Hey, I need plenty of stuff pointed out to me about this topic, because I'm way behind.

And this is where it gets fuzzy. Apple is not a publishing company, but is a recording label. Songs that were recorded and released on Apple Records were still published under either Northern Songs, MACLEN Music, or sometimes both.

The Beatles originally recorded with EMI/Capitol Records and published/copyrighted under Dick James or MACLEN Music (a combination of McCartney-Lennon). Then, when the EMI/Capitol contract expired in 1967, they formed their own label, Apple Records. At about this same time, they turned over rights (and I'm still not sure if this is copyrights or publishing rights, which are not always the same thing) to Northern Songs.

The first Beatles song recorded and released on the Apple label was the single "Hey Jude" in 1968.

Usually, the only time you'll see a publishing or copyrighting company name on an album is if the lyrics are printed. Abbey Road, for example, makes no mention of MACLEN or Northern Songs. To make things more confusing, the master recordings are owned by several separate entities (including George Martin), and the Beatles were originally managed by their manager Brian Epstein's company, NEMS Enterprises, which wound up getting sued by the Beatles for mismanagement of funds.

For all of these reasons, when somebody asks me who owns the Beatles songs, I usually shrug and say, "I don't know," and I think to myself, "It all depends on what you mean by 'songs.' Do you mean copyrights, publishing rights, recording rights, performance rights, or licensing rights?"

The last three years of the Beatles existence just goes to show what happens when peace, love, and understanding starts bouncing checks.

I gotta agree that Lennon is turning in his grave about the whole ordeal...
In my opinion Paul and Yoko are a bit nutty over this thing also, but at least Yoko's side of the story it consistent... According to John and Paul's agreement, John puts Paul's name on Give Peace a Chance and Paul puts John's name on his solo album. Or am I misunderstanding their agreement?

As far as the whole legal issue goes... BLEH!
(best answer ever)

Thanks for the clarification. Now I'm just as confused as you. I always thought (untill now) that Jacko only owned the earlier stuff.



That's the funniest thing I have read in quite some time.

this is all super entertaining for me. having never really been into the beatles, my g/f made me get the beatles anthology on my netflix acct. so now i'm really hooked and just coming off the buzz of learning so much from the dvds. keep the questions and factoids coming. and if i can think of a question, i'll definitely ask.

No, you're not misunderstanding it. That's the way I see it, too. And McCartney's first solo album is really the heart of the Paul and John feud. Prior to that album, all three of the other Beatles walked out and "quit" at some point, and it was always, always, always Paul that pep-talked them back into the group. So when Paul released his solo album without their knowledge and quit the group (being the only one of them to file for dissolution in court), it was a sizeable public slap.

Yet, to make matters worse, he released the solo album in April of 1970, less than one month BEFORE the release of the last Beatles album, "Let It Be." It was an obvious example of him trying to undercut the Beatles' publicity.

And then the final topper was that he'd left John's name off the songs, many of which were rehearsed and rehashed by all of the Beatles while filming "Let It Be," even though John stuck to the agreement and put Paul's name on "Give Peace a Chance."

I remember seeing an interview with Ringo where he said that John, George, and Ringo secretly referred to Paul as "Boogaloo," and that's the source of the title of one of Ringo's solo hits, "Back Off Boogaloo."

By the way, the "Let It Be" film is supposed to be released on DVD this year (if not already), and I haven't seen it in its entirety in over 20 years. It is a full documentation of the breakup and decomposition of a supergroup.

The three scenes that still stick out in my mind are as follows:
1) Paul trying to tell George how he wants a certain guitar solo played. This would be the exact same George who's been playing Beatles guitar solos since 1957 perfectly fine on his own. George eventually loses his cool in a Hare Krishna kind of way, and retorts, "I'll play whatever you want, and if you don't want me to play, I won't play at all."

2) The rooftop recordings, where all these staid, stoic Londoners are trying to go about their daily business while live Beatles music is sailing all around them downtown.

3) George lovingly and patiently sitting at the piano with Ringo, helping him compose "Octopus's Garden."

Can't wait to own it. I've never seen it in its entirety.

The memories are flooding back now. More great scenes include:

* The horrible mistake of allowing road manager Mal Evans to play the "hammer" on "Maxwell's Silver Hammer," in which he NEVER gets it right. All he has to do is play CLANG CLANG, by God, and he screws it up every damn time. It's hilarious.

* Jamming with keyboardist Billy Preston. Whenever the Beatles had a guest artist sitting in with them in the studio, they were on their happiest, best behavior, and the sessions with Billy Preston are phenomenal.

* "Long and Winding Road." Prior to the release of "Anthology" and "Let It Be...Naked," this was the ONLY place to hear the raw, unmixed version of this beautiful song.

* Overhead ceiling shots of John and Paul jamming while seated.

* Paul's impromptu Elvis-style version of "Two of Us."

I have a terrible, zillionth-generation copy on VHS. It'd be nice to see the real thing. How fascinating that what was supposed to be a documentary of a band recording an album and moving on to a tour wound up becoming a documentary of a band falling apart.

Also, I've always wondered about the material from that film that wound up on the cutting room floor. Might there be a "Let It Be" outtakes coming one day, similar to "Anthology?"

Ok, I've got a few questions about Paul's violin bass:

1) What is the make and model?
2) He has a few of these, but where and when did he aquire his first (original)?
3) How many basses were made _exactly_ like the original?

name some more "Apple" bands

Gogogo has a stumper, here. As I said, the rules of the challenge force me to answer from memory without Internet aids. It would be so easy to look all this up, but no fun, either.

I *know* that the bass is a Hoffner, but that's it. My *guess* is that the first one was bought in Hamburg in '59 or so when the Beatles played the strip clubs there.

When I saw McCartney in Atlanta in 2002, he played a Hoffner bass, of course, and he told a story to the audience about the scratches on it. Early in the Beatles' career, he taped a set list to the body of the Hoffner, and it scratched the finish when he pulled it off. Now, each Hoffner he buys is scratched in the same place to make it a more authentic-looking replica.

I don't have any idea how many there are, but I'd love to know where the original one is.

Do you mean we need more questions on TFP about Apple bands, or the world in general needs more Apple bands?

How about this instead? In addition to your stumper questions to me, I'll serve up a few big fat hanging curves right over the plate and let everybody play home-run derby.

Feel free to look these up and see who's the first to get them all correct. And keep posting your stumpers to me in the meantime.

1) In “Paperback Writer,” which London newspaper is mentioned?

2) Which Beatles song begins with “Try to see it my way?”

3) What was the Beatles' last No. 1 song in the US?

4) Which Beatles hit contains the line, “When I was younger, so much younger than today?”

5) Which Beatles song begins with, “If there’s anything that you want?”

I know the great James Taylor was signed to Apple by Paul, and that Fire and Rain is about the Beatles breakup and Apple.

I remember in the 80's watching the "Today" show before school. They had on some guy that wrote a Beatles book and they asked him if any of the beatles helped colloborate.

I will never forget his reply, because it was very true.

His reply was this, "Well, it's hard to truly know what went on between the 4. John, of course is dead, Ringo was so drunk it was all a haze to him, Paul changes his stories like he changes his socks so he's very unreliable. The only one that could ever truly tell us what happened between the 4 is George, and he won't say anything. I guess they didn't call him the quiet Beatle for nothing."

Ya know, the KINKS had an apporpriate nickname for Paul (after the first time they played together and Paul seemed very aloof and snobbish)......Mr. Pull Me Cock Off. I wonder if Lennon ever heard it and said "that's Pull.... I mean Paul."

1) The Daily Mail
2) We Can Work It Out
3) IIRC, the Long and Winding Road
4) Help!
5) From Me To You

Correct-a-mundo. Nice work, KWSN!

Next batch...

1) In what year was "Eight Days a Week" No. 1 in the US?

2) Which Beatles' song mentions "a man named Lear?"

3) Which Beatle is the only one whose name appears in the title of a Beatles No. 1 hit song?

4) Which Beatles No.1 song had the longest run at No. 1?

5) Which animal is mentioned in the song “A Hard Day’s Night?”

Can you name the Shakespeare play that's sound-sampled towards the end of "I am the Walrus"?

Macca's orignal bass is a Hofner 500/1 bought in 1961 in Hamburg. Only three of this exact configuration (left handed) were made and Paul owns two. Although the bass was bought in '61 it's considered a '62 model since similar basses were made in '62, but with some differences. I happen to know the owner of the third copy and Paul has called him numerous times offering to buy the bass. There is a rumour about the existance of a fourth bass, but that is unconfirmed.

It's interesting to note that Hofner claims only one of these were made, and Paul never mentions the second copy in interviews. He also claims, wrongly as one can see in pictures, that the bass is 'right handed'. Paul stopped playing the bass live somwhere around the Rubber Soul album, but took it out again for the '98 tour IIRC and has used it on tours since.

I am curious if this is a tough question or an easy one. I like to use it to stump friends when trivia questions are flying around:

1) Who shot John Lennon?
2) What book was he carrying?
3) What type of gun was used? (the only reason I know is that I used to own one)

King Lear. Some of the quoted lines are, "What? Is he dead?" and "Sit you down, father. Rest you," and "O! Untimely death!" and "Bury my body," all of which went straight to the "Paul Is Dead" stuff. I've never seen or read King Lear, but I remember reading that one of the characters, Edmund Earl of Glocester, was deceived by an imposter. Hence, the "Paul Is Dead" connection.

1) Mark David Chapman (up for parole again this year).
2) Catcher in the Rye, which has now leaped into conspiracy immortality.
3) No idea.

I'm not worthy! You know someone who's talked to Paul. I'm not worthy!

Thanks for the correct information, by the way. I knew none of that.

1) 1965
2) Paperback Writer
3) John Lennon (Ballad of John and Yoko)
4) (a total guess) Hey Jude?
5) Dawg, er, dog. :)

100% correct, quadro.

the only other apple band i remember is badfinger

Speaking of which...have you ever heard the "Miss Him" bootleg (I may be getting the name wrong)? It's like eight discs of radio broadcasts and interviews, all focusing on the Paul Is Dead controversy. It starts off with the very first mention of it ever on the radio and goes on from there. I tried to get through it, but it was just too exhausting. I do have it somewhere, though.

No, I've never heard of this. I'm very intrigued...

And it gets me in the mood for more trivia:

1) How many times do the Beatles say, "Yeah" in "She Loves You?"

2) The line, “I can’t hide, I can’t hide, I can’t hide,” comes from what Beatles song?

3) In the film “Help!” what are the Beatles doing while “Ticket to Ride” is being played?

4) Also in the film "Help!" what makes Paul start to laugh during the performance of "Another Girl?"

5) Name all five "official" Beatles movies (in chronological order).

1. Yeah, yeah............29 times
2. I want to hold your hand..........
3. They are skiing................
4. He gropes her chest
5. Hard Day's Night
Help
Magical Mystery Tour
Yellow Sub
Let it Be...................

Now, a few questions for you....Mr. BeatleMan

How tall was John?
How tall was George?
How tall is Paul?
Who said, "America: It's like Britain, only with buttons" ?
Only one Beatle had formal music training.....who?

I didn't think anybody was going to get these. Kudos, Grancey.

The funny part about "Another Girl" is that his accidental chest grope made it into the film. Paul was standing behind the girl as she had her arm stuck out to the side. He was strumming her body like a guitar, with her arm representing the guitar's neck and her belly representing the guitar's body. One of his strums went a little bit too high and he hit breast. The girl's eyes widened ever so slightly, and Paul visibly starts laughing while he's lip-synching.

"Help!" is out now on DVD, so it's fun to check it out.

Now this is interesting. The first three questions are the kind where if I answer them, everybody will protest that there's no way I could possibly know trivia like that without looking it up first. But when you see the answer, you'll understand how I could know it without having to look it up.

John - 5'11"
George - 5'11"
Paul - 5'11"

Only Ringo was of a different height (5'8" on a good day). This factors into the "Paul Is Dead" stuff, because Paul suddenly seemed a good deal taller in the photos that appear in Sgt. Pepper and Magical Mystery Tour ("evidence" that an imposter had taken his place).

"Britain with buttons?" I've never heard that before, but it sounds like Ringo.

George had received some musical training as a child.

Good questions, Grancey, and welcome to the mosh pit.

Correct, Mr. BeatleMan.
Wonder which Beatle had the most formal education, of any kind? hmmmm

Oooh, there's a good one. I know John went to Art College in Liverpool, but I don't remember learning that any of the others went to college at all. So, my guess is John.

How about some lyric trivia? I'll post the lyrics, you name the song.

1) "Life is very short and there's no time…"

2) "You're asking me will my love grow"

3) "Here comes old flattop"

4) "When I find myself in times of trouble"

5) "He buys her diamond rings you know."

I really have no idea. I just thought you might know....

1) We Can Work It Out
2) Something
3) Come Together
4) Let It Be
5) I Feel Fine

An A+ for present_future. Nice work!

More lyric trivia:

1) "It's so hard to reason with you, oh yeah."

2) "You don't take nothing with you but your soul. Think."

3) "Semolina Pilchard climbing up the Eiffel Tower."

4) "Darning his socks in the night when there's nobody there."

5) "There's nothing for me here, so I'll just disappear."

I'll take a shot at these off the top of my head.

1. 1965

2. "Paperback Writer"

3. John, in "The Ballad Of John And Yoko"

4. "Hey Jude"

5. "Dog", as in "working like a dog".