My live-blogging of the first episode HERE
My live-blogging of the third episode HERE
It's Monday - George walked out on Friday and is not back yet. Oh-oh!!! HOPE he didn't get a job driving an Uber and will never return to be a Beatle!!!!!!
Mal asks Ringo how the meeting over the weekend with George went. Apparently it went pretty crappy. But one thing that I must bring up: not only were all The Beatles there, but so were Yoko Ono….and Linda McCartney! Yet nobody ever gives Linda shit about breaking up The Beatles, do they? MAYBE because Yoko is different form the others because she's....short? 🤔
I have to say this about the whole Yoko thing: after decades of being a punchline, this film should be total vindication for her. She’s been accused of somehow breaking up The Beatles longer than I've been alive - and I remember when MTV played music, that's how old I am - yet according to the millions of feet of footage I’ve witnessed throughout this documentary all she’s done is meekly sit next to John trying not to look bored out of her skull for hours on end. She never really says a goddam thing; meanwhile, there’s a dozen or so people at any given time wandering over to buzz into Paul’s ear about this shit or that shit, distracting him…as he’s fucking trying to come up with songs they're all so desperate for while under the single greatest amount of pressure ever faced on Planet Earth! I mean, George brings this creepy fucker to sit there the entire time:
Where’s the outage here?
My only question is surely Yoko knew this footage exonerating her existed; throughout decades of getting shit from every human born you’d think she’d be like “um, heeeeyy, sooooooooooo why don’t we release some of that footage of my sitting quietly and, you know NOT breaking up the goddam Beatles?”
Paul comes breezing in late, joshing around & doing finger guns as if nothing at all is wrong, overcompensating like a priest at Hannakuh. Let’s see how long this lasts.
Unlike the next 100 million people who would go on to over-confidently form their own opinions on this matter, Paul openly says he knows that if John had to choose, he’d choose Yoko over The Beatles, and Paul totally understands this.
Paul remarks how funny it will be that in 50 years time people will blame Yoko for braking up The Beatles just because she sat in on some sessions DAMMIT PAUL CAN YOU GIVE ME TODAY’S FUCKING POWERBALL NUMBERS????!!??!
It's really starting to set in with Paul that not only George, but John may not come back, and the only life he knows - The Beatles - may come to an end. This may be the single most raw moment of the entire doc.
“Paul was getting very, very upset. (…) Because nobody’s ever seen the pictures, you haven’t seen the tears that well up in Paul’s eyes. He’s desperately trying not to cry.” – Peter Jackson #TheBeatlesGetBack
— get back, kristen! (@swaying_daisies) November 26, 2021
pic.twitter.com/qjQa5nR2Pt
DAMMIT I AM NOT MADE OF STONE, PEOPLE.!
Within minutes Paul finds out John is coming to rehearsal after all and I haven’t seen anyone beaming like this since the 1983 Sears & Roebuck catalog showed up at my house.
John & Paul have a conversation at the cafeteria, unaware there’s a mic hidden in a flowerpot recording their private conversation. Which may or not be legal? I’ll be honest, I’m pretty shocked at how generous they are about George leaving. You’d think they’d be like oh fuck him we don't need him anyway etc, but they both admit they drove him to it and need to be more thoughtful with him. It’s very sweet and adult and can we get some fucking one-tittied strippers up in here I thought this was a rock and roll doc?
We’re almost three hours into this doc and Disney feels the needs to let us know oh by the way, this person is (checks notes) John Lennon.
Paul taking time to teach piano to some kid is a nice moment. Did this kid go on to become a great piano player? I've never heard of him so he probably died in a fire while trying to rob an orphanage. 🤷♂️
perfect little clip that encapsulates why Paul is my favorite.“hey random kid on set, isn’t it crazy how a cool song can just be right here in front of you?? look — here’s how I do it. you can do it too, probably.” pic.twitter.com/Un4wAUjWVz
— rapid reaction TEDx (@GraceSpelman) November 28, 2021
Sitting around now, Paul gets worked up about their needing to work to accomplish something, gives some “we need to buckle down and do real work each day!” speech. John delivers one of the doc’s most understated, “real” moments, under his breath and seemingly not even noticed by the camera when he shakes his head and says, “you are hard to live up to, Paul”. Wow.
George is coming back! And they’re moving back to their studio at Apple!!!
I still can’t believe these guys take weekends off. THAT'S a documentary I wanna see, what the hell they do on the weekends...taking a break from being the biggest stars on the planet. Here's George praying, here's John reading Lewis Carroll, here's Ringo being Ringo and here's Paul hanging upside down like a bat in the studio waiting for 9am Monday morning to come...
Two Apple Scruffs are standing outside of the studio, desperate to catch sight of a Beatle. Yet when John Lennon walks right by them they don’t blink an eye? Too cool for school, ladies?
George somehow gets a parking spot right in front of the goddam building. Other than dying at 58 despite being the most spiritual man ever on Earth who dedicated every moment to his God, this was a lucky dude.
I’m not joking - I need this carpet!
Nobody ever got more of a kick out of reading their own bad press than The Beatles. They should get royalties from Jimmy Fallon’s “Mean Tweets” series.
Seriously, what the fuck is up with Paul’s Hofner bass strings? Are they black piano wire?
As different as they are in many ways, nothing seems to make Paul McCartney happier than John Lennon making him laugh and vice versa.
Something I’ve finally learned: if they’re sitting while playing, musicians look like they’re taking a shit. Also: a bottle of shampoo would not be a thoughtless gift for these guys.
John Lennon can find the camera like an aging porn star.
Paul's trying to be more tactful now but you can tell he's itching to "suggest" to Ringo how to drum on this song and oh look here’s Ringo trying to electrocute himself:
It’s good to be The Beatles:
“Gosh, we really need someone else on the electric piano.”
“If only we had one more person!”
“Oh look, world-class electric piano player Billy Preston has just walked into the studio!”
The Beatles are the Wonder Pets of rock & roll:
"Wow, Greece is huge! How are we EVER gonna find the worm??!!"Billy Preston’s Smile-to-Words-Spoken ratio right now is 12,223 to 4.
"There it is!"
"Great!"
Hong Kong Flu!! How miffed is Trump gonna be that Paul beat him to this particular bit of racism by 50 years?!?!?!?
After all the shit he's taken from John & Paul as being the kid brother and not getting his songs taken seriously, it's George who is the one who selflessly suggests they release Get Back immediately as a single.
I know how this whole thing turns out. I know how the songs end up on the album. And yet, as they’re running through them for the first few times, I find myself on the edge of my seat, urging them on to make it through a song, and then yell at the screen for them to quit clowning around when so close to nailing it. Wtf?
George just ordered cauliflower with a cheese sauce for lunch and now I hate the goddam Beatles and just wanna fucking die.
Glyn Johns remains undefeated in the jacket game with this lunatic circus ringleader number.
Billy Preston is back and in a moment of earnest thoughtfulness, Paul leans over and asks if anyone has actually asked if he minds showing up every day. Typical Paul, herding Billy off to HR for his official building badge and "Don't Touch Anybody Else's Genitals in the Studio" training session.
It’s very interesting to me that throughout the documentary it’s been John who is most likely to lapse into singing old Beatles songs, considering the second the band broke up he spent the next 10 years shitting on every song they did and claiming they sucked, etc. Wouldn’t have pictured him being the nostalgic, sentimental one of the group.
I’m no fashion guy but seriously someone should package all the shirts and jackets these guys wear and sell them as a set for a fucking mint $$$$
“Toast, Tea, FAGS!” could be a better title for this thing (fags in the British sense, thank you very much KEEP YOUR MIND OUT OF THE GUTTER PEOPLE!)
Paul’s talking about a dream he had the night before about when they were in India and now all I can think of is, what if all The Beatles had been bitten by king cobras during their time there? 🤔
Paul’s still talking about this dream. Jesus Christ their first album only took 10 hours to record, this might challenge that. Wrap it up, Macca! Nobody cares! Move on to writing Wonderful Christmastime already!
Michael Lindsay- Hogg is the same age as The Beatles yet somehow simultaneously looks like an old man AND a 12 year-old boy. Astonishing.
Is Let it Be the last great song Paul wrote as a Beatle? 🤔
I really don’t understand why John & Paul are so jazzed about George’s For You Blue but couldn’t be bothered to spend five minutes on All Things Must Pass.
It’s kind of a silly thing I guess, but realizing you’re watching the actual recording of a song in real time that you’ve spent years listening to on the album is pretty fucking thrilling. It happens here with For You Blue and then several times near the end with the rooftop concert. Pretty amazing.
After dicking around so much, somehow without me even realizing it they have like 12-15 songs to choose from now. Fucking alchemists.
I love The Beatles but despite their five minutes of talking about it I find it hard to believe they’re experts on how blowing up film from 16mm to 35mm works and the effects it has on the footage.
Paul wants to show the world what they’ve accomplished after recording by putting on a massive live show; George wants to show the world his boots match his guitar. No small roles in this band, indeed.
We’re supposed to believe the idea of them playing on the rooftop has just been told to Paul because he breaks into a smile as Glyn Johns and Michael Lindsay-Hogg say something to him. But there’s no sound, so for all we know he’s being told Popeye’s has just been founded. 🤷♂️🍗
Oh oh, George is passing out the Scotch & Cokes!…since everybody weighs 65 pounds, I’m guessing the next 10 minutes of footage is gonna be a complete waste of time.
Some art dealer walks into the room and Paul happens to know his name Jesus Christ HOW RICH ARE THESE PEOPLE??!?!!?!?!
After the emotional first half-hour, this episode seems to serve to show how much fun The Beatles had in the studio, which it pulls off perfectly. One other thing is the difference in how much more engaged John Lennon is when they move to Apple. He’s not a patch on McCartney as a musician and he’s not a world-class guitar player like George, but somehow having him engaged makes the entire band exponentially better, not just by his talent but also his sheer charisma.
