Gratuitous Beatles Blogging

Top 5 Beatles Songs From 1966

by Cara May 29, 2010

In Beatles history, 1966 has largely gone down as the year that Beatlemania began to self-destruct. A visit to Japan resulted in protests over the Beatles’ plans to play at Budokan, and exposed how normally screaming crowds had left them unable to skillfully perform their own songs live. A trip to the Philippines inadvertently turned [...]

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Top 5 Beatles Songs From 1965

by Cara May 22, 2010

In 1965, the Beatles not only managed to reach even greater heights of stardom, they also improved vastly as a group. They completed yet another film, this one in color, released 3 #1 singles in the U.K. (with 5 in the U.S.!), and also managed to record two full albums, each one arguably better than [...]

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Top 5 Beatles Songs From 1964

by Cara May 15, 2010

For the Beatles, 1964 was a huge year. The band managed to star in their first feature film, produce their first album of all original material (and the only one made up entirely of Lennon/McCartneys), and take America by storm — breaking records in television viewing and record sales, selling out concerts in minutes, and [...]

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Top 5 Beatles Songs From 1963

by Cara May 8, 2010

Today marks the beginning of a new series in Gratuitous Beatles Blogging! The Beatles managed to transform their sound and further hone their skills every single year they were together. It’s as common to refer to various Beatles phases by year as it is to refer to them by album. In this series, I’ll be [...]

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Top 5 Covers By The Beatles

by Cara April 24, 2010

It’s well known that the Beatles were influenced by — and some would say borrowed, some would say appropriated, some would say stole, depending on your perspective — a lot of early American rock and roll, which was predominantly written and performed by black musicians. From their earliest days in Hamburg, it was the songs [...]

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Top 5 George Harrison Vocals

by Cara February 27, 2010

This past Thursday, February 25th, was George Harrison’s birthday. He would have turned 67. And with it, we mark the (admittedly probably intermittent) return of Gratuitous Beatles Blogging. I’ve always had a special place in my heart for the Quiet Beatle, but as I’ve begun an obsession with collecting vinyl records over these past several [...]

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Happy Birthday, Ms. Ono

by Cara February 18, 2010

February 18 is a day on which badass women are born, from Audre Lorde to Toni Morrison. But you had to know that I couldn’t let the day pass without acknowledging the birthday of my favorite badass feminist in the entire world: Yoko Ono. 1 Today, the fabulous Ms. Ono turns 77. And she’s still [...]

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Watching The Wheels

by Cara December 8, 2009

December 8, 1980, a few hours before Lennon was murdered. Today is December 8, and 29 years ago tonight, John Lennon was lethally shot by a stranger in front of his own home. His wife was walking in front of him. One of his sons was upstairs, waiting for his daddy to come home from [...]

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All Things Must Pass

by Cara November 29, 2009

George Harrison February 25, 1943 – November 29, 2001 Rest in peace, George.

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Happy Birthday, Mr. Lennon

by Cara October 9, 2009

Today, October 9, is John Lennon’s birthday. He would have turned 69. It’s also my mom’s birthday, so Happy Birthday, Mom! (And let us not further forget Sean Lennon, and the fantabulous Giles Martin. Amazing people are born on October 9, that’s all I can say.) Last year, in honor of this day, I posted [...]

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