For those that are interested in seeing artists conjure up hit songs, check out the documentary "Billie Eilish: The World's A Little Blurry". There are some scenes showing Billie and her brother sitting on a bed in their parents' house coming up with lyrics and melodies for songs that would go on to sell millions, win grammys and totally change their lives.<p>I'm a huge beatles fan, and while Get Back shows sparks of creativity - for the most part it, it shows a few childish rich dudes high as all hell dicking around in front of cameras in a super-weird situation that they put themselves in trying to document themselves writing an album.<p>The World's A Little Blurry on the other hand shows two siblings battling through some tough shit and turning it into gold on a shoestring recording budget.
I liked the quote mentioned about the Beatles being "proof of the existence of God":<p>"It transcends everything. It’s much bigger than four kids from Liverpool. For me the Beatles are proof of the existence of God. It’s so good and so far beyond everyone else that it’s not them."<p>I hadn't heard that one before.<p>I think what the Beatles did can be called "riding the wave of fortune" or "being on a roll", but they somehow did it year after year instead of just a few times, like most people manage to.
The Let it be album is also from this session, thought Abbey road was the album that was released by the Beatles. Let it be was released later (after the band broke up) as a money grab from the studio without autorization from the Beatles (except maybe Lennon). Paul really disliked it because of the bad mixing and post-production applied by Phil Specter.<p>Some years ago they re-released Let it be, renamed as Let it be Naked. This time it was remixed and authorized by the remaining Beatles and ... it's really good. Much simpler, much clearer and without the soul-less violin sounds from Phil Specter.<p>I can recommend giving it a listen and compare it to the original Let it be album.
Discussed at the time (of the article):<p><i>The Banality of Genius: Notes on Peter Jackson's Get Back</i> - <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30113080">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30113080</a> - Jan 2022 (145 comments)
There was nothing banal about it — more illuminating, and authorial. The editing was almost vicious towards Yoko in the the first episode, but perhaps that was just her. And the queer energy all over, MLH and Preston captivated by John, John enjoying the attention and flirting just enough to encourage it. The vanity and conflict. Jackson has a sharp eye and found the magic.
Another great session of George and John recording Oh My Love [1] shows what I think of as embracing rough but promising ideas along with balanities like tuning guitars, learning chords, etc... The Beatles engaged in this process much more than most musicians, despite it meaning most the stuff they played sounds relatively bad compared to playing tunes they'd practiced a bunch before. Is this due to work ethic or some love of creation? Idk, but it is fascinating to see the sausage get made.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yksV7YVuqdg">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yksV7YVuqdg</a>
Yoko Ono is often blamed for breakup the Beatles, but watching Get Back, it seems clear to me that the person who really broke up the Beatles was Brian Epstein. His death — and their grief — hangs over this documentary, especially in the way that McCartney tries to be both band mate and task master in keeping the group together. I have always favored John over Paul, but this made me appreciate Paul despite his faults.