Saturday, May 27, 2017

The "Get Back/Let It Be" project January 09 1969

On January 09 1969, Paul McCartney arrived a little earlier than the others in the band in order to review some of his latest compositions while sitting at the piano - some of the titles include "The Long And Winding Road", "Oh! Darling", "Let It Be", "Another Day", etc. Also on this day, George Harrison arrived with a new composition to demo for the band based on a twelve bar blues and eventually becoming "For You Blue".
Once the group have arrived and are ready to rehearse, some of the songs performed include "She Came in Through The Bathroom Window", "One After 909", "Across the Universe", "Two Of Us", "Don't Let Me Down" and "I've Got A Feeling".
Apart from the Beatles jamming around with George's new blues tune, also improvised is a made up jam eventually entitled "Suzy Parker"; the genesis of another improvisation materializes into the chords for "Get Back" and another improvisation titled on bootlegs as "Commonwealth/Get Off." Some bootlegs from this day also contain improvisations of "House of The Rising Sun" and "Tennesee".
Bits and piece from this day's rehearsal session can be seen in the "Let It Be" finished film including "Suzy Parker", "Two of Us", "One After 909".

Saturday, May 20, 2017

The "Get Back/Let It Be" Project January 08 1969

The Beatles gathered at Twickenham studios in London to continue filming and recording sessions for their upcoming live project. In fact, some locations were discussed for the live show but it seems that nothing came from the conversations and no decision for a location was confirmed at this point.
George Harrison showed Ringo and his mates a new composition at the time entitled "I Me Mine" of which a portion can be seen in the "Let It Be" film. Other songs that were rehearsed on this day include "Don't Let Me Down", "Two Of Us", "One After 909" and "I've Got A Feeling", "All Things Must Pass" and "She Came in Through The Bathroom Window".
Later during the day, The Beatles run through "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" and proceed to clean up and tighten up George's new "I Me Mine" tune. In the "Let It Be" film, you can see the group going over the song minus John and Yoko who are mock waltzing in front of the band. The quote by John "The Queen Says "No" to Pot Smoking FBI Member" which can be seen in the film and heard on the "Let It Be" commercial Apple LP/CD is taken from this day as well.

Saturday, May 13, 2017

The "Get Back/Let It Be" project January 07 1969

Rehearsals for the upcoming live show (at this point) resumed at the Twickenham Film Studios in London by the Beatles on January 07 1969. The day started with some discussion as to the location of the upcoming show and it was decided that it be held in England although no central location was decided upon.
A couple of Paul's songs were rehearsed in the morning including "I've Got A Feeling" and a recent composition entitled "Maxwell's Silver Hammer". Paul showed off the chords to the rest of the band as he sat at the piano.
A couple of John's songs were rehearsed in the afternoon including the resurrection of "Across The Universe" as well as "Dig A Pony" and "Don't Let Me Down". You can see some of the footage from this day in the final "Let It Be" movie with Paul showing the band how to play "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" as well as John going over both "Across The Universe" (with nice harmonies by Paul) and some of "Dig A Pony" from this particular day.

Saturday, May 6, 2017

The "Get Back/Let It Be" project January 06 1969

After a couple of days break, The Beatles would return to Twickenham Studios to continue recording and filming for the project. One of the song tackled in the morning was a new George Harrison composition "Hear Me Lord" that was written over the previous week-end. This composition wasn't chosen for consideration although George would later record it for his triple LP "All Things Must Pass".
A variety of tunes are rehearsed on this day including "Don't Let Me Down" with footage used for the final film as they try various vocal harmonies. Also "Two Of Us" was worked on as well. Another piece of footage from this session appears in the final "Let It Be" film where George and Paul clash with each other and contains George's famous quote "I'll play if you want me to play...".  Other footage from this day includes Paul's brief appearance at the piano singing "Oh! Darling" at this early stage.
Two more songs are rehearsed from this day include (oddly enough) George's composition "All Things Must Pass" and Paul's "She Came In through The Bathroom Window". Both of these songs would not make the final line up for "Let It Be" but the latter would appear on the next LP and George would use his composition as a title track for his solo triple LP.