Wednesday, September 19, 2018

The Genius of The Beatles in the Studio - Very rare footage...



Great video. There's an interesting comment from George Harrison though that really caught me by surprise, abut halfway through, in relation to the making of one of The Beatles' early movies, where he says something to the effect, of hiring a couple of their usual ghost writers for the soundtrack!
In relation to this, it sorta' brings back a memory I myself will never forget, of a time when I went to music school, where I was a student of a professional studio musician and career jazz guitar player and teacher by the name of Joe (whose last name I will not mention here) who during a Guitar Master Class instruction (with maybe about 20 other students attending) told us (as we were learning chord embellishments on a Beatles tune) that it was his professional opinion that The Beatles had to have had ghost writers (at least by later in their career in relation to at least some of their songs) because of the fact (by their own admission) that they knew virtually nothing about music harmony and music theory, and really couldn't even read a lick of music (except for maybe chord charts) for instance, and therefore could not have possibly written so many (well constructed) hit songs that have even become pop standards over time (especially at such a young age) without some kind of help, was his opinion anyway.
(And I guess it was something to think about really, as it made some sense at least).
I will never forget how this statement created such a raucous from some of the other students attending the class. But could this possibly be what Harrison is referring to here? With my guitar instructor being proved right all along? Not absolutely sure at this time, but what I definitely believe (and only McCartney or Ringo as the current sole living Beatles could verify, with Paul publicly stating himself in different ways) that they did at least have a great deal of help from their producer George Martin, who was himself a very accomplished musician, and who did know allot about music harmony and theory (and who brought many of their ideas to life in more ways then one), not to mention the fact that The Beatles were very brilliant self-taught musicians and (prolific) songwriters in their own rite, and had learned allot of songs that they figured out themselves by ear no less, especially in the early days before they became famous, therefore did know allot of chord progressions and how popular music at the time was constructed (and were probably still studying and learning songs by other artists over time in their own way), as they were fast learners and innovative, creative writers, bordering on genius to begin with, and just took it from there, one way or the other.
(And even seemed to have developed their own formula and style from that).
One also has to remember, that The Beatles had become like an institution, almost like a business, and now like a legend, even to the present day...
That was the genius of The Beatles in a nutshell...