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Nov 25, 2021 β€’ 78 tweets β€’ 28 min read β€’ Read on X
Get Back is magnificent. Bravo Peter Jackson. Christmas came early this year to Beatlemaniacs πŸ’

#TheBeatlesGetBack

*Spoilers ahead* - skip this thread if you haven't yet seen it.
We're very lucky to have these all dropping on consecutive days. Disney could easily scheduled them weekly, it even months apart, so to have them in (almost) one go really is a treat.

#TheBeatlesGetBack
Some thoughts and SPOILERS after watching part one. Consider yourself forewarned.

#TheBeatlesGetBack
Obviously Peter Jackson doesn't do brevity, but the 11-minute recap of the Beatles' career might be overkill. Did we really need to get back to 1956? (NB Lennon and McCartney first met in 1957, but the film doesn't make that clear. An error?)

#TheBeatlesGetBack
January 1969, then. Capturing it on film means it still looks brilliant after all these years. It's astounding that this footage remained in the vaults for so long.
#TheBeatlesGetBack
Although probably not their best idea, the unused harmonies in Don't Let Me Down ("Love for the first time in my life..." 🎡) were lovely. Their voices were so good together.
#TheBeatlesGetBack
By day three Paul McCartney was effectively producing and arranging the Beatles, suggesting ideas and giving directions to each member in Don't Let Me Down. It's easy to see why the others pushed back.
#TheBeatlesGetBack
Day 4. The moment that Get Back emerged during the Threetles jam session - just wow. McCartney really could just pluck classic melodies out of thin air.
#TheBeatlesGetBack
I would watch all of this. Every minute of every rehearsal. Watching the Beatles at work will always be compelling, whatever they were doing.
#TheBeatlesGetBack
Imagine if they'd filmed the making of other albums. Oh to have been a fly on the wall back then.
#TheBeatlesGetBack
Mal Evans was some kind of magician. Paul: "Mal, we should get a hammer. And an anvil." Mal sources both during the Beatles' lunch break. πŸ‘πŸ»
#TheBeatlesGetBack Image
Not sure about cutting footage from 1966 into the 1969 version of Rock And Roll Music, or the yawning montage in I'm So Tired. It seems a bit unnecessary and unsubtle. Also interesting to note that the 1966 footage hasn't yet been restored.
#TheBeatlesGetBack
Day 5. George, I Me Mine, and the BBC 2 schedule the night before. There must be many background stories to songs that we still have no idea about.
#TheBeatlesGetBack
The theatre in Sabratha, Libya, looks breathtaking. It's such a shame the Beatles never played there (although probably for the best given its age and condition).
whc.unesco.org/en/list/184/

#TheBeatlesGetBack
Day 7 is the big one, where George Harrison walks out. If you know it's coming you can see his disengagement and unhappiness clearly all morning in his expressions and body language. What a way to end episode one, though...
#TheBeatlesGetBack
Part two. At nearly three hours it's the longest Get Back episode.

Days 8-16, 13-27 January 1969.

SPOILERS AHEAD. Skip this thread if you're yet to watch the show.
#TheBeatlesGetBack Image
Interesting to note that the improvised 'I Bought A Piano The Other Day' gets a Lennon-McCartney-Starkey credit, even though John is nowhere to be seen. It was originally copyrighted as 'Jazz Piano Song', incidentally.
#TheBeatlesGetBack
Paul is asked about songwriting. "In fact, I had one this morning." Plays 'The Back Seat Of My Car' β™₯️
#TheBeatlesGetBack
Paul telling John to "wake up", and John talking about mistreating his body and joking about needles, really is saddening. Paul looks distraught. "Is there any need to do this in public, Mr Lennon?" 😒
#TheBeatlesGetBack
Heroin is the elephant in the room here. The 'Two Junkies' interview took place earlier on this day (Lennon mentions CBS, but it was for CBC) but isn't shown. Unusually there is no caption providing context for the discussions, but Lennon's habit is clearly an issue to Paul.
The 'Two Junkies' interview, 14 January 1969. It is not easy to watch. Trigger warning: John and Yoko high on heroin.


Additional obligatory plug for my book, Riding So High: the Beatles and Drugs, because why not?

geni.us/ridingsohigh
Paul's demo of Oh! Darling β™₯️
"When you told me you didn't need me anymore, well you know I nearly broke down and cried," as the Twickenham set is dismantled around him. So much pathos in this scene.
#TheBeatlesGetBack
Into the basement at Apple, and you can see how everyone's mood has lifted. The change was clearly the right one for everyone, especially John and George.
#TheBeatlesGetBack
Paul has definitely changed tack, and is noticeably less bossy towards the other three Beatles. It's a shame we don't know precisely what was agreed at the band meetings prior to the Apple sessions.
#TheBeatlesGetBack
Magic Alex's prototype bass and rhythm guitar with a revolving neck looks amazing. "Let's give him half a million quid" πŸ˜‚
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George's rosewood Telecaster makes its first appearance. At the end of 1968, Fender gave the Beatles the Tele, six-string and Jazz bass guitars, Rhodes electric pianos, Twin combos, PA and amp stacks, all of which were used in January 1969.
#TheBeatlesGetBack
Later in 1969, George Harrison gave the Rosewood Telecaster to Delaney Bramlett of Delaney & Bonnie, who sold it at auction in 2003 for $434,750. It was bought by an intermediary for Harrison's widow, Olivia.
#TheBeatlesGetBack
Almost everything on the Let It Be album was recorded at Apple, either in the basement or on the roof. The only thing from Twickenham was Lennon's "Queen says no to pot-smoking FBI members," heard just before For You Blue.
#TheBeatlesGetBack
Ringo Starr is left-handed, but picks up Paul McCartney's Hofner bass right-handed.
#TheBeatlesGetBack
Day 13. The Beatles are joined by photographer Ethan Russell, whose photos can be seen in the 1970 and 2021 Get Back books, on the Let It Be cover and elsewhere.
#TheBeatlesGetBack
And Billy Preston! John casually invites him to play on the Beatles' album, and Billy is totally unfazed.
#TheBeatlesGetBack
Yoko is reading The Beatles Complete Works by Thomas Rap.

abebooks.co.uk/Beatles-Comple…

#TheBeatlesGetBack
Day 14 begins with 'Freakout Jam', credited to Lennon/McCartney/Ono.
#TheBeatlesGetBack
Get Back. In the discussion about the solos, nobody suggests George having one. It's unclear why he was kept on rhythm guitar when they were considering having three solos - two on guitar and one on electric piano.
#TheBeatlesGetBack
Day 15. The Beatles discuss putting out a book of the film, designed by John Kosh, also creative director on Abbey Road, plus various Plastic Ono Band and Ringo Starr releases, and much more.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kosh

#TheBeatlesGetBack
George Harrison: "If I asked Dylan to join the Beatles, and he would as well, you know..."
#TheBeatlesGetBack
Day 16. Paul's footage from India. Is this the first time it's been seen? It looks fascinating.
#TheBeatlesGetBack
That look on Paul's face when Glyn Johns suggests going up on the Apple roof for the film finale.
#TheBeatlesGetBack
That second episode started out so dark but ended up a thing of beauty. You could tell how much the Beatles were all enjoying playing together again at Apple.
#TheBeatlesGetBack
Considering how much attention the Beatles paid to newspaper reports about themselves, they'd have been glued to smartphones and social media throughout this film had those existed back then. Another reason to be thankful.
#TheBeatlesGetBack
Dig It was recorded on 26 January 1969, but wasn't included in part two of Get Back. Also missing from the cut was Linda McCartney’s six-year-old daughter Heather, although she did appear in the trailer as Ringo's Mini-Me.
#TheBeatlesGetBack Image
Part three of Get Back, the shortest at just over two hours. But it's the big one - we get to see the full Apple rooftop show for the first time ever.

SPOILERS AHEAD. You might want to skip this thread if you haven't seen the show.
Day 17. An early Octopus's Garden, a song inspired by the holiday in Sardinia that @ringostarrmusic took after he temporarily quit the Beatles in August 1968, during the White Album sessions.
#TheBeatlesGetBack
"Somewhere out in Weybridge lives the cat whose name is Babaji. Singing words of wisdom, let it be, h, i, j, k." πŸ˜‚
#TheBeatlesGetBack
Sri Mahavatara Babaji was one of the spiritual gurus who appeared on the Sgt Pepper cover at George Harrison's behest. Anyone know if John Lennon actually had a cat called Babaji?
Is there a point anywhere in this film where Billy Preston doesn't look absolutely overjoyed to be at Apple? His passion is so delightful.
#TheBeatlesGetBack
Dig It. Mea culpa, I was wrong about this (and Heather Eastman) being missing from part two. I was thrown by John and Ringo wearing basically the same clothes for two consecutive days πŸ˜…
#TheBeatlesGetBack
Paul explains the syncopated chords in The Long And Winding Road. John Lennon did something very similar on How? on the Imagine album.
#TheBeatlesGetBack
Monday 27 January 1969, day 18.

The Beatles could easily have done a rock n roll covers album art the same time as Let It Be, releasing them as a double album with the original songs, or separately. They clearly had so much fun playing those oldies.
#TheBeatlesGetBack
George Harrison wrote Old Brown Shoe ("happy and a rocker"), the b-side of The Ballad of John and Yoko, on 26 January 1969. He demoed it at Abbey Road on his birthday, 25 February, and the Beatles recorded it properly in April.
beatlesbible.com/songs/old-brow…

#TheBeatlesGetBack
The E chord with an added C: E augmented (or, as Billy Preston puts it, "E with a raised, yeah, E with a C...")
#TheBeatlesGetBack
Paul plays George's Telecaster - he could switch from left- to right-handed strung guitars without any problem. Brings to mind this Bob Dylan quotation:
#TheBeatlesGetBack Image
There's a very real joy in seeing the Beatles record the actual takes that appeared on the Let It Be album. They could have put out a video for Get Back in 1969, but instead sat on the footage for 52 years.
#TheBeatlesGetBack
28 January, day 19. George plays Something. "Do you know now, Mr Joe?" Oh yes I do. πŸ™‚
#TheBeatlesGetBack
"Something in the way she moves, attracts me like a moth to candlelight"
#TheBeatlesGetBack
John Lennon and George Harrison discuss the idea of raising money for war-torn Biafra. Could this be a seed that led to the Concert for Bangladesh in 1971?
#TheBeatlesGetBack
John Lennon: "I've had some wine, you know? Remember Bob Wooler? Fucking right. Peace on Earth." This was likely a reference to Lennon beating up the Cavern Club DJ at Paul McCartney's 21st birthday party in 1963.

beatlesbible.com/1963/06/18/pau…

#TheBeatlesGetBack
29 January, day 20. Paul McCartney: "This TV show was supposed to be a TV show of the last album, but when we came to do it we said, 'We'll write new songs'."

Time to make a fantasy setlist of White Album songs they might have performed...

#TheBeatlesGetBack
Decision time.

George Harrison: "I'll do it if we've got to go on the roof. But I don't wanna go on the roof. Of course I don't wanna go on the roof."

Ringo Starr: "I would like to go on the roof."

John Lennon: "Yes, I'd like to go on the roof."

#TheBeatlesGetBack
John and George discuss the Beatles recording a whole album of George's songs. Such a shame that never happened.
#TheBeatlesGetBack
30 January, day 21. The Apple rooftop concert.

Ten cameras, five on the roof, one across the street, three on the ground, and one inside reception. A cynic might wonder if Michael Lindsay-Hogg tipped off the police to ensure a great finish.
#TheBeatlesGetBack
At 1hr 27: my good friend @dylandawes's mum in the red coat. He's a huge Beatles fan, but had no idea she was in Let It Be until Anthology came out in the 90s.
#TheBeatlesGetBack

.@dylandawes: "She was so laid-back about when I told her I'd seen it (she never had), typical west Wales attitude ('oh that's nice dear, yes I think I do remember it, I think. Very cold day.')"
#TheBeatlesGetBack
Would love to know what PC Ray Dagg and PC Ray Shayler made of their pivotal role in the Beatles' final film and live performance. Have they ever been interviewed?
#TheBeatlesGetBack
"We don't appreciate this, mate. The noise you're making out on the street. We've had about 30 complaints in the space of half an hour. It's got to come down. It's a breach of the peace, all right? You can be taken in for that offence." πŸ˜‚
#TheBeatlesGetBack
The Apple rooftop show is just beautiful. It's so wonderful to see it after all this time. And the editing here is perfect. But I hope any Blu-ray release has the option to turn off the police and voxpops and just leave the Beatles' music.
#TheBeatlesGetBack
PC Dagg: "I'm not going to be difficult about this... It's got to go down, otherwise there will be some arrests. I'm not threatening you..." πŸ€”
#TheBeatlesGetBack
"Everybody had a hard year
Everybody had a head dream
Everybody saw the sun shine
Everybody gotten obscene"
#TheBeatlesGetBack
Paul looks delighted that the police are on the roof. George looks absolutely livid when Mal Evans switches off the guitar amps.
#TheBeatlesGetBack
31 January, day 22. Two Of Us, Let It Be, and the Let It Be... Naked version of The Long And Winding Road were among the songs recorded on this day. There's a lot more from this day in the Let It Be film, incidentally.
#TheBeatlesGetBack
Well that was just brilliant. It's shone a whole new light on the sessions and the Let It Be album, giving us a whole new understanding of the project. We're really incredibly lucky to have it, thanks to Peter Jackson, the Beatles and Apple.
#TheBeatlesGetBack
While Michael Lindsay-Hogg clearly had plenty of good ideas about storytelling and resolution, it's a mystery why his Let It Be film was so dour, when he had access to so much great footage. What was he thinking?
#TheBeatlesGetBack
@threadreaderapp unroll please.
Blu-ray wishes (1):

- The Beatles' entire Apple rooftop performances without the police dialogue and voxpops.
#TheBeatlesGetBack
Blu-ray wishes (2):

- The full Let It Be album, with sound and vision, showing the actual footage of those takes being recorded in full (albeit with the I Me Mine rehearsal, since it was recorded in 1970).
#TheBeatlesGetBack
Blu-ray wishes (3):

- A director's cut containing everything that didn't make the initial edit. Yep, all of it.
#TheBeatlesGetBack
Blu-ray wishes (4):

- Let It Tea. A compilation of every shot and scene containing tea drinking, mugs or teacups, to make @Teatlemania explode with joy.
#TheBeatlesGetBack
Blu-ray wishes (5):

- Interviews with Peter Jackson, Michael Lindsay-Hogg, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Glyn Johns.
#TheBeatlesGetBack

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More from @beatlesbible

Aug 25, 2021
Let It Be 2021:

1: Remix of original album
2: Apple sessions
3: Rehearsals and Apple jams
4: Get Back LP – 1969 Glyn Johns mix
5: Let It Be EP (four songs ☹️)
6: Blu-ray audio inc 5.1 ImageImageImage
There appears to be just one song from the rooftop performance – Don't Let Me Down on disc two.

Disc five seems like a wasted opportunity. They could have put out the full rooftop show instead, put the Glyn Johns mixes on disc four, and the new Giles ones on disc one as bonuses.
There were originally four Glyn Johns-compiled Get Back LPs in 1969 and 1970. Here's an overview (via
beatlelists.wordpress.com/2016/05/10/the…)

The new box set appears to be the second one. Image
Read 9 tweets

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