The Beatles at the crosswalk. Beatles: Most famous photo shoot. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

On January 16, 1957, the "Cavern" club was opened in Liverpool, where the legendary band The Beatles made their debut. It was this day that became the main holiday of the "Beatles", according to the decision of UNESCO, January 16 is World Day of The Beatles.

The Beatles have always been surrounded by myths, but sometimes the truth was more surprising than the truth.

Myth 1. What will you call a boat

What if the Beatles weren't the Beatles? What would the incredible phenomenon known as "Beatlemania" be called then?

It all started with Quarrymen - this was the name of the group, which was put together by very young Lennon and McCartney. The group was named after Lennon's Quarry Bank school.

But when the band started more active performances, a more sonorous name was needed and then Johnny and the Moondogs appeared.

But the Beatles were not destined to remain "moon dogs", in April 1960 the musicians changed this name to The Beatles.

According to the legend, the idea for the band name came to John Lennon in a dream... It is no longer possible to prove or disprove this, but Lennon himself said: "I saw a man on a flaming cake who said:" Let there be beetles. " a new, original word, the root of which is clearly guessed - "beat" - beat music.

Fact 1. The Beatles, Brodsky and the yellow submarine

"Beatlemania" did not bypass the USSR either. The Beatles were undoubtedly loved by us, and even printed. In the 60s, the text of the song Yellow Submarine, translated by Joseph Brodsky, appeared in the pioneer magazine Koster.

Joseph Brodsky. Yellow bottom

In our glorious town
There was one gray-haired sailor.
He's been to places like this
Where everyone lives under water.

And immediately there
We sailed for the star
And in the submarine there
They settled under water.

2 times: We have a yellow submarine, we have a yellow one,
yellow with us.

We live inside the water
We have no need for anything.
Blue skies and intense heat
Made friends with yellowness.

Myth 2. Yesterday's scrambled eggs

The song "Yesterday", rightfully considered the most famous creation of the four, was first performed in 1965, but even 45 years later it does not lose its popularity. In 1999, according to a BBC poll, it was even voted the best song of the century. in history, according to the Guinness Book of Records, today there are more than 3000 registered versions of this song.

According to legend paul McCartney invented the melody for this song in a dream, and at first McCartney was sure that he just heard this one somewhere, and did not invent it. In order not to forget the melody, he hummed it with the first words that came to mind: "Scrambled eggs, oh, my baby, how I love your legs ..." ("Scrambled eggs, oh my baby, how I love your legs ...").

Under the same name, "Scrambled Egg", the song was released in the US even before Yesterday was completed. Then American fans wrote in letters to the group that they heard “something called the Scrambled Egg, representing a complete copy of Yesterday.

Despite its success, the song was criticized for its banality and sentimentality, and the Italian composer Lili Greco declared in 2006 that Yesterday was only a cover version of the old Neapolitan song "Piccerè che vene a dicere". Greco claimed to have heard this song in Naples in the 80s, writes Spiegel online. When he asked the name of the song from the person who sang it, he received the answer that it was a Neapolitan folk song. In support of his version, Greco quoted Beatles manager Brian Epstein, who told him about Lennon and McCartney's love for Neapolitan songs.

Fact 2. To aliens with love, Beatles

Fact 4. The Beatles Book of Records

Beatles - the most famous and successful rock band of the 20th century, and this is not only the opinion of her fans, the numbers speak for them. Here are just a few of them.

In 1964, the Beatles held all of the top five singles on Billboard. They turned out to be the only group that was able to set such a record, the website dailyshow.ru writes.

While touring America, the Beatles made two appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, attracting a record-breaking 73 million viewers in television history (40% of the US population at the time). This record has not been broken by anyone either.

Myth 5. Four nights in Moscow

The playful anthem to the country of the Soviets - "Back In The USSR" - has become one of the group's most popular songs. And it is with the USSR that another myth about the Beatles is associated.

According to legend in July 1966 The Beatles sang in Moscow at Sheremetyevo airport (according to another version in Vnukovo). Like most legends, this one has many variations. The first version: the concert took place at the airport when the Beatles were flying on tour to Japan, and their plane was delayed.

The second version, according to the newspaper "Big City", says that the Beatles received an invitation from the Soviet leadership and flew to Sheremetyevo, but unexpectedly received a message at the airport about the cancellation of the concert, played a mini-concert right on the airfield out of frustration, and then flew back.

In addition to the stories of "eyewitnesses" of the concert, if such existed and exist, the unreleased song "Four Nights in Moscow" is considered to be proof that the Beatles have visited Moscow. But the group's historians are sure that such a song never existed, and the busy touring schedule of the Beatles simply would not have given them the opportunity to perform in Moscow.

Fact 5. "Kalinka" performed by the Beatles

As surprising as the coincidence was, in 1964, also on January 16, the Liverpool quartet arrived in Paris to perform at Olympia. And here an event took place that at first glance may seem unlikely. In a Parisian restaurant, the Beatles met with the "Golden Voice of Russia" - singer Lyudmila Zykina, and, moreover, sang together with Zykina "Kalinka"!

Zykina herself spoke about this in 2009 at a press conference at RIA Novosti. The acquaintance took place in one of the restaurants, and two days later Lyudmila Georgievna was at the Beatles' concert. According to the singer, at the concert the Beatles performed not only their own songs, but also ours: "Here is a three postal troika", "From behind the island to the rod", "Ivushka green". And then the Beatles invited Zykina to sing together. And they sang the song "Kalinka". "And I sang," Zykina said, "and they sang and sang together ... and it was not bad."

The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources

The cover of the famous Beatles album "Abbey Road" (Stephanie / flickr.com) The famous Abbey Road crosswalk (Gary Denham / flickr.com) Entrance to the Abbey Road studio (Peter Bruening / flickr.com) Abbey Road studio building (james / flickr.com) Passers-by parody The Beatles pedestrian crossing at Abbey Road (Bruno / flickr.com) Engyles / flickr.com Engyles / flickr.com Engyles / flickr.com

In the capital of Great Britain - London, in the St. John's Wood area there is a popular and important building in world music. We are talking about the Abbey Road recording studio, located on the street of the same name.

The street name in Westminster District translates to “Abbey Road”. Here in the 19th century, the headquarters of the British Mounted Artillery stationed their soldiers. The street at that time was the road to the Kilburn monastery, which in its day belonged to the monastic order and was in the status of an abbey.

Abbey Road Studio Building (james / flickr.com)

The building was founded in 1830, and a few years later it became an exquisite decoration of the district and received its serial number - №3.

For a hundred years, the house was owned, replacing each other, by four owners. In 1914 the building was converted into hotel... Its residents were not ordinary people and were very significant figures in history. One of them was John Arthur Mondy Gregory, a connoisseur of music and everything connected with it. He brought musical instruments to the apartment and, enjoying listening to his favorite gramophone records, he loved to independently accompany the compositions he listened to on a drum kit. His life did not work out in the best way - due to illegal trade, he was imprisoned.

In 1929, the building was bought by the developer Francis Mayer. He was involved in construction and real estate transactions. However, he did not have time to leave his mark on the history of this house, because soon after a successful purchase, he also very successfully sold it to Electric And Musical Industries Ltd. EMI, anticipating the dawn of the recording industry, built the world's first highly specialized studio where music was recorded on high level using modern technologies.

The famous Abbey Road crosswalk (Gary Denham / flickr.com)

The reconstruction of the building for the studio was carried out in 1930. The owners paid for the implementation of their idea 100 thousand pounds.

The London administration did not allow changing the appearance of the building and, its appearance remained the same, an elegant decoration of the city. Internal work did not greatly influence the antique decoration. Minor renovations were required for 16 rooms in the old building, as well as ventilation systems and recording studio equipment.

By November 12, 1931, three studios, several offices and rooms for a quiet pastime, where musicians could relax, had opened their doors to novice and experienced musicians. At the same time, the opening of a recording studio took place. The process itself was filmed and presented to the general public as a documentary.

Successful studio work

The studio's successful work began with the recording of classical, orchestral compositions. The masterpieces of the London Symphony Orchestra and the great meters were born here.

During World War II, propaganda facts from Great Britain and the BBC organizations gathered on Abbey Road. But music has always sounded within these walls: the orchestra of Glenn Miller, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong were recorded.

Victory in the Great Patriotic War She opened the doors to sound engineers in Berlin, where they studied in detail the technical innovations of the Third Reich in a tape recording. New technical discoveries in this area have helped improve studio equipment.

In 1953, specialists worked on the broadcast of the recording of the coronation of Elizabeth II herself.

The Beatles and Abbey Road

The golden time is associated with the appearance in the life of the studio of the young producer George Martin. In 1950, simultaneously with his arrival, the popularity of rock and roll grew, the first charts appeared, and, of course, the already famous studio was directly involved in the emergence of compositions that were loved by the general public.

Abbey Road Studios Entrance (Peter Bruening / flickr.com)

We can say that the results of the work of Abbey Road have always become hits at all times. 1962 was a key year in the history of the studio. During this time, George Martin met the Liverpool Four, later the world famous Beatles.

The meeting of these people greatly changed both their life and the musical community around the world. Martin, becoming the producer of this group, records all of its work within the walls of Abbey Road. Their very first and at the same time popular album, recorded at this studio within 24 hours, called "Please give me pleasure" did not give up its positions in the national chart for 6 months.

According to the Beatles, the studio atmosphere helped them a lot when creating their music.

The Beatles' album "Abbey Road"

The most important event in the life of the studio and the Beatles was the release of an album in 1969 called Abbey Road. This is how the leaders of the group and the producer himself decided to pay tribute to the place where their very fruitful and world famous life flowed. On the cover of the album, there is a photograph of the band members crossing the road along the pedestrian crossing near the studio.

Passers-by parody the Beatles at the Abbey Road crosswalk. (Bruno / flickr.com)

This passage later became a gathering place for all Beatle fans, each of whom so wanted to make such a photo for himself.

Even today, a webcam installed on the Abbey Road studio building captures people crossing the road on the famous pedestrian, just like the Liverpool four did.

There are a huge number of different film and paper sources dedicated to the world famous Abbey Road Studios. They will be of interest to those who are eager to get to know her better.

Those wishing to visit this historical place can get to the studio from the St. John's Wood Jubilee Line in just 6 minutes.

American tourist from Florida Paul Cole came to London with his wife. On August 8, 1969, he left the hotel to get some air. He was sick and tired of dragging around museums and just wanted to stand and see what was happening. Paul got into a conversation with a policeman who was sitting in a parked police van. While they were talking, Paul noticed several people gathered at the crosswalk and four of them began to walk on the zebra back and forth, and another took pictures of them.

- Some weirdos, - Paul laughed, - who walks barefoot in London.

The Beatles' twelfth album was originally supposed to be called Everestby the name of the cigarettes smoked by one of the engineers at EMI studio Jeff Emerick:

The pack had a picture of a mountain, which the band really liked. But they decided to abandon the name, because no one wanted to go to Nepal for a photo shoot. We decided to get out of the situation in the simplest way - to take a picture right next to the studio.

Before that, Paul drew and showed the photographer how he imagines the frame for the cover of the new album:

On the appointed day at about half past eleven, photographer Ian Macmillan arrived at the EMI recording studio at 3 Abbey Road. He was friends with Yoko Ono and she invited him to shoot. The Beatles were waiting for him on the steps outside the studio.

At first Paul was in beach slippers, then he took off his shoes and remained barefoot.

Macmillan took six pictures in ten minutes:

The fifth shot was selected for the case. Alan Flanagan, Steve Millwood and Derek Seagrov were on it - they were doing the design for studio EMI and returning from lunch. They are on the far left in the frame.

The picture taken at the pedestrian crossing next to the studio on Abbey Road became another reason for fans of the conspiracy theory about Paul's death in a car accident to find new "evidence" to support this theory. The license plate on the Volkswagen LMW281F, which was in the picture, read as "Paul would be 28 years old if he was alive." And the crossing itself was considered a funeral procession - in front of John in white as a priest, at the end George in jeans as an undertaker, and Paul himself with his eyes closed, barefoot, a cigarette in his hand, and even out of step with the others. A real dead man, yes.

The Beetle that was auctioned for £ 2,530 in 2001 is now in the Volkswagen Museum in Wolfsburg.

This girl in blue on the back of the envelope of the record also fit into the conspiracy theory about Paul's death and his replacement with a double. It was believed that this was the same Rita who was driving the car. In fact, after finishing shooting at the crossing, McMillan began looking for a suitable location for the photo with the street name. And found him at the intersection with Alexandra Road. The shot with a woman accidentally caught in the frame seemed to him the best.

Forty years ago at 11.35 the Beatles crossed a quiet street in north London by "zebra".

The photo session for their new album “Abbey Road” took place a few meters from the recording studio of the same name and took about ten minutes - photographer Ian McMillan took only six pictures, for this he had to climb a ladder.

Since then, the cover of the new album has become legend for two reasons - no cover like this has been the subject of so many imitations, and no cover like this has spawned so many conspiracy legends.

For kooky fans with a fevered imagination, this was the ultimate proof of the delusional legend of the day that Paul McCartney was indeed dead.

According to this legend, Paul died in a car accident and was replaced by a double. The band, legend has it, felt guilty of this deception and placed hidden signs on the album cover for their fans.

Thus, even today, despite Sir Paul's pronounced health, they continue to insist that if you look closely at the images on the front and back cover, you will find symbols of death hidden there.

There is no doubt that this album meant only one death. It was not yet known to the public at the time that the Beatles were in their final stages of disbandment, and this was their last album.

Relations between the band members deteriorated so much that they abandoned the original title of the album Everest and the photography in the Himalayas, and instead filmed outside the studio - and that was the only thing they did by mutual agreement.

Ardent fans, however, could read much more from the photos.

1.FUNERAL

The Beatles' zebra procession marks Paul's funeral. John Lennon walks in front in a white suit and symbolizes the priest. Ringo Star is a black-clad mourner. George Harrison, in a messy shirt and jeans, represents the gravedigger. Paul is wearing an old suit and he is the only one who goes barefoot. He later explained that he started filming in sandals, but later took them off as it was a very hot day. The adherents of the legend say that if this is really so, then walking on hot asphalt is uncomfortable, and this once again confirms that Half is a corpse.

2. CIGARETTE

Paul is left-handed, but here he is holding a cigarette in his right hand. Cigarettes are usually said to be "nails in the coffin lid." Thus, this is a sign that Paul's "coffin lid" is boarded up, and the person in the photo is his double.

Paul is also out of step with the rest of the group. Everyone has a left leg in front, and Paul has a right one, which again confirms that he is different from the others.

3.REGISTRATION NUMBER

The white Volkswagen Beetle in the background has registration number LMW 28IF. Conspiracy theorists say this means Paul would have been 28 years old IF he hadn't died.

Paul was actually 27 when Abbey Road was released, but luckily for conspiracy theorists, Indian mystics calculate a person's age from conception, not birth, so in that case Paul would really be 28 years old.

This is evidenced by the fact that the musicians were famous devotees of the Indian guru Maharishi Mahesh Yoga. LMW is also believed to stand for “Linda McCartney Weeps,” referring to Paul's wife, whom he married earlier this year.

4 viewers

In the background, a small group of white-clad people stand on one side of the street, while a lone man stands on the other side.

Does this mean that Paul is alone and separate from the others?

5.POLICE MINIBUS

There is a black police van on the right side of the street, and this is a reference to the police who have remained silent on the "death of Paul".

Legend has it that the band's manager Brian Epstein bought that silence, and the presence of a bobby policeman in the photo is another thank you.

6.LINE OF MACHINES

You can draw a line from the Volkswagen Beetle to the three cars in front of it. If you run it through their right wheels, it will just touch Paul's head, which, according to theorists, means that Paul received a head wound in a car accident.

7 BLOOD SPOT

A spot can be seen on the Australian version of the album. It can be seen as a bloody stain on the road, it is located between Ringo and John, indirectly confirming the version of a car accident.

8. SPLIT LETTER S

On the back cover there is a photo of the Abbey Road signpost, and above is the BEATLES sign. A crack extending through the letter S is clearly visible - this is believed to indicate problems within the group.

To the left of the Beatles lettering is a cluster of eight dots. If you put them together, you get the number 3.

Does this mean there are three Beatles left?

10. IMAGE OF DEATH

If you hold the cover back to you and turn it 45 degrees counterclockwise, you can clearly see the image of the Demon of Death. Some are sure that this means that someone in the group has died.

11. GIRL

Nobody knows who this blue-clad girl on the back cover is. It was raining heavily on the night that the "car accident" happened, according to the legend, and Paul gave a lift to a fan named Rita. It must be the same girl, and she is either running away from the scene of the accident, or running to call for help.

12. PLACE OF REST OF FLOOR

If the inscription on the wall is divided into separate sections, then you can get an encrypted message - “Be At Les Abbey”. In numerology, the next two letters - R and O - are 18 and 15 letters of the alphabet. Adding them together (33) and multiplying by the number of letters (2), we get the number 66 - the year in which Paul supposedly died.

The number 3 also corresponds to the letter C, so 33 corresponds to CC. CC means the abbreviated name of Cecilia, and legend believes that Paul was buried at St Cecilia's Abbey in Ryde on the Isle of Wight.

After extremely unsuccessful recording sessions for a planned album Get back (later renamed to Let it be - 1970) Paul McCartney invited producer George Martin to get together and record an album "like in the old days", without those quarrels and omissions that began with the work on the disc The beatles (he is White Album). Martin agreed on the condition that everything would be "the way it was before," and the end result was Abbey road... Work on it took place from February to August 1969.

Originally, the twelfth album of the Beatles was named Everest: such cigarettes were smoked by one of the studio engineers Jeff Emerick. The mountains depicted on the pack were very popular with the group.

But the name had to be changed: none of the team members wanted to go to Nepal for a photo shoot. We got out of this situation very simply and, as it turned out later, very successfully.

The cover was designed by Apple Records Creative Director John Kosh. Abbey road is the only British album by the Beatles with no artist or title on the cover. Record company EMI has warned that the record will not be sold without this information. Kosh explained that they "didn't have to write the band's name on the cover ... They were the most famous band in the world."

A couple of days before the shoot, Ian was given a sketch by Paul McCartney showing how it should look.

Ian Macmillan, a freelance photographer and friend of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, came to the studio building on Abbey Road on August 8, which turned out to be hot, at about half past eleven. The Beatles were waiting for him on the porch.

McMillan only had 10 minutes to take the photo he wanted. Especially for this, the police blocked the site already in those days of the busy Abbey Road. Using a Hasselblad camera with a 50mm wide-angle lens, f22 aperture at 1 / 500th of a second, Ian took the first 3 photos while standing on a stepladder.

After that I had to stop and let some of the cars pass and only then finish shooting the remaining 3.

Paul holds up his flip flops when they return, but leaves them on the sidewalk for the remainder of the photo shoot.

All of McCartney's photographs were examined with a magnifying glass before deciding which one would be on the cover. The choice settled on the fifth shot, in which the group crosses the street from left to right, Lennon leading the procession, followed by Starr, McCartney and Harrison. McCartney walks barefoot and out of step with others. Alan Flanagan, Steve Millwood and Derek Seagrov were also on it: they were doing the design of the studio and returning from lunch. In the frame they can be found in the far left.

The white Volkswagen Beetle parked on the left belonged to one of the residents apartment building opposite the studio. After the release of the album, the license plate (LMW 281F) was stolen several times. In 1986, the car was sold at Sotheby's to the American billionaire for 2,530 pounds sterling, in 2001 it was exhibited in a German museum.

The man on the sidewalk to the right of the crossing is believed to be Paul Cole, an American tourist. He was tired of going to museums: he just decided to stand and see what was happening around while his wife inspected the exhibits of museums. Paul got into a conversation with the policeman in the car. While they were talking, the tourist noticed that several people had gathered at the pedestrian crossing and four of them began to walk on the zebra back and forth: “Some weirdos! Who walks in London barefoot? " Paul Cole only noticed himself on the album cover a few years later.

Shortly before the release of the album Abbey road The American newspaper Rat Subterranean News published an article claiming that Paul McCartney died in a car accident in 1966 and that the current "Paul" was in fact William Campbell. And the snapshot has become new "proof" of the conspiracy theory. The license plate on the Volkswagen LMW 281F, which was in the picture, was read as “Paul would have been 28 years old if he was alive” (and it doesn't matter that Paul turned 27 in 1969). And the whole composition personifies the funeral procession - in front of John in white as a priest, at the end George in all denim as an undertaker, and Paul himself with his eyes closed, barefoot, a cigarette in his hand (the expression "a cigarette is a nail from a coffin"), and even walking out of step with the rest.

McCartney always denied these hints, said that it was nonsense: “We wore regular clothes. I was barefoot because it was hot. And Volkswagen just ended up there. " In 1993 Paul released a live album Paul is livewhose cover parodied and Abbey road, and "found" on it "evidence" of his own death.

The image of the Beatles crossing Abbey Road has become one of the most famous and copied in history. For example, the Red Hot Chili Peppers took him as a cover art. Abbey Road EP.

In 2010, the transition was awarded Category II status for its “cultural and historical significance”; Abbey Road studio received similar status a few months earlier. There is a special website where the famous transition has been broadcast in real time since 2011.