1970s Archives - Page 3 of 5 - Hey Dullblog, the Beatles fan blog

Bad alternate Beatles history

By Nancy Carr|2014-07-22T22:05:55-07:00October 4, 2013|1970, alternate history|

Ringo, ready to spring into instant diplomatic action NANCY CARR * Usually I can take or leave alternative history experiments, but Geoffrey Himes' "What If The Beatles Hadn't Broken Up?" in Paste is so loony I had to bring it back to the Dullblog community for commentary. [For great alternate Beatles history, see Mark Shipper's Paperback Writer or HD's own Michael Gerber's Life After Death for Beginners.] Part—but only part—of the problem is that Himes' writing is serviceable at best, so the piece comes off as mediocre fan fiction. The much larger problems are with the motivation and plausibility of the [...]

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Lennon and Christianity

By Michael Gerber|2013-08-19T00:46:24-07:00August 18, 2013|1972, 1973, 1977, John Lennon|

Oral Roberts: John Lennon's secret penpal? MIKE GERBER • Commenter Karen brought something to my attention recently that I certainly had a strong reaction to, and thought Dullblog readers would, too. In January, 1973, American televangelist Oral Roberts claimed in a speech that he'd received a letter from "ex-Beatle John Lennon." The letter, which he said was handwritten, detailed John's misery at his life as a Beatle, and his desire to be saved by Jesus Christ. You can read about it all here. I've been wrong before, but I would be willing to wager $100 right now that this letter is [...]

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John Lennon on Allen Klein, 1973

By Michael Gerber|2013-08-08T04:00:23-07:00August 7, 2013|1973, Apple, john and yoko, John Lennon|

Courtesy of commenter @Karen (anybody know how I can link to her commenter profile?), here's a very interesting little snippet (possibly from LWT's "Weekend World," 06 April 1973), where John Lennon says a few words on Allen Klein, his soon-to-be ex-manager. As stated many times, John wasn't always so quick to admit when he'd made an error in judgment; he'd enter into relationships proclaiming their perfection—and, naturally, his brilliance for arranging them—and if they'd go south, he'd back out quietly. In other words, the guy was a human being. What's particularly interesting to me is how John seems to be very aware [...]

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These happy days are yours and—?!

By Devin McKinney|2014-07-23T11:56:35-07:00July 12, 2013|1970s, 1974, John Lennon, Ron Howard, Television|

DEVIN McKINNEY • This comes by way of Tom Sutpen's If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger, There'd Be a Whole Lot of Dead Copycats, which I've more than once called "the best blogsite there's ever been, ever." It appears under the heading "When Legends Gather." (For the irredeemably trivia-minded, I'm pretty sure that's Jerry Paris with half of his face cut off at the right side. He was Rob and Laura's neighbor on The Dick Van Dyke Show, plus he directed 200 eps of Happy Days.)

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Which Beatles album is actually their last?

By Ed Park|2013-08-03T04:37:33-07:00June 22, 2013|1969, 1970, Abbey Road, Let It Be, Uncategorized|

Bare feet, ouch! Paul suffers for his art. Rob Sheffield in Rolling Stone: So let's argue: Which album truly counts as the grand finale? The case for Let It Be: It came out in 1970, which was after 1969. The case for Abbey Road: (1) virtually all of Let It Be was in the can before the Abbey Road sessions even began; (2) Abbey Road feels more like a classic Beatles record; (3) "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" was the last time all four played in the studio together; (4) the last song on Abbey Road is called "The End"; (5) except for "Her Majesty"; (6) rebounding from the Let [...]

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Anybody else share your love?

By Michael Gerber|2013-08-05T17:52:24-07:00May 19, 2013|1970s, Beatle-inspired|

The Beatles are my ultimate "fave rave," as they might say on Ready Steady Go; their stuff has always, and probably will always, sound just right to me. (There are pictures of me circa 1970, a 1-year-old freaking out with pleasure over "Back in the USSR," which proves two things: a) It's not just nostalgia, I have always genuinely LOVED Beatle music; and b) not all of the White Album makes me want to send Therapists Without Borders back to 1968.) There's only one other person that reliably gives me the same flood of endorphins: Stevie Wonder. And only his stuff from [...]

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Lennon: "Fascinating."

By Michael Gerber|2014-07-23T11:57:10-07:00March 9, 2013|1976, John Lennon|

In 1976, a fan mailed a questionnaire to Mr. Lennon in the Dakota, and John was gracious enough to fill it out and send it back. I discovered this fascinating tidbit of Beatle-ania (first reported on Lists of Note) from this Beatle blog here. The comment thread is eerily similar to one we've been having re: RAM and "How Do You Sleep?" I guess all Beatle roads do lead to John and Paul.

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Before "Toot and a Snore"

By Michael Gerber|2014-12-30T20:12:54-08:00February 4, 2013|1974, bootlegs, John and Paul|

The act you've known for all these years, in Santa Monica, 1974. Here are some photos from Retronaut.com — the last photo of John and Paul — taken at Peter Lawford's old beach house here in Santa Monica. Whenever I want to bask in some ghosts (Marilyn and Jack! Marilyn and Bobby! Nilsson and Baron Von Moon!) I bike down six blocks; the house is right on the PCH. It's surprisingly small; glamour required less square-footage back in those days. Anyway, according to Retronaut, these were taken in March 1974, at the time of the infamous "A Toot And a Snore" [...]

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"Reminiscing"

By Michael Gerber|2015-01-04T00:40:18-08:00January 17, 2013|1970s, John Lennon|

Ran across this oldie this evening in my ramblings, and flashed on something from my reading: John Lennon, lolling in some Midtown bed with May Pang in the late 70s, claiming that this was one of "their songs."I remember finding it very sweet that, even after the strange intense life he'd led, John Lennon OF THE BEATLES, could get hooked on some cheesy syrupy pop tune.Am I remembering it right? Hive mind, help me out. http://youtu.be/voQWlL-jj5Q

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Yoko Ono on the Breakup

By Michael Gerber|2014-12-27T11:33:31-08:00December 29, 2012|1970, John and Paul, John Lennon|

"They were getting to be like Paul's band, which they didn't like," quoth the Yoko, via The Huffington Post. The interview's from 1987, and it's from Rolling Stone, so we can expect it to be simple-minded and St. Lennon-ish; but this canard deserves a bit of scorn. Can I? Thanks.Oh what a shame it was for Paul to run roughshod over those other three grown men, forcing stuff like "Hey Jude" and Abbey Road on the world. Why, instead of wasting all that time, John and Yoko could've given 500 more interviews, and filmed countless more asses. Or John could've continued to explore [...]

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