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.

On this day in 1968, Aretha Franklin earned her first Grammy for Respect

Respect was originally recorded by Otis Redding in 1965, though it was brought to him by a friend and the origins of its writing remain uncertain. Appearing on album Otis Blue, the song was a huge hit for Redding, peaking at number 35 on the Billboard Singles Chart.

Aretha heard the song and refashioned it to her own style, adding several phrases and background vocals from her sisters Carolyn and Erma. On Valentines Day of 1967, she sat down at her piano to record the song. Legendary recording engineer Tom Dowd recalls being blown away by the sisters’ addition of the phrase “sock it to me” and Aretha’s idea to add the spelling out “R-E-S-P-E-C-T” to the chorus. The song was instantly transformed to a declaration from a strong, independent woman, demanding respect from her partner, and soon became a much bigger hit than Redding’s version, hitting number one on the Billboard Charts.

An unexpected outcome of the song was its transformation to an anthem for civil rights and feminism. Throughout 1967, racial unrest was gripping many American cities, culminating in Detroit’s race riots in July. Respect became an anthem for the movement, as people of colour demanded respect, justice, and equality from the country. It also caught on amongst feminisms, as her version connected with women demanding respect from men in the workplace, the street and at home.

The song’s popularity only surged with these movements, and she earned three Grammy nominations in Best Female Rhythm and Blues Solo Vocal Recording, Best Rhythm and Blues Recording and Best Female Vocal Performance, taking home the Best Female Rhythm and Blues Solo Vocal Recording and Best Rhythm and Blues Recording. These would be Franklin’s first Grammy wins, but certainly not the last, as earned another 18 wins from an astounding 44 nominations. She also earned a Legend Award and a Lifetime Achievement Award later in her career. Five of her recordings are also in the Grammy Hall of Fame, including Respect. The song has also kept its political importance, serving as an anthem for the recent “MeToo” and “Black Lives Matter” movements, and it will undoubtedly continue being a powerful song for future movements.

On this day in 1963, The Beatles form their publishing company, Northern Songs Ltd.

The idea for the company came about after George Martin expressed his disappointment with EMI’s efforts to promote Love Me Do to Brian Epstein. Martin told Epstein about three publishers he knew of, which led him to Dick James, a  former singer who had gotten into publishing after his retirement from performing in 1958. Epstein showed up at James’ office with a copy of Please Please Me and asked him to prove his publishing ability. James called Philip Jones, the producer of television show Thank Your Lucky Stars and played the song for him over the phone, calling it a “guaranteed future hit”. Jones liked the song and booked a spot on the show for the band, impressing Epstein immediately.

James suggested to Epstein that they and the band should form their own publishing company, to be called Northern Songs, believing it would be more profitable in the long run. McCartney and Lennon agreed and were given 20 per cent of shares each, while Epstein had 10 and James and his partner Charles Silver kept 50. George Martin was also offered shares but turned them down, citing a conflict of interest with his deal with EMI. George Harrison and Ringo Starr would each start their own companies further on in the late 1960’s. In 1965, Northern Songs became a public company to alleviate tax burdens, and was immediately successful on the market, despite financial analysts predictions that it would fail. 

Over the next several decades, ownership of Northern Songs would change several times and cause a lot of friction between shareholders. In 1967, James and Silver sold their shares to Associated Television or ATV without notice, causing Lennon and McCartney to enter a bidding war with the company to gain control of their catalog, which they ultimately lost. In the late 1970’s ATV started to experience financial difficulties, and McCartney again tried to buy out the company, losing to Australian businessman Robert Holmes à Court. When Paul McCartney and  Michael Jackson collaborated in the early 1980’s McCartney would tell Jackson about the struggles with the publishing company, peaking Jackson’s interest. In 1985 Jackson would become the final owner of the company until his catalog was merged with Sony, resulting in the final dissolution of Northern Songs.

Though several Beatles had attempted to buy back the company and get their music back over the years, it took until 2017 for Paul McCartney to regain control of the catalog, after reaching a settlement with Sony.