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Ethan Hawke Makes Solo Beatles Compilation in BOYHOOD
Richard Linklater’s terrific film Boyhood has a great sequence where the father, Ethan Hawke, gives his son a mix of solo Beatles tracks. Buzzfeed printed Hawke’s playlist along with his heartfelt note...
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Peter Asher Produces One of Ringo’s Deepest Cuts: “Golden Blunders”
A song about troubled marriage and inescapable guilt by alternative power pop band The Posies, producer Peter Asher heard it while driving cross country and thought it would be a great song for Starr...
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George Lightens Up in “Crackerbox Palace” with the Help of Monty Python
The titular palace was the home of legendary comedian Lord Buckley. His manager Mr. Grief (name checked in the lyrics) showed Harrison around the grounds and inspired the track, which is on 1976’s...
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My Favorite of Paul’s Classical Pieces: “Cell Growth”
McCartney’s symphony Standing Stone (1997) was the natural progression from “Yesterday,” “Eleanor Rigby,” and 1966’s The Family Way soundtrack (the first Beatle solo album). Recounting the rise of...
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I Have a New Book Out Called “Where’s Ringo?”
From Thunder Press, it’s a take off on Where’s Waldo with twenty double-page illustrations packed with Beatles trivia in which you have to find Ringo and other Beatles-related people and things, and...
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About the New Paperback Version/ Get It Here/ As Seen In USA Today and...
Recommended by USA Today and excerpted in Rolling Stone.com, the updated paperback version of Still the Greatest: The Essential Songs of the Beatles’ Solo Careers features a new 12-page Afterword....
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Lennon Picks “Bony Moronie” to Kick Off 1973’s Rock ‘N’ Roll Sessions
A 1957 hit for Larry Williams, Lennon sang “Bony Moronie” in the only show his mother saw him play before her death, hence the song’s special place in his heart. It was the first song Lennon laid down...
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I’ll Be On 2 Panels at the Fest For Beatles Fans in Los Angeles October 10-12
If you’re a Beatles fan in L.A. this weekend you can’t miss the Fest for Beatles Fans – it’s like Comic-con for Beatles maniacs! On Saturday at 2 pm I’ll be talking about STILL THE GREATEST and solo...
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My New Book “1965: The Most Revolutionary Year in Music” Is In Stores Today!
Excerpts, videos, and more are available at http://www.1965book.com and http://www.facebook.com/1965book. Fifty years ago, friendly rivalry between musicians turned 1965 into the most ground-breaking...
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Solo Beatles discussion with Larry Rifkin Of WATR’s “Talk Of The Town”
Larry was kind enough to have me on last week to talk about the music of John, Paul, George, and Ringo after 1970. You can hear the conversation here. Thanks, Larry! http://www.rifkinradio.com/?p=303
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An In-Depth Discussion about the Solo Beatles on Ken Michaels’“Every Little...
Ken has been hosting his Beatles show for 33 years and you can listen here. (This photo on the Solo Beatles home page, by the way, features George and Ringo with Formula One racer Jackie Stewart....
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“Beautiful Girl” and the Two Loves of Harrison’s Life
With its jangling twelve-string guitar and vocal harmonies, 1976’s “Beautiful Girl” sounds, as Harrison scholar Simon Leng says, like it could have come from HELP! or RUBBER SOUL. Here Harrison’s...
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Ringo Rocks Out With Elton In “Snookeroo”
One of the 1970s stars who came closest to reaching Beatles heights was Elton John, and he worked with both Lennon and Starr in 1974. For Starr’s album Goodnight Vienna, Elton John and his lyricist...
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Macca, Michael, and The Man
“The Man” is the second of McCartney’s three collaborations with Michael Jackson, recorded in 1981 and released on Pipes of Peace (1983). Jackson wrote the lyrics, about some wise dancing man who...
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Harrison’s Wistful Love Letter to the Apple Scruffs
In the early ’60s, girls used to stand in line for three hours before the Beatles’ daily Cavern Club shows, sometimes clawing Starr’s future wife, Maureen, out of jealousy. In the late ’60s, when the...
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Lennon’s Most Underrated Love Song? Mind Games’“Out the Blue”
In June 1973 Yoko Ono told Lennon she wanted a separation right before the sessions for the Mind Games album began began. Lennon didn’t want to believe they were through, and many Mind Games songs...
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I’ll Be On 2 Panels at the Fest For Beatles Fans in Chicago August 14-16
If you’re a Beatles fan in Chicago this weekend you can’t miss the Fest for Beatles Fans – it’s like Comic-con for Beatles maniacs! On Saturday at 7pm I’ll be talking about my recent book 1965: THE...
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JOHN SONGS VS. PAUL SONGS IN 1964
It’s time for the next installment of our year-by-year comparison. While they were in the Beatles, John and Paul attributed all the songs they wrote to “Lennon-McCartney.” But after 1963, most tunes...
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I’LL BE AT THE 4th ANNUAL BEATLES TRIBUTE FESTIVAL IN PICO RIVERA TODAY (9/26)
I’ll be selling books and on a panel with fellow Beatle author Chuck Gunderson (Some Fun Tonight) at 2pm. It’s happening at the Pico Rivera Sports Arena (address below) for $25 a ticket....
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Panthers and Politics
Between 1971 and 1972, Lennon, the Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan all released songs of solidarity with the Black Panthers. McCartney had already released his hymn to the civil rights movement on The...
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