Showing posts with label Rooftop Concert. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rooftop Concert. Show all posts

Friday, July 11, 2014

The Beatles' Rooftop Concert

There are many pertinent facts about the Beatles' fabled Rooftop Concert.  The concert came at the end of the Let It Be recording sessions.  The original concept for the album and accompanying film documentary, Let It Be, was to conclude the project and film with a Beatles concert, although no agreement could be found as to where it should take place.  Ringo recalls that some ideas centered on performing at the Palladium.  Other ideas included performing on board a ship or on a Greek island.  The lack of agreement reflected the band's turmoil during this period, a friction that can clearly be seen in the Let It Be film.  General consensus says that a few days before thr Rooftop Concert was staged, the Beatles finally decided to get the project over with--by that time they were ready to end the very unhappy sessions--by simply going to the rooftop of 3 Savile Row in London and playing some of the tracks they'd been working on.

The concert was held on January 30, 1969 after Beatles roadies brought the instruments, amplifiers, and recording equipment to the roof.  The film's director, Michael Lindsay-Hogg used camera crews to record the group's performance from many angles, including exterior shots from the roofs of other buildings as well as the sidewalk, where pedestrian reaction was also captured on tape.  Engineer Alan Parson used two eight-track machines to record the musical event.

Spectators on lunch break congregated on the streets below when the Beatles started playing, and while most people, young and old, received the concert favorably, the Metropolitan Police became concerned about the growing traffic and noise.  Neil Aspinall and other Apple employees refused to allow the police inside to halt the concert but relented when faced with arrest although they did their best to stall for time.

The concert was comprised of nine takes of five songs:

Get Back
Don't Let Me Down
I've Got a Feeling
One After 909
I Dig a Pony

Takes of "I've Got a Feeling," "One After 909," and "I Dig a Pony" were used on the vinyl issue of Let It Be.  The concert abruptly ended with "Get Back," after which Lennon utters the famous line "I'd like to thank you on behalf of the group and ourselves, and I hope we passed the audition."  Ringo and McCartney have both said that they had hoped that the police would have literally dragged them away in order to have a dramatic ending to the film.

The concert has become both iconic and legendary.  In the fifth season of The Simpsons, for example, Homer's barbershop quartet performs on the roof of Moe's Tavern.  Episode guest George Harrison drives up in a car and says, "It's been done."  A rooftop concert was also featured in the 2007 film Across the Universe.

For the concert, Lennon played lead and rhythm guitar, McCartney bass, Harrison lead and rhythm guitar, Starr drums, and Billy Preston the electric piano.  Lennon and McCartney do lead and backing vocals, and Harrison does backing vocals.

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Sunday, February 15, 2009

Beatles Song: Get Back

This Beatles song was written in the studio on January 27, 1969 and the surprising fact is that it was recorded the very same day. McCartney admits he just grabbed the lyrics off the top of his head. This initial recording was used for the Let It Be album. The single version was recorded the following day. The song is also played at the Rooftop Concert on January 30, 1969 on top of Saville Row, headquarters of Apple Corps.

The song is performed in the film Let It Be, and a second version is also heard in the film, a version with different lyrics, ones concerned with the overcrowding of Pakistani families in London flats. McCartney was accused of racism, although he said he threw the lines into the off-the-cuff version because he was against such living conditions. Lennon commented on numerous occasions that he believed the line "Get back to where you once belonged" was a reference to Yoko Ono.

The song was released as a single in the UK and U.S. on April 11 and May 5, 1969 respectively. The album and single versions are different inasmuch as the single adds additional bars, starting with Ringo's drums, whereas the album's version ends more abruptly.

McCartney sings lead, with Lennon providing backing on the chorus. McCartney plays bass, Lennon lead, Harrison rhythm, Starr drums, and Billy Preston keyboards. George Martin was especially impressed with Preston's playing on the Let It Be tracks. Lennon can also be heard in the background on the album, saying "Picture the fingers." He was using his white( stripped down) Epiphone Casino, and was enjoying playing lead at this point.

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Saturday, February 14, 2009

Beatles Song: I Dig A Pony

The relevant fact for this Beatles song is that it is apparently a reference to Yoko One, as evidenced by the line "All I Want is You." It is the merging of two different Lennon songs: "All I Want Is You" and "Dig a Pony." The latter title appears on the U.S. version, while the former was the original title for the UK Apple listing.

The track was recorded at Apple Studios on January 22 and 28. Some sources say that final recording issued represents the performance given on the rooftop at Saville Row on January 30, 1969. Lennon believed the song to be "garbage" even though fans and critics think it to be one of the best songs on the album.

Lennon sings lead and McCartney provides harmony. Lennon plays lead (he was doing so regularly on his compositions at the time), Harrison rhythm, McCartney bass, Starr drums, and Billy Preston organ.

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Friday, January 30, 2009

Beatles History: 40th Anniversary of Rooftop Concert

Today, January 30, 2009, marks the 40th anniversary of the Beatles last public performance. On January 30, 1969, the Beatles performed the following songs on the top of 3 Saville Row in London, which was headquarters for Apple Corps, Ltd.

Don't Let Me Down
Get Back
I've Got a Feeling
I Dig a Pony
One After 909

The concert was done to provide an ending for the film Let It Be. The group had originally planned for the Let It Be project to be a rehearsal for a live concert, but individual band memebers could not agree on a venue. By the end of filming, the rift among the Beatles had grown wider, and the group simply wanted to get the project over with.

The impromptu concert cuased a stir on London streets, with hundreds of pedestrians on the streets below (and adjoining rooftops) stopping to listen and watch the performance. The London police made efforts to stop the performance, which continued nevertheless. In Anthology, the Beatles said that being hauled away by the police would have made an even better ending to the film.

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Monday, January 26, 2009

Rooftop Tribute Concert Cancelled

File this under a Beatle fact that may not come to pass. Tentative plans had been made for a band called the Bootleg Beatles to perform on top of 3 Saville Row in London on January 30, 2009 to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the famous rooftop concert by the Beatles that ended the sessions for Let It Be. The Westminster Council has put tight restrictions on the Bootleg Beatles and conditions under which they can perform, and the show is, as of now, no longer scheduled. BBC Radio plans to broadcast an early morning event at Saville Row when fans gather to commemorate the occasion.

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