January 13, 2024 · 12:00 am
The Beatles’ January 13, 1969, happened in history and it was portrayed in the 2021 docuseries Get Back, and the two aren’t necessarily the same.
The canteen discussion stands at the core of the day’s drama, but Beatles still made music and did their best to sort out their issues best they could. Dig in here for a better understanding how the day played out:
- And then there were two: The Beatles’ great divide isn’t centered around the departed George Harrison, but instead John Lennon and Yoko Ono. This is the full story around the docuseries’ gut-wrenching core — and how it’s not quite how it’s presented.
- Picasso’s last words: Old masters and friendly competitors inspire disagreement in the broken Beatles’ search for pace and purpose. Paul speaks to John! Linda Eastman spars with Michael Lindsay-Hogg! There’s pottery! There are camels! We get into obscure TV! The body language is tangible! It’s all here.
- The Lunchroom Tape (Pt. 1): Get Back cleaned up the sound but muddied the facts in its portrayal of the Beatles’ secretly recorded canteen conversation. Dig into who was really there, what was really said and why it matters.
- The Lunchroom Tape (Pt. 2): Ego, leadership and how the Beatles can reach their full potential dominate a spirited, complex conversation.
- The Lunchroom Tape (Pt. 3): Eavesdrop on the Beatles for a half hour and what do we learn? This conclusion to the canteen trilogy reveals the wounded working relationship between John and Paul, its spillover effect on George and beyond.
- Looking for the greener grass: With George in self-imposed exile, Paul, John and Ringo Starr needed just 30 minutes to investigate the who, what, where and why of the developing song “Get Back” at the end of an exhausting, cathartic day.
- Et cetera: What was Ringo singing at the start of Get Back Episode 2 and how can we tie it to the 1980s? Why was everyone talking about Wings’ guitarist years before they existed? Explore these and more leftover storylines from Twickenham.
January 12, 2022 · 12:00 am
January 11-12, 1969, was a much-needed weekend for the Beatles after George Harrison’s sudden departure on January 10. See you ’round the clubs? Not exactly. But so much for George Harrison’s quiet break. We don’t have audio or visuals from this weekend but there’s enough evidence to paint a rough picture of how it unfolded.
January 11
- How he was diverted: George was ready for a weekend away from the band with the chance to rest and reset his private and professional problems. Then an unplanned and very personal appearance ended any search for serenity.
January 12
- A family outing (Pt. 1): What exactly happened when the Beatles — and, quite notably, several others — met at Ringo’s house for a board meeting two days after George left the group? Our deep dive begins here.
- A family outing (Pt. 2): George had long been (figuratively) beat up and battered ’round, treatment John Lennon described as “a festering wound … we allowed to go even deeper” at the Beatles’ weekend Apple board meeting.
- The final bulletin: Who says breakups need to be messy? One Beatle charts a path forward to a new phase and beyond in the wake of their weekend meeting.
- Anyway, here’s Wonderwall: A look at how several Beatles and Beatle-adjacent figures spent – or didn’t spend – their Sunday night after the meeting at Ringo’s.
April 18, 2021 · 10:58 pm
More than a half century removed, it’s pretty easy to say George Harrison was on a clear trajectory to cut his losses and walk away from the Beatles a week into the Get Back sessions and cut bait on January 10, 1969.
But even on that Friday morning at Twickenham Film Studios, was George a man with a plan to leave the group? Here’s how the day played out:
- Only the Northern Songs, Pt. 1: Unpacking the day George quit the Beatles, a day that began with a visit from Dick James, and featured a deep dive into their extended publishing catalog, family greetings and Zsa Zsa Gabor stories.
- Only the Northern Songs, Pt. 2: “Fascist bum” or friend to the Beatles? Maybe Dick James was both. Here’s the second part of our deep dive into the publisher’s visit to the band, hours before George left. Featuring Magic Alex stories, car talk, hidden mics and secret meetings.
- Knew it wouldn’t last: In the hour before George quits, his performance and motivation are in question during rehearsals for the increasingly dynamic “Get Back”
- On his way home: Deemed “faceless” by Paul McCartney “Two of Us” goes through a final set of rehearsals before the entire trajectory of the Beatles’ Get Back sessions changes completely. Plus, peeling back a myth about the song and Grapefruit.
- See you ’round the clubs: On January 10, 1969, George Harrison quit the Beatles. This is the story of what happened that afternoon, what didn’t happen and the reasons why. It’s peak They May Be Parted, — my longest post to date.
- A quick one, while he’s away: With George gone, the Beatles carried on as a trio with a vocal plus-one. Here’s what happened when Yoko Ono took a seat on George’s blue cushion.
- Go on, as if nothing’s happening: No plans, no guitarist, no problem for the Beatles, who completed their first full week at Twickenham with no clarity on who, where or what the future would bring. “If (George) doesn’t come back by Tuesday,” John Lennon said, “we get Clapton.”
- Et cetera: A box for George and a bag for John. Song notation and interview negotiation. There’s a story in these stray conversations that didn’t quite fit in other posts.
December 18, 2019 · 12:30 am
Paul McCartney began January 9, 1969, at the piano sketching out “Another Day,” but it was anything but for the sixth day of the Beatles’ sessions at Twickenham, where things started to get a little testy, while musically it remained deeply compelling.
- Just another day: The Beatles begin their second week at Twickenham with Paul at the piano and his muse by his side as he debuts an important future solo classic.
- Road work: Twickenham is Paul’s songwriting lab as the morning’s tapes reveal his effort to put lyrics to several works-in-progress, like “Carry That Weight” and “The Long and Winding Road,” among others.
- Last-night song: George Harrison lifts the veil on a proper version of “For You Blue,” but are the other Beatles eager to bite on another George original?
- Jokes in between: Harmony and discord, joy and petulance. It’s a roller-coaster of moods for the members of the Beatles as they continued work on their core set at Twickenham.
- Another kind of gig: Get yourself well done with the backstory of the Beatles’ lively and perpetually mysterious “Suzy Parker.”
- Love from Paul: Take an exceedingly deep dive into Paul McCartney’s “Penina,” one of the most obscure originals from the Beatles era and a “£20,000 holiday tip.”
- No Pakistanis: Inspired by current events, Paul McCartney works on a set of satirical, racially charged — and later misunderstood — lyrics to “Get Back.” Putting this Beatles’ session into appropriate context 50 years later.
- Power politics: “This racial business over in England” inspires a suite of upbeat, satirical improvisations. This is the story of The Beatles’ “Commonwealth” and “Get Off.”
- Subconscious sabotage: To his death, John Lennon hated the recording of “Across the Universe.” But with a chance to make it anew during The Beatles’ Get Back sessions, instead of changing his world, the song would slip away.
- It’s dead easy: An inspired Paul McCartney & Co. raid the toolbox to effortlessly shape “Let It Be” into a more coherent, familiar song. Here’s the origin story of the riffs, harmonies and arrangement with far more detail than you likely asked for.
- Homeward bounder: After flirting the night before with the idea of a sea cruise to Libya, The Beatles’ enthusiasm for show-boating waned as Ringo Starr preached mundanity over spectacle for a planned live performance.
- Crossroads he’s standing at: How a pair of covers of yet-to-be-released Bob Dylan songs sheds light on George Harrison’s disposition the afternoon before he’d walk out on The Beatles.
- Et cetera: Putting a bow on The Beatles’ busy January 9, 1969. Featuring “Junk” and “Teddy Boy” from Paul, some proto-punk from John, bugs that aren’t Beatles and more.
They May Be Parted 