McCARTNEY Photo Archive 35 : Beatles Abbey Road 1969 Session

I always forget this. It's certainly an interesting thought. Pair this up with the same three working on "I Me Mine," and it is evident that work could be done without John.

 

Well, in his defense of his absenteeism, he was in a car crash on July 1, 1969.



But when was this picture taken? Did John have a beard at the time? Did he ever shave the beard later in 1969?

 

It is interesting to think about what they could have done together as a power trio. Would George and Paul develop a songwriting partnership? Would Paul switch to rhythm guitar during the initial recording of songs, over-dubbing bass later? Would they tour? Would George and Ringo still have developed their songwriting partnership of sorts, where they wrote Photograph and It Don't Come Easy together? Would Ringo get to sing more? Would Paul start working with Ringo on songs?

 

Yes, he did.

 

Mal's in bed with three Beatle wives at once! Truly, a giant of a man.

 

He was always good at getting the "tea & sympathy" just right. Arnie

 

See the 'Something' video.

 

I've always wondered if John's beard removal was as a result of the car crash: facial stitches wasn't it?

 

....you were in a crash and you lost your hair.....

 

That's the one.

Don't mess with Ringo: if he sings about it, it will come true!

 

Wait, did John have his beard shaved after the crash, then re grow it completely by the time of the Abbey Road cover photo? If so, he really had a commitment to having a beard.

 

Obviously not in the timeframes concerned (prang in July, Abbey Road photo in August), but afterwards: getting stitches out for example.

 

Except that the crash was in July and he had the beard until September.

 

Here's a "beard timeline" I've worked out:

Big beard on The David Frost Show (shot on 14 June)
Car accident on 1 July
Big beard for Abbey Road cover shoot on 8 August
Big beard for last Beatles photo shoot at Tittenhurst on 22 August
Big beard in Live Peace in Toronto on 13 September
No beard in Something film clip (shot in late October)
Short beard in Man of the Decade footage (shot 2 December)
Short beard (and short hair) for Instant Karma performance on Top Of The Pops on 5 January 1970

I'd say he shaved the beard off sometime between mid September and mid to late October and then started regrowing it.

 

Great analysis! Please send your "beard" conclusions to Mark Lewisohn. This may help save him some important research time, so maybe we can get his next Volume 2 in 2019 and Volume 3 in 2027 (instead of 2020 and 2028, respectively).

Arnie

 

Could we please get a Paul beard timeline from White Album photos to early 70s.

 

Stereo or mono beard?

 

Been done and posted here years ago in some topic but Paul definitely switched back and forth quite a few times between '68-'71.

 

Three? I'm aware of these (sorry, not got enough photos to date more than very loosely),

1. Late '68 - Feb '69
2. Late '69 - Summer '70
3. Winter '71 - Summer '71

Is that roughly right?