📅 ON THIS DAY: The Beatles’ first Ed Sullivan Show (1964)
9 February 1964 was the date of The Beatles’ record-breaking first live appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, at Studio 50 in New York City.
"Seventy-three million people were reported to have watched the first show. It is still supposed to be one of the largest viewing audiences ever in the States. It was very important. We came out of nowhere with funny hair, looking like marionettes or something. That was very influential. I think that was really one of the big things that broke us – the hairdo more than the music, originally. A lot of people’s fathers had wanted to turn us off. They told their kids, ‘Don’t be fooled, they’re wearing wigs.’ A lot of fathers did turn it off, but a lot of mothers and children made them keep it on. All these kids are now grown-up, and telling us they remember it. It’s like, ‘Where were you when Kennedy was shot?’ I get people like Dan Aykroyd saying, ‘Oh man, I remember that Sunday night; we didn’t know what had hit us – just sitting there watching Ed Sullivan’s show.’ Up until then there were jugglers and comedians like Jerry Lewis, and then, suddenly, The Beatles!" – Paul McCartney, Anthology
📅 ON THIS DAY: Filming: Strawberry Fields Forever (1967)
Having decided that their next single would be the double a-side ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ and ‘Penny Lane’, The Beatles took part in promotional films. Work began on this day in Knole Park in Sevenoaks, Kent.
he films were both produced by Tony Bramwell for Subafilms, and were shot on colour 35mm film by a crew from London-based Don Long Productions. The Swedish director was Peter Goldmann, who had been recommended by Klaus Voormann.
Goldmann had arrived in England in early January and looked for suitable locations in London and elsewhere. The first location he decided upon was Knole Park, owned by the National Trust.
On this evening filming began on Strawberry Fields Forever. A number of sequences were shot around a dead oak tree near the park’s birdhouse. The tree is no longer there.
Work on the Strawberry Fields Forever clip continued on the following day.
📅 ON THIS DAY: Recording, mixing: Instant Karma! by Plastic Ono Band (1970)
Studio Three, EMI Studios, Abbey Road
Producer: Phil Spector
Engineers: Phil McDonald, Andy Stephens
The third single by Plastic Ono Band, ‘Instant Karma!’, was written, recorded and mixed on 27 January 1970.
John Lennon wrote the song on the morning of 27 January 1970, on an upright piano at Tittenhurst Park, his mansion in Ascot, Berkshire.
"It just came to me. Everybody was going on about karma, especially in the Sixties. But it occurred to me that karma is instant as well as it influences your past life or your future life. There really is a reaction to what you do now. That’s what people ought to be concerned about. Also, I’m fascinated by commercials and promotion as an art form. I enjoy them. So the idea of instant karma was like the idea of instant coffee: presenting something in a new form. I just liked it." – John Lennon
Keen to record the song as soon as possible, Abbey Road’s Studio Three was hastily booked. The session began at 7pm.
📅 ON THIS DAY: John Lennon signs management contracts with Allen Klein (1969)
John Lennon and Yoko Ono met Allen Klein for dinner at the Dorchester Hotel in London on 26 January 1969.
Lennon had mentioned in interviews The Beatles’ concerns about the rate at which Apple Corps was losing money. Klein was an American music industry business manager who had been wanting a piece of The Beatles’ empire since 1964.
Klein had approached Lennon at the filming of The Rolling Stones’ Rock And Roll Circus in December 1968. Although Mick Jagger had warned Lennon that Klein’s own dealings with the Stones had been less than perfect, Lennon saw Klein as a kindred spirit.
Klein came prepared, revealing in-depth knowledge not only of The Beatles’ business issues, but also their music and songwriting. At the end of the meeting, at around 3am, Klein wrote a series of documents informing EMI, Northern Songs, and Apple Corps, that he would now be representing Lennon.
Lennon signed the documents, and the following day told The Beatles that Klein was now representing him.
📅 ON THIS DAY: Recording: A Day In The Life (1967)
Studio Two, EMI Studios, Abbey Road
Producer: George Martin
Engineer: Geoff Emerick
The Beatles began work on the finale of their Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album on this day, recording four takes of ‘A Day In The Life’.
For this session only it had the working title In The Life Of…, and the group began by rehearsing with John Lennon on piano, Paul McCartney playing an organ, George Harrison on an acoustic guitar and Ringo Starr playing congas. These rehearsals were recorded but later wiped.
For the four proper takes, Lennon sang a guide vocal onto track four while his acoustic guitar, McCartney’s piano, Harrison’s maracas and Starr’s congas were taped together onto track one. Onto take four Lennon added two vocal overdubs onto tracks two and three, with some piano licks by McCartney on the latter.
"There was so much echo on A Day In The Life. We’d send a feed from John’s vocal mic into a mono tape machine and then tape the output – because they had separate record and replay heads – and then feed that back in again. Then we’d turn up the record level until it started to feed back on itself and give a twittery sort of vocal sound. John was hearing that echo in his cans as he was singing. It wasn’t put on after. He used his own echo as a rhythmic feel for many of the songs he sang, phrasing his voice around the echo in his cans." – Geoff Emerick
The Beatles were unsure what they wanted to fill the two bridge sections with, so had Mal Evans count out 24 bars. At the end of the first sequence an alarm clock was set off. The clock later provided the perfect introduction to McCartney’s vocal passage.
📅 ON THIS DAY: US album release: Yellow Submarine (1969)
The soundtrack LP for The Beatles’ animated film Yellow Submarine was released in the United States on this day, with six songs by the group and seven orchestral pieces by George Martin.
Unlike in the UK, there was no mono version of Yellow Submarine released. The catalogue number was Apple SW-153.
Originally, the four new Beatles songs on the album – ‘Only A Northern Song’, ‘All Together Now’, ‘Hey Bulldog’ and ‘It’s All Too Much’ – were to have been issued as an EP. This was deemed unsuitable for the US market, however, and so the full-length album was created.
Yellow Submarine peaked at number two in the US charts. It was prevented from reaching the top by the White Album, which had been issued two months previously. Sales were lower than normal, however, and The Beatles came under criticism for not giving their usual value for money.
The artwork of the US and UK albums were slightly different. In the UK the words ‘Nothing is real’ appeared in green below the title on the cover. This was removed from the US version.
Thank you for being part of another incredible year with us. ere’s to everything we explored together this year, and to even more stories, discoveries, and deep dives ahead!
Beatles Bible
📅 ON THIS DAY: The Beatles’ first Ed Sullivan Show (1964)
9 February 1964 was the date of The Beatles’ record-breaking first live appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, at Studio 50 in New York City.
"Seventy-three million people were reported to have watched the first show. It is still supposed to be one of the largest viewing audiences ever in the States. It was very important. We came out of nowhere with funny hair, looking like marionettes or something. That was very influential. I think that was really one of the big things that broke us – the hairdo more than the music, originally. A lot of people’s fathers had wanted to turn us off. They told their kids, ‘Don’t be fooled, they’re wearing wigs.’ A lot of fathers did turn it off, but a lot of mothers and children made them keep it on. All these kids are now grown-up, and telling us they remember it. It’s like, ‘Where were you when Kennedy was shot?’ I get people like Dan Aykroyd saying, ‘Oh man, I remember that Sunday night; we didn’t know what had hit us – just sitting there watching Ed Sullivan’s show.’ Up until then there were jugglers and comedians like Jerry Lewis, and then, suddenly, The Beatles!" – Paul McCartney, Anthology
Read the full article here: www.beatlesbible.com/1964/02/09/the-beatles-first-…
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📅 ON THIS DAY: Filming: Strawberry Fields Forever (1967)
Having decided that their next single would be the double a-side ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ and ‘Penny Lane’, The Beatles took part in promotional films. Work began on this day in Knole Park in Sevenoaks, Kent.
he films were both produced by Tony Bramwell for Subafilms, and were shot on colour 35mm film by a crew from London-based Don Long Productions. The Swedish director was Peter Goldmann, who had been recommended by Klaus Voormann.
Goldmann had arrived in England in early January and looked for suitable locations in London and elsewhere. The first location he decided upon was Knole Park, owned by the National Trust.
On this evening filming began on Strawberry Fields Forever. A number of sequences were shot around a dead oak tree near the park’s birdhouse. The tree is no longer there.
Work on the Strawberry Fields Forever clip continued on the following day.
2 weeks ago | [YT] | 1,614
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Beatles Bible
📅 ON THIS DAY: Recording, mixing: Instant Karma! by Plastic Ono Band (1970)
Studio Three, EMI Studios, Abbey Road
Producer: Phil Spector
Engineers: Phil McDonald, Andy Stephens
The third single by Plastic Ono Band, ‘Instant Karma!’, was written, recorded and mixed on 27 January 1970.
John Lennon wrote the song on the morning of 27 January 1970, on an upright piano at Tittenhurst Park, his mansion in Ascot, Berkshire.
"It just came to me. Everybody was going on about karma, especially in the Sixties. But it occurred to me that karma is instant as well as it influences your past life or your future life. There really is a reaction to what you do now. That’s what people ought to be concerned about. Also, I’m fascinated by commercials and promotion as an art form. I enjoy them. So the idea of instant karma was like the idea of instant coffee: presenting something in a new form. I just liked it." – John Lennon
Keen to record the song as soon as possible, Abbey Road’s Studio Three was hastily booked. The session began at 7pm.
Read full article here: www.beatlesbible.com/1970/01/27/recording-instant-…
2 weeks ago | [YT] | 1,492
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Beatles Bible
📅 ON THIS DAY: John Lennon signs management contracts with Allen Klein (1969)
John Lennon and Yoko Ono met Allen Klein for dinner at the Dorchester Hotel in London on 26 January 1969.
Lennon had mentioned in interviews The Beatles’ concerns about the rate at which Apple Corps was losing money. Klein was an American music industry business manager who had been wanting a piece of The Beatles’ empire since 1964.
Klein had approached Lennon at the filming of The Rolling Stones’ Rock And Roll Circus in December 1968. Although Mick Jagger had warned Lennon that Klein’s own dealings with the Stones had been less than perfect, Lennon saw Klein as a kindred spirit.
Klein came prepared, revealing in-depth knowledge not only of The Beatles’ business issues, but also their music and songwriting. At the end of the meeting, at around 3am, Klein wrote a series of documents informing EMI, Northern Songs, and Apple Corps, that he would now be representing Lennon.
Lennon signed the documents, and the following day told The Beatles that Klein was now representing him.
2 weeks ago | [YT] | 666
View 70 replies
Beatles Bible
📅 ON THIS DAY: Recording: A Day In The Life (1967)
Studio Two, EMI Studios, Abbey Road
Producer: George Martin
Engineer: Geoff Emerick
The Beatles began work on the finale of their Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album on this day, recording four takes of ‘A Day In The Life’.
For this session only it had the working title In The Life Of…, and the group began by rehearsing with John Lennon on piano, Paul McCartney playing an organ, George Harrison on an acoustic guitar and Ringo Starr playing congas. These rehearsals were recorded but later wiped.
For the four proper takes, Lennon sang a guide vocal onto track four while his acoustic guitar, McCartney’s piano, Harrison’s maracas and Starr’s congas were taped together onto track one. Onto take four Lennon added two vocal overdubs onto tracks two and three, with some piano licks by McCartney on the latter.
"There was so much echo on A Day In The Life. We’d send a feed from John’s vocal mic into a mono tape machine and then tape the output – because they had separate record and replay heads – and then feed that back in again. Then we’d turn up the record level until it started to feed back on itself and give a twittery sort of vocal sound. John was hearing that echo in his cans as he was singing. It wasn’t put on after. He used his own echo as a rhythmic feel for many of the songs he sang, phrasing his voice around the echo in his cans." – Geoff Emerick
The Beatles were unsure what they wanted to fill the two bridge sections with, so had Mal Evans count out 24 bars. At the end of the first sequence an alarm clock was set off. The clock later provided the perfect introduction to McCartney’s vocal passage.
3 weeks ago | [YT] | 2,083
View 46 replies
Beatles Bible
📅 ON THIS DAY: US album release: Yellow Submarine (1969)
The soundtrack LP for The Beatles’ animated film Yellow Submarine was released in the United States on this day, with six songs by the group and seven orchestral pieces by George Martin.
Unlike in the UK, there was no mono version of Yellow Submarine released. The catalogue number was Apple SW-153.
Originally, the four new Beatles songs on the album – ‘Only A Northern Song’, ‘All Together Now’, ‘Hey Bulldog’ and ‘It’s All Too Much’ – were to have been issued as an EP. This was deemed unsuitable for the US market, however, and so the full-length album was created.
Yellow Submarine peaked at number two in the US charts. It was prevented from reaching the top by the White Album, which had been issued two months previously. Sales were lower than normal, however, and The Beatles came under criticism for not giving their usual value for money.
The artwork of the US and UK albums were slightly different. In the UK the words ‘Nothing is real’ appeared in green below the title on the cover. This was removed from the US version.
1 month ago | [YT] | 1,349
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Beatles Bible
Happy New Year!
Thank you for being part of another incredible year with us. ere’s to everything we explored together this year, and to even more stories, discoveries, and deep dives ahead!
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