Chords for The Beatles and The Rooftop Gig: Part 1 - Live Shows in 1968?

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The Beatles' rooftop [N] concert is the stuff of legend, even for the biggest band in the
world.
The 42-minute gig, a total of nine takes of just five songs, is known for being
not only the culmination of the group's Let It Be movie, but their final live performance.
Why did they go out like this?
Why choose London's January cold on a windy rooftop?
It may seem preposterous now to think of the Beatles having done something else.
Their
rooftop gig is nearly a cliche now, and not just for Fab Four cover bands in their [A] hometowns.
Paul McCartney himself did it again when he played on the marquee at the Ed Sullivan Theater
in [G] 2009.
[D] And what about when U2 did it and [A] won a Grammy for it? _
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But for the Beatles, hanging out on the roof wasn't the original plan.
In fact, it was
practically a last-minute situation, with the decision being made, logistics and all,
only a few days beforehand.
In this two-part video, we're exploring the live performance
that almost didn't happen, and why the Beatles chose, of all places in the world, the rooftop
of their office building in London for their last [Abm] show.
A scene in the Let It Be movie ends during the final days of January 1969.
_ But to understand
how the Beatles ended up on the roof, we've got to go back a few months.
_ The Beatles launched their label, Apple Records, in the middle of 1968.
In June of that year,
they purchased the building at 3 Savile Row in the heart of London to house the label's
various divisions.
Little did anyone know they'd be on its rooftop just seven months later.
_ Starting before the White Album even hit the shelves in November, George Harrison and Paul
McCartney publicly discussed a return to the stage.
The group hadn't toured since 1966,
and only had a handful of public appearances since then.
Talk of a return to performing
live was big news, and details came quickly.
On October 19, Melody Maker confirmed a live
Beatles show would happen before Christmas.
Press officer Derek Taylor said it could be
at venues in London, like the soundstages at Twickenham Studios, or traditional venues
like the Royal Albert Hall or the Roundhouse.
A follow-up report expanded this to three
shows in mid-December, where Taylor said the band would be playing White Album tracks and
anything else they wanted to play.
There was even talk of a color TV special featuring
highlights from these shows.
The excitement was building and growing to near Beatlemania
levels as fans bombarded the Apple offices with ticket requests.
Unfortunately, these
shows just didn't materialize.
There was no explanation from the band.
December just
came and went.
A full live show at this time could have been absolutely incredible, if
for no other reason than to see White Album tracks played live.
But the closest we ever
got was when John Lennon played Your Blues with the one-off supergroup Dirty Mac as part
of the Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus [Ebm] on December [Db] 11th.
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[Bb] still unclear what happened to those live shows.
We can speculate any number of
reasons with 50 years of hindsight, but what is clear is the Beatles were ready for something
different than just heading back into the studio.
No surprise here.
Recall the break
that they took before recording Sergeant Pepper, and the trip to India before the White Album.
_ _ Around the same time that director Michael Lindsay-Hogg was working on the Rock and Roll
Circus, he visited the band's offices to discuss their future plans.
Lindsay-Hogg had
worked with them multiple times before, [C] most recently on [F] the Hey Jude and Revolution promo films. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
The [Eb] rough plan at this point was for the group to perform in front of an audience, with the
show being broadcast live.
But more than that, the band agreed to let cameras in the room
to document rehearsals for the performance.
Lindsay-Hogg would direct, and Dennis O'Dell,
[D] who led Apple's film division, would produce.
_ [Ab] _ _ It was O'Dell who suggested the wide-open spaces at Twickenham Studios for these rehearsal
sessions.
After all, the Beatles had worked there numerous times, dating back to 1964
and the filming of A Hard Day's Night.
It would surely work as a rehearsal spot for
the band, with room for the film crew and all their gear.
And this is how the Beatles
ended up here, starting on January 2, 1969.
_ I spoke with Dan Rivkin about all of this.
Dan runs They May Be Parted, a popular blog
detailing only this period of the band.
If anyone is an expert on a single month of the
Beatles' existence, Dan is certainly one for January of 1969.
I asked him what he thought
about the talk of the live shows, and the group setting up shop in Twickenham Studios.
The soundstage.
You know, stage one at Twickenham, this huge cavernous 7,000 square foot space.
I mean, it's this massive, [F] massive place, still there today.
_ What made that seem more
appealing than just getting up and playing three shows?
I think the factors I could think of would be, in part, they just came out with a wide
album with 30 songs.
They _ could certainly go on and promote that album in that way.
_ I think they liked the idea of doing something a little special to it.
If they're going to
come back, put a twist to it.
Have it then be coming back with a whole new set of songs.
And, you know, again, they would have been playing three weeks after the wide album came out.
All those songs are still new.
I feel like that could play into it.
_ I don't_
part of
me wants to be a skeptic and say, _ sure, they reserved that space.
Beatles never had any
intention on doing that.
Paul McCartney spent a big chunk of December on vacation in Portugal.
So, you know, maybe they were never going to play those shows, but they, you know, they
saved it just in case.
I wonder whether it's one of those things that was not just called
a red herring, but, you know what?
The people who were involved in booking will [D] book the
roundhouse.
You never know.
Maybe we'll convince them.
But let's get the place first.
Then
we'll try and twist their arms.
Under these new circumstances and more that would unfold in the coming weeks, the Beatles
put themselves under tremendous pressure, writing and recording an album's worth of
songs with cameras in their faces, then taking the stage in a way they hadn't done in years.
And all this with the location and date to be determined, except for a one-month hard
deadline.
Their plan was ambitious, to say the least.
_ _ _ Hello, hello, I'm Lance, and this [Dm] is the first [G] part of this story.
[F] If you're [Dm] watching in
January 2019, the second part is [G] coming soon.
[F] That's where we'll dive into all the [Dm] live
performance possibilities [G] discussed by the band during these Get [Am] Back sessions.
And we'll
also discover how they ended up on the roof of Three Savile Row.
[Dm] In addition, I'll have
more from my discussion [G] with Dan Rivkin.
[F] [C] If you're into Deep [G] Beatles, please check out the other videos on this channel and subscribe.
[Dm] And if you're already a subscriber, thank you so much.
[G] If you'd like to support the
Fab [Am] Four Archivist channel further, please check it out on Patreon.
Alright, that's it for this one.
Part 2 is [D] on the way. _ _ _
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