The last note of ‘ She’s Leaving Home’ on Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album lasts 43 ½ seconds—the final bit being at a high frequency audible to dogs but not to most human beings.
Paul McCartney produced the Bonzo Dog Doodah Band’s ‘ I’m the Urban Spaceman’ single under the pseudonym Apollo C.Vermouth.
The Beatles’ second film Help was dedicated to Elias Howe, inventor of the sewing machine
Names of real bands:
Grab, Grab the Haddock
Impaired Penile Throttle Condition
Stitched Back Foot Airman
I Spit on Your Gravy
You’ve Got Foetus On Your Breath
The Savoy Hitler Youth Band
Deep Freeze Mice
The longest running group in the world were the New Christy Minstrels, who were originally formed in 1842 as The Christy Minstrels. They disbanded in 1921, but reformed in 1961 as The New Christy Minstrels.
The title of the Smith’s ‘Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now ‘ bears a remarkable similarity to that of Sandy Shaw’s 1969 single‘ Heaven Knows I’m Missing Him Now’. Miss Shaw was idolised by Morrissey.
Dire Straits’ Brothers in Arms was the first CD single
The Beatle’s ‘Eight Days a Week ‘was the first record to feature a fade-in intro .
Diana Ross’s rider was cellophane wrapped loo seats.
In 1983 Tommy Steele published his debut novel, a wartime thriller called The Final Run.
The mum of Mike Nesmith ( Monkees) invented liquid paper, the original correcting fluid.
When Paul McCartney was writing ‘Yesterday’ he used the dummy lyrics and song title ‘ Scrambled Eggs ‘.
The highest reported fee for a thirty-second advert is the $1.5 million ( £830,000) Boy George got for selling gin on Japanese TV.
Mark Price, the young boy in the famous Hovis adverts, later became a session drummer and worked with Nik Kershaw.
Terry Kath, the Chicago guitarist, apparently planned to amuse party guests when he pointed what he thought was an empty gun at his head. It wasn’t and he died instantly.
Reg Calvert, the manager of The Fortunes and Lord ( Screaming) Sutch, and the owner of the pirate radio station, Radio City, was shot dead in 1966 by Major Oliver Smedley, a rival pirate station owner and free market ex Liberal MP, at his home in Wendens Ambo, Essex. Smedley was charged with his murder, but later acquitted on the grounds of self-defence. The incident became a cause celebre at the time.
Bob Dylan apparently wrote a number of songs with Gene Clark of the Byrds. Unfortunately, they were thrown away by a hotel maid and no record of them remains.
In 1987 UK aviation historian Roy Nesbitt claimed to have unearthed evidence that suggested the RAF shot down the plane that Glenn Miller was travelling on.
Gordon Kaye, star of ‘ Allo ‘Allo interviewed The Beatles for Huddersfield Hospital Radio in 1963.
Some pillow cases used by the Beatles in a Kansas City hotel were cut into 160,000 1-inch squares and sold at $1 each.
Portugal’s 1974 entry in the Eurovision Song Contest was used as a signal for the army to begin the overthrow of a forty- eight-year-old right-wing dictatorship.
Taken from: Steve Smith, Bits and Pieces. The Penguin Book of Rock and Pop Facts and Trivia (1988)
Good to see ‘the thinking man’s Monkee’ Mike Nesmith name checked. I sort of knew his mum was rich but had forgotten it was from typewriter stuff…