Friday, January 3, 1969
Get Back sessions - January 3, 1969 - Day 2
For The Beatles
Last updated on February 17, 2024
Friday, January 3, 1969
For The Beatles
Last updated on February 17, 2024
The "Get Back / Let It Be" sessions
January 1969 • Songs recorded during this session appear on Let It Be (Limited Edition)
Recording studio: Twickenham Film Studios, London, UK
Session Jan 02, 1969 • Get Back sessions - January 2, 1969 - Day 1
Session January 1969 • The "Get Back / Let It Be" sessions
Session Jan 03, 1969 • Get Back sessions - January 3, 1969 - Day 2
Article January - February 1969 • First mentions in the press of the “Get Back / Let It Be” sessions
Session Jan 06, 1969 • Get Back sessions - January 6, 1969 - Day 3
Some of the songs worked on during this session were first released on the "Let It Be... Naked" Official album.
This was the second day of rehearsals at Twickenham Film Studios. Only Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr were present at the beginning of the session. Paul went on the piano and played some of his new songs (“The Long And Winding Road“, “Oh! Darling“, “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer“) and also some random oldies.
Ringo also played brief versions of songs he had written (like “Taking A Trip To Carolina” and “Picasso“). George Harrison joined them, and also played some work-in-progress songs, like “Ramblin’ Woman“.
When John Lennon finally arrived, the band spent some time playing rock ‘n’ roll classics, and also some early Lennon-McCartney songs like “Won’t You Please Say Goodbye“, “Thinking Of Linking“, “I’ll Wait Till Tomorrow” and “Because I Know You Love Me So” and “One After 909“.
It’s just we all used to sag off every school day. You know, and go back to my house, and the two of us would just sit there and write. There’s a lot from then, you know? There’s about 100 songs from then that we never reckoned, ’cause they were all very unsophisticated songs. “They said our love was just fun, the day that our friendship begun”.
Paul McCartney talking to Michael Lindsay-Hogg – Transcript from Peter Jackson’s film “The Beatles: Get Back“, 2021
The band finally spent some time on new compositions. Two original songs were brought on this day, John’s “Gimme Some Truth” and Paul’s “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer“. They also continued working on new songs rehearsed the day before, January 2 – those were “Don’t Let Me Down“, “All Things Must Pass“, “I’ve Got A Feeling” and “Two Of Us“.
Also, Paul brought back “Let It Be“, a song he was working on since September 1968 at least.
Aside from the production crew and The Beatles, George Martin was present, as well as Mal Evans and Yoko Ono.
About the rehearsals of “Don’t Let Me Down” for this day:
“It hurts just to rehearse it,” John stated concerning his vocal delivery on “Don’t Let Me Down.” Nonetheless, they ran through ten versions of the song at this rehearsal, the final arrangement becoming quite complete by this time. John inserted a segment of “Happiness Is A Warm Gun” into one of the rehearsals of the song as a humorous ad lib. As seen in Peter Jackson’s “Get Back” series, John was concerned about the song’s length. “I wonder how long it is? Do you wanna time it, Mal? Because it’s probably about a half minute long.” Assistant Mal Evans then produces a stop watch in order to accurately time a run-through of the song. “Three minutes 40 seconds, incredible,” Paul states after they complete a rehearsal of the song, to which John replies, “That’s fine then.”
From beatlesebooks.com
About the rehearsals of “I’ve Got A Feeling” for this day:
Being proud of how far they had gotten with “I’ve Got A Feeling,” they did run through it six times to tighten up their performance a bit further. Paul, however, was concerned about the song’s bridge, stating: “The bit that I find the weakest now is…” and then demonstrating his high register singing on the lyrics “All these years I’ve been wandering around” etc. After John replies, “Yeah, that’s just power, y’know,” Paul suggests that he provides harmony to that part of the song. “Just sing the next harmony down so it’s not too low for you,” he asks. After various attempts, John explains, “That’s very high for me…It’s a bit early for that. Early in the morning, y’know. I’m not 18 anymore!” Shortly thereafter, John’s harmony in the bridge was dropped in favor of Paul’s screeching solo vocal.
From beatlesebooks.com
They only did a few run-throughs on “Two Of Us“.
George Harrison: Let’s go through that one “two of us on our way home” just before we have lunch.
John Lennon: Lovely tune
Paul McCartney: Glyn [Johns] was saying to do it on two acoustics…
They also recorded four versions of “Sun King“.
“Don’t Let Me Down“, “I’ve Got A Feeling” and “Two Of Us” would continue to be worked on, on January 6. “Sun King” would be brought back for one quick version on January 10, and then shelved for the time being.
John introduced “Gimme Some Truth” to the band and they started rehearsing it. They would return to it on January 7. The song would ultimately be left aside by The Beatles, and John would release it on his 1971 solo album, “Imagine“.
I was meeting with Paul [McCartney] and I said to him, “You know that John Lennon song ‘Gimme Some Truth’?”. He says, “Uh, the one on the Imagine album? Yeah, I know that one”. “Did you know that you actually co-wrote that with John?” He says, “What are you talking about?”
I showed him this footage from the Get Back sessions where Paul and John are working on ‘Gimme Some Truth’. Paul’s come up with that ‘money for rope’ thing which John loves. Paul looked at me and said, ‘I have no memory of that. I had no idea I was involved with that song’.
Then he says, “It’s a great song. I’ve always loved that song so if I get some credit for it, great”.
He had no idea he’d written some of ‘Gimme Some Truth’. I don’t want to take anything away from John but ‘Gimme Some Truth’ is clearly a Lennon/McCartney song. There were other songs that Paul took credit on on his albums that they’d worked on together too so it’s not a credit thing but it’s interesting to see.
Peter Jackson – About Paul McCartney’s contribution to “Gimme Some Truth” – From ‘The Beatles: Get Back’ Reminded Paul McCartney He Co-Wrote a John Lennon Solo Song (cheatsheet.com), November 17, 2021
The previous day, George had introduced a new song of his, “All Things Must Pass“, but he performed it without the contribution from the other Beatles. On this day, they extensively rehearsed it, with John on organ, Paul on bass and Ringo on drums. At some point, George got an electric shock when touching his microphone, leading Paul to joke to the technicians:
Gonna be in trouble over this. If this boy dies, you’re gonna cop it.
Paul McCartney
They would return to it, with varying degrees of involvement, on January 6, January 8, January 28 and January 29.
At the beginning of the day, Paul had introduced “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” and he decided to return to it at the end of the day:
This was their second day of rehearsals at Twickenham and, with John late in arriving, Paul ran through a number of work-in-progress songs on piano for the others to hear, “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” being one of them. Lyrically, Paul only had the first verse, the chorus, and the first half of the second verse written at this time, and the arrangement still needed refining. Later that day, after John arrived, Paul led them through a total of ten rehearsals of the song, which he was referring to as “the corny one.” A small segment of one of these rehearsals, with Paul on bass and calling out the chords for John and George, made it into the released “Let It Be” movie. Paul then switched to piano at George’s suggestion and, with George on a Fender Bass VI, they rehearsed a little more before leaving it for another day.
From beatlesebooks.com
They would return to this track on January 7.
Some time was spent discussing topics related to the live show, such as whether to include older songs or not, what type of audience it could have, and where it could take place.
George Harrison: Are we not going to do any ‘oldies but goldies’ on this show?
Paul McCartney: Don’t know. We could do.
George Harrison: It would, you know. And also from the selling point of view… […] Just to hit the first initial thing of us singing all completely new ones: they need something to identify with… So, it would be nice to just start the show, or end the show, with a couple of…
John Lennon: We’ll rock some up like Joe Cocker did. I’ve been doing ‘Help!’ pretty good, so…
Yoko Ono: Yeah, ‘Help!’ is nice.
George Harrison: I tell you which is a good one… [George and Paul then played “Every Little Girl”]
John also brought the idea of making one last album before splitting the band:
GEORGE: That band – uh, that band Bonnie & Delaney, for Apple, are more together than we’ve ever been. You know, as a band.
JOHN: Yeah.
GEORGE: [inaudible] You know, everyone’s who has ever been to see them playing, and sounding, their lives change. It’s really exciting when you hear a real groove on—
JOHN: You see, I think when we’ve done a month of this and that, and we do an album, that somehow we should either use what we’ve – the togetherness, to do the album. You know.
GEORGE: Yeah, to do a new one.
PAUL: Yeah?
JOHN: Yeah. But you know what I mean. We – we’re – we don’t fit. We’ve sort of run out of touch with it. If we get into the swinging of playing, let’s do an album after this album. You know, about a month later. That is, if we all— [inaudible]
PAUL: But I mean, you know—
JOHN: I mean, if we spend two – a month on this—
PAUL: We are.
JOHN: —just get to a good peak playing, and then we split.
PAUL: No, well, we should – we should sort of organise our career, man.
GEORGE: Yeah.
PAUL: Get our career together. And this, you know, this is like the idea of this. It’s to get us so we quite enjoy this. Of doing it again. And then what would we like to do next? Well, I would like— [inaudible] —to do a live show, lads?
GEORGE: Yeah. I think – I think when we learn to, like [inaudible] then we’d dig it. And we know ‘em all, what – you know, if somebody could say “that one” [and we could play them] when we were asked, that’d be great.
PAUL: Well, we can do it, but— [inaudible]
GEORGE: It’s just that choice. It’s like hard work, really, to do it. And uh, it’s – you know, it’s a drag to try and, you know – ‘cause I want to remember all the words—
PAUL: Right.
GEORGE: —and really, really get ‘em the way I want it to get ‘em, and to get the guitar, [and not keep being] made to perform when I don’t want to play the guitar. And then you’ve got to play the guitar… when you’re not ready for it. But that… that’s alright.
PAUL: I don’t know, you know, I mean—
GEORGE: I mean, we’ve got to do that in order to get the good bit.
PAUL: Right, yeah.
GEORGE: We’ve got to get through that bit of shit of the meeting until we get it together again.
PAUL: [receptive] You know, I can see it just – so we’re just working.
GEORGE: But – and also there’s so much to get out, you know…
PAUL: Yeah, right.
GEORGE: [sincere] And there’s nobody better to get it out with than us. For me, anyway, really. In my heart of hearts.
PAUL: [long pause; reserved] Yeah.
GEORGE: It should be where – you know, if you write a song, I feel as though I’ve wrote it. And mine versus – vice versa. You know, I mean – or to be involved, really, as much, as if… That was the good thing about the last album, [because] it’s the only album so far I’ve tried to get involved with.
PAUL: Yeah.
GEORGE: [inaudible]
PAUL: Mm.
GEORGE: The last one.
From a moral to this song — January 3rd, 1969 (Twickenham Film Studios,… (tumblr.com)
The performances are sequentially numbered using the nomenclature from the book "Drugs, Divorce and a Slipping Image" by Doug Sulpy. DDSI 2.01 is, for example, the first performance from January 2nd, while DDSI 31.65 is the sixty-fifth performance from January 31st. This numbering is at times different from the DDSI numbers used on the bootleg collection "A/B Road Complete Get Back Sessions", likely because "Drugs, Divorce and a Slipping Image" was updated since the release of this collection.
Recording • DDSI.3.01 • 0:32
Paul McCartney : Piano
Recording • DDSI.3.02 • 0:55
Paul McCartney : Piano
Recording • DDSI.3.03 • 0:06
Paul McCartney : Piano
Unknown
Recording • DDSI.3.04 • 0:06
Paul McCartney : Piano
Recording • DDSI.3.05 • 3:09
Paul McCartney : Piano
Written by Samuel Barber
Recording • DDSI.3.06 • 3:21
Paul McCartney : Piano
Written by Samuel Barber
Recording • DDSI.3.07 • 0:48
Paul McCartney : Piano
Written by Vincent Youmans, Irving Caesar
Recording • DDSI.3.08 • 1:24
Paul McCartney : Piano
Film Included in Peter Jackson's film "The Beatles: Get Back", 2021
Written by Vincent Youmans, Irving Caesar
Recording • DDSI.3.09 • 0:43
Paul McCartney : Piano
Written by Euphemia Allen
Recording • DDSI.3.10 • 0:30
Paul McCartney : Piano
Unknown
Recording • DDSI.3.11 • 0:40
Paul McCartney : Piano
Written by Barry Gray
Recording • DDSI.3.12 • 1:14
Paul McCartney : Piano
Written by Dave Curly Williams, Roy Hall
Recording • DDSI.3.13 • 0:48
Paul McCartney : Piano
Unknown
Recording • DDSI.3.14 • 0:36
Paul McCartney : Piano
Recording • DDSI.3.15 • 1:09
Paul McCartney : Piano
Unknown
Recording • DDSI.3.16 • 2:30
Paul McCartney : Piano
Taking A Trip To Carolina
Recording • DDSI.3.17 • 0:45
Performed by : Ringo Starr
Film Included in Peter Jackson's film "The Beatles: Get Back", 2021
Unknown
Recording • DDSI.3.18 • 1:23
Please, Mrs Henry
Recording • DDSI.3.19 • 1:36
Performed by : George Harrison
Written by George Harrison
Recording • DDSI.3.20 • 1:43
Is It Discovered
Recording • DDSI.3.21 • 1:33
Performed by : George Harrison
Improvisation
Recording • DDSI.3.22 • 2:20
Picasso
Recording • DDSI.3.23 • 1:22
Performed by : Ringo Starr
Taking A Trip To Carolina
Recording • DDSI.3.24 • 1:13
Performed by : Ringo Starr
Recording • DDSI.3.25 • 2:08
All Things Must Pass
Recording • DDSI.3.26 • 1:43
Performed by : George Harrison
Recording • DDSI.3.27 • 2:36
Your Name Is Ted
Recording • DDSI.3.28 • 3:00
Performed by : George Harrison
Crackin' Up
Recording • DDSI.3.29 • 2:12 • George Harrison only
Performed by : George Harrison
Improvisation
Recording • DDSI.3.30 • 2:53
Performed by : George Harrison
Written by Ellas McDaniel
Recording • DDSI.3.31 • 0:33
Written by Otis Blackwell, Elvis Presley
Recording • DDSI.3.32 • 1:05
Written by Carl Perkins
Recording • DDSI.3.33 • 1:44
Written by Carl Perkins
Recording • DDSI.3.34 • 1:33
Written by Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller
Recording • DDSI.3.35 • 2:48
Written by Bob Dylan
Recording • DDSI.3.36 • 0:33
Written by Richard Penniman / Little Richard, Albert Collins
Recording • DDSI.3.37 • 2:28
Recording • DDSI.3.38 • 2:33
Recording • DDSI.3.39 • 1:46
Film Included in Peter Jackson's film "The Beatles: Get Back", 2021
"Get On The Phone" improvisation
Recording • DDSI.3.40 • 0:57
Recording • DDSI.3.41 • 0:15
Recording • DDSI.3.42 • 0:33
Written by Anton Karas
Recording • DDSI.3.43 • 1:51
Film Included in Peter Jackson's film "The Beatles: Get Back", 2021
Improvisation
Recording • DDSI.3.44 • 0:31
My Words Are My Heart
Recording • DDSI.3.45 • 0:10
Written by Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, John Lennon, George Harrison
Recording • DDSI.3.46 • 0:43
Recording • DDSI.3.47 • 3:40
Recording • DDSI.3.48 • 0:10
Recording • DDSI.3.49 • 3:16
Recording • DDSI.3.50 • 0:06
Recording • DDSI.3.51 • 0:17
Recording • DDSI.3.52 • 0:09
Recording • DDSI.3.53 • 0:35
Recording • DDSI.3.54 • 2:45
Recording • DDSI.3.55 • 0:19
Recording • DDSI.3.56 • 4:38
Recording • DDSI.3.57 • 4:49
Recording • DDSI.3.58 • 0:26
Recording • DDSI.3.59 • 3:30
Recording • DDSI.3.60 • 2:49
Recording • DDSI.3.61 • 2:34
Unknown
Recording • DDSI.3.62 • 0:29
Written by Alan Wilson
Recording • DDSI.3.63 • 0:52
On The Road Again
Recording • DDSI.3.64 • 0:18
Performed by : George Harrison
Recording • DDSI.3.65 • 4:21
Recording • DDSI.3.66 • 2:30
Film Included in Peter Jackson's film "The Beatles: Get Back", 2021
Recording • DDSI.3.67 • 4:06
Recording • DDSI.3.68 • 1:05
A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody
Recording • DDSI.3.69 • 0:12
Performed by : John Lennon
Recording • DDSI.3.70 • 0:26
Film Included in Peter Jackson's film "The Beatles: Get Back", 2021
Recording • DDSI.3.71 • 0:53
Film Included in Peter Jackson's film "The Beatles: Get Back", 2021
Written by Sam Cooke
Recording • DDSI.3.72 • 2:01
Written by Marvin Gaye, Clarence Paul, William Stevenson
Recording • DDSI.3.73 • 1:58
Recording • DDSI.3.74 • 2:15
Written by Chan Romero
Recording • DDSI.3.75 • 4:16
Recording • DDSI.3.76 • 2:21
Recording • DDSI.3.77 • 1:46
Recording • DDSI.3.78 • 2:37
Recording • DDSI.3.79 • 3:34
Recording • DDSI.3.80 • 3:28
Recording • DDSI.3.81 • 2:38
All Along The Watchtower
Recording • DDSI.3.82 • 1:01
Performed by : George Harrison
Recording • DDSI.3.83 • 0:47
Improvisation
Recording • DDSI.3.84 • 0:26
Improvisation
Recording • DDSI.3.85 • 0:35
Written by Larry Williams
Recording • DDSI.3.86 • 2:58
Midnight Special (Prisoner's Song)
Written by Traditional
Recording • DDSI.3.87 • 2:09
When You're Drunk You Think Of Me
Written by Traditional
Recording • DDSI.3.88 • 0:12
What's the Use of Getting Sober (When You Gonna Get Drunk Again)
Written by Busby Meyers
Recording • DDSI.3.89 • 0:09
What Do You Want To Make Those Eyes At Me For?
Written by Joseph McCarthy, Howard Johnson, James V. Monaco
Recording • DDSI.3.90 • 1:35
Film Included in Peter Jackson's film "The Beatles: Get Back", 2021
Written by Janie Bradford, Berry Gordy
Recording • DDSI.3.91 • 1:35
Written by John Lennon
Recording • DDSI.3.92 • 1:39
Film Included in Peter Jackson's film "The Beatles: Get Back", 2021
Written by George Harrison
Recording • DDSI.3.93 • 1:58
Written by George Harrison
Recording • DDSI.3.94 • 2:16
Written by George Harrison
Recording • DDSI.3.95 • 3:14
Written by George Harrison
Recording • DDSI.3.96 • 3:42
The Weight
Recording • DDSI.3.97 • 0:25
Performed by : George Harrison
I'm A Tiger
Recording • DDSI.3.98 • 0:22
Performed by : George Harrison
Written by George Harrison
Recording • DDSI.3.99 • 3:19
Improvisation
Recording • DDSI.3.100 • 0:32
Written by George Harrison
Recording • DDSI.3.101 • 1:59
Written by George Harrison
Recording • DDSI.3.102 • 6:37
Written by George Harrison
Recording • DDSI.3.103 • 0:06
Written by George Harrison
Recording • DDSI.3.104 • 3:27
Written by George Harrison
Recording • DDSI.3.105 • 3:13
Written by George Harrison
Recording • DDSI.3.106 • 4:17
Written by George Harrison
Recording • DDSI.3.107 • 3:48
Written by George Harrison
Recording • DDSI.3.108 • 1:22
Written by George Harrison
Recording • DDSI.3.109 • 5:28
Written by George Harrison
Recording • DDSI.3.110 • 5:37
Written by George Harrison
Recording • DDSI.3.111 • 4:25
Written by George Harrison
Recording • DDSI.3.112 • 2:37
Written by George Harrison
Recording • DDSI.3.113 • 2:32
Written by George Harrison
Recording • DDSI.3.114 • 6:22
Written by George Harrison
Recording • DDSI.3.115 • 2:22
Written by George Harrison
Recording • DDSI.3.116 • 0:34
Improvisation
Recording • DDSI.3.117 • 1:04
Written by George Harrison
Recording • DDSI.3.118 • 2:00
Written by George Harrison
Recording • DDSI.3.119 • 0:40
Written by George Harrison
Recording • DDSI.3.120 • 1:53
Written by George Harrison
Recording • DDSI.3.121 • 1:13
Written by George Harrison
Recording • DDSI.3.122 • 0:37
Written by George Harrison
Recording • DDSI.3.123 • 1:13
Written by George Harrison
Recording • DDSI.3.124 • 3:32
Written by George Harrison
Recording • DDSI.3.125 • 1:43
Unknown
Recording • DDSI.3.126 • 0:08
Recording • DDSI.3.127 • 0:54
Recording • DDSI.3.128 • 0:37
Piece Of My Heart
Recording • DDSI.3.129 • 2:12
Performed by : George Harrison
Sabre Dance
Recording • DDSI.3.130 • 1:30
Performed by : John Lennon
Piece Of My Heart
Recording • DDSI.3.131 • 1:29
Performed by : George Harrison
Written by Paul McCartney
Recording • DDSI.3.132 • 2:52
Recording • DDSI.3.133 • 0:25
Written by Smokey Robinson
Recording • DDSI.3.134 • 1:59
Written by George Harrison
Recording • DDSI.3.135 • 0:24
Written by George Harrison
Recording • DDSI.3.136 • 0:50
Written by George Harrison
Recording • DDSI.3.137 • 3:45
Written by George Harrison
Recording • DDSI.3.138 • 3:55
Written by George Harrison
Recording • DDSI.3.139 • 5:31
Written by George Harrison
Recording • DDSI.3.140 • 0:20
Written by George Harrison
Recording • DDSI.3.141 • 2:10
Recording • DDSI.3.142 • 0:51
Recording • DDSI.3.143 • 15:08
Recording • DDSI.3.144 • 1:05
Recording • DDSI.3.145 • 7:59
Recording • DDSI.3.146 • 1:06
Recording • DDSI.3.147 • 1:42
Recording • DDSI.3.148 • 2:46
Recording • DDSI.3.149 • 1:17
Recording • DDSI.3.150 • 0:25
Recording • DDSI.3.151 • 9:03
Drugs, Divorce and a Slipping Image - The Complete, Unauthorized Story of The Beatles' 'Get Back' Sessions
The definitive guide to the Get Back sessions, released in 1994 and updated in 2007. In the author's own words:
New, completely revised edition! This new volume isn t just a compilation of material from the 1994 book Drugs, Divorce and a Slipping Image (also later published as 'Get Back') and 'The 910's Guide To The Beatles Outtakes Part Two: The Complete Get Back Sessions' (2001). I've re-listened to the entire canon of available Get Back session tapes, come up with a bunch of new conclusions (and even a handful of new identifications!), and pretty much re-written half the book from scratch. In addition, great effort has been made to improve readability of the book. Songs have now been put into groups (generally by Nagra reel, or series of them), rather than describing each performance separately, as was done in the original. In every way, this is the book we wished we could have written in 1994.
As the paperback version is out of print, you can buy a PDF version on the author's website
If we modestly consider the Paul McCartney Project to be the premier online resource for all things Paul McCartney, it is undeniable that The Beatles Bible stands as the definitive online site dedicated to the Beatles. While there is some overlap in content between the two sites, they differ significantly in their approach.
Notice any inaccuracies on this page? Have additional insights or ideas for new content? Or just want to share your thoughts? We value your feedback! Please use the form below to get in touch with us.
