I agree, Yoko's presence didn't seem disruptive to the lads at all, at least during these sessions. Yoko sat near John, but she didn't interfere once in what the band was doing, she kept to herself, at least until George left, then John let it all fly ala POB. Watching Paul do his Jimi impression placing his bass in front of the amp and screaming feedback was fun. It did seem at the start of day 1 that Yoko being there was a little weird at the very start, but the boys pull it together and got on with making music. Paul was more bothered by the mics and George's hare krishna mentors than Yoko. Yoko knitted and took notes, and was just there, not intrusive or bothering.
George Martin talks about this somewhere, saying he’s fine to let Glyn finish the sessions off. Wonderful old phrase in his posh accent I had to double check: “it’s silly to change horses mid-stream”.
My only issue with the lack of Yoko is that it feels like a case of wanting your cake and eating it too. On the one hand, Peter Jackson wants to dispel myths, but if you're going to do that and ask the audience to believe you, you need to put the facts out there. A couple scenes of Yoko talking wouldn't dramatically alter the length of the film nor would they be any more unnecessary than the times Linda spoke up or Heather was being silly in the studio.
The January 6th conversation regarding what audience to perform to would have been an interesting inclusion, since Yoko was very vocal.
Agree. It’s the one blemish on the doc. It shouldn’t matter if you’re a fan of Yoko’s or not, it’s history. That said I think we should give Peter Jackson the benefit of the doubt here. He’s clearly not a man afraid of showing warts and all, so I don’t see why he would remove any awkward Yoko interactions (or remove her entirely even). Surely more likely it’s at the request of Sean/Yoko, and to be fair possibly for valid reasons.
Someone about 100 pages back commented that the scene in which John disparages "I Me Mine" is less disturbingly with the visual, because you can see he's clearly joking. I find the footage more disturbing than the audio, as John condescendingly pats George on the head before telling him "It's a rock and roll band, son". It's amazing George allows the moment to pass. I think I would have punched him.
Coming January 1, 2023 - A 200+ page SHF thread complaining about the cost of the 18-hour BluRay extended Get Back release.
It probably just says a lot about their relationship. Would George have taken it as well from Paul doing that? Or Paul from George?
100% yes, George seemed intimidated, shy to bring new songs to Paul and John (but he did), and John's reaction (John was a goofball) and joking on George's songs (which John did to even his own tunes) - George was like "whatever, I don't want them on this album anyway" response, which I would guess isn't true because if he didn't want the songs as Beatles songs, he wouldn't have shared them with the band. George wanted John's and Paul's approval/acknowledgement as being a good song writer, and his laisse faire responses to critiques from Paul and John were his way of saving face. George started giving it back, especially to Paul when Paul was working on his songs, but he seemed to leave John alone.
Yes, it says I know how to make light of the John-George punch up story, and that I know how to use a smiley face correctly.
Which dialogue ? I've listened to the whole 97 hours of Nagra tapes (the famous A/B bootleg). What struck me was that Yoko was virtually unheard in the whole 97 hours. The only times she participated was when she was performing on the mike (the screaming parts), and at one specific moment when John was ill and couldn't speak, so she spoke for him. Other than that she almost didn't utter a word, just like we see her in the movie. Actually I believe she was bored to death during those sessions. It's visible. She's either reading, painting stuff on paper, or waiting patiently... She's here because john asked to her to go everywhere he went, like his shadow or something. I don't think PJ excluded any dialogue from her, because there was nothing to exclude. There wasn't that much dialogue from her in the first place.
I agree Yoko is missed. But I don’t know why you’re automatically assuming that’s an editorial decision from Peter Jackson though. And for those saying this is nit picking. That’s what these discussions are all about, the details. For the record I still think this is an incredible project, maybe the best post Beatles release ever. Peter Jackson has delivered us a true gift.
One burning question I have is what White album centric project did we miss out on? When discussing the Get Back project in the film Paul said initially the project was going to be about their previous album, then they decided to make it about making a new album. Inquiring minds.....
Ray, considering you co- wrote a book about the Get Back sessions, I’d be interested in what your feelings are after getting to see so much footage of the things you had written about?
