Original subtitles

You know, I meet a lot of young groups and I say,

"I can't read music or write it."

They go, "What?"

And it's like... "Well, that doesn't work.

Well, if you've done this, how could you do it without..."

But it means that it's here. It's not on a bit of paper.

Playing upbeat music

I tell kids who want to learn the piano,

I say, "Okay, here's you go. Start with middle C."

We all know that.

It's the first thing in a piano lesson.

And then think about like the Eddie Cochran thing.

Playing music notes

I say, "Well, that's... that's a chord, if you play those together."

plays chord on piano

"And you just got that, remember this and that.

So you do that. One space. Finger. One space. Finger."

So there you've got the chord. I say, you know, "We started there."

Mm‐hmm.

‐ And so, you could kind of write a song... with that.

‐ Yeah. Yeah. ‐ But if you just move this up one,

plays higher music chord

it's the same shape. ‐ Yeah.

‐ You've got another chord. ‐ Yeah.

‐ Now you've got two chords.

Playing musical chords

Move it up again, you got three chords.

Yeah.

And move it up again, you got four chords.

- Yeah. Yeah. - And then again, you got five.

And then now you've got six.

Well, you don't need more than that. ‐ Yeah.

‐ So you can now put permutations of that...

‐ Yeah. ‐ and you get songs, you know, like...

Yeah.

‐ Oh oh oh

Baby baby yeah

But it's that same little shape.

‐ Yeah.

‐ But that shape is a marvelous shape

You can do anything with that shape

You know?

Did your dad teach you that shape?

‐ No, we figured that out from...

‐ Yeah.

‐ We had to know this to do Jerry Lee Lewis.

‐ Yeah.

‐ Oh, baby, a whole lotta shakin' goin' on

Yeah.

‐ So once you figure that...

playing chords

So it really gets super fascinating, I think.

‐ Absolutely. ‐ You know, you,

you've got all the chords you can play with,

put those in permutations, then mess with the bass notes.

Obvious thing to do is to do

the... the note

one octave down that relates to that chord.

Plays lower chord

But you can do...

playing melody

‐ Harmony.

‐ And you, you're getting really dramatic now.

‐ Yeah.

‐ And I think that's all we ever did, you know, just experimented.

Uh, with John doing Imagine, you could hear that's him...

Yeah.

‐ It's just sort of what we'd learned based on that.

Playing rock music on piano

‐ Yeah.

‐ I saw John Legend the other night, and John's doing this...

playing chords on piano

I forget what the song was. And then he sort of goes...

But that's, that's those...

‐ Yeah. Yeah.

‐ You, you know, if you put some nice soul stuff over that...

I got pain, I got my pain in my heart

- You know? - Yeah.

Or...

When I find myself in times of trouble

Mother Mary comes to me

Same chords. ‐ Wow.

‐ Words of wisdom

Let it be

Wow.

‐ Let it be, let it be

Let it be, let it be

'Cause there will be an answer

Let it be

Let It Be playing

Let it be, let it be

Let it be, yeah, let it be

There will be an answer

Let it be

Song ends

Our favorite composer was Bach in the Beatles

'cause it was nearest to what we were doing.

And we would just say, "Just put a beat behind it."

‐ Yeah.

Yeah.

‐ It'd be, it'd be better.

‐ Yeah. ‐ It'd be better then.

‐ Yeah.

‐ What I liked about it was the mathematical thing,

so that you kind of go...

plays notes

Or Eleanor Rigby...

playing higher notes

You do that. So you go one, two, three, four.

And then you found out this is what they were doing.

One. Two.

And then it...

You know, so you put those together and then on top of it, you might put...

playing quick high notes

So you've got, like, you know, two or four or eight.

‐ Yeah. Yeah. In the same space. ‐ Very simple mathematics.

‐ Yeah, yeah, yeah. ‐ It's all happening together,

so it gives this lovely feel of something satisfying.

Eleanor.

‐ Let's do it.

‐ Aah!

Ah, look at all the lonely people!

Ah, look at all the lonely people!

Eleanor Rigby

Picks up the rice in the church where a wedding has been

Lives in a dream waits at the window

‐ So that's where they've done. Yeah.

I remember...

showing this to George, uh, Martin

and we'd already done Yesterday,

so this was like,

it'd be nice to... I think this song could suit,

but instead of a quartet, it was now an octet.

Again, just to do something a bit different.

And I brought it in like, a little bit like... ‐ Yeah.

‐ Yeah, I brought it in like...

Eleanor Rigby

And then George would show me.

He would say, "Well, okay, that's sort of rock and roll."

plays chord

So all pretty much in one octave.

Mm‐hmm.

‐ But he would then say, "Okay, so a cello would go there

"and then a viola would go there,

and then..."

So he would separate all the notes.

Yeah.

‐ And that's a fabulous orchestration that, that he did.

‐ And this doesn't have the piano in it?

You wrote it on the piano and then decided to... ‐ Yeah, that was...

Yeah, that was the thing because, you know, Yesterday,

there'd just been the one guitar. ‐ Yeah.

‐ So we decided we'd kind of try and go a little bit further... ‐ Yeah.

‐ And just have this, and then I would sing to this.

You know, so I'd show George the chords. He would then transpose it.

Then George would talk to the musicians, sort of say...

I want it kind of really, bam, bam, quite bright.

Staccato.

And they got into it. ‐ Yeah.

‐ They loved it, you know.

It's a nice, nice little arrangement on its own.

‐ Yeah. ‐ And then I sang it.

And I didn't think I was singing it well.

I remember talking to George, "I'm not singing this."

He said, "No, it's okay. It's good."

He was calming me down. ‐ Mm.

‐ And then we double tracked it. ‐ Mm.

‐ I think probably because I didn't think I'd sung it well,

so then... "Double track it."

We cover any sins.

‐ When you first heard it played by the octet...

‐ Mm. ‐ ...what was the feeling like?

‐ It was very exciting, actually.

Downstairs in Abbey Road,

the eight guys assembled

and they did it live.

‐ Did you listen from the control room?

Do you remember? ‐ Yeah.

I would, I would kind of go down and say hi

and, you know, listen to it down there.

‐ Yeah.

‐ Which is always nice first. ‐ Yeah.

‐ Then you go up and see what the engineers are making of it.

‐ Yeah.

‐ You know, they'd put it all together. ‐ Yeah.

‐ Put the right little bits of fairy dust on it.

‐ Yeah.

‐ And they, they now made it like a record.

It's funny. On the EMI desk that we first worked on,

there was the thing on the end of the desk here,

a little switch.

You'd put it up for classical and then down for pop.

So ours was always in the pop position.

It was funny 'cause we,

we took things very on face value.

‐ Yeah.

‐ "Why have they got a better set of EQs than we've got?"

They said, "No, it's not better.

"Pop, you need more of these, sort of aggression and so and so.

Classical, it's more, it's sort of more mellow and stuff."

But that was our way of thinking.

‐ Yeah.

‐ "Wait a minute. How come they've got that?

We want a bit of..."

classical music playing

With Penny Lane, I'd come into the studio

and the night before I happened to be watching on television

the Brandenburg Concerto. Bach.

‐ Yeah.

‐ I'd just kind of got it on the background almost, you know.

I'm listening to it.

And then there's a little trumpet,

very high little trumpet that Bach uses.

‐ Mm. ‐ And I came in the next day,

I said to George, I said, "George, wha..." Martin.

‐ Yeah. ‐ I said "What was that?"

He said, "Oh, that's a piccolo trumpet."

Funny thing about George, he knew

all the best players... ‐ Yeah.

‐ from the classical orchestras.

And there's a guy called David Mason

who was a really good player.

And so we just booked him. ‐ Yeah.

‐ So we go in there and we've done the track,

and we're ready to put this, we've left room for a solo.

George and David sort of say,

"Okay, so what do we, what do we want to play?"

And I go, um,

And they go, "Okay, hang on."

And they're writing it down.

So we were kind of making it up on the spot.

‐ Yeah.

And so I went...

and put, like, an impossible high note.

And David Mason turns to me, he says,

"Well, that's officially

out of the range of the piccolo trumpet even."

And I kind of give him a look like, "Yeah."

Like, "You can do it," you know.

He goes, "Okay."

So he plays it and it's, uh,

it haunted him for the rest of his life, you know.

‐ Let's hear this. ‐ Yeah.

Penny Lane playing

‐ The flute's beautiful too.

‐ Yeah, I think it's a mix of the two.

Trumpet playing high notes

Wow!

Trumpet continues

‐ It's singing. ‐ Yeah.

Penny Lane is in my ears

‐ Whoa! ‐ That was cool.

‐ Four of fish and finger pies

In summer, meanwhile back

Behind the shelter in the middle of a roundabout

A pretty nurse is selling...

‐ It's a groove you can listen to all day.

You know, it's just like... ‐ Yeah.

‐ That feeling doesn't get old.

‐ She is anyway

Very strange

Penny Lane is in my ears...

‐ Now these are more funky.

‐ Yeah.

Trumpet playing

‐ I don't think this is David. This is other players.

‐ I sit and meanwhile back

‐ I never heard that before. Crash sound. It was cool.

I've heard it. Yeah. Yeah.

‐ Oh.

‐ They're so, they're so high.

Ridiculous. ‐ Beautiful.

Song ends

‐ And that's an example, there at the end, that...

Yeah.

‐ I mean, anyone else would go, "Oh, that's feedback."

‐ Yeah. ‐ "Let's get rid of it."

And it well might be feedback.

I don't remember. ‐ Yeah.

‐ But with us, going, "No, it sounds good."

‐ Yeah. ‐ You know, "It's great.

It's fine," you know.

So we'd leave accidents a lot of the time. ‐ Yeah.

Would the engineers ever fight back, like, if you did something

and didn't like the way the meters were looking or anything like that?

‐ In the beginning, yeah. ‐ Yeah.

- Because they're trained... - Yeah.

By the record company

to follow the meters.

You're not supposed to go in the red.

- Yeah. - Obviously, you know.

But we'd say, "No, go in the red. Go in the red."

'Cause it would make the guitars, like, hot,

make an acoustic guitar, like, into an electric guitar.

‐ Yeah. ‐ These days, it's not so easy.

These older boards, you could defeat them.

If we went into the red, it would distort a bit.

‐ Yeah.

‐ Now they're rather good, and they can handle it.

‐ I see.

‐ Which is a pity. ‐ Yeah.

‐ Because, you know, we used to love that.

‐ Would you ever, after recording a guitar song,

decide to reinforce the guitars with piano or...

‐ Yeah, sometimes. Yeah.

Sometimes, it's really a good idea.

Say you've got a little bass part.

‐ Yeah. ‐ And the bass is doing a...

Then you can come... playing piano

That combined with a bass is a great sound.

Yeah.

- This gives it the punch. - Yeah.

The attack.

- Yeah. - Yeah.

Playing up‐tempo music

Yeah.

This reminds me a bit of the piano

that's still there in Abbey Road, actually.

We used to call it Mrs. Mills' piano

'cause there was a pianist who did all this sort of...

plays piano and hums

And you're like...

I can't play it. Stride.

Playing upbeat music

And Mrs. Mills' piano inspired that.

‐ Hmm. ‐ You know?

I mean, I wrote it at home. ‐ Yeah.

‐ But it was like, "No, got to do this on that funky little piano."

And songs like that,

um, I like to kind of change my voice a bit.

So I like to sort of get a harder voice.

Lady Madonna

- Instead of... - Lady Madonna

- So you're going... - Lady Madonna

Children at your feet

Wonder how you manage to make ends meet

Lady Madonna

Yeah

‐ So the singer would be the same guy

who's playing that piano part, makes sense.

‐ Yeah. ‐ It's almost like a character study.

‐ Yeah. Yeah.

I‐I... It's one of the things I'd like to do, you know.

Instruments tuning on recording vocalizing on recording

‐ Love that sound of the tape starting.

‐ Yeah. It's such a good sound.

Three, four.

Paul McCartney & Wings' Band On The Run playing

I sit and watch all the children.

‐ Yeah. ‐ Walking by...

They seem to say to me...

I couldn't tell what she was thinking.

But I knew

it was through.

‐ Yeah, my, my record label, they've got studios everywhere, you know.

Brazil. China.

And I was into tenor guitar.

Little sort of Africany thing.

So I liked that, so I just plunked for Lagos.

Let's go there.

Okay, now go, boy.

Stuck inside these four walls

Sent inside forever

‐ Really good vocal. It's a good vocal.

‐ It's a nice, like, gentle little...

‐ Never seeing no one

Nice again

Like you

Mama, you

‐ I'm drumming on this too.

Couple of members of my band

rang me up the night before we were due to leave.

They said, "We're not coming."

For an hour or so, it was like,

"Oh, what a bummer. I don't believe it,"

you know, "God," you know.

And then a sort of optimistic spirit came back,

and I sort of thought,

"You know what? We're going to make a record."

‐ Yeah.

There was a little period

when certain people started writing, like, "rock opera."

‐ Yeah.

‐ It was kind of nice. It was, like, different.

So I thought I could have a go at it.

Band On the Run continues

‐ Is that a Moog? ‐ Yeah.

‐ If I ever get out of here

Thought of giving it all away

To a registered charity

All I need is a pint a day

If I ever get outta here

If we ever get outta here

Music crescendos

‐ Yeah, again, unexpected twists and turns.

‐ Yeah. Yeah. ‐ Cinematic.

‐ Well, the rain exploded with a mighty crash

As we fell into the sun

And the first one said to the second one there

"I hope you're having fun"

Band on the run

Band on the run

So we went to Lagos where the studio was just being kind of finished,

but it was good.

And I had with me the tapes of all the songs for the album.

‐ Mm‐hmm.

‐ However, we were warned, whatever you do,

don't go out late in certain areas.

And, so of course, we go to a friend's house,

and we go out late at night.

Hippies. We just did not listen to anyone.

So a car pulls up.

The guy gets out of the car,

and, and I go into Liverpool mode.

I go, "Oh, that is so nice of you."

"You're going to give us a lift. No, get back in your car."

So I bundle him back in the car. ‐ Yeah.

Five of them jumped out the car, one of them had a knife.

Linda's, aah! Screaming at them.

So they took all our stuff, including my demos for Band On The Run.

That was the only thing I was really pissed about.

‐ Yeah.

‐ And so now we had to make the album with just three of us,

me, Linda, and Denny, without the demo recordings.

‐ Yes.

‐ And so, again, we just thought,

"Right, let's do this."

And we just became determined

to, to make it a... a good record.

‐ Yeah, the band on the run

Band on the run

‐ Do you feel like by going there, it impacted the album?

‐ I was kind of half wondering

whether we'd pick up a lot of African vibes

and maybe musicians,

bit Graceland thing, you know. ‐ Yeah.

‐ Um, but we didn't.

The only thing happened was I went to see Fela Kuti.

Singing ITT

‐ Long time ago

‐ Na for them culture to carry shit

‐ Long time ago

‐ During the time them come colonize us

‐ Long time ago

‐ Them come teach us to carry shit

‐ Long time ago

‐ Long, long, long, long time ago

‐ Long time ago

This was at the Afrika Shrine,

- which was his club outside Lagos. - Yeah.

‐ You're sitting right by him. Front row seats.

‐ Yeah.

What was the energy in the room like?

‐ The energy was great. It was all...

‐ Were people dancing or... ‐ Yeah.

‐ Yeah. ‐ Yeah.

When he came on and his band kicked in, whoa.

I still remember the riff.

Playing ITT on piano

‐ So cool.

‐ And his whole band kicked in.

So there was Fela at the front

with a little piano.

And the middle, at the back, he's got two conga players.

- They're like the rhythm box. - Yeah.

They're just going...

They're keeping that same rhythm.

This side and that side, like stereo,

and he's got the shakers...

And the drummer, he would go...

Fills.

‐ Kind of fills. ‐ Yeah. Yeah.

Two guitars.

One's the tenor guitar,

and the other one's a little bit more lead guitar.

Then he's got his sax section.

The music was so incredible that I wept,

just when it hit on the groove.

That was one of the greatest music moments in my life.

‐ Yeah. Yeah. It sounds incredible. ‐ Hearing that song live.

‐ Beautiful.

I'm going to play something else,

a very different energy.

‐ What you got now? ‐ I've got this one.

It will be fun to hear.

Don't go

Jumping waterfalls

Please keep to the lake

‐ It's a pretty little song this. Yeah.

He said modestly.

‐ People who jump waterfalls

Sometimes can make mistakes

And I need love

‐ This is also, even though it's not an electronic song,

this melody is very today.

This is a very modern melody. ‐ You think so?

‐ I know so.

It's like un... It doesn't...

This sounds like you could hear this now

in an unusual way.

‐ And it wouldn't be the same

If you ever should decide

To go away

‐ It kind of did get lost on the album,

but sort of deep fans know that one. ‐ Yeah.

Yes. ‐ And often write to me about it.

‐ Yeah, yeah. ‐ I think I slightly regretted

that the strings on it

are just a little weedy, synth little things.

‐ I think that might be part what makes it modern, though.

‐ Maybe. Well...

‐ Do you know, it's like... I don't know. It's the‐

‐ Hey, you know, the thing is I can have regrets.

They don't have to be right.

Do you know what I'm saying?

I think all of us, we go, "Oh, we should've done that."

‐ Yeah. ‐ Somebody else will say, "No.

You don't need to. That‐that's fine." So...

‐ But I don't see you as someone, as having a lot of regrets,

looking back on music that you made.

‐ Not really. No.

Forge ahead.

‐ Yeah. ‐ Constantly.

And, um,

well, that's what I love.

That's what I love about it. ‐ Yeah.

‐ Music. Life.

That there's, there's always that next little song...

‐ Yeah.

‐ that you can be thinking about or writing.

Soft melody

You know, I'm writing a thing at the moment.

Mid‐tempo music playing

Oh.

That's great.

That's great.

‐ Life can be hard

But then

‐ So good. ‐ That's when we start

To put it together again

She leads me on

‐ Yeah.

‐ And I'm enchanted by her beauty

‐ Yeah.

Incredible.

‐ Oh good, man. Oh great. ‐ Really good.

‐ I goofed it a bit, but... ‐ No, but it sounds like it...

The beauty of it is, when I hear it, it sounds like,

"Oh, this is a song that's always been around."

You know like it... In a good way. ‐ Like "You know this one."

‐ But not in a way that I've actually heard it before,

but in a, like, "Oh yeah, this is like one of those songs

that feels like it's in the air."

‐ Yeah. ‐ Do you know what I mean?

‐ That's what I've sort of done all my life.

That's what I'm still doing. ‐ Yeah. Yeah.

‐ Just trying to discover just a little thing that sounds nice.

Someone said Mozart once said,

"I write the notes that like each other."

And I like that. ‐ Yeah.

‐ I like that. Sounds good to me. ‐ Yeah. Yeah.

Playing Blackbird

Blackbird singing in the dead of night

Take these broken wings and learn to fly

All your life

You were only waiting for this moment to arise

Blackbird singing in the dead of night

Take these sunken eyes and learn to see

All your life

You were only waiting for this moment to be free

Blackbird fly

Blackbird fly

Into the light of the dark black night

Yeah, right, I know.

Okay, man, great.

Night

Blackbird resumes

Blackbird fly

Blackbird fly

Into the light of the dark black night

Blackbird singing in the dead of night

Take these broken wings and learn to fly

All your life

You were only waiting for this moment to arise

You were only waiting for this moment to arise