‘Get Back’, the mini docu-series by filmmaker Peter Jackson is a remarkable documentary that chronicles the troubled production of ‘Let it Be’, which turned out to be the band’s last album. Jackson used 55 hours of previously unused footage and 160 hours of audio to shine a light on this puzzling period in the Beatles’ career.
These episodes are long, at about 2,5 hours each. The whole thing feels like voyeurism, but in a good way. We get to see them be charming, funny, talented, but also ridiculous, chaotic, and ultimately: human.
John, Paul, George, and Ringo each bring their own quirkiness to the Beatles, and it’s incredible to watch them joke around, compose, and seemingly casually come up with these songs that we still love 50 years later. Looking back, music history always seems to unfold in this deterministic manner, but when you actually see how it happened, it’s clear that each of these pivotal moments didn’t appear to have much significance at the time.
Also, what’s up with the lurking? The people that surround them constantly, filmmakers, roadies, people asking them about logistics… It made me want to scream at the TV: tell these guys to leave you alone!
All these elements came together in a magical moment when Paul McCartney composes ‘Get Back’, in the span of about 2 minutes. People are walking around, talking, while Paul is sort of riffing on an A7 chord and singing vague melodies. Slowly words are coming in, or just the sound of words. Meanwhile, George Harrison is yawning, while Ringo quietly watches Paul develop the tune. And then, out of the blue, Paul sings the chorus as we know it: “Get back, get back, get back to where you once belonged.”
If I was gonna reharmonize any tune of this album, it had to be this one. Watch my version below.
