Let It Be에 대한 재고: 비틀즈의 논란의 여지가 있는 Swan Song의 확장 버전에 대한 자세한 안내서

아, 렛 잇 비 . 오늘날 어떤 밴드도 비슷한 상황에서 녹음을 시도하지 않을 것입니다. 상상해 보십시오: 당신은 거의 5개월 동안 30곡 의 방대한 더블 앨범 을 만드는 데 수고 했습니다 . 긴장된 경험으로 인해 축적된 새로운 자료와 집단적 선의가 사라졌습니다. 다음 행보는 무엇입니까? 당신의 대답이 "즉시 스튜디오로 돌아가서 3주 동안 완전히 새로운 앨범을 작성하여 2년 만에 첫 라이브 콘서트에서 공연할 시간을 주십시오. 그 동안 카메라 스태프가 당신의 모든 움직임을 기록하는 동안"입니다. ..축하합니다. 당신은 1969년 초 비틀즈 가 가졌던 것과 같은 용기, 낙관주의, 순수한 창조적 열정을 가지고 있습니다. 

그 계획은 가볍게 말해서 위압적이었습니다. 그들이 무엇이든 완수했다는 것은 엄청난 성과입니다. 더 충격적인 것은 그 바쁜 21일 동안 최고의 노래가 나왔다는 사실입니다. 타이틀 곡은 물론이고 "Get Back", "Two Of Us", "cross the Universe"를 자랑하는 앨범을 누가 탓할 수 있겠습니까? 그러나 밴드의 전형적으로 맑은 캐논 속에서 Let It Be 는 종종 그것을 덮고 있는 어두운 구름으로 구별됩니다.

비틀즈의 역사에 대해 가장 간략한 지식을 가진 사람들도 프로젝트의 어려운 탄생을 알고 있습니다. 그 이유는 주로 문제가 너무 공개되었기 때문입니다. Michael Lindsay-Hogg 감독의 1970년 다큐멘터리 영화 는 조지 해리슨 이 좌절에 빠져 일시적으로 그룹을 사임하게 만든 악명 높은 말다툼 이 있었던 Twickenham Studios의 칙칙하고 초라한 사운드스테이지에서 불행한 초기 세션을 목격하게 했습니다 . "길고 구불구불한 길"에서 프로듀서 필 스펙터의 확인되지 않은 극단주의에 대한 폴 매카트니 의 분노는 헤드라인을 장식했으며, 나중에 공식적으로 역사상 가장 위대한 그룹을 해산시킨 법원 소송에서 인용되었습니다 . 비틀즈의 보고한 달 전 전 세계에 반향을 일으킨 분할Let It Be 는 1970년 5월 8일에 발매되었습니다. 이 음반의 표지는 뉴스를 확고하게 확증하는 것처럼 보였습니다. 장례를 치르는 검은색 테두리는 사진가 Ethan Russell 이 한 때 분리할 수 없었던 4인조의 매우 개별적인 4개의 헤드샷을 나눕니다 .

그 기록은 팬들이 슬픔과 분노를 투영할 수 있는 대상인 묘비와도 같은 것으로 받아들여졌다. " Let It Be 는 비틀즈가 마침내 나왔을 때 서로에 대한 분노의 거대한 그림자로 상처를 입은 프로젝트입니다."라고 비틀즈 프로듀서인 조지 마틴 경의 아들이자 밴드의 녹음 유산 관리인 인 자일스 마틴 이 PEOPLE에 말했습니다. . "그것은 우리가 그것에 대해 기억하는 것입니다." 그러나 메모리에 결함이 있을 수 있습니다. 

Martin은 1969년 1월 세션의 대규모 발굴 작업을 감독하는 데 지난 2년을 보냈습니다. 처음에는 Get Back 이라는 임시 제목의 TV 스페셜 및 라이브 앨범으로 구상된 것이었습니다 . 곧 5개의 디스크 로 구성된 박스 세트(10월 15 일 출시 ) , 240페이지 분량의 호화로운 책 (지금 출시 ), Peter Jackson 이 이끄는 3부작 다큐멘터리 (11월 25일 개봉)로 공개될 예정 이며 , 가장 큰 보물 창고입니다. 1995년 비틀즈 앤솔로지 프로젝트 이후 비틀즈 자료의 . 

카메라와 Nagra 동기화 사운드 레코더의 지속적인 존재로 인해 Let It Be 의 개발은 거의 처음부터 끝까지 문서화되었으며 진행 중인 모든 앨범에 대한 독특한 현상이었습니다. 140시간 분량의 오디오를 컬링함으로써 Martin은 타임머신 없이는 누구도 할 수 없는 것보다 더 잘 비틀즈의 창작 과정과 내부 역학을 관찰할 수 있는 독특한 위치에 있음을 발견했습니다.

"The whole project was fascinating because you got a glimpse of their creativity," he says. "You hear the interplay between them. You hear the relationships." The immersive experience led him to question the traditional narrative that Let It Be was a miserable slog that finished off the band. "I think there's a balance of joy and frustration that goes on," he says. "I don't think it's a bed of roses, but I think it's a bed of roses compared to what people thought it was going to be. I'm sure they had arguments while making [prior albums like] Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt. Pepper, etc. They're just not recorded like they are in Let It Be."

The myth that Let It Be was the Beatles' coup de grâce has persisted despite a major flaw in logic. Though production delays made it the final album they released, the band stayed together long enough to record another album, Abbey Road , released in September of 1969. "The fact of the matter is that everyone sees Let It Be as the Beatles' breakup album," says Martin, "but they were back in the studio [three] weeks later doing 'I Want You/She's So Heavy' for Abbey Road." Instead of a breakup, he compares the Let It Be sessions to a date night. True to its working title of Get Back, 프로덕션은 비즈니스와 개인의 혼란 속에서 단결감을 회복하기 위한 최후의 시도에서 그들의 로큰롤 뿌리로의 복귀를 의도했습니다. "그들은 한때 가지고 있었던 불꽃을 찾으려고 노력하고 있습니다."라고 Martin이 설명합니다. "그들은 비틀즈가 되는 것이 지겨워진 것 같아요. 그래서 그들은 '캐번 클럽에서 4명의 남자로 돌아가자. 그게 우리를 행복하게 만드는 것입니다.'라고 말했습니다. 그리고 그것이 그들이 할 계획이었습니다."

관련: Ringo Starr는 비틀즈의 영화 Get Back이 밴드의 진정한 모습을 보여준다고 말합니다: '당신은 기쁨을 보게 될 것입니다'

처음부터 모든 노력이 불운하다고 하는 것은 유혹적입니다. "정말 미쳤어요." 마틴이 인정합니다. "아이디어는 '좋아, 2주 반 후에 우리는 몇 년 만에 첫 라이브 쇼를 할 것이다. 우리는 아직 노래도 없고 재생할 장소도 없지만 이게 계획이야! 아, 그리고 우리도 촬영할거야.' 하지만 비틀즈는 그들 자신의 능력에 대해 완전한 확신을 갖고 있었습니다. 그들에 대해 저를 놀라게 한 것은 비틀즈보다 비틀즈의 능력을 더 믿는 사람이 없다는 것입니다." 그들의 방어에서 그들은 Rubber Soul 과 같은 차가운 고전을 쳤습니다.여행 일정의 짧은 휴식 시간 동안. Martin은 "그들이 다시 할 수 있다고 생각했다고 생각합니다."라고 말합니다. "우사인 볼트가 '좋아, 이제 100미터를 10초 이내에 달릴거야'라고 말하는 것과 비슷합니다." 그들은 어울리지 않았습니다. 그들은 다른 많은 일들이 일어나고 있습니다. 게다가 외부의 힘이 작용하고 있습니다. 그들은 아내와 여자 친구가 있습니다. 그들은 더 이상 여행 중에 호텔 방에 갇히지 않습니다. 당신은 할 수 없습니다. 그 친밀함과 마법을 재현하십시오."

점점 더 의존하게 될 스튜디오 마법 없이 "정직한" 라이브 프로덕션에 대한 비틀즈의 열망은 오버더빙 및 테이프 편집과 같은 기본적인 관행조차 피하게 만듭니다. 결과는 귀에 너무 거칠고 생소했습니다. Lennon은 "바지를 벗은" 비틀즈와 비교했으며 엔지니어 Glyn Johns의 초기 사마귀 버전을 거부했습니다. (Johns mix는 새로운 박스 세트의 일부로 오랫동안 지연된 데뷔를 했습니다.)

발매되지 않은 테이프는 1년 넘게 먼지를 모은 채 과도한 오케스트라 오버더빙, 슈말치 합창단, 두꺼운 잔향으로 트랙을 로드한 소위 ​​"Wall of Sound" 제작 기술의 건축가인 Phil Spector에게 넘겨졌습니다. 그리고 에코. 스펙터의 강압적인 접근 방식은 수십 년 동안 팬들을 분열시켰고, 반대 진영의 사람들은 그의 작업이 원래 프로젝트의 박탈된 정신을 훼손했다고 주장했습니다. 자신의 트윈 피아노 발라드 "Let It Be"와 "The Long and Winding Road"의 극적인 편곡이 자신의 개입이나 허락 없이 이루어졌다고 말하는 매카트니는 항상 자신의 역겨운 목소리를 높여 왔습니다. 2003년 그는 스펙터의 폭발적인 반응을 뺀 리믹스 앨범 인 Let It Be...Naked 의 출시를 주도했습니다 .

이 모든 것이 2021 Let It Be 리믹스 를 조립하는 동안 Martin을 난감한 상황에 빠뜨 렸습니다. 아티스트의 창의적인 비전과 팬들이 반세기 동안 알고 있었던 앨범 사이의 균형을 어떻게 맞추나요? "당신은 폴 매카트니가 만족하지 못하는 이 앨범을 가지고 있는데, 그것은 이례적인 일입니다."라고 그는 설명합니다. "비틀즈는 [원래] 나왔을 때 다른 모든 앨범에 만족했습니다. 이를 위해 저는 폴에게 가서 '이봐, 정말로 내가 이걸 하기를 원하니?'라고 말해야 했습니다. 그리고 그는 '그래, 하지만 내가 "길고 구불구불한 길" 편곡에 만족하지 않았다는 걸 알잖아.' 저는 '음, 아직 믹싱해야 합니다. 거기에 있는 앨범입니다.'라고 말했습니다. 그리고 그는 '예, 하지만 하프를 조금 내려줄 수 있습니까?' 그래서 더 도전적이었습니다.당신은 역사를 바꾸고 싶지 않습니다."

그러나 부주의하게도 이것이 바로 이 상자 세트가 하는 일입니다. 아웃테이크와 스튜디오 수다를 들으면 진행 과정에 대한 훨씬 더 밝은 인상이 남습니다. 아마도 그들은 더 이상 Fab Four가 아니지만 여전히 4명의 친구입니다. Martin에게 Let It Be 는 3막으로 된 연극입니다. 먼저 감정적으로 가득 찬 날짜는 Twickenham 사운드스테이지에서 시작되어 Harrison의 화난 출발로 절정에 이릅니다. 그런 다음 비틀즈의 Apple Records 본사 지하에 새로 지어진 스튜디오에서 행복한 재회. 그리고 마지막으로 애플 루프탑에서의 그랜드 피날레, 그들은 (대부분) 기뻐하는 센트럴 런던 사무실 직원들에게 마지막 콘서트를 연주했습니다. 온갖 역경에도 불구하고 그들은 원래 있던 곳으로 돌아왔습니다. 몇 년 전 리버풀에서 그랬던 것처럼 42분 동안 그들은 점심 시간 세트를 플레이하는 단 4명의 남자였습니다.

" Let It Be 에는 이 흉터가 있습니다. 왜냐하면 그것이 비틀즈의 마지막 앨범이기 때문입니다."라고 Martin은 말합니다. "그러므로 사람들은 이것을 비틀즈가 가진 신랄함의 절정이라고 표현합니다. 왜냐하면 그들은 세계에서 가장 큰 밴드에 대등하고 반대되는 힘이 갑자기 멈추기를 원하기 때문입니다. 그리고 문제는 비틀즈가 일종의 퇴색했다는 것입니다. 현실 덜 드라마틱하지만 동시에 현실 이기 때문에 훨씬 더 마음이 따뜻해 집니다."

Let It Be 에는 영웅, 악당, 폭발 또는 육즙이 많은 불화가 없습니다. 대신 성장통과 뿔뿔이 흩어지는 네 남자 의 이야기다 . 우리는 모두 이야기가 어떻게 끝나는지 압니다. Martin이 말했듯이 " Let It Be 는 비틀즈가 그들의 젊음을 되살리려고 노력했지만 성공하지 못했습니다." 그러나 그들이 농담을 하고 노는 것을 들으면 그들이 그럴 수 있다는 희망을 품게 됩니다.

이 놀라운 새 컬렉션에서 들은 가장 중요한 순간에 대해 읽어보십시오.

1. 협업 작업으로 "Something"의 최초 알려진 녹음

Harrison은 1969년 10월에 비틀즈를 위한 그의 첫 번째이자 유일한 A면 싱글이 된 이 미래 표준을 만드는 데 시간을 들였습니다. 그는 1년 전에 White Album 세션에서 "Something"의 초기 음악 조각을 데뷔 했습니다.1968년 9월 19일. 이 잠정적인 음악 스케치는 녹음되지 않았지만 스튜디오 직원은 Harrison이 그의 또 다른 작곡 "Piggies"를 위해 테이크 사이에 하프시코드의 멜로디를 만지작거렸던 것을 기억합니다. 이 초기 단계에서 그는 최근 비틀즈의 음반사인 Apple과 계약을 맺은 리버풀 클럽의 친구인 가수 Jackie Lomax에게 노래를 주는 것을 가지고 놀았습니다. Harrison은 그해 가을 Lomax의 데뷔 LP를 프로듀싱할 예정이었으나 궁극적으로는 아직 완성되지 않은 "Something"을 고수했습니다. 그는 "Something in the Way She Moves" 라는 자신의 데뷔 앨범 트랙을 막 녹음한 또 다른 Apple 서명자인 19세 James Taylor의 도움을 받았습니다 . 음반에서 연주한 Harrison은 이 제목을 현재 진행 중인 자신의 작업에 대한 서정적 영감으로 사용했습니다.(테일러는 그에게 악의를 품지 않았고,나중에 사람들에게 말하기 : "나는 그것에 대해 농담을 하는 것을 좋아합니다. 나는 '당신의 노래가 너무 좋아서 집에 가서 직접 썼어요!'라고 말하는 것을 좋아합니다.")

이 노래는 해리슨이 1969년 1월 28일 Get Back 세션에서 고려하기 위해 제안했을 때 아직 부분적으로만 완성되었습니다. 정식으로 시도한 적은 없지만 "Something"의 가장 초기에 알려진 녹음은 클래식. 동지애의 감동적인 표현에서 밴드는 해리슨이 가사의 공백을 메우기 위해 고군분투하는 동안 해리슨을 중심으로 모여듭니다. "그게 무슨 일이야, 폴?" 그는 오프닝 라인을 끝내려고하면서 궁금해합니다. "나를 끌리는...?" Lennon은 의식의 흐름 접근을 제안합니다. "할 때마다 머릿속에 떠오르는 대로 말하세요...말을 알아들을 때까지요." 그는 덜 낭만적인 "콜리플라워처럼 나를 끌어당긴다"로 시연한다. 해리슨은 "나를 석류처럼 끌어당긴다"고 반격한다.t 최종 컷을 만듭니다. "이 일을 6개월 정도 겪었어요!" 그는 신음한다. "그냥 그 대사야. 아무 생각도 할 수 없었어." 그들은 그것을 옆으로 치워두고 해리슨이 애드립이 적용된 더미 라인으로 채워진 다리로 이동합니다("쇼 씨, 무엇을 아세요? 몰라요, 몰라요.") 그의 밴드 친구들이 실험하는 동안 하모니를 뒷받침합니다. 

With just three days left before the sessions were due to conclude, it was clear that "Something" required too much work to be completed by the deadline. The song was briefly tackled the following day before being permanently shelved for the remainder of the Get Back/Let It Be project. But according to Glyn Johns, Harrison continued to fine-tune the song during his off hours. "One evening when we were at Apple [Studios], George Harrison came to me and asked if I would mind staying behind after everyone else had gone home because he wanted to record something," Johns tells PEOPLE. "We waited for everyone to leave, and he got an acoustic guitar. I put a vocal mic up and he sang 'Something.' My jaw was on the floor, I just thought it was extraordinary. He said, 'Well, what do you think?' He hadn't quite got the confidence about that song that he should have had. And I thought that was pretty extraordinary and quite telling really."

By the time Harrison demoed the song a month later on Feb. 25 — his 26th birthday — the now-famous lines were more or less in place. 

2. A Full Band Rendition of "All Things Must Pass"

The familiar narrative of the Get Back/Let It Be sessions is that George Harrison was subjected to daily disrespect from the Lennon-McCartney braintrust and his songs were given next to no attention. And that's true — to an extent. "John and Paul saw themselves as the songwriting partnership for the Beatles," says Giles Martin. "[On the tapes] they talk about how they need to write songs and how they have to deliver and all that kind of stuff. But George, on the other hand, has grown as a songwriter. He's writing amazing work at that stage." In addition to the aforementioned "Something," Harrison presented future solo standouts like "All Things Must Pass,"  "Isn't It a Pity," "Hear Me Lord" and "Let It Down" for consideration. None made the final tracklist for Let It Be. 

On the session tapes, Lennon can frequently be heard referring to Harrison as "Harrisongs," a playful (though no doubt painful) dig at his song publishing company. The implication was clear: Harrison's songs were all well and good, but they were very much his own thing. "John and Paul isolated him to a certain degree," says Martin. "I find it remarkable that you never get a Lennon-Harrison or a McCartney-Harrison song. Most other bands have that if they have more than one songwriter. But there isn't that in the Beatles."

While the chief composers certainly struggled to view the youngest Beatle as an equal, even a cursory look at the session tapes reveals that they put significant effort into a number of Harrison's musical offerings. Case in point, "All Things Must Pass," which Harrison debuted the first day of sessions on Jan. 2. The Beatles attempted the number 37 times the following day, and 11 more times on the 8th. 

Destined to become the title track to Harrison's first post-Beatles solo statement, the song drew inspiration from "All Things Pass," a poem published in LSD guru Timothy Leary's 1966 book Psychedelic Prayers — itself a psychedelic reinterpretation of the Tao Te Ching. George admits as much on the session tapes from Jan. 3. "It's Timothy Leary, I suppose. That gave me the idea…Apart from life giving me the idea!" Having spent the past autumn in the Catskills with Bob Dylan and his musical brethren in the Band, Harrison drew on these memories when working out an arrangement for the new song. "The motion of it is very, you know, Band-y" he tells the others. To facilitate this request, Lennon adds washes from a Lowery organ, a favorite of the Band's keyboard player Garth Hudson (who, Harrison points out, McCartney closely resembles with his new beard). 

Lennon, McCartney and Harrison work out a charming three-part blend for the choruses, with McCartney's high harmony providing a fascinating glimpse at what Harrison's solo favorite could have been as a full-fledged Beatles track. Rather than treat  "All Things Must Pass" like a chore — as has often been claimed — the whole band appears happily engaged in the task of shaping Harrison's song. McCartney suggests an instrumental break, and Lennon offers a lyrical adjustment, tweaking "a wind can blow those clouds away" to "a mind can blow those clouds away" after misreading Harrison's lyric sheet. "Get a little bit of psychedelia in it, y'know," he jokes. 

The new line remained in place when Harrison recorded the song for his solo disc in late May 1970, weeks after news of the Beatles' split made headlines around the world.

3. The Belated Debut of "Fancy Me Chances," an Early "Lennon-McCartney Original"

Even at the apex of their fame in the mid '60s, the Beatles occasionally resurrected early songwriting attempts that had lain dormant for nearly a decade. Among the most distinguished are "I'll Follow the Sun," "Michelle" and "When I'm Sixty-Four," all of which date back to the '50s pre-Fab era. The back-to-basics ethos of the Get Back project provided the Beatles with a perfect opportunity to air out a lengthy list of their primitive tunes. In the original Let It Be film, McCartney can be heard name-checking long-forgotten titles like "Too Bad About Sorrows'' and "Just Fun." Bootleg session tapes reveal versions of "Because I Know You Love Me So," "Won't You Please Say Goodbye," "Thinking Of Linking," and "I'll Wait Till Tomorrow," most stretching back to Lennon and McCartney's time in their pre-Beatles band, the Quarrymen. 

Rehearsals for "Two of Us" on Jan. 24 triggered a particularly acute burst of nostalgia as McCartney and Lennon worked out Everly Brothers harmonies over two acoustic guitars. It reminded them of their teenage writing sessions camped out in McCartney's father's living room, scrawling words and chord changes in a school exercise book. Each completed composition was topped off with the lofty heading: "Another Lennon-McCartney original." Now, years later, McCartney couldn't resist writing "Another Quarrymen Original" on the lyric sheet to "Two Of Us." Though McCartney had written the song about aimless drives with new girlfriend Linda Eastman, it may as well have been about his friendship with Lennon, and the choice of arrangement underscored the sentimentality of the song. 

Clutching their acoustics, the pair frequently paused work on "Two of Us" to launch into impromptu versions of staples from their Quarrymen-era set: Everly Brothers covers and rootsy acoustic tunes that swept Britain during the late '50s skiffle craze. One of these was "Maggie May" (also spelled "Mae"), a 19th century Liverpool folk song about a ne'er-do-well Lime Street hooker that had gained popularity thanks to a 1957 recording by the Vipers Skiffle Group, coincidently produced by "Fifth Beatle" George Martin. 

The Beatles busked through two versions of the song, both delivered with comically thick Scouse accents. The abbreviated second surfaced on the official Let It Be album, while the first segued into another early Lennon-McCartney original, "I Fancy Me Chances." (Later heard in part on the Let It Be…Naked "Fly on the Wall" bonus disc.) Though slight, it's a sweet tune and the moment is oddly thrilling. The chance to hear a lost Lennon-McCartney is always cause for celebration, and their voices brim with exuberance. For a brief moment, the Greatest Songwriters of the 20th Century got back to where they once belonged. But it also fulfilled the poignant promise of "Two Of Us" — their memories stretching back longer than the road ahead. 

4. The Barrel House Piano Version of "One After 909"

"'One After 909'…is one that I wrote separately from Paul when [I was] 17 or 18 in Liverpool," Lennon said of this early composition, which takes its cue from locomotive-centric skiffle mainstays like "Rock Island Line" and "Freight Train." The song's journey from Lennon's teenage bedroom to the tracklist of Let It Be is certainly a long and winding road. The earliest known recording of the song dates from April 1960, when Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and early Beatles bassist Stu Sutcliffe borrowed a Grundig reel-to-reel tape machine to record themselves performing (supposedly) in the McCartney family bathroom, where the tile provided a Sun Records-like echo. 

An additional bootleg has surfaced of the band performing the song during an afternoon rehearsal at Liverpool's Cavern Club in October 1962. This tape is believed to have served as a reference for their (relatively) new drummer Ringo Starr , who had joined their ranks weeks earlier in mid-August. 

The first formal attempt the band made to record "One After 909" occurred on March 5, 1963, in the first flush of Beatlemania. Earlier in the day they'd knocked out a new single, "From Me to You," and its B-side, "Thank You Girl," but Lennon's train song proved harder to nail and all but one of their takes broke down. (Lennon can be heard on the tapes chastising McCartney for losing his guitar pick, calling him a "soft arse.") Ultimately this studio version was shelved until 1995, when it was released as part of The Beatles Anthology collection. 

"One After 909" languished until the start of the Get Back sessions in January 1969. The project began less than six weeks after the release of the White Album, the 30-song epic that the band had worked on for much of the second half of 1968. The sprawling collection had more or less cleaned out Lennon's reserve of new compositions, and he arrived at Twickenham short of songs — at least compared to the prolific McCartney and Harrison. "John was obviously in the midst of a writing block during Let It Be," Giles Martin says. "He's really relaxed in most of the sessions. That's the funny thing. Paul's going, 'Come on, guys!' And John's just going, 'Ehh, I'll do whatever...'"

Lennon would later cite his own "lack of material" as his reason for suggesting they dust off "One After 909." The band fondly embraced the song, and it was quickly earmarked as a serious contender for inclusion in the climactic concert and subsequent album. 

The addition of keyboardist Billy Preston's Fender Rhodes went a long way in filling out the sound, adding a dose of genuine Southern soul to the slightly naff counterfeit rocker written by a devoted British teen. On Jan. 29 — the day before the famous rooftop gig — producer George Martin suggested that Preston try playing a regular piano. His barrel-house licks temporarily transformed the song into a barnstorming Jerry Lee Lewis stomp that just might surpass the version from the roof that won a place on Let It Be. If only they could have lugged a piano up there…

5. An Extended Version of Lennon's Stream-of-Consciousness Jam "Dig It"

For over 50 years, Let It Be listeners have only known "Dig It" as a bizarre 50-second snippet that ushered in the album's title track with Billy Preston's swirling, furiously-pumped organ and John Lennon's free-associative nonsense lyrics. In reality, this is just a fraction of the song's unwieldy 12-minute length. Michael Lindsay-Hogg's (difficult to find) Let It Be documentary featured a clip just over three minutes in length, showing the Beatles having a ball as they improvise the song with a little help from George Martin on percussion while McCartney's future stepdaughter Heather twirls. Though unabashedly silly, the loose jam packs an undeniable groove. Now, for the first time ever, an extended excerpt of "Dig It" is available as part of Glyn Johns' mix of the album. 

The title is a catch phrase from the American satirical sketch-comedy program Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, which had become a favorite of the Beatles in early 1969. Lennon began riffing on the phrase during sessions on Jan. 24, making up a song that consisted solely of the words "Can you dig it?" while going wild on a lap steel slide guitar. The demented result (which is also available on the Let It Be reissue) sounds like a warped 78 RPM blues record made by Monty Python. 

Two days later, after spending much of the morning on McCartney's elegantly restrained piano ballad "Let It Be," Lennon needed to let his hair down. He starts by beating out a latin-style rhythm on his six-string bass and yelping verses from Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" and the Isley Brothers' "Twist and Shout." Then 6-year-old Heather chimes in, howling wordless vocals while Lennon sings "Come on, Heather!" by way of encouragement. The effect is cute, but can be hard on the ears. Glyn Johns' four-minute version, an edited composite of the most interesting moments in the jam, begins when Lennon takes over once again, swapping lines with McCartney about the many ways in which one can "dig it" before pin-balling from the FBI, the CIA and the BBC to B.B. King, Doris Day and the newly retired Manchester United football club manager Matt Busby. The song lurches forward for a few more minutes like a proto-rap-reggae fusion number before petering out, thus concluding one of only two tracks credited to all four band members. (The instrumental "Flying" from Magical Mystery Tour was the first.) Make no mistake, "Dig It" is not a work of creative genius, but it's rare to hear the band having quite so much fun on record.

6. George Harrison and Ringo Starr's "Octopus's Garden" Writing Session 

One of the most touching moments on the Let It Be box set occured on the morning of Jan. 26, 1969, as George Harrison is heard helping Ringo Starr flesh out a new song that would ultimately become the stickman's second solo compositional contribution to the Beatles' canon. Starr had begun writing the piece while on vacation the previous August, after having temporarily left the Beatles during the increasingly tense sessions for the White Album. "That time was pretty stressful," Starr told PEOPLE in 2019 . "I couldn't take it anymore. I said, 'I'm going with [wife] Maureen and the kids.' We went off to Sardinia on Peter Seller's yacht...Later on, thanks to some 'Bob Marley products,' I was hanging out with the captain. He was telling me about how octopuses make these gardens. They go around the ocean finding shiny things and putting them in front of their cave. It was like, 'Whoa, that sounds good.' That's how I wrote 'Octopus's Garden.' I wanted to be under the sea then. It was just a down time."

The mood was only marginally better in January, as Harrison and Starr huddled around a piano in the Beatles' Apple Studios at 3 Savile Row. Harrison himself had only recently returned to the fold after walking out on the rehearsals at Twickenham Studios two weeks before. The fraught backstory lends a complex subtext for an otherwise simple tune, a collaboration between two men who had already quit the Beatles. As Starr pounds out the work in progress, Harrison goes out of his way to praise his rudimentary piano playing ("You've learnt A-minor, eh?") before suggesting some new chord changes of his own to extend the simple tune. He's patient and kind, strumming along on an acoustic guitar as they iron out lyrics that, at this early stage, include the slightly clunky couplet, "It would be nice / a paradise." 

The moment is a tender insight into a relationship that often goes unexplored in the Beatles' story, eclipsed by the breathless speculation on the Lennon-McCartney power dynamic and the occasional Harrison-McCartney fracas. Tellingly, this exchange occurs chiefly before the other Beatles arrive at the studio. (George would similarly debut his new song, "I Me Mine," for Starr early one session before the others entered.) It's hard not to read Harrison's attentiveness to Starr, whose songwriting ambitions were never especially grandiose, as a response to the dismissive attitudes he perceived from Lennon and McCartney concerning his own work. 

 "As Paul and John had grown [as writers], I think the other two became more isolated," Giles Martin suggests. "Everyone thinks a rift between Lennon and McCartney ended the Beatles. I don't think it was, actually. I think that Lennon and McCartney take up so much space — and rightfully, so! But more the energy of them needing to work together in the studio probably isolated the other two."

Starr had also unveiled two song fragments on Jan. 3, the second day of the Get Back/Let It Be sessions. One, a rollicking country-tinged ditty called "Picasso," extolled the joys of purchasing a painting by the great master. "It's too fast for me," he laughed as he struggled to beat out the chords. The other, "Taking a Trip to Carolina," is similarly Western in flavor — and similarly unfinished. Neither would be revisited during sessions, or surface on any of his solo work. 

"Octopus's Garden," which Starr debuted on Jan. 6, would ultimately enjoy a more illustrious fate. After a brief run-through on the 23rd and a writing workshop with Harrison three days later, the song was shelved until that spring, when it was resurrected for what would become the Beatles' studio swan song, Abbey Road. Despite his creative input, Harrison declined to take a writer's credit. 

7. The "Save The Last Dance for Me" Medley from Glyn Johns' Get Back Mix

The Beatles performed some 229 covers over the course of the 20-day Get Back/Let It Be odyssey. Some were full performances and others just a tossed-off line or two. Regardless, the breadth of these songs is staggering, spanning everything from gritty R&B deep cuts to hilariously square contemporary pop hits, classical instrumental pieces, archaic folk songs and even pre-war Easy Listening standards. The speed with which they could conjure up an arrangement of just about anything recalls their years as human jukeboxes on the punishing club circuit in Hamburg, Germany. It's also a reminder that all four of the Fabs were major music fans and serious record nerds. The list of covers reads like a cross section of their influences and heroes. Chuck Berry makes the strongest showing with a whopping 15 songs. Bob Dylan racks up 13, Elvis Presley 12, and Buddy Holly has nine — plus healthy amounts of Little Richard , Eddie Cochran, Jerry Lee Lewis , Carl Perkins, Smokey Robinson and Ray Charles .

These impromptu covers pop up at random, usually to lighten the mood between run throughs for original material. Aside from the truncated "Maggie Mae" (and Lennon moaning the title of Little Richard's "Oh! My Soul" after "I've Got a Feeling," and a warbled "Danny Boy" after "One After 909," if you want to count them) none of these lighthearted covers appeared on the original release of Let It Be, but the new box set unearths a few small gems. The brief snatch of "Wake Up Little Susie" just before a take of "I Me Mine" is guaranteed to raise a smile. More substantial (and definitely more funky) is a soulful strut by Jimmy McCracklin called "The Walk." The take is sadly incomplete — the Beatles started playing as the engineers were changing tape reels — but the 50 seconds that exist feature McCartney giving his best bluesy growl over the relentlessly solid beat. 

A highlight of the set is a Jan. 22 medley from Glyn Johns' Get Back that combines a loose rocky jam (which uses Fats Domino's "I'm Ready" as a starting point) with a tongue-in-cheek version of the Drifters' perennial prom closer "Save the Last Dance for Me." From there, the Beatles seamlessly segue into a chaotic chorus from Lennon's new song, "Don't Let Me Down." In addition to the sheer novelty of a new cover song from the Beatles, the piece showcases the musical telepathy they shared as they bounced from song to song and idea to idea. 

8. The Long Fadeout of "Get Back" (Take 8)

Nearly all of the original songs submitted for the Get Back/Let It Be sessions were begun by an individual Beatle at home in private before being workshopped together with the group. The exception to this process is "Get Back" itself. "We were sitting in the studio and we made it up out of thin air," McCartney said in the press release for the song. It materialized over the course of several jams beginning on Jan. 7, when McCartney first began thumping out the distinctive rhythm on his bass. Earlier that morning, the band had played a version of "Lady Madonna," their 1968 single that served as a loving nod to the stride piano of pioneering R&B hero Fats Domino. With that tune still ringing in his ears, McCartney began crafting a similar pastiche of '50s rock. 

After filling out the melody with dummy words and syllables, he stumbled on "Get back to where you once belonged." It's a variation of a lyric from "Sour Milk Sea," a song Harrison had written for Apple Records artist Jackie Lomax. (McCartney can even be heard exclaiming "C'mon Jackie!" on one early take.) The evocative phrase initially led McCartney to improvise a satirical anti-immigration tirade — "Don't dig no Pakistanis taking all the people's jobs" — in parody of conservative politician Enoch Powell and the racist attitudes of his supporters. Fearing that fans would miss the reference and take his words at face value, McCartney wisely shifted the lyrics into a vague chronicle of two characters named Loretta Martin and Jo Jo. (It's unsurprising that the so-called "No Pakistanis" number is not featured on the expanded box set.) 

The words were largely meaningless, but both the title and sound of the song perfectly distilled the spirit of the project in progress, and it was quickly seized upon as a potential theme for the documentary and live album. Unfortunately, it also emphasized the hazards of their willfully regressive recording methods, which eschewed overdubs, edits and other studio tools in favor of capturing a single live performance. As George Martin would later moan in The Beatles Anthology, "We would start a track and it wasn't quite right, and we would do it again and again…and then I'd get to take 19: 'Well John, the bass wasn't as good as it was on take 17, but the voice was pretty good, so let's go on again.' Take 43: 'Well yes…' So you go on forever because it was never perfect — and it got very tedious." By most accounts, the endless versions of "Get Back" pushed all involved to the brink of sanity, but the many recordings reveal fascinating variations in the arrangement. One early version features a crashing opening chord, à la "A Hard Day's Night." The most interesting rendition included on the Let It Be box set, Take 8, features an extended coda with Lennon's punk-ish lead guitar stings and McCartney's enthusiastic ad libs in an over-the-top Northern English accent: "It's five o'clock. Your mother's got your tea on. Take your cap off…" They sound as though they're enjoying themselves on this take, but then Martin's weary voice comes over the studio talkback. "'Paul, I think it's a shade too slow now. I think it's lost a bit…"

​​9. A Bach-like "Let It Be" with a Cheeky Snippet of "Please Please Me"

One of the biggest surprises of 2018's (similarly expansive) White Album box set was the earliest known fragments of McCartney's modern hymnal, recorded in between takes for "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" on Sept. 5, 1968. Drawing inspiration from adream of his late mother Mary, McCartney would revisit the song in earnest in the new year as work began on the potential live album project. It stuck out as a meditative moment amongst the rockers. George Harrison likened it to the rustic roots music played by his friends in the Band. "It's very country and western in a way," he observed before behind Lennon jumped in with a correction. "Country and gospel, it is."

In keeping to their strict "no overdubs" policy, George Martin initially handled organ duties to thicken up McCartney's piano part. But the arrival of keyboardist Billy Preston midway through the sessions elevated the track a little closer to heaven with a dose of his soulful church-like organ. For one rehearsal on Jan. 26, McCartney suggested that Preston play the descending melody like a stately Bach figure. The results, labeled Take 10, earn a favorable yelp of "That'll do!" from McCartney. This decidedly Catholic edge was ultimately toned down by the time they recorded the master on Jan. 31, the final day of the Get Back/Let It Be sessions.  

In addition to a slightly different arrangement than the finished song, Take 10 of "Let It Be" is also notable for a moment at the start of the performance. McCartney ad libs a version of the Beatles' 1963 breakthrough "Please Please Me," reimagined as a dramatic piano ballad. In doing so, he bookended the Beatles' first hit in their home country with their last, released just seven years — and a lifetime — apart. "It wasn't actually that long ago," marvels Giles Martin. "That's the weird thing for us as mere mortals. You see their change in the whole way they worked. They sort of lived their lives in fast forward. "

10. A Flamenco-Style Rehearsal of "I Me Mine" and Audio from the Last True Beatles' Session

Harrison's bluesy meditation on the ego was a last minute edition to the final Let It Be tracklist. The band rehearsed it for only one day during the Get Back sessions before it was abandoned, seemingly for good. Harrison debuted the song on Jan. 8, playing it to Starr and documentary director Michael Lindsay-Hogg before the other Beatles arrived. His choice of audience is telling, as if he wants their read before submitting his work to the band's chief composers. "I don't care if you don't want it in your show," he humbly tells Starr before strumming the chord changes he'd written the previous night, inspired by a fragment of Johann Strauss' "Kaiser Walzer" that he'd heard on a BBC television special.

Suitably encouraged, he presents "I Me Mine" to the others later that day. There's a hint of nerves in his voice as he tentatively asks Lennon, "Would you like to learn a new one? Very simple." Lennon obliges, but he's initially turned off by the "heavy waltz" time signature and flamenco-style guitar breaks. "We're a rock and roll band, you know!" he semi-playfully scolds Harrison. To illustrate his point, Lennon sets down his guitar and starts waltzing across the soundstage with his ever-present partner Yoko Ono, leaving it to the others to work out Harrison's song. 

The dance break could be interpreted either as spontaneous goofiness or a mocking dismissal of his bandmate's work. Thankfully, Harrison apparently opts for the former. (Though it's worth noting that he would storm out of the sessions two days later and threaten to quit the band.) With good humor, he suggests they incorporate Lennon and Ono's dance routine into the song's performance at the climactic concert. This triggers a round of laughs as McCartney assumes the role of a circus MC, announcing "John and Yoko would like to waltz in their white bag!" Amazingly, this idea is seriously considered, and the couple rehearse the dance while McCartney and Harrison offer suggestions. Taking advantage of the lightened mood, the band logged some 41 run-throughs of the song (though not all complete) before breaking for the day.

Tragically, Lennon and Yoko's waltz would not get its big premiere on the concert stage. Though it's mentioned on several occasions, "I Me Mine" is never performed again as part of  the Get Back sessions. For much of 1969, it appeared destined to remain part of Harrison's ever-growing cache of unused songs, the bulk of which would form his first post-Beatles solo release, the majestic triple-disc All Things Must Pass. But when Lindsay-Hogg decides to incorporate footage of the "I Me Mine" dance into his Let It Be documentary, it's deemed necessary to add the song to the soundtrack album. The only problem is that the song wasn't complete. Those few sketchy rehearsals, recorded on subpar cinema audio, were all that existed. 

So on Jan. 3, 1970, the Beatles entered Abbey Road Studios to record a new version from scratch. More precisely, it was the Beatles minus Lennon, who was on vacation in Denmark at the time. Harrison alludes to his absence with a joke about the pop group Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich, who had coped with the departure of frontman Dee Dave in September 1969. 

That very same month, Lennon told his bandmates that he wanted "a divorce." Though the foursome kept the news amongst themselves — partially to protect business deals, and partially in hopes that Lennon would reconsider — it was obvious during the "I Me Mine" session that the Beatles' future was in question. Indeed, it would be the last new song the Beatles ever recorded before their split was announced publicly that April. Audio from this date, effectively the last true Beatles session, is included in the Let It Be box set. In addition to George's Dave Dee joke, the trio are heard performing a quick rendition of the Everly Brothers' chestnut "Wake Up Little Susie" between takes. Lennon's absence is keenly felt. With McCartney's longtime harmonic partner nowhere to be found, he sings it solo. 

An early rehearsal take from the Get Back session is also included on the box set, complete with flamenco flourishes left off the final version. McCartney makes a joke about "Don't Bother Me," the first Harrison song ever recorded by the band way back in 1963. In doing so, McCartney unknowingly links Harrison's first Beatles composition with his last.