Reflections On The Beatles: Get Back
They had the gift of improvisation. They demonstrated the process of learning.
After months of dribbled details, and an opportunity to take some paid time off, I finally got to see The Beatles: Get Back, a documentary about the making of the album, “Let It Be”. I thoroughly enjoyed the candor, the humor, and the spectacle of 4 musicians writing songs. I didn’t know how they did it. Now I have some idea of what it took for them to write a song.
It may not seem like it, but this documentary is about learning. In Get Back, John, Paul, George, and Ringo demonstrate the processes of songwriting, from improvisation to learning a habit, and exercising a habit of playing a song. And all along the way, they demonstrated their humility, their wit, and their vulnerability.
I laughed often and hard throughout the series. I knew that the Fab Four had a sense of humor. In this documentary, they really let loose with puns, inside jokes, misdirection, and context shifting. Every joke was made as a gift. They were irreverent, light-hearted, and just plain funny. It was easy to laugh with The Beatles.
The backstory of the documentary was that Paul McCartney wanted to do a TV special, but they couldn’t stay on schedule due to friction within the group and circumstances…
