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Dan Rivkin (They May Be Parted blog) and I continue our conversation with director Peter Jackson about the innovation used to create the film – some technique used to advance the story – and a number of other observations gleaned from viewing so many hours of footage, both in and outside of the final cut. The history of the Get Back project is at last coming into focus, challenging a number of previously held assumptions.
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Great conversation with Peter. He’s a real Beatles fan,.knows his stuff. Someone needs to interview Mark Lewisohn at some point,would be great to hear his thoughts on the film.
Peter is a brilliant story teller who knows his podcasts! Glad he picked yours.
I think many of us at first wanted poor Michael Lindsay-Hogg tried for Beatles crimes when we learned he excluded a scene like Paul coming up with Get Back. But now I just feel thankful for his work in filming this. Your interview makes it clear what an impossible task Lindsay-Hogg had, especially given the limited amount of time he had to process it all. Only a dedicated, brilliant maniac like Peter Jackson working 4 years could tame all the footage and audio and not get lost in it. I imagine Michael Lindsay-Hogg watching Harrison yawn and Paul doodle out a bland Canned Heat rip off on his bass … and just skipped over the rest of the scene, missing the last two minutes when Get Back emerged. All is forgiven. I’m glad Peter included the original director in this. Both directors rock.
Really wonderful in-depth conversations about the process of making Get Back including the assembling of the footage by Peter Jackson. Glad that”Something about the Beatle” really spent informed time unraveling the February Apple sessions with Jackson. Really nice to hear Harrison’s acoustic run throughs. It is very obvious though that Peter Jackson’s documentary has revealed the Beatles to be an extremely passive aggressive group of individuals who didn’t have the correct tools to communicate in a healthy manner by 1968-1969. It all becomes obvious in hindsight. It would be nice to analyze the passive aggressive nature of the Beatles during the making of Get Back.
I thought it was telling that when GEORGE presented a couple of his songs, notably For You Blue and even All Things Must Pass…he kept saying “…they don’t really need backing”. Kind of counter productive in trying to get you songs played by the band but also MAYBE he was suggeting he get a “solo spot” in the show? Its all guess work but thanks to PETER JACKSON again for this incredible 3 part Doc…I AM ON MY THIRD TIME WATCHING! Thanks to LINDSAY-HOGG also for capturing it originally.
It surely shows that George wanted to express his creativity, but also George mentioned still being a Beatle while still doing his own thing now and again.
Each time I have watched an episode, I pick out more interesting pieces.
You are absolutely right and one one of the most revealing things in the GET BACK doc is HOW MUCH COLLABORATION WAS STILL GOING ON! In fact we see many songs being added to or at least partially written in the room. GET BACK, DON’T LET ME DOWN, and it is evident that John and Paul had worked on a few before they showed up, not only I’VE GOT A FEELING but SHE CAME IN THROUGH THE BATHROOM WINDOW, on that one John is playing piano and already knows the chords! Also agree on I ME MINE , JOHN was totally joking not putting George down, its obvious. Thanks
I always thought George had the hardest time of all when suggesting the band tried one of his compositions. I thought that George was happy to work on Lennon songs whilst he was not seemingly allowed the same freedom on a Paul track (mainly down to how both John and Paul approached their own songwriting). At the same time, George never really pushed his songs but tried to “sneak them in under the radar” approach ! Interesting dynamic at work here. I noted that George did write 3 new songs during the sessions, 2 of which ended up on the Let It Be album and one of which was a B side to The Ballad Of John & Yoko.
George is the kid brother with Lennon/McCartney, so he is never fully confident about exposing himself. When George lets go, he really shines. I appreciate that George gets enough confidence to tell Lennon that he will record a solo album, but also keep “this” ( being a Beatle). A completely new appreciation for Harrison from the movie.
[I mistakenly posted this to episode 224A. Belongs here.]
Robert mentioned that Lennon re-sang his vocal for Don’t Let Me Down. So, the title card in the film that that version was the single version was actually a bit wrong.
However, Lewisohn has no record of Lennon going in and redoing his vocal. In fact, as explained on some website, his vocal was improved by bringing in some vocal bits from other takes (probably from the same day).
Paul didn’t like the way the Get Back single was sounding. So he went in and changed that with Glynn Johns on April 7 at Olympic Sound Studios. At the same time, they remixed the Don’t Let Me Down. I imagine Paul and Glynn did the remix of Don’t Let Me Down together. If you listen to the separated vocals, yes, there is some double tracking and Lennon does scream over himself too.
And it may actually be Paul who sings that extended “Heeee-eeee” thing instead of “Don’t Let Me Down” in the last chorus (before the Billy solo ending). If you listen to the separated audio (band camp), it isn’t exactly clear who is singing that.
So if Robert did say Lennon re-sang it, he needs to be corrected as well. If I’m misremembering this, apologies.
This is from The Beatles Bible website but I am pretty sure that this is also in Lewisohn’s Recording sessions book, at around February 20th 1969. Furthermore, it is chronicled in Walter Everett’s thoroughly documented book:
“The Beatles are known to have re-recorded parts of ‘Don’t Let Me Down’ at an undocumented session; the vocals on the session tapes and the single are different, with an extra overdub having been added sometime after January 1969. John Lennon and Paul McCartney both corrected elements of their vocals parts, with Lennon double-tracking his during the middle eight and ending.”
I’ll keep an open mind about it. But Everett is obviously working from an observation. If it is not documented, he must be inferring it. No doubt, he noticed that the vocals do not match and assumed a re-recording. But perhaps he missed the idea that Paul and Glynn collaged vocals from different takes.
I’ll keep an open mind, however. Certainly, this can be proven if we had all the recordings. Also, of course, it can’t be in Lewishohn’s book AND be “unrecorded,” right? Unless you mean Lewishohn mentions it being unrecorded as well.
I was just watching the Youtube segment where the mystery session in February 1969 is discussed (link here, so you know what I’m referring to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uI03kB34sZ0). The quality is a bit fuzzy on screen but the photo at about 6:28 in that Peter Jackson shows on his Ipad which he says looks like Glyn Johns actually looks more like Nicky Hopkins to me, from the pictures I’ve seen of him before now! Was Nicky involved in Abbey Road at all? If so, could this help to nail things down a bit more?
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My biggest take away on first watch was what a hot hand Paul had songwriting wise. He’s got plenty of songs ready and is churning out more. Almost all of his 1969 output, plus Teddy boy, Another Day, Backseat of my Car.
George is putting out a bunch as well, although most of them are of a slower tempo (as he says himself). His acoustic take of the Dylan song was amazing. I really wish he had had a solo acoustic number- just him on guitar and nothing else.
John doesn’t have much new material at all. He has some retreads, and a couple of new ones. (I do wish they had done the idea of using Dig it as a way to introduce the song titles for the album).
My second thought was how cool it would have been if they had guerrilla recorded more songs on different roof tops to complete the project.
I have so many other thoughts and questions which means stopping here is probably a good idea.
I’ve read somewhere (to quote Mr. Jackson) that since the recording sessions for the White Album were over in October and «The Beatles» was released in November, the idea for the promotional TV show was discussed around that time but Twickenham wasn’t available. Since they had to wait, it did not make sense anymore to promote an album that would be a few months old by the end of filming and editing. I also read they were worried of getting bored from rehearsing these « old » songs. So, it seemed that it was a group decision to do new numbers. It was most assuredly ill-advised to climb this mountain of creating 14 songs in four weeks, but 50 years later we get to witness this amazing documentary.