Billy Preston played the organ on the song “Let It Be” and the Fender Rhodes electric piano on “Get Back” and “Don’t Let Me Down” during the recording of the Let It Be album and film (earlier called Get Back). George Harrison brought Preston in to temporarily ease some of the tension in the studio during the tumultuous sessions. Also, the Beatles intended to record the tracks “live”, with no overdubbing, so it helped to have a fifth musician playing keyboards. At one point during the sessions, John Lennon suggested that Billy could join the band as the “Fifth Beatle”, but Paul McCartney nixed the idea saying that it was bad enough with four.

The “Get Back”/”Don’t Let Me Down” single was credited to “The Beatles with Billy Preston”. This was the only time an outsider was given this type of credit on an official Beatles-sanctioned release. Tony Sheridan had shared credit on some Hamburg-era recordings, but these were unsanctioned reissues on which the Beatles were primarily the backing group.

Preston also played Hammond organ on the tracks “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” and “Something” that appeared on the Abbey Road album.

The Beatles first met Billy Preston in 1962 when he was part of Little Richard’s touring band. Manager Brian Epstein had organized a Liverpool show in which the Beatles opened for.

George Harrison and Pattie Boyd met during the filming of A Hard Day’s Night in 1964. Pattie appeared (uncredited) in the film as a schoolgirl. She spoke a one-word line in the film: “Prisoners?”.

Pattie initially resisted George’s interest in her (because she had a boyfriend at the time), but his persistence paid off and they married less than two years after meeting. Their marriage took place on January 21, 1966, with Paul McCartney as best man. Ringo Starr and John Lennon were on holiday and therefore not in attendance.

Harrison and Boyd split up in 1974. She moved in with George’s close friend Eric Clapton, whom was deeply infatuated with Pattie. Clapton and Boyd eventually married in 1979 (and divorced in 1989).

Pattie has claimed that she was the inspiration for Harrison’s songs “I Need You”, “Something”, “For You Blue” and “Isn’t It a Pity.” She has said that George was the love of her life, and that she regretted not working things out with him in their marriage.

Pete Best was the original drummer of The Beatles. He became a member of the band on August 12, 1960, just one day before they were to leave for Hamburg, Germany to play a series of shows there.

Two years later, on August 16, 1962, he was dismissed from the group but was never given a satisfactory explanation why. The only reason manager Brian Epstein gave was, “The lads don’t want you in the group anymore”. Although there were probably a few reasons why the lads were wanting to replace him, Pete’s fate was sealed when producer George Martin indicated that he wanted to use a session drummer instead of Best for their studio recordings. The other three Beatles asked Epstein to fire him and replace him with Ringo Starr, who had occasionally sat in with the band when Pete was unavailable.

— Here’s a few quotes from the Beatles about Best’s firing:

“We were always going to dump him when we found a decent drummer.” – John Lennon

“We were cowards when we sacked him.” – John Lennon

“I was quite responsible for stirring things up. I conspired to get Ringo in for good; I talked to Paul and John until they came round to the idea.” – George Harrison

“We weren’t very good at telling Pete (Best) he had to go.” – George Harrison

“I never felt sorry for Pete Best. I was not involved.” – Ringo Starr

“I felt I was a much better drummer than he was.” – Ringo Starr

“It was a strictly professional decision. If he wasn’t up to the mark… then there was no other choice.” – Paul McCartney

“I do feel sorry for him, because of what he could have been on to.”- Paul McCartney

Related post: Who was the original bass player of The Beatles?
Related article on BeatlesLane.com: Whatever happened to former Beatle Pete Best?

A Hard Day’s Night is the first movie starring the Beatles. It was filmed and released in 1964. Here are a few trivia questions related to the film. The answers are below the last question.

(1) How many times is the name “Beatles” mentioned in A Hard Day’s Night?

(2)  The movie has a character of a grandfather to which Beatle?

(3) Name the Beatle and his future wife that met on the set of A Hard Day’s Night.

(4) What is the only word that Pattie Boyd says in the film?

(5) The movie’s title originated from something said by which Beatle?

(6) What 13 year old child actor, who would later become a famous drummer/vocalist, was an extra in A Hard Day’s Night?

(7) Besides A Hard Day’s Night, what other Beatles’ films did actor Victor Spinetti appear in?

(8) What did Ringo reply when asked if he’s a Mod or a Rocker?

(9) Who directed A Hard Day’s Night?

(10) In the scene where The Beatles are running and playing in the field, a body double filled in for which Beatle who wasn’t actually there?

Answers:

(1) Zero – No one says the word “Beatles”

(2)  Paul. Wilfrid Brambell played Paul’s fictional grandfather John McCartney

(3) George Harrison and Pattie Boyd

(4) “Prisoners?”

(5) Ringo. As he explained in an interview with DJ Dave Hull in 1964: “We went to do a job, and we’d worked all day and we happened to work all night. I came up still thinking it was day I suppose, and I said, ‘It’s been a hard day…’ and I looked around and saw it was dark so I said, ‘…night!’ So we came to A Hard Day’s Night.”

(6) Phil Collins. Phil is wearing glasses and can be seen in the audience at the television theater. On a side note, in 1970, at age 19, Collins played percussion on the George Harrison song “The Art of Dying”.

(7) Help! and Magical Mystery Tour

(8) “I’m a mocker”

(9) Richard Lester

(10) John, who was away promoting his book “John Lennon: In His Own Write.” Some close-up shots of him were later edited into the scene.