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Friday, May 9, 1969

Mixing the "Get Back" album (2nd compilation)

Last updated on May 20, 2025


Master session

Location

Timeline

Master release

AlbumSome of the songs worked on during this session were first released on the "Let It Be (50th anniversary boxset - SHM - Japanese edition)" Official album

Some of the songs from this session also appear on:

This was the last of four days spent at Olympic Sound Studios. On May 7, The Beatles had resumed work on their “Get Back” LP project, picking up the mixing process that had begun in March. Engineer and producer Glyn Johns aimed to preserve the informal atmosphere of the sessions by including snippets of studio chatter, as well as segments of speech and music from alternate takes.

This editing and assembly work continued on that day, from 3 pm to 7 pm.

From 7 pm to 10 pm, and again from 10:30 pm to 11 pm, the team held a playback session of the mixed tracks in the studio. With this, the second attempt at compiling the “Get Back” LP was considered complete.


The session ended on a sour note when business matters came to the fore. The previous day, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr had signed a contract officially appointing Allen Klein as Apple’s financial manager, granting him a 20% share of their earnings. They expected Paul McCartney to add his signature as well, but he refused. Tensions ran high, and the three other Beatles — along with Allen Klein, who was present — stormed out of the studio.

Left alone in the studio, Paul then crossed paths with American musician Steve Miller, who happened to be recording there at the time. The two struck up a spontaneous collaboration, with Paul contributing drums, bass, guitar and backing vocals to Miller’s track “My Dark Hour.”


That was the night we broke the Beatles. Really, that was the big crack in the Liberty Bell. It never came back together after that one.

Paul McCartney – Interview with Mark Lewisohn, 1991 – Quoted in From “Living the Beatles Legend: The untold story of Mal Evans” by Mal Evans, 2023

Things came to a head on 9 May 1969. The Beatles were booked in, for a Friday-night session with the producer Glyn Johns at Olympia Studios in Barnes, but instead of recording, the session turned into an acrimonious argument about business. Klein had told the others that he had to have his three-year management contract signed immediately because he was flying back to New York the next day and had to present it to the board of his corporation.

Paul McCartney – From “Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now” by Barry Miles, 1997

It was a Friday evening session, and I was sitting there, and I’d heard a rumor from Neil or someone that there was something funny going around. So we got to the session, and Klein came in. To me, he was like a sort of demon that would always haunt my dreams. He got to me. Really, it was like I’d been dreaming of him as a dentist. He came round to the session, and he said, “I gotta have this thing signed, I gotta get you guys on a contract,” and then so I said, “Wait a minute, c’mon, it’s Friday night, what’s the hurry? Give us the thing over the weekend, and we’ll let ya know Monday?” Fair enough?

And everyone said, “Uh-huh, there he goes.”

I said, “What do you mean, ‘There he goes’? There is no one on the line over the weekend. It’s gotta get checked out and deal with any rewrites and we’re not in a hurry to go with this guy, so let’s check it out.”

John said, “Oh, fucking hell, here you go, stalling again.”

Paul McCartney – From “All You Need Is Love: The Beatles in Their Own Words: Unpublished, Unvarnished, and Told by The Beatles and Their Inner Circle” by Peter Brown and Steven Gaines, 2024

I said, ‘Hell take 15 per cent. We’re massive, we’re the biggest act in the world, he’ll take 15 per cent.’ But for some reason the three of them were so keen to go with him that they really bullied me and ganged up on me. It sounds a bit wimpy but anyway they outvoted me on these issues. They said, ‘He’s got to have 20 per cent.’ And Klein of course saw all this and said, ‘I can’t do it for any less than this. My board back in America won’t allow it …’ Now the idea that Klein was run by some sort of board was a complete fiction. It was him and his assistant Peter Howard. Klein was the board, you only had to look on his letterhead. But they believed it.

They went, ‘No, he’s got to have a board meeting, he’s told us. Tomorrow, Saturday.’ I said, ‘I’ve never heard of anyone doing any work on a Saturday, certainly not him.’ They said, ‘You’re just stalling.’ They were completely besotted with this guy. I said, ‘No, I’m not. I want a good deal out of this guy. I don’t think we should just run and jump into his arms. I’ll wait to Monday before we ratify anything. My lawyer will be present on Monday. I happen to have a Jewish lawyer. What can I say to him? “Change your bloody religion, man, I need you”? You can’t do that.’ And they said, ‘Well, we’ll do it without you,’ which they couldn’t, that was why they needed me otherwise I don’t think they’d have bothered showing up. So they said, ‘Oh, fuck off!’ and they all stormed off, leaving me with the session at Olympic.

Paul McCartney – From “Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now” by Barry Miles, 1997

John was going with Klein, and George and Ringo said, ‘OK, we’re going with John.’ I realised I was expected to go along with it, but I didn’t think it was a good idea – simple as that, really. Actually I asked Mick Jagger when he came round, ‘What do you think?’ He said, ‘Oh, he’s all right if you like that kind of thing.’ He didn’t really warn us off him, so there it was – and that then was the three-to-one situation.

In The Beatles, if anyone didn’t agree with a plan, it was always vetoed. It was very democratic that way, so the three-to-one situation was very awkward and as a result ‘things’ would happen.

I remember being at Olympic Studios one evening when I think we were supposed to be doing something on Abbey Road. We all showed up, ready to record, and Allen Klein showed up too. The other three said, You’ve got to sign a contract – he’s got to take it to his board.’ I said, ‘It’s Friday night. He doesn’t work on a Saturday, and anyway Allen Klein is a law unto himself. He hasn’t got a board he has to report to. Don’t worry – we could easily do this on Monday. Let’s do our session instead. You’re not going to push me into this.’

They said, ‘Oh, are you stalling? He wants 20%.’ I said, ‘Tell him he can have 15%.’ They said: ‘You’re stalling.’ I replied, ‘No, I’m working for us; we’re a big act.’ I remember the exact words: ‘We’re a big act – The Beatles. He’ll take 15%.’ But for some strange reason (I think they were so intoxicated with him) they said, ‘No, he’s got to have 20%, and he’s got to report to his board. You’ve got to sign now or never.’ So I said, ‘Right, that’s it. I’m not signing now.’

Paul McCartney – From “The Beatles Anthology” book, 2000

I looked at Ringo, and he kind of gave me this sick look like, Yeah, I’m going with them. Then I said, “Well, this is like bloody Julius Caesar, and I’m being stabbed in the back!” It’s the first time you realize in our whole relationship that whenever we voted, we never actually had come to that point before—three were going to vote one down. That was the first time, and they all signed it, they didn’t need my signature. So that was the first time I was sort of outvoted,

From “All You Need Is Love: The Beatles in Their Own Words: Unpublished, Unvarnished, and Told by The Beatles and Their Inner Circle” by Peter Brown and Steven Gaines, 2024

About Glyn Johns’ “Get Back” compilations

A few months after the end of the “Get Back” sessions, engineer/producer Glyn Johns was given the task of compiling an actual album. Glyn made four different variants of the album, two of them having been considered for release at some point.

Compilation 1 – January 1969Compilation 2 – Early May 1969Compilation 3 – Late May 1969Compilation 4 – January 1970
Mixed:
January 24, 1969
January 26, 1969
January 27, 1969
January 30, 1969
Mixed:
February 5, 1969
March-May, 1969
March 4, 1969
April 3, 1969
April 4, 1969
April 7, 1969
May 2, 1969
May 7, 1969
May 9, 1969
Mixed:
May 15, 1969
May 28, 1969
Additional recording:
January 3, 1970
January 8, 1970

Mixed:
December 15, 1969
December 21, 1969
January 5, 1970
January 8, 1970
Side one

1. Get Back (false start) — DDSI 23.78
2. Get Back — DDSI 23.79
3. I’ve Got a Feeling (fragment) — DDSI 23.80
4. Help! (fragment) — DDSI 23.81
5. Teddy Boy — DDSI 24.33
6. Two of Us (fragment – false start) — DDSI 24.48
7. Two of Us — DDSI 24.69
8. Dig a Pony — DDSI 23.66
9. I’ve Got a Feeling — DDSI 22.71

Side two

10. The Long and Winding Road — DDSI 26.91
11. Let It Be — DDSI 26.74
12. Don’t Let Me Down — DDSI 22.60
13. For You Blue — DDSI 25.46
14. Get Back — DDSI 27.63
15. The Walk — DDSI 27.83
Side one

1. One After 909
2. Rocker
3. Save the Last Dance for Me
4. Don’t Let Me Down
5. Dig a Pony
6. I’ve Got a Feeling
7. Get Back

Side two

8. For You Blue
9. Teddy Boy
10. Two of Us
11. Maggie Mae
12. Dig It
13. Let It Be
14. The Long and Winding Road
15. Get Back (reprise)
Side one

1. One After 909 — DDSI.30.08
2. Rocker — DDSI.22.58
3. Save the Last Dance for Me — DDSI.22.59
4. Don’t Let Me Down — DDSI.22.80
5. Dig a Pony — DDSI.23.70
6. I’ve Got a Feeling — DDSI.22.71
7. Get Back — DDSI.27.63 & 28.43

Side two

8. For You Blue — DDSI.25.47
9. Teddy Boy — DDSI.24.33
10. Two of Us — DDSI.24.69
11. Maggie Mae — DDSI.24.49
12. Dig It — Excerpt of DDSI.24.85
13. Let It Be — 31.64 + overdubbed guitar solo
14. The Long and Winding Road — DDSI.26.91
15. Get Back (reprise) — DDSI.28.43
Side one

1. One After 909
2. Rocker
3. Save the Last Dance for Me
4. Don’t Let Me Down
5. Dig a Pony
6. I’ve Got a Feeling
7. Get Back
8. Let It Be

Side two

9. For You Blue
10. Two of Us
11. Maggie Mae
12. Dig It
13. The Long and Winding Road
14. I Me Mine
15. Across the Universe
16. Get Back (reprise)
Bootlegged on “Kum BackBootlegged on “O.P.D.

Sketch by Mal Evans portraying an infuriating Paul McCartney at Olympic Studios – From “Living the Beatles Legend: The untold story of Mal Evans” by Mal Evans, 2023

Session activities

  1. Inserts for the Get Back LP

    Mixing • Stereo mixing


Staff

Production staff

Visitors


Going further

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.

Read more on The Beatles Bible

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