The cover of "Abbey Road" as the basis for a conspiracy legend. The Beatles on the Zebra

Forty years ago, at 11:35 a.m., the Beatles crossed a quiet street in north London on a zebra.

The photo session for their new album “Abbey Road” took place a few meters from the recording studio of the same name and took about ten minutes - photographer Ian MacMillan took only six shots, for this he had to climb a stepladder.

Since then, the cover of the new album has become a legend for two reasons - no cover like this has become the object of so many imitations, and no cover like this has spawned so many conspiracy legends.

For crazed fans with inflamed imaginations, this was the ultimate proof of the delusional legend of the time - that Paul McCartney is really dead.

According to this legend, Paul died in a car accident and was replaced by a doppelgänger. The band, legend has it, felt guilty about this deception and placed hidden signs on the album cover for their fans.

Thus, even today, despite Sir Paul's pronounced health, they continue to insist that if you look closely at the images on the front and back covers, you will find symbols of death hidden there.

There is no doubt that this album meant only one death. It was not yet known to the public at that time that the Beatles were in the last stages of disintegration, and this was their last album.

Relations between the band members deteriorated so much that they abandoned the original title of the Everest album and the Himalayan photography, and instead filmed near the studio - and this was the only thing they did by mutual agreement.

Die-hard fans, however, could read much more from the photographs.

1.FUNERAL

The procession of the Beatles, walking along the "zebra", means a funeral for Paul. John Lennon walks in front in a white suit and symbolizes a priest. Ringo Star is a mourner dressed in black. George Harrison, in a scruffy shirt and jeans, represents the gravedigger. Paul is wearing an old suit and is the only one walking barefoot. He later explained that he started filming in sandals, but later took them off as it was a very hot day. Adherents of the legend say that if this is true, then walking on hot asphalt is uncomfortable, and this once again confirms that Pol is a corpse.

2. CIGARETTE

Paul is left-handed, but here he is holding a cigarette in his right hand. Cigarettes are commonly referred to as "nails in the coffin." Thus, this is a sign that Paul's "coffin lid" is boarded up, and the man in the photo is his doppelgänger.

Paul is also out of step with the rest of the group. Everyone has a left foot in front, and Paul has a right foot, which again confirms that he is different from the others.

3. REGISTRATION NUMBER

The white Volkswagen Beetle in the background has registration number LMW 28IF. Conspiracy theorists say this means Paul would have been 28 IF he hadn't died.

Paul was actually 27 years old when "Abbey Road" was released, but fortunately for conspiracy theorists, Indian mystics calculate a person's age from conception, not birth, so in this case, Paul would indeed be 28 years old.

This is supported by the fact that the musicians were famous adherents of the Indian guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. LMW is also believed to stand for "Linda McCartney Weeps" - referring to Paul's wife, whom he married earlier this year.

4. spectators

In the background, a small group of white-clad people stand on one side of the street, and a lone person stands on the other side.

Does this mean that Paul is alone and separate from the others?

5. POLICE MINIBUS

There is a black police van parked on the right side of the street, a reference to the police remaining silent on "Paul's death".

According to legend, the band's manager Brian Epstein bought this silence, and the presence of a police "bean" in the photo is another "thank you".

6.LINE OF MACHINES

You can draw a line from the Volkswagen Beetle to the three cars in front of it. If it is passed through their right wheels, it will just touch Paul's head, and according to theorists, this means that Paul received a head injury in a car accident.

7. BLOOD SPOT

A stain can be seen on the Australian version of the album. It can be seen as a bloodstain on the road, it is located between Ringo and John, indirectly confirming the version of a car accident.

8. SHUTTERED LETTER S

On the back of the cover there is a photo of the Abbey Road sign, and above is the inscription BEATLES. The crack passing through the letter S is clearly visible - it is believed that this indicates problems within the group.

To the left of the Beatles inscription is a group of eight dots. If you connect them together, you get the number 3.

Does this mean there are three Beatles left?

10. IMAGE OF DEATH

If the cover is held with the back facing you and rotated 45 degrees counterclockwise, the image of the Demon of Death can be clearly seen. Some people believe that this means that someone in the group has died.

11. GIRL

No one knows who the blue-clad girl on the back cover is. On the night that "the car crash happened", according to the followers of the legend, it was raining heavily, and Paul gave a lift to one fan named Rita. It must be the same girl, and she is either running away from the scene of the accident or running to call for help.

12. Paul's resting place

If the inscription on the wall is broken into separate sections, then you can get an encrypted message - “Be At Les Abbey”. In numerology, the next two letters - R and O are the 18th and 15th letters of the alphabet. Putting them together (33) and multiplying by the number of letters (2), we get the number 66 - the year in which Paul supposedly died.

The number 3 also corresponds to the letter C, so 33 corresponds to SS. CC means the short name of Cecilia, and adherents of the legend believe that Paul was buried at St Cecilia's Abbey in Ryde on the Isle of Wight.

After extremely unsuccessful recording sessions for the planned album get back(later renamed to Let It Be- 1970) Paul McCartney suggested that producer George Martin get together and record an album "like in the old days", without those quarrels and omissions that began with the work on the record The Beatles(aka White Album). Martin agreed on the condition that everything would be "as it was before", and the end result was Abbey Road. Work on it took place from February to August 1969.

The Beatles' twelfth album was originally named Everest: such cigarettes were smoked by one of the engineers of the studio, Jeff Emerick. The mountains depicted on the pack really liked the group.

But the name had to be changed: none of the team members wanted to go to Nepal for a photo shoot. We got out of this situation very simply and, as it turned out later, very successfully.

The cover art was designed by Apple Records creative director John Kosh. Abbey Road- the only British album of the Beatles, on the cover of which neither the artist nor the name is indicated. The record company EMI warned that the record would not be sold without this information. Kosh clarified that they "didn't have to put the band's name on the cover... They were the most famous band in the world."

A couple of days before the shoot, Ian was given a sketch by Paul McCartney showing what it should look like.

On an unusually hot August 8, around half past eleven, Ian Macmillan, a freelance photographer and friend of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, arrived at the studio building on Abbey Road. The Beatles were waiting for him on the porch.

In stock, Macmillan had only 10 minutes to take the desired photograph. Especially for this, the police blocked the site of the already busy Abbey Road in those days. Using a Hasselblad camera with a 50mm f22 wide angle lens at 1/500th of a second, Ian took the first 3 photos while standing on a stepladder.

After that, I had to stop and let some of the cars pass and only then shoot the remaining 3.

Paul keeps the flip flops when they return, but leaves them on the sidewalk for the rest of the photo shoot.

McCartney examined all the photographs with a magnifying glass before deciding which one would make the cover. The selection settled on the fifth shot, in which the group is crossing the street from left to right, Lennon leading the procession, followed by Starr, McCartney and Harrison. McCartney walks barefoot and out of step with the others. It also featured Alan Flanagan, Steve Millwood and Derek Seagrove, decorating the studio and returning from lunch. They can be found in the frame on the far left.

Parked to the left, a white Volkswagen Beetle belonged to one of the residents of the apartment building across from the studio. After the release of the album, the license plate (LMW 281F) was stolen several times. In 1986, the car was sold at Sotheby's to an American billionaire for £2,530, and in 2001 it was exhibited in a German museum.

It is believed that the person standing on the sidewalk to the right of the crossing is Paul Cole, an American tourist. He was tired of going to museums: he just decided to stand and see what was happening around while his wife was examining museum exhibits. Paul got into a conversation with the policeman who was in the car. While they were talking, the tourist noticed that several people had gathered at the pedestrian crossing and four of them began to walk back and forth along the zebra: “Some weirdos! Who walks around London barefoot? Paul Cole noticed himself on the cover of the album only a few years later.

Shortly before the release of the album Abbey Road The Rat Subterranean News published an article claiming that Paul McCartney died in a car accident in 1966 and that the current "Paul" is actually William Campbell. And the picture became a new "proof" of the conspiracy theory. The number on the Volkswagen LMW 281F that was in the picture was read as "Paul would be 28 years old if he was alive" (and it does not matter that Paul turned 27 in 1969). And the whole composition embodies the funeral procession -  ahead John in white as a priest, at the end George in all jeans as an undertaker, and Paul himself with his eyes closed, barefoot, a cigarette in his hand (the expression "a cigarette is a nail from a coffin"), and even walking out of step with the others.

McCartney always denied these allusions, saying that it was nonsense: “We wore ordinary clothes. I was barefoot because it was hot. And the Volkswagen just happened to be there.” In 1993, Paul released a live album Paul Is Live, the cover of which parodied and Abbey Road, and the "evidence" of his own death "found" on it.

The image of the Beatles crossing Abbey Road has become one of the most famous and copied in history. For example, Red Hot Chili Peppers took it as a prototype for the cover. Abbey Road EP.

In 2010, the crossing was given Category II status for its "cultural and historical significance"; Abbey Road Studios had received similar status a few months earlier. There is a special site on which the famous transition has been broadcast in real time since 2011.

Whatever anyone tells me, I remain of my opinion - The Beatles is a unique combination of four talented people, each of whom is a Personality in itself, and together they are a Phenomenon of Culture and therefore let's talk about them, look at them, listen to what they themselves thinking and talking about...
And do not judge strictly either them or me - they were still quite boys when they started their Path. And they sang for the same guys as themselves and yet .. - the first love is simply the first.

The post is based on chapters from the book by St. Petersburg journalist Anatoly Maksimov "McCartney. Day by Day" - this is the first publication in Russia that thoroughly explores the life of the most popular composer on the planet. Paul McCartney's biography has two prison sentences; recording albums in Africa; aboard a yacht in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean; in an old castle, as well as a joint recording session with John Lennon, which took place after the breakup of the Beatles in 1974. And besides, a billion dollars in a bank account plus sensational details of the musician's personal life.

The Beatles - And I Love Her

The canonical composition of The Beatles

1. John Lennon (at birth John Winston Lennon) - born October 9, 1940, Liverpool, UK - died December 8, 1980, New York, USA).

2. Sir James Paul McCartney (James Paul McCartney) - born June 18, 1942, Liverpool, UK.

3. George Harrison (George Harrison) - born February 25, 1943, Liverpool, UK - died November 29, 2001, Los Angeles, USA)

4. Sir Ringo Starr (Ringo Starr, real name Richard Starkey, English Richard Starkey) - born July 7, 1940, Liverpool, UK)

Quotes from Anatoly Maksimov's book "McCartney. Day after day"

November 11, 1956 - one of the most important events in the life of McCartney takes place. On this day, he is present at the concert of British skiffle rock star Lonny Donegan, which took place in Liverpool's Empire Hall.

This concert makes a stunning impression on Paul: from now on, he also wants to become a musician! As a result, Paul asked his father to buy him a guitar, which he did, paying £15 for it. Previously, Paul dabbled in playing the trumpet given to him by his cousin Jan.

Paul: "I didn't like the trumpet. I really liked the guitar, because it was enough to learn a few chords, and play to your health, and you can sing at the same time." True, Paul was left-handed, and at first it interfered: “When I first picked up a guitar, I couldn’t understand what was going on. My hands didn’t obey, and I didn’t succeed, but then I saw a photo of the guitarist somewhere Slim Whitman, he was left-handed, and I said to myself, "Here's the thing. You just need to flip the guitar."

October 31, 1956 - Paul's mother dies of breast cancer at Norten Hospital... When Paul and Michael (Paul's younger brother) were told about this, they cried all night. For many days Paul prayed for his mother to return.

PAUL: "Stupid prayers, you know, like, 'If she comes back to us, I'll always be very, very good.' when you need it the most."

Michael: "It all started right after the death of his mother. Obsession. Obsession became his companion for life ... He played the guitar and went to another, his own world ... Lost his mother and found a guitar? I don't know, maybe at that moment it helped him to switch off."

Many years later, in 1968, memories of his mother prompted Paul to write the famous anthem Let It Be.

"The Beatles" - Let It Be

July 6, 1957 - in the garden of the parish church of St. Petra in Woolton Paul meets 16-year-old John Lennon, who is performing there with his band Quarrymen.

Paul performs several rock and roll hits in front of the guys, in particular, Twenty Flight Rock and Be Thief A Lula, and his playing clearly exceeds the level of the group's playing. "I felt like I made an impression on them, they understood what kind of bird I was." John, interested in Paul's abilities, sends him an invitation through his friend Pete Shotton to become a member of the Quarrymen. Paul agrees and thereby perpetuates the names of McCartney and Lennon in history.

Pete Shotton: "When Paul picked up his guitar and started playing... John was immediately impressed. "Well, Pete," John asked as soon as Paul left, "what do you think of him?" "I liked him." “How do you feel about accepting him into the group?” “I don't mind,” I replied. “If you want it, and he wants it too” ... It so happened that I first saw Paul when he rode a bicycle around the neighborhood. Noticing me, Paul stopped. “Listen,” I finally decided, “John and I talked here and …thought you might want to join our group…” A full minute passed while Paul pretended to carefully consider this proposal. “Okay. "Okay," he finally said with a shrug and drove home almost immediately.

On June 22, 1957, The Quarrymen performed two concerts in the back of an open truck in Rosebury Street, in celebration of the 750th anniversary of the Liverpool Charter. And on July 6, a performance took place in the park of St. Peter's Church, where Paul McCartney came to the meeting with a guitar.

The band consisted of Lennon (vocals, guitar), Eric Griffiths (guitar), Colin Hunton (drums), Rod Davis (banjo), Pete Shotton (washboard) and Len Harry.

Paul showed John how he tuned the guitar and played Cochran's "Twenty Flight Rock", Gene Vincent's "Be-Bop-A-Lula" and Little Richard's medley of songs. Here another historical episode took place: a boy named Bob Molyneux recorded part of the performance on his reel-to-reel Grundig TK8. In 1963, through Ringo Starr, he offered this film to Lennon, received no answer and buried this treasure of his, and in 1994, EMI bought the film for 78.5 thousand pounds sterling.

EDDIE COCHRAN - TWENTY-FLIGHT ROCK

Gene VINCENT - Be Bop A Lula

In the same summer of 1957 - Paul and Michael take part in a folk talent competition, which was held at the Butlins Holiday Camp in Filey, Yorkshire. They duetted the song Bye Bye Love, and then Paul sang the song Long Tall Sally.

Michael McCartney: “There is a folk talent competition in Liverpool at this time. Anyone who could dance, sing, play guitar, etc. better than others, could receive a prize of 5 thousand pounds. Paul also began to prepare a number in the spirit of "Little Richard" and "Everly Brothers". He was 13 years old, and I left my brother to take the bull by the horns, according to my ideas, he was already an experienced person. Paul slung his guitar over his shoulder and went to the competition, taking me with him. Contest producer Mike Roddins was on stage and Paul went straight there. The producer immediately introduced him to the assembled public: “Ladies and Geltmen! Let's applaud this young talent! Paul McCartney on stage! Let's ask!" Applause broke out, and then the brother suddenly whispered something in the producer's ear, and he issued another tirade: “Look at these schoolchildren. Today with him is Paul's younger brother Mike, who just got out of the hospital yesterday (I broke my arm). The brothers are going to perform their number! Let's ask!" I also got on stage. “What song will you sing, young people?” - the host asked us. "B-b-b-bye, love. The Everly Brothers,” Paul murmured excitedly, and we sang a song. When the applause died down, we performed one more thing - "Lanky Sally".

PAUL: "This is the first time I've sung 'Long Sally' on stage. I think I was 14 or 11 at the time, I don't remember. My parents and I rested at the Butlins campsite (Wales), and it hosted “talent contests”. One of our distant relatives was the organizer of the competition, and he called us to the stage. I took a guitar with me, although I don't know if I played it at the time. I went out with Brother Michael, who looked very pale - he recently recovered from a broken arm, so I went out with a white bandage. We sang one song from the Everly Brothers ensemble, something like "Goodbye, love," and ended the performance with the song "Lanky Sally." I don't think there's a better end to a performance than Lanky Sally. Once we sang another song at the end, "What am I saying," but it was quickly forgotten. Then I often sang an unusual version of the song "Hey Rob", but neither one nor the other surpassed "Sally", so I still sing it now.

P.S. They failed to win the competition.

P.P.S. At this concert, the McCartney brothers performed under the pseudonym The Nurk Twins, which Paul used again - on April 23 and 24, 1960 for his joint performance with John Lennon in the pub "The Fox and Hounds", which was owned by the family of Paul's cousin - Elizabeth Robbins.

The Beatles - Long Tall Sally

October 18, 1957 - The Lennon-McCartney duet originates from McCartney's little song I Lost My Little Girl. And it was like that.

On this day, Paul's debut as part of the Quarrymen took place on the stage of the Liverpool club "New Clubmoor". After the concert, he shows John a song of his own composition (I Lost My Little Girl), and Lennon, who had not composed anything himself before, not wanting to be inferior to McCartney in anything, begins to try to do the same. However, his first compositions are simple and not particularly original. Yes, and Paul is not all right at first. And so, over time, friends come to the idea of ​​working together on a song, when everyone brings their own flavor to it.

When they got together, teasing each other, inspiration hit them, and for a very long period (somewhere until the mid-60s), they basically composed music together.

John:
"Paul was always one step ahead of me. He was always a few chords ahead of me, and his songs usually had more of them than mine. His father played the piano and jazz and pop classics were constantly heard in their house" .

February 1958 - Paul brings his friend George Harrison into the band, who begins to act as lead guitarist. Paul and George, having met at the Liverpool Institute, soon began to spend their free time together. It started long before McCartney met John and the Quarrymen. And now, having settled into the group, Paul brings his man into it, a boy who then looked, as John recalled, "... even younger than Paul, and Paul was just a child."

In the same 1958, Paul wrote draft versions of the later famous songs When I "m 64 and I" ll Follow The Sun.

PAUL: "I"ll Follow the Sun is one of the earliest songs. It seems that I wrote it after I had the flu and smoked a cigarette ... This cigarette can be called a "rag". After all, when you are sick, you don’t smoke, but as soon as you start to get better, you light up, and it’s hard to imagine a more disgusting taste, like burnt matter. Horror! I remember standing in the living room with a guitar, looking out the window through the muslin curtains and composing this song."

1960 - changing several names and playing many concerts throughout Liverpool and Hamburg (where they went to work), the guys turn from an amateur Quarrymen into a professional musical group calling themselves the magic word BEATLES

The Beatles - When I'm Sixty-Four

PRISON

In Hamburg, McCartney finds himself in prison for the first (and, alas, not the last) time in his life. Below is the testimony of the then drummer of the band, Pete Best, a direct participant in the events.

The backstory is this. The Beatles move from one Hamburg club, the Kaiserkeller, to the rival Top Ten. The owner of the abandoned club, Bruno Koschmeider, threatens the guys with trouble. For formal reasons, George Harrison is expelled from the country. Paul and Pete hurriedly leave their "home" - a closet in the cinema "Bambi", located in Koschmeider's possessions.

Pete Best: "To collect everything, you had to fiddle around in complete darkness. We have invented a new method of lighting to help us collect luggage with our own eyes.

We pinned four condoms to the old wallpaper next to the doors and set them on fire. The flames flickered, the condoms crackled, spreading a suffocating smell in the air, but still we had at least some light. While we were packing, the condoms were almost completely burned, and the flames had time to burn off part of the half-rotten wall paneling. Safe and sound, we joined Lennon ... feeling like prisoners of war who escaped from Colditz ...

Having settled in "Top Ten", we finally felt that a change for the better had come ... But it did not last very long ... A sharp noise invaded the silence of our bedroom, at 5.30 in the morning. This happened towards the end of our second night at Top Ten. We had barely slept for more than an hour after a long and hard evening of work, when shouts suddenly burst into the depths of our sweet sleep:

I rubbed my eyes and opened them, squinting and blinking. Someone turned on the light and two people were trying to pull Paul off his top bunk. They looked like cops, and we soon realized that they were: pharaohs in civilian clothes, two broad-shouldered brutes.

They were still trying to get at Paul when they pulled me out of bed and threw me on the floor. Lennon raised his head and asked in a sleepy voice what was happening, and then fell back into the arms of Morpheus ...

Get dressed! - grumbled one of the pharaohs, in appearance - a real gorilla ...

Two policemen hurried us on as we tried to pull on our jeans. We were still trying to find our cowboy boots with our feet, but we were already being pushed towards the stairs. It was early December, and the winter morning was freezing cold as the pharaohs stuffed us into a police car parked on the sidewalk. "What are we going to do?" - the question that rang like a death knell in our heads.

We started protesting, complaining about the cold and asking for time to pack some warm clothes. Reluctantly, the policemen allowed us to take some of our belongings... Then we were again loaded into a car like slaughter animals and driven straight to the police station on the Reeperbahn. There we were rudely pushed inside and thrown onto a bench, where we languished for more than half an hour in complete silence, interrupted only by grumpy repetitive remarks: "The Incident at the Bambi Movie..."

Finally, one of the policemen took us to a completely empty room, fenced with bars and lit by a single bare bulb. For more than an hour he twisted our brains ...

I accuse you of having provoked the incident in the cinema,” he concluded, adding that the plaintiff is a certain Bruno Koschmeider. This didn't surprise us...

Can we call the British Consul? I asked.

No, said the officer.

Despite the quasi-Arctic cold, when the police doctor arrived, we were all sweaty. He gave us a little examination with stripping to the waist and made us cough several times. Then we were formally accused of committing a crime… People in civilian clothes appeared again and again we were pushed into a police car… We were heading towards the central Hamburg prison with high brick walls and double iron gates… Having “received” us, there is no other way to say it! - they took off our jackets and belts: this is so that we could not commit suicide. Then, pinning us on both sides, they led us through dark corridors past ominous barred cells filled with people in striped pajamas. Finally we were taken to one of the cells on the third floor... Paul and I were completely crushed. It was probably the end. JAIL! If the Beatles had any future, now it seemed to us in the darkest colors. We were in complete despair and collapsed on our beds completely exhausted ... The door swung open, and, clutching a pistol, a prison guard appeared:

Do not lie down on couches! he ordered gloomily. - Sit! Feet on the ground! Hands on the sides of the beds!

We did as he said, and they left us alone... We had been locked up for almost three hours when the key turned in the lock and the two gorillas reappeared that had so brazenly interrupted our dream at Top Ten.

We were again rudely dragged to the prison entrance, our jackets and belts were returned, and once again unceremoniously thrust into a police car ... We were taken to the airport ...

What for? we asked, but no one was willing to answer our questions.

Only upon arrival at the airport hall did one of the gorillas deign to speak:

You are returning to England.

This was announced while the passengers were looking at two scarecrows, clearly in need of a shave and being escorted by unpleasant fellows of militaristic appearance.

But we don't have passports, we don't have things, we don't have money - just a trifle, - we protested. But they were completely absorbed in administrative formalities.

It turns out that while we were gaining the bitter experience of the first prison sentence, they returned to the Top Ten, collected all the things, took out passports, in short, stocked up with everything necessary. It was a show of force that Germany decided to use against people she considered undesirable.

You are returning to your place at the expense of the German government, - one of the gorillas smugly said, - and you will never be able to return to Germany again!

At that moment, Paul suddenly rushed to the telephone booth. I rushed after him and squeezed into the cockpit between him and the door, leaving the gorillas to gesticulate outside. They got angrier and angrier, drawing the eyes of the curious crowd that had begun to gather.

McCartney found enough coins in his pocket to call the British Consul and frantically tell him our whole story. But the Consul, in the most sincere way possible, explained that he could not help at the moment, and that the best thing we could do was to return to England, as the Germans wanted, and file a complaint from there.

The gorillas finally managed to open the door and get us out of the cab. Paul did not even have time to hang up the phone, she was left hanging on the wire. They dragged us by force right up to the runway ...

It was already afternoon when the plane landed at Heathrow Airport... The airline bus took us to the final stop in the West End, and from there we got on our own to Euston Station, practically penniless. Meanwhile, dusk had already begun to fall. We called home: Paul - to his father, and I - to my mother. They listened to the tragic story of our deportation and hurried to send a wire transfer to the Euston post office so that we could buy a ticket to Liverpool.

The transfer did not come too quickly, and we spent all the remaining money on tea and coffee at the station buffet. In the end, we managed to catch the last Liverpool train - the one that goes with all the stops. He arrived at Liverpool station at about two o'clock in the morning, drawing his last breath.

Exhausted and shivering from the cold, each of us took a taxi, hoping that our parents would pay for it, and went home ... "

Michael: "After the Christmas holidays in 1960, there was a knock on the door of our house. An emaciated skeleton stood on the threshold and in the voice of Paul said:" Merry Christmas, Mike! I brought you a fancy plastic raincoat."

Four months of hard labor in the Indra and Kaiserkeller pubs, eight hours of play every night, Monday off, regular diet of corn flakes and milk. Here's what I heard in a nutshell from Paul. He and Pete Best were expelled for inadvertently setting fire to the Bumby Cinema.

Paul went on to say that he bought new watches, shoes, a raincoat, that they are now just the Beatles, without the Silver prefix, that they now wear jackets with leather collars, that he bought himself an electric razor, a velvet shirt, and, finally, a guitar for only two pounds ! He went on boasting, but nothing could distract from the stubborn fact that his brother's ankles were thin and white, like the sticks with which the father cleaned his pipes.

John Lennon: “Gradually we gained self-confidence. It couldn't be otherwise - we had experience, we played all night long. It was also good that foreigners listened to us. We had to try hard, put our heart and soul into the game, surpass ourselves. At that time, our performances were excellent. We worked and played long hours - at that age it was great to have a job. In the end, we all began to jump around the stage. Paul could play 'What'd I Say' for probably an hour and a half."

Paul McCartney: "What'd I Say" has always turned audiences on. She was one of the best in our repertoire. All this was like trying to get into the Guinness Book of Records - we competed who would beat whom.

George Harrison: “We had to learn a million songs. We were forced to perform for so long that we played everything in a row. Mostly Gene Vincent stuff - we played all the songs on his album, not just the lazy "Blue Jean Thief". We found a Chuck Berry record and learned all of his songs, then the songs of Little Richard, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Fats Domino, everything. We also played things like "Moonglow" even though we turned it into an instrumental. We grabbed everything, because we had to play for hours, we expanded our repertoire.
In Hamburg, we stopped feeling like students, we learned how to perform in front of an audience.”

1961

January 1961 - after a rather infamous return from Germany, parents press the children about work. "The devil will find something for lazy hands," - such is the adage of James McCartney. As a result, Paul went to the labor exchange.

PAUL: "I went to the job board looking for a job. They hired me as a truck spare. I had already worked at the post office last Christmas, so I decided to try something new. The company was called Express Delivery and they did the postage at the docks. I got on the first morning bus to the docks, bought the Daily Mirror, and tried my best to be a real work guy when I was really a college pudding, I rode in the back of a truck and helped deliver packages. how it all bothered ... Soon I was fired ...

My father took up his own again ... I found another job, a winder at Massey and Coggins ... At first I worked as a janitor ... But one day the guy from the bureau found out that I had documents about education, and offered me a better job - winding coils. To do this, I had to put on a donkey skin protective robe, stand over the winch and wind one and a half electric coils a day, while others managed to do 8 or even 14. But the breaks were pure bliss: we they gave me bread and jam, and then the guys and I played football in the yard, which looked a lot like a prison yard ... I was paid 7 pounds a week. Our band started performing again, but somehow I didn't really want to spend a full day on it. I kept winding the spools and would only go to them on my lunch break or when I was sick. But in the end I gave up the reels."

March 8 is the official date for leaving Massey & Coggins. Paul makes his final choice in favor of rock and roll. The band is back on the slippery slope of show business.

George Harrison: "Cavern" we loved, probably, most of all. Just fantastic. We felt connected to the audience all the time… we played for our fans, who were just like us. They came during lunch to listen to us and chew their sandwiches. We did the same: we played and ate at the same time. Everything happened by itself, spontaneously.

James McCartney: "I often came to the Cavern during lunch break ... to feed Paul. I was in a wild hurry, and I barely had time to squeeze through the frenzied fans and hand him a piece of meat. "Don't forget, son, when when you come home and heat it up, put the oven on four hundred and fifty degrees,” I warned. And Paul and everyone else on stage looked like some tattered cats.

June - The single My Bonnie / The Saints is released in Germany by the Polydor company, on which the Beatles are recorded for the first time as a group playing along with singer Tony Sheridan.

End of June - shortly after a fight between Paul McCartney and Stuart Sutcliff, which arose right on the stage of a club in Hamburg (where the Beatles returned after the necessary formalities were settled), the latter leaves the group.

The fight arose because of Paul's mockery of Astrid Kirchen, with whom Stu was in love. But not only this made Sutcliff leave the group. Stu was fond of painting; was madly in love; frankly, he was not very successful in playing bass guitar in a group and was not as crazy and unbridled as the rest of the guys.

As a result, he leaves the Beatles (and soon dies), and his bass guitar is taken over by Paul (previously dabbled in rhythm guitar, piano and drums).

PAUL: "It was clear to anyone that he couldn't play. He would cut the amp sound and just make some bass noise. Often he didn't even know what key we were playing in."

October - John received 100 pounds from his aunt as a gift for his coming of age, and with this money he and Paul waved on a vacation to Paris, where they had a lot of fun. I must say, the rest of John's friends were very offended that he singled out McCartney, forgetting about them. Paul was philosophically silent...

December 3 - The Beatles sign Brian Epstein, who becomes their official manager. Thanks to his efforts, the record company "Decca" invites the group to audition. And on December 31, the guys come to London and meet 1962 at the Royal Hotel.

1962

January 1 - The Beatles record a demo tape for "Decca" and return home. (Interestingly, at this first real studio session, the Beatles, without saying a word, highlighted McCartney, entrusting him to solo on 7 songs. For comparison: Harrison sang 5 songs, and Lennon did 3.)

January 4 - Readers of the Mersey Beat newspaper name the Beatles the best Liverpool band of 1961.

March - "Decca" sends the guys a refusal, in which, in particular, it is said that "...groups of guitarists are going out of fashion." However, on June 6, the Beatles make a demo recording for Parlophone (a subsidiary of EMI). After listening to the recording, the company's producer, George Martin, convinces his management to sign a contract with the group. At the same time, he expresses not too fundamental claims to drummer Pete Best. But George, John and Paul use the opportunity to replace Pete, who did not suit them all too much (Paul and John, for example, were annoyed by Pete's growing popularity with girls and some independence from their influence), with Ringo Starr, drummer for Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. Ringo's candidacy was proposed by George Harrison, who was the main initiator of the replacement, which by the way suited everyone.

John: "I must say, we treated him meanly."

Be that as it may, but on the recording of their first single, on September 2, the group arrived in London with a changed line-up. However, not only Pete suffered. In these hot days, George Harrison received a heavy black eye from outraged Best fans. Attempts were also made to beat Ringo Starr, but he was more fortunate than George, and escaped with a slight fright.

August 23 - John Lennon and Cynthia Powell are married in Liverpool. (They were classmates. Soon they had a son - Julian.) Witness from the side of the groom was Paul.

October 5 - The first real Beatles record is released, a single with the songs Love Me Do / P.S. I love you. Paul McCartney was their author.

George Martin: "I wanted a band to record under the name Paul McCartney and the Beatles, but Paul refused."

The sound engineer of these first recordings, Norman Stone, recalled: "Already at the very beginning, Paul almost always acted as musical director. Of course, John made a lot of comments, but Paul had the final word. And that's great, because he was a true musician and even then real producer.

By the way, the song P.S. Paul dedicated I Love You to his girlfriend Dorothy Rhone, with whom, however, he soon broke up.

December 17 - The band made their television debut on the program "People and Places", broadcast from Manchester to the north of the country.

Michael: "Granada TV from Manchester wanted the guys to appear on the local news program People and Cities. I tried to stealthily watch TV during work (Michael was working as a hairdresser at that time. - Approx. Author), for which I went I went to a diner near the barbershop and ordered myself a bottle of beer. Soon I heard from the TV next to the bar, “And here they come from Liverpool! The Beatles!" And the Beatles burst into the bar with their Twist and Shout. "Fantastic! Gorgeous! Great!” I say to myself in this indifferent bar.

After a short interview in which the guys deliberately speak with a strong Liverpool accent (especially Paul and John), they perform their song Love Me Do. "Fantastic! Turn it up! That's my brother singing!" - I was tempted to scream, but the scream did not break out. Finally, the transmission ended, my bottle of beer too.

Son, would you like another drink? Seems like it wasn't enough?

No, thanks, - I muttered and went outside.

I rushed home - to report quickly that I saw Paul on TV. Then I waited for my brother to see if he had changed.

When Paul returned, my dad and I were already in bed, but I did not sleep. We had this conversation:

And here you are!

Is father sleeping?

Certainly. Two o'clock at night.

We celebrated. Have you seen us?

Yes, it was great.

Have you seen the velvet collar?

Of course, you could see everything... Why did you speak with an accent?

It's part of our public image.

What, this monkey suit and stupid accent is your image? But, actually, it worked, the performance was just fantastic!

Okay, good night, I'm off.

Sir, may I ask you for an autograph?

Fuck you!"

December 20 - "Record Retailer" becomes the first edition in which Love Me Do takes its highest position - 17th place. It was an excellent result for the debut single of a band unknown to anyone in the country, and written by the performers themselves - 20-year-old guys. The foundation from which the summit assault will soon begin.

The Beatles - Twist And Shout

1963

January 12 - The Beatles' second single, Please, Please Me / Ask Me Why, is released (songwriter John). He takes 1st place and this marks the assault on all the tops of the English charts. Such a "fate" now awaits almost every work of the quartet.

The Beatles were the first in pop music on their own: they composed texts and music, arranged compositions, sang and accompanied themselves. In everything related to creativity, they depended only on themselves. And if we add to this their extraordinary talent, as well as the support of people like Brian Epstein and George Martin, then the phenomenon of the Beatles' super-fame, probably, will not be so mysterious.

February 11 - In London, in one breath, in 12 hours, the Beatles record material for their first long-playing album, Please, Please Me.

February 20 - while mixing the songs of Misery and Baby It "s You, Geoff Emerick made his debut as a sound engineer. Subsequently, he became one of the most famous recording masters in the world. Since 1966, Emerick has been the Beatles' main sound engineer, and after After the band's demise, Jeff joined McCartney's crew and became Paul's primary sound engineer, recording most of Paul's solo work from Band on the Run to Driving Rain (2001).

March 22 - Please, Please Me record goes on sale in mono version (in stereo - April 26). It, like the band's first single, opens with a song written by Paul - I Saw Her Standing There. The disc takes 1 place for 6 months.

PAUL: "I remember I was saying, 'She just turned 17, and she's never been a beauty queen,' and John was one of the first times he got excited, 'What? It needs to be changed." And I changed it: "She just turned 17, you know what I mean..." For us, it was just a line... but since we were eighteen or nineteen years old at the time, it turned out, like we're talking to all the girls who are seventeen. We were well aware of this. We wrote for the market. And we knew that ... many of the girls who showered us with letters would take it as our gratitude. "

April 29 - John, Paul, George and Ringo go to the Canary Islands in Tenerife for 12 days to take a break from constant touring (which, with the advent of popularity, becomes, in addition to working in the studio, their main occupation). They stay in a house owned by the father of their Hamburg friend Klaus Fuhrman (Klaus Voorman). During this rest, Paul almost died: he swam too far from the coast, and he was carried to the open sea.

May 9 - returning from vacation, the Beatles are already performing at the next concert round in London's Albert Hall, and after the performance is over, Paul meets 17-year-old actress Jane Asher. (Jane Asher was born April 5, 1946 in the family of London psychiatrist Richard Asher. Her mother, Margaret, taught at a music school, her student was the future Beatle producer George Martin.)

From that day on, they begin to meet constantly, and soon Mrs. Asher invites Paul to move to live in their house at London's Wimpole Street 57 and allocates him a spacious living room. McCartney would live there until 1966.

The celebration began with John, George and Ringo, holding Paul by the arms and legs, carried him across Abbey Road (Abbey Road - the street on which the EMI recording studio is located) and threw him onto the pavement in a solemn ceremony!

The birthday continued with a party in Birkenhead, at the house of Paul's aunt Ginny.

August 23 - the sensational Beatles single - She Loves You / I "ll Get You, is released, instantly taking 1st place and by the end of September sold 750,000 copies in England alone. At the end of the She Loves You song, the Beatles repeatedly and life-affirmingly chant: "Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!" ("Yes! Yes! Yes!") And this statement becomes not only their calling card, but also the formula for looking at the life of an entire generation. Thus, from a purely musical phenomenon, the Beatles are moving into the category of a social phenomenon.

17 October - In London, fans block traffic outside a Bond Street restaurant where Paul is having lunch with the winner of the Why I Love the Beatles competition.

The Beatles

November 1 - the single of the then little-known Rolling Stones - I Wanna Be Your Man - is released with a song that the Beatles gave them (and the main author was McCartney). It is with the release of this record that the first and always passionately desired success will come to the Rolling Stones. However, today Mick Jagger is not the greatest fan in the world to remember this, frankly, "insignificant episode."

JOHN: "(Rolling) The Stones have always been below us in terms of both music and performance power."

PAUL: "I wrote this song for Ringo to sing on one of the early albums. But we ended up giving it to the Stones.

One day we met Mick and Keith in a taxi on Charing Cross Road and Mick asked, "Do you have any extra songs?" - "You know, just now by chance there is one!" I think George (Martin) helped them get their first record deal. We recommended them to Decca because they missed their chance by rejecting us. And now they had to urgently "save face" ... It was not their first record, but the first one that hit the charts. Now the Stones don't tell anyone about it, they try to appear primordially independent, but you and I know where the truth is."

November 4 - The Beatles perform at England's most prestigious concert of the year, the Royal Variety Show. Together with them, among others, Marlene Dietrich and Maurice Chevalier sing. The concert is attended by Queen Elizabeth II of England. The program was watched on TV by over 26 million people, and they were all captivated by the Beatles. The Daily Mirror summed it up in one word - BEATLEMANIA. (It was from the issue of this newspaper for November 5 that the word entered the lexicon of the main languages ​​​​of the world.)

November 22 - The Beatles' second album, With The Beatles, is released. It received 250,000 pre-orders in England, the highest number in music history at the time. Elvis Presley's most popular disc, Blue Hawaii, scored "only" 200,000. Of Paul's works in this album, it is worth noting the extremely popular and popular song All My Loving.

PAUL: "I've always liked that song. I think that was the first time I wrote lyrics without a melody. I came up with them in our van while touring with Roy Orbison. We were writing a lot back then. I remember when we got to the place where we were supposed to perform, I found a piano and came up with music. That's how I composed for the first time."

December 6 – Members of the British fan club of the Beatles receive a The Beatles Christmas Records disc with jokes, jokes and congratulations for Christmas as a gift from the group. The release of such gift albums will become a tradition.

December 24 - January 11 - A series of Christmas concerts is held at the London Astoria Hall, for which the Beatles play a comedy scene called "What a Night!". McCartney's character got the most intricate name - "Fearless Paul the Signalman". According to the script, he saved the girl Ermyntrude (Ermyntrude - she was played by George) from the impudent harassment of Sir John Jasper (Sir John Jasper - of course, Lennon). It is interesting that Ringo, who is admittedly the owner of the most outstanding acting skills among the Beatles, did not receive the role this time.

The Beatles: I Wanna Be Your Man

The Rolling Stones

1964

January - The Beatles give concerts in Paris.

February 7 - Beatlemania has taken over the entire new world. "The Beatles Are Coming!" ("The Beatles are coming!") - 5 million of these posters are posted around America. There was also a million-circulation four-page newspaper about the group. When the Beatles landed at the New York airport, they were greeted by the enthusiastic cries of tens of thousands of people: "We love you, Beatles. Oh yes we do!" Their famous press conference took place right there at the airport.

Question: "What do you think about the movement in Detroit to end the Beatles?"

Paul: "We're going to launch a campaign to end Detroit."

February 28 - The single World Without Love / If I Were You is released in England - performed by the duet Peter and Gordon. (Peter is Jane Asher's brother, and Gordon Waller is her longtime acquaintance.)

Paul wrote the title track for this single when he was sixteen. It reached number one in both the UK and the US.

March 20 - Another McCartney super action movie is released, which entered the golden classics of rock and roll. This is the single Can "t Buy Me Love with Lennon's You Can" t Do That on the "B" side. The single collected an unprecedented number of preliminary applications in America and England - 3,100,000. Not a single work of art and literature knew such a first print run.

March 23 - John's first literary opus is published, a collection of funny stories and poems, titled by Paul - "In His Own Writer". He also wrote a preface for the book and actively assisted the author in the work on the literary part. Therefore, the novel "On Safairy With Whide Hunter" has a double authorship of Lennon-McCartney. Or as John himself punned - "Written in common with Paul."

However, McCartney argued that this was not all!

Paul: "Not everyone knows this, but I made small changes to almost every story. Before printing, John let me look at the manuscript ... Naturally, he never mentioned it."

March 31 - The Beatles set another record. Five of their songs, one after another, are at the top of the Billboard charts. These are: Can "t Buy Me Love, Twist and Shout, She Loves You, I Want to Hold Your Hand, Please Please Me. Plus 7 more songs occupy various places in the "TOP 100". The record has not been broken so far.

April 18 - The first-born song Love Me Do, which at one time in England took only 17th place, that day led the national hit parade in the United States.

June 12 - As part of the world tour, the Beatles arrive in Australia, where 300,000 people meet them at the airport in Adelaide !!!

June 18 - The Beatles play a concert in Sydney, and afterward they take part in a party organized by the local Daily Mirror to celebrate Paul's birthday.

July - the premiere of the new album and film under the general name A Hard Days Night. The most popular on the disc was McCartney's ballad And I Love Her, which has over 500 official interpretations to date.

PAUL: "It's not dedicated to anyone in particular. It's just a love song. Starting the title in the middle of a sentence ("And I love her") seemed like a pretty witty find..."

July 10 - The Beatles are awarded the "Freedom of the City" honorary award established by the municipality of Liverpool. (On November 28, 1984, Paul received it again, personally.)

July-November - solid concerts all over the planet.

August 31 - on this day, Paul first talks on the phone with Elvis Presley! (When the phone rang in a hotel room in the American town of Atlantic City, none of the Beatles were around except for McCartney.)

In addition to acquaintance, the result of this conversation was an agreement in principle on their personal meeting.

September 30 - only in England, Columbia releases the single It's You / I Knew Right Away performed by Alma Cogan, one of the most popular British singers of the 50s. In the song on side "B" Paul plays the part of the tambourine.

According to the results of 1964, the "American National Academy of Recording" awarded the group a Grammy Award in the categories: "Best New Artists of the Year" and "Best Vocal Group of the Year".

The Beatles - Can't Buy Me Love

1965

MEETING IN TUNISIA
Paul stayed at the Hammamet Villa, which belonged to the British government and has been considered an English cultural center since the 1920s.

Thanks to good security, one could relax in this villa without attracting the attention of the press and fans. This place was recommended to McCartney by actor Peter Ustinov, who was vacationing there shortly before Paul.

Paul's favorite spot in the residence was the oriental-inspired en-suite suite with large windows that let you sunbathe without having to go outside. It was here that McCartney wrote the song Another Girl, during the creation of which the following incident occurred.

So, Paul was sitting in his swimming trunks and enjoying a sunbath, when suddenly...

Paul: "I was sitting there with a cup of tea when, out of nowhere, a Russian delegation, invited by our government, appeared. The guide explained to them: "And this, over there, in the corner, is sitting another one of our "cultural" guests. Hey! What's up, boy."

N.B. Truly, what does not happen!

Just think: in the mid-60s, obscure Soviet officials (most likely from the Ministry of Culture) observed a live Beatle, and, sorry, in shorts!

Yes, even - in the midst of Beatlemania!

Moreover - in the process of creating MUSIC!

The Beatles

Meanwhile, February 11 - in the registration office of "Caxton Hall" Ringo Starr is legally married to Liverpool hairdresser Maureen Cox. Ringo's witness is Brian Epstein. For us, this wedding is interesting because Paul - the only one from the group - is not present at it.

April 14 - 4 years before Lennon's peacekeeping actions, Paul (again the only one of the Beatles) sends a telegram in support of the participants of the Peace March for Nuclear Disarmament.

Paul: "I agree with you for one simple reason: Bombs don't do anyone any good..."

P.S. And they say that at the dawn of his career, McCartney shied away from politics!

March - from physicist Desmond O "Neill (Desmond O" Neill) Paul buys a house in London for 40 thousand pounds, which is destined to become his metropolitan residence. The house is located at 7 Cavendish Avenue. However, Paul moves in here only after repairs, in August 1966.

June 11 - Beatlemania reaches unimaginable intensity. On this day, British Prime Minister Harry Wilson announced that the Beatles were becoming holders of the MBE Order, 5th degree. (This is an abbreviation of the name of the order "The Member of the British Empire", which translates as "Member of the British Empire".)

June 14 - must be the most brilliant day of all the days spent by Paul in the recording studio. For this super session, McCartney records 6 takes of I "ve Just Seen a Face (originally Paul named the song after his Aunt Ginny - Auntie Gin's Theme), 7 takes of I" m Down. And accompanied by a string group - 2 takes of Yesterday …

The material, recorded in just one day, demonstrated McCartney's phenomenal abilities as a musician and the widest range of his talent - from hard rock and roll to the exquisite ballad, which we will now discuss. So…

On July 29, the premiere of the second Beatle feature film "Help" took place, and on August 6, the album of the same name was released in England, on which the song Yesterday, the most famous of those written by McCartney and the Beatles, sounded. And, probably, one of the most global songs in general.

This is the first Beatles song to be recorded without the participation of George, John and Ringo. It is performed to the accompaniment of an acoustic guitar played by Paul and a string quartet.

The song has the largest number of official interpretations in the history of music. Today there are more than three thousand of them. (According to McCartney, his favorite part was Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan singing Yesterday.)

The song is most often heard on the radio broadcasts of our planet. (In 1992, only on US radio stations, it was transmitted 6 million times, that is, 212,000 times a year !!!)

According to a poll of readers of Billboard magazine, it was Yesterday that was recognized as the "Best Song of the 20th Century".

(Indeed, who else deserves such a fate? After all, this song is really all-encompassing.)

This is a great ballad about love, understanding and friendship. And at the same time, this composition is a kind of hymn to our planet, since not a single song in the world (in the language of newspaper editorials) has united the "good feelings and aspirations" of billions of people in every corner of the planet where Yesterday is known, loved, listened to and sung ! But in a world where people are separated by languages, customs and religious movements, this is not so little!

Yesterday (Remastered 2015)

August 1 - The Beatles perform at the ABC-Theater in Blackpool and part of their performance is broadcast live on the Blackpool Night Out TV program. Before the concert, the Beatles receive a friendly gift from Danny Lane and the Moody Blues: four skillfully withered fish. Beer must have been flowing in Blackpool that night...

August 24 - Capitol Records organized a party for the Beatles, which included, among others, Jane Fonda, Tony Bennett and Dean Martin. Before the start, McCartney and Harrison fled to meet the Byrds.

August 27 - another party was held, which, however, was attended by all four, because it was a three-hour meeting with Elvis Presley.

Paul: "Elvis was at the top of the list... He was the basis of everything... You only hear him sing Love Me Tender and you can't find anyone else who could do it. Or That's All Right (Mama) or Hound Dog. And this is only a small part of his legend.

September 6 - "The Killing of Sister George" premieres at the Duke of York's Theatre. Directed by Beril Reid. If you look closely, Paul can be found among the audience.

September 10 - the single of the American group The Silkie - You "ve Got to Hide Your Love Away / City Winds, is released, produced for the first and last time by Paul and John. In addition, McCartney plays rhythm guitar in the title track, and George Harrison plays along on the tambourine, and thanks to such powerful support, the single of the disastrously unknown group climbed the Billboard charts up to number 10.

October 1 - the single from Yesterday takes the first place in America and has a great response in the press. And in England, such a winning song was not released as a single, probably because of John's jealousy of the success of McCartney's song.

PAUL: "John didn't want Yesterday to come out as a 45. He thought it would be a McCartney solo record. I agreed because it didn't mean much to me. It also ruined our rock 'n' roll image ".

October 26 - In the throne room of Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth II of England presents Paul, John, George and Ringo with the MBE orders. On the occasion of the award, the military band performs McCartney's Can "t Buy Me Love in the rhythm of the march.

December 1 - The album Rubber Soul was released, marking a new stage in the work of the Beatles. In it, the group, according to the apt remark of one of the critics, revealed its soul, masking it in songs.

The most famous composition of the album was Michelle, written by McCartney, for all its huge popularity (soon it will be recognized as the best song of the year in America and England) also not released on a single.

Among other advantages, connoisseurs noted the exquisite descending passage on the bass guitar.

PAUL: "I'll never forget playing that bass passage, it reminded me of Bizet. It just changed the song."

John: "Rubber Soul was Paul's idea... It's a bit of a pun... We just sat down and thought about what name to give the album."

December 30 - Paul's Christmas Album is released, recorded at the beginning of the month and published in 3 copies, which Paul gave John, George and Ringo for Christmas.

PAUL: "I had two tape recorders at home, which I used to do different experimental recordings and sound effects. Like the ones you hear on the song Tomorrow Never Knows.

Somehow I combined all these madness, specially "preparing" them for the guys. The result was a joke that they could well play before going to bed. I called it Unforgettable (Unforgettable), and this record began with Nat King Cole singing Unforgettable, and my introduction was overdubbed on it.

"So, you're listening to Unforgettable on the program today too..." And then came the announcement, something like a table of contents in a magazine...

When the record was ready, I took it to the Dick James studio, and they printed three acetate records for me ... After which I gave them to the guys. I think they've been spinning the disc for about two weeks, after which it must have worn out."

1966

January 21 - in the premises of "Leatherhead and Esher Register Office", located 25 kilometers south of London, the marriage of George Harrison and Patty Boyd took place. Of the Beatles, only McCartney is present at the wedding, he is a witness.

January 31 - Paul and Jane, George and Patty attend the premiere of How's the World Treating You? at Wyndham's Theatre, London. Film directed by Roger Milner.

February 3 - Paul meets 16-year-old Stevie Wonder, who on this day is still not very famous, and therefore performs only a few songs on the stage of the club "Scotch of St. James".

Paul spent an evening at the club that turned out to be unexpectedly more pleasant than expected. After Stevie finished singing, Paul invited him to his table and had a long conversation. The result of this meeting, in addition to many years of friendship, will be the song What That You "re Doing ?, co-written in 1981.

February 11 - The single of the duet Peter and Gordon - Woman / Wrong from the Start is released. The author of the title track is listed as a Bernard Webb (Bernard Webb), who, as stated by the representative of "EMI", is a talented student in Paris.

However, as time passed, it turned out that Paul McCartney was hiding under this pseudonym. He decided to find out if the song will receive recognition if its author is an unknown composer. Later, his name began to be indicated in the "author" column. The producer of the record is Norman Newell. The record label is Columbia. In America, the song was released under the pseudonym A. Smith.

February 23 - in London, at the "Italian Institute", Paul attends a concert of the famous innovator of electronic music, composer Luciano Berio.

March - the gallery "Indica Books & Gallery" is opened, which specialized in exhibitions and sales of works of avant-garde art. Paul sponsored the gallery £5,000 and also helped with interior design.

March 24 - The Beatles attend the premiere of Alfie, starring Jane Asher, at the Plaza Haymarket.

May 27 - at the Dolly's nightclub, Paul, along with the musicians of the Rolling Stones, meets with Bob Dylan.

June - Paul and John receive "Ivor Novello Awards" for the songs We Can Work It out, Yesterday, Help.

July 29 - The Beatles refuse to sign a contract for a series of concerts in South Africa due to racial discrimination in that country.

PAUL: "I think someday blacks will take power and make whites suffer just like they are suffering now."

August 5 – The Beatles' new album, Revolver, is released in England. He, in particular, is interesting in that as many as 3 Harrison's songs sound on it. (Including the Beatles' most poignantly social composition, Takhtap, and the first exclusively Indian-influenced song, Love You To.)

In addition, the disc is decorated with Lennon's dizzying composition Tomorrow Never Knows, which John wrote inspired by the Tibetan "Book of the Dead", as well as 5 McCartney melodies, which, without exaggeration, can be called song classics of the 20th century.

Judge for yourself, he wrote: Eleanor Rigby, Here There and Everywhere, Yellow Submarine, For No One, Got to Get Your Into My Life, Good Day Sunshine…

Leonard Bernstein: "The Beatles, especially their Revolver record, will always remind people of the bloody and colorful, seething and controversial twentieth century."

The single Eleanor Rigby / Yellow Submarine was also released at the same time. Here's what McCartney had to say about the history of writing these songs.

Paul: "Rigby's last name comes from a shop in Bristol. One day, wandering the streets of this city, I saw a store with the sign "Rigby" in it. And "Eleanor" is probably from Elinor Bron, an actress with whom we worked together in "Help" movie. I just liked the name. I was looking for a name that sounded natural. Eleanor Rigby seemed like that to me.

I wrote Yellow Submarine one night in my bed. Little fantasy for children. And then we decided that she would be perfect for Ringo."

On the same day, a single by Cliff Bennet and The Rebel Rousers - Got to Get Your Into My Life / Baby Each Day is released in England. Paul acts as a producer. In the English charts, the single rises to 6th place.

August - the last tour of the US and the last tour in general. (The last stadium concert took place in San Francisco on the 29th).

Paul: "We're just fed up with it all."

During this tour, Paul attends a concert by rising blues star Janis Joplin. Here is what the singer wrote about it in a letter to her parents.

Janis Joplin: "Do you know who came to San Francisco yesterday? Paul McCartney! (He's from the Beatles.) And he came to our concert!!! I swear! And he liked us!!! Imagine, Paul himself!!! Really , he still didn't show up backstage.

October 14 - Paul begins work on the score for the film "The Family Way" while traveling to Kenya (he had a short trip to Spain on the way there). However, it is in Africa on November 9 that he gets into a car accident.

Subsequently, in 1969, when "reliable" data appeared in the media that McCartney was actually dead and a double was replacing him, it was generally accepted that he died on that very day ...

Paul returns from Kenya on the 19th. And the day before, on November 18, The Escourts released the single From Head to Toe / Night Time in England at Columbia. McCartney produces it and also sings the tambourine part on the title track.

December 14 - A Christmas present from the group is released - the disc Everywhere It Christmas, the cover of which was designed by McCartney.

December 18 - Paul and Jane attend the world premiere of "The Family Way" at London's Warner Cinema.

1. http://booksonline.com.ua/view.php?book=79900
2.https://ru.wikipedia.org
3.https://www.youtube.com
4. http://beatlephotoblog.com and https://www.tumblr.com/

The Beatles

On January 16, 1957, the Cavern Club opened in Liverpool, where the legendary band The Beatles made their debut. It was this day that became the main holiday of the Beatles, according to the decision of UNESCO, January 16 is World Beatles Day.

The Beatles have always been surrounded by myths, but sometimes the truth was stranger than the lie.

Myth 1. What will you call the boat

What would happen if the Beatles weren't the Beatles? What would the incredible phenomenon known as "Beatlemania" be called then?

It all started with the Quarrymen - this was the name of the group that was put together by the very young Lennon and McCartney. The name of the group was given in honor of Lennon's school Quarry Bank.

But when the group began to perform more actively, a more sonorous name was also needed, and then Johnny and the Moondogs appeared.

But the Beatles were not destined to remain "moon dogs"; in April 1960, the musicians changed their name to The Beatles.

According to the legend, The idea for the band's name came to John Lennon in a dream.. It is no longer possible to prove or disprove this, but Lennon himself said: “I saw a man on a flaming pie who said:“ Let there be beetles. a new, original word, the root of which is clearly guessed - "beat" - beat music.

Fact 1. The Beatles, Brodsky and the Yellow Submarine

"Beatlemania" did not bypass the USSR either. The Beatles were undoubtedly loved by us, and even published. In the 60s, the text of the song Yellow Submarine translated by Joseph Brodsky appeared in the pioneer magazine "Koster".

Joseph Brodsky. Yellow podoldka

In our glorious town
There lived a gray-haired sailor.
He's been to places like this
Where everyone lives underwater.

And immediately there
We sailed for the star
And in a submarine there
Settled underwater.

2 times: We have a yellow submarine, we have a yellow one,
we have yellow.

We live inside the water
We don't need anything.
Blue skies and intense heat
Made friends with yellowness.

Myth 2. Yesterday's scrambled eggs

The song "Yesterday", rightfully considered the most famous creation of the four, was first performed in 1965, but even after 45 years it does not lose its popularity. In 1999, according to a BBC poll, it was even recognized as the best song of the century. in history, according to the Guinness Book of Records, there are more than 3,000 recorded versions of this song today.

According to the legend Paul McCartney came up with the melody for this song in a dream, and at first McCartney was sure that he just heard this one somewhere, and did not invent it. In order not to forget the melody, he hummed it with the first words that came to mind: “Scrambled eggs, oh, my baby, how I love your legs ...” (“Scrambled eggs, oh my baby, how I love your legs ...”).

Under the same title "Scrambled Eggs", the song was released in the US even before work on Yesterday was completed. Then American fans wrote in letters to the group that they heard “something called Scrambled Egg, which is a complete copy of Yesterday.

Despite its success, the song was criticized for being banal and sentimental, and the Italian composer Lily Greco stated in 2006 that Yesterday was only a cover version of the old Neapolitan song "Piccerè che vene a dicere". Greco claimed to have heard the song in Naples in the 80s, writes Spiegel online. When he asked the name of the song from the person who sang it, he was told that it was a Neapolitan folk song. In support of his version, Greco quoted Beatles manager Brian Epstein telling him about Lennon and McCartney's love for Neapolitan songs.

Fact 2. To aliens with love, The Beatles

Fact 4. The Beatles Book of Records

Beatles- the most famous and successful rock band of the 20th century, and this is not only the opinion of her fans, the numbers speak for them. Here are just a few of them.

In 1964, the Beatles held all of the top five spots on the Billboard Singles Chart. They turned out to be the only group that was able to set such a record, the website dailyshow.ru writes.

While on tour in America, the Beatles performed twice on The Ed Sullivan Show, bringing together a record number of viewers in the history of television - 73 million (40% of the US population at that time). This record has not yet been broken by anyone.

Myth 5. Four nights in Moscow

The playful hymn to the country of the Soviets - "Back In The USSR" - became one of the group's most popular songs. And it is with the USSR that another myth about the Beatles is connected.

According to legend in July 1966 The Beatles sang in Moscow at Sheremetyevo airport (according to another version, in Vnukovo). Like most legends, this one has many variations. The first version: the concert took place at the airport, when the Beatles flew on tour to Japan, and their plane was delayed.

The second version, according to the Big City edition, says that the Beatles received an invitation from the Soviet leadership and flew to Sheremetyevo, but at the airport they unexpectedly received a message about the cancellation of the concert, out of annoyance they played a mini-concert right on the airfield, and then flew back.

In addition to the stories of "eyewitnesses" of the concert, if any existed and exist, the unreleased song "Four Nights in Moscow" is considered to be proof that the Beatles visited Moscow. But the group's historians are sure that such a song never existed, and the Beatles' busy touring schedule simply would not have given them the opportunity to perform in Moscow.

Fact 5. "Kalinka" performed by the Beatles

No matter how surprising the coincidence, but in 1964, also on January 16, the Liverpool four came to Paris to perform at Olympia. And here an event occurred that at first glance may seem implausible. In a Parisian restaurant, the Beatles met the "Golden Voice of Russia" - singer Lyudmila Zykina, and, moreover, sang "Kalinka" with Zykina!

Zykina herself spoke about this in 2009 at a press conference in RIA Novosti. The acquaintance took place in one of the restaurants, and two days later Lyudmila Georgievna was at the Beatles concert. According to the singer, at the concert the Beatles performed not only their own songs, but also ours: “Here the postal troika rushes”, “Beyond the island to the core”, “Green willow”. And then the Beatles offered Zykina to sing along. And they sang the song "Kalinka". “And I sang,” Zykina said, “and they sang and sang together ... and it was not bad.”

The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources

The cover of the Beatles' famous Abbey Road album (Stephanie / flickr.com) The famous Abbey Road pedestrian crossing (Gary Denham / flickr.com) The Abbey Road studio entrance (Peter Bruening / flickr.com) The Abbey Road studio building (james/flickr.com) Passers-by parody the Beatles at the Abbey Road crosswalk (Bruno/flickr.com) Engyles/flickr.com Engyles/flickr.com Engyles/flickr.com

In the capital of Great Britain - London, in the St. John's Wood area there is a popular and important building in world music. We are talking about the Abbey Road recording studio, located on the street of the same name.

The name of the street in the Westminster district is translated as "Road to the Abbey". Here, in the 19th century, the headquarters of the British Horse Artillery stationed its soldiers. The street at that time was the road to the monastery of Kilburn, which in its day belonged to a monastic order and was in the status of an abbey.

Abbey Road Studio Building (james/flickr.com)

The building was founded in 1830, and a few years later it became an exquisite decoration of the district and received its serial number - No. 3.

For a hundred years, the house was owned, replacing each other, by four owners. In 1914 the building was converted into a hotel complex. Its residents were not ordinary people and were very significant figures in history. One of them was John Arthur Mondy Gregory, a connoisseur of music and everything connected with it. He brought musical instruments to the apartment and, enjoying listening to his favorite gramophone records, he liked to independently accompany the compositions he listened to on the drum kit. His life did not turn out in the best way - because of illegal trade, he was sent to prison.

In 1929, the building was bought by the developer Francis Meyer. He was involved in construction and real estate transactions. However, he did not have time to leave his mark on the history of this house, since soon after a successful purchase, he also very successfully sold it to Electric And Musical Industries Ltd. EMI, anticipating the dawn of the recording industry, built the world's first highly specialized studio, where music was recorded at the highest level using modern technology.

The famous Abbey Road crosswalk (Gary Denham / flickr.com)

The reconstruction of the building into a studio was carried out in 1930. The owners paid £100,000 to implement their idea.

The administration of London did not allow changing the appearance of the building and its appearance remained the same, an elegant decoration of the city. Internal work did not greatly affect the old decoration. Minor repairs were required to the 16 rooms of the old building, ventilation systems and studio recording equipment were also installed.

By November 12, 1931, three studios, several offices and rooms for a quiet pastime, where musicians could relax, opened their doors to beginners and experienced musicians. At the same time, a recording studio was opened. The process itself was filmed and presented to the general public as a documentary.

Successful work of the studio

The successful work of the studio began with the recording of classical, orchestral compositions. Here the masterpieces of the London Symphony Orchestra and great meters were born.

During the Second World War, Abbey Road gathered propaganda facts from the UK and the BBC. But music has always sounded within these walls: the Glenn Miller Orchestra, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong were recorded.

The victory in the Great Patriotic War opened the doors for sound engineers to Berlin, where they studied in detail the technical innovations of the Third Reich in recording using a tape recorder. New technical discoveries in this area have helped to improve studio equipment.

In 1953, experts worked on broadcasting a recording of the coronation of Elizabeth II herself.

The Beatles and Abbey Road

Golden time is associated with the appearance in the life of the studio of the young producer George Martin. In 1950, simultaneously with his arrival, the popularity of rock and roll grew, the first hit parades appeared, and, of course, the already famous studio was directly involved in the birth of compositions that the general public loved.

Abbey Road Studio Entrance (Peter Bruening / flickr.com)

We can say that the results of the work of Abbey Road have always become hits for all time. 1962 became a key year in the history of the studio. At this time, George Martin met the Liverpool Four, later the world-famous Beatles.

The meeting of these people greatly changed both their lives and the musical community around the world. Martin, having become the producer of this group, records all her work within the walls of Abbey Road. Their very first and at the same time popular album, recorded at this studio within 24 hours, called "Please Give Me Pleasure" did not give up its positions in the national chart for 6 months.

According to the members of the Beatles, the atmosphere of the studio helped them a lot when creating music.

The Beatles' Abbey Road album

The most important event in the life of the studio and the Beatles was the release of the album in 1969 under the name Abbey Road. This is how the leaders of the group and the producer himself decided to pay tribute to the place where their very fruitful and world-famous life flowed. On the cover of the album is a photograph of the band members crossing the road on a pedestrian crossing near the studio.

Passers-by parody the Beatles at the Abbey Road crosswalk (Bruno / flickr.com)

This transition later became a gathering place for all the Beatles, each of whom so wanted to take such a photo as a keepsake.

Even today, a webcam installed on the Abbey Road studios captures people crossing the road on the famous pedestrian, just like the Fab Four did.

There are a huge number of different film and paper sources dedicated to the world famous Abbey Road Studios. They will be of interest to those who yearn to get to know her better.

Those who wish to visit this historical place can get to the studio from the St. John's Wood branches of the Jubilee Line in just 6 minutes.