2.19pm
17 January 2013
I did enjoy Let It Be , but it was kinda depressing. You definitely see that controlling side of Paul, that’s for sure. I guess that could be the bad side of his “ambition”.. wasn’t he always like that, though? In my opinion, he was always the one with the most drive. It may not have always come out in the best way, but that’s really what it was. He is still working at 70, so if that doesn’t take drive I don’t know what does.
I don’t want to defend Paul too much, because I am a huge fan of his and I can be a little bias, but I know he’s not perfect, either. Also, beware of the film editors. My spouse is a film maker, and if I have learned anything over the years it is that an editor can take footage and make an angel look like a devil, and vice versa. There are also those fake reactions you have to watch for. Take any reality show on TV. They always hook you right before the commercial with some big happening, and then they show somebody reacting to it. Watch for that same reaction when the show is back on.. 99% of the time, it never happens. They just chop it up to look like it does. Hells Kitchen is the worst offender.
I’m not saying there are fake reactions and false characters in Let It Be but you know what I’m getting at.
"Please don't bring your banjo back, I know where it's been.. I wasn't hardly gone a day, when it became the scene.. Banjos! Banjos! All the time, I can't forget that tune.. and if I ever see another banjo, I'm going out and buy a big balloon!"
5.05pm
1 December 2009
Well, “Let It Be ” predates the reality-TV Revolution by 30 years, so thankfully none of the misleading editing or heightened-emotion musical cues or out-and-out retakes of “dramatic” moments are present.
GEORGE: In fact, The Detroit Sound. JOHN: In fact, yes. GEORGE: In fact, yeah. Tamla-Motown artists are our favorites. The Miracles. JOHN: We like Marvin Gaye. GEORGE: The Impressions PAUL & GEORGE: Mary Wells. GEORGE: The Exciters. RINGO: Chuck Jackson. JOHN: To name but eighty.
5.36pm
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1 May 2011
Stopped watching Hells Kitchen a few years back because it became all about the editing and what was portrayed on screen was different to the actual timeline of events. It might be commonplace but im not going to waste time on things like that. The only reality show i now watch is The Apprentice but even that is becoming so manipulated in the editing suite.
But if there was ever a Directors Cut of Let It Be it wouldnt surprise me if Apple edited it in such a way that it reflected the image of The Beatles that they wanted to come across to the viewer, the image that they have carefully created over the last 30 – 40 years. It would be hard to create that ideal without editing the footage that they have to give a false picture of the sessions.
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8.19pm
1 November 2012
I found fascinating that long scene in the Let It Be movie where Paul is talking to John on and on… and on and on… and on and on… such a stream of diarrhea of words I’m not sure what he’s saying; while John just sits there patiently listening, nodding, and only saying “Mm-hm” here and there. Another glimpse perhaps into Paul’s OCD.
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8.25pm
Reviewers
29 November 2012
Funny Paper said
I found fascinating that long scene in the Let It Be movie where Paul is talking to John on and on… and on and on… and on and on… such a stream of diarrhea of words I’m not sure what he’s saying; while John just sits there patiently listening, nodding, and only saying “Mm-hm” here and there. Another glimpse perhaps into Paul’s OCD.
In that scene, John looks so unbelievably bored…plus, I’m sure he was heavily stoned on H at that moment (as he was throughout those sessions). In fact, George has said one of the reasons he got so fed up during those sessions was not only Paul’s bossiness, but John’s seeming indifference to it all. It’s quite surprising to read how George actually approached the whole Get Back project with some optimism and excitement.
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8.42pm
17 January 2013
vonbontee said
Well, “Let It Be ” predates the reality-TV Revolution by 30 years, so thankfully none of the misleading editing or heightened-emotion musical cues or out-and-out retakes of “dramatic” moments are present.
Right, but editors can still give you a false reality with editing tricks, even back then. I was using reality shows as an example.
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Von Bontee"Please don't bring your banjo back, I know where it's been.. I wasn't hardly gone a day, when it became the scene.. Banjos! Banjos! All the time, I can't forget that tune.. and if I ever see another banjo, I'm going out and buy a big balloon!"
8.45pm
17 January 2013
meanmistermustard said
Stopped watching Hells Kitchen a few years back because it became all about the editing and what was portrayed on screen was different to the actual timeline of events. It might be commonplace but im not going to waste time on things like that. The only reality show i now watch is The Apprentice but even that is becoming so manipulated in the editing suite.But if there was ever a Directors Cut of Let It Be it wouldnt surprise me if Apple edited it in such a way that it reflected the image of The Beatles that they wanted to come across to the viewer, the image that they have carefully created over the last 30 – 40 years. It would be hard to create that ideal without editing the footage that they have to give a false picture of the sessions.
I stopped watching Hells Kitchen for the same reason.
Also, on your second paragraph, thank you, that it what I was getting at. You are much better than I am with these things we call.. words.
"Please don't bring your banjo back, I know where it's been.. I wasn't hardly gone a day, when it became the scene.. Banjos! Banjos! All the time, I can't forget that tune.. and if I ever see another banjo, I'm going out and buy a big balloon!"
8.50pm
Reviewers
Moderators
1 May 2011
George had been bouyed by hanging out with The Band in the US, no doubt where he was treated with some respect and an equal. Coming back to the cold studios at Twickenham was a real downer especially finding Paul trying way too hard (to put it politely) and John stoned, unable to raise an opinion and constantly surrounded by Yoko. To then have his compositions as inconveniences when what John and Paul were offering wasnt any better and the attitude that he was lesser must have been a real sickener.
There was also tension between John and George and the arguement between Paul and George has been wrongly held up as the reason why he left – due to how the film was edited (the arguement and then George nowhere to be seen).
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2.12am
Reviewers
29 November 2012
Good points. It was John and Yoko, I think, who set George off most. It wasn’t caught on film but they actually took swings at each other and had to be separated…I believe George quit later that day or the next.
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3.09am
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1 May 2011
John and George had a laugh together when reading a newspaper report that they got into a fight so i think its unlikely (its on the Get Back nagra tapes and available on bootleg).
"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)
4.05pm
21 November 2012
I was chatting to a colleague via IM about the rooftop concert and LIB . I’ll paste this as he wrote it:
I told you my mum’s in that video didn’t I?
Seriously
She’s the woman in the red coat in the cutaways from the street – there’s two shots of her, one looking up at the roof and the other of her walking away
She never mentioned it when we were kids (probably because she didn’t know about it)- then when I saw Anthology on ITV for the first time, whenever it was on that first time, my head almost clean fell off in shock.
She was very nonplussed about the whole thing – though she does have a hazy memory of walking past the building (she worked nearby at the time) and wondering what “all the fuss was about.”
Staggering. It’s amazing to think some people were around in London that day and weren’t really fussed about The Beatles playing live!
EDIT: follow-up with a bit of context. Makes sense really.
What’s interesting from this distance in time (speaking to my mum about it) is that, although the Beatles were obviously the biggest band in the world at the time (and my mum (like so many other people) was a fan and viewed them heroically), because people
1 – did not view them as demigods as they do now
2 – did not know that the Beatles were about to split up
3 – knew that the Beatles were always up to crazy larks
4 – couldn’t really tell what was going on on the roof anyway– what happened at the rooftop, at the time, was not a huge deal. So my mum craning her head to look up, tutting and walking off, despite everything, makes a sort of sense.
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5.03pm
Reviewers
29 November 2012
Linde said
I thought it wasn’t very clear on the film that George left anyway. When I watched it, I didn’t even know he left the band for a few days. He was gone, sure, but they weren’t all in the same room all the time anyway so I never really thought about it. I only learned later that George left.
They purposely left that stuff out of it. Which makes the inclusion of Paul and George’s tiff all the more curious.
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5.04pm
Reviewers
29 November 2012
Joe said
I was chatting to a colleague via IM about the rooftop concert and LIB . I’ll paste this as he wrote it:I told you my mum’s in that video didn’t I?
Seriously
She’s the woman in the red coat in the cutaways from the street – there’s two shots of her, one looking up at the roof and the other of her walking away
She never mentioned it when we were kids (probably because she didn’t know about it)- then when I saw Anthology on ITV for the first time, whenever it was on that first time, my head almost clean fell off in shock.
She was very nonplussed about the whole thing – though she does have a hazy memory of walking past the building (she worked nearby at the time) and wondering what “all the fuss was about.”
Staggering. It’s amazing to think some people were around in London that day and weren’t really fussed about The Beatles playing live!
EDIT: follow-up with a bit of context. Makes sense really.
What’s interesting from this distance in time (speaking to my mum about it) is that, although the Beatles were obviously the biggest band in the world at the time (and my mum (like so many other people) was a fan and viewed them heroically), because people
1 – did not view them as demigods as they do now
2 – did not know that the Beatles were about to split up
3 – knew that the Beatles were always up to crazy larks
4 – couldn’t really tell what was going on on the roof anyway– what happened at the rooftop, at the time, was not a huge deal. So my mum craning her head to look up, tutting and walking off, despite everything, makes a sort of sense.
Wow, great info, thanks for sharing! I know exactly who he’s talking about in that scene, too. Also, the context he later put it in makes perfect sense. It was windy that day, too…can’t imagine the sound was so good down on the street.
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5.30pm
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Moderators
1 May 2011
Im surprised there hasnt been a book or documentary that hasnt focused on the Rooftop concert from the viewpoint of those down on the ground at the time. Maybe that will come out in 2098 when Let It Be is finally reissued and you can get it streamed directly into your brain and make your own directors cuts.
"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)
3.59am
27 December 2012
Funny Paper said
I found fascinating that long scene in the Let It Be movie where Paul is talking to John on and on… and on and on… and on and on… such a stream of diarrhea of words I’m not sure what he’s saying; while John just sits there patiently listening, nodding, and only saying “Mm-hm” here and there. Another glimpse perhaps into Paul’s OCD.
Lol at that scene, John was just smoking and occasionally looking into Paul’s eyes pretending that he’s giving a damn.
10.56pm
17 December 2012
Dr Beatle said
In that scene, John looks so unbelievably bored…plus, I’m sure he was heavily stoned on H at that moment (as he was throughout those sessions). In fact, George has said one of the reasons he got so fed up during those sessions was not only Paul’s bossiness, but John’s seeming indifference to it all.
Sick as this may sound (and it’s not even fully on-topic), I’ve been wanting to find out more about John’s use of heroin. I have no idea about what people using the drug really act or look like because I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who was on it, and I don’t think its effects sound attractive in the least. However, heroin seems to have played an important part in John’s life for at least a year (mid-68 to mid-/late 69?), and I think it’s weird that none of the biographies I’ve read (except possibly Goldman’s, but I don’t take that one too seriously) kind of gloss over that. I know John has said that Yoko and he only ever sniffed it, and only relatively small amounts, but then we get “Cold Turkey “, which is really scary. Or was that just more of the same self-mythologising John really went for that year? I also find it strange/remarkable/puzzling that he should have been taking The Worst Drug Known to Western Man At That Time and doing the whole Bed-In/Peace/We Are Cute Harmless Hippies thing simultaneously. Maybe the latter was a reaction to the tedium he had felt during the Let It Be fiasco?
10.29pm
21 November 2012
DrBeatle said
Linde said
I thought it wasn’t very clear on the film that George left anyway. When I watched it, I didn’t even know he left the band for a few days. He was gone, sure, but they weren’t all in the same room all the time anyway so I never really thought about it. I only learned later that George left.
They purposely left that stuff out of it. Which makes the inclusion of Paul and George’s tiff all the more curious.
Yeah, when I watched Let it be for the first time (and only time, since it’s only flipped sidewards on youtube) I didn’t even know George had left the band!
meanmistermustard said
Im surprised there hasnt been a book or documentary that hasnt focused on the Rooftop concert from the viewpoint of those down on the ground at the time. Maybe that will come out in 2098 when Let It Be is finally reissued and you can get it streamed directly into your brain and make your own directors cuts.
Haha this made me laugh out loud
3.55pm
Reviewers
29 November 2012
Velvet Hand said
Dr Beatle said
In that scene, John looks so unbelievably bored…plus, I’m sure he was heavily stoned on H at that moment (as he was throughout those sessions). In fact, George has said one of the reasons he got so fed up during those sessions was not only Paul’s bossiness, but John’s seeming indifference to it all.Sick as this may sound (and it’s not even fully on-topic), I’ve been wanting to find out more about John’s use of heroin. I have no idea about what people using the drug really act or look like because I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who was on it, and I don’t think its effects sound attractive in the least. However, heroin seems to have played an important part in John’s life for at least a year (mid-68 to mid-/late 69?), and I think it’s weird that none of the biographies I’ve read (except possibly Goldman’s, but I don’t take that one too seriously) kind of gloss over that. I know John has said that Yoko and he only ever sniffed it, and only relatively small amounts, but then we get “Cold Turkey “, which is really scary. Or was that just more of the same self-mythologising John really went for that year? I also find it strange/remarkable/puzzling that he should have been taking The Worst Drug Known to Western Man At That Time and doing the whole Bed-In/Peace/We Are Cute Harmless Hippies thing simultaneously. Maybe the latter was a reaction to the tedium he had felt during the Let It Be fiasco?
It’s also a fallacy they quit heroin for good in ’69. Both Doggett’s book and (I think) Norman’s book reference multiple people around them confirming they got back into it in the early 70s and used right up until Sean’s pregnancy/birth in ’75. As I’ve gotten older and the years have gone by and I’ve read and learned more, I’ve learned to trust what John and Yoko have said about themselves less and less, and there’s more and more proof to back it all up.
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