David Lynch Foundation's Bob Roth interviews Ringo Starr

Apple Rooftop Concert

The Beatles' rooftop concert, as it appeared in "Let It Be".

A new version of "Don't Let Me Down" from different points of view.

"Get Back" in Anthology quality.

A high quality "Don't Let Me Down as a music video for "Let It Be ... Naked".

"One After 909" was another elusive music video made from the rooftop footage.

The Night That Changed America

This video made from still photos of Paul and Ringo on stage during the Beatles tribute concert "The Night That Changed America" is what we're allowed to watch from abroad. Another video made to promote the event is geo-restricted and can only be viewed from within the USA here. The two may be the same, I can't tell. When I try to access that preview video, I just get a message, saying: Sorry! This video is not available to viewers in your country.

Octopus's Garden

2014 Grammy performances by Ringo and Paul

"Photograph".

"Queenie Eye". Ringo and Paul at yesterday's Grammy awards gala.

Grammy: McCartney vs Stones

US Albums iTunes trailer

The Peanut Vendor

The Peanut Vendor (original title: El Manisero) is a Cuban song based on a street-seller's cry, and known as a pregón. It is possibly the most famous piece of music created by a Cuban musician. The Peanut Vendor has been recorded more than 160 times, sold over a million copies of the sheet music, and was the first million-selling 78rpm of Cuban music. The Beatles covered it during the Get Back sessions on January 10th, 1969.

Here's a serious version:

Ringo's award

CBS News items

A report by CBS News' London correspondent Alexander Kendrick helped introduce the band to Americans when it aired Nov. 22, 1963 on "CBS Morning News With Mike Wallace."

In 1963, CBS News characterized Beatlemania as an "epidemic" that had "seized" Britain's teenage population. Soon, it would "infect" America.

In the '60s, the Beatles were asked time and time again what the band's name meant. The Fab Four managed to come up with some interesting answers.

At a Washington, D.C. press conference on Feb. 11, 1964, the Beatles are asked if they know one of America's most famous newsmen.

Dance Pantsed

The Powerpuff Girls Special, featuring Ringo Starr.

Central Park

The Beatles' official YouTube channel published this video today:

From other, not so official channels we have something like this:

An old news film has some scenes from the park at the end.

The Threetles

Since WogBlog today is about the Threetles (Paul, George and Ringo) and the recording sessions in 1994-1996, we thought that we should highlight some of their recordings. First up is a version of "Real Love", pitch-corrected by an amateur.

Next up is "Free As A Bird":

So, what would "Now and Then" have sounded like?

The Special Edition segment of the Anthology series on DVD starts off like this:

And continues:

Part 3:

Part 4:

The Beatles in Sweden - part 2

Here's the Swedish TV Special we told you about earlier. Televised in January 2014.

Lennon/McCartney combinations

Oo You / Baby Please Don't Go (Remix)

I Saw Her Standing There fantasy reunion:

More Paul and Ringo

Counting down to the Grammy Awards on January 26th, here's a little more from Paul and Ringo together post Beatles. Change Begins Within - Radio City Music Hall 2009:

And the gig that started it all, "Hey Jude" from the "Earth Day" event at the Hollywood Bowl in 1993.

Paul surprises Ringo 2010

While we are waiting to see whether Paul and Ringo will perform together or apart (nearly all the media is expecting them to perform together, wishful thinking or they just didn't read well?) at the Grammy Awards Show, here's the last public performance from "the Twotles" together. The venue was New York's Radio City Music Hall, July 7th 2010. This is pro shot footage with soundboard audio. Organised by Barbara Bach.

Band
Paul McCartney (bass, lead vocals)
Rick Derringer (lead guitar, backing vocals)
Joe Walsh (rhythm guitar)
Edgar Winter (keyboards, backing vocals)
Gregg Bissonette (drums, backing vocals)
Mark Rivera (tambourine, backing vocals)
Ringo Starr (Drums)

The full concert (mainly amateur footage) can be found here.

Rock And Roll Music LP Commercial 1976

1976 was a few years before people in general started getting video recorders, so this was videotaped on an older system than the VHS, Beta or Video 2000 systems. I remember when I was a kid, my school had one of those old video machines, so I guess teachers may have been able to tape a few things.

George Harrison - The Quiet One

A man of many contradictions, he was known as the 'quiet one', although Monty Python's Eric Idle once remarked, George never stopped talking. The melancholy one who had a great sense of humour. The simple spiritual man who had a passion for motor racing and enjoyed his immense wealth.
This programme explores his complex nature and his life journey with interviews with those that were close to him, and using rare film footage we examine his undoubted musical talent, his time with the Beatles, and his long held spiritual beliefs that were a comfort to him until his untimely death, at just 58.
57 minutes.

Paris, France January 1964

Before "Beatlemania" hit USA in February 1964, there was Paris, France in January. The Beatles performed at L'Olympia Theatre in Paris. Tickets for the performance of the evening were sold out and fans attending the performance night were dressed in costume gala, mostly elderly Parisian women, those who wanted to see what that noise was.
The old Music Hall was not equipped with a modern amplification.
There was no screaming or fainting, but the audience applauded all the time and enjoyed the music. The audience behaved very well, but the camera men started a discussion which evolved to a fight that almost moved out to the stage. George had to move quickly to avoid damage to his guitar and Paul stopped singing to call to order. The gendarmes (French police) came to further increase the chaos. Nobody was allowed backstage for the rest of the presentations.
L'Olympia is similar in many respects to Carnegie Hall. Brian Epstein's policy was that the Beatles should be presented at the most prestigious venues. L'Olympia was the best Music Hall of France, where the first night guaranteed a stylishly dressed (minks and diamonds) audience. It was a beautiful and classic theater with a sumptuous furniture. However, the dressing rooms were small and the Olympia was not ready for Beatlemania: people with tickets in hand could not enter, which meant empty seats, it was all a mess. The theatre was surrounded by policemen and lace-up young people who shouted "Beat-them, Beat them, Beat them!". When the group left the stage, some punching erupted. As expected, French chauvinism was in the newspapers the next day, although "France Soir" suggested the young local pop artists to forget jealousy, because never before had the French public praised pop songs so euphorically.

Top Of The Pops - Mull Of Kintyre

Bootleg Recordings 1963

A French report on the iTunes only album "Bootleg Recordings 1963"

The Beatles in Sweden - part 1

This weekend, a great documentary of the Beatles' Swedish tour of 1963 was screened, in Sweden. Part of the material also appeared earlier on a programme of the year in review. Here's that little nugget, with the interviews translated into English. Here, it will serve as a teaser for the full 30 minute documentary.

If you're in Sweden or if you know your way around a proxy server, you may access the full documentary here, or if not, here's another teaser.

Rock For Kampuchea

"Got To Get You Into My Life".

"Every Night", "Coming Up" from a superior Japanese source.

"Hot As Sun".

I was a Wings fan before I became a Beatles fan. And I was 17 when the 1979 Wings lineup toured the UK. I desperately wanted to go, but I was a minor and mother didn't want to let me go to the UK on my own. So it turned out to be the last Wings tour ever, and McCartney didn't hit the road again for a decade, so my first full McCartney concert was in 1989.
Meanwhile, I purchased the Concerts for the People of Kampuchea album and wore out just one of the four LP sides. And then the Rock For Kampuchea video (above) was shown on Norwegian TV late at night, and of course we videotaped it.
The film was directed by Keith McMillan and was 4 nights of concerts in Hammersmith Odeon in December, 1979, to raise money for the victims of Pol Pot's reign of terror in Cambodia. The event was organized by Paul McCartney and Kurt Waldheim (who was then Secretary-General of the U.N.), and it involved well-established artists such as McCartney, The Who and Queen as well as younger punk and new wave acts like The Clash and the Pretenders.  Since all four Beatles were alive and well at the time, there was an anticipation among the audience that a Beatles reunion could occur to close the concert. The Rockestra Band (more of 25 famous British musicians, including Wings) was a good substitution, and they did perform a Beatles song. Concert for Kampuchea did not receive American theatrical distribution until it was picked up by Miramax in 1988.
Sadly, the Concerts for the People of Kampuchea album never appeared on CD. Below is the Rockestra part of the concert.

"Lucille", "Let It Be", "Rockestra Theme".

The full Rock For Kampuchea film can be found here, and includes all the performers.
Related: Why did Cambodia change their name to Kampuchea and then back again?

Ringo Starr - Through the years music videos

Today, here's a bunch of Ringo Starr's music videos that weren't included on the bonus DVD from his greatest hits release Photograph: The Very Best of Ringo Starr (CD & DVD) .

One of Ringo's rarer videos, "Photograph" (1974)

"I'll Still Love You" (1976)

"Wrack My Brain" (1981)

"La De Da" (1999)

That last one is actually from Ringo's official VEVO channel. Paul McCartney also appears. Ringo also guested in a few of Paul McCartney's videos: "Take It Away", "So Bad" and "Beautiful Night". Here's "So Bad" (1983).

NME Poll Winners Concert 1965

The Beatles topped the bill at the 1964-65 New Musical Express Annual Poll-Winners' All-Star Concert. They were wearing the same stage suits as they would later wear for the more famous "Shea Stadium" concert in August. It was the third consecutive year they appeared at the event, held at the Empire Pool in Wembley, London on April 11, 1965.

00:00 Speech
01:23 THE BEATLES!
02:39 I Feel Fine
05:17 She's a Woman
08:26 Baby's in Black
11:04 Ticket To Ride
14:47 Long Tall Sally
17:34 Presentation

Back To The Egg TV Special

The Back to the Egg TV special was a program containing music videos from the Wings album Back to the Egg (1979). It was first broadcast on BBC1 on June 10, 1981, two years after the album had been released. Two of the videos ("Goodnight Tonight" and "Baby's Request") were released on The McCartney Years DVD boxset in 2007. However, the special in its original form has yet to be released on DVD.
Songs:
"Getting Closer"
"Baby's Request"
"Old Siam, Sir"
"Winter Rose/Love Awake"
"Spin It On"
"Again and Again and Again"
"Arrow Through Me"
"Goodnight Tonight"

This particular version has been transferred from an old video cassette tape of the UK TV screening.

Festival Hall, Melbourne, June 17th, 1964

At 8am on the morning of 15 June 1964, Jimmie Nicol left the Southern Cross Hotel on Bourke Street, Melbourne. Accompanied by Brian Epstein, he was driven to the airport where he was given a final agreed fee of £500, as well as a gold watch with the engraving: "To Jimmy, with appreciation and gratitude - Brian Epstein and The Beatles."

Nicol didn't say goodbye to The Beatles; they were sleeping off the previous night's party, and he felt he shouldn't disturb them. The group was celebrating their reunion with Ringo Starr, who had missed the early part of their world tour after being struck down by acute tonsillitis and pharyngitis.

Cameras from the Australian Channel 9 recorded the sixth and final show of the Melbourne leg of the world tour. It was screened on 1 July 1964 as an hour-long special, The Beatles Sing For Shell, named after the oil company which sponsored the broadcast.

Nine of The Beatles' Melbourne performances were included in the show: I Saw Her Standing There, You Can't Do That, All My Loving, She Loves You, Till There Was You, Roll Over Beethoven, Can't Buy Me Love, Twist And Shout and Long Tall Sally.
During Long Tall Sally, a male audience member rushed onto the stage to shake John Lennon's hand.

The Beatles' manager Brian Epstein had initially agreed to allow Channel 9 to show just 12 minutes of the performance. However, after watching the recording an hour after the show he had a change of heart and increased the limit to 20 minutes.

In the end 22 minutes of The Beatles were included, the rest of the hour being footage of Australian and international performers.

It's a wonderful concert performance, and should be a highlight if the Beatles Live Project ever gets realized.

Information from The Beatles Bible.

The Everly Brothers

In memory of Phil Everly, here are the Everly Brothers, performing the 1984 composition Paul McCartney gave them, "On The Wings Of A Nightingale".
And here is Paul's original demo of the song:

Here's John Lennon, singing "Cathy's Clown", and a comparison of the Beatles' and the Everly Brothers' harmony styles:

Here's "So How Come No One (Loves Me)" with the Beatles first, and then the Everly Brothers.

Paul McCartney Out There Japan tour in Tokyo

Translated by Google: I took part in a tour of Japan this time. While the excitement of that time remains still, and I tried to make a video like this.

Big Night Out February 1964

February 23, 1964: The Beatles travelled to ABC Television's Teddington Studio Center to tape their second appearance on the TV show Big Night Out. After rehearsals, the show was filmed in front of an audience that evening. The Beatles did not get to leave the studio until 10:30 PM that evening.
It was shown on ITV Network on February 29 from 6:35 to 7:25 PM, although it was shown in the London area on March 3 from 8:00 to 8:55 PM.
Also on the show as guest stars were Billy Dainty, Jackie Trent, and Lionel Blair. The Beatles were in three comedy skits with hosts Mike and Bernie Winters. In one of the skits, The Beatles arrived by boat to the studio on the River Thames, which was right near the studio. They drove through the studio in a car, entering a door marked customs. The show hosts were dressed as customs officers who searched the group's luggage, only to find large amounts of money from their recent trip to America.
The band lip-synched to All My Loving, I Wanna Be Your Man, Till There Was You, Please Mr. Postman, Money (That's What I Want), and I Want To Hold Your Hand.
Overseas, "Money" was eliminated from the show.

Let It Be

There's an online petition to have Let It Be released again. You may sign the petition here.