The Beatles were at Abbey Road studios today in 1967, mixing John Lennon'sI Am The Walrus. John put together three different song ideas he'd been working on to make the epic piece. They added a bit of last minute audio, tuning a radio up and down the dial, settling on a BBC production of King Lear. A good part of the lyrics were intentional nonsense, as John had learned that a teacher at his old primary school was having students analyze Beatles lyrics.
Jerry Lee Lewis was celebrating his birthday today in 1976 by drunkenly blasting holes in an office door with a handgun when he accidentally shot his bass player Norm Owens in the chest. Owens recovered, but sued his boss.
Bruce Springsteen was headed east from Los Angeles on his Harley today in 1989, and stopped for a break at Matt's Saloon in Prescott Arizona, where he jammed with the house band and donated $100,000 to a sick barmaid's hospital bill. Motorcyclists remembered the deed, and were later able to return the favor...
Keith Moon's custom-made Premier "Pictures of Lilly" drum kit (with old-timey pictures of naked women on the shells) sold at auction in London today in 2004 to an American collector who paid nearly $216,000 for it despite the treatment it had received on American national television. The Premier Drum Company saw dollar signs and created a limited-edition "Pictures of Lilly" replica which sold for substantially less: $6000. They sold all of them.
Rock and Roll Birthdays
One of the original Sun Records rockabilly stars, Jerry Lee "The Killer" Lewis is 85, and no longer celebrating his birthday with firearms.
One half of the songwriting duo Boyce and Hart, Tommy Boyce, would be 81. the 40 million plus records they sold included the hits I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight, Last Train To Clarksville, I'm Not Your Stepping Stone, and the theme to Scooby Doo. He committed suicide in 1994 after suffering an aneurysm.
Grand Funk Railroad guitarist Mark Farner is 72.
Blues Image and Iron Butterfly guitarist Mike Pinera is also 72.