Famed LoTR Director Peter Jackson Uncovers 56 Hours of Film for New Documentary Showing The Beatles Breakup Has Been Grossly Exaggerated, And In Fact, "They Had Never Been Closer"
Daily Star- When the world’s most famous band, The Beatles, went their separate ways in 1970, stories of bitter feuds and rivalries were rife. A permanent wedge seemed to be stuck between Sir Paul McCartney and John Lennon after the former said he could never see them working together again.
John then famously lashed out at Paul a month later in an issue of Rolling Stone, saying he “can’t have his own way, so he’s causing chaos”.
Even fly-on-the-wall film Let It Be, filmed in the band’s last weeks together and released a year after their break-up, was filled with doom and gloom and apparent tensions beneath the surface.
But a new storyline has now emerged that perhaps the iconic foursome may have been as close as ever before they disbanded.
Legendary director Peter Jackson has sifted through the 56 hours of film used for the original Let It Be film to prove that the “reality is very different to the myth”.
In a sneak preview of his new film The Beatles: Get Back, the supposed rifts and tensions are nowhere to be seen as The Beatles goof around in the studio.
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It begins with smiling drummer Ringo Starr saying: “Morning, morning everybody, another bright day. Morning camera.”
John and Paul – who were supposedly at each other’s throats – can be seen singing lines from new song Two Of Us through clenched teeth like ventriloquists.
And the lead singer jokingly snaps at someone in the control room interrupting their recording for Get Back.
“Don’t interrupt stars when we’re recording,” he says. “We’re bloody stars you know.”
John’s partner Yoko Ono is clearly close to the band, perched on a chair near her partner and chatting with Linda McCartney.
There is also a glimpse of The Beatles’ legendary last live performance on the roof of their Savile Row building.
The release of Get Back was unsurprisingly delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking about what he discovered while making the documentary, Jackson said: “We’ve got 56 hours of never-before-seen Beatles footage. It’s great stuff.
“It gives you a sense of the spirit of the film that we’re making. Hopefully it’ll put a smile on your face in these rather bleak times.”
He added that he was “relieved to discover the reality is very different to the myth”.
“Sure, there are moments of drama – but none of the discord this project has long been associated with.”
So the king Peter Jackson has been hard at work on this for years. We finally got a release date of August 27, 2021, and this teaser trailer last month along with some sound bytes from Jackson on what he uncovered after pouring through 56 hours of never-before-seen footage.
Seriously how lucky of a guy is Jackson to be deemed worthy enough to view all of that? I think I speak for every music fan in the world when I say Peter, it's been a tough year, how about you just strike a zillion-dollar deal with Netflix and release a 56 part series? I don't think a single soul will mind. Give us the whole thing baby.
Got to spend a good amount of the quarantine getting to delve deeper into The Beatles and what made them so special. Like many people of my generation, I think we just assume The Beatles were the original hit-making boy band who came and went pretty quickly, suffered tragedy, and had it's star go on to have a long illustrious solo career. Getting the chance to read Shout! by Phillip Norman
and LOVE ME DO! THE BEATLES’ PROGRESS by Michael Braun
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opened my eyes to what musical geniuses these guys were. Whether they knew it or not they pioneered and invented totally new sounds that changed the way music was written, recorded, and performed forever going forward.
(sidebar- my friend Jake put me onto these two books. He went to University of Iowa and got to take a course, for actual credit, on "The History of The Beatles". I've had a lot of "what the fuck was I thinking not going to an SEC/BIG10 school" moments but this ranks high up there)
Sure they had their issues, like any group of guys forced to live in tight quarters, work around the clock, and travel around the world together for a decade would. But it seems like writers back in the 60s suffered the same "prisoner-of-the-moment" issues they do today and greatly exaggerated how bad the problems were in the group. Especially between Paul and John. If Peter Jackson is to be believed. And why shouldn't he be? Guy is the man.
Cannot wait for August and this film to come out. Hopefully, it kicks off another round of fresh Beatles hysteria and introduces an entirely new generation to their genius.
p.s.-
s/o to Donny Huffnagle, Esq. who sent me this incredible documentary on The Beatles actual music broken down by experts and composers. To say it is mind blowing how brilliant these guys, especially McCartney were is the understatement of the century. Not to get all nerdy and boring on everybody, but The Beatles basically invented a form of harmony (much like the Beach Boys) and mid song key changes that had not only never been attempted before but nobody had ever even thought of. They did this mind you with absolutely zero musical education. They were literally four guys who had God given talent, loved music, and learned as they went along. Totally organic.
An awesome tidbit from this dissecting "Penny Lane"
“By the time The Beatles discovered mid-song key changes, Classical music had long since abandoned them. McCartney in particular had become intrigued by modulation as a device. But he seemed instinctively to know that the best modulations occur by stealth, when mood and color change unperceptively, as if by magic. It may surprise you to learn for example that in the cheerful, happy-go-lucky song ‘Penny Lane’ he pulls off clever immensely satisfying key changes no less than 7 times. Almost without you noticing. This is the work of a composer who really knows what he’s doing. What effect then does this modulation have on a song? Well for one thing, it alters our perception of the chorus. Listen to what it sounds like without the modulation. (plays music). Its fine isn’t it? But it’s not very surprising. In the proper version, there’s much more of a shifting gear as we move into the chorus. (plays music). It is, of course, quite common in a pop song for the voice to rise up to a higher range for the chorus to sound more celebratory, more frenzied, more desperate, or more passionate. And McCartney’s voice does indeed rise predictively upward for the chorus. But here’s the clever bit…while the voice is rising upwards for the chorus, the modulation is actually a DOWNWARDS shift (plays music). Moving the key downwards has the subconscious effect of making us feel slightly wistful – as if the ‘joy’ isn’t a ‘total joy’ but a joy experienced that is slightly removed from the events it portrays. Since the song is about McCartney’s memories of growing up in suburban Liverpool, this makes perfect emotional sense to us as we listen. There’s one other by-product of this downward shift…at the end of the chorus we’re forced to move back UP a gear as the verse starts again. Because we’re now modulating upwards, the incoming verse greets us like a new day…full of optimism and youth. (plays music). A lesser writer than McCartney would have left it at that. But Penny Lane is about journeys…into the past, down a street, through suburban Liverpool. And so the harmony goes on a journey too… in the very final chorus, McCartney surprises us once more, and lets the harmony shift again – this time upwards into the chorus - and the result is gloriously celebratory!!! Penny Lane is one of the most magical, life-affirming songs in The Beatles repertoire. It also features a baroque piccolo trumpet solo inspired by Paul McCartney hearing one on a TV broadcast of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2. McCartney’s thirst for knowledge and understanding of Classical music was extremely influential in The Beatles work. Divisions between Classical and Popular seemed to dissolve in their later recordings. In this respect, McCartney was way ahead of his time. Anticipating a future that didn’t recognize artificial barriers between musical styles.”
p.p.s. - Paul McCartney got all the love from the ladies but for my money there wasn't a more handsome guy around than George Harrison. What a fuckin stud. Also, one of my top 5 secret weapons to get any party, social gathering, etc. going is "Got My Mind Set On You". One of the best songs of all time