The Beatles are without a doubt the most famous rock band of all time. Many people around the world know the legendary songs of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. Along with the band’s expansive discography, there are also some peculiar facts that many people may be unaware of. From odd requests to special requests, mysterious collaborations to overlooked instrumentals, the legends of the Beatles have produced some things that may seem odd at first glance. Read on to find out more of the top bizarre facts about the Beatles.
Early Bizarre Occurrences
In some senses, The Beatles’ career began bizarrely and outrageous. From the beginning of their formation in 1957 to the point when they made it big across the UK and Europe.
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The Paperback Writer Mystery: In 1966 The Beatles recorded the song “Paperback Writer” for their album Revolver. Oddly, in the background of the song, there are voices of people talking and whispering in the recording, but no one knows exactly who the voices belong to or what they are saying.
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The Mysterious Man Who Canceled The Beatles’ Contract: As The Beatles started out their career playing at a band called The Quarrymen managed themselves they agreed to legally bind themselves to manager Allan Williams. Williams eventually sold their contract to manager Brian Epstein with one stipulation, that the contract would be canceled if any one member of the band ever left it. A mystery man named Maurice Heindman made the crucial call of canceling the contract giving the Beatles the opportunity to be managed by Epstein.
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The Goonery: The Beatles were known for their outrageous yet unique behavior in the early days of their career. This included anything from setting off fireworks inside their hotel rooms to wearing bathrobes onstage.
Importance of the Number 9
Besides their wacky behavior, there was a consistent hint of oddness in the Beatles’ music. One of the major clues was in the influence of the number nine in their work.
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“Revolution 9”: The 8-minute long sound collage found in the “White Album” was famously titled “Revolution 9.” The idea and concept of the track drawn from John Lennon’s fascination with Revolutions and numbers, with the number 9 being a magical number to Lennon.
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“Number 9”: Lennon wrote a song titled “Number 9” on Anthology 3. The track features no lyrics whatsoever, but is instead a remarkable collage of bongos and drums.
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The number 9 had also figured prominently in titles such as John Lennon’s “One After 909” and “Revolution 1”, as well as Paul McCartney’s “Mean Mr. Mustard”, a track from the “White Album”.
Rock and Roll Life-Savers
The Beatles may not have completely known that their music was actually saving lives.
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Helping Mental Health Patients: According to a study in 1962, the Beatles music had a calming effect on young mental health patients in a special unit at a British hospital. The study declared that the use of the Beatles’ music as therapeutic had significantly improved the symptoms of these patients.
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Dr. Freeman’s Miracle Cure: Classical psychiatrist Dr. Maxwell Freeman spoke of a “miracle cure” he developed on the BBC in 1966 where he played “I Feel Fine” to his patient to “kilobytes” of madness. He said the patient responded immediately to the music and started singing along with the track.
More Unconventional Music
The Beatles were not only praised for their rock and roll career, but also for their development in music technologies, as well as their unconventional instrumentals.
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Electronic Sound Effects: As previously mentioned, The Beatles album “Revolver” had the mysterious track “Paperback Writer” which featured voices in the background. This album also featured an abundance of other technology, employing the use of manipulated tape recordings and studio noise.
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Unused Instrumentals: Not all Beatles tracks have made it to the albums. The band wrote songs such as “What’s The New Mary Jane”, “It’s So Hard To Give Away” and “Leave My Kitten Alone”, but all of these remained unreleased.
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Striped Clothing: To create a dual acoustic in Abbey Road studios, The Beatles hoped to create a sound recording where some of the frequencies were cancelled out by the absorption of their matching striped outfits. The idea did not come to fruition, but it is an example of the band doing something odd and outside the box in order to capture unique sounds.
Collaborations With Unorthodox Figures
The Beatles’ success allowed them to collaborate with unorthodox and unique figures in their musical endeavors.
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Working With Maharishi: The Beatles were actually very close to working with noted spiritual figure Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on an album called “Tails Off Maharishi”. The album never happened, yet it remains an interesting thought.
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Inspiration From The Beach Boys: The Beatles often sought out the advice of their California rivals, The Beach Boys, including in their writing composition. For example, McCartney was presented with Beach Boys’ song “Good Vibrations” before he started working on his own track “Getting Better.”
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A Forgotten Collaboration With Elvis Presley: Talk of The Beatles and Elvis working together was still floating around since The Beatles were the ones to actually bring the rock and roll legend back from the dead. There was even an attempt to do a duet with both of them singing. However due to scheduling conflicts, it didn’t come together.
It’s easy to forget the sheer number of things The Beatles have done over the course of their illustrious career. From the mysterious “Paperback Writer” track to their collaboration with Elvis Presley, The Beatles have certainly done a lot of weird and wonderful things. As The Beatles’ legacy continues to live on to this day, their music will always remain iconic thanks to its remarkable and often bizarre events filled feats.
