The Beatles!: (From left) Paul McCartney, George Harrison, John Lennon and Ringo Starr (in the back, on the drums) performing on the Ed Sullivan Show in New York in 1964.
THE Beatles, who rose to prominence in the 1960s captured the entire world with their brand of music.
By far, The Beatles have influenced generations through their music and connected people from across the globe through their massive hits.
But were all four members of The Beatles able to read or write sheet music? Ever wondered if they weren’t able to do so?
Is this true?
Verdict:
TRUE
The Beatles, who are John Lennon (the late), Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison, could not read music.
In a 1980 interview with Playboy magazine, John Lennon was quoted saying: "None of us could read music, none of us could write it.
"But as pure musicians, as inspired humans to make the noise, they (Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr) are as good as anybody," said Lennon.
McCartney on the other hand was quoted as saying, "Because I don’t read music, I didn’t know what the melody that went with it was."
He explained his music limitations in an interview in the latest iHeart Podcast series titled; McCartney: A Life In Lyrics, The Beatles’ where he explained the root of the song Golden Slumbers.
"I always look in a piano bench seat because people always have sheet music in there – they always used to, definitely," McCartney was quoted in the podcast interview.
"Now, sometimes they can be empty, but I always look to see. This time it was either in the piano seat or it might have been up on the music stand, it was this song "Golden Slumbers."
In 1918, Peter Warlock wrote the original Golden Slumbers to accompany a 17th poem called Cradle Song by Thomas Dekker from the 1603 comedy Patient Grissel.
His poem would go on to inspire McCartney. "Golden slumbers fill your eyes / Smiles await you when you rise / Sleep, pretty baby, do not cry / And I will sing a lullaby – that chorus that I've used was literally the lyrics to an old Victorian song," admitted McCartney.
When asked by the interviewer Paul Muldoon if it was an early version of sampling, McCartney joked saying, "Well it's called stealing. But because I don't read music, I didn't know what the melody that went with it was.
"So I put my own melody to it and just took these words.
"It turned out to be quite soulful," McCartney said. "I think that's what attracted me to those lyrics in the first place. It's like consoling a baby or reading kids a bedtime story.
"I find there's something very deep in that. Very human and international – it strikes a chord with me."
References:
1. https://www.musicradar.com/
3. https://www.starsinsider.com/
