TDP News: It’s Beatles Week on Letterman

Beatles Week on the Letterman show is coming to a close. This past week, the late-night talk show host David Letterman has been featuring artists honoring the Beatles. The Letterman stage is the same stage on which the Fab Four made their first U.S. appearance fifty years ago this Sunday. Letterman’s Beatles Week has been an effort to commemorate that momentous occasion, and recognize the vast impact the Beatles have had on music and culture in that time.

Featured artists include: Broken Bells, who played “And I Love Her” and “I Am the Walrus”; Sting, who performed “Drive My Car”; and Lenny Kravitz, accompanied by Letterman band leader Paul Schaffer on keys, who played “Get Back.” Last night, the Flaming Lips, accompanied by John Lennon’s son Sean Lennon, who was wearing the same hat his father wore on the album sleeve for Hey Jude, paid tribute to their psychedelic predecessors with a dramatic rendition of “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds.” As is typical of the Flaming Lips’ performances, the visual impact of the show was just as significant as the auditory elements. Tonight, Ms. Lauryn Hill will is scheduled to perform.

The entire week of Beatles tributes has been leading up to the premiere of the much anticipated CBS documentary on the band. This Sunday, at 8 p.m. EST, CBS will air a two-hour special, The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to the Beatles, documenting the Beatles’ arrival in the U.S. and their famous appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. The program’s airing coincides with the exact day, date, and time of that Sullivan show.

Broken Bells, with Ringo Starr: “And I Love Her”