Kutub

All rights reserved. All music and images are of their respective owners. Copyright 1970, United Artists.

Info

The first portion of the film shows the band rehearsing on a soundstage at Twickenham Film Studios. The songs are works in progress, with discussions among themselves about ways to improve them. At one point, McCartney and Harrison have an uncomfortable exchange, with McCartney criticising a guitar riff played by Harrison on "Two of Us." Harrison responds: "I'll play whatever you want me to play, or I won't play at all if you don't want to me to play. Whatever it is that will please you, I'll do it." Also appearing are Mal Evans, providing the hammer blows on "Maxwell's Silver Hammer", and Yoko Ono, dancing with Lennon.
Starr and Harrison are shown working on the structure for "Octopus's Garden" and then demonstrating it for George Martin. Billy Preston accompanies the band on impromptu renditions of several rock and roll covers, as well as Lennon's improvised jam "Dig It," while Linda Eastman's daughter Heather plays around the studio. The Beatles conclude their studio work with complete performances of "Two of Us," "Let It Be", and "The Long and Winding Road".
For the final portion of the film, The Beatles and Preston are shown giving an unannounced concert from the studio rooftop. They perform "Get Back," "Don't Let Me Down," "I've Got a Feeling," "One After 909," and "Dig a Pony". The police eventually make their way to the roof and try to bring the show to a close, as the show was disrupting businesses' lunch hour nearby. In response to the applause from the people on the rooftop after 'Get Back', McCartney says, "Thanks Mo!" (to Ringo's wife Maureen) and Lennon quips, "I'd like to say 'thank you' on behalf of the group and ourselves, and I hope we passed the audition!"

Concept

After the stressful sessions for The Beatles (the "White Album") wrapped up in October 1968, McCartney concluded that the group needed to return to their roots for their next project. The plan was to give a live performance featuring new songs, broadcast as a television special and recorded for release as an album. (At one point McCartney considered launching a tour; however, the idea was quickly shot down by the other members.) Unlike their recent albums, their new material would be designed to work well in concert, without the benefit of overdubs or other recording tricks.
Many ideas were floated concerning the location of the concert, including Ocean Liners and a Roman Amphitheatre in North Africa.

Filming

The Beatles assembled at Twickenham Film Studios on 2 January 1969, accompanied by the film crew, and began rehearsing. The sessions were later described by Harrison as "the low of all-time" and by Lennon as "hell ... the most miserable sessions on earth.
The infamous exchange between McCartney and Harrison occurred on Monday, 6 January. Around lunchtime on Friday, 10 January, Harrison told the others that he was leaving the band. He later recalled: "I thought, 'I'm quite capable of being happy on my own, and if I'm not able to be happy in this situation I'm getting out of here.' So I got my guitar and went home and that afternoon wrote 'Wah-Wah'." While Harrison was gone, the others considered replacing him with guitarist Eric Clapton, an idea that particularly appealed to Lennon, who was captured on tape saying that if: "George doesn't come back by Monday or Tuesday, we ask Eric Clapton to play", and that this would be congenial to Clapton in that The Beatles, unlike Clapton's previous band Cream, "would give him full scope to play his guitar." Years later, Clapton commented on the absurdity of this idea.
At a meeting on 15 January, Harrison agreed to return with the conditions that elaborate concert plans be dropped and that work would resume at Apple's new recording studio. Harrison invited keyboardist Billy Preston to the studio to play electric piano and organ. Filming continued each day for the rest of January.

The following songs are listed in the order of their first appearance.
"Paul's Piano Intro" based on "Adagio for Strings" (Samuel Barber), and titled "Paul's Piano Piece" on Let It Be... Naked; "Don't Let Me Down"; "Maxwell's Silver Hammer"; "Two of Us"; "I've Got a Feeling"; "Oh! Darling"; "One After 909"; "Jazz Piano Song (McCartney/Starkey); "Across the Universe"; "Dig a Pony"; "Suzy Parker" (Lennon/McCartney/Harrison/Starkey); "I Me Mine" (Harrison); "For You Blue" (Harrison); "Bésame Mucho" (Consuelo Velázquez/Sunny Skylar); "Octopus's Garden" (Starkey); "You've Really Got a Hold on Me" (Smokey Robinson); "The Long and Winding Road"; Medley: "Rip It Up" (Robert Blackwell/John Marascalco), "Shake Rattle and Roll" (Jesse Stone, under his working name Charles E. Calhoun); Medley: "Kansas City" (Jerry Leiber/Mike Stoller), "Miss Ann" (Richard Penniman/Enotris Johnson), "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" (Lloyd Price); "Dig It" "Let It Be" "Get Back"