much as everyone wants things to be the way they once were, it simply can’t happen. By playing those old songs, the Beatles must have known they were tempting fate. Like characters in a Thomas Wolfe story, they were trying to get back homeward, but of course they couldn’t.
The timing of George Harrison’s departure may have been somewhat premeditated. While it has long been stated that George left because he had grown tired of Paul’s superior behavior, he was also apparently furious with John. He was not speaking to him because John was making a minimal contribution to the sessions. Yoko was often speaking on John’s behalf, and comments John had made in a recent interview about how Apple was losing money had just come out in
Disc and Music Echo.
George may also have had another reason for leaving the group. On January 12, the film
Wonderwall
opened in London at the Cinecenta cinema.
Wonderwall
was directed by Joe Massot, who would go on to direct the Led Zeppelin concert film
The Song Remains The Same
(which included camera work by Beatles album cover photographer Robert Freeman). The film had premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 15, 1968.George, who had supplied the film’s soundtrack, had attended the premiere with his wife Pattie, and Ringo and his wife Maureen. The soundtrack, released on Apple, was actually the first solo project put out by a member of the group. It was released in November of 1968 in the U.K. and in December in the United States. Featuring mostly Indian musicians, the soundtrack was recorded between November 1967 and January 1968 at Abbey Road and at EMI’s Bombay, India studios. The film premiere in London was perhaps just what George needed. He had long had to subsume his own creative impulses and toil in the shadow of John and Paul’s dominance over the group. Producing the music for a film must have helped give him the confidence to walk out at that time.
While Harrison’s departure would seem emblematic of the tensions of the Twickenham sessions, and while the “Get Back”/“Let It Be” project has generally been considered a depressing experience for all involved, Les Parrott’s distinct memories paint another picture. “To be honest,” he begins, “the atmosphere and strain between the Beatles that so many have said was so obvious … well, it wasn’t—well, not to the crew as such or myself.” He continues, “Firstly, they weren’t sitting that close and each tended to keep to themselves and their instrument. There were never any heated exchanges on the floor. Any emotional debates took place off camera.”
Parrott’s observation, when filtered through the lenses of the bootlegs of the Twickenham sessions, confirms his assertion that it wasn’t all so dreadful. There was considerable laughter throughout. Conscious of the ragged nature of many of the performances, all four Beatles nervously laughed at their lack of polish and the fact that they were continually forgetting lines of their songs or of the myriad covers that they were performing. Also, while working on a new song, the members often sang silly lyrics to fill in any gaps.
The fact that the Twickenham filming was often a fun experience was also confirmed by Glyn Johns in an interview he did with the BBC Radio 1 series, which was made into the book
The Record Producers.
Johns found the group during the “Get Back”/“Let It Be” project to be “hysterically funny … their humour got to me as much as the music, and I didn’t stop laughing for six weeks.” He continued: “John Lennon only had to walk in a room, and I’d just crack up. Their whole mood was wonderful. There was all this nonsense going on at the time about the problems surrounding the group, and the press being at them, and in fact, there they were, just doing it, having a wonderful time and being incredibly funny, and none of that’s in the film.”
Dave Harries also felt that there was considerable joy during the filming.
The timing of George Harrison’s departure may have been somewhat premeditated. While it has long been stated that George left because he had grown tired of Paul’s superior behavior, he was also apparently furious with John. He was not speaking to him because John was making a minimal contribution to the sessions. Yoko was often speaking on John’s behalf, and comments John had made in a recent interview about how Apple was losing money had just come out in
Disc and Music Echo.
George may also have had another reason for leaving the group. On January 12, the film
Wonderwall
opened in London at the Cinecenta cinema.
Wonderwall
was directed by Joe Massot, who would go on to direct the Led Zeppelin concert film
The Song Remains The Same
(which included camera work by Beatles album cover photographer Robert Freeman). The film had premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 15, 1968.George, who had supplied the film’s soundtrack, had attended the premiere with his wife Pattie, and Ringo and his wife Maureen. The soundtrack, released on Apple, was actually the first solo project put out by a member of the group. It was released in November of 1968 in the U.K. and in December in the United States. Featuring mostly Indian musicians, the soundtrack was recorded between November 1967 and January 1968 at Abbey Road and at EMI’s Bombay, India studios. The film premiere in London was perhaps just what George needed. He had long had to subsume his own creative impulses and toil in the shadow of John and Paul’s dominance over the group. Producing the music for a film must have helped give him the confidence to walk out at that time.
While Harrison’s departure would seem emblematic of the tensions of the Twickenham sessions, and while the “Get Back”/“Let It Be” project has generally been considered a depressing experience for all involved, Les Parrott’s distinct memories paint another picture. “To be honest,” he begins, “the atmosphere and strain between the Beatles that so many have said was so obvious … well, it wasn’t—well, not to the crew as such or myself.” He continues, “Firstly, they weren’t sitting that close and each tended to keep to themselves and their instrument. There were never any heated exchanges on the floor. Any emotional debates took place off camera.”
Parrott’s observation, when filtered through the lenses of the bootlegs of the Twickenham sessions, confirms his assertion that it wasn’t all so dreadful. There was considerable laughter throughout. Conscious of the ragged nature of many of the performances, all four Beatles nervously laughed at their lack of polish and the fact that they were continually forgetting lines of their songs or of the myriad covers that they were performing. Also, while working on a new song, the members often sang silly lyrics to fill in any gaps.
The fact that the Twickenham filming was often a fun experience was also confirmed by Glyn Johns in an interview he did with the BBC Radio 1 series, which was made into the book
The Record Producers.
Johns found the group during the “Get Back”/“Let It Be” project to be “hysterically funny … their humour got to me as much as the music, and I didn’t stop laughing for six weeks.” He continued: “John Lennon only had to walk in a room, and I’d just crack up. Their whole mood was wonderful. There was all this nonsense going on at the time about the problems surrounding the group, and the press being at them, and in fact, there they were, just doing it, having a wonderful time and being incredibly funny, and none of that’s in the film.”
Dave Harries also felt that there was considerable joy during the filming.
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