#5mar

George with members of the Radha Krshna Temple on the roof of Apple at Savile Row, London on 5th March 1970. This was promotion for the new single, Govinda, which was due to be released the following day. 

The Beatles pose for photos on the stairwell outside EMI House on the 5th March 1963, having driven down to London overnight for a recording session. I think that’s George Martin’s back in the last photo.  

The Beatles dressing for a photoshoot at EMI House, Manchester Square, London on 5th March 1963. 

Those famous parking meter photos! An early photo shoot for The Beatles on Montague Place, London, 5th March 1963. (John’s glasses!)

Yeah. Oh dear. But don’t worry, they got over that as well. Ringo brings it up in this interview from 1988:

(clip at 1:45)

Michael Aspel: What about now? What makes you cross with each other now? 

Ringo: Well, the last time we were cross was when George was suing me. […] He called me up […] and said ‘I’m going to sue you.’ I said, ‘Nah, George, don’t be silly.’ He said, ‘No, I’m going to sue you. I don’t like what you’ve done.’ Because he wrote this song and I had it mixed by somebody else, and he didn’t like the mix, so he starts suing me. So in the end I said, ‘Sue me if you want, but I’ll always love you.’ 

Ringo’s talking about the Harrisong, ‘I’ll Still Love You’ (also known as ‘When Every Song Is Sung’) which was a song George wrote and sorta recorded in 1970 for the All Things Must Pass sessions but George didn’t release it. It seems a bit like a ‘One After 909′ as several people gave the song a try (Shirley Bassey, Cilla Black, Leon Russell) but no one did much with it. Eventually George donated the song to Ringo for ‘Ringo’s Rotogravure’ in 1976. George was under pressure to complete 33 and 1/3 so he didn’t take part in Ringo’s recording sessions. For reasons unclear, George took exception to Ringo’s version. 

Although Ringo didn’t release it as a single, he made a promo video for it (filmed in Hamburg) so maybe he was considering it as a single, but didn’t release it because obviously George would have objected. I’m not sure, really, what grounds George would have to sue Ringo over the song as he willingly gave it to Ringo to record. (Presumably there was some agreement George thought he’d broken??) But it was settled out of court in late 1976. 

In the Michael Aspel interview it’s 12 years later and Ringo’s making light of it and joking around. George is laughing but looks (rightfully) rather embarrassed about it. As you should, Georgie. 

(The sound is awfully out of synch in that clip. There is a longer version of the whole interview on YouTube if you search for “George Harrison and Ringo Starr Aspel and Co 1988″). 

George’s version of the song is quite nice. I can’t find that on YouTube currently (though I’m sure it’s been on there before. Maybe it’s been removed for release?!) After Ringo’s version, no one else recorded it (as far as I’m aware), you can find George’s original on bootlegs. 

This was the occasion I was referring to, but I think all the Beatles merrily sued each other in the early 70s, so this probably wasn’t the only time. 

“We had a great time [being The Beatles]. I think fondly of it all, especially as we’ve been through all the aftermath of Apple. Everybody’s sued each other to their hearts’ content, and now we’re all good friends.”

[George, Rolling Stone interview, 1979]

‘Sue me if you want, but I’ll always love you.’ 

[Ringo]