Beatle Fact Friday -- The Random Edition

John Lennon wrote Strawberry Fields Forever on the set of "How I Won The War."

The inspiration for the song "For The Benefit of Mister Kite" came from a cirus poster John saw. Most of the characters mentioned were real performers.

Paul isn't wearing shoes, and the VW Beetle you see in the shot was supposed to be moved but the owner was on holiday.

At 2:58 in Hey Jude Paul McCartney can be faintly heard saying "Oh, f***ing hell" after he made a mistake during the recording of the song. (The song was originally written for Julian Lennon, the chorus went "Hey Jules").

 

 

On December 30th of 1999, George and his wife Olivia were awoken by a 36 year old man named Michael Abram who broke into the Harrison's Friar Park home calling for him to show his face. Subsequently Abram grabbed a kitchen knife and inflicted seven stab wounds puncturing Harrison's lungs. Olivia incapacitated the culprit by striking him several times with a fireplace poker and lamp. Abram believed he was haunted by the former Beatle, and so God commissioned him to kill George.

In 1964, George Harrison met Pattie Boyd (his first wife) on the set of A Hard Day's Night. Patti's only line in the film was "Prisoners?". She played a schoolgirl in the movie.

Ringo Starr wanted to be a hairdresser when he was younger.

Before Cher became Cher, she was a singer going under the name Bonnie Jo Mason and recorded the novelty song I Love You Ringo about The Beatles’ drummer. (I know, can you believe that's Cher?!?!)

Youth.

Look at these kids before they got all old...WARNING: this is a huge post.

Whoah George! Better with age better with age.
Nice haircut! Did you trim those bangs yourself!
Too much Sun-In perhaps??

6th member of the Jackson 5

Pre-"sexual awakening"

OH! Oh my gawd. No wonder why he's so angry!
What a chipmunk!

OH GOD! STOP!
OK OK I understand why you're such a bitter asshole now.
Nice hair btw



Thaaaaaa sun will come outttt TOMORRA

What.       WHAT!   STOP STARING AT ME BIG LIPS!

Oh hahahahha! YES!

Amy? Is that you??? Steve Jobs?? What did you do to Amy?

ohhh there she is...all innocent and shit.

WHOAH MARTHA!!!!

MARTHAAAA!!!!! WHOAHH!
(heart beating fast)

Oh my god! RRRRAAARRRRR!!
woof woof
shiiiiiiiittt.

MARTHA JESUS CHRIST
what the fuck!?

Tuesday Tipp's.

Need to open that sealed envelope without tearing it?

Need to get that god awful smell out of those shoes you wear all the time?

Need to make those candles burn slower and last longer?

Wanna kill dust mites?

PUT ALL THAT SHIT IN THE FREEZER.

I'm serious.

It'll solve any of those problems.

That freezer of yours is much more handy than you think.

(Be sure to put everything in a plastic bad so that ice doesn't form)

(Extremely late..) Beatle Fact Friday!

I know, it's really not Friday -- though I wish it was....

Across The Universe was written one night by John Lennon after fighting with his then girlfriend, Cynthia. He's commented on the song saying that it just came over him in the middle of the night and couldn't get the tune out of his head. The words followed quickly, and so, the song was born. "Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup" is a metaphor for the way they were fighting that night. There was so much said that night, neither of them could keep up with the amount that was said.

February 1968 Alternate Take

Later released on Anthology 2 in 1996

"Jai Guru Deva Om" is a mantra Lennon used as the refrain which, in Sanskrit, means "Victory to the Guru." John had just taken his trip to India where he met with The Maharishi (who he later attempts to insult in his song Sexy Sadie -- see Diane's post). The mantra intended to sooth the mind in order to reach higher consciousness. I suppose he needed some way to come down after the right. "Om," used in any sort of meditation, was used to relate to the vibrations of the universe ---maaaaaan. far out maaaaaaaan. This was the first version of the song, recorded on February 4th of 1968. The track was simple, and included a rhythm track of acoustic guitar, percussion and the tambura. George overdubbed the beginning with his sitar and two teenage fans (thrilled) were grabbed off the street randomly to do the backup vocals.

Original 1968 recording (w/girls singing)

Wildlife version

There are a few versions of the song. The initial release was done in 1968 for the charity album "No One's Gonna Change Our World" for the World Wildlife Fund. Chirping birds and pond noises were used to reflect the wildlife theme of the album. George Martin finalized this version of the track by making it stereo and speeding up the tempo a bit. John and George hated this version.

After Abbey Road, which was supposed to be their last album, they broke up and subsequently released Let It Be. Early in January of 1970, Glyn Jones remixed the track omitting the girls vocals and the bird sound effects. This version was never made officially public because Jones's "Get Back" albums were never released. Spektor had a go at it in April of 1970, remixing the original track by slowing it down to it's original speed and adding orchestral and choral overdubs (taking out the birds and the girls). This is perhaps the most popular version of the song.

This song was also released by David Bowie on his album Young Americans where he played the guitar on the track and sang. Bowie, undoubtedly, was a huge Lennon fan.

Mondays are a drag.