Four Fab Facts About The Fab Four

The last time all four Beatles were in the studio at the same time working on a song was when they were recording “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” from Abbey Road, recorded on August 20, 1969.

While everyone knows that Lennon & McCartney were the primary songwriting duo, there is actually one Beatle song credited to Lennon & Harrison. It’s a pure instrumental called “Cry for a Shadow,” recorded in 1962 in Hamburg, Germany, during sessions the boys cut backing up Tony Sheridan. It was finally released on the Beatles Anthology I set in 1995. It was one of the only official recordings featuring Pete Best on drums.

On the cover their Help! Album, people think the lads are spelling out “Help” in semaphore, but actually, the flags spell our ‘N-U-J-V.” (You’ll also notice that Capitol Records changed the position of the Beatles so they’re spelling out “N-V-U-J” in the States.)

The first Beatle to perform in America was George Harrison. His sister married an American and settled in Illinois. George came to visit her long before Beatlemania took hold and performed a few times with local Illinois bands.

player small

Supergroups of the 60's: Chad & Jeremy
Part of the initial British invasion, the folk-influenced pop duo of Chad Stuart and Jeremy Clyde went on to rack up 7 Top 40 hits in the U.S. before the shift to progressive rock made…
Essential Boomer Album Collection: "Days of Future Passed" (1967)
With the release of “Days of Future Passed," the Moody Blues went from “one hit wonders” to virtually pioneering the musical form that came to be known as “progressive rock.” The Moody Blues began life as…
Supergroups of the '60s: The Turtles
With rare exception, most rock bands of the 1960s came out of nowhere, burned brightly for a year or two, and then faded away. The Turtles fit the first two parts of that formula, but…
You Have Been Warned
Those of a certain age can remember these attacks...
R.I.P. Neil Sedaka (1939-2026)
We’ve lost another of the pioneering figures in rock & roll. Legendary singer-songwriter Neil Sedaka has passed away at the age of 86. A gifted musician, Sedaka earned a scholarship to the prestigious Juilliard School…
Steinman’s Songs
With the passing of songwriter/producer Jim Steinman in 2021, we were surprised at how many people were unaware of his other contributions to pop history outside of his collaboration with Meat Loaf on the 3…