NEW ALBUM BY THE BEATLES
When John Lennon was shot dead by Mark David Chapman on December 8, 1980, the world resigned itself to the idea of living without The Beatles .
It is therefore understandable that the launch in April 2050, exclusively on Tunefy, the most popular of the streaming platforms, of the album A Name of Woman (A name of a woman) has then caused a mixture of surprise and astonishment among the followers. of the group, for whom Let It Be was the climax of a career.
Strictly speaking, A Name of Woman cannot be considered a "new" album by The Beatles , since it is made up of songs from other albums by the group. But unlike acetates like Love Songs (selection of love songs from the quartet), Rock and Roll Music (sum of rock and roll from the Beatle repertoire) and other similar compilations, A Name of Woman , made up of songs whose title is used a female name, it was not limited to adding already existing tracks, but the four fabs recorded new versions of old songs at Abbey Road studios; In addition, it has the singular detail of having been conceived when The Beatles were still active and that the four musicians participated together with Allen Klein, advisor to Apple Records , in the creation of it.
The idea came from Klein himself. Appointed advisor to the record label on February 3, 1969, a year later his position was not enviable due to the bitter disputes he had with the Liverpool boys. That is why he proposed to them, perhaps to unravel the atmosphere, the performance of A Name of Woman.
At first, McCartney – who once accused Klein of “ruining Apple ” – flatly refused. He argued that with Let It Be circulating a new record would saturate the market. Then, in a phrase that reveals his growing enmity with Lennon, he added: "We may be The Beatles , but we are not more important than Christ to always pretend to be in people's heads."
Fortunately, John ignored such an inopportune observation, but said that it seemed to him a sovereign idiocy to make a record with these characteristics. Harrison also objected and scathingly lectured Klein. Only Ringo, the ineffable Ringo, didn't bother to scold anyone. With his proverbial good humor he said: “Gentlemen, give peace a chance. It is true that the disk is nonsense; but nothing beats foolishness on Fool's Day."
Ringo's phrase defined the fate of the record. It would be released during the celebration of April's Fools Day (April Fool's Day in English-speaking countries, where it is celebrated on April 1st ). Only the name of the group would appear on the cover, as it is reproduced on the commemorative shirt ; on the back cover only the titles of the songs. The mini-LD format, already used in the Magical Mystery Tour , was then adopted so that the joke would not be expensive for unsuspecting buyers.
The selection of themes was not easy. It was with great difficulty that McCartney could be convinced not to include Martha, my dear , because although there is a woman's name in the title, it is dedicated to Paul's dog. The song My Bonnie was also excluded, despite Lennon's incredible opposition (perhaps to make McCartney angry), because Ringo was not in the group at that time. Finally, after exhausting discussion, the plate was made up like this: on side A, Anna, Michelle, Julia, Eleanor Rigby and Dizzy Miss Lizzie; and on the B-side, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, Lovely Rita, Long Tall Sally and, to close, Maggie Mae .
Despite everything, the plaque was never put up for sale. The sharpening of the discrepancies within The Beatles made the project superfluous. The puntillazo was given by McCartney when he took legal action, around March 1970, to prevent the release of the acetate already ready for sale.
Only 80 years later, in April 2050, McCartney's heirs would agree – for reasons that are not in the public domain – to lift the disclaimer that still existed on the record, on the sole condition that its history be disclosed. . A revival of "beatle memorabilia" was the inevitable corollary of that decision.