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Get Back: The Unauthorized Chronicle of the Beatles' "Let It Be" Disaster
Hailed as one of the most in-depth portraits ever presented of a band, Get Back traces-in an incredible minute-by-minute re-creation-every move that the Beatles made during the making of their ill-fated Let It Be album and film in January 1969. The friction that formed within the band during these recording sessions is chronicled here in closely observed detail, and the result is an extraordinarily intimate look at the Beatles and their music during their most difficult period. For years people have asked why the Beatles broke up; here, finally, is the answer.
- GenresMusicNonfictionBiography
332 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1997
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April 30, 2020
Paul and Ringo and Peter Jackson would like you to believe that the Beatles-- even at their lowest point (and I think all would agree that the "Let it Be" sessions were just that)-- were still a happy bunch of lads; that, at the end of the day, they cared about each other, and whatever conflicts emerged toward the twilight of their existence as a band were fleeting, petty little things. And who can blame them, Paul and Ringo and Peter, for wanting us to believe all this? If the raw, occasionally ribald, often bitter, typically drug-addled account of "Get Back" is true, then re-living those memories can't be any fun. But reading about those sessions? My goodness. I had so much fun with this book. I mean there's no changing the fact that even at their creative nadir, the Beatles were entertaining as hell. Do you think a minute-by-minute account of recording "Pet Sounds" would be this full of hilariously awful takes, emotional meltdown, bizarre stream-of-consciousness cover medleys, complaints about "jock itch," and the band members telling each other off every other page?
It speaks to the greatness of this band-- now, THAT truly is indisputable-- that these sessions were still more productive than, oh, the entirety of most groups' lives. When the Beatles do get it together-- when George stops complaining, when Ringo feels compelled to participate, when John actually REMEMBERS THE DAMN LYRICS-- magical things occur. Those of us who believe Paul McCartney is a weirdly underrated musician will especially treasure this account; not the George-stifling tyrant of legend, Mr. "Good Little Band" actually comes off like someone deeply emotionally invested in the persistence of the Beatles-- someone who brings talent, wit, and professionalism even when the rest of the band only brings heroin and half the chords to "Roll Over Beethoven." Now, Yoko Ono, on the other hand... Yeesh. I mean the editors here do have an occasionally stuffy habit of dismissing bizarro musical ideas that, to me, are actually kind of interesting (like the Yoko-led jams). But no amount of editorializing either way could change the fact that she's the antagonist of "Get Back." When LINDA can only say bad things about you... you know something's wrong...
It speaks to the greatness of this band-- now, THAT truly is indisputable-- that these sessions were still more productive than, oh, the entirety of most groups' lives. When the Beatles do get it together-- when George stops complaining, when Ringo feels compelled to participate, when John actually REMEMBERS THE DAMN LYRICS-- magical things occur. Those of us who believe Paul McCartney is a weirdly underrated musician will especially treasure this account; not the George-stifling tyrant of legend, Mr. "Good Little Band" actually comes off like someone deeply emotionally invested in the persistence of the Beatles-- someone who brings talent, wit, and professionalism even when the rest of the band only brings heroin and half the chords to "Roll Over Beethoven." Now, Yoko Ono, on the other hand... Yeesh. I mean the editors here do have an occasionally stuffy habit of dismissing bizarro musical ideas that, to me, are actually kind of interesting (like the Yoko-led jams). But no amount of editorializing either way could change the fact that she's the antagonist of "Get Back." When LINDA can only say bad things about you... you know something's wrong...
May 19, 2009
This was fascinating. When i first started reading I thought I would get bored. But I seriously couldn't put it down. It basically details the recording sessions for the get back/let it be sessions of the beatles based on recordings in the studio.
March 19, 2016
I was a teenage Beatles fanatic. While I was in grammar school and old enough to buy records, I bought the "Hey Jude" single and the "White Album" and scrambled to keep up with their activity as a group and as individual musicians. In early '69 there was a blurb in Rolling Stone magazines' "Random Notes", that the group was filming many hours of recording sessions for a film or television special. It became the basis for the film "Let It Be". I probably would have watched a lot of that footage if I had access to it back then. I'm glad I didn't cuz the authors of this book did. This book is the daily synopsis of what was recorded.
It chronicles in diary style, the basics of the ill fated "Get Back" album and the introduction of songs to be recorded for "Abbey Road". It is primarily for Beatles' fanatics as it details the audio tapes saved during this period, including the mundane process of listening to them teach each other their new songs. Better to read it than to have to listen to all of it. Because its about the Beatles, it's easy to overlook the dry song by song, take by take presentation, which often reads like court proceedings written by someone slightly sympathetic to the defendant. The authors provide interesting interpretations of how the band members communicate as individuals threaten to leave the group. At the time, Yoko Ono was considered to be part of why the band broke up. The authors are quick to point this out even though one Beatle is inclined to overlook her interference. All I can say is that I would not bring my wife to my job:). One of the more interesting facts about these sessions is that the band actively discusses performing a few shows live in London, or Africa, or the Middle East or on a sea cruise. They aren't sure whether to write new songs for it or to play songs from their earliest days, which is presumably how "One After 909" was revived. The authors do a great job identifying the most obscure songs that the Beatles play in these sessions even when its just a bar or two from a song. Although the whole band doesn't play it, I'd love to hear Paul McCartney singing "Build Me Up Buttercup". One more interesting tidbit is how often the individual Beatles discuss what they watched on tv the previous evening. It's funny when I think of how famous they were, yet they are channel surfing between "Laugh-In" and BBC documentaries. Regular blokes.
It chronicles in diary style, the basics of the ill fated "Get Back" album and the introduction of songs to be recorded for "Abbey Road". It is primarily for Beatles' fanatics as it details the audio tapes saved during this period, including the mundane process of listening to them teach each other their new songs. Better to read it than to have to listen to all of it. Because its about the Beatles, it's easy to overlook the dry song by song, take by take presentation, which often reads like court proceedings written by someone slightly sympathetic to the defendant. The authors provide interesting interpretations of how the band members communicate as individuals threaten to leave the group. At the time, Yoko Ono was considered to be part of why the band broke up. The authors are quick to point this out even though one Beatle is inclined to overlook her interference. All I can say is that I would not bring my wife to my job:). One of the more interesting facts about these sessions is that the band actively discusses performing a few shows live in London, or Africa, or the Middle East or on a sea cruise. They aren't sure whether to write new songs for it or to play songs from their earliest days, which is presumably how "One After 909" was revived. The authors do a great job identifying the most obscure songs that the Beatles play in these sessions even when its just a bar or two from a song. Although the whole band doesn't play it, I'd love to hear Paul McCartney singing "Build Me Up Buttercup". One more interesting tidbit is how often the individual Beatles discuss what they watched on tv the previous evening. It's funny when I think of how famous they were, yet they are channel surfing between "Laugh-In" and BBC documentaries. Regular blokes.
October 27, 2009
Very interesting from a fan's perspective, but I really hate the way the authors hone in on certain behaviors in the Fabs and then beat it into the ground... John is distant and unresponsive (except with Yoko), George is bitter and disenchanted with the Beatles' mystique, Ringo is... well, he's just a warm body, I guess... and Paul of course is the hero, sometimes bossy it's true, but really working to keep the boys together! Don't get me wrong, I'm sure this all was true (they listened to the master tapes, after all), but the authors choose to highlight these particular behaviors ad nauseum instead of just reporting the facts. And let's be honest, I'm insanely jealous of the authors because of the fact that they had all this time with the master tapes, and because of this I wish them both ill in every way possible.
August 23, 2023
This book was my companion during my multi-year journey through listening to the so-called Get Back sessions, the January 1969 attempt by the Beatles to record a TV special and rehearse for their first live show in three years. I thought that the tapes would benefit from this kind of enhancement but for the most part I was wrong -- it's pretty self-explanatory, and online can fill most of the gaps when the band is talking somewhat inaudibly or when they make references to matters that are hard to understand. I had a fine if very involved time on the project but this book mostly just irritated me thanks to the authors' melodramatic treatment of the sessions as being more dysfunctional than they really were; to an extent they certainly are but the pair's reading of things tends toward the lurid. Unfortunately I've interacted with one of the two on forums in the past and found him to be a nasty, bitter, perhaps even bigoted menace so I should've known better than to read this book but here we are.
December 3, 2022
4 stars only because the text is woefully out of date by this point. Otherwise it’s highly recommended
December 17, 2014
Huge Beatles Fan here. Like, attended Beatlefests and hung out with David Peel and stuff. Hung onto my bootleg VHS of 'Let It Be', since we can be pretty sure that movie is never going to be re-released while Paul is still alive. What I mean to say is, I know my way around the Beatles story.
Probably the darkest part of the Beatles story came in January 1969. The day after New Years, the four of them (plus Yoko Ono, who had been umbilically attached to John Lennon the previous autumn) got together in a film studio (and not their usual Abbey Road recording studio) to (1) rehearse a new bunch of songs for their (2) first live concert in 4 years which would be recorded for their (3) first totally live album, all the while making a (4) documentary about the entire process.
Five days later, the Beatles almost broke up. The conventional story, as presented in "Let It Be" is that Paul showed up and started bossing everyone around, which made the other three resentful, which made for a shitty movie and album.
But the "Let It Be: film crew recorded _everything_ that happened in the studio, for the entire month of January. Condensing that into a 90 minute documentary couldn't possibly tell the whole story of what happened.
So when I heard that these two authors listened to every minute of the raw recordings made for what we know as the "Let it Be" movie (and album), I couldn't wait to read this book.
What emerges is a slightly different story than the conventional wisdom. John (and Yoko) were strung out on heroin then, which gives John's apathy for the music a new meaning; he didn't care about _anything_ but his next fix. We see that George's resentment was much deeper than Paul's playing boss: time after time we see how George introduces songs to the band, only to have Paul treat him with condescending indulgence, and John outright denegrate him. Ringo is so emotionally absent that he's barely says a word. And throughout it all, Paul is seen trying to keep the band together, taking a leadership role only because no one else will lift a finger to keep the band together.
I was slightly disappointed that after listening to 30 days of all-day recordings, all the authors offered was summaries of each tape without ever lifting quotes. When they say "Paul enters, makes a joke", we want to know what that joke was. But that's a small nitpick against an otherwise fascinating book.
Probably the darkest part of the Beatles story came in January 1969. The day after New Years, the four of them (plus Yoko Ono, who had been umbilically attached to John Lennon the previous autumn) got together in a film studio (and not their usual Abbey Road recording studio) to (1) rehearse a new bunch of songs for their (2) first live concert in 4 years which would be recorded for their (3) first totally live album, all the while making a (4) documentary about the entire process.
Five days later, the Beatles almost broke up. The conventional story, as presented in "Let It Be" is that Paul showed up and started bossing everyone around, which made the other three resentful, which made for a shitty movie and album.
But the "Let It Be: film crew recorded _everything_ that happened in the studio, for the entire month of January. Condensing that into a 90 minute documentary couldn't possibly tell the whole story of what happened.
So when I heard that these two authors listened to every minute of the raw recordings made for what we know as the "Let it Be" movie (and album), I couldn't wait to read this book.
What emerges is a slightly different story than the conventional wisdom. John (and Yoko) were strung out on heroin then, which gives John's apathy for the music a new meaning; he didn't care about _anything_ but his next fix. We see that George's resentment was much deeper than Paul's playing boss: time after time we see how George introduces songs to the band, only to have Paul treat him with condescending indulgence, and John outright denegrate him. Ringo is so emotionally absent that he's barely says a word. And throughout it all, Paul is seen trying to keep the band together, taking a leadership role only because no one else will lift a finger to keep the band together.
I was slightly disappointed that after listening to 30 days of all-day recordings, all the authors offered was summaries of each tape without ever lifting quotes. When they say "Paul enters, makes a joke", we want to know what that joke was. But that's a small nitpick against an otherwise fascinating book.
November 7, 2012
Also listening to Thirty Days on Purple Chick records, for that authentic "bored, stoned, cold & depressed January day in 1969" vibe.
C'mon lads! Chin up!!
Verdict: Well, it's something only a complete Beatle freak could love - a day-by-day account of every available tape recording of the infamous Get Back rehearsals/recordings from January 1969. You get a description of every scrap of song attempted, along with a transcript of the surrounding dialogue, but with little to no editorial additions. Really, the only possible way to "read" this book (as opposed to just dipping in occasionally) is to listen along with the tapes of the day in question, in order to place the contents in context.
All that said, I *should* have loved it, but...
this book has two major flaws, which run right to the heart of its purpose - namely,
1) it's incomplete - that isn't the authors' fault, as new tapes have turned up in the intervening years, but we do miss large chunks of the story (particularly with regards to putting meat on the bones of the early Apple studio dates, which only existed in very fragmentary form at the time of writing)
2) more tellingly, ALL of the dialogue is paraphrased - due to the insistence of certain parties (Apple Corps?), the authors weren't allowed to use a single direct quote from ANY of the tapes. So "I'll play what you want me to play, but don't expect to hear the rest of this sentence"!
The book suffers badly for point 2) above and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone other than the diehard, doing what I did. That said, it is now out of print, with second-hand copies occasionally fetching silly sums - I grabbed this from my local library for free (NB. I have since returned it!), so I'm glad to have had the chance at least to dip through it.
Anyway, good luck with that audition, boys...
C'mon lads! Chin up!!
Verdict: Well, it's something only a complete Beatle freak could love - a day-by-day account of every available tape recording of the infamous Get Back rehearsals/recordings from January 1969. You get a description of every scrap of song attempted, along with a transcript of the surrounding dialogue, but with little to no editorial additions. Really, the only possible way to "read" this book (as opposed to just dipping in occasionally) is to listen along with the tapes of the day in question, in order to place the contents in context.
All that said, I *should* have loved it, but...
this book has two major flaws, which run right to the heart of its purpose - namely,
1) it's incomplete - that isn't the authors' fault, as new tapes have turned up in the intervening years, but we do miss large chunks of the story (particularly with regards to putting meat on the bones of the early Apple studio dates, which only existed in very fragmentary form at the time of writing)
2) more tellingly, ALL of the dialogue is paraphrased - due to the insistence of certain parties (Apple Corps?), the authors weren't allowed to use a single direct quote from ANY of the tapes. So "I'll play what you want me to play, but don't expect to hear the rest of this sentence"!
The book suffers badly for point 2) above and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone other than the diehard, doing what I did. That said, it is now out of print, with second-hand copies occasionally fetching silly sums - I grabbed this from my local library for free (NB. I have since returned it!), so I'm glad to have had the chance at least to dip through it.
Anyway, good luck with that audition, boys...
May 19, 2013
I agree entirely with Danny Lynn's review below. You will think that you'll get bored reading this (notes after notes about playing "Teddy Boy;" a song the Beatles wouldn't even record), but you won't. There's always an interesting nugget thrown in there to keep you involved.
It provides a nice view of the "Get Back" disaster, a period in Beatles' history that's frequently glossed over in biographies. You'll learn that the Beatles recorded an album, didn't like it, and never released it. Until one day the record company sent the tapes to Phil Spector to salvage (after numerous attempts at sequencing failed). Here you'll learn what made the sessions so terrible - disinterest by the band.
Lennon fails to remember any lyrics, or write any songs - he's just interested in doing drugs. George hates his place in the group as a supplemental songwriter, and voices his opinion that they should break up nearly every day, (Note: George is also one of the only members to act on his beliefs, quitting the group mid-session at one point. Also, nearly all the songs George auditions for the Beatles that are rejected (All Things Must Pass, etc.) would turn out to be hits for him; so his criticisms are certainly not invalid.)
My only criticism is the book ends with the Beatles' famous rooftop (and final) performance. A look into what went into the equally (in)famous failed "Get Back" albums - the numerous attempts by the record company prior to Spector taking over, would've been much appreciated. As I'd like to know why they were abandoned, but I'm too lazy to search the web for them.
It provides a nice view of the "Get Back" disaster, a period in Beatles' history that's frequently glossed over in biographies. You'll learn that the Beatles recorded an album, didn't like it, and never released it. Until one day the record company sent the tapes to Phil Spector to salvage (after numerous attempts at sequencing failed). Here you'll learn what made the sessions so terrible - disinterest by the band.
Lennon fails to remember any lyrics, or write any songs - he's just interested in doing drugs. George hates his place in the group as a supplemental songwriter, and voices his opinion that they should break up nearly every day, (Note: George is also one of the only members to act on his beliefs, quitting the group mid-session at one point. Also, nearly all the songs George auditions for the Beatles that are rejected (All Things Must Pass, etc.) would turn out to be hits for him; so his criticisms are certainly not invalid.)
My only criticism is the book ends with the Beatles' famous rooftop (and final) performance. A look into what went into the equally (in)famous failed "Get Back" albums - the numerous attempts by the record company prior to Spector taking over, would've been much appreciated. As I'd like to know why they were abandoned, but I'm too lazy to search the web for them.
March 1, 2008
Sloppy narrative of the recording sessions ultimately released as the 'Let it Be' album.
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