Quotessence
Home / Topics / Beatles Quotes

Beatles Quotes

Browse 64 quotes about Beatles.

Beatles Quotes

“...it was not simply a matter of musical taste; whether you preferred the Beatles or [the Rolling] Stones said much about your personality and character. People who were happy, intelligent, well-adjusted, popular, clean, decent and punctual tended to be Beatles fans. Those who were evil, cretinous, scabby, drug-ridden, filthy, criminal perverts liked the Stones. As for your author, I personally take no side in the controversy, remaining strictly neutral.”

Rolling StonesBeatles
Author:Lewis Grossberger
Create image

“We stood there for a minute or two, with John swaying gently against my arm. 'I'm feeling better,' he announced. Then he looked up at the stars. 'Wow..' he intoned. 'Look at that! Isn't that amazing?". I followed his gaze. The stars did look good but they didn't look that good. It was very unlike John to be over the top in that way. I stared at him. He was wired-pin-sharp and quivering, resonating away like a human tuning fork. No sooner had John uttered his immortal words about the stars than George and Paul came bursting out on the roof. They had come tearing up from the studio as soon as they found out where we were. They knew why John was feeling unwell. Maybe everyone else did, too - everyone except for father-figure George Martin here! It was very simple. John was tripping on LSD. He had taken it by mistake, they said - he had meant to take an amphetamine tablet. That hardly made any difference, frankly; the fact was that John was only too likely to imagine he could fly, and launch himself off the low parapet that ran around the roof. They had been absolutely terrified that he might do so. I spoke to Paul about this night many years later, and he confirmed that he and George had been shaken rigid when they found out we were up on the roof. They knew John was having a what you might call a bad trip. John didn't go back to Weybridge that night; Paul took him home to his place, in nearby Cavendish Road. They were intensely close, remember, and Paul would do almost anything for John. So, once they were safe inside, Paul took a tablet of LSD for the first time, 'So I could get with John' as he put it- be with him in his misery and fear. What about that for friendship?”

MusicBeatlesJohn LennonPaul Mccartney
Book:With A Little Help From My Friends: The Making of Sgt. Pepper
Create image

“As for Crowley, his reputation grew and grew. His gospel of “Do what thou wilt”—modified and transformed—appealed strongly to the socially liberated sixties generation. He resurfaced as a countercultural icon; his photograph appeared on the cover of the Beatles’ album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and his ideas influenced everyone from Dr. Timothy Leary to the rock group Led Zeppelin. He was hailed as a prophet before his time for bringing together eastern and western esoteric traditions, and although he could never quite escape the “Satanist” tag that he had gained in the Edwardian newspapers, this ensured his present-day popularity.”

BeatlesCountercultureEsotericismAleister CrowleyTimothy LearyLed ZeppelinDo What Thou Wilt
Book:Strange Angel: The Otherworldly Life of Rocket Scientist John Whiteside Parsons – A Portrait of the JPL Founder: Genius, Rocketry, and the Occult
Create image

“Chaos Cocktail by Stewart Stafford Herky-jerky's hanky-panky, Wakey-wakey, eggs n' bakey! Cosmic Mercury's retrograde trick, Nilsson's Brandy Alexander kick. John heard Bermuda's jingle-jangle, Storm surge in an Exorcist Triangle! Sea shanties upending Behan's hive, All stout hornets jigged and jived. Yoko's "Oh, no!" on firmer ground, Her ageing mariner didn't drown, Lonely Ringo plays bingo bongo, Paul, mugged down near the Congo. © 2024, Stewart Stafford. All rights reserved.”

MusicSurrealismWhimsicalStream Of ConsciousnessBeatlesJohn LennonFunny PoemBermuda TrianglePop Culture ReferencesSea Poems
Author:Stewart Stafford
Create image

“Relations had soured to the point that when the Beatles attempted Lennon’s song ‘Across the Universe’ Paul McCartney complained, ‘There’s an oriental influence that shouldn’t really be there’ and pretended that he was talking about music.”

BigotryRacism QuotesBeatlesJohn LennonThe BeatlesPaul MccartneyYoko OnoCuckoldBeatles QuoteLennon Mccartney
Book:You Never Give Me Your Money: The Beatles After the Breakup – The Untold Story of the Fab Four
Create image

“In the wake of Cold Turkey’s, his debut song for Yoko’s Plastic Ono Band, dismal engagement with his listening public, Lennon prepared fresh edits of two songs he’d recorded earlier, What’s the New Mary Jane and You Know My Name, and announced that they would be rush-released as a Plastic Ono Band single. Just as quickly, the project was cancelled, with Apple explaining, ‘It was mutually decided by the Beatles that it sounded more like the Beatles themselves than the Plastic Ono Band’ – not least because both songs were indeed Beatles recordings. McCartney’s reaction to Lennon’s attempted theft can easily be imagined.”

BeatlesSuccubusJohn LennonThe BeatlesPaul MccartneyYoko OnoCuckoldBeatles QuoteFraud QuotesLennon Mccartney
Book:You Never Give Me Your Money: The Beatles After the Breakup – The Untold Story of the Fab Four
Create image

“Then, lifting me up, his head fell back and he opened his mouth wide. “Once I let Lucy Larson into my heart! I was able to take my sad, shitty song and make it better!” he sung, off key and at full volume. Some of the students around us tipped their beers at him, some broke in during the “Nah, nah, nah,” chorus, and a few looked at him like he was a crazy man. But I just laughed—I already knew he was crazy. And I loved him for it. “I think that’s called taking creative liberties with the lyrics.”

LoveBeatlesJude Ryder
Book:Crash
Create image

“We were talking about the space between us all And the people who hide themselves behind a wall of illusion, Never glimpse the truth, then it's far too late, when they pass away. We were talking about the love we all could share. When we find it, to try our best to hold it there. With our love, with our love, we could save the world. If they only knew. Try to realise it's all within yourself― No one else can make you change― And to see you're really only very small And life flows on within you and without you. We were talking about the love that's gone so cold And the people who gain the world and lose their soul. They don't know, they can't see. Are you one of them? When you've seen beyond yourself then you may find Peace of mind is waiting there, And the time will come when you see we're all one And life flows on within you and without you.”

LoveSpiritualityPeaceChangeBeatles
Author:George Harrison
Create image

“«Mancano venti miglia a Limerick» disse, mostrandosi molto interessata al percorso. «So leggere i cartelli, grazie» rispose lui, gelido. Piera sbuffò. «Volevo solo rendermi utile, non mettere in dubbio le tue doti di maschio alfa!» La frase le uscì male, provocatoria senza volerlo essere, e infatti, piccato, lui emise un ah! alquanto sarcastico e batté il pugno con violenza sul volante, facendo suonare il clacson. Piera sussultò, sorpresa se non spaventata. «Mi sento di tutto, ti assicuro, tranne che maschio, alfa, beta o delta che sia.» Ecco, ci siamo. «E per il quieto vivere» proseguì lui, «farò persino finta che la notte scorsa tu non mi abbia trattato come un sex-toy…» Questa volta un ah! sarcastico uscì dalle labbra di Piera. «Un sex cosa? Scusa, non ho capito bene.» «Un sex-toy.» «Non so neppure cosa sia.» «Non ne avevo il minimo dubbio.» «Lo prendo come un complimento.» «Prendilo come vuoi. Coniglietti, AH!» «Cosa c’entrano i conigli, adesso?» «Lascia perdere.» «No, spiegati, per favore.» «Una che dorme con dei conigli addosso non può certo sapere cosa sia un sex-toy.» «Ohhh! La mia camicia da notte non è di tuo gusto? Va’ al diavolo, Jean!»”

IrelandRomantic ComedyFotografiaBeatlesFemmine FolliGatto Rosso
Book:Vuoi vedere che è proprio amore?
Create image

“Like almost all of Beefheart's recorded work, it was not even "ahead" of its time in 1969. Then and now, it stands outside time, trends, fads, hypes, the rise and fall of whole genres eclectic as walking Christmas trees, constituting a genre unto itself: truly, a musical Monolith if ever there was one.”

MusicCreativityGeniusCriticismOriginalityRock MusicRolling StonesRockBeatlesHard RockBob DylanPop60sCaptain BeefheartTrout Mask ReplicaBeefheartRock CriticismElectronica
Author:Lester Bangs
Create image

“The fact that so many books still name the Beatles as "the greatest or most significant or most influential" rock band ever only tells you how far rock music still is from becoming a serious art. Jazz critics have long recognized that the greatest jazz musicians of all time are Duke Ellington and John Coltrane, who were not the most famous or richest or best sellers of their times, let alone of all time. Classical critics rank the highly controversial Beethoven over classical musicians who were highly popular in courts around Europe. Rock critics, instead, are still blinded by commercial success. The Beatles sold more than anyone else (not true, by the way), therefore they must have been the greatest. Jazz critics grow up listening to a lot of jazz music of the past, classical critics grow up listening to a lot of classical music of the past. Rock critics are often totally ignorant of the rock music of the past, they barely know the best sellers.”

MusicOpinionBeatles
Author:Piero Scaruffi
Create image

“You know...give peace a chance, not shoot people for peace. All we need is love. I believe it. it's damned hard but I absolutely believe it. We're not the first to say 'Imagine no countries' or 'Give peace a chance' but we're carrying that torch, like the Olympic torch, passing it from hand to hand, to each other, to each country, to each generation. That's our job...I've never claimed divinity. I've never claimed purity of soul. I've never claimed to have the answer to life. I can only put out songs and answer questions as honestly as I can, but only as honestly as I can, no more, no less. "I used to think that the world was doing it to me and that the world owed me something, and that either the conservatives or the socialists or the fascists or the communists or the Christians or the Jews were doing something to me, and when you're a teenybopper that's what you think. I'm 40 now. I don't think that anymore, 'cause I found out it doesn't fucking work. The thing goes on anyway and all you're doing is jacking off and screaming about what your mommy or daddy or society did...I have found out personally...that I am responsible for it as well as them. I am part of them.”

BiographyBeatlesJohn LennonPhilip Norman
Book:John Lennon: The Life
Create image

“The Oreo cookie invented, the Titanic sinks, Spanish flu, Prohibition, women granted the right to vote, Lindbergh flies solo across the Atlantic, penicillin invented, stock market crashes, the Depression, Amelia Earhart, the atom is split, Prohibition ends, Golden Gate Bridge is built, Pearl Harbor, D-Day, the Korean War, Disneyland, Rosa Parks, Laika the dog is shot into space, hula hoops, birth control pill invented, Bay of Pigs, Marilyn Monroe dies, JFK killed, MLK has a dream, Vietnam War, Star Trek, MLK killed, RFK killed, Woodstock, the Beatles (George, Ringo, John, and Paul) break up, Watergate, the Vietnam War ends, Nixon resigns, Earth Day, Fiddler on the Roof, Olga Korbut, Patty Hearst, Transcendental Meditation, the ERA, The Six Million Dollar Man. "Bloody hell," I said when she was done. "I know. It must be a lot to take in." "It's unfathomable. A Brit named his son Ringo Starr?" She looked pleasantly surprised: she'd thought I had no sense of humor. "Well, I think his real name was Richard Starkey.”

Twentieth CenturyUpdatesBeatlesWorld Events
Book:Valley of the Moon
Create image

“Piera, la protagonista di Vuoi vedere che è proprio amore?, è una giovane donna che lavora. Professoressa di inglese alle medie, vorrebbe diventare fotografa...Chissà se ce la farà? Ecco un breve estratto. Lui, Jean, si presenta non invitato a casa sua e lei, dopo molti se e ma, lo porta nella sua camera oscura. Non pensate male! O forse pensatelo. "La seguì in una stanza illuminata solo da un paio di lampadine rosse. Un altoparlante collegato a un iPod stava diffondendo la voce di Paul McCartney. Hey Jude. Che fosse un segno del destino? Non che lui credesse a certe baggianate, ma quella era una delle sue canzoni preferite, di sempre. «Ti piacciono i Beatles?» le chiese fingendo un’indifferenza che non provava. «Oh sì. In genere adoro il rock classico. Ma i Beatles…» «Sono i Beatles. Punto.» «Punto, sono d’accordo. E Revolution è un grande album!» «Sei una donna piena di sorprese» disse, pensando al genere di musica scadente che piaceva a Jasmine. «Io? Piena di sorprese?» domandò ridendo, nello sguardo un luccichio improvviso. Nonostante la luce rossa, fu quasi certo che Bambi fosse arrossita, e a lui piaceva da morire quando lei arrossiva. I suoi occhi sembravano diventare più grandi e lei cominciava a mordicchiarsi il labbro inferiore. Come stava facendo in quel momento. «Benvenuto nella mia tana di fotografa dilettante» aggiunse lei dopo un istante. Jean si guardò intorno. C’era tutto l’occorrente per sviluppo e stampa. Alcune foto in bianco e nero erano pinzate con mollette da bucato a una corda che correva da una parte all’altra della stanza. Come biancheria ad asciugare. «Sono meravigliato» esclamò guardandosi intorno. «Una camera oscura in piena regola! Non posso credere che con la comodità del digitale tu ti dia tanta pena a far tutto da sola…» «Al contrario, adoro farlo. È il mio hobby segreto. E poi, solo così ottengo esattamente ciò che voglio. O quasi. Non nego che spesso qua dentro combino dei veri pasticci, ma chi non ne combina?»”

TeachersRomantic ComedyBeatlesPhotographers
Book:Vuoi vedere che è proprio amore?
Create image

“The death of their manager Brian Epstein was the beginning of the end for The Beatles. While Yoko Ono did try to fill the power vacuum and exacerbate the cracks created by Epstein's loss, she was not solely responsible for The Fab Four's demise. As with every big event, there are many actors, factors and complexities at play and no one simple explanation for everything.”

BeatlesJohn LennonPaul MccartneyYoko OnoGeorge HarrisonBeatles QuoteRingo StarrBeatles ReferenceBeatleThe Fab Four
Author:Stewart Stafford
Create image