Podcasts about Across the Universe

Our recent Abbey Road episode inspired us to revisit this 2007 gem that everyone who was in high school back then absolutely LOVED and probably remembers with fondness. We do an exhaustive review of every single song in this movie, and there's a lot, so buckle up and get ready to discover if this movie holds up AT ALL.You can contact the show at agoodpodcast@gmail.com and find us @HowStarWarsIsIt on all platforms, but since all platforms are kind of evil now, you should probably just email us. That's the best way to get a hold of us! You can also follow Mike @WordGospel09 on Youtube and Instagram and Josiah @JosiahDotBiz on social media, but once again, just email us. And don't forget to rate and review on iTunes, or wherever you get your podcasts! And if you REALLY like the show head over to our Patreon at patreon.com/howstarwarsisit for bonus episodes, Star Wars movie commentaries, and more!

In this thrilling episode, we're joined by the dynamic hosts of the *Middle Aged and Creeped Out* podcast: Todd, Shawn, and Nate. These three friends dive into the eerie world of the paranormal, unexplained, and downright CREEPY! *MAACO* delivers engaging, family-friendly conversations while championing mental health advocacy. Today, the trio takes us on a captivating journey through high strangeness, sharing their chilling personal encounters with the supernatural—from astonishing out-of-body experiences to a spine-chilling investigation at Waverly Hills Sanatorium, where they all witnessed the same shadowy figure. Tune in for these gripping stories and much more!Freaky Merch! We are super excited to announce that you can now purchase Let's Get Freaky merch! Hoodies, t-shirts, mugs, stickers, and lots more! Check it out! http://tee.pub/lic/aQprv54kktwIf you have any paranormal or wild experiences to share and would like to be a guest on the show, please get in touch! Email us at letsgetfreakypodcast@mail.com or message us on social media. Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, Youtube, @tcletsgetfreakypodcasthttps://linktr.ee/letsgetfreakyShe Leads with CAREShe Leads with CARE is a limited podcast series hosted by actor and producer Bellamy...Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

Join me (Anna Stone) and guest host Emily Wallenfang as we discuss 2007's Across the Universe. In this episode, we reminisce about when we saw this movie as teenagers, ruminate on the excellent vocals, and Emily proves me wrong about a Pirates of the Caribbean cameo.

Across The Universe o Através del universo una historia dramatica, romantica contada desde las canciones del cuarteto de liverpool los Beatle, te platicamos los hechos, analizamos todo lo de al rededor, así que no lo te lo puedes perder.Eructito Invitado:- Adri- Memo- Victor#EructitosDelCine #LaNetaLaNeta #AcrossTheUniverse #ATravesDelUniversoCada semana tendremos Eructitos invitados y platicaremos de películas, seres, detalles y datos curios. Así que ve por tus palomitas y no te lo pierdas.Date una vuelta a la tienda en línea por el Ercutitos verse, igual y se te pega algo. https://eructitosdelcine.mitiendanube.com/Todas las redes Eructitos Del Cine. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/EructitosDelCineInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/eructitosdelcine/TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@eructitosdelcineTwitter: https://twitter.com/EructitosDeCineLetterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/ErcutitosDeCine/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Ercutitos-del-Cine-106618787819507Canal Telegram: https://t.me/eructitosdelcine

Mit seinem neunten Album "Young Americans" verließ David Bowie die Glam-Rock-Ära und wandte sich dem Soul zu. Der gleichnamige Titelsong machte ihn endlich auch in den USA zum Star. David Bowie galt als Meister der Verwandlung und wird oft das "Chamäleon der Popmusik" genannt. Doch SWR1 Meilensteine-Host Frank König widerspricht: Bowie war das Gegenteil eines Chamäleons. Er wollte nicht mit seiner Umwelt verschmelzen, sondern herausstechen. Mit "Young Americans" beweist er genau das und erfand sich noch einmal neu. Es entstand ein Album mit afroamerikanischen Soul- und Funkeinflüssen. Den Stil betitelte Bowie als "Plastic Soul", eine selbstironische Anspielung darauf, dass er als weißer Brite zwar Soul spielte, aber niemals völlig authentisch sein konnte. Anfang der 1970er Jahre entdeckte David Bowie seine Leidenschaft für Soulmusik. 1972 lernte er die Sängerin Ava Cherry kennen, die ihn 1974 in die legendären Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia begleitete. Dort nahmen sie gemeinsam den Song "Sweet Thing" auf. Die Sigma Sound Studios, Heimat des Philadelphia Soul, boten die perfekte Kulisse für die Aufnahmen des Albums "Young Americans", die im August 1974 begannen. Neben Ava Cherry als Backgroundsängerin begleiteten Bowie auch Funk-Gitarrist Carlos Alomar, sowie der damals noch unbekannte Luther Vandross, der später als R&B-Star berühmt wurde. Gleichzeitig befand sich David Bowie zum Zeitpunkt der Aufnahmen in seiner schlimmsten Lebensphase. Er kämpfte mit seiner Drogensucht und war dementsprechend in keiner guten körperlichen Verfassung. Trotz seines Zustands war "Young Americans" innerhalb von zwei Wochen fertig aufgenommen. __________ Über diese Songs vom Album "Young Americans" wird im Podcast gesprochen: (16:30) – "Young Americans"(25:13) – "Across The Universe"(28:52) – "Fame"(37:17) – "Fascination"(52:32) – "Right"(57:53) – "Somebody Up There Likes Me" __________ Alle Shownotes und weiterführenden Links zur Folge: https://1.ard.de/david-bowie-young-americans __________ Ihr wollt mehr Podcasts wie diesen? Abonniert die SWR1 Meilensteine! Fragen, Kritik, Anregungen? Meldet euch gerne per WhatsApp-Sprachnachricht an die (06131) 92 93 94 95 oder schreibt uns an meilensteine@swr.de

Happy Valentine's Day….and love, love, love is in the air so for our special we discuss the 2007 Beatles inspired jukebox musical ‘Across The Universe'. Jude leaves Liverpool and finds love with Lucy when he comes to America with the backdrop of the psychedelic 60's and the Vietnam War. Including 34 Beatles songs and jam packed with cameos. Come together and tune in ❤️

I just know John Lennon would've loved Across the Spider-Verse.  Covers by: David Bowie, Fiona Apple, Jim Sturgess, Supermotozoids,  The Reggae Specials, Natt Buntita Tidal playlist here

Wie eine weite Landschaft liegen das Jahr und das Leben vor uns. Weite und breite Musik für einen offenen Blick. Ein Horizont aus Möglichkeiten. Diese Musikstücke hörst Du in dieser Folge: Isata Kanneh-Mason – "By The Still Waters" // Jess Gillam – "Across The Universe" // Max Richter – "On The Nature Of Daylight" // Hans Zimmer – "Time" // Den Podcast "Sparks" von BR 24 findest Du hier: https://www.ardaudiothek.de/sendung/sparks-menschen-die-uns-inspirieren/10638483/ Wenn Du eine Idee oder einen Wunsch zu einem musikalischen Thema hast, dann schreib mir eine Mail: playlist@ndr.de

12/24/24: First Night: The Northamptones sing the Beatles. Astronomer Salman Hameed: flying fast across the universe -- not Santa, a NASA probe. Political expert Josh Silver: a silver lining in Trump's victory? Duke Goldman: Rickey Henderson & the Hall of Fame. Santa Claus stops by the studio.

¡Hola! ¿Cómo estás? Esperamos que muy bien. ¡Llegamos al Season Finale! Y lo dedicamos por completo al segundo volumen del proyecto Anthology. A casi 30 años de su lanzamiento nos zambullimos a hablar de las 45 canciones que componen este disco doble. De Real Love a Across The Universe. De Help! a Sgt. Pepper's y Magical Mystery Tour. De la reunión de los Threetles a las demos de Strawberry Fields Forever. Todo Anthology 2 en más de 3 horas... ¿Hay más? Si, cubrimos el final del Got Back Tour 2024 con los shows en Londres y Manchester. Estuvo Ringo, Ron Wood y el primer bajo de Paul... ¡Ah! Además charlamos mucho sobre Karate Kid (? Gracias por bancarnos este año. Nos vemos en 2025. *ruido de mate*

La presencia de la Presidenta Claudia Sheinbaum y el mensaje que manda desde sus redes sociales, fotos y lo que significa sentarse cerca de Justin Trudeau, primer ministro de Canadá, ¿dejar fuera a México del T-MEC? De esto conversamos con Ildefonso Guajardo, exsecretario de economía. Seguimos analizando el paquete económico para el próximo año, hoy Valeria Moy quien nos comparte, si fue un error el recorte a universidades,¿quién vivirá ese recorte? Además nos explicó cómo afecta a la ciudadanía este recorte en temas tan cercanos como salud, educación y seguridad.Nuestros colaboradores en este lunes de puente: Patricia Vázquez, Pepe Gordon a propósito de la presencia de de Paul McCartney y la rola Across The Universe; Tlatoani Carrera sobre Javier Aguirre y su descalabro frente a Honduras.

“The Library Across the Universe Who Loved a Man” by Frank Baird Hughes Manawaker Patreon: https://patreon.com/manawaker/ Manawaker store: https://payhip.com/Manawaker More info / Contact CB Droege: https://cbdroege.taplink.ws The Flash Fiction Podcast Theme Song is by Kevin McCleod The Producer, Editor, and Narrator of the podcast is CB Droege Author Bio: Frank Baird Hughes lives in a Philadelphia row home with three humans, two cats, and one dog.

Theatre, opera and film director Julie Taymor is regarded as one of the most imaginative directors and designers working today. Her stage version of the Lion King is the highest grossing show in Broadway history, having made nearly $2 billion, and it recently marked its 25th year in London. The Lion King Julie two Tony Awards, including for best director of a musical in 1997, making her the first woman to do so. Julie Taymor has told Shakespearean stories on stage and the big screen including Titus, starring Anthony Hopkins and The Tempest with Helen Mirren. Her film credits also include Frida, a biopic of painter Frida Kahlo, and the Beatles jukebox musical movie Across The Universe. She tells John Wilson how seeing Rashomon, Akira Kurosawa's 1950 film, as a teenager, was a formative cultural experience. Kurosawa's ingenious approach to narrative opened her eyes for the first time about the possibilities of innovative storytelling. She also recalls how her travels around Indonesia and Bali after graduation, and in particular, witnessing a ceremony in the isolated Balinese village of Trunyan have had a profound impact on her work as a designer and director. Julie reveals how she came up with the ground-breaking concept and some of the designs for the stage version of Disney's The Lion King. She also gives her opinion on some of the difficulties faced by the ill-fated Broadway musical Spider Man: Turn Off The Dark, on which she was co-writer and director until being replaced during its previews. The production, which featured music and lyrics by Bono and The Edge of U2, was ridden with technical and financial problems, and resulted in several legal disputes.Producer: Edwina Pitman

In Episode 551 of The Pull Bag join TFG1Mike and Joe Reed as they continue their deep dive into the world of the MASSIVE VERSE! This time around they are checking in with Eva aka Radiant Pink!!! This dynamic duo spoil the hell outta Volume 1: Across The Universe as they are loving the lore that's being created!!!! How will Eva deal with having superpowers and everyday life?, How will Radiant Pink help Eva get her streaming numbers up?, and will Eva find a balance between real and online life? Find all this out and more as the TPB team finds out in Volume 1! Stay Radiant everyone, and read this new series! As always Make Your Great Escape Into Comics!!!GCRN Universal Ratings SystemIDW Publishing TMNT Comics Chronology!!USE TFG1Mike's LinkTree to Follow Him!!Follow GeekStuff Garage Sale on Facebook HERE!Follow TPB on Twitter and you can also Like TPB on Facebook!!TPB Asks You: What Are Your Thoughts on Radiant Black Volume 4, and will you be picking up the trade? Stay Radiant Everyone!

In Episode 551 of The Pull Bag join TFG1Mike and Joe Reed as they continue their deep dive into the world of the MASSIVE VERSE! This time it's all about RADIANT PINK!!! This dynamic duo spoil the hell outta Volume 1: Across The Universe as they are loving the lore that's being created!!!! What will Eva do when she becomes RADIANT PINK?, Will she be able to balance real and online life?, Find all this out and more as the TPB team finds out in Volume 1! Stay Radiant everyone, and read this new series! As always Make Your Great Escape Into Comics!!!The GCRN Geek Meter!IDW Publishing TMNT Comics Chronology!!USE TFG1Mike's LinkTree to Follow Him!!Follow GeekStuff Garage Sale on Facebook HERE!Follow TPB on Twitter and you can also Like TPB on Facebook!!TPB Asks You: What Are Your Thoughts on Radiant Black Volume 4, and will you be picking up the trade?Stay Radiant Everyone!

ACROSS THE UNIVERSE FOR PALESTINE Radio AlHara broadcast, July 13, 2024 Live 3-7pm (Palestine time) / 8h-12h eastern time Accompanying graphic is by Valantina Gonzo. This broadcast focuses on voices from spaces of solidarity organizing to support Palestine, from the People's Conference for Palestine that took place in May 2024 in Detroit, to the Al Soumoud Gaza solidarity encampment in Montréal. Also this broadcast features sounds from protests in different corners of the world from Italy, to Portugal and contributions of music by artists who support the Palestinian struggle for freedom. Outline of contributions also live here, including links: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Pq7sUX_s6bGzhR3Zjse2VFGmyJQ835bQoZMqE9GOoNE 01. PJS - Meteor Shower 02. Al Soumoud encampment organizer 'Romera' in Montréal 03. Secret Pyramid - So So 04. Palestine solidarity chant in Lisbon recorded by Rabie Masri 05. Radio Ondarossa (Italy) - Piazza 25 Aprile 06. Radio Ondarossa (Italy) - Gaza Freestyle Fest (CSOA Lambretta) 07. Radio Ondarossa (Italy) - Fronte Gioventù Comunista 08. Radio Ondarossa (Italy) - Giovani Palestinesi Italia, Bologna 09. Radio Ondarossa (Italy) - S.I Cobas (union) 10. Recordings by Ema Gonçalves of protests in Lisbon, Portugal 11. Interview with Yaseen Shaikh, Students for Justice in Palestine, Kent State University, Ohio 12. Jamil Naser and Jim Wisehart of the Arizona Palestine Solidarity Alliance 13. Stefan Christoff - Sounding Worlds 1 14. Ambreen Khan, Healthcare Workers for Palestine 15. Taher Dahleh, New York City chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) 16. Ziad Abi Saad, an organizer with Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) Concordia in Montreal 17. Activist Huwaida Arraf 18. Anthony AlDurra, Palestinian-American dental student in Detroit 19. Massa Haj Ali, Students for Justice in Palestine, Chicago 20. Activist Adam Shapiro 21. Activists Maysa Hawash (Doctors Against Genocide) and Lena El-Malak (independent legal advisor) 22. Palestinian Feminist Collective organizer Tara Alami 23. NY activist Laila Rodenbeck 24. Karameh Hawash-Kuemmerle and Nidal Jboor of Doctors Against Genocide 25. Badawi (Raz Mesinai) - Infinite Pause (Shepherd version) 26. Secret Pyramid - A Vanishing Touch 27. Notnef Greco - Scooter Riding In Bombay 28. SAWT - BANK ATTACK 29. Emily (Jewish mother raising half Palestinian kid in US) 30. Stefan voice note on joining Montreal protest 31. Stefan Christoff and Razan AlSalah practicing music 32. Stefan Christoff and Sam Shalabi - Elephantine 33. Grimório de Abril - O Eremita e O Leão 34. Daniel Carter - A lunar look 35. Rainbow Eclipse, GAZA 1 36. UZU - Akhtanik / اوزو- أختنق 37. Ghost Producer - DoNormaal, Brahim Fribgane (Juma Mubarak Set) 38. Secret Pyramid - Quiet Sky 39. Secret Pyramid - A Descent

OUR FIRST LIVE EPISODE! (...we don't count the birthday cabaret because that was just a fun time...) Jon got some besties together to discuss one of his favorite musical movies, where he shares some personal stories within the episode, and everything gets derailed because of semen.Nick's Instagram: @nickbombicinoMarc's Instagram: @bwayghostlightMarc's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@broadwaybyghostlightGlee *clap emoji* Aggressive Socials: @gleeaggressiveIan's Instagram: @ibrodskiThe Love of Cinema Socials: https://linktr.ee/theloveofcinemaPodcast Socials -Email: butasongpod@gmail.comFacebook: @butasongpodInstagram: @butasongpodTikTok: @butasongpodTwitter: @butasongpodNext episode: The Producers (2005)!

Turn on, tune in, drop out - this week gets a little trippy. In this Trashcan Thursday, Leigh talks all about psychedelics through the 2007 Musical/Romance film Across The Universe, while Lori explores runes through the 2019 horror/mystery film Midsommar. JOIN THE PATREON FAMILY!

Zach and Kelsey could not disagree more when it comes to this iconic Beetles homage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

To kick of a jukebox musical marathon, Carie and Ross attempt to understand how a visually stunning film with fantastic musical arrangements can lose THIRTY MILLION DOLLARS. That's right, it's Across the Universe (2007), a story about a cluster of bohemians navigating the turbulent world of 1960's America. Carie gets excited about Eddie Izzard's fabulous cameo, and less excited about Bono. Ross struggles with the thin narrative and shallow relationships between characters. Salma Hayek is here for no reason? And it would never be a period piece without a little of Ross' History Corner regarding the political pipeline of Richard Nixon to D0nald Trnmp.  RELATED MEDIA: History of the Detroit Uprising DONATE TO THE DETROIT HISTORICAL SOCIETY! SUPPORT QUEER PODCASTS!     

Cover Lover - A music podcast exploring songs and their various covers, hosted by Liz Maupin.Follow & Listen to more episodes of Cover Lover podcast: https://pod.link/1718482750This episode explores the song Across The Universe and some of its various covers.Playlist of Covers: https://spoti.fi/3JDzaKa—-Artists Featured:The BeatlesFiona AppleRufus WainwrightJess Gillam, Rowena Calvert, Sam Becker, Lysandre MenardAuroraEvanescensetyke jamesDuke Levine —-Honorable Mentions:David BowieStevie Wonder, Bono, Billie Joe Armstrong, Alicia Keys, Steven Tyler, Norah Jones, Tim McGraw, Brian Wilson and Alison Krauss backed by Velvet RevolverAmerican jazz guitarist Bill FrisellWarsaw PhilharmonicVitamin String QuartetLondon String QuartetTikTok user @hessicaLily & Madeline and The Accidentals

In this episode of Sing It, Sister(s)! Clare and Ellen discuss 2007's Across the Universe, and embarrass themselves with their lack of Beatles knowledge. Apologies for the lack of soundtrack tunes, Apple changed how things work :(  Follow us on Instagram @singitsisterpod

La Rioja es una tierra de sabores y sonidos. Como el de la música del talentoso dúo The Nowhere Plan. Un combo musical que rinde uno de los mejores tributos a los míticos Beatles de la mano de las guitarras y las voces de un logroñés, Isaac Miguel, y un irlandés, Conn Bux. Un tándem artístico que nos regala en nuestra quinta hora de programa un acústico de los temas From Me To You y Across The Universe. Escuchar audio

Welcome to the show that talks about all of our favorite movies. This week Kasey is joined by Harley from VARIOUS podcast entities as we discuss some classic rock and an incredible movie Across the Universe

The Songs Of Ray Davies & The Kinks “This Is Where I Belong”:Rufus Wainwright “Across The Universe”The Wallflowers “I'm Looking Through You”Eddie Vedder “You've Got To Hide Your Love Away”Ben Harper “Strawberry Fields Forever”Sheryl Crow “Mother Nature's Son”The Songs Of Ray Davies & The Kinks “This Is Where I Belong”:Jonathan Richman “Stop Your Sobbing”Bebel Gilberto “No Return”       Josh Rouse “A Well Respected Man”      Cracker “Victoria”         Queens Of The Stone Age “Who'll Be The Next In Line”  Matthew Sweet “Big Sky” Tré Burt “Traffic Fiction”:”Kids in tha Yard””Piece of Me””Win My Heart””All Things Right””To Be a River””Told Ya Then”Escuchar audio

We continue to our 3-part series on the Modern Musical, presented by Alison. This week, we are discussing the 2007 movie Across The Universe featuring The Beatles

Episode 171 of the Ready 2 Retro Podcast is a conversation with VFX Supervisor Peter Crosman. Peter's feature film credits include a diverse range of genres such as the Beatles-scored musical extravaganza "Across The Universe", fantasy comedies "Scooby Doo (I&II)" and "Flubber", dramatic narratives "Horse Whisperer", "Idlewild", and sci-fi thrillers "Independence Day", "Broken Arrow" and "Tank Girl".Be sure to listen to this fantastic conversation as Peter shares from his career, the projects he's doing now and his overall love for film.

Part 2 of our mind-expanding interview with William Padilla-Brown. This interview was taped after our radio interview (Episode 166) and is even more informal and loose. Hopefully there's some wisdom and new thoughts you can integrate into your reality - take what resonates and leave what doesn't!GUEST:William Padilla-Brown: https://www.instagram.com/mycosymbioteMycosymbiotics: https://mycosymbiotics.com/CRTFD: https://crtfd.com/MENTIONS:https://kajabi.com/https://www.thepermaculturestudent.com/https://www.entheome.org/https://www.cambriangenomics.com/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanopore_sequencingMUSHROOM HOUR:https://welcometomushroomhour.comhttps://instagram.com/welcome_to_mushroom_hourhttps://tiktok.com/@welcome_to_mushroom_hourShow Music courtesy of the one and only Chris Peck: https://peckthetowncrier.bandcamp.com/TOPICS COVERED:Mycosymbiotics ProductsLearning Who to TrustCRTFD Sustainable GarmentsUptopia vs. DystopiaWhat is the Future of Cordyceps in the US?Growing Engagement with Soil MicrobiologyNanopore TechnologyPractical Applications of Molecular Biology & Genetic DataMetagenomics & AITime CompressionEthics of Manmade BiologyHuman Origins, Genetic Manipulation, Ancient Teachings7 Generations and Space-Time CollaborationsRemembering our Birthright

A material boy living in a material world.

Un día más, el amigo secreto y Rafa Panadero tocan los primeros acordes de una de las canciones de The Beatles para descubrirnos todo lo que hay detrás. Esta vez es 'Across the universe', una de las favoritas del amigo. 

Welcome to Episode 343 of WSTR! This episode's topics include: - Celebrating the 20th anniversary of The Return of the King! - Adam Driver speaks out on Kylo Ren's planned arc - A new Holiday Special documentary asks... why? - ...and much, much, more! For all your galactic news and talk needs, this is the podcast you've been looking for - tune in to WSTR Galactic Public Access! Email: mailbox@wstrmedia.com Voicemail: (630) 557-9787

Episode 171 looks at "Hey Jude", the White Album, and the career of the Beatles from August 1967 through November 1968. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a fifty-seven-minute bonus episode available, on "I Love You" by People!. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt's irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/ Errata Not really an error, but at one point I refer to Ornette Coleman as a saxophonist. While he was, he plays trumpet on the track that is excerpted after that. Resources No Mixcloud this week due to the number of songs by the Beatles. I have read literally dozens of books on the Beatles, and used bits of information from many of them. All my Beatles episodes refer to: The Complete Beatles Chronicle by Mark Lewisohn, All The Songs: The Stories Behind Every Beatles Release by Jean-Michel Guesdon, And The Band Begins To Play: The Definitive Guide To The Songs of The Beatles by Steve Lambley, The Beatles By Ear by Kevin Moore, Revolution in the Head by Ian MacDonald, and The Beatles Anthology. For this episode, I also referred to Last Interview by David Sheff, a longform interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono from shortly before Lennon's death; Many Years From Now by Barry Miles, an authorised biography of Paul McCartney; and Here, There, and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of the Beatles by Geoff Emerick and Howard Massey. This time I also used Steve Turner's The Beatles: The Stories Behind the Songs 1967-1970. I referred to Philip Norman's biographies of John Lennon, George Harrison, and Paul McCartney, to Graeme Thomson's biography of George Harrison, Take a Sad Song by James Campion, Yoko Ono: An Artful Life by Donald Brackett, Those Were the Days 2.0 by Stephan Granados, and Sound Pictures by Kenneth Womack. Sadly the only way to get the single mix of “Hey Jude” is on this ludicrously-expensive out-of-print box set, but a remixed stereo mix is easily available on the new reissue of the 1967-70 compilation. The original mixes of the White Album are also, shockingly, out of print, but this 2018 remix is available for the moment. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript Before I start, a quick note -- this episode deals, among other topics, with child abandonment, spousal neglect, suicide attempts, miscarriage, rape accusations, and heroin addiction. If any of those topics are likely to upset you, you might want to check the transcript rather than listening to this episode. It also, for once, contains a short excerpt of an expletive, but given that that expletive in that context has been regularly played on daytime radio without complaint for over fifty years, I suspect it can be excused. The use of mantra meditation is something that exists across religions, and which appears to have been independently invented multiple times, in multiple cultures. In the Western culture to which most of my listeners belong, it is now best known as an aspect of what is known as "mindfulness", a secularised version of Buddhism which aims to provide adherents with the benefits of the teachings of the Buddha but without the cosmology to which they are attached. But it turns up in almost every religious tradition I know of in one form or another. The idea of mantra meditation is a very simple one, and one that even has some basis in science. There is a mathematical principle in neurology and information science called the free energy principle which says our brains are wired to try to minimise how surprised we are --  our brain is constantly making predictions about the world, and then looking at the results from our senses to see if they match. If they do, that's great, and the brain will happily move on to its next prediction. If they don't, the brain has to update its model of the world to match the new information, make new predictions, and see if those new predictions are a better match. Every person has a different mental model of the world, and none of them match reality, but every brain tries to get as close as possible. This updating of the model to match the new information is called "thinking", and it uses up energy, and our bodies and brains have evolved to conserve energy as much as possible. This means that for many people, most of the time, thinking is unpleasant, and indeed much of the time that people have spent thinking, they've been thinking about how to stop themselves having to do it at all, and when they have managed to stop thinking, however briefly, they've experienced great bliss. Many more or less effective technologies have been created to bring about a more minimal-energy state, including alcohol, heroin, and barbituates, but many of these have unwanted side-effects, such as death, which people also tend to want to avoid, and so people have often turned to another technology. It turns out that for many people, they can avoid thinking by simply thinking about something that is utterly predictable. If they minimise the amount of sensory input, and concentrate on something that they can predict exactly, eventually they can turn off their mind, relax, and float downstream, without dying. One easy way to do this is to close your eyes, so you can't see anything, make your breath as regular as possible, and then concentrate on a sound that repeats over and over.  If you repeat a single phrase or word a few hundred times, that regular repetition eventually causes your mind to stop having to keep track of the world, and experience a peace that is, by all accounts, unlike any other experience. What word or phrase that is can depend very much on the tradition. In Transcendental Meditation, each person has their own individual phrase. In the Catholicism in which George Harrison and Paul McCartney were raised, popular phrases for this are "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner" or "Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen." In some branches of Buddhism, a popular mantra is "_NAMU MYŌHŌ RENGE KYŌ_". In the Hinduism to which George Harrison later converted, you can use "Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare", "Om Namo Bhagavate Vāsudevāya" or "Om Gam Ganapataye Namaha". Those last two start with the syllable "Om", and indeed some people prefer to just use that syllable, repeating a single syllable over and over again until they reach a state of transcendence. [Excerpt: The Beatles, "Hey Jude" ("na na na na na na na")] We don't know much about how the Beatles first discovered Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, except that it was thanks to Pattie Boyd, George Harrison's then-wife. Unfortunately, her memory of how she first became involved in the Maharishi's Spiritual Regeneration Movement, as described in her autobiography, doesn't fully line up with other known facts. She talks about reading about the Maharishi in the paper with her friend Marie-Lise while George was away on tour, but she also places the date that this happened in February 1967, several months after the Beatles had stopped touring forever. We'll be seeing a lot more of these timing discrepancies as this story progresses, and people's memories increasingly don't match the events that happened to them. Either way, it's clear that Pattie became involved in the Spiritual Regeneration Movement a good length of time before her husband did. She got him to go along with her to one of the Maharishi's lectures, after she had already been converted to the practice of Transcendental Meditation, and they brought along John, Paul, and their partners (Ringo's wife Maureen had just given birth, so they didn't come). As we heard back in episode one hundred and fifty, that lecture was impressive enough that the group, plus their wives and girlfriends (with the exception of Maureen Starkey) and Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull, all went on a meditation retreat with the Maharishi at a holiday camp in Bangor, and it was there that they learned that Brian Epstein had been found dead. The death of the man who had guided the group's career could not have come at a worse time for the band's stability.  The group had only recorded one song in the preceding two months -- Paul's "Your Mother Should Know" -- and had basically been running on fumes since completing recording of Sgt Pepper many months earlier. John's drug intake had increased to the point that he was barely functional -- although with the enthusiasm of the newly converted he had decided to swear off LSD at the Maharishi's urging -- and his marriage was falling apart. Similarly, Paul McCartney's relationship with Jane Asher was in a bad state, though both men were trying to repair their damaged relationships, while both George and Ringo were having doubts about the band that had made them famous. In George's case, he was feeling marginalised by John and Paul, his songs ignored or paid cursory attention, and there was less for him to do on the records as the group moved away from making guitar-based rock and roll music into the stranger areas of psychedelia. And Ringo, whose main memory of the recording of Sgt Pepper was of learning to play chess while the others went through the extensive overdubs that characterised that album, was starting to feel like his playing was deteriorating, and that as the only non-writer in the band he was on the outside to an extent. On top of that, the group were in the middle of a major plan to restructure their business. As part of their contract renegotiations with EMI at the beginning of 1967, it had been agreed that they would receive two million pounds -- roughly fifteen million pounds in today's money -- in unpaid royalties as a lump sum. If that had been paid to them as individuals, or through the company they owned, the Beatles Ltd, they would have had to pay the full top rate of tax on it, which as George had complained the previous year was over ninety-five percent. (In fact, he'd been slightly exaggerating the generosity of the UK tax system to the rich, as at that point the top rate of income tax was somewhere around ninety-seven and a half percent). But happily for them, a couple of years earlier the UK had restructured its tax laws and introduced a corporation tax, which meant that the profits of corporations were no longer taxed at the same high rate as income. So a new company had been set up, The Beatles & Co, and all the group's non-songwriting income was paid into the company. Each Beatle owned five percent of the company, and the other eighty percent was owned by a new partnership, a corporation that was soon renamed Apple Corps -- a name inspired by a painting that McCartney had liked by the artist Rene Magritte. In the early stages of Apple, it was very entangled with Nems, the company that was owned by Brian and Clive Epstein, and which was in the process of being sold to Robert Stigwood, though that sale fell through after Brian's death. The first part of Apple, Apple Publishing, had been set up in the summer of 1967, and was run by Terry Doran, a friend of Epstein's who ran a motor dealership -- most of the Apple divisions would be run by friends of the group rather than by people with experience in the industries in question. As Apple was set up during the point that Stigwood was getting involved with NEMS, Apple Publishing's initial offices were in the same building with, and shared staff with, two publishing companies that Stigwood owned, Dratleaf Music, who published Cream's songs, and Abigail Music, the Bee Gees' publishers. And indeed the first two songs published by Apple were copyrights that were gifted to the company by Stigwood -- "Listen to the Sky", a B-side by an obscure band called Sands: [Excerpt: Sands, "Listen to the Sky"] And "Outside Woman Blues", an arrangement by Eric Clapton of an old blues song by Blind Joe Reynolds, which Cream had copyrighted separately and released on Disraeli Gears: [Excerpt: Cream, "Outside Woman Blues"] But Apple soon started signing outside songwriters -- once Mike Berry, a member of Apple Publishing's staff, had sat McCartney down and explained to him what music publishing actually was, something he had never actually understood even though he'd been a songwriter for five years. Those songwriters, given that this was 1967, were often also performers, and as Apple Records had not yet been set up, Apple would try to arrange recording contracts for them with other labels. They started with a group called Focal Point, who got signed by badgering Paul McCartney to listen to their songs until he gave them Doran's phone number to shut them up: [Excerpt: Focal Point, "Sycamore Sid"] But the big early hope for Apple Publishing was a songwriter called George Alexander. Alexander's birth name had been Alexander Young, and he was the brother of George Young, who was a member of the Australian beat group The Easybeats, who'd had a hit with "Friday on My Mind": [Excerpt: The Easybeats, "Friday on My Mind"] His younger brothers Malcolm and Angus would go on to have a few hits themselves, but AC/DC wouldn't be formed for another five years. Terry Doran thought that Alexander should be a member of a band, because bands were more popular than solo artists at the time, and so he was placed with three former members of Tony Rivers and the Castaways, a Beach Boys soundalike group that had had some minor success. John Lennon suggested that the group be named Grapefruit, after a book he was reading by a conceptual artist of his acquaintance named Yoko Ono, and as Doran was making arrangements with Terry Melcher for a reciprocal publishing deal by which Melcher's American company would publish Apple songs in the US while Apple published songs from Melcher's company in the UK, it made sense for Melcher to also produce Grapefruit's first single, "Dear Delilah": [Excerpt: Grapefruit, "Dear Delilah"] That made number twenty-one in the UK when it came out in early 1968, on the back of publicity about Grapefruit's connection with the Beatles, but future singles by the band were much less successful, and like several other acts involved with Apple, they found that they were more hampered by the Beatles connection than helped. A few other people were signed to Apple Publishing early on, of whom the most notable was Jackie Lomax. Lomax had been a member of a minor Merseybeat group, the Undertakers, and after they had split up, he'd been signed by Brian Epstein with a new group, the Lomax Alliance, who had released one single, "Try as You May": [Excerpt: The Lomax Alliance, "Try As You May"] After Epstein's death, Lomax had plans to join another band, being formed by another Merseybeat musician, Chris Curtis, the former drummer of the Searchers. But after going to the Beatles to talk with them about them helping the new group financially, Lomax was persuaded by John Lennon to go solo instead. He may later have regretted that decision, as by early 1968 the people that Curtis had recruited for his new band had ditched him and were making a name for themselves as Deep Purple. Lomax recorded one solo single with funding from Stigwood, a cover version of a song by an obscure singer-songwriter, Jake Holmes, "Genuine Imitation Life": [Excerpt: Jackie Lomax, "Genuine Imitation Life"] But he was also signed to Apple Publishing as a songwriter. The Beatles had only just started laying out plans for Apple when Epstein died, and other than the publishing company one of the few things they'd agreed on was that they were going to have a film company, which was to be run by Denis O'Dell, who had been an associate producer on A Hard Day's Night and on How I Won The War, the Richard Lester film Lennon had recently starred in. A few days after Epstein's death, they had a meeting, in which they agreed that the band needed to move forward quickly if they were going to recover from Epstein's death. They had originally been planning on going to India with the Maharishi to study meditation, but they decided to put that off until the new year, and to press forward with a film project Paul had been talking about, to be titled Magical Mystery Tour. And so, on the fifth of September 1967, they went back into the recording studio and started work on a song of John's that was earmarked for the film, "I am the Walrus": [Excerpt: The Beatles, "I am the Walrus"] Magical Mystery Tour, the film, has a mixed reputation which we will talk about shortly, but one defence that Paul McCartney has always made of it is that it's the only place where you can see the Beatles performing "I am the Walrus". While the song was eventually relegated to a B-side, it's possibly the finest B-side of the Beatles' career, and one of the best tracks the group ever made. As with many of Lennon's songs from this period, the song was a collage of many different elements pulled from his environment and surroundings, and turned into something that was rather more than the sum of its parts. For its musical inspiration, Lennon pulled from, of all things, a police siren going past his house. (For those who are unfamiliar with what old British police sirens sounded like, as opposed to the ones in use for most of my lifetime or in other countries, here's a recording of one): [Excerpt: British police siren ca 1968] That inspired Lennon to write a snatch of lyric to go with the sound of the siren, starting "Mister city policeman sitting pretty". He had two other song fragments, one about sitting in the garden, and one about sitting on a cornflake, and he told Hunter Davies, who was doing interviews for his authorised biography of the group, “I don't know how it will all end up. Perhaps they'll turn out to be different parts of the same song.” But the final element that made these three disparate sections into a song was a letter that came from Stephen Bayley, a pupil at Lennon's old school Quarry Bank, who told him that the teachers at the school -- who Lennon always thought of as having suppressed his creativity -- were now analysing Beatles lyrics in their lessons. Lennon decided to come up with some nonsense that they couldn't analyse -- though as nonsensical as the finished song is, there's an underlying anger to a lot of it that possibly comes from Lennon thinking of his school experiences. And so Lennon asked his old schoolfriend Pete Shotton to remind him of a disgusting playground chant that kids used to sing in schools in the North West of England (and which they still sang with very minor variations at my own school decades later -- childhood folklore has a remarkably long life). That rhyme went: Yellow matter custard, green snot pie All mixed up with a dead dog's eye Slap it on a butty, nice and thick, And drink it down with a cup of cold sick Lennon combined some parts of this with half-remembered fragments of Lewis Carrol's The Walrus and the Carpenter, and with some punning references to things that were going on in his own life and those of his friends -- though it's difficult to know exactly which of the stories attached to some of the more incomprehensible bits of the lyrics are accurate. The story that the line "I am the eggman" is about a sexual proclivity of Eric Burdon of the Animals seems plausible, while the contention by some that the phrase "semolina pilchard" is a reference to Sgt Pilcher, the corrupt policeman who had arrested three of the Rolling Stones, and would later arrest Lennon, on drugs charges, seems less likely. The track is a masterpiece of production, but the release of the basic take on Anthology 2 in 1996 showed that the underlying performance, before George Martin worked his magic with the overdubs, is still a remarkable piece of work: [Excerpt: The Beatles, "I am the Walrus (Anthology 2 version)"] But Martin's arrangement and production turned the track from a merely very good track into a masterpiece. The string arrangement, very much in the same mould as that for "Strawberry Fields Forever" but giving a very different effect with its harsh cello glissandi, is the kind of thing one expects from Martin, but there's also the chanting of the Mike Sammes Singers, who were more normally booked for sessions like Englebert Humperdinck's "The Last Waltz": [Excerpt: Engelbert Humperdinck, "The Last Waltz"] But here were instead asked to imitate the sound of the strings, make grunting noises, and generally go very far out of their normal comfort zone: [Excerpt: The Beatles, "I am the Walrus"] But the most fascinating piece of production in the entire track is an idea that seems to have been inspired by people like John Cage -- a live feed of a radio being tuned was played into the mono mix from about the halfway point, and whatever was on the radio at the time was captured: [Excerpt: The Beatles, "I am the Walrus"] This is also why for many decades it was impossible to have a true stereo mix of the track -- the radio part was mixed directly into the mono mix, and it wasn't until the 1990s that someone thought to track down a copy of the original radio broadcasts and recreate the process. In one of those bits of synchronicity that happen more often than you would think when you're creating aleatory art, and which are why that kind of process can be so appealing, one bit of dialogue from the broadcast of King Lear that was on the radio as the mixing was happening was *perfectly* timed: [Excerpt: The Beatles, "I am the Walrus"] After completing work on the basic track for "I am the Walrus", the group worked on two more songs for the film, George's "Blue Jay Way" and a group-composed twelve-bar blues instrumental called "Flying", before starting production. Magical Mystery Tour, as an idea, was inspired in equal parts by Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters, the collective of people we talked about in the episode on the Grateful Dead who travelled across the US extolling the virtues of psychedelic drugs, and by mystery tours, a British working-class tradition that has rather fallen out of fashion in the intervening decades. A mystery tour would generally be put on by a coach-hire company, and would be a day trip to an unannounced location -- though the location would in fact be very predictable, and would be a seaside town within a couple of hours' drive of its starting point. In the case of the ones the Beatles remembered from their own childhoods, this would be to a coastal town in Lancashire or Wales, like Blackpool, Rhyl, or Prestatyn. A coachload of people would pay to be driven to this random location, get very drunk and have a singsong on the bus, and spend a day wherever they were taken. McCartney's plan was simple -- they would gather a group of passengers and replicate this experience over the course of several days, and film whatever went on, but intersperse that with more planned out sketches and musical numbers. For this reason, along with the Beatles and their associates, the cast included some actors found through Spotlight and some of the group's favourite performers, like the comedian Nat Jackley (whose comedy sequence directed by John was cut from the final film) and the surrealist poet/singer/comedian Ivor Cutler: [Excerpt: Ivor Cutler, "I'm Going in a Field"] The film also featured an appearance by a new band who would go on to have great success over the next year, the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. They had recorded their first single in Abbey Road at the same time as the Beatles were recording Revolver, but rather than being progressive psychedelic rock, it had been a remake of a 1920s novelty song: [Excerpt: The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, "My Brother Makes the Noises For the Talkies"] Their performance in Magical Mystery Tour was very different though -- they played a fifties rock pastiche written by band leaders Vivian Stanshall and Neil Innes while a stripper took off her clothes. While several other musical sequences were recorded for the film, including one by the band Traffic and one by Cutler, other than the Beatles tracks only the Bonzos' song made it into the finished film: [Excerpt: The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, "Death Cab for Cutie"] That song, thirty years later, would give its name to a prominent American alternative rock band. Incidentally the same night that Magical Mystery Tour was first broadcast was also the night that the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band first appeared on a TV show, Do Not Adjust Your Set, which featured three future members of the Monty Python troupe -- Eric Idle, Michael Palin, and Terry Jones. Over the years the careers of the Bonzos, the Pythons, and the Beatles would become increasingly intertwined, with George Harrison in particular striking up strong friendships and working relationships with Bonzos Neil Innes and "Legs" Larry Smith. The filming of Magical Mystery Tour went about as well as one might expect from a film made by four directors, none of whom had any previous filmmaking experience, and none of whom had any business knowledge. The Beatles were used to just turning up and having things magically done for them by other people, and had no real idea of the infrastructure challenges that making a film, even a low-budget one, actually presents, and ended up causing a great deal of stress to almost everyone involved. The completed film was shown on TV on Boxing Day 1967 to general confusion and bemusement. It didn't help that it was originally broadcast in black and white, and so for example the scene showing shifting landscapes (outtake footage from Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove, tinted various psychedelic colours) over the "Flying" music, just looked like grey fuzz. But also, it just wasn't what people were expecting from a Beatles film. This was a ramshackle, plotless, thing more inspired by Andy Warhol's underground films than by the kind of thing the group had previously appeared in, and it was being presented as Christmas entertainment for all the family. And to be honest, it's not even a particularly good example of underground filmmaking -- though it looks like a masterpiece when placed next to something like the Bee Gees' similar effort, Cucumber Castle. But there are enough interesting sequences in there for the project not to be a complete failure -- and the deleted scenes on the DVD release, including the performances by Cutler and Traffic, and the fact that the film was edited down from ten hours to fifty-two minutes, makes one wonder if there's a better film that could be constructed from the original footage. Either way, the reaction to the film was so bad that McCartney actually appeared on David Frost's TV show the next day to defend it and, essentially, apologise. While they were editing the film, the group were also continuing to work in the studio, including on two new McCartney songs, "The Fool on the Hill", which was included in Magical Mystery Tour, and "Hello Goodbye", which wasn't included on the film's soundtrack but was released as the next single, with "I Am the Walrus" as the B-side: [Excerpt: The Beatles, "Hello Goodbye"] Incidentally, in the UK the soundtrack to Magical Mystery Tour was released as a double-EP rather than as an album (in the US, the group's recent singles and B-sides were added to turn it into a full-length album, which is how it's now generally available). "I Am the Walrus" was on the double-EP as well as being on the single's B-side, and the double-EP got to number two on the singles charts, meaning "I am the Walrus" was on the records at number one and number two at the same time. Before it became obvious that the film, if not the soundtrack, was a disaster, the group held a launch party on the twenty-first of December, 1967. The band members went along in fancy dress, as did many of the cast and crew -- the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band performed at the party. Mike Love and Bruce Johnston of the Beach Boys also turned up at the party, and apparently at one point jammed with the Bonzos, and according to some, but not all, reports, a couple of the Beatles joined in as well. Love and Johnston had both just met the Maharishi for the first time a couple of days earlier, and Love had been as impressed as the Beatles were, and it may have been at this party that the group mentioned to Love that they would soon be going on a retreat in India with the guru -- a retreat that was normally meant for training TM instructors, but this time seemed to be more about getting celebrities involved. Love would also end up going with them. That party was also the first time that Cynthia Lennon had an inkling that John might not be as faithful to her as she previously supposed. John had always "joked" about being attracted to George Harrison's wife, Patti, but this time he got a little more blatant about his attraction than he ever had previously, to the point that he made Cynthia cry, and Cynthia's friend, the pop star Lulu, decided to give Lennon a very public dressing-down for his cruelty to his wife, a dressing-down that must have been a sight to behold, as Lennon was dressed as a Teddy boy while Lulu was in a Shirley Temple costume. It's a sign of how bad the Lennons' marriage was at this point that this was the second time in a two-month period where Cynthia had ended up crying because of John at a film launch party and been comforted by a female pop star. In October, Cilla Black had held a party to celebrate the belated release of John's film How I Won the War, and during the party Georgie Fame had come up to Black and said, confused, "Cynthia Lennon is hiding in your wardrobe". Black went and had a look, and Cynthia explained to her “I'm waiting to see how long it is before John misses me and comes looking for me.” Black's response had been “You'd better face it, kid—he's never gonna come.” Also at the Magical Mystery Tour party was Lennon's father, now known as Freddie Lennon, and his new nineteen-year-old fiancee. While Hunter Davis had been researching the Beatles' biography, he'd come across some evidence that the version of Freddie's attitude towards John that his mother's side of the family had always told him -- that Freddie had been a cruel and uncaring husband who had not actually wanted to be around his son -- might not be the whole of the truth, and that the mother who he had thought of as saintly might also have had some part to play in their marriage breaking down and Freddie not seeing his son for twenty years. The two had made some tentative attempts at reconciliation, and indeed Freddie would even come and live with John for a while, though within a couple of years the younger Lennon's heart would fully harden against his father again. Of course, the things that John always resented his father for were pretty much exactly the kind of things that Lennon himself was about to do. It was around this time as well that Derek Taylor gave the Beatles copies of the debut album by a young singer/songwriter named Harry Nilsson. Nilsson will be getting his own episode down the line, but not for a couple of years at my current rates, so it's worth bringing that up here, because that album became a favourite of all the Beatles, and would have a huge influence on their songwriting for the next couple of years, and because one song on the album, "1941", must have resonated particularly deeply with Lennon right at this moment -- an autobiographical song by Nilsson about how his father had left him and his mother when he was a small boy, and about his own fear that, as his first marriage broke down, he was repeating the pattern with his stepson Scott: [Excerpt: Nilsson, "1941"] The other major event of December 1967, rather overshadowed by the Magical Mystery Tour disaster the next day, was that on Christmas Day Paul McCartney and Jane Asher announced their engagement. A few days later, George Harrison flew to India. After John and Paul had had their outside film projects -- John starring in How I Won The War and Paul doing the soundtrack for The Family Way -- the other two Beatles more or less simultaneously did their own side project films, and again one acted while the other did a soundtrack. Both of these projects were in the rather odd subgenre of psychedelic shambolic comedy film that sprang up in the mid sixties, a subgenre that produced a lot of fascinating films, though rather fewer good ones. Indeed, both of them were in the subsubgenre of shambolic psychedelic *sex* comedies. In Ringo's case, he had a small role in the film Candy, which was based on the novel we mentioned in the last episode, co-written by Terry Southern, which was in itself a loose modern rewriting of Voltaire's Candide. Unfortunately, like such other classics of this subgenre as Anthony Newley's Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?, Candy has dated *extremely* badly, and unless you find repeated scenes of sexual assault and rape, ethnic stereotypes, and jokes about deformity and disfigurement to be an absolute laugh riot, it's not a film that's worth seeking out, and Starr's part in it is not a major one. Harrison's film was of the same basic genre -- a film called Wonderwall about a mad scientist who discovers a way to see through the walls of his apartment, and gets to see a photographer taking sexy photographs of a young woman named Penny Lane, played by Jane Birkin: [Excerpt: Some Wonderwall film dialogue ripped from the Blu-Ray] Wonderwall would, of course, later inspire the title of a song by Oasis, and that's what the film is now best known for, but it's a less-unwatchable film than Candy, and while still problematic it's less so. Which is something. Harrison had been the Beatle with least involvement in Magical Mystery Tour -- McCartney had been the de facto director, Starr had been the lead character and the only one with much in the way of any acting to do, and Lennon had written the film's standout scene and its best song, and had done a little voiceover narration. Harrison, by contrast, barely has anything to do in the film apart from the one song he contributed, "Blue Jay Way", and he said of the project “I had no idea what was happening and maybe I didn't pay enough attention because my problem, basically, was that I was in another world, I didn't really belong; I was just an appendage.” He'd expressed his discomfort to his friend Joe Massot, who was about to make his first feature film. Massot had got to know Harrison during the making of his previous film, Reflections on Love, a mostly-silent short which had starred Harrison's sister-in-law Jenny Boyd, and which had been photographed by Robert Freeman, who had been the photographer for the Beatles' album covers from With the Beatles through Rubber Soul, and who had taken most of the photos that Klaus Voorman incorporated into the cover of Revolver (and whose professional association with the Beatles seemed to come to an end around the same time he discovered that Lennon had been having an affair with his wife). Massot asked Harrison to write the music for the film, and told Harrison he would have complete free rein to make whatever music he wanted, so long as it fit the timing of the film, and so Harrison decided to create a mixture of Western rock music and the Indian music he loved. Harrison started recording the music at the tail end of 1967, with sessions with several London-based Indian musicians and John Barham, an orchestrator who had worked with Ravi Shankar on Shankar's collaborations with Western musicians, including the Alice in Wonderland soundtrack we talked about in the "All You Need is Love" episode. For the Western music, he used the Remo Four, a Merseybeat group who had been on the scene even before the Beatles, and which contained a couple of classmates of Paul McCartney, but who had mostly acted as backing musicians for other artists. They'd backed Johnny Sandon, the former singer with the Searchers, on a couple of singles, before becoming the backing band for Tommy Quickly, a NEMS artist who was unsuccessful despite starting his career with a Lennon/McCartney song, "Tip of My Tongue": [Excerpt: Tommy Quickly, "Tip of My Tongue"] The Remo Four would later, after a lineup change, become Ashton, Gardner and Dyke, who would become one-hit wonders in the seventies, and during the Wonderwall sessions they recorded a song that went unreleased at the time, and which would later go on to be rerecorded by Ashton, Gardner, and Dyke. "In the First Place" also features Harrison on backing vocals and possibly guitar, and was not submitted for the film because Harrison didn't believe that Massot wanted any vocal tracks, but the recording was later discovered and used in a revised director's cut of the film in the nineties: [Excerpt: The Remo Four, "In the First Place"] But for the most part the Remo Four were performing instrumentals written by Harrison. They weren't the only Western musicians performing on the sessions though -- Peter Tork of the Monkees dropped by these sessions and recorded several short banjo solos, which were used in the film soundtrack but not in the soundtrack album (presumably because Tork was contracted to another label): [Excerpt: Peter Tork, "Wonderwall banjo solo"] Another musician who was under contract to another label was Eric Clapton, who at the time was playing with The Cream, and who vaguely knew Harrison and so joined in for the track "Ski-ing", playing lead guitar under the cunning, impenetrable, pseudonym "Eddie Clayton", with Harrison on sitar, Starr on drums, and session guitarist Big Jim Sullivan on bass: [Excerpt: George Harrison, "Ski-ing"] But the bulk of the album was recorded in EMI's studios in the city that is now known as Mumbai but at the time was called Bombay. The studio facilities in India had up to that point only had a mono tape recorder, and Bhaskar Menon, one of the top executives at EMI's Indian division and later the head of EMI music worldwide, personally brought the first stereo tape recorder to the studio to aid in Harrison's recording. The music was all composed by Harrison and performed by the Indian musicians, and while Harrison was composing in an Indian mode, the musicians were apparently fascinated by how Western it sounded to them: [Excerpt: George Harrison, "Microbes"] While he was there, Harrison also got the instrumentalists to record another instrumental track, which wasn't to be used for the film: [Excerpt: George Harrison, "The Inner Light (instrumental)"] That track would, instead, become part of what was to be Harrison's first composition to make a side of a Beatles single. After John and George had appeared on the David Frost show talking about the Maharishi, in September 1967, George had met a lecturer in Sanskrit named Juan Mascaró, who wrote to Harrison enclosing a book he'd compiled of translations of religious texts, telling him he'd admired "Within You Without You" and thought it would be interesting if Harrison set something from the Tao Te Ching to music. He suggested a text that, in his translation, read: "Without going out of my door I can know all things on Earth Without looking out of my window I can know the ways of heaven For the farther one travels, the less one knows The sage, therefore Arrives without travelling Sees all without looking Does all without doing" Harrison took that text almost verbatim, though he created a second verse by repeating the first few lines with "you" replacing "I" -- concerned that listeners might think he was just talking about himself, and wouldn't realise it was a more general statement -- and he removed the "the sage, therefore" and turned the last few lines into imperative commands rather than declarative statements: [Excerpt: The Beatles, "The Inner Light"] The song has come in for some criticism over the years as being a little Orientalist, because in critics' eyes it combines Chinese philosophy with Indian music, as if all these things are equally "Eastern" and so all the same really. On the other hand there's a good argument that an English songwriter taking a piece of writing written in Chinese and translated into English by a Spanish man and setting it to music inspired by Indian musical modes is a wonderful example of cultural cross-pollination. As someone who's neither Chinese nor Indian I wouldn't want to take a stance on it, but clearly the other Beatles were impressed by it -- they put it out as the B-side to their next single, even though the only Beatles on it are Harrison and McCartney, with the latter adding a small amount of harmony vocal: [Excerpt: The Beatles, "The Inner Light"] And it wasn't because the group were out of material. They were planning on going to Rishikesh to study with the Maharishi, and wanted to get a single out for release while they were away, and so in one week they completed the vocal overdubs on "The Inner Light" and recorded three other songs, two by John and one by Paul. All three of the group's songwriters brought in songs that were among their best. John's first contribution was a song whose lyrics he later described as possibly the best he ever wrote, "Across the Universe". He said the lyrics were “purely inspirational and were given to me as boom! I don't own it, you know; it came through like that … Such an extraordinary meter and I can never repeat it! It's not a matter of craftsmanship, it wrote itself. It drove me out of bed. I didn't want to write it … It's like being possessed, like a psychic or a medium.” But while Lennon liked the song, he was never happy with the recording of it. They tried all sorts of things to get the sound he heard in his head, including bringing in some fans who were hanging around outside to sing backing vocals. He said of the track "I was singing out of tune and instead of getting a decent choir, we got fans from outside, Apple Scruffs or whatever you call them. They came in and were singing all off-key. Nobody was interested in doing the tune originally.” [Excerpt: The Beatles, "Across the Universe"] The "jai guru deva" chorus there is the first reference to the teachings of the Maharishi in one of the Beatles' records -- Guru Dev was the Maharishi's teacher, and the phrase "Jai guru dev" is a Sanskrit one which I've seen variously translated as "victory to the great teacher", and "hail to the greatness within you". Lennon would say shortly before his death “The Beatles didn't make a good record out of it. I think subconsciously sometimes we – I say ‘we' though I think Paul did it more than the rest of us – Paul would sort of subconsciously try and destroy a great song … Usually we'd spend hours doing little detailed cleaning-ups of Paul's songs, when it came to mine, especially if it was a great song like ‘Strawberry Fields' or ‘Across The Universe', somehow this atmosphere of looseness and casualness and experimentation would creep in … It was a _lousy_ track of a great song and I was so disappointed by it …The guitars are out of tune and I'm singing out of tune because I'm psychologically destroyed and nobody's supporting me or helping me with it, and the song was never done properly.” Of course, this is only Lennon's perception, and it's one that the other participants would disagree with. George Martin, in particular, was always rather hurt by the implication that Lennon's songs had less attention paid to them, and he would always say that the problem was that Lennon in the studio would always say "yes, that's great", and only later complain that it hadn't been what he wanted. No doubt McCartney did put in more effort on his own songs than on Lennon's -- everyone has a bias towards their own work, and McCartney's only human -- but personally I suspect that a lot of the problem comes down to the two men having very different personalities. McCartney had very strong ideas about his own work and would drive the others insane with his nitpicky attention to detail. Lennon had similarly strong ideas, but didn't have the attention span to put the time and effort in to force his vision on others, and didn't have the technical knowledge to express his ideas in words they'd understand. He expected Martin and the other Beatles to work miracles, and they did -- but not the miracles he would have worked. That track was, rather than being chosen for the next single, given to Spike Milligan, who happened to be visiting the studio and was putting together an album for the environmental charity the World Wildlife Fund. The album was titled "No One's Gonna Change Our World": [Excerpt: The Beatles, "Across the Universe"] That track is historic in another way -- it would be the last time that George Harrison would play sitar on a Beatles record, and it effectively marks the end of the period of psychedelia and Indian influence that had started with "Norwegian Wood" three years earlier, and which many fans consider their most creative period. Indeed, shortly after the recording, Harrison would give up the sitar altogether and stop playing it. He loved sitar music as much as he ever had, and he still thought that Indian classical music spoke to him in ways he couldn't express, and he continued to be friends with Ravi Shankar for the rest of his life, and would only become more interested in Indian religious thought. But as he spent time with Shankar he realised he would never be as good on the sitar as he hoped. He said later "I thought, 'Well, maybe I'm better off being a pop singer-guitar-player-songwriter – whatever-I'm-supposed-to-be' because I've seen a thousand sitar-players in India who are twice as better as I'll ever be. And only one of them Ravi thought was going to be a good player." We don't have a precise date for when it happened -- I suspect it was in June 1968, so a few months after the "Across the Universe" recording -- but Shankar told Harrison that rather than try to become a master of a music that he hadn't encountered until his twenties, perhaps he should be making the music that was his own background. And as Harrison put it "I realised that was riding my bike down a street in Liverpool and hearing 'Heartbreak Hotel' coming out of someone's house.": [Excerpt: Elvis Presley, "Heartbreak Hotel"] In early 1968 a lot of people seemed to be thinking along the same lines, as if Christmas 1967 had been the flick of a switch and instead of whimsy and ornamentation, the thing to do was to make music that was influenced by early rock and roll. In the US the Band and Bob Dylan were making music that was consciously shorn of all studio experimentation, while in the UK there was a revival of fifties rock and roll. In April 1968 both "Peggy Sue" and "Rock Around the Clock" reentered the top forty in the UK, and the Who were regularly including "Summertime Blues" in their sets. Fifties nostalgia, which would make occasional comebacks for at least the next forty years, was in its first height, and so it's not surprising that Paul McCartney's song, "Lady Madonna", which became the A-side of the next single, has more than a little of the fifties about it. Of course, the track isn't *completely* fifties in its origins -- one of the inspirations for the track seems to have been the Rolling Stones' then-recent hit "Let's Spend The Night Together": [Excerpt: The Rolling Stones, "Let's Spend the Night Together"] But the main source for the song's music -- and for the sound of the finished record -- seems to have been Johnny Parker's piano part on Humphrey Lyttleton's "Bad Penny Blues", a hit single engineered by Joe Meek in the fifties: [Excerpt: Humphrey Lyttleton, "Bad Penny Blues"] That song seems to have been on the group's mind for a while, as a working title for "With a Little Help From My Friends" had at one point been "Bad Finger Blues" -- a title that would later give the name to a band on Apple. McCartney took Parker's piano part as his inspiration, and as he later put it “‘Lady Madonna' was me sitting down at the piano trying to write a bluesy boogie-woogie thing. I got my left hand doing an arpeggio thing with the chord, an ascending boogie-woogie left hand, then a descending right hand. I always liked that, the  juxtaposition of a line going down meeting a line going up." [Excerpt: The Beatles, "Lady Madonna"] That idea, incidentally, is an interesting reversal of what McCartney had done on "Hello, Goodbye", where the bass line goes down while the guitar moves up -- the two lines moving away from each other: [Excerpt: The Beatles, "Hello Goodbye"] Though that isn't to say there's no descending bass in "Lady Madonna" -- the bridge has a wonderful sequence where the bass just *keeps* *descending*: [Excerpt: The Beatles, "Lady Madonna"] Lyrically, McCartney was inspired by a photo in National Geographic of a woman in Malaysia, captioned “Mountain Madonna: with one child at her breast and another laughing into her face, sees her quality of life threatened.” But as he put it “The people I was brought up amongst were often Catholic; there are lots of Catholics in Liverpool because of the Irish connection and they are often religious. When they have a baby I think they see a big connection between themselves and the Virgin Mary with her baby. So the original concept was the Virgin Mary but it quickly became symbolic of every woman; the Madonna image but as applied to ordinary working class woman. It's really a tribute to the mother figure, it's a tribute to women.” Musically though, the song was more a tribute to the fifties -- while the inspiration had been a skiffle hit by Humphrey Lyttleton, as soon as McCartney started playing it he'd thought of Fats Domino, and the lyric reflects that to an extent -- just as Domino's "Blue Monday" details the days of the week for a weary working man who only gets to enjoy himself on Saturday night, "Lady Madonna"'s lyrics similarly look at the work a mother has to do every day -- though as McCartney later noted  "I was writing the words out to learn it for an American TV show and I realised I missed out Saturday ... So I figured it must have been a real night out." The vocal was very much McCartney doing a Domino impression -- something that wasn't lost on Fats, who cut his own version of the track later that year: [Excerpt: Fats Domino, "Lady Madonna"] The group were so productive at this point, right before the journey to India, that they actually cut another song *while they were making a video for "Lady Madonna"*. They were booked into Abbey Road to film themselves performing the song so it could be played on Top of the Pops while they were away, but instead they decided to use the time to cut a new song -- John had a partially-written song, "Hey Bullfrog", which was roughly the same tempo as "Lady Madonna", so they could finish that up and then re-edit the footage to match the record. The song was quickly finished and became "Hey Bulldog": [Excerpt: The Beatles, "Hey Bulldog"] One of Lennon's best songs from this period, "Hey Bulldog" was oddly chosen only to go on the soundtrack of Yellow Submarine. Either the band didn't think much of it because it had come so easily, or it was just assigned to the film because they were planning on being away for several months and didn't have any other projects they were working on. The extent of the group's contribution to the film was minimal – they were not very hands-on, and the film, which was mostly done as an attempt to provide a third feature film for their United Artists contract without them having to do any work, was made by the team that had done the Beatles cartoon on American TV. There's some evidence that they had a small amount of input in the early story stages, but in general they saw the cartoon as an irrelevance to them -- the only things they contributed were the four songs "All Together Now", "It's All Too Much", "Hey Bulldog" and "Only a Northern Song", and a brief filmed appearance for the very end of the film, recorded in January: [Excerpt: Yellow Submarine film end] McCartney also took part in yet another session in early February 1968, one produced by Peter Asher, his fiancee's brother, and former singer with Peter and Gordon. Asher had given up on being a pop star and was trying to get into the business side of music, and he was starting out as a producer, producing a single by Paul Jones, the former lead singer of Manfred Mann. The A-side of the single, "And the Sun Will Shine", was written by the Bee Gees, the band that Robert Stigwood was managing: [Excerpt: Paul Jones, "And the Sun Will Shine"] While the B-side was an original by Jones, "The Dog Presides": [Excerpt: Paul Jones, "The Dog Presides"] Those tracks featured two former members of the Yardbirds, Jeff Beck and Paul Samwell-Smith, on guitar and bass, and Nicky Hopkins on piano. Asher asked McCartney to play drums on both sides of the single, saying later "I always thought he was a great, underrated drummer." McCartney was impressed by Asher's production, and asked him to get involved with the new Apple Records label that would be set up when the group returned from India. Asher eventually became head of A&R for the label. And even before "Lady Madonna" was mixed, the Beatles were off to India. Mal Evans, their roadie, went ahead with all their luggage on the fourteenth of February, so he could sort out transport for them on the other end, and then John and George followed on the fifteenth, with their wives Pattie and Cynthia and Pattie's sister Jenny (John and Cynthia's son Julian had been left with his grandmother while they went -- normally Cynthia wouldn't abandon Julian for an extended period of time, but she saw the trip as a way to repair their strained marriage). Paul and Ringo followed four days later, with Ringo's wife Maureen and Paul's fiancee Jane Asher. The retreat in Rishikesh was to become something of a celebrity affair. Along with the Beatles came their friend the singer-songwriter Donovan, and Donovan's friend and songwriting partner, whose name I'm not going to say here because it's a slur for Romani people, but will be known to any Donovan fans. Donovan at this point was also going through changes. Like the Beatles, he was largely turning away from drug use and towards meditation, and had recently written his hit single "There is a Mountain" based around a saying from Zen Buddhism: [Excerpt: Donovan, "There is a Mountain"] That was from his double-album A Gift From a Flower to a Garden, which had come out in December 1967. But also like John and Paul he was in the middle of the breakdown of a long-term relationship, and while he would remain with his then-partner until 1970, and even have another child with her, he was secretly in love with another woman. In fact he was secretly in love with two other women. One of them, Brian Jones' ex-girlfriend Linda, had moved to LA, become the partner of the singer Gram Parsons, and had appeared in the documentary You Are What You Eat with the Band and Tiny Tim. She had fallen out of touch with Donovan, though she would later become his wife. Incidentally, she had a son to Brian Jones who had been abandoned by his rock-star father -- the son's name is Julian. The other woman with whom Donovan was in love was Jenny Boyd, the sister of George Harrison's wife Pattie.  Jenny at the time was in a relationship with Alexis Mardas, a TV repairman and huckster who presented himself as an electronics genius to the Beatles, who nicknamed him Magic Alex, and so she was unavailable, but Donovan had written a song about her, released as a single just before they all went to Rishikesh: [Excerpt: Donovan, "Jennifer Juniper"] Donovan considered himself and George Harrison to be on similar spiritual paths and called Harrison his "spirit-brother", though Donovan was more interested in Buddhism, which Harrison considered a corruption of the more ancient Hinduism, and Harrison encouraged Donovan to read Autobiography of a Yogi. It's perhaps worth noting that Donovan's father had a different take on the subject though, saying "You're not going to study meditation in India, son, you're following that wee lassie Jenny" Donovan and his friend weren't the only other celebrities to come to Rishikesh. The actor Mia Farrow, who had just been through a painful divorce from Frank Sinatra, and had just made Rosemary's Baby, a horror film directed by Roman Polanski with exteriors shot at the Dakota building in New York, arrived with her sister Prudence. Also on the trip was Paul Horn, a jazz saxophonist who had played with many of the greats of jazz, not least of them Duke Ellington, whose Sweet Thursday Horn had played alto sax on: [Excerpt: Duke Ellington, "Zweet Zursday"] Horn was another musician who had been inspired to investigate Indian spirituality and music simultaneously, and the previous year he had recorded an album, "In India," of adaptations of ragas, with Ravi Shankar and Alauddin Khan: [Excerpt: Paul Horn, "Raga Vibhas"] Horn would go on to become one of the pioneers of what would later be termed "New Age" music, combining jazz with music from various non-Western traditions. Horn had also worked as a session musician, and one of the tracks he'd played on was "I Know There's an Answer" from the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds album: [Excerpt: The Beach Boys, "I Know There's an Answer"] Mike Love, who co-wrote that track and is one of the lead singers on it, was also in Rishikesh. While as we'll see not all of the celebrities on the trip would remain practitioners of Transcendental Meditation, Love would be profoundly affected by the trip, and remains a vocal proponent of TM to this day. Indeed, his whole band at the time were heavily into TM. While Love was in India, the other Beach Boys were working on the Friends album without him -- Love only appears on four tracks on that album -- and one of the tracks they recorded in his absence was titled "Transcendental Meditation": [Excerpt: The Beach Boys, "Transcendental Meditation"] But the trip would affect Love's songwriting, as it would affect all of the musicians there. One of the few songs on the Friends album on which Love appears is "Anna Lee, the Healer", a song which is lyrically inspired by the trip in the most literal sense, as it's about a masseuse Love met in Rishikesh: [Excerpt: The Beach Boys, "Anna Lee, the Healer"] The musicians in the group all influenced and inspired each other as is likely to happen in such circumstances. Sometimes, it would be a matter of trivial joking, as when the Beatles decided to perform an off-the-cuff song about Guru Dev, and did it in the Beach Boys style: [Excerpt: The Beatles, "Spiritual Regeneration"] And that turned partway through into a celebration of Love for his birthday: [Excerpt: The Beatles, "Spiritual Regeneration"] Decades later, Love would return the favour, writing a song about Harrison and their time together in Rishikesh. Like Donovan, Love seems to have considered Harrison his "spiritual brother", and he titled the song "Pisces Brothers": [Excerpt: Mike Love, "Pisces Brothers"] The musicians on the trip were also often making suggestions to each other about songs that would become famous for them. The musicians had all brought acoustic guitars, apart obviously from Ringo, who got a set of tabla drums when George ordered some Indian instruments to be delivered. George got a sitar, as at this point he hadn't quite given up on the instrument, and he gave Donovan a tamboura. Donovan started playing a melody on the tamboura, which is normally a drone instrument, inspired by the Scottish folk music he had grown up with, and that became his "Hurdy-Gurdy Man": [Excerpt: Donovan, "Hurdy Gurdy Man"] Harrison actually helped him with the song, writing a final verse inspired by the Maharishi's teachings, but in the studio Donovan's producer Mickie Most told him to cut the verse because the song was overlong, which apparently annoyed Harrison. Donovan includes that verse in his live performances of the song though -- usually while doing a fairly terrible impersonation of Harrison: [Excerpt: Donovan, "Hurdy Gurdy Man (live)"] And similarly, while McCartney was working on a song pastiching Chuck Berry and the Beach Boys, but singing about the USSR rather than the USA, Love suggested to him that for a middle-eight he might want to sing about the girls in the various Soviet regions: [Excerpt: The Beatles, "Back in the USSR"] As all the guitarists on the retreat only had acoustic instruments, they were very keen to improve their acoustic playing, and they turned to Donovan, who unlike the rest of them was primarily an acoustic player, and one from a folk background. Donovan taught them the rudiments of Travis picking, the guitar style we talked about way back in the episodes on the Everly Brothers, as well as some of the tunings that had been introduced to British folk music by Davey Graham, giving them a basic grounding in the principles of English folk-baroque guitar, a style that had developed over the previous few years. Donovan has said in his autobiography that Lennon picked the technique up quickly (and that Harrison had already learned Travis picking from Chet Atkins records) but that McCartney didn't have the application to learn the style, though he picked up bits. That seems very unlike anything else I've read anywhere about Lennon and McCartney -- no-one has ever accused Lennon of having a surfeit of application -- and reading Donovan's book he seems to dislike McCartney and like Lennon and Harrison, so possibly that enters into it. But also, it may just be that Lennon was more receptive to Donovan's style at the time. According to McCartney, even before going to Rishikesh Lennon had been in a vaguely folk-music and country mode, and the small number of tapes he'd brought with him to Rishikesh included Buddy Holly, Dylan, and the progressive folk band The Incredible String Band, whose music would be a big influence on both Lennon and McCartney for the next year: [Excerpt: The Incredible String Band, "First Girl I Loved"] According to McCartney Lennon also brought "a tape the singer Jake Thackray had done for him... He was one of the people we bumped into at Abbey Road. John liked his stuff, which he'd heard on television. Lots of wordplay and very suggestive, so very much up John's alley. I was fascinated by his unusual guitar style. John did ‘Happiness Is A Warm Gun' as a Jake Thackray thing at one point, as I recall.” Thackray was a British chansonnier, who sang sweetly poignant but also often filthy songs about Yorkshire life, and his humour in particular will have appealed to Lennon. There's a story of Lennon meeting Thackray in Abbey Road and singing the whole of Thackray's song "The Statues", about two drunk men fighting a male statue to defend the honour of a female statue, to him: [Excerpt: Jake Thackray, "The Statues"] Given this was the music that Lennon was listening to, it's unsurprising that he was more receptive to Donovan's lessons, and the new guitar style he learned allowed him to expand his songwriting, at precisely the same time he was largely clean of drugs for the first time in several years, and he started writing some of the best songs he would ever write, often using these new styles: [Excerpt: The Beatles, "Julia"] That song is about Lennon's dead mother -- the first time he ever addressed her directly in a song, though  it would be far from the last -- but it's also about someone else. That phrase "Ocean child" is a direct translation of the Japanese name "Yoko". We've talked about Yoko Ono a bit in recent episodes, and even briefly in a previous Beatles episode, but it's here that she really enters the story of the Beatles. Unfortunately, exactly *how* her relationship with John Lennon, which was to become one of the great legendary love stories in rock and roll history, actually started is the subject of some debate. Both of them were married when they first got together, and there have also been suggestions that Ono was more interested in McCartney than in Lennon at first -- suggestions which everyone involved has denied, and those denials have the ring of truth about them, but if that was the case it would also explain some of Lennon's more perplexing behaviour over the next year. By all accounts there was a certain amount of finessing of the story th

I wanna hold your hand when I'm 64 and If I fell in love with this movie you'll hear about it here Welcome to the Movies to Watch Before You Die Podcast with Gab and Dylan! Look up the movie here - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0445922/ Find us everywhere here - https://linktr.ee/moviestowatchbeforeyoudie 00:00 Welcome 01:33 What's it about? 10:25 Opinion Time 29:27 Let's get to the facts 49:21 Verdicts We're a member of the Hall of Pods, find links for our podcasting friends here - https://linktr.ee/hallofpods Who are we: A former actress and video editor but more than anything we're movie fans like you. Why listen? Why not! We're gonna talk about movies you love, movies you hate, and movies you've never heard of. We can't wait to hear what you think of them too. If you want to tell us your opinion on whether or not a movie is one we should watch before we die, tell us we're wrong, or tell us you like the show send us an email at moviestowatchbeforeyoudie@gmail.com . We can't wait to hear from you and we can't wait to talk movies! You can also send us a voice message at anchor.fm/moviestowatch Thanks to Scott Interrante for the music in our intro! Thanks to Brian Maneely for our artwork! Movies Dylan and Gab agree you should watch before you die: Vampire's Kiss, Die Hard, Tropic Thunder, Wag the Dog, The Legend of Billie Jean, You've Got Mail, True Lies, The Room, Game Night, The Truman Show, The Great Gatsby, Whiplash, The Lost Boys, The Fugitive, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, My Cousin Vinny, Shutter Island, Starship Troopers, Big, Joy Ride, The Jerk, Alien/Aliens, Best in Show, Freaky Friday, and Over the Garden Wall --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/moviestowatch/message

Series: The Adventure of Advent Originally aired 12/10/2023

ThoseMovieDudes cover new releases, movie news, new releases, and movie trivia in a 97 minute show. Enjoy! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/those-movie-dudes/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/those-movie-dudes/support

Welcome to Episode 340 of WSTR! This episode's topics include: - Celebrating the 40th anniversary of A Christmas Story! - Taika Waititi says his Star Wars film will "piss people off" - SAG-AFTRA end strike with tentative deal - ...and much, much, more! For all your galactic news and talk needs, this is the podcast you've been looking for - tune in to WSTR Galactic Public Access! Email: mailbox@wstrmedia.com Voicemail: (630) 557-9787

Welcome to Episode 339 of WSTR! This episode's topics include: - Diving deep into The Matrix Reloaded and Revolution! - Are they really as bad as they seem? - Kevin Feige's Star Wars film no longer happening - ...and much, much, more! For all your galactic news and talk needs, this is the podcast you've been looking for - tune in to WSTR Galactic Public Access! Email: mailbox@wstrmedia.com Voicemail: (630) 557-9787

Lots of songwriters point to the idea that the best songs are the ones that tend to find the you, letting the writer be the vessel or medium. Much like "Yesterday" did for Paul, "Across The Universe" seemed to come to John from within a dreamstate, appearing in his subconscious while lying in bed, almost pushing him to get up and go write down the words and find the melody that seemingly appeared out of nowhere. An absolutely gorgeous lyric no doubt influenced by the band's recent immersion into meditation and easter philosophy, the song marks John at perhaps his most cosmic and peaceful. The irony is that from a recording standpoint, John never could figure out what he wanted to do with the song. Unlike "Yesterday," where George Martin seemed to know exactly what the song needed, that directive and inspiration was no where to be found for "Across The Universe." Lennon lead the band through multiple arrangement ideas but never captured what he thought he was hearing in his head, or where he thought the song should go. Which is a shame because I think although it's a really beautiful track (I love all the versions out there) the track ultimately suffers from an almost un-easy performance from John. As released, it never feels totally settled and comfortable in it's own skin. It's almost like it's missing the confidence in the delivery because John never seems sure of where he should be going. But even still, it's a beautiful song, one of John's best written songs, I just think it's a B- minus track of an A+ song. Joining us this week is jazz guitarist Dan Wilson! The Ohio-based virtuoso joins us to chat about making people move, jazz vs rock, coming into jazz from a church and funk background, and his newest album Things Eternal, which features a FANTASTIC version of "Eleanor Rigby." There's a taste here in the episode, but we highly recommend you check out the whole thing. Be sure to follow Dan on Facebook and at his website to hear more music and see when he's playing! What do you think about "Baby It's You" at #106? Too high? Too low? Or just right? Let us know in the comments on ⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠, or ⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠! Be sure to check out ⁠⁠⁠www.rankingthebeatles.com⁠⁠⁠ and grab a Rank Your Own Beatles poster, a shirt, a jumper, whatever you like! And if you're digging what we do, don't forget to ⁠⁠⁠Buy Us A Coffee⁠⁠⁠! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/rankingthebeatles/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/rankingthebeatles/support

Welcome to Episode 335 of WSTR! This episode's topics include: - Looking back at A Nightmare Before Christmas for its 30th anniversary! - Live transmission from New York Comic Con via Carla! - Disney Imagineering makes some really cute IRL droids - ...and much, much, more! For all your galactic news and talk needs, this is the podcast you've been looking for - tune in to WSTR Galactic Public Access! Email: mailbox@wstrmedia.com Voicemail: (630) 557-9787

IT'S OUR THIRD ANNIVERSARY! Thank you to everyone who has supported us over the last three years! It's been an absolute crazy ride full of all sorts of music! Today, we talk about some statistics of the podcast, but dive into a movie soundtrack that is very close to Steve. ------------------- PODCAST SOCIAL MEDIA: YouTube & Facebook: The Notes McGotes Podcast Instagram/TikTok: @NotesMcGotesPod Email: TheNotesMcGotesPodcast@gmail.com COMEDY AT MCDUFF'S Follow on Facebook. Just search: Comedy at McDuff's BRANDON SOCIAL MEDIA: TikTok/Twitter/Instagram: @brandonalberda and Brandon.alberda STEVE SOCIAL MEDIA: TikTok: @stevemadole Music used throughout the show created by Jair Driesenga Follow him @brotherjair on Instagram, Facebook, Bandcamp, and Youtube. Logos were created by Amelia Grace. Our podcast is sponsored by: Spotifyforpodcasters.com Leave us a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thenotesmcgotespodcast/message --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thenotesmcgotespodcast/message

From October 10th-15th, North Carolina Theatre will be presenting BEAUTIFUL: THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL at Raleigh Memorial Auditorium, which is located inside the Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts. I had the great pleasure of interviewing actor Noah Weisberg, who will be taking on the role of real-life music publisher and producer Don Kirshner. He has appeared on Broadway in LEGALLY BLONDE, SOUTH PACIFIC, ENRON, and ELF. Some of his film and TV credits include LAW & ORDER, ACROSS THE UNIVERSE, THE GOOD WIFE, MODERN FAMILY, LUCKY STIFF, and ZOEY'S EXTRAORDINARY PLAYLIST. Be sure to catch North Carolina Theatre's production of BEAUTIFUL: THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL from October 10th-15th. For more information, please visit: www.nctheatre.com/event/event-beautiful-the-carole-king-musical/ Follow Noah Weisberg at www.noahweisberg.com and on Instagram: @noahweisberg If you love this show, please leave us a review. Go to RateThisPodcast.com/karereviewspodcast and follow the simple instructions. Follow Kare Reviews at www.karereviews.net and on Twitter: @KareReviews Also please visit the newly launched Patreon page:https://www.patreon.com/jeffreykare?fan_landing=true Follow Jeffrey Kare on Twitter: @JeffreyKare If you like what you've heard here, please subscribe to any one of the following places where the Kare Reviews Podcast is available. AnchorAppleGoogleSpotifyBreakerOvercastPocket CastsRadioPublic --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jeffrey-kare/support

Andrew is sad about the post. Business Corner snuck in again. Who keeps leaving that door open!? We search it up! Inflation. In this economy!? Oh, wait, yes. A review would be awesome if you have a minute! Thanks!

The Braw and The Brave is a podcast about people and their passions Episode 213 is in conversation with just some of the masterminds and talent behind Across The Universe, a production celebrating The Beatles' “studio years” of 1966-1970. Musicians Davie Calder, Graeme Quinn and Paul Devlin join the BrawBrave Clan to document the origins and journey thus far of this epic project, as they endeavour with real precision, to bring to life these recordings that were never intended to be played in front of a live audience. ‘No wigs, no costumes', Across The Universe will pay homage to the groundbreaking music of the Fab Four in a debut one-night only sell-out gig in Glasgow's St Luke's this November. With unwavering commitment to authenticity and accuracy, Across the Universe is a truly unique passion project brought to life by world class musicians. Website https://www.acrosstheuniverse6670.com/ Across The Universe on Instagram https://instagram.com/acrosstheuniverse6670?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== Across The Universe on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/AcrossTheUniverse6670 If you've enjoyed this episode you can help support the production of future episodes by clicking on the Ko-Fi link below. Many thanks. https://ko-fi.com/thebrawandthebrave Follow The Braw and The Brave https://www.instagram.com/thebrawandthebravepodcast/ https://www.facebook.com/TheBrawandTheBrave https://twitter.com/BrawBrave

Welcome to Episode 324 of WSTR! This episode's topics include: - 35th anniversary of Die Hard! - Why the perfect action movie is also the perfect Christmas movie - Indiana Jones bomb predicts doom for Lucasfilm - ...and much, much, more! For all your galactic news and talk needs, this is the podcast you've been looking for - tune in to WSTR Galactic Public Access! Email: mailbox@wstrmedia.com Voicemail: (630) 557-9787

Episode #296 of BGMania: A Video Game Music Podcast. This week on the show, Bryan and Bedroth from RPGera reach for the cosmos and take an intergalactic trip across the universe! Email the show at bgmaniapodcast@gmail.com with requests for upcoming episodes, questions, feedback, comments, concerns, or whatever you want! Special thanks to our Executive Producers: Jexak & Xancu. EPISODE PLAYLIST AND CREDITS Across the Universe from Grand Cross: Renovation [Fumihito Uekusa, 2022] 14.3 Billion Years -Credits- from Outer Wilds [Andrew Prahlow, 2019] Milky Way from FTL: Faster Than Light [Ben Prunty, 2012] Stardust -Level 4- from Neon Drive [Pengus, 2015] Shi'ar Empire from X-Men [Fletcher Beasley, 1993] Level 1 from Silver Surfer [Tim Follin & Geoff Follin, 1990] Game Complete from Green Lantern [Dean Evans, Unreleased] Planet X -Title Theme- from Godzilla: Monster of Monsters! [Masatomo Miyamoto, 1988] Moon Base from Star Ocean: Till the End of Time [Motoi Sakuraba, 2003] Supermoon from No Man's Sky [65daysofstatic, 2016] Demantoid's World from Steven Universe: Unleash the Light [Aivi Tran & Steven Velema, 2019] Galaxy Man Stage from Mega Man 9 [Yu Shimoda, 2008] On Top of the Universe from Steamworld Heist [Steam Powered Giraffe, 2015] Leaving Earth from Mass Effect 3 [Clint Mansell, 2012] SUPPORT US Patreon: https://patreon.com/rpgera CONTACT US Website: https://rpgera.com Discord: https://discord.gg/cC73Heu Twitch: https://twitch.tv/therpgera Twitter: https://twitter.com/OriginalLDG Instagram: https://instagram.com/bryan.ldg/ Facebook: https://facebook.com/leveldowngaming RPGERA PODCAST NETWORK Very Good Music: A VGM Podcast The Movie Bar --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bgmania/message

Welcome to Episode 323 of WSTR! This episode's topics include: - 30th anniversary of Hocus Pocus! - Star Wars scores a ton of Emmy nominations - Ahsoka trailer - ...and much, much, more! For all your galactic news and talk needs, this is the podcast you've been looking for - tune in to WSTR Galactic Public Access! Email: mailbox@wstrmedia.com Voicemail: (630) 557-9787

Hey Panelers! This episode Mark, Steve and Rob cover the new Spiderman movie Across the Universe. We've been looking forward to covering this movie since it was announced a couple of years ago! And now here it is! So, grab your web shooters and stick to us as we cover this new awesome animated sequel that is beating out all the other super hero movies that are out there in the theaters now! Check us out on iTunes, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, Deezer, Tune In, Stitcher, Spotify, or whatever podcast player of choice you use. We Can be found on YouTube: Just Search Panels to Pixels Podcast! Subscribe! And just Check the Thumbs up if you like it! We would appreciate it! You can find Kirk Manley's Artwork at: @Batmankm on Twitter! @Batmankm on Instagram www.studiokm.com https://www.deviantart.com/batmankm https://www.facebook.com/kirk.manley. Or you can just go to: www.PirateCorpsEntertainment.com and find all his links and check out his work! You can also consign him to do work for you with anything you want personalized! Check it out! You can send Feedback at: Facebook.com/PanelsToPixels Email us: Panelstopixels1@gmail.com Twitter: @Panels2Pixels Instagram: @PanelsToPixelsPodcast

“Do, do, do, do, do, do. Why isn't the issue here who I am?!””May-usical month is back with a vengeance ... and The Beatles! We're kicking off the month by celebrating Julie Taymor's psychedelic, underappreciated jukebox musical. We're talking about the adorable (and insufferable) coming-of-age experience of discovering The Beatles for the first time, why this film resonated so heavily with teen girls, and the fantastical approach the film takes to Vietnam and radicalization. ------Morning AnnouncementsJoin the Soleil Space streaming platform and community today and start exploring a world of diverse, authentic stories. Visit www.soleilspace.com to start your FREE 2-month trial for This Ends At Prom podcast listeners using Promo Code: "TEAP60"------Across The Universe Is A Cult Classic — So Why Doesn't Julie Taymor Get Any Respect? rb.gy/9t30v------Become a Patron! https://www.patreon.com/thisendsatprom-------- Find the Show on Twitter & Instagram: @ThisEndsAtPromBJ Colangelo —Twitter & Instagram: @BJColangeloHarmony Colangelo — Twitter & Instagram: @Veloci_trap_tor----------Logo Design: Haley Doodles @HaleyDoodleDoTheme Song: The Sonder Bombs 'Title': https://thesonderbombs.bandcamp.com/

A beloved tunesmith is back in action as Murray Gold returns to Doctor Who, the latest in a string of RTDists to join their blue box pals once more. If horror and panic is more your thing, the LAX Marriott does HOTELMAGEDDON as the first Gallifrey One room block will be available May 12, so gird your loins appropriately! Also there's a Blue Peter contest, David Tennant's hair is completely out of control, The Ultimate Adventure has been restored, and The Timlelash gives your the musings of three creaking skeletons who like their stories. Allons and indeed…y Links: Support Radio Free Skaro on Patreon The Timelash Murray Gold returns to Doctor Who Murray Gold re-introduction video Doctor Who Magazine 590 released Gallifrey One hotel block opens May 12 Blue Peter set visit contest Blue Peter contest David Tennant video Adventures Across Space and Time: A Doctor Who Reader coming in November Doctor Who The Ultimate Adventure restored Big Finish Doctor Who – Once and Future: The Artist at the End of Time due June 2023 Big Finish Doctor Who – Far from Home due June 2023 Big Finish The War Master: Solitary Confinement due June 2023

This week we dip into the Julie Taymor oeuvre to discuss the 2007 jukebox musical based on the songs of some band we've never heard of. Angie recalls when she first first discovered Cinema and Kaveh files a lawsuit on behalf of our boy Miloš.Get CuriosityStream + Nebula for only $14.99 for a full year, by visiting CuriosityStream.com/musicalsplainingSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.