Previous excerpts from the boardroom tape

5 Responses

  1. mightyquinn says:

    John Disclosed to a Legedary U/k music Journalist a year before that hew was leaving the Beatles But asked him not to say anything for a while , Which to his credit he never .Interesting that we could ? have had another Beatles album After Abbey Rd, But as John said you have all the records – just make a tape ! ( Solo tracks ! ) — The article Does have Beatles folks a buzzing + Why not ! Cheers to ALL from Liverpool .

  2. Nils says:

    John glared at Paul? How could Fawcett know?

  3. Shad Radna says:

    The memory plays tricks, etc., but I'm sure I've seen a black and white clip on YouTube with at least Paul and George in around 68/69 where Paul says he really likes the songs that George has been doing recently and George says yes but he wrote those songs a year or two ago. Inevitably I can't find it now but it sounds suspiciously like the exchange between Paul and George here. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

    I know it isn't just deja vu because I've thought about that clip a lot since I saw it. I've never really understood George's beef. Nobody forced him to record Piggies and Savoy Truffle; he had an opportunity there to give us two of the good songs he'd written, but he didn't.

    It's also worth bearing in mind just how dismissive of George's talents John was after the band split. Paul characterized this era as three versus one – a recurring theme on Ram. (I'm sure John's line in the "Paul" verse of Come Together – "He say 'one and one and one is three'" – is dismissing this idea, saying all of them were really individuals pursuing their own interests.) If this really is a transcript of a recording made for Ringo's benefit, it sounds like John's the one playing "the politician" here rather than Paul. But given all of the dramatic reconstruction stuff, this reads more like a transcript of a film clip than a tape recording.

  4. piper909 says:

    I wondered if anyone would dig out the Fawcett book and point out these sections. I've owned this since original publication (this illustration, BTW, is from the 1981 "revised" edition, hurriedly rushed back into print after John's death). Fawcett was an assistant to the Lennons at this time and presumably may be the ultimate source of these tapes, or at least copies he might have made. He may well have been in the room at these meetings — I doubt John or Yoko carried in the tape recorder themselves — and remembered the body language and facial expressions accompanying the dialogue. As far as I know, Fawcett is still alive. I hope Lewisohn has been interviewing him now for volume 3!

  5. piper909 says:

    PS: There are also many period quotes from John and Paul about how much they liked "The Inner Light", which was given to George as the B-side to Lady Madonna, and also how they thought "Within You Without You" to be one of their favorite tracks from Sgt. Pepper.

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