Paul McCartney plays the guitar, one would say almost indolently, if that is possible. As many think when they see abstract art, it is tempting to conclude that anyone can do that, I can do it. It is ripping the strings of the guitar by strumming them. There is nothing there that remotely sounds not just like the Beatles, but like a song. And, suddenly, a spark of recognition, the melody sounds. And a few seconds later there it is: the skeleton of ‘Get back’, one of the long list of hits by the Liverpool quartet. From nothing to one hundred creative in less than a minute.
There is some ‘voyeur’ in the viewing of the documentary ‘Get back’, directed by Peter Jackson, about the recording sessions for ‘Let it be’. Jackson, a guy who finds it impossible to summarize, has condensed into three installments of more than seven hours the 55 hours of footage and 140 hours of audio from those sessions that Paul, John, George and Ringo allowed to be recorded in their entirety. The result is a very long documentary that shows four guys talking, smoking, drinking, playing and composing. Four friends who in just seven years (it is fascinating to think of how little time, barely seven years, beatlemania developed) have accumulated a sidereal success, profound differences (at the time, insurmountable) but also a complicity that, as seen in the documentary, from time to time turns on. And when it does, oh boy, they were certainly bigger than Jesus Christ.
Death warrant
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Half a century later, knowing what happened – the separation, the estrangement, the accusations, the resentment (that ‘How do you sleep’ by Lennon, with Harrison doing the guitar solo, “The only thing you’ve done is ‘Yesterday.’ & rdquor;) …– Jackson’s documentary is viewed with the fatalism of knowing that nothing can stop the wheel of time from turning. They don’t know it yet, but Yoko Ono (omnipresent silent presence next to Lennon) is about to become the Cruella de Vil of contemporary pop culture, and a death sentence hangs from John’s head. Those moments when the wick lights and songs are born with ‘The long and winding road’ and ‘Let it be’, those moments when the Beatles are just four friends making songs, they are pregnant with melancholy. This was. They were capable of this. That is how they will end, even if they don’t know it yet.
Jackson has received criticism for the excessive length of the documentary. Some may find it tedious to witness the creation process, but it is difficult to deny to Jakcon, fanirredento, that he has created a very valuable but two-sided document. The bright side of his work is the privilege of seeing talent flow, witnessing first-hand the elusive alchemy of inspiration and art. The dark side is the realization that life would be much easier if everything were limited to sitting in a circle with the instruments and exchanging ideas, sometimes great, sometimes mediocre, sometimes crazy. Sitting in a circle, the Beatles were four happy and invincible boys. Out of the blue, they couldn’t get out of real life unscathed either.
Reference-www.elperiodico.com