George, Paul and Ringo jamming in 1995 video footage- Can someone fill me in?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by mindblanking, Mar 16, 2015.

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  1. coffeetime

    coffeetime Senior Member

    Location:
    Lancs, UK
    The recent Jeff Lynne/ELO documentary has Jeff reminiscing on camera about producing the Free As a Bird/Real Love sessions, and his palpable job at hearing the three surviving Beatles chatting unguarded between themselves about Hamburg etc. I do wonder if much of George's guardedness and Paul's public persona aren't in play as much when the cameras etc aren't around.

    And must go back and watch that scene, I hadn't clocked what George was playing.
     
  2. vamborules

    vamborules Forum Resident

    Location:
    CT
    No. George was the one who started ''Thinking of Linking", and then Paul laughs and joins in.

    Look..

     
  3. DrBeatle

    DrBeatle The Rock and Roll Chemist

    Location:
    Midwest via Boston
    Yeah, and he says something else like (paraphrasing here) "he does it all!" or something to that effect when Paul and George Martin are talking about what Paul played on it.

    Man, yet another innocent question about Anthology turned into this discussion...didn't we do this a few months ago? (and yes, this time it's my fault!)
     
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  4. ky658

    ky658 Senior Member

    Location:
    Ft Myers, Florida
    I remember watching the Anthology and them asking a question about "Magical Mystery Tour" and George's reply "Paul's Idea" (rolling his eyes)...
     
  5. DrBeatle

    DrBeatle The Rock and Roll Chemist

    Location:
    Midwest via Boston
    George had some big smiles in the Real Love video which were great to see, although he looks bored and like he'd rather be anywhere else when the three of them are swaying, arms linked, singing along to the song in the same video.

    Yes, you're correct. Paul took over pretty quickly though, didn't he?
     
  6. Digu

    Digu Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boston
    Yes, I believe it was a 6-pack.
     
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  7. dudley07726

    dudley07726 Forum Resident

    Location:
    FLA
    Well, it was Paul's song!
     
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  8. Yorick

    Yorick Senior Member

    Location:
    the Netherlands
    I always thought that Paul imitated a sitar drone?
     
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  9. DrBeatle

    DrBeatle The Rock and Roll Chemist

    Location:
    Midwest via Boston
    Yep, but he sounds more like a didgeridoo and it gets bloody annoying pretty quickly!
     
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  10. Sean Murdock

    Sean Murdock Forum Intruder

    Location:
    Bergenfield, NJ
    I think it's entirely possible that George simply didn't hear him; they were outside and there were any number of outside noises that could have distracted George. But since we're playing armchair psychologist, there's another moment in that same scene that I always thought was telling: When George starts reminiscing about songs he wrote in India, he mentions "Dhera Dhun" and Paul immediately chimes in, "Oh I remember that one" and then launches into one of his many "mouth instruments," making a faux-Indian droning sound. Now, this to me is very typical Macca -- wanting to be agreeable, wanting to support, but then undermining himself by unwittingly going too far. Imagine that you're George and you've immersed yourself in Indian culture and music for 30 years, and then your old mate (whom you haven't seen much in years and who never thought much of your Indian music to begin with) sums that up by making glib "Indian music" noises while you're trying to play a song. (A song, mind you, that never had any Indian instrumentation, because it was never recorded by the Beatles!) Do you think George would have been complimented that Paul remembered the song, or annoyed by his "musical" accompaniment?

    Again, I think Paul generally WANTS to be friendly and happy with everyone, particularly people who have been his closest friends at different times in his life. But he displays a tone-deafness with George in particular that has always stood out to me. There was an interview with Newsweek when "Free As A Bird" was coming out, where Paul praised George's guitar solo as "a blinder" -- but not before saying that he was worried that it would be "'My Sweet Lord' all over again" (paraphrase). The quote indicated a complete lack of awareness of George's solo career (and guitar style) if he thought that any slide solo by George would automatically sound like "My Sweet Lord." If he had said he was concerned that George's slide solo would make "FAAB" sound like Cloud 9, it would have been a more accurate concern, and would have respected George's career a bit more. There was another bit in Mojo or Q, where Revolver was named the #1 album of all time in one of those "list" issues, and Paul was proudly ticking off how all the songs on the album were great. He noted "Taxman," "Eleanor Rigby" and "I'm Only Sleeping" -- great, great, great -- and then got to "Love You To" and went, "Erm, not so great..." He quickly reversed himself and said he was just kidding, but the point was made.

    And since I've gone off on a "George getting slighted" tangent, I should point out that Paul wasn't alone in doing this. John rather notably barely participated in the recording of any of George's songs after 1966, and George Martin (ever-polite chap that he is) has let his dismissiveness towards George slip out every once in a while. When he first heard the LOVE version of "Within You, Without You" (with the "Tomorrow Never Knows" backing) he said, "That's how we should have done it in the first place!" -- which is a complete diss on George's song and his vision for it. (Sir George has also separately referred to "WYWY" as "the best George could come up with" at the time -- which is pretty exasperating considering it's a fairly epic song, written and arranged by George alone, whereas the undisputed best song on Pepper ("A Day In The Life") required the combined efforts of John, Paul and George Martin.

    Anyway, my point is (a) if George H. was sometimes grumpy and had a chip on his shoulder during the Anthology, he had plenty of reasons to feel that way, and (b) Paul, while admittedly being one of George's main irritants, was also the one who encouraged him and tried to support him the most.
     
  11. Yorick

    Yorick Senior Member

    Location:
    the Netherlands
    He makes the same noises in Boil Crisis!
     
  12. DrBeatle

    DrBeatle The Rock and Roll Chemist

    Location:
    Midwest via Boston
    Excellent post, and your last paragraph nails it.

    (one more to add to the John slighting George angle...the disparaging comments he made about "Taxman" and only helping George with it under duress)
     
  13. vamborules

    vamborules Forum Resident

    Location:
    CT
    He starts singing the song. What else should he do? And George is smiling the whole time.

    I think you are reading a whole bunch of drama into these scenes that just isn't there.
     
  14. Sean Murdock

    Sean Murdock Forum Intruder

    Location:
    Bergenfield, NJ
    Yes -- and moments like George remembering "I Will" -- a song he didn't even play on! -- kind of debunks the whole idea that George hated everything "Beatle" and wiped it from his mind. In contrast, and returning to my thought that Paul has long been "tone-deaf" when it comes to George -- Eric Clapton allegedly had to teach Paul how to play "All Things Must Pass" for the Concert for George -- a song Paul should have been just a LITTLE familiar with after the Get Back sessions!
    Oh, I agree with you there -- and I think a lot of the tension and strife between Paul and George goes back to John. Both idolized him, but John met Paul first and George was the annoying little kid who followed them around. Meanwhile Paul was GEORGE'S mate before that, but Paul kinda left him behind after falling under John's spell. John was incredibly nasty to George at times, whereas Paul (as I said before) was always the one to support and boost him, albeit in backhanded ways. (Paul on "The Inner Light": "Forget the Indian rubbish and listen to the melody -- it's lovely!") But George (maybe hurt and resentful that his best friend became JOHN'S best friend) never let any of Paul's slights go, and never stopped seeking John's approval. I hope Mark Lewisohn's future volumes of "All These Years" go deep into the John-Paul-George triangle, because to me it's endlessly fascinating.
     
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  15. Ryan Lux

    Ryan Lux Senior Member

    Location:
    Toronto, ON, CA
    If there's one thing I've learned from years of performing and teaching it's that it's foolish to try and read too much into someone's facial expressions and even body language. Maybe George was just getting tired after a long day of filming? Maybe he loved hanging out with Paul and Ringo but detested having cameras there? Maybe he was getting hungry and they had to do one more take before chowing down? It could have been anything. I personally never thought he came off bitter in the Anthologies. But considering all the legal crap these guys went through, it's amazing they could even be in the same room.
     
  16. mihu

    mihu Forum Resident

    Location:
    South West Germany

    I think this is very well put. I remember a different part from the acoustic anthology session, where they start a song and Paul tells George how to play it. George is immediately put off and says something like "we'll play a short version of it".

    This is why I love fotos and filming of John and Paul together: it look like it's the only time these two huge egos interact with someone they consider as their equal.
     
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  17. mihu

    mihu Forum Resident

    Location:
    South West Germany
    Ah, found it:
     
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  18. chacha

    chacha Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    mill valley CA USA
    I wouldn't be surprised though if Paul has songs of his own that he doesn't remember how to play. I wouldn't read too much into that. We're talking about one of the most fertile creative people of our lifetime. Reminds me of the funny story Baez tells about playing Dylan Four Letter Word and Dylan didn't remember writing it.
     
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  19. Manalishi

    Manalishi With the 2-pronged crown

    Location:
    New Hampshire
    The Anthology agreement stipulated that George must smile or attempt a smile every 45 seconds.

    All kidding aside, George was a fan of Monty Python so he must have had a sense of humor of some sort.
     
  20. chacha

    chacha Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    mill valley CA USA
    George has a hilarious deadpan sense of humor
     
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  21. mrjinks

    mrjinks Optimistically Challenged

    Location:
    Boise, ID.
    I forget where I read about it (perhaps some other person can chime in with details), but supposedly there was much more "reunion" performance footage filmed - but for whatever reason, it was omitted from both the original Anthology and from the bonus features. Perhaps it will surface someday.

    I recall reading a fairly detailed synopsis of the recordings, including something about how there was a dispute in the studio which led to them doing the scene on the grass... Anybody remember that?

    Anyway, I definitely DO recall reading that they did do "actual Beatle songs" - they're just locked up!

    EDIT: here's a little more detail:
    http://reunionsessions.tripod.com/al/faabsessions/1994c.html
     
    Last edited: Mar 16, 2015
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  22. vamborules

    vamborules Forum Resident

    Location:
    CT
    The Get Back sessions...a mere 33 years earlier!
     
  23. petem1966

    petem1966 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Katy TX
    I read an interview with one of Macca's guitarists saying that when they introduced more Beatles songs into the show, the band knew how to play them but he didn't--he said the last time McCartney played a lot of those old Beatles songs was when they were recorded.
     
  24. graystoke

    graystoke Forum Resident

    No, he's not. Neil Aspinall once said the tension was still there when the three sat down to play. George was adamant he didn't want to play any Beatle tunes, so they compromised with some old rock and roll numbers. And even that didn't last long. The cameras were stopped and the three went outside for a discussion, whereby a second compromise was reached with George playing a uke while they sat around and chatted. The cameras were then allowed to roll again. For whatever reason, George did not feel comfortable playing with Paul that day. The resulting footage was dropped from the tv cut of Anthology.
     
  25. theMess

    theMess Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kent, UK
    Yes, I remember reading this as well. I think that they attempted songs like Love Me Do and Let It Be, but apparently it got 'too emotional', most likely because of John not being there, I would assume.

    Hopefully that footage will be released eventually.
     
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