Almost two decades before achieving worldwide status as ‘the new Hitler’ with the slaughter of civilians in neighboring Ukraine, Vladamir Putin had an interesting meeting with Paul McCartney.
The world-famous musician was invited by Putin back in 2003 to perform in Moscow’s Red Square on May 24th; an invitation McCartney accepted.
According to the BBC’s reporting of that day, “McCartney and his wife Heather took tea in the Kremlin with President Putin.”
Russian musician Sasha Lipnitsky said that The Beatles were the ‘first hole in the iron curtain.’
Putin, who was a KGB agent in east Berlin when The Beatles were top of the charts around the world, told McCartney that The Beatles had been ‘a breath of fresh air’ during Soviet times even though it was officially ‘considered propaganda of an alien ideology.’
While The Beatles’ music was not banned by the Communist regime, Putin revealed, he did comment to McCartney: “the fact that you were not allowed to play in Red Square in the 1980s says a lot.”
Afterwards, McCartney said he gave a private performance of The Beatles’ song “Let It Be” for Putin. (He probably wouldn’t do that today even though Putin should just ‘let it be’)
In the former Soviet Union, when Western music was banned and music, in general, was heavily regulated, Russians would go to extreme lengths to get their hands on records that were cleverly copied onto x-ray films.
In 2013, McCartney openly appealed to Putin to release six Brits who were imprisoned in Russia for taking part in a Greenpeace demonstration. Watch that report on YouTube.
After a 32-year legal dispute between The Beatles‘ Apple Records and the computer giant, Apple Inc., the two sides have finally resolved all issues regarding the use of the name Apple. As a result of this new settlement, officially announced yesterday, The Beatles entire catalog will now be available on iTunes.
The news would have had a much bigger impact a couple of years ago, because as The Grateful Dead lyricist John Perry Barlow told The New York Times: “Anybody that hasn’t managed to come up with a digitized version of the Beatles’ songs by now never liked the Beatles.” Well, that’s a bit strong, but the point is taken.
Ringo Star, one of two Beatles still alive, said on word of the news: “I am particularly glad to no longer be asked when the Beatles are coming to iTunes.” And Yoko Ono, the widow of the late John Lennon (who was assassinated in December, 1980), said she was glad the settlement happened during “John’s 70th birthday year.” (see our interview with Ono last spring).
But not everyone is trumpeting the news; Stereogum wrote: “For some it will be a moment of arrival and dominance for the digital format and the iTunes store; for most, though, this news is a snore.”
A press release from Apple corp. states that starting Tuesday, all of The Beatles’ original 13 albums are being sold as a special digital Beatles Boxed Set for $149, which includes the Live At Washington Coliseum (1964), an iTunes exclusive. The deal also comes right in time for the Christmas holiday shopping season.
In apparent reaction to the news, Amazon has slashed the price of The Beatles Stereo Box Set (CD-only) from $259.98 to $129.99.
All Things Digital is reporting that the deal that gives Apple Inc. exclusive rights to sell The Beatles digital catalog will extend through the end of 2011.
“We Can Work It Out” – The Beatles from Rubber Soul (1966)
A brilliant musician. One of music’s most genius songwriters ever. An activist for peace. A husband and a father.
Tomorrow, Oct. 9th, John Lennon would have been 70 years old. Unfortunately, Lennon’s family, and the world, were robbed of getting to see him grow old. The way he died, 30 years ago this December, was a shock to the world – murdered outside his home in NYC by a deranged fan.
During the second half of the 1970’s, Lennon took a break from recording, spending most of his time raising his son Sean, and taking his yacht on voyages to the south Atlantic. In 1980, Lennon returned with a new album, Double Fantasy, that he wrote and recorded with Yoko Ono (see IRC’s interview with Yoko earlier this year).
In the weeks following his tragic death, Lennon’s Double Fantasy went on to become a number one album with songs like “(Just Like) Starting Over”, “Woman” and “Beautiful Boy”. In the days before Double Fantasy was officially released, Lennon was enjoying the early buzz and positive reviews from deejays, fans and critics. But also during this time, his assassin, Mark David Chapman, was in New York, stalking Lennon, and waiting outside the Dakota where John, Yoko and Sean lived, with a plan to carry out a violent murder that shocked the world. On December 8, 1980, as Lennon returned to the Dakota following a radio interview about the release of his new album, Chapman emerged from the dark, cold night, walked up from behind, and shot John Lennon five times.
But his shortened life was not wasted; he left us with volumes of wonderful music, a significant contribution to the cause of world peace, and even drawings, paintings, books and film. Putting aside for a moment the inarguable contributions of the other Beatles, especially, of course, the second half of the celebrated Lennon-McCartney songwriting duo, Paul McCartney, no other single musician (with the exception of Bob Dylan) in the annuals of modern popular music wrote and recorded as many memorable, successful and iconic songs as Lennon – songs that are recognized and enjoyed by millions of people worldwide to this day.
John & Yoko's classic LP, Double Fantasy, Remastered, only $12.99
In addition to the dozens and dozens of songs Lennon wrote with McCartney during The Beatles’ reign of the pop music world for a solid seven years, Lennon is revered for timeless songs like “Give Peace A Chance”, “Imagine” and “Happy Xmas (War is Over)”.
While his life ended way too soon, John Lennon still lives on in the hearts of millions, if not billions, of people from every corner of the earth. His music is as relevant and timeless today as it was decades ago.
One can only imagine what the world would be today, and what music Lennon would have produced over the past three decades, had he been alive to celebrate his 70th birthday. Thank you for all the magnificent music that will live on forever.
On November 12th, the 30th Annual John Lennon Tribute will take place at New York’s Beacon Theater, and feature performances from artists like Jackson Browne, Patti Smith and Cyndi Lauper. Proceeds from the tribute show will benefit the Playing for Change Foundation, an organization whose mission is to promote peace around the world.
Limited Time Discount at Amazon for Lennon’s Signature Box collection
If you are a serious John Lennon fan, we propose that you may wish to grab your box set of John Lennon’s remastered solo albums. The sound quality is freaking amazing. And, for full disclosure, if you buy Signature Box via this website, we get a little bit of coin from it to help us pay for web hosting fees.
Limited Time Discount at Amazon for Lennon’s Signature Box collection