They became the most commercially successful bands in the history of recoded music, but there are still lots of interesting tidbits about The Beatles that a lot of people don’t know. Here are some little-known facts about The Fab Four. You never know when trivia about the Beatles can come in handy.
Yesterday was originally called Scrambled Eggs: When Paul McCartney was composing the song, the melody came first. It’s been said that he thought it was something he’d heard before since the melody seemed so familiar. He couldn’t find the words for it immediately, so he started singing, "Scrambled Eggs. baby. I love Scrambled Eggs." It’s a good thing he changed the lyrics or else "Yesterday" may not have become Vladimir Putin’s favorite Beatles song.
The origins of Strawberry Fields Forever: After his parents abandoned him, John Lennon spent his early years living with his aunt and uncle.The Beatles song, Strawberry Fields Forever, is named after the garden behind the orphanage next to their home.
Ringo’s real name is Richard Starkey: Ringo’s friends started calling him Rings because of his penchant for wearing lots of them on his fingers. It’s been said that he changed it to Ringo because that had more of a cowboy "ring" to it.
George Harrison survived a brutal stabbing: One fateful night in 1999, whilst George and his wife were in his home sleeping, a man named Michael Abram broke into his home. While his wife called the authorities, The Beatles’ lead guitarist left his bedroom to confront the intruder. Abram stabbed him seven times and punctured his lung. George probably would have died from the encounter if not for the quick intervention of his wife, who hit the assailant with a fire poker. Abrams was arrested and later claimed that God had told him that he needed to kill George. He was released after 19 months.
The Beatles wanted to star in the Lord of the Rings: The Tolkien trilogy was very popular during the hippy movement of the 1960s and caught the Beatles’ attention. When the rights to the books were sold to United Artists, the Beatles optioned to develop them into feature-length films. They wanted Stanley Kubrick to direct the trilogy but he turned them down. He thought that the scope and grandeur of the books were impossible to translate to film. Several years and lots of advancements in CGI later, director Peter Jackson successfully proved Kubrick wrong.
Two Beatles were deported from Germany for burning condoms: Before the Beatles really made it big, Paul McCartney and former Beatles drummer, Pete Best, were kicked out of Germany for burning condoms. You may think that this was some act of youthful revolution, but Paul and Pete were just burning the condoms for light in their van. They were charged for arson. If you’re wondering, the condoms were unused.
They were back up singers to other legends: Two Beatles, Paul McCartney and John Lennon, provided backup vocals to the Rolling Stones on their song, We Love You.
The real meaning behind Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds: Many have attributed the inspiration for this song to the hallucinogenic drug, LSD. With lyrics like "marmalade skies" and "kaleidoscope eyes," it’s easy to think that this song has everything to do with hard drugs. But the origins of the song are far more innocent. When his son was four years old, John Lennon came home to find him drawing a picture of a little girl. On top of the drawing was scrawled: "Lucy in the sky with Diamonds." John seized on the inspiration and created the song that would become a hallmark of the Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album.
John Lennon and the number nine: The number 9 was an almost omnipresent feature in John Lennon’s life. He was born on October 9th and his son, Julian was born on the same date. He released his ninth studio album on September 9th and it peaked at number 9 on the charts. This eerie connection to the number nine extended to the end of his life as well. John was killed on the early morning of December 9th in 1980.
A year before they became famous, The Beatles were rejected by a record company: Let this be an inspiration to all you struggling musicians out there. The Beatles were rejected and look what happened to them. In 1961, the Fab Four prepared tracks for Decca Studios to review. The company passed on The Fab Four, however. The record exec said that guitar groups were out-of-style and that George, Paul, Ringo and John would never have a future in the music industry. The studio added a local group called the Tremoles to their roster instead. Over 50 years later this is still considered one of the worst decisions in music history.
The Beatles became legends but they started off as four young guys from Liverpool with a dream. These facts give us a better insight into these young men who became kings of music.
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