Iām beside myself with anticipation. Peter Jacksonās Beatles project, Get Back, starts streaming tomorrow!
I know Iām showing my age, but it was The Beatles who not only got me heavily into music when I was twelve or so but also escorted me through some of the most difficult years of my young life, that minefield period that surrounds the breakup of a family. My dad left in the summer of ā69. Abbey Road came out that fall.
Of course, as soon as I landed on this secret magical force, the band broke up. The divorce movie, Let It Be, appeared in the spring of ā70, but we were in bad financial straits at the time so I didnāt get to see it, though my cousin described it to me blow by blow. It sounded really sad, my new heroes going at each other in testy rows, going through the musical motions with no heart in it. I finally saw the movie when I was in high school, a dark, dull print at a midnight showing, and I came away disillusioned.
But now Jackson has taken almost sixty hours of film from the project, shot over a couple of weeks in January ā69, and restored it to 21st century clarity in a 7-hour event, at the same time recasting the story as one of four mates creating music from scratch. They enter the cavernous movie studio at Twickenham with only a few scribbled pages of ideas and come out the other end on the roof of Apple headquarters, performing together live for the last time.
This I have to see. So yeah, Iāve subscribed to Disney+ for a month.
As a lad who has stood in awe on the pavement in front of that building where the rooftop concert took placeā3 Savile Row in London, just off Picadilly CircusāIām feeling some of the same belly flies now. Iāve walked across the famous zebra stripes in front of Abbey Road studios, Iāve paid way too much to see Paul McCartney in concert, Iāve learned to play āBlackbirdā (and more) on the guitar, and I can do Side 2 of Abbey Road in my head from the first crystal notes of āHere Comes the Sunā to the final surprise ending of āHer Majesty.ā I donāt think Iāve ever failed to air-drum Ringoās solo in āThe Endā as it plays.
People like me have been waiting a long time for this. I donāt know how artists of any discipline get under a personās skin for a lifelong voyage, but I can imagine myself whispering Beatles lyrics as I drift away from the planet one of these days.
I just hope itās not āOb-La-Di, Ob-La-Daā ā¦
I’m excited, too. It’s gonna be awesome!
Dig it! Dig it! Dig it!
Ha! I found myself listening to the white album a couple days ago, then when I looked it up realized it was the release date (Nov 22, 68) and rabbit holed down that story, then found myself wishing there was a good documentary, and lo and beholdā¦there is! Iām envious you saw Sir Paul. I would pay lots to watch him perform Helter Skelter. My listen of that record last night was kind of epic. And their breakup was kind of inevitable, so Iām looking forward to watching that too. Happy Thanksgiving old friend!
Happy Thanksgiving to you n’ yours too, Bill! I hope an atmospheric river doesn’t interfere. There’s a fascinating story embedded in the White Album, isn’t there? If you listen from beginning to end, the mood feels beautifully controlled, even though I’ve heard that the recording of that album was tense–Yoko on a bed brought into the studio. WTF? The weirdness of Revolution No. 9! The total fun of “Birthday.” Runs the gamut. I’m sure Paul did Helter Skelter at the concert, but I was in another dimension at the time so who knows? It was definitely fab.
Have a good 1!
Thanks Kevin! Love this. Be wellā¦