Paul McCartney's Out There Tour

Out There is Paul McCartney's current tour (2013-2014) in which he continues to play a set list of predominantly Beatles songs.  It is sometimes listed as the "Out There! Tour."  The production elements include a "scissor platform," laser lights, new video graphics, and a stage floor with illuminated LED panels.  The tour has (and will) visit both old and new venues around the world.

The Out There Tour began in South America on May 4, 2013.  In May, 2013, McCartney played in Belo Horizonte, Goiania, and Fortaleza.  In May and June, 2013, McCartney played in North America at Orlando, Austin, Memphis, Tulsa, New York City, and Manchester.  In June, 2013 he played in Europe at Warsaw, Verona, and Vienna.  In July and August, 2013 he returned to North America to play in Ottawa, Boston, Washington, D.C., Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Seattle, Quebec City, San Francisco, Winnipeg, and Regina.   In November, 2013, he played in Asia at Osaka, Fukuoka, and Tokyo.

In April, 2014, he played in South America at Montevideo, Santiago, Lima, and Quito.  Tour dates in May for South Korea and Japan were cancelled, as were North America dates in June, due to a viral infection that temporarily hospitalized the singer.  The June North America dates in the United States have been rescheduled to October.  The concert has resumed according to the following schedule running from July to October, 2014.  In these months, McCartney has played (or will play) in Albany, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Fargo, Lincoln, Kansas City, Minneapolis, Missoula, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Francisco, Lubbock, New Orleans, Dallas, Atlanta, Nashville, Jacksonville, Louisville, and Greensboro.

The basic set list includes the following songs (with no intermission).  Some substitutions have been made during the tour.

Eight Days a Week
Junior's Farm
All My Loving
Listen to What the Man Said
Let Me Roll It
Paperback Writer
My Valentine
Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-five
The Long and Winding Road
Maybe I'm Amazed
I've Just Seen a Face
On My Way to Work
We Can Work It Out
Another Day
And I Love Her
Blackbird
Here Today
Your Mother Should Know
Lady Madonna
All Together Now
Lovely Rita
Mrs. Vanderbilt
Eleanor Rigby
Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite
Something
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
Band on the Run
Back in the U.S.S.R.
Let It Be
Live and Let Die
Hey Jude

Encore One
Day Tripper
Hi, Hi, Hi
Get Back

Encore Two
Yesterday
Helter Skelter
Golden Slumbers
Carry That Weight
The End

Some songs added to the set list (substituting for others) have included the following:

Hope of Deliverance
Things We Said Today
I Saw Her Standing There
Michelle
Mull of Kintyre
Long Tall Sally
Birthday
Magical Mystery Tour
San Francisco Bay Blues

The tour has been wildly successful, and McCartney continues to use his backup band comprised of Rusty Anderson and Brian Ray (acoustic and electric guitars, bass), Abe Laboriel, Jr. (drums), and Wix Wickens (keyboards and percussion).  McCartney plays bass, electric and acoustic guitars, piano, organ, and ukulele.

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She's Leaving Home

"She's Leaving Home" is a track from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band.  It was written primarily by McCartney after reading a newspaper article in the Daily Mirror about a runaway girl.  Lennon contributed some of the lyrics that allegedly drew upon his childhood with his Aunt Mimi (i.e., not getting the kind of love he wanted).  McCartney said that the girl in the song is a younger version of the lonely Eleanor Rigby.

McCartney sings lead vocal, with Lennon doing the lead vocal in selected spots while also handling backing vocal.  The Beatles didn't play any instruments on the track.  Session musicians played strings and harp arranged by Mike Leander.  George Martin was hurt because McCartney was in a hurry to lay down the instruments and didn't wait for Martin, who was scheduled to do another recording session, to do the arrangement.

McCartney said it was one of his typical ballads and that one of his daughters liked it very much, although he didn't specify which daughter it was.

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Oh! Darling

This McCartney song placed on Abbey Road was recorded at Abbey Road Studios on April 20, with overdubs added on April 26, July 23, and August 8 and 11.  McCartney, thinking that his voice sounded too clear, went into the studio every day for a week to sing it until it attained a throaty quality.  An earlier version of the song was performed in the Let It Be film.  An off-the-cuff version of the song can be heard (with modified, humorous lyrics) on Anthology 3.

Harrison commented that the track is "mainly Paul shouting," with the other Beatles doing "a few things in the background."  Lennon liked the song very much, although he believed it was more his own style and that he could have performed it better.

McCartney plays bass, Harrison lead guitar and synthesizer, and Starr drums.  McCartney handles lead vocal, with Lennon doing a backing vocal.

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Yer Blues

There are many interesting Beatles facts associated with "Yer Blues," a track on the White Album.  The song was written by Lennon in India while he was, in his own words, "up there trying to reach God and feeling suicidal," a sentiment echoed in the song's lyrics. (Insert Dylan reference here.)  The song was originally titled "Your Blues," but Lennon, feeling that the song's connotations were too heavy, thought that "Yer Blues" would lighten the track's mood.  McCartney did not agree with the name change.

Lennon performed the song at the Toronto Rock 'n Roll Revival Concert in September, 1969.  A bootleg album for the Rolling Stones' unreleased film called Rock 'n Roll Circus includes a performance of "Yer Blues" by Lennon, Yoko Ono, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, and Mitch Mitchell.

The song was recorded at Abbey Road on August 13,, 1968, with overdubs done on August 14.  The count-in was added on August 20.  Lennon handles the lead vocal and plays lead guitar.  Harrison also plays lead, McCartney bass, and Starr the drums.

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Old Brown Shoe

"Old Brown Shoe" is a Harrison composition released as a single on May 30, 1969 and was the B side to "The Ballad of John and Yoko."

Harrison composed the song by playing chord sequences on the piano.  Afterwards, he wrote lyrics based on opposites, such as right and wrong, up and down.  He said it was about "the duality of change."

A demo was recorded on February 25, 1969 at Abbey Road.  The song was re-recorded at Abby Road on April 16, 1969, with overdubs added on April 18.  A different version of the song can be heard on Beatles Anthology 3, with the lyrics more intelligibly articulated by Harrison (and also with less instrumentation overshadowing the words).

Harrison played lead guitar, Starr drums, Billy Preston organ, and McCartney bass.  Harrison sang lead vocal, with Lennon and McCartney providing backing vocals.

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Because

The Beatles Fact for "Because" is that it is a Lennon composition recorded for the Abbey Road LP.  Lennon's inspiration for the song came while listening to Yoko play Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata on the piano.  He then wrote the song based on the chords played backwards.  Lennon said that "the lyrics are clear, [with] no imagery, no obscure references." 

Harrison and McCartney said it was their favorite song on the album, although Lennon later said he was not satisfied with the arrangement.

George Martin explained that John, Paul, and George laid down the basic track and then overdubbed it twice, producing a nine-part harmony--three voices recorded three times.  The song can be heard on Beatles Anthology 3 with only the vocals.  The harmonies were rehearsed at great length.

The song was recorded on August 1, 1969 at Abbey Road, with the overdubs done on August 4 and 5.  McCartney played bass, Lennon lead guitar and harpsichord, and Harrison Moog synthesizer.  All three Beatles sang lead and harmony vocals.

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I Want You (She's So Heavy)

"I Want You (She's So Heavy)" was the first track recorded for the Abby Road LP.  It was rehearsed on January 29 at Apple Studios and officially recorded at Trident Studios on February 22, 1969.  The BBC criticized the lyrics for being too simplistic, but Lennon, citing the influence of Yoko Ono, said that it represented a "progression" to him over complex lyrics such as those in "I am the Walrus."  It was definitely minimalist.

John and George retreated to a corner of the studio to overdub the guitar parts again and again to create the massive sound (i.e, it's "heaviness").  Harrison liked the song, saying that it was an old blues riff made original by John courtesy of "a very good chord progression."

Some regard the song as the closest the Beatles ever got to playing Heavy Metal, although Lennon once said that "Ticket to Ride" was a forerunner of the genre.  Also, McCartney said that "Helter Skelter" was recorded to show that the Beatles could compete with the genre. 

It is the longest Beatles song ever recorded.  The song ends abruptly only because the engineers ran out of tape in the recording both.

Lennon played lead guitar and organ, Harrison rhythm guitar and synthesizer, McCartney bass, and Starr drums.  Lennon sings lead vocal, with McCartney providing a harmony vocal.

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I'm Down

"I'm Down" was released on July 23, 1965 as the B side to "Help."  It is a McCartney composition with minimal help from John.

McCartney has sung "I'm Down" at many concerts for the past fifteen years.  A blues number almost shouted by McCartney, it remains a favorite of fans.

The song was sung at the Shea Stadium concert and is notable for John and George's laughing during the number while Lennon plays the organ with his elbow.  The group also performed the song on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1965, with McCartney changing the order of the verses.

It was recorded at Abby Road on June 14, 1965.  Harrison played lead guitar, McCartney bass, Starr drums, and Lennon Hammond organ.  McCartney sings lead vocal, with Lennon and Harrison providing backing vocals.

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Birthday

The most notable Beatles fact about "Birthday" from the White Album is that there is disagreement where the song was written, and for what occasion.  Lennon claimed that the song was written on the spot in the studio by Paul, who intended it to be a classic rock and roll tune reminiscent of the 1950s.  Other sources claim that McCartney wrote it in India to celebrate Patti Boyd Harrison's birthday.  Chris Thomas, producer for the track, agrees with Lennon, saying that McCartney was already playing the main riff when the other Beatles arrived at the studio, although this does not exclude the possibility that the song was composed at an earlier date, as was the case with so many Lennon-McCartney numbers that were later resurrected.  Most sources agree that Lennon had a small hand in the composition.

"Birthday" was recorded on September 18, 1968 at Abbey Road Studios.  McCartney played upright piano, Lennon played lead guitar, Harrison played bass and tambourine, and Starr played drums.  McCartney sang lead vocal, with Lennon, Yoko Ono, and Patti Harrison providing backing vocals.  Lennon assumed lead vocal for a small portion of the song.  Some sources claim Starr and Mal Evans performed hand claps and that Linda Eastman also sang backing vocals.

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Stuart Sutcliffe

Stuart Sutcliffe, born in Edinburgh, Scotland on June 23, 1940, was the original bass player for the Beatles. Bill Harry, who would would become editor of Mersey Beat, introduced Sutcliffe to John Lennon while the two young men studied at Liverpool Art College. Lennon and McCartney persuaded Sutcliffe to buy a Hofner bass guitar, and in May of 1960, Sutcliffe joined Harrison, McCartney, and Harrison, who were then known as the Silver Beatles.

From the beginning, Sutcliffe did not appear to be a talented bass guitarist, playing only a few basic chords, and many sources say that he would play with his back to the audience. He played with the Beatles in Germany, and remained with Lennon when Harrison was deported for being underage, while McCartney and Pete Best were sent home for attempted arson. (The band sometimes burned their landlady's furniture to keep warm.)

Sutcliffe met photographer Astrid Kircherr while playing with the Beatles in Hamburg at the Kaiserkeller club. The couple became engaged in November of 1960. In July of 1961, Sutcliffe left the group to pursue his career in abstract expressionist art. It was at this time that Paul McCartney took over on bass.

While living in Germany with Kircherr, Sutcliffe began to experience terrible headaches, some of which affected his sight to the point of temporary blindness. German doctors could not find the source of the headaches, but Sutcliffe declined to return to England to seek additional health screenings. He collapsed on April 22, 1962 and died of a brain aneurysm. There has always been speculation that the brain hemorrhage resuled from an earlier head injury when he and John Lennon got into a fight after a 1961 performance.

Sutcliffe's picture is featured on the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band as well as Anthology One.

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Honey Pie

This McCartney song, issued on the White Album, was recorded at Trident Studios on October 1, 1968, with overdubs added on October 2 and 4. Harrison thought that Lennon's lead work was fantastic, although Lennon later said that he would rather forget the song altogether.

McCartney played the piano and sang lead vocal; Lennon played lead guitar; Harrison played bass; Starr played drums; and session musicians added a brass backing.

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Girl

Lennon felt "Girl" to be one of his best compositions. It was recorded on November 11, 1965 at Abbey Road Studios during the last session for Rubber Soul. Lennon claimed that the song was about a "dream girl."

One of the more interesting Beatles facts for this song is that the engineers amplified John's intake of breath in certain spots so that it becomes one of the more memorable sounds of the number, sounding almost (according to McCartney) like a percussion instrument.

Lennon sang lead vocal and played acoustic guitar; McCartney played bass and did a backing vocal; Harrison played sitar and provided a backing vocal; and Starr played drums. Some sources say that balalaikas were used instead of the sitar, which seems more believable when one listens to the closing bars of the song.

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Sexy Sadie

"Sexy Sadie," a Lennon composition issued on the White Album, was inspired by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Indeed, the working title of the song (and original lyric) was "Maharishi." Lennon wrote the song right before leaving India when he suspected that the Maharishi had been taking advantage of several young women, which didn't strike Lennon as very spiritual in nature.

The song was recorded on July 19, 1968 at Abbey Road Studios, but re-recorded on July 24 and August 13. Overdubs were added on August 21.

Lennon provides lead and backing vocals and plays acoustic guitar; McCartney plays bass, piano, and provides a backing vocal; Harrison plays lead guitar and provides a backing vocal; and Starr plays drums and tambourine.

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Yoko Ono

Yoko Ono, the second wife of Beatle John Lennon, was born on February 18, 1933. For most of her life, she has been an avant-garde musician, artist, and filmmaker. Her family moved to New York City in 1940 because Ono's father, a banker and pianist, was working there. When he was transferred to Hanoi in 1946, Ono and her family returned to Japan. After the war, they moved to Scarsdale, New York, and Ono enrolled at prestigious Sarah Lawrence College.

As Ono acquired more and more sympathy for a bohemian lifestyle, she began to experiment with avant-garde art, including performance art, such as setting paintings on fire.

She married music composer Toshi Ichiyanagi in 1956, but the couple divorced in 1962. She married American musician and film producer Tony Cox that same year. Their daughter Kyoko Cox, was born on August 3, 1963. The marriage encountered trouble very early on, and Yoko relegated most of the parenting duties for Kyoko to her husband while she pursued a full-time career in art. After Ono paired with John Lennon years later, Cox and Ono fought a bitter custody battle over Kyoko. Ono was awarded full-time custody, buy Cox kidnapped the child, who he renamed Rosemary. Cox joined an evangelical Christian church and raised Kyoko through adulthood.

Ono is best known for being the wife of John Lennon, who was assassinated on December 8, 1980. Lennon first met Ono when he attended a showing of her work at London's Indica Gallery in 1966. He was drawn to a piece called "Ceiling Painting." Lennon climbed a short ladder and, using a magnifying glass hanging from the ceiling, read the small word "yes." Lennon said that it gave him a positive vibe. Other exhibits included an apple and a sign inviting patrons to hammer a nail into a white board.

While Ono is frequently blamed for breaking up the Beatles, the truth is that all four Beatles were starting to move in different artistic and personal directions. Yoko Ono nevertheless played a very important part in Beatles history. When the group was experiencing considerable friction while recording the White Album, Yoko became John's constant companion, sitting in on Beatles recording sessions, which had previously been closed to all outsiders. The other Beatles were not enthusiastic about Ono's presence.

Lennon referred to Ono in songs such as "Julia" and "The Ballad of John and Yoko." He also produced a controversial solo album with Ono called Two Virgins. The album was purely experimental, consisting of random electronic noises, talk, and shrieks. The cover depicted John and Yoko nude, with full frontal nudity, causing distributors to sell the LP with brown paper over the bottom portion of the front cover. "Revolution #9," a track from the White Album, was also a mix of unusual sound effects and random noises and voices. The track represented what Ono and Lennon considered to be a new wave of music that anyone could record.

Lennon stayed closely aligned with Ono during much of his solo career. His first band in the post-Beatles era was The Plastic Ono Band. He was also collaborating with Ono on Double Fantasy when he was killed in front of the Dakota Building in New York City.

On their honeymoon, John and Yoko also staged bed-ins for peace in Amsterdam and Toronto. It was at a bed-in in Toronto that "Give Peace a Chance" was recorded (in impromptu style) in the couple's hotel room. The couple separated in 1973, with Yoko again pursuing her solo career while sending John to live in Los Angeles. During this period in Lennon's life, known as his Lost Weekend (because of rampant drinking and drug abuse) John lived with Ono's assistant May Pang, with Yoko actually condoning the arrangement so she could keep tabs on her husband. John and Yoko reconciled in 1975, with their son Sean born on October 9, 1975 (also Lennon's own birthday).

After Lennon's assassination, Yoko lived the quiet life of a recluse. On October 9, 1985, however, Ono dedicated the Strawberry Fields Memorial (see sidebar for picture) in New York City's Central Park. On any given day, visitors can be seen playing music or leaving flowers at the memorial, which is only a few blocks away from the Dakota Building, where Yoko Ono still lives.

Yoko Ono gave her permission to the surviving Beatles to use unreleased tapes of Lennon for The Beatles Anthology project, and later gave her blessing to the Beatles Love project/CD for Cirque du Soleil. She continues to be an activist for many causes, and has also continued to be active in the worlds of music and art. For more information on Yoko Ono, consult BEATLES CONNECTIONS in the sitemap below in order to visit her personal website.

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Magical Mystery Tour: The Film

The chief Beatles fact for Magical Mystery Tour is that it was an hour long television program aired on the BBC in Great Britain on December 26, 1967. The film, starring all four Beatles, was deemed a disaster by the viewing public and media critics alike. The idea for the film and its plot is generally attributed to Paul McCartney.

Approximately ten to twelve hours of footage for the film was shot in less than a month's time in September, 1967. Much of the program was filmed at RAF West Malling, a decommissioned airstrip and its hangar. Other parts of the film were shot in Devon and Cornwall.

The plot was not heavily scripted, with the basic premise that a group of tourists was taking a "charabanc," or bus tour, to see the Blackpool lights. Beyond that, the plot, inasmuch as there is one, centers on Ringo and his Aunt Jessie, with Jessie falling in love with the bus conductor, named Buster Bloodvessel. The Beatles play passengers and, with roadie Mal Evans, magicians who cause strange things to happen during the tour. This is what causes the film to be more than a bit surrealistic and often depart from any meaningful central plot. The music punctuating the film's scenes is the soundtrack for the Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour album.

Others in the cast were Derek Royle, who played the tour director Jolly Jimmy Johnson; Mandy Weet, who played the hostess Wendy Winters; Ivon Cutler, who played Buster Bloodvessel; and Victor Spinetti, who played an army recruiting officer.

The color film was aired in black and white the day after Christmas, which was also boxing day in Britain--not a great time slot even for a great film. The general consensus was that the Beatles had finally gone too far, with nothing substantive in the sometimes psychedelic montage of scenes. McCartney originally admitted it wasn't a decent effort, although in later years he stated that the film wasn't that bad, merely an avant-garde piece that was admired by many prestigious filmmakers such as Stephen Speilberg. The film was spoofed in the movie The Rutles.

The film was not seen in the United States until New Line Cinema showed it in select theaters in 1974. In the 1980s, ABC finally aired the film on American television. The film was later released in VHS and DVD formats.

Many, including McCartney, feel that the film is noteworthy since it shows the only performance of "I Am the Walrus," even though the Beatles do not play the song live but rather lip-sync the lyrics and pretend to play their instruments. The clip has become iconic among Beatles fans and is one of the more memorable scenes from the film.

Songs in the film not featured on the soundtrack Beatles album Magical Mystery Tour are "She Loves You," "All My Loving" (instrumental), "Jessie's Dream (instrumental), and "Death Cab for Cutie," performed by the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band.

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Free as a Bird

"Free as a Bird" was written as a demo in 1977 by John Lennon. While working on The Beatles Anthology, Paul McCartney asked Lennon's widow Yoko Ono if she had any of Lennon's unreleased tapes. McCartney's plan was to have the remaining Beatles clean up and augment the track with their own instruments while adding extra lyrics. "Free as a Bird" was one of two songs that Ono offered (the other was "Real Love"). The tape, circulating as a bootleg, was simply a poor-quality cassette that Lennon had made at the Dakota in New York City, where he and Ono resided.

The song was used at the end of the first two-hour special of The Beatles Anthology on ABC television in November, 1995. It also appeared on Anthology One, the first of three two-CD sets that accompanied the TV series. The song was produced by the remaining Beatles with the help of Jeff Lynne, formerly of the Electric Light Orchestra and The Traveling Wilburys. George Martin's production skills were not used because by then Martin had developed hearing problems and did not think he could give his best effort to the project.

The track that was given to McCartney was a tape of Lennon singing and accompanying himself on piano. The new arrangement, recorded in McCartney's home recording studio in Sussex, England in February and March of 1994 included breaks in the Lennon song so that McCartney and Harrison could insert and sing extra lines, which was the only time that the Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison all sang lead on the same song except for a Christmas song issued many years earlier for the Beatles Fan Club. Scenes of the recording sessions can be seen in The Beatles Anthology.

For the music video aired at the end of Part One of TV's The Beatles Anthology, the camera angle depicts scenes as if from a bird's point of view. During this "flight," scenes suggestive of many Beatles songs are seen, such as "Eleanor Rigby," "A Day in the Life," and "Paperback Writer." More than eighty such allusions to the life and music of the Beatles exist in the short clip.

The surviving Beatles themselves loved the final result of the overdubs, feeling as if the Beatles had really succeeded in finally reuniting. Fans and critics also gave the song high marks

Lennon plays piano and does a lead vocal; McCartney plays acoustic guitar, bass, and does lead and backing vocals; Harrison played acoustic and slide guitars, ukulele, and does lead and backing vocals; and Starr played drums and percussion.

The song was released as a single in December of 1995 in both the UK and United States on the Apple label. The B side was "Christmas Time (Is Here Again).

The song won a 1997 Grammay Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group.

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Northern Songs

Northern Songs, Ltd., was a music publishing company founded in 1963 by Brian Epstein and Dick James (in conjunction with the Beatles) in 1963 to publish the musical compositions of John Lennon and Paul McCartney. This was done at the prompting of record producer George Martin, who advised Beatles' manager Brian Epstein to put the growing number of hits into a reputable company since music publishing would yield significant subsidiary rights for Lennon-McCartney songs.

In the United States, these same songs were published by Maclen Music, named after McCartney and Lennon. George Harrison and Ringo Starr were originally signed for Northern Songs, although they both subsequently started their own companies, Harrisongs, Ltd. and Startling Music.

Northern Songs went public in 1965, with Lennon, McCartney, Epstein, Harrison, Starr, and Emmanuel Silver (chairman of Northern Songs) retaining minority percentages of the company, while the bulk of the company's stock traded on the London Stock Exchange. Harrison's "Only a Northern Song" is a reference to Northern Songs, an expression of his disapproval of the way the company was handling his own compositions.

In 1969 (and after the death of Brian Epstein in 1968), Lennon and McCartney lost ownership of their compositions, James and Silver sold their shares of Northern Songs to ATV, or Associated TeleVision in Great Britain. When Apple CEO Allen Klein tried to buy ATV out, the deal was squashed by McCartney's future brother-in-law, John Eastman, who claimed that Klien did not have full legal power to handle the deal on behalf of the Beatles.

Since Lennon and McCartney were under contract to keep writing songs for Northern Songs until 1973, the easiest way out for the two Beatles was to sell out to ATV. They therefore sold their stock in 1969.

In 1981, McCartney declined to purchase the songs from ATV since the pricetag of forty million dollars was deemed too expensive. The songs eventually were acquired by Michael Jackson.

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Beatlemania

Beatlemania is a term used to describe the ardent, sometimes hysterical reactions of Beatles' fans in the 1960s to the Fab Four. The "mania" consisted of screaming during concerts and chasing the Beatles whenever and wherever possible as they got in and out of limousines or went in and out of hotels. Some fans, mostly females, would cry or faint during Beatles performances.

Scottish music promoter Andi Lothian claims he coined the term after a Beatles' tour of Scotland in October of 1963. The term, however, appears in an article about the Beatles in The Daily Mirror on October 15, 1963, and the connection between the above references is not fully known.

The term spread rapidly in America after the Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in February, 1964 on their first American tour. Later, fan frenzy would resurface when the Beatles did a more extensive tour of the United States later that year after filming A Hard Day's Night. Police and riot control had to be provided for the group throughout 1964 to 1966 for the Beatles American and world tours.

Beatlemania grew so intense that the Beatles became more and more concerned about their personal safety on the road. Indeed, their inability to hear their own live performances, as well as the frenzy created by the crowds in general, was one of the main reasons that the group decided to stop touring and retreat to the studio, where they began to record "Strawberry Fields Forever," "Penny Lane," and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

The effect of Beatlemania can be seen in the group's consistent Number One chartings with their singles and albums over a six-year period.

The term is still used by biographers today, as well as the surviving Beatles themselves, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, when interviewed. The term is also heard liberally on documentaries of the Beatles, including The Beatles Anthology and The Compleat Beatles.

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Ravi Shankar

Ravi Shankar, a major influence on the Beatles' lives and music, was born on April 7, 1920. He is the Indian sitar player who influenced George Harrison's music after a friend told Harrison that he should check out Shankar's music. After the Beatle heard a Shankar album, he said the music "felt right" and he proceeded to buy what he called a cheap sitar at a shop called India Craft in Great Britain.

Harrison actually met Shankar in 1966 in London and subsequently visited India for six weeks to study the sitar with Shankar. Shankar's career, which has been noteworthy before and after his contact with the Beatles, was nevertheless boosted by his association with Harrison and the Beatles.

George Harrison used the sitar first on "Norwegian Wood." The instrument is then heard on many Beatles songs, most notably "Love You To," "Within You Without You," and "Tomorrow Never Knows."

Harrison's fascination with Indian music and culture would later result in all four Beatles traveling to Rishikesh, India to study transcendental meditation with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. This was in 1968, when the Beatles were about to begin the White Album sessions. Lennon and McCartney said they wrote many songs while in Rishikesh.

Shankar performed at Woodstock, although he did not subsequently embrace the hippie movement of the sixties.

Shankar also collaborated and influenced world-renown violinist Yehudi Menuhin. He fathered singer Norah Jones, who was born to Sue Jones in 1979. More about Shankar can be found by consulting "Beatles Connections" in the Sitemap below.

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Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan was a major influence on the Beatles. The first time the Beatles met Dylan was during an American tour in 1964. Dylan introduced the Beatles to marijuana, a meeting which Ringo Starr describes as one during which the group giggled more than they ever had before. All the Beatles said that this was the beginning of their "herbal" days, with cannabis replacing alcohol and pills.

Dylan had been smoking marijuana for a while by 1964, having been exposed to it through the folk scene in Greenwich Village. Many sources say that the Beatles were stones during most of the filming of Help!, which is corroborated in The Beatles Anthology. The influence of marijuana, and later stronger drugs, especially LSD, had a profound effect on the group, both personally and musically.

Bob Dylan also influenced the Beatles directly through his music. It is said by Harrison that through John Lennon, the Beatles became big fans of Bob Dylan, beginning with Dylan's album Freewheelin'. The musical influence is most obvious in Lennon songs such as "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" and "Yes It Is." Lennon's intentionally casual delivery mimics Dylan's vocals very closely.

Many have made the argument that Dylan and the folk scene in the United States made the Beatles more aware of social issues, such as civil rights and the anti-war movement of the 1960s.

Dylan would later become good friends with George Harrison, who spent time with Dylan in Woodstock, New York in 1968 during his brief hiatus from the Beatles. Dylan performed at the Concert for Bangladesh, and became a part of The Traveling Wilburys in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

For more info on Dylan, consult the sitemap below under "Beatles Connections.

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Jane Asher

The actress Jane Asher was born on April 4, 1946 and is best known as one-time girlfriend of Beatle Paul McCartney. Her brother, Peter Asher, was a record producer and part of the pop duo of Peter and Gordon in the 1960s. The duo's biggest hit was a song written by Paul McCartney (attributed to Lennon-McCartney on the label) called "World Without Love."

Asher had a five-year relationship with McCartney, beginning in 1963. The couple was engaged in 1967. She accompanied the Beatles to India to study meditation with the Maharishi in March of 1968. Asher terminated the engagement with McCartney later in 1968 after returning from a trip to find McCartney in bed with another woman. The woman, Francie Schwartz, claimed that she and McCartney were no longer emotionally involved at the time of Asher's discovery, but by July of 1968, Jane told the press that the engagement was off. She is one of the few members of the Beatles' inner circle not to have publisher her own memoir about that period in her life.

McCartney stayed at the Asher home at 57 Wimpole Street from 1964 to 1966 and composed several songs at the residence, the most famous being "Yesterday."

Asher had great success in acting, appearing in such films and TV series as Alfie, Rumpole of the Bailey, Brideshead Revisited, Dr. Who, and many more. She is also the author of three bestselling novels. She currently runs a successful business making party cakes.

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Savile Row

3 Savile Row is the address of the building which was headquarters for the Beatles' Apple Corps, Ltd. venture, which was supposed to be a multimedia corporation offering access to artists in all mediums, artists frustrated with running the gauntlet to have their work reviewed by major media corporations.

While Apple Records was the main focus of the enterprise, the company also had other divisions: Apple Publishing, Apple Electronics, Apple Boutique, and Apple Retail. Between 1970 and 2007, former Beatle roadie Neil Aspinall acted as CEO. In 2010, Apple launched the hugely successful The Beatles: Rock Band video game.

The recording studio used by the Beatles at Savile Row after they gave up recording Let It Be at Twickenham Studios was located in the basement. Originally designed by Magic Alex Mardas, the equipment was scrapped because Mardas' electronics didn't work, with four-track recorders brought in to replace the unusable studio equipment.

3 Savile Row will also always be remembered as the location where the Beatles gave their famous Rooftop Concert as the ending to the film Let It Be. This performance, on January 30, 1969, was the last live performance given by the Beatles.

Savile Row was created as part of the Burlington Estate in 1695 and was established to house military officers and their families. The actual name for the street came from Lord Burlington's wife, Dorothy Savile. It will best be remembered in modern times, however, as home to the Beatles' Apple Corps, Ltd., as well as the Rooftop Concert.

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Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney, musician and former member of the Beatles, was born James Paul McCartney on June 18, 1942 in Liverpool, England. he is now Sir Paul McCartney. His mother was formerly Mary Mohan and his father was James McCartney. McCartney has one sibling, his brother James. McCartney's father was a cotton salesman and an amateur musician who played piano and trumpet. His mother Mary died of a pulmonary embolism after a mastectomy to remove breast cancer. This loss helped forge a relationship with John Lennon, who had lost his mother in a car accident when Lennon was seventeen.

Growing up, McCartney was influenced by his father's musical talent, and McCartney began playing guitar and piano. He was influenced most by American rock and roll, as well as rhythm and blues, as were the other Beatles. His favorite performer was Little Richard. Most sources agree that the first song McCartney sang in public was "Long Tall Sally."

At age fifteen, McCartney saw John Lennon perform with his group, the Quarrymen, at the church fete at Woolton. McCartney was quickly asked to join the group, and by 1958, George Harrison, a friend of Paul's from the Liverpool Institute for Boys, had also joined the Quarreymen at the suggestion of Paul. The group changed names frequently, going from the Quarreymen to Johnny and the Moondogs to the Silver Beatles. The group became the Beatles in mid-August of 1960 before they asked Pete Best to join the group before going to Hamburg. When Stu Sutcliffe showed no interest in (or talent for) playing electric bass guitar, McCartney taught himself the instrument and eventually played the iconic Hofner fiddle bass with the group, an instrument he still uses today.

As the Beatles became world-famous between 1963 and 1966, McCartney and Lennon became two of the most famous songwriting collaborators in musical history. Although each composer would generally write his own songs, the other would contribute, to a greater or lesser degree, lyrics or melody lines. Although McCartney is considered by many to be the Beatle who composed memorable ballads, with Lennon producing rock standards, nothing could be further from the truth. Both Lennon and McCartney wrote an eclectic body of material, with George Martin stating that the two men had a healthy songwriting competition during the group's golden years together. Lennon's "Strawberry Fields" was answered by McCartney's "Penny Lane." "Day Tripper was answered by "Paperback Writer."

During the Beatles' studio years, tension within the group grew as each band member began to develop individual interests and relationships. Most Beatles' histories and biographies, however, cite that Lennon and Harrison thought McCartney to be overbearing and bossy. They also believed, according to most sources, that McCartney was willing to work endlessly on his own material while not putting as much effort into the compositions of his band members.

McCartney married Linda Eastman in 1969 at the Marylebone Registry, and in 1970, before the official breakup of the Beatles, released his first solo album, McCartney. McCartney had previously had a five-year relationship with British actress Jane Asher, who is credited for inspiring (for good or ill) songs such as "Yesterday," "And I Love Her," and "I'm Looking Through You." A complete discography of McCartney's solo work may be found by consulting the SITEMAP at the end of this article.

In 1971, after the release of his second solo album, Ram, McCartney formed the band Wings with Denny Laine, Denny Seiwell, and Linda McCartney. Later, the band added Henry McCullough (and later still, Jimmy McCullough). The group toured America many times and issued many successful albums, including Band on the Run, Red Rose Speedway, Venus and Mars, Wings at the Speed of Sound, London Town, and Back to the Egg.

Like the other Beatles, Paul McCartney began using marijuana when Bob Dylan introduced the group to cannabis in 1964. Like the other Beatles, he also took LSD, although he was initially more reticent about trying the drug. Linda McCartney was very fond of marijuana as well, and the couple allegedly used the drug on a regular basis for many years. In January of 1980, McCartney was arrested in Japan for possession of cannabis while going through customs, and the ex-Beatle spent ten days in jail. He and wife Linda were arrested again in 1984 for possession of the drug.

McCartney has engaged in many creative endeavors, such as classical music, painting, and writing. He has written books of poetry as well as classical music. Collaborating with Carl Davis, he wrote Liverpool Oratorio. In this genre, he also wrote Standing Stone, Working Classical, and Ecce Cor Meum. McCartney also wrote and directed the 1984 film Give My Regards to Broad Street. While the film was considered a commercial flop and generally panned by critics, the soundtrack has always been hailed for its mix of new and traditional songs, some from the Beatles' and Wings' years.

Paul and Linda McCartney became animal rights activists (as well as vegetarians). McCartney is still active in these movements, and advocates against seal hunting. After marrying Heather Mills, he joined her fight against landmines, with an untold number of such mines still buried beneath the soil in many countries that are (or have been) torn apart by war.

One of McCartney's biggest regrets is allowing the Beatles catalog (published by Northern Songs, Ltd.) to be sold without actively trying to purchase it himself. Michael Jackson, joking with McCartney, said he would one day buy the catalog. McCartney and Ono had tried to purchase the catalog in 1981, but deemed the price of twenty million dollars too steep. When Nortehrn Songs rights to the music was due to expire, McCartney again did not bid, and the songs were bought by Jackson for $47.5 million dollars in 1985. Rumors that Jackson left the catalog to McCartney in his will proved to be false.

For the past eleven years, McCartney has recorded and toured with a tight band, with the former Beatle not afraid to play standards from his Wings' and Beatles' day, along with new compositions. Macca, as McCartney is known, plays with drummer Abe Laboriel, Jr., keyboardist Wix Wickens, and guitarists Rusty Anderson and Brian Ray. McCartney handles bass, electric and acosutic guitars, and keyboards.

For more information on Paul McCartney, visit his official website by consulting the sidebar or the SITEMAP below.

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