Beatles' Let It Be (33 1/3) (5 page)

Although Yoko had attended the sessions for
The White Album
and other friends and family had dropped in on sessions in the past, Yoko’s more pronounced
presence at Twickenham, as well as the attendance of all those connected with the filming, likely added to the level of tension right from the start.

Peter Brown, who played a significant role in the management of the Beatles’ career, provided further insight into the Twickenham sessions. Brown had started working for Brian Epstein when he took over as manager of the Epstein family’s NEMS store on Great Charlotte Street in Liverpool, at the time that Epstein moved on to manage another family store in Whitechapel. When Epstein moved his operation as manager of the Beatles to London, Brown became his personal assistant. He eventually became the general manager of the group, as well as an executive with Apple, after Brian’s death. He was the best man at John and Yoko’s wedding in Gibraltar and was immortalized in John’s song “The Ballad of John and Yoko.”

After Allen Klein took over the management of the Beatles in 1969, Brown remained with Apple even after Klein’s many purges of the staff. He subsequently resigned and went to work for the Robert Stigwood Organization. He moved to America in 1970 and settled in New York in 1971; for years he has been one of the partners of the highly successful public relations firm Brown, Lloyd, and James. In 1983, together with Steven Gaines, he published
The Love You Make,
an inside account of his years with the Beatles.

Speaking in the living room of his spacious apartment off Central Park, Brown offered some enlightening comments about how the Beatles dealt with the presence of so many people at Twickenham: “Prior to Twickenham nobody [outside of the musicians and crew] ever went to a recording studio. Twickenham was a very unusual situation for them to be in, and everyone was a little uncomfortable about it. But also they were very professional about it by getting some music done.”

The bulk of the filming of all four Beatles took place over seven days: Thursday and Friday, January 2 and 3, and Monday the 6th through Friday the 10th. The filming of the rehearsals was quite different from anything else the Beatles had ever done. Rather than being concerned with working on a set of songs for a new album under George Martin’s production—their usual modus operandi—the Beatles were at the studios to be filmed rehearsing. The rehearsals were to provide only a short part of the future telecast; the bulk of it would be drawn from the as yet unplanned live concert.

The 10 a.m. start time immediately gave way to an approximate start time of 11 a.m. for everyone. On the first day, Paul, choosing to use public transportation, was delayed and didn’t arrive until nearly 12:30 p.m. Right from the first day, there were several songs captured on film that would appear on the final
Let It Be
album and related singles. Such songs included John’s
“Don’t Let Me Down,” composed by John sometime in 1968, and his “Dig a Pony,” which he referred to in a 1980 interview with
Playboy
magazine as “another piece of garbage.” There was also “I’ve Got a Feeling,” which was made up of part of a Lennon song entitled “Everybody Had A Hard Year,” begun in 1968, and a McCartney song that included its title. Also following this trend was Paul’s song “Two of Us,” which was then entitled “On Our Way Home,” and which was about Paul and Linda. It reflected their simple joy at hopping in a car, abandoning London for drives in the country and “riding nowhere.” The song also likely included a reference to Paul and John’s long relationship: the “chasing paper” allusion seems to correspond to the “funny papers” line from “Carry That Weight” that referred to all the legal paperwork and business dealings related to Apple. Alternately, it could simply refer to Paul and Linda’s love of sending postcards while on their country romps.

The group performed many other songs on that first day, including some it had already recorded, covers of other artists’ songs, loose jams, and several songs that would appear on future Beatles recordings (
Abbey Road)
and on solo albums (
All Things Must Pass
and
Imagine).
There were quite a few performances, particularly of oldies, which consisted of only snatches of a song for under a minute, some even lasting for only a few seconds.
Other songs of interest that the four performed in more complete versions included covers of “I Shall Be Released,” “Mighty Quinn (Quinn The Eskimo),” and songs previously done by Bob Dylan and the Band that were no doubt suggested at the session by Harrison.

In the fall of 1968, George and his wife Pattie had ventured to Dylan’s home near Woodstock, flying there from Los Angeles after George finished Jackie Lomax’s album. It was during George’s time with Dylan that the two co-wrote “I’d Have You Anytime,” which would later appear on
All Things Must Pass.

“Sun King,” which would appear on
Abbey Road,
was also given several fairly complete performances on the first day at Twickenham. “All Things Must Pass” was first introduced on that day as well. Harrison asked the Beatles to pretend they were the Band when performing the song. He raved about the vocal abilities of Levon Helm and Rick Danko, and also mentioned Ray Charles’s backing singers, the Raelets. He admitted he was inspired to write the song by Robbie Robertson’s compositional style, yet was also lyrically influenced by Timothy Leary’s psychedelic poems.

On the second day, the Beatles attempted even more songs, far exceeding the previous day’s number of complete takes or more than mere snatches of music. There was Samuel Barber’s “Adagio For Strings,” played by Paul on piano, and “The Third Man Theme.” There
were also two songs that George must have heard by Dylan and the Band during his stay in Woodstock: “Please Mrs. Henry” and “Ramblin’ Woman.” Such British hits as “Hippy, Hippy Shake” and “What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For (When They Don’t Mean What They Say!)” were also performed. The number of oldies the group played that second day was staggering, considering how long it had been since its early days when some of the songs would have been part of its live stage show. The group ran through ragged versions of songs that were either written or recorded by Carl Perkins, the Coasters, Little Richard, Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye, Larry Willams, Leadbelly, and Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. In addition, they continued working on “Don’t Let Me Down” and “Two of Us.” They also worked on George’s “All Things Must Pass” and resurrected “One After 909.”

“One After 909,” written by John sometime in 1957, was one of the earliest original compositions written by John and/or Paul and was performed by John’s first group, the Quarry Men, in 1957. The song was one of many that John and/or Paul composed at Paul’s Liverpool home on 20 Forthlin Road, where the McCartney family lived from 1955 until 1964. The two wrote many songs around Paul’s father’s piano in the small front parlor. Songs written there, but not recorded until
much later, included “I Saw Her Standing There,” “Love Me Do,” and even “When I’m 64.”

The Quarry Men continued to play “One After 909” live, and it later comprised part of the Beatles’ live set. It was performed every year continuously from 1957 until as late as 1962. The Beatles attempted to record it in March of 1963 at an Abbey Road session that produced “From Me To You” and “Thank You Girl.” Five takes of the song were done at that session and part of one of them and the final two takes were edited together and included on the Beatles’ first
Anthology
release.

During the second day of rehearsals at Twickenham, two songs from
The White Album,
“I’m So Tired” and “Ob La Di, Ob La Da,” were performed. The group also reached back to “You Can’t Do That.” Another future
Abbey Road
number, “I Want You,” was also done that day.

“Let It Be,” although written by Paul during the sessions for
The White Album
and played by him between takes at that time, was debuted on the second day at Twickenham. It is ironic and perhaps fitting that “Get Back” was the initial name of what would become
Let It Be.
“Get Back” suggested a fresh start for the group, while “Let It Be” was a hymn for finding a way to deal with a difficult situation. The song, one of Paul’s
greatest moments, simultaneously reflects his reluctance to watch his beloved group end and his subconscious awareness that eventually it would have to. The imagery of his mother, whom he lost when he was 14 years old, coming to him and offering him hope, solace, and advice, is both heartbreaking and comforting.

The second day of rehearsals was also notable for seeing the beginnings of the song that gave the project its initial name: “Get Back.” In many ways, as we shall soon see, the song began its musical life in one way and its lyrical life in another. At one point Paul played a snippet of the song “Going Up the Country,” a big hit at the time by the American blues and boogie band Canned Heat. George then retorted with Canned Heat’s other big song of the time, “On The Road Again.” The sound of the two songs clearly influenced the musical direction of “Get Back.”

Days later, on January 7, Paul played a little more than a minute of an instrumental that bore a strong relationship to a hit at the time by Lulu entitled “I’m A Tiger,” which had some of the chugging, rollicking feel of what would become “Get Back.” Two days after that, the song finally began to take shape as the group ran through five consecutive versions of it. The first, which added even further influences to the song, bore a strong musical relationship to George Harrison’s “Sour Milk Sea,” which George had recently produced for the
Jackie Lomax album. Lyrically, all that Paul had at that point was the chorus “Get Back,” which he sang over and over again. The next version introduced some of the lyrics of the song for the first time, including references to Arizona, California, and “drag,” as in drag queen. The third version brought controversial meaning to the lyrics that ultimately proved of no importance to the finished song. On it, McCartney sang about Puerto Ricans, Pakistanis, and the topic of discrimination, which would become fully illuminated later in the day. That version had a loose, almost psychedelic or funk feel to it. The fifth and final version made lyrical references to Joe (pre-figuring Jo-jo) and Theresa (later to be changed to Loretta).

Returning from the weekend on January 6, the Beatles were not as ambitious as they had been the previous Friday. After trying out “Carry That Weight” and “Octopus’s Garden,” they went back to tackling some oldies. This time, though, they returned to some of the cover songs they had recorded on their early albums, including “Dizzy Miss Lizzie” and “Money.” They also did a Jerry Lee Lewis song, one from the Miracles, and two from Carl Perkins. They played another English music classic, “Leaning On A Lamppost,” as well as yet another Dylan song, this time “Maureen,” apparently a song Dylan wrote for and about Ringo’s wife Maureen. The group then went back to working
on its newer material, including many versions of “Don’t Let Me Down” and “Two of Us.” Both “Hear Me Lord,” another song destined for George’s future solo work, and “All Things Must Pass” were performed just before another that would be on
Abbey Road,
“She Came In Through The Bathroom Window.”

The day also included the first time during the project that John’s “Across the Universe” was resurrected. However, John was only able to do a false start of it and another longer fragment, this time on organ. The song’s origin dates back to February of 1968. It was originally slated to appear on a British EP of “Yellow Submarine,” which was never released. John was obviously influenced to write it by his time in India: the song’s hypnotic chorus, “Jai Guru De Va Om,” means “victory to the guru God.”

The following day was much more productive. Paul’s songs dominated the early part of the day, as he was usually the first to arrive. “The Long and Winding Road,” which Paul began writing and actually recorded a demo of during the
White Album
sessions, debuted now. It was followed by “Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight.” Paul then went back to a song that was not very old but that fit in with the group’s more pop side, “Lady Madonna.”

Listening to that early-morning warm-up gives one a keen insight into the evolution of “The Long and
Winding Road.” The result of Paul’s bringing the lyrics through to their final form and playing the song’s melody with just the piano is quite beautiful. It’s interesting to listen to him seemingly abandon the song for the day to work on “Golden Slumbers” and “Carry That Weight” and then return to it. The sad beauty of the basic melody is very touching and it helps one to understand why Paul was so perturbed when Phil Spector made the song into a big production in 1970. The song was clearly influenced by Paul’s time in Scotland. The road in question was no doubt the B842, a sixteen-mile road that snaked along the coast in dramatic twists and turns and connected Paul’s house to Cambeltown. The song is yet another example of the Beatles’ remarkable talent for turning something familiar and personal into a song to be enjoyed by millions.

Alistair Taylor, who worked for Brian Epstein at NEMS and became the manager of the Apple office, and who was referred to as “Mr. Fixit” because of his ability to get things done, remembered the beginnings of “The Long and Winding Road”:

Late one Friday night we were all packing up at Abbey Road and I was looking for Paul to say goodnight. I eventually found him in Studio One picking out a melody and adding some lyrics. “That was fantastic,” I said. “Lesley (my wife) would love that.” He said it was just an idea and then he motioned to the control
room for them to run the tape. He ran through the song and then we said our farewells. Monday afternoon and Paul walks into my office. He hands an acetate record to me. “Present for Lesley,” he said. It was the recording from Friday. He then took the tape from his pocket and cut it into pieces before lobbing them into the waste bin. “Now you’ve got the only recording.” he said. “What’s it called?” I asked. “The Long and Winding Road,” he said.

The group next performed “Get Back,” and then the focus shifted to George with “For You Blue” and two songs that appeared on the Band’s
Music From Big Pink:
“To Kingdom Come,” written by Robbie Robertson, and Bob Dylan’s “I Shall Be Released.” It’s hard to say if the group kept returning to certain covers as an indication that they intended them to be part of the still unplanned live concerts. Next came “Oh! Darling” and many attempts at “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer”; then there was a run of oldies broken up by “Across the Universe.” The group worked through the song a good deal on that day. George Harrison was encouraging John to do it, but John kept forgetting the words and felt the song was too slow. To help John, Apple was contacted and told to send the lyrics of the song over to Twickenham. Further attempts at the song were more complete, yet equally unsuccessful. The oldies encompassed such familiar terrain as “Rock ‘n’ Roll Music,” “Lucille,” and yet another Carl Perkins cover. After
going over more new songs, such as “Dig a Pony” and “Don’t Let Me Down,” the Beatles pulled out “The Devil In Her Heart” and followed it with “Be Bop A Lula” and “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window.” They also had another go at “One After 909.”