Something About the Beatles

The opening chord of "A Hard Day's Night" is one of the most famous sounds in rock history. Musicians still argue about what it is. In this deep dive into the Beatles' A Hard Day's Night album, we break down the chord note by note: John Lennon's and George Harrison's guitars, Paul McCartney's bass and George Martin's piano. You'll hear how the chord works in G major, what George Harrison said abou...

There were two John and Yoko documentaries produced in the last year that covered their political activism during their first year in New York, culminating in the pair of One To One concerts in August 1972. The first was a documentary detailing the context with the shows in the background; the other placed the show front and center. Author Erika White (Meat The Beatles!) and podcaster Gary Wenstru...

Sixty years ago, The Beatles took their final bow before a paid audience in San Francisco. The occasion was auspicious because they knew this was it: they made sure it was recorded (by Tony Barrow) and photographed (by Jim Marshall). Among the well-wishers in attendance was Joan Baez, who brought her sisters and an 11 year-old friend. This is Naomi's story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit...

To anyone familiar with '60s Top 40 music, The Cyrkle remain a fond memory, notable for their two hits, 1966's "Red Rubber Ball," a Paul Simon co-write, and "Turn Down Day," an exquisite piece of sunshine pop. They also possess a couple of other distinctions, being the only US act managed by Brian Epstein as well as being one of the supporting acts on The Beatles' final tour, sixty years ago.&nbsp...

Imagine having our world rocked by The Beatles as a 1st-gen fan living in New York City. You are a budding musician yourself, and with every release, they inspire you as they advance their art. You see them live - twice - the first time at a renowned event caught on film. One day, deciding to check out something you've heard, you knock on a door downtown and get invited in to interv...

Sixty two years ago, The Beatles cinematic debut arrived , putting the world on notice that their charm and talents were adaptable to virtually any medium. A Hard Day's Night, directed by Richard Lester, has gone down in film history as "the Citizen Kane of jukebox musicals," a stunning work as fresh and captivating as the day it was premiered, and yet it was done on a small budget with novices as...

On March 25, 1966, photographer Robert Whitaker - a surrealist - took The Beatles into his studio to capture a concept piece he called "A Somnamulant Adventure," envisioned as a triptych commentary on the group's fame. But the project slid away from him when one frame, depicting The Beatles with slabs of meat and doll parts, was sent to the US for Capitol to use on their latest compilation album....

Jim Marshall remains one of the most esteemed photographers of the rock era, with iconic images of all the greats to his credit, as well as legends of jazz and some remarkable street photography. He was the subject of the 2019 documentary, Show Me The Picture: The Jim Marshall Story, and his work continues to be familiar to plenty of people who weren't around at the time these photos were new. His...

You know her as a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member as a co-founder of The Go-Go's, their rhythm guitarist/vocalist whose co-written "Our Lips Are Sealed" first out them on the map. Jane was one of the band's composing mainstays, and she went on to solo success in recording as well as acting. This year she has a topical record, I Protest, coming out, as well as her self-penned story, TMI: Memoirs...

In recent years there have been a number of Beatle-owned guitars rediscovered (sometimes in someone's attic) and put up for auction; some ended up in the collection of the late Jim Irsay and others did not. But all of these instruments have something in common: they were in the hands of George or John once, and they (mostly) ended up being heard by millions on recordings we all love. My guest Sam...

Touring and performing live represented a challenge to The Beatles during their years of rapid artistic growth. Being a successful recording act necessitated touring to maintain one's status and to sell records, but when the infrastructure of the day was insufficient to support both the music they were making as well as serve the high demand for tickets in every corner of the country, the strain b...

SATB Special: Ivor Davis RememberedLondon-born journalist Ivor Davis holds a special place in the hearts of everyone lucky enough to speak with or spend time with him. He was a charming man who could make you feel like you were old friends in a manner of minutes; a raconteur full of tales from his rich life of the famous he'd crossed paths with and the history he'd witnessed.  We came into each ot...

Since 2003, Ringo Starr has been producing an incredibly prolific run of releases: albums and EPs, plus live recordings. With him on this journey of multiple producers and supporting musicians has been engineer Bruce Sugar, the one constant. Bruce comes with stories and observations about working with the world's most beloved drummer, including alongside Sir Paul McCartney in the studio (including...

Hailing from Syracuse, NY, Martin Sexton has been a performer/singer-songwriter/recording artist for over thirty years now. Of late he's been touring with a one-man presentation of the complete Abbey Road album. I had a conversation with Martin to discuss The Beatles' impact on him, and what it means to get inside this most revered album and re-present it with a complete re-think of how the songs...

It may be beyond argument that the two most successful and influential pop/rock acts of the 1960s were The Beatles and Bob Dylan: one, an English ensemble from Liverpool who turned out evergreen standards and evolved seemingly without effort; the other an American from the upper midwest, initially cast as a vagabond folkie who constantly reinvented himself as he was anointed spokesman for a genera...

The cinematic treatment of the 2022 Mark Lewisohn lectures on the first year of The Beatles' recording career has been given a terrific cinematic treatment (see it on Amazon Prime). This episode features my conversation with the film's director, Chris Purcell, and its producer, Simon Weitzman. BOTH filmmakers have produced other Beatle-themed films, including Miss O'Dell, A Love Letter To The Beat...

One doesn't immediately connect The Beatles with the world of comic books but there's plenty there. Besides musical references to Captain Marvel and "Magneto and Titanium Man," the group themselves have been regularly represented in the pages of comic books, beginning in 1964; sometimes as plot figures. Then we also have graphic novels and latter-day accounts of their history. To lead *me* in a di...

This month George Harrison would've turned 83. The "quiet Beatle" holds the record for THE most streamed Beatles song, his 1969 composition, "Here Comes The Sun," but to the general public (and not the hardcores), he may remain in the shadow of Lennon and McCartney, despite his key contributions to songs bearing their names. Musician/podcaster Sam Popkin (Gear, There and Everywhere) joins the conv...

The Beatles' Olympiad series of shows is nearing its end point, with Gary Wenstrup and myself assessing their final group project for Olympic honors. Where will the bronze, silver and gold land among the 17 tracks? You'll have to tune in to find out (and discover some unexpected developments). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you don't know the name then you certainly know his work: writer/director Oliver Murray was responsible for giving us that twelve-minute making of "Now and Then" video in 2023 that got everyone up to speed (and teary) about the "last" Beatles song. In 2025, he wrote and directed the 9th episode of the re-launched Beatles Anthology documentary series, quickly followed by the short film, "Free As...

Returning to the show today is the RPM School trio: Walter Everett (The Beatles As Musicians book series) - Cameron Greider - Jack Petruzzelli. They run the Beatles-centric online school which will be launching the winter 2026 semester with a deep dive into The Beatles' fifth long player, released in the summer of 1965. In this conversation, we focus on some of the innovations, influences and prod...

Beatles proteges Badfinger released six studio albums between 1970 and 1974. Two of their hits were produced by Beatles ("Come and Get It" by Paul, "Day After Day" by George) and another by The Beatles' road manager ("No Matter What" was produced by Mal Evans). But their catalog is filled with rich, tuneful pop/rock for anyone who hasn't already explored it. ALL FOUR members (Pete Ham - Tom Evans...

316: Anthology 2025Presented here is an analysis of the current streaming version of the Beatles documentary first produced 30 years ago. This is less a discussion comparing a cut by cut A/B comparison so much as an overview of some changes that HAVE been made, and much discussion into what the intent behind the new presentation may be, who it is made for, what the strategy is (if any) behind some...

Sir Paul McCartney, 1t 63, has just completed his Got Back tour of North America. But at the 60th anniversary of Rubber Soul, it's good to look back at how that album marked a turning point in his approach to his primary instrument: the bass. Paul was an innovator, taking its use where no one in pop/rock had ever gone before. With bass historian/musicologist Rob Collier (www.beatlesbasslines.com),...

Thirty years after the first Anthology collection was released, several years after the Special Deluxe Edition (SDEs) series commemorating individual albums became a thing, and on the eve of an unexpected 4th Anthology series installment, we take stock. Are The Beatles (or Apple or otherwise those overseeing these re-packages) doing as good a job as they can be? There are plenty voices in the worl...