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Paul McCartney: Favorite Beatles song and thoughts on "Get Back" documentary
I found this very interesting Paul McCartney interview with NPR from Nov of 2021 with a lot of insight into the band, and what it was like around the time of the “Get Back” documentary.
https://youtu.be/wmx-nxjuVq4?t=331
Paul says if pressed his favorite Beatles song today would be “Here There and Everywhere”. He also talks about Peter Jackson’s documentary “Get Back” and his thoughts and what he felt watching the film.
Paul says the Beatles greatest motto is “something will happen” and tells that inspiring van crash story behind it that I heard before and like. Paul says “when you are in your darkest moments, just remember that incredibly intelligent Beatle quote ‘something will happen’ “.
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14 Replies
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For you convenience, here is MLTs incredible magic on Paul’s favourite Beatles song. I believe they feature MLT’s version on the Beatles Fan film coming out later in the year as well.
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I never seriously thought about which song could be Paul McCartney’s favorite. Maybe „Yesterday“ or „Let it be“. After all, all the songs he composed are “his children”. And since parents like to claim that they love all their children equally, the question never occurred to me before. Thanks for this reflection Jung. And since questions have the peculiarity never to appear alone, but like to be in company, of course new questions arise for me. You may already have guessed it: which song did John, George and Ringo loved the most?
„Here, there and everywhere“, for me personally also one of the most beautiful Beatles songs. Both from the musical level (or structure like Paul McCartney mentioned in the interview) and the lyrics itself:
„Knowing that love is to share
Each one believing that love never dies
Watching her eyes and hoping I’m always there“
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The MLT cover of HTaE is creeping up on a million views (maybe in 2022). It is currently the most watched cover of this song on YouTube. However a cover made last year by Josh Turner Guitar will likely surpass it sometime next year (he has three times as many subscribers).
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Jurgen, thanks for sharing that video, really enjoyed it. What an AWEsome genius Paul is. Documentaries like this really lets you appreciate how great the Beatles were, masterpiece after masterpiece.
Lynn, that’s great to hear about Here There Everywhere. MLTs version is so AWEsome. I can’t imagine it could be done better. In the video Mona and Lisa did not just sing the song word for word like most do the way it was written, but in the way they sang it they understood the structure, flow, and feel of the song the way their vocals and body moves with it. So much feeling. That is why their covers are so incomparable.
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Hi Jung, maybe I’ll miss the topic now, but if I change the headline a little bit, let’s say instead of “Paul McCartney: Favorite Beatles song” in “John Lennon: Favorite Beatles Song”, then it should fit again (and I can answer my own question: which song was John’s favorite?) 🙂
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Hi Jurgen, the video of John Lennon’s favourite Beatles song complements the Paul McCartney one perfectly. Across the Universe is such a beautiful song, as is In My Life, and MLTs acoustic version is perfection.
In the same vein, I should mention George Harrison’s favourite Beatles songs. In interviews he indicated appreciating Norwegian Wood.
“…the brilliant ‘Norwegian Wood’ because he “felt where it was coming from”. Harrison included it among his list of tracks “he really enjoyed”
“Another track on the list of songs Harrison loved is ‘This Boy’. The 1963 song, released as a B-Side to ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ was likely one of Harrison’s more cherished tracks considering the footage of him watching it below. A post-Beatles George looks back to the band’s earliest moments and as well as smiling like a proud-as-punch father and joining in with the harmonies he turns to the camera and says: “It’s a good song though. A good song”.”
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Love MLTs cover of this song. They capture the beauty and emotions of the song so perfectly. Sooo much feeling expressed in the singing and guitar playing!
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Just to add to the above…
Lennon’s opinions are always hard to pin down, because they would change based on his mood. As far as Paul’s songs, he did single out “Here, There and Everywhere” as one of his favorites in 1980, when he’d mellowed a bit. Paul recalls it as the only song of his that John praised to his face.
George played “In My Life” during his 1974 tour, which was the only non-Harrison Beatle song on the setlist.
Ringo has said he thinks his best drumming was on “Rain.”
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Thanks Jung for sharing the interview with Astrid Kirchherr and Klaus Voormann. I watched the documentary once some time ago, but unfortunately never finished it until now.
„This boy“ and „Norwegian Wood“. Both very fantastic songs. But I think you could tell me countless other Beatles songs and you would always get the same answer from me: great songs.
Now only Ringo Starr is missing with his statement. With him I am not sure if he really had something like a favorite Beatle song. In one interview he said that „Rain“ was one of his favorite songs, because the drum part was very interesting for him (as Dan wrote before). Another time he mentioned “Good Night” was a fantastic song because it was so soulful. In the following interview he chose „Come Together“. Actually, it doesn’t matter: I have the feeling that Ringo feels the same way as I do, that the selection of great Beatles songs is too large and he doesn’t want to commit himself exactly.
I have the feeling that Ringo sometimes saw himself in the band only as an observer or companion, who implemented and supported the ideas of the others. In interviews, he emphasized often enough that he sometimes felt like a guest or a foreign body, especially in the early days of the Beatles. One can only guess what was really going on inside him: maybe he felt in the truest sense of the word like a visitor in many of the songs.
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Where does one view from, this documentary ” Get Back ” , I don’t have tv cable nor can I afford to subscribe, to stream it if or time being, if that’s the only way to view this, hoping to eventually be able to afford the Beatles doc-film ” Here, There Everywhere” that has MLT featured in it, once it made available publicly to buy ….
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Jurgen, that’s a great video of Come Together, the animation is great. Ringo is pretty clear on what his favourite Beatles song is in that interview. Come Together is such a unique song, I can imagine when it first came out blowing peoples minds. I remember in my teens hearing some awesome cool songs on the radio, or at school, or one of my siblings listening to, and more often than not it is a Beatles song. They seemed to completely monopolize all the great song discoveries. “Wow, what is that wonderful song, ohh another Beatles song.”
Dan, yes some pretty good evidence there what Paul, George and Ringo’s favourite Beatles songs if not one of their tops would be. Rain is great and has some remarkable vocal mixing effects and guitar sounds. And Ringo’s drumming is so complex.
Jacki, Get Back documentary is playing on Disney+ video streaming website. You don’t need cable TV, just an internet access and subscription to Disney+ to view online from any device. You could probably subscribe for a month or two. In Canada a Disney+ monthly subscription costs $11.99 CAD. I’m planning to subscribe for a month and binge watch the entire thing when I have the time. Maybe if I like it I might cancel my Netflix and move over to Disney+.
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Perhaps as a nice conclusion to this topic:
Now that we have answered quite a few questions about the Beatles in this thread (or at least we think we have), I have found someone here who should know a bit about the Beatles: Sir Paul McCartney answering the most frequently asked questions about the Beatles to the probably most famous search engine in the world:
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