On this day in 2019, a John Lennon owned copy of Yesterday and Today sold at auction

The 1966 album Yesterday and Today was the band’s ninth release with Capitol Records, and their twelfth American release overall. It attracted controversy on release due to the cover, which showed the band dressed in white coats and surrounded by decapitated baby dolls and raw meat. This artwork, known as the “butcher cover” led to the album being recalled and the cover replaced with a photo of the band posed around a steamer trunk. The change of covers caused the original to become a rarity and a collectors album, with some fans even scratching off the trunk artwork on their records, hoping to find the “butcher cover” underneath.

In 1971, a Beatles fan by the name of Dave Morrell saw an ad in the back of Rolling Stone for a Beatles album called Yellow Matter Custard, which featured songs that he’d never heard of before. Morrell purchased the album and sent a letter to John Lennon, who arranged a meeting shortly after. Lennon identified Yellow Matter Custard as an audition tape made for Decca records, and asked to keep the album, as well as a compilation called the Savage Young Beatles. Morrell obliged, and when asked what items he was looking for, he named the “butcher cover” version of Yesterday and Today. Lennon phoned his assistant and arranged him to pick it up from his apartment where it had been displayed on the wall and drop it to him, before signing the album and giving it to Morrell. 

Morrell kept the album for many years, and even got Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr to sign the album as well, before it was eventually sold to another collector. The album then went up for auction at Julien’s Auctions’ The Beatles in Liverpool event, which featured over 300 items of memorabilia. It fetched $234,000, a world record for a “butcher cover” album and the third highest price paid for a vinyl record overall, with the first being Ringo Starr’s copy of The White Album, and the second a copy of Elvis Presley’s My Happiness. The anonymous buyer is a US based collector, who believes the album to be an investment that could be worth over $500,000 in a few years.

On this day in 1963, The Beatles earned their first number one hit in the UK

As the band prepared for the release of Please Please Me in late March, they continued with recording sessions for numerous new songs. On the 5th of March they headed in to EMI Studios to record a new single, From Me To You. The track had been written on a coach, while the group was on tour with Helen Shapiro, with the title inspired by the name of the letters section in the New Musical Express newspaper, “From You to Us”. 

John Lennon later recalled the song being written in a more blues fashion, even stating that “we nearly didn’t record it because we thought it was too bluesy at first, but when we’d finished it and George Martin had scored it with harmonica, it was alright.” The song was recorded quickly, in just six takes and would be released just a couple of weeks after their debut album on the 11th of April. Soon after, on the 2nd May it became the band’s first number one single.

Many fans assume that the song Please Please Me, which helped launch the band to stardom, would be their first number one, but while it did top the New Musical Express and Melody Maker charts, it failed to reach the top spot on the Record Retailer chart, which later became the UK Singles Chart and was considered the definitive chart of the time. The band themselves also considered it their first big hit, with Paul McCartney saying “the first time I thought we’d really made it, was when I was lying in bed one morning, and I heard a milkman whistling From Me to You.”

After the UK success, it was decided by Vee-Jay Records to release the song in the US on the 27th of May. Similarly to the already released Please Please Me it was initially a failure, but after the first song took off, From Me to You took off, reaching number 116 on the Billboard chart. This, coupled with the band’s successes later in the year prompted a second release in January 1964, this time peaking at number 41.

From Me to You was never made part of an original studio album, only appearing on compilation albums, including 1, the 2000 compilation of the band’s number one hits.

On this day in 1967, The Beatles began recording for “The Magical Mystery Tour”

Just days after completing work on the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album, the band returned to EMI Studios in London to start work on their next project. Paul McCartney came up with the concept of a film, based around a mystery coach tour, and came up with a collection of ideas, sketches and scenes that would become the film. The group decided that before they committed to making the film, they would start work on the music that would accompany it. 

From the 25th of April, the band started with the title song, which would also be used as the theme music for the film. The song was credited to Lennon-McCartney, but Lennon later said that it was very much Paul’s song, and that he just helped with part of it. On arrival at the studio, only the chord structure and opening refrain were completed, with the rest of the lyrics being improvised along the way. McCartney has said since that many of the lyrics contained hidden references to drug use, as the band was a the height of their psychedelic experimentation. 

The song would be continued over the next week, but work on the album then mostly stalled until September, when the filming also began, and the two projects became intertwined. The filming was completed on the 25th of September and the recording continued until the start of November. The completed film would release on Boxing Day of 1967, broadcast in black and white on BBC1 in the UK. The black and white broadcast infuriated the band who had prepared the film in colour, and some say it led to the negative reviews the film gathered. The soundtrack would be released afterwards as a six-song double EP in the UK and an eleven-song album in the US and elsewhere.

Despite the largely negative attention the film received, the accompanying album reviewed well amongst critics, who praised the bands combination of experimentation and pop sensibility. Magical Mystery Tour also performed well on the charts, though not to the same level as the band was accustomed to, which could be attributed to the dual release of the double EP and full length album. Since then, Beatles fans have been divided over the quality of both the film and the album, but most agree the album was better and still contains some great music from the band.

On this day in 1975, John Lennon performed his final live televised appearance

Lennon decided to retire from live performance in 1975 after the birth of his son Sean, choosing to devote more time to being a father. Before he could do so however, he still had several performance obligations that had to be filled, one of them being a televised tribute to media mogul and businessman Sir Lew Grade.

Lennon and Grade were known to each other, and had a contentious relationship for the past six years. In 1969, Grade negotiated for and ended up purchasing the rights for over one hundred songs written by Lennon and Paul McCartney through his company ATV Music. This purchase earned Grade a huge sum of money, and simultaneously took it away from the original songwriters. The deal also meant that all songs written by the pair until 1973 were also property of ATV, causing difficulties for Lennon and McCartney as they set out on their respective solo careers, and necessitating a legal trick whereby the songwriting credit would be shared with their wives. Lennon attempted to sue Grade in 1974, and while they settled out of court, Grade and ATV maintained control of the catalogue. 

Despite their differences, Lennon would appear on the show, titled a Salute to Sir Lew, with a new band. The group was credited as John Lennon etc. due to an expletive that appeared in the band name, though the initials, BOMF, did survive on the drum kit. They appeared on stage with Lennon donning a red jumpsuit, and the other members wearing sculpted masks fixed to the back of their heads, supposedly referencing the singer’s opinion of Grade as two-faced. Three songs were played by the group, starting with Slipping and Sliding, then Stand By Me from Lennon’s latest album, and then his most popular solo song Imagine. 

The show drew a significant audience both in-person and on television, but not many realised this would be the final time they would see Lennon perform live. Not only that, but other than the compilation Shaved Fish at the end of the year, no more music would come from the former Beatle until 1980 and Double Fantasy, as Lennon retreated from the public eye to focus on his family.

On this day in 1961, Bob Dylan made his professional performance debut

After dropping out of college in 1960, Dylan headed to New York City in January of 1961, and began performing at small cafes and bars around the city for loose change. He soon got his first real show, supporting blues artist John Lee Hooker at Gerde’s Folk City over a two week period. Dylan was excited to have a real debut with such a big name, and that he would earn $90 a week for playing six nights each week. As he was underage, venue owner Mike Porco would have to sign as a guardian on his cabaret and union cards in order to be allowed in.

Dylan reportedly played a five song set which included House of the Rising Sun, Song to Woody, Talkin’ Hava Negeilah Blues and two other unidentified songs. One of Dylan’s friends, Dave Van Ronk, was in the audience the first night and said in Dylan: A Biography that “it was one of the most electrifying shows I have ever seen in my life” and that “if ever a star was born, it was that night at Folk City.” After the shows Dylan would head back to Hooker’s suite at the Broadway Central Hotel where they would drink and play guitar. Hooker later said “we were great friends” and “he really wasn’t playing with me for money. He was doing it for fun.”

Dylan would later write about the gig in his song “Talkin’ New York”, singing about  the bigger venue and his joining of a union, a requirement to perform at the time. The show at Gerdes would lead to Dylan earning more work and more acclaim. In September of 1961, Dylan would appear there again, and New York Times journalist Robert Shelton wrote an enthusiastic review in the paper, and soon after he was offered a contract with Columbia Records, leading to his debut album in 1962 and kicking off  his extensive career as both a recording artist and performer. This career continues today, with Dylan currently preparing to tour North America.

On this day in 1967, The Jimi Hendrix Experience finish recording Are You Experienced 

Hendrix began working as a musician in 1962 after being discharged from the US Army, forming a band called the King Kasuals, as well as working as a backing musician for various artists such as Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson and Ike & Tina Turner. By 1964 however, he felt he had artistically outgrown the circuit and left to join the backing band for the Isley Brothers, the I.B. Specials and then Little Richard’s touring band the Upsetters later in the year. Over the next few years he continued bouncing between bands and working as a background musician until 1966, when he became friends with the Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham and Animals manager Chas Chandler, who soon signed on as his manager and recruited Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell to form The Jimi Hendrix Experience. 

After a string of successful shows in late 1966, the band was signed to Track Records, formed by managers of The Who and booked several studio sessions where they recorded their first material. Over the next five months Are You Experienced was recorded in sixteen recording sessions across three London studios in between tours of Europe. Upon completion, the album was mixed throughout April of 1967 and released on May 12th to immediate fanfare. Within seven months of release, over one million copies had been sold, and the album peaked at number 5 on the US Billboard Top LPs and number two on the UK charts. Critics heaped praise on the work, with almost all major publications giving it five stars or 10/10 scores, praising it’s originality, artistic integrity and the excitement and energy.

Since it’s release, Are You Experienced has become one of the most significant releases of the rock era. It’s commonly touted as one of the best debut albums of all time, as well as one of the greatest in general, appearing at number 3 on Rolling Stone’s Best Debut Albums of All Time and number 30 on their 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. It is considered to have changed the limits of guitar playing, and is credited with helping establish psychedelic music, becoming one of the definitive releases of the genre. In 1999 it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, and in 2005 was chosen by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry, which selects recordings that are “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

On this day in 1967, Van Morrison recorded Brown Eyed Girl in New York

After Morrison’s contract with Decca Records ended, as well as the 1966 break-up of his band Them, he returned to Belfast to look for a new record company. He received a call from Bert Berns, the owner of Bang Records and flew to New York where he swiftly signed a contract with the company. Shortly after, he headed to A&R Studios for a two-day recording session, where he recorded eight songs to be used as four singles for Bang Records. 

A number of session musicians were hired for the recording, including guitarists Eric Gale, Hugh McCracken and Al Gorgoni, bassist Russ Savakus, organist Garry Sherman and drummer Gary Chester. Brown Eyed Girl was captured on the first day, on the 22nd take, and was originally titled “Brown-Skinned Girl”. It was released later that year, in June, and immediately started charting, peaking at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. The lyrics of the song were at the time considered to be too suggestive, and an edited version was circulated for radio play, which has appeared on some subsequent compilation albums.

Brown Eyed Girl has become one of Morrison’s signature songs, and is probably his most well-known track. It has since appeared on numerous lists of greatest rock and roll songs, including earning number 110 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, as well as being inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Incredibly, Morrison has since stated that due to his hastily signed contract with Bang Records without legal advice, he has never received any royalties for the writing or recording of the song, as well as claiming that it is not one of his favourites. His frustrations with Bang Records would later be vented in the sarcastic song The Big Royalty Check. Regardless, Brown Eyed Girl helped propel his career to superstardom, and would lead to his relocation to the United States and an eventual deal with Warner Brothers Records.

On this day in 1964, The Beatles’ She Loves You hits number one in the US

The song was penned by Lennon and McCartney during their 1963 tour with Roy Orbison and Gerry and the Pacemakers, with the majority written on their tourbus before being finished at McCartney’s family home in Liverpool. McCartney says that the inspiration for the song came from Bobby Rydell’s hit Forget Him which featured a call and response pattern. The original idea had a couple of the Beatles singing “she loves you” and the rest answering “yeah yeah”. This version was soon scrapped, with the “yeah yeah yeah” being incorporated into the chorus. 

The song was actually released in the UK in August of 1963, and immediately performed well on the charts as thousands of fans that had been anticipating the release rushed to stores, setting several sales records in the process. In the US however, the band weren’t enjoying the same level of success and when the song was initially released in September of 1963, it received little radio airtime and sold only an estimated thousand copies. On the 22nd of November, CBS News ran a five minute segment on Beatlemania, heavily featuring She Loves You, and the band capitalised on the resulting interest by rush-releasing I Want to Hold Your Hand, which reached number one by the end of January. Shortly after The Beatles headed to the US to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show, kick-starting the so-called British Invasion and sending people into stores to buy more Beatles music.

After their television appearances, She Loves You climbed to the number two spot, before replacing I Want to Hold Your Hand, becoming one of only two artists to ever hold the top two spots simultaneously. The success wouldn’t stop there though, as they were joined by three more songs at the top of the charts, becoming the first and only artists to ever hold the top five simultaneously with Please Please Me at five, I Want to Hold Your Hand at four, She Loves You at three, Twist and Shout at two and Can’t Buy Me Love at number one. This astounding feat demonstrated the immense popularity of the band and would begin their reign as the biggest act of the 1960s. 

On this day in 1968, a promotional film for The Beatles’ song Lady Madonna is broadcast on the BBC

The song, written primarily by Paul McCartney, was recorded in early February just before the band left for India for their training in transcendental meditation, with the intention of covering the band during their absence. It featured a more raucous rock and roll sound that was considered by many to be a return to the band’s more traditional form of songwriting after the psychedelic experimentation of the previous two years. Inspirations for the song included Elvis Presley, Fats Domino and the Mills Brothers. 

The clip would make its debut on BBC1 program Top of the Pops and featured footage of the band recording at EMI Studios. However, when the clip was being filmed the band decided to use the time to record a new song, Lennon’s Hey Bulldog, rather than miming Lady Madonna as originally agreed. As such the promotional film features footage of the band recording the new song, with little attempt being made to match the footage to Lady Madonna. The bizarre clips also included George Harrison eating a plate of beans, and footage of McCartney producing at an unrelated session for Cilla Black. The footage of the band recording Hey Bulldog would be re-used for The Beatles Anthology in 1995, and in 1999 to create a new clip for the song in order to promote the Yellow Submarine re-issue.

Lady Madonna would be released the following day, and would be the last UK release by the band on Parlophone Records and Capitol Records in the US before the switch to their own label, Apple Records. Despite the strange promotional film, it would reach the number one spot in the UK within two weeks and number four in the US by the end of April. This initial release was in mono, with Harrison having his first B-side with “The Inner Light”. Lady Madonna would not release as part of a stereo album until the 1970 collection Hey Jude. 

On this day in 1970, Simon and Garfunkel’s fifth and final album hits number one on the US Charts

Forming in 1963, the pair received poor sales on their first album, but huge success with their following three albums. Their fifth album, Bridge Over Troubled Water, was planned to be their most ambitious project yet, incorporating elements from a variety of genres, such as R&B, rock, gospel, jazz and pop.

Bridge Over Troubled Water was primarily written by Paul Simon, while Art Garfunkel was busy pursuing his film career, and as such the album was recorded in sections, with Simon writing several songs, then recording with Garfunkel, then stopping to write the next batch of songs. The pair also experimented with various objects recorded on a reel-to-reel recorder with added reverb to create new sounds, such as a falling bundle of drumsticks and a xylophone.

The album would be released on the 26^th of January to mixed critical reception, with some reviewers identifying a few dull moments and criticising it’s smooth and occasionally overproduced sound. However other reviewers found it to be filled with gems and noted a richness and detail that would go unmatched in the decade to follow. Regardless of critical opinion, Bridge Over Troubled Water was a massive hit with fans. In its first three weeks, the album sold 1.7 million copies in the US alone. It would soon reach number one on the Billboard 200 Charts, where it would stay for 10 weeks, a record at the time. It would also top charts in over 10 countries, including the UK, Australia and Canada, going on to sell around 25 million copies worldwide, making it one of the most successful albums of the 1970s, further evidenced by its six Grammy Awards that year.

Despite the immense success of Bridge Over Troubled Water, a rift that had been brewing between its two creators continued to grow, and the pair made the decision to go their seperate ways after the album with Simon focusing on solo material and Garfunkel continuing his acting career. They have reunited several times over the years but their relationship has remained contentious, and following Simon’s retirement from touring in 2018, another reunion looks unlikely.