“I was the walrus,But now I'm John,
And so dear friends,
You just have to carry on.
The dream is over.”—John Lennon, “God,” from John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band (1970)
“I don’t believe in Beatles,” John Lennon sang in this same song—and on this date 40 years ago, he proved it.
“I don’t believe in Beatles,” John Lennon sang in this same song—and on this date 40 years ago, he proved it.
There had been tensions among the members of the Fab Four for awhile: the year before, Ringo Starr had temporarily left the group (though it was short-lived and not publicly announced), and George Harrison had followed suit on January 10 while working on what would later become the documentary film Let It Be.
But now, after a 3½-hour mid-afternoon session at their Abbey Road studio, when the band had settled on the final mix of Lennon’s “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” and organized the master tape for the Abbey Road album, the Beatles had spent their last hours recording together as one unit. (For an in-depth—and very fine—description of this last session, see this post from the “Beatle Tracks Band” blog.)
The phrase “never again” is a harsh one, and for that reason, despite the legal acrimony that was about to ensue, I doubt that any of the Beatles believed, in their heart of hearts, that this was the end. Maybe it wouldn’t be as a touring band, but they’d shared too much for the goodbyes to mean forever.
But two days later would be their last photographic session, and three weeks after that Lennon would tell his bandmates that he was through. (The secret would still be kept for several months before Paul McCartney finally announced that he was going.) And who on earth would ever expect that, 11 years later, any attempt at a reunion would forever be short-circuited by Lennon's murder?
Nevertheless, if you have to go out, there are far worse ways to go—and few better—than the Beatles did with their swan-song LP, Abbey Road. They’d called upon the services of their old-pro producer, George Martin, when the live-in-studio sessions surrounding what was intended to be called Get Back collapsed in disagreements over the final product.
(Madman producer Phil Spector came out of retirement to try to pull that mess together. The resulting album, Let It Be, horrified McCartney as soon as he listened to all those strings on “The Long and Winding Road.” Yet, for all its brilliant parts, I’m not sure his version--titled Let It Be…Naked-- released nearly six years ago, is much, if any, improvement.)
The result of Martin's renewed collaboration with Paul, John, George and Ringo was a triumph. It not only marked the undeniable emergence of Harrison as a songwriting talent with “Here Comes the Sun” and “Something” (described by Frank Sinatra, who would know, as the greatest love song of all time), but provided, in the “Golden Slumbers” suite on Side 2, one of the most ambitious, unexpected—and beautiful—set of minutes throughout the Beatles’ entire recorded output.
With all due respect to the late, great John, the dream is not over. Like Todd Rundgren (who produced an early Beatles parody-homage, Deface the Music), I say that “A Dream Goes on Forever.” Listen to Abbey Road again and tell me if I’m not right.
But now, after a 3½-hour mid-afternoon session at their Abbey Road studio, when the band had settled on the final mix of Lennon’s “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” and organized the master tape for the Abbey Road album, the Beatles had spent their last hours recording together as one unit. (For an in-depth—and very fine—description of this last session, see this post from the “Beatle Tracks Band” blog.)
The phrase “never again” is a harsh one, and for that reason, despite the legal acrimony that was about to ensue, I doubt that any of the Beatles believed, in their heart of hearts, that this was the end. Maybe it wouldn’t be as a touring band, but they’d shared too much for the goodbyes to mean forever.
But two days later would be their last photographic session, and three weeks after that Lennon would tell his bandmates that he was through. (The secret would still be kept for several months before Paul McCartney finally announced that he was going.) And who on earth would ever expect that, 11 years later, any attempt at a reunion would forever be short-circuited by Lennon's murder?
Nevertheless, if you have to go out, there are far worse ways to go—and few better—than the Beatles did with their swan-song LP, Abbey Road. They’d called upon the services of their old-pro producer, George Martin, when the live-in-studio sessions surrounding what was intended to be called Get Back collapsed in disagreements over the final product.
(Madman producer Phil Spector came out of retirement to try to pull that mess together. The resulting album, Let It Be, horrified McCartney as soon as he listened to all those strings on “The Long and Winding Road.” Yet, for all its brilliant parts, I’m not sure his version--titled Let It Be…Naked-- released nearly six years ago, is much, if any, improvement.)
The result of Martin's renewed collaboration with Paul, John, George and Ringo was a triumph. It not only marked the undeniable emergence of Harrison as a songwriting talent with “Here Comes the Sun” and “Something” (described by Frank Sinatra, who would know, as the greatest love song of all time), but provided, in the “Golden Slumbers” suite on Side 2, one of the most ambitious, unexpected—and beautiful—set of minutes throughout the Beatles’ entire recorded output.
With all due respect to the late, great John, the dream is not over. Like Todd Rundgren (who produced an early Beatles parody-homage, Deface the Music), I say that “A Dream Goes on Forever.” Listen to Abbey Road again and tell me if I’m not right.
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