![]() ![]() THE BEATLES LET IT BE ZIP SERIESI don’t think the TV series was at all edited maliciously, but to dramatically distill a 29-minute sequence to six and deliver a specific narrative. THE BEATLES LET IT BE ZIP FULLSo the evidence is clear from the absolute beginning: The Get Back lunchroom sequence and the full Nagra lunchroom tape are completely different representations of a specific, important moment in time. On the tapes – omitted from the discussion in Get Back – Ringo quickly replied with a punchline: “It smells like George is here.” Without going line-by-line – and I can, would you like me to? - that is the main takeaway on the televised representation of this lunch: It’s different. In the TV edit, John replied, “Well, he doesn’t want to be here,” per the subtitles, although it’s not entirely clear that’s what he’s really saying if you listen closely, and it’s difficult to even find that line on the Nagras. Paul essentially began the lunchroom discussion – “So where’s George?” - with a bit of cheek. (When John said “I would sacrifice you all for her” as the lunchroom Nagra recordings begin, a segment also transcribed in the 2021 Get Back book, any kneejerk reaction that it was about the Beatles’ current situation vis-à-vis Yoko should be tempered on the tapes he already mentioned it was as “a husband.”) This wasn’t the first spoken moment on the lunchroom Nagra tapes – instead, that’s John, in medias res defending his relationship to Yoko in the context of his recently dissolved marriage to Cynthia. The Get Back docuseries’ timeline of events leading up to lunch was accurate: The group gathered upon John’s arrival on January 13. Ringo, among the quieter figures on the full lunchroom tape, never indicated any suspicion this showbiz conversation was being surreptitiously bugged.įor something so esoteric, we’re left with two distinct experiences: The Get Back version of the lunchroom, and the Nagra tape reality, which cut off suddenly after nearly 29 minutes but was recorded in a true, linear sequence - an actual conversation. “You wouldn’t see the red, just the ash,” George replied.Īt this moment on January 13, George was most certainly seeing red, dining away from the office that Monday. “Do you think if I paint this brown and put red on top it’ll look like a cigar?” A day later, on January 10, Michael suggested to the same pair that he could color the microphone to make it look like one of the director’s signature vices. On separate occasions, both George and Ringo asked if “that” was the tape on which they were being secretly recorded. “This is the bugging device, so we can surreptitiously bug your showbiz conversations,” Michael openly boasted on January 9, the day before George quit. Ringo and George Harrison found that out the previous week they just didn’t know where or when their hired documentarian would deploy it. But Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono, Linda Eastman and Mal Evans were there, too, and probably Neil Aspinall as well, all equal parties to the discussion.Īt least one of that group knew a hidden microphone was in Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s arsenal. ![]() Paul McCartney and John Lennon did have a “private conversation,” insomuch as it wasn’t at a public venue but at the Twickenham Film Studios cafeteria. This is also where a real problem begins for viewers and, importantly, the historic record.įirst, there’s the “who,” and this is the most important misrepresentation of all. ![]() They are unaware that the film-makers have planted a hidden microphone in a flowerpot.īehold true flower power: A planter with a bug designed to capture a colony of Beatles. He and Paul go to the cafeteria for a private conversation. The chyron says it all, in clear, yellow type: This could be the most unique sequence of the Beatles recorded on tape and one that most fans, even the self-proclaimed die-hards, probably didn’t know existed before November 2021.ĭirector Peter Jackson used the Beatles’ January 13, 1969, lunchroom tape to great effect. It comes a little less than three hours into the Get Back docuseries (counting credits), about a third of the way into the entire series, and it’s a shocking and quite unnerving moment - as it should be. Now that our timeline here has finally reached the afternoon of January 13, you’ll see some facts and points repeated from earlier, but now in its original canteen context. I’ve previously dipped in and out of the lunchroom tapes in recounting the events of the weekend of January 11-12, 1969. ![]()
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