Anybody else wonder if PC Dagg quit after his run in with Apple Corp? Did he get himself a steady job?
I’m enjoying the final installment much more than the first two. Nice to see the rooftop concert in good quality.
But what’s making me laugh is the interaction with the police. The patience and restraint they show is unbelievable. The receptionist and doorman seem to have been instructed to act as politely dumb as possible as a delaying action.
“Oh, well we’re looking for Derek Taylor.”
Minutes pass while the poor Bobbys stand around looking politely miffed.
Mal Evans eventually turns up and tells them, “Well, you see, they lock the door when they’re recording, so…”
Can you imagine how this would have played out in another place and time?
Some interesting things I observed:
-Paul telling John, “You’re the boss and you’ve always been the boss”
-It was cool to hear some songs that were to be released on future albums (band/solo)
-I wish they hadn’t wasted so much time playing old covers not to seriously.
-Hogg is annoying, but looks like Orson Welles (he even mentions him, and John starts playing the “The Third Man” theme).
-Lennon is funny as usual.
John and Paul make some interesting statements of how “In 50 years, we can all sing”, or how people in the future will be seeing this… I heard it before, but I still find it funny Paul says, “People will think The Beatles broke up because Yoko sat on an amp”
It’s odd how EVERYONE complains about the acoustics, which is one of the most important things when it comes to recording, but they don’t ditch the idea until George temporarily quits the band…
It was real cool to hear John talk about this band he really likes named “Fleetwood Mac”
Their only previous experience with that sound stage was the “Hey Jude” performance. Apparently, it hadn’t occurred to anyone that the acoustics might sound a little different when not packed with an audience.
I find it remarkable that it’s most viewed between people in their 30s (30-44), since over 44 could be 54, 64, 74, 84, especially considering the age group of those in 1969.
Theory/Conclusion – music and movies were just better then, and the stats don’t lie 
Those demographics are specifically among registered IMDB users (for whom IMDB has their demographic information), who actually rated the series on IMDB. It may or may not have any relationship with the demographics of all the people who have watched the series.
Just wondering why you mentioned that. As I understand it, Lennon was always the leader, as the others had joined “his” band. Also, he was two and three years older than McCartney and Harrison, respectively, which is a big deal when you’re 15.
Upthread, I said I’m more than a casual fan, but my knowledge of The Beatles is trival compared to what some of you seem to know about them.
The general consensus among Beatles scholars has always been that John began to lose interest in the Beatles around 1966 and let Paul take the creative lead for the band, particularly with the concepts for Sgt Pepper and Magical Mystery Tour. Paul was also the most engaged on the business side and the creation of Apple Corps. The role of leader was always fraught since there was a clear agreement early on that any one of them had a veto over any decisions.
Just this week I learned that Mick Fleetwood and George Harrison were brothers-in-law. Mick’s wife was Patti Boyd’s sister!
I’m sure you already know this but I’ll pile on with the fact that Ringo and Joe Walsh are brothers in law. Joe married Barbara’s sister.
Also, when Eric Clapton married Patti Boyd, George declared he and Eric were now Husbands-in-Law.
Just finished part 3. Some observations/questions.
Was Ringo the inspiration for the Muppet Animal? There was a bit during the rooftop concert where it really looked like it.
How much would it suck to be the cop who shut down the last Beatles show? And why do Bobbies wear their chin straps in such a stupid manner?
Billy deserved much more screen time. He got stuffed him off in a corner and didn’t show him enough.
Yoko didn’t seem so bad. Not like she was breaking up the band. Would she have gotten a better rep if she had been a more main stream artist? Like if John were leaving to go work with Rembrandt or something? I’ve never seem her do much more than sort of caterwaul into a mic and make some dubious visual art.
Overall it was really interesting to see the process of them writing songs. I don’t write songs, so I’m curious if the way they seemed to do it is common. They’d get a base idea of a song and then build a melody/arrangement with nonsense words/notes and fill it in later.
There’s no known “official” real-life inspiration for Animal, though it was often hypothesized that Keith Moon was an inspiration. Animal’s entry on the Muppet Wiki notes:
Yeah, Yoko may not have been a particularly important or influential artist, and she probably would have labored in obscurity forever had she not hooked up with John Lennon.
But I do think she’s always been sincere in her efforts, and by most accounts she is a kind and decent person.
I honestly think she never had any intention of coming between John and the Beatles. She’s gotten a bad rap over the years.
To each their own of course, but it’s not uncommon to start with a concept or sound and then figure out what’s about later. In Elton’s John’s case, Bernie Taupin would independently write sets of lyrics to which EJ would then add the music and the melody. Some alter their approach song by song, but clearly the Beatles were okay with saying “something in the way she moves attracts me like a cauliflower” until something better came along. I was fascinated how Get Back started off as a protest song about racism involving a Pakistani and a Puerto Rican if I’m not mistaken. Also, was Sweet Loretta Modern actually trans? Don’t know I’ve ever seen that discussed.
Apart from Get Back, which Paul seemed to pull from the ether while on camera, the other songs seemed based on riffs devised away from the studio.
Ringo came in with the rough melody for Octopus’s Garden, George had chords and basic melody/lyrics for Something, Old Brown Shoe, and others. John seemed to have the riff for Don’t Let Me Down.
Paul says the basics of Let It Be were based on a dream about his mum. He’s also said that in the Early Days he and John would compose by sitting in a room with their guitars and playing until a song emerged — and that the process never failed .
But lyrics are usually going to require some refinement and casting about, especially for the second and third verses. (Exceptions abound.)
Turns out, Yoko wasn’t the disruptive distraction that had no business being in the studio. That honor goes to Heather McCartney.
Seriously, what was that all about? Take Your Daughter To Work Day?
Yeah, that was really weird. She seemed pretty disruptive, but the other Beatles seemed to enjoy her presence. When I was a little kid, my dad would take me to rehearsal sometimes, so maybe it’s fairly common?
Yoko wasn’t disruptive, but she was just always there, right next to John. It was creepy.
When did you turn into a suit? 
There’s good disruption and there’s bad disruption. Creativity improves when people are relaxed without tension. Kids can really help with that. (Of course kids can be bad disruptions, by preventing anything getting done, but that isn’t the case here.)
I will say that, if I were a Beatle, I would break up just to avoid ever hearing whatever it was Yoko was doing on the mic those few times when she made any sound at all.
Remember that “Hands Across America” charity thing they did back in the 80s? I remember David Letterman talking about it in his monologue, about all the people gathered down in Battery Park, and how there was such an overwhelming feeling of goodwill and camaraderie afterwards that nobody wanted to go home. “So the police asked Yoko if she’d get up on stage and sing a couple of songs.” 