Peter Sellers enjoyed doing spoken word covers of songs by The Beatles as performed by different characters. These included “A Hard Day’s Night” done as Laurence Olivier’s Richard III, and “She Loves You” as an Irishman (mildly NSFW), a cockney, an upper class British twit, a possibly particular German, and most wonderfully; Dr Strangelove. [via]
posted by quin on Feb 15, 2012 - 22 comments

Over the past 13 years, Berlin resident Klaus Beyer has translated the Beatles' entire oeuvre into German, recording the translated songs in his home studio and releasing them on CDs with titles like Gummi Seele, Kloster strasse and Das Gelbe Underwasserboot, even recreating the cover artwork of the originals. [more inside]
posted by acb on Sep 1, 2011 - 24 comments

Abbey Road has a webcam, you normally don't have to wait long to see someone taking a version of that photo. (previous)
posted by fearfulsymmetry on May 18, 2011 - 72 comments

The Lord of the Rings wasn't the only movie featuring The Beatles that never happened. Very early in their career, the group signed a three-movie deal with United Artists as a way to get increased publicity, with A Hard Day's Night (1964) and Help! (1965) being completed in short time. An early contender for their third film was a western comedy. Going quite a different direction was a "morbid and dull" work called Up Against It, seen by others as dated satire that read "like a rather mediocre early [Monty] Python movie." Continue on in for more ephemera from other rejected film projects by The Beatles. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief on Jan 22, 2011 - 11 comments

The Beatles' Lord of the Rings. Yes, that CNN article dates back to 2002, but Superpunch has recently had a contest to design posters for the film-that-never-happened (including a fake Wikipedia page for the film) and someone has written a fictional account of a fan discussing the film-that-never-happened with Paul McCartney, as if it had actually been made.
posted by crossoverman on Jan 8, 2011 - 35 comments

The Beatles Complete on Ukulele is a surreal collaboration between Roger and Dave, some ukuleles, 185 other artists (many yet unknown!), and The Beatles. New tune and essay every Tuesday through July 2012.
posted by carsonb on May 24, 2010 - 19 comments

Showing Off is a series of videos, audio clips and articles in which noted music journalist and Frankie Goes to Hollywood mastermind Paul Morley explores various facets of music. Each month has a theme, [warning: most links have autoplaying video] Michael Jackson, Kraftwerk, classical music, disco, The Beatles, folk music, The X Factor, the Noughties, the next big thing, UK hip hop, jazz, and dance. Here is some of what's on offer: MeFi faves Dan Le Sac and Scroobius Pip on hip hop, These New Puritans' Jack Barnett, Johnny Marr on folk (parts 1, 2), but isn't all just interviews, there are also a lot of performances, e.g. Michael Nyman and David McAlmont, Badly Drawn Boy, Susanna Wallumrød covers Thin Lizzy's Jailbreak, and Cornershop cover Norwegian Wood.
posted by Kattullus on Apr 26, 2010 - 8 comments

Music! - A 1968 documentary by the National Music Council of Great Britain, featuring folk singing, The Beatles, and even early electronic music produced by tape splicing. Part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5.
posted by Artw on Mar 7, 2010 - 8 comments

All you need is love - from 156 countries, all at the same time. Join in the chorus; each video leads to a 5-cent donation from Starbucks to the RED Global Fund for AIDS in Africa.
posted by divabat on Jan 2, 2010 - 44 comments

The Beatles never broke up.
posted by klangklangston on Nov 9, 2009 - 111 comments

Zombies Vs Beatles (slyt)
posted by Artw on Sep 12, 2009 - 30 comments

The White album turns 40.
posted by sleepy pete on Nov 21, 2008 - 112 comments

Shatner [QuickTime]
posted by Pretty_Generic on May 13, 2005 - 24 comments

Apple Corps Ltd. sues Apple Computers over AppleMusic. "When it first happened with the iPod, we said, "What could they be thinking?" said a Beatles legal insider, who agreed that posters announcing the iPod from "AppleMusic" were among the most egregious violations. "They knew we had the agreement, and that we'd won a lot of money from them already."
posted by riffola on Sep 11, 2003 - 31 comments

Should the Beatles have released the White Album as a single album? The Beatles producer, George Martin, thought so. Other music critics have come up with their own single-album versions. And now there's an applet where you can make your own version of the abridged White Album.
posted by jonp72 on Apr 22, 2003 - 36 comments

Beatles wanted to do Lord of the Rings film in 1960s John was to play Gollum; Paul would be Frodo; George would play Gandalf; and Ringo would play Sam.
posted by andrewraff on Mar 29, 2002 - 21 comments

Pre-Fab George. In a fascinating sidelight, it turns out George Harrison and his brother Pete actually visited the U.S. for a couple of weeks in 1963, visiting George's sister, who lived in a small town in rural southern Illinois. Lots of history was made there: He bought the album containing the original version of "Got My Mind Set On You," which he would cover 25 years later; he bought his first Rickenbacker guitar, the sound of which would change rock music, and little WFRX, West Frankfort, became the first U.S. radio station to play the Beatles, thanks to lobbying by George and his sister. Not to mention he played a nearby VFW dance, sitting in with local rockers the Four Vests. There's a Tom Hanks movie in here somewhere. Not to mention the obligatory "George Slept Here" bed and breakfast.
posted by luser on Dec 3, 2001 - 5 comments

The Beatles are back and now online! Check out their new site for their new compliation CD 1
P.S: The site layout was made on Mac with BBEdit 5.0
posted by riffola on Nov 13, 2000 - 14 comments