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All Things Must Beat. Share Anything Beatles!!
- Thread starter Rumble Thunder
- Start date
Mick Jagger and John Lennon singing at a piano at The Record Plant in New York City, 1972.
Wait and get the "free trial" to watch it. That's what I did to Hulu when Ron Howard's "Eight Days A Week" came out.
Follow me for more tips!
yeah--usually you get a free month or something like that
I currently have Apple TV free for a year.
But the only things on it worth watching are Ted Lasso & a documentary series on 1971
Well, besides being only a budding songwriter at the height of the famed Lennon/McCartney songwriting juggernaut, and getting constantly slapped down as not good enough at it for more than 1 or 2 songs per album, I think he had a reasonably sunny disposition. The other 3 Beatles always acknowledged he was the best musician in the early group interviews, to his humble smiles. He got a black eye defending Ringo from irate Pete Best fans at The Cavern Club after the switch in drummers. "Here Comes the Sun", "Something", "My Sweet Lord", and many others, are far from downer songs. His "Concert for Bangladesh" was the first ever rock superstar benefit concerts.
His "Taxman" song lyrics sound like a downer, "here's one for you, 19 for me," but was in protest of the very real 95% tax bracket they found themselves in at the time. His impatience with Beatles world touring troubles and not being able to hear their music was quite understandable. His Maharishi turning out to be less than expected was depressing. His being sued for allegedly copying "He's So Fine" into "My Sweet Lord" mainly for using the same chord structure as 90% of pop music in those days was a travesty of justice. His barely surviving a crazed knife attack in his own home, luckily saved by his wife, would make most people depressed. Not to mention the throat & brain cancer that eventually did him in. But, on his deathbed, he still joked with Ringo the last time they met.
His being tagged as "The Quiet Beatle" and a recluse was a misnomer and a misconception. He was only quiet in group interviews with 3 egomaniacs. He was the life of the party on his visit with his sister in Illinois in 1963, where he even played with a local band there. He did enjoy his privacy, though, which Paul explained that he simply avoided the press because they always got everything wrong, so they called him a recluse. He worked with lots of other musicians once freed from The Beatles, eventually calling the superstars together that formed The Traveling Wilburys. All his friends say he was very outgoing and caring. He also was a huge benefactor to the Monty Python comedy group, personally financing one of their movies. Tom Petty said he would never shut up(!), and his love of ukeleles, which he carried several around in "the boot" of his car, cheered up everyone around him.
But, you say he was a downer, eh? Why so?
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Thank you. I know most of those things, and I am a big fan. I guess maybe it was the attitude I remember when seeing the original Let It Be film, years ago. He did complain a lot about John and Paul throughout his career, it seemed. But it's obvious that he loved them.
And they all complained about Paul being the workaholic, calling them all to get back to the studio, his ideas for concept albums, his seeming interminable takes on "silly" songs like "Maxwell's Silver Hammer", etc. Then, later, they all disavowed Paul's alter ego idea of "Sargeant Pepper's" and Paul's movie idea of "Magical Mystery", though they went along with it at the time, since they didn't have any better ideas.
And George, the private Beatle, was not only put off by Yoko being in the studio, but then he seemed surprised that the film crew was recording their conversations, too! He obviously didn't agree with Paul's idea of filming "warts and all," and can you blame him? I wonder if John's discussion of replacing George with Eric Clapton will be in the new movie?
It may have been John "wanting a divorce from The Beatles" that finally broke them up before the lawsuits, but (and I say this as a Paul fan first and foremost), you can kinda see how Paul's work ethic drove him to it! John himself always admitted to being lazy. He was, however, willing to work with other musicians for a change of pace, as long as it wasn't too much work, like actually rehearsing.
And, Ringo? Maybe he learned his lesson from walking out of the While Album sessions and taking some time to return. He just seems zoned out from the tensions of the "Let It Be" sessions.
Actually, we shouldn't be surprised at The Beatles' eventual breakup. Two-way relationships can be hard enough to maintain (look at all the famous duos that broke up and divorce rates), much moreso 4-way relationships! Then add in the wives, and kids, and it's gotta have some impossible situations. Unfortunately, love and irritation (if not outright hate) seem to be inextricably linked to the human condition. Cross purposes are unavoidable and inevitable. It's amazing they were as tight together as long as they were!
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One could do a research paper on this but the short answer is:
1) George felt unappreciated as a viable songwriter by the Lennon & McCartney collaborative effort.
2) George was undervalued by George Martin as both a vocalist and a songwriter.
3) After the death of Brian Epstein, the band eventually started spinning out of control with no clear, unified objectives.
4) The emergence of Jimi Hendrix caused all “lead guitarists” (with the exception of Clapton) to self evaluate their abilities, capabilities and skill causing a touch of insecurity that perhaps bloomed into defensiveness.
These are the major contributing factors in my opinion. Also, neither John nor George’s identity was formed solely on the enterprise of participating in a Rock band despite being the best band ever.
My wife is a Scouser and she was around in the 60's and spoke to a lot of the 'Merseybeat' crowd. That was in the days when they would catch the bus into Liverpool city centre, not too grand to be with ordinary people. OT, modern sound reproduction kit has been a revelation, I played a 'Beatles Greatest Hits' CD on a modern hi-fi player, and for the first time heard Macca's bass lines properly. Brilliant. No Dansette 6 inch elliptical speakers!
Penny Lane is the only road in Liverpool where the name is painted on the wall as opposed to a metal name plate. They never lasted 24 hours when they could be unscrewed.
