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LET IT BE (1970)
JOHN
1969(on the concept behind the 'Let It Be' project)JOHN: "What can we do if we can't think of a gimmick? Well, the worst that we have is a documentary of us making an album-- if we don't get into a show. All the things we do, the whole point of it is communication... and putting it on TV is communication. And we've got a chance to smile at the people, like 'All You Need Is Love,' so that's my incentive for doing it."
PAUL AND GEORGE 1969
(arguing about the song 'Two Of Us' during Let It Be filming)
PAUL: "It's complicated now. We can get it simpler, and then complicate it where it needs complications."
GEORGE: "It's not complicated."
PAUL: "This one is like, shall we play guitars through 'Hey Jude' ...well, I don't think we should."
GEORGE: "Ok well I don't mind... I'll play, you know, 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!"
JOHN: "I wish that we could start hearing the tapes now. Like-- Do it, and then hear what it is. Is it just 'cuz we don't feel like it, or is it 'Does the guitar sound alright, really.'"
JOHN
1970(regarding the moodiness on the 'Let It Be' movie set)JOHN: "It was hell making the film, 'Let It Be.' Even the biggest Beatle fan couldn't have sat through those six weeks of misery. It was the most miserable session on earth."
JOHN
1980(remembering the 'Let It Be' period)JOHN: "I just made records with the Beatles like one goes to one's job at nine in the morning. Paul or whoever would say, 'It's time to make a record.' I'd just go in... and not think too much about it. Always, I've enjoyed the session if it's a good session-- if we got our rocks off playing, it was fine. If it was a drag, it was a drag. But it had become a job. It was just a dreadful, dreadful feeling. And being filmed all the time like that. I just wanted them to go away. And we'd be there at 8 in the morning. You couldn't make music at 8 in the morning or 10 or whatever it was, in a strange place with people filming you. The whole pressure of it finally got to us. So, like people do when they're together... they start picking on each other. It was like, 'It's because you got the tambourine wrong that my whole life is a misery.' You know, it became petty. But the manifestations were on each other 'cuz we were the only ones we had."
RINGO
1994(regarding the final cut of the film)RINGO: "My cut of the movie would have been different. And I'm sure John's cut at the time would have been different-- and Paul's cut. I thought there was alot more interesting stuff than (director) Michael Lindsay-Hogg put in."
GEORGE 1994(on the original concept behind the project)GEORGE: "On 'Let It Be,' we were originally going to rehearse all the new songs and then make an album in a live show. That never happened because the album became us in the studio. As we rehearsed the songs they were recorded-- and the film of us recording then was really a film of us rehearsing."
RINGO
1995(remembering the "Let It Be' sessions)RINGO: "The days were long and it could get boring, and Twickenham (location of the movie set) just really wasn't conducive to any great atmosphere. It was just a big barn. We were taking a long time and there were many heated discussions."
PAUL 1995(on the end result)PAUL: "I remember once at a meeting to discuss 'Let It Be,' John saying, 'Oh, I get it. He wants a job.' And I had said, 'I suppose that's right, yeah. I think we SHOULD work. It would be good.' They had all been quite happy to have the summer off, and I felt we should do something. As time went by, I'd talked them into 'Let It Be.' Then we had terrible arguments-- so we'd get the break up of the Beatles on film instead of what we really wanted. It was probably a better story-- a sad story, but there you go."
Music Hath Charms...
On Thursday January 30th of 1969, the Beatles performed on the rooftop of the Apple Offices in Savile Row, London. The impromptu concert was filmed and used as the conclusion to the 'Let It Be' movie. The music, while causing a commotion of fans on the street, was seen as a disruption by several area businessmen. Stephen King, accountant of a nearby bank, called in the police to stop the music.
-Stanley Davis, (opinionated wool merchant): "I want this bloody noise stopped. It's an absolute disgrace."
-Alan Pulverness, (a bank employee): "Everyone on the balconies and roof seems to be enjoying the session. Some people just can't appreciate good music."
-A police spokesman: "We had so many complaints, we sent someone 'round. A tremendous 'din' was being made."
-An Apple spokesperson: "It was all supposed to be very hush-hush. But when you put the Beatles on top of a building in the middle of London, and ask them to sing a song, it is rather difficult to keep it a secret."
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