P

aul McCartney’s favourite

photo was taken in 1968 by

Linda, then his girlfriend. It

shows him and John Lennon

writing together, beaming with

the shared joy of being in the

world’s best band.

That joy, though, is not how most of

us think of the Beatles in their final

days. We think of acrimony and bitter-

ness, later confirmed by all those spite-

ful, score-settling solo songs (Too Many

People by McCartney, How Do You

Sleep? by Lennon). This simple story

endured for five decades — the Beatles’

history was giddy and glorious until the

late 1960s, then the band blew up and

rained poison on each other.

Which is what McCartney thought

too — until last year, when the director

Peter Jackson sent him footage of the

film he had been making for four years;

The Beatles: Get Back, a three-part Fab

Four extravaganza. It’s based on 56

hours of film and 130 hours of audio

that lay in Apple’s vaults for 50 years

— a feast when you remember that the

Beatles core catalogue totals about 10

hours of music. It captures the sessions

for the Let It Be album in January 1969

and ends with their last gig on the roof

in Savile Row. Jackson’s film gives voice

to all four members. And it has it all,

from the band making each other cups

of tea to John and Yoko’s heroin hang-

overs, via classic songs such as Don’t Let

Me Down being written as you watch.

“I’ll tell you what is really fabulous

about it,” a thrilled McCartney says. “It

shows the four of us having a ball.” The

film reminds him, sweetly, of that

photo by Linda. “It was so reaffirming

for me. That was one of the important

things about the Beatles — we could

COVER STORY

THE LAST TIME THE BE

Peter Jackson’s astonishing behind-the-scenes film will change

completely how you think about Britain’s greatest band. It has

even made Paul McCartney think again about their break-up

make each other laugh. John and I are

in this footage doing Two of Us and, for

some reason, we’ve decided to do it

like ventriloquists. It’s hilarious. It just

proves to me that my main memory of

the Beatles was the joy and the skill.”

Not the fallings-out? “Really, yes,” he

says. “And there is proof in the footage.

Because I definitely bought into the

dark side of the Beatles breaking up

and thought, ‘God, I’m to blame.’ It’s

easy, when the climate is going that

way, to think that. But at the back of my

mind there was this idea that it wasn’t

like that. I just needed to see proof.”

I speak to Jackson, 60, from his

home in New Zealand. He has been

squirrelled away editing Get Back

through lockdown and is as excited as

he is nerdy — a man about to disclose to

the world his revelations about pop

culture’s most scrutinised men.

The director of The Lord of the Rings

(and the great First World War docu-

mentary They Shall Not Grow Old,

which turned a black-and-white con-

flict into colour) has been a fan of the

Beatles for decades. As a teenager he

went out intending to buy a model aer-

oplane, only to come back with the Red

and Blue compilation albums instead.

That was it. The Beatles bug had bit.

This film is an exhilarating watch. At

one point George Harrison is struggling

with lyrics to Something. He, Lennon

and McCartney play around, with one

suggestion being, “Something in the

way she moves/ Attracts me like a

pomegranate.” At another point Len-

non is filmed singing On the Road to

Marrakesh, which would eventually

become Jealous Guy.

Jackson’s personal favourite moment

is when a fed-up Harrison walks out

and says he’s quitting the band, leaving

McCartney, Lennon and Ringo Starr

thrashing out heavy metal to quell their

frustrations. Then the trio become sad.

This is live footage of a break-up of the

Beatles; the pop equivalent of the

assassination of JFK caught on camera.

Just over a year later the Beatles split

for real, and a month after that, in May

1970, the original Let It Be film came out

(barely any footage from that movie has

ended up in Jackson’s edit). It shows a

miserable band recording Let It Be, and

that became the narrative. Its director,

JONATHAN

DEAN

Ringo couldn’t

relax. The others

could goof around,

but he had to be

ready to go

whatever came.

At the end of

each day he was

exhausted

George surprised

me. He is involved

in all the songs,

suggesting ideas.

In fact he is more

awkward with his

own songs

PETER JACKSON SAW 56 HOURS OF NEW BEATLES FOOTAGE. WHAT DID HE FIND OUT?

©1968 PAUL M

CCARTNEY/ PHOTOGRAPHER: LINDA M

CCARTNEY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED