Gimme Some Truth

This week, my guest Eric Krasker and I tell the unexpectedly complex story of The Beatles' only foreign language recordings made in Paris in January 1964. This and many other details of the Paris residency are detailed in Eric's new book Les Beatles à l'Olympia (available here).

The date that George Harrison first met his friend and mentor Ravi Shankar has never been accurately pinned down until now. This week I am joined by author/editor Oliver Craske to present the evidence he uncovered for his brilliant biography Indian Sun: The Life and Music of Ravi Shankar (more information here).

Much has been said about the end of The Beatles' streak of number one UK singles in 1967 with Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever. This week we look at what really happened and try to understand why.

In the first episode of Season 4, we take a detailed look at John and Paul's October 1961 holiday to Paris. How do we know what we know about this period? And what can we add to Mark Lewisohn's account in Tune In? 

I am back with a Fab Fourth season of Gimme Some Truth! First episode drops next week.

What was Yoko using to record her audio diary? I present a new clue from an unexpected source tied together with photographic evidence to find a possible answer!

In the last part of our analysis of Yoko Ono's 4 June 1968 audio diary, Chip, Erin, Robert and I discuss our final thoughts and takeaways as Yoko continues to worry about Cynthia's imminent return and John wraps up work on 'Revolution' for the day with a rough mix.

To follow along with the audio, you can download an improved transcript here.

Part 3 of Yoko Ono's 4 June 1968 audio diary sees her analysing John's handwriting, the other three Beatles and admitting jealousy of John's work on 'Revolution'. Join Chip, Erin, Robert and I as we discuss!

To follow along with the audio, you can download an improved transcript here.

In this second part, we continue our investigation of Yoko Ono's 4 June 1968 audio diary. John messes around with a fretless guitar, Kyoko goes missing and an interesting visitor arrives to EMI Studios.

To follow along with the audio, you can download an improved transcript here.

I'm back with a new, special season in which I am joined by Beatles authors and scholars Chip Madinger, Erin Torkelson Weber and Robert Rodriguez to discuss Yoko Ono's 4 June 1968 audio diary. This introduction episode sets the context for the recording and a history of 'Revolution 1' before we dive in!