lester for casting a spotlight on that Rick.
Read more: Living Legends: Roger McGuinn On The History Of The Byrds, His One-Man Show And Editing His Own Wikipedia Page
The Ultimate Love Triangle Jam
From the Byrds' "Triad" to Leonard Cohen's "Famous Blue Raincoat," music history is replete with odes to love triangles.
But none are as desperate, as mannish, as garment-rending, as Derek and the Dominoes' "Layla," where Eric Clapton lays bare his affections for his friend Harrison's wife, Pattie Boyd. Where did Harrison meet her? Why, on the set of A Hard Day's Night, where she was cast as a schoolgirl.
Debates, Debates, Debates
Say, what is that famous, clamorous opening chord of A Hard Day's Night's title track? Turns out YouTube's still trying to suss that one out.
"It is F with a G on top, but you'll have to ask Paul about the bass note to get the proper story," Harrison told an online chat in 2001 — the last year of his life.
A Certain Strain Of Loopy Humor
No wonder Harrison got in with Monty Python later in life: the effortlessly witty lads were born to play these roles — mostly a tumble of non sequiturs, one-liners and daffy retorts. (They were all brought up on the Goons, after all.) When A Hard Day's Night codified their Liverpudlian slant on everything, everyone from the Pythons to Tim and Eric received their blueprint.
The Legitimacy Of The Rock Flick
What did rock 'n' roll contribute to the film canon before the Beatles? A stream of lightweight Elvis flicks? Granted, the Beatles would churn out a few headscratchers in its wake — Magical Mystery Tour, anyone? — but A Hard Day's Night remains a game-changer for guitar boys on screen.
The best part? The Beatles would go on to change the game again, and again, and again, in so many ways. Don't say they didn't warn you — as you revisit the iconic A Hard Day's Night.
Before the band had a name, a following, or conferences and university courses dedicated to the study of their music, they were just a bunch of college kids jamming in their dorm. The original members of the band met while attending the University of Vermont in Burlington. Initially formed as a trio in 1983 that featured guitarists Trey Anastasio and Jeff Holdsworth, along with drummer Jon Fishman. Bassist Mike Gordon joined that fall. In 1985, keyboardist Page McConnell was added and Holdsworth left. Today, it's these four (Anastasio, Gordon, Fishman and McConnell) that comprise Phish.
Junta, the band’s self-released debut arrived on cassette in 1989, followed by Lawn Boy the next year on Absolute A Go Go Records. The industry buzz created by their live shows then led to a multi-album deal with Elektra Records, who, in 1992, released their major label debut A Picture of Nectar, along with reissues of Junta and Lawn Boy.
What’s with the name? Everyone loves a good band name origin story, and there are often several versions of Phish's. The simplest and most popular one cited is that Fishman was asked at an early gig for the band’s name and thought they were asking for his name, so replied with his college nickname, "Fish." It stuck and they just changed the spelling.
A Lesson In Lingo: 4 Phish Phrases
you’ll wonder if they are speaking a different language. These devotees have developed their own lingo to express their love for all things Phish. Here’s a quick primer to help you converse with phans as if you know what you are talking about.
First, phans label each era of the band a number and these labels describe when their love of Phish began: 1.0 refers to the band’s beginnings until its first break in 2000; 2.0 is a short period and a small cohort of fans that starts when Phish returned from its first hiatus in 2002 and ends before they officially broke up in 2004. Finally, 3.0 refers to new converts: fans who discovered the band only after they reunited for good in 2009.
As this schooling on Phish continues, here are four words to drop into a conversation with a Phish fan to make you sound educated. "Noob" is a condescending word referring to a newbie, like post-2009 phans. A "chomper" is someone who talks during songs at a Phish concert (definitely a no-no). "Spunion" is someone whose appearance, actions and speech indicate they’ve taken way too many drugs. Finally, "hose" is a free-flowing improvisational jam where the music feels like it just flows directly into the listener’s ears. | |||||||
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] | null | [] | 2011-10-04T00:00:00 | Serious Film 's Michael Cusumano here to report on what will surely go down as one of my favorite ... | en | /favicon.ico | null | Serious Film's Michael Cusumano here to report on what will surely go down as one of my favorite titles of the New York Film Festival and one of the most entertaining movies of 2011.
Of the many pleasures of Martin Scorsese’s new documentary George Harrison: Living in the Material World the most amazing must be that it managed to make several Beatles songs feel new again. For the first hour of the documentary we watch as the young and intense Harrison takes a backseat to brilliance and charisma of Lennon/McCartney. When the unspeakably beautiful strains of Harrison’s Something finally break out over the theater speakers, it isn't just the power of the music that gets to you but the thrill of watching a world class talent explode with his full potential. It's an emotionally overwhelming moment, far from the only one in Scorsese’s second great rock documentary after his equally brilliant Bob Dylan masterpiece No Direction Home.
As with that documentary, Marty skips right past the usual biopic beats and aims for the heart of the man. In the film's opening moments we cut from the early seeds of Beatlemania straight to the band’s final, tired dissolution under a mountain of legal documents. It’s Marty’s way of alerting us that this will not be the usual Ed Sullivan and screaming teeny bopper montage we’ve all seen a thousand times. Rather, this is the story of one of the 20th century’s seminal figures and how achieving unimaginable success at an early age led him to search for a fulfillment fame couldn’t bring.
Five years in the making, Material World automatically qualifies as essential viewing for anyone who cares about rock history or, for that matter, documentary filmmaking. In addition to new interviews with all the key players in the story including surviving Beatles Paul and Ringo, Marty’s research team has done an heroic job tracing down footage that hasn’t seen the light of the day for decades, including moving, unfiltered looks at the tension of the band near its end.
Harrison was a driving force not just in music, but in charity, the British film industry, and, with his well-publicized embrace of Eastern cultures, a major, radical influence on spirituality in the western world. Dealing with a man at the heart of the entertainment industry who nevertheless hungered for spiritual truth, Scorsese clearly has a strong affinity for his subject. And for all the cultural significance covered, the success of this film comes down to Scorsese’s earnest attempt to map the soul of his fellow artist. | |||
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The clip stars former Saturday Night Live cast members Fred Armisen and Vanessa Bayer as “metaphysical special agents who are tasked by the head of a clandestine agency, played by Mark Hamill, to search for that which can’t be seen.”
Their mission brings them first to a library, where the duo combs through a forest of literature searching for clues. From there, they move on to a nearby movie theater, where a helpful usher, played by Emmy winner Darren Criss, aids in the search. At one point, two unruly moviegoers (Starr and Walsh) throw popcorn at the investigators. The long list of cameos also includes actors Jon Hamm and Rosanna Arquette; comedians Reggie Watts, Patton Oswalt, Natasha Leggero, Tim Heidecker, Eric Wareheim, Kate Micucci, Riki Lindhome and Paul Scheer; Academy Award-winning filmmaker Taika Waititi and visual artist Shepard Fairey.
You can watch the video below.
Harrison’s son, Dhani, executive produced the piece. He and his mother, Olivia, also have cameos, while the late George Harrison is briefly seen in archival footage.
"Making this was one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life,” director Lance Bangs - whose music-video credits include work with Nirvana, Green Day, R.E.M. and the Black Keys - said in a press release. ““The approach was to represent the song visually while these agents and inspectors kept missing the metaphysical wonder around them. Images are choreographed to the sounds of vocal melodies, guitar strums, drum patterns, chord changes. George threaded a sense of humor through all of his videos, so we kept that spirit and filled the cast with friends and admirers of his music, many coming from the current comedy landscape.” | |||||
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] | null | [] | null | How to watch online, stream, rent or buy George Harrison: Living in the Material World in New Zealand + release dates, reviews and trailers. Martin Scorsese's George Harrison documentary, chronicling his personal life and career from his beginnings with the Beatles to his subsequent solo career. | en | /app-icons/apple-touch-icon.png | Flicks.co.nz | https://www.flicks.co.nz/movie/george-harrison-living-in-the-material-world/ | Martin Scorsese's George Harrison documentary, chronicling his personal life and career from his beginnings with the Beatles to his subsequent solo career. Featuring interviews with Harrison and his family and friends, including Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Tom Petty and Phil Spector.
The film follows Scorsese's other excellent labour-of-love musical docos, including Last Waltz (on The Band) and No Direction Home (on Bob Dylan). Says Scorsese: "I first came to know George through the music, which was the soundtrack of our world. The Beatles’ music, those beautifully lyrical guitar breaks and solos... and then there was the world after the Beatles, when George and his music seemed to open up and flower. I will never forget the first time I heard 'All Things Must Pass', the overwhelming feeling of taking in all that glorious music for the first time. It was like walking into a cathedral."
Official Synopsis: "Much of it told in his own words, the film traces Harrison’s life from his musical beginnings in Liverpool through his life as a musician, a seeker, a philanthropist and a filmmaker, weaving together interviews with Harrison and his closest friends, performances, home movies and photographs."
Less | ||||
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] | 2024-06-06T19:01:14+01:00 | Rumours have begun to swirl about who could be playing the famous four in Sam Mendes' Beatles Biopic. | /favicon.ico?v=2 | Mail Online | https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-13502645/Beatles-biopic-rumoured-casting-Barry-Keoghan-tipped-play-Ringo-Starr-Paul-Mescal-Paul-McCartney-new-Sam-Mendes-film.html | Rumours have begun to swirl about who could be playing the famous four in Sam Mendes' Beatles Biopic.
The 58-year-old director announced earlier this year that he would be directing four separate films about the legendary band and has now reportedly cast the leading quartet.
According to The InSneider, Paul Mescal will play Paul McCartney, Barry Keoghan is to portray Ringo Starr, Harris Dickinson is to star as John Lennon, and Charlie Rowe will take on the part of George Harrison.
The films are reportedly set to be interconnected stories with one from each band member's perspective.
It marks the first time ever that The Beatles and their Apple Corps. company have granted full life story and music rights for a scripted film.
The movies are being made by Sony Pictures and Sam's Neal Street Productions company and are scheduled to begin shooting in mid-2025 for a planned 2027 cinematic release.
It has not yet been revealed if all four films will be released at the same time or whether they will be staggered across the year but Sony has promised an 'innovative release cadence'.
Mendes explained that he pitched the idea of making four films about the 'Hey Jude' group last year and wowed Sony executives Tom Rothman and Elizabeth Gabler with his plans.
The Skyfall filmmaker told Deadline earlier this year: 'We went out to Los Angeles just before Christmas to pitch the project, and it's fair to say we were met with universal enthusiasm.
'The reason Sony stood out from competing offers was down to Tom and Elizabeth's passion for the idea, and commitment to propelling these films theatrically in an innovative and exciting way.'
Representatives for the actors in question have been contacted by MailOnline for comment.
Actor Barry, 31, has risen to huge stardom in the last few years with roles in Saltburn and The Banshees of Inisherin.
While Paul, 28, soared to fame in BBC series Normal People and has gone on to be a household name.
Harris Dickinson, 27, is another young British talent, starring in Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, where he played Prince Phillip, as well as The King’s Man, Where the Crawdads Sing and Triangle of Sadness.
And finally, Charlie Rowe is a 28-year-old British star, also known for playing George Osborne in ITV’s lavish 2018 adaptation of Vanity Fair.
The Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960, comprising John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.
They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the development of 1960s counterculture and the recognition of popular music as an art form.
It comes after Paul was recently linked to actress Natalie Portman, 42, after being spotted together in London last week.
The pair could not control their giggles as they enjoyed an evening out drinking at at Bar 69 in Islington.
Paul and Natalie - who interviewed each other for Variety last year - appeared in high spirits as they stepped outside for a cigarette.
Insiders have denied the two are romantically involved, pointing to their close friendship but Paul has made no secret of his admiration for Natalie.
When they interviewed each other last year, Paul described Natalie as 'brilliant' and admitted: 'If my drama school self knew that I would be talking to you, I would pinch myself many, many times!'
He also complimented her performance in May December, in which she shares a steamy sex scene with younger co-star Charles Melton, 33.
She starred in the film as an actress named Elizabeth researching a couple - Gracie (Julianne Moore) and Joe (Charles) - who had formed when she was 36 and he was 13, sparking a tabloid scandal.
Meanwhile, Natalie complimented Paul on his sex scenes with Andrew Scott in All of Us Strangers, describing them as 'very hot but also very tender.'
Natalie finalised her divorce from Benjamin Millepied in France in March, bringing an end to a marriage of 12 years, her representative confirmed to People.
The former couple share two children - Aleph, 12, and Amalia, seven - and lived together in Benjamin's native France for several years.
Natalie filed for divorce last July, one month after the French magazine Voici ran a bombshell report claiming Benjamin, 46, had an affair with a famous 25-year-old environmental activist called Camille Étienne.
After the claims of his infidelity went public, a source told People Benjamin had a 'short-lived' fling with Camille, but that the dalliance was 'over.'
The insider added: 'He knows he made an enormous mistake and he is doing all he can to get Natalie to forgive him and keep their family together.'
However, by the following month, Natalie had filed for divorce, and by early this March the legal proceedings were finalised.
The closest she came to addressing her divorce in public was in Vanity Fair this February, when she was asked how it felt to have her marriage written about and replied: 'It’s terrible, and I have no desire to contribute to it.'
A friend revealed the collapse of Natalie's marriage was 'was initially really tough for her, but her friends rallied around her and helped get her through the worst of it.' | |||||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 2 | 64 | https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/25/style/beatles-framus-hootenanny-auction-scli-intl/index.html | en | Guitar played by John Lennon and George Harrison fetches $2.9 million at auction | [
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"Jack Guy"
] | 2024-04-25T00:00:00 | The 12-string instrument thought to have been lost for almost 60 years has become the most expensive Beatles guitar ever sold at auction. | en | /media/sites/cnn/apple-touch-icon.png | CNN | https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/25/style/beatles-framus-hootenanny-auction-scli-intl/index.html | Editor’s Note: This story has been updated with the final sale result.
A 12-string guitar played by Beatles stars John Lennon and George Harrison and thought to have been lost for almost 60 years has sold at auction for a whopping $2.9 million.
The acoustic Framus “Hootenanny” was used by the band in 1965, featuring in recordings, sessions and performances of songs including “Help!” “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away” and “It’s Only Love,” according to California-based auction house Julien’s Auctions. It has set a new world record for the most expensive Beatles guitar ever sold — a title previously held by a 1962 Gibson J-160E, which Lennon used to record ”I Want to Hold Your Hand” and other early Beatles hits, which sold for $2.4 million at Julien’s in November 2015.
Lennon gave the acoustic guitar to a friend, who passed it on to someone “who took the guitar home, tossed it in the attic, and gave it nary a thought for decades,” the auction house said in a statement published in April.
The guitar, manufactured in Germany, has a spruce top, mahogany back and sides and a 19-fret rosewood fretboard, said the auction house, which worked with Beatles expert Andy Babiuk to confirm its authenticity.
“It has some distinctive markings which made it easily identifiable,” said the auction house, but “the real proof is in the sound.”
“When strummed, it immediately identifies itself as ‘that’ guitar. If you know the chords, Beatles tunes fall out of the sound hole effortlessly,” it said.
“Like an audio time capsule from 1965, the Framus is a direct link to those records.”
When it was found, the guitar was in such a bad state that it wasn’t playable, according to the auction house, which decided to restore it.
Julien’s entrusted the job to Ryan Schuermann of LA Guitar Repair, who “performed a masterful neck reset that’s nearly undetectable, a beautiful repair of the top, steam and heat treatment of the bridge… all to ensure the Hootenanny would be playable not just for now, but for decades to come.”
The guitar went under the hammer as part of Julien’s Auctions “Music Icons” event, which took place at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York City on May 29-30. | ||||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 2 | 48 | https://www.nme.com/news/music/famous-names-from-the-world-of-entertainment-honour-george-harrison-in-my-sweet-lord-music-video-3119561 | en | Famous names from the world of entertainment honour George Harrison in ‘My Sweet Lord’ video | [
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"Will Lavin"
] | 2021-12-15T21:08:33+00:00 | An all-star cast have joined forces to honour George Harrison in the first-ever official music video for his 1970 song, 'My Sweet Lord'. | en | NME | https://www.nme.com/news/music/famous-names-from-the-world-of-entertainment-honour-george-harrison-in-my-sweet-lord-music-video-3119561 | An all-star cast from the worlds of music, TV, film and comedy have joined forces to honour George Harrison in the first-ever official music video for his 1970 song, ‘My Sweet Lord’.
READ MORE: Why George Harrison is the coolest Beatle
Originally released on November 23 (in the US), the track featured on the late Beatle’s third studio album, ‘All Things Must Pass’. The new video version boasts a fresh 2020 mix by Paul Hicks (The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, John Lennon), released August 6 on a suite of 50th anniversary editions of Harrison’s acclaimed LP.
The video for ‘My Sweet Lord’ sees Fred Armisen (Anchorman) and Vanessa Bayer (Trainwreck) star as metaphysical special agents who are tasked by the head of a clandestine agency, played by Star Wars legend Mark Hamill, to search for that which can’t be seen.
Over 40 musicians, actors, comedian, directors, artists and other creatives make cameos in the Lance Bangs-directed clip, ranging from Harrison’s friends and former band mates Ringo Starr and Jeff Lynne to actors Darren Criss, Jon Hamm, Rosanna Arquette.
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Other guests appearances come from Joe Walsh, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Reggie Watts, Moshe Kasher, Taika Waititi, Natasha Leggero, Patton Oswalt, Tim and Eric (Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim), and Garfunkel and Oates (Kate Micucci and Riki Lindhome).
The video also features Harrison’s wife Olivia Harrison and their son Dhani Harrison, who appear in scenes with actress Aimee Mullins and actor Rupert Friend, respectively.
You can watch the video for ‘my Sweet Lord’ below:
Recommended
“Making this was one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life,” Bangs said in a press release. “The approach was to represent the song visually while these agents and inspectors kept missing the metaphysical wonder around them. Images are choreographed to the sounds of vocal melodies, guitar strums, drum patterns, chord changes.
“George threaded a sense of humor through all of his videos, so we kept that spirit and filled the cast with friends and admirers of his music, many coming from the current comedy landscape.
Bangs added: “I tracked down vintage prime lenses from some of the films George’s HandMade Films had produced, and I hope that viewers can feel a sense of wonder and searching while they watch it, and that the song continues to add to all of our lives.”
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Last month marked the 20th anniversary of Harrison’s passing. He died of lung cancer on November 29, 2001 at the age of 58.
Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr took to social media to share tributes to their late bandmate.
McCartney shared an old image of himself and Harrison in the studio with a caption reading: “Hard to believe that we lost George 20 years ago. I miss my friend so much. Love Paul.”
Starr shared an image of him and Harrison smoking cigars, saying: “Peace and love to you George I miss you man. Peace and love Ringo”. | |||||
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"Joe Taysom"
] | 2021-07-27T16:00:30+01:00 | Examining George Harrison's film production company, HandMade Films, and looking at five movies that wouldn't exist if it wasn't for The Beatle. | en | /favicon.ico | Far Out Magazine | https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/george-harrison-made-five-classic-films-possible/ | 5 classic movies that wouldn’t have been created without George Harrison
Ravi Shankar was one of George Harrison’s closest confidantes and somebody he could entrust anything on. In addition to their shatterproof bond, Shankar famously introduced The Beatles guitarist to his trusty sitar and made Harrison take his first step into film production.
When Harrison helped finance Shankar’s documentary, Raga, and released it through Apple Films in 1971, The Beatle thought nothing more of it. Following the split of The Fab Four, he could invest his time and money into anything he wanted. On this occasion, Shankar was the benefactor of Harrison’s goodwill. However, it lit a fire in his belly that would eventually make the guitarist one of the most influential men in the British film industry.
Harrison would again team up with Shankar to make the Concert for Bangladesh film, and Harrison fell head over heels in love with the creative process. It allowed him to engage a different part of his mind to the one he used in the studio, and the guitarist found it a liberating experience.
After the demise of Apple Films, Harrison put his cinema career on the backburner before creating HandMade Films in 1978. Over the last coterie of decades, it has grown into an institution, and one financial gamble from George Harrison is what we’ve got to thank for these stone-cold British classics.
The 5 films that George Harrison made possible
Life of Brian (1978)
Monty Python was George Harrison’s catnip, and he even wrote a fan letter to the BBC after the first episode of Flying Circus aired in 1969 when The Beatles were at the height of their fame. Over the next few years, his friendship with Python’s Eric Idle would blossom. “His friendship meant an enormous amount to me,” Idle once said. “I was going through a broken marriage at the time. He was very encouraging and friendly and supportive. We’d go to his house and play guitars.”
When EMI pulled the funding on Monty Python’s feature film Life Of Brian in 1978 after chairman Lord Delfont expressed his repulsion at the script, Idle made a call to Harrison, and the film was miraculously back on.
The former Beatle remortgaged his house and ploughed $5 million into the film. Idle later commented: “I mean, imagine what he says to the wife in the morning. ‘Hello love, I’ve just mortgaged the house, I’m going to put it on this film over here’.”
Not only was this film the beginning of a fruitful partnership with Python, but more importantly, it was the start of HandMade Films.
The Long Good Friday (1980)
Following the success of Life Of Brian, there was no way Harrison was giving up on his production company, and The Long Good Friday was the next major project he undertook. The John Mackenzie directed flick starred Bob Hoskins alongside Helen Mirren.
Harrison managed to pick the film up for £200,000 less than its production costs after its controversial storyline relating to the IRA stopped it from getting a theatrical release. The Long Good Friday could have feasibly rotted on the back burner if it wasn’t for Harrison’s intervention which brought the picture to cinemas.
Time Bandits (1981)
Time Bandits saw Harrison reconvene with Monty Python’s Terry Gilliam. Even though they occasionally butted heads on set, the film was a rousing success at theatres and reaped over $42 million at the box office from a modest $5 million budget. When the director opened up about their friendship with Metro in 2016, the national treasure had nothing but superlatives to say and described him as a “joy”.
In fact, Gilliam went as far as saying that his whole career as a director is thanks to Harrison taking a risk on him and allowing him the opportunity to make his directorial debut. “I wouldn’t be here talking to you if it wasn’t for HandMade Films,” he said to the publication. “The world wouldn’t have Time Bandits, A Private Function. It wouldn’t have any of these things… It’s very simple. To have a Beatle as a patron is what you need in life, it really was. I mean George stepped in and saved our arses basically.”
A Private Function (1985)
The star-studded array of household names who appeared in A Private Function include Maggie Smith, Alison Steadman, Reece Dinsdale, and of course, Monty Python’s own Michael Palin.
The film is a lively comedy set in the West Riding of Yorkshire during the food rationing era after the war. To celebrate the Queen’s marriage to Prince Phillip, the villagers come together to get their hands on a pig to feast on, but as you can probably guess, things don’t go to plan, and hilarity ensues.
Mona Lisa (1986)
Mona Lisa wasn’t a money-spinner on the same scale as the likes of Life of Brian and Time Bandits. Yet, it remains universally adored by critics, and Bob Hoskins even won the Golden Globe and Bafta for ‘Best Actor’ thanks to his dynamic performance.
The film follows Hoskins’ character, George, as he falls in love with an escort and becomes dangerously entangled into the seedy underbelly of after dark crime. There are a plethora of twists and turns that leave you glued to the screen as you follow George on his murky adventures into the underworld. | ||||
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The Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. With a line-up comprising John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, they are commonly regarded as the most influential band of all time.[1] Between 1964 and 1970, they appeared in five major motion pictures, beginning with A Hard Day's Night (1964) and ending with Let It Be (1970). From late 1965 to 1969, the group also appeared in several promotional films for their singles, which have been credited with anticipating music videos and the rise of MTV in the 1980s.
During the years of Beatlemania, the Beatles appeared in two films, A Hard Day's Night (1964) and Help! (1965), both directed by American director Richard Lester. A Hard Day's Night was shot in black and white and featured the band as fictionalised versions of themselves during the height of Beatlemania, while Help! was shot in colour and saw the group struggle to record music while trying to protect Starr from a sinister cult and a pair of mad scientists, all of whom are obsessed with obtaining one of his rings. Following the recording of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967), the Beatles produced and starred in their third major feature, Magical Mystery Tour (1967), a mostly unscripted television film which saw the group and friends on a British mystery tour. The band cameoed in the animated Yellow Submarine (1968), which featured cartoon versions of the band members and a soundtrack that included then-unreleased studio recordings. The band's final major film was Let It Be, which documented the group rehearsing and recording songs for the album of the same name.
Most of their films were very well-received, except Magical Mystery Tour which was panned by critics and the public alike. Each of their films had the same name as their associated soundtrack album and a song on that album. The individual Beatles also had their own film careers outside the band to varying degrees: Starr became a successful actor, Harrison became a successful producer with his production company HandMade Films, McCartney appeared in three films and Lennon had a co-starring role in How I Won the War (1967). The Beatles have also been the subject of numerous documentary films, have been portrayed onscreen in both film and television, and have inspired other films.
Films starring the Beatles[edit]
A Hard Day's Night[edit]
A Hard Day's Night was the Beatles' first major film. Shot in black and white, the film focused on fictionalised versions of the band during Beatlemania and the band's hectic touring lifestyle. It was directed by the up-and-coming American director Richard Lester, who was known for having directed a television version of the successful BBC radio series The Goon Show as well as the off-beat short film The Running, Jumping and Standing Still Film, with Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan. A Hard Day's Night is a mockumentary of the four members as they make their way to a London television programme. It created a lasting impression of their individual personas. Lennon became known as "the smart one", McCartney "the cute one", Harrison "the quiet one", and Starr "the lucky one". Starr's personality as the band's affable, self-deprecating drummer proved especially popular with fans and the press in the US. The film also starred Wilfrid Brambell as Paul's grandfather John McCartney, Norman Rossington as their manager Norm, and John Junkin as Shake, their road manager.[4]
A Hard Day's Night was released in 1964 at the height of Beatlemania and was very well received by critics, and remains one of the most influential jukebox musicals.[5][6] The film broke new ground in the field of British and American musical feature films, particularly in its abandoning of the genre's standard rags-to-riches premise for a comedic presentation of the artists playing themselves. Film historian Stephen Glynn describes it as "the canonical pop music film". He highlights the innovative techniques Lester uses in the sequence for "Can't Buy Me Love", as does Saul Austerlitz, who deems it the precursor to the modern music video.
Help![edit]
Help! was the Beatles' second major film. Directed again by Richard Lester, it was the group's first film shot in colour. It starred the Beatles, Eleanor Bron, Leo McKern, Victor Spinetti and Roy Kinnear. In Help!, the Beatles struggle to record their new album while trying to protect Starr from a sinister eastern cult (a parody of the Thuggee cult) and a pair of mad scientists, all of whom are obsessed with obtaining a sacrificial ring that Starr secretly acquired through a fan letter by the victim. Like A Hard Day's Night, the group performs several songs in the film that appear on their soundtrack album of the same name. It was shot in exotic locations, including Salisbury Plain, with Stonehenge visible in the background, the Bahamas, Salzburg and the Austrian Alps.
With Help!, Lester presented the Beatles in "one of the central surrealist texts" of the 1960s, according to Bray. The film uses pop art visuals and satirises James Bond films, particularly the latter's depiction of the British Secret Service as an efficiently run organisation, and one enjoying a level of influence equal to its US counterpart in their shared operations. Released in 1965, Help! was greeted with positive reviews but was not as well-received as A Hard Day's Night; nevertheless, the film is retrospectively regarded as being very influential, including in the subsequent development of music videos. It is described by Glynn as "the colonial pop music film" for its conveying of the "clear racial undertones" and imperialism evident in Bond films from the period, and the clash that results with the Beatles' Swinging London personas. In addition to inspiring the Monkees' self-titled television show, the film influenced the 1960s Batman TV series.
Magical Mystery Tour[edit]
Magical Mystery Tour was the Beatles' third major film. Unlike the previous two, it was a television film and not a feature film, with a running time of less than an hour.[19] The film follows a group of people on a British mystery tour in a 1967 coach, primarily focusing on Ringo Starr and his recently widowed Aunt Jessie (Jessie Robins). During the course of the tour, "strange things begin to happen" at the whim of "four or five magicians", four of whom are played by the Beatles themselves and the fifth by the band's long-time road manager Mal Evans. The film is interspersed with musical interludes, which include the Beatles performing "I Am the Walrus" and "The Fool on the Hill", Harrison singing "Blue Jay Way" while waiting on Blue Jay Way Road, and ending with the Beatles dressed in white dinner jackets, highlighting a glamorous old-style dance crowd scene, accompanied by the song "Your Mother Should Know".[19]
The idea for the film was essentially McCartney's, which was thought up as he returned from a trip to the US in the late spring of 1967, and was loosely inspired by press coverage McCartney had read about Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters' LSD-fueled American bus odyssey.[20] McCartney felt inspired to take this idea and blend it with the peculiarly English working class tradition of charabanc mystery tours, in which children took chaperoned bus rides through the English countryside, destination unknown.
Magical Mystery Tour was broadcast in the UK on BBC1 on 26 December (Boxing Day), but in black and white rather than colour. It was the Beatles' first critical failure. As a result of the unfavourable reviews, networks in the US declined to show the film there. Beatles' management team member Peter Brown blamed McCartney for its failure. Brown said that during a private screening for management staff, the reaction had been "unanimous ... it was awful", yet McCartney was convinced that the film would be warmly received, and ignored Brown's advice to scrap the project and save the band from embarrassment.
Yellow Submarine[edit]
In 1968, United Artists released the animated musical fantasy film Yellow Submarine, which featured cartoon versions of the band members, voiced by actors. Other than a live-action cameo at the end of the film, the Beatles had little direct input in the film. Instead, the group contributed four previously unreleased songs that made their debut in the film. These included "All Together Now", "Hey Bulldog" and Harrison's "Only a Northern Song" and "It's All Too Much". It was acclaimed for its music, humour and innovative visual style. The Beatles are said to have been pleased with the result and attended its highly publicised London premiere.
The film's soundtrack album, released in early 1969, featured the four previously unreleased songs, two previously released songs: "Yellow Submarine" and "All You Need Is Love" and a re-recording of the film's orchestral soundtrack by producer George Martin. Numerous songs from the film were later remixed and released on the Yellow Submarine Songtrack in 1999.[29] Yellow Submarine provided a revolution in animated film[30] and allowed animators to fully express ideas using psychedelic visuals.[31] It marked a departure from the confines of Disney's productions and was credited with saving the feature-length animated film.
Let It Be[edit]
Let It Be was the Beatles' final major feature film. Directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, it is a documentary film that documents the group rehearsing and recording songs for their twelfth and final studio album Let It Be. It was shot over a four-week period in January 1969, and includes an unannounced rooftop concert by the group, which was their last public performance. The documentary — originally intended to be a chronicle of the evolution of an album and the band's possible return to live performances — captured the prevailing tensions between the band members, which would ultimately lead to their break-up.
Let It Be observes the Beatles from a "fly on the wall" perspective, without narration, scene titles, or interviews with the main subjects. The first portion of the film shows the band rehearsing on a sound stage at Twickenham Film Studios. The songs are works in progress, with a heated exchange between McCartney and Harrison while recording "Two of Us" shown. Also present are Mal Evans and Yoko Ono, who's at Lennon's side at all times. The group is then shown arriving individually at Apple headquarters, where they record several songs, some complete and some works-in-progress. Complete performances of "Two of Us", "Let It Be", and "The Long and Winding Road" are also shown. The film's final portion shows the Beatles and Billy Preston giving an unannounced concert from the headquarters rooftop. They perform "Get Back", "Don't Let Me Down", "I've Got a Feeling", "One After 909" and "Dig a Pony", intercut with reactions and comments from surprised Londoners gathering on the streets below, before being shut down by the police.
The band initially rejected both the film and the album, instead recording and issuing the Abbey Road album. But with a large investment spent on the project, it was decided to finish and release the film and album (the latter with considerable post-production by Phil Spector) in the spring of 1970. When the film released in May 1970, it was after the group's breakup was announced, which gave the film's depiction of the band's acrimony and attempts to recapture the group's spirit a significant poignancy.
Individual projects[edit]
In late 1966, following the Beatles' cease in touring and before the recording sessions for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Lennon took time off to play a supporting character, Gripweed, in Richard Lester's How I Won the War. A satire of World War II films, the film's dry, ironic British humour was not well received by American audiences. Lennon would later produce avant-garde films with his second wife Yoko Ono, such as Rape which was produced for the Austrian television network ORF.
In addition to his roles in the Beatles' films, Starr has received praise from critics and film industry professionals regarding his acting; director and producer Walter Shenson called him "a superb actor, an absolute natural". By the mid-1960s, Starr had become a connoisseur of film. Starr has acted in Candy (1968), The Magic Christian (1969), Blindman (1971), Son of Dracula (1974) and Caveman (1981). In 1971, he starred as Larry the Dwarf in Frank Zappa's 200 Motels and was featured in Harry Nilsson's animated film The Point! He then co-starred in That'll Be the Day (1973) as a Teddy Boy and appeared in The Last Waltz, the Martin Scorsese documentary film about the 1976 farewell concert of the Band. Starr played the Pope in Ken Russell's Lisztomania (1975), and later appeared as himself and a downtrodden alter-ego Ognir Rrats in Ringo (1978), an American-made television comedy film based loosely on The Prince and the Pauper. For the 1979 documentary film on the Who, The Kids Are Alright, Starr appeared in interview segments with fellow drummer Keith Moon.[42]
Harrison achieved success as a film producer. He helped finance Ravi Shankar's documentary Raga and released it through Apple Films in 1971. He also produced, with Apple manager Allen Klein, the Concert for Bangladesh film. In 1973, he produced the feature film Little Malcolm, but the project was lost amid the litigation surrounding the former Beatles ending their business ties with Klein. In 1978, in an effort to produce Monty Python's Life of Brian, he and Denis O'Brien formed the production company HandMade Films.[47] Harrison financed the production of Life of Brian in part by mortgaging his home, which Eric Idle later called "the most anybody's ever paid for a cinema ticket in history".[48] Harrison would later produce Time Bandits (1981), which featured a new song by Harrison, "Dream Away";[48] Mona Lisa (1986); Shanghai Surprise (1986); Withnail and I (1987) and made cameo appearances in several of these films, including as a reporter in All You Need Is Cash and as a nightclub singer in Shanghai Surprise, for which he recorded five new songs.
McCartney appeared in a cameo role in Peter Richardson's 1987 film Eat the Rich and released his own film Give My Regards to Broad Street in 1984 in which Starr co-starred as a fictionalised version of himself. He also appeared in the 2017 film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, as a character named Uncle Jack.[53][54]
Unmade films[edit]
During the 1960s, there were many ideas pitched for films, but these were either rejected or never saw the light of day; such projects included A Talent for Loving, a Western film written by Richard Condon; Shades of a Personality; film versions of The Lord of the Rings (quickly deep-sixed by J.R.R. Tolkien), and The Three Musketeers starring the group (Richard Lester, who directed the group's first two films, went on to direct The Three Musketeers without the Beatles' involvement); and a script by playwright Joe Orton called Up Against It.[55] Throughout the 1980s, a hand-drawn animated film titled Strawberry Fields (also referred to as Strawberry Fields Forever) was in development. The project was spearheaded by Yellow Submarine producer Al Brodax, who hired animator Jeff Merghart to do character designs. The film was meant to also utilize computer animation. Other reports indicate that Michael Jackson approached Don Bluth with the notion to make the film after acquiring the rights to the catalog.[56] Ultimately, the project was canceled when the production team discovered that Brodax did not have the rights to use the band's catalog of songs. Sketches of the main and supporting characters by Merghart were discovered in 2019, and 30 minutes of test footage was uploaded to the Internet Archive in 2024.[57][58] Robert Zemeckis was planning a remake of the film Yellow Submarine with motion capture technology but it was cancelled in 2011.[59]
Critical reception[edit]
Film Rotten Tomatoes Metacritic A Hard Day's Night 98% (107 reviews)[60] 96 (24 reviews)[61][A] Help! 91% (22 reviews)[62] — Magical Mystery Tour 62% (12 reviews)[63] — Yellow Submarine 96% (47 reviews)[64] 79 (18 reviews)[65] Let It Be 75% (11 reviews)[66] — Average ratings 85% 87.5
Promotional films[edit]
Starting with "Day Tripper" and "We Can Work It Out" in late 1965, the band filmed promotional clips for their singles to circumvent the industry norm of having to make numerous personal appearances on television shows. They continued to make promotional clips for their non-album singles until 1969, the final being Harrison's "Something". The Beatles' promotional clips anticipated the music video and the rise of MTV in the 1980s.[71] All of their promotional films were remastered and released on 1+ in 2015.[72]
Song Year Director Description "Day Tripper" 1965 Joseph McGrath The Beatles filmed three promotional clips for "Day Tripper" and "We Can Work It Out" at Twickenham Film Studios in south-west London on 23 November. In all three for "We Can Work It Out", Lennon was seated at a harmonium. The most frequently broadcast of the three was a straightforward performance piece with the group wearing black suits.[77] Another clip shows the group wearing the stage suits from their Shea Stadium performance. The third clip opens with a still photograph of Lennon with a sunflower in front of his eye. "We Can Work It Out" "I Feel Fine" During the filming of "Day Tripper" and "We Can Work It Out", the Beatles filmed promotional films for previous singles "I Feel Fine", "Ticket to Ride" and "Help!" for inclusion in Top of the Pops' round-up of the biggest hits of 1965. "Ticket to Ride" "Help!" "Rain" 1966 Michael Lindsay-Hogg[80] The Beatles created three promotional films for "Rain". One features the Beatles walking and singing in a garden and a greenhouse at Chiswick House in west London while the other two feature the band performing on a sound stage (filmed 19 May 1966, one in colour for The Ed Sullivan Show and the other in black and white for British television).[citation needed] "Paperback Writer" Four promotional films for "Paperback Writer" were shot on 19 and 20 May 1966. On the first day, they recorded a colour performance at EMI Studios, for The Ed Sullivan Show, and two black and white performance clips for British television. On 20 May, a second colour film was made at Chiswick House, which featured the Beatles miming to the song in and around the conservatory in the grounds of the house.[citation needed] "Strawberry Fields Forever" 1967 Peter Goldmann[81] The promotional film for "Strawberry Fields Forever" was filmed on 30 and 31 January 1967 at Knole Park in Sevenoaks, Kent. Instead of a performance of the song, the clip relies on abstract imagery and features reverse film effects, stop motion animation, jump-cuts from day- to night-time, superimposition and close-up shots. The Beatles are shown playing and later pouring paint over the upright piano; at one point, McCartney appears to leap from the ground onto a branch of the tree.[85] The clip presented the Beatles' with moustaches for the first time,[85] which sharply contrasted with the youthful "moptop" image of their touring years. "Penny Lane" The promotional clip for "Penny Lane" was filmed in Liverpool,[88] Stratford,[85] and Knole Park in early February 1967. Like "Strawberry Fields Forever", it does not feature the band performing the song. Instead, it features the number 86 bus to Penny Lane, the shelter on the roundabout, and a fireman riding a white horse, the Beatles riding horses, and the band dressed in matching red tunics arriving at a table set up in the park, bearing a large candelabra. It closes with the members being presented with their musical instruments. "Hello, Goodbye" Paul McCartney The Beatles made three promotional clips for "Hello, Goodbye". Filmed on 10 November 1967 at the Saville Theatre in London, the first clip shows the Beatles dressed in their Sgt. Pepper uniforms, apart from a brief cut-away where the group are wearing their 1963-era matching collarless suits. In author John Winn's description of the three clips, this version shows the Beatles performing the song against a psychedelic backdrop, while over the coda they are joined on the stage by female hula dancers. Starr is seen playing a miniature drum kit and, unusually, Lennon appears without his granny glasses. In the second clip, the Beatles mime to the song dressed in more conventional attire and with the stage backdrop depicting a rural setting. The third version combines footage shot during these two scenes with the band playing the song before what Winn terms a "glittery pastel backdrop". "Lady Madonna" 1968 Tony Bramwell Two promotional films were made for "Lady Madonna". Filmed at EMI Studios on 11 February 1968, the footage consisted of the Beatles recording Lennon's "Hey Bulldog", which they supplied United Artists for use in the Yellow Submarine animated film. Little attempt was made to marry up the footage of the Beatles' playing and singing with the audio of "Lady Madonna"; in the second of the two clips, Harrison is shown eating a plate of beans, while both clips show Starr listening to a playback and the Beatles playing alternative instruments from those heard on the song. In 1999, the footage was re-edited by Apple to create a new clip for "Hey Bulldog", to help promote the reissue of the Yellow Submarine film. "Hey Jude" Michael Lindsay-Hogg[80] The promotional clip for "Hey Jude" features the Beatles performing the song live in front of a controlled audience.[101] It was shot at Twickenham Film Studios on 4 September 1968. In the clip, the Beatles are first seen by themselves, performing the initial chorus and verses, before the audience moves forward and joins them in singing the coda. The band sung live but otherwise performed to a backing track. "Revolution" The promotional clip for "Revolution", like "Hey Jude", was shot at Twickenham Film Studios on 4 September 1968. Two finished clips of "Revolution" were produced, with only lighting differences and other minor variations. In them, the Beatles sang the vocals live over the pre-recorded instrumental track from the single version. Their vocals included elements from "Revolution 1": McCartney and Harrison sang the "shoo-bee-doo-wap" backing vocals, and Lennon sang "count me out – in". "Something" 1969 Neil Aspinall[109] The promotional clip for "Something" was shot in late October 1969, not long after Lennon privately announced that he was leaving the band. By this time, the individual Beatles had grown apart, so the film consisted of separate clips of each Beatle walking around his home, accompanied by his wife, edited together. Harrison's segment shows him and Boyd together in the garden at Kinfauns; Winn comments on the attractiveness of all the wives in contrast to the unkempt appearance of McCartney, who had sunk into depression at the realisation that the Beatles were over. The four segments were edited and compiled into a single film clip by Neil Aspinall.[109]
Documentaries[edit]
The Beatles have been the subject of a number of documentary films.
Title Year Director Description The Beatles in Australia 1964 Warwick Freeman A documentary that follows the Beatles' 1964 tour of Australia Around the Beatles Rita Gillespie A television film featuring the Beatles performing at Wembley Park Studios in London on 28 April 1964. What's Happening! The Beatles in the U.S.A. Albert and David Maysles A documentary film about the Beatles' first visit to the US in February 1964. The Beatles at Shea Stadium 1965 Bob Precht A 50-minute long documentary about the Beatles' concert at Shea Stadium in New York City on 15 August 1965 The Beatles in Japan 1966 – A television special featuring the Beatles performing in Japan during their 1966 tour. A Salute to the Beatles: Once upon a Time 1975 David Frost (presenter) A television special chronicling the career of the Beatles from their popularity in Liverpool in the early 1960s, through the era of Beatlemania and unprecedented commercial success and cultural influence, to the band's demise amid the business problems surrounding their Apple Corps enterprise. The Compleat Beatles 1982 Patrick Montgomery A documentary film chronicling the career of the Beatles, from pre-fame to the breakup. It was narrated by Malcolm McDowell.[112] It Was Twenty Years Ago Today 1987 John Sheppard A television film about the 1967 Summer of Love and presents Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band as the central factor behind the events and scenes that led to the full emergence of the 1960s counterculture.[113] The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit 1990 Albert and David Maysles A re-edited version of What's Happening! The Beatles in the U.S.A. The Beatles Anthology 1995 Geoff Wonfor and Bob Smeaton An eight-part television miniseries about the career of the Beatles, featuring interviews, archive footage and performances.[114][115] All Together Now 2008 Adrian Wills A documentary film that chronicles the making of the Beatles and Cirque du Soleil collaboration project Love.[116][117] How the Beatles Rocked the Kremlin 2009 Leslie Woodhead A television film that tells the story of the Beatles' effect on the Soviet Union.[118] Good Ol' Freda 2013 Ryan White A documentary film about Freda Kelly, secretary of Brian Epstein and the Beatles Fan Club, about her life near to the Fab Four for 11 years.[119][120] The Beatles: Eight Days a Week 2016 Ron Howard A documentary film that follows the group's career during their touring years from 1962 to 1966, from their performances at the Cavern Club in Liverpool to their final concert in San Francisco in 1966.[121] How the Beatles Changed the World 2017 Tom O'Dell A documentary about the history of the Beatles and their influence on everything from music, art, and culture to fashion and politics.[122] John & Yoko: Above Us Only Sky 2018 Michael Epstein A documentary telling the untold story of John Lennon's 1971 album Imagine, exploring the creative collaboration between Lennon and Yoko Ono and featuring interviews and never-seen-before footage.[123][124] Meeting the Beatles in India 2020 Paul Saltzman A documentary about the Beatles' stay in Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's Ashram in 1968 by Canadian filmmaker Paul Saltzman who was there at the time.[125] The Beatles and India 2021 Ajoy Bose with Peter Compton This is the second documentary about the Beatles' stay in India in two years.[126] The Beatles: Get Back 2021 Peter Jackson A documentary about the Beatles' Let It Be project. It draws from material originally captured in January 1969 by Michael Lindsay-Hogg for his 1970 documentary of the album. Originally set for a September 2020 premiere, the release date was pushed back by Walt Disney Pictures due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[127] With a running time close to eight hours, the three-part series premiered on the Disney+ streaming service in November 2021.[128]
Fictionalised Beatles[edit]
The Beatles (and the individual members) have been portrayed onscreen numerous times, through film and television. Below is a list of films and television programmes that have portrayed the Beatles.
Title Year Director Description Birth of the Beatles 1979 Richard Marquand A biographical film focusing on the early history of the Beatles. It stars Stephen MacKenna as Lennon, Rod Culbertson as McCartney, John Altman as Harrison and Ray Ashcroft as Starr. Beatlemania: The Movie 1981 Joseph Manduke A film adaptation of the Broadway show of the same name, starring Mitch Weissman (bass guitar; "Paul"), David Leon (rhythm guitar; "John"), Tom Teeley (lead guitar; "George"), and Ralph Castelli (drums; "Ringo").[129] Give My Regards to Broad Street 1984 Peter Webb A film that covers a fictional day in the life of Paul McCartney, starring McCartney and Ringo as fictionalized versions of themselves.[131] John and Yoko: A Love Story 1985 Sandor Stern A made-for-television film that chronicles the lives of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, beginning before they met in 1966 and concluding with Lennon's murder in 1980. It stars Mark McGann as Lennon and Kim Miyori as Ono. The Hours and Times 1991 Christopher Münch The film tells a fictionalised account of what might have happened during a real holiday taken by Brian Epstein and Lennon in Barcelona in 1963, starring David Angus as Epstein and Ian Hart as Lennon. Backbeat 1994 Iain Softley The film focuses primarily on the relationship between Stuart Sutcliffe (Stephen Dorff) and Lennon (Ian Hart), and with Sutcliffe's German girlfriend Astrid Kirchherr (Sheryl Lee).[132] The Linda McCartney Story 2000 Armand Mastroianni A television film covering the relationship between Paul and Linda McCartney, starring Elizabeth Mitchell as Linda and Gary Bakewell as Paul. Two of Us Michael Lindsay-Hogg A television film which offers a dramatised account of April 24, 1976, the day in which Lorne Michaels made a statement on Saturday Night Live offering the Beatles $3,000 to reunite on his program. It stars Jared Harris as Lennon and Aidan Quinn as McCartney. In His Life: The John Lennon Story David Carson A Lennon biopic that focuses on his teenage years, starring Philip McQuillen as Lennon My Dinner with Jimi 2003 Howard Kaylan An autobiographical film that tells the story of Kaylan and his band the Turtles' first tour of England, where they met many British rock stars, including the Beatles. It stars Brian Groh as Lennon, Quinton Flynn as McCartney, Nate Dushku as Harrison and Ben Bodé as Starr. The Killing of John Lennon 2006 Andrew Piddington A film about Mark David Chapman's plot to kill Lennon, starring Jonas Ball as Chapman and Richard Sherman as Lennon.[133] Chapter 27 2007 Jarrett Schaefer A film depicting the murder of Lennon by Mark David Chapman, starring Jared Leto as Chapman.[134] Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story Jake Kasdan A mock-biopic film that tells the story of a fictional early rock star named Dewey Cox. In the film, Cox and his bandmates go to India to pray with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, where they encounter the intentionally miscast Beatles with Paul Rudd, Jack Black, Justin Long and Jason Schwartzman as John, Paul, George and Ringo, respectively. Nowhere Boy 2009 Sam Taylor-Wood A John Lennon biopic, focusing on his adolescence, his relationships with his aunt Mimi Smith and his mother Julia Lennon, the creation of his first band, the Quarrymen, and its evolution into the Beatles. It stars Aaron Johnson as Lennon.[135] Lennon Naked 2010 Edmund Coulthard A television film based on the life of Lennon from 1967 to 1971 starring Christopher Eccleston as Lennon.[136][137] Playhouse Presents: "Snodgrass" 2013 David Blair A television episode wondering what Lennon's life would have been like if he had quit the Beatles in 1962. Cilla 2014 – A British miniseries about the early career of Cilla Black that features the Beatles, Brian Epstein and George Martin in supporting roles. Vinyl
Episode: "E.A.B." 2016 Jon S. Baird A short-lived HBO series about the 1970s music industry. It features an episode where Lennon and May Pang attend a Bob Marley & the Wailers show at Max's Kansas City. Lennon is portrayed by Stephen Sullivan and Pang is portrayed by Celia Au.
Planned films[edit]
In February 2024, director Sam Mendes announced that Sony Pictures had approved plans for biopics of each individual member of the band. The films are to be produced by Neal Street Productions with the backing of Sony Pictures, and are set to be released in 2027.[138][139]
Inspired by the Beatles[edit]
Several fictional films not depicting the Beatles have been entirely based on Beatles themes and songs:
Title Year Director Description Pinoy Beatles 1964 Artemio Marquez A Tagalog musical made in the Philippines. It was released three months after A Hard Day's Night. The Girls on the Beach 1965 William Witney A beach party film in which college sorority members mistakenly believe the Beatles are going to perform at their sorority fundraiser. All This and World War II 1976 Susan Winslow A documentary film of World War II using Beatles music. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band 1978 Michael Schultz A musical based on the Beatles' album of the same name starring Peter Frampton and the Bee Gees.[140] I Wanna Hold Your Hand Robert Zemeckis A coming of age film about Beatlemania and is a fictionalised account of 9 February 1964, the Beatles' first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. All You Need Is Cash Eric Idle and Gary Weis A television mockumentary featuring the Rutles, a parody of the Beatles. Yesterday 1985 Radosław Piwowarski A band of four teenagers play a concert full of Beatles hits for their high school graduation. Secrets 1992 Michael Pattinson A drama film about five Australian teenagers who get locked in the basement of a hotel where the Beatles are staying. I Am Sam 2001 Jessie Nelson A drama film about the story of an intellectually disabled father who loves the Beatles and his efforts to retain custody of his daughter The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch 2005 Eric Idle A re-telling of All You Need Is Cash featuring the Rutles in a modern-day setting Across the Universe 2007 Julie Taymor A jukebox musical that centers on Beatles songs. The music and the Vietnam War form the backdrop for a romance between an upper-class young woman from the U.S. and a poor Liverpudlian artist.[141] Living Is Easy with Eyes Closed 2014 David Trueba A Spanish film set in 1966 while Lennon is shooting How I Won The War in Almeria Beatles Peter Flinth A Norwegian film based on the Lars Saabye Christensen novel Beatles. The plot centers around four friends growing up in Oslo in the sixties, who occasionally think of themselves as the Fab Four.[142] Yesterday 2019 Danny Boyle A musical starring Himesh Patel as a struggling musician who, after an accident, finds himself the only person who remembers the Beatles and becomes famous after taking credit for their songs. It also stars Lily James as the musician's childhood friend and Ed Sheeran as a fictionalised version of himself.[143][144]
Other[edit]
The vultures in the 1967 animated film The Jungle Book are considered caricatures of the Beatles. The Beatles were originally planned to voice them, but later declined due to scheduling conflicts.[145]
See also[edit]
Outline of the Beatles
The Beatles timeline
References[edit]
Citations | ||||||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 3 | 13 | https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/beatles-movie-hard-days-night-cost-500000-worth-it.html/ | en | The Beatles’ Movie ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ Cost $500,000, and It Was More Than Worth It | [
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"Jason Rossi"
] | 2023-04-13T14:18:09+00:00 | The payoff from The Beatles' movie 'A Hard Day's Night' was that the Fab Four earned artistic credibility as more than just musicians. | en | Showbiz Cheat Sheet | https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/beatles-movie-hard-days-night-cost-500000-worth-it.html/ | The Beatles exist in a stratosphere all their own decades after they broke up. The music still resonates, and the band members — living and dead — are still celebrated. So are the group’s other projects, such as The Beatles’ first movie A Hard Day’s Night. It cost $500,000 to make, which was well worth it beyond the box office receipts. Paul McCartney said filming the movie was nerve-wracking, but it came with a huge payoff.
‘A Hard Day’s Night’ more than recouped its $500,000 budget
A Hard Day’s Night (1964) was like many other movies. A screenwriter (Alun Owen) penned the script. A director (Richard Lester) helmed the shoot. And actors (many of them anonymous in the U.S. aside from The Beatles) performed in it.
Yet it comes off as a quasi-documentary with Paul, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr fending off rabid fans at the height of Beatlemania as they try to get to a TV appearance.
According to Paul McCartney: A Life author Peter Ames Carlin, it cost $500,000 to make the movie. Ames writes that even by 1964 standards, that was hardly an outlandish budget. According to Box Office Mojo, it earned $2.3 million at the box office in its lifetime, meaning it nearly quintupled the budget. Regardless of the Beatles’ paycheck, it was worth far more than the $500,000 cost.
The Beatles became multimedia artists with the ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ movie
Screaming fans hounding the band were par for the course for The Beatles in 1964. Yet part of the payoff from A Hard Day’s Night was finding a way to connect with their fans in a new way.
They toured regularly at the time and made frequent TV appearances, but that doesn’t mean that every fan who wanted to see The Beatles could. The A Hard Day’s Night movie provided their rabid fans another avenue to participate in Beatlemania that was more widely accessible.
Perhaps more importantly, it established Paul, John, Ringo, and George as more than musicians. Other Beatles movies and film project followed: Help!, the Paul-imagined Magical Mystery Tour, and Yellow Submarine. There was also the international satellite broadcast where The Beatles first sang “All You Need Is Love,” one of their most experimental songs. That was just the tip of the iceberg.
John published two books — In His Own Write and A Spaniard in the Works — in 1964 and 1965, respectively. When he married Yoko Ono, he veered off the pop music path and created soundscapes that were avant-garde art in their own right. His artwork drew attention after his death. The book Real Love includes several lighthearted sketches he made for his son, Sean.
Ringo forged a solid acting career, which included starring alongside Peter Sellers in the madcap movie The Magic Christian and a notably strong performance in That’ll Be the Day in 1973.
George discovered another way to stay in the entertainment business. His production company, Handmade Films, financed several movies, most notably Monty Python’s The Life of Brian and the Python-adjacent Time Bandits.
The campy A Hard Day’s Night movie was worth more to The Beatles than a paycheck. It lent legitimacy to their other artistic endeavors.
Paul McCartney had a creative misfire long after The Beatles
Paul was mainly responsible for Magical Mystery Tour, which was widely panned at the time but produced an overlooked Beatles album. He wasn’t as successful with his 1984 movie/soundtrack Give My Regards to Broad Street project.
The soundtrack produced the hit song “No More Lonely Nights,” but Paul needed help from Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour to make it a winner. The movie earned dreadful reviews (critics and fans on Rotten Tomatoes panned it), but it did bring several key Beatles’ players (Paul, Ringo, producer George Martin, engineer Geoff Emerick) together again.
Paul had better luck with a 1998 webcast he put together after his wife Linda’s death. He discusses his and Linda’s shared passion for animals and shows off his comedy chops in a bit where he makes his mashed potatoes recipe.
We wouldn’t be surprised if The Beatles made the movie for A Hard Day’s Night merely to cash in on their rising fame and crank out another album. The bigger benefit was that it established them as multimedia artists, and John, Paul, George, and Ringo took full advantage of that credibility for years after the band disintegrated. | |||||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 1 | 9 | https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/george_harrison_living_in_the_material_world | en | George Harrison: Living in the Material World | [
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] | null | [] | null | Filmmaker Martin Scorsese examines the life of musician George Harrison, weaving together interviews, concert footage, home movies and photographs. | en | https://www.rottentomatoes.com/assets/pizza-pie/images/favicon.ico | Rotten Tomatoes | https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/george_harrison_living_in_the_material_world | Let's keep in touch!
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Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:
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Sign me up No thanks | ||||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 2 | 65 | https://www.remindmagazine.com/article/7943/george-harrison-eric-clapton-love-triangle-pattie-boyd/ | en | Beatles’ George Harrison & Eric Clapton Were in a Love Triangle With Model Pattie Boyd | [
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] | 2024-02-27T10:00:00-05:00 | Now, some of their love letters are going up for auction. | en | https://www.remindmagazine.com/wp-content/themes/remind/images/favicon.ico | Remind | https://www.remindmagazine.com/article/7943/george-harrison-eric-clapton-love-triangle-pattie-boyd/ | The Beatles‘ star George Harrison was married to model Pattie Boyd from 1966 until 1977. Their marriage was not without its ups and downs. Harrison found himself in a love triangle with Boyd and singer Eric Clapton. Harrison and Clapton were best friends in the ’60s and by 1970 Clapton confessed that he was in love with Boyd. The ins and outs of the love triangle are featured in the new book called “George Harrison: The Reluctant Beatle” by bestselling biographer Philip Norman.
Norman revealed, “George was a massive contradiction. And this very curious relationship evolved after his best friend Eric Clapton became absolutely infatuated with his first wife… You never truly know what goes on between these guitar superheroes.” Harrison and Boyd met when she had a small role in the Beatles’ film A Hard Day’s Night and Harrison fell for her hard and fast. They wed just two years after meeting.
A few years later, Harrison’s moods began to shift. He was reportedly quite moody and paranoid as he went back and forth between meditating and doing coke with rockstars. This contradictory lifestyle put a strain on his marriage as Boyd was often the one he took things out on, emotionally. Around the same time, Harrison and Clapton became friends and would hang out in each other’s homes. This was when Clapton began to fall for Boyd and she ate up all of the attention. Clapton’s hit song “Layla” is even about her.
Norman added, “Eric was owning up to his feelings on stage when he played that song. She had no idea that he was so infatuated with her for a long, long time. Eventually, he wrote her a rather tortured letter which she thought was just another fan letter from one of George’s fans. She didn’t get it at all.” Eventually, they talked about their feelings but she stayed with Harrison for three more years. They split when Harrison had an affair with Maureen Starkey, Ringo Starr’s wife. Boyd and Clapton ended up getting married in 1979 until 1989. Boyd reportedly made up with both men after both divorces and is now married to Rod Weston.
A love letter that occurred during the love triangle days just sold in an auction. The letter was written by Clapton in 1970 to Boyd when she was already married to his friend Harrison. The letter begins, “I am writing this note to you, with the main purpose of ascertaining your feelings toward a subject well known to both of us. What I wish to ask you is if you still love your husband, or if you have another lover? All these questions are very impertinent I know, but if there is still a feeling in your heart for me… you must let me know!” The letter was signed “E” and Boyd initially showed it to Harrison because she believed it was from a “weird fan.”
Boyd explained her reasons for giving up the letter and other items including photos up for auction. She shared with Christie’s in London, who is hosting the auction, “I thought, ‘Do I need them? Do I need to keep going into Pandora’s Box?’ I’ve enjoyed them for many, many years, and now it’s time for other people to see and enjoy them. It’s only right I should pass them on.” The items sold for $3.6 million, taking in much more than the auction house expected. | ||||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 1 | 88 | https://www.thefader.com/2024/02/20/beatles-biopics-sam-mendes | en | All four members of the The Beatles are getting biopics | [
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] | 2024-02-20T00:00:00 | Director Sam Mendes will helm four The Beatles biopics, one for each member of the Fab Four: Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, John Lennon, and George Harrison. The movies are due in 2027. | en | /apple-touch-icon.png | The FADER | https://www.thefader.com/2024/02/20/beatles-biopics-sam-mendes | All four members of The Beatles will get their own standalone biopic as part of an ambitious series of movies from director Sam Mendes. News of the first fully licensed Beatles films depicting the lives of Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, John Lennon, and George Harrison was announced by Sony Pictures Entertainment and Neal Street Productions. The movies are due for release in 2027.
A press release notes that each of the four biopics will intersect as they chart "the astonishing story of the greatest band in history,” leading up to their split in 1970. Sony Pictures Entertainment added that the release strategy will be "innovative and groundbreaking," though no further details were provided.
Mendes, whose previous movies include American Beauty, Skyfall, and 1917, said he is "honored to be telling the story of the greatest rock band of all time, and excited to challenge the notion of what constitutes a trip to the movies." | ||||
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BURBANK, Calif. (April 16) – Today, Disney+ announced that “Let It Be,” director Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s original 1970 film about The Beatles, will launch exclusively on Disney+ May 8, 2024. This is the first time the film is available in over 50 years.
First released in May 1970 amidst the swirl of The Beatles’ breakup, “Let It Be” now takes its rightful place in the band’s history. Once viewed through a darker lens, the film is now brought to light through its restoration and in the context of revelations brought forth in Peter Jackson’s multiple Emmy Award®-winning docuseries, “The Beatles: Get Back.” Released on Disney+ in 2021, the docuseries showcases the iconic foursome’s warmth and camaraderie, capturing a pivotal moment in music history.
“Let It Be” contains footage not featured in the “Get Back” docuseries, bringing viewers into the studio and onto Apple Corps’ London rooftop in January 1969 as The Beatles, joined by Billy Preston, write and record their GRAMMY Award®-winning album Let It Be, with its Academy Award®-winning title song, and perform live for the final time as a group. With the release of “The Beatles: Get Back,” fan clamour for the original “Let It Be” film reached a fever pitch. With Lindsay-Hogg’s full support, Apple Corps asked Peter Jackson’s Park Road Post Production to dive into a meticulous restoration of the film from the original 16mm negative, which included lovingly remastering the sound using the same MAL de-mix technology that was applied to the “Get Back” docuseries.
Image
Michael Lindsay-Hogg says, “’Let It Be’ was ready to go in October/November 1969, but it didn’t come out until April 1970. One month before its release, The Beatles officially broke up. And so the people went to see ‘Let It Be’ with sadness in their hearts, thinking, ‘I’ll never see The Beatles together again. I will never have that joy again,’ and it very much darkened the perception of the film. But, in fact, how often do you get to see artists of this stature working together to make what they hear in their heads into songs. And then you get to the roof and you see their excitement, camaraderie and sheer joy in playing together again as a group and know, as we do now, that it was the final time, and we view it with full understanding of who they were and still are and a little poignancy. I was knocked out by what Peter was able to do with ‘Get Back,’using all the footage I’d shot 50 years previously.”
“I’m absolutely thrilled that Michael’s movie, ‘Let It Be,’ has been restored and is finally being re-released after being unavailable for decades,” says Peter Jackson. "I was so lucky to have access to Michael’s outtakes for 'Get Back,’ and I’ve always thought that ‘Let It Be’ is needed to complete the ‘Get Back’ story. Over three parts, we showed Michael and The Beatles filming a groundbreaking new documentary, and ‘Let It Be’ is that documentary – the movie they released in 1970. I now think of it all as one epic story, finally completed after five decades. The two projects support and enhance each other: ‘Let It Be’ is the climax of ‘Get Back,’ while ‘Get Back’ provides a vital missing context for ‘Let It Be.’ Michael Lindsay-Hogg was unfailingly helpful and gracious while I made ‘Get Back,’ and it’s only right that his original movie has the last word...looking and sounding far better than it did in 1970.”
“Let It Be,” directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, stars John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, with a special appearance by Billy Preston. The film was produced by Neil Aspinall with The Beatles acting as executive producers. The director of photography was Anthony B Richmond.
“Let It Be” will debut exclusively on Disney+ May 8, 2024. | |||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 1 | 71 | https://www.thedailybeast.com/ringo-starr-says-the-beatles-let-it-be-film-had-no-real-joyuntil-now | en | Ringo Starr Says the Beatles’ ‘Let It Be’ Film Had ‘No Real Joy’—Until Now | https://img.thedailybeast.com/image/upload/c_crop,d_placeholder_euli9k,h_1688,w_3000,x_0,y_0/dpr_2.0/c_limit,w_740/fl_lossy,q_auto/v1715114366/050724-letitbefeature-hero_rfwlb9 | https://img.thedailybeast.com/image/upload/c_crop,d_placeholder_euli9k,h_1688,w_3000,x_0,y_0/dpr_2.0/c_limit,w_740/fl_lossy,q_auto/v1715114366/050724-letitbefeature-hero_rfwlb9 | [
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] | 2024-05-08T08:29:59.748000+00:00 | Starr, director Michael Lindsay-Hogg, and Giles Martin recall the fraught history of the band’s final film, which arrives on Disney+ this week in a newly restored format. | en | data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAABAAAAAQCAIAAACQkWg2AAABPUlEQVQoz6WSv6rCMBTGOymCIL6BizqIgvgHBRdxcPYJxNkHEDd1EhUclE6uPoKzu4OggoKP4CC3JqZNbJqbGKk3XVq4IcPJB7/DOV8+DdbrP6GQvEYk8kgm8WLBKFX0aBTkcni5ZIxp/M3cQyk9n2GthnVd0V8vejjAcpms13+A+53ZtqD2e5DPu7pzu/FGgtpsnq3WF4CNhtXviwpjIxZzdZDJ4NlMNDoeQamkAKjTkbUc3QXMdyN6OoFCIRBgDQZyVFip+APcAHq98oLoOmq3/YHPQQhWq9Zo5A/Y260wSu6QSgXbodd7ozb/2WAudbuu/g/g2Wzi8VhUpmnE48pIw6EMCA+V5nWDj7rbgWLxqyP0CRpfOptVAULk75DVyhvKy4XnF8/nmifeIJ3G0ylzHEUPhx+JBJ5MuFG/5/Ynabxw9yEAAAAASUVORK5CYII= | The Daily Beast | https://www.thedailybeast.com/ringo-starr-says-the-beatles-let-it-be-film-had-no-real-joyuntil-now | “I was always moaning about the original film, because there was no real joy in it,” Ringo Starr recalls to The Daily Beast of the 1970 documentary film Let It Be, which was released just weeks after news of the Beatles’ split had hit the press.
Since Peter Jackson’s Get Back documentary premiered on Disney+ in 2021, even the most casual Beatles fan knows what Starr is talking about. The Let It Be film and album were a dismal affair for all involved. Salvaged from the ashes of Paul McCartney’s idea for the Beatles to “get back,” literally, to their roots by writing and recording a new album, the nearly 60 hours of footage filmed by director Michael Lindsay-Hogg during January 1969 chronicled the end of the greatest creative collaboration of the last century.
But Let It Be got only a limited theatrical release in 1970. Now, at long last, a restored version arrives on Disney+ this week.
“All these years, did I wish it to come out? Of course. Did I hope it would? Well, you know, hope is a like a candle: sometimes it flickers and sometimes it’s bright and sometimes it goes out,” Lindsay-Hogg admits. Dressed nattily and holding forth in a Disney conference room in midtown Manhattan, the 84-year-old director looked preternaturally youthful when we recently met to discuss Let It Be, which has been wonderfully restored by Jackson’s team after he used Lindsay-Hogg’s footage for Get Back. “The catalyst, really, was Peter Jackson. Right from the beginning, he was very direct and very respectful.”
Of course, back in 1969 and ’70, things didn’t go according to plan, either. John Lennon was preoccupied with his then-blossoming relationship with Yoko Ono (and dabbling in heroin), and George Harrison had finally had enough, having just returned from a visit with Bob Dylan and the Band in Woodstock, where he had been treated with the respect he no doubt felt he deserved. Even Starr, frustrated by the ever-increasing tensions among the band members, had struck out in films and began contemplating a solo career in earnest.
Meanwhile, as seen in Let It Be, McCartney had become the quartet’s de facto leader, much to the growing annoyance of his bandmates. It was a role he’d filled to an increasing degree since manager Brian Epstein’s death in August 1967, but by January 1969, with the others’ interest in the group waning, the Beatles had essentially become, for better or worse, his band.
“It was always Paul who would want to get back to work,” Starr recalls. “I lived near John, and so I’d be at his place, lounging and having a bit of a smoke in the garden, and the phone would ring. We’d know even before we answered that it was Paul, saying, ‘C’mon, let’s get in the studio and make a new record.’”
But this time, it was not just a new record he was after. McCartney wanted the band to get back on the boards, performing to a live audience for the first time since their last concert at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park in 1966, for a television special to be broadcast worldwide. With a director needed to helm the special—as well as footage of the band rehearsing for promotional advertisements—he turned to a familiar face. “They had me shoot the promotional films for ‘Revolution’ and ‘Hey Jude,’ which was the first time they’d been in front of a live audience in almost three years,” Lindsay-Hogg recalls. “They really enjoyed it. And not long after, Paul called me and asked what I was doing in January.”
But the long hours of rehearsing a concert built around all-new material—which began just after the New Year in 1969 on a cold soundstage in the London suburb of Twickenham, at the very un-rock ’n’ roll hour of 10 a.m. each day—tested the patience of everyone involved.
“The issues they were having were that they were growing up, and they were making different choices in their lives as adults than they had made as teenagers, which affected their lives artistically, as well as the whole business dynamic,” Lindsay-Hogg remembers. “So even if we’d been in a warm, comfortable space, I don’t think the atmosphere would have been great. But Twickenham was a miserable experience for all of them, no doubt about it.”
“The history was always very negative,” adds Giles Martin, the son of Beatles producer George Martin and the band’s go-to producer since 2006’s LOVE remix album, whose audio restoration work on the restored Let It Be is some of his finest to date. “Paul hated the finished product, and the album came out when they were suing each other.”
“It was all based on this little downer incident,” is Starr’s take, as he recalls a fight between Harrison and McCartney that was caught on film and was much discussed in the wake of the initial release of Let It Be (and then given more context in Jackson’s Get Back.) “But that’s just how it was; four guys in a room, you know?” he adds with a laugh. “You’re bound to have a few ups and downs.”
Lindsay-Hogg agrees. “They never commented on that scene as being in any way making the Beatles look bad, or making Paul look bad,” he says of the rough cuts he showed the band members before the film’s release. “Because it was just two musicians talking about the best way to work on a song, like actors do with a scene.”
In fact, he says, the Beatles were fully behind the film after he screened a lengthy rough cut for them in July of 1969.
“George came with his father, John and Yoko, Paul and Linda, Ringo and Maureen Allen Klein, and the Apple team,” Lindsay-Hogg remembers. “Then, at the end of the evening, Paul asked me, ‘What are you doing? Why don’t we all go have dinner?’ So, dinner was Paul, Linda, John, Yoko, Peter Brown from Apple, and me and my girlfriend Jean. And we didn’t talk much about the movie, actually, because we all sort of regarded it as a promising work in progress. But if they hadn’t liked it, there would have been no dinner. And so I had a sense that everything was OK. In fact, they never interfered. I can’t think of anything, really, that they asked to be changed that I didn’t agree should be changed.’”
So what happened along the way to sour the band on the project?
“By the time it came out, in May 1970, the atmosphere had become poisoned,” Lindsay-Hogg says. “What was going on internally, which by then had become external, with the Beatles’ breakup, meant they didn’t support the movie at all. There was a screening in London, and in Los Angeles too, and none of them showed up. But it wasn’t because they didn’t like the movie. It was because they didn’t want to be with each other.”
Lindsay-Hogg adds that, if anything, Let It Be is proof that whatever was going on behind the scenes, once the Beatles strapped on guitars and stepped in front of a camera and an audience, they were an undeniable force.
“All that had been going on before—them not getting on or them having spats, like people who work together often do—[when] they started really playing and they knew there was a crowd down below, they were 16 again,” he says of the concert performed on the rooftop of the Beatles’ Apple Corps headquarters, which closes out Let It Be. “Once I got them on the roof—and that was the hard part, because they didn’t really make up their minds until they were standing down in the little cubby hole of a room about to go on the roof—they were great.”
It’s an arresting scene, especially after 50 or so minutes of meandering rehearsals, rough and ready run-throughs of half-formed originals, and 1950s cover songs. It’s also undeniable evidence of how remarkable the Beatles were as a live band, despite the January chill and the ramshackle, makeshift setup.
“Always, the Beatles were going to go to Turkey somewhere, or up Everest, or in a desert, or Hawaii. And then, suddenly, ‘Let’s just walk across the road,’” Starr says with a laugh of the way they ended up playing on the roof of their London HQ, which is broken up by police officers responding to noise complaints from other tenants in the bustling business district. “With this one, it was just, ‘Let’s do it on the roof.’ And that’s what we did. And it was great. I mean, the police played a huge part. Not that they did anything. But they were moaning at us. And they look really silly in the film now.”
The documentary’s re-release is just the latest in a spate of recent Beatles treasures. The Let It Be album, too, was recently given a full-scale restoration, courtesy of Giles Martin, and there was also a coffee table book full of photos by Ethan Russell and Linda McCartney showing the band at work during the making of Let It Be, and featuring transcripts of the hundreds of hours of audio captured by Lindsay-Hogg’s crew. Still, while Jackson’s Get Back is crucial to understanding the nuances of what was going on between John, Paul, George, and Ringo, it’s Lindsay-Hogg’s Let It Be that, after nearly half a century out of print, is finally taking its place as the centerpiece of these many releases.
“If we hadn’t met Peter Jackson, and if he and his team hadn’t developed the amazing technology they developed to restore the picture and sound of the original film we shot, I’m not sure how we would talk about Let It Be,” Lindsay-Hogg says, underscoring that, now, almost everyone who sees his 1970 film will be almost an expert on the period, and will be able to understand it better, free from the drama surrounding the band’s split at the time of its release. “Now, we talk about it in the context of Get Back. Peter said to me, ‘What I’m doing is making a documentary about making a documentary.’ And that’s what Peter did. So he did a lot of the legwork for the rest of us.”
Starr echoes that sentiment, saying Get Back finally set the record straight. Sure, it was the beginning of the end of our love affair with the greatest rock ‘n’ roll group ever, but it also showed the intimacy and comradery that made everything the Beatles accomplished possible. Seen alongside Let It Be, he says, Get Back gives a more complete picture of the iconic band.
“Now it’s got a start, a middle, and a finish. The start is very slow, and then we get into creating, and then we’re at it and then we’re out,” says Starr. “I love it. But I’m in it, of course, so six hours is never long enough.”
“I’d seen that cut that Apple had done about 25 years ago, and it was really shitty,” Lindsay-Hogg adds. “It was dark and boring and the sound was bad. And I was depressed about it. So the fact that it looks and sounds so great has a lot to do with Peter. It’s really helped Let It Be to have Get Back.”
Of course, the Beatles were in tatters by the time Let It Be was initially released. Still, Lindsay-Hogg was surprised by the eventual reaction to the film, recalling, “It really wasn’t a bad experience making Let It Be. But partly because of the way the band were treating each other in the press at the time, I think people saw it as very negative.”
And so, more than 55 years since the original filming began, and over 40 years since even the sub-par home video releases went out of print (“They were just awful,” Lindsay-Hogg says), Let It Be is finally back, for all the world to see.
“No, I’m happy with the balance,” Lindsay-Hogg replies when I ask if he’s now tempted to smooth out any of the film’s rough edges, or even revisit it for a director’s cut. “What I thought was right at the time is Let It Be. And I think the proportions are just about right. Besides, it wouldn’t be very smart to revisit the decisions of a 29-year-old, 55 years later.” | ||
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] | 2018-09-16T19:51:39+00:00 | ““George [Harrison] filmed a lot; he liked to film everything and he actually photographed a lot too. He once said he was going to make a documentary about himself. He said it was going to be the... | https://64.media.tumblr.com/avatar_192a6cdd79ea_128.pnj | Tumblr | https://www.tumblr.com/harrisonstories/178153581453/george-harrison-filmed-a-lot-he-liked-to-film | “George [Harrison] filmed a lot; he liked to film everything and he actually photographed a lot too. He once said he was going to make a documentary about himself. He said it was going to be the first documentary about a person who is not in it, because he was always behind the camera. But somehow Marty managed to find film where George had set the camera up and put himself on the screen, in the shot. It’s a very large archive, there are songs, lyrics, letters, film and music, and all aspects of George’s life, so it was a lot of research.” - Olivia Harrison, FICM (2016)
“George had wanted to do his own anthology, from the time the Beatles had their anthology in 1995. When four people do a story, it’s ‘Rashomon’. He had a series of cameras from the time I met him. Movie cameras, 8-mil cameras. DVs, Hi-8s, Super VHS, U-matics. He said once, ‘I’m stockpiling all this material for when I’m dead,’ but this was 20 years ago. He just wanted to share what he loved with people and his friends.” - Olivia Harrison, ArtsBeat New York Times (2011)
“Someday, I’d like to make a real silly comedy movie full of silly music. I don’t really fancy my chances of being a scriptwriter or an actor, but I do have a lot of silly ideas in the back of my head. If we can make enough money so that it doesn’t matter if I blow a couple million on my own ideas, I’d like to follow some of them up. Maybe as my last fling, I’ll have this huge but very cheap flop with all my mates in it.” - George Harrison, Film Comment (1988) | |||||
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] | 2021-05-29T21:17:29+00:00 | Besides being one of the best musicians of all time George Harrison was also a movie producer. Many classic films wouldn't exist without him. | en | Rock And Roll Garage | https://rockandrollgarage.com/the-25-movies-that-were-produced-by-george-harrison/ | Besides being one of the best musicians of all time George Harrison was also a movie producer and many movies wouldn’t even exist if it wasn’t for him. Back in 1973 famous actor Peter Sellers introduced George Harrison to Denis O’Brien, with hom he created the film production and distribution company HandMade Films.
George Harrison even appeared in one of the most famous movies he produced: Monty Python‘s “Life Of Brian”. He financed the movie by mortgaging his home, action that Python’s Eric Idle later called “the most anybody’s ever paid for a cinema ticket in history”.
So after many box office bombs in the late 1980s and the excessive debt incurred by O’Brien which was guaranteed by George Harrison Harrison, HandMade’s financial situation was really bad. The company ceased operations in 1991 and was sold three years later to Paragon Entertainment, a Canadian corporation. After that, George Harrison sued O’Brien for $25 million for fraud and negligence, resulting in an $11.6 million judgement in 1996.
The 25 movies that were produced by George Harrison:
The Concert for Bangladesh (1972)
The Concert for Bangladesh was a pair of benefit concerts organised by George Harrison and Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar. The intention was to raise international awareness of, and fund relief for refugees from East Pakistan, following the Bangladesh Liberation War-related genocide.
The concerts were highly successful in raising international awareness of the plight of the refugees – thought to number up to 10 million – and a cheque for over US$243,000 was soon sent to UNICEF for relief. In addition, the media lavished praise on George Harrison as an ambassador for rock altruism.
Little Malcolm and His Struggle Against the Eunuchs (1974)
Little Malcolm is a 1974 British comedy drama film directed by Stuart Cooper. It was entered into the 24th Berlin International Film Festival where it won the Silver Bear. The film is based on the stage play Little Malcolm and His Struggle Against the Eunuchs by David Halliwell.
The movie shows an art student is thrown out of college. Depressed, he comes up with the Party of Dynamic Erection, a near-fascist “party” that promotes male sexual dominance. Which attracts a couple of other unsavory confused characters.
Ravi Shankar’s Music Festival from India (1975)
Ravi Shankar’s Music Festival from India was an Indian classical music revue led by sitarist and composer Ravi Shankar intended for Western concert audiences and performed in 1974.
Although he had composed and performed orchestral works in India, as All India Radio’s music director between 1949 and 1956, Ravi Shankar’s only similar project for Western audiences had been when he toured America with his Festival from India orchestra in 1968. The tour featured musicians such as Shivkumar Sharma, Jitendra Abhisheki and Palghat Raghu, with Shankar’s regular jugalbandi partner, sarodya Ali Akbar Khan, joining the ensemble for their concerts in California.
Life of Brian (1979)
Monty Python’s Life of Brian, also known as Life of Brian, is a 1979 British comedy film starring and written by the comedy group Monty Python. Also directed by Jones, the film tells the story of Brian Cohen (played by Chapman), a young Jewish-Roman man who is born on the same day as—and next door to—Jesus, and is subsequently mistaken for the Messiah.
The film was a box office success, the fourth-highest-grossing film in the United Kingdom in 1979, and highest grossing of any British film in the United States that year. Besides it has remained popular and was named “greatest comedy film of all time” by several magazines and television networks.
The Long Good Friday (1980)
The Long Good Friday is a 1980 British gangster film starring Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren. The storyline weaves together events and concerns of the late 1970s, including mid-level political and police corruption. Also IRA fund-raising, displacement of traditional British industry by property development, UK membership of the EEC, and the free-market economy.
Time Bandits (1981)
Time Bandits is a 1981 British fantasy adventure film co-written, produced, and directed by Terry Gilliam. It stars Sean Connery, John Cleese, Shelley Duvall, Ralph Richardson, Katherine Helmond. Besides Ian Holm, Michael Palin, Peter Vaughan, and David Warner.
The movie tells the story of a young boy accidentally joins a band of time travelling dwarves, as they jump from era to era looking for treasure to steal.
Scrubbers (1982)
Scrubbers is a 1982 British drama film directed by Mai Zetterling and starring Amanda York and Chrissie Cotterill. It was shot primarily in Virginia Water, Surrey, England and was inspired by the success of the 1979 film Scum.
The movie tells the story of two girls escape from an open borstal. Annetta (Chrissie Cotterill) wants to visit her baby daughter who is being raised in a convent. Carol (Amanda York) plans to be recaptured and sent to the closed borstal where her girlfriend Doreen is being held. So Carol’s plan works. But she is devastated to find that Doreen has a new girlfriend.
The Missionary (1982)
The Missionary is a 1982 British comedy film directed by Richard Loncraine, and starring Michael Palin and Maggie Smith. The movie was produced by George Harrison, Denis O’Brien, Palin (who also wrote the screenplay) and Neville C. Thompson.
The movie is situated in 1905, where after ten years of missionary work in Africa, the Reverend Charles Fortescue (Sir Michael Palin) is recalled to England. There his Bishop gives him his new assignment, to minister to London’s prostitutes. Charles hopes Deborah Fitzbanks (Phoebe Nicholls), his fiancée, will object and give him an excuse to say no to the Bishop. But she is so imperturbably innocent that she totally fails to understand what he is being asked to do, and urges him to do his best. Wealthy Lady Isabel Ames (Dame Maggie Smith) is expected to fund the work. But once she makes it clear to Charles that there will be no contribution unless he shares her bed.
Privates on Parade (1983)
Privates on Parade is a 1982 film adaptation of the Peter Nichols play of the same name about a fictional – and mostly gay – military entertainment group. The “Song and Dance Unit, Southeast Asia” assembled to entertain the troops in the Malayan jungle during the Malayan Emergency.
The movie shows the members of S.A.D.U.S.E.A. (Song and Dance Unit South East Asia) fall in and out of love while trying to dodge Malayan Communist bullets in the late 1940s. Not only that, they have to contend with Bible bashing Major Giles Flack (John Cleese), who creates far more danger than any of the jungle inhabitants. Only gay Acting Captain Terri Dennis (Denis Quilley) seems to be capable of coping with him. But even he isn’t aware of the cowardly Sergeant Major Reg Drummond (Michael Elphick) selling arms to the natives.
Bullshot (1983)
Bullshot is a 1983 film, based on the stage play Bullshot Crummond. The name comes from a parody of the 1929 film Bulldog Drummond, on which it is loosely based. Captain Hugh “Bullshot” Crummond (Alan Shearman) is a World War I fighter pilot, Olympic athlete, racing driver, and part-time sleuth. He must save the world from the dastardly Count Otto van Bruno (Ronald E. House), his wartime adversary. Also win the heart of the damsel in distress (Diz White).
A Private Function (1984)
A Private Function is a 1984 British comedy film starring Michael Palin and Maggie Smith. The film was predominantly filmed in Ilkley, Ben Rhydding, and Barnoldswick, in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Following the release, the film topped the box office for the next two weekends in the United Kingdom.
The plot shows a small town in Northern England in 1947, where the citizens endure continuing food rationing. But some local businessmen want to hold a party to celebrate the royal wedding of Princess Elizabeth to Prince Philip. So illegally they decide to raise a pig for that occasion. However, the pig gets stolen by Gilbert Chilvers (Michael Palin) who was encouraged to do so by his wife Joyce (Maggie Smith). Meanwhile, a food inspector is determined to stop activities circumventing the food rationing.
Water (1985)
Water is a 1985 British comedy film directed by Dick Clement and starring Michael Caine. It was scripted by Clement and Ian La Frenais. The plot spoofs elements of the comedies Carlton-Browne of the F.O. (1958) and Passport to Pimlico (1948) and the then-recent invasions of the Falkland Islands and Grenada.
Caine plays Baxter Thwaites, a Governor who has ‘gone native’ (similarly to his role in The Honorary Consul), and Billy Connolly as local biracial activist Delgado, supported by the last performance of Leonard Rossiter, as Sir Malcolm Leveridge. In addition, it was one of the last performances of Fulton Mackay.
Mona Lisa (1986)
Mona Lisa is a 1986 British neo-noir crime drama film about an ex-convict who becomes entangled in the dangerous life of a high-class call girl. The film was written by Neil Jordan and David Leland, and directed by Jordan.
Shanghai Surprise (1986)
Shanghai Surprise is a 1986 British-American adventure comedy film directed by Jim Goddard and starring then-newlyweds Sean Penn and Madonna. George Harrison himself appeared as a night club singer. Also recorded several songs for the film’s soundtrack, including the song “Breath Away from Heaven”.
The plot shows Glendon Wasey, that is a sleazy, down-on-his-luck con man struggling to sell glow-in-the-dark neckties in Shanghai. When he encounters the lovely Gloria Tatlock, a missionary nurse who wants to obtain a supply of opium to ease the suffering of her patients. Then he decides to help her get hold of a stolen supply of the valuable drug. But the only problem is that a lot of other people want to secure the stolen opium as well. However, some of them are gangsters, smugglers, thugs and a host of upstanding air force recruits.
Withnail & I (1987)
Withnail and I is a 1987 British black comedy film written and directed by Bruce Robinson. Loosely based on Robinson’s life in London in the late 1960s, the plot follows two unemployed actors, Withnail and “I” who share a flat in Camden Town in 1969. Needing a holiday, they obtain the key to a country cottage in the Lake District belonging to Withnail’s eccentric uncle Monty and drive there. The weekend holiday proves less recuperative than they expected.
Five Corners (1987)
Five Corners is a 1988 American independent crime drama film, directed by Tony Bill from a screenplay written by John Patrick Shanley. The film stars Jodie Foster, Tim Robbins, John Turturro, and Rodney Harvey. It depicts 48 hours in the lives of a group of young New Yorkers in the 1960s.
The film received generally positive reviews from critic. But was a financial disappointment, grossing $969,205 in its limited run against a budget of $5.5 million. The plot shows a psychotic young man that returns to his old neighborhood after release from prison. He seeks out the woman he previously tried to rape and the man who protected her, with twisted ideas of love for her and hate for him.
Bellman and True (1987)
Bellman and True is a 1987 film based on the novel of the same name by Desmond Lowden. It stars Bernard Hill, Derek Newark and Richard Hope. The title comes from an old Cumberland song titled “D’ye Ken John Peel”. The title uses a pun in the term Bellman which in the film’s case refers to a criminal who specialises in disabling intruder alarm systems.
The movie shows Hiller, that is a computer expert, was bribed by group of bank robbers to obtain details of the security system at a newly-built bank. Having obtained the information, he thought he’d seen the last of the robbers. But now they’ve traced him and his son to London. They hold the son hostage and force Hiller to decode the information about the alarm and then to take part in the robbery.
The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (1987)
The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne is a 1987 drama film made by HandMade Films Ltd. and United British Artists (UBA) starring Maggie Smith and Bob Hoskins. The music score was by Georges Delerue and the cinematography by Peter Hannan.
The story shows Judith Hearne is a lonely, middle-aged, Irish spinster from a good family in distressed circumstances who gives piano lessons independently but is losing pupils. After moving into a rooming house in Belfast, she meets and becomes attracted to the landlady’s widowed brother, the charming James Madden, who has returned from America. Madden notices her inherited jewellery and believes wrongly that she is reasonably well-off and might invest in his business idea.
Track 29 (1988)
Track 29 is a 1988 psychological drama film directed by Nicolas Roeg and starring Theresa Russell, Gary Oldman, Colleen Camp. Also with Sandra Bernhard, Seymour Cassel, and Christopher Lloyd. The writer, Dennis Potter, adapted his earlier television play, Schmoedipus (1974), changing the setting from London to the United States.
The movie shows Lindam that is still tormented by giving up a baby for adoption at 15. She wants a baby, but her husband has enough in his model trains, mistress and being a doctor.
The Raggedy Rawney (1988)
The Raggedy Rawney is a 1988 British drama film starring Bob Hoskins, Dexter Fletcher, Zoe Nathenson, and Zoë Wanamaker. The story is about a young army deserter (Fletcher) in an unspecified time and country, who disguises himself as a madwoman and joins a nomadic gypsy caravan.
The film involves the themes of the destruction and futility of war, the culture of the Romani people. Also the bonds generated by love and family. The film was also co-written and directed by Bob Hoskins. Musician Ian Dury has a small role as a character named Weazel. In addition, the movie marked Hoskins’ debut as a director.
Powwow Highway (1989)
Powwow Highway is a 1989 comedy-drama road movie directed by Jonathan Wacks. Based on the novel Powwow Highway by David Seals, it features A Martinez, Gary Farmer, Joanelle Romero and Amanda Wyss. Besides Wes Studi and Graham Greene, who were relatively unknown actors at the time, have small supporting roles.
The movie depicts the struggles of reservation-dwelling Native Americans in the North Central United States. The main character is an introspective and lovable person in a process of seeking pride and identity through traditional and mystical means of gathering power. His high school friend, who is a Vietnam War Veteran, is exerting power as a highly principled social activist, using a modern rational materialist adversarial model of progress.
How to Get Ahead in Advertising (1989)
How to Get Ahead in Advertising is a 1989 British black comedy fantasy film written and directed by Bruce Robinson and starring Richard E. Grant and Rachel Ward. Interestingly the title is a pun and can be literally taken as “How to Get a Head in Advertising”.
The film is a farce about a mentally unstable advertising executive, Denis Dimbleby Bagley (played by Grant), who suffers a nervous breakdown while making an advert for pimple cream. Ward plays his long-suffering but sympathetic wife. In addition, Richard Wilson plays John Bristol, Bagley’s boss.
Checking Out (1989)
Ray Macklin is obsessed with his own mortality. When a close friend suddenly dies of a heart attack at a barbecue, Ray becomes convinced that every ache, pain and twinge he experiences is a sign of his own impending death. So his unjustified fears lead him into ever more extensive hypochondria.
Nuns on the Run (1990)
Nuns on the Run is a 1990 British comedy film starring Eric Idle and Robbie Coltrane. Also featuring Camille Coduri and Janet Suzman, the film was written and directed by Jonathan Lynn and produced by HandMade Films. The soundtrack was composed and performed by Yello and also features George Harrison’s song “Blow Away”, in addition to Steve Winwood’s “Roll With It”
The movie shows 2 criminals that want to get out of the businesse but their boss kills those leaving. When the men are ordered to rob the triad, they keep the money and hide from their boss, triad and police at a convent, dressed as nuns.
Cold Dog Soup (1990) | |||||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 2 | 73 | https://ultimateclassicrock.com/beatles-yesterday-movie-spoilers/ | en | Do the Beatles Actually Appear in ‘Yesterday’? (Spoiler Alert) | [
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] | 2019-06-28T18:09:03+00:00 | The trailer for the 2019 movie 'Yesterday' hints that two of the Beatles may appear in the movie. Find out what really happens. | en | Ultimate Classic Rock | https://ultimateclassicrock.com/beatles-yesterday-movie-spoilers/ | This article spoils several important details about Yesterday's plot. You'll enjoy the movie more if you don't read this before you see the film.
In the most dramatic scene from the trailer for the new movie Yesterday, it appears Jack Malik is about to be called out by two of the Beatles for stealing their music. On national television, no less.
The film stars Himesh Patel as a struggling musician who wakes up after getting hit by a bus and discovers nobody else in the world remembers the Beatles or any of their music. Despite some reservations, he begins performing the group's songs (as best as he can remember them, anyway) and passing them off as his own. He quickly becomes a global superstar.
This popularity leads him to a booking on late-night TV with James Corden, an incident that takes a quick turn for the worse when the host mentions that two men are backstage "who claim that the songs are theirs." As a stunned and terrified Jack turns to view his accusers, we see no faces, just two pairs of feet. One is barefoot, the other sports shiny black dress shoes, just as the two surviving Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, wore on the cover of 1969's Abbey Road album.
"Let's see how this plays out, shall we?" asks Corden. But then the trailer cuts away to other scenes from the movie, leaving us with a cliffhanger.
So are McCartney and Starr really in the movie? No. That scene is just a nightmare a guilt-ridden Jack has before his appearance on Corden's show. Other than the brief shot of the two sets of feet, neither musician appears in the movie -- as themselves or portrayed by actors.
However, the role of Ringo Starr is credited to David Lautman on IMDB.com. We reached out to Lautman for a comment about his participation in the movie, but he declined, noting that he had signed a non-disclosure agreement. There's currently no credit listed for the actor playing McCartney; George Harrison isn't portrayed in the movie at all.
But John Lennon does appear in Yesterday.
It turns out there are two other people who remember the Beatles and their music. They track down Jack, who quickly apologizes for his thieving masquerade and begs for forgiveness.
But they're not mad, just grateful to have the Beatles' music back in their lives, though they do gently chide him for putting "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!"'s lyrics in the wrong order. To help him feel better about what he's done, they send Jack to meet a never-been-famous, 78-year-old Lennon, whom they somehow found anonymously living out his golden years in an ocean-side home.
Dropping in unannounced on Lennon (who's played by a so-far-uncredited actor), Jack asks him if he's happy. "Very" is the immediate response. He then asks if his host felt his life was successful.
"I just said very happy, that means successful," is Lennon's somewhat annoyed reply. "Did a job I enjoy, day after day, sailed the world, fought for things I believed in and won a couple of times. Found the woman I loved, fought hard to keep her too. Lived my life with her. ... It all turned out just ... fab."
The random visit and probing questions from an emotional and hug-insisting Jack quickly lead Lennon to suggest that his young visitor needs "serious psychiatric help." But he actually told Jack exactly what he needed to hear, and his inspiration proves to be crucial in the movie's concluding scenes.
But that part you'll just have to see for yourself.
Watch the 'Yesterday' Trailer | |||||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 2 | 53 | https://harrisonstories.tumblr.com/post/174097572638/george-and-olivia-harrison-1976-int-besides | en | : George and Olivia Harrison (1976) Int: Besides... | [
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] | 2018-05-21T00:47:14+00:00 | George and Olivia Harrison (1976) “Int: Besides producing this documentary [Living in the Material World], you are currently collaborating with The Film Foundation. Could you tell us more about your... | https://64.media.tumblr.com/avatar_192a6cdd79ea_128.pnj | Tumblr | https://www.tumblr.com/harrisonstories/174097572638/george-and-olivia-harrison-1976-int-besides | Int: Besides producing this documentary [Living in the Material World], you are currently collaborating with The Film Foundation. Could you tell us more about your work in this institution and about the importance of preserving and restoring film?
Olivia Harrison: Through Marty I met Margaret [Bodde] and Jennifer [Ahn] from The Film Foundation. I love film and I love Mexican films. I grew up watching Mexican films and listening to that music, so after funding the restoration - through George’s Material World Charitable Foundation - of some Charlie Chaplin short films and then an English movie and then a Russian movie I thought, how about some Mexican movies?
So now we are embarking on the restoration of some Mexican films. I love Mexican cinema, I love Macario (1959) and María Candelaria (1943), I love the films from the Época de Oro. Jorge Negrete is my hero. I grew up listening to Trío Calaveras and Trío Los Machos, so this is why I really wanted to have the pleasure of restoring Mexican Film.
Int: This is so important and so urgent.
Olivia: It really is. We visited some vaults in the Filmoteca [de la UNAM] and it was amazing. There are cans of film piled six feet high and you think, somebody’s got to get in there!
Int: Your family is originally from Mexico, would you like to tell me more about your relationship with this country?
Olivia: I was born in Los Angeles but my grandparents were born in Guanajuato. I haven’t spent much time in Mexico, but it is really where my heart is. My sister is married to a beautiful Mexican artist from Tonalá and my mother is still alive, so I guess we are a normal Hispanic family, more than an American family I would say.
When my husband married me, he married into a Mexican family. George loved Mexican music, he watched some of these films with me, he even had Jorge Negrete on the jukebox. My father used to sing with his brothers, around 1938, and like every musician he used to go around with his guitar. So George actually took my dad into the studio and recorded him. And my dad and my mother sang like four full songs, that probably your mother and your father, or your grandparents know..
Int: Wow, this is material for another film: the George Harrison – Jorge Negrete connection.
Olivia: We used to have to call him Jorge. Sometimes if he wanted to use another name, he would use Jorge Arias, because that is my maiden name. | |||||
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] | 2010-05-18T02:08:03+00:00 | en | /static/apple-touch/wikipedia.png | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Harrison:_Living_in_the_Material_World | 2011 film directed by Martin Scorsese
This article is about the film. For the album, see Living in the Material World.
George Harrison: Living in the Material WorldDirected byMartin ScorseseProduced by
Olivia Harrison
Martin Scorsese
Nigel Sinclair
CinematographyEdited byDavid Tedeschi
Production
companies
Distributed byHBO
Release date
Running time
208 minutes[2][3]CountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglishBox office$367,734[4]
George Harrison: Living in the Material World is a 2011 documentary film co-produced and directed by Martin Scorsese, based on the life of musician George Harrison, former member of the Beatles. The film's release was coordinated with both a companion book and an album of Harrison's demo recordings. The film earned Emmy Awards for Outstanding Directing for Nonfiction Programming and Outstanding Nonfiction Special.
The film offers a biographical perspective on the life of musician George Harrison, from his early life in Liverpool, the Beatlemania phenomenon, his travels to India, the influence of Krishna Consciousness movement in his music, and his relevance and importance as a member of the Beatles. It consists of previously unseen footage alongside a wide range of interviews, including Olivia and Dhani Harrison.
After Harrison's death in 2001, various production companies approached his widow Olivia about producing a film about her late husband's life. She declined because he had wanted to tell his own life story through his video archive. Upon meeting Scorsese, she gave her blessings and signed on to the film project as a producer.
According to Scorsese, he was attracted to the project because "That subject matter has never left me...The more you're in the material world, the more there is a tendency for a search for serenity and a need to not be distracted by physical elements that are around you. His music is very important to me, so I was interested in the journey that he took as an artist. The film is an exploration. We don't know. We're just feeling our way through."[5]
Throughout 2008 and 2009, Scorsese alternated working between Shutter Island and the documentary. Scorsese, his editor David Tedeschi, and a small army of researchers spent five years assembling interviews, music, film clips, photos, and memorabilia.[6]
==Studio== {{Plainlist|
Grove Street Pictures
Spitfire Pictures
Sikelia Productions
Grove Street Productions
HBO
The documentary premièred at the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology in Liverpool on 2 October 2011.[7] It was shown on HBO in two parts on 5 and 6 October 2011 in the United States and Canada[8][9] and as a two-part Arena special on BBC Two on 12 and 13 November 2011 in the United Kingdom.[10] It was first theatrically released in Australia on 20 October 2011.[2]
See also: Early Takes: Volume 1
All songs written by George Harrison, except where noted.[11]
"My Sweet Lord" (Demo) – 3:33
"Run of the Mill" (Demo) – 1:56
"I'd Have You Anytime" (Early Take) (George Harrison, Bob Dylan) – 3:06
"Mama, You've Been on My Mind" (Demo) (Bob Dylan) – 3:04
"Let It Be Me" (Demo) (Gilbert Bécaud, Mann Curtis, Pierre Delanoë) – 2:56
"Woman Don't You Cry for Me" (Early Take) – 2:44
"Awaiting on You All" (Early Take) – 2:40
"Behind That Locked Door" (Demo) – 3:29
"All Things Must Pass" (Demo) – 4:38
"The Light That Has Lighted the World" (Demo) – 2:23
Olivia Harrison authored the book George Harrison: Living in the Material World published by Abrams in 2011.[12][13] The book was edited by Mark Holborn and contains a foreword by Scorsese and an introduction by author and literary critic Paul Theroux.[14]
George Harrison: Living in the Material World grossed $0 in the United States and Canada,[2] and a worldwide total of $367,734.[4]
The film holds an 86% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes, based on 37 professional reviews, with an average rating of 7.5/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Clocking in at nearly three and a half hours, George Harrison: Living in the Material World is a moving portrait of the so-called Quiet Beatle's spirituality and troubled existence that highlights the best of Scorsese's sensibilities."[3] On Metacritic, the film holds a score of 74 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[15]
The film earned six nominations at the 64th Primetime Emmy Awards, winning two: Outstanding Directing for Nonfiction Programming and Outstanding Nonfiction Special. Other nominations included Outstanding Cinematography, Picture Editing, Sound Editing, and Sound Mixing.[16] | ||||||
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] | 2016-11-29T20:32:00+00:00 | Read 10 lesser-known anecdotes from George Harrison's surprising life outside the Beatles. | en | Rolling Stone | https://www.rollingstone.com/feature/10-things-you-didnt-know-george-harrison-did-121110/ | “I play a little guitar, write a few tunes, make a few movies, but none of that’s really me,” George Harrison once said. “The real me is something else.” Harrison was many things – including a master of understatement. But he was right to point out that his true character remains elusive. He was one of the most famous men in the world, but he loathed superstardom. He preached piety and simple pleasures, yet he lived in a 120-room mansion and collected ultra high-end cars. His studious facade belayed a brilliant sense of humor, which led him to produce some of the greatest comedies of all time. The songs he wrote focused on both the glory of God and the petty annoyances of day-to-day life.
While undoubtedly proud of the band that vaulted him into immortality, he was loath to measure himself by their success. “The Beatles exist apart from myself,” he once said. “I am not really Beatle George. Beatle George is like a suit or shirt that I once wore on occasion, and until the end of my life people may see that shirt and mistake it for me.” It’s been 15 years since Harrison’s death, so today we honor the man with 10 tales that shine a light on his life outside the mop-topped artifice of the Fab Four.
1. He visited the United States before any of his fellow Beatles, and played a show with another band.
Americans regard the Beatles‘ arrival at the newly renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport on February 7th, 1964, as a seismic event in popular culture, but only a handful of citizens realized that one of the Fabs had already walked among them. “I’d been to America before, being the experienced Beatle that I was,” Harrison recalled in 1995’s Beatles Anthology documentary. “I went to New York and St. Louis in 1963, to look around, and to the countryside in Illinois, where my sister was living at the time.”
The Beatles had exploded on the British scene by September 1963 thanks to a string of Number One hits and a chart-topping debut album, Please Please Me. Flush with their newfound success after years of toiling in obscurity, they decided it was time for some much needed R&R. John Lennon took his then-wife Cynthia to Paris, while Paul McCartney opted for the sunny shores of Greece. Ringo Starr had originally planned on joining Harrison on his trip across the pond, but ultimately decided to travel with McCartney instead. So on September 16th, Harrison became the first Beatle to touch down on American soil, accompanied by his older brother, Peter.
Editor’s picks
The pair stayed at their elder sister Louise “Lou” Caldwell’s home at 113 McCann Street in Benton, Illinois, where she had recently immigrated with her husband Gordon, an engineer at a nearby coal mine. The quiet town was a welcome respite for Harrison, who dreaded dealing with the hassles of “Beatlemania” raging back home in Britain. In the States, he could come and go as he pleased, moving freely with total anonymity. The siblings spent several happy nights camping at the Shawnee National Forest. They even ate at a burger joint, where a fascinated Harrison gaped at the sight of waitresses on roller skates.
Louise introduced Harrison to her friend Gabe McCarty, an employee at the local dry cleaner who worked nights in a band called the Four Vests. The two musicians hit it off, and McCarty became Harrison’s guide for much of his stay in Benton. They visited the town’s only record store, where Harrison gleefully snapped up a stack of albums and singles. “I bought Booker T and the M.G.’s’ first album, Green Onions, and I bought some Bobby Bland, [and] all kind of things,” he says in the Anthology. He also purchased a record called “Got My Mind Set on You” by James Ray, which he would cover almost 25 years later.
When Harrison asked the sales clerk if they had any Beatles records in stock, he was met with a confused blank stare. So he was forced to bring his own copy to the WFRX-AM radio station in West Frankfort, where he hitchhiked with Caldwell to plug the Beatles’ recent overseas smash, “She Loves You.” DJ Marcia Schafer, then just 17, dutifully played the song. “Louise came to the station several times over the summer asking us to play the Beatles’ music, which up to that time had only been available in England,” she told the Illinois Times in 2013.
More than the music, it was his outfit – jeans, white shirt and sandals – that made an impression on her. “He was unusual-looking. He dressed differently than the guys here. He was very soft-spoken and polite.” Later she conducted Harrison’s first Stateside interview, which would be printed in her high school newspaper. When asked about his favorite things, the 20-year-old Beatle replied: “Small blondes … , driving, sleeping … , Eartha Kitt, eggs and chips, and Alfred Hitchcock movies.”
Related
Music was a major theme of Harrison’s trip. On the hunt for a new American-made guitar, Harrison, along with McCarty and his Four Vests bandmate Vernon Mandrell, traveled 40 miles to Fenton’s Music Store, where the Englishman laid down 400 dollars for a Rickenbacker 425 solid body. Harrison wasn’t crazy about the red Fireglo finish, so he had it painted black to match Lennon’s guitar. It would remain in his onstage arsenal until being replaced by the more famous Rickenbacker 360 12-string prototype the following year.
Now that he had a new guitar, he needed a place to play it. So McCarty and Mandrell invited Harrison to sit in at their upcoming gig at a VFW Hall in Eldorado, Illinois. That Saturday, September 28th, the Four Vests welcomed “the Elvis of England” to the stage. Though he had also jammed at Benton’s Boccie Ball Club and on the sales floor of Fenton’s Music Store, this would be the first real performance by any of the Beatles in the United States. Harrison had given the band a few Beatle records, but they decided to stick to the classics: “Roll Over Beethoven” and “Johnny B. Goode” by Chuck Berry, Carl Perkins’ “Matchbox,” and Hank Williams’ “Your Cheatin’ Heart.”
The crowd was electrified – stamping their feet, clapping their hands and showing all the early symptoms of Beatlemania. One friendly man approached Harrison after the 40-minute set. “With the right breaks, you could really go places,” he encouraged. The experience was so enjoyable that Harrison vowed to return to the VFW with his own band sometime the next year. It wouldn’t quite happen like that.
The next day, Harrison and his new friends left Benton to visit St. Louis and New York City. Like good tourists they snapped lots of photos, which have since taken on a surreal quality. In the images, Harrison sports the familiar mop-top, tailored suit and knitted tie that he would soon make famous, yet he looks oddly alien amid his fellow sightseers. As he scopes out the Empire State Building observation deck, Liberty Island, and the terrace of a midtown high-rise, he is completely ignored. When he returned to the city just a few months later, it would mark the beginning of the unprecedented chaos that continued for the rest of his life.
2. He was the first Beatle to release a solo album, with a little help from Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton and one of the Monkees.
New York–born Joe Massot had been shooting documentaries for Fidel Castro before the Cuban Missile Crisis forced him to flee to London, where he fell in with a social circle that included Roman Polanski and screenwriter Gerard Branch. It was Branch who conceived of Wonderwall, the story of an elderly man who becomes obsessed with spying on a young model next door through a hole in his wall. Once Massot signed on to direct the film in 1967, it became the cinematic equivalent of a swirling psychedelic trip.
For set dressers, he enlisted the help of Dutch design collective the Fool, who had spent earlier part of the year painting the walls of Harrison’s home, the exterior of Lennon’s Rolls-Royce, and the Beatles’ first (and only) foray into commercial retail, the Apple Boutique. The store’s grand opening gala gave Massot the chance to approach Harrison about providing a soundtrack to the film. His original choice, the Bee Gees, had turned him down, but Harrison proved more receptive.
“I told him, ‘I don’t do music to films,'” Harrison remembered in The Beatles Anthology. “And he said, ‘Well, whatever you give me, I’ll have it.’ I thought, ‘I’ll give them an Indian music anthology, and, who knows, maybe a few hippies will get turned on to Indian music.'” The film’s investors, eager to have a Beatle’s name attached to the project, gave him carte blanche. Free from the rigid confines of the Lennon-and-McCartney-helmed Beatles, Harrison let his imagination run wild.
He viewed a rough cut of the film to time the sequences that needed scoring. “I had a regular wind-up stopwatch and I watched the film to ‘spot-in’ the music with the watch,” he said in the soundtrack’s liner notes in 1992. “I wrote the timings down in my book, then I’d go to [the recording studio], make up a piece, and record it.” For more ambitious ideas, he would sing tunes to John Barham – an arranger and, like Harrison, a former student of sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar. The shared love of both Western and Indian music would forge a powerful bond between the two, and they would later collaborate on Harrison’s All Things Must Pass and Living in the Material World.
Preliminary work on the soundtrack began in November 1967 at London’s EMI Studios at Abbey Road. For help, Harrison called upon a number of old friends: Ringo Starr manned the drums, Eric Clapton took lead guitar, and Peter Tork of the Monkees played banjo. The Remo Four, old schoolmates of Harrison’s and fellow denizens of the Merseyside club scene, also pitched in.
Sessions continued in several London studios until January 9th, when Harrison decamped to HMV Studios in Bombay (now Mumbai) to record the majority of the Indian compositions. For five days he struggled with antiquated 2-track machines and poor soundproofing. The sound of street traffic bled onto several songs, notably “In the Park.”
Despite the technical challenges, these recordings form the most enriching pieces on the album. Immersed in exotic sounds, Harrison utilized comparatively uncommon instruments like the shenai (a reed instrument similar to the oboe, typically used in religious ceremonies), the lute-like sarod and a 100-stringed hammered dulcimer called a santoor. To translate his musical vision, he had help from Shambu Das, another Shankar protégé. Prior to his return to London, he found time to also record the basic track for “The Inner Light,” later released as a B side to the Beatles’ “Lady Madonna.”
Work continued in England until mid-February, when Harrison was due to fly back to India to study Transcendental Meditation with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi alongside the other Beatles. By this point he had spent 15,000 pounds on a project that had an allotted budget of 600 pounds. Harrison paid the difference himself.
It was a small price to pay for the ultimate token of autonomy. Wonderwall Music was a first solo album from any of the Beatles, as well as the first LP issued by their new label, Apple Records. Released on November 1st, 1968, it beat the White Album into shops by several weeks. The disc broke the Billboard Top 50 in the United States, but the parent film did not fare as well. The Times panned Wonderwall as “a right load of old codswallop,” and many other critics agreed.
Harrison grew to have a dim view of the album in later years, eventually dismissing the work as “loads of horrible Mellotron stuff and a police siren.” This opinion led to Wonderwall Music earning the dubious distinction of being the first Beatles-related release to be deleted from Apple’s catalogue (albeit briefly). Still, some praised the daring collection as an innovative blend of Western and international music. Quincy Jones described the album as the greatest soundtrack he had heard, according to author Spencer Leigh.
“It’s such a deep, psychedelic record,” Harrison’s son Dhani told Rolling Stone in 2014. “I remember getting a CD of it in the early Nineties and thinking, ‘What is this?’ You’re sitting there, almost meditating to the music, literally drooling in your lap. Then a shenai will come in and practically take the top of your head off. … it’s a full-on freakout record.”
3. He invited the Hells Angels to stay at the Beatles’ London offices.
On December 4th, 1968, the staff at the Beatles’ Apple Records headquarters in London’s exclusive Savile Row received a puzzling memo:
“Hells Angels will be in London within the next week, on the way to straighten out Czechoslovakia [a reference to the current political upheaval]. There will be 12 in number complete with black leather jackets and motorcycles. They will undoubtedly arrive at Apple and I have heard they may try to make full use of Apple’s facilities. They may look as though they are going to do you in but are very straight and do good things, so don’t fear them or up-tight them. Try to assist them without neglecting your Apple business and without letting them take control of Savile Row. – George Harrison“
For Richard DiLello, the Apple Records “house hippie,” the unexpected was just business as usual. “Not a day went by that there was not some totally tripped-out crisis and/or triumph to deal with,” he told Mojo in 2004.
Harrison had encountered representatives of the infamous motorcycle gang during a visit to San Francisco earlier that fall. “George had said, ‘Oh, if you ever come to England, look us up,’ or something,” Beatles confidant and future Apple Records president Neil Aspinall said in the Anthology. “A couple of months later the motorbikes were outside Savile Row with these guys saying, ‘Well, George said it was OK.’ They ended up living at Apple and terrifying everybody.” (“That’s how much love was around,” Starr notes wryly.)
According to Harrison, Apple staff didn’t realize the guests were arriving until they were practically on their doorstep. “[Press officer] Derek [Taylor] got a phone call one morning from Customs and Excise saying, ‘Is this right: we’ve got 17 Harley Davidsons that you’re going to pay the freight duty on?'” Not wanting anyone on his staff to “uptight them,” Harrison put out his memo. “It was a joke, but they were mean,” he said later.
Fortunately for the Brits, most of the Angels were unable to secure visas due to pending criminal charges or prison probation. Only two made it through Heathrow Airport: Frisco Pete and his swastika-tattooed companion, Billy Tumbleweed. In his memoir The Love You Make, Apple Records executive Peter Brown writes that their arrival “stopped all activity dead at Apple. The employees gathered in doorways and corners and tried not to stare as the contingent marched up the green-carpeted stairs, past the vulnerable gold records on the walls, and into the press office, where I waited with Derek Taylor. After a slightly horrified pause, I extended my hand to Frisco Pete and said as pleasantly as possible, ‘It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, I’m sure,’ and promptly left the room.”
But it wasn’t just the Hells Angels. “Many others came as well,” says Taylor in the Anthology. “A homeless family from California moved into Apple and did actually live in one of the offices – a mother, and father and several children, with the San Francisco Hells Angels weaving in and out. … I would arrive and find the Hells Angels sitting around on the floor doing those physical things they did – a lot of scratching and farting and generally being awful.” The staff caustically referred to them as “the California Pleasure Crew” whenever they were out of earshot.
The Pleasure Crew arrived just in time for Apple’s decadent Christmas banquet on December 23rd, which promised to dazzle guests with a magician, Christmas tree, and an impossible bounty of food, drink and drugs – including a 43-pound turkey rumored to be the largest in Great Britain. Preparations began at nine that morning, and by 2:30 a children’s party was in full swing. Lucky kids devoured ice cream and cake, marveled at Ernest Castro and April’s magic act, and were received to presents from Father and Mother Christmas – played by John Lennon and Yoko Ono decked out in Santa costumes. According to DiLello’s memoir, The Longest Cocktail Party, Lennon’s deadpanned “Ho, ho, ho” was a highlight of the evening.
Festive gaiety was the prevailing mood until Frisco Pete chose a rather unsubtle way to announce that he was hungry and the trays of hor d’oeuvres were not satisfactory. “What the fuck is goin’ on in this place?! We wanna eat! What’s all this shit about havin’ to wait until seven?! There’s a 43-pound turkey in that kitchen and I want some of it now!”
The scene turned ugly as the famished Pete threw a punch in a huff, DiLello writes. “John Lennon, at this moment in his life a squeamish vegetarian, looked up at the frightening figure of Frisco Pete in total bewilderment. He knew nothing of the release schedule on the Largest Turkey in Great Britain.” Eventually, Brown was given the unsavory duty of explaining the Frisco Pete that he would have to wait just a little while longer.
All hell broke loose when the bird finally arrived. “A huge turkey came in on a big tray with four people carrying it,” Aspinall describes. “It was about 10 yards from the door to the table where they were going to put the turkey down, but it never made it. The Hells Angels just went ‘Woof!’ and everything disappeared: arms, legs, breast, everything. By the time it got to the table there was nothing there. They ripped the turkey to pieces, trampling young children underfoot to get to it. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
After all that, Harrison didn’t even attend the gathering. “I didn’t go because I knew there was going to be trouble.”
Shortly after the Christmas incident, the staff decided they’d had enough. But getting rid of the Hells Angels would prove to be complicated. “They did get asked to leave Apple,” insists Aspinall. “I asked them, but they got into that hippy language: ‘Well, you didn’t invite us, so you can’t ask us to leave. …’ In other words, George had invited them, so George as going to have to ask them to go.”
So Harrison confronted them. Befitting the freewheeling era, he did it in the most roundabout way possible. “Well, are you moving all of your stuff out of here tonight?” he asked the group. The rhetorical question was met with a long, confused, awkward silence. Finally, one of them spoke up. “Hey, man, I just wanna ask you one question: Do you dig us or don’t you?”
Harrison’s answer? “Yin and yang, heads and tails, yes and no.”
In DeLillo’s estimation, this response “completely fucked everyone’s mind.” Aspinall clarified the riddle. “You know – ‘Bugger off!‘ And they said, ‘Well, if you put it that way, George, of course,’ and left.”
4. He wrote “Wah Wah” the day he quit the Beatles.
November 1968 had been a pleasant and productive period for Harrison. He spent Thanksgiving staying with Bob Dylan in Bearsville, New York, penning the delicate ballad “I’d Have You Anytime” with Dylan and jamming with the Band, stationed nearby in the infamous Big Pink house. When he returned to England in December, Harrison felt rejuvenated and ready to resume his day job in the Beatles. “I can remember feeling quite optimistic. I thought, ‘OK, it’s the New Year and we have a new approach to recording.'”
The new approach was to film and record rehearsals for a live concert of new material – to be released as a television special and album tentatively titled Get Back. Despite its high-concept multimedia framework, the music was intentionally stripped-down, straightforward rock, not dissimilar to the collaborative spirit of the Band.
That was the theory, at least. The collaborative spirit was notably absent when sessions began on January 2nd, 1969, at the Twickenham film studios, and Harrison laid the blame on McCartney. “At that point in time, Paul couldn’t see beyond himself,” Harrison told Guitar World in 2001. “He was on a roll, but … in his mind, everything that was going on around him was just there to accompany him. He wasn’t sensitive to stepping on other people’s egos or feelings.” (Harrison was quick to clarify that McCartney had “long since” apologized for any past misdeeds and misunderstandings.)
Future standouts like “Let It Down,” “Isn’t It a Pity” and even “Something” were all passed over with barely a second glance in favor of Lennon and McCartney’s new tracks. The same thing happened the following week, when Harrison brought in “Hear Me Lord,” which he’d written over the weekend. Footage shows the band’s world famous songwriting duo messing around at the other end of the soundstage while Harrison attempts to demo his latest composition. He would never play it again at a Beatles session.
It’s little surprise that he snaps later in the day after McCartney browbeat him over a guitar solo. “I’ll play whatever you want me to play, or I won’t play at all,” Harrison says through clenched teeth. “Whatever will please you, I’ll do it.” Starr, who had briefly quit the band a few months earlier due in part to being “dominated” by McCartney, was sympathetic. “Paul wanted to point out the solo to George, who would say, ‘Look, I’m a guitarist. I’ll play the solo,'” he said in The Beatles Anthology. “And he always did, he always played fine solos.”
Two days later, on January 8th, Harrison debuted the song “I Me Mine,” only to be met with more indifference, and even a snide comment from Lennon. In retaliation, Harrison voiced his frustration with the constant presence of his romantic partner, Yoko Ono. “Dylan and a few people said she’s got a lousy name in New York,” Lennon remembers him saying. With nerves dulled with an increasingly serious heroin addition, Lennon grew more sullen, withdrawn and infuriating to Harrison.
Tensions finally erupted during a lunch break on January 10th. Though the specifics of the argument aren’t known for certain, they aren’t difficult to guess. Having allegedly come to blows with Lennon, Harrison informed the remaining bandmates that he was done. “I just got so fed up with the bad vibes,” he told Musician magazine in 1987. “I didn’t care if it was the Beatles, I was getting out.” After sarcastically suggesting they advertise for his replacement in the music trade paper NME, he left with a withering “See you ’round the clubs.”
He drove home to his bungalow in Surrey, reached for his guitar, and let his anger flow along with the music. Before the afternoon was over, he had composed the furious “Wah Wah.” Named in part for a guitar effects pedal, Harrison admitted in his 1980 biography I, Me, Mine that the true message of the song was: “You’re giving me a bloody headache.” More than just a kiss-off to Lennon and McCartney, it served as a musical declaration of independence to anyone who’d underestimated him.
Back at the studio, Lennon did his best to pretend that the problem wasn’t serious. “I think if George doesn’t come back by Monday or Tuesday, we ask Eric Clapton to play,” he told Get Back director Michael Lindsay-Hogg. “We should just go on as if nothing’s happened.” Saner heads prevailed, and the band held a series of mediations. Harrison was talked into returning to the fold, but only if they drastically scaled back production on Get Back.
He was back in the studio, but never truly back in the band. After the Beatles split for good in April 1970, “Wah Wah” became the first song recorded for his new album, All Things Must Pass.
5. He pranked Phil Collins for his uncredited contribution to All Things Must Pass.
Collins’ connection with the Beatles dates back to 1964, when he was hired as an extra in their first feature film, A Hard Day’s Night. Then just 13, he spent the day alongside hundreds of fellow teenagers instructed to shout at the top of their lungs during the climactic television concert scene. Unfortunately, his musical purism ended up costing him screen time. “They wanted kids that were screaming, and I just sat still, which is probably why I was cut out of the film,” Collins told Rolling Stone in 2016. “I remember thinking, ‘For crying out loud, will you stop screaming? Let’s listen to the music!'”
His second experience with one of the Fabs was equally disappointing. In 1970 he was booked to play congas on a session for “The Art of Dying,” to be included on All Things Must Pass. “One night, our managers called me and said, ‘You want to go down to Abbey Road?'” he remembers. “I said, ‘I’m a bit busy, I’ve just had a bath.’ And they said, ‘Well, it’s for George Harrison.’ I went, ‘I’ll get a cab.’ I walked in and there was Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, Phil Spector, Klaus Voorman, Badfinger, [guitarist] Pete Drake, [Beatles road manager] Mal Evans and George. Spector was introduced in this brusque way. He was like, ‘Who is this young guy, thinks he can play with the Beatles?'”
Eager to prove his worth, the 19-year-old attacked the song with brute force during the run-throughs – and soon he had the scars to prove it. By the time the recording began, his hands were raw and he could barely play. “After 90 minutes, I had blood blisters. They took a break, and then Ringo’s chauffeur came and said, ‘You’re finished.'” The sound of congas, if they appear at all, can’t be heard on the final mix. “When All Things Must Pass came out, I looked through the credits and there was no mention of me,” he says.
Harrison himself remained unaware of Collins’ participation until 2001, when he was assembling a remastered package of the album in celebration of its 30th anniversary. He and Collins had become friendly in the intervening decades, so Harrison decided to have a little fun with the Genesis superstar. As an apology for not crediting him on the original release, he sent Collins a version of the song that he claimed featured his lost percussion contributions.
“I got a tape from George of the song that I played with the congas quite loud,” Collins told EW. “I thought, Oh, my god, this sounds terrible. In fact, it was a Harrison joke. He’d recorded [percussionist] Ray Cooper. [He said,] ‘Play bad, I’m going to record it and send it to Phil.’ I couldn’t believe that a Beatle had actually spent that much time on a practical joke for me.”
6. He once wrote a song about a pirate – which he performed on TV in full pirate regalia.
Harrison once praised the groundbreaking British comedy series Monty Python’s Flying Circus as “the only sane thing on television.” Something about the anarchic humor – an extension of Spike Milligan’s Goon Show series of his youth, stretched to its illogical conclusion – resonated deeply with him. “George was always convinced that the spirit of the Beatles went into Python,” director and Python member Terry Gilliam told The Telegraph in 2009. “The year they broke up was the year we came together – 1969. George was our patron.”
Harrison famously mortgaged his 120-room Friar Park mansion in order to finance their 1979 film Life of Brian after EMI balked at the potentially blasphemous subject matter and pulled out just two days before shooting was scheduled to begin. In the end, the total cost was 3 million pounds. “He paid for it because he wanted to see it,” Python member Eric Idle recalled. “The most anybody’s ever paid for a cinema ticket in history.”
The experience led to the creation of Handmade Films, a production company through which Harrison funded a number of post-Python projects (most notably Time Bandits, A Private Function and Nuns on the Run). But in addition to his work behind the scenes, he occasionally helped out in front of the camera.
On the 1975 Christmas special of Idle’s Rutland Weekend Television series, Harrison makes an extended cameo as himself – or rather, himself as “Pirate Bob,” a surprisingly convincing marauder, complete with a peg leg. “I’m not here to sing, I’m here to act!” he snarls. Harrison/Pirate Bob turns up intermittently throughout the show, interrupting sketches in search of his big chance to showcase his acting chops, only to be turned down by Idle, who just wants him to play himself.
At the end of the show he takes to the stage, backed by a full band. After strumming the introduction to his hit “My Sweet Lord,” then the subject of a highly publicized plagiarism battle, he abruptly shifts into to a rowdy sea shanty called “The Pirate Song,” written by himself and Idle. Nautically themed dancers flood the stage, hilarity ensues, and credits roll.
7. He was the first Beatle to meet a U.S. president.
The Dark Horse tour in 1974 was supposed to give Harrison the chance to play tracks from his latest album and spread the gospel of his beloved Indian music. But given its status as the first North American trek undertaken by any of the Beatles since 1966, the tour was overshadowed by a fresh wave of Fab Four nostalgia. Harrison’s defiant refusal to bow to his past – he claimed the Beatles “[weren’t] that good” in a pre-tour press conference and flatly refused to be in a band with McCartney ever again – was seen as heresy by many. Any remaining goodwill evaporated after the first few dates, when critics slammed Harrison’s laryngitis-ravaged vocals and insistence that Ravi Shankar’s orchestra receive a considerable amount of stage time. The abuse received during the so-called “Dark Hoarse” tour put him off of touring until 1991.
But 22-year-old Jack Ford enjoyed the show. The son of newly inaugurated President Gerald Ford caught the November 16th concert in Salt Lake City, and used his influence to get backstage and meet the headliners. Ford invited Harrison and the band to drop by the White House if they had the chance.
On December 13th, the young Ford greeted Harrison, his father Harry Harrison, and tourmates Ravi Shankar, Billy Preston and saxophonist Tom Scott outside the White House before welcoming them into the solarium for a lunch of beef and vegetables – while Dark Horse played in the background. After a quick tour of the Executive Mansion led by Jack’s sister Susan Ford, they waited in the Cabinet Room to meet with the president himself. “We walked into the presidents’ conference room with the oval table and the chair and signs saying, ‘Secretary of Defense,’ ‘Secretary of this and that’ and we sat down in the chairs, clowning around,” recalls Scott. The group even managed to find the house piano and staged a short jam session while they waited.
Soon they were ushered into the Oval Office for their not-so-formal meeting with President Ford. “George was great at breaking the ice,” Scott told Rolling Stone at the time. Mindful of a priceless opportunity to promote one of his major platforms, Ford pinned a WIN (“Whip Inflation Now”) button on Harrison, who gave him an “Om” button in return. “[Ford] took us into this little side room where he had all this WIN paraphernalia – posters, watches, sweaters, T-shirts,” said Scott. “It looked just like the back room at [Harrison’s label] Dark Horse Records, which is loaded with T-shirts and bags and towels.”
Harrison and Ford spoke for close to 20 minutes, reportedly touching on John Lennon’s deportation drama, which had been largely orchestrated by Ford’s predecessor, Richard Nixon. White House photographer David Kennerly was on hand to document the historic moment.
While Harrison admitted that Ford was “not all that familiar with my music,” he found the president a congenial host. “He seemed very relaxed. He was much easier to meet than I would expect. You can imagine the number of things he’s got on his plate.”
8. He had a deep fascination with Formula One racing, and owned a million-dollar car.
Harrison’s love of fast vehicles predates his passion for music. “I was 12 when I saw Liverpool’s first British Grand Prix, in Aintree,” he remembered. “I followed Formula One until the time we started being professional musicians, and even then in the Sixties, though we were so busy, I caught a few races, mainly Monte Carlo.”
He possessed a number of powerful cars once the hefty Beatles’ profits began to roll in, including a Jaguar XKE, Ferrari 365 GTC, and an Aston Martin DB4. On February 28th, 1972, he had his license taken away for the second time that year after he crashed his Mercedes into a lamppost at 90 miles an hour, sending wife Patti Boyd flying into the windshield. She would spend the next few weeks recovering from a concussion.
The scary incident wasn’t enough to keep Harrison out of the fast lane. By the end of the Seventies he made friends with Jackie Stewart, the retired triple world champion Formula One driver. “It was really through him that I got backstage, and it’s much more interesting back there,” says Harrison. “Jackie was the outspoken world champion, and he lived to tell the story.”
Though the sport may seem initially seem like an odd choice for a man who often dismissed the secular world in favor of more pious pursuits, Stewart insists that F1 tapped into a meditative, almost spiritual side. “When you’re driving a racing car to the absolute limit of its ability, and that of your own ability, it’s a very unique emotion and experience,” he said in Martin Scorsese’s 2011 documentary Living in the Material World. “When that happens, your senses are so strong. That’s what I think George saw in racing. We talked about things like that a lot: heightened sense, of your feel and your touch and your feet. … If you listen to a really top guitarist, or any top musician, and how they can make that guitar talk, or that keyboard talk, or the skins talk, that’s another heightening of senses that is beyond the ken, the knowledge of any normal man or woman.”
Harrison later paid tribute to Stewart, and the entire F1 crew, with his 1979 song “Faster.” The proceeds went to support the cancer charity of late Swedish driver Gunnar Nilsson, who succumbed to the disease a year earlier. The video features Harrison being chauffeured around by Stewart himself. “It’s easy to write about V-8 engines and vroom vroom – that would have been bullshit,” Harrison told Mick Brown in 1979. “But I’m happy with the lyrics because it can be seen to be about one driver specifically or any of them, and if it didn’t have the motor-racing noises, it could be about the Fab Four really – the jealousies and things like that.”
In 1994, Harrison became one of 100 people to order a McLaren F1 road car. Once clocked at reaching 231 miles an hour, the vehicle retailed for upwards of 640,000 pounds – or $984,000.
“After George had commissioned the F1, he counted down the weeks,” McLaren designer Gordon Murray said in Living in the Material World. “Each car took three months to build. They were truly handmade. He almost drove us mad while we were building the car: ‘Could you fit just another elephant in?’ But it was good fun. As it got nearer the time for the collection, he could hardly wait. He loved the car, not just because it was something he’d seen from its conception right through to having his own personalized car, he loved it as a sports car as well. It’s a pretty frightening experience to drive one: 630 horsepower with no ABS, no power brakes, no power steering, no traction control. He loved that. And he loved the noise it made, as well.”
9. He named the Traveling Wilburys after a mistake in the studio.
The supergroup to end all supergroups had a serendipitous beginning, so it’s fitting that they’re named after Harrison’s slang term for an accident. The word “Wilbury” was invented while he was working on 1987’s Cloud Nine with Jeff Lynne as co-producer. When confronted with recording errors caused by faulty equipment, Harrison would assure Lynne, “We’ll bury ’em in the mix.” The line was eventually shortened to “Wilbury,” a catch-all descriptor for minor performance mistakes and imperfections.
Harrison would use the term again in the spring of 1988 during a laid-back session with some friends in Los Angeles. He had been tasked with writing a B side to a European 12-inch single, so he called Lynne, who was busy producing a new album for Roy Orbison. Over dinner, the trio agreed to work on the yet-to-be-written song together, and Harrison suggested they go to “Bob’s house” to flesh it out. The house in question was Bob Dylan’s Malibu residence, which boasted a home studio in the garage. Dylan answered Harrison’s phone call (on the first ring, according to legend) and the plan was in motion.
But first Harrison needed to make a pit stop at Tom Petty’s house to retrieve a favored guitar. During the detour, he invited Petty to the sessions, and the band of friends swelled to five. A short while later, the musicians were having a casual barbecue mixed with an impromptu jam session. Harrison noticed an old box in the garage labeled “Handle With Care.” This provided inspiration for an opening line: “Been beat up and battered ’round.” The rest of the song, named for the message on the box, came together quickly.
Warner Brothers label executives felt the song was too strong to be wasted on a lowly B side and urged Harrison to continue with the project. The quintet reconvened at Eurythmics member Dave Stewart’s home studio in Los Angeles for nine days that May, where they laid down the basic tracks for an entire album. When pushed to name their new group, Harrison suggested “the Trembling Wilburys.” Another member, alternately reported as Lynne or Dylan, suggested “Traveling” might be a better fit.
10. He almost had a song included on NASA’s first interstellar space probe.
When Harrison’s friend, Formula One world champion Damon Hill, expressed a desire to ride a rocket into space, the musician shook his head in mock scorn: “No man. Inner space, not outer space.” Ironically, scientists wanted to send one of Harrison’s most beloved songs into the outermost reaches of the galaxy.
In the mid-Seventies, NASA was in the midst of constructing twin space probes, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, designed as the first human-made objects to travel outside the heliosphere and into interstellar space. As a message for any extraterrestrial beings that might happen upon it, both spacecraft were equipped with a 12-inch gold-plated copper photograph record. Essentially audio time capsules, they contained sounds chosen to convey a cross-section of Earth’s life and culture.
“The spacecraft will be encountered and the record played only if there are advanced space-faring civilizations in interstellar space,” noted famed astronomer and author Carl Sagan, who oversaw the project. “But the launching of this ‘bottle’ into the cosmic ‘ocean’ says something very hopeful about life on this planet.” After a grueling year-long selection process, the sounds chosen included thunder, bird songs, Morse code and even brainwaves. Musical selections were just as diverse, including compositions by J.S. Bach, Blind Willie Johnson and Bulgarian folk singer Valya Balkanska. If Sagan had his way, “Here Comes the Sun” would have been among them.
“In some ways, the Beatles were the most obvious choice to include on the music,” Jon Lomberg, Sagan’s chief artistic collaborator, told author Jim Bell in 2015. “They were still at the peak of heir fame, even though they’d broken up five years before. It would have been like putting on Shakespeare – who is going to seriously say that Shakespeare doesn’t belong among the greatest hits of Earth’s literature? The Beatles were sort of the absolute peak of Western musical achievement at the time.”
All four members of the band were thrilled about the idea, but EMI Records, who held the song’s copyright, vetoed the plan. In the song’s place, Sagan included Chuck Berry’s seminal rock staple, “Johnny B. Goode” – which likely also met with Harrison’s approval. | |||||
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] | 2024-07-03T16:38:30+00:00 | George Harrison,[1] MBE (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001)[2] was an English rock guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles.[3][4] Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle",[3] Harrison was a devotee of Indian... | en | /skins-ucp/mw139/common/favicon.ico | Across the Universe Movie Wiki | https://acrossuniversemovie.fandom.com/wiki/George_Harrison | George Harrison,[1] MBE (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001)[2] was an English rock guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles.[3][4] Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle",[3] Harrison was a devotee of Indian mysticism, and helped broaden the horizons of the other Beatles, as well as those of their Western audience, to include Eastern thought and practices.[5] Following the band's break-up, he had a successful career as a solo artist and later as part of the Traveling Wilburys, and also as a film and record producer. Harrison is listed at number 21 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".[6]
Although most of The Beatles' songs were written by Lennon and McCartney, Beatle albums generally included one or two of Harrison's own songs, from With The Beatles onwards.[7] His later compositions with The Beatles include "Here Comes the Sun", "Something" and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". By the time of the band's break-up, Harrison had accumulated a backlog of material, which he then released as the acclaimed and successful triple album All Things Must Pass in 1970, from which came two singles: a double A-side single, "My Sweet Lord" backed with "Isn't It a Pity", and "What Is Life". In addition to his solo work, Harrison co-wrote two hits for Ringo Starr, another former Beatle, as well as songs for the Traveling Wilburys—the supergroup he formed in 1988 with Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, and Roy Orbison.
Harrison embraced Indian culture and Hinduism in the mid 1960s, and helped expand Western awareness of sitar music and of the Hare Krishna movement. With Ravi Shankar he organised a major charity concert with the 1971 Concert for Bangladesh.
Besides being a musician, he was also a record producer and co-founder of the production company HandMade Films. In his work as a film producer, he collaborated with people as diverse as the members of Monty Python and Madonna.[8]
He was married twice, to model Pattie Boyd from 1966 to 1974, and for 23 years to record company secretary Olivia Trinidad Arias, with whom he had one son, Dhani Harrison. He was a close friend of Eric Clapton. He is the only Beatle to have published an autobiography, with I Me Mine in 1980. Harrison died of lung cancer in 2001.
The Beatles: 1960–1970[]
Main articles: The Beatles and The Beatles discography[1][2]Stuart Sutcliffe and Harrison (right) in HamburgHarrison became part of The Beatles when they were still a skiffle group called The Quarrymen. McCartney told Lennon about his friend George Harrison, who could play "Raunchy" on his guitar.[23] Although Lennon considered him too young to join the band, Harrison hung out with them and filled in as needed.[23] By the time Harrison was 15, Lennon and the others had accepted him as one of the band.[24] Since Harrison was the youngest member of the group, he was looked upon as a kid by the others for another few years.[25]
Harrison left school at 16 and worked as an apprentice electrician at local department store Blacklers for a while.[26][27] When The Beatles were offered work in Hamburg in 1960, the musical apprenticeship that Harrison received playing long hours at the Kaiserkeller with the rest of the group, including guitar lessons from Tony Sheridan, laid the foundations of The Beatles' sound, and of Harrison's quiet, professional role within the group;[28] this role would contribute to his reputation as "the quiet Beatle".[29] The first trip to Hamburg was shortened when Harrison was deported for being underage.[30]
When Brian Epstein became The Beatles' manager in December 1961 after seeing them perform at The Cavern Club in November,[31] he changed their image from that of leather-jacketed rock-and-rollers to a more polished look,[32] and secured them a recording contract with EMI. The first single, "Love Me Do", with Harrison playing a Gibson J-160E,[33][34][35] reached number 17 in the UK chart in October 1962,[36] and by the time their debut album, Please Please Me, was released in early 1963, The Beatles had become famous and Beatlemania had arrived.[37] [3][4]Harrison (third from left) with the rest of The Beatles in America in 1964After he revealed in an interview that he liked jelly babies, British fans inundated Harrison and the rest of the band with boxes of the sweets as gifts. A few months later, American audiences showered the band with the much harder jelly beans instead. In a letter to a fan, Harrison mentioned jelly babies, insisting that no one in the band actually liked them and that the press must have made it up.[38]
The popularity of The Beatles led to a successful tour of America, the making of a film, A Hard Day's Night (during which Harrison met his future wife Pattie Boyd), and in the 1965 Queen's Birthday Honours, all four Beatles were appointed Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).[39] Harrison, whose role within the group was that of the careful musician who checked that the instruments were tuned,[40] by 1965 and the Rubber Soul album, was developing into a musical director as he led the others into folk-rock, via his interest in The Byrds and Bob Dylan,[41] and into Indian music with his exploration of the sitar.[42][43] Harrison's musical involvement and cohesion with the group reached its peak on Revolver in 1966 with his contribution of three songs and new musical ideas.[44][45] By 1967, Harrison's interests appeared to be moving outside the Beatles, and his involvement in Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band consists mainly of his one song, "Within You Without You", on which no other Beatle plays,[46] and which stands out for its difference from the rest of the album.[47]
During the recording of The Beatles in 1968, tensions were present in the band;[48] these surfaced again during the filming of rehearsal sessions at Twickenham Studios for the album Let It Be in early 1969. Frustrated by ongoing slights, the poor working conditions in the cold and sterile film studio, and Lennon's creative disengagement from the group, Harrison quit the band on 10 January. He returned on 22 January after negotiations with the other Beatles at two business meetings.[49]
Relations among The Beatles were more cordial (though still strained) during recordings for the album Abbey Road.[50] The album included "Here Comes the Sun" and "Something", "Something" was later recorded by Frank Sinatra, who considered it "one of the greatest songs of the last twenty years".[51] Harrison's increasing productivity, coupled with his difficulties in getting The Beatles to record his music, meant that by the end of the group's career he had amassed a considerable stockpile of unreleased material.[52] Harrison's last recording session with The Beatles was on 4 January 1970. Lennon, who had left the group the previous September, did not attend the session.[53]
[edit] Relationships with the other Beatles[]
For the most part of The Beatles career, the relationships in the group were extremely close and intimate. According to Hunter Davis, "The Beatles spent their lives not living a communal life, but communally living the same life. They were each other's greatest friends." Harrison's wife Pattie Boyd described how The Beatles "all belonged to each other" and admitted, "George has a lot with the others that I can never know about. Nobody, not even the wives, can break through or even comprehend it."[54]
Ringo Starr also stated, "We really looked out for each other and we had so many laughs together. In the old days we'd have the biggest hotel suites, the whole floor of the hotel, and the four of us would end up in the bathroom, just to be with each other." and added "There were some really loving, caring moments between four people: a hotel room here and there - a really amazing closeness. Just four guys who loved each other. It was pretty sensational."[55]
John Lennon stated that his relationship with George was "one of young follower and older guy." and admitted that "[George] was like a disciple of mine when we started."[56] The two would often go on holiday together throughout the 60s. Their relationship took a severe turn for the worse after George published his autobiography, I Me Mine. Lennon felt insulted and hurt that George mentioned him only in passing. Lennon claimed he was hurt by the book and also that he did more for George than any of the other Beatles. As a result, George and John were not on good terms during the last years of Lennon's life.[57] After Lennon's murder, George paid tribute to Lennon with his song "All Those Years Ago" which was released in 1981, six months after Lennon's murder.
Paul McCartney has often referred to Harrison as his "baby brother",[58] and he did the honours as best man at George's wedding in 1966. The two were the first of The Beatles to meet, having shared a school bus, and would often learn and rehearse new guitar chords together. McCartney stated that he and George usually shared a bedroom while touring.[59]
[edit] Guitar work[]
Harrison's guitar work with The Beatles was varied, flexible and innovative; although not fast or flashy, his guitar playing was solid and typified the more subdued lead guitar style of the early 1960s.[60] The influence of the plucking guitar style of Chet Atkins and Carl Perkins on Harrison gave a country music feel to The Beatles' early recordings.[61] Harrison explored several guitar instruments, the twelve-string, the sitar and the slide guitar, and developed his playing from tight eight- and twelve-bar solos in such songs as "A Hard Day's Night" and "Can't Buy Me Love",[61] to lyrical slide guitar playing,[62] first recorded during an early session of "If Not for You" for Dylan's New Morning in 1970.[63] The earliest example of notable guitar work from Harrison was the extended acoustic guitar solo of "Till There Was You", for which Harrison purchased a José Ramírez nylon-stringed classical guitar to produce the sensitivity needed.[64][65][66] Harrison's first electric guitar was a Czech built Futurama/Grazioso,[67] which was a popular guitar among British guitarists in the early 1960s.,[68] The guitars Harrison used on early recordings were mainly Gretsch played through a Vox amp.[69] He used a variety of Gretsch guitars,[70] including a Gretsch Duo Jet - his first Gretsch, which he bought in 1961 second hand off a sailor in Liverpool;[71] a Gretsch Tennessean,[72] and his (first out of two) Gretsch Country Gentleman, bought new for £234 in April 1963 at the Sound City store in London, which he used on "She Loves You", and on The Beatles' 1964 appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.[71] [5][6]George Harrison with Ravi Shankar, 1967During The Beatles' February 1964 trip to the US, Harrison acquired a Rickenbacker 360/12 guitar. He had tried out the 12-string electric guitar during an interview with a Minneapolis radio station, and was given the guitar either by the Rickenbacker company or the radio station.[73] The 360/12 was an experimental 12-string guitar with the strings reversed so that the lower pitched string was struck first, and with an unusual headstock design that made tuning easier.[69] Harrison used the guitar extensively during the recording of A Hard Day's Night,[74] and the jangly sound became so popular that the Melody Maker termed it "the beat boys' secret weapon".[75] Roger McGuinn liked the effect Harrison achieved so much that it became his signature guitar sound with the Byrds.[76]
He obtained his first Fender Stratocaster in 1965 and used it for the recording of the Rubber Soul album, most notably on the "Nowhere Man" track, where he played in unison with Lennon who also had a Stratocaster.[77] Lennon and Harrison both had Sonic Blue Stratocasters, which were bought second hand by roadie Mal Evans.[78] Harrison painted his Stratocaster in a psychedelic design that included the word "Bebopalula" painted above the pickguard and the guitar's nickname, "Rocky", painted on the headstock. He played this guitar in the Magical Mystery Tour film and throughout his solo career.
After David Crosby of the Byrds introduced him to the work of sitar master Ravi Shankar in 1965,[79] Harrison—whose interest in Indian music was stirred during the filming of Help!, which used Indian music as part of its soundtrack—played a sitar on the Rubber Soul track "Norwegian Wood", expanding the already nascent Western interest in Indian music.[80] Harrison listed his early influences as Carl Perkins,[81] Bo Diddley,[82] Chuck Berry[83] and the Everly Brothers.[84]
[edit] Song writing and singing[]
Main article: List of George Harrison songsHarrison wrote his first song published with the Beatles, "Don't Bother Me", while sick in a hotel bed in Bournemouth during August 1963, as an exercise "to see if I could write a song", as he remembered. Everett,[85] "Don't Bother Me" appeared on the second Beatles album (With the Beatles) later that year, then on Meet the Beatles! in the US in early 1964, and also briefly in the film A Hard Day's Night. The group did not record another Harrison composition until 1965, when he contributed "I Need You" and "You Like Me Too Much" to the album Help!.
Harrison's songwriting improved greatly through the years, but his material did not earn respect from his fellow Beatles until near the group's break-up. McCartney told Lennon in 1969: "Until this year, our songs have been better than George's. Now this year his songs are at least as good as ours".[86][87] Harrison had difficulty getting the band to record his songs.[88][89] The group's incorporation of Harrison's material reached a peak of three songs on the 1966 Revolver album and four songs on the 1968 double The Beatles. | ||
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] | 2024-06-30T04:14:49+00:00 | They’ll be forever remembered for their groundbreaking music, but The Beatles’ movies have been a huge influence on to the world of cinema. | en | uDiscover Music | https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/beatles-movies-influenced-cinema/ | The Beatles will be forever revered for their remarkable albums and hit singles. However, the musicians from Liverpool also made a lasting contribution to the world of cinema. Across five highly influential Beatles movies – A Hard Day’s Night (1964), Help! (1965), Magical Mystery Tour (1967), Yellow Submarine (1968) and Let It Be (1970) – the group helped make irreverence fashionable in mainstream culture.
The Beatles’ movies paved the way for future blockbusters, including the film Yesterday. Danny Boyle’s comedy is, however, just the latest in a series of films which have been inspired by the music and movie careers of The Beatles.
A Hard Day’s Night and Help!
In the 2007 comedy Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, John C. Reilly stars as a boy from Alabama who grows up to take America by storm with his rock’n’roll career. Paul Rudd appears as John Lennon, Jack Black as Paul McCartney, Justin Long as George Harrison, and Jason Schwartzman as Ringo Starr, and one of the highlights of the film is the witty scene in which Dewey Cox takes an LSD trip with The Beatles in India.
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Long admitted that he and Schwartzman were “freaking out with nerves” about portraying such “sacred musicians” on screen. Black, who had made his name in School Of Rock – another light-hearted music movie that owes something to the frothiness of The Beatles’ films of the 60s – told his fellow actors not to be nervous. “Dudes, just watch A Hard Day’s Night,” advised the Golden Globe-nominated star.
Decades before, Alun Owen had earned an Oscar nomination for his screenplay for A Hard Day’s Night, the United Artists’ film that portrayed 36 hours in the lives of the group who had made Beatlemania a global phenomenon. The movie, which was in stark contrast to Cliff Richard’s “clean teens” films, was improvisational and imaginative. Director Richard Lester’s film captures the fun, spontaneity, and unforgettable music of the rock group as they journeyed from Liverpool to London.
The film was a financial and critical success. Influential critic Leslie Halliwell, who described the movie as a “comic fantasia with music”, said A Hard Day’s Night “led directly to all the kaleidoscopic swinging London spy thrillers and comedies of the later 60s.” The film was immediately imitated by Gerry And The Pacemakers in Ferry Cross The Mersey (1965), and inspired The Monkees’ hugely popular television series in America. Three decades later, A Hard Day’s Night was cited as an influence on Spice Girls’ movie, Spice World.
The sequence in the film featuring the song “Can’t Buy Me Love,” during which The Beatles cavort around a field, is arguably one of the earliest music videos. Some of the techniques – such as cutting the images to the beat of the music – were still being copied decades later, on promo videos made for MTV.
For many musicians growing up in the 60s, The Beatles’ zany films made an indelible impression. New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther described Help! – the second collaboration with distributor United Artists and director Lester – as “90 crowded minutes of good, clean insanity.” The scene in which the four musicians practice skiing in the Austrian Alps (while “Ticket To Ride” plays) was full of innovative jump frames and quick cuts. Help! was made on a grander scale than A Hard Day’s Night, shot in color and with a bigger budget.
Let It Be, 2021
After the success of their first two movies, The Beatles decided to take control of their own film careers. With Magical Mystery Tour, Yellow Submarine and Let It Be, they turned to styles and modes of production more attuned to their musical sensibilities. Let It Be features the famous unplanned rooftop concert, shot on a freezing day on the roof of Apple Studios in London. In all, more than 55 hours of in-studio footage was also filmed by director Michael Lindsay-Hogg. Peter Jackson, of Lords Of The Rings fame, is using the extra footage to direct a new version that will come out in 2021. “The 55 hours of never-before-seen footage and 140 hours of audio made available to us ensure this movie will be the ultimate ‘fly on the wall’ experience that Beatles fans have long dreamt about,” Jackson said. “It’s like a time machine transports us back to 1969, and we get to sit in the studio watching these four friends make great music together.”
Yellow Submarine
Yellow Submarine, the first full-length feature cartoon that had been made in the UK since 1954’s Animal Farm (1954), was also hugely influential. The script, which was co-written by Merseyside poet Roger McGough, is full of humor and puns. When Frankenstein appears, for example, drummer Starr jokes that he used to “go out with his sister, Phyllis.”
Czechoslovakian animator Heinz Edelmann, who said he was influenced by the cartoon work of jazz musician and artist Wally Fawkes (aka Trog) and his cartoon-strip character Flook, devised some brilliant psychedelic animations that helped shape the plot of the film. The movie paved the way for feature-length cartoons from other studios, including Ralph Bakshi’s Fritz The Cat (1972) and later work from Terry Gilliam and Alan Aldridge.
John Lassester, the director of Toy Story and former chief creative officer of Pixar and Walt Disney Animation, described Yellow Submarine as a “revolutionary work” that helped “pave the way for the fantastically diverse world of animation that we all enjoy today.” Josh Weinstein, a writer for The Simpsons, said the film “gave birth to modern animation” and that its subversive humor led to classics such as South Park and the DreamWorks movie Shrek.
The Beatles movie that promised to be the most subversive of all, however, never saw the light of day. Playwright Joe Orton’s proposed screenplay, Up Against It, which was set to feature a scene in which the Fab Four dressed as women, was greeted enthusiastically by Brian Epstein before the project was dropped. Orton, author of Loot and Entertaining Mr. Sloane, was given a £1,000 “kill fee” for his script.
Legacy of The Beatles’ movies
Among the films that Richard Lester went on to make after A Hard Day’s Night and Help! was the black comedy How I Won The War, in which Lennon played the part of Gripweed. The film’s title echoed a line from The Beatles’ song “A Day In The Life” (“I saw a film today, oh, boy/The English army had just won the war”), and that line provided the title of a book by Professor Jörg Helbig, published by Germany’s Schüren Verlag in March 2016, called I Saw A Film Today, Oh Boy! Enzyklopädie Der Beatlesfilme.
Helbig, who writes about those five Beatles films, argues that 200 other movies were directly inspired by the cinema exploits of the band. His list includes television comedies such as Alison Steadman’s Little Cracker, about her visit to the Cavern Club in 1962, and the horror mockumentary The Zombeatles: All You Need Is Brains.
One celebrated film inspired by The Beatles was 1978’s Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which featured an eclectic cast including Bee Gees, Peter Frampton, Aerosmith, Earth, Wind & Fire, Steve Martin, and Donald Pleasance. I Wanna Hold Your Hand, a coming-of-age story about the Beatles that was made the same year, was the first film to have Steven Spielberg as executive producer.
With Rock’n’Roll High School (1979), an exuberant celebration of teenage rebellion, director Allan Arkush said he was trying to recapture some of the feeling of enthusiasm he had as a young Beatles fan. US punk band Ramones even show up to join in the fun – leading to the memorable line, “Do your parents know you’re Ramones?”
Numerous great music movies which owe something to the cinematic influence of The Beatles include School Of Rock, The Blues Brothers and This is Spinal Tap. The Beatles have also inspired serious dramas (Secrets, 1992; I Am Sam, 2001), and musicals such as Across The Universe (2007). There was also outright parody in The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash (1978). The cult mockumentary followed Beatles-like band The Rutles, with Eric Idle playing Dirk McQuickly, a thinly-veiled parody of McCartney, and Neil Innes (Ron Nasty) lampooning Lennon, whose character even holds a “bath-in” for peace. There are cameos by Mick Jagger, Paul Simon and even Beatles star George Harrison, who plays a roving BBC reporter. In 2003, a sequel was made called The Rutles 2: Can’t Buy Me Lunch.
As well as The Beatles’ own productions, the band’s influence on cinema was felt in other ways. McCartney wrote some great songs for films, including Vanilla Sky and his Oscar-nominated James Bond theme “Live And Let Die.” Harrison, meanwhile, financed the film company HandMade Films, which was responsible for such gems as Life Of Brian and Withnail And I.
A recent film to have a Beatles lineage is Boyle’s Yesterday, which had its world premiere at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival. The movie, which is based on a story by Jack Barth and has a screenplay by Richard Curtis – a Beatles fan who appears in Ron Howard’s documentary The Beatles: Eight Days A Week – tells the story of Jack Malik, a struggling singer-songwriter who wakes up to realize he is the only person on earth who can remember The Beatles and their songs. Malik (played by Himesh Patel) spots an opportunity for fame and wealth, and starts claiming The Beatles’ songs as his own. The film also stars Lily James and has a cameo appearance from Ed Sheeran, a Beatles fan, who suggests that Patel’s character re-works “Hey Jude” into “Hey Dude.”
Yesterday demonstrates again that The Beatles’ remarkable music lives on. Their film career will continue to inspire, too, not least because of the authenticity and humor of a young trailblazing band that was captured so richly for cinema audiences.
“I did my best to show on screen what had impressed me so much about them,” said Lester. “To recreate their ‘all for one and one for all’ attitude.” | |||||
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] | 2020-03-03T00:00:00+00:00 | George Harrison, British musician, singer, and songwriter, who gained fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles, one of the most important and influential bands in the history of rock music. Harrison was known for the songs ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps,’ ‘Here Comes the Sun,’ and ‘Something.’ | en | /favicon.png | Encyclopedia Britannica | https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Harrison-British-musician | George Harrison (born February 25, 1943, Liverpool, England—died November 29, 2001, Los Angeles, California, U.S.) was a British musician, singer, and songwriter, who gained fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles, one of the most important and influential bands in the history of rock music. Harrison was the youngest of the “Fab Four” and was known as “the quiet Beatle.” He later achieved singular success as a songwriter and performer.
Harrison was born the youngest of four children in a working-class family. His father was a steward in the merchant navy before becoming a bus conductor, and his mother was a clerk in a grocery store. Harrison began playing guitar in secondary school. He later met Paul McCartney, who invited Harrison to join the Quarrymen, the rock band he and John Lennon had formed. The group underwent several name and lineup changes before becoming the Beatles and settling on Harrison as lead guitar, Lennon as vocalist and rhythm guitar, McCartney as vocalist and bass, and Ringo Starr as drummer.
Britannica Quiz
Pop Culture Quiz
Although Lennon and McCartney wrote and sang most of the songs the Beatles performed, Harrison also contributed original works, beginning with “Don’t Bother Me” (1963). A few of his later songs came to be regarded as some of the Beatles’ finest, including “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” (1968), “Here Comes the Sun” (1969), and “Something” (1969). In 1965 Harrison studied the sitar with Ravi Shankar and first featured his skills in “Norwegian Wood” (1965). Harrison’s interest in Indian culture grew, and in 1968 he and the Beatles, as well as a number of other celebrities, explored transcendental meditation with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in India. The trip influenced dozens of subsequent Beatles songs, but Harrison was the only member to make these religious practices part of his life.
Harrison released his first solo work in 1968 with the soundtrack to the psychedelic film Wonderwall. Following the breakup of the Beatles in 1970, he continued to put out solo recordings—notably the highly successful triple album All Things Must Pass (1970), which included the memorable “My Sweet Lord.” Other popular songs included “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth),” on Living in the Material World (1973), and “Got My Mind Set on You”, on Cloud Nine (1987). In 1971 Harrison staged two concerts to raise money to fight starvation in Bangladesh, which later became the prototype for star-studded fund-raising events. In 1979 he ventured into film production as a founder of Handmade Films. Among the company’s efforts were the Monty Python film Life of Brian (1979), Time Bandits (1981), and Mona Lisa (1986). Harrison was a frequent collaborator and often appeared on the albums of his former bandmates and other musicians. In the late 1980s he recorded and performed with the Traveling Wilburys, a musical group featuring Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, and Jeff Lynne. | ||||
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"Roger Friedman"
] | 2024-06-05T00:00:00 | You know that Sam Mendes is directing four movies about the Beatles. Jeff Sneider of The InSneider is reporting that Harris Dickinson (John Lennon), Paul Mescal (Paul McCartney), Barry Keoghan (Ringo Starr), and Charlie Rowe (George Harrison) are going to portray the Fab Four. These films are set to be interconnected stories, one from each […] | en | Showbiz411 | https://www.showbiz411.com/2024/06/05/the-beatles-movies-come-together-here-are-the-stars-propsed-for-the-main-roles-in-movie-series | You know that Sam Mendes is directing four movies about the Beatles.
Jeff Sneider of The InSneider is reporting that Harris Dickinson (John Lennon), Paul Mescal (Paul McCartney), Barry Keoghan (Ringo Starr), and Charlie Rowe (George Harrison) are going to portray the Fab Four. These films are set to be interconnected stories, one from each band member’s point of view.
The movies will open in 2027, not sure in what order or simultaneously. Titles of each films: Maybe a song from each Beatle. Ringo’s could be “Act Naturally.” George would be “Here Comes the Sun.” John -“In My Life.” Paul — “The Long and Winding Road.”
Mendes has total use of all the music, archives, etc. So there will new soundtracks. Presumably, the music will be overseen by Giles Martin, of the “fifth Beatle,” George Martin.
Read Jeff Sneider’s Insneider newsletter. He’s got great scoops!
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus. | |||||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 1 | 84 | https://www.wmagazine.com/culture/beatles-biopic-casting-rumors-sam-mendes | en | The Beatles Biopics: Everything We Know About Sam Mendes's Four Film Project | [
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"Claire Valentine"
] | 2024-06-11T20:54:21+00:00 | Hollywood's musical biopic era is thriving. | en | /favicon.ico | W Magazine | https://www.wmagazine.com/culture/beatles-biopic-casting-rumors-sam-mendes | In case you haven’t heard, The Beatles are finally getting the proper musical biopic treatment, with not just one but four separate films detailing each of the Fab Fours’s lives, from Oscar-winning filmmaker Sam Mendes.
“I’m honored to be telling the story of the greatest rock band of all time, and excited to challenge the notion of what constitutes a trip to the movies,” Mendes, who also directed American Beauty, 1917, and James Bond films Skyfall and Spectre said in a statement.
The four films will hit theaters in 2027, with Sony saying the release strategy will be “innovative and groundbreaking.” While three years seems far away, it’s not a ton of time to make four films—and rumors of the cast have already broken the internet.
According to the independent Hollywood newsletter The InSneider, the project is rumored to star four actors, all of whoe happen to be vying for the title of the Internet’s Boyfriend. Paul Mescal will reportedly play Paul McCartney, which is fitting beyond just the name match—the two also share a similar hairline, Irish background, and a certain leading man twinkle in the eye. Triangle of Sadness star Harris Dickinson will reportedly play the late John Lennon and Saltburn star (and Sabrina Carpenter’s rumored boyfriend) Barry Keoghan will reportedly play Ringo Starr. Rocketman’s Charlie Rowe was rumored to be playing the late George Harrison, but his reps confirmed to Metro UK that the news wasn’t true. So, the veracity of the rest of the casting rumors remains, for now, up in the air.
The Beatles made their own movies together (1964’s A Hard Day’s Night, 1965’s Help!, 1967’s Magical Mystery Tour, and 1968’s Yellow Submarine)—and have been the subject of numerous documentaries like Peter Jackson’s recent streaming hit Get Back and 1970’s Let It Be, which chronicled the group’s breakup (real fans will also recall 2007’s divisive Evan Rachel Wood-starring jukebox musical Across the Universe). This is the first time, however, that the original boy band and their respective estates and families have granted both full life rights and use of The Beatles’s musical catalog for the film (for a long time, they weren’t even on iTunes).
It’s been a huge couple of years for musical biopics; while each film’s quality is debatable, they certainly have been flooding the market. There was Baz Luhrmann’s Austin Butler-starring Elvis in 2022 (and its sister film, Priscilla, by Sofia Coppola the following year); Bob Marley: One Love, and the Amy Winehouse biopic Back to Black this year; the upcoming Bob Dylan film, A Complete Unknown (starring Timothée Chalamet) and a Linda Ronstadt biopic starring Selena Gomez; a forthcoming Michael Jackson feature from Training Day director Antoine Fuqua; a Ridley Scott film about the rise of the Bee Gees and a Martin Scorcese biopic about The Grateful Dead (and those are just the ones that are confirmed).
Audiences have also proved they like movies they can sing along to in theaters, with the massive success of concert films like Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour and Beyoncé’s Renaissance film. Meanwhile, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has proven the appeal of interconnected film franchises. If f there’s one group that can still bring those trends and audiences from Boomers to Gen Z together (despite the long-running meme that they’re overrated), it’s perhaps The Beatles. | ||||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 3 | 7 | https://www.allmusic.com/album/a-hard-days-night-mw0001948685 | en | Music Search, Recommendations, Videos and Reviews | [
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correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 2 | 28 | https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-a-hard-days-night-1964 | en | A Hard Day's Night movie review (1964) | [
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"Roger Ebert"
] | null | When it opened in September, 1964, "A Hard Day's | en | /assets/fav/apple-touch-icon-57x57-9e12b6d6d15bfb3e86f09c3fc7d58a6f8a2d808cb856df9c1ada23480cda1dae.png | https://www.rogerebert.com/ | https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-a-hard-days-night-1964 | In 1964, what we think of as "The '60s” had not yet really emerged from the embers of the 1950s. Perhaps this was the movie that sounded the first note of the new decade--the opening chord on George Harrison's new 12-string guitar. The film was so influential in its androgynous imagery that untold thousands of young men walked into the theater with short haircuts, and their hair started growing during the movie and didn't get cut again until the 1970s.
It was clear from the outset that "A Hard Day's Night" was in a different category from the rock musicals that had starred Elvis and his imitators. It was smart, it was irreverent, it didn't take itself seriously, and it was shot and edited by Richard Lester in an electrifying black-and-white, semi-documentary style that seemed to follow the boys during a day in their lives. And it was charged with the personalities of the Beatles, whose one-liners dismissed the very process of stardom they were undergoing. “Are you a mod or a rocker?” Ringo is asked at a press conference. “I'm a mocker,” he says.
Musically, the Beatles represented a liberating breakthrough just when the original rock impetus from the 1950s was growing thin. The film is wall to wall with great songs, including "I Should Have Known Better," "Can't Buy Me Love," "I Wanna Be Your Man," "All My Loving," "Happy Just to Dance With You," "She Loves You," and others, including the title song, inspired by a remark dropped by Starr and written overnight by Lennon and McCartney.
The Beatles were obviously not housebroken. The American rock stars who preceded them had been trained by their managers; Presley dutifully answered interview questions like a good boy. The Beatles had a clone look--matching hair and clothes--but they belied it with the individuality of their dialogue, and there was no doubt which one was John, Paul, George and Ringo. The original version of Alun Owen's Oscar-nominated screenplay supplied them with short one-liners (in case they couldn't act), but they were naturals, and new material was written to exploit that. They were the real thing.
The most powerful quality evoked by "A Hard Day's Night" is liberation. The long hair was just the superficial sign of that. An underlying theme is the difficulty establishment types have in getting the Beatles to follow orders. (For "establishment,” read uptight conventional middle-class 1950s values.) Although their manager (Norman Rossington) tries to control them and their TV director (Victor Spinetti) goes berserk because of their improvisations during a live TV broadcast, they act according to the way they feel.
When Ringo grows thoughtful, he wanders away from the studio, and a recording session has to wait until he returns. When the boys are freed from their "job,” they run like children in an open field, and it is possible that scene (during "Can't Buy Me Love”) snowballed into all the love-ins, be-ins and happenings in the park of the later '60s. The notion of doing your own thing lurks within every scene.
When a film is strikingly original, its influence shapes so many others that you sometimes can't see the newness in the first one. Godard's jump cuts in "Breathless" (1960) turned up in every TV ad. Truffaut's freeze frame at the end of "The 400 Blows" (1959) became a cliche. Richard Lester's innovations in "A Hard Day's Night" have become familiar; because the style, the subject and the stars are so suited to one another, the movie hasn't become dated. It's filled with the exhilaration of four musicians who were having fun and creating at the top of their form and knew it.
Movies were tamer in 1964. Big Hollywood productions used crews of 100 people and Mitchell cameras the size of motorcycles. Directors used the traditional grammar of master shot, alternating closeups, insert shots, re-establishing shots, dissolves and fades. Actors were placed in careful compositions. But the cat was already out of the bag; directors like John Cassavetes had started making movies that played like dramas but looked like documentaries. They used light 16mm cameras, hand-held shots, messy compositions that looked like they might have been snatched during moments of real life.
That was the tradition Lester drew on. In 1959 he'd directed "The Running, Jumping and Standing Still Film," starring Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan among others: It was hand-held, anarchic, goofy, and contains the same spirit that infects "A Hard Day's Night." Lester had shot documentaries and TV commercials, could work quick and dirty, and knew he had to, because his budget was $500,000 for "A Hard Day's Night.”
In his opening sequence, which shows the Beatles mobbed at a station as they try to board a train, Lester achieves an incredible energy level: We feel the hysteria of the fans and the excitement of the Beatles, intercut with the title song (the first time movie titles had done that), implying that the songs and the adulation were sides of the same coin. Other scenes borrow the same documentary look; a lot feels improvised, although only a few scenes actually were.
Lester did not invent the techniques used in "A Hard Day's Night," but he brought them together into a grammar so persuasive that he influenced many other films. Today when we watch TV and see quick cutting, hand-held cameras, interviews conducted on the run with moving targets, quickly intercut snatches of dialogue, music under documentary action and all the other trademarks of the modern style, we are looking at the children of "A Hard Day's Night."
The film is so tightly cut, there's hardly a down moment, but even with so many riches, it's easy to pick the best scene: The concert footage as the Beatles sing "She Loves You.” This is one of the most sustained orgasmic sequences in the movies. As the Beatles perform, Lester shows them clearly having a lot of fun--grinning as they sing--and then intercuts them with quick shots of the audience, mostly girls, who scream without pause for the entire length of the song, cry, jump up and down, call out the names of their favorites, and create a frenzy so passionate that it still, after all these years, has the power to excite. (My favorite audience member is the tearful young blond, beside herself with ecstasy, tears running down her cheeks, crying out "George!”)
The innocence of the Beatles and "A Hard Day's Night" was of course not to last. Ahead was the crushing pressure of being the most popular musical group of all time, and the dalliance with the mystic east, and the breakup, and the druggy fallout from the '60s, and the death of John Lennon. The Beatles would go through a long summer, a disillusioned fall, a tragic winter. But, oh, what a lovely springtime. And it's all in a movie. | ||||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 1 | 92 | https://www.nme.com/news/film/house-of-the-dragon-star-fabien-frankel-auditioned-for-george-harrison-role-in-beatles-biopics-3765666 | en | ‘House Of The Dragon’ star Fabien Frankel auditioned for George Harrison role in Beatles biopics | [
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"Chris Edwards"
] | 2024-06-14T10:25:41+00:00 | 'House Of The Dragon' star Fabien Frankel has revealed that he auditioned to play George Harrison in one of the upcoming Beatles biopics. | en | NME | https://www.nme.com/news/music/house-of-the-dragon-star-fabien-frankel-auditioned-for-george-harrison-role-in-beatles-biopics-3765666 | House Of The Dragon star Fabien Frankel has revealed that he auditioned for the role of George Harrison in one of Sam Mendes’ upcoming Beatles biopics.
READ MORE: ‘House Of The Dragon’ review: ‘Game Of Thrones’ saga continues in style
Announced back in February, the four biographical films will each be told from the perspective of a different Beatles group member, and will intersect to “tell the story of the greatest band in history.”
Previously, it was reported that Paul Mescal will portray Paul McCartney, Harris Dickinson will play John Lennon, Barry Keoghan will be Ringo Starr and Charlie Rowe will star as George Harrison. At the time of writing, these rumours have not been confirmed nor denied by Sony, which will be distributing Mendes’ films.
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Now, in an exclusive interview with NME to promote House Of The Dragon season two, Frankel has revealed that he auditioned for the role of Harrison, but didn’t land the part. Watch it in full above
“I read to play George,” he said. “I had an audition. But I just think I look a little Latino. I just don’t think I could, but I would love to play George.”
He added that he never got to read the finished script, explaining that it was a “transcribed audition”.
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Fellow House Of The Dragon star Matt Smith, who was also part of the interview with NME, then jokingly suggested that his co-star could play Ricky Martin, before singing a rendition of ‘Livin’ La Vida Loca’.
The upcoming biopics mark the first time Apple Corps Ltd. and The Beatles – Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, along with the families of John Lennon and George Harrison – have granted full life story and music rights for a scripted film.
The films are set to have a global release in 2027, with the band saying in a statement: “The dating cadence of the films, the details of which will be shared closer to release, will be innovative and groundbreaking”.
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correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 2 | 90 | https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/music/1738654/george-harrison-birthday-argument-john-lennon-may-pang-the-beatles | en | George Harrison 'paralysed' John Lennon with fear during brutal argument | [
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"Callum Crumlish"
] | 2023-02-27T08:45:00+00:00 | George Harrison, the Quiet Beatle, launched John Lennon's glasses across the room during a vicious argument while the star's girlfriend looked on. | en | https://cdn.images.express.co.uk/favicon.ico | Express.co.uk | https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/music/1738654/george-harrison-birthday-argument-john-lennon-may-pang-the-beatles | At the time Lennon was on what he called his "Lost Weekend". The name is a reference to a book and film of the same name, where a man makes bad decisions and struggles with the consequences. Lennon's version of this involved him breaking up with his wife, Yoko Ono, and starting a relationship with his former assistant, May Pang. The tryst - which was approved by Ono - only lasted 18 months. But during that time, Lennon paraded around New York City and Los Angeles with his young new girlfriend.
One night, he and Pang met up with Harrison in a hotel suite and he was ready to crack. Pang wrote about the scenario in her book, Loving John. She explained Harrison seemed "edgy" as soon as they got together. Eventually, Lennon offered to play Madison Square Garden with Harrison - but this was enough to make the young singer snap.
"Then George’s anger really burst forth,” Pang wrote. "It was the first of a series of explosions, each of them followed by moments of tense silence."
Pang recalled Harrison screamed at Lennon: "Where were you when I needed you!?"
The young woman remembered Harrison became increasingly angry throughout the night before telling Lennon he wanted to "look him in the eyes". Lennon obliged, swapping out his dark, circular sunglasses for his regular reading glasses. This, apparently, wasn't enough for Harrison.
"Suddenly, [Harrison] reached over," Pang wrote. "Yanked John’s glasses from his face, and dashed them to the floor. His face was a mask of fury and contempt; I had never seen an angrier man."
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Pang explained that Harrison's utter anger "paralysed" Lennon where he sat. He dared not respond to his former bandmate.
Harrison was known for being the more reserved member of the band - hence the nickname The Quiet Beatle - so for him to explode with such ferocity meant he was truly upset.
Pang said they remained in the hotel suite together until well past midnight, but the argument did eventually end.
The next morning, over breakfast, Harrison buried the hatchet. | ||||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 2 | 74 | https://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/concert-for-george/cast/1000326800/ | en | Concert for George - Full Cast & Crew | [] | [] | [] | [
""
] | null | [] | null | Learn more about the full cast of Concert for George with news, photos, videos and more at TV Guide | en | /favicon.ico | TVGuide.com | https://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/concert-for-george/cast/1000326800/ | |||||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 1 | 76 | https://www.motionpictures.org/2024/04/let-it-be-trailer-reveals-the-fully-restored-1970-film-after-a-50-year-wait/ | en | “Let It Be” Trailer Reveals the Fully Restored 1970 Film After a 50 Year Wait | [
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"babrams",
"The Credits"
] | 2024-04-30T13:03:36+00:00 | Peter Jackson has restored Michael Lindsay-Hogg's Beatles documentary "Let It Be," which will be shown for the first time in 50 years. | en | Motion Picture Association | https://www.motionpictures.org/2024/04/let-it-be-trailer-reveals-the-fully-restored-1970-film-after-a-50-year-wait/ | The first trailer for the fully restored “Let It Be” has arrived.
Director Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s original 1970 film about The Beatles has been meticulously restored by Peter Jackson, following Jackson’s deep dive docuseries The Beatles: Get Back, which was released on Disney+ in 2021. Let It Be will arrive on Disney+ on May 8, marking the first time it’s been available in over 50 years.
Let It Be was first released at a tumultuous time, in May of 1970, one month after the band broke up. This meant that Linday-Hogg’s film was shrouded in a bittersweetness. “And so the people went to see Let It Be with sadness in their hearts, thinking, ‘I’ll never see The Beatles together again. I will never have that joy again,’ and it very much darkened the perception of the film,” Lindsay-Hogg said in a press release for the newly restored version. “But, in fact, how often do you get to see artists of this stature working together to make what they hear in their heads into songs? And then you get to the roof, and you see their excitement, camaraderie, and sheer joy in playing together again as a group and know, as we do now, that it was the final time, and we view it with the full understanding of who they were and still are and a little poignancy. I was knocked out by what Peter was able to do with Get Back, using all the footage I’d shot 50 years previously.”
This new restoration boasts footage that wasn’t featured in Jackson’s Get Back, including access to the Beatles studio in London where, along with Billy Preston, they wrote and recorded their seminal album “Let It Be.” The film also reveals the final time the band performed live. Jackson and his team completed a thorough restoration of the film from the original 16mm negative, which meant remastering the sound using the same MAL de-mix technology that Jackson deployed for Get Back.
“I’m absolutely thrilled that Michael’s movie, ‘Let It Be,’ has been restored and is finally being re-released after being unavailable for decades,” Jackson said in a press release. “I was so lucky to have access to Michael’s outtakes for Get Back, and I’ve always thought that Let It Be is needed to complete the Get Back story. Over three parts, we showed Michael and The Beatles filming a groundbreaking new documentary, and Let It Be is that documentary – the movie they released in 1970. I now think of it all as one epic story, finally completed after five decades.”
Check out the trailer below. Let It Be arrives on Disney+ on May 8:
For more stories on 20th Century Studios, Searchlight Pictures, Marvel Studios and what’s streaming or coming to Disney+, check these out:
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correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 1 | 60 | https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/sam-mendes-direct-four-separate-beatles-movies-paul-mccartney-john-len-rcna139552 | en | Sam Mendes to direct four separate Beatles movies on Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr | [
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"Variety"
] | 2024-02-20T14:44:45+00:00 | John, Paul, George and Ringo will each be the subject of a different feature film. | en | https://nodeassets.nbcnews.com/cdnassets/projects/ramen/favicon/nbcnews/all-other-sizes-PNG.ico/favicon.ico | NBC News | https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/sam-mendes-direct-four-separate-beatles-movies-paul-mccartney-john-len-rcna139552 | John, Paul, George and Ringo will each be the subject of a different feature film.
Director Sam Mendes plans to make four separate movies, one from each Beatles member’s point of view. They will intersect to “tell the astonishing story of the greatest band in history,” according to a press release. Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and the families of the late John Lennon and George Harrison, have granted full life story and music rights for the scripted films.
“I’m honored to be telling the story of the greatest rock band of all time, and excited to challenge the notion of what constitutes a trip to the movies,” Mendes said in a statement.
Sony Pictures Entertainment will finance and distribute all four films theatrically in 2027. Details about release plans will be shared closer to the release, but the studio promises the strategy will be “innovative and groundbreaking.”
It would certainly be a risky endeavor to premiere all four films in the same year. However, musical biopics have been surging in popularity at the box office. Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis” and Paramount’s “Bob Marley: One Love” were bigger than expected, while Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour,” a cinematic rendering of her record-breaking concert, outperformed several Hollywood franchises in terms of global ticket sales. Several others are in the works; Antoine Fuqua is turning Michael Jackson’s life story into a feature film, Amy Winehouse is getting the biopic treatment with “Back to Black” and Ridley Scott is in talks to direct a movie about the rise of the Bee Gees.
In addition to directing, Mendes will produce alongside his Neal Street Productions partner Pippa Harris and Neal Street’s Julie Pastor. Jeff Jones will executive produce for Apple Corps Limited.
“We intend this to be a uniquely thrilling, and epic cinematic experience: four films, told from four different perspectives which tell a single story about the most celebrated band of all time,” Harris said in a statement. “To have The Beatles’ and Apple Corps’ blessing to do this is an immense privilege.”
This is the first time the Beatles have granted their full support for a scripted film. The band has been the subject of several documentaries including the 1970s film “Let It Be,” which chronicled the group’s breakup, as well as Peter Jackson’s “Get Back,” which captured the making of making of the Beatles album “Let It Be.” Their songs also inspired films like the 2007 jukebox musical “Across the Universe” and 1978’s “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.”
“I know I speak for our CEO Tony Vinciquerra, who was instrumental in making this happen, and every Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group colleague around the world when I say: ‘yeah, yeah, yeah!’” said Tom Rothman, chairman and CEO of Sony’s Motion Picture Group. “Theatrical movie events today must be culturally seismic. Sam’s daring, large-scale idea is that and then some. Pairing his premiere filmmaking team, with the music and the stories of four young men who changed the world, will rock audiences all over the globe.” | ||||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 1 | 37 | https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-68350477 | en | The Beatles: Sir Sam Mendes to direct four films - one about each band member | [
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"Mark Savage and Steven McIntosh"
] | 2024-02-20T14:37:02+00:00 | Four separate films will tell the story of the band from the perspectives of all four members. | en | /bbcx/apple-touch-icon.png | https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-68350477 | Director Sir Sam Mendes is to make four separate films about The Beatles - one from each band member's perspective.
Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Ringo Starr and the families of John Lennon and George Harrison have all granted permission and music rights for the four films.
The Oscar-winning director said he was "honoured to be telling the story of the greatest rock band of all time".
He added that he was "excited to challenge the notion of what constitutes a trip to the movies".
The films, made by Sony Pictures and Sir Sam's Neal Street Productions, will be released in cinemas in 2027.
It is not clear whether the four films will be released at once or have a staggered rollout, but Sony said they would have an "innovative release cadence" which would be announced at a later date.
The project marks the first time that The Beatles and their company Apple Corps have granted full life story and music rights for a scripted film, according to a statement.
Sir Sam has previously directed films such as 1917, American Beauty, Revolutionary Road, Empire of Light and two James Bond movies - Skyfall and Spectre.
The Beatles are widely considered the greatest British band of all time thanks to a string of classic albums such as Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Abbey Road.
Their best known hits include Yesterday, Hey Jude, A Hard Day's Night, Eight Days A Week, Let It Be, Come Together, Here Comes The Sun, Twist and Shout, Love Me Do and Help!
The majority of their songs were written by Lennon and McCartney. Harrison was often said to have felt frustrated that his own compositions were not given equal weight by his bandmates.
Last year, the Beatles released what was described as their "final song". John Lennon started the song, titled Now and Then, in 1978, but it could not be completed until software advances allowed the remaining band-members to extract his vocals from a rough demo cassette.
The track topped the UK singles chart in November, making the Beatles the act with the longest gap between their first and last number ones.
Apple Corps said the four new films would "explore each Beatle's unique story and to bring them together in a suitably captivating and innovative way".
Producer Dame Pippa Harris said: "We intend this to be a uniquely thrilling, and epic cinematic experience.... To have The Beatles' and Apple Corps' blessing to do this is an immense privilege."
The Fab Four on film
The Beatles are no strangers to the silver screen, starring in several of their own films back in the 1960s - from the madcap comedy of A Hard Day's Night to the surreal psychedelia of Yellow Submarine.
Post break-up, they inspired dozens of feature-length tributes, from Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (a disastrously garish musical starring the Bee Gees) to the touching coming-of-age tale I Wanna Hold Your Hand.
The latter, which followed a group of teens trying to gain entry to the Beatles' seminal performance on Ed Sullivan's TV show, marked the directorial debut of Back To The Future's Robert Zemeckis. And he's not the only big-name director to be seduced by the Fab Four's allure.
Peter Jackson's epic, four-part documentary Get Back repurposed footage shot during the recording of the band's final album; Martin Scorcese put together a revelatory documentary about "quiet Beatle" George Harrison in 2011; while Sam Taylor-Johnson dramatised John Lennon's early life in the stark-but-compelling Nowhere Boy.
Danny Boyle's Yesterday imagined a world where everyone forgets The Beatles, except for one struggling musician who takes credit for all their songs (hilarity ensues).
And Julie Taymor's Across The Universe used the band's music as the backdrop for a 1960s romcom that featured Bono in a very peculiar moustache singing I Am The Walrus. It was very, very not good.
Perhaps the best of the bunch is 1994's Backbeat - an independent film, directed by Iain Softley, that told the story of The Beatles' pre-fame days in Hamburg. By focusing largely on the story of the band's original bassist, Stuart Sutcliffe, it was unencumbered by the colossal cultural baggage of the band's subsequent output.
Coincidentally, Backbeat was turned into a novel by music journalist Alan Clayson - who later published a four-volume box set, telling the Beatles' story from the perspective of each individual band member. Sound familiar?
Still, Clayson's unauthorised biographies - with their tales of infidelity and drug use - are unlikely to be the starting point for Mendes' films, which have been rubber-stamped by the almighty Beatles Corporation.
But if there's any lesson from those books, it's that George Harrison and Sir Ringo Starr's volumes are much more compelling, simply because we're less familiar with the story beats. | |||||
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] | null | [] | 2021-08-05T16:41:02+00:00 | George Harrison and the ukulele were lifelong companions, and the ukulele likely inspired some of his songs with the Beatles, the Traveling Wilburys, and beyond. | en | Ukulele Magazine | https://ukulelemagazine.com/stories/beatles-george-harrison-ukulele-crusade | BY BLAIR JACKSON | FROM THE FALL 2021 ISSUE OF UKULELE
George Harrison may be one of the most famous musicians to ever harbor a deep love for the ukulele. But this fact was little known until later in his life, and though he played it constantly in his private life and with friends, it wasn’t until after his death that an album showcasing his ukulele and banjo ukulele playing was finally released. This is the story of how George Harrison and the ukulele became lifelong companions, and how it may have inspired some of his songs with The Beatles, the Traveling Wilburys, and his solo albums and other collaborations.
He was one of the most popular and successful musicians and celebrities to ever emerge from northwest England. He began his show business ascent while still a teenager, and over time became a major star on radio, television, and in films. He was admired by British royalty and honored for his service to the Empire. When he died, too young, in his late 50s, there was a huge outpouring of grief among his legions of fans. I’m talking, of course, about… George Formby?
The fact is, there can be no “George Harrison and the Ukulele” story without recognizing right at the top the enormous influence of entertainer George Formby, who is almost solely responsible for popularizing the ukulele in England, beginning in 1923, when he first started playing it on music hall stages. He played both wooden Hawaiian-style ukes (made in America by Martin and others) and, most famously, the banjo ukulele (or banjolele). Beginning in 1934, Formby appeared in more than 20 feature films, all of them broad comedies that took advantage of his rubbery facial features, his quick timing, his working-class “Northern” (Lancashire) accent, his self-mocking innocence—and his considerable musical skills. Though Formby’s singing voice was often described as nasally, it was perfectly suited to the mostly comic tunes he sang (and occasionally co-wrote). And there was his ukulele playing, which was sublime: He was a terrific strummer whose innovative techniques still challenge and flummox great players today, but he was also capable of putting across a simple, melodic love song.
During World War II, Formby augmented his film and concert appearances with a tireless dedication to boosting the morale of British troops far and wide—risking life, limb, and uke in such hotspots as Normandy, Italy, Burma, and North Africa, for an estimated audience of 3 million people. For his efforts he was awarded the Order of the British Empire. He was the highest-paid performer in England for a period, his popularity in films matched by tremendous record sales throughout the UK among nearly every demographic group. He was inescapable. A few of his silly songs contained risqué double-entendres or veiled sexual references—enough that he was banned by the BBC on more than one occasion. But most of his tunes were harmless, goofy fun, which is why so many children adored him, along with their parents.
BEATLE ROOTS
All four of The Beatles were born in Liverpool—about 20 miles southwest of Wigan, where Formby was born—during the Second World War: Ringo Starr and John Lennon in 1940, Paul McCartney in 1942, and George Harrison in 1943. All four were exposed to Formby’s madcap antics and rambunctious strumming on records, cinema, and radio when they were young, and at least one of the four grew up in a household were there was an ukulele—not surprising given the UK uke boom Formby precipitated.
John Lennon spent much of his youth in the care of his Aunt Mimi and Uncle George, and was also close to his other aunts and his cousins. One of those cousins, Stanley Parkes, told writer Bill Harry in his Mersey Beat blog:
“Formby was a big influence on John’s mother, Judy—often called Julia—and myself. It was our grandfather, George Stanley, that could play the banjo and the ukulele. It was he that taught Judy the basic chords of the two instruments.
“When George Formby came on the scene, with his stage acts and then his comedy films, we were all thrilled because members of the family were able to play the same instruments. John would come out of the Formby films saying, ‘My mother can play the banjo and ukulele just like him!’
“Before I went to live in Fleetwood, I used to travel from Preston to Fleetwood by a Ribble double-decker bus. John often traveled with me on the top deck, and we used to pass by George Formby’s house. He and his wife [and manager], Beryl, would be sitting in deck chairs in their garden at the front of the house, and they would wave to us on the bus and we would wave back at them.
“Of course, John, Liela [another cousin], and I went to all [Formby’s] shows in Blackpool whenever we got the chance. We felt we knew him personally.”
Lennon reconnected with his mother in his mid-teens and from her learned the rudiments of ukulele, banjo, and guitar. According to Douglas Rae, who produced a 2009 biographical drama about Lennon’s adolescence called Nowhere Boy, “A 15-year-old John Lennon sitting in the front room with his mother teaching him to play the ukulele and singing George Formby—that was the forerunner of John Lennon the Beatle.”
Paul McCartney on Julia Lennon, in the Beatles Anthology (1994): “John really loved his mother, idol-worshipped her. I loved her, too. She was great: gorgeous with beautiful long red hair. She played the ukulele and to this day, if I ever meet grown-ups who play ukuleles, I love them.”
There does not appear to have been an ukulele in the Harrison household, but as a lad he, too, was transfixed by local hero Formby. In John Croft’s definitive 2018 book All About the Banjo Uke, the one-time president of the George Formby Society, who befriended Harrison in November 1990, writes: “In our first meeting, George told me that he’d always been a huge fan of George Formby. To earn some extra money as a teenager he delivered meat on a bicycle for the local butcher in Wavertree (Liverpool) where he lived. After getting paid at around 1:30 p.m. he would walk a couple of streets to the local cinema, where they nearly always played a few clips, or a few songs, or a whole George Formby film. [He] told me that he couldn’t wait to watch Formby play his banjo uke and vowed that one day he wanted to teach himself to play like that. Many years later he had decided to act upon one of his lifetime ambitions and he had contacted me to set this process in motion by coming to look at my banjo ukes and learn about what I considered to be the best banjo ukes to buy.”
ALL TOGETHER NOW
I won’t sugarcoat the disturbing fact that The Beatles really did not embrace the ukulele in their group. Imagine how “I Am the Walrus” could have been improved with a little uke shuffling behind that trippy descending string line in the opening! However, at the height of Beatlemania in the mid-’60s, there were a million different products (licensed and not) that sought to cash in on the Fab Four’s fame—including brightly colored plastic ukuleles marketed by (among others) Mastro Industries in the U.S., Selco in the UK, as “Jr. Guitars” or “Four Pop Guitars,” each featuring headshots and autographs of the four lads. Mastro even had a uke-sized Beatles plastic banjo. You do not want to know what these instruments sounded like; they were toys, really. But a bunch of folks, including The Beatles, made a few quid off of them.
I can find only one confirmed instance of ukulele making it onto a Beatles track. On May 11, 1967, at EMI Abbey Road Studios, The Beatles got together to a record a song for the soundtrack of their animated film Yellow Submarine, which was still in production. The previous day they had recorded the sardonic, Indian-influenced Lennon-McCartney tune “Baby, You’re a Rich Man,” which became the B-side of the single “All You Need Is Love” a month later. On this day, they tackled Paul’s “All Together Now,” which he explained was a combination of a children’s rhyming song, skiffle, and a British music-hall sing-along. It’s a catchy little number, and its appearance at the end of the film, sung by the live-action Beatles rather than their animated counterparts, was a nice treat for Beatle fans. Well, in the song’s long, chaotic outro, which includes sound effects, handclaps, and a whole bunch of folks singing “All together now!” over and over, a bit of ukulele and banjo (banjolele?) can be heard, courtesy of overdubs by John Lennon. It’s amazing what one could find in the instrument rooms at Abbey Road!
One final Beatles-related ukulele anecdote, from the same period. In the summer of 1967, Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and a large retinue of folks connected to the band went on a whirlwind vacation sailing around the Greek islands with an eye toward possibly relocating their operation to an island and living in utopian compounds with families and friends, far from the hustle, bustle, and inclement weather of London. (Hey, it was the ’60s!) In The Beatles Anthology Harrison related this episode: “It was a great trip. John and I were on acid all the time, sitting on the front of the ship playing ukuleles. Greece was on the left, a big island on the right. The sun was shining and we sang ‘Hare Krishna’ for hours and hours.” In another telling of the story, in a Krishna Consciousness movement magazine in 1982, Harrison specified, “We sang ‘Hare Krishna’ for days, John and I, with ukulele banjos… Like six hours we sang, because we couldn’t stop once we got going.”
RAM ON
The first Beatle to use an ukulele on a solo project was not Harrison or Lennon, but Paul McCartney, on his second album, Ram, which was recorded over a few months at a pair of New York studios in the fall of 1970 and the winter of 1971. Unlike his homegrown first album, McCartney, on which he played all the instruments, this time he put a band together and worked in a more conventional way. However, his song “Ram On” came together differently. As recording engineer Dixon Van Winkle remembered in an interview in Mix magazine in 2004, “Each day Paul and Linda [his wife], along with their baby, Mary, would be led up to Studio A in a back elevator. We’d set up a playpen for Mary and go to work… Paul liked to develop ideas in the studio… and one day he was standing around strumming on a ukulele, rocking from side to side, singing ‘Ram On.’ I ran out and put a mic on the ukulele, one on his face, and a pair of mics down by his feet. The tapping you hear comes from the mics on his feet.”
That percussive tapping is quite prominent throughout the song, which starts with some rudimentary plinking uke (he’s no George Formby) before falling into what sounds like it could be a love song from the 1920s, eventually incorporating whistling, Linda’s vocals, and various other overdubbed instruments into a ragged and quite unusual pop construction. Even stranger is the short “Ram On (Reprise)” on side two of the album, which once again includes rhythmic uke and a bizarre little freeform uke ending.
FRIAR PARK
As shown by the 1967 story from the Greek islands, Harrison was already fond of the banjo-uke by the time he moved into Friar Park, a sprawling, 30-room Victorian-era mansion set on more than 60 acres in the idyllic town of Henley-on-Thames, a veritable playground for the well-heeled about 40 miles west of London. Harrison purchased the property in January 1970, and immediately set to refurbishing the castle-like interior space, and planting and tending to the massive surrounding gardens and groves, doing much of the work on the grounds himself. The cover photo of his first song-oriented solo album, the masterful All Things Must Pass, released in the fall of 1970, depicts Harrison sitting on a stool in the middle of an enormous lawn at Friar Park, wearing his ubiquitous gardening boots, surrounded by gnome figures. By 1972, he’d installed a home recording studio (known as FPSHOT, for “Friar Park Studio, Henley-on-Thames”), and beginning with the 1973 album Living in the Material World, used that facility as his main recording space for many of his projects. Friar Park would be Harrison’s primary residence for the rest of his life, and it’s where his love of the ukulele really began to kick in, most likely in the early ’80s.
Though Harrison was often described as being “reclusive,” because of his intense desire to mostly stay out of the public eye (being a Beatle can do that to a person), the fact is he could be quite social, and at Friar Park he frequently entertained a wide variety of friends, including many well-known musicians who lived nearby and loved to jam, such as Deep Purple keyboardist Jon Lord, Ten Years After guitarist Alvin Lee, bassist Herbie Flowers, and Thin Lizzy guitarist Gary Moore.
And then there was Joe Brown, who became Harrison’s close friend, musical companion, and fellow traveler in the world of ukuleles. Brown is not well-known in the U.S. but he was a very big deal in England, beginning around the same time The Beatles got going. In fact, The Beatles opened a few shows for him in 1962. The Londoner had already scored his first hit single with “A Picture of You,” and was at the beginning of a long career as a musician (guitar, ukulele, mandolin, banjo, fidldle, bouzouki), singer, actor in several films, and British TV personality. He told me during a phone interview from England a few weeks before his 80th birthday that during The Beatles’ meteoric rise, “I had seen them quite a bit in various discos and nightclubs we all used to go to. I saw quite a lot of John and Paul and a bit of Ringo, but never George. He kind of kept to himself.”
Their careers took very different paths after that period, but as Brown recounts, “One day [in the early ’80s] I got a phone call and a voice said [he drops into a perfect impersonation of Harrison], ‘Is this Joe Brown?’ I had just moved near Henley-on-Thames. He said, ‘I don’t think you’ll remember me; it’s George Harrison. Why don’t you come ’round and play guitars?’ So of course I go over. It was the most gorgeous place, Friar Park, and he took me around and showed me the grounds, the canal, the caves, the secret passages in the house… George was very proud of it.
“We got on great, and I learned that George had quite recently developed a strong interest in the ukulele. He said, ‘You play the ukulele, don’t you, Joe?’ When I first went ’round I knew he played the uke a bit, but he wasn’t particularly proficient. But like me, he was a big fan of George Formby’s, so I taught him to play this Formby scissor-rhythm movement a guy had taught me back in 1964. The scissor is a bit tricky. You have to practice it for hours, but once you’ve got it, it’s pretty cool.”
It was around this time, too, that Harrison started collecting ukuleles in earnest, first banjo ukes mainly, but later branching out to other styles. Over time he collected a fair number of rare and valuable Martins and Gibsons and instruments by other early 20th century makers.
HAWAIIAN IDYLL
On December 8, 1980, John Lennon was murdered by a deranged gunman in New York City, a tragedy that still resonates strongly more than 40 years later. Not surprisingly, it shook Harrison to the core. He already was somewhat paranoid about appearing in public, which is one reason his secluded Friar Park estate felt like such a secure retreat for him. After Lennon’s death, however, Harrison greatly increased security around the property and also went looking for someplace even more isolated and protected that he could escape to from time to time.
He found it on the Hawaiian island of Maui, where in 1981 he bought a secluded 63-acre site on a rugged cliff along the northeastern coast of the island, near the village of Nahiku, many twisting miles off the famously serpentine Hana Highway. Unfortunately, he didn’t quite attain the peace-of-mind he had sought, as there was a steady stream of folks who would cross his property on paths (which he tried to stop through legal means), and, once word was out that he was there, many curious tourists hoping to catch a glimpse of him. That said, he and his second wife, Olivia (they married in 1978, the same year their son, Dhani, was born), did love their Hawaiian hideaway, which Harrison again had a major hand in landscaping with both native plants and ones shipped from Friar Park.
Not surprisingly, living in Hawaii part-time fueled his ever-growing love of the ukulele. There are quite a few stories—some maybe true, perhaps overblown or apocryphal—about Harrison supposedly buying out entire stocks of ukuleles from Maui (and other islands’) music stores, and then giving them away to friends. He definitely did give away who-knows-how-many ukuleles through the years. We also know that he developed a fondness for Hawaiian-made Kamaka ukes, purchasing many as gifts and for himself.
Joe Brown says he was able to visit the Harrisons’ “beautiful house out there right on the cliff on a few occasions, and believe me, we were playing ukes all the time when we were there.
“Every now and again in England,” Brown continues, “he’d phone me up: ‘What are you doing, Joe? Are you on tour? Come to the house tomorrow and bring a suitcase.’ And off we’d go all over the world. He’d say, ‘I brought the ukuleles.’ And we’d play all over.”
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UKULELE EVANGELIST
In 1986, Jeff Lynne, the multi-instrumentalist Beatles-influenced frontman for the mega-popular band ELO (Electric Light Orchestra), got a call from Harrison asking him to produce a new album he was working on, Cloud Nine. The two didn’t know each other except by reputation, but they hit it off immediately and went on to make a classic album that fully restored Harrison’s reputation and popularity after a couple of so-so efforts. Though there ended up being no ukulele on that wonderful album, the instrument served as a bonding agent between the two musicians during the sessions. As Lynne told me in an email interview, “The first time I met George was in his garden at his lovely house. About two hours later, he’d given me this old Wendell Hall ukulele; it was actually a banjolele. We became quite good at strumming together. We’d strum every day—we’d have at least a half-hour or 15 minutes on the uke or banjolele. And then other people would come over to Friar Park and they’d want to join in and have a go, and sometimes we’d have four people playing ukes in sync. It was like a ukulele orchestra!”
Lynne said Harrison schooled him in the ways of Formby. “We mainly used to jam on George Formby records. There was one that was my favorite called ‘Grandad’s Flannelette Nightshirt’—proper songs like that, you know? Silly ones.” Joe Brown taught Lynne the Formby “scissor stroke,” too: “For weeks you can’t do it, and then one day you’ve got it and you don’t know why, and you can never forget it,” he said. “Joe was a wonderful player of the ukulele and a great guitarist, as well. I always enjoyed playing with Joe.”
Once Cloud Nine was out and a hit, Harrison and Lynne stumbled into one of the more intriguing music projects of the 1980s, the Traveling Wilburys. Though they hated the word “supergroup” being attached to them, what other term could be used to describe a band that included Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, and Roy Orbison? They fell together almost by chance when all of them were in Los Angeles at the same time, and on a lark decided to record a song together to be a B-side for one of the singles on Cloud Nine. Working from a skeletal version of a tune Harrison had written, they wrote and recorded “Handle with Care” in just one day in April 1988 (with Harrison and Lynne cutting overdubs later at Friar Park). It was instantly clear to both the musicians and Warner Bros. Records that the song was way too good to be relegated to a B-side; in fact, the quintet was so jazzed by the results that they got together at Dylan’s home studio for nine days in May ’88 and managed to crank out a full album’s worth of great tunes.
They worked collaboratively every step of the way on the music and lyrics—five heavyweights sitting in a circle with acoustic guitars, tossing words and riffs around, loose and free as could be.
And yes, there were ukuleles present (though not on the album). By that time, Petty had already been uke-doctrinated by Harrison, noting in an interview, “He showed up [at my house] one day and gave one to me. ‘You gotta play this thing; it’s great! Let’s jam!’ I had no idea how to play a ukulele. ‘Aw, it’s no problem, I’ll show ya!’ So we spent the rest of that day playing ukuleles. I’m strolling around the yard playing ukulele. My wrist hurt the next day. But he taught me how to play it; a lot of the chord positions.
“When he was leaving, I walked out to the car and he says, ‘Wait, I want to leave some ukuleles here!’ And he’d already given me one. ‘We may need more!’ He opened the trunk and he had a lot of ukuleles in the trunk. And I think he left four at my house, and he said, ‘Well, you never know when we might need ’em, because everyone doesn’t carry one around.”
Later, commenting about the loose atmosphere surrounding the Wilburys sessions, Petty commented, “There was just a lot of music in the air, a lot of fun going around, a lot of parties, a lot of ukuleles ’til dawn. It wouldn’t be unusual for Jeff and George to show up at my door with a case of beer and play ukuleles until dawn, with the children dropping like flies around us. They’d just be tucked in a chair and [saying], ‘Dad I want to go home!’ ‘No, son, just go to sleep. We’re playing ukuleles now.’”
Even Bob Dylan was subjected to Harrison’s uke obsession. As Beatles Anthology director Geoff Wonfor, said in Graeme Thomson’s George Harrison: Behind the Locked Door, “He sat Dylan down in his lounge and made him sit through [Formby’s] ‘When I’m Cleaning Windows’ six times. Dylan must have been thinking, ‘What the f’ing hell is this?’”
FORMBYMANIA!
By 1990, Harrison had become so obsessed with George Formby that he actually joined the George Formby Society, which had started in 1960 in the seaside city of Blackpool, shortly after Formby’s death. As noted earlier, Harrison contacted GFS president John Croft in the fall of that year, hoping Croft could find him a certain banjo uke, and as he wrote in All About the Banjo Uke, “In December 1990 an excited George Harrison rang me to say that he had managed to purchase a gold-plated and engraved Ludwig banjo uke and its original case and badge, which he asked me to restore to pristine condition. When he came to my house to collect it from me in the spring of 1991, he was like a kid at Christmas and couldn’t contain his excitement at the lovely condition of his restored Ludwig, which he went on to treasure for the rest of his life.
“George Harrison was one of the kindest, thoughtful, and nicest people you could ever wish to meet, and despite fame and fortune he always retained his kind nature, his Liverpool accent, and a great sense of humor. He loved playing the ukulele and the banjo uke and had even entertained passengers on the Concorde [jet plane] playing his Ludwig Wendell Hall banjo uke. Unannounced, he and his wife and son attended a meeting of the George Formby Society at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool in March 1991, and he told me afterwards that they had all enjoyed it tremendously. He went on to attend a meeting of the Ukulele Society of Great Britain and had a great time meeting its members and playing the uke.”
At that 1991 GFS meeting in Blackpool, Harrison gave an interview to the BBC’s Russell Davies, in which Harrison crowed, “It’s Formbymania! It’s sweeping the nation and that’s all there is to it. I haven’t slept for months. I’m having dreams about Ludwig banjos and these songs going through my head… The best thing about it for me is it’s just funny music. It’s very lighthearted. It’s hard to play a ukulele banjo without smiling. It tends to lighten your life a bit.”
Harrison also told Davies, “I think growing up, all them [Formby] songs were always in the back of my life. I’m seeing a lot of the old movies again and having déjà vu going on in my brain over certain songs, because I remember them either being played in the background or my mother singing them when I was maybe three or four. There are a lot of other songs I’m getting to learn now that I realize I’d heard as a kid. And I always wrote songs with those kinds of chords.”
Many years later, when Davies assembled a radio program about Formby (and Harrison’s connection to him), Davies observed of the ’91 convention, “That assembly marked the 30th anniversary of Formby’s death. The last I saw of George was when he and his son Dhani joined a chorus of 38 banjo ukulele players on a Formby-inspired rendition of ‘Anchors Away.’”
As for Dhani, “[When] I grew up, my dad had a very, very extensive collection of ukuleles, so there was a lot of George Formby going on in my house and there was a lot of slacky hula—Bennie Nawahi kind of Hawaiian vibes,” he recalled in a recent promotional video for his new Signature Fender uke. “I spent a lot of time in Hawaii when I was growing up; [that’s] when I got really into the ukulele. Ukuleles are supposed to bring joy [and] I guess that’s one of the things about it that my dad loved.”
FREE AS A BIRD
In the early ’90s, too, there was action on The Beatles front, too, as the three surviving members agreed to be part of The Beatles Anthology, a comprehensive, eight-part TV/video series (plus enormous hardcover book and CD releases) that traced the history of the group in great detail and included never-before-seen footage and new interviews with all the major principals in The Beatles’ story. The ukulele even made it into the Anthology in a very short film snippet shot in 1994 of Paul, George and Ringo lazing around the grounds of Friar Park, spontaneously playing and singing part of the old tune “Ain’t She Sweet.” Harrison strums a uke, McCartney handles the lead vocal. It’s little more than a cheery moment of three old mates getting together, yet that minute or so, seen by many millions of people, is often cited as being a big contributing factor in the current ukulele revival—the “third wave” as its commonly called. The Beatles had unwittingly made the little four-string cool again!
The uke also figured into one of the two “new” Beatles songs unveiled as part of the series. With Jeff Lynne producing, the surviving Beatles went into the studio and fleshed out an unreleased John Lennon demo for a song he wrote near the end of his life called “Free as a Bird.” It’s a lovely, moving song, and between the vocal harmonies and Harrison’s distinctive slide guitar work, it’s unmistakably Beatles. The uke figures in at the very end, with strumming bubbling up after the fade as a little coda of sorts. In the video for the song, which has been viewed more than 25 million times, the closing image shows a George Formby impersonator strumming away on and English music hall stage.
Lynne told me, “We all played on the very end where it fades out and John comes in saying, ‘Turned out nice again.’ That was George Formby’s catchphrase; that’s what he’d say at the end of all of his shows. We somehow managed to get reels of John speaking and I managed to pick out ‘Oooh, turned out nice again’ out of this old box of tapes. So that was the extra special little thing, only I put it in backwards, so nobody knew what it was until someone had the bright idea to turn it over and play it the other way around, and it was ‘turned out nice again.’ And it did for The Beatles—it was a great big hit.”
JUMPIN‘ JIM
Jim Beloff is another reason the modern ukulele renaissance built steadily in the 1990s and into the 2000s. “Jumpin’ Jim” was the first person in the modern era to publish ukulele songbooks, instructional manuals and DVDs, the first to write a popular book about the instrument and the culture surrounding it (The Ukulele: A Visual History, 1997). He even developed his own line of ukes through his Flea Market Music company. And in 1999, he had a close encounter of the George kind!
He was at the NAMM musical instrument trade show in Los Angeles, where he lived, promoting his ukes and products, when the well-known and respected guitar maker Danny Ferrington wandered by Beloff’s booth. Jim picks up the story in this excerpt from his forthcoming autobiography, UKEtopia: Adventures in the Ukulele World:
“As [Danny] was walking by our booth, he recognized the ukulele history book and stopped in. It turned out that Danny had just received the book as a ‘Christmas gift from George.’ Liz [Beloff’s wife] and I were alone in the booth at that moment and we both asked Danny who ‘George’ was. Danny said, ‘You know, George, George Harrison.’ Wow. Then Danny told us that George was currently in Los Angeles and would like to stop by our house and see our ukulele collection, perhaps next week. Double wow! We gave Danny our contact information and, remarkably, said and thought little more about it. We told almost no one. In retrospect, I guess it was because in our hearts, we knew that Beatles don’t come to your house.
“Several days later, on February 2nd, we were still doubtful even as Danny kept calling with hourly updates on the stops he and George were making, as they were slowly heading our way. I couldn’t help humming George’s song, ‘Blue Jay Way,’ about waiting at home for friends that never seem to arrive. Then sometime in the early afternoon, Danny Ferrington and George Harrison walked into our living room. My first memory was that George grabbed a banjo uke resting on a stand and began to strum and sing the old George Formby classic, ‘Leaning on a Lamppost,’ which later became a hit for Herman’s Hermits.
“For the next three hours after that, we talked ukuleles and strummed songs. George shared several originals that eventually ended up on his posthumously released Brainwashed album. I even summoned up the nerve to play him a couple of my own songs. He also brought with him a new video camera, which he used to document our vintage uke collection. George was interested in collecting, as well. Amazingly, at the time of George’s visit, Liz and I were working on Jumpin’ Jim’s ’60s Uke-In songbook, which was to include many Beatles songs, two by George.”
Before he left Beloff’s house, Harrison also took the time to scrawl a little note on Flea Market Music stationery declaring his love for the ukulele. The note, which has been circulating on the internet for many years now and has been seen by untold thousands of people, read:
“Everybody should have and play a ‘UKE’ its so simple to carry with you and it is one instrument you can’t play and not laugh! It’s so sweet and also very old. Some are made of wood—some are made of armadillos. I love them—the more the merrier. Everyone I know who is into the ukulele is ‘crackers,’ so get yourself a few and enjoy yourselves—Love from George (Keoki) Harrison”
ALL THINGS MUST PASS
In the summer of 1997, Harrison was diagnosed with throat cancer and underwent successful radiation therapy. A couple of years later, on the night of December 30, 1999, a paranoid schizophrenic broke into Friar Park and stabbed Harrison 40 times with a kitchen knife before Olivia Harrison managed to stop the assault by wailing on the attacker with a fireplace poker and a lamp. George was hospitalized for a period, had part of one lung removed, and later said he thought he was going die.
Miraculously, he survived and was able to resume work at his home studio on a new album he’d been developing with his son, Dhani—then in his early 20s and a fine musician himself—and Jeff Lynne. The project took on an added urgency when, in May 2001, George had to undergo surgery to remove a cancerous growth from one of his lungs. In July of that year, he was diagnosed with brain cancer and underwent radiotherapy which was, alas, unsuccessful. He died on November 29, 2001, in Beverly Hills, and the world mourned.
A few months later, Dhani Harrison and Jeff Lynne went back into the studio to finish the album for George. “It was rough going at the beginning,” Lynne said in an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Company, “but George was with us.” Dhani added in the same interview, “The album was very cathartic for me… It was a very positive thing to have done so soon after his death.”
“The songs were complete,” Lynne added. “Whatever George had sung was complete. All we did was enhance little bits with some vocal backing, Dhani and myself, [and added] acoustic guitars to some of the songs. They were basically demos and George had asked me before he was really ill to come and help and do it at his house.”
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Harrison had the foresight to leave a very detailed blueprint for how he envisioned the album, speaking extensively with Dhani about specifics and making written notes. “He also left us string parts that he’d sung onto the tape for us to play,” Lynne said, “and Mark Mann wrote them into a concise piece of music from the singing on the tape.
“Musically, [Dhani and I] were very much on the same wavelength and whatever I didn’t think of, Dhani would know. So Dhani stopped me going overboard with anything. It was a great help to have Dhani there… We both wanted it to sound like George.” Dhani: “[We were] trying not to leave any footprints of us; any trace of Jeff or me.”
And faithful to George’s wishes, five of the songs on the album, Brainwashed (released in November 2002), contained ukulele parts—a first for a Harrison record. The album kicks off with the catchy and energetic “Any Road,” which dates back to the Cloud Nine days, and is driven by a propulsive banjo uke in part. “Regular” ukulele turns up on four other tracks, too, though not always readily distinguishable in Lynne’s layered mix of voices and electric and acoustic instruments: “P2 Vatican Blues (Last Saturday Night),” “Pisces Fish,” the bluesy “Rocking Chair in Old Hawaii,” and—most prominently—“Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea.” That last tune, popularized in the early ’30s by Cab Calloway, derives from a performance at a George Formby Society convention in Blackpool in 1991, and finds Harrison strumming and soloing on a six-string tenor uke, accompanied by a small acoustic band that includes Joe Brown on guitar and Jools Holland on piano, among others. It’s a marvelously intimate performance—Harrison’s finest recorded uke work.
AFTERMATH
A year to the day after George Harrison died—November 29, 2002—the Royal Albert Hall in London was packed to the rafters for the “Concert for George,” a star-studded, two-and-a-half-hour celebration of the man and his music, spanning his entire career. It was put together by Olivia and Dhani Harrison, with George’s good friend Eric Clapton acting as musical director. Among those leading the large, spectacular house band (which included Dhani), orchestra, or their own groups were Clapton, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Billy Preston, Gary Brooker, Anoushka Shankar, and Joe Brown. It was all wonderfully captured for DVD and CD audio release (produced by Lynne), both very well received.
The ukulele is featured on two of the concert’s strongest numbers. For the first half of “Something,” McCartney accompanies himself on a Gibson uke that George had given him, playing the song almost as a light shuffle until Marc Mann comes in mimicking Harrison’s iconic electric guitar solo, before they’re joined by the full band and orchestra; it’s a stunning version. Then, at the very end of the concert, for the encore, Joe Brown, who had earlier played guitar and mandolin as he guided the band through “Here Comes the Sun” and “That’s the Way It Goes,” came out with a little Martin soprano uke and went into a beautiful but heartbreaking version of the 1920s standard “I’ll See You in My Dreams,” as thousands of pieces of large orange, yellow, and green confetti floated gracefully from the rafters of the Albert Hall like falling autumn leaves. There probably wasn’t a dry eye in the house after that one. It was the perfect ending to a magnificent tribute to George Harrison.
In our interview, Brown revealed that he had originally heard “I’ll See You in My Dreams” when Harrison had sent him an album by Cliff “Ukulele Ike” Edwards many years ago. “I knew the song really well because people used to sing it when I was growing up,” Brown said. “But I hadn’t heard it on the ukulele until George sent it to me, and I started putting it in my show after that, sometimes as the encore. George loved so many of those old songs, and they do sound great on the ukulele. When we did the ‘Concert for George,’ Olivia came to me and said ‘Would you do me a favor? Would you close the concert with “I’ll See You in My Dreams”?’ Because she and George would often come to my shows and she loved that song and George loved it. I was over the moon to be asked.”
In part because of the overwhelmingly positive reaction he received in the months and years following his “Concert for George” appearance, Brown decided to record The Ukulele Album (2011), which included “I’ll See You in My Dreams,” of course, but also an eclectic lineup of tunes including the Who’s “Pinball Wizard,” ELO’s “Mr. Blue Sky,” Sol Hoopii’s “Hula Girl,” and, naturally, a tip of the cap to George Formby, “When I’m Cleaning Windows.” Brown is not the only uke player on the album—he’s joined on several tracks by his daughter Sam Brown’s International Ukulele Club of Sonning Common. All in all, it’s a joyous ukulele party!
Paul McCartney also kept the uke flame burning following Harrison’s death. He incorporated the uke-driven version of “Something” into his sets, always setting up the tune with an introduction like this one from a concert in Albany, NY: “These days everyone is well into the ukulele. But George was a really good ukulele player and was doing it way before a lot of people. Let’s hear it for the ukulele!”
JAKE GENTLY WEEPS
It seems somehow appropriate to conclude our journey by bringing the story back to the ancestral home of the ukulele, and to one of its greatest modern players: Jake Shimabukuro. By the early 2000s, he was already one of the most famous ukulele players in Hawaii and Japan, selling a fair number of albums and slaying concertgoers at every stop with his dazzling pyrotechnics and ambitious cover song choices. In 2005, he flew to New York to audition at the annual Arts Presenters Conference, where he would be seen and heard by concert promoters, booking agents, and other show business shakers and movers. The hitch? Every performer gets one shot, no more than four minutes, to make a favorable impression.
That year, he decided to show off his version of Harrison’s Beatles classic “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” “It’s always been one of my favorites,” Jake says. “When I was younger, I loved the way the transition from the minor key to the major key made me feel. At the time, I didn’t understand what was happening musically, but I just loved it. I’ve always felt a connection with George’s music through the ukulele and often wondered if he wrote some of his songs on the ukulele—because they just work so well on the four-stringed instrument.
“I arranged ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ in a way that would showcase the various techniques on the ukulele, since I only had such a short time to perform. I worked on it for several weeks leading up to the trip. And when I arrived in New York, two days before the conference, I was asked to do an interview by a film crew for a show called Midnight Ukulele Disco. So, I performed the new arrangement of the song for the show.” It was a simple one-camera shoot filmed against the backdrop of some of Central Park’s enormous rocks. Jake introduces the song saying it’s by “one of my favorite songwriters,” and then unleashes a performance for the ages, overflowing with passion, showing the ukulele in a new light.
The shoot seemed to go well, and then his repeat performance at the conference went very well: He got bookings for summer festivals in Canada, and other shows in Europe and around the U.S. But he did not foresee what would happen the following year. In April 2006, the Central Park video was posted on YouTube and it immediately went viral, racking up views in the hundreds, then the thousands, and eventually the millions. As of the end of May 2021, it had been viewed more than 17.3 million times.
The success of that video “changed my life,” he says. Indeed, Shimabukuro’s career has been on an upward trajectory ever since and it is impossible to gauge how many aspiring ukulele players he has influenced. George Harrison would doubtless be proud. “Obviously I never expected this. I got a whole career out of it. Thank you, George!”
(Special thanks to John Taylor, Joe Brown, Matt Hurwitz, Emilie Fabiani and Jeff Lynne for their assistance, and to Jim Beloff for permission to run the excerpt from his book: UKEtopia: Adventures in the Ukulele World. [Backbeat Books, an imprint of Globe Pequot, the trade division of Rowman & Littlefield.] Release date: November 15, 2021.) | |||||
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"Dov Kornits"
] | 2020-04-04T02:29:04+00:00 | In Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, Rick Dalton (Leo Di Caprio) refers to being shortlisted for the role of Hilts in The Great Escape against “the three Georges” – | en | FilmInk | https://www.filmink.com.au/top-ten-male-film-stars-sixties-called-george/ | by Stephen Vagg
Michael Caine wrote in his memoirs that when he arrived in Hollywood that decade it seemed as if every second male film star was called George. Stephen Vagg runs his eye over the ten most famous. That’s right – there were at least ten. Hollywood, with its rich history and colourful personalities, is often a popular topic for writing assignments. If you need to write essays about movie stars, Ukwritings essay writing service can help. Ukwritings is a great writing service that offers expert assistance and feedback to improve your essay-writing skills, especially on topics like movie stars.
1) George Chakiris
Chakiris was a jobbing dancer for many years, popping up in the chorus of several movies including the “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” number from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. He looked set to stay a chorus boy until scoring the role of Riff in the London stage production of West Side Story… which led to him being cast as Bernardo in the film version, which earned him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Chakiris signed a multi-picture contract with the Mirisch Company but although he appeared in a few hits – Diamond Head, 633 Squadron – most of his films underperformed – Two and Two Make Six, Kings of the Sun, Flight from Ayisha, The High Bright Sun – and by the seventies was guest starring on TV shows. Weirdly, he made barely any musicals after West Side Story – The Young Girls of Rochefort was about it. Chakiris has an interesting filmography, but one senses unfulfilled potential – he possibly would’ve done better in the days when stars were under long term contracts to the one studio.
Watch him dance.
2) George Hamilton
According to John Milius, Hamilton once said everyone thought of him as a third-rate actor when in fact, he was a first-rate conman… and when you look at his career, it’s a perfect description. Hamilton parlayed his good looks and networking skill into an entirely decent career as a third-tier star and then jobbing actor. He became famous in Home from the Hill, then culturally immortal as Dolores Hart’s leading man in Where the Boys Are. The films that followed in the sixties tended to be financially disappointing but were, looking back, consistently interesting – All the Fine Young Cannibals, Light in the Piazza, The Victors, Your Cheating Heart, Viva Max, The Power. To his credit, Hamilton always found some way to reinvent himself: he dated LBJ’s daughter and Imelda Marcos, he became famous for his tan, he moved into producing. Hamilton wasn’t a hugely versatile talent but in the right role he could be gold – mostly comedy (Love at First Bite, Evil Knievel) but also drama (The Godfather Part III needed more of Hamilton).
Watch him deliver a Milius monologue.
3) George Harrison
It’s not often remembered now, but The Beatles were genuine box office draws for a few years off the back of A Hard Day’s Night and Help!, before Magical Mystery Tour came along to prove that everyone has their limitations. George Harrison, oddly, is the one member of the band to NOT have a crack at an acting career, despite clearly having a gift for it – John Lennon had a go in How I Won the War, Paul McCartney in Give My Regards to Broad Street, Ringo Starr most of all in a slew of films including The Magic Christian and Caveman, but Harrison… nope. However, it was Harrison who made the greatest cinematic contribution out of the four by funding HandMade films, whose output includes Life of Brian, Time Bandits, The Missionary, The Long Good Friday, Withnail and I and so on. I guess he was in The Rutles and made a cameo in Shanghai Surprise.
See him act.
4) George Kennedy
A burly, skilled actor capable of conveying both affability and menace, Kennedy was a highly popular character actor in the sixties who unexpectedly leapt to stardom after he won the Best Supporting Actor for Cool Hand Luke. He had a brief spell as a leading man in films like Guns of the Magnificent Seven (playing the role of Chris, created by Yul Brynner), and Zigzag before returning to character roles, notably in the Airport series.
Here he channels Brynner.
5) George Lazenby
The most late sixties and comet-like of the Georges. Lazenby was a former car salesman turned model who through a virtue of looks and pure chutzpah managed to land the role of James Bond in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. It all went to Lazenby’s head and turned him silly – not only did he turn down the opportunity to play Bond a second time, he blew his stardom chits on an indulgent drama, Universal Soldier, then flittered away his opportunity to establish himself as a leading man by making an obscure Italian thriller (Who Saw Her Die?) and crappy British TV play (The Operation) then sailing around the world for over a year. Lazenby has popped up in the occasional interesting movie since – The Man from Hong Kong, Saint Jack – but generally as a support actor. But since he really had no business being a movie star in the first place, he presumably can’t complain. And at least he was in the best Bond of all time.
Here’s the end of OHMSS (SPOILERS)
6) George Maharis
Not particularly well remembered today, for a time Maharis was quite famous off the back of his starring role in the Route 66 TV series. Maharis quit the show citing overwork, but it was commonly felt he was bunging it on in order to break his contract and pursue a movie career. He had the lead in a few films – Quick Before It Melts, The Satan Bug, Sylvia, A Covenant with Death – but never broke through and was soon back guest starring on TV series. He later posed nude for Playgirl.
7) George Montgomery
Montgomery was the most established of the sixties film stars called George – he’d been around since the thirties, developing a name in particular as a handsome leading man in the Clarke Gable mould for stars like Ginger Rogers (Roxie Hart) and Betty Grable (Coney Island). Montgomery was unhappy being so pigeonholed and shifted into B movie action stuff, mostly Westerns and war movies for producers like Sam Katzman. He was still going strong in the sixties, being one of the first Hollywood names to make movies in the Philippines, many of which he also directed, such as The Steel Claw and From Hell to Borneo. His housekeeper became obsessed with him and tried to kill him in 1963 – something I mention for sheer gossip. Montgomery started making furniture for fun and became so successful at it, it turned into a lucrative career. He died rich, happy, best friends with Ronald Reagan, and still under-appreciated as an actor.
8) George Peppard
Peppard trained at the Actors Studio, making his feature debut in The Strange One, the first movie for a number of other eventually-famous actors. He leapt to fame in Home from the Hill, consolidating his status with the male lead in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. For a time there, it seemed Peppard might become a major star – he had the looks, talent and effectively anchored blockbusters like How the West Was Won, The Victors, Operation Crossbow, and The Blue Max. However, he developed a drinking problem, could be temperamental – for instance, walking off the set of Sands of the Kalahari – and was perhaps not the best judge of material, turning down a part in The Heart is a Lonely Hunter because it meant he would play a homosexual and signing to a multi-picture contract with Universal that led to a run of career-cooling films: Rough Night in Jericho, What’s So Bad About Feeling Good?, P.J., House of Cards, Pendulum. The seventies were rough, but he had a magnificent third act, finding cultural immortality (and financial security) in The A Team and rediscovering his love of theatre.
9) George C. Scott
One of the all-time great actors in American history, Scott had so much talent and presence that he was in heavy demand almost from the moment he started acting. Sterling turns in The Hustler, The List of Adrian Messenger and Dr Strangelove made him a major actor of the sixties, despite a serious drinking problem and some very unpleasant personal characteristics, notably a fondness for hitting women. Scott was well known when The Great Escape was being cast but wasn’t really considered star material until Patton. That, The Hospital and The New Centurions turned him briefly into a genuine box office draw, a status he failed to maintain after films like Day of the Dolphin, Rage, The Savage is Loose and Movie Movie. However, he remained in work for his whole career, even if really he should have served prison time for some of the things he did.
10) George Segal
Segal has been “kind of” a star for over fifty years now. He wasn’t that well known when The Great Escape was being made, presumably why Tarantino kept him off the list of Georges, but he had his first starring role in 1965’s King Rat. It helped establish Segal as a leading man and he turned up in a number of fascinating films over the next few years – Lost Command (in brown face), The St Valentine’s Day Massacre, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Bridge at Remagen, Loving, Where’s Poppa? – without ever quite becoming a star. After The Owl and the Pussycat and A Touch of Class, it seemed that he finally cracked the A list (Fun with Dick and Jane, The Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox) but he had some bad luck as the decade went on – he missed out on Silver Streak which had been written for him, he turned down 10, he developed a drug habit. Just as he was drifting off into character actor land he had a huge TV success with Just Shoot Me and is still performing to large audiences in The Goldbergs… yet somehow still seems to operate under the radar. Segal’s co star in California Split, Elliot Gould, has (deservedly) become a major cult figure – it would be nice to see Segal get some of that attention. | |||||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 3 | 14 | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Hard-Days-Night | en | A Hard Day’s Night | Beatles, Musical Comedy, British | [
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] | 2011-10-05T00:00:00+00:00 | A Hard Day’s Night, British comedy-musical film, released in 1964, that starred the Beatles in their first feature movie. Released during the height of Beatlemania and the British Invasion, A Hard Day’s Night is now widely considered a classic. The musical presents a fictitious account of 36 hours | en | /favicon.png | Encyclopedia Britannica | https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Hard-Days-Night | A Hard Day’s Night, British comedy-musical film, released in 1964, that starred the Beatles in their first feature movie. Released during the height of Beatlemania and the British Invasion, A Hard Day’s Night is now widely considered a classic.
The musical presents a fictitious account of 36 hours in the life of the Beatles, who portray themselves as they travel to London and attempt to record a performance on television while evading fanatical teenage admirers. Film critic Rex Reed derisively referred to playwright Alun Owen’s script of A Hard Day’s Night as a “non-screenplay.” Yet it is precisely the inspired anarchy of Owen’s screenplay—so suited to the Beatles’ personalties that they appear to be improvising—that distinguishes this landmark musical. Until A Hard Day’s Night, rock-and-roll movies were tame, sanitized affairs designed to conform to an older audiences’s sense of morality. This seemingly unstructured look at the Beatles took the world by storm by proving that the lads from Liverpool not only were great musicians but also had an irreverent sense of humour that was compared to that of the Marx Brothers and of BBC Radio’s The Goon Show. The Beatles got memorable support from character actor Wilfred Brambell as Paul’s “clean old man” of a grumpy grandfather.
Britannica Quiz
Oscar-Worthy Movie Trivia | ||||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 2 | 97 | https://www.denofgeek.com/culture/george-harrison-my-sweet-lord-music-video/ | en | George Harrison’s ‘My Sweet Lord’ Has a Long, Complicated History Beyond the Music Video | [
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"Tony Sokol"
] | 2021-12-17T20:52:24+00:00 | After 51 years, George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord” gets a video, but the song has a story, and it’s so fine. | en | Den of Geek | https://www.denofgeek.com/culture/george-harrison-my-sweet-lord-music-video/ | George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord” was released on Nov. 23, 1970, as the first single to his groundbreaking and historic solo album. The Beatles were the first band to play stadium concerts, put backwards instrumentation into songs, and the first rock band to put sitar and tamboura drones in pop rock. But Harrison’s first solo release after the band’s break up, All Things Must Pass, was the first triple album coming from a single act in rock. “My Sweet Lord,” was the first number one hit by a solo Beatle and the biggest selling single of 1971. It is most renowned because of the trendsetting plagiarism suit around it, but the song transcends easy labels.
Which is why the new music video, directed by Lance Bangs, deserves a little more than an all-star cast and a de-Phil Spector’d remix. The 51st anniversary video stars Fred Armisen, Vanessa Bayer, and Mark Hamill. It also features George’s son Dhani Harrison and wife Olivia Harrison in small roles. Former Beatle Ringo Starr puts in an appearance as does ELO’s Jeff Lynne – who was in The Traveling Wilburys with Harrison. Rounding it out are about 40 cameos and parts including The Eagles’ Joe Walsh, Jon Hamm, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Natasha Legerro, Moshe Kasher, Darren Criss, Rosanna Arquette, Patton Oswalt, and Taiki Waititi.
You can watch the video here:
Besides the featured players, the music video also tells a story of special agents of a clandestine metaphysical agency searching for something unknown. The video is very Saturday Night Live-friendly, possibly because Harrison was the only Beatle who tried to cash the $3,000 check Lorne Michaels offered for a reunion show, but the story of the song is far more interesting.
As anyone who saw Peter Jackson’s The Beatles: Get Back, can attest, Harrison had a lot of songs which didn’t get on rotation against the great Lennon/McCartney songwriting team. It wasn’t that they didn’t listen, but there was just so much stuff coming out so quickly. While still in the Beatles, Harrison released Wonderwall Music, which was a soundtrack to a film, and Electronic Sound, which saw him as one of the early experimenters on the synthesizer. But he still had a backlog of songs. All Things Must Pass is rock’s first triple album set of original material and served up a spiritual celebration as well as one of independence.
It was also a major leap of faith.
“I thought a lot about whether to do ‘My Sweet Lord’ or not, because I would be committing myself publicly and I anticipated that a lot of people might get weird about it,” Harrison wrote in I Me Mine. The Beatles made headlines around the world when they studied Transcendental Meditation at the ashram of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in India. When they left in a blur of bad vibes, which included Lennon’s stinging “Sexy Sadie,” critics tagged them as hippie faddists.
A Song of Spiritual Unity
George was raised Catholic but converted to Hinduism later in life. The Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band cover includes three Hindu gurus: Sri Yukteswar Giri, Sri Paramahansa Yogananda, and Sri Mahavatar Babaji. George embraced Krishna Consciousness under A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, recording the mantra for the Hare Krishna movement and including it as the centerpiece of his song “My Sweet Lord.”
Harrison heard Edwin Hawkins’ modern gospel rendition of the 18th century hymn “Oh Happy Day,” while on tour in the Delaney & Bonnie project and wanted to merge the feel of its joyous “Hallelujah” invocations with the devotional “Hare Krishna” Maha Mantra chants of Hinduism. In Martin Scorsese’s documentary The Material World, Harrison explains: “First, it’s simple. The thing about a mantra, they call it a mystical sound vibration encased in a syllable. It has this power within it. It’s just hypnotic.” The juxtaposition works as a subliminal affirmation of the universality of spiritual exploration.
But the song is steeped in gospel.
Harrison studied gospel music structure and composition while producing soul singer Doris Troy, and co-producing Billy Preston’s That’s The Way God Planned It. George also co-produced Preston’s fifth album Encouraging Words, which came out in September 1970, two months before All Things Must Pass, and included his version of “My Sweet Lord,” which has the Edwin Hawkins singers on backing vocals. The album included many of the musicians who appeared on All Things Must Pass, including Eric Clapton, Bobby Whitlock, Carl Radle, and Jim Gordon – the future Derek and the Dominos.
The Players and Recording
Besides containing the most recognizable examples of Harrison’s signature, post-Beatles, slide guitar playing, “My Sweet Lord” contained the best-known players of the day. It was recorded by Phil Spector at Abbey Road Studios, using the same equipment The Beatles used. For the session, Harrison assembled Preston, Clapton, Jim Gordon, and all four members of Badfinger, who were signed to Apple, Klaus Voormann on bass, and Gary Wright and Bobby Whitlock on additional keyboards. Ringo played tambourine, the drums were played by Alan White of Yes, who’d played on Lennon’s “Instant Karma.” Peter Frampton’s Do You Feel Like I Do? A Memoir confirms he was the lead guitarist on “My Sweet Lord” sessions. George’s slide guitar parts were overdubbed later at Trident Studios in central London.
Producer Phil Spector thought “My Sweet Lord” was the hit. George worried about how the public heard “Hare Krishna” and thought about orange-robed International Society for Krishna Consciousness devotees approaching them in airports. But the song was as infectious as it was subversive.
“Every time I put the radio on, it’s ‘Oh my Lord’,” John Lennon said in a 1970 interview, according to Nicholas Schaffner’s book The Beatles Forever. “I’m beginning to think there must be a God.”
Don’t Infringe on Anyone’s Copyright
Lennon is also the person who wrote the song “Instant Karma” and Harrison’s devotional epic suffered capitalistic backlash. He was the first artist to pay out legal fees for “subconscious plagiarism.” What was Harrison thinking? Well, it all depends on what he was listening to. In 1963, The Beatles conquered Europe and were waiting for a number one in the U.S. charts before they headed to America. Harrison probably heard The Chiffons’ “He’s So Fine.” Written by Ronald Mack produced by Bright Tunes Corporation, it spent four weeks at No. 1 that year. Doo lang doo lang doo-lang.
In February of 1971, Bright Tunes Music sued Harrison for plagiarism. Allen Klein suggested that Harrison buy Bright Tunes. The company declined, demanding a cut of the hit song. The trial took place February 23-25. Harrison testified he got the idea for the Hallelujah/Hare Krishna integration during a press conference following a show in Copenhagen, Denmark with Delaney and Bonnie in December 1969. He said the idea came from The Edwin Hawkins Singers’ “Oh Happy Day,” not “He’s So Fine.”
Harrison took his guitar to court. The plagiarism case centered on the musical motifs: “G-E-D” and “G-A-C-A-C,” which introduced the melody to the words “He’s So Fine, where it is repeated four times. “My Sweet Lord” repeats the first motif four times and the second one three times, because Harrison is always throwing seven in somewhere. He couldn’t name any other songs using the same melodic exact pattern off the top of his head, and the court ruled the two songs “virtually identical,” but unintentional. On Aug. 31, 1976, Harrison was found guilty of “subconscious plagiarism.”
Because “My Sweet Lord” was the lead single, and as big as it was, the judge ruled it represented 70% of the airplay for the entire All Things Must Pass album. Bright Tunes was awarded $1.6 million. Allen Klein’s company ABKCO bought Bright Tunes for $587,000 in 1978. Harrison sued. It went on until 1998 when Harrison got the rights to both songs in North America and the UK, and Klein owned them everywhere else.
The best thing to come out of it were the songs about it, which showed musicians had a sense of humor about it. Harrison recorded “Sue Me Sue You Blues” for his Living in the Material World, and more pointedly, his 1976 single “This Song.” There was nothing Bright about it. Harrison even featured Eric Idle of Monty Python pondering “Could be ‘Sugar Pie Honey Bunch,’ No, sounds more like ‘Rescue Me,’” during the instrumental break.
Even The Chiffons got in on the joke, releasing their jazzy, flute-infused gospel version of “My Sweet Lord” in 1975. The Chiffons merged the two songs at the end, bringing out one more transcendent connection, singing, “My sweet lord, he’s so fine,” further capturing the very universality Harrison intended.
The Concert for Bangladesh was the first rock benefit concert and Harrison’s live version of “My Sweet Lord” was as uplifting as the studio recording. After Harrison died, “My Sweet Lord” was re-released in the U.K., where it again hit No. 1. The proceeds went to the Material World Charitable Foundation, which Harrison started in 1973.
All Things Must Pass 50th Anniversary Edition was released on Aug. 6. | |||||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 2 | 78 | https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/06/yesterday-movie-beatles-ed-sheeran-questions | en | Yesterday: Just a Few Questions About the Beatles-centric Movie | [
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"Yohana Desta",
"David Canfield",
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"Kevin Fitzpatrick",
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] | 2019-06-29T09:00:00-04:00 | Spoilers ahead! Join us as we try to parse one of the most mind-boggling films of the year. | en | https://www.vanityfair.com/verso/static/vanity-fair-global/assets/favicon.ico | Vanity Fair | https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/06/yesterday-movie-beatles-ed-sheeran-questions | This post contains spoilers for the film Yesterday.
If you’ve seen Yesterday—the new Danny Boyle movie about a world in which the Beatles disappear from our collective memory—you probably have one, or two, or a thousand questions about the rules of this curious cinematic universe. So do we. Here, in no particular order, are a few we considered over the course of the movie’s nearly two-hour running time. Help: We need some answers.
What is the magic that makes everything disappear?
The world loses all forms of electric power for roughly 12 seconds near the beginning of the movie; when the power returns, it’s revealed that the outage also removed the existence of the Beatles from the world. (Perhaps even…across the universe.) At first, it seems that the only person who remembers the band and their music is a young, struggling singer named Jack (Himesh Patel); later we learn that a woman from Liverpool and a man from Russia also remember the Beatles. As far as we know, these three are the only people who do.
But…why? The phenomenon is never explained—and while we appreciate that Boyle and writer Richard Curtis might have wanted to simply let it be, it might have been nice if the movie had done more to establish the reason behind the rules of this universe. Which brings us to our next question…
Other things disappeared too??
Surprise, surprise—the Beatles weren’t the only thing to evaporate with the power outage. Jack also discovers that the band Oasis, Coca-Cola, Harry Potter, and cigarettes have also disappeared. What! If these things have vanished, what else is gone? And if these things are gone, how else has the world changed? With all those cultural staples missing from the timeline, we have to believe that this world would be vastly different than our own—but perhaps that’s too big a thought experiment for a movie of this nature.
Perhaps Boyle is opening the door for a Yesterday cinematic universe, starring Jack as he sprints from movie to movie, restoring the world to its natural pop cultural order. This is the future of I.P. The stand-alone cigarette movie is going to be wild.
Why don’t Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr make cameos?
The two remaining Beatles do not make appearances (that we know of) in the film. But they did approve of the movie—and they would have had to, since it uses all their original music, and they’re notoriously protective of their jams). Boyle said in a recent interview that Starr and George Harrison’s widow, author, and philanthropist, Olivia Harrison, had seen the film, and sent him supportive messages. But he’s less sure if McCartney’s viewed the final product: “I don’t think Paul has seen the movie, but he’s seen the trailer and he said ‘Oh that seems to work!’”
Who played John Lennon?
Toward the final act, Jack travels to a faraway house (shot on Shingle Street in Suffolk) to visit an old man. It turns out to be John Lennon, who, in this alternate timeline, became an old man living a modest, peaceful life. He’s played by an uncredited actor, though sleuths have deduced that the man in question is frequent Danny Boyle collaborator Robert Carlyle. But Carlyle may stay uncredited, according to this statement from Universal: “The filmmakers and the actor made an agreement that they would keep the actor’s identity a secret out of respect for the life and memory of John Lennon. We respect their wishes and therefore will not be releasing his name.”
Hey…why keep “I Saw Her Standing There,” anyway?
A bit of context: “I Saw Her Standing There” is a Beatles hit from 1963, cowritten by McCartney and Lennon and released when they were both in their early 20s. The opening lyric of the song is: “Well, she was just 17 /And you know what I mean.” Mildly creepy. But for Jack to revive it and sing it to the masses like it’s a brand-new song he wrote, when he is presumably in his late 20s or early 30s—very creepy! Of all the Beatles songs to regift to the world, this is one he maybe could have let fall by the wayside—or at least lyrically tweaked.
Why does everyone in this movie act like Jack is not a cutie?
Kate McKinnon’s villainous manager character reiterates over and over again that Jack is boring, basic, hard to look at, et cetera, et cetera. This is false! He’s a cutie. While we’re at it, the same goes for Lily James! We are to believe the erstwhile Cinderella is a homely teacher with “frizzy” hair? No. She is a literal movie star, and she has sleek, springy tendrils and straight bangs the whole time. Also: Why do they wait so long to date?
Is Ed Sheeran the closest living proxy to the Beatles?
Sheeran loves a cameo, and his performance in Yesterday is nothing but a long, long cameo. He plays a slightly dramatized version of himself, taking Jack under his wing and helping him on the journey to fame. He also, bless him, pokes fun at himself (the “Shape of You” ringtone, ruining “Hey Jude”). But in the grand scheme of things, this role is actually a big compliment to Sheeran—because by slotting him in, the film is basically positing that he’s the closest thing we have to a contemporary Beatle. With all due respect to Sheeran—who is enormously successful, and is technically the biggest star in the movie—that just feels…wrong? Rae Sremmurd and Migos, to begin with, would like a word.
More Great Stories from Vanity Fair
— Our cover story: How Idris Elba became the coolest—and busiest—man in Hollywood | ||||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 1 | 95 | https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/george-olivia-harrison-mumbai-film-festival-252161/ | en | George Harrison’s Life Was Transformed By India, Says Olivia Harrison | [
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"Nyay Bhushan"
] | 2011-10-22T11:09:54+00:00 | In an interview with THR, Olivia Harrison explains why "George Harrison: Living in the Material World" comes "full circle" after presenting the film at the Mumbai Film Festival. | en | The Hollywood Reporter | https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/george-olivia-harrison-mumbai-film-festival-252161/ | MUMBAI – A major highlight of the recently concluded Mumbai Film Festival was the India premiere of the Martin Scorsese-directed documentary George Harrison: Living in the Material World. Two extra screenings had to be added for the four-hour long documentary to pacify audience demand given the late ex-Beatles’ India connections.
“Part of the completion of the film is to bring it here, that’s why I especially came down to Mumbai (accompanied with the film’s editor David Tedeschi),” Olivia Harrison, who was married to George Harrison, told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview. “The full circle is really having it here.”
While an India distributor has yet to be finalised, the film’s festival screening could increase awareness about the project’s marketing potential here.
A frequent visitor to India over the years with her late husband, Harrison’s latest trip brought back the memories, “This morning I put on the album Call of the Valley (which features acclaimed Indian classical musicians such as flautist Hari Prasad Chaurasia) and I suddenly felt like ‘Oh my God, I have to go out into the countryside.’ I suddenly felt like all of that memory came back to me. Because when George was in India, he wanted to be in the real India, in someone’s home, in the temple. He didn’t want to be in the city doing city things though he did that too and had fun. This morning I really landed in India just by listening to that music. George used to always say that if ever you are not feeling right, you should listen to Bob Dylan‘s Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie and Call of the Valley.”
Considering the wealth of material, the challenge of cutting down 600 hours of footage available for the film makes the editor’s job quite important. Explaining how he got direction from Scorsese, Tedeschi said, “The most important thing in a way is that we would sit and talk for hours and hours about (Scorsese’s) vision for the film but also in a way he was thinking out loud. The subject is very delicate and Marty saw a lot of danger in how you confront it. There’s 600 hours of footage and I have seen it all, Marty has seen hundreds of hours if not 600. And then we felt our way through (starting with) the first 15 minutes for which we would have ideas, the way the war sequence comes in and how the music comes in. I think that formed the whole movie. You know on a set the first action a director gives to the actor is the most important thing. That’s the same thing working through the first 15 minutes on this film.”
Comparing what audiences in the west and east could take from the film, Harrison expanded, “In the west I think what they took is the music since they knew George because of his music. In India I think it would be to know that George was sincere about India. India was not a fad, it was not a passing fancy to him. And that the philosophy, the culture and the people meant something to him. India transformed George’s life in every way. I mean he actually produced music here as well. There is dialog in the movie where George is producing (instrumental sessions) in 1969 in Mumbai (for the Beatles track) The Inner Light featuring Hari Prasad Chaurasia and other musicians. And you can hear him via a translator in Hindi telling the musicians what to do. I think that was just an incredible thing for such a young man at that time.”
With India among the rising economies of the world, it is safe to say that the country is now living in the material world like never before, something which intrigues Harrison, “In 1976 when we came here, George was saying, look they are wearing nylon sarees and the men are wearing platform shoes. To him that was an indication of what was to come. He was sort of sad about that because he always seemed to go to the khadi (traditional handspun cloth) shop and buy kurtas (Indian men’s shirt). But the west is going through a lot of searching – thats what living in the material world does to you, it makes you want to go inwards. India has been in, it needs to come out. America has been out, it needs to take the inward journey.”
But does Harrison see the film offering a new insight on India to outsiders?
“All the diversions and distractions in the west, India is multiplied,” she says. “I remember once when George and me were in Jaipur, George looked out the window and just said “Cut! Cut! Too many extras!” But in spite of that, George managed to find the very subtle India – which was an inner thing. I think maybe that is what people should keep their focus on – the riches it has to offer as well as all the wonderful diversions.” | |||||
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] | null | [] | 2021-03-17T10:53:15+00:00 | By Mike Carrera A fan recently asked which was the best Harrison “promo clip compilation” and my response was: NONE to date (official or bootleg). A good effort was the one by the DVD-R bootleg lab… | en | The Daily Beatle | https://webgrafikk.com/blog/george-harrison-music-videos/ | By Mike Carrera
A fan recently asked which was the best Harrison “promo clip compilation” and my response was: NONE to date (official or bootleg).
A good effort was the one by the DVD-R bootleg label FAB Productions, who released a 3 disc set many years ago. The downside point is that many videos there, comes from TV broadcasts with station logos, missing slates, low quality on many clips, and missing dozens of versions and adding clips from concerts or TV shows, or even fake fan-created videos.
In 2016, the European bootleg label BFB/Wonderland/Walrus Entertainment was a direct copy of the FAB’s 3 DVD-R collection from 2010, even with the same menus.
So, to date, no bootleg label have released the ULTIMATE compilation.
On the official side, we have three boxes including a few, but not all of Harrison’s videos: “The Apple Years”, “The Dark Horse Years” and “The Traveling Wilburys Collection”.
The problem with those videos on the official releases is that the original audio of many of them have been replaced by the commercially remastered versions, replacing the original mixes, and the bootleg labels have copied exactly THAT version because of the high visual quality. Sometimes, however, the video is also different from the original version and the bootleg makers and some of the fans haven’t noticed it.
This is a humble research of all available Harrison official videos, including the alternate versions and variations, many of them uncirculated or unbootlegged to date, as well a few revelations and stories TOLD and published FOR THE FIRST TIME. Any corrections/mistake reports are so welcome.
YouTube links are illustrative only, not the researched sources. Almost all videos are 4:3 ratio and a few are 16:9 Widescreen, but for some settings reason, my “photo capture” tool copied all in 16:9, simply ignore this.
Mike Carrera
1971
My Sweet Lord (live)
Sadly, no official video for this song was ever filmed, but the live performance from The Concert for Bangladesh on 1 august, 1971, directed by Saul Swimmer was plugged many times over the years on TV channels, the only difference with the film is that the video features a fade out after George says “Thank you..thank you”. The best quality source for this was probably when the film was re-released in 2005 and the clip was shown many times on music channels like MTV and Much Music.
Many bootleg compilations use a “manufactured” video from the UK TV show “Top of the Pops” from 1971, where the dancing troupe Pan’s People did a choreography for this song. This very same footage was used on another fake youtube video for “My Sweet Lord (2000)”, editing in some footage from the “All Things Must Pass 30th” EPK and, at some point inserting the Pan’s People footage. Bootleg labels have released it over and over but there is NO official video for the re-recorded version as well there is no one for the original. In the Netherlands, another popular TV show from the 60’s and 70’s: TopPop, produced a “video” in 1970 using some photographs taken from the “Let it Be” book plus some other footage, but again, no official Apple video was ever made.
Both clips from the shows “Top of the Pops” and “TopPop” are available.
Another FAKE fan-created video for the song “Give me Love (Give me Peace on Earth)” is available on some bootleg compilations, be aware it’s not a real promo video, although it uses very rare 8mm footage. And we have not counted the version from Live in Japan 1991 (included on the official “The Apple Years” boxed set) as a promo video.
1974
Dark Horse
Promotional video filmed with a brief but live performance (lasting only 1:53) during rehearsals for the 1974 U.S. tour. Available with a countdown “slate” in good quality among collectors or low quality at youtube and some bootleg compilations. It was omitted from the official boxed set “The Apple Years”.
Ding Dong, Ding Dong
The video was directed by Harrison and filmed by Nick Knowland at Friar Park, Henley-On-Thames, George’s mansion. For the video he once again wore two Beatle suits: the grey collarless suit and the Sgt Pepper uniform.
The common version available on almost all bootleg compilations comes from the Australian RAGE music TV show from a 90’s rebroadcast (with logo and credits over the image), but a clean copy is available among collectors.
When it was released on the official “Apple Years” boxed set, although restored to best possible visual quality, there is a mistake during the restoration: the first two seconds shows the picture decolorized and at the third second, the image goes black for a moment; this visual problem has nothing to do with the master copy being damaged or something like that, since the original print that is available or the rebroadcast on RAGE and other TV specials over the years didn’t have this problem, so, if we want the best and complete version, sadly it’s not on the official boxed set.
1976
Crackerbox Palace
Filmed at Friar Park, Henley-On-Thames. Directed by Eric Idle (Monthy Python/The Rutles).
Cameos from Monthy Python’s : Eric Idle, Neil Innes, Michael Palin, John Cleese and Graham Chapman, among others; plus Olivia Arias in black lingerie (at 2:23) .
True Love
Filmed at Friar Park, Henley-On-Thames, also directed by Eric Idle. For some reason it wasn’t included on the official “The Dark Horse Years” boxed set.
Another video deemed “best” version around is taken from the Australian video show RAGE (with the logo on screen at some point plus the credits of the song), but a CLEAN version with correct color (Rage’s version is saturated, even if it seems better) is available among collectors.
This Song (Variation A)
This Song (Variation B)
Directed by George Harrison and Michael Collins for Rosebud Films. Cameos from Ron Wood and Eric Idle (both dressed as women /Monthy Python’s characters), Jim Keltner (future drummer for the Traveling Wilburys) as the Judge, Neil Innes, among others.
Two slightly different versions are available: Variation A shows the credits for “This Song” over the intro while Variation B is clean and can be found in top quality on the “Dark Horse Years” boxed set and standalone DVD, and sadly is the common version that appears on most recent bootleg compilations leaving out the original version which is available in very good quality and also have the outro credits for “Rosebud Films”.
Here is Variation B:
1979
Blow Away
Directed by Neil Innes (Monthy Python/ The Rutles). Contrary to what’s written in the book “Eight Arms to Hold You” that the film was shot by early March 1979; the promo was in fact filmed by the end of November or early December 1978 and the first master was assembled by the end of 1978 but was put on hold until next year and it seems a “fix” was made since the new slate, mastered on February 21, 1979 says “Final Mix”. Still, the audio is the same as the “1978” version, the only noticeable “difference” could be that there is a Warner Bros logo at the intro plus a very quiet “beep” cue which can be heard before the song starts, plus, once again a Warner Bros logo at the end with the 1978 copyright, and the “1979” version does not have the Warner Bros logo intro or finale, but is exactly the same audio mix and video edit.
Another video that was omitted from the official “Dark Horse Years” boxed set.
Faster
Filmed between February 4 and April 8, 1979 at the Grand Prix races in Sao Paulo, Brazil; Kyalami, South Africa; Long Beach, USA and some shots also apparently filmed in Milan, Italy and other unidentified car races. George’s chauffeur in the video is Formula 1 driver Jackie Stewart, although it has not been verified if these scenes were filmed in England or in one of those other countries.
Contrary to what’s been reported, this video was not filmed at only one F1 race in Brazil, and also was not broadcast March 20, 1979, since the single wasn’t released until July, more car races were filmed in April and some scenes can be seen on the video. It’s not confirmed that George also attended the South African race, but at least there is much footage from that day included on the video.
George was in fact at the Long Beach race, since footage exists and he was also in Brazil from the last days of January and until February 9, visiting Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Very rare interview footage from an Argentinian reporter was filmed at the beach in Guarujá, Sao Paulo with George and F1 driver, Emerson Fittipaldi, footage is available. The interview was made in “cooperation” with Emerson who asked George first if he wanted to do a four question interview (which ended with more than 7). The interview is mislabeled in some sites or even the Argentina TV re-broadcast as from 1977 but in fact it’s from early February 1979 since George says there is a song on the new album about car racing and (the new album) “will be available at the end of February” (footage exists also from another interview he did for the TV show “Fantastico” plus another interview for a musical magazine and tons of pictures of George with fans at the hotel, airport and the Grand Prix).
1981
All Those Years Ago
Compiled by Ron Furmanek using Beatle archival footage and pictures. The video is available clean (without any credits over it) and very good quality among collectors
This is the original version, beware of fake videos created by fans saying “official video”, which can also be found on YouTube.
1985
Save The World (Greenpeace version)
Directed by Ian Weiner and does not feature any George footage but Greenpeace people “at work”. This is the re-worked version that George did for the Greenpeace benefit album.
1986
Shanghai Surprise #1 Long Version
Shanghai Surprise #2 Short Version
Produced by Handmade Films, Filmed at Friar Park, Hanley-On-Thames where George and Vicki Brown recorded their vocals and is mixed with scenes from the film.
Long Version has the full (5:20) recording, and the short (4:40) version (included on the ‘Dark Horse Years’ box set) cuts out 40 seconds of music and more scenes from the film but gladly there are no more scenes with George on the missing seconds. Short version is available in amazing quality and long version in only medium to good.
1987
Here Comes The Sun (Prince’s Trust)
A performance from the Second Annual Prince’s Trust Concert TV special (the show was filmed June 6, 1987 at Wembley Arena, UK), this clip was broadcast many times on music TV Channels as a separate music video.
Got My Mind Set On You ARCADE VERSION:
#1 (Copyright over the video)
#2 (Without copyright over the video)
Filmed in London, Directed by Willy Smax. Two variants are available, #1 has the copyright credits over the video near the end while version #2 has the copyright credits after the video is finished. This second version (without slates and copyright credits) was also included in top quality on the “Dark Horse Years” boxed set.
#3 (Raw Edit A)
#4 (Raw Edit B)
Also available among bootleg and video collectors are two raw edits of the same video: Raw Edit A is SIMILAR but not the same as the released version, it has many different angles and scenes that were removed from the final version, specially a different dance sequence from the ballet ballerina.
Raw Edit B shows only the “band performance” without any of the arcade video, plus there is no ballerina. A few scenes from this version were included as well on the final cut, but same as Raw Edit A, there are many differences with the released version. The finale on both Raw Edit A and B is completely different as well to the released version, showing George and the band singing in front of the camera.
Here is Raw Version Edit B:
Got My Mind Set On You HAUNTED HOUSE/CHAIR VERSION:
#1 (Edit A- “Dancer tired”- Copyright over the video)
#2 (Edit A- “Dancer tired”- Without copyright over the video)
#3 (Edit B)
A second version filmed in Los Angeles, Directed by Gary Weis. Two different versions plus one variation are available. #1 has the copyright credits over the video near the end while #2 has the copyright credits after the video is finished. This is the less known version where George’s double, the dancer has a longer sequence after his routine, he jumps into the chair and act tired for a few seconds and later the video returns with the real Harrison. Edit B or #3 doesn’t have this scene, after the dancer jumps into the chair, we immediately cut to George playing his guitar. This is not the only difference between Edit A and B, there are more scenes of the “haunted house” and the animals singing on Edit B while on Edit A we see more Harrison footage of him, playing his guitar.
Edit B was also included in top quality on the “Dark Horse Years” boxed set and standalone DVD.
Here is EDIT B:
1988
When We Was Fab
-When We Was Fab #1 (Edit A- Copyright over the video)
-When We Was Fab #2 (Edit A- Without copyright over the video)
-When We Was Fab #3 (Edit B)
Filmed at Greenford Studios, London, mainly on 18 Dec 1987 but some cameos were filmed on different days that December, plus some in January 1988. Directed by Kevin Godley and Lol Creme.
Cameos from many musicians that also participate on the Cloud Nine album on this innovative video for that time include: Ringo Starr (who appears through all the videos); Jeff Lynne and Ray Copper playing the violin; Elton John putting a coin in a cup while he is being “robbed” by one of George’s hands. During the near final sequence of this video, while George multiples himself and many characters are passing through (12 to be exact), we can identify more stars that played on the LP: Bobby Kok (cello), Gary Wright (piano) who also looks like Jim Horn (sax) (same look and hair of both of them that December), Vicki Brown (backing vocals), Jeff Lynne (again) and behind him, Jim Keltner, although another bearded musician known as “slowhand” is also a candidate and participated as well on the recordings for this LP, but the final scene is really hard to watch and the other characters are also hard to identify, but there are four women and eight men.
Paul Simon (who didn’t play on the record) also appears pushing a fruit cart during the middle of the video.
A man who looks like (the sideburns don’t match with his looks from that year, or before or after, but let’s say it’s him) Neil Aspinall (The Beatles friend/Road manager and Apple manager for many years) also appears in the key point of the video (definitely NOT Julian Lennon or Phil Collins as reported): holding John Lennon’s Imagine LP while George is playing in the back with Ringo on drums and a mysterious Walrus playing the bass, recreating those Fab days “together” again John, Paul, George and Ringo… or something like that!
The story of “The Walrus Was Paul” is very well known, so we don’t need to get deeper on that. Also, well known is that Paul is NOT playing the bass wearing a walrus suit on this video. George once told as a joke that Paul was indeed in the video under the walrus suit, and years later Paul answer the same question from many interviews (one, his own Club Sandwich magazine) saying that he wasn’t available on that date (he did some studio recordings) and he’s NOT the man under the walrus suit… but the direct question was: “is that you under the Walrus suit on the “FAB” video?”, when in fact it should have been: “Did you participate in the “FAB” video?”. And the answer would have been: YESSSS! (If Paul’s mood was in a “myth-breaking” mood)
This is another of those “Beatle-Jokes” that we will never get a YES or NO as a direct answer from them, same as the “Paul is Dead” rumor, among others.
Paul was not available during December 1987 because he was busy in the studio and also making some TV promotion in France and Germany for the “All The Best!” collection, but Director Kevin Godley (a friend of both George and Paul who has directed many of his videos over the years, as well as Beatle projects) managed to film him on a different day and year (plus many more cameos and characters were filmed separately as well) and include THAT over the FAB video. To date, no book or web page has published this info but Paul IS in the FAB video! He appears during the “reunion” sequence looking towards “the band”, so we can’t see his full face. This scene is so obvious: Paul appears only during the “Walrus” joke and by the time he passes in front of the Walrus, he turns his face against the man in the costume, like watching the Walrus play. Oh, one other thing, his appearance was distorted to complicate things even more, so recognizing him will be harder!. But any fan that knows every “look” (hair, face, way of walk, etc, etc) of the Fab’s over the years or any girl with a crush on him, will find this task not hard at all. (Another incorrect theory floating around: Paul is NOT the hippie-dressed guy who’s head is out of the frame and with a large beard around 2:40)
Paul’s cameo was filmed the second week of January 1988 (two weeks before the post production of the video was finished on February 3, 1988), while he was doing some sessions for the Flower in the Dirt LP. This fact can be verified comparing Paul’s length of his hair. It wasn’t that long during the December 1987 promotion but is THIS long (as he appears on the “FAB” video) during the January footage and pictures that exists plus some TV promotion during February. Check the pictures to compare, just to validate the info that, until today, nobody has published.
This was another “Beatle-Joke”, a different clue that was planted on purpose and when the fans were looking directly at the man in the walrus suit playing the bass, the REAL McCartney would appear in front of all of us and nobody would notice him!!
Undocumented but Two different Edits plus one variant are available.
#1 (Edit A) has the copyright credits over the video near the end while #2 (Edit A) has the copyright credits after the video is finished. This is the version that is also available on the official “Dark Horse Years” boxed set and standalone DVD (without slates or copyright credits), sadly they didn’t take care about the original audio, with effects like the sound of the van when Ringo arrives, the coin falling, the apple being bitten, the drunk guys, etc, and were replaced with the remastered audio track. Bootleg compilations also use THIS version (because of his high quality), so if we want the original version, sadly it’s not on the official box or the recent bootleg compilations.
And #3 (Edit B), being the rarest version barely circulated and features two different sequences against Edit A:
EDIT A: From 2:45 to 2:47 a woman appears from left to right partially covering George. While on EDIT B there is a different scene.
EDIT B: From 2:45 to 2:46 no woman appears and we keep seeing George and from 2:46 to 2:49, a couple of dunk guys appears from left to right partially covering George. Also blocking two seconds where Ringo appears from right to left carrying a piano.
And the second difference between the two edits:
EDIT A: From 2:56 to 2:59 the same scene of the two drunk guys (see Edit B 2:46 to 2:49) appears but reversed, from right to left, while on EDIT B we have another notable difference.
EDIT B: From 2:57 to 2:59 from right to left , the same drunk guys appears but using a completely different scene.
This is Love
-This is Love #1 (Copyright over the video)
-This is Love #2 (Without copyright over the video)
Directed by Morton Jankel. Filmed while on vacation at his Maui, Hawaii home. Olivia Harrison make a cameo along with his family. Variant #1 has the copyright credits over the video near the end while #2 is clean and is the same version available on the official “Dark Horse Years” boxed set and standalone DVD.
TRAVELING WILBURYS:
Handle With Care
-Handle with Care #1 (1988 Copyright)
-Handle with Care #2 (1989 Copyright)
-Handle with Care #3 (Australian)
-Handle with Care #4 (Cropped)
Filmed in Los Angeles, CA. Variant #1 has the 1988 copyright credits over the video near the end while #2 is clean but when the video ends there is a 1989 copyright, so, the first version was distributed late 88 and second in early 89, still, both are the same in visual content.
#3 was broadcast in Australia on the RAGE TV show and everything is the same except for the final seconds, from 3:06 to 3:14, where the white truck with the Wilburys logo appears, the speed for this final sequence runs SLOWER, while on the normal version (#1 or #2) the truck moves from right to left faster, on the Australian edit it goes slower and ends before the woman on the bike appears, but the audio track has no differences at all, the same speed, no alterations.
#4 was released on the official Traveling Wilburys Box set, simulating a widescreen version but cropping picture from top and bottom.
Bootleg compilations also use THIS version (because of his high quality), so if we want the original version, sadly it’s not on the official boxed set or the recent bootleg compilations.
1989
End of The Line
End of The Line #1 (Edit A -Copyright over the video)
End of The Line #2 (Edit A- Without copyright over the video)
End of The Line #3 (Edit B)
Filmed in Los Angeles, CA shortly after Roy Orbison’s death. Directed by Willy Smax. Again, two different edits and one variation available.
Edit A Variant #1 has the copyright credits over the video near the end while Edit A Variant #2 is clean. Edit B is available on the official Traveling Wilburys boxed set.
And the main difference between Edit A and Edit B is the intro and finale where the train was removed from Edit B, showing footage of the Wilburys instead, plus, Edit B is in widescreen showing even more picture on the sides that is not present on the first edit but again, is also cropped on top and bottom. Still, this was NOT a 4:3 to 16:9 transfer (like “Handle With Care”), since the master video tapes were used and we get different scenes (intro and finale) and full picture on the sides. Bootleg compilations also use THIS version (because of his high quality), so if we want the original version, sadly it’s not on the official box or the recent bootleg compilations.
1990
Nobody’s Child
Directed by Derek Hayes for the benefit album “Nobody’s Child: Romanian Angel Appeal “. It does not features the actual Wilburys, but animated cartoons along with footage from orphanages in Romania. This is the only Wilbury video omitted from the official deluxe box from 2007 and 2016, but it’s in circulation complete with slates and in very good quality. The YouTube clip doesn’t reflects any of that! But due to copyright issues, almost all Wilburys videos were removed and only the official channels are active.
She’s My Baby
-She’s My Baby Version #1
-She’s My Baby Version #2
Directed by David Leland. Two different versions available. The second was released in 2007 on the official Traveling Wilburys boxed set and is 80% distinct from the original version from 1990. It features not only different angles but also scenes from another take(s). This second version is little bit shorter and cuts the final scene of the man “chasing” the Wilburys aboard a car.
Bootleg compilations also use THIS version (because of his high quality), so if we want the original version, sadly it’s not on the official box or the recent bootleg compilations.
VERSION 1:
VERSION 2:
Inside Out
-Inside Out Version #1
-Inside Out Version #2
Once again, two different versions available. The second was released in 2007 on the official Traveling Wilburys boxed set and is 80% distinct from the original version from 1990. It features not only different angles but also scenes from another take or takes. This second version is 23 seconds shorter and the audio mix uses the remastered track, while the original audio version from 1990 has an instrumental/orchestral warm-up intro behind a red curtain and the sound of claps at the end (removed from Version #2).
Bootleg compilations also use THIS second version (because of his high quality), so if we want the original, sadly it’s not in the official boxed set or the recent bootleg compilations.
Also in circulation is some rehearsal footage (mislabeled on ALL the bootleg releases as being “outtakes” or “alternate version” for the “She’s My Baby” video, which is incorrect) and also behind the scenes and raw footage from the actual shooting.
1991
Wilbury Twist
-Wilbury Twist Version #1
-Wilbury Twist Version #2
-Wilbury Twist Version #3
Filmed in Los Angeles, CA. Three different versions available. Version #1 and #2 (the rarest of the two) have a similar format but alternates distinct footage and cameos from special guests:
John Candy, Eric Idle, Cheech Marin (Cheech and Chong), Whoopi Goldberg, Woody Harrelson , Milli Vanilli, Fred Savage (The Wonder Years), among others. Both versions are available in very good quality and clean of logos and credits among collectors. Version 2 is only available on bootleg compilations taken from a music TV channel with logo and credits over the picture.
Version 3 only features John Candy and Eric Idle over the intro using the same footage from Version #1, the other cameos were eliminated, but the rest is a completely new edit using different angles and takes and was released in 2007 on the official Traveling Wilburys box set.
Outtake footage from an unreleased alternate edit (fourth version) that only shows the Wilburys playing also exist.
VERSION 1:
VERSION 3:
2003
Any Road
Directed by Simon Hilton and Pamela Esterson using archival footage from the Harrison State, include some very rare and never before seen clips.
2004
Taxman (The Dark Horse Years)
If you search under the official George Harrison YouTube channel, many of the “Live in Japan” clips extracted from the ‘Dark Horse Years’ box set are labeled as “official video”, but only one of the songs from the 1991 Japanese tour was actually released as a “promo clip” for TV airing and it was “Taxman”. This clip was sent to promote the release of “The Dark Horse Years” boxed set.
2006
-Living in the Material World
-Sue Me Sue You Blues (demo)
-Miss O’Dell (alternate version)
Three videos created for the “Living in the Material World” deluxe edition (CD/DVD) re-release in 2006.
2014
-What Is Life
Directed by Brandon Moore, winner of the Genero.tv contest to create the official video for the song.
GEORGE HARRISON RELATED VIDEOS:
1985
The Singing Rebel’s Band: Freedom (Promo Version)
Directed by Dick Clement for Handmade films, produced by Harrison for the film ‘Water’.
Billy Connolly (vocals), Chris Tummings (vocals), The Singing Rebels Band: George Harrison (guitar, backing vocals), Ringo Starr (drums), Eric Clapton (guitar, backing vocals), Chris Stainton (bass), Ray Cooper (drums), Jon Lord (keyboards), Mike Moran (keyboards), Jenny Bogle and Anastasia Rodriguez (backing vocals).
The actual promo video for this song is available in regular quality and unbootlegged to date and consist of the same “performance” from the film and a mixture of many scenes from the movie, but the audio over the intro is clean and slightly different, when in the film we can see and hear an actor saying “My God it’s The Concert for Cascara!” (a parody of ‘The Concert For Bangladesh’). Also, actor Fred Gwynne (Herman from The Munsters) who also appears in the “Water” film, can be seen in this version saying “Gentlemen, we’re in the water business”.
– Freedom (Film Version 1)
– Freedom (Film Version 2)
The common version on bootleg compilations over the years is taken directly from the film Version #1. And when it was re-released on DVD in 2010, a new cut was made including some alternate scenes (an exclusive Harrison/Clapton scene for example), we will call that Film Version #2, cut in Widesceen from the original film tapes adding even more picture on the sides that is not available in the original print that let us see a few more Harrison (and many other members of the band, like Clapton) shots. These two versions are not promotional videos, but worth mentioning.
FILM VERSION 1:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoVtEGvUV3g
1989
Tom Petty: I Won’t Back Down
Directed by David Leland. The backing band consisted of Jeff Lynne on bass, George Harrison on acoustic guitar, Mike Campbell on lead guitar, and Ringo Starr on drums.
Almost replicating the same personnel from the studio recording, except for Ringo who didn’t play, that was Phil Jones.
1990
Jeff Lynne: Every Little Thing
Directed by Meiert Avis. George plays on the studio recording and also sings three times on this song the line “All the secrets that you hide” at 1:33 and also at 2:42 and the shorter line “the secrets that you hide” at 3:24, but that’s not all. Harrison and Tom Petty make surprise cameos in this video, hanging from a rope from 2:36 to 2:58.
Also versions with and without copyright over the picture at the end are available. The version on bootleg compilations is taken from a TV broadcast with credits over it, but a clean copy with slate circulates among collectors. The way this animated video was created at that time makes it a little harder to see some hidden details, luckily the Harrison cameo is clearer.
Jeff Lynne: Lift Me Up
The follow up to the “Every Little Thing” video, also directed by Meiert Avis using the same mix with 3D animation. George plays on the song and also makes a brief and almost unnoticeable cameo dressed as a devil at 2:59 and until 3:03. Sadly the version that appears over and over on FAB’s collections and other labels is taken from a VH1 broadcast with logos and the intro slightly cropped. The full video including the slate is available among collectors. The way this animated video was created at that time makes little harder to see some hidden details, including George’s cameo. Hopefully Jeff Lynne will release an official collection of his solo videos in the future to get a better version.
1995
Gary Wright: Don’t Try to Own Me
Directed by Michael Schultz, features Harrison doing some backing vocals that were recorded back in 1992. It circulates with slate and final credits among collectors. Outtake footage also exists from this vocal session and some of these scenes were included on the final video.
Official videos from other artists. George plays on these tracks but does not make any video cameos.
1973: Cheech And Chong – Basketball Jones
1989: Belinda Carlisle: Leave a light on
1992: Jimmy Nail: Real Love
2001: Jim Capaldi: Anna Julia
George plays guitar on the record but does not appear on the official clip. A FAKE fan-created video using George footage from the “Real Love” video and the “All Things Must Pass 30th” EPK was inserted during his guitar solo and uploaded to YouTube years ago, and many fans thought that THAT was the real promo video, it’s also featured on bootleg compilations, but the actual clip does NOT feature any Harrison footage.
Another Jim Capaldi promo for the song “Oh Lord, Why Lord?” from 1990, which supposedly features a cameo from Harrison is not in circulation.
Breaking Myths:
1-“My Sweet Lord” from Top of The Pops 1971 (Pans People dancers) is NOT an official video.
2-“My Sweet Lord (2000)” – an official video never existed.
3- There is no official video for “Someplace Else”, also included on bootleg compilations. The clip we see on the “Dark Horse Years” boxed set comes from the TV special “Handmade in Hong Kong”, – a behind the scenes look at the film.
4- George Harrison does not play on Roy Orbison’s “You Got It”, despite some bootleg labels have included the official video for this song on their Beatle/Harrison compilations.
Songs from TV shows, like “The Pirate Song” from Rutland TV, or “This Song” from DISCO German TV, or “Between The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea” from Jools Holland’s TV special are not promotional videos, even though you can find them on every bootleg promo collection compilation, the same situation is the full Harrison Prince’s Trust performances and Dylan’s celebration concert, among others, that’s just a cheap way to fill a “promo compilation” because the makers don’t have enough stuff to compile the ULTIMATE video collection. | |||||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 2 | 39 | https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/beatles-and-disco-equals-a-1-pop-hit-for-stars-on-45 | en | Stars on 45 single reaches the top of the pop charts | [
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"Missy Sullivan"
] | 2009-11-13T17:09:09+00:00 | Not so much a band as an audacious business plan, a group called Stars on 45 climbs all the way to the top of the U.S. pop charts on June 20, 1981, with a single whose impossibly long title takes almost as long to read as the song itself takes to play: “Medley: Intro ‘Venus’/Sugar […] | en | HISTORY | https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/beatles-and-disco-equals-a-1-pop-hit-for-stars-on-45 | Not so much a band as an audacious business plan, a group called Stars on 45 climbs all the way to the top of the U.S. pop charts on June 20, 1981, with a single whose impossibly long title takes almost as long to read as the song itself takes to play: “Medley: Intro ‘Venus’/Sugar Sugar/No Reply/I’ll Be Back/Drive My Car/Do You Want To Know A Secret/We Can Work It Out/I Should Have Known Better/Nowhere Man/You’re Going To Lose That Girl/Stars On 45.”
It was the summer of 1981, and after an 11-year hiatus, the sound of the Fab Four was once again ruling the radio airwaves. Only instead of John, Paul, George and Ringo, this time the world had to settle for Bas, Hans, Jaap and Okkie—the Dutch studio musicians behind the phenomenon called Stars on 45.
For those not familiar with the ponderously titled “Medley: Intro ‘Venus’…,” it was a recording inspired by one Dutchman setting out–just six months after John Lennon’s tragic death—to re-record a half-dozen Beatles snippets to a relentless disco hand clap. Jaap Eggermont was inspired by a bootleg 12″ record then popular in Dutch dance clubs, which featured a medley of clips from original recordings by the Buggles, the Archies and Madness as well as the Beatles.
For his own project, Eggermont chose to re-record a handful of Beatles classics using uncanny sound-alikes gathered from various popular Dutch groups: Bas Muys for John Lennon, Okkie Huysdens for Paul McCartney and Hans Vermeulen for George Harrison. Because he himself held the copyright on “Venus”—a #1 hit from 1970—Eggermont used pieces of Shocking Blue’s original recording of that song and threw in bits of a re-recorded “Sugar Sugar” just to kick things up a notch. Stitched together and set to the aforementioned disco beat, these are the parts whose sum was “Medley: Intro ‘Venus’….”
The Stars on 45 formula was a rousing commercial success. Not only did it produce a number-one hit, but it led to several follow-ups that charted in the Billboard Hot 100: “Stars on 45 Medley #2″ (featuring more Beatles tunes); “More Stars” (this time exhuming several Motown hits); and “Stars on 45 III: A Tribute to Stevie Wonder.” It also spawned a dubious mini-trend of crammed-together medleys produced by others, including two Top 40 hits in “The Beach Boys Medley” (1981) and “The Beatles Movie Medley” (1982). | |||||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 2 | 81 | https://www.yardbarker.com/entertainment/articles/the_25_best_movie_cameos_by_musicians/s1__34237007 | en | The 25 best movie cameos by musicians | [
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"Jeff Mezydlo"
] | 2024-07-18T13:00:18-04:00 | Sure, a lot of successful musicians want to try their hand at acting. Some have even succeeded quite well (Madonna, Jack Black). Others, maybe not so much. | en | /apple-touch-icon.png?v=2 | Yardbarker | https://www.yardbarker.com/entertainment/articles/the_25_best_movie_cameos_by_musicians/s1__34237007 | Sure, a lot of successful musicians want to try their hand at acting. Some have even succeeded quite well (Madonna, Jack Black). Others, maybe not so much. However, it's usually fun to see a famous musician show up unexpectedly in film, then deliver a solid performance when given a brief chance. Here's a ranking of our favorite film cameos featuring some prominent musicians.
1 of 25
25. George Harrison ("Monty Python's Life of Brian")
YouTube
The late Beatle was a huge fan of Monty Python, so when the legendary comedy troupe's star Eric Idle contacted Harrison to help fund the film, the guitar legend eventually came on board. Harrison even earned a spot as an extra in the picture, though he actually had the uncredited role of Mr. Papadopolous. It's rather easy to miss Harrison, who appeared in the film for only a few seconds. Still, any time an actual Beatle is in a movie, it's big news.
2 of 25
24. Tom Waits ("The Outsiders")
YouTube
Now, Waits has been in countless films, often in a significant role. But, one of his earliest, true cameos came in the 1983 film version of this beloved S.E. Hinton novel. Waits' screen time, as Buck Merrill, was limited to a bar scene, where he opened the door for a frightened Pony Boy (C. Thomas Howell) and Johnny (Ralph Macchio), looking for Dallas (Matt Dillon). Waits' lines are few, but his brief role still exudes the cool he's always carried.
3 of 25
23. ZZ Top ("Back to the Future III")
YouTube
The final installment of the Back to the Future trilogy is traditionally considered the worst of the three. However, one of the few bright spots was the cameo by these Texas rockers, who had a fan in the film's director Robert Zemeckis. No surprise, ZZ Top played an "Old West" group that delivered an almost hillbilly-version of its own song "Doubleback," from the 1990 Recycler record. By all accounts, the band was a hit on the set.
4 of 25
22. Anthony Kiedis ("Point Break")
YouTube
We'll see on this list that members of the Red Hot Chili Peppers also fancied themselves as actors. Frontman Anthony Kiedis has been in a handful of pictures but is perhaps most recognized for jumping Johnny Utah (Keanu Reeves) at the beach showers in this cult classic from 1991. Now, Kiedis' character and his buddies eventually got it handed to him when Bodhi (Patrick Swayze) stepped in to clean a little house.
5 of 25
21. Gwen Stefani ("The Aviator")
YouTube
The former No Doubt frontwoman and solo pop star has made several appearances on the big screen and television -- as herself and in character-credited roles. Perhaps her most well-known cameo came as tragic, young starlet Jean Harlow, who hung on the arm of Howard Hughes (Leonardo DiCaprio) on the red carpet, in this epic biopic about the eccentric and reclusive gentleman.
6 of 25
20. Blink-182 ("American Pie")
YouTube
The Blink guys not only contributed to the soundtrack on each of the first two films in the popular American Pie franchise, but the pop-punkers also earned some screen time in the original flick. The then-trio of Travis Barker, Mark Hoppus, and Tom DeLonge, plus a playful monkey, watched online as Jim (Jason Biggs) tried to make time with attractive foreign-exchange student Nadia (Shannon Elizabeth) in his bedroom. "Houston, we have a problem."
7 of 25
19. Chris Cornell ("Singles")
YouTube
Cameron Crowe's stellar 1992 movie about single life amid the burgeoning Seattle music scene featured some of the biggest bands of the grunge era. Soundgarden was one of those groups in the film. On stage, and when late frontman Cornell silently checked out the new speakers Cliff (Matt Dillon) installed in Janet's car. That didn't go so well for Bridget Fonda's character, but it's still one of the most memorable scenes in the movie.
8 of 25
18. Phil Collins ("Hook")
YouTube
The Genesis drummer/vocalist and solo star has had a rather expansive film and television career. Though things did not really work put well as a leading man (Buster ), Collins has done a fairly serviceable job in cameo form. As is the case in this Steven Spielberg film starring Robin Williams, where Collins played the mustached Inspector Good, looking into a disappearance. Collins was solid in his portrayal, and probably the right speed for his acting career.
9 of 25
17. Aimee Mann ("The Big Lebowski")
YouTube
The former 'Til Tuesday vocalist/bassist is quite the versatile entertainer. She's made several appearances in film and on television. However, Mann's fans might consider her most notable cinematic work in cult favorite The Big Lebowski. Where she played the German "Nihilist girl," who gave up her right pinky toe in that movie's kidnapping scheme. She was still well enough to enjoy some lingonberry pancakes.
10 of 25
16. Flea ("The Big Lebowski")
YouTube
Another member of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and also part of The Big Lebowski. Flea is not only a stellar bassist, but he's enjoyed a pretty solid film career with bit parts and cameos in movies such as Back to the Future Part II and III. However, one of his most memorable film cameos came when his nihilist character took a bowling ball to the stomach from Walter Sobchak (John Goodman).
11 of 25
15. Kanye West ("The Love Guru")
YouTube
One of Kanye's more casual moments of entertainment came in a quite memorable cameo in this forgotten Mike Myers film from 2008. Actually, West's spot, where he excitedly sports a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey and yells "I love hockey," while attending a game with Myers (playing himself for the moment), might be the best part of a dull movie that did rather poorly, critically and commercially.
12 of 25
14. Pearl Jam ("Singles")
YouTube
Another Seattle band that enjoyed some love in the aforementioned Cameron Crowe flick. Band members Eddie Vedder, Jeff Ament, and Stone Gossard played themselves but were part of the Cliff-fronted band Citizen Dıck. While the group was still trying to find fame in its hometown, it was apparently big in Belgium. Even if Cliff (Matt Dillon) "has haunted the local scene for much too long." However, he's "ably backed by Stone and Jeff, and drummer Eddie Vedder."
13 of 25
13. Snoop Dogg ("Half Baked")
YouTube
Snoop has established himself as a versatile entertainer, spanning the concert stage, movies, reality television, game shows, whatever. However, one of our favorite film cameos involving the famed rapper, featured him doing what he probably likes best. That's copping a puff from Thurgood (Dave Chappelle) and Brian (Jim Breuer) in his cult-classic stoner comedy from the late 1990s.
14 of 25
12. David Bowie ("Zoolander")
Paramount Pictures
Zoolander featured several high-profile cameos from prominent musicians (Lil' Kim, Gavin Rossdale, Gwen Stafani), however, none stood out more than that by this late legend. It was Bowie, playing himself, who judged -- after volunteering -- the memorable "walk-off" between Derek (Ben Stiller) and Hansel (Owen Wilson). It's arguably the best scene in the movie, and Bowie's presence just added to the over-the-top campiness of it all.
15 of 25
11. Lemmy ("Airheads")
YouTube
Airheads is not a great movie, but it had some notable moments. Perhaps the most memorable came courtesy of the late legendary Motorhead bassist and singer. While Chazz (Brendan Fraser), lead guitarist and vocalist of the Lone Rangers, admitted his real name is Chester and that he was a geek in high school, it set in motion more revelations from the mob outside the radio station. That included Lemmy Kilmister proclaiming he "was editor of the school magazine."
16 of 25
10. Keith Richards ("Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End")
YouTube
According to Pirates lore, star Johnny Depp saw a lot of Richards' attitude in the character of Jack Sparrow. So, it would only make sense to have one of Depp's inspirations be part of the film franchise. Richards finally had a place in this third installment of the film series, as the feared Edward Teague, keeper of the Pirata Codex (aka the pirate code), who also happened to be Jack's father. Just think all of the hell Richards and Depp could have raised as real-life father and son.
17 of 25
9. Tom Waits ("Domino")
New Line Cinema
We revisit Waits, who, as previously mentioned, is a fine actor and fared well in co-starring role with the 1986 indie film Down by Law. But, it's usually worth celebrating when Waits pops up in a movie and steals a scene or two. Like here, the story of young bounty hunter Domino Harvey (Keira Knightley), where Waits appears as the prophetic "Wanderer." It's a small but powerful role that once again shows that if Waits wanted to focus on his acting, he'd likely be a star.
18 of 25
8. Jack White ("Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story")
YouTube
We shouldn't be surprised that White successfully pulled off his hilarious take as Elvis Presley in this John C. Reilly comedy. White is an immensely talented, and versatile, entertainer. His screen time was brief, but while didn't necessarily resemble The King, he had the slur down and freaked Dewey (Reilly) out with his karate moves. Or, at least his karate chop added to the true goofiness of the film.
19 of 25
7. Tom Jones ("Mars Attacks!")
YouTube
This Tim Burton cult film featured everybody from Jack Nicholson to Michael J. Fox to NFL star Jim Brown. Yet, it was Jones' appearance as himself that tends to be talked about often. He survives the Martians' attack on Las Vegas while not even getting his suit wrinkled. The movie closes with Jones' classic "It's Not Unusual," while he danced viewers into the credits with some friendly animals in tow.
20 of 25
6. Michael Jackson ("Men in Black II")
YouTube
The late "King of Pop" had a sense of humor that often wasn't seen -- we are not including holding his baby over a balcony. Jackson, however, showed his comedic side in the mediocre sequel to the massively popular original Men In Black film. Jackson's cameo is brief. Playing "Agent M," he reports into Chief Zed (Rip Torn), but seemed a little perturbed that his boss was not listening to his concerns. It's actually one of the most normal moments of Jackson's career.
21 of 25
5. Tom Petty ("The Postman")
YouTube
One of the best parts of Petty's cameo as Bridge City Mayor is his dialog with Kevin Costner's title character. "I know you. You're famous," The Postman said. The Mayor responded: "I was once. Sorta. Kinda. Not anymore." Petty's character returns the favor to Costner later on. Just a little fun between two of the world's biggest entertainers, who had mutual respect for each other's work in their respected fields.
22 of 25
4. Bruce Springsteen ("High Fidelity")
YouTube
When relationship-challenged, record-store owner Rob Gordon (John Cusack) wanted to get back in touch with some lost loves, he related the quest to a Bruce Springsteen song. The Boss, in turn, played along with a random, but entertaining, cameo that somewhat paved the way. Bruce also delivered some truth to Rob's belief that addressing past failed relationships will better his love life in the future -- maybe.
23 of 25
3. Billy Idol ("The Wedding Singer")
New Line Cinema
Who knew Billy Idol could do comedy, well? His extended cameo in this Adam Sandler-Drew Barrymore smash was quite good. Poking fun at himself, since the film took place during the 1980s, Idol was brilliant while trying to help Robbie (Sandler) win over Julia (Barrymore) while on a flight to Las Vegas. He didn't draw too much attention to himself and also served the plotline quite well.
24 of 25
2. Huey Lewis ("Back to the Future")
YouTube
There was plenty to love about Back to the Future. However, one of the funniest moments of a very funny movie came when Marty's band, The Pinheads, played a hard-rock version of Lewis' hit "Power of Love" during the "Battle of the Bands" audition. Lewis, playing one of the judges, tells the group that they're "just too darn loud." Some quality shade was thrown at a cover of his own song. Subtle, but superb.
25 of 25
1. Alice Cooper ("Wayne’s World")
YouTube
Cooper is another musician who has made a successful crossover to the screen -- and even the stage. Truth be told, he's always been a showman with his on-stage theatrics over the years. Yet, pop culture fans still consider his hilarious and historically knowledgeable cameo in Wayne's World to be one of the highlights of a stellar career. We'll never pronounce "Milwaukee" the same way again. Oh yeah, also, "we're not worthy!"
A Chicago native, Jeff Mezydlo has professionally written about sports, entertainment and pop culture for parts of four decades. He was an integral member of award-winning sports sections at The Times of Northwest Indiana (Munster, Ind.) and Champaign (Ill.) News-Gazette, where he covered the NFL, PGA, LPGA, NCAA basketball, football and golf, Olympics and high school athletics. Jeff most recently spent 12 years in the editorial department at STATSPerform, where he also oversaw coverage of the English Premier League. A graduate of Northern Illinois University, Jeff's work has also appeared on such sites at Yahoo!, ESPN, Fox Sports, Sports Illustrated and NBA.com. However, if Jeff could do it again, he'd attend Degrassi Junior High, Ampipe High School and Grand Lakes University | ||||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 1 | 40 | https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/the-beatles-sam-mendes-movie-cast-john-lennon-b2499246.html | en | Sam Mendes will direct four Beatles movies about John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr | [
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] | 2024-02-20T15:04:56+00:00 | It marks the first time that the band’s representatives have granted their full support for a scripted movie | en | /img/shortcut-icons/favicon.ico | The Independent | https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/the-beatles-sam-mendes-movie-cast-john-lennon-b2499246.html | James Bond director Sam Mendes will direct four separate movies on the lives of each of The Beatles, it has been announced.
Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison will each be the subject of their own feature films financed by Sony Pictures Entertainment.
According to a statement from Sony, the movies are set to be released from 2027 and “will intersect to tell the astonishing story of the greatest band in history”.
Mendes, known for his work steering James Bond films Skyfall and Spectre, said that he hoped that the four-part experience will challenge viewers’ notions of what it means to go to the cinema.
“I’m honored to be telling the story of the greatest rock band of all time, and excited to challenge the notion of what constitutes a trip to the movies,” he said.
Mendes will direct all four films and produce alongside his Neal Street Productions partner Pippa Harris, with whom he co-produced Oscar-nominated movie Revolutionary Road, and Neal Street’s Julie Pastor. Jeff Jones will executive produce for Apple Corps Ltd.
The Oscar-winning British director has won multiple awards for his work over the years, including the Academy Award for Best Director for American Beauty, four BAFTAs (including three for his war epic 1917), two Tonys and three Golden Globe awards.
The Beatles formed in Liverpool in 1960 before breaking up in 1970. Following their disbanding, Lennon was murdered outside his home in New York in 1980, while Harrison died of lung cancer in 2001.
McCartney and Starr continue to make music.
The families of Lennon and Harrison along with McCartney and Starr have all granted full life story and music rights to the scripted films according to Variety. It marks the first time that the band have offered their full support for a retelling of their stories.
“We intend this to be a uniquely thrilling, and epic cinematic experience: four films, told from four different perspectives which tell a single story about the most celebrated band of all time,” said Pippa Harris.
“To have The Beatles’ and Apple Corps’ blessing to do this is an immense privilege. From our first meeting with Tom Rothman and Elizabeth Gabler, it was clear that they shared both our passion and ambition for this project, and we can’t think of a more perfect home than Sony Pictures.”
Filmmakers have made several attempts to dramatise the story of The Beatles, with mixed results.
A 1979 biopic, made when Lennon was still alive, called The Birth of the Beatles was produced with Beatles original drummer Pete Best serving as an adviser.
Meanwhile, 1994 indie drama Backbeat chronicled Lennon’s relationship with Stuart Sutcliffe before the Beatles were famous. British actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson received critical praise for his portrayal of a teenage Lennon in Nowhere Boy, directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson.
Tom Rothman, Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures’ Motion Picture Group said: “Theatrical movie events today must be culturally seismic. Sam’s daring, large-scale idea is that and then some.
“Pairing his premiere filmmaking team, with the music and the stories of four young men who changed the world, will rock audiences all over the globe. We are deeply grateful to all parties and look forward ourselves to breaking some rules with Sam’s uniquely artistic vision.” | ||||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 2 | 15 | https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/george-harrisons-my-sweet-lord-video-features-mark-hamill | en | Watch Mark Hamill, Weird Al, Patton Oswalt & more turn a George Harrison classic into a sci-fi short | [
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] | 2021-12-15T19:41:42+00:00 | If you're thinking about George Harrison lately, there's a good chance it's because of Get Back, Peter Jackson's epic Disney+ documentary looking into the making of The Beatles' Let It Be album, which features some particularly interesting moments for the Fab Four's lead guitarist. | en | /sites/syfy/themes/custom/syfy/images/icons/apple-touch/apple-touch-icon.png | SYFY Official Site | https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/george-harrisons-my-sweet-lord-video-features-mark-hamill | If you're thinking about George Harrison lately, there's a good chance it's because of Get Back, Peter Jackson's epic Disney+ documentary looking into the making of The Beatles' Let It Be album, which features some particularly interesting moments for the Fab Four's lead guitarist. But that's not the only reason to celebrate the legendary Harrison this year. Last year marked the 50th anniversary of All Things Must Pass, Harrison's extraordinary solo debut, and this year marks the 50th anniversary of the single release of "My Sweet Lord," arguably his most popular and most enduring solo song. To pay tribute, a truly all-star lineup of comedy stars, actors, musicians, and fans got together to make something special.
On Wednesday, Harrison's official YouTube page released a new official music video for "My Sweet Lord" to promote a remaster of the song overseen by Harrison's son, Dhani. Directed by Lance Bangs (Portlandia, The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail), the video begins with none other than Star Wars legend Mark Hamill acting as a kind of supervisor to Fred Armisen (Portlandia, Saturday Night Live), who's an unnamed "agent" being sent back in the field to investigate...well, something. What follows is a search that takes him through various Los Angeles landmarks, including the legendary Last Bookstore, with a flashlight and what looks like a UV scanner, in search of something mysterious while the song plays.
The real hook of the video, apart from its beautiful camerawork and simply enjoying the new mix of "My Sweet Lord," though, is the sheer number of stars who've found their way into the short. As Armisen goes on his search, he links up with everyone from fellow SNL alum Vanessa Bayer to Mad Men star Jon Hamm to comedian Patton Oswalt and comedy music icon Weird Al Yankovic. Plus, if you keep watching, you'll spot everyone from Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh to actress Rosanna Arquette to one of the two surviving fellow Beatles...but we won't spoil which. It all adds up to a very fitting tribute for Harrison, who loved comedy and filmmaking almost as much as he loved music.
Check it out:
Though he released a pair of experimental albums prior to this release, All Things Must Pass marked the first major solo output from Harrison following the breakup of The Beatles, and came amid a year in which each of his bandmates also released solo records to mark their own paths forward in the aftermath of the group's dissolution. It has gone on to be one of the most enduring works by a former Beatle, particularly thanks to the title track and "My Sweet Lord," which remains a beloved Harrison solo track. Now we just have to wait for the 50th anniversary of the Cloud Nine album so this same group of celebrities can get together and make a tribute to "Got My Mind Set On You." | ||||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 2 | 42 | https://www.houstonpress.com/music/5-movies-that-wouldnt-exist-without-george-harrison-6504267 | en | 5 Movies That Wouldn't Exist Without George Harrison | [
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] | 2011-10-05T16:40:00 | After giving the deluxe documentary treatment to Bob Dylan (No Direction Home) and the Rolling Stones (Shine a Light), Martin Scorsese now trains his camera on George Harrison for George Harrison: Living In the Material World, his two-part film about the "Quiet Beatle" that airs at 8 p.m. tonight and... | en | /favicon.ico | Houston Press | https://www.houstonpress.com/music/5-movies-that-wouldnt-exist-without-george-harrison-6504267 | After giving the deluxe documentary treatment to Bob Dylan (No Direction Home) and the Rolling Stones (Shine a Light), Martin Scorsese now trains his camera on George Harrison for George Harrison: Living In the Material World, his two-part film about the "Quiet Beatle" that airs at 8 p.m. tonight and Thursday on HBO.
Although he was never especially quiet - Rocks Off just read Peter Doggett's You Never Give Me Your Money: The Beatles After the Breakup over the weekend, and we highly recommend it - Harrison was himself a cinephile. After befriending the Monty Python crew, Harrison created the production company HandMade Films to produce their Christ-figure comedy Monty Python's Life of Brian, prompting Python's Terry Gilliam to remark it was the "most expensive script in history."
Harrison sold his interest in HandMade in 1994, but by then it had already produced some of the most successful and influential works in recent British film history, along with its fair share of turkeys. After emerging from financial "restructuring" last year, it's still a going concern, most recently producing the Oscar-nominated 127 Hours. Here's a quick sampling of HandMade's archives.
Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979)
Summary: From the stable to the cross, Judean-born accidental messiah Brian (Graham Chapman) has a nasty habit of getting mistaken for this "Jesus Christ" fellow.
Starring: Eric Idle, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam
Trivia: Harrison appears uncredited as Mr. Papadopolous.
The Long Good Friday (1980)
Summary: London gangster battles the IRA and police corruption as he tries to go legit with a scheme to redevelop the docklands into an Olympic village. Too bad he asks the U.S. mafia for help.
Starring: Bob Hoskins, Helen Mirren
Trivia: Future James Bond Piers Brosnan makes his film debut as an IRA gunman who takes Harold Shand (Hoskins) hostage.
Time Bandits (1981)
Summary: A rather rude group of dwarves discovers time travel - something to do with a toaster, if we remember right - and accumulates ill-gotten gains across various historical eras.
Starring: John Cleese, Michael Palin, Ralph Richardson and Sean Connery as King Agamemnon
Trivia: Kenny Baker, better known as R2-D2, co-stars as one of the dwarves, Fidgit.
Shanghai Surprise (1986)
Summary: Mercenary and missionary meet cute, dodge thugs while hunting stolen opium.
Starring: Sean Penn, Madonna
Trivia: Roundly considered one of the worst films of the '80s, if not of all time. Won Madonna her first "Razzie" award for Worst Actress, and its utter failure at the box office put HandMade in serious financial trouble. Harrison appears as a lounge singer.
Withnail and I (1987)
Summary: Two struggling actors in late-'60s London get more than they bargained for when they spend a weekend at a lake house belonging to one of them's flamboyantly gay uncle.
Starring: Richard E. Grant, Paul McGann, Richard Griffiths | ||||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 1 | 2 | https://elcinema.com/en/person/2006152/ | en | Actor Filmography، photos، Video | [
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] | null | [] | null | George Harrison - Actor Filmography، photos، Video | en | //cdn.elcinema.com/assets/favicon-511d0dcfc22f2a4cc8ba8554d540168445db4cdc6e50c4eadd2488f976e4e526.ico | elCinema.com | https://elcinema.com/en/person/2006152/ | A British guitarist, producer, poet, singer, and actor who was a member of the Beatles. He was born on February 25, 1943 in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, United Kingdom. He won...Read more an Oscar with his Beatles in 1971 for Best Original Song for the movie Let It Be (1969). He worked in A Hard Day's Night, Help!, Yellow Submarine, and Kubo and the Two Strings. He passed away on November 29, 2001 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA. | ||||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 1 | 56 | https://tubitv.com/person/7f1045/george-harrison | en | Tubi is the largest free movie and TV streaming service in the US. We are not available in Europe due to changes in EU laws. | [] | [] | [] | [
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Tubi is the largest free movie and TV streaming service in the US.
Unfortunately, we're not currently available in your area.
Watch this webpage to see when Tubi is available in your area. | |||||||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 1 | 57 | https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/George-Harrison | en | George Harrison: Movies, Photos, Videos, News, Biography & Birthday | https://static.toiimg.com/imagenext/medley-topic/thumb/photo/image/show/83/George-Harrison?imgsize=7324 | https://static.toiimg.com/imagenext/medley-topic/thumb/photo/image/show/83/George-Harrison?imgsize=7324 | [
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TIMESOFINDIA.COM / Nov 03, 2023, 14:46 (IST)
After 45 years, the Beatles have released a new song titled "Now and Then," which is based on a demo cassette tape recorded by John Lennon in 1978. The song features contributions from all four original members of the band, including Lennon who has been brought back to life with artificial intelligence. The use of AI and machine learning helped separate Lennon's vocals from the piano music, allowing Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr to record the backing instruments. "Now and Then" is the last track where all four Beatles played together.
Guitars of Eric Clapton & Kurt Cobain to go on sale
Agencies / Oct 12, 2023, 08:10 (IST)
Two iconic guitars played by Eric Clapton and Nirvana's Kurt Cobain could each fetch $1 million to $2 million when they go up for auction in November. Clapton's "The Fool", a psychedelic painted guitar, was known for its unique sound.
Kolkata: ‘Lost & found’ track with 2 Beatle guest appearances strikes composition row
TNN / Nov 15, 2021, 06:00 (IST)
A more-than-50-year-old song with guest appearances by Beatles George Harrison and Ringo Starr — seemingly lost for decades, only to be found recently during last year’s lockdown — has struck some discordant notes, with a classical musician with a strong Kolkata connect claiming credit for its lyrics.
The Bangladesh Liberation War in 10 short videos
Dec 10, 2021, 11:31 (IST)
In 13 days of December 1971, a new country was forged. From George Harrison's concert to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto tearing up his speech, these archival videos reconstruct the story of liberation for Bangladesh
The magical mystery tour
TNN / Jan 26, 2018, 11:53 (IST)
As a teen growing up in Kolkata of the 60s, TV commentator Ajoy Bose fell in love with The Beatles, but his father hated the legendary English pop band, chiefly because of the length of their hair. | |||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 1 | 3 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Harrison | en | George Harrison | [
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This article is about the musician. For other people named George Harrison, see George Harrison (disambiguation).
George Harrison[nb 1] (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001)[nb 2] was an English musician, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian culture and helped broaden the scope of popular music through his incorporation of Indian instrumentation and Hindu-aligned spirituality in the Beatles' work.
Although the majority of the band's songs were written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, most Beatles albums from 1965 onwards contained at least two Harrison compositions. His songs for the group include "Taxman", "Within You Without You", "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", "Here Comes the Sun" and "Something". Harrison's earliest musical influences included George Formby and Django Reinhardt; subsequent influences were Carl Perkins, Chet Atkins and Chuck Berry. By 1965, he had begun to lead the Beatles into folk rock through his interest in Bob Dylan and the Byrds, and towards Indian classical music through his use of Indian instruments, such as the sitar, which he had become acquainted with on the set of the film Help![3] He played sitar on numerous Beatles songs, starting with "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)". Having initiated the band's embrace of Transcendental Meditation in 1967, he subsequently developed an association with the Hare Krishna movement.
After the Beatles disbanded, Harrison released the triple album All Things Must Pass, a critically acclaimed work that produced his most successful hit single, "My Sweet Lord", and introduced his signature sound as a solo artist, the slide guitar. He also organised the 1971 Concert for Bangladesh with Indian musician Ravi Shankar, a precursor to later benefit concerts such as Live Aid. In his role as a music and film producer, Harrison produced acts signed to the Beatles' Apple record label before founding Dark Horse Records in 1974. He co-founded HandMade Films in 1978, initially to produce the Monty Python troupe's comedy film The Life of Brian (1979).
Harrison released several best-selling singles and albums as a solo performer. In 1988, he co-founded the platinum-selling supergroup the Traveling Wilburys. A prolific recording artist, he was featured as a guest guitarist on tracks by Badfinger, Ronnie Wood, and Billy Preston, and collaborated on songs and music with Dylan, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, and Tom Petty. Rolling Stone magazine ranked him number 31 in their 2023 list of greatest guitarists of all time.[4] He is a two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee – as a member of the Beatles in 1988, and posthumously for his solo career in 2004.[5]
Harrison's first marriage to model Pattie Boyd in 1966 ended in divorce in 1977. In the following year he married Olivia Arias, with whom he had a son, Dhani. A lifelong cigarette smoker, Harrison died of numerous cancers in 2001 at the age of 58, two years after surviving a knife attack by an intruder at his home, Friar Park. His remains were cremated, and the ashes were scattered according to Hindu tradition in a private ceremony in the Ganges and Yamuna rivers in India. He left an estate of almost £100 million.
Early years: 1943–1958
Harrison was born at 12 Arnold Grove in Wavertree, Liverpool, on 25 February 1943.[nb 2] He was the youngest of four children of Harold Hargreaves (or Hargrove) Harrison (1909–1978) and Louise (née French;[11] 1911–1970). Harold was a bus conductor who had worked as a ship's steward on the White Star Line, and Louise was a shop assistant of Irish Catholic descent. He had one sister, Louise (16 August 1931 – 29 January 2023), and two brothers, Harold (20 July 1934 - February 1999) and Peter (20 July 1940 – 1 June 2007).
According to Boyd, Harrison's mother was particularly supportive: "All she wanted for her children is that they should be happy, and she recognised that nothing made George quite as happy as making music." Louise was an enthusiastic music fan, and she was known among friends for her loud singing voice, which at times startled visitors by rattling the Harrisons' windows. When Louise was pregnant with George, she often listened to the weekly broadcast Radio India. Harrison's biographer Joshua Greene wrote, "Every Sunday she tuned in to mystical sounds evoked by sitars and tablas, hoping that the exotic music would bring peace and calm to the baby in the womb."
Harrison lived at 12 Arnold Grove for the first four years of his life. A terraced house on a cul-de-sac, it had an outdoor toilet, and its only heat came from a single coal fire. In 1949, the family was offered a council house and moved to 25 Upton Green, Speke. In 1948, at the age of five, Harrison enrolled at Dovedale Primary School. He passed the eleven-plus exam and attended Liverpool Institute High School for Boys from 1954 to 1959.[21][22] Though the institute did offer a music course, Harrison was disappointed with the absence of guitars, and felt that the school "moulded [students] into being frightened".
Harrison's earliest musical influences included George Formby, Cab Calloway, Django Reinhardt and Hoagy Carmichael; by the 1950s, Carl Perkins and Lonnie Donegan were significant influences.[25] In early 1956, he had an epiphany: while riding his bicycle, he heard Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel" playing from a nearby house, and the song piqued his interest in rock and roll.[26] He often sat at the back of the class drawing guitars in his schoolbooks, and later commented, "I was totally into guitars." Harrison cited Slim Whitman as another early influence: "The first person I ever saw playing a guitar was Slim Whitman, either a photo of him in a magazine or live on television. Guitars were definitely coming in."
When George Harrison was about 14, a friend of Harrison, Raymond Hughes, offered to sell a guitar. Harrison's mother then paid for the guitar, which cost £3.10s.– (equivalent to £110 in 2024[29]).[30][31] One of his father's friends taught Harrison how to play "Whispering", "Sweet Sue" and "Dinah". Inspired by Donegan's music, Harrison formed a skiffle group, the Rebels, with his brother Peter and a friend, Arthur Kelly.[32] On the bus to school, Harrison met Paul McCartney, who also attended the Liverpool Institute, and the pair bonded over their shared love of music.[33]
The Beatles: 1958–1970
Main article: The Beatles
McCartney and his friend John Lennon were in a skiffle group called the Quarrymen. In March 1958, at McCartney's urging, Harrison auditioned for the Quarrymen at Rory Storm's Morgue Skiffle Club, playing Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith's "Guitar Boogie Shuffle", but Lennon felt that Harrison, having just turned 15, was too young to join the band. McCartney arranged a second meeting, on the upper deck of a Liverpool bus, during which Harrison impressed Lennon by performing the lead guitar part for the instrumental "Raunchy".[35] He began socialising with the group, filling in on guitar as needed, and then became accepted as a member. Although his father wanted him to continue his education, Harrison left school at 16 and worked for several months as an apprentice electrician at Blacklers, a local department store.[38] During the group's first tour of Scotland, in 1960, Harrison used the pseudonym "Carl Harrison", in reference to Carl Perkins.
In 1960, promoter Allan Williams arranged for the band, now calling themselves the Beatles, to play at the Indra and Kaiserkeller clubs in Hamburg, both owned by Bruno Koschmider. Their first residency in Hamburg ended prematurely when Harrison was deported for being too young to work in nightclubs. When Brian Epstein became their manager in December 1961, he polished up their image and later secured them a recording contract with EMI.[42] The group's first single, "Love Me Do", peaked at number 17 on the Record Retailer chart, and by the time their debut album, Please Please Me, was released in early 1963, Beatlemania had arrived.[43] Often serious and focused while on stage with the band, Harrison was known as "the quiet Beatle".[44][45] That moniker arose when the Beatles arrived in the United States in early 1964, and Harrison was ill with a case of Strep throat and a fever and was medically advised to limit speaking as much as possible until he performed on The Ed Sullivan Show as scheduled. As such, the press noticed Harrison's apparent laconic nature in public appearances on that tour and the subsequent nickname stuck, much to Harrison's amusement.[46] He had two lead vocal credits on the LP, including the Lennon–McCartney song "Do You Want to Know a Secret?", and three on their second album, With the Beatles (1963). The latter included "Don't Bother Me", Harrison's first solo writing credit.
Harrison served as the Beatles' scout for new American releases, being especially knowledgeable about soul music. By 1965's Rubber Soul, he had begun to lead the other Beatles into folk rock through his interest in the Byrds and Bob Dylan, and towards Indian classical music through his use of the sitar on "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)".[50][nb 3] He later called Rubber Soul his "favourite [Beatles] album". Revolver (1966) included three of his compositions: "Taxman", selected as the album's opening track, "Love You To" and "I Want to Tell You".[53] His drone-like tambura part on Lennon's "Tomorrow Never Knows" exemplified the band's ongoing exploration of non-Western instruments, while the sitar- and tabla-based "Love You To" represented the Beatles' first genuine foray into Indian music. According to the ethnomusicologist David Reck, the latter song set a precedent in popular music as an example of Asian culture being represented by Westerners respectfully and without parody.[56] Author Nicholas Schaffner wrote in 1978 that following Harrison's increased association with the sitar after "Norwegian Wood", he became known as "the maharaja of raga-rock". Harrison continued to develop his interest in non-Western instrumentation, playing swarmandal on "Strawberry Fields Forever".
By late 1966, Harrison's interests had moved away from the Beatles. This was reflected in his choice of Eastern gurus and religious leaders for inclusion on the album cover for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1967.[nb 4] His sole composition on the album was the Indian-inspired "Within You Without You", to which no other Beatle contributed.[61] He played sitar and tambura on the track, backed by musicians from the London Asian Music Circle on dilruba, swarmandal and tabla.[nb 5] He later commented on the Sgt. Pepper album: "It was a millstone and a milestone in the music industry ... There's about half the songs I like and the other half I can't stand."
In January 1968, he recorded the basic track for his song "The Inner Light" at EMI's studio in Bombay, using a group of local musicians playing traditional Indian instruments. Released as the B-side to McCartney's "Lady Madonna", it was the first Harrison composition to appear on a Beatles single. Derived from a quotation from the Tao Te Ching, the song's lyric reflected Harrison's deepening interest in Hinduism and meditation.[66] During the recording of The Beatles that same year, tensions within the group ran high, and drummer Ringo Starr quit briefly. Harrison's four songwriting contributions to the double album included "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", which featured Eric Clapton on lead guitar, and the horn-driven "Savoy Truffle".
Dylan and the Band were a major musical influence on Harrison at the end of his career with the Beatles. While on a visit to Woodstock in late 1968, he established a friendship with Dylan and found himself drawn to the Band's sense of communal music-making and to the creative equality among the band members, which contrasted with Lennon and McCartney's domination of the Beatles' songwriting and creative direction. This coincided with a prolific period in his songwriting and a growing desire to assert his independence from the Beatles. Tensions among the group surfaced again in January 1969, at Twickenham Studios, during the filmed rehearsals that became the 1970 documentary Let It Be. Frustrated by the cold and sterile film studio, by Lennon's creative disengagement from the Beatles, and by what he perceived as a domineering attitude from McCartney, Harrison quit the group on 10 January. He returned 12 days later, after his bandmates had agreed to move the film project to their own Apple Studio and to abandon McCartney's plan for making a return to public performance.
Relations among the Beatles were more cordial, though still strained, when the band recorded their 1969 album Abbey Road. The LP included what Lavezzoli describes as "two classic contributions" from Harrison – "Here Comes the Sun" and "Something" – that saw him "finally achieve equal songwriting status" with Lennon and McCartney. During the album's recording, Harrison asserted more creative control than before, rejecting suggestions for changes to his music, particularly from McCartney. "Something" became his first A-side when issued on a double A-side single with "Come Together"; the song was number one in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and West Germany, and the combined sides topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States. In the 1970s Frank Sinatra recorded "Something" twice (1970 and 1979) and later dubbed it "the greatest love song of the past fifty years". Lennon considered it the best song on Abbey Road, and it became the Beatles' second most covered song after "Yesterday".[78][nb 6]
In May 1970, Harrison's song "For You Blue" was coupled on a US single with McCartney's "The Long and Winding Road" and became Harrison's second chart-topper when the sides were listed together at number one on the Hot 100. His increased productivity meant that by the time of their break-up he had amassed a stockpile of unreleased compositions. While Harrison grew as a songwriter, his compositional presence on Beatles albums remained limited to two or three songs, increasing his frustration, and significantly contributing to the band's break-up. Harrison's last recording session with the Beatles was on 4 January 1970, when he, McCartney and Starr recorded overdubs to the song "Let It Be" for the soundtrack album of the same name.
Solo career: 1968–1987
Early solo work: 1968–1969
Before the Beatles' break-up, Harrison had already recorded and released two solo albums: Wonderwall Music and Electronic Sound, both of which contain mainly instrumental compositions. Wonderwall Music, a soundtrack to the 1968 film Wonderwall, blends Indian and Western instrumentation, while Electronic Sound is an experimental album that prominently features a Moog synthesizer.[84] Released in November 1968, Wonderwall Music was the first solo album by a Beatle and the first LP released by Apple Records.[85] Indian musicians Aashish Khan and Shivkumar Sharma performed on the album, which contains the experimental sound collage "Dream Scene", recorded several months before Lennon's "Revolution 9".[86]
In December 1969, Harrison participated in a brief tour of Europe with the American group Delaney & Bonnie and Friends. During the tour, which included Clapton, Bobby Whitlock, drummer Jim Gordon and band leaders Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett, Harrison began to play slide guitar, and also began to write "My Sweet Lord", which became his first single as a solo artist.
All Things Must Pass: 1970
Main article: All Things Must Pass
For many years, Harrison was restricted in his songwriting contributions to the Beatles' albums, but he released All Things Must Pass, a triple album with two discs of his songs and the third of recordings of Harrison jamming with friends. The album was regarded by many as his best work, and it topped the charts on both sides of the Atlantic.[nb 7] The number-one hit single "My Sweet Lord" and the top-ten single "What Is Life" were taken from the album, which was co-produced by Phil Spector using his "Wall of Sound" approach; the musicians included Starr, Clapton, Gary Wright, Billy Preston, Klaus Voormann, the whole of Delaney and Bonnie's Friends band, and the Apple group Badfinger.[nb 8] On its release, All Things Must Pass was received with critical acclaim; Ben Gerson of Rolling Stone described it as being "of classic Spectorian proportions, Wagnerian, Brucknerian, the music of mountain tops and vast horizons".[99] Author and musicologist Ian Inglis considers the lyrics of the album's title track "a recognition of the impermanence of human existence ... a simple and poignant conclusion" to Harrison's former band. In 1971, Bright Tunes sued Harrison for copyright infringement over "My Sweet Lord", owing to its similarity to the 1963 Chiffons hit "He's So Fine". When the case was heard in the United States district court in 1976, he denied deliberately plagiarising the song, but lost the case, as the judge ruled that he had done so subconsciously.
In 2000, Apple Records released a thirtieth-anniversary edition of the album, and Harrison actively participated in its promotion. In an interview, he reflected on the work: "It's just something that was like my continuation from the Beatles, really. It was me sort of getting out of the Beatles and just going my own way ... it was a very happy occasion." He commented on the production: "Well, in those days it was like the reverb was kind of used a bit more than what I would do now. In fact, I don't use reverb at all. I can't stand it ... You know, it's hard to go back to anything thirty years later and expect it to be how you would want it now."
The Concert for Bangladesh: 1971
Main article: The Concert for Bangladesh
Harrison responded to a request from Ravi Shankar by organising a charity event, the Concert for Bangladesh, which took place on 1 August 1971. The event drew over 40,000 people to two shows in New York's Madison Square Garden.[105] The goal of the event was to raise money to aid starving refugees during the Bangladesh Liberation War. Shankar opened the show, which featured popular musicians such as Dylan, Clapton, Leon Russell, Badfinger, Preston and Starr.
A triple album, The Concert for Bangladesh, was released by Apple in December, followed by a concert film in 1972.[nb 9] Credited to "George Harrison and Friends", the album topped the UK chart and peaked at number 2 in the US,[109] and went on to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Tax troubles and questionable expenses later tied up many of the proceeds, but Harrison commented: "Mainly the concert was to attract attention to the situation ... The money we raised was secondary, and although we had some money problems ... they still got plenty ... even though it was a drop in the ocean. The main thing was, we spread the word and helped get the war ended."[111]
Living in the Material World to George Harrison: 1973–1979
Harrison's 1973 album Living in the Material World held the number one spot on the Billboard albums chart for five weeks, and the album's single, "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)", also reached number one in the US.[112] In the UK, the LP peaked at number two and the single reached number 8. The album was lavishly produced and packaged, and its dominant message was Harrison's Hindu beliefs. In Greene's opinion it "contained many of the strongest compositions of his career". Stephen Holden, writing in Rolling Stone, felt the album was "vastly appealing" and "profoundly seductive", and that it stood "alone as an article of faith, miraculous in its radiance". Other reviewers were less enthusiastic, describing the release as awkward, sanctimonious and overly sentimental.
In November 1974, Harrison became the first ex-Beatle to tour North America when he began his 45-date Dark Horse Tour. The shows included guest spots by his band members Billy Preston and Tom Scott, and traditional and contemporary Indian music performed by "Ravi Shankar, Family and Friends".[118] Despite numerous positive reviews, the consensus reaction to the tour was negative.[119] Some fans found Shankar's significant presence to be a bizarre disappointment, and many were affronted by what Inglis described as Harrison's "sermonizing". Further, he reworked the lyrics to several Beatles songs, and his laryngitis-affected vocals led to some critics calling the tour "dark hoarse".[121] The author Robert Rodriguez commented: "While the Dark Horse tour might be considered a noble failure, there were a number of fans who were tuned-in to what was being attempted. They went away ecstatic, conscious that they had just witnessed something so uplifting that it could never be repeated." Simon Leng called the tour "groundbreaking" and "revolutionary in its presentation of Indian Music".
On 16 November 1974, Harrison and several others involved in the tour visited the White House. They were invited by President Gerald Ford's son, Jack.[124]
In December, Harrison released Dark Horse, which was an album that earned him the least favourable reviews of his career. Rolling Stone called it "the chronicle of a performer out of his element, working to a deadline, enfeebling his overtaxed talents by a rush to deliver a new 'LP product', rehearse a band, and assemble a cross-country tour, all within three weeks". The album reached number 4 on the Billboard chart and the single "Dark Horse" reached number 15, but they failed to make an impact in the UK.[127][nb 10] The music critic Mikal Gilmore described Dark Horse as "one of Harrison's most fascinating works – a record about change and loss".
Harrison's final studio album for EMI and Apple Records, the soul music-inspired Extra Texture (Read All About It) (1975), peaked at number 8 on the Billboard chart and number 16 in the UK. Harrison considered it the least satisfactory of the three albums he had recorded since All Things Must Pass. Leng identified "bitterness and dismay" in many of the tracks; his long-time friend Klaus Voormann commented: "He wasn't up for it ... It was a terrible time because I think there was a lot of cocaine going around, and that's when I got out of the picture ... I didn't like his frame of mind". He released two singles from the LP: "You", which reached the Billboard top 20, and "This Guitar (Can't Keep from Crying)", Apple's final original single release.
Thirty Three & 1/3 (1976), Harrison's first album release on his own Dark Horse Records label, produced the hit singles "This Song" and "Crackerbox Palace", both of which reached the top 25 in the US.[nb 11] The surreal humour of "Crackerbox Palace" reflected Harrison's association with Monty Python's Eric Idle, who directed a comical music video for the song. With an emphasis on melody and musicianship, and a more subtle subject matter than the pious message of his earlier works, Thirty Three & 1/3 earned Harrison his most favourable critical notices in the US since All Things Must Pass. The album peaked just outside the top ten there, but outsold his previous two LPs. As part of his promotion for the release, Harrison performed on Saturday Night Live with Paul Simon.
In 1979, Harrison released George Harrison, which followed his second marriage and the birth of his son Dhani. Co-produced by Russ Titelman, the album and the single "Blow Away" both made the Billboard top 20.[143] The album marked the beginning of Harrison's gradual retreat from the music business, with several of the songs having been written in the tranquil setting of Maui in the Hawaiian archipelago. Leng described George Harrison as "melodic and lush ... peaceful ... the work of a man who had lived the rock and roll dream twice over and was now embracing domestic as well as spiritual bliss".
Somewhere in England to Cloud Nine: 1980–1987
The murder of John Lennon on 8 December 1980 disturbed Harrison and reinforced his decades-long concern about stalkers. The tragedy was also a deep personal loss, although Harrison and Lennon had little contact in the years before Lennon was killed.[nb 12] Following the murder, Harrison commented: "After all we went through together I had and still have great love and respect for John Lennon. I am shocked and stunned." Harrison modified the lyrics of a song he had written for Starr to make the song a tribute to Lennon. "All Those Years Ago", which included vocal contributions from Paul and Linda McCartney, as well as Starr's original drum part, peaked at number two in the US charts. The single was included on the album Somewhere in England in 1981.
Harrison did not release any new albums for five years after 1982's Gone Troppo received little notice from critics or the public.[153] During this period he made several guest appearances, including a 1985 performance at a tribute to Carl Perkins titled Blue Suede Shoes: A Rockabilly Session.[nb 13] In March 1986 he made a surprise appearance during the finale of the Birmingham Heart Beat Charity Concert, an event organised to raise money for the Birmingham Children's Hospital. The following year, he appeared at The Prince's Trust concert at London's Wembley Arena, performing "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "Here Comes the Sun". In February 1987 he joined Dylan, John Fogerty and Jesse Ed Davis on stage for a two-hour performance with the blues musician Taj Mahal. Harrison recalled: "Bob rang me up and asked if I wanted to come out for the evening and see Taj Mahal ... So we went there and had a few of these Mexican beers – and had a few more ... Bob says, 'Hey, why don't we all get up and play, and you can sing?' But every time I got near the microphone, Dylan comes up and just starts singing this rubbish in my ear, trying to throw me."
In November 1987, Harrison released the platinum album Cloud Nine.[161] Co-produced with Jeff Lynne of Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), the album included Harrison's rendition of James Ray's "Got My Mind Set on You", which went to number one in the US and number two in the UK.[162][163] The accompanying music video received substantial airplay,[164] and another single, "When We Was Fab", a retrospective of the Beatles' career, earned two MTV Music Video Awards nominations in 1988.[165] Recorded at his estate in Friar Park, Harrison's slide guitar playing featured prominently on the album, which included several of his long-time musical collaborators, including Clapton, Jim Keltner and Jim Horn. Cloud Nine reached number eight and number ten on the US and UK charts respectively, and several tracks from the album achieved placement on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart – "Devil's Radio", "This Is Love" and "Cloud 9".[162]
Later career: 1988–1996
The Traveling Wilburys and return to touring: 1988–1992
Main article: Traveling Wilburys
In 1988, Harrison formed the Traveling Wilburys with Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan and Tom Petty. The band had gathered in Dylan's garage to record a song for a Harrison European single release.[167] Harrison's record company decided the track, "Handle with Care", was too good for its original purpose as a B-side and asked for a full album. The LP, Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1, was released in October 1988 and recorded under pseudonyms as half-brothers, supposed sons of Charles Truscott Wilbury Sr.[168] It reached number 16 in the UK and number 3 in the US, where it was certified triple platinum.[169] Harrison's pseudonym on the album was "Nelson Wilbury"; he used the name "Spike Wilbury" for their second album.
In 1989, Harrison and Starr appeared in the music video for Petty's song "I Won't Back Down". In October that year, Harrison assembled and released Best of Dark Horse 1976–1989, a compilation of his later solo work. The album included three new songs, including "Cheer Down", which Harrison had recently contributed to the Lethal Weapon 2 film soundtrack.
Following Orbison's death in December 1988, the Wilburys recorded as a four-piece. Their second album, issued in October 1990, was mischievously titled Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3. According to Lynne, "That was George's idea. He said, 'Let's confuse the buggers.'"[175] It peaked at number 14 in the UK and number 11 in the US, where it was certified platinum.[169] The Wilburys never performed live, and the group did not record together again following the release of their second album.[176]
In December 1991, Harrison joined Clapton for a tour of Japan. It was Harrison's first since 1974 and no others followed.[nb 14] On 6 April 1992, Harrison held a benefit concert for the Natural Law Party at the Royal Albert Hall, his first London performance since the Beatles' 1969 rooftop concert.[180] In October 1992, he performed at a Bob Dylan tribute concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City, playing alongside Dylan, Clapton, McGuinn, Petty and Neil Young.[181]
The Beatles Anthology: 1994–1996
Main article: The Beatles Anthology
In 1994, Harrison began a collaboration with McCartney, Starr and producer Jeff Lynne for the Beatles Anthology project. This included the recording of two new Beatles songs built around solo vocal and piano tapes recorded by Lennon as well as lengthy interviews about the Beatles' career. Released in December 1995, "Free as a Bird" was the first new Beatles single since 1970.[183] In March 1996, they released a second single, "Real Love". They also attempted to finish a third single, "Now and Then", but did not finish it because the audio quality of the cassette was, according to Harrison, "fucking rubbish." The song was later finished by McCartney and Starr and released in 2023. He later commented on the project: "I hope somebody does this to all my crap demos when I'm dead, make them into hit songs."
Later life and death: 1997–2001
After the Anthology project, Harrison collaborated with Ravi Shankar on the latter's Chants of India. Harrison's final television appearance was a VH-1 special to promote the album, taped in May 1997. Soon afterwards, Harrison was diagnosed with throat cancer; he was treated with radiotherapy, which was thought at the time to be successful.[187] He publicly blamed years of smoking for the illness.[188]
In January 1998, Harrison attended Carl Perkins' funeral in Jackson, Tennessee, where he performed a brief rendition of Perkins' song "Your True Love". In May, he represented the Beatles at London's High Court in their successful bid to gain control of unauthorised recordings made of a 1962 performance by the band at the Star-Club in Hamburg. The following year, he was the most active of the former Beatles in promoting the reissue of their 1968 animated film Yellow Submarine.
On 30 December 1999, Harrison and his wife Olivia were attacked at their home, Friar Park. The perpetrator was 34-year-old paranoid schizophrenic man Michael Abram, who broke in and attacked Harrison with a kitchen knife, puncturing a lung and causing head injuries before he was incapacitated by Harrison's wife, who struck him repeatedly with a fireplace poker and a lamp.[187] Harrison later commented, "I felt exhausted and could feel the strength draining from me. I vividly remember a deliberate thrust to my chest. I could hear my lung exhaling and had blood in my mouth. I believed I had been fatally stabbed."[194] Following the attack, Harrison was hospitalised with more than 40 stab wounds, and part of his punctured lung was removed. He released a statement soon afterwards regarding his assailant: "He wasn't a burglar, and he certainly wasn't auditioning for the Traveling Wilburys. Adi Shankara, an Indian historical, spiritual and groovy-type person, once said, 'Life is fragile like a raindrop on a lotus leaf.' And you'd better believe it."[nb 15] Upon being released from a mental hospital in 2002, Abram said: "If I could turn back the clock, I would give anything not to have done what I did in attacking George Harrison, but looking back on it now, I have come to understand that I was at the time not in control of my actions. I can only hope the Harrison family might somehow find it in their hearts to accept my apologies."[200]
The injuries inflicted on Harrison during the home invasion were downplayed by his family in their comments to the press. Having seen Harrison looking so healthy beforehand, those in his social circle believed that the attack brought about a change in him and was the cause for his cancer's return. In May 2001, it was revealed that Harrison had undergone an operation to remove a cancerous growth from one of his lungs,[201] and in July, it was reported that he was being treated for a brain tumour at a clinic in Switzerland.[202] While in Switzerland, Starr visited him but had to cut short his stay to travel to Boston, where his daughter was undergoing emergency brain surgery. Harrison, who was very weak, quipped: "Do you want me to come with you?"[203] In November 2001, he began radiotherapy at Staten Island University Hospital in New York City for non–small cell lung cancer that had spread to his brain.[204] When the news was made public, Harrison, who would die within the month, bemoaned his physician's breach of privacy, and his estate later claimed damages.[nb 16]
On 29 November 2001, Harrison died at a property belonging to McCartney, on Heather Road in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles.[210] He was 58 years old.[211] He died in the company of Olivia, Dhani, Shankar and the latter's wife Sukanya and daughter Anoushka, and Hare Krishna devotees Shyamasundar Das and Mukunda Goswami, who chanted verses from the Bhagavad Gita. His final message to the world, as relayed in a statement by Olivia and Dhani, was: "Everything else can wait, but the search for God cannot wait, and love one another."[nb 17] He was cremated at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, and his funeral was held at the Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine in Pacific Palisades, California.[216] His close family scattered his ashes according to Hindu tradition in a private ceremony in the Ganges and Yamuna rivers near Varanasi, India.[217] He left almost £100 million in his will.[218]
Harrison's final studio album, Brainwashed (2002), was released posthumously after it was completed by his son Dhani and Jeff Lynne.[219] A quotation from the Bhagavad Gita is included in the album's liner notes: "There never was a time when you or I did not exist. Nor will there be any future when we shall cease to be." A media-only single, "Stuck Inside a Cloud", which Leng describes as "a uniquely candid reaction to illness and mortality", achieved number 27 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart.[222] The single "Any Road", released in May 2003, peaked at number 37 on the UK Singles Chart.[163] "Marwa Blues" went on to receive the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance, while "Any Road" was nominated for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.[223]
Musicianship
Guitar work
Harrison's guitar work with the Beatles was varied and flexible. Although not fast or flashy, his lead guitar playing was solid and typified the more subdued lead guitar style of the early 1960s. His rhythm guitar playing was innovative, for example when he used a capo to shorten the strings on an acoustic guitar, as on the Rubber Soul (1965) album and "Here Comes the Sun", to create a bright, sweet sound.[224] Eric Clapton felt that Harrison was "clearly an innovator" as he was "taking certain elements of R&B and rock and rockabilly and creating something unique". Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner described Harrison as "a guitarist who was never showy but who had an innate, eloquent melodic sense. He played exquisitely in the service of the song". The guitar picking style of Chet Atkins and Carl Perkins influenced Harrison, giving a country music feel to many of the Beatles' recordings. He identified Chuck Berry as another early influence.[229]
In 1961, the Beatles recorded "Cry for a Shadow", a blues-inspired instrumental co-written by Lennon and Harrison, who is credited with composing the song's lead guitar part, building on unusual chord voicings and imitating the style of other English groups such as the Shadows. Harrison's liberal use of the diatonic scale in his guitar playing reveals the influence of Buddy Holly, and his interest in Berry inspired him to compose songs based on the blues scale while incorporating a rockabilly feel in the style of Perkins.[nb 18] Another of Harrison's musical techniques was the use of guitar lines written in octaves, as on "I'll Be on My Way".
By 1964, he had begun to develop a distinctive personal style as a guitarist, writing parts that featured the use of nonresolving tones, as with the ending chord arpeggios on "A Hard Day's Night". On this and other songs from the period, he used a Rickenbacker 360/12 – an electric guitar with twelve strings, the low eight of which are tuned in pairs, one octave apart, with the higher four being pairs tuned in unison. His use of the Rickenbacker on A Hard Day's Night helped to popularise the model, and the jangly sound became so prominent that Melody Maker termed it the Beatles' "secret weapon".[234][nb 19] In 1965, Harrison used an expression pedal to control his guitar's volume on "I Need You", creating a syncopated flautando effect with the melody resolving its dissonance through tonal displacements. He used the same volume-swell technique on "Yes It Is", applying what Everett described as "ghostly articulation" to the song's natural harmonics.
In 1966, Harrison contributed innovative musical ideas to Revolver. He played backwards guitar on Lennon's composition "I'm Only Sleeping" and a guitar counter-melody on "And Your Bird Can Sing" that moved in parallel octaves above McCartney's bass downbeats. His guitar playing on "I Want to Tell You" exemplified the pairing of altered chordal colours with descending chromatic lines and his guitar part for Sgt Pepper's "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" mirrors Lennon's vocal line in much the same way that a sarangi player accompanies a khyal singer in a Hindu devotional song.[238]
Everett described Harrison's guitar solo from "Old Brown Shoe" as "stinging [and] highly Claptonesque". He identified two of the composition's significant motifs: a bluesy trichord and a diminished triad with roots in A and E. Huntley called the song "a sizzling rocker with a ferocious ... solo". In Greene's opinion, Harrison's demo for "Old Brown Shoe" contains "one of the most complex lead guitar solos on any Beatles song".
Harrison's playing on Abbey Road, and in particular on "Something", marked a significant moment in his development as a guitarist. The song's guitar solo shows a varied range of influences, incorporating the blues guitar style of Clapton and the styles of Indian gamakas. According to author and musicologist Kenneth Womack: "'Something' meanders toward the most unforgettable of Harrison's guitar solos ... A masterpiece in simplicity, [it] reaches toward the sublime".
After Delaney Bramlett inspired him to learn slide guitar, Harrison began to incorporate it into his solo work, which allowed him to mimic many traditional Indian instruments, including the sarangi and the dilruba. Leng described Harrison's slide guitar solo on Lennon's "How Do You Sleep?" as a departure for "the sweet soloist of 'Something'", calling his playing "rightly famed ... one of Harrison's greatest guitar statements". Lennon commented: "That's the best he's ever fucking played in his life."
A Hawaiian influence is notable in much of Harrison's music, ranging from his slide guitar work on Gone Troppo (1982) to his televised performance of the Cab Calloway standard "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" on ukulele in 1992.[247] Lavezzoli described Harrison's slide playing on the Grammy-winning instrumental "Marwa Blues" (2002) as demonstrating Hawaiian influences while comparing the melody to an Indian sarod or veena, calling it "yet another demonstration of Harrison's unique slide approach". Harrison was an admirer of George Formby and a member of the Ukulele Society of Great Britain, and played a ukulele solo in the style of Formby at the end of "Free as a Bird". He performed at a Formby convention in 1991, and served as the honorary president of the George Formby Appreciation Society. Harrison played bass guitar on a few tracks, including the Beatles songs "She Said She Said", "Golden Slumbers", "Birthday" and "Honey Pie".[251] He also played bass on several solo recordings, including "Faster", "Wake Up My Love" and "Bye Bye Love".
Sitar and Indian music
During the Beatles' American tour in August 1965, Harrison's friend David Crosby of the Byrds introduced him to Indian classical music and the work of sitar maestro Ravi Shankar. Harrison described Shankar as "the first person who ever impressed me in my life ... and he was the only person who didn't try to impress me." Harrison became fascinated with the sitar and immersed himself in Indian music. According to Lavezzoli, Harrison's introduction of the instrument on the Beatles' song "Norwegian Wood" "opened the floodgates for Indian instrumentation in rock music, triggering what Shankar would call 'The Great Sitar Explosion' of 1966–67". Lavezzoli recognises Harrison as "the man most responsible for this phenomenon".[nb 20]
In June 1966, Harrison met Shankar at the home of Mrs Angadi of the Asian Music Circle, asked to be his student, and was accepted. Before this meeting, Harrison had recorded his Revolver track "Love You To", contributing a sitar part that Lavezzoli describes as an "astonishing improvement" over "Norwegian Wood" and "the most accomplished performance on sitar by any rock musician". On 6 July, Harrison travelled to India to buy a sitar from Rikhi Ram & Sons in New Delhi. In September, following the Beatles' final tour, he returned to India to study sitar for six weeks with Shankar. He initially stayed in Bombay until fans learned of his arrival, then moved to a houseboat on a remote lake in Kashmir. During this visit, he also received tutelage from Shambhu Das, Shankar's protégé.
Harrison studied the instrument until 1968, when, following a discussion with Shankar about the need to find his "roots", an encounter with Clapton and Jimi Hendrix at a hotel in New York convinced him to return to guitar playing. Harrison commented: "I decided ... I'm not going to be a great sitar player ... because I should have started at least fifteen years earlier."[264] Harrison continued to use Indian instrumentation occasionally on his solo albums and remained strongly associated with the genre. Lavezzoli groups him with Paul Simon and Peter Gabriel as the three rock musicians who have given the most "mainstream exposure to non-Western musics, or the concept of 'world music'".
Songwriting
Harrison wrote his first song, "Don't Bother Me", while sick in a hotel bed in Bournemouth during August 1963, as "an exercise to see if I could write a song", as he remembered. His songwriting ability improved throughout the Beatles' career, but his material did not earn full respect from Lennon, McCartney and producer George Martin until near the group's break-up. In 1969, McCartney told Lennon: "Until this year, our songs have been better than George's. Now this year his songs are at least as good as ours".[269] Harrison often had difficulty getting the band to record his songs. Most Beatles albums from 1965 onwards contain at least two Harrison compositions; three of his songs appear on Revolver, "the album on which Harrison came of age as a songwriter", according to Inglis.
Harrison wrote the chord progression of "Don't Bother Me" almost exclusively in the Dorian mode, demonstrating an interest in exotic tones that eventually culminated in his embrace of Indian music. The latter proved a strong influence on his songwriting and contributed to his innovation within the Beatles. According to Mikal Gilmore of Rolling Stone, "Harrison's openness to new sounds and textures cleared new paths for his rock and roll compositions. His use of dissonance on ... 'Taxman' and 'I Want to Tell You' was revolutionary in popular music – and perhaps more originally creative than the avant-garde mannerisms that Lennon and McCartney borrowed from the music of Karlheinz Stockhausen, Luciano Berio, Edgard Varèse and Igor Stravinsky ..."
Of the 1967 Harrison song "Within You Without You", author Gerry Farrell said that Harrison had created a "new form", calling the composition "a quintessential fusion of pop and Indian music". Lennon called the song one of Harrison's best: "His mind and his music are clear. There is his innate talent, he brought that sound together." In his next fully Indian-styled song, "The Inner Light", Harrison embraced the Karnatak discipline of Indian music, rather than the Hindustani style he had used in "Love You To" and "Within You Without You".[276] Writing in 1997, Farrell commented: "It is a mark of Harrison's sincere involvement with Indian music that, nearly thirty years on, the Beatles' 'Indian' songs remain the most imaginative and successful examples of this type of fusion – for example, 'Blue Jay Way' and 'The Inner Light'."
Beatles biographer Bob Spitz described "Something" as a masterpiece, and "an intensely stirring romantic ballad that would challenge 'Yesterday' and 'Michelle' as one of the most recognizable songs they ever produced". Inglis considered Abbey Road a turning point in Harrison's development as a songwriter and musician. He described Harrison's two contributions to the LP, "Here Comes the Sun" and "Something", as "exquisite", declaring them equal to any previous Beatles songs.
Collaborations
From 1968 onwards, Harrison collaborated with other musicians; he brought in Eric Clapton to play lead guitar on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" for the 1968 Beatles' White Album, and collaborated with John Barham on his 1968 debut solo album, Wonderwall Music, which included contributions from Clapton again, as well as Peter Tork from the Monkees. He played on tracks by Dave Mason, Nicky Hopkins, Alvin Lee, Ronnie Wood, Billy Preston and Tom Scott. Harrison co-wrote songs and music with Dylan, Clapton, Preston, Doris Troy, David Bromberg, Gary Wright, Wood, Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty, among others. Harrison's music projects during the final years of the Beatles included producing Apple Records artists Doris Troy, Jackie Lomax and Billy Preston.
Harrison co-wrote the song "Badge" with Clapton, which was included on Cream's 1969 album, Goodbye. Harrison played rhythm guitar on the track, using the pseudonym "L'Angelo Misterioso" for contractual reasons. In May 1970, he played guitar on several songs during a recording session for Dylan's album New Morning. Between 1971 and 1973, he co-wrote and/or produced three top ten hits for Starr: "It Don't Come Easy", "Back Off Boogaloo" and "Photograph". Aside from "How Do You Sleep?", his contributions to Lennon's 1971 album Imagine included a slide guitar solo on "Gimme Some Truth" and dobro on "Crippled Inside". Also that year, he produced and played slide guitar on Badfinger's top ten hit "Day After Day", and a dobro on Preston's "I Wrote a Simple Song".[289][nb 21] He worked with Harry Nilsson on "You're Breakin' My Heart" (1972) and with Cheech & Chong on "Basketball Jones" (1973).
In 1974, Harrison founded Dark Horse Records as an avenue for collaboration with other musicians. He wanted Dark Horse to serve as a creative outlet for artists, as Apple Records had for the Beatles.[293] Eric Idle commented: "He's extremely generous, and he backs and supports all sorts of people that you'll never, ever hear of." The first acts signed to the new label were Ravi Shankar and the duo Splinter. Harrison produced and made multiple musical contributions to Splinter's debut album, The Place I Love, which provided Dark Horse with its first hit, "Costafine Town".[295] He also produced and played guitar and autoharp on Shankar's Shankar Family & Friends, the label's other inaugural release. Other artists signed by Dark Horse include Attitudes, Henry McCullough, Jiva and Stairsteps.
Harrison collaborated with Tom Scott on Scott's 1975 album New York Connection, and in 1981 he played guitar on "Walk a Thin Line", from Mick Fleetwood's The Visitor.[298] His contributions to Starr's solo career continued with "Wrack My Brain", a 1981 US top 40 hit written and produced by Harrison, and guitar overdubs to two tracks on Vertical Man (1998). In 1996, Harrison recorded "Distance Makes No Difference With Love" with Carl Perkins for the latter's album Go Cat Go!, and, in 1990, he played slide guitar on the title track of Dylan's Under the Red Sky album. In 2001, he performed as a guest musician on Jeff Lynne and Electric Light Orchestra's comeback album Zoom, and on the song "Love Letters" for Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings. He also co-wrote a new song with his son Dhani, "Horse to the Water", which was recorded on 2 October, eight weeks before his death. It appeared on Jools Holland's album Small World, Big Band.
Guitars
When Harrison joined the Quarrymen in 1958, his main guitar was a Höfner President Acoustic, which he soon traded for a Höfner Club 40 model. His first solid-body electric guitar was a Czech-built Jolana Futurama/Grazioso. The guitars he used on early recordings were mainly Gretsch models, played through a Vox amplifier, including a Gretsch Duo Jet that he bought secondhand in 1961 and posed with on the album cover for Cloud Nine (1987).[306] He also bought a Gretsch Tennessean and a Gretsch Country Gentleman, which he played on "She Loves You", and during the Beatles' 1964 appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. In 1963, he bought a Rickenbacker 425 Fireglo, and in 1964 he acquired a Rickenbacker 360/12 guitar, which was the second of its kind to be manufactured.[309] Harrison obtained his first Fender Stratocaster in 1965 and first used it during the recording of the Help! album that February; he also used it when recording Rubber Soul later that year, most notably on the song "Nowhere Man".
In early 1966, Harrison and Lennon each purchased Epiphone Casinos, which they used on Revolver. Harrison also used a Gibson J-160E and a Gibson SG Standard while recording the album. He later painted his Stratocaster in a psychedelic design that included the word "Bebopalula" above the pickguard and the guitar's nickname, "Rocky", on the headstock. He played this guitar in the Magical Mystery Tour (1967) film and throughout his solo career. In July 1968, Clapton gave him a Gibson Les Paul that had been stripped of its original finish and stained cherry red, which Harrison nicknamed "Lucy". Around this time, he obtained a Gibson Jumbo J-200 acoustic guitar, which he subsequently gave to Dylan to use at the 1969 Isle of Wight Festival. In late 1968, Fender Musical Instruments Corporation gave Harrison a custom-made Fender Telecaster Rosewood prototype, made especially for him by Philip Kubicki.[319][nb 22] In August 2017, Fender released a "Limited Edition George Harrison Rosewood Telecaster" modelled after a Telecaster that Roger Rossmeisl originally created for Harrison.[323]
Film production and HandMade films
Main article: HandMade Films
Harrison helped finance Ravi Shankar's documentary Raga and released it through Apple Films in 1971. He also produced, with Apple manager Allen Klein, the Concert for Bangladesh film. In 1973, he produced the feature film Little Malcolm, but the project was lost amid the litigation surrounding the former Beatles ending their business ties with Klein.
In 1973, Peter Sellers introduced Harrison to Denis O'Brien. Soon after, the two went into business together. In 1978, to produce Monty Python's Life of Brian, they formed the film production and distribution company HandMade Films.[329] Their opportunity for investment came after EMI Films withdrew funding at the demand of their chief executive, Bernard Delfont. Harrison financed the production of Life of Brian in part by mortgaging his home, which Idle later called "the most anybody's ever paid for a cinema ticket in history".[331] The film grossed $21 million at the box office in the US. The first film distributed by HandMade Films was The Long Good Friday (1980), and the first they produced was Time Bandits (1981), a co-scripted project by Monty Python's Terry Gilliam and Michael Palin. The film featured a new song by Harrison, "Dream Away", in the closing credits.[331] Time Bandits became one of HandMade's most successful and acclaimed efforts; with a budget of $5 million, it earned $35 million in the US within ten weeks of its release.
Harrison served as executive producer for 23 films with HandMade, including A Private Function (1984), Mona Lisa (1986), Shanghai Surprise (1986), Withnail and I (1987) and How to Get Ahead in Advertising (1989). He made cameo appearances in several of these films, including a role as a nightclub singer in Shanghai Surprise, for which he recorded five new songs. According to Ian Inglis, "[Harrison's] executive role in HandMade Films helped to sustain British cinema at a time of crisis, producing some of the country's most memorable movies of the 1980s." Following a series of box office bombs in the late 1980s, and excessive debt incurred by O'Brien which was guaranteed by Harrison, HandMade's financial situation became precarious. The company ceased operations in 1991[331] and was sold three years later to Paragon Entertainment, a Canadian corporation. Afterwards, Harrison sued O'Brien for $25 million for fraud and negligence, resulting in an $11.6 million judgement in 1996.[339][331]
Humanitarian work
Harrison was involved in humanitarian and political activism throughout his life. In the 1960s, the Beatles supported the civil rights movement and protested against the Vietnam War. In early 1971, Ravi Shankar consulted Harrison about how to provide aid to the people of Bangladesh after the 1970 Bhola cyclone and the Bangladesh Liberation War.[340] Harrison hastily wrote and recorded the song "Bangla Desh", which became pop music's first charity single when issued by Apple Records in late July. He also pushed Apple to release Shankar's Joi Bangla EP in an effort to raise further awareness for the cause.[109] Shankar asked for Harrison's advice about planning a small charity event in the US. Harrison responded by organising the Concert for Bangladesh, which raised more than $240,000.[343] Around $13.5 million was generated through the album and film releases, although most of the funds were frozen in an Internal Revenue Service audit for ten years, due to Klein's failure to register the event as a UNICEF benefit beforehand. In June 1972, UNICEF honoured Harrison and Shankar, and Klein, with the "Child Is the Father of Man" award at an annual ceremony in recognition of their fundraising efforts for Bangladesh.
From 1980, Harrison became a vocal supporter of Greenpeace and CND. He also protested against the use of nuclear energy with Friends of the Earth, and helped finance Vole, a green magazine launched by Monty Python member Terry Jones.[nb 23] In 1990, he helped promote his wife Olivia's Romanian Angel Appeal on behalf of the thousands of Romanian orphans left abandoned by the state following the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe. Harrison recorded a benefit single, "Nobody's Child", with the Traveling Wilburys, and assembled a fundraising album with contributions from other artists including Clapton, Starr, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Donovan and Van Morrison.
The Concert for Bangladesh has been described as an innovative precursor for the large-scale charity rock shows that followed, including Live Aid. The George Harrison Humanitarian Fund for UNICEF, a joint effort between the Harrison family and the US Fund for UNICEF, aims to support programmes that help children caught in humanitarian emergencies.[357] In December 2007, they donated $450,000 to help the victims of Cyclone Sidr in Bangladesh.[357] On 13 October 2009, the first George Harrison Humanitarian Award went to Ravi Shankar for his efforts in saving the lives of children, and his involvement with the Concert for Bangladesh.[358]
Personal life
Hinduism
By the mid-1960s, Harrison had become an admirer of Indian culture and mysticism, introducing it to the other Beatles. During the filming of Help! in the Bahamas, they met the founder of Sivananda Yoga, Swami Vishnu-devananda, who gave each of them a signed copy of his book, The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga. Between the end of the last Beatles tour in 1966 and the beginning of the Sgt Pepper recording sessions, he made a pilgrimage to India with his first wife, Pattie Boyd; there, he studied sitar with Ravi Shankar, met several gurus, and visited various holy places. In 1968, he travelled with the other Beatles to Rishikesh in northern India to study meditation with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.[nb 24]
Harrison's experiences with LSD in the mid-1960s served as a catalyst for his early pursuance of Hinduism. In a 1977 interview, George recalled:
For me, it was like a flash. The first time I had acid, it just opened up something in my head that was inside of me, and I realized a lot of things. I didn't learn them because I already knew them, but that happened to be the key that opened the door to reveal them. From the moment I had that, I wanted to have it all the time – these thoughts about the yogis and the Himalayas, and Ravi's music.
However, Harrison stopped using LSD after a disenchanting experience in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury neighborhood. He recounted in The Beatles Anthology:
That was the turning point for me – that's when I went right off the whole drug cult and stopped taking the dreaded lysergic acid. I had some in a little bottle – it was liquid. I put it under a microscope, and it looked like bits of old rope. I thought that I couldn't put that into my brain any more.
In line with the Hindu yoga tradition, Harrison became a vegetarian in the late 1960s.[364] After being given various religious texts by Shankar in 1966, he remained a lifelong advocate of the teachings of Swami Vivekananda and Paramahansa Yogananda – yogis and authors, respectively, of Raja Yoga and Autobiography of a Yogi.[365] In mid-1969, he produced the single "Hare Krishna Mantra", performed by members of the London Radha Krishna Temple. Having also helped the Temple devotees become established in Britain, Harrison then met their leader, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, whom he described as "my friend ... my master" and "a perfect example of everything he preached".[367] Harrison embraced the Hare Krishna tradition, particularly japa-yoga chanting with beads, and became a lifelong devotee. In 1972 he donated his Letchmore Heath mansion north of London to the devotees. It was later converted to a temple and renamed Bhaktivedanta Manor.[368]
Regarding other faiths, he once remarked: "All religions are branches of one big tree. It doesn't matter what you call Him just as long as you call." He commented on his beliefs:
Krishna actually was in a body as a person ... What makes it complicated is, if he's God, what's he doing fighting on a battlefield? It took me ages to try to figure that out, and again it was Yogananda's spiritual interpretation of the Bhagavad Gita that made me realise what it was. Our idea of Krishna and Arjuna on the battlefield in the chariot. So this is the point – that we're in these bodies, which is like a kind of chariot, and we're going through this incarnation, this life, which is kind of a battlefield. The senses of the body ... are the horses pulling the chariot, and we have to get control over the chariot by getting control over the reins. And Arjuna in the end says, "Please Krishna, you drive the chariot" because unless we bring Christ or Krishna or Buddha or whichever of our spiritual guides ... we're going to crash our chariot, and we're going to turn over, and we're going to get killed in the battlefield. That's why we say "Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna", asking Krishna to come and take over the chariot.
Inglis comments that, in contrast to Cliff Richard's conversion to Christianity in 1966: "Harrison's spiritual journey was seen as a serious and important development that reflected popular music's increasing maturity ... what he, and the Beatles, had managed to overturn was the paternalistic assumption that popular musicians had no role other than to stand on stage and sing their hit songs."
Family and interests
Harrison married model Pattie Boyd on 21 January 1966, with McCartney serving as best man. Harrison and Boyd had met on set in 1964 during the production of the film A Hard Day's Night, in which the 19-year-old Boyd had been cast as a schoolgirl. During a lunch break, George 'playfully' proposed to her.[374] They separated in 1974 and their divorce was finalised in 1977.[375] Boyd said her decision to end the marriage was due largely to George's repeated infidelities. The last infidelity culminated in an affair with Ringo's wife Maureen, which Boyd called "the final straw". She characterised the last year of their marriage as "fuelled by alcohol and cocaine", and she stated: "George used coke excessively, and I think it changed him ... it froze his emotions and hardened his heart." She subsequently moved in with Eric Clapton, and they married in 1979.[nb 25]
On 2 September 1978, Harrison married Olivia Trinidad Arias, who was a marketing executive for A&M Records, and later Dark Horse Records. As Dark Horse was a subsidiary of A&M, the couple had first met over the phone working on record company business, and then in person at the A&M Records offices in Los Angeles in 1974.[383] Together they had one son, Dhani Harrison, born on 1 August 1978.[384]
Harrison restored the English manor house and grounds of Friar Park, his home in Henley-on-Thames, where several of his music videos, including "Crackerbox Palace", were filmed; the grounds also served as the background for the cover of All Things Must Pass.[nb 26] He employed ten workers to maintain the 36-acre (15 ha) garden. Harrison commented on gardening as a form of escapism: "Sometimes I feel like I'm actually on the wrong planet, and it's great when I'm in my garden, but the minute I go out the gate I think: 'What the hell am I doing here?'" His autobiography, I, Me, Mine, is dedicated "to gardeners everywhere".[391] The former Beatles publicist Derek Taylor helped Harrison write the book, which said little about the Beatles, focusing instead on Harrison's hobbies, music and lyrics.[392] Taylor commented: "George is not disowning the Beatles ... but it was a long time ago and actually a short part of his life."
Harrison had an interest in sports cars and motor racing; he was one of the 100 people who purchased the McLaren F1 road car. He had collected photos of racing drivers and their cars since he was young; at 12, he had attended his first race, the 1955 British Grand Prix at Aintree.[395] He wrote "Faster" as a tribute to the Formula One racing drivers Jackie Stewart and Ronnie Peterson. Proceeds from its release went to the Gunnar Nilsson cancer charity, set up after the Swedish driver's death from the disease in 1978. Harrison's first extravagant car, a 1964 Aston Martin DB5, was sold at auction on 7 December 2011 in London. An anonymous Beatles collector paid £350,000 for the vehicle that Harrison had bought new in January 1965.[397]
Relationships with the other Beatles
For most of the Beatles' career, the relationships in the group were close. According to Hunter Davies, "the Beatles spent their lives not living a communal life, but communally living the same life. They were each other's greatest friends." Harrison's ex-wife Pattie Boyd described how the Beatles "all belonged to each other" and admitted, "George has a lot with the others that I can never know about. Nobody, not even the wives, can break through or even comprehend it." Starr said, "We really looked out for each other and we had so many laughs together. In the old days we'd have the biggest hotel suites, the whole floor of the hotel, and the four of us would end up in the bathroom, just to be with each other." He added, "there were some really loving, caring moments between four people: a hotel room here and there – a really amazing closeness. Just four guys who loved each other. It was pretty sensational."
Lennon stated that his relationship with Harrison was "one of young follower and older guy ... [he] was like a disciple of mine when we started." The two later bonded over their LSD experiences, finding common ground as seekers of spirituality. They took radically different paths thereafter, with, according to biographer Gary Tillery, Harrison finding God and Lennon coming to the conclusion that people are the creators of their own lives. In 1974, Harrison said of his former bandmate: "John Lennon is a saint and he's heavy-duty, and he's great and I love him. But at the same time, he's such a bastard – but that's the great thing about him, you see?"
Harrison and McCartney were the first of the Beatles to meet, having shared a school bus, and often learned and rehearsed new guitar chords together. McCartney said that he and Harrison usually shared a bedroom while touring.[404] McCartney has referred to Harrison as his "baby brother".[405] In a 1974 BBC radio interview with Alan Freeman, Harrison stated: "[McCartney] ruined me as a guitar player". In the same interview, however, Harrison stated that "I just know that whatever we've been through, there's always been something that's tied us together." Perhaps the most significant obstacle to a Beatles reunion after the death of Lennon was Harrison and McCartney's personal relationship, as both men admitted that they often got on each other's nerves. Rodriguez commented: "Even to the end of George's days, theirs was a volatile relationship". When, in a Yahoo! online chat in February 2001, he was asked if Paul "[pisses] you off", Harrison replied "Scan not a friend with a microscopic glass -- You know his faults -- Then let his foibles pass. Old Victorian Proverb. I'm sure there's enough about me that pisses him off, but I think we have now grown old enough to realize that we're both pretty damn cute!"[409]
Legacy
In June 1965, Harrison and the other Beatles were appointed Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).[410] They received their insignia from the Queen at an investiture at Buckingham Palace on 26 October. In 1971, the Beatles received an Academy Award for the best Original Song Score for the film Let It Be.[412] The minor planet 4149 Harrison, discovered in 1984, was named after him,[413] as was a variety of Dahlia flower.[414] In December 1992, he became the first recipient of the Billboard Century Award, an honour presented to music artists for significant bodies of work.[415] The award recognised Harrison's "critical role in laying the groundwork for the modern concept of world music" and for his having "advanced society's comprehension of the spiritual and altruistic power of popular music".[416] Rolling Stone magazine ranked him number 11 in their list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". He is also in number 65 in the list of "100 greatest songwriters of all time" by the same magazine.
In 2002, on the first anniversary of his death, the Concert for George was held at the Royal Albert Hall. Eric Clapton organised the event, which included performances by many of Harrison's friends and musical collaborators, including McCartney and Starr. Eric Idle, who described Harrison as "one of the few morally good people that rock and roll has produced", was among the performers of Monty Python's "Lumberjack Song".[419] The profits from the concert went to Harrison's charity, the Material World Charitable Foundation.
In 2004, Harrison was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist by his former bandmates Lynne and Petty, and into the Madison Square Garden Walk of Fame in 2006 for the Concert for Bangladesh.[420] On 14 April 2009, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce awarded Harrison a star on the Walk of Fame in front of the Capitol Records Building. McCartney, Lynne and Petty were present when the star was unveiled. Harrison's widow Olivia, the actor Tom Hanks and Idle made speeches at the ceremony, and Harrison's son Dhani spoke the Hare Krishna mantra.[421]
A documentary film titled George Harrison: Living in the Material World, directed by Martin Scorsese, was released in October 2011. The film features interviews with Olivia and Dhani Harrison, Klaus Voormann, Terry Gilliam, Starr, Clapton, McCartney, Keltner and Astrid Kirchherr.[422]
Harrison was posthumously honoured with The Recording Academy's Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammy Awards in February 2015.[423][424]
An Illinois State Historical Society marker in Benton, Illinois, commemorates Harrison's visit in the town in 1963 to see his sister, making him the first Beatle to visit the United States.[425] In 2017, a mural installation was unveiled in the town of Harrison[426] painted by artist John Cerney.[427] Statues of Harrison can be found around the world, including several across his native Liverpool and a bust in the Shadhinotar Shagram Triangle Sculpture Garden in Dhaka, Bangladesh, commemorating Harrison's contributions to Bangladeshi culture.
On 24 May 2024 a blue plaque was unveiled at Harrison's childhood home at 12 Arnold Grove in Wavertree.[428][429]
Discography
See also: The Beatles discography and Traveling Wilburys § Discography
See also
Outline of the Beatles
The Beatles timeline
List of peace activists
Explanatory notes
References
Citations
General and cited sources
Further reading
Documentaries | ||||||
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] | 2024-02-20T11:32:58.802000-05:00 | Sam Mendes is directing four biopics about the Beatles, each focused on a different member of the band. Interchangeable young British actors haven’t been this excited since ‘Dunkirk.’ | en | Vulture | https://www.vulture.com/article/beatles-movies.html | If London is even wetter than usual over the next few months, it won’t be due to excess rain. No, it will be due to thousands of interchangeable British actors salivating at the prospect of starring in a Beatles movie. Luckily for them, director Sam Mendes (you know, American Beauty, 1917) is giving them four chances. Mendes is set to direct a “uniquely thrilling and epic cinematic experience: four films, told from four different perspectives which tell a single story about the most celebrated band of all time,” according to a statement obtained by Deadline. And yes, that includes Ringo Starr, with peace and love. Produced by Sony Pictures Entertainment, for the first time ever, both Apple Corps Ltd., the Beatles’ conglomerate, and the Mop Tops themselves have signed off on the project, giving life-story and music rights.
As for the stars, Mendes has a cavalcade of options, from the boys in the boat to the Dunkirk-ians. Harry Styles isn’t out of this race just yet. Can he act? Debatable! But he can probably pull off a bowl cut, which is just as important. Let him play Paul McCartney, give George Harrison to Styles’s My Policeman co-star David Dawson (he’s got the cheekbones!), have Lennon be Dua Lipa beau Callum Turner, and then see what happens when you let Aussie comedian and chaos demon Sam Campbell play Ringo. Who cares if he’s got the wrong accent — Mendes needs an authentic weirdo to play a guy named Ringo Starr. Let’s get a dueling Yoko Ono biopic on the books ASAP. | |||||
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"Ben Falk"
] | 2021-09-03T12:07:20+00:00 | Paparazzi were invading the production, the notoriously fractious leading couple were, well, being themselves and for mild-mannered British director Jim Goddard, it was all a bit too much. | en | https://s.yimg.com/rz/l/favicon.ico | https://uk.movies.yahoo.com/shanghai-surprise-35-story-behind-infamous-flop-120720283.html | When it all started going wrong, they called George Harrison. The former Beatle’s movie shingle, Handmade Films, was the company behind one of 1986’s biggest cinematic hopes — Shanghai Surprise — an international period caper starring the biggest celebrity in the world and her recently acquired husband, himself a critically-acclaimed actor.
But things weren’t going to plan on the Hong Kong set of the film (celebrating 35 years this week), which is the story of a fortune hunter (Sean Penn) who helps a nurse (Madonna) source some opium in 1938, while being chased by an array of gangsters and other n’er-do-wells.
Paparazzi were invading the production, the notoriously fractious leading couple were, well, being themselves and for mild-mannered British director Jim Goddard, it was all a bit too much.
“I think what was overwhelming was he had to deal with personalities that one in England doesn’t have to deal with to some extent,” says actor Clyde Kusatsu, who played supporting character Joe Go in the film (Goddard died in 2013).
“He was a sweetheart, a teddy bear of a director and he was in that unfortunate position where you have two celebrities well-known at the time.”
Read more: Madonna is 'worst actor ever' according to the Razzies
But the stars’ behaviour, particularly Penn who hated the press intrusion and perhaps felt he had been convinced to appear in the film as a favour to his new wife, grew ever more tempestuous.
Kusatsu remembers Penn being spirited out of Macau after punching a photographer and there was another time when the producers’ office window had a chair thrown through it. Actor Bernard Hill (Lord of the Rings) was replaced after shooting started with Paul Freeman (Raiders of the Lost Ark), apparently at Penn’s behest.
It wasn’t just off-screen that things got sticky. “One of the scenes that night involved my character taking a box containing seemingly precious cargo from Sean’s character Glendon Wasey,” remembers actor Kay Tong Lim (Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story), who played baddie Mei Gan.
“Only it explodes in my hands. The first explosion went off fine. But Penn was not happy with it. Unknown to me, he asked the explosives guys to put a larger charge in the box for the next take. The explosion went off and almost both my hands! I spent the rest of the night between takes dipping my hands in buckets of ice.”
With the crew ready to mutiny, George Harrison was summoned. “[The crew] was ready to quit,” says Kusatsu. “So George had to be the emissary.”
“I got an inkling [things were awry] when I found myself on location sitting next to George Harrison,” adds Kay Tong Lim. “We chatted a bit and it turned out he was out in Hong Kong to smooth things out and the issues revolved around Sean Penn. That’s all he would say. I guess when so much is going on off-camera, it’s hard to focus on the main thing at hand.”
Read more: Madonna shares biopic update
Kusatsu remembers reacting slightly differently to Harrison’s appearance. “I’m on the beach in between shots and you see this figure in the distance that’s coming up going (the actor does an excellent Scouse accent), ‘Hello Clyde, you’re very funny’. I’m thinking to myself, that’s George F***ing Harrison. And he’s talking to me!”
The musician was wearing a Walkman and asked Kusatsu if he wanted to listen to some of the songs he was working on for the soundtrack.
“You feel very honoured for that moment. Later, I was in the office and George was there and he was like, ‘hey, how are you mate?’ And I was like, this is very cool. If anything, this is the best part [of making the movie].”
The shoot was essentially a catalogue of problems and ego-driven issues, as well as the struggle to keep the media away. Harrison lent the production his bodyguard, an ex-SAS soldier who was constantly on the lookout for intruders.
Watch the trailer for Shanghai Surprise
Kusatsu remembers getting ready to film a scene and in the middle of a rehearsal, Penn stopped and said he had spotted a paparazzo nearby. “And all of a sudden, a telescopic lens appears out of a bush,” laughs the actor. “Everyone had the same thought – ‘hold on, if he’s looking for that, I guess he wasn’t much into the scene?’”
A location in London was hampered because it turned out to be under the Heathrow flight path and they had to cut every three minutes while a plane went overhead. Since the Hong Kong set was apparently too small for trailers and it became increasingly difficult to know when the leads would be ready to shoot, the other actors were brought to set, put in costume and make-up and then taken back to the hotel where they’d wait until summoned to perform.
Another time, there was a scene on the pier where Penn and Madonna’s characters were supposed to jump into the water. Penn was game, but Madonna refused and Kusatsu recalls seeing a crew member arrive with a trolley full of Evian, which they used to make her look wet on-camera.
Still, Kay Tong Lim remembers thinking fondly of the megastar. “Madonna was very courteous and pleasant and despite being surrounded by an entourage, always said hello,” he says. “She even once politely asked in the makeup trailer who was smoking. I owned up and she politely asked me to do so outside the trailer. When the wrap party came round, we chatted for about 20 minutes before someone rescued her and moved her on, but she had no airs and was unpretentious.”
Unsurprisingly, by the time the movie was finished and released on 29 August, 1986, it had terrible word-of-mouth and became a huge bomb. Reviews were excoriating, it grossed just over $2million on a $17million budget and was nominated for six Razzies, winning one for Worst Actress.
Penn and Madonna divorced in 1989. Jim Goddard’s promising directorial career, which included a Bafta TV Award in 1983, sadly fizzled after this experience. However, despite the chaos, both Lim and Kusatsu generally enjoyed their experience.
“I got my first agent through this project – probably the best I had – who was a business partner with Jim Goddard’s wife,” says Kay Tong Lim. “So whatever anyone thought of the movie, it got my career in the West going.”
Kusatsu loved working with the British crew and chatting to actors like Richard Griffiths (Harry Potter), who also played a supporting role. “In retrospect, [Joe Go] was the most fun part in the film,” he says. “It was a tremendous experience.” He subsequently worked with Sean Penn again on The Interpreter.
His schedule on Shanghai Surprise also clashed with a role on the TV series Magnum, PI and he was thrilled to be flown from California, to Hong Kong and then to Honolulu where the Tom Selleck show was made so he could do both. Ironically, his Magnum episode was directed by one Leo Penn – Sean’s dad. | |||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 2 | 14 | https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/apr/03/george-harrison-beatle-monty-python-life-of-brian-handmade-studios | en | How George Harrison – and a very naughty boy – saved British cinema | [
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"Nicholas Barber",
"www.theguardian.com",
"nicholas-barber"
] | 2019-04-03T00:00:00 | The Beatle loved Monty Python so much, he set up HandMade Films to make Life of Brian – and rehabilitated the UK movie industry. But the studio’s fun couldn’t last | en | the Guardian | https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/apr/03/george-harrison-beatle-monty-python-life-of-brian-handmade-studios | In 1978, just as Monty Python’s Life of Brian was about to go into production, the chairman of EMI, Lord Delfont, got around to reading the screenplay his company had bought. He didn’t like it. He was so appalled, in fact, that he washed his hands of the whole outrageous venture, and the Pythons had to raise £2m in a hurry.
Eric Idle had the idea of phoning George Harrison, the richest person he knew; Harrison in turn consulted his American business manager, Denis O’Brien, who suggested that they fund the film themselves. The only snag was that they would have to remortgage Harrison’s mansion in Henley-on-Thames as well as O’Brien’s London offices. The ex-Beatle would go on to call it “the most expensive cinema ticket ever issued”. But, he reasoned, how else could he see the new Monty Python comedy?
So begins the story of HandMade Films, now the subject of a documentary called An Accidental Studio. It’s a story of friendship and falling-out, of stunning success and catastrophic failure, of an independent company that seemed to be making things up as it went along, but which could lay claim to several classics of British cinema – Life of Brian, The Long Good Friday, Time Bandits, Mona Lisa, Withnail and I. In Robert Sellers’ Very Naughty Boys: The Amazing True Story of HandMade Films, Idle puts it like this: “If you looked at the British film industry [in the 1980s] and took HandMade’s films out, there would be almost nothing left.” But, at the time, the company garnered hardly any Bafta nominations, let alone any Baftas. “They were ignored, really,” says Ben Timlett, co-director of An Accidental Studio. “The British film industry was much more interested in Merchant Ivory, whereas HandMade was down and dirty and different, and doing things the establishment couldn’t get its head around.”
The story of HandMade is really a love story: at heart, it’s about the love that Harrison had for Monty Python. When the first episode of Monty Python’s Flying Circus was aired in 1969, Harrison sent a fan letter via the BBC (they never received it, says Michael Palin), and he liked to say that the Beatles’ mischievous spirit migrated to the Pythons at around that time. Having brought Life of Brian back to life, though, he realised that he wanted to help other creative people, too – whether or not that made commercial sense. “If something’s really good,” he said, “it deserves to be made.”
What this meant was that HandMade repeatedly bet on first-time directors and unknown actors, and repeatedly salvaged films that other studios had thrown away. One of these was Mona Lisa, which, like Life of Brian, was dumped by EMI. Another was an earlier Bob Hoskins gangster film, The Long Good Friday, which was picked up by HandMade after it was dropped by Lew Grade – that is, Lord Delfont’s brother. The secret was Harrison’s own positivity, as his former right-hand man, Ray Cooper, confirmed at a question-and-answer session hosted by the actor Sanjeev Bhaskar last week. “If he believed you had passion,” said Cooper, “he would make your dream come true for you.”
Cooper’s appointment was typical of the company’s intuitive approach. He was, and is, a rock percussionist extraordinaire, as opposed to a movie-biz mover and shaker, but Harrison said: “I think I’ve got a film company on my hands. Why don’t you be me in the office?” This was a masterstroke. Cooper turned out to be a gifted script reader and problem solver, and while his new job appeared to be a far cry from pummelling kettle drums and cymbals on stage with Elton John, he felt that it was his musician’s ability to listen and to play along with others that was crucial to the company. His lack of experience in the film world was a plus. “The people at HandMade weren’t coming to it with lots of baggage,” says Bill Jones, co-director of An Accidental Studio, and the son of Monty Python’s Terry Jones. “They weren’t trying to follow trends, they weren’t looking at spreadsheets of figures. They just said, if you’ve got a great idea, we’ll back it.”
A significant part of Cooper’s job was to balance Harrison’s wishes with those of his partner, O’Brien. Harrison was content to keep the company as small and personal as its name implied, whereas O’Brien, in rock’n’roll terms, hoped to break America: he thought that he could build HandMade into a big international studio by bankrolling ever more costly films. What’s more, he was determined to oversee the artistic side of the company, as well as the financial side, thus alienating the Pythons and many other film-makers. “Denis became more and more convinced that his ideas were better than our ideas,” said Terry Gilliam last week.
Among those ideas were that Time Bandits should be a musical, and that Cathy Tyson’s role in Mona Lisa should be played by Grace Jones. He also complained to Bruce Robinson, the writer-director of Withnail and I, that he was behind schedule by lunchtime on the first day of shooting. In Richard E Grant’s film diaries, With Nails, the actor recalls the arrival of “the incredibly tall, incredibly bald Big Noise from HandMade Films who is a Bilko identikit on a giant scale”. Robinson raged that he would rather quit than put up with this outsized Bilko, and, as ever, it was left to Cooper to smooth things over.
“Denis was trying to make HandMade a self-sufficient company that didn’t need George’s money, says Timlett. “It’s not that that wasn’t the right thing to try, but that’s ultimately where it all went wrong.” The would-be blockbusters of the mid-1980s were the turning point. In 1985, there was Dick Clement and Ian LeFrenais’s Caribbean caper, Water, which, LeFrenais avers, is highly entertaining as long as you’re high while you’re watching it. The following year there was Shanghai Surprise, starring Madonna and Sean Penn, which went almost as smoothly as the rest of their marriage. Both films flopped. “I have the feeling that George never quite recovered from that,” Palin writes in his foreword to Very Naughty Boys. “He remained generous, but felt compromised and he began to draw back. Once that happened, the end was in sight.”
After the early glory years, HandMade invested in too many films that barely saw the light of day, or the dark of the cinema. Cold Dog Soup with Randy Quaid, anyone? Checking Out with Jeff Daniels? Even the promising likes of Bob Hoskins’s directorial debut, The Raggedy Rawney, and Nicolas Roeg’s Track 29 were panned before vanishing without trace. With O’Brien in control, HandMade was losing money and Harrison was losing faith. Looking back at the company’s later projects, Harrison confessed to an interviewer that he frequently didn’t “like the script or the film” at all, but he didn’t want to rock the boat. In 1991, HandMade ceased to be. Its name and back catalogue were sold off three years later.
What An Accidental Studio doesn’t mention is that this hurtling rise and fall wasn’t just a case of too much expansion and too little quality control. Harrison sued O’Brien in 1995, and was awarded $11.6m in damages. The lyrics he had written for his Time Bandits theme song were weirdly prescient about HandMade’s ride: “Greedy feeling, wheeling dealing, losing what you won. See the dream come undone.”
Still, what a dream it was. In only a decade, HandMade was responsible for an astonishing number of genre-bending gems that wouldn’t be made today, and were lucky to get made back then. And, for a while, Harrison had the satisfaction of supporting his friends. The most touching part of An Accidental Studio is the footage of HandMade’s 10th anniversary party at Shepperton in 1989. It was more of a wake than a birthday bash: everyone knew that the company’s days were numbered. But the gallows humour of Harrison’s rueful speech was lightened when he professed his feelings for Monty Python – feelings that had got him into the film business in the first place. “I love them so much,” he says, “they’d be embarrassed if they ever realised.” | |||||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 1 | 41 | https://www.goldradiouk.com/artists/the-beatles/films-cast-director-release-songs/ | en | The Beatles biopics: Cast, director, release date and songs for the FOUR upcoming movies | https://imgs.goldradiouk.com/images/636776?width=1200&crop=16_9&signature=5Mefe-glSKOlgKjr0LGyoR69ONs= | https://imgs.goldradiouk.com/images/636776?width=1200&crop=16_9&signature=5Mefe-glSKOlgKjr0LGyoR69ONs= | [
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"Mayer Nissim"
] | 2024-06-06T09:14:05+01:00 | Sam Mendes announces four separate Beatles biopics covering the lives of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. | en | /assets_v4r/gold/img/favicon-16x16.png | Gold | https://www.goldradiouk.com/artists/the-beatles/films-cast-director-release-songs/ | Welcome to the launch of the Beatles Cinematic Universe.
As you'd expect for arguably the biggest (and best?) band in the history of music, The Beatles have popped up plenty of times on the big (and small) screen over the years.
When it comes to documentaries, there was controversial Let It Be and its effective re-imagining with Peter Jackson's three-part Get Back, as well as Ron Howard's The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years and the eight-part Anthology series in 1995.
The story behind The Beatles last ever live "rooftop" performance
'All You Need Is Love' by The Beatles: The making of the era-defining Summer of Love anthem
Listen to the Gold 60s Live Playlist on Global Player, the official app of Gold
When it comes to dramas, during the band's own lifetime they played fictional versions of themselves in the classic A Hard Day's Night in 1964, their barmy colour excursion Help! the following year, Magical Mystery Tour and – with impressionists doing the Fab Four's voices – the animated Yellow Submarine.
Since then, there have been various portrayals of the Fab Four on screen. The early years and the life and times of Stuart Sutcliffe were covered in Backbeat, while John Lennon's early years were covered in Sam Taylor-Wood's 2009 film Nowhere Boy.
And then there was the Beatles film without The Beatles – Danny Boyle and Richard Curtis's high-concept Yesterday. But with the wave of high-profile feature biopics (Bohemian Rhapsody, Rocketman, Elvis, and the upcoming Michael) it feels like a proper Beatles biopic was surely inevitable. Well, it turns out we're actually getting four. Here's everything you need to know.
Wait, did you say there would be FOUR Beatles biopics?
Yep! Too big for just one movie, it's been decided that there will be four separate Beatles films: one for each of the Fab Four of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.
All four movies will be shot simultaneously, and will cross over with one another.
"The four theatrical feature films – one from each band member’s point-of-view – will intersect to tell the astonishing story of the greatest band in history," is how it was explained in the first announcement.
"The dating cadence of the films, the details of which will be shared closer to release, will be innovative and groundbreaking."
Think of it as the launch of the Beatles Cinematic Universe.
Producer Pippa Harris said: "We intend this to be a uniquely thrilling, and epic cinematic experience: four films, told from four different perspectives which tell a single story about the most celebrated band of all time."
What is the release date of the four Beatles movies?
The films are being shot in 2025 with a planned release date of 2027. All four films will be in cinemas in the same year, though we don't yet know if the release will be simultaneous or staggered over the year.
"You have to match the boldness of the idea with a bold release strategy," Sony Pictures chief Tom Rothman told The Hollywood Reporter soon after the project was announced.
"There hasn’t been an enterprise like this before, and you can’t think about it in traditional releasing terms.”
Who is directing the four Beatles movies?
All four Beatles films will be directed by Sam Mendes.
After making his name in theatre, Mendes won Best Director at the Oscars for his 1999 film debut American Beauty, and he's only directed eight films since – including the back-to-back James Bond double header of Skyfall and Spectre.
"I'm honoured to be telling the story of the greatest rock band of all time, and excited to challenge the notion of what constitutes a trip to the movies," Mendes said.
Who will play the Fab Four in the four Beatles movies?
Given the promise that the four films will "intersect" and with their planned concurrent shooting, we're assuming that we're getting the same John, Paul, George and Ringos across the four films.
But as for who they'll be, we've not had any OFFICIAL word just yet, though in early June 2024, The InSneider claimed that it had the scoop on who is in the frame for the Fab Four.
The supposed planned casting is:
Harris Dickinson as John Lennon
Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney
Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr
Charlie Rowe as George Harrison
Sony has yet to confirm the report, and when the project was first announced, the internet was awash with wishlists, and these are the names being mentioned for each of the Fab Four, who could still be considered.
John Lennon: Sam Claflin, George Mackay, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Paul Danon, Kit Connor, Josh O'Connor
Paul McCartney: Jacob Elordi, Jamie Bell, Tom Holland, Jack Lowden
George Harrison: Timothée Chalamet, Asa Butterfield, Dhani Harrison, Jacob Fortune-Lloyd
Ringo Starr: Barry Keoghan, Daniel Radcliffe, Craig Roberts, Anthony Boyle, Isaac Hempstead Wright
Will the four Beatles movies actually include The Beatles' music?
The surviving Beatles and their estates are more protective of the back catalogue than probably any other major artist.
But with this being a fully official project, we can assume that all four films will be packed with The Beatles' music.
"The project marks the first time Apple Corps Ltd. and The Beatles – Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and the families of John Lennon and George Harrison – have granted full life story and music rights for a scripted film," is what we're told.
As for whether the cast will lip-sync to those classic original recordings or sing and play themselves, we're yet to be told. | ||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 2 | 80 | https://wmgk.com/2022/10/27/bizarre-story-eric-clapton-george-harrison-pattie-boyd/ | en | Eric Clapton, George Harrison, and the Bizarre Story of Pattie Boyd | [
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] | null | [
"Matty Cord"
] | 2022-10-27T00:00:00 | Pattie Boyd opened up in a recent interview about her past marriages with rockstars and best friends Eric Clapton and George Harrison. | en | 102.9 WMGK | https://wmgk.com/2022/10/27/bizarre-story-eric-clapton-george-harrison-pattie-boyd/ | The Bizarre Story of Eric Clapton, George Harrison, and Pattie Boyd
Pattie Boyd, the ex-wife of George Harrison and Eric Clapton, interviewed with Telegraph Magazine after the release of her new book My Life in Pictures last week.
The book’s official site described Boyd as a “model, photographer, and one of the most iconic muses of the twentieth century.” However, many classic rock fans will only ever associate her with her bizarre, topsy-turvy relationships with two of the greatest rock stars of her generation.
She is the inspiration for Harrison’s single “Something” and two of Clapton’s most recognizable hits “Layla” and “Wonderful Tonight.”
Boyd married George Harrison in 1966 while Beatlemania continued to sweep the music world off its feet. However, she suffered through incredible insecurity that ultimately ended her marriage with the Beatles’ guitarist in 1977.
“I felt I had to leave George because things were getting really out of hand. George was just being a different George. We had gone in different directions, basically. But we still loved each other… It’s just that I think he wanted to spread his wings and take advantage of being the handsome, famous, rich guy that he was and see how the girls feel about him,” she told Telegraph.
Eric Clapton was Harrison’s closest friend, but he had actively pursued Pattie Boyd romantically while she was married to Harrison. He wrote “Layla” in 1970 with Derek and the Dominos about his painful desire for the famous model.
In an unusual twist of events, Clapton married Boyd in 1979. His drug abuse issues complicated the relationship before and after the marriage, and they ultimately split up in 1989.
Having the same ex-wife is hardly a common bonding point of best friends, but Clapton and Harrison remined close until Harrison passed away in 2001.
Boyd spoke about her life after divorcing two famous rock stars and how the astonishing path ultimately led her to happiness after the fame. “Well, I was no longer Mrs. Famous George or Mrs. Famous Eric, so who am I? I am no one. No one knows me. I don’t even know me. I was at a critical point in my life, and so I saw a psychotherapist who was quite wonderful. She was amazing. She guided me out of this mire of respond, and gradually, I learned to believe in myself.”
10 Unplugged Albums Everyone Should Own
Matt Cord is the host of the Matt Cord Show. He is a lover of all Philly Sports and has been the voice of the Sixers for 27 years and NBA2K for the past 4 years. As a cyclist enthusiast, Matt writes about his adventures all throughout the city. | |||||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 2 | 38 | https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/George-Harrison/Philip-Norman/9781982195861 | en | George Harrison | [
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"https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Philip-Norman/18228509"
] | null | George Harrison by Philip Norman - From the premiere Beatles biographer—author of the New York Times bestseller John Lennon: The Life and Shout!: The Beatles... | en | https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/George-Harrison/Philip-Norman/9781982195861 | “George Harrison offers a full serving of Beatlemania through the specific lens of the group’s youngest member. The entire dynamic of The Beatles is on full display in these career-spanning chapters. Thanks to illuminating anecdotes that reveal the band’s complex relationships, Beatles fans will be enthralled page after page.”
—BookPage
“Being in the Fab Four might have given Harrison fame, wealth and boundless opportunity, but as Philip Norman shows in this absorbing biography [with] its eye for period detail, the burden it placed on his far-from-resilient shoulders stayed with him for the rest of his life.”
—Wall Street Journal
“Norman’s book will likely go down as the best and most comprehensive single volume biography. And it’s a solid choice as a Christmas gift for the Beatles fan on your ‘nice’ list.”
—Houston Press
“Norman has fashioned an authoritative portrait of Harrison that leaves you liking and feeling sympathy for his subject while being fully aware of the tetchiness…that was never far away. Norman is something of a one-man Beatles industry.”
—The Times of London
“[A] wonderful new biography. . . Philip Norman captures [Harrison’s] class consciousness vividly [and] does a marvelous job evoking Harrison’s working-class Liverpool upbringing. Norman writes with a mix of affection, irreverence and whimsy that feels perfectly aligned with his subject.”
—Robert Dean Lurie, The Spectator World
“Norman captures the creativity, the humanity, and the great humor of the man in this keen and lovely tribute.”
—Booklist (starred review)
“Norman knows his subject and the soulful torments Harrison endured. A well-informed biography of an enigmatic musician.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“George Harrison was not just the reluctant Beatle. With his wizardly vim on the guitar, feathery voice, and knack for songcraft, he was certainly the most underrated one. Here, the Fab Four's inimitable chronicler Philip Norman gives us the portrait of Harrison's remarkable life that only he can: myth-dispelling, richly detailed, and full of humor. The story of how this young, poor, quiet Liverpool kid rose to musical mastery and fame is the triumph of an oft-overlooked hero—and a delight on every page.”
—Ian S. Port, author of The Birth of Loud | ||||||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 1 | 82 | https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/a-history-of-george-harrisons-handmade-films/ | en | A History of George Harrison’s HandMade Films | [
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] | null | [
"Tony Sokol"
] | 2015-02-25T14:23:00+00:00 | George Harrison wanted to see Life of Brian but it hadn't been made. He bought a home theater but mortgaged his house to produce it. | en | Den of Geek | https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/a-history-of-george-harrisons-handmade-films/ | Today, or as some offiical biographies – yesterday, is or was George Harrison’s birthday. The Beatles’ guitarist would have been 72. Besides the music, Harrison and the other bandmates were natural comedians who looked pretty good on film, inventing the music video and reinventing the rock and roll feature film. Spike Lee, to this day, proclaims his love of the Richard Lester classic Help and he’s a pretty good judge of comedy. And of indie films.
George created HandMade Films because he wanted to see a movie. The movie he wanted to see was Life of Brian, this thing the Monty Python crew was peddling all over London. George thought it would be funny. He knew funny. He liked to be amused. He figured, if it would amuse him, it would amuse other people. He’s an amusing guy. These Pythons were good for a chuckle too. So Hare Georgeson put out the cash for what might have been the most expensive home movie ever made.
Well, it lost that honor because it was too funny to be ignored. It was also a little too controversial to be ignored. All the kings’ horses and men stomped on it as blasphemous and irreverent. Of course it was irreverent. It was also one of the most historically correct Jesus movies ever made. That didn’t stop it from being silly. It didn’t stop it from being a hit. It didn’t stop HandMade Films from making more movies.
I like to think Harrison hand-picked the movies made by HandMade Films. He made movies I wanted to see, just like he made music I wanted to hear. HandMade Films made anarchic comedies and crime movies, disrespectful Jesus Movies and even played with time. Harrison didn’t do it all, of course, he had Denis O’Brien on to tell him how to spend his money.
George met O’Brien through Peter Sellers. Besides adopting Ringo Star in the film The Magic Christian, Peter Sellers was part of the seminal British comedy radio troupe The Goon Show, which was produced by George Martin, who produced the Beatles. Harrison played the Sue Me Sue You Blues for O’Brien in the mid-nineties for abusing that money trust.
Before Sean Penn and Madonna crippled HandMade Films with Shanghai Surprise, and drove George back to smoking (Harrison died of cancer in 2001, which he blamed on cigarettes. I’m not saying Madonna and Sean Penn killed him, but they’ve driven me to light up more than once), it produced some classic, albeit underground movies. The films shared a skewered and subversive approach that set them apart from other movies.
Nuns on the Run, for example, had nuns. They ran. There weren’t that many nuns on the run from the London mob on screen at the time. Eric Idle looked pretty good in a habit, which covered his legs. I guess that’s better than when they put John Cleese’s Privates on Parade.
Time Bandits launched the first of Terry Gilliam’s “Trilogy of Imagination” movies, which included the surrealistically hyperrealistic dystopia movie Brazil as well as The Adventures of Baron Von Munchausen, by proxy of other studios. Time Bandits is fun for all ages. What with those little people falling on top of Shelly Duvall and that map to everywhere and the funniest, and most logical, Satan in cinema. Sean Connery’s heroism shines through whether he’s wielding a sword or fighting fires. Gilliam’s subversive intensity breaking up into historical hysterics. It’s a kid film at heart. Sweet with a nihilistic center that’s full of compassion.
The darker than dark boozy comedy cult classic Whitnail and I launched a drinking game. It’s a fun game. Try and match, glass for glass and pint for pint, what’s going down the gullets of the lead actors playing actors in 1969 London, when they really knew how to drink. That’s a legacy. My guitar weeps at the thought of it.
The Long Good Friday is a good, solid British gangster film. I love gangster pictures and I like seeing Bob Hoskins in them. This was his breakthrough. Hoskins might have made me giggle with some of his New Yorkese in Cotton Club, which I watch over and over, and Who Fed Roger Ebert- I mean Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but he could be just as clever in his own tongue. The Long Good Friday is The British Connection, Hoskins wants to raise himself above his class by dealing with the American mob. Just like he’d raise his standing by playing American mobsters. Good on ya, Bob, for following the script.
Hoskins would get nominated for a best actor Oscar and win a Best Actor BAFTA for his role in HandMade Film’s noir Mona Lisa. Michel Caine is also a joy in his old stomping ground. Caine made some classic British underworld movies in the sixties where he could be suave and cockney.
HandMade Films felt very personal. They could be maddening. HandMade Films’ movies could set out to be that way. The company nurtured talent and took chances. They didn’t only do this with content, they did it with style.
Nicholas Roeg makes fascinating films that suspend the viewer into unreasonable cinematic realms. The Man Who Fell To Earth blew minds as David Bowie plucked more than his eyebrows as a visiting alien. What’s not to like? Track 29, made by HandMade Films in 1988, was made not to be liked. I’ve seen it a few times, mainly for the cast, which includes the always fine Theresa Russell, Taxi’s Christopher Lloyd, Sandra Bernhard and of course, Gary Oldman.
It’s a trip, not a particularly good trip down south on the Chattanooga choo-choo line. Roeg is good at giving out bad acid. Performance, with Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithful in their prime, plumbed deep into depravity with a rock and roll soundtrack and raw performance and flesh. The acting in Track 29 is fully internal, muted and realistic amidst another skewing of reality in a stark verite style. The subversion is that, real as it may look, the worse bits might be only imagination.
After it was sold, HandMade Films made Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, the Guy Richie mob movie, which floored me. Quentin Tarantino exploded into criminal cinema with the perfect debut Reservoir Dogs. Those shots were heard in England. Richie made crime look almost as much fun as Tarantino made it look, but with quick edits and fast pace to the point of whiplash. It was a gamble in a rigged game with a stacked deck and paid off in dividends that meant more than money. Influence. It knocked the London underworld down a notch.
Now, according to Wiki, the rights to HandMade Films sits in a garage in New Jersey. It’s been sitting there since the summer of 2010 just waiting for something to do. There’s a website that says it’s taking advantage of its IP address, but I don’t see them making films right now. And I want to. | |||||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 1 | 94 | https://filmforum.org/film/george-harrison-living-in-the-material-world-scorsese-nonfic-12-8 | en | Film Forum · GEORGE HARRISON: LIVING IN THE MATERIAL WORLD | [
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Sunday, December 8 6:30
Monday, December 9 1:00
(2011) Look back at the Beatle’s life, based on wife Olivia’s video records, opened to Scorsese, who added five years of research. DCP. Approx. 208 min.
REVIEW
“This is a more objective, less personal documentary than Scorsese usually makes. Considering its length, there isn't much concert footage, and it focuses on archival interviews with George, news footage, and an impressive selection of talking heads.”
– Roger Ebert
“For any fan of the Beatles, or anyone interested in pop history, there is something of interest in every minute; particularly some stunning still photos of Harrison and the band in the early 60s….Scorsese's film suggests that alone in the Beatles, and perhaps alone in pop's premier league, Harrison was an authentic spiritual figure. For Harrison fans, this is a treat.”
– Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian | en | /do-not-enter-or-modify-or-erase/site-theme/img/apple-touch-icon.png | Film Forum | https://filmforum.org/film/george-harrison-living-in-the-material-world-scorsese-nonfic-12-8 | (2011) Look back at the Beatle’s life, based on wife Olivia’s video records, opened to Scorsese, who added five years of research. DCP. Approx. 208 min.
Reviews
“This is a more objective, less personal documentary than Scorsese usually makes. Considering its length, there isn't much concert footage, and it focuses on archival interviews with George, news footage, and an impressive selection of talking heads.”
– Roger Ebert | ||||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 2 | 96 | https://english.elpais.com/culture/2022-10-14/pattie-boyd-is-sick-of-being-called-a-muse-what-have-i-done-to-inspire-george-harrison.html | en | Pattie Boyd is sick of being called a muse: ‘What have I done to inspire George Harrison?’ | [
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""
] | null | [
"Toni García"
] | 2022-10-14T00:00:00 | The ex-model Pattie Boyd, who documented the London of the 1960s and became the subject of songs by The Beatles and Eric Clapton, reflects in the book ‘My Life in Pictures’ | en | https://static.elpais.com/dist/resources/images/favicon.ico | EL PAÍS English | https://english.elpais.com/culture/2022-10-14/pattie-boyd-is-sick-of-being-called-a-muse-what-have-i-done-to-inspire-george-harrison.html | It was London in the sixties, the time of Mary Quant miniskirts and youthful freedom on Carnaby Street, King’s Road and Kensington. Michael Caine sat behind the wheel of a 600, and David Hemmings wore white pants and wielded a camera. It was a time of protests, drugs and ideas. And, above all, it was the time of Pattie Boyd.
The model, photographer and actress inspired almost a dozen songs from rock’s most mythologized stars. She was a key figure in an increasingly complex society, an icon who connected John Lennon with the wealthiest pockets of the time. She was ahead of the changes that were coming. Elizabeth II was reigning over Britain, but Pattie Boyd ruled over London.
The story of that life appears in Pattie Boyd: My Life in Pictures (Reel Art Press), a biography in images of the 78-year-old who was born 200 kilometers from London. By 1962, she had moved to the capital and begun working in the legendary beauty salon of Elizabeth Arden as a shampoo girl. That didn’t last long. “I was there just because I needed work. A woman came one day and asked me if I’d thought of being a model, and said that if I was interested, I should go see her the following week,” she recalls today from her apartment in Kensington, where she received ICON.
That woman turned out to have contacts in the magazine Honey, at the forefront of modernity. Shortly thereafter, Boyd found an agent. “Then came the most complicated part: persuading photographers to take photos of me. So I worked with a lot of young people. They needed experience and I needed photos, so that was the process for a long time,” Boyd recalls. Among those young photographers were David Bailey, Terence Donovan and Brian Duffy. “I also admit that I couldn’t really believe it, and every time that I got it, I thought, I’m so lucky. Then another session would happen and I would think the same thing: this one hasn’t realized either.”
A few years later, Boyd, all bangs and big eyes, had become the most famous face of Swinging London. Twiggy, the legendary model of the era, who is also a close friend of Boyd, declared her to be her essential influence. Mary Quant said that every modern woman aspired to look more like Pattie Boyd than Marlene Dietrich. Meanwhile, Boyd rubbed shoulders with the most legendary actors, poets and musicians of the era. “I’ll tell you something: it’s been so long since that happened that, when I think about it, I always have the sensation that I’m watching someone else’s life. I also don’t remember most of it: I remember fun parts and I still have the best memories, but the rest is very far away,” she jokes.
She does remember one pivotal moment: “A guy came over once and saw my book, and I think he liked it because he hired me. I thought it was another TV commercial [Boyd had just shot a spot for Smith’s chips], but that night my agent told me I had been booked in a film with the Beatles. I told him that it couldn’t be, how was I going to appear in a Beatles movie? But it turned out that it was true. [The Smith’s ad had been directed by Richard Lester, the Liverpool film collaborator and director of their first film, A Hard Day’s Night]. I was just going to say one sentence and wear a schoolgirl uniform, which seemed ridiculous, but okay. Then everything else happened, so I’m not going to complain.”
By “everything else,” she means that she fell in love with George Harrison. They ended up marrying. She was, in fact, the one who introduced Harrison to the realms of Indian spirituality. She became a fixture on the band’s travels, eventually changing the sound of the biggest band on the planet forever. Revolver (1966) included the sounds of sitars. Then the Rolling Stones borrowed the idea for Paint It Black, and by 1968, the Beatles were making group trips to India to learn to meditate. “I don’t miss those times,” she says with septuagenarian sarcasm. “If I could transport myself there right now, I would love it, of course, but I loved my life then the same way I love it now. It was living in a bubble, surrounded by famous people, where all doors were open to you. But even today I lead a wonderful life. Did the fame of the group affect me? They did not behave as if they were special. They were ordinary people. That made everything very easy,” she recalls.
Harrison’s divorce ultimately cemented Boyd’s legendary status. Shortly before the Beatles split, the guitarist had begun collaborating with his friend Eric Clapton. With the group disbanded, Harrison and Clapton spent time playing together with Boyd photographing them. Clapton fell in irrevocably in love with her, so much so that he dedicated a song to her, Layla. Today, that seven-minute ballad about a woman you can’t have is one of the most famous anthems in ‘70s rock.
Boyd ended up leaving Harrison for Clapton. That was the first of many songs dedicated to her. “I’m not a muse,” she says. “I mean, I understand what you’re referring to, but for me, and I say this with complete sincerity, everything is in the hands of the artist. It’s all in their head. They project that on whoever they want, but that’s the artist’s problem. Having said that, it makes me really happy to listen to them, but I’m not such a narcissist to believe that they’re talking about me. I don’t believe it. I still remember the first time that George told me he’d written something for me. I looked at him and I said, ‘Why did you write a song for me? Why do I deserve a song? What have I done to inspire it?’”
One point she recognized: Boyd is a reasonably successful photographer whose documentation of the era, primarily of the Beatles and Clapton, has been shown all over the world. She wasn’t just an icon of the era; she was also its historian. “I remember how free and happy I felt and the sensation to think that the world would never change. I noted that zeitgeist in the air. The creativity and excitement and the sensation that we were about to arrive at something new filled everything. The amount of painters and musicians who emerged, great artists, great photographers, the amount of cinemas…it was an incredible time,” she remembers.
And now? The times of Twitch, Twitter, TikTok? “Impossible. It wouldn’t have been possible at all. With social media it is really hard to do what you want to do, decide who you are, being connected to everything at every minute, without a break. It would have completely overwhelmed me,” she recognizes.
Now, with the release of the book, Patricia Anne Boyd once again finds herself before the cameras and the microphones. “This isn’t something that scares me. It’s not like I’m at home all day watching television, you know? I go to the theater, I still take photos and I have a very active social life, so it won’t be a big change.” Before saying goodbye, when asked to summarize the lessons from her adventurous life, Boyd pauses. “It’s essential to be faithful to yourself, not betray yourself, be honest and allow people to know you for who you really are. I don’t think there’s anything quite as important.” | ||||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 2 | 79 | https://www.starsnorth.com/portfolio-item/prefab/ | en | PRE FAB! – Stars North | [
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] | null | [] | null | en | https://www.starsnorth.com/portfolio-item/prefab/ | The last Beatles story to be tell about how it all began… Before the Fab Four, there
was PRE FAB! –the story of one man, his drums and the biggest band the
world would ever know!
PRE FAB! chronicles the rise of “Skiffle” music and its impact on Post World War II British youth, the influence of American Rock ‘n’ Roll and how, in 1956, a boy named John Lennon rounded up a host of friends, including Paul McCartney and George Harrison, to form a group called The Quarrymen. | |||||||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 2 | 63 | https://www.goldradiouk.com/artists/the-beatles/hard-days-night-film-trivia-facts/ | en | A Hard Day's Night: 10 amazing facts about The Beatles' classic movie | https://imgs.goldradiouk.com/images/561680?width=1200&crop=16_9&signature=NQrF3HnkitHs218S6lFUJA1Vnv0= | https://imgs.goldradiouk.com/images/561680?width=1200&crop=16_9&signature=NQrF3HnkitHs218S6lFUJA1Vnv0= | [
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"Mayer Nissim"
] | 2024-07-11T09:13:39.697000+01:00 | The Beatles' A Hard Day's Night isn't just a great music movie – it's one of the greatest films of all time full stop. Here are some amazing facts and trivial you may not have known about it. | en | /assets_v4r/gold/img/favicon-16x16.png | Gold | https://www.goldradiouk.com/artists/the-beatles/hard-days-night-film-trivia-facts/ | The Beatles' A Hard Day's Night isn't just a great music movie – it's one of the greatest films of all time full stop.
Pop music and movies have been intertwined since the very beginning.
Blackboard Jungle brought Bill Haley to the masses in 1955, while Elvis was as big a movie star as he was a music icon in his early days.
Listen to the Gold At The Movies Live Playlist on Global Player
'All You Need Is Love' by The Beatles: The making of the era-defining Summer of Love anthem
'Glass Onion': The surreal Beatles song that gave Daniel Craig's Netflix movie its name
After some initial critical success, pop films seemed to dip massively in quality – Elvis churning out three roles a year probably didn't help – but The Beatles bucked that trend with their debut film A Hard Day's Night in 1964.
Written by Alun Owen and directed by Richard Lester, the film charted 36 fictional hours in the life of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr at that crucial moment in history when Beatlemania was about to go supernova.
But do you know which Beatle met his future wife on the set of the film, or which future 1970s/'80s pop superstar had his tiny role unceremoniously cut from the film? Read on for ten remarkable facts about A Hard Day's Night.
1. The first Beatles film was very nearly something called The Yellow Teddy Bears without any Beatles songs
Really.
"We didn't even want to make a movie that was going to be bad, and we insisted on having a real writer to write it," John said.
Paul added: "We were offered one early on called The Yellow Teddy Bears. We were excited but it turned out that the fella involved was going to write all the songs, and we couldn't have that."
They absolutely could not.
Instead, Brian Epstein suggested experimental filmmaker Richard "Dick" Lester, who had come up with Spike Milligan/Peter Sellers short The Running, Jumping & Standing Still Film, which The Beatles had all loved
"Dick came round to see us and we found that he was also a musician," said Paul. "He could play a bit of jazz piano, which made him even more interesting.
"He was an American but had been working in England; he'd worked with The Goons, that was enough for us."
2. "A Hard Day's Night" was one of Ringo's infamous Ringoisms
The working titles for the film were apparently the less-than-inspiring The Beatles and Beatlemania, but what on earth is "a hard day's night" anyway?
"I had used it in In His Own Write," John said, "but it was an off-the-cuff remark by Ringo, one of those malapropisms – a Ringosm – said not to be funny, just said."
Ringo explained: "Once when we were working all day and then into the night and came out thinking it was still day and said, 'It's been a hard day', and looked around and noticing it was dark, '...'s night!'."
Other classic Ringoisms? "I'll have you back in your safely-beds", "Slight bread" and "Tomorrow Never Knows".
3. John Lennon wrote 'A Hard Day's Night' for the film to order in one evening
By 1964, John and Paul were getting quite competitive with each other about getting the next big Beatles hit.
Paul had notched up the chart-topping 'Can't By Me Love', so once the film's title was confirmed on April 13, 1964, John raced home to get started the song – which would be the seventh and final track written for the movie.
"Dick Lester said, 'We are going to use that title'," John said, "and the next morning I brought in the song."
Easy.
4. Paul's "very clean" grandfather was a massive Steptoe & Son in-joke
Paul's mischievous grandfather was played by Wilfrid Brambell, who was already well-known to audiences in 1964 as Albert Steptoe in the classic sitcom Steptoe & Son.
The show had been airing since 1962 and would run for four black & white series till 1965, before returning for another four in colour from 1970 to 1974.
A constant refrain from the younger Harold Steptoe (Harry H Corbett) in the show? "You dirty old man".
In A Hard Day's Night, that well-worn phrase is neatly turned on its head.
"He's a nice old man, isn't he?... He's very clean."
At its peak, Steptoe & Son was attracting a whopping 20 million viewers – around 40% of the population.
This isn't a gag that would have gone over anyone's head... in the UK at least. We can imagine a few Americans scratching their heads at the time.
It's worth noting that Wilfrid Bambell was only about 30 years older than Paul McCartney, making him a remarkably young grandfather.
5. George Harrison coined the word "grotty", which didn't exist before the film.
Okay, technically it was writer Alun Owen who seemingly invented the word, but it was George who said it on screen in one of the very best scenes in the movie.
After being pounced on by an adman called Simon to endorse some horrible shirts, the fictional George Harrison explains why that just isn't going to happen.
"I wouldn't be seen dead in them," he said as part of a scene that rips up influencer culture nearly half a century before anyone had heard of Instagram. "They're dead grotty."
Think that word has been around forever? It turns out the 1964 novelisation of A Hard Day's Night was the first time the word was ever used in print.
"Alun Owen made that up; I didn’t," George said later.
"People have used that word for years now. It was a new expression: grotty – grotesque."
6. John Lennon wrote down something INCREDIBLY cheeky when a reporter asked him what his hobbies were?
Some of A Hard Day's Night's best moments come when The Beatles' are interacting with the press.
The Fab Four were renowned in real life for their witty responses to intrusive, impertinent or just plain weird questions from journalists, and one memorable scene is packed with these quips.
"Tell me, how did you find America?" "Turn left at Greenland." "Has success changed your life?" "Yes." "Are you a mod or a rocker?" "Um, no. I'm a mocker." "What do you call that collar?" "Oh, a collar." "Do you often see your father?" "No, actually we're just good friends."
One moment finds John Lennon being quizzed by a reporter who asks him in perfectly clipped Queen's English "Have you any hobbies?".
John doesn't answer out loud, but just grabs another journalist's pen and notebook to scrawl something down, showing it to the first reporter, who just gawps in response.
The word John wrote? Tits.
7. A young Phil Collins was in the crowd for the band's performance scene – but was cut out of the final edit
You may have heard that a 13-year-old Phil Collins is in A Hard Day's Night, but that's not quite true.
A Beatlemaniac himself, Phil was there in the crowd for the bands' performance scene shot at The Scala Theatre in London, on March 31, 1964, but he ended up on the cutting room floor.
Phil knew he was there, but never saw himself on film in the crowd – until the producers made a 30th anniversary documentary You Can't Do That! The Making of A Hard Day's Night in 1996, which Collins narrated.
"They actually cut 'You Can't Do That', The Beatles' song, out of the movie," Phil told Conan O'Brien years later.
"They gave me this and I was freeze-framing it, and I suddenly saw someone that I recognised, and behind this person, was this little round-faced blonde-haired boy with a red tie with a diamond in the middle, and that was me!"
Most of the outtakes for the film were actually sadly destroyed, and this historical snippet was only saved because it appeared on an episode of The Ed Sullivan Show at the time.
8. George Harrison met his future wife Pattie Boyd on the set of the film
Paul remembered: "In the film, there were little schoolgirls in gym slips who were actually models, and we were quite fascinated with them – George even married one."
Yep, in that that hilarious (if somewhat inappropriate scene) with the schoolgirls on the train (George: Ey, look at the talent! John: Let’s give ’em a pull....), who is the wide-eyed schoolgirl who says "prisoners?!" when warned off by Paul's grandfather?
It's a very young Pattie Boyd, who went on to marry George in 1966, when she was just 22 and he was 23.
"George and I were very young when we met," Pattie recalled years later.
"In a way it was wonderful because we were growing up together, we still had so much to learn."
The couple stayed married for over a decade before eventually divorcing in June 1977.
Pattie went on to marry and divorce George's friend Eric Clapton, before settling down with property developer Rod Weston.
9. The film is packed with other future superstars – including a Bond girl and Lionel Blair
Pattie Boyd and Phil Collins are maybe the most stand-out names today, but they weren't the only future famous names that featured in A Hard Day's Night.
If you recognise the (ahem) "great swimmer" at the casino, that's because it's Bond girl Margaret Nolan. She played Bond's masseuse Dink in the same year's Goldfinger.
More than that, it's Nolan who was painted gold for that memorable 007 title sequence, with her image all over the adverts and soundtrack cover for the film.
That TV choreographer strutting his stuff to a piano-led instrumental version of 'I'm Happy Just To Dance With You'? That's Lionel Blair. The dancer at the nightclub? Charlotte Rampling. Another dancer? future Are You Being Served? and 'Allo 'Allo! creator Jeremy Lloyd.
The snotty police officer? Future Please Sir! and Sykes actor Deryck Guyler. Adman Simon Marshall we mentioned above? He was played by an uncredited Kenneth Haigh, who had previously originated Jimmy Porter in the era-defining Look Back in Anger on the stage.
10. A Hard Day's Night is positively littered with James Bond connections
The Beatles and James Bond are two of the most quintessentially British global cultural touchstones, and the 007 connections in A Hard Day's Night don't just start and end with Margaret Nolan.
Both films were released by United Artists, and the Le Cercle gambling club Ringo is invited to play Chemin de Fer and Baccarat (two of Bond's favourite card games) shares its name with the club 007 made his first appearance at in Dr No two years earlier.
Speaking of Dr No, the instrumental version of 'This Boy', also known as 'Ringo's Theme', was performed by guitarist Vic Flick, who played on 'The Jame Bond Theme' from that film.
That snarky city gent in the early scene who uses that train regularly (twice a week!) is played by Richard Vernon, who was also in Goldfinger as Colonel Smithers.
It's not the first time the worlds of Beatles and Bond have crossed paths
"My dear girl, there are some things that just aren't done, such as drinking Dom Perignon '53 above the temperature of 38 degrees Fahrenheit," said Sean Connery's Bond in Goldfinger, teeing himself up for a one-liner that's aged as badly as anything in the history of Bond.
"That's just as bad as listening to The Beatles without earmuffs!"
For shame 007, for shame. | ||
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] | 2022-11-23T21:50:05-05:00 | Eric Clapton, left, and George Harrison's son, Dhani Harrison, perform at the 2002 "Concert for George," with the film version screening November 29 at the Jane Pickens Theater. George Harrison’s songs may not have equaled the prodigious output and popularity of bandmates John Lennon and Paul McCartney, but he sure did write some gems, including | Newport This Week - | https://www.newportthisweek.com/articles/music-and-friendship-are-center-stage-in-concert-for-george/ | George Harrison’s songs may not have equaled the prodigious output and popularity of bandmates John Lennon and Paul McCartney, but he sure did write some gems, including “Here Comes the Sun” and “Something.” He was known as the “quiet Beatle,” but by all accounts, Harrison was playful, introspective, curious and a seeker of enlightenment.
All this is on display at the “Concert for George” that took place in London’s Albert Hall exactly one year after Harrison’s death from cancer at age 58 on Nov. 29, 2001. Film of that all-star tribute concert, directed by David Leland and shot by veteran cinematographer Chris Menges, has been digitally remastered. “Concert for George” arrives in theaters, including the Jane Pickens Theater, for one night only on Nov. 29.
The spirit of Harrison is everywhere, starting with the presence of his wife, Olivia, who co-organized the concert with Eric Clapton, and she co-produced the film with George’s son, guitarist Dhani Harrison.
With his dark hair and white tunic, Dhani not only looks just like his father, but interacts with fellow musicians onstage with the same sweet, self-effacing grace. Clapton, Harrison’s longtime friend and collaborator, serves as music director and master of ceremonies.
The event is notable for reuniting the two surviving Beatles, McCartney and Ringo Starr, who perform to thunderous ovations. In a joyful moment, the crowd joins Starr in singing ”Photograph,” the 1973 hit he wrote with Harrison.
In keeping with the magnanimous spirit of the concert, the former Beatles are just part of the collection of Harrison’s bandmates, friends and colleagues, united in their expressions of joy to counter their loss.
British performer Joe Brown, of BBC and West End stage fame, may not be a household name in the United States, but he was a close friend of Harrison’s and nearly steals the show. The crowd roars when he launches into the legendary opening bars of “Here Comes the Sun,” then delivers a sublime rendition of Harrison’s classic tune. Brown also closes the concert, playing the ukulele, one of Harrison’s pet instruments, as he sings “I’ll See You in My Dreams.”
McCartney also strums the ukulele for a playful opening to “Something,” arguably Harrison’s most beloved composition. The full band, including Clapton and Dhani Harrison, join McCartney for a moving rendition. There’s also a powerful version of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” featuring Clapton on guitar, McCartney on piano and Starr on drums.
Of course, Harrison had a long career post-Beatles. In the late 1980s, along with Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison and Bob Dylan, he was part of the supergroup, the Traveling Wilburys. While Dylan is absent from “Concert for George,” Lynne co-produced the event and performs several numbers, including “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth).”
Petty and the Heartbreakers have fun with Harrison’s acerbic “Taxman,” from the Beatles’ seminal album, “Revolver.” Petty is among the scattered interviewees who talk about their connection to Harrison, although these are mostly generic clips that don’t add much to the overall film.
The music is what matters. Other highlights include Beatles collaborator Billy Preston’s powerhouse performance of Harrison’s 1970 hit “My Sweet Lord.” The concert pays homage to Harrison’s passion for Indian music with his friend and mentor, Ravi Shankar, speaking about him, and Shankar’s daughter, Anoushka, playing a riveting sitar solo. It’s especially poignant to watch the concert now, since Preston, Petty and Shankar have all died in the intervening 20 years.
Another unexpected highlight is when members of the Monty Python troupe, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Terry Gilliam and Python contributor Neil Innes take the stage for a comic bit. Michael Palin, actor Tom Hanks and the Fred Tomlinson Singers then appear in costume with the Pythons for a comic performance of “The Lumberjack Song.”
The silliness might seem out of place until Gilliam reveals how much Harrison loved Monty Python and considered the group’s madcap spirit to be the direct descendant of the early Beatles.
“Concert for George” is a touching tribute to Harrison as an artist and human being, and a welcome celebration of music and camaraderie. | ||||||
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] | 2018-07-19T12:23:47+00:00 | The Concert For Bangladesh was the crowning event of Harrison’s public life, a gesture of great goodwill that captured the moment in history. | en | This Day In Music | https://www.thisdayinmusic.com/liner-notes/george-harrison-concert-for-bangladesh/ | The Beatles had the biggest-selling vinyl single of 2023 in the UK with their record-breaking ‘last’ song, 'Now and Then'. With over 33,000 copies sold since its release, they broke several records including the longest time between an artist’s first and last No.1 and the UK’s fastest-selling vinyl single of the century. The ballad that John Lennon wrote and recorded around 1977 as a home demo was completed by his surviving bandmates Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, using overdubs and guitar tracks by George Harrison from the abandoned 1995 Anthology sessions.
American singer and songwriter Gary Wright died age 80. He was a member of Spooky Tooth and later had the 1976 solo US No.2 single 'Dream Weaver'. The song was inspired by Autobiography of a Yogi, which was given to him by George Harrison. Wright also played on Harrison's 1970 All Things Must Pass triple album. Wright turned to film soundtrack work in the early 1980s, including re-recording his most popular song, 'Dream Weaver', for the 1992 comedy Wayne's World.
American drummer Jim Gordon, died in prison at the age of 77. He was one of the most requested session drummers in the late 1960s and 1970s. Gordon co-wrote Layla with Eric Clapton, worked with The Everly Brothers, The Monkees, The Beach Boys, George Harrison, (All Things Must Pass), John Lennon (Imagine), The Carpenters, Traffic, Glen Campbell, (Wichita Lineman), Steely Dan, Jackson Browne, Frank Zappa and many others. A diagnosed schizophrenic, Gordon murdered his mother on June 3, 1983, by pounding her head with a hammer. He was sentenced to sixteen years-to-life in prison in 1984.
English drummer Alan White best known for his tenure in the progressive rock band Yes died age 72. In 1969, White joined John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Plastic Ono Band, playing drums on the singles 'Instant Karma! and 'Imagine', as well as most of Lennon's 1971 Imagine album. White also performed on over 50 albums by other musicians, notably George Harrison, Ginger Baker's Air Force, Terry Reid, Joe Cocker and The Ventures.
Gary Brooker died from cancer at the age of 76. The English singer, songwriter, pianist was the founder of the rock band Procol Harum who had the 1967 UK No.1 and US No.5 single 'A Whiter Shade Of Pale', (one of the few singles to have sold over 10 million copies) and scored the hits 'Homburg' and 'Conquistador'. Brooker founded The Paramounts in 1962 with his guitarist friend Robin Trower and has also worked with Eric Clapton, Alan Parsons and Ringo Starr. Brooker also contributed to various George Harrison albums including All Things Must Pass (1970).
American producer Phil Spector died in prison age 81. Known for his 'Spector Wall Of Sound’ he was a member of Teddy Bears, who had the 1958 US No.1 single 'To Know Him Is To Love Him'. He went on to produce many classic songs including; Ben E King, 'Spanish Harlem', The Crystals, 'Da Doo Ron Ron', The Ronettes, 'Baby I Love You', The Righteous Brothers, 'You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling', Ike and Tina Turner, 'River Deep, Mountain High'. He also produced albums for The Ramones, John Lennon, (produced the 1970 hit 'Instant Karma!, George Harrison, The Beatles, and Harry Nilsson. The 2003 shooting of actress Lana Clarkson in his Alhambra, California home led to his 2009 conviction of murder in the second degree.
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The top-earning dead celebrities revealed by Forbes showed that Michael Jackson's earnings dwarfed others in the list for a seventh year in a row - he earned $60m (£46m) as streams of his music rose to 2.1 billion and money continued to pour in from his back catalogue. Elvis Presley was said to have made $39m (£30m), George Harrison an estimated $9m (£7m) in the last 12 months, while John Lennon made $14m (£10.8m).
Beatles' booking manager Joe Flannery, also known as "Secret Beatle", died aged 87. He was the band’s booking manager from 1962-63 and according to Flannery, members of The Beatles would often sleep at his flat and he would drive them home the next morning. He is also said to have given a young George Harrison driving lessons.
Leon Russell died in Nashville, he was 74. He led Joe Cocker’s band Mad Dogs & Englishmen and appeared at George Harrison’s 1971 Concert for Bangladesh. Many of his songs became hits for others, among them 'Superstar' (written with Bonnie Bramlett) for the Carpenters, 'Delta Lady' for Joe Cocker and 'This Masquerade' for George Benson. More than 100 acts have recorded 'A Song for You,' which Russell said he wrote in 10 minutes.
Ivanka Trump made a speech in support of her father Donald at the Republican National Convention, taking the podium as The Beatles 'Here Comes The Sun' was playing. The estate of George Harrison, who wrote the song, Tweeted: "The unauthorised use of #HereComestheSun at the #RNCinCLE is offensive & against the wishes of the George Harrison estate. If it had been 'Beware Of Darkness,' then we may have approved it! #TrumpYourself"
On what would have been George Harrison's 72nd birthday, a new tree was planted in his memory in Griffith Park Los Angeles to replace one that was earlier killed by a beetle infestation. This new yew tree had been chosen to replace the original, as it was far less susceptible to insects.
American saxophone player Bobby Keys died as a result of cirrhosis at his home in Franklin, Tennessee. Keys started touring at age fifteen with Bobby Vee and fellow Texan Buddy Holly and was best known as being the main saxophone player for The Rolling Stones. When on tour with the Stones, according to legend Keys filled a bathtub with Dom Perignon champagne and drank most of it. Keys appeared on albums by Lynyrd Skynyrd, Harry Nilsson, Delaney & Bonnie and Friends, George Harrison, John Lennon, Eric Clapton, Joe Cocker and other prominent musicians.
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The childhood home of former Beatle George Harrison sold at an auction at The Cavern Club for £156,000, ($250,000). The three-bedroom mid-terrace home was where The Quarrymen held some of their first rehearsals before the band evolved into the The Beatles in 1960.
A mint-condition copy of The Beatles' Please Please Me album, signed by George Harrison, Paul McCartney, John Lennon and Ringo Starr sold for $36,655 at an auction held in the US.
The Mail On Sunday reported that documents they obtained from the Cabinet Office via the Freedom Of Information Act showed that George Harrison, who passed away in 2001, turned down the chance to be included in the New Year's Honours List in 2000. The OBE was recommended by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport who said that Harrison should be recognised for his contribution to the music industry. The citation read: "He was a member of a band that many people would say is the best thing that Britain has ever produced, and possibly the best in the world, The Beatles".
It was reported that George Harrison's sister was living in a pre-fabricated home and "struggling for money" since her allowance from The Beatles star's estate was cut off about a year after he died. 82-year-old Louise Harrison admitted that she had no access to her brother's multi-million dollar fortune and was cash-poor living in rural Missouri. She never challenged her brother's estate, adding "I don't care about the money, it's been over ten years and I haven't made any ripples."
Jackie Lomax died at his home in England aged 69. He first gained notice as the vocalist and bass player with The Undertakers, which were part of the Mersey Beat movement. He was later one of the first artists to sign with The Beatles label, Apple, with George Harrison penning his single 'Sour Milk Sea'.
Slim Whitman the American country music and western music singer/songwriter and instrumentalist died aged 90. Known for his yodeling abilities and his smooth high octave falsetto, he sold in excess of 120 million records during his career. Michael Jackson cited Whitman as one of his ten favorite vocalists and Beatle George Harrison cited Whitman as an early influence. Paul McCartney credited a poster of Whitman with giving him the idea of playing his guitar left-handed with his guitar strung the opposite way to a right-handed player's.
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A guitar played by John Lennon and George Harrison sold for $408,000 (£269,000) at auction. The custom-made instrument, built in 1966 by VOX was bought by an unidentified US buyer in New York. Harrison played ‘I Am The Walrus’, on the guitar in a scene from Magical Mystery Tour in 1967. Lennon used it in a video for Hello, Goodbye later that year. After playing the guitar, Lennon gave it as a 25th birthday present to Alexis "Magic Alex" Mardas, a member of The Beatles' inner circle in the 1960s.
John Lennon and George Harrison were honoured with a blue plaque at the site of the former Apple Boutique in a ceremony in London held at at 94 Baker Street. The new plaque reads "John Lennon, M.B.E., 1940-1980, and George Harrison, M.B.E., 1943-2001, worked here."
A rare copy of a Beatles LP signed by all four members sold - for the sum rejected at auction in Sussex a few weeks earlier. Chris Collins, from Eastbourne, and his sister, Liz Chambers, from Worthing, initially turned down a £12,000 bid for a copy of the album, Please Please Me. They had hoped to get £15,000 for the LP, which was given to their late father during a drinking session. But the siblings later accepted £12,000 from private buyers. The album was signed by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr after they used it as a drinks coaster during a card game in 1963.
Indian musician Ravi Shankar died after undergoing heart valve replacement surgery. He was one of the best-known exponents of the sitar and influenced many other musicians throughout the world. George Harrison who was first introduced to Shankar's music by Roger McGuinn and David Crosby, became influenced by Shankar's music and went on to help popularize Shankar.
British session guitarist Big Jim Sullivan (born James George Tomkins) died at the age of 71. Sullivan started his career in 1959 as a member of Marty Wilde’s band and when Wilde bought Sullivan a Gibson Les Paul guitar, it was allegedly the first in Britain. Sullivan taught future Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore to play guitar, as well as helping Yes and Asia guitarist Steve Howe on his road to success. He featured on 55 No.1 hits, and worked with George Harrison, Frank Zappa, Thunderclap Newman, Love Affair, Long John Baldry, Marmalade and The Tremeloes. During Jimmy Page's session career, he was known as ‘Little Jim’, to differentiate him from Big Jim.
An original and extremely rare 1963 mono copy of The Beatles ‘Please Please Me’ album, signed by the Fab Four, sold on an eBay auction for nearly $25,000. Paul McCartney and John Lennon both signed their names with "love" in royal blue ink whereas George Harrison and Ringo Starr signed their names in midnight blue ink. The autographs were signed in May of 1963.
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US photographer Barry Feinstein, best known for taking enduring pictures of musicians such as Bob Dylan and George Harrison died aged 80. Feinstein was responsible for capturing more than 500 record sleeves, including Harrison's All Things Must Pass album and the cover photograph for Dylan's album The Times They Are A-Changin. The Rolling Stones sleeve for Beggars Banquet shot in a graffiti-covered toilet, was also Feinstein's work.
Irish guitarist and singer Gary Moore died aged 58 in his sleep of a heart attack in his hotel room while on holiday in Estepona, Spain. Moore had been a member of Skid Row, Thin Lizzy, and Colosseum II, before going solo, scoring the 1979 UK No.8 single 'Parisienne Walkways'. Moore's greatest influence in the early days was guitarist Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac, who was a mentor to Moore when performing in Dublin. His 1990 album Still Got the Blues featured contributions from Albert King, Albert Collins, and George Harrison.
A plaque of The Beatles iconic yellow submarine, which was stolen six months ago from Liverpool's Albert Dock, was set to be replaced by a new creation. The 5ft (1.5m) design featured the faces of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison peering through its portholes. The new submarine would hang outside the museum dedicated to the band, The Beatles Story.
Former Beatle George Harrison was honoured with a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles. Sir Paul McCartney attended the unveiling outside the landmark Capitol Records building, joining Harrison's widow Olivia and son Dhani. Eric Idle, Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks and musician Tom Petty also attended the ceremony.
Singer, songwriter, guitarist, Delaney Bramlett died in Los Angeles from complications after gall bladder surgery. Was a member of Delaney, Bonnie & Friends and worked with George Harrison, The Everly Brothers, John Lennon, Janis Joplin, J.J. Cale, and Eric Clapton.
Composer, keyboardist and arranger Derek Wadsworth died in Oxfordshire, England. As a musician, he worked with Georgie Fame, Alan Price, George Harrison, Mike Oldfield, Diana Ross, Tom Jones, Dionne Warwick, Simply Red. Arranger for David Essex, Dusty Springfield, Nina Simone, Judy Garland, Kate Bush, Cat Stevens, Rod Stewart, Small Faces, The Rolling Stones and Manfred Mann.
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Neil Aspinall, who ran the Apple Corps music empire for the Beatles from 1970 - 2007 died at a hospital in New York from cancer aged 66. A school friend of Sir Paul McCartney and George Harrison, he was regarded by some of the band as the 'fifth Beatle' becoming The Beatles road manager in 1961 before becoming their personal assistant. He led the legal battle with Apple computers over the use of the Apple name and a royalties dispute between the Beatles and record label EMI. Aspinall had also played background instruments on Beatles tracks including 'Magical Mystery Tour', 'Within You Without You' and 'Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite.'
A 1976 Rolling Stones album bought for £2 at a car boot sale sold for £4,000 at an auction. The 'Black and Blue' LP was signed by John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Paul and Linda McCartney and George Harrison as well as members of the Rolling Stones. The seller obtained the album after haggling the cost down from £3.
Forbes.com reported that Elvis Presley had regained his crown as the highest-earning dead celebrity, with an annual income of $49m (£23.7m) during the past year. John Lennon ranked second with $44m (£21.3m), while Peanuts cartoon creator Charles M Schulz was third on the list, Beatle George Harrison was fourth with $22m (£10.6m). Nirvana's Kurt Cobain topped the list in 2006.
The Traveling Wilburys went to No.1 on the UK album chart with Collection. The line up of the Wilburys was: George Harrison (Nelson Wilbury), Jeff Lynne (Otis Wilbury), Roy Orbison (Lefty Wilbury), Tom Petty (Charlie T. Wilbury Jr.) and Bob Dylan (Lucky Wilbury).
Cristin Keleher who once broke into former Beatle George Harrison's Hawaii home was found dead after an apparent murder-suicide in California, aged 34. She made headlines in December 1999 by entering Harrison's Maui estate and then cooking herself a frozen pizza. Police said her body had been found with that of a 48-year-old man in a car, both had gunshot wounds to their heads.
A guitar played by George Harrison was set to fetch more than £100,000 at a London auction. The Maton MS500 guitar was used on The Beatles first album.
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The Casbah Coffee Club in Liverpool where The Beatles played their first gig was given a Grade II listed building status after a recommendation from English Heritage. John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison played in the converted coal cellar of the house in West Derby, in August 1959 as The Quarrymen.
Billy Preston died of kidney failure. The Grammy-winning keyboard player collaborated with some of the greatest names in the music industry, including The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Nat King Cole, Little Richard, Ray Charles, George Harrison, Elton John, Eric Clapton and Bob Dylan. Preston is among those sometimes known as the "Fifth Beatle". After befriending the group in 1962, Preston joined the Get Back sessions in January 1969. At one point John Lennon proposed the idea of having Preston join the band.
A John Lennon schoolbook containing the 12-year-old's drawing of Lewis Carroll's poem The Walrus and the Carpenter was sold at auction for £126,500, ($239,733). The poem inspired Lennon to write The Beatles' 1967 song ‘I Am The Walrus’. Also sold for £12,000, ($22,741) was a ship's log book written by Lennon during a stormy trip to Bermuda in 1980, and a letter from Paul McCartney to his bandmates Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr failed to reach its £50,000, ($94,742) reserve price.
The surviving Beatles and relatives of the band's late members began legal action against EMI to get royalties allegedly worth £30m. Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and relations of George Harrison and John Lennon claimed EMI owed record royalties to their company Apple Corps.
A plaque was unveiled by fellow Quarrymen John Duff Lowe and Colin Hantonat at the site where the band which was to become The Beatles made their first recordings. John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison recorded a version of Buddy Holly's 'That'll Be The Day' and a Lennon-Harrison song, 'In Spite Of All The Danger' as The Quarrymen at the Percy Philips studio in Liverpool in 1958.
English drummer and singer songwriter Jim Capaldi died of stomach cancer aged 60. He co-founded Traffic with Steve Winwood who had the 1967 UK No.2 single 'Hole In My Shoe'. Capaldi also had the solo 1975 UK No.4 single 'Love Hurts'. Capaldi also worked with Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and George Harrison.
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A guitar played by George Harrison and John Lennon sold for £294,000 ($570,000) at auction in New York. The Gibson SG guitar was used by Harrison from 1966 to 1969, including the recording of Revolver , and by Lennon during The White Album sessions. Other items sold in the Christie's auction included a letter by Kurt Cobain which fetched £10,000 ($19,400), and a school book report by Britney Spears (£1,000).
Elvis Presley came top of a list of the highest-earning dead celebrities. Forbes.com listed the Top 5 dead music earners; 1. Elvis Presley $40m (£22m), 2. John Lennon $21m (£11m), 3. George Harrison $7m (£3.8m), 4. Bob Marley $7m and at 5. George and Ira Gershwin $6m.
American drummer and arranger Kenny Buttrey died in Nashville, Tennessee, Worked with Neil Young, (Harvest, and After the Gold Rush), Bob Dylan (Blonde on Blonde, Nashville Skyline & John Wesley Harding), and Bob Seger, Elvis Presley, Donovan, George Harrison, Joan Baez, Dan Fogelberg, Kris Kristofferson, Jimmy Buffett, Chuck Berry and Area Code 615.
US singer Doris Troy died. She had been a session singer with Dionne Warwick, sang on Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon and released an album on The Beatles Apple label. She had a 1964 UK No.37 single 'Whatcha Gonna Do About It' and a 1963 US No. 10 hit 'Just One Look'. She sang backup for many acts including The Rolling Stones, (‘You Can't Always Get What You Want’), Carly Simon's ('You're So Vain'), George Harrison, (‘My Sweet Lord’).
The estate of George Harrison started a $10 million (£5.8 million) legal action against Dr Gilbert Lederman of Staten Island University Hospital, claiming the doctor coerced Harrison to sign souvenirs. The main allegations of the legal action was that Dr Lederman got an extremely sick Harrison to sign his son's guitar and autographs for his two daughters.
An acoustic guitar on which the late Beatle George Harrison learned to play fetched £276,000 at a London auction. His father originally bought the Egmond guitar for Harrison for £3.50. Another item auctioned was a signed invitation to the post-premiere celebrations for The Beatles Hard Days Night film, which went for £17,250.
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High Court probate records showed that George Harrison left his fortune of £99m in a trust to his wife Olivia and his son Dhani, depriving the taxman of £40m. His English mansion near Henley-on-Thames was said to be worth £15m.
Lonnie Donegan, died mid-way through a UK tour and shortly before he was due to perform at a memorial concert for George Harrison with The Rolling Stones. He was aged 71. Donegan who launched the skiffle craze in the UK had the 1959 hit ‘Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour’, the 1960 UK No.1 single 'My Old Man's A Dustman', 'Rock Island Line', plus over 30 other UK Top 40 singles.
George Harrison's widow Olivia put the couple's home up for sale for £20m saying she couldn't bear to live with the memories of the attack by schizophrenic Michael Abram who broke into the house in 1999.
George Harrison had the posthumous UK No.1 single with the re-release of the 1971 former No.1 'My Sweet Lord'. Harrison's single replaced Aaliyah's 'More Than A Woman', the only time in chart history that one deceased artist had taken over from another at No.1.
Beatles guitarist George Harrison died in Los Angeles of lung cancer aged 58. Following the breakup of The Beatles Harrison had a successful career as a solo artist and later as part of the Traveling Wilburys. The youngest member of The Beatles, (aged 16 when he joined), his compositions include ‘Taxman’, ‘Here Comes the Sun’, ‘Something’, and ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’. Harrison released the acclaimed triple album, All Things Must Pass, in 1970, from which came the worldwide No.1 single 'My Sweet Lord.'
The three living former Beatles met for the last time at George Harrison's hotel in New York City for lunch. Harrison died two weeks later at a friend's home in Los Angeles on 29 November 2001, aged 58.
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A pizza-stained piece of paper signed by three of the four Beatles sold for $48,000 (£17,441) to an anonymous collector at an auction in Melbourne. John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison all signed the paper during their 1964 tour of Australia. Drummer Ringo Starr had laryngitis and was not on the tour. A fan managed to get the autographs while the band was staying in a hotel in Adelaide.
American guitarist and producer Chet Atkins died in Nashville aged 77. Recorded over 90 albums during his career, produced records for Perry Como, Elvis Presley, Don Gibson, Jim Reeves and Waylon Jennings. He was a major influence on George Harrison and Mark Knopler.
Producer, arranger and keyboardist Tommy Eyre died of cancer aged 51. Worked with George Harrison, Wham! Dusty Springfield, and B.B. King. Played and arranged Joe Cocker's hit With a Little Help from My Friends and Gerry Rafferty's 'Baker Street'.
Michael Abram, the Liverpool man who stabbed George Harrison after breaking into his home, was awarded a not guilty verdict at Oxford's Crown Court. But the verdict was returned in view of Abrams mental history, and he was taken into care.
George Harrison and his wife Olivia were attacked when an intruder broke into their home in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. Olivia beat off the attacker with a poker and heavy lamp. Harrison who was stabbed in the chest was admitted to hospital and treated for a collapsed lung and various minor stab wounds. His wife, Olivia, was treated for cuts and bruises she had suffered in the struggle with the intruder. Police later arrested Michael Abram from Liverpool who had nursed an irrational obsession with The Beatles.
George Harrison's home in Maui in the Hawaiian Islands was broken into by Cristin Keleher, who cooked a frozen pizza, drank beer from the fridge, started some laundry and phoned her mother in New Jersey. Keleher was later arrested and charged with burglary and theft.
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A seven inch single by the Quarry Men featuring John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison was named as the rarest record of all time, only 50 copies were made with each copy being valued at £10,000, ($20,500).
A recording of a 1963 Beatles concert was sold at auction at Christies in London for £25,300, ($41,500). The tape of The Beatles' 10-song concert was recorded by the chief technician at the Gaumont Theatre in Bournemouth during one of six consecutive nights which The Beatles had played. Also sold for £5,195 ($8,500), was a set of autographs of five Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Pete Best, and Stuart Sutcliffe. The autographs had been obtained by a fan in Liverpool in 1961.
Two bronze busts worth £50,000 were stolen from a garden at George Harrison's estate in Henley-on- Thames, Oxfordshire. Thieves had climbed a 10- foot-wall and cut the figures of two monks from their stone plinths.
Paul McCartney became a Sir after he was listed in the Queen's New Year's Honours List. When receiving the award McCartney dedicated his knighthood to fellow Beatles George Harrison, Ringo Starr and John Lennon and the people of Liverpool.
The Beatles Anthology 1 was released in the US, featuring 60 tracks including the track 'Free As A Bird', a song originally composed and recorded in 1977 as a home demo by John Lennon. In 1995 a studio version of the recording, incorporating contributions from Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr was released as a single by The Beatles.
English keyboard player Nicky Hopkins died aged 50, in Nashville, Tennessee, of complications from intestinal surgery. Was a highly respected session musician, worked with The Rolling Stones, Jeff Beck, The Beatles, The Who, The Kinks, Small Faces, Led Zeppelin, John Lennon, George Harrison, and the Jerry Garcia Band. The Kinks song 'Session Man' from Face to Face is dedicated to (and features) Hopkins.
George Harrison was the recipient of the first Century Award, presented by Tom Petty at the third Billboard Music Awards in Universal City, California.
Bob Dylan's 30th Anniversary (of his recording debut) tribute concert took place at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Guest performers include Neil Young, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Roger McGuinn, Tom Petty, Ronnie Wood and Dylan himself.
English singer Vicki Brown died of breast cancer aged 50. She is best known for her membership of both The Vernons Girls and The Breakaways, and as one of the UK's most enduring backing vocalists. She appeared on many hits including The Jimi Hendrix Experience version of 'Hey Joe', Petula Clark's hit, 'Downtown', The Who's Tommy – film soundtrack, George Harrison's Cloud Nine. She was the first wife of singer and musician Joe Brown and mother of the singer Sam Brown.
American singer songwriter Roy Orbison died of a heart attack aged 52. Scored the 1964 UK & US No.1 single 'Pretty Woman', plus over 20 US & 30 UK Top 40 singles including ‘Only the Lonely’ and ‘Crying’. Formed his first band The Wink Westerners in 1949, was a member of The Traveling Wilburys (known as Lefty Wilbury) with Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty and had the 1988 UK No.21 single 'Handle With Care'. Orbison endured a great deal of tragedy in his life. His first wife, Claudette died in a motorcycle accident in 1966 and two of his three sons, died in a house fire.
American record producer and pedal steel guitar player Pete Drake died of lung disease. Worked with Elvis Presley, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. Played on such hits as Lynn Anderson's ‘Rose Garden’, Charlie Rich's ‘Behind Closed Doors', Bob Dylan's ‘Lay Lady Lay' and Tammy Wynette's ‘Stand by Your Man’.
The Beatles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. George Harrison, Ringo Starr and Yoko, Sean, and Julian Lennon all attend. Paul McCartney did not attend, sending instead a letter stating that continuing business differences with the other ex-Beatles was the reason for his absence.
24 years after The Beatles first topped the chart, George Harrison went to No.1 on the US singles chart with Got My Mind Set on You an old favourite of George's that was originally recorded by James Ray in 1962. In the UK, Harrison's version spent four weeks at No.2 on the chart.
US session drummer Jim Gordon murdered his mother during a psychotic episode. Diagnosed schizophrenic during his 1984 trial, Gordon was sentenced to 16 years-to-life in prison. A Grammy Award winner for co-writing Layla with Eric Clapton, Gordon worked with The Beach Boys, John Lennon, George Harrison Frank Zappa and many other artists.
The City of Liverpool named four Streets after the fab four: John Lennon Drive, Paul McCartney Way, George Harrison Close and Ringo Starr Drive.
‘Layla’ was on the UK singles chart. The re-released track originally featured on the Derek and the Dominos, album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (November 1970). Inspired by Clapton's then unrequited love for Pattie Boyd, the wife of his friend George Harrison, ‘Layla’ is considered one of rock music's definitive love songs, and features an unmistakable guitar figure played by Eric Clapton and Duane Allman.
George Harrison presented UNICEF with a cheque for $9 million (£5.3 million), ten years after the fundraising The Concert For Bangladesh.
Ringo Starr married actress and one time 'Bond girl' Barbara Bach. The pair met while filming the movie, Caveman, with Dennis Quaid and Shelley Long. In attendance at the wedding were George Harrison and Paul McCartney.
A fire destroyed the recording studio belonging to Ike and Tina Turner raging through the large structure for nearly 54 hours before it was brought under control. Bolic Sound Studios in Inglewood, California was built by Ike Turner in 1970. Artists who recorded at Bolic Sound include Paul McCartney, George Harrison, The Rolling Stones, and Frank Zappa. Ike & Tina Turner's hit single 'Nutbush City Limits' was recorded at Bolic Sound in 1973.
Carl Radle bass player with Derek and the Dominoes died of kidney failure aged 38. Also worked with Gary Lewis & the Playboys, George Harrison, Joe Cocker, Dave Mason & Delaney and Bonnie.
Eric Clapton held a party at his Surrey house celebrating his recent marriage to Patti Boyd. Clapton had set-up a small stage in the garden and as the evening progressed, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr ended up jamming together along with Clapton, Ginger Baker and Mick Jagger. The all-star band ran through old Little Richard and Eddie Cochran songs.
George Harrison played an unannounced live set for the regulars at his local pub in Henley-On-Thames near his home in the UK.
Gary Kellgren studio engineer at the Los Angeles Record Plant studio drowned in a Hollywood Swimming pool. Kellgren had worked with John Lennon, George Harrison, Jimi Hendrix, Barbra Streisand and Rod Stewart.
Paul Simon hosted NBC's Saturday Night Live where he performed live with George Harrison on ‘Here Comes The Sun’ and ‘Homeward Bound’. Paul McCartney and John Lennon were both in New York City watching the show on TV.
A&M Records sued George Harrison for $6 million over non-delivery of a new album after he missed the deadline by two months.
George Harrison was found guilty of 'subconscious plagiarism' of the Ronnie Mack song 'He's So Fine' when writing 'My Sweet Lord'. Earnings from the song were awarded to Mack's estate; The Chiffons then recorded their own version of 'My Sweet Lord'.
George Harrison, who is good friends with Eric Idle, joined Monty Python on stage at New York's City Center. Dressed as a Canadian Mountie, Harrison joined the chorus for 'The Lumberjack Song.' No mention was made of Harrison's appearance, and few in the audience recognised him. The next night, Harry Nilsson showed up to perform the same feat, but with disastrous results, as he fell into the audience and broke his arm.
Paul McCartney held a party on the Queen Mary at Long Beach in California to celebrate the release of the Wings album Venus And Mars. Among the 200 guests on board were George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Carole King, Marvin Gaye, The Faces and The Jackson 5. The party was the first time McCartney and Harrison had been seen in public since the Beatles break-up.
George Harrison became the first Beatle to undertake a solo world tour when he played the first show of a 30-night tour in Vancouver, Canada.
Paul McCartney and Wings went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Band On The Run'. 'George Harrison unwittingly contributed the first line of one part of the song: "If we ever get out of here" when he said it during one of the many Beatles' business meetings.
George Harrison announced the launch of his own record label, 'Dark Horse.'
Ringo Starr went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Photograph'. His first of two US chart toppers as a solo artist. Written by Starr and George Harrison, the promotional film shot for the single showed Starr walking around his new house at the time, Tittenhurst Park, which had been previously the home of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, (and where the 'Imagine' promo film was shot).
George Harrison knocked Paul McCartney from the top of the US singles chart with 'Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)’. His second US No.1, a No.8 hit in the UK was the opening track on his 1973 album Living in the Material World.
George Harrison started a five-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with 'Living In The Material World', his second US No.1. His third studio solo album was the follow-up to 1970s acclaimed All Things Must Pass and his massive charity project, The Concert For Bangladesh
Harry Nilsson's eighth album, Son of Schmilsson was released. It featured George Harrison under the name George Harrysong and Ringo Starr, listed as Richie Snare, on some of the tracks. Peter Frampton also played guitar on most of the album.
Elvis Presley made entertainment history by performing four sold-out shows at New York's Madison Square Garden. George Harrison, John Lennon, David Bowie, Bob Dylan and Art Garfunkel were among music stars that attended the shows. The shows were recorded and became the album 'Elvis as recorded at Madison Square Garden'.
The film of The Concert For Bangladesh featuring George Harrison, Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton premiered in New York. The event was the first benefit concert of this magnitude in world history. The concert raised $243,418.51 for Bangladesh relief, which was administered by UNICEF. Sales of the album and DVD continue to benefit the George Harrison Fund for UNICEF.
The triple album The Concert For Bangladesh went to No.1 on the UK album chart. Organised by George Harrison to raise funds for the people caught up in the war and famine from the area. The set featured; Bob Dylan, Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, Eric Clapton, Ravi Shankar and members from Badfinger.
The Concert For Bangladesh organised by George Harrison to aid victims of famine and war in Bangladesh took place at New York's Madison Sq Garden. Featuring Bob Dylan, Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, Eric Clapton, Ravi Shankar and members from Badfinger. Harrison had to shell out his own money to maintain the fund after legal problems froze all proceeds. The triple album release (the second in a row by Harrison), hit No.1 in the UK and No.2 in the US and received the Grammy Award for Album of the Year.
All four Beatles had solo singles in the UK charts, Paul McCartney with 'Another Day', John Lennon 'Power To The People', George Harrison 'My Sweet Lord' and Ringo Starr 'It Don't Come Easy.'
George Harrison became the first solo Beatle to have a No.1 when ' 'My Sweet Lord' went to the top of the UK single charts. The song from his 'All Things Must Pass' album stayed at No.1 for five weeks. The track returned to the top of the UK charts in 2002, following his death.
The George Harrison album 'All Things Must Pass' started a seven week run at No.1 on the US album chart, making Harrison the first solo Beatle to score a US No.1 album. The triple album included the hit singles 'My Sweet Lord' and 'What Is Life', as well as songs such as 'Isn't It a Pity' and the title track that were turned down by The Beatles.
George Harrison was at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'My Sweet Lord' making him the first Beatle to score a No.1 US hit. The song was originally intended for Billy Preston.
George Harrison started a four week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'My Sweet Lord', making him the first Beatle to score a No.1 US hit. The song was originally intended for Billy Preston.
Bob Dylan's 11th studio album New Morning was on the UK charts, his 6th UK No.1. The album featured 'If Not For You' which was recorded by both George Harrison (on his 1970 album All Things Must Pass), and became the title track for Olivia Newton-John's 1971 debut album.
George Harrison released All Things Must Pass which includes the hit singles 'My Sweet Lord' and 'What Is Life', as well as songs such as 'Isn't It a Pity' and the title track that had been turned down for inclusion on releases by the Beatles. The triple album would go on to be certified 6x Platinum by the RIAA, making it the best selling album by a solo Beatle.
Working on the Get Back sessions at Studio Two of EMI Studios, London, three Beatles (Paul, George, and Ringo) record 16 takes of the George Harrison song 'I Me Mine'. John Lennon was away in Denmark at the time. A decade later it became the title of George Harrison's auto-biography.
Peter Tork quit The Monkees buying himself out of his contract which left him broke. He went on to form a group called Release and played banjo on George Harrison's soundtrack to the film Wonderwall.
John Lennon played what would be his final ever gig in the UK when he appeared at The Lyceum Ballroom, London, with the Plastic Ono Band in a UNICEF 'Peace For Christmas' benefit. George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Delaney and Bonnie, Billy Preston and The Who's drummer, Keith Moon also took part.
The Beatles went to No.1 on the US singles chart with their twenty-sixth release in the United States.'Come Together / Something', which became the group's 18th US No.1. Lennon was inspired by Timothy Leary's campaign for governor of California titled "Come together, join the party" against Ronald Reagan giving him the idea for the track. ’Something’ was the first Beatles song written by George Harrison to appear as an A-side.
’Something’ the first Beatles A-side composed by George Harrison entered the UK singles chart, it peaked at No.4 in the UK and went on to be a No.1 on the US chart. The song has been covered by over 150 artists, making it the second-most covered Beatles song after 'Yesterday'.
George Harrison's song ’Something’ was released as the "A" side of a Beatles' 45, a first for Harrison. Along with Lennon and McCartney's 'Come Together', the single went on reach No.1 on the US chart the following month. Both tracks were lifted from the Abbey Road album.
The Beatles released Abbey Road in the UK. The final studio recordings from the group featured two George Harrison songs ’Something’ (Harrison's first A-side single), and 'Here Comes The Sun'. In their interviews for The Beatles Anthology, the surviving band members stated that, although none of them ever made the distinction of calling it the "last album", they all felt at the time this would very likely be the final Beatles product and therefore agreed to set aside their differences and "go out on a high note".
Two weeks after the Woodstock festival, the second Isle Of Wight festival took place. Over 150,000 turned up over the two days to see Bob Dylan, The Band, Blodwyn Pig, Blonde On Blonde, Bonzo Dog Dooh Dah Band, Edgar Broughton Band, Joe Cocker, Aynsley Dunbar, Family, Fat Mattress, Julie Felix, Free, Gypsy, Richie Havens, The Moody Blues, The Nice, Tom Paxton, Pentangle, The Pretty Things, Third Ear Band and The Who. Tickets 25 shillings, ($3.00). Celebrities who attended include Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, John & Yoko, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Jane Fonder, Liz Taylor and Richard Burton.
George Harrison had his new Moog synthesizer brought into the studio for The Beatles to use in finishing their forthcoming album Abbey Road. Moog overdubs were recorded onto the new song 'Because'.
During recordings for their Abbey Road album, The Beatles worked on two new George Harrison songs, 'Here Comes The Sun' and 'Something.' Harrison was inspired to write 'Here Comes The Sun' when taking a day off from Apple business and spending the day walking around the garden at Eric Clapton's house.
George Harrison recorded his new song 'Here Comes the Sun' with just two other Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr at Abbey Road in London. John Lennon was absent recovering from a car crash in Scotland.
The Beatles were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'The Ballad Of John and Yoko'. Written by Lennon the song chronicles the events surrounding the wedding of Lennon and Yoko Ono. The only two Beatles that played on the track were John Lennon (lead vocal, lead guitars, acoustic guitar) and Paul McCartney (bass guitar, drums, piano, maracas, harmony vocal). The song was the Beatles' 17th UK No.1 single and their last for 54 years until 'Now and Then' in 2023. In the United States, it was banned by some radio stations due to the lyrics' reference to Christ and crucifixion. The 'B' side was the George Harrison song 'Old Brown Shoe'.
Beatles guitarist George Harrison's experimental album Electronic Sound was released on Zapple records. The album was an experimental work comprising two lengthy pieces performed on a Moog 3-series synthesizer. It was one of the first electronic music albums by a rock musician, made at a time when the Moog was usually played by dedicated exponents of the technology.
John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr signed a business management contract with Allen Klein and his company ABKCO, but Paul McCartney refused to sign, continuing to let the Eastmans represent his interests.
The Beatles recorded a re-make of the new George Harrison song ’Something’ at Abbey Road Studios in London. They recorded 36 takes of the song, which included Billy Preston on piano. The track is featured on the Abbey Road album.
Cream started a two-week run at No.1 on the UK chart with their fourth and final original album Goodbye. The single, 'Badge', (which was written by Eric Clapton and George Harrison), was subsequently released from the album a month later. Harrison was credited on the track, (for contractual reasons), as 'L'Angelo Misterioso' on rhythm guitar.
Paul McCartney married Linda Eastman at Marylebone Register Office. They then held a reception lunch at The Ritz Hotel, Paul then went to Abbey Road studios in the evening to work. George Harrison and his wife Patti were arrested on the same day and charged with possession of 120 joints of marijuana.
George Harrison had a five-hour meeting with John, Paul and Ringo where he made it clear that he was fully prepared to quit The Beatles for good. Harrison wasn't happy with plans for live performances and the current Let It Be film project.
Filming began at Twickenham studios in England of The Beatles rehearsing for the 'Let It Be' album. The project ran into several problems including George Harrison walking out on the group on January 10th.
The Beatles double White Album was released in the UK. Featuring 'Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da', 'Dear Prudence', 'Helter Skelter', 'Blackbird' 'Back In The USSR' and George Harrison's 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps'. Priced at £3.13 shillings, ($8.76), it spent eight weeks as the UK No.1 album.
George Harrison released his first solo album, 'Wonderwall Music' on the Apple label. The songs which were mostly Harrison instrumentals, featured Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr and an unaccredited banjo contribution by Peter Tork of The Monkees.
During a Beatles recording session at Abbey Road six saxophonists recorded parts for 'Savoy Truffle' for the forthcoming White Album. George Harrison distorted the saxophones to get the desired sound.
Working at Trident Studios in London, The Beatles recorded the new George Harrison song ‘Savoy Truffle’. George, Paul, and Ringo recorded just one take of the basic track (drums, bass, and lead guitar). The song was inspired by Eric Clapton's love of chocolates, particularly Mackintosh's Good News.
Working at Abbey Road studio's in London on George Harrison song 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps'. Eric Clapton added the guitar solo (and became the first famous outside musician to play on a Beatles recording) and George recorded his lead vocal.
Working at Abbey Road studios on George Harrison song 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps', taking the song from its early acoustic version into an electric version.
The Beatles armed with a bunch of new songs after their visit to India, met at George Harrison's home in Esher, Surrey. They taped 23 new songs on George's 4-track recorder, many of which would end up on The Beatles' next two albums, (The White Album) and Abbey Road. The demos include: ‘Cry Baby Cry’, Revolution’, ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’, ‘Blackbird’ and ‘Child of Nature’ (a Lennon song that became ‘Jealous Guy’).
George Harrison and Ringo Starr attended the premiere of Wonderwall at the Cannes Film Festival. The 1968 film by first-time director Joe Massot starred Jack MacGowran and Jane Birkin, and featured cameos by Anita Pallenberg. The soundtrack was composed by then-Beatle George Harrison. The film provides the name for the Oasis track 'Wonderwall', which was inspired by George Harrison's score.
John Lennon, George Harrison and their wives left the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's ashram in Rishikesh, India two weeks before their study was complete. Ringo and Paul had already left.
The Beatles formed an electronics company called Fiftyshapes, Ltd. appointing John Alexis Mardas (Magic Alex) to be the company's director. Alex claimed he could build a 72-track tape machine, instead of the 4-track at Abbey Road (this never materialised). One of his more outrageous plans was to replace the acoustic baffles around Ringo Starr's drums with an invisible sonic force field. George Harrison later said that employing Mardas was "the biggest disaster of all time."
A private party was held at the Speakeasy Club in London, England for The Monkees. Guests included: John Lennon, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Dusty Springfield, Eric Clapton, Lulu and all the members from Manfred Mann, The Who and Procol Harum.
The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Procol Harum, Denny Laine and The Chiffons all appeared at The Saville Theatre, London. Both Paul McCartney and George Harrison were in the audience to see Hendrix perform the title track from Sgt. Pepper which had been released just three days earlier.
Working on The Beatles Sgt. Pepper album at Abbey Road studios in London, George Harrison recorded his lead vocal on his song 'Within You Without You' as well as a sitar part, and some acoustic guitar parts.
The first session recording George Harrison's new song ‘Within You Without You’ took place at Abbey Road studios, London. George was the only Beatle to perform on this song, which was still called 'Untitled'. Harrison played the swordmandel and tamboura, Natver Soni played tabla, Amrat Gajjar played dilruba, PD Joshi played swordmandel, and an undocumented musician played a droning tamboura.
During a 12 hour session at Abbey Road studios in London The Beatles worked on a new John Lennon song 'And Your Bird Can Sing', and a new George Harrison song 'Taxman'. The Beatles first recorded 'And Your Bird Can Sing' in the style of the Byrds. This discarded version was released on the 1996 Anthology 2 and includes the sound of Lennon and McCartney laughing their way through a vocal overdub and being unable to sing.
George Harrison married Patti Boyd at Leatherhead Register Office in Surrey with Paul McCartney as Best man. George had first met Patti on the set of The Beatles movie A Hard Day's Night. She left Harrison in the mid-'70s and started an affair with Harrison's friend Eric Clapton, who wrote the song 'Layla' about her. The two married in May 1979 but split in 1988. Harrison and Clapton remained close friends with Harrison, taking to calling Clapton his "husband-in-law".
The Beatles worked on a new George Harrison song ‘Think For Yourself’ at Abbey Road for their forthcoming Rubber Soul album. After rehearsing the song, they recorded the basic instrumental track in one take.
The Beatles appeared at the Hippodrome Theatre in Brighton with The Fourmost and the Shubdubs (whose drummer, Jimmy Nicol, who had filled in for an ill Ringo Starr on The Beatles' world tour). Also in the US The Ed Sullivan Show re-broadcast The Beatles' first live television appearance on the Sullivan show (from February 9). On the way to tonight's gig George Harrison was involved in a minor crash in his brand new E-Type Jaguar in Kings Road, Fulham, London. Passing pedestrians collected bits of broken glass as souvenirs.
The Beatles on the last night of their tour with Roy Orbison, performed at King George's Hall, Blackburn, Lancashire. It was during this tour that The Beatles' fans started throwing jelly babies at them while they were on stage, after an off-the-cuff remark on television that George Harrison enjoyed eating them.
On a recommendation by George Harrison Dick Rowe Head of A&R at Decca records, (and the man who turned down The Beatles) went to see The Rolling Stones play at Crawdaddy Club, London. The band were signed to the label within a week.
The Chiffons started a four week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘He’s So Fine’, which was a No.16 UK hit. In 1971 George Harrison was taken to court accused of copying the song on his 1970 ‘My Sweet Lord’ and ordered to pay $587,000 (£345,000) to the writers.
Elvis Presley was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Return To Sender', his 13th UK No.1. Elvis performed 'Return To Sender' in the film Girls! Girls! Girls!. The opening bars and backing on baritone saxophone was performed by Bobby Keys who later went on to work with The Rolling Stones, The Who, Harry Nilsson, George Harrison and Eric Clapton.
The Beatles played at the Casbah Coffee Club, Liverpool without George Harrison who was ill. This was the group's last performance before leaving for their third extended engagement in Hamburg, West Germany.
John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Pete Best met with Brian Epstein for further discussions about his proposal to manage them. Epstein wanted 25% of their gross fees each week. He promises that they will never again play for less than £15, except for The Cavern lunchtime sessions, for which he will get their fee doubled to ten pounds. Lennon, as leader of The Beatles accepts on their behalf.
Brian Epstein invited The Beatles into his office to discuss the possibility of becoming their manager. John Lennon, George Harrison and Pete Best arrived late for the 4pm meeting, (they had been drinking at the Grapes pub in Matthew Street), but Paul McCartney was not with them, because, as Harrison explained, he had just got up and was "taking a bath".
George Formby died aged 57. The British singing comedian and ukulele player made over 20 films, and his best known song is 'Leaning On A Lamp Post.' Formby who was made an OBE in 1946 was a major influence on George Harrison.
The Beatles appeared at The Cavern Club, Liverpool, for the very first time (as The Beatles), they would go on to make a total of 292 other appearances at the Club. They were paid £5 for this luchtime appearance and George Harrison was nearly denied admission to play because he was wearing jeans.
The Beatles played at the Kaiserkeller Club in Hamburg, Germany without George Harrison. The guitarist had been deported on this day for being underage (he was 17) and not legally allowed to remain in a nightclub after midnight.
The Beatles (minus Pete Best) and two members of Rory Storm's Hurricanes (Ringo Starr and Lou Walters) recorded a version of George Gershwin's ‘Summertime’ in a Hamburg recording studio. The track which was cut onto a 78-rpm disc marked the first session that included John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo together.
The Silver Beetles (John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Stu Sutcliffe, and Tommy Moore) played the first night of a short tour of Scotland backing singer Johnny Gentle, at Alloa Town Hall in Clackmannanshire. Three of the Silver Beetles adopted stage names: Paul McCartney became Paul Ramon, George Harrison was Carl Harrison, and Stuart Sutcliffe became Stuart de Stael.
The Silver Beats (John Lennon, Paul McCartney George Harrison, Stu Sutcliffe, and Tommy Moore) performed at Lathom Hall, Seaforth, Liverpool. They played a few songs during the "interval" to audition for promoter Brian Kelly. Also appearing are Cliff Roberts & the Rockers, The Deltones, and Kingsize Taylor & the Dominoes. This is the only occasion on which the group uses the name "Silver Beats", quickly changing it back to "Silver Beetles".
The Silver Beetles (John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Stuart Sutcliffe, and Tommy Moore) auditioned for promoter Larry Parnes and singer Billy Fury for a job as Fury's backing group. Parnes was also looking for backing groups for his lesser-known acts, and The Silver Beetles were selected as backing group for singer Johnny Gentle's upcoming tour of Scotland. The group had changed its name from 'The Beatals' to 'The Silver Beetles' after Brian Casser (of Cass and the Cassanovas) remarked that the name 'Beatals' was "ridiculous". He suggested they use the name 'Long John and the Silver Beetles', but John Lennon refused to be referred to as 'Long John'.
The Quarry Men decided to change their name to Johnny and the Moondogs. The band were in Liverpool auditioning for the Carrol Levis show. The Quarry Men featured John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison.
The Quarry Men (John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ken Brown) performed at the Casbah Coffee Club, Hayman's Green, West Derby, Liverpool. This is the opening night of a new teen club in a large Victorian house that is owned by Mrs. Mona Best and the first of seven straight Saturdays that The Quarry Men play here. The band shared one microphone connected to the house P.A.
John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison appeared as The Quarrymen at the wedding reception of George's older brother, Harry. The event was held at the Harrison family home at 25 Upton Green, Speke, Liverpool.
The Quarrymen, featuring John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, John "Duff" Lowe on piano and Colin Hanton on drums, recorded a vanity disc at a small studio in an electronics shop owned by a man named Percy Phillips. The band recorded 'That'll Be The Day' and 'In Spite Of Danger' in one take each. With the names of the tunes and the song's writers hand written on the label, each band member was to keep the 10-inch 78 rpm disc for a week before passing it on. Both recordings eventually ended up on Anthology 1.
George Harrison joined Liverpool group The Quarrymen. The group who were named after Lennon's school featured John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Len Garry, Eric Griffiths and John Lowe. | |||||
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Harrison continued to issue records throughout the 1970s but successive releases met with dwindling interest and sales. He formed his own record label, "Dark Horse Records" in 1974 and issued a limited number of records by performers such as Splinter, Attitudes and Ravi Shankar. He moved his own output to the label in 1976, once his contract with EMI finished.
Immediately following the murder of his friend and former bandmate John Lennon, Harrison composed a tribute song to Lennon, "All Those Years Ago," which found substantial radio airplay and continues to be a staple of "classic rock" radio. But he released no records for five years after Gone Troppo in 1982 was met with apparent indifference. He returned in 1987 with the album Cloud Nine, co-produced with Jeff Lynne and enjoyed a hit (#1 in the U.S.; #2 in the U.K) when his cover version of "Got My Mind Set On You" was released as a single. The album got to #8.
During the 1980s, he helped form the Traveling Wilburys with Roy Orbison, Jeff Lynne, Bob Dylan, and Tom Petty when they gathered in Dylan's garage to quickly record an additional track for a projected Harrison European single release. The record company realised the track ("Handle With Care") was too good for its original purpose and asked for a separate album. This had to be completed inside 2 weeks, as Dylan was scheduled to start a tour.
He was also involved in film production through his HandMade Films company, providing financial backing for the Monty Python film Life of Brian after the original backers (EMI Films) withdrew because of the supposedly controversial subject matter of the film. Other films produced by HandMade included Mona Lisa, Time Bandits, Shanghai Surprise and Withnail and I.
Throughout the 1990s, Harrison, a former smoker, endured an ongoing battle with cancer, having growths removed first from his throat, then his lung. There was also a 1999 attempt on his life by a crazed fan who stabbed him at his home, Friar Park in Henley-on-Thames, puncturing his lung.
Harrison married twice. His first wife was the model, Patti Boyd, for whom Harrison is supposed to have written the song, "Something". Following their divorce, Boyd married Eric Clapton (said to have written "Layla" for her after their earlier affair). Harrison married for a second time to Olivia Arias, in September 1978. The ceremony took place at their home, with Joe Brown acting as Best Man. They had one son, Dhani Harrison, born the previous month.
George passed away at the home of a friend in Los Angeles, California on Thursday, November 29, 2001, at the age of 58, death being ascribed to a brain tumour. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered in the River Ganges.
His final album, Brainwashed was completed by Dhani Harrison and Jeff Lynne and released in November 2002.
On November 29th, 2002, the first anniversary of his death, the Concert For George saw the two remaining Beatles Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr join many of Harrison's friends for a special memorial concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London that benefitted the Material World Charitable Foundation.
Ravi Shankar joined Jeff Lynne in a performance of "The Inner Light," Eric Clapton and Lynne performed "I Want To Tell You" and "Here Comes The Sun," Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers (with Jools Holland and Sam Brown) performed "Taxman" and "I Need You," Starr performed "Photograph", members of Monty Python (Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle and Terry Gilliam) performed "The Lumberjack Song," and McCartney and Starr performed "For You Blue".
For the finale, all of the artists went back on stage to end with "Something," "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," "My Sweet Lord," (with Billy Preston on keyboards), and "I'll See You In My Dreams".
Harrison receivied the royal treatment from the Hollywood Walk of Fame, when a star on the fabled walk on April 14, 2009 from the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. His widow, Olivia Harrison, and his son, Dhani, attended the unveiling.
Harrison already shares a Walk of Fame star with all four of the Beatles, but only he and John Lennon, who died in 1980, will have their own stars. Harrison's unveiled in front of Hollywood's Capitol Records building, will be the 2,382nd on the Walk.
His rockabilly-influence playing gave the Beatles' early recordings their distinctive guitar-driven sound and his voice provided many of the group's most arresting vocal harmonies. His fascination with Eastern music also helped broaden the band's sound on such classic albums as Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and The White Album. | ||||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 1 | 20 | https://deadline.com/2024/02/beatles-movies-sam-mendes-paul-mccartney-john-lennon-george-harrison-ringo-starr-1235831317/ | en | Sam Mendes, Sony & Apple Corps Set Four Beatles Theatrical Movies On Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison & Ringo Starr | [
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"Mike Fleming Jr"
] | 2024-02-20T14:00:00+00:00 | Sam Mendes has set plans to make four separate Beatles movies, one each on John, Paul, George and Ringo. | en | Deadline | https://deadline.com/2024/02/beatles-movies-sam-mendes-paul-mccartney-john-lennon-george-harrison-ringo-starr-1235831317/ | EXCLUSIVE: In a move that ought to make fans of The Beatles twist and shout, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Oscar-winning filmmaker Sam Mendes and his Neal Street Productions have set plans to make four separate theatrical films — one on each of the members of music’s most famous and enduring band.
Mendes will direct all four of the films, and this marks the first time Apple Corps Ltd. and The Beatles – Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and the families of John Lennon and George Harrison – have granted full life story and music rights for a scripted film.
Mendes conceived this grand vision. He’ll tell interconnected stories, one from each band member’s point of view. The dating cadence of the films will be revealed closer to the films’ release. I’m told they are locking down writers quickly.
This is perhaps the most ambitious project Deadline has revealed exclusively since our break that Tom Cruise and director Doug Liman are teaming with SpaceX and NASA to shoot a narrative film in outer space. That complicated project is still on the launch pad at Universal, but plans are set here for SPE to finance and distribute worldwide with full theatrical windows in 2027.
All of this came about when American Beauty Oscar winner Mendes pitched the project in Hollywood, and just about everyone flipped their mop-tops for it. SPE’s Tom Rothman and Elizabeth Gabler, who gravitate to the most ambitious and prestige stuff, sparked to the opportunity and won the package.
“We went out to L.A. just before Christmas to pitch the project, and it’s fair to say we were met with universal enthusiasm,” Mendes told Deadline. “The reason Sony stood out from competing offers was down to Tom and Elizabeth’s passion for the idea and commitment to propelling these films theatrically in an innovative and exciting way.”
Starr weighed in about the projects on X/Twitter today:
In addition to directing all four films, Mendes will produce alongside his Neal Street Productions partner Pippa Harris and Neal Street’s Julie Pastor. Jeff Jones will be executive producer for Apple Corps Ltd.
“This project springs from an idea of Sam’s which he had over a year ago,” said Harris, “and it’s a testament to his creative brilliance and powers of persuasion that Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Sean Lennon and Olivia Harrison responded with such warmth and enthusiasm as soon as he spoke with them.”
The Beatles changed the face of music and pop culture fame, and their popularity eclipsed even that of Elvis Presley after they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964 and tore the roof off the place, inspiring countless great musicians who watched as children and knew what they wanted to do with their lives. There have been terrific documentaries on the band – Ron Howard’s The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years and Peter Jackson’s docuseries The Beatles: Get Back are two examples — and Apple Corps also has been involved with Cirque du Soleil’s Las Vegas show The Beatles Love and a dedicated SiriusXM radio channel to feed the voracious appetite of fans.
RELATED: Peter Jackson On His Four-Year Obsession That Led To ‘Get Back’ & Who Really Broke Up The Beatles
Mendes and SPE will find their own lane in films about Paul, John, George and Ringo’s coming of age when they became global recording and film stars who made young girls swoon and left the quartet often running for their lives from pursuing crowds of fans. The band evolved from the lovable Mop Tops who sang blues-inspired love songs to daring, edgy artists who embraced hot-button issues of the ’60s. After the breakup in 1970, each member faced the impossible task of living up to the band’s success. But all of them blazed paths in different directions, as solo artists with reams of No. 1 hit records and by touching the culture in other ways.
For bassist and songwriter McCartney, it was teaming with his life love Linda McCartney to form Wings. For guitarist and songwriter Lennon, it was his romantic and music and activism partnership with Yoko Ono. Lead guitarist Harrison immersed himself in Indian culture and would co-found supergroup The Traveling Wilburys with Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty and ELO’s Jeff Lynne, and he organized the Concert for Bangladesh to ease starvation and suffering of refugees during a civil war there. Drummer Starr had his enduring marriage to actress Barbara Bach and as toured with Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band.
RELATED: Paul McCartney Pays Tribute To Wings Longtime Bandmate Denny Laine: “Great Talent With A Fine Sense Of Humour”
Each faced adversity. Harrison nearly was killed in a 1999 stabbing attack when a man diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic broke into his home, but the assault was stopped by wife Olivia who incapacitated the attacker with a fireplace poker. Lennon tragically was shot dead in 1980 when returning to his Central Park residence The Dakota by another deranged fan. McCartney and Starr still are going strong. No matter where Mendes goes, the long and winding road features compelling narrative yarns.
The studio confirmed the deal.
“We intend this to be a uniquely thrilling, and epic cinematic experience: four films, told from four different perspectives which tell a single story about the most celebrated band of all time,” said Harris in a statement. “To have The Beatles’ and Apple Corps’ blessing to do this is an immense privilege. From our first meeting with Tom Rothman and Elizabeth Gabler, it was clear that they shared both our passion and ambition for this project, and we can’t think of a more perfect home than Sony Pictures.”
Said Apple Corps Ltd. CEO Jones: “Apple Corps is delighted to collaborate with Sam, Pippa and Julie to explore each Beatle’s unique story and to bring them together in a suitably captivating and innovative way. Sony Pictures’ enthusiastic support, championing the project’s scope and creative vision from the start, has been invaluable for all of us.”
Said Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group chairman/CEO Rothman: “I know I speak for our CEO Tony Vinciquerra, who was instrumental in making this happen, and every Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group colleague around the world when I say: ‘yeah, yeah, yeah!’ Theatrical movie events today must be culturally seismic. Sam’s daring, large-scale idea is that and then some. Pairing his premiere filmmaking team, with the music and the stories of four young men who changed the world, will rock audiences all over the globe. We are deeply grateful to all parties and look forward ourselves to breaking some rules with Sam’s uniquely artistic vision.”
Mendes told Deadline the project couldn’t have happened without a little help from the friends quoted above. “None of this could have come together without Jeff Jones and Lee Eastman’s support — they have been completely instrumental behind the scenes,” he said.
Harris told Deadline, “What is truly exciting is for Sam to have the freedom to delve into the lives of each of the Beatles, with nothing off limits and no sense of the band wanting him to tell a particular ‘authorized’ version of their rise to success.”
CAA brokered the deal for Mendes and Neal Street. Mendes last directed the critically acclaimed Empire of Light, inspired by his mother, and the World War I epic 1917, which was inspired by his grandfather’s harrowing experience as a runner in the trenches.
Let the buzz begin on who might be right to play each Beatles member. | |||||
correct_starring_00051 | FactBench | 2 | 75 | https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/67801/15-fab-facts-about-help | en | 15 Fab Facts About âHelp!â | [
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"Sarene Leeds"
] | 2015-08-25T20:00:00+00:00 | The Beatlesâ second brush with Hollywood stardom happened 50 years ago. | en | Mental Floss | https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/67801/15-fab-facts-about-help | ||||||
2241 | dbpedia | 1 | 58 | https://zonazealots.com/2021/11/20/linebacker-jerry-roberts-arizona-footballs-baby-ray-lewis/ | en | Linebacker Jerry Roberts is Arizona Footballâs Baby Ray Lewis | [
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"Shereen Rayan"
] | 2021-11-20T00:00:00 | Jerry Roberts wanted to play for Arizona Football Defensive Coordinator Don Brown in Tucson, and the pairing has produced success on the field. | en | https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_1440,ar_1:1,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/favicon_2-7584840191d9f13dce826391650b7201.ico | Zona Zealots | https://zonazealots.com/2021/11/20/linebacker-jerry-roberts-arizona-footballs-baby-ray-lewis/ | |||||
2241 | dbpedia | 0 | 14 | https://www.boonevillekyfuneralhome.com/obituaries/Wayne-Roberts%3FobId%3D31490516 | en | Booneville, KY Funeral Home | [] | [] | [] | [
""
] | null | [] | null | Booneville Funeral Home in Booneville, KY provides funeral, memorial, aftercare, pre-planning, and cremation services to our commu... Learn More | en | https://s3.amazonaws.com/fh-content/release/Content/Media/BoonevilleFuneralHome/favicon.ico | https://www.boonevillekyfuneralhome.com:443/ | ||||||
2241 | dbpedia | 1 | 19 | http://www.thecalifornian.com/story/news/local/2015/02/25/friend-jerry-roberts-complained-fights-son/24005841/ | en | Salinas Californian | [] | [] | [] | [
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] | null | [
"Allison Gatlin, Salinas Californian",
"Allison Gatlin"
] | 2015-02-25T00:00:00 | Jerry Roberts was a retired Correctional Training Facility officer, a former coworker said. | en | http://www.thecalifornian.com/story/news/local/2015/02/25/friend-jerry-roberts-complained-fights-son/24005841/ | John Batiz recalled running into Jerry Roberts several weeks ago at the Creekbridge Safeway in Salinas.
Small talk turned to the topic of Matthew Roberts, the 70-year-old man's son, Batiz said Tuesday.
"He told me he was having problems with his son," Batiz said. "They would get into physical fights."
That was the last time Batiz, of Salinas, says he saw his former coworker.
Jerry Roberts' body was found decomposed Feb. 16 in a trailer on his Inglewood Street property, Police Cmdr. Vince Maiorana said Wednesday. The 70-year-old suffered a broken neck at the time of his death, according to preliminary autopsy findings.
Salinas police officers, including several veteran cops, responded about 9 p.m. to a call requesting a check on Roberts' safety.
"When an officer started walking around the premises he encountered a brief, quick smell, which he equated with death," Maiorana said.
Inside the trailer, Salinas police made the grisly discovery, Maiorana said.
Officers arrested 34-year-old Matthew Roberts that night. Matthew Roberts has since been charged with murder and felony elder abuse. He's being held at the Monterey County Jail on $1.5 million bail and awaiting arraignment. A subsequent probation violation case has been filed. Bail was set at $10,000 last week in that misdemeanor case.
Investigators have pinpointed the last time Jerry Roberts was seen alive, but Maiorana said he won't yet release that information. Neighbors told The Californian they had last seen Jerry Roberts a week or two before his body was discovered.
An autopsy conducted last Friday revealed Jerry Roberts suffered a broken neck at the time of his death. The cause and time of his death haven't yet been confirmed.
"The preliminary findings by the pathologist show he died of unnatural causes," Maiorana said. "It was not falling down the stairs, an accidental death. This is death by another (person)."
Jerry Roberts was born in Visalia and graduated from Redwood High School there. He enlisted in the U.S. Army when he was 18 or 19 years old, a family member said Wednesday. The family member, a Salinas resident, asked that her name be witheld, fearing she might be mobbed for information at work.
While in the Army, Jerry Roberts was stationed in North Carolina and Germany. He was ordered twice to go to war, but the orders were twice changed, the family member said.
After his Army career, Jerry Roberts served 24 years as a correctional officer for Soledad Correctional Training Facility, said Lt. Roland Ramon, public information officer for the prison. He started work at CTF in 1986 and retired in April 2010.
"He was well-respected and a hard worker," Ramon said. "Kind of a quiet guy."
On Wednesday, Ramon said he was working on putting together a "Now Hear This" announcement for CTF staff regarding Jerry Roberts' memorial and funeral services.
Army and CTF officials are likely to attend Jerry Roberts' memorial service, the family member said.
In his retirement, Jerry Roberts enjoyed fishing, hunting and carpentry, she said. He was pivotal in helping construct Echoes from Calvary Church on Post Drive in north Salinas, where the family still attends services, the family member said.
Batiz recalled working with Jerry Roberts in the east dorm at the low- and medium-security prison in southern Monterey County. After retiring, Batiz said he ran into Jerry Roberts from time to time in Salinas.
When Jerry Roberts aired his concern regarding Matthew Roberts, Batiz said the 70-year-old seemed to feel a sense of obligation for his 34-year-old son.
"He told me, 'I have to take care of him, he's my son,'" Batiz recalled.
The family member confirmed as much: Jerry Roberts loved his children.
"He loved [Matthew]," the family member said. "That's what makes it so hard, you know? He loved him so much."
Family members knew Jerry Roberts was having difficulty with his son, she said.
"But he didn't want his son to be out (of prison) and have nowhere to go," she explained.
Matthew Roberts previously served six years in prison for shooting and wounding his step-father, Monterey County Sheriff's Detective Larry Bryant. A judge referenced Matthew Roberts' methamphetamine habit during the 2006 sentencing.
The whole ordeal "was such a nightmare for him (Jerry Roberts)," Batiz said. In the ensuing years, Jerry Roberts made a point to visit his son in prison.
"He (Matthew Roberts) was in a few riots and he had to face the consequences," Batiz said. Jerry Roberts told him his son had the word "Roberts" tattooed on his back, Batiz said. Other inmates often "picked on him," to hear Jerry Roberts tell it.
In 2013, Matthew Roberts was convicted of assault causing great bodily injury and battering a peace officer in separate cases. Both cases carried allegations of a previous prison commitment, a previous felony and a prior strike. He was sentenced to a year in jail and three years' probation, respectively, for the cases.
The 34-year-old had recently moved in with his father, Batiz said. Jerry Roberts referred to his son as "unpredictable." If Jerry Roberts declined to turn his car keys over to Matthew Roberts, the younger Roberts would become very irate, Batiz said.
"He was like a little kid," Batiz said Jerry Roberts told him.
Jerry Roberts is survived by four siblings, Barbara Balding, Ray Roberts, Phil Roberts and Jimmy Roberts; two children and seven grandchildren, the family member said. He is preceded in death by his youngest brother, Roger Roberts.
Jerry Roberts' family members are asking for prayers.
His daughter, who just arrived in Salinas, is making discoveries at the Inglewood Street residence, the family member said.
"She found his Bible," the family member said. "And all his grandchildren's names are written in his Bible. [His daughter] said, 'My dad didn't talk much, but you could tell by little things he had around his house how much he cared about everyone.'"
Jerry Roberts was a "soft-spoken man" who didn't express his emotions through words. Rather, he would perform "actions of love," the family member said. She recounted Jerry Roberts' overhearing that she and her husband were seeking a bathroom vanity.
"He had an old bathroom vanity and he gave it to me," she said. "He just came and dropped it off without us ever asking."
She added, "Now, I look at that vanity and I smile."
Batiz recalled Jerry Roberts having "the best laugh."
"He was a nice man who had a son who took advantage of him," Batiz said. "I feel bad I didn't look more deeply into it."
Jerry Roberts' body was turned over to his family Monday, Sheriff's Cmdr. John Thornburg said. He will be buried Friday at the San Joaquin Valley National Cemetery in Santa Nella, Ramon said. A memorial service will follow, tentatively set for March 10 at Echoes from Calvary Church, the family member said.
Matthew Roberts will return to court for arraignment March 5.
Follow Allison Gatlin on Twitter @allison_salnews #salinas. | ||||||
2241 | dbpedia | 1 | 35 | https://cpramblers.com/sports/football/roster/coaches/jerry-roberts/65 | en | Jerry Roberts - Defensive Line - Football Coaches | [
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] | null | [] | null | Jerry Roberts Defensive Line | en | /images/logos/site/site.png | Cathedral Preparatory School | https://cpramblers.com/sports/football/roster/coaches/jerry-roberts/65 | Thanks for visiting !
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2241 | dbpedia | 2 | 60 | https://www.facebook.com/jerryroberts38024/ | en | Facebook | https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/yb/r/hLRJ1GG_y0J.ico | https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/yb/r/hLRJ1GG_y0J.ico | [
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2241 | dbpedia | 0 | 5 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Roberts | en | Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia | [
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] | 2014-03-30T07:16:27+00:00 | en | /static/apple-touch/wikipedia.png | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Roberts | Captain Jerry Roberts MBE (Raymond C. Roberts) (18 November 1920 – 25 March 2014) was a British businessman and wartime codebreaker. During World War II, Roberts was worked as a codebreaker at Bletchley Park from 1941 to 1945. He was a leading codebreaker and linguist, who worked on Tunny — Hitler's most top-level code.[1] He was born in Wembley, Middlesex.
Robert died on 25 March 2014, aged 93. | ||||||
2241 | dbpedia | 2 | 37 | https://www.ouraynews.com/2023/10/04/jerry-w-roberts/ | en | Jerry W. Roberts | [
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"  Lia Salvatierra"
] | 2023-10-04T00:00:00 | September 5, 1948-September 22, 2023 | en | https://www.ouraynews.com/2023/10/04/jerry-w-roberts/ | Legendary Avalanche Forecaster of Ridgway
September 5, 1948-September 22, 2023
At the end of a full, rich life of mountains, poetry, dogs, humor, and deep friendships, Jerry Roberts, 75, shouldered his backpack and headed down the trail to meet some buddies on el otro lado, the other side. Scoot over, Basho. Make some room, Georgia O’Keeffe. Bukowski, Leonard Cohen, Frida Kahlo — crack a bottle of pisco and raise a welcoming toast, would you please?
Jerry was born in Cañon City, Colorado, the son of Win C. Roberts and Doris M. (Hertwick) Roberts, and grew up with his two older sisters. Jerry relished the freedom to develop — as Emerson once put it — “an original relation to the universe.” His “universe” was the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and his “original relation” was defined by mountaineering. Jesuit brothers at a local Catholic high school introduced him to climbing, snow camping, and skiing (leather boots, cable bindings, willow branches taped underfoot in lieu of proper skins), and by his early teens he was summiting the range’s tallest peaks.
Wanderlust plus a motorcycle equaled the West Coast: Berkeley, anti-war rallies, Zen Buddhism, the Beats, LSD. Jerry’s formative encounters with the 1960’s counterculture inspired a steadfast empathy for the underdog and an enduring practice of Buddhist mindfulness, particularly the art of attention known as haiku. He worked with the American Friends Service Committee, helping conscientious objectors find alternatives to military service during the war in Vietnam, and soaked up the radical literary scene before returning to the Rockies.
Still a young man, he led groups of youth into the high country for Outward Bound, bonding with his fellow instructors, many of whom became lifelong friends. He traversed the length of Colorado on skis over the course of two winters, guided in the Peruvian Andes, threw his sleeping bag down just about wherever. Though much of what he accomplished in the backcountry could be called hardcore, Jerry’s style was less sporty than soulful — an ongoing quest for simplicity, camaraderie, laughter, focus, “the space between thoughts.”
A growing interest in the physics of steep snow, rooted in both a naturalist’s childlike curiosity and an adventurer’s need to learn the dangers of the wilderness in order to survive, attracted him to Silverton and the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR) San Juan Avalanche Project in 1977. Jerry’s participation established his reputation in the burgeoning field of American snow science and led to what he considered his only “real job”: lead avalanche forecaster for the Colorado Avalanche Information Center and the Colorado Department of Transportation.
Winter after winter, storm after storm, he monitored the hundreds of avalanche paths that threaten highways in southwest Colorado, deciding when to close the roads and when to call in the Howitzer, the Avalauncher, and the helicopter bombs to preemptively trigger dangerous slides. Channeling his Zen heroes who sat atop cushions and counted their breaths as though it were a matter of life and death, he meditated wholeheartedly, 24/7, on the intricate dynamics of weather and place, precipitation and topography. Scribbling impromptu haiku from the driver’s seat of his official CDOT pickup mid-blizzard wasn’t just a way to relieve stress, but a means of deepening his awareness, his commitment to noticing in the present tense. For instance: columns, needles, stellars bounce off midnight windshield
Jerry co-authored a book, Living and Dying in Avalanche Country, and was an adjunct teacher at Prescott College for 23 years: a renowned educator, a mentor to an entire generation of avalanche forecasters and ski guides. In his sixties, semi-retired, he found new meaning as a weather forecaster for movies and television (“The Hateful Eight,” “Better Call Saul”). He also took up Tenkara fly fishing, always careful to send his two labs into the water first, so as to give the trout a warning, and kept busy with his inimitable blog, The Robert Report (pronounced “Ro’Bear Re’Por” after Stephen Colbert’s first comedy show). During his last weeks, as the autumn equinox approached and fresh snow dusted the alpine ridges, he held court for visiting friends at his home in Ridgway and watched a final cycle of the moon — waxing, full, waning — at the side of his wife, Lisa.
Jerry Roberts is survived by his wife Lisa Issenberg; sisters Jo Ann Roberts Paugh and Kae Roberts Kendall; nephews Jim Embleton and Mike Javernick; nieces Kim Javernick and Julie Kendall Porter; his labs Django and Paco; in memory of his nephew Billy Kendall; and by friends too numerous to count. Donations in his memory should be directed to Big City Mountaineers, a non-profit organization that introduces disadvantaged youth to the transformative wonders of nature. https://bigcitymountaineers.org/ 5394 Marshall St, Suite 200, Arvada, CO 80002 Jerry’s last haiku, written for his compadre George Gardner, who died on the Grand Teton, reads: departing morning dream two old men — butterflies float on gentle breeze A beautiful poem, indeed, but this one from twenty years ago might convey even better his approach to living (and skiing), his “original relation to the universe,” his smiling, generous, big-hearted advice: follow instincts enjoy the ride more right turns than wrong
A memorial will be held on the Vernal Equinox 2024. | ||||||
2241 | dbpedia | 1 | 74 | https://zonazealots.com/2021/07/05/arizona-football-jerry-roberts-brother-jyree-preparing-college/ | en | Arizona Football: Jerry Roberts brother Jyree is preparing for college | [
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"Shereen Rayan"
] | 2021-07-05T00:00:00 | Jerry Roberts just transferred to Arizona Football for the upcoming football season, and his little brother Jyree Roberts is entering his junior season. | en | https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_1440,ar_1:1,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/favicon_2-7584840191d9f13dce826391650b7201.ico | Zona Zealots | https://zonazealots.com/2021/07/05/arizona-football-jerry-roberts-brother-jyree-preparing-college/ | |||||
2241 | dbpedia | 1 | 54 | https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/roberts-jeremy-1954-jerry-roberts | en | Roberts, Jeremy 1954- (Jerry Roberts) | [
"https://www.encyclopedia.com/themes/custom/trustme/images/header-logo.jpg"
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"Roberts",
"Jeremy 1954- (Jerry Roberts)PERSONALBorn 1954",
"in Birmingham",
"AL; married Cerlette Lamme (a professional ice skater)",
"October 10",
"1995; children: one daughter.Addresses:Agent—The Gage Group",
"14724 Ventura Blvd.",
"Suite 505",
"Sherman Oaks",
"CA 91403.Career:Actor. American C... | null | [] | null | Roberts, Jeremy 1954- (Jerry Roberts)PERSONALBorn 1954, in Birmingham, AL; married Cerlette Lamme (a professional ice skater), October 10, 1995; children: one daughter.Addresses:Agent—The Gage Group, 14724 Ventura Blvd., Suite 505, Sherman Oaks, CA 91403.Career:Actor. American Conservatory Theater, former member of touring company. Appeared in advertisements. Held various jobs, including working as a truck driver, waiter, bartender, and in a restaurant. Military service: U.S. Marine Corps; served in Vietnam. Source for information on Roberts, Jeremy 1954- (Jerry Roberts): Contemporary Theatre, Film and Television dictionary. | en | /sites/default/files/favicon.ico | https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/roberts-jeremy-1954-jerry-roberts | PERSONAL
Born 1954, in Birmingham, AL; married Cerlette Lamme (a professional ice skater), October 10, 1995; children: one daughter.
Addresses:
Agent—The Gage Group, 14724 Ventura Blvd., Suite 505, Sherman Oaks, CA 91403.
Career:
Actor. American Conservatory Theater, former member of touring company. Appeared in advertisements. Held various jobs, including working as a truck driver, waiter, bartender, and in a restaurant. Military service: U.S. Marine Corps; served in Vietnam.
CREDITS
Film Appearances:
First SWAT police officer, Christmas Vacation (also known as National Lampoon's "Christmas Vacation," National Lampoon's "Winter Holiday," Ett paeron till farsa firar jul, Fars fede juleferie, Hilfe, es weihnachtet sehr, Hjelp, vi maa paa juleferie, Joulupuu on kaervennetty, Karacsonyi vakacio, Le sapin a les boules, Que parodia de Natal, Schoene Bescherung, Socorro! Ya es Navidad, S.O.S.! Ya es Navidad, Un natale esplosivo, and Witaj swiety Mikolaju), Warner Bros., 1989.
Gus, The Marrying Man (also known as Too Hot to Handle), Buena Vista, 1991.
Lieutenant Dimitri Valtane, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Paramount, 1991.
Truck driver, Late for Dinner, Sony Pictures Releasing, 1991.
Paul, Jack and His Friends, Arrow Releasing, 1992.
Second biker, Sister Act, Buena Vista, 1992.
Sonny, Diggstown (also known as Midnight Sting), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1992.
Spenser, The People under the Stairs (also known as Wes Craven's "The People under the Stairs," As criaturas atras das paredes, Das Haus der Vergessenen, De mensen onder de trap, El sotano del miedo, Kellarivaekeae, La casa nera, La gente detras de las paredes, Le sous-sol de la peur, Ondskans hus, and Os prisioneiros da cave), Universal, 1992.
Bobby the bouncer, The Mask, New Line Cinema, 1994.
Brad Skoog, Stuart Saves His Family (also known as Como salvar sua familia, Rescate familiar, Sekopaeiden seurakunta, Stuart sauve sa famille, and Stuart Stupid—Eine Familie zum Kotzen), Paramount, 1995.
Guard, Money Train, Columbia, 1995.
Lone Justice 2, Triboro Entertainment Group, 1995.
Charlie, Quiet Days in Hollywood (also known as The Way We Are), Overseas FilmGroup, 1997.
Detective Jerry Moore, No Strings Attached (also known as The Last Obsession), Redwood Communications, 1997.
Patrick, Running Time, 1997.
Hook, Jungle Boy, Jungle Boy Film Productions, 1998.
Tom Jones, The Thirteenth Floor (also known as The 13th Floor, Abwaerts in die Zukunft, El piso 13, Etajul 13, Il tredicesimo piano, Le treizieme etage, Nivel 13, Nivell 13, O 13 andar, Passe virtuel, 13: e vaaningen, 13F, and 13. kerros), Columbia, 1999.
Bobby Victory, The Mexican (also known as Mexican, A mexicana, A mexikoi, La mexicana, Le mexicain, Meksikaneren, and Mexican—Eine heisse Liebe), DreamWorks, 2001.
Russell, Windfall, FWP Productions, 2001.
Second goon, Wheelmen, Stretch Pix, 2002.
Crazy Dave, Herbie Fully Loaded (also known as Herbie, Herbie the Love Bug, Herbie fulltankad, Herbie fully loaded—Ein toller kaefer startet durch, Herbie—Il super maggiolino, Katsaridaki gia panta, La coccinelle revient, La coccinelle—Tout equipee, and Riemukupla—Tankki taeynnae), Buena Vista, 2005.
Television Appearances; Miniseries:
Ed McCall, False Arrest, ABC, 1991.
Detective Jim Beck, Knots Landing: Back to the Cul-de-Sac, CBS, 1997.
Television Appearances; Movies:
Slick, Peter Gunn, ABC, 1989.
Garnsey, Don't Touch My Daughter (also known as Nightmare), NBC, 1991.
Scarface, Black Out (also known as A.K.A. and Midnight Heat), HBO, 1996.
Tanner, Phoenix, Sci-Fi Channel, 1997.
Heavy man, Dangerous Waters (also known as Imminent Danger), Fox, 1999.
Television Appearances; Specials:
"Black Pudding," The Edge, HBO, 1989.
Television Appearances; Episodic:
Doctor, "Just Desserts," Three Up, Two Down, BBC, 1985.
"Smoke Gets in Your Eyes," Jake and the Fatman, CBS, 1987.
Officer, "Full Marital Jacket," L.A. Law, NBC, 1988.
Carl Grant, "The Secret," Paradise (also known as Guns of Paradise), CBS, 1989.
Kidnapper, "Deadline," Freddy's Nightmares (also known as Freddy's Nightmares: A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Series, Freddy, le cauchemar de vos nuits, Freddyn painajaiset, Las pesadillas de Freddy, and Les cauchemars de Freddy), syndicated, 1989.
Man, "Losing Control," Hard Time on Planet Earth, CBS, 1989.
Sergeant Stokley, "Test of Wills," Murder, She Wrote, CBS, 1989.
"The Cleveland Indian," Hardball, NBC, 1989.
"Swallowed Alive," 21 Jump Street, Fox, 1989.
Doug, "Friends or Lovers?," Wings, NBC, 1990.
Hugh Leyton, "The Informer: Parts 1 & 2," Matlock, NBC, 1990.
Police officer, "Whose Mid-Life Crisis Is It Anyway," Doogie Howser, M.D., ABC, 1990.
"Goodbye: Parts 1 & 2," Jake and the Fatman, CBS, 1990.
Nichols, "Room Service," Hunter, NBC, 1991.
Chauffeur, "The Limo," Seinfeld, NBC, 1992.
Keefer, "Baths and Showers," Knots Landing, CBS, 1992.
Agent Kreton, "The President's Coming," Bakersfield P.D., Fox, 1993.
Bill Swill, "Mail Order Brides," The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. (also known as Brisco County Jr.), Fox, 1993.
Bill Swill, "No Man's Land," The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. (also known as Brisco County Jr.), Fox, 1993.
Jake, "Billy," Renegade, USA Network and syndicated, 1993.
Jay, "Crime and Punishment," Roseanne, ABC, 1993.
John Dunhill, "Turpitude," Picket Fences, CBS, 1993.
Hugh Bell Borgers, Ned Blessing: The Story of My Life and Times, CBS, 1993.
"The Entertainer," Space Rangers, CBS, 1993.
"War and Peace," Roseanne, ABC, 1993.
Officer Friendly, "Sex Ed," Weird Science, USA Network, 1994.
"Rabbit Redux," Renegade, USA Network and syndicated, 1994.
Kenny, "An Uncle in the Business," Renegade, USA Network and syndicated, 1995.
(As Jerry Roberts) Meso'Clan, "Hippocratic Oath," Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (also known as Deep Space Nine, DS9, and Star Trek: DS9), syndicated, 1995.
Derkus "Derk" Petronicus, "Mercenary," Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (also known as Hercules), syndicated, 1996.
Inspector Michaels, "The ABC's of Murder," Diagnosis Murder, CBS, 1996.
Lieutenant Dimitri Valtane, "Flashback," Star Trek: Voyager (also known as Voyager), UPN, 1996.
Thersites, "A Fist Full of Dinars," Xena: Warrior Princess (also known as Xena), syndicated, 1996.
Hank Race (some sources cite Hank Davis), Moloney, CBS, c. 1996.
Efram Bartlett, "Keys," The Pretender, NBC, 1997.
Fenton Boggs, "Born under a Bad Sign," Renegade, USA Network and syndicated, 1997.
Harland Groves, "Cop in a Box," Pacific Blue, USA Network, 1997.
Harrison Peak, "Peak Experience," Silk Stalkings, USA Network, 1997.
Richard Alan Hance, "The Thin White Line," Millennium, Fox, 1997.
Tim Summers, "Episode 126," Prisoner (also known as Caged Women, Prisoner: Cell Block H, Women behind Bars, Women in Prison, Kvinnofaengelset, and Kvinnofangelset), Ten Network (Australia), 1997.
Tim Summers, "Episode 133," Prisoner (also known as Caged Women, Prisoner: Cell Block H, Women behind Bars, Women in Prison, Kvinnofaengelset, and Kvinnofangelset), Ten Network, 1997.
Whistler, "It's the Real Thing, Baby," Pensacola: Wings of Gold, syndicated, 1997.
Clyde, Sunset Beach, NBC, 1997 (multiple episodes).
"Fools Russian," Brooklyn South, CBS, 1997.
Beck, "California Reich," Sliders, Sci-Fi Channel, 1998.
Flint, "One Day out West," The Magnificent Seven, CBS, 1998.
Kakistos, "Faith, Hope & Trick," Buffy the Vampire Slayer (also known as BtVS, Buffy, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Series), The WB, 1998.
Limousine driver, Three, The WB, 1998.
Aiden, "Paradise Found," Xena: Warrior Princess (also known as Xena), syndicated, 1999.
Benjamin Hanley, "To Serve and Protect," Profiler, NBC, 1999.
George Vincent, "Agua Mala," The X-Files, Fox, 1999.
Michael Mills, "Call of the Wild," L.A. Heat, TNT, 1999.
Nate Krill, "Captive Hearts," Martial Law, CBS, 1999.
Xersos, "Be Deviled," Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (also known as Hercules), syndicated, 1999.
Bartlett, "Ghosts from the Past," The Pretender, NBC, 2000.
Cal, "The Invitation," Touched by an Angel, CBS, 2000.
(Uncredited) Gibbs, "Ex Libris," Charmed, The WB, 2000.
Odell, "Three Lucky Ladies on the Line," Any Day Now, Lifetime, 2000.
Alan Neel, "An Early Frost," The Practice, ABC, 2001.
Alan Neel, "Payback," The Practice, ABC, 2001.
Alan Neel, "The Thin Line," The Practice, ABC, 2001.
Huiclov De Fehrn, "Flash to Bang," The Invisible Man (also known as I-Man, El hombre, Invisible Man—Der Unsichtbare, and Naekymaetoen mies), Sci-Fi Channel, 2001.
Huiclov De Fehrn, "Money for Nothing: Part 1," The Invisible Man (also known as I-Man, El hombre, Invisible Man—Der Unsichtbare, and Naekymaetoen mies), Sci-Fi Channel, 2001.
Larry, "Laughlin It Up," Dead Last, The WB and YTV (Canada), 2001.
Lieutenant Earl J. Rubidoux, "Live: From Death Row," Seven Days (also known as 7 Days and Seven Days: The Series), UPN, 2001.
Officer Peters, "The West Texas Round-Up and Other Assorted Misdemeanors," Going to California, Showtime, 2002.
Earl Ambrose, "Daddy's Girl," Dragnet (also known as L.A. Dragnet), ABC, 2003.
Georgie, "Future Malcolm," Malcolm in the Middle (also known as Fighting in Underpants), Fox, 2003.
Mr. Arnz, "Crash and Burn," CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (also known as C.S.I., CSI: Las Vegas, CSI Weekends, and Les experts), CBS, 2003.
Sam Carver, "Dead Woman Walking," CSI: Miami, CBS, 2003.
"Power Play," For the People (also known as Para la gente), Lifetime, 2003.
Dewey, "Mr. Monk Takes His Medicine," Monk, USA Network, 2004.
Mark Watt, "Marlon's Brando," Blind Justice, ABC, 2005.
"Luck Be a Lady," Crossing Jordan (also known as Untitled Tim Kring Project), NBC, 2005.
Mel Stoltz, "Spit & Eggs," Veronica Mars, The CW, 2006.
Twenty Good Years (also known as 20 Good Years), NBC, 2006.
Mel Stoltz, "Postgame Mortem," Veronica Mars, The CW, 2007.
Appeared as Russell Washington, Days of Our Lives (also known as Cruise of Deception: Days of Our Lives, Days, DOOL, Des jours et des vies, Horton-sagaen, I gode og onde dager, Los dias de nuestras vidas, Meres agapis, Paeivien viemaeae, Vaara baesta aar, Zeit der Sehnsucht, and Zile din viata noastra), NBC; as Quinn, Raven, CBS; and as Duke, The Unit, CBS. Appeared in Eighteen Wheels of Justice (also known as 18 Wheels of Justice, Highway to Hell—18 Raeder aus Stahl, La loi du fugitif, and Oikeutta tien paeaell), The National Network; and Jack and Jill, The WB. Appeared as Gary Slaton in "The Kids Are All Right?," an unaired episode of To Have & to Hold, CBS.
Television Appearances; Pilots:
Second police officer, Doogie Howser, M.D., ABC, 1989.
Huiclov De Fehrn, The Invisible Man (also known as I-Man, El hombre, Invisible Man—Der Unsichtbare, and Naekymaetoen mies), Sci-Fi Channel, 2000.
"The Good Guy" (also known as "Junkyard Dog"), The Law and Mr. Lee (also known as The Henry Lee Project and The Law and Henry Lee), CBS, c. 2003.
Major Tours:
Appeared in tours with the American Conservatory Theater.
RECORDINGS
Video Games:
Voice of Lieutenant Colonel John "Gash" Dekker, Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom, Electronic Arts, 1995.
Voice of Colonel John "Gash" Dekker, Wing Commander: Prophecy (also known as Wing Commander V), 1997.
Voice of Kakistos, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds, Fox Interactive/Vivendi Universal Games, 2003.
OTHER SOURCES
Periodicals:
Cult Times, September, 1997, p. 11; July, 1999, p. 11.
Electronic: | |||||
2241 | dbpedia | 2 | 56 | https://temple-news.com/roberts-the-consummate-players-coach/ | en | Roberts, the consummate player’s coach | [
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] | 2012-12-04T04:20:39-05:00 | Jerry Roberts brings years of playing experience to coaching duties. | en | The Temple News - A watchdog for the Temple University community since 1921. | https://temple-news.com/roberts-the-consummate-players-coach/ | From his Northeast Philadelphia roots, his Philadelphia sports loyalties, all the way down to his decade-long affiliation with Temple, there’s no doubt Jerry Roberts is a “Philly guy.”
The fourth-year coach of Temple’s ice hockey club has also been a hockey guy since he was young.
Roberts said he attended Philadelphia Flyers games as a season-ticket holder in his youth and began practicing the sport when he was 5 years old, solidifying hockey as a life-long staple.
Roberts would go on to play for the Wintersport Royals of the Delaware Valley Hockey League and eventually for Roman Catholic High School. A tough-luck senior year spent battling illness and injury kept Roberts sidelined. Therefore, hockey sat low on the priority list when it came to his college decision.
“I started my senior season at [Roman Catholic] with [Mononucleosis] and then I broke my wrist right after I came back,” Roberts said. “I was out from September all through January or February, so no one was very interested in me.”
“My college decision had nothing to do with hockey,” Roberts added. “Temple offered me a scholarship, and that makes your decision for you. When I was at Temple I just tried out and joined the [ice hockey] team.”
Roberts donned the Temple uniform for five years until graduation following the 2006–07 season.
“I was the character player on the team,” Roberts said. “I didn’t get as much ice time as some other guys, but I was the team player kind of guy.”
While he wasn’t one of the guys lighting up the score sheet every night, Roberts said his five years in a Temple uniform were some of his best.
“It was the most fun I probably ever had,” Roberts said. “Not even with hockey, but just with being with the guys for such a long time. Being a part of ice hockey at Temple was a critical contributor into me turning into a young adult.”
Working for Campus Recreation for a few years helped that transition as well. Roberts took up a full-time position as student services coordinator after graduation, a job Roberts described as “business administration-type stuff.” He handled access and deposits to Temple facilities such as IBC Recreation Center and the Student Pavilion for Campus Recreation’s sport clubs.
During his time at Campus Recreation, he also stuck around his old team, recruiting and scouting on the side for former coach Aaron Voegtli.
Voegtli resigned with Temple following the 2008–09 season in order to take up a coaching position with Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Hockey Association rival University of Maryland-Baltimore County.
Roberts was the man waiting in the wings.
“When [Voegtli] left, I was in the right place at the right time,” Roberts said. “With Campus Recreation having such a huge emphasis on student development and player safety, I think they probably felt most comfortable having someone they knew in that [coaching] role. I think it was the fact that they could trust me.”
It wasn’t too long before the Temple players adjusted to Roberts’ more simplified system on the ice.
“There definitely was a difference,” senior defenseman Andrew Trainor said. “He simplified the game for our entire team. Under [Voegtli], we had five different game plans. Each line was running at five different forechecks and [Roberts] streamlined it, running one type of forecheck for everybody. Everyone was doing the same thing and running the same type of forecheck and doing that made it easier to run correctly and successfully.”
The team made the American Collegiate Hockey Association national tournament for the first time in program history in Spring 2011, Roberts’ second year at the helm. At the time, reaching nationals was the pinnacle for everyone involved.
Assistant coach Ryan Frain played under Roberts for two seasons, his last being the nationals-clinching year.
“[Roberts] was the one who always put goals in front of us for bigger and better things,” Frain said. “[Roberts] cares a lot about this club. His drive and his passion, players feed off it and you can tell. That’s a big thing. It keeps the players motivated because they don’t want to let [Roberts] down and he doesn’t want to let our players down. He’s a big part of our continued success from year to year.”
Maintaining a strong relationship between player and coach has helped, as Roberts has been deemed a “player’s coach” by some who played or still play under him.
“He’s definitely a player’s coach,” Trainor said. “He talks to me and [team captain Jordan Lawrence] all the time about what we can improve on, what the team can improve on and what the players think needs to change. He looks for advice from us, which makes it easier for everybody.”
“[Roberts] has a really good relationship with a lot of players,” Frain said. “There comes times where [Roberts] needs to put his foot down and keep them in line and players respect that. He’s there for the guys and it’s a big family here.”
For now, Roberts is right at home with the team and “family” he has been a part of for the better part of 10 years.
“Somewhere between my first shift and my second shift as a player, I knew I wanted to be involved in this team for a long time,” Roberts said. “It’s addicting. The people you interact with and the fact that you’re doing it with hockey makes it a lot of fun. I didn’t know if coaching was really my future when I was a player, but I knew somehow and someway I wanted to be involved with this team for a long time.”
Andrew Parent can be reached at andrew.parent@temple.edu or on Twitter @daParent93. | |||||
2241 | dbpedia | 1 | 0 | https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0731127/ | en | Jerry Roberts | [
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] | null | Jerry Roberts. Music Department: Die Letzten beißen die Hunde. Jerry Roberts was born on 20 August 1909 in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. He was an actor, known for Die Letzten beißen die Hunde (1974), Flammende Grenze (1935) and Juvenile Jungle (1958). He died on 15 September 1979 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA. | en | IMDb | https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0731127/ | Jerry Roberts was born on 20 August 1909 in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. He was an actor, known for Die Letzten beißen die Hunde (1974), Flammende Grenze (1935) and Juvenile Jungle (1958). He died on 15 September 1979 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA. | |||||
2241 | dbpedia | 2 | 40 | https://www.baue.com/obituaries/jerry-l-roberts | en | Jerry L. Roberts Obituary 2020 | https://cdn.tukioswebsites.com/social/facebook/fb_3/e1ab5226-8137-49ce-a1e1-6768e166a4c3/aa378d9812df11b732f7cc65ad89be7d_2826740ab4e58dbafde71d95dc866089 | https://cdn.tukioswebsites.com/social/facebook/fb_3/e1ab5226-8137-49ce-a1e1-6768e166a4c3/aa378d9812df11b732f7cc65ad89be7d_2826740ab4e58dbafde71d95dc866089 | [
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"Baue Funeral Homes"
] | 2022-07-12T18:31:41 | Jerry L. Roberts, of St. Charles, MO, passed away Monday, November 2, 2020 at the age of 86. Loving husband of Sandra L. Roberts for 63 years; beloved son of the late Charles S.... | en | https://cdn.filestackcontent.com/rY4U7KS9R8a7D8zCVqfd | Baue Funeral Homes | https://www.baue.com/obituaries/jerry-l-roberts | Please select what you would like included for printing:
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