How the cover for the album "Abbey Road" by The Beatles was created (14 photos). Do you know where The Beatles' legendary Abbey Road album cover was filmed?

Remember the famous album cover The Beatles, where all 4 musicians cross the road at a pedestrian crossing? So, the photo was taken in London:

From February to August 1969, the musicians worked on their last album Abbey Road (“Abby Road”) in a recording studio on Abbey Road. Having chosen the working title of the new disc - "Everest", the musicians even planned to fly to the Himalayas to make a cover there, but everything turned out differently. The band members were already in a strained relationship by that time, so the long trip did not arouse much enthusiasm in anyone.

Paul McCartney offered to take a photo right on the street and even sketched a draft.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono found a photographer - Ian Macmillan.

The photo session took place on August 8, 1969 at about 11:30 am right outside the recording studio. Already in those years, Abbey Road was one of the busiest in the city - the police agreed to block traffic for only 10 minutes.

Ian Macmillan filmed the musicians from the stairs. As the photographer recalls, after taking a few shots, he let the crowded cars pass, and then quickly photographed again. The photo that made the cover was the 5th of six taken. Only on it the musicians, as the photographer had planned, kept pace.

It even has a webcam installed. Even though this is one of the busiest streets in London, you may be able to take pictures "like the Beatles" - especially if you come with a group.

On January 16, 1957, the Cavern Club opened in Liverpool, where the legendary band The Beatles made their debut. It was this day that became the main holiday of the Beatles, according to the decision of UNESCO, January 16 is World Beatles Day.

The Beatles have always been surrounded by myths, but sometimes the truth was stranger than the lie.

Myth 1. What will you call the boat

What would happen if the Beatles weren't the Beatles? What would the incredible phenomenon known as "Beatlemania" be called then?

It all started with the Quarrymen - this was the name of the group that was put together by the very young Lennon and McCartney. The name of the group was given in honor of Lennon's school Quarry Bank.

But when the group began to perform more actively, a more sonorous name was also needed, and then Johnny and the Moondogs appeared.

But the Beatles were not destined to remain "moon dogs"; in April 1960, the musicians changed their name to The Beatles.

According to the legend, The idea for the band's name came to John Lennon in a dream.. It is no longer possible to prove or disprove this, but Lennon himself said: "I saw a man on a flaming pie who said:" Let there be beetles. "Beetles means" beetles ", but Lennon changed "e" to "a", and it turned out a new, original word, the root of which is clearly guessed - "beat" - beat music.

Fact 1. The Beatles, Brodsky and the Yellow Submarine

"Beatlemania" did not bypass the USSR either. The Beatles were undoubtedly loved by us, and even published. In the 60s, the text of the song Yellow Submarine translated by Joseph Brodsky appeared in the pioneer magazine "Koster".

Joseph Brodsky. Yellow podoldka

In our glorious town
There lived a gray-haired sailor.
He's been to places like this
Where everyone lives underwater.

And immediately there
We sailed for the star
And in a submarine there
Settled underwater.

2 times: We have a yellow submarine, we have a yellow one,
we have yellow.

We live inside the water
We don't need anything.
Blue skies and intense heat
Made friends with yellowness.

Myth 2. Yesterday's scrambled eggs

The song "Yesterday", rightfully considered the most famous creation of the four, was first performed in 1965, but even after 45 years it does not lose its popularity. In 1999, according to a BBC poll, it was even recognized as the best song of the century. in history, according to the Guinness Book of Records, there are more than 3,000 recorded versions of this song today.

According to the legend Paul McCartney came up with the melody for this song in a dream, and at first McCartney was sure that he just heard this one somewhere, and did not invent it. In order not to forget the melody, he hummed it with the first words that came to mind: “Scrambled eggs, oh, my baby, how I love your legs ...” (“Scrambled eggs, oh my baby, how I love your legs ...”).

Under the same title "Scrambled Eggs", the song was released in the US even before work on Yesterday was completed. Then American fans wrote in letters to the group that they heard “something called Scrambled Egg, which is a complete copy of Yesterday.

Despite its success, the song was criticized for being banal and sentimental, and the Italian composer Lily Greco stated in 2006 that Yesterday was only a cover version of the old Neapolitan song "Piccerè che vene a dicere". Greco claimed to have heard the song in Naples in the 80s, writes Spiegel online. When he asked the name of the song from the person who sang it, he was told that it was a Neapolitan folk song. In support of his version, Greco quoted Beatles manager Brian Epstein telling him about Lennon and McCartney's love for Neapolitan songs.

Fact 2. To aliens with love, The Beatles

Fact 4. The Beatles Book of Records

Beatles- the most famous and successful rock band of the 20th century, and this is not only the opinion of her fans, the numbers speak for them. Here are just a few of them.

In 1964, the Beatles held all of the top five spots on the Billboard Singles Chart. They turned out to be the only group that was able to set such a record, the dailyshow.ru website writes.

While on tour in America, the Beatles performed twice on The Ed Sullivan Show, bringing together a record number of viewers in the history of television - 73 million (40% of the US population at that time). This record has not yet been broken by anyone.

Myth 5. Four nights in Moscow

The playful hymn to the country of the Soviets - "Back In The USSR" - became one of the group's most popular songs. And it is with the USSR that another myth about the Beatles is connected.

According to legend in July 1966 The Beatles sang in Moscow at Sheremetyevo airport (according to another version, in Vnukovo). Like most legends, this one has many variations. The first version: the concert took place at the airport, when the Beatles flew on tour to Japan, and their plane was delayed.

The second version, according to the Big City edition, says that the Beatles received an invitation from the Soviet leadership and flew to Sheremetyevo, but at the airport they unexpectedly received a message about the cancellation of the concert, out of annoyance they played a mini-concert right on the airfield, and then flew back.

In addition to the stories of "eyewitnesses" of the concert, if any existed and exist, the unreleased song "Four Nights in Moscow" is considered to be proof that the Beatles visited Moscow. But the group's historians are sure that such a song never existed, and the Beatles' busy touring schedule simply would not have given them the opportunity to perform in Moscow.

Fact 5. "Kalinka" performed by the Beatles

No matter how surprising the coincidence, but in 1964, also on January 16, the Liverpool four came to Paris to perform at Olympia. And here an event occurred that at first glance may seem implausible. In a Parisian restaurant, the Beatles met the "Golden Voice of Russia" - singer Lyudmila Zykina, and, moreover, sang "Kalinka" with Zykina!

Zykina herself spoke about this in 2009 at a press conference in RIA Novosti. The acquaintance took place in one of the restaurants, and two days later Lyudmila Georgievna was at the Beatles concert. According to the singer, at the concert the Beatles performed not only their own songs, but also ours: “Here is the postal troika rushing”, “Because of the island on the rod”, “Green Willow”. And then the Beatles offered Zykina to sing along. And they sang the song "Kalinka". “And I sang,” Zykina said, “and they sang and sang together ... and it was not bad.”

The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources

The cover of the Beatles' famous Abbey Road album (Stephanie / flickr.com) The famous Abbey Road pedestrian crossing (Gary Denham / flickr.com) The Abbey Road studio entrance (Peter Bruening / flickr.com) The Abbey Road studio building (james/flickr.com) Passers-by parody the Beatles at the Abbey Road crosswalk (Bruno/flickr.com) Engyles/flickr.com Engyles/flickr.com Engyles/flickr.com

In the capital of Great Britain - London, in the St. John's Wood area there is a popular and important building in world music. We are talking about the Abbey Road recording studio, located on the street of the same name.

The name of the street in the Westminster district is translated as "Road to the Abbey". Here, in the 19th century, the headquarters of the British Horse Artillery stationed its soldiers. The street at that time was the road to the monastery of Kilburn, which in its day belonged to a monastic order and was in the status of an abbey.

Abbey Road Studio Building (james/flickr.com)

The building was founded in 1830, and a few years later it became an exquisite decoration of the district and received its serial number - No. 3.

For a hundred years, the house was owned, replacing each other, by four owners. In 1914 the building was converted into a hotel complex. Its residents were not ordinary people and were very significant figures in history. One of them was John Arthur Mondy Gregory, a connoisseur of music and everything connected with it. He brought musical instruments to the apartment and, enjoying listening to his favorite gramophone records, he liked to independently accompany the compositions he listened to on the drum kit. His life did not turn out in the best way - because of illegal trade, he was sent to prison.

In 1929, the building was bought by the developer Francis Meyer. He was involved in construction and real estate transactions. However, he did not have time to leave his mark on the history of this house, since soon after a successful purchase, he also very successfully sold it to Electric And Musical Industries Ltd. EMI, anticipating the dawn of the recording industry, built the world's first highly specialized studio, where music was recorded at the highest level using modern technology.

The famous Abbey Road crosswalk (Gary Denham / flickr.com)

The reconstruction of the building into a studio was carried out in 1930. The owners paid £100,000 to implement their idea.

The administration of London did not allow changing the appearance of the building and its appearance remained the same, an elegant decoration of the city. Internal work did not greatly affect the old decoration. Minor repairs were required to the 16 rooms of the old building, as well as ventilation systems and recording studio equipment.

By November 12, 1931, three studios, several offices and rooms for a quiet pastime, where musicians could relax, opened their doors to beginners and experienced musicians. At the same time, a recording studio was opened. The process itself was filmed and presented to the general public as a documentary.

Successful work of the studio

The successful work of the studio began with the recording of classical, orchestral compositions. Here the masterpieces of the London Symphony Orchestra and great meters were born.

During the Second World War, Abbey Road gathered propaganda facts from the UK and the BBC. But music has always sounded within these walls: the Glenn Miller Orchestra, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong were recorded.

Victory in the Great Patriotic War opened the door for sound engineers to Berlin, where they studied in detail the technical innovations of the Third Reich in recording using a tape recorder. New technical discoveries in this area have helped to improve studio equipment.

In 1953, experts worked on broadcasting a recording of the coronation of Elizabeth II herself.

The Beatles and Abbey Road

Golden time is associated with the appearance in the life of the studio of the young producer George Martin. In 1950, simultaneously with his arrival, the popularity of rock and roll grew, the first hit parades appeared, and, of course, the already famous studio was directly involved in the birth of compositions that the general public loved.

Abbey Road Studio Entrance (Peter Bruening / flickr.com)

We can say that the results of the work of Abbey Road have always become hits for all time. 1962 became a key year in the history of the studio. At this time, George Martin met the Liverpool Four, later the world-famous Beatles.

The meeting of these people greatly changed both their lives and the musical community around the world. Martin, having become the producer of this group, records all her work within the walls of Abbey Road. Their very first and at the same time popular album, recorded at this studio within 24 hours, called "Please Give Me Pleasure" did not give up its positions in the national chart for 6 months.

According to the members of the Beatles, the atmosphere of the studio helped them a lot when creating music.

The Beatles' Abbey Road album

The most important event in the life of the studio and the Beatles was the release of the album in 1969 under the name Abbey Road. This is how the leaders of the group and the producer himself decided to pay tribute to the place where their very fruitful and world-famous life flowed. On the cover of the album is a photograph of the band members crossing the road on a pedestrian crossing near the studio.

Passers-by parody the Beatles at the Abbey Road crosswalk (Bruno / flickr.com)

This transition later became a gathering place for all the Beatles, each of whom so wanted to take such a photo as a keepsake.

Even today, a webcam installed on the Abbey Road studio building captures people crossing the road on the famous pedestrian, just like the Liverpool Four did.

There are a huge number of different film and paper sources dedicated to the world famous Abbey Road Studios. They will be of interest to those who yearn to get to know her better.

Those who wish to visit this historical place can get to the studio from the St. John's Wood branches of the Jubilee Line in just 6 minutes.

I wanted to look at England through a webcam, since I can’t go. Through a webcam search engine, I found an intersection on Abbey Road in London.

Cars scurry back and forth. I feel like my head is spinning. Ah, I guessed - it's because they drive on the left side.
Here are the pedestrians. Grouped and standing at the pedestrian crossing. Drivers in England are polite - they stop, let pedestrians pass, but they do not go. They will come to the road, then they will depart. Or they will cross the transition, and then return back. I think maybe the tourists... They don't know which way to go? Strange behaviour, isn't it? That's where I got interested. I kept watching. Below are screenshots from the computer.

Finally, two pedestrians grew bolder and went. One ran out onto the road and takes a picture of the second one walking along the zebra. Weird, I think. Who has already guessed - shut up!

I was even more surprised when the third flock of pedestrians began to be photographed. This phenomenon excited my brain. I began to look for various options for such behavior, called my husband, daughter. Marvel, I say, how people behave strangely. At the family council, we made two assumptions:
1. This is some kind of English flash mob. People take pictures at pedestrian crossings, then upload the pictures somewhere.
2. On the side where the lens is looking, there is some kind of landmark against which they are photographed, and on the transition - because this is a convenient shooting point, perhaps the center of the frame.
Well, I think I found a couple of explanations and that's enough, I was satisfied. But the camera did not turn off.

On the second day, sorting through the mail, reading my bookmarks, I find this - a webcam on Abbey Road.
This second day just shook me! People are more actively photographed. In sequence. "What is this being done?" - explodes from inexplicable surprise and incomprehensible my brain. A little less, but still surprising behavior of drivers. Cars don't just let pedestrians through: they are patient! are waiting! when the last ones take a photo and no one beeps!!! I feel like imbued with respect for English drivers.

Suddenly I see how another group of pedestrians is evenly distributed along the pedestrian crossing and "freezes" in their procession - as if a freeze frame. Hands in a swing in different directions, legs take a wide step. "STOP! I’ve seen this somewhere before, ”I think, and my hands are already typing this strange Abbey Road street in the search engine, but what is it there ?!

Here's what I found about this strange street with strange pedestrians.

Of course, one of the main attractions of Abbey Road is the recording studio of the same name. The studio is known for the fact that such world-famous groups as the Beatles recorded their musical masterpieces within its walls, Pink Floyd, The Shadows, Mike Oldfield, Duran Duran and others.
Legendary rock band The Beatles named their latest album after the recording studio, which is located on Abbey Road and has the same name. The Abbey Road studio is still in operation today. Keane, Oasis, U2, Leningrad and Patrizio Buanne visit its walls to record their hits.
A large number of fans visit the famous street and recording studio every day, leaving graffiti on the fence and taking pictures at the famous pedestrian crossing, which is depicted on the cover of the Beatles' latest album. Incidentally, the Abbey Road crossing has been awarded Grade II status by English Heritage, which means that the crossing is under government protection.

And here, by the way, the morning tourist. Vermya in the lower left corner. The fact that the tourist photographs is precisely the entrance to the record company.

Yeah, and promise me you won't laugh too hard, okay? The inscription above the photo "Webcam on Abbey Road (a street in London). The street became famous after the Beatles' album of the same name" did not tell me anything until I found this picture. what can I say, my thinking is figurative, I think in pictures. And the words ... but what difference does it make what they write there ... the main thing is what I see :)))

That was such an amazing day for me at the beginning of December. My husband said that when we were in London we would also take a picture at the Abbey Road crosswalk.
You can see the street through the webcam

After extremely unsuccessful recording sessions for the planned album get back(later renamed to Let It Be- 1970) Paul McCartney suggested that producer George Martin get together and record an album "like in the old days", without those quarrels and omissions that began with the work on the record The Beatles(aka White Album). Martin agreed on the condition that everything would be "as it was before", and the end result was Abbey Road. Work on it took place from February to August 1969.

The Beatles' twelfth album was originally named Everest: such cigarettes were smoked by one of the engineers of the studio, Jeff Emerick. The mountains depicted on the pack really liked the group.

But the name had to be changed: none of the team members wanted to go to Nepal for a photo shoot. We got out of this situation very simply and, as it turned out later, very successfully.

The cover art was designed by Apple Records creative director John Kosh. Abbey Road- the only British album of the Beatles, on the cover of which neither the artist nor the name is indicated. The record company EMI warned that the record would not be sold without this information. Kosh clarified that they "didn't have to put the band's name on the cover... They were the most famous band in the world."

A couple of days before the shoot, Ian was given a sketch by Paul McCartney showing what it should look like.

On an unusually hot August 8, around half past eleven, Ian Macmillan, a freelance photographer and friend of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, arrived at the studio building on Abbey Road. The Beatles were waiting for him on the porch.

In stock, Macmillan had only 10 minutes to take the desired photograph. Especially for this, the police blocked the site of the already busy Abbey Road in those days. Using a Hasselblad camera with a 50mm wide angle lens, aperture f22, at 1/500 of a second, Ian took the first 3 photos while standing on a stepladder.

After that, I had to stop and let some of the cars pass and only then shoot the remaining 3.

Paul keeps the flip flops when they return, but leaves them on the sidewalk for the rest of the photo shoot.

All photos of McCartney viewed with the help of magnifying glass before deciding which one will make the cover. The selection settled on the fifth shot, in which the group is crossing the street from left to right, Lennon leading the procession, followed by Starr, McCartney and Harrison. McCartney walks barefoot and out of step with the others. It also featured Alan Flanagan, Steve Millwood and Derek Seagrove, decorating the studio and returning from lunch. They can be found in the frame on the far left.

Parked to the left, a white Volkswagen Beetle belonged to one of the residents of the apartment building across from the studio. After the release of the album, the license plate (LMW 281F) was stolen several times. In 1986, the car was sold at Sotheby's to an American billionaire for £2,530, and in 2001 it was exhibited in a German museum.

It is believed that the person standing on the sidewalk to the right of the crossing is Paul Cole, an American tourist. He was tired of going to museums: he just decided to stand and see what was happening around while his wife was examining museum exhibits. Paul got into a conversation with the policeman who was in the car. While they were talking, the tourist noticed that several people had gathered at the pedestrian crossing and four of them began to walk back and forth along the zebra: “Some weirdos! Who walks around London barefoot? Paul Cole noticed himself on the cover of the album only a few years later.

Shortly before the release of the album Abbey Road The Rat Subterranean News published an article claiming that Paul McCartney died in a car accident in 1966 and that the current "Paul" is actually William Campbell. And the picture became a new "proof" of the conspiracy theory. The number on the Volkswagen LMW 281F that was in the picture was read as "Paul would be 28 years old if he was alive" (and it does not matter that Paul turned 27 in 1969). And the whole composition personifies the funeral procession - in front is John in white as a priest, at the end George in all jeans as an undertaker, and Paul himself with eyes closed, barefoot, with a cigarette in his hand (the expression "a cigarette is a nail from a coffin"), and even out of step with the others.

McCartney always denied these allusions, saying that it was nonsense: “We wore ordinary clothes. I was barefoot because it was hot. And the Volkswagen just happened to be there.” In 1993, Paul released a live album Paul Is Live, the cover of which parodied and Abbey Road, and the "evidence" of his own death "found" on it.

The image of the Beatles crossing Abbey Road has become one of the most famous and copied in history. For example, Red Hot Chili Peppers took it as a prototype for the cover. Abbey Road EP.

In 2010, the crossing was given Category II status for its "cultural and historical significance"; Abbey Road Studios had received similar status a few months earlier. There is a special site on which the famous transition has been broadcast in real time since 2011.