Some thoughts about Get Back

I probably shouldn't have waited a full week before writing about The Beatles' Get Back documentary, which began streaming on Disney+ starting on Thanksgiving. So if you are interested in my thoughts, here you go...

I'll just start off by saying I loved all eight hours and could have easily watched 18 hours.

Many of our preconceived notions of the Beatles were changed or modified. They didn't seem to hate each other. Yes, there was tension at Twickenham Studios culminating in George Harrison leaving the band for a few days, but everyone appeared to get along swimmingly when the venue changed to Apple Studio on Savile Row.

Yoko Ono did not break up the Beatles. If anything, she kept John Lennon interested in the band longer than he may have otherwise.

I liked the scene at Twickenham in which Yoko and Linda Eastman (McCartney) are seen talking to each other. They appear to be having an enjoyable and intense conversation, which defies what I've read that Yoko and Linda were not friendly or at best, had no relationship whatsoever.

How about Glyn Johns: fashion plate. As great a producer as he was and still is, he should have been a rock star and not behind the scenes. I'm only slightly kidding.

Billy Preston was an absolute saint of a man, and obviously a tremendous musician. The second he walks into the Savile Row studio, the mood lightens and the enthusiasm is palpable

I enjoyed all the minutiae of Get Back: the striped coffee/tea cups littering the studio, along with the old newspapers and cigarette butts. The studio looks like a college students' apartment.

I also loved seeing the guys passing around record albums in the studio. I noticed a Smokey Robinson and the Miracles record and the Rolling Stones' Beggars Banquet album lying around the Savile Row studio. I wonder where that record is today? Does it still exist?

That's all I have for now. In short, I loved Get Back. It is great and anybody who thinks of themselves as a Beatles fan HAS to see it.


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