I don't do TV, or streaming, or most anything that requires a monthly subscription. Why? Self-employed musician, there are times of feast and times of famine. I was out of work 2 years thanks to COVID, and never had to hit my savings to pay the bills.

So I went to my public library, and checked out the 3 disc DVD set of the Beatles' documentary, “Get Back”.

For me and Mrs. Notes, the first two disks were a waste. They guys are in the movie studio with no sense of direction. Not rehearsing, not even practicing, and when they are playing, sounding quite lame.

I hit >> and >>| controls quite a bit. I'm sure I missed some gems of information, but the boredom was not worth it.

I did notice a few things.

* Ringo was the pro, always showed up on time, when the other musicians were working out chords or whatever, Ringo sat patiently at the drum set, waiting. Many drummers I know start tuning heads, practicing licks or fidgeting on the drums in other ways when the rest of the band works on notes. I have a newfound respect for Ringo.

* I noticed Paul gets around on the piano pretty well, and has some very good musical ideas.

* Billy Preston is a gem, but then I've always like his piano playing.

* Children, wives, and significant others should not have been allowed in.

* Somebody needed to take leadership and focus the group, as they were unable to focus on the task, and neither John nor Paul wanted to let the other one lead.

* They expressed nervousness about playing in front of an audience. They could have fallen flat on their faces and the fans would have swooned.

We watched the last disc in its entirety, and this is what hit me the most.

When they were on the rooftop, playing live, they were not only a band again, but you could see the joy you can only get from live performance on their faces, especially Paul's. They were in their bliss.

I know that much of what they recorded from Strawberry Fields on could not be reproduced live, but I think they should have continued to play live to keep the band spirit alive.

That's my take, anyway.

Insights and incites by Notes ♫

Bob, some fun facts you may have missed:

Throughout Disc 1 & 2 Paul did try to take control ... many times. In fact Paul's attempts became so grating George took a hike.

It was VERY obvious John or Paul thought little of George's or Ringo's songwriting.

John and Paul interacted with each other most of the time but neither hung out very much with George or Ringo.

Paul is a pretty good drummer too.

The eight track recorder was George's personal recorder from home.

I haven't seen it yet.... I don't have Disney+ and don't want it and we don't have a DVD player anymore.

So maybe I'll have to wait a bit longer.....

Bu you have that VCR, right? For the Ren & Stimpy reruns?

I have the tapes.... but I think the VCR is out in my shop.

Ever since we moved to the farm 6 years ago we've not been too interested in watching DVDs and tapes.

Dead on Jim. My observations exactly.

Thanks. I knew about the 8 track and guessed about the power struggle.

I still have a DVD player, so I called the public library. It was a little wait, but when they got it in, Mrs. Notes drove down and checked it out, while I was working on the backing track. It was for Rhiannon, a song a regular audience member just asked for. The track turned out well. I bought the sheet music, and that makes the job go quicker. Transcribing by ear takes a lot of time. Sorry to drive off on the tangent.

I like George's songs, not all of them, but the gems are very good. I suppose that may have been part of the power struggle too.

The reason I got bored with it is I've been in bickering bands where there is a clash of ideas, and nobody wants to give in to the other's.

Ringo's songwriting? I don't particularly love or hate it. They are to me mediocre songs that George Martin saved.

I've followed the Beatles from the start, since I was in cover bands that had to play their songs (and loved to as well).

The Abbey Road Medley is to me their best. The arrangement is superb, the performances good, and Paul's bass playing at times borders on genius. For some time I thought it was a studio bass player. It seemed too quick of a progression from the country bass of the early songs to the Jameson influenced bass later and on to this level of playing. He had more talent than I gave him credit for (my apologies, Paul).

The Let It Be album, showed me just how important George Martin was, and how he was indeed the 5th Beatle (6th if you insist that Billy Preston was 5th). It's not bad by any stretch of the imagination, but not stellar like Revolver, Rubber Soul, Abbey Road, Pepper, or Magical Mystery. Half the white album is good, and half boring. If they edited out half the cuts, it would have made a good single disk album.

Of course, that's my opinion, and if anyone disagrees, their view is as valid as mine.

But when I saw them performing in the Rooftop concert, I saw the spark in them that most good bands have when playing live to an audience and that was worth the price (although from the library it was free).

I haven't watched TV since the 1990s. I have no streaming services, but I do have a one-disc-at-a-time that comes in the mailbox from Netflix. They wanted to ship one disc at a time, to it would have taken almost a month to see that, thus the library.

When a movie goes in the player, it's the absolute only time the TV gets turned on. OK, I'm weird, but I'm OK with that.

Notes ♫

Watched, and loved, every second (except when Yoko was shrieking into the mic) of it. I call that the "Lucy Ricardo Syndrome". Women adjacent to the business because their husbands are in it that madly want to be part of it but have no talent.

I loved all the bickering because I believe that the only boat that doesn't rock is one that is standing still. From all the controversy, members quitting, the initial disagreement on the end goal, when the light went on (or the bell went off, choose your metaphor) they delivered. That's what pros do.

That being said, they ran the band in a way I would not have been able to endure. The power struggles and the "us vs them" of McLennon vs Harristarr would have pushed me out early on.

It's also to remember the perspective angle of them being The Beatles and 99% of us being nobodies. For all the war stories, nobody here was even close to what they were/are. Counting Preston and Sir George, 4 of the 6 major players are dead, and their legacy is still gaining momentum. That will never happen again. The bet band in the country that schleps their own gear and have never written a song or sold a record (Nobody buys a record with 12 cover songs on it) just has no place in the conversation with them. As good a any of us want to think we are, none of us made it. Gigging around your town and traveling with 2 Econoline vans is not "making it". It's making a living, yes, but it's not making it. But I have said all this before. I never made it to the point where my multi million dollar tour bus took me to the Enormodome where the crew has all my band' gear set up and waiting. Or spending 10 hours a day in the studio writing songs instead of working to pay the rent. The mansion where I'd live is long paid for and I keep making mailbox money. That's just the reality of the difference of making it big and survival.

So I loved every bit of seeing the creative process. They were the absolute best to ever do it. Their work after they quit touring was exquisite and simply perfection. Sir George was a large part of it.