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Various behind-the-scenes stories about the Beatles

Various behind-the-scenes stories about the Beatles
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The Beatles are global superstars, so there are plenty of behind-the-scenes stories about them.

However, many of those are nothing more than urban legends.

Here, I’ll share a few genuine behind-the-scenes stories, leaving those out.

In the film A Hard Day’s Night, dubbing was considered.

As The Beatles’ first starring film, A Hard Day’s Night, was set to be released in the United States, the American parties involved considered whether to dub the Beatles’ lines with American actors.

Because they were worried that the audience might not understand their Scouse (Liverpool accent).

Indeed, everyone except Paul McCartney—who was taught the standard language by his mother—speaks with a dialect accent…

There was a person who asked to be included in the jacket photo of the album “Sgt. Pepper’s.”

Shirley Temple, who was famous as a child prodigy actress, asked to have herself included on the cover photo of the Beatles’ masterpiece album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

They are the people numbered 58 and 71 in the photo above.

The Beatles sought permission from everyone featured there, but she was the only one who asked to be included.

Conversely, there were also people who initially declined to be featured.

I’m the American actress Mae West.

For reasons I don’t understand, she initially declined the request for permission from the Beatles.

However, when I personally wrote to each of them and asked, they agreed.

I am person number 3.

And then she supposedly declared, “So, what am I to do?”

The Penny Lane sign has been changed to a painted one.

There’s a famous Beatles song called “Penny Lane,” which is themed around a street within the city of Liverpool.

Fans stole the street name signs, and even when the city of Liverpool put up new ones, they were stolen again right away.

Exasperated, the city stopped replacing the signs and painted directly onto the fence.

Paul McCartney visited here in 2018 for a segment on an American TV show and signed at the lower right.

However, I'm worried that someone might use a power cutter to cut around it and steal it.

“Beatlemania” is a term coined by a newspaper reporter.

The term Beatlemania came into use after music journalist Sandy Gardiner, in November 1963, referred to the Beatles’ ardent fans as “Beatlemania” in the Ottawa Journal, writing that it was “a new kind of disease that even doctors can’t cure.”

A momentary reunion

The Beatles disbanded in 1970 following Paul McCartney’s departure, but Paul, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr temporarily reunited when they performed “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” at Eric Clapton’s wedding in 1979.

However, unfortunately, John Lennon was absent from this event, so it was not a complete reunion.

Voice-over offer

When Disney was producing the animal-themed animated film The Jungle Book in 1967, they offered the Beatles the opportunity to voice four vultures.

However, John declined the offer, saying, "You should hire Elvis Presley instead."

Tried to make a film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings

After making the film Help!, the Beatles tried to adapt J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings into a movie.

I was thinking of making the apple the protagonist and creating a work with the psychedelic style that was popular at the time. Unfortunately, this didn’t come to fruition.

As you all know, The Lord of the Rings was adapted into a film in the United States in 2001 and became a huge hit.

That means the Beatles had set their sights on The Lord of the Rings much earlier, but it’s unclear whether it would have been a hit even if it had been made into a film.

The Billboard 200 album record still hasn’t been broken.

The Beatles set many new records—such as on the charts—but many of them have been broken over time as trends changed.

However, there are still some that have not been broken yet.

For example,On the Billboard 200—America’s famous hit chart whose name has been changed multiple times—they hold an astounding record of 132 total weeks at number one as the artist with the most cumulative weeks at the top.

This doubles the record of 67 weeks held by the second-place Elvis Presley, by a wide margin.

Likewise, with 19 albums reaching number one on the charts, they still hold the record for the most number-one albums by an artist.

This also puts a huge distance between it and the 11 held by Presley.

And the record of simultaneously occupying the top five spots on the Billboard singles chart will likely never be broken.

This was not only due to the Beatles’ talent; it was also largely influenced by the dark backdrop of America at the time and the coincidence that, because they were not yet widely known, the songs they had already released suddenly gained broad recognition.

Unreleased track

There are many unreleased Beatles songs, and one of them, titled “Pilchard,” was about a man who lived in Liverpool and thought he was God.

John and Paul once started working on the production, but it never reached completion. By the way, this title means 'Japanese sardine.'

John had been quite nearsighted since he was young.

John started wearing those trademark round, Lloyd-type glasses around the time of Sgt. Pepper, but it wasn’t because his eyesight had gotten worse then.

He had been quite nearsighted since he was young, and without his glasses, he could only see things as a blur.

He had a strong belief that “it’s uncool for a rock ’n’ roller to wear glasses,” and he would never let anyone see him wearing them in public.

So I really couldn’t see the audience’s faces at all from the stage.

There is also a theory that they used contact lenses, but this is not certain.

However, once he quit being an idol and became an artist, he started wearing glasses, took off his tie, grew out his hair, and also grew a beard.

They must have finally let go and thought, 'I don't have to worry about my appearance anymore.'

A song inspired by a TV commercial

One day, while John was watching TV, a commercial for Kellogg’s Corn Flakes came on. In a scene where a family was having breakfast, the narration said, “Good morning, good morning.”

He was inspired by this commercial and composed a song with the same title.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSXadsF1AaA

By the way, one of the masterpieces John created is “I Am The Walrus,” and in its lyrics there’s a line that goes, “Sitting on a corn flake.”

Unfortunately, this has nothing to do with the commercial.

A masterpiece highly praised by Frank Sinatra

Frank Sinatra is a legendary actor and singer from the past.

The classic song “My Way” was covered by Yuzo Kayama in Japan and became a big hit.

Sinatra was deeply impressed by the Beatles’ “Something,” lavishly praising it as “the greatest song of the past 50 years.”

And he recorded it on his own record twice, in 1970 and 1980.

However, unfortunately, when this song was released, he said, "This is a Lennon–McCartney masterpiece." But it was actually a song produced by George...

Given his stature as a big name, he probably couldn’t be criticized either.

John hated his own voice.

John disliked his own voice and frequently asked producer George Martin to apply heavy echo in editing and to use double-tracking.

Martin wondered why they disliked him even though he had such a good voice.

Stolen Sign

George Harrison composed the song “Blue Jay Way” at his home on Blue Jay Way in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles, and the street sign for that road was stolen multiple times.