John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band record Cold Turkey
John Lennon led Eric Clapton, Klaus Voormann and Ringo Starr through twenty-six takes of Cold Turkey during a 7pm to 1:30am session at EMI Studios on September 25, 1969, cutting the raw account of his heroin withdrawal five days after quietly telling his bandmates he was leaving the Beatles.
Lennon judged the results not good enough and rerecorded the song three days later at Trident Studios, but the September 25 tapes captured the first full takes of what became the Plastic Ono Band's second single, according to The Beatles Bible.
September 25 at a Glance
Tap any event to jump straight to its full card below.
| Category | Event |
|---|---|
| 1969 | |
| industry | John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band record Cold Turkey |
| 1968 | |
| industry | Beatles finish Happiness Is a Warm Gun's backing track |
| chart | Mary Hopkin's Those Were the Days hits No. 1 in the UK |
| 1967 | |
| industry | Beatles record The Fool on the Hill |
| 1966 | |
| broadcast | The Supremes perform You Can't Hurry Love on Ed Sullivan |
| 1965 | |
| broadcast | The Beatles cartoon series premieres on ABC |
| 1964 | |
| release | Rolling Stones release Time Is On My Side in the US |
| industry | Temptations begin recording My Girl |
| 1963 | |
| concert | Hollywood's film composers conduct their own music at the Bowl |
| 1962 | |
| chart | Four Seasons' Sherry holds at No. 1 |
| 1961 | |
| chart | Leroy Van Dyke's Walk On By hits No. 1 on the country chart |
John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band record Cold Turkey
John Lennon led Eric Clapton, Klaus Voormann and Ringo Starr through twenty-six takes of Cold Turkey during a 7pm to 1:30am session at EMI Studios on September 25, 1969, cutting the raw account of his heroin withdrawal five days after quietly telling his bandmates he was leaving the Beatles.
Lennon judged the results not good enough and rerecorded the song three days later at Trident Studios, but the September 25 tapes captured the first full takes of what became the Plastic Ono Band's second single, according to The Beatles Bible.
Beatles finish Happiness Is a Warm Gun's backing track
The Beatles returned to Studio Two at EMI Studios on September 25, 1968, and spliced together take 53 and take 65 from the previous two nights to build the final backing track for Happiness Is a Warm Gun, according to The Beatles Bible.
John Lennon then added lead guitar and vocals over the rest of the session, finishing the multi-part White Album song that the Beatles had spent three straight nights piecing together.
Mary Hopkin's Those Were the Days hits No. 1 in the UK
Those Were the Days, the debut single Paul McCartney produced for eighteen-year-old Mary Hopkin on the new Apple label, reached number one on the UK singles chart on September 25, 1968, per Official Charts.
The Gene Raskin-penned waltz knocked the Beatles' own Hey Jude out of the top spot and went on to sell more than eight million copies worldwide, an instant hit for the Beatles' fledgling record label.
Beatles record The Fool on the Hill
The Beatles spent a 7pm to 3am session in Studio Two at EMI Studios on September 25, 1967, cutting three takes of the rhythm track for Paul McCartney's The Fool on the Hill before adding two pianos, recorders and lead vocals.
Yoko Ono reportedly attended her first Beatles session that night, watching a song written for Magical Mystery Tour take shape in the studio, according to The Beatles Bible.
The Supremes perform You Can't Hurry Love on Ed Sullivan
The Supremes sang You Can't Hurry Love and a medley of past hits on The Ed Sullivan Show broadcast September 25, 1966, sharing the bill with Ethel Merman and comedian Nipsey Russell.
The Holland-Dozier-Holland single had already topped the Hot 100 that summer, and the live network performance kept the Motown, soul and R&B trio in front of millions of prime-time viewers.
The Beatles cartoon series premieres on ABC
ABC premiered the animated series The Beatles on Saturday morning, September 25, 1965, opening with an episode built around I Want to Hold Your Hand that sent the cartoon Fab Four exploring the ocean floor in a diving bell.
It was the first animated series built around still-living celebrities, and it pulled in a 52 percent share of the Saturday morning audience for its debut, running new episodes until 1967 and reruns for years after, per The Beatles Bible.
Rolling Stones release Time Is On My Side in the US
London Records released the Rolling Stones' Time Is On My Side as a US single on September 25, 1964, a slow, gospel-organ arrangement cut at Regent Sound in London and modeled on Irma Thomas's original.
Backed with Congratulations, the single became the band's first US Top Ten hit, climbing to number six on the Billboard Hot 100, according to rollingstonesdata.com.
Temptations begin recording My Girl
The Temptations gathered at Motown's Hitsville USA studio on September 25, 1964, to begin recording My Girl, the first single to feature David Ruffin on lead vocals.
Written by Smokey Robinson and Ronald White, the song became the group's first number one hit and opened a run of fifteen Top Ten singles that defined Motown, soul and R&B for the rest of the decade.
Hollywood's film composers conduct their own music at the Bowl
The Composers and Lyricists Guild of America marked its tenth anniversary with Music From Hollywood at the Hollywood Bowl on September 25, 1963, where Bernard Herrmann, Miklos Rozsa, Alfred Newman, David Raksin, Elmer Bernstein, Alex North, Dimitri Tiomkin, John Green, Nelson Riddle and jazz and easy listening favorite Henry Mancini each conducted excerpts from their own film scores.
Andy Williams and Mahalia Jackson sang classic movie songs and Jack Benny added comic relief on his violin, drawing roughly 10,000 fans for a rare night when film composers, not movie stars, were the headliners, per Past Daily.
Four Seasons' Sherry holds at No. 1
Sherry by the Four Seasons, a defining pop and Brill Building era single, was in the middle of its five-week reign atop the Billboard Hot 100 on September 25, 1962, a run that also carried the song to number one on the R&B chart that October.
Written by Bob Gaudio in about fifteen minutes, the falsetto-driven single became the group's breakthrough hit and, decades later, was added to the Library of Congress National Recording Registry, per Wikipedia.
Leroy Van Dyke's Walk On By hits No. 1 on the country chart
Walk On By by Leroy Van Dyke first reached number one on Billboard's Hot C&W Sides chart on September 25, 1961, the start of a run spread across three separate stays at the top.
The song went on to spend a record 19 non-consecutive weeks at number one on the Nashville Sound and Bakersfield country chart and crossed over to peak at number five on the pop chart, a run Billboard later called the biggest country record in history, per Wikipedia.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happened in 1960s music on September 25?
September 25 produced eleven verified music events across the decade, headlined by John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band recording Cold Turkey in 1969.
The same date saw the Rolling Stones release Time Is On My Side, the Beatles' cartoon series premiere on ABC, and Mary Hopkin's Those Were the Days hit No. 1 in the UK.
When did John Lennon record Cold Turkey?
Lennon recorded the first full takes of Cold Turkey at EMI Studios on September 25, 1969, backed by Eric Clapton, Klaus Voormann and Ringo Starr.
He rerecorded the song three days later at Trident Studios after deciding the first version wasn't good enough.
When did the Rolling Stones release Time Is On My Side?
London Records released the Rolling Stones' Time Is On My Side as a US single on September 25, 1964.
It became the band's first US Top Ten hit, reaching number six on the Billboard Hot 100.
When did the Beatles cartoon series premiere?
ABC premiered the animated series The Beatles on Saturday morning, September 25, 1965.
The debut episode was built around the song I Want to Hold Your Hand and drew a 52 percent share of the Saturday morning audience.
Who produced Mary Hopkin's Those Were the Days?
Paul McCartney produced Those Were the Days for eighteen-year-old Mary Hopkin, the debut single on the Beatles' new Apple label.
It reached number one on the UK singles chart on September 25, 1968, knocking the Beatles' own Hey Jude out of the top spot.
When did the Temptations record My Girl?
The Temptations began recording My Girl at Motown's Hitsville USA studio on September 25, 1964.
It was the first single to feature David Ruffin on lead vocals and became the group's first number one hit.