Get Back “, embark on board the fun and fertile sessions of the 1969 Fab Four

Waiting for Get back, Peter Jackson’s documentary on the Beatles announced for the end of November on Disney +, Seghers editions publish a book a few weeks in advance, The Beatles: Get Back, who is the traveling companion. If you have dreamed one day of being a little mouse attending live studio sessions of the Fab Four, this immersion in the daily work of the group will satisfy you.

On January 30, 1969, the Beatles gave their legendary last show, perched on the roof of the building of their Apple record company, at 3 Savile Row, in the heart of London. A few weeks earlier, the Fab Four, who have not given a concert since August 29, 1966 in San Francisco, accepted the crazy idea of ​​the young director Michael Lindsay-Hogg to give a big television show in public and to be let filming in the studio during the entire creation process.

The trailer for the Peter Jackson documentary “Get Back”

On January 2, 1969, they entered the Twinkenham studios, surrounded by a team and two cameras which were constantly rotating. But the idea of ​​a television show, first considered in Libya and then on a boat, was abandoned along the way. On the other hand, during a month, the group will compose the title Get back and advance on many new songs, including Let it be, The Long and Winding Road and I’ve Got a Feeling that we will find on the group’s ultimate album Let it be. Other songs will be found on the album Abbey Road.

More than fifty hours of rushes are shot during these working sessions. An exceptional material. While waiting to see what Peter Jackson has done with his documentary, the book offers the transcription of many conversations from the audio tapes, embellished with a host of unpublished photos of Linda McCartney and American photographer Ethan A.Russell. A delight.

The atmosphere was more of a joke than a fight

Several things are striking in the exchanges transcribed in this book. First, the absence of a deleterious atmosphere between Paul, John, George and Ringo a few months before their official separation. The dialogues vividly contradict the refrain of incessant fights at that time between the Fab Four whose ears have been rebuffed to us for 50 years.

Of course, there are tensions. George, who, like Ringo, is not at all hot to go to give a concert abroad, will even leave the ship quite quickly before coming to his senses a few days later. He clearly feels misunderstood and underestimated, crushed by the aura of McCartney and Lennon. The inseparable couple Lennon-Yoko Ono also tend to irritate other members of the group. They moan but control themselves. “They want to stay together, close to each other, these two. (…) It’s not that bad actuallyPaul repeats.It’s gonna sound unbelievably funny, in 50 years, you can imagine : ‘They separated because Yoko sat on an amp’ (he laughs) or something like that… “

Overall, everything is going well, and even very well, between this group of friends who show day after day, despite the stakes, an incredible humor. We witness, wide-eyed, the jokes and teasing of four merry men with exaggerated accents, absurd humor, self-mockery or mockery in front of the press. We laugh from the first lines of dialogue, dated January 2, 1969. John to Ringo: “Did you hear the new Eric Burdon? He is really good.“Ringo:”But he’s an old man, isn’t he?“A few lines later, they improvise on the song I’ve Got A Feeling, which turns into I’ve Got a Hard On (I have the cudgel).

Paul posed as a natural leader

Something else surprises in their reports: Paul appears as a natural leader. He and George regret the disappearance of Brian Epstein, their agent who died in August 1967, fourteen months earlier. “Nobody decides anything anymore “, Paul laments. “We have become very negative since Mr Epstein died. (…) Shouldn’t we be more positive? (…) There is no one now to tell us: do this or that. Whereas we have always known that. (…) You have to grow up, that’s all.“

While remaining benevolent and open to dialogue, McCartney tries to compensate for this absence, to frame and unite the quartet around the initial project in the face of the dissipated side of his associates, who for example have great difficulty in getting up and being on time in the morning. He sets the agenda and gets impatient with the lack of motivation of the troops for the TV show project. “All I want to see is excitement!“, he claims.

As for John, he doesn’t try to gain the upper hand and remains surprisingly accommodating. Except for his partner Yoko Ono: “JI would sacrifice you all for her“, he asserts one day.

Keyboardist Billy Preston Could Have Been a 5th Beatle

If more proof was needed, these exchanges (and the upcoming documentary) drive the point home: The Beatles were incredibly inspired when they were together in the studio. As soon as they started playing, the songs progressed naturally and effortlessly. Their producer George Martin himself told them at one point: “You work so well together. You look at each other, you observe each other … You are connected, what!“(snaps his fingers)

The arrival of keyboardist Billy Preston, whose group had met in Hamburg in 1962 and whom George brought to the studio, will bring musical bond and give an even more joyful dimension to the whole. A solar character while knowing how to remain discreet, Preston is an accomplished musician who accompanied Little Richard in the early 1960s and is coming out of a tour with Ray Charles. The groove, he knows. We hear in particular his unbridled electric piano on the enormous success Get back.

Billy Preston, whose services the Rolling Stones will regularly attach themselves to thereafter, fits in so well with the quartet that the Beatles decide to publish his solo productions on Apple. And they’re even planning to make it the fifth Beatle, as an exchange shows. “We could fit it into the Beatles“, suggests George.”I’d like a fifth Beatle“John replies. An idea that Paul showered.”Me no. Because it’s bad enough at four … (smiling) But I appreciate it! He’s an incredible musician, that’s for sure!“

They didn’t want to play in public anymore

Only one thing saddens us in what these dialogues reveal. If George and Ringo don’t feel like going abroad to play, even for one night, it gets worse. After years of giving hundreds of shows (1,400 since their debut in 1960) in front of hysterical crowds, the troupe has visibly lost its taste for live in public. The quartet is rinsed.

Even Paul is touched by this disenchantment. “What’s the point of having an audience? The idea is what?“, he wonders.”Out of pure goodness of soul, are we going to play for people because we love them? Or to collect the money from the tickets? Or so that it creates a spark between us, during the show?“.

In the process, George is explained by their producer George Martin how important the interaction with the public. We think we are dreaming. George Martin: “You can feel him reacting, yeah, like a comedian on stage.“George:”And we send him something back, what.“Yoko:”Well empty chairs would be much more spectacular (that of the public Editor’s note). “And the director Michel Lindsay-Hogg to conclude:”The audience is part of you. “

The Beatles: Get Back by The Beatles (€ 39.90 Editions Seghers)