The Beatles Tapes from the David Wigg Interviews | ||||
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Live album spoken word by | ||||
Released | 30 July 1976 | |||
Recorded | 1968–1973 | |||
Genre | Interview | |||
Label | Polydor | |||
The Beatles interview album chronology | ||||
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The Beatles Tapes from the David Wigg Interviews is an audio album of interviews with each of the four members of the Beatles: John Lennon (with his second wife, Yoko Ono), Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. British journalist David Wigg interviewed the individual Beatles at various points from December 1968 or January 1969 to December 1973, and excerpts from some of these recordings constitute the album's spoken words. Although he was a columnist ("Young London") for the London newspaper The Evening News , [1] most of the interviews were recorded for the BBC Radio 1 series Scene and Heard. [2] [3] Interspersed among the interview excerpts are instrumental performances of Beatles songs played by other musicians. The Beatles tried to prevent the album's publication, but it was released in the United Kingdom on 30 July 1976 under the Polydor label (catalogue number 2683 068) and in the United States in 1978. Both George and Ringo did attempt to sue the Recording label, however, both of them lost the case because the interviews were done on public radio on the BBC.
Major topics in John Lennon's interview include his relationship with Yoko Ono, his peace activism, The Beatles' business affairs (a portion of his statement about Brian Epstein's management is on Anthology 1 ), the nature of God, and the band's break-up and whether they would reunite musically.
Among Paul McCartney's topics are fatherhood, his favourite songs from Abbey Road , why The Beatles appeared at only one Royal Variety Performance, and the composition of "Golden Slumbers". Shortly after his interview, McCartney met with the other Beatles to decide whether Allen Klein or Lee Eastman would handle the group's affairs. Having failed to persuade the other Beatles to choose Eastman, McCartney "stormed out of the meeting, resigning from the Apple board". [4]
George Harrison discusses the spiritual side of his life, including his seeming destiny to be a Beatle, Hare Krishna, meditation, drug use, and whether it is possible for The Beatles to split up. He also discusses business—the British government's anti-monopoly policies and high taxation, and the difference in radio offerings between the United Kingdom and the United States—and his Abbey Road favourites.
Ringo Starr's first interview took place while he was heading to a medical examination required for insurance in anticipation of his work in The Magic Christian . Starr discusses The Beatles' feelings for one another, the band's break-up, how he has spent his money, the ups and downs of fame (such as being photographed and asked for autographs), reincarnation ("I'd like to come back as one of our cats: they have a great time! But it's not possible: I'll be back here as a human, struggling again, trying to remember what I forgot last time"), and vegetarianism.
The following describes the compact-disc version of the album (Polydor 42284 7185-2):
Disc One (Polydor 42284 7186-2)
Disc Two (Polydor 42284 7187-2)
During some of the interviews, background sounds are audible
David Wigg conducted and edited the interviews, with engineering by Peter Wilson.
The songs are played by Gavyn Wright and Irvine Arditti (violins); Jan Schlapp (viola); Helen Liebmann (cello); Janice Knight (oboe); Crispian Steele-Perkins and Paul Cash (trumpets); Carlos Bonell and Tom Hartmann (guitars); Francis Monkman (ARP Odyssey Synthesiser); Ann Odell (piano); and Graham Smith (harmonica). Martyn Ford and John Bell arranged the music from compositions by The Beatles. Ford also conducted the performances and produced the recordings.
"Get Back" is a song recorded by the British rock band the Beatles and Billy Preston, and written by Paul McCartney though credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. It was originally released as a single on 11 April 1969 and credited to "The Beatles with Billy Preston". The album version of this song contains a different mix that features a studio chat between Paul McCartney and John Lennon at the beginning which lasts for 20 seconds before the song begins, also omitting the coda featured in the single version, and with a final dialog taken from the Beatles' rooftop concert. This version became the closing track of Let It Be (1970), which was released just after the group split up. The single version was later issued on the compilation albums 1967–1970, 20 Greatest Hits, Past Masters, and 1.
Apple Records is a record label founded by the Beatles in 1968 as a division of Apple Corps Ltd. It was initially intended as a creative outlet for the Beatles, both as a group and individually, plus a selection of other artists including Mary Hopkin, James Taylor, Badfinger, and Billy Preston. In practice, the roster had become dominated by the mid-1970s with releases of the former Beatles as solo artists. Allen Klein managed the label from 1969 to 1973, then it was managed by Neil Aspinall on behalf of the Beatles and their heirs. Aspinall retired in 2007 and was replaced by Jeff Jones.
Apple Corps Limited is a multi-armed multimedia corporation founded in London in January 1968 by the members of The Beatles to replace their earlier company and to form a conglomerate. Its name is a pun. Its chief division is Apple Records, which was launched in the same year. Other divisions included Apple Electronics, Apple Films, Apple Publishing and Apple Retail, whose most notable venture was the short-lived Apple Boutique, on the corner of Baker Street and Paddington Street in central London. Apple's headquarters in the late 1960s was at the upper floors of 94 Baker Street, after that at 95 Wigmore Street, and subsequently at 3 Savile Row. The last of these addresses was also known as the Apple Building, which was home to the Apple studio.
"I've Got a Feeling" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1970 album Let It Be. It was recorded on 30 January 1969 during the Beatles' rooftop concert. It is a combination of two unfinished songs: Paul McCartney's "I've Got a Feeling" and John Lennon's "Everybody Had a Hard Year". The song features Billy Preston on electric piano.
"Come Together" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The song is the opening track on their 1969 album Abbey Road and was also released as a single coupled with "Something". The song reached the top of the charts in the United States and Australia, but peaked at No. 4 in the United Kingdom.
"Maxwell's Silver Hammer" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1969 album Abbey Road. It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. The song is about a student named Maxwell Edison who commits murders with a hammer, with the dark lyrics disguised by an upbeat sound. McCartney described the song as symbolic of the downfalls of life, being "my analogy for when something goes wrong out of the blue, as it so often does".
"You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles originally released as the B-side of the single "Let It Be" on 6 March 1970. Although first issued with their final single (and the penultimate single in the United States), it was recorded in four separate sessions beginning with three in May and June 1967, with one final recording session conducted in April 1969. The song features a saxophone part played by Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones.
"The Ballad of John and Yoko" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released as a non-album single in May 1969. It was written by John Lennon and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership, and chronicles the events surrounding the wedding of Lennon and Yoko Ono. The song was the Beatles' 17th and final UK number-one single. In the United States, it was banned by some radio stations due to the lyrics' reference to Christ and crucifixion. The single peaked at number 8 on the US Billboard Hot 100. The song has subsequently appeared on compilation albums such as Hey Jude, 1967–1970 and 1.
"Oh! Darling" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, appearing as the fourth song on the 1969 album Abbey Road. It was composed by Paul McCartney. Its working title was "Oh! Darling ". Although not issued as a single in either the United Kingdom or the United States, a regional subsidiary of Capitol successfully edited it as a single in Central America, having "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" as its B-side. It was also issued as a single in Portugal. Apple Records released "Oh! Darling" in Japan with "Here Comes the Sun" in June 1970.
"Dig a Pony" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1970 album Let It Be. It was written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The band recorded the song on 30 January 1969, during their rooftop concert at the Apple Corps building on Savile Row in central London.
"Why Don't We Do It in the Road?" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, released on their 1968 double album The Beatles. Short and simple, it was written and sung by Paul McCartney, but credited to Lennon–McCartney. At 1:42, "Why Don't We Do It in the Road?" comprises 34 bars of a twelve-bar blues idiom. It begins with three different percussion elements and features McCartney's increasingly raucous vocal repeating a simple lyric with only two different lines.
"Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1968 double album The Beatles. It was written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The lyrics contain sayings the Beatles heard from Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, with whom they studied Transcendental Meditation in India in early 1968. In his subsequent comments on the song, Lennon said it addressed his bandmates' initial reaction to his relationship with Yoko Ono. Recorded early in the sessions for the White Album, the track typifies Lennon and the Beatles' return to a rock sound in 1968 after their psychedelic period.
Tittenhurst Park is a Grade II listed early Georgian country house set in 72 acres off London Road at Beggar's Bush near Ascot and over the parish border into Sunningdale, both in the English county of Berkshire. It was famously the home of musicians John Lennon and Yoko Ono from the late summer of 1969 until August 1971, and then the home of Ringo Starr and family from 1973 until 1988. Starr sold the property to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates, in 1989.
From 18 August 1962 to 10 April 1970, the Beatles consisted of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. Their break-up is attributed to numerous factors, including: the strain of the Beatlemania phenomenon, the 1967 death of manager Brian Epstein, bandmates' resentment of McCartney's perceived domineering, Lennon's heroin use and his relationship with Yoko Ono, Harrison's increasingly prolific songwriting, the floundering of Apple Corps, the Get Back project, and managerial disputes.
Let It Be is a 1970 British documentary film starring the Beatles and directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg. The film documents the group's rehearsing and recording songs in January 1969 for what was to become their twelfth and final studio album Let It Be. The film includes an unannounced rooftop concert by the group, the last public performance of the four together.
The Apple scruffs were a group of devoted Beatles fans who congregated outside the Apple Corps building and at the gates of Abbey Road Studios in London during the late 1960s, in the hope of seeing or interacting with one of the band members. The name was coined by George Harrison. According to Apple press officer Derek Taylor, when The Sunday Times wrote a feature article on the company in the late 1960s, their map included a location for the scruffs, on the steps of the offices at 3 Savile Row.
"Christmas Time (Is Here Again)" is a Christmas song by the English rock band the Beatles, originally recorded for their fifth fan club Christmas record, Christmas Time Is Here Again! (1967). One of the few Beatles songs credited to all four members of the band, it consists of a blues based backing track as well as double-tracked vocals sung by them, George Martin and Victor Spinetti. The lyrics are mostly made up of the song's title refrain, repeated across nine verses.
"That Means a Lot" is a song written mainly by Paul McCartney, and credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was released in 1965 by P.J. Proby. Proby's version reached #24 on the NME chart. Prior to the release by Proby, the Beatles recorded a version that was intended for the Help! film and soundtrack album. The Beatles were dissatisfied with the song and their version was not released until the Anthology 2 CD in 1996.
The recordings made by the Beatles, a rock group from Liverpool, England, from their inception as the Quarrymen in 1957 to their break-up in 1970 and the reunion of their surviving members in the mid-1990s, have huge cultural and historical value. The studio session tapes are kept at Abbey Road Studios, formerly known as "EMI Recording Studios," where the Beatles recorded most of their music. While most have never been officially released, their outtakes and demos are seen by fans as collectables, and some of the recordings have appeared on countless bootlegs. Until 2013, the only outtakes and demos to be officially released were on The Beatles Anthology series and its tie-in singles and anniversary editions.Bits of some previously unreleased studio recordings were used in The Beatles: Rock Band video game as ambient noise and to give songs studio-sounding beginnings and endings. In 2013, Apple Records released the album The Beatles Bootleg Recordings 1963, which includes previously unreleased outtakes and demos from 1963, to stop the recordings from falling into the public domain.