Giles Martin on How George Harrison was Ostracized During ‘Let It Be’ Sessions
Giles Martin, as with previous Beatles reissues, is producing the upcoming reissue of Let It Be. The reissue comes out this Friday (October 15) about a month before the highly-anticipated release of the three-part film series The Beatles: Get Back directed by Peter Jackson.
In the lead-up to the release of The Beatles: Get Back, Jackson has said how surprised he was to realize that the sessions for Let It Be weren’t the tension-filled awkwardness as originally depicted by Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s original documentary. This sentiment was also shared by Martin, who touched on this in a new interview with NME.
“I was surprised by the camaraderie, especially between John and Paul,” said Martin. “We sort of see this as The Beatles’ ‘break-up album’, and of course it wasn’t because they were back in the studio doing ‘I Want You (She’s So Heavy)’ [on ‘Abbey Road’] pretty soon afterwards… It was quite a collaborative process.”
He adds, “The strain of ‘Let It Be’ was actually the strain that [John and Paul] put on George and Ringo by trying to force themselves together, and the strain of doing a live show with no songs in two-and-a-half weeks’ time.”
When pressed to detail this strain, Martin said, “What I can get [from the outtakes] is that George was being ostracised slightly during ‘Let It Be’. Because he had all these songs [which eventually became his sprawling 1970 solo album ‘All Things Must Pass’] but you hear John refer to him as ‘Harrisongs’ – he’s got his own publishing deal and he’s come as a songwriter.”
Martin continued, “It’s like, ‘Oh – we should give George a song.’ At this stage, George was writing way more than John was. I think John had some sort of writers’ block – he doesn’t have a huge amount of songs on ‘Let It Be’. I think the attention [John and Paul] were giving one another – almost like they were trying to rekindle their relationship – ostracised George, to a certain degree.”
As previously reported, the Let It Be reissue will be available in the following formats: Standard CD, Standard LP, Deluxe 2 CD, Special Edition LP Picture Disc, Super Deluxe 5 CD/1 Blu-Ray and Super Deluxe 4 LP + 12″ EP. Each format is currently available for pre-order at The Beatles.com.
GALLERY: Classic Images of George Harrison
