On this day in 1967, The Beatles announced their song “Yesterday” was one of the most covered song in history

“Yesterday”, originally recorded in June of 1965 and then released in August on the album Help! The song was written by Paul McCartney and had been worked on for almost year before its release. It became an immediate hit and soon rose to number one on the Billboard charts.

Within two years, the band made the statement that “Yesterday” had been covered over 446 times since its release. Numerous other artists had claimed they wished they wrote the song, such as Chuck Berry. On the other hand, Bob Dylan notoriously dislike the song, claiming “If you go into the Library of Congress, you can find a lot better than that.” 

“Yesterday” was then entered into the book of Guiness World Records stating that the song had been covered over 1,600 times by January of 1986. The current number of covers is unknown but is estimated to be over 4,000.

ALSO ON THIS DAY, THE BEATLES WERE BUSY RECORDING THE LEAD AND BACKING VOCALS FOR “SGT. PEPPER’S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND”

The album of the same title was a concept proposed by McCartney, whose idea was to create a fictitious band to enable the band to drastically change their sound. The title song, recorded on February 1st and 2nd, 1967, is in the vein of psychedelic hard rock. This style was apparently inspired by Cream guitarist Jimi Hendrix, who McCartney had seen perform only two nights earlier. Their take on his style must have impressed Hendrix, as he opened with “Pepper” at a live show in London just two days after the albums release (see the below video).

The song itself is largely a Paul McCartney composition although all of the members of the band played their parts in its recording. The entire album is considered very experimental, both in terms of instruments and the technology used to record and edit them. It is also the first pop album to be mixed without the customary gaps between songs, making the album feel more like a flowing live performance.

“Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” suffered from some poor reviews due to it’s drastic change in the band’s sound and lack of airtime due to it’s numerous alleged references to drug-taking, despite its immediate commercial success, debuting at number 1 in the uk. Later however, the album racked up a huge number of positive reviews and was lauded as one of the Beatles best albums and one of the best albums in the psychedelic genre. Other reviews praise it for it’s eclectic list of different sounds and genres, such as rock and roll, big band, circus, piano jazz, blues and both Indian and Western classical styles. It is now remembered fondly in articles alongside terms like revolutionary, iconic and masterpiece.

TODAY MARKS A SIGNIFICANT DAY IN THE CAREER AND THE LIFE OF JOHN LENNON, AS THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE DAY HE FIRST MET YOKO ONO

In 1966, Lennon decided to visit the Indica Gallery in London, where Ono was preparing a conceptual art exhibit. Lennon was reportedly unimpressed initially with the exhibits but soon found some pieces to his liking, including a ladder with a spyglass at the top. When looking through the spyglass, Lennon saw the word “YES” which he liked due to its positivity – most concept art he had encountered had been “anti” everything.

Lennon also became intrigued with a piece by Ono called Hammer a Nail where viewers would each hammer a nail into a board, thus creating the art piece. Lennon asked to hammer a nail but his request was initially refused by Ono as the exhibition had yet to open. Gallery owner John Dunbar, who introduced the two, was shocked by this and had to explain who Lennon and the Beatles were, after which Ono relented, on the condition he pay five shillings, to which Lennon replied, “I’ll give you an imaginary five shillings and hammer an imaginary nail in.”

The couples first encounter set a precedent for the rest of their relationship, which was tumultuous, creative and long. The pair worked together for the rest of Lennon’s life on music, art, poetry, writing and numerous other concepts, including the War Is Over! campaign.

On this day in 1966, Jimi Hendrix arrived in the UK

Brought over by Animals great and new manager Chas Chandler, the group arrived in London in the early hours of the morning, his bags containing a change of clothes, pink plastic curlers, soap, acne cream, a toothbrush and his Fender Stratocaster. The guitar was carried through the airport by a road manager from the Animals named Terry McVay as they didn’t want anyone to know that Jimi was in the UK to work.

One of Hendrix’s first stops once arriving in London was to change his legal name from James to Jimi, before traveling to various jam sessions to find new musicians for the Jimi Hendrix Experience. He went on to play at a nightclub that evening to an amazed audience. Hendrix also met his girlfriend of the next three years at that event.

The UK trip lasted for 9 months and catapulted the group’s careers into superstardom, before returning home to perform at the Monterey International Pop Festival.

On this day in 1966, John Lennon’s infamous comments on Christianity were first published

London’s Evening Standard planned a weekly series called “How Does a Beatle Live?” to be written by journalist Maureen Cleave who was close to and respected by the band. Earlier in their career, Cleave had described them as “the darlings of Merseyside” and accompanied the group on their first trip to the US.

Lennon’s interview was held in February at his home in Weybridge, Surrey. The article portrayed him as searching for meaning in life, and it was mentioned Lennon was reading a lot about religion. It was then that Lennon was quoted as saying “Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn’t argue about that; I’m right and I’ll be proved right. We’re more popular than Jesus now; I don’t know which will go first – rock ‘n’ roll or Christianity.”

The Evening Standard published the article on the 4th March and the reaction was much delayed. The UK had no response the article, and it was only after being published in the US in July that controversy was sparked. Radio stations around the States then planned a ban on the groups records. Christian fans began burning records and holding demonstrations against the band. Lennon soon after said that his comments were misconstrued and apologised. The controversy played a big part in the bands decision to stop touring.

On this day in 1965, The Beatles kicked off what would be their last tour of the UK

Coinciding with the release of their studio album Rubber Soul, the band set off on a tour of 18 shows across 9 venues. Whereas the group had been playing in arenas earlier in the year during their US tour, this tour was set to be played in theatres and cinemas.

The opening show took place in Glasgow, and the tour continued through Scotland, England and Wales. On their way to Scotland for the first show, one of George Harrison’s guitars was destroyed when it fell out of the groups car and into the path of a truck, leaving him with only two guitars for the tour.

Some promotors reported a less wild fan reaction than in previous years, partly due to road closures around the venue by a heavy police presence, ensuring only ticket holders made it to the shows. Regardless, the shows were extremely popular with over 25,000 people vying for the 5000 available tickets.

ON THIS DAY IN 1965, THE BEATLES COLLECTED THEIR MBES FROM BUCKINGHAM PALACE

The group arrived in Lennon’s Rolls-Royce to a crowd of around 4,000 screaming fans held back by police. All four members received the award, although John Lennon returned his in 1969, alongside a note reading “Your Majesty, I am returning my MBE as a protest against Britain’s involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra thing, against our support of America in Vietnam and against ‘Cold Turkey’ slipping down the charts. With love, John Lennon of Bag”. Apparently, Lennon found the whole incident to be bizarre and amusing, claiming to not be a fan of the Royal Family.

The rest of the group seemed happy enough with their medals as they gave a cheerful press conference outside of the palace. All of the group seemed a bit bewildered and awestruck by the event, all filled with praise for Her Majesty, again except from Lennon who was more flippant, referring to the queen as “like a mum” and “warm and sweet” and joking about the early hour of the ceremony.

The Queen herself was reportedly pleased to present the awards, despite seeming to know very little about the group, asking if Ringo Starr had been the one to form the band. Starr responded by pointing to the others and claiming it was their idea.

On this day in 1965, Bob Dylan introduced his new band at Carnegie Hall

Just 10 weeks after making history with his infamous transition to electric guitar, Dylan decided to hire a new group to be his backing band. Blues singer John Hammond Jr. recommended the Hawks, the band that had been working alongside Ronnie Hawkins until they split in late 1963. Hawkins went on to claim in an interview that “Bob Dylan stole my band!”.

After seeing the band perform, Dylan invited drummer Levon Helm and guitarist Robbie Robertson to join his band. Helm recalls Dylan phoning him and asking “Well, um… uh, how’d ya like to play the Hollywood Bowl”. After two shows, Helm and Robertson told Dylan of their loyalty to the other Hawks and explained they would not continue without them. The other members Rick Danko, Garth Hudson and Richard Manuel then joined the group that would be renamed from the Hawks to The Band.

At the show at Carnegie Hall, Dylan took the stage and introduced his new band. Though at the time the group received much scrutiny and heckling from folk music purists, The Band continued to perform with Dylan until their dissolution in 1975. Since then, various controversies about the band have come up, mostly a lasting disagreement between Robertson and the other members who allege that he stole credit for a number of songs where he is listed as writer or co-writer and as a result receives a majority of the royalties generated from the music. The other members claim the songs were created in collaboration with all members.

There are now numerous films and documentaries covering the story and the controversies of The Band, as well as books and interviews from the original members. Despite their disagreements, The Band remains one of the most well-known and highly renowned musical groups of the era.

ON THIS DAY IN 1965, BOB DYLAN RELEASED ONE OF HIS MOST SUCCESSFUL ALBUMS, “HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED”

Dylan’s 6th album, Highway 61 Revisited is considered a departure for the singer-songwriter, as until this point, much of his work had been acoustic, whereas this album drew upon rock musicians for the backing tracks of almost every song.

Highway 61 itself is a stretch of road that Dylan felt a connection to, stating the road “begins about where I began. I always felt like I’d started on it, always had been on it and could go anywhere, even down in to the deep Delta country. It was the same road, full of the same contradictions, the same one-horse towns, the same spiritual ancestors … It was my place in the universe, always felt like it was in my blood.” The highway passes the homes and birthplaces of many significant musicians and a number of stories about blues musicians originated there. It has been speculated this is the reason for the albums title, as much of the music is heavyily blues influenced.

The album spawned a wave of positive critiques almost immediately, and it’s legacy has continued. Numerous awards have been given both to the album and it’s standout single, “Like a Rolling Stone”, which finished at number one on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of “500 Greatest Songs of All Time.”

On this day in 1965, a meeting of musical legends took place as The Beatles were introduced to Elvis Presley

Lennon and McCartney idolised Presley and as their careers took off it was natural for the artists to meet. The group was invited to Elvis’ lavish home, where they recall him being the first person they’d met with a television remote.

As The Beatles arrived at the Presley home, they discovered thousands of fans had found about the meeting and arrived to witness the meeting. The group entered the home and reportedly sat on the floor around Elvis, gaping and staring at him, to which he replied “Well, what the hell, if you guys aren’t going to talk to me I’m going to my bedroom”, a joke that broke the ice and started the conversation between the artists.

The group remembers that after a while, the group gathered around a silent tv to play some music, with the exception of Ringo Starr who had no drums to use. From there, the group jammed and chatted until around 2am when The Beatles left. Both Elvis and The Beatles had nothing but nice things to say about one another after the meeting, although it was the last time many of them met with Presley.