Get Back Part I

This day.......

I've been waiting for this day for a long time.

I half-jokingly told some people that I would live tweet my Get Back-watching experience, but of course I'm too chicken to broadcast all my rambling Beatlethoughts to Twitter. So here in the safety of my own echo chamber, I'll throw all the tweet-sized thoughts that ran through my head (and occasionally out of my mouth) while watching the first part of the series with my husband, cat, and a bottle of wine.

I wasn't expecting the rapid-fire history at the very beginning, but it was pretty nicely done. (And I'll never complain about seeing Beatles footage in high quality.) Also, it conveniently provided context for quips later on: "Who's that little old man?" "You could go back to Manila," etc. etc.
Framing this as a literal day-by-day documentary worked better than I thought it would. In the Anthology book—which I definitely pulled out to cross-reference—John talks about the band being like a 9 to 5 job at that point, and it does kind of seem like that. But it's cool to see how much the new songs progress day by day.
Watching the Beatles rehearsing "All Things Must Pass" was magical. And John misreading "wind" as "mind" and then George keeping it for when he eventually recorded the song...I was just a PUDDLE of feels.
"We've been grumpy for the past 18 months" - Ringo, 1969 (also: all of us, 2021)
MLH trying so hard to get the Beatles to do a show in Libya was a bit painful. I can't imagine them doing that at all...but it would've been pretty wild if they'd pulled it off.

It was hilarious how adamantly George didn't want to travel by boat to a venue ("expensive and insane," in his words).
Watching "Get Back" materialize out of nothing really was something to behold. So was Ringo and George's reaction.
The sheer AMOUNT of music these guys blasted through in the first week of filming alone...is that normal? Like, there's just an endless well of Lennon/McCartney songs to pull from, not to mention all the covers they run through, plus stuff that would end up on future albums...and then George and Ringo occasionally just walk in like, "Here's a song I wrote last night"...it's all very impressive to me, as a person who used to spend 6+ months learning 3 pieces of pre-arranged music.
Also, I know this is probably just normal band stuff, and of course the Beatles would refer back to their own catalog, but I still found it fascinating which songs they'd pull out of past albums and just start playing. "Every Little Thing"? I'm SO pleased George thought that was a nice song!!
LOL at Dick James trying to talk music biz with the guys and their extreme disinterest every time.
What do we think Yoko and Linda were talking about??

This version of "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" is hott.
The "No Pakistanis" version of "Get Back", even though it's satire could easily get the Beatles cancelled in modern times. For that reason, I'm pretty glad they went a different direction with it.
Honestly, I can relate to Paul's work ethic. I get that everyone felt he was being bossy, but at the same time, if Paul wasn't there to steer them in some direction, I'm pretty sure the album (and film) would've just dissolved into nothing. And I'm so glad it became something.
It's easy to see John's antics as comedic relief, but I guess what it really was was a general sense of apathy...and heroin abuse. He didn't really want to be there but his go-to way of handling it was just being a goof. They showed a lot less of the antics in the original Let It Be film, which always led me to believe he was just completely over the Beatles at this point in their career. It's nice to see it wasn't always like that, though.
Watching George trying to speak up while Paul and John just keep talking to each other about how a song should go...that sucks. Plus, George came in with some straight up bangers and I feel like he got a lukewarm reception to all of them.
Also George prefacing all of his songs with "It's really short/easy," "It's ok if you don't want it" - TAKE MORE CREDIT JOJ YOU DESERVE IT!!
Ringo just really stays out of the drama, good for him.
The violent jamming to Yoko's screaming (and Paul swinging from the scaffolding) after George leaves was...unexpected.
How exciting to have a reason for a new drinking game! I'll be adding to this as the next 2 parts get released...

Take a drink when:

Someone plays a song that ends up on a solo album
The camera does a closeup of Mal Evans smiling 🤓
John is late
Yoko starts a new hobby
Paul's beard is mentioned

Take two drinks when:

Someone gets electrocuted
Ringo introduces a Starkey original
George and Paul have a row

Chug it:

George leaves the band

#Thankful for the long weekend / giddy for part 2,