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My first opportunity to be totally overwhelmed by the Beatles was when our House won 2nd place in an inter-house drama competition, and we were allowed to go see A Hard Day's Night. This was my first experience of not only The Beatles, but seeing this new wave of movies that were a lot darker than what I was used to. A Hard Day's Night, of course, was shot in black-and-white by Richard Lester and co.It so happened that I was away at boarding school, which explains why I did not have access to Beatles records; in any case, the stereo system we had at home could not possibly compare to the sound of the theater (or cinema). I was simply blown away! The songs that stood out for me were I should have known better, If I fell, And I love her, and I'm happy just to dance with you.
I can't remember the details of my whirlwind progress through the various stages of being a fan, but eventually I found myself in the theater (cinema) again, watching Let It Be with sadness; it was a bitter-sweet documentary of the breakup of the group.
Let It Be was a beautifully shot movie. It is set entirely in the recording studio (which I very recently discovered was an unpleasant, cold room they had leased for Paul McCartney's project to show the group putting an album together. You do see the musicians somewhat more heavily dressed than they would in a warmer room!) The album let it be quite faithfully records the musical aspects of the sessions, and listening to the record brings back the images of the film for me very effectively (despite the improvements made by the infamous Phil Spector, the American record producer who was given the tapes, and asked to assemble them into an album. Some of the production elements are widely considered to be excessive).
The album, if not the movie, opens with the song Two of us, which it turns out was a song written by Lennon and McCartney in their pre-Beatles days, or at least in the early days of the group. (Notice that Paul is playing an acoustic guitar, while George ---the usual lead guitarist--- is playing bass. Also notice Yoko Ono sitting next to John.)
The next song I remember is I dig a pony, which is a whimsical song sung mainly by John Lennon, and seems to epitomize the difference between Beatles songs, and songs the four musicians wrote and sang after they had split up. In this clip, they're singing it on the Rooftop: a performance that famously caused traffic congestion on the street below.
A strange number that found its way into the album is I, me, mine, also sung either by Lennon or Harrison; I really can't tell! (Harrison, now that I think about it). The waltz rhythm is unusual in rock music. It breaks into solid 12/8 for the chorus. We also hear the distinctive sound of the electric organ played by Billy Preston, who had been invited to sit in with the band.
I seemed to have skipped over the magical and atmospheric Across the Universe by Lennon. The version we got on the original album was heavily over-processed by Spector, but is for many the version that they remember the best. "Words are pouring out, like endless rain into a paper cup, they slither while they pass, they slip away across the universe ..." In the album Let it be --Naked, this song was presented without the distortion introduced by Spector. However, the choral background is missing.
I've got a feeling is another song they dug out of their stock of songs from the old days. This is a duet with John and Paul, and one of the last.
One after 909. Another duet, from the early sixties (or possible even earlier). The Wikipedia article on the album gives detailed information about which tracks from the Rooftop concert were actually used on the album, and which ones were from the studio sessions.
The Long and Winding Road. Note that this clip is essentially the version we see in the film, rather than the the one with orchestrated overdubs added by Phil Spector. That version is familiar since it is the one on the singles (or EPs) of the time, and the one heard most often on the radio.
A lot of McCartney's music is nostalgic, alluding to songs of the 30's and 40's that were heard in the McCartney home in his childhood. The chord he uses are heavy on sevenths and (added) sixths, reminiscent of British music of that era.
For You Blue. Harrison. Lennon plays 'lap steel guitar'.
Part of the exercise of these recording sessions, the way McCartney looked at it, was to get the group playing together and having fun. Their tastes in music had diverged over the years, but he was convinced that they could find something in common if they Got Back to their roots. But you see, in the movie, how Paul McCartney's forceful leadership was irksome to the others, and how documenting it in film was embarrassing to them. It is easy to see how Paul could eventually come to view it as a chronicle of his personal failure as a leader. In retrospect, though, for those of us who were fans, we got a lot of insight into both the kind of music they had made in the early days, but more importantly, how they could not keep making that sort of music for an extended period of time. Not that it was bad music, but that it wasn't grown up enough for all of them.
Several years later, McCartney showed up at George's home with a ukulele, and they reminisced about the good old days, and played music together. Ringo, Paul and George were most satisfied with reaching back for their old music. John Lennon, in his thirties, was impatient with all that. He may have gotten to the point where it appealed to him---he had an impish sense of humor---but he died young, long before we could find out if he could relate to all that nostalgia.
Get Back. This was the last song they performed together, in all our memories; at least the last performance filmed. Notice Billy Preston playing the organ with great glee.
What a sad occasion, but what fantastic music!
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