Two of Us

July 31, 1969

Sessions

Notice that Paul is barefoot here?   PID crazies -- where are you? Haha!

Recording Abbey Road

Photo taken by Linda McCartney 

Mark Lewisohn on tour!

Attention Beatle fans around the globe:  The one and only Mark Lewisohn is going on tour (but he says he won't be singing).     His new presentation has a cryptic name of "Hornsey Road" (which you will understand once you see his presentation) with a subtitle of "the surprises and delights of Abbey Road -- the Beatles final album.     I would LOVE to hear him present and I encourage all of you who have the chance to go and report back.     Hopefully, he will bring this tour to North America in the near future as well.    Check out the great photos taken by fans during the recording of Abbey Road in the Summer of 1969 that he included on this announcement. 


(Click to make the image larger so you can read the dates)

Just crossing the street

Why did the Beatle cross the road?

July 23, 2018 -  Paul McCartney crosses the road, but not just any road.  It is the newly repaved Abbey Road zebra crossing.  He is looking pretty cool in his Birkenstock sandals. 

Paul interview from late 1977

I spotted this interview in the February 1978 issue of "The Write Thing."     It was an interview Paul McCartney did on Capitol Radio in London by Roger Scott on November 12, 1977.   Anthony Luscombe transcribed it for the fanzine.

I am also including the photos that were on the page with the interview, as they were from November 1977 at Abbey Road Studios.     The color one came from a slide. 

Photo by Silvia Purbs

Scott:  The single does say on it "From the album..." is it going to be on an album?

Paul:  No, it's just independent actually.

Denny:   the whole thing has been to try and make a few singles as well as albums.  All we've ever done is make albums and put out singles from them, which is a bit boring.  We'd rather have something separate.

Paul:  This one didn't really fit with the album.  We'd got enough stuff; enough new tracks -- we'd got more than we need, kind of thing.  We just thought it seemed very singley.  When we'd done it all the pipers said, "Ah, yes, got to be a single, that one."  It was up to them, so we had to do it.

Scott:  Wings is now you and Linda and Denny.  Where are you going to go from there?  I imagine that the next time you go out on tour you're not going to try and do it like you did it before.

Paul:  Maybe, but we'll wait and see.  All we've got planned at the moment is to finish this album, and then we haven't bothering thinking about it beyond then.

Scott:  It was so superb, that last tour-- the concerts, everything, was just perfect.

Paul:  Thanks, Rog.  I like him.  I like his show.  He plays good music.  One of the best.

Scott:  Even though it was perfect, I imagine you wouldn't want to go out and do it again, what would be the point?

Paul:  Oh, we wouldn't do the same.  We're interested now in doing more the small clubs.  Plastic bags on our heads -- that sort of thing.

Scott:  What about the repackaging ripoffs?

Paul:  Oh what?

Scott:  All the old stuff.

Paul:  What--Beatles stuff??

Scott:  Yes.

Paul:  If I was still in the Beatles I'd be worried by all of that.  I'd care how they repackaged it and how they did it all, but I'm not in them and the record company has all the tapes and they're allowed to do it.   I'm more into the new stuff   I can't be bothered.  To tell you the truth I haven't even heard "Hollywood Bowl."   Terrible admission.  Geoff keeps telling me to hear it.   He did it.   He says it's good.

Scott:  Did you hear the Hamburg Tapes?

Paul:  No.  I've got a lot of those tapes anyway in my private collection.  Not the repackagings.  I've got the original demos.  I've heard them -- I mean I must have heard them -- I was on it.   I don't knock the old Beatles stuff.  I love to hear it on the radio.

I think the Beatles, actually, we were always aware of having all this unreleased stuff, and I suppose we always thought if anything happened to us, like Buddy Holly, someone would bring out all the old tapes, rehashing them, putting strings on them, so we were always careful never to have anything unreleased.  By the time we finished I think we'd put out everything we'd recorded -- very nearly.

Scott:  How about the "Sgt. Pepper" film?

Paul:  I've just heard that George Burns sings "Fixing a Hole."  Sounds interesting.  Geoff Emerick is working on it.  He's broken off form it to come and do this album for us and he likes it -- says it's going to be great.

Scott:  You're really into collecting catalogues aren't you?

Paul:  Well, when you earn money you've either got to give it to the government or spend it on something.  It's Catch 22.  I don't want to buy a lot of big buildings, so it was the normal thing to do.  Norman Petty just happened to be selling the Buddy Holly stuff.  EMI was interested, Allen Klein was interested and secretly, I think that is what got me interested.  I wanted to have them, not to be greedy, but to look after those songs and do something for them.

Photo by Silvia Purbs 

Scott:  Have you got the Decca stuff?  "Sheik of Araby" "September in the Rain?"

Paul:  Yes, actually I like that stuff.   It really shows that we were a little rock group to start off and we went towards ballads and more complicated psychedelia but all these tracks were just rock.

Scott:  Were you more of a Holly fan than a Presley ran?

Paul:  No, equal, no all of them really the thing about Holly was that if you were a new young songwriter it was easy to pick up on his stuff because there were never many chords.  Elvis something had very many chords, not his early stuff, but when he started doing "Love me Tender."  Buddy's stuff was all in A, D and E or maybe E, A, and B, and we knew these chords, so the first 50 tunes we wrote were all like that.

Scott:  There's a Wings movie that you're fiddling around with at the moment.

Paul:  Yes, we shot some things on tour when we did the "Wings over America" tour and some of its very nice, but the sound isn't that good.   We're working a lot on the soundtrack trying to get it sounding better.

Scott:  This will be for TV?

Paul:  Yes, I think it'll be a special for TV.

Scott:  But a long version, I heard, for the fans?

Paul:  Well, I don't know.  What we thought was first of all put together a kind of documentary-cum-concert for TV and then if the concert stuff really looks good then we'll put all that together for just a concert film.

Scott:  What kind of new music are you listening to at the moment?

Paul:  Not much, actually, we're working on our own stuff and by the time I get home I don't want to listen to much.  I just switch on the telly and switch off my mind.  I haven't bought any new albums for a while, actually.   My daughter's into punk, so I hear a bit of that.

Scott:  Does it make any impression?

Paul:  It's alright.  I quite like it.  I like what they're doing -- the attitude, and I like the look, but for me it's just another style.  It's not my style.

Working on the (Abbey) Road

Yoko on her bed during Abbey Road sessions

So what do you think is written on that letter next to her in the top photo?  

Competing albums

It's just a blur on Abbey Road

Strolling down Abbey Road

Photos by Mar Young

After the crossing

This photo of Abbey Road was taken on September 25, 1969 a little over a month after the Beatles took their famous walk across the street.  Things look pretty quiet, don't they?

Early Beatles Pilgrimage tour

I found this photo on ebay and I just LOVE it!   Do you think it was taken in 1969?   In the autumn after Abbey Road had been released?    I just think it is so awesome that fans started tracking down Abbey Road right away for photo opportunities.   I am sure these teenagers also walked across the zebra crossing.  

The Yellow Submarine floats down Abbey Road

A lot of things have crossed my inbox since I started this blog.  It seems like people think I have connections to people that I don't know, can pull strings that I can't pull and have access to things I do not have access to.   People also think I am happy to promote their items on my blog.   I really don't do that with just a few exceptions.   But this is just too cute and I have to show it all to you because of the cuteness factor alone!   I wish I saw this sailing down Abbey Road the other day!

A Beatles-inspired soapbox is taken for a test drive on Abbey Road in north west London ahead of the Red Bull Soapbox race at Alexandra Palace, London on 14 July. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Friday May 31, 2013. After a nine year hiatus, the world’s wackiest road race returns as 70 human-powered soapboxes compete for glory as part of a festival of music and fun.  Judges Rob Marshall (Chief Designer at Red Bull Racing), Danny MacAskill (street trials pro-rider) and Gee Atherton (multi-award winning mountain biker) will be assessing entries on their speed, creativity and crowd-pleasing antics. Entrants include a loaf of bread baked to soapbox size, Elvis’ blue suede shoe and a Royal baby carriage. Tickets are available now from www.redbullsoapboxrace.co.uk
 Photo credit should read: David Parry/PA

 

Bring on the Lucy

Another enjoyable photo from the 1969 Abbey Road session.   Very nice!

Beatles flashback: July 23, 1969

I do not want to re-hash all of the wonderful photos from the Abbey Road era Miss Tammy shared with us this weekend over at the Beatles photo blog.  I am certain that you all have been enjoying them just as much as I have.  So for me to turn around and just repost them here and pretend like they were "new" would be stealing my friend, Miss Tammy's thunder.  And since all of us Beatle photo bloggers work together, I wouldn't do that.   But since I consider myself to be an amateur Beatles historian, I thought it would be fun to take a little trip together back in time to a day in history where many of photos were taken.  Let me just say that it is my strong opinion based on clothing and various other evidence that the photos I am sharing in this post were all taken on July 23, 1969.  However, I could very well be mistaken.  

So join me in my make believe time machine back to July 23, 1969.  The summer of 1969 and it seemed like anything was possible.  Just a few days earlier the first man walked on the moon.  We didn't know it, but the Beatles themselves got together that same day and watched the first cuts of what would become the "Let it Be" film and then had dinner together in what would end up being the last time they hung out socially.

The summer of 1969 was exciting for the Beatle fans.   Many fans, such as Barb Fenick, made their first trips from American to London and were anxious to see the Beatles coming and going out of EMI studios.   These fans wanted to see Paul and John's new wives that they had read about, they were concerned about John after hearing if his car accident in Scotland and most of all, the came in swarms because they were finally old enough to travel on their own and they hadn't seen one of the Beatles in person since 1966!    It was known that the Beatles were recording and album at EMI and so swarms and swarms of fans from around the world came that summer to see them.   Of course the "regular" fans were there was well.   The Apple Scruffs (who were going by that name by this time) had their usual spots claimed and were very much in the know of the Beatles comings and goings.  All of the "new" fans hanging around were a bit of a drag to them, but it was expected in the summer.  And then there were the Paul girls (also known as the baddies to some) who were still outraged by Linda's presence but even Paul's marriage to Linda hadn't stopped their devotion to Paul. 

Oh and here comes Paul now!    Cameras snap, purposely not photographing Linda who is nearby.  Paul receives flowers from several fans.  He gives the girls a wave, signs a few autographs and makes his way into EMI, ready for the 2:30 rehearsal and recording session.  

Next to arrive is George Harrison along with his wife, Pattie.   And who is with him, none other than that big teddy bear, Mal Evans.    Mal is acting as George's bodyguard today, and makes sure that none of the fans get too close to George. 

John and Yoko arrive, but with Yoko on bed rest, they quickly dip into the studio.  They do not have time today for the mass of fans.     Ringo and(maybe) Maureen also arrive at some point.   It obviously is "bring your wife to work" day at EMI studios. 


The Beatles are using Studios 2 and 3 this day.   There is a lot of rehearsal that occurs on the song with what will soon have the title "The End."    They spend most of the session working on this song, but they also work a little on "Oh Darling" and work on the vocal overdubs on "Come Together."  Yoko has had a bed moved into the studio, since she is on strict orders from the doctor to be on bed rest.  And while this seems a little strange to everyone, no one says a word of it to John or Yoko.  Yoko and Linda (who is pregnant as well) are joined by Mal and Pattie on the bed while the boys set up for the rehearsing.

Yoko takes some photos of John from her vantage point of her bed.    You can see the bottom of her dress (pants?) in these photos.   She also has put her shoes on.

Mal (or at least I think it is Mal but then he is in a few photos) also takes a few photos of the guys.  At this point Mal was the main photographer for Beatle Book Monthly.  He tried to take photos now and then of the guys in the studio for the magazine.  Maybe these photos were taken original for that reason?   Maybe not.

By the time the whole session is over it is 12:30a.m.   Not as many fans are outside waiting as when the Beatles first arrived.   But there are always some fans who will not go home until they see the Beatles leave the studios.    Ringo's driver, Alan, is ready to pick up Ringo and take him back home. 

 

And the last photo is that of Pattie Boyd Harrison.   

 

Abbey Road

I spotted this on BZ in a really old post.   I didn't think I have ever posted it before.   Notice what John is holding in the photo.

The London Beatles sites in 1978

Savile Row

The front door of #3

Cavendish Avenue with the yellow paint

Abbey Road

Bond Street

Bond Street

Ringo or Robin offices

Rare Abbey Road era photos

For me the best thing about the Paul McCartney concert that I went to last weekend besides the fact that I was in the same room as Paul McCartney, was seeing all of Paul's rare photos.   That man has a goldmine of photos and film!   Between the things he took while he was with the the Beatles and the things Linda took during the late Beatles time and during Wings....wow!    I told my mom to be on the lookout for rare Beatles photos flashing on the screen, especially when Paul sings "Something."   When Paul started to sing the song, I yelled out to her...."rare photos....now!"   And both of us started snapping our cameras away at the screen behind Paul.   I don't even really remember Paul singing the song or anything, because I was so concerned about the photos.  We both had our cameras set to take three photos in a row.   We got a lot of the rare stuff to share with you all.   Remember that these are very good photos because they were taken off a screen!   I tried to tweek them a little to make them a bit more viewable, but still they look like they are taken off a screen.  However....the still let you see some of the Abbey Road photos that Paul has tucked away....