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A masterpiece in the making
I find it quite fascinating watching, the most brilliant songwriting minds and talent of the 20th Century, stitching together what would become another Beatles masterpiece, “Don’t Let Me Down”. One of my favourite Beatles songs.
To the other people in the studio, it probably just sounded like some unintelligible disparate vocal parts being thrown around here and there, but these are iconic pieces everyone hearing it today instantly recognize.
It’s funny when Paul tells George “..do the chords like the Ave Maria thing…”. They certainly draw upon a rich palette of influences and inspiration from other artists past and present in their creative process. In the end George comments “it sounds like the same old sh***”, but it would turn into another innovative work of art known and loved the world over.
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5 Replies
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And here is the finished product in all it’s magnificence that would last forever.
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Songwriting is messy.
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Tom. Yes creativity can be messy indeed as illustrated in that video. The hard work those great artists put into it that move us, make us shine with joy, or reflect in tears, enrich our lives so much. I think our hero artists are endowed with angel wings when they create.
I found this interesting article, that give some insight to how the Beatles did it:
If you were to go and listen to John’s solo music, you’ll find that his style of writing is pretty straight forward in terms of just straight rock & roll/blues. The music he wrote was definitely more suited for a band with guitar, bass, and drums and even allows itself to have instrumentals and what not. Paul, on the other hand, has a writing style that is a lot more unorthodox. Songs such as “Eleanor Rigby” and even his latest song “Get Enough” just to name a couple could definitely be more suited for an orchestra or an opera, so to speak.
It was these two elements coming together (no pun intended) that made for the body of all of the band’s greatest songs. You take Paul’s colorful vision of music and have John harness into a mega-hit that the band could play.
At last you have the core of the song. The lyrics, the chords, and the structure. But even with all of this analysis spelled right in front of you, here’s where the REAL magic came into play…
Once John and Paul had their song written it would be brought to George Harrison and Ringo Starr. It was here that these two did what they did best and that was take an already amazing song and put the finishing touches on it that made it TRULY shine. George had a knack for creating simple, yet catchy guitar riffs that served as the connective tissue for the choruses, verses, and bridges.
Same with Ringo, his quirky, unorthodox drum parts were often the best parts of the song. Take for example “Ticket To Ride”. Without Ringo’s unique, off-beat drum part the song may never have been as memorable and iconic as it is now. Same with “Come Together”. There are very few songs that can be identified with just a drum part, and that song is one of them.
To put it simply, George and Ringo were masters at giving color and identity to John and Paul’s songs.
So in conclusion, most of The Beatles’ songs were basically written in two parts. John and Paul would write the skeleton of the song, and then George and Ringo would polish it to perfection. It’s a simple formula, but it worked every single time.
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The version on the roof is one of my all time favorite songs.
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That is a superb performance on the roof indeed. They looked like they really enjoyed playing together. John’s a great singer.
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