#Get Back sessions

[thecoleopterawithana]

Even though John is under-powered in this period we still see what made him so magnetic to Paul and to others around him. There is a scene early in Part Two that I find riveting. It takes place a couple of days after George has left. The status of everything - the project, the band - remains uncertain, but they are ploughing on for now. John, Yoko, Ringo, Paul and some of the crew are sitting in a semi-circle. Paul looks pensive. Ringo looks tired. John is speaking only in deadpan comic riffs, to which Paul responds now and again. Peter Sellers comes in and sits down, looks ill-at-ease, and leaves having barely said a word, unable to penetrate the Beatle bubble. At some point they’re joined by Lindsay-Hogg, and the conversation dribbles on. John mentions that he had to leave an interview that morning in order to throw up (he and Yoko had taken heroin the night before). Paul, looking into space rather than addressing anyone in particular, attempts to turn the conversation towards what they’re meant to be doing:

Paul: See, what we need is a serious program of work. Not an endless rambling among the canyons of your mind.

John: Take me on that trip upon that golden ship of shores… We’re all together, boy.

Paul: To wander aimlessly is very unswinging. Unhip.

John: And when I touch you, I feel happy inside. I can’t hide, I can’t hide. [pause] Ask me why, I’ll say I love you.

Paul: What we need is a schedule.

John: A garden schedule.

I mean first of all, who is writing this incredible dialogue? Samuel Beckett?

Let’s break it down a little. The first thing to note is that John and Paul are talking to each other without talking to each other. This is partly because they’re aware of the cameras and also because they’re just not sure how to communicate with each other at the moment. John’s contributions are oblique, gnomic, riddling, comprised only of songs and jokes, like the Fool in King Lear. Take me on that trip upon that golden ship of shores sounds like a Lennonised version of a line from Dylan’s Tambourine Man (“take me on a trip upon your magic swirling ship”). “We’re altogether, boy”? I have no idea. Does Paul? I think John expects Paul to understand him because he has such faith in what they used to call their “heightened awareness”, a dreamlike, automatic connection to each other’s minds. But right now, Paul is not much in the mood for it. His speech is more direct, though he too adopts a quasi-poetic mode (“canyons of your mind” is borrowed from a song by the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band) and he can’t bring himself to make eye contact. “To wander aimlessly is very unswinging,” he says (another great line, I will pin it above my writing desk). Then John does something amazing: he starts talking in Beatle, dropping in lyrics from the early years of the band, I Want To Hold Your Hand and Ask Me Why. (To appreciate John’s response to Paul’s mention of a schedule, American readers may need reminding that English people pronounce it “shed - dule”.)

What’s going on throughout this exchange? Maybe Lennon is just filling dead air, or playing to the gallery, but I think he is (also) attempting to communicate to Paul in their shared code - something like he loves him, he loves The Beatles, they’re still in this together. Of course, we can’t know. I can’t hide, John says, hiding behind his wordplay.

— Ian Leslie, "The Banality of Genius: Notes on Peter Jackson's Get Back" (January 26, 2022).

[I was curious to read more of Ian Leslie's approach to the Beatles in general and Lennon-McCartney in particular, since he's currently writing a book about John and Paul's relationship: “John and Paul: A Love Story in Songs". He's also the author of that New York Times opinion piece that came out today.]

#The Beatles #John Lennon #Paul McCartney #Get Back sessions #the person i actually picked as my partner #johnny #macca #I Want to Hold Your Hand #Tell Me Why #But I could never speak my mind #As we share in each other's minds #quote #my stuff #That Paul and John business

[kinsfaun]

George was so mardy. It's hilarious.

#george harrison #get back sessions #1969

[get-back-homeward]

Anyone interested in comparing Get Back vs the Nagra reels (audio of the sessions) day by day this month?

I’m starting with January 2, 1969 tapes today. There’s 96 clips, but each one ranges from 4 seconds to 11 minutes in runtime.

I’m listening primarily to see whether the overall tenor of the day matches with the way Peter Jackson’s editing captures it. But I’m also curious about any worthwhile details missing from Get Back (especially those days @amoralto never got to) that may shed light on the group dynamics at this time.

I’m planning to post my findings by day, even if I only get through a handful. But as much as I may try to avoid them, I have my own biases, as we all do. So it’d be neat to compare across several listeners and see where consensus lies.

#get back #nagra reels #the beatles #get back sessions #january 1969 #jan 2 1969 #my text #rewatching get back #have had a list of at least 5 days i wanted to listen to #not all are as quick as jan 2 so i thought today is as good a day as any to start #thought id share in case it strikes anyone elses interest

[i-am-the-oyster]

Not John and Paul singing Bye Bye Love while George plays the bass line of Two of Us 😭

#get back sessions #bye bye love #two of us #paul mccartney #john lennon #george harrison

[midchelle]

The subtitle delay lined up perfectly to make it seem like John's 'are you' is in response to Paul singing 'imagine I'm in love with you'. i think the illegal video hosting website where I'm watching get back part 2 is a mclennon shipper.

#get back sessions #mid.txt

[ludmilachaibemachado]

A ‘Get Back' filming-recording session attended by Linda's six-year-old daughter Heather🧡

Classic moment: when Heather starts caterwauling, John exclaims, "Yoko!"🌹

credit : rock music world🍁

#60s icons #girlsofthesixties #60s couples #john lennon #yoko ono #john and yoko #ringo starr #the beatles #get back sessions #january #1967

[itmustbehighorlow]

So for better or for worse, I find myself listening through the Nagra tapes, and trying to make sense of some exchanges. Get Back has allowed me to have a general idea of visuals and set ups, but I know it’s not always a reliable document matching audio with appropriate video. That said, on January 14th, just before Peter Sellers arrives, Yoko and John tell everyone about a gay couple that they met, and I’m really dying to know exactly how people responded. It’s surrounded by long stretches of fidgety sounding silence before and after. In my rough transcription:

YOKO: We met this guy who’s married for eight years, and, uh, shall we tell his story?

JOHN: I wouldn’t mention his name.

YOKO: No, no, I wouldn’t mention his name, and his wife happens to be a man, you know, that thing-

JOHN: But he’s very happy, you know.

YOKO: VERY happy, the most healthy marriage that you can think of, you know, the most beautiful relationship. And we got very, sort of, you know…we got an incentive from it. It’s really beautiful. But the way he was talking first thing about his eight years marriage and how wonderful it is, you know, naturally you assume it’s a “she” instead of… I was talking like, “is she Greek?” and he said “no, it’s a he, you know.”

JOHN (joking): That’s when I got up and left the table...

YOKO (giggling, continuing the joke):  …being from Weybridge

And then it trails off. I’m just interested in why Yoko (and John) chose to tell this story then. Just filling time? They seem to be speaking into awkward or disinterested silence. John sounds as supportive of the story as Yoko does, and I think I just really want to know if Paul was looking at the floor and biting his fingernails throughout this story or what, and if John/Yoko were looking for a particular response. I shouldn’t look for a motive in everything, but were they looking for a reaction?

#nagra tapes #january 14 1969 #John Lennon #yoko ono #john and yoko #paul mccartney #the most beautiful relationship #why tell this story? #get back sessions #get back #the beatles #my thoughts #john and paul #let it be #mclennon #jp

[itseclecticbeardmakerthings]

The Beatles - Get Back Sessions UNCUT unreleased tracks

#youtube #the beatles #get back #getbackalbum #get back sessions #john lennon #paul mccartney #ringo starr #george harrison

[heartorbit]

a fool and a sinner

#heyy WATCH REVUE STARLIGHT[TRAIN PASSES OVERHEAD] I SAID WATCH REVUE ST [FOGHORN] [SIRENS] #revue starlight #revstar #hikari kagura #kagura hikari #shoujo kageki revue starlight #Girl you're so damn dramatic get your ass up and continue the cycle #STFU AND START ONCE AGAIN BUILDING THE TOWER THAT WILL INEVITABLY FALL 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 #i'm back in my bimonthly revsta haze. Oh my god starry session revival was SOOOOOOOOOO. #i missed seeing kukugumi performing together. And oh my god mayanana sirius. OH MY GODDDDDDD #PRIDE AND ARROGANCE WAS ONLY SUPPODE FTO BE KAORUKO AND THEY WERE LIKE THATS CRAZY CAN WE MAKE TOXIC YURI OUT OF THIS? IKUTERU GET UP THERE #i screamed. all i can say #semester AMOST OVER assignments MANAGEABLE status: ALIVE #pretend i didnt post a drawing of myself coughing uo blood on twitter 24 hours ago. teehee #i need to rewatch gekijouban. Will be a little treatfor me after my last assignment gets handed in #Also theres this rpgmaker game ive been following that finally came out this year and inknow it will give me brain worms im so excited to #play it. ALSO I HAVE AN EMU TO POST I DID AN AGGIE WITH MY CLASSMATE but i gotta clean her up. maybe tonight after homework. amen #its her n cinnamorolllll so cutessss SOOOO CUTES

[heybiji]

"It's almost like that dark is following me."

#dungeons and dragons #dnd #dnd character #dnd oc #dnd art #drow #dandelion treehollow #he's been having a hard time #but being very brave about it (not really) #met a new PC last session though that seems like he'll be able to get dande back to the feywild???? #HOME??? #where the dark is? #dande also threw up on him sorry #he was already not feeling well from curse-trauma and drinking too much and hearing there may be a way back home overwhelmed him #ravelers

[thecoleopterawithana]

Lennon may not be at his most dynamic in Get Back but he’s still compelling, partly because he’s not the character we expected to meet. At least, he’s not who I expected. Having ingested many books about the Beatles I thought he was going to be fiery, caustic, domineering, and - in this period - bitterly scornful of McCartney. Yet the Lennon we see here is for the most part a rather gentle presence who acts as a calming mediator between Paul and George. He grins at Paul, laughs heartily at his jokes, listens patiently to him. There is something quite childlike about John, particularly when his face opens up into a smile as the band hits a groove, or when he’s sitting patiently on the floor with a guitar and Yoko, waiting for another take. When Ringo starts playing Octopus’s Garden with George, John says “What am I doing, Ritchie?” and gets on the drums. There is bravado, of course - as when, following George’s departure, he immediately suggests they get Clapton in and split George’s guitars. But there is tenderness, too: after George leaves, it is John who brings the three remaining Beatles together into a hug.

We are used to thinking of Lennon as the visionary and Paul as the pragmatist. Yet here it’s Paul who throws up wildly impractical ideas - a news show that ends in an announcement of The Beatles’ split, a TV spectacular, an album full of songs they haven’t written yet, by next week - and John who suggests, mildly and sympathetically, that they consider what’s actually possible.

— Ian Leslie, "The Banality of Genius: Notes on Peter Jackson's Get Back" (January 26, 2022).

[I was curious to read more of Ian Leslie's approach to the Beatles in general and Lennon-McCartney in particular, since he's currently writing a book about John and Paul's relationship: “John and Paul: A Love Story in Songs". He's also the author of that New York Times opinion piece that came out today.]

#The Beatles #John Lennon #He could be a real soft sweetie #Paul McCartney #George Harrison #Ringo Starr #the person i actually picked as my partner #Get Back sessions #That Paul and John business

[tavolgisvist]

John starts singing,

I won't cry, I won't cry No I won't shed a tear Just as long as you stand by me

Paul joins,

Stand by me

And they're singing together and have some fun and laugh.

But Paul sings,

Stand by me,

Darling Johnny

And John starts singing,

Where you've been, when I was feeling blue?

And that's all

#the beatles #john lennon #paul mccartney #ringo starr #george harrison #1969 #sessions: get back #john and paul #beloved fools #Youtube #candlestick was my favourite word

[snackugaki]

boys from the bay(verse)

it’s nap time, you little shit

#bayverse tmnt #tmnt 2016 #bayverse turtles #Bayverse Raphael #bayverse leonardo #bayverse mikey #bayverse donatello #even when I'm being nice I'm still bullying these big-ass turtles #leo turns making donnie take a nap a training session #that's why Raph can sneak around despite being big as the broadside of a barnhouse #like the video of someone carefully putting an oven mitt over a beeping cockatiel #Raph knit that special #Donnie's nap condom is the name Mikey gave it #Leo can't come up with anything better and Raph is fully of the If It Fits It Fits #The first few times the struggle lasted hours #legs akimbo in your face in his face oh so NOW he can do a spinning back kick #eventually it's gotten to the point of a conditioned response #the trick is getting the sock over his head and holding him down til he nods off #oh shit I didn't color in Mikey's magazine #...oh well #i love gag fanart but damn I'm not trying to turn a joke into a novel

[i-am-the-oyster]

In this rehearsal of Don't Let Me Down John repeatedly improvises

Oh keep your hands off my baby

Possibly a reference to this song:

I don't know if the link will go directly to the track. If not, you want to select the circle 14 from the end and go to the track Don't Let Me Down 29.09

#don't let me down #get back sessions #a/b road #keep your hands off my baby #goffin and king #Youtube

[javelinbk]

The Beatles performing You Really Got A Hold On Me, 26th January 1969

#this is somehow both awesome and terrible #john’s still got it when he tries #love george’s little face when they get the words wrong #although we know from anthology they weren’t much better in 63 #where’s mal with a lyrics sheet when you need one? #too busy sourcing anvils and bow ties I guess #john lennon #paul mccartney #george harrison #ringo starr #the beatles #get back/let it be sessions #1969

[ludmilachaibemachado]

Paul and Linda during the Get Back Sessions, January 1969🌼🎸🌼🎸🌼

#60s icons #girlsofthesixties #60s couples #paul mccartney #linda mccartney #paul and linda #the beatles wives #get back sessions #1969