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"Don�t Let Me Down", Rhodes part


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My wife and I just re-watched the Beatles Anthology doc, as we do every couple of years. The Let It Be period is rough, but I"m always struck by how tremendous Billy Preston"s contribution is musically (never mind interpersonally). He gives the song Let It Be some real gospel character, which takes it to a much grander place than it would have gone with just the four of them (especially with John Lennon playing some of the worst bass parts ever put to tape). It spills over into Abbey Road, too â imagine I Want You (She"s So Heavy) or Something without Billy"s B3!

Samuel B. Lupowitz

Musician. Songwriter. Food Enthusiast. Bad Pun Aficionado.

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OT but I believe Paul overwrote John's bass with an overdub for the single release. John Lennon is one of the best reasons for not assuming guitarists can play bass.

 

Cheers, Mike.

 

LOL, but also that was in John's "f*ck you, you want me on bass? Fine, but I am going to play it in a way that ensures you never asks me to do that again" phase of self-destruction.

Now out! "Mind the Gap," a 24-song album of new material.
www.joshweinstein.com

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OT but I believe Paul overwrote John's bass with an overdub for the single release. John Lennon is one of the best reasons for not assuming guitarists can play bass.
Yeah, Anthology has some live-in-the-studio performances with Lennon"s bass loud and, uh, proud. Makes me understand better why Phil Spector smothered The Long and Winding Road with an orchestra. I"m surprised nobody thought to have Billy Preston cover the bass on organ; he was certainly capable. George was a much more adept bass player, and I went many years without realizing that he played bass on large chunks of Abbey Road, but Let It Be needed his guitar solo.

 

Apparently John played bass on Helter Skelter, which is a bass part I really like. But that"s not a song that requires the same kind of taste and subtlety.

Samuel B. Lupowitz

Musician. Songwriter. Food Enthusiast. Bad Pun Aficionado.

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George is on tape and quoted in writing saying Paul played just about every notable guitar part on Beatles songs.

 

Anyone know whether this was spoken as truth, humility, a wink to Paul's way of rewriting history or something else?

Sounds like George"s typical mix of humor and bitterness regarding his Beatle years. Paul played a fair amount of notable guitar parts on Beatles records â the solos on Taxman and Fixing a Hole, the outro leads in Ticket to Ride and Another Girl, of course the acoustic parts on his semi-solo tunes like Yesterday, Blackbird, Mother Nature"s Son. In Let It Be you can also see him playing acoustic guitar while George plays 'bass' on his Telecaster in the song Two of Us.

 

But George Harrison was an accomplished and innovative player who created and recorded plenty of iconic parts (that Rickenbacker 12 string, the sitar, the guitar-through-Leslie of the later albums, and so many wonderful parts and solos that are deeply embedded in the DNA of those songs). I don"t think George ever felt like Paul"s contributions were more important than his, but I imagine he felt like PAUL felt Paul"s contributions were more important than his!

 

 

 

Samuel B. Lupowitz

Musician. Songwriter. Food Enthusiast. Bad Pun Aficionado.

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I watched an interview with Alan Parsons on YouTube a couple of years back. Parsons quoted Glynn Johns as saying "the Beatles made an album and Phil Spector puked on it" . I tend to agree. I used to think "Let It Be" was the only bad/stinky album the Beatles made. Then I picked up "Let It Be Naked" and I loved it. I used to hate "The Long and Winding Road" with the gushy strings, but like the "Naked" version. Some very inventive bass playing by Paul on the song. I think Phil Spector did some great things circa 1960, but he seems to have been a "wall of sound" one trick pony - just an observation.

 

Also FWIW, George Harrison grew into being accomplished over the course of the Beatles years in the studio. In "Here There and Everywhere" Geoff Emerick said that in the early Beatles recording sessions (the early days) George H. was sometimes unable to play some of his guitar parts competently at full speed. They would record George at half speed (and an octave lower) to get around this problem. Harrison grew musically over the Beatles years. When they recorded "Something" , Harrison played his guitar live in the studio along with the orchestra. This was risky economically because if George messed up the whole orchestra was "on the clock". Harrison pulled it off.

 

 

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Yes, George had a VERY dark sense of humor, and resented still being treated as the little kid brother in the Beatles while he was out there producing Billy Preston records, writing stronger and stronger material, and playing with The Byrds and Eric Clapton (while Clapton played with George's wife). That quote -- if it really exists -- would certainly have been a dig at Paul.

 

But to be fair, everything that worked in the Beatles, worked because of their dysfunctional family dynamic, and it's absolutely certain that George would not have grown into the songwriter he became without that intramural rivalry he felt with what turned out to be one of the 20th-century's most important songwriting 'partnerships" (quotes used advisedly).

Now out! "Mind the Gap," a 24-song album of new material.
www.joshweinstein.com

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In the final master version of Imagine, did Lennon really play the piano part or was it Nicky Hopkins after signing a NDA?

 

Did Paul sing on Come Together or was he excluded other than playing bass ? And John actually played the groovy EP parts???

 Find 660 of my jazz piano arrangements of standards for educational purposes and tutorials at www.Patreon.com/HarryLikas Harry was the Technical Editor of Mark Levine's "The Jazz Theory Book" and helped develop "The Jazz Piano Book."

 

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This link from the Beatles Bible says that John watched Paul playing the piano part and learned it and played on the recording. Also says Paul may have been miffed because John did all his own vocal parts.

 

https://www.beatlesbible.com/songs/come-together/2/

 

(page 1)

https://www.beatlesbible.com/songs/come-together/

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Speaking of the Let It Be movie, I was surprised to see that Peter Jackson will be doing a new version of the film taking a different perspective than the original downer.

 

https://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/peter-jacksons-version-beatles-let-be-lost-movie-2444006

 

According to this article, both versions will be released next year, the 50th anniversary.

 

I remember my uncle taking my brother and cousin and me to the 101 Drive In in Ventura to see the movie when it came out. I thought it was the coolest thing my 10 year old eyes had ever seen. It wasn't until I saw bootleg as an adult that I recognized the rancor that was going on. I still love the album, but also agree the Let It Be Naked album was superior....

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