It’s been a while since I had the time or energy to write anything here, however sometimes things stop you and make you think about how best to digest them. The new documentary by Peter Jackson around The Beatles recording of ‘Let it Be’ did exactly that to me.
From the very start, I was captivated by this footage that until now was never seen by the general public. So hilarious, so candid and so unlike most of the stories we’ve been told about this time in the phenomenal career of the best band in the world. In my mind this was a negative time full of fallouts, and arguments around Yoko Ono, money and songwriting royalties. Clearly this was not the case.
A few things i noticed that struck me:
- The moment John Lennon was chatting to Billy Preston about the Martin Luther King speech “I Have a Dream”, and it dawned on me that they were in fact living that dream in that very room by playing together almost being those ‘children walking hand in hand regardless of race’.
- Paul writing the main melody for Get Back where you can see in the inner workings and how well he crafts a melody from a germ of an idea.
- Mal Evans, who is almost an unsung hero in the whole thing who does everything from transcribing lyrics, making tea, organising the instruments and buying bow ties.
- There is no getting away from Yoko Ono’s strange presence around the entire thing, unusual at points where she reads a newspaper and files her nails during the whole rehearsal whilst things are very tense and rapidly approaching a deadline.
- Paul McCartney and John Lennon at this stage seem to work better when the other is not there, a few examples of this where they take the lead role and things begin to become more organised.
- Amazing to see some of the songs that would later appear on Abbey Road, The White Album and even John Lennon’ solo career (Jealous Guy) being written as drafts around this time.
I was lucky enough to visit Abbey Road while a friend was recording an album and we sat in Studio 2 for two days recording which was a treat I will never forget.
Goo Goo G’Joob! :-)