When was the last time the Beatles were happy as a band?

That was the thing that ruined them as a band in my opinion. Business differences was what broke them up, rather than musical or personal differences.

 

Huge mistake which only added to the chaos.
They brought in one of Britain's top business men to look at the finances of Apple. He told them to get rid of everything and just make records.

 

the last time John and Paul sat opposite each other and composed and worked a song out?

which would be......... Wait..... ????

 

I think that at that point- 1969 - being Beatles was something they should and had to do, not something they had fun doing. Of course I love the later albums and all of that, but while recording Abbey Road they were trying to behave and to avoid fights. Were there mostly good moments? Sure. Was it a sustainable situation? No, because deep inside they knew that going solo would take that weight off their shoulders.

 

Pardon me if this has already been said...but I would bet the same time as the last royalty cheques were deposited...

 

This seems about right.

 

Maybe "gimme some truth", in the sense of Paul suggesting clear changes to the chorus or even creating the chorus.

 

Not 100% sure about HAPPY, but George mentioned that he felt that the recording of Hey Bulldog in February of 1968 is the last time they worked on a song and everybody cared about it and gave it their all. After that, it was John's song or Paul's song or George's song and the others were just along for the ride.

 

i mean head to head, mirror opposites on guitars, working out a song, like old school friends

i forget the penultimate song composed like this before Wait

 

If the moods/atmosphere are any indication from the video, I’d certainly say a happy time was being had by all during the recording of Bulldog.

 

I still say it was a combination of “everything”. The business end in and of itself was certainly a major factor. But you have to look at what led up to it in personal well as artistic levels that put their heads in their respective places. In the cases of John and George especially, there were things going on which set them apart from “the band”. So the mind set of “disagreement” was already in place and added to the business frustrations.

 

Indeed, the microscope has magnified the tears.

 

There's a marked difference in visual joy between the "Hey Bulldog" footage in early '68 and the "Hey Jude" footage in later '68.

Pre-Apple, versus post-Apple.

"We're just the band" versus "We're the bosses/businessmen".

But then a lot of the Mad Day Out photos clearly show them having a lot of fun together, but that's a photo shoot and not working in the studio, so a little different.

By all accounts they had a blast recording the guitars for The End all together, so assuming Ringo was in attendance, that may have been the last really joyous recording session with all four.

 

My impression from the Get Back sessions is that drink and drugs helped. When at least two of them were stoned or/and drunk they had fun. When they were all sober or John was only on heroin, they were miserable. Not a good situation when that is a prerequisite for fun.

 

August 26, 1967?

 

with no recording fees charged, they were free to use any empty studio to camp out at, just show up whenever and do your thing

couldn't have been pleasant for G&R to have to be on-call and then sit there endlessly waiting for something to hapen

 

Rooftop

 

Well, according to Peter Jackson, they were sitting opposite each other writing songs during the Get Back sessions. He specifically said that it was there on camera for all to see. Have to say, I am very excited about the prospect of seeing that!

 

I guess we're going to find out soon just what the deal was for those sessions (is the countdown on yet?! When can I starting counting off the days?!) Don't think the drug situation with John helped at all. But if the docuseries turns out to be what it's being advertised as being, then we might see a review of that period of time in Beatles history. Which, like so many other contradictory aspects of their story, doesn't make much sense to us right now.

 

sounds good, no songs that came out of those sessions seems likely, Two of Us wasn't done that way

 

Must admit, I'm scratching my head over what those songs could be as well...I've Got A Feeling?

 

some of the jams for sure, but not hatching a song together

i'll dig up the other songs they apparently composed face to face and left to righty guitars...

 

"I've Got A Feeling" seems the most obvious candidate... think "Gimme Some Truth" was just mentioned in these regards in the Let It Be/Get Back box set thread... could be more... there's loads of info floating around about the extent of how open & collective their process was- different members helping each other out with lyrical, musical & arrangement ideas on each others songs- for those who've read a lot, there's loads of fun examples of surprising collaborations one would never have foreseen/expected.

 

Yes, I've gone and posted the question in that thread before this ends up as Get Back discussion II. I'm looking forward to seeing these surprise collabs - if they turn up in the film.

 

Studied warts and all
Still the life flowed on and on