This Day in Beatle History

June 4

2008 (Feb 20) - Beatles' Autographed Rolling Stones Album Auctioned

A 1976 Rolling Stones album bought for £2 at a car boot sale sold for £4,000 at an auction. The ‘Black and Blue’ LP was signed by John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Paul and Linda McCartney and George Harrison as well as members of the Rolling Stones. The seller obtained the album after haggling the cost down from £3.

2014 (Jun 4) - John Lennon Artifacts Sold at Auction

Handwritten letters, notes, poems and sketches by John Lennon all exceeded pre-sale estimates at an auction at Sotheby’s in New York. The Fat Budgie, a nonsensical poem, sold for $143,000 (£85,000), having been valued at up to $35,000 (£21,000). A handwritten manuscript called I Sat Belonely went for $137,000 (£82,000), four times its estimate. The pieces, part of an 89 lot sale, came from Lennon’s books In His Own Write and A Spaniard in the Works.

June 5

1947 (Jun 5) - Tom Evans of Badfinger Born

English musician and songwriter Tom Evans, from Badfinger, who scored the 1970 UK No.4 and US No.7 single ‘Come And Get It’. In November 1969, the Iveys changed their name to Badfinger, and Paul McCartney gave the group a boost by offering them his song ‘Come and Get It’, which he produced for the band. With Pete Ham he wrote ‘Without You’ first released on their 1970 album No Dice. The song has been recorded by over 180 artists and versions released as singles by Harry Nilsson and Mariah Carey became international best-sellers. Evans committed suicide on 19th November 1983.

1966 (Feb 18) - Brian Wilson Finishes 'Good Vibrations'

Beach Boy Brian Wilson finished recording the future classic song ‘Good Vibrations’, which went on to become the band’s third US number-one hit. As a child, his mother told him that dogs could pick up “vibrations” from people, so that the dog would bark at “bad vibrations” Wilson turned this into the general idea for the song.