Produced By George Martin (2011) Movie Script

[music playing]
[MUSIC - MATT MONROE, "PORTRAI OF MY LOVE"]
MATT MONROE:
(SINGING) There could
never be a portrait of my love,
for nobody could paint a dream.
You will never see a
portrait of my love,
for miracles are never seen.
JUDY MARTIN: The first
impression in the office
the bicycle clips and a beret.
And my naval greatcoat.
Yes.
With the epaulettes removed.
Yeah, well that was all right.
But the bicycle clips and
the beret were definitely--
I'm sorry that
I didn't conform
to your standards, love.
[laughing]
GILES MARTIN: What was it like
meeting mum for the first time
at Abbey Road?
Because she was working
there when you started.
Yeah.
She'd gone straight there
from secretarial college.
She greeted my arrival
in a very cold manner.
In fact, she told me later
that she thought I was
very square, definitely uncool.
Lovely now.
I'll put my suntan cream on.
GEORGE MARTIN: But
eventually, I fell for her.
And seemingly, she
seemed to care for me.
MATT MONROE: (SINGING)
--to try and paint
a portrait of my love.
Don't knock in the black.
GILES MARTIN: Should
I knock the black in?
Oh.
Ha, ha, ha!
You missed it.
GILES MARTIN: You are very
competitive as a person
and ambitious.
And it's not a criticism at all.
So lucky.
GILES MARTIN: And it's
interesting to hear
that you had a band.
And you even went to record
your own piece of music.
Yeah.
And titled it in
case it was played.
[MUSIC - GEORGE MARTIN, "JUDY'S
THEME"]
GEORGE MARTIN: I actually wanted
to be a classical composer.
And I wanted to be
Rachmaninoff the Second.
Richard Addinsell's
"Warsaw Concerto"
became a pet piece of mine.
I used to play it a lot.
And I thought, well,
that's the way to go.
You know what
it is, that music?
His "Warsaw Concerto."
I've got the records.
Perhaps that music will
bring back a lot of things.
I hope so.
I'd like to know what
he's thinking about now.
[piano playing]
Would you like tea?
I'd love some.
I'll be mother.
Yes, milk.
Oh.
I like afternoon tea.
It's a very civilized thing.
And where is your oboe?
I had to sell it.
I needed the money to
buy a house, in fact.
My first house was the
money from the oboe.
You still got yours?
Oh, yes, of course.
You treasure it, do you?
Yes.
But you don't play
it, though, do you?
Yes I do.
Do you really?
Well, you never forget.
No, you never forget.
But, gosh, I don't think
I could play one now.
Oh.
I'll give you one lesson--
- Would you really?
- --for nothing.
Do you know, I might
take you up on that.
Yes.
Why not?
GILES MARTIN: You spent
three years at the Guildhall.
You must have been surrounded
by people from a completely
different background to you.
There can't have been
that many ex-servicemen
joining the Guildhall at
that stage, or where there?
I felt a little
bit out of place.
Because I was older
than most of them.
GILES MARTIN: Yeah.
You'd had no real music
education until then.
GEORGE MARTIN: No.
GILES MARTIN: Did you
find that the late arrival
into the classical
music scene meant
you weren't completely
institutionalized by the rules,
as it were?
Well, it's possible
that I hadn't been
kind of over-educated in music.
And so that I had a
kind of naivety as well.
[MUSIC - THE BEATLES,
"YESTERDAY"]
THE BEATLES: (SINGING)
Suddenly, I'm
not half the man I used to be.
GEORGE MARTIN: If you look
at that "Yesterday" score,
it's pretty naive.
But it does work.
THE BEATLES: (SINGING) Oh,
yesterday came suddenly.
It's very very
simple writing, but it
couldn't be anything else.
If it were, it would destroy
what the point of the song
is, which is utter simplicity.
I did this in an afternoon.
I had it in my mind
what I had to do.
And it was just straightforward.
The Guildhall wasn't
just a school of music.
It was a school for
music and drama.
And I think that that in
itself was tremendous help
to me in later years.
Because I was
comfortable with actors
as well as being
comfortable with musicians.
And, you know, when
it came to working
with Sellers or the "Beyond
the Fringe" crowd or whoever,
it was OK.
We were partners.
[MUSIC - THE GOONS, "UNCHAINED
MELODY"]
I suddenly got this letter
out of the blue saying
would I be interested in coming
to an interview at EMI Studios,
Abbey Road, St. John's Wood.
Never heard of the place,
never heard of EMI.
And I got the job.
At seven pounds, four shillings,
and three pence a week.
THE GOONS: (SINGING)
Hey, my love, my darling,
I hunger for your touch.
Alone, lonely time--
GILES MARTIN: Going
back to the fact
you are competitive and
ambitious, did you think when
you--
I wish you wouldn't
keep saying that.
I know.
I'm sure that's the case.
Did you think at that
stage, right, now
I'm finally getting somewhere?
No.
GILES MARTIN: Then what
did you want at that stage?
GEORGE MARTIN: I still wanted
to be Rachmaninoff the Second.
Right.
[laughing] Sorry.
You hadn't moved on, then.
GEORGE MARTIN:
Gradually, I got hooked.
Gradually, I didn't
want to leave it.
It enabled me to be creative.
I could manipulate things
and I could do things.
And that I found very enjoyable.
[music playing]
Roberto Inglez.
He played at the Savoy.
Roberto Inglez,
everybody thought
was Spanish or South American.
His name was Bob
Inglis from Scotland.
But he specialized in
South American music.
[MUSIC - MANDY MILLER, "NELLIE
THE ELEPHANT"]
MANDY MILLER: (SINGING) Nellie
the elephant packed her trunk.
And said goodbye to the circus.
Off she went with a trumpety,
trump, trump, trump, trump.
Nellie the elephant
packed her trunk
and trundled back to the jungle.
Off she went with a trumpety
trump, trump, trump, trump.
Bob Harvey
Yeah, Bob Harvey used
to play in a nightclub.
[inaudible] bass band,
Sidney Torch's orchestra,
the five Smith brothers.
They were Geordies.
GEORGE MARTIN: And Jimmy Shand.
[MUSIC - JIMMY SHAND, "BLUEBELL
POLKA"]
[MUSIC - HUMPHREY LYTTELTON,
"SATURDAY JUMP"]
JUDY MARTIN: This
wonderful man Karl Haas,
the London Baroque Ensemble.
GEORGE MARTIN: He was
always completely broke.
He had no money at all.
[music playing]
GEORGE MARTIN: He was
a sweet man, really.
[MUSIC - SIDNEY TORCH AND HIS
ORCHESTRA, "BARWICK GREEN"]
The artistry.
That's a recording I made with
Sidney Torch and his orchestra.
I can't remember who wrote it.
And it was part and parcel of
what we used to do with Sidney.
I mean, I remember
recording "Coronation
Scot," which became the theme
tune of the Paul Temple series.
Those were the days where
orchestral records selled well.
[MUSIC - SIDNEY TORCH AND HIS
ORCHESTRA, "CORONATION SCOT"]
When the session started, I
walked through the orchestra
to Sydney Torch.
And I said, good
morning, Mr. Torch.
My name is George Martin
and I'm Oscar's assistant.
And he's asked me to take
the session this morning.
I said, it's nice to see you.
And he said, oh, all right.
Don't get in the way, will you?
[MUSIC - RAY CATHODE, "TIME
BEAT"]
GILES MARTIN: Did any
part of you think,
I am going to be in
line for this job?
No, because I was young.
I was still in my 20s.
And all the people who
ran the labels were older.
The youngest was about 50.
GILES MARTIN: Did you think
George would get the job?
No, I didn't really.
I didn't know what
was going to happen.
I suppose I did think
he might get the job.
He wasn't-- he wasn't sure.
GEORGE MARTIN: Oh, dear.
They said we've been wondering
what to do with Parlophone now
that Oscar is gone.
And eventually we
have decided that we
should give the stewardship of
Parlophone to George Martin.
You could have knocked me
down with a feather, you know.
Oh, blimey.
Suddenly, I was
head of Parlophone
and I had to make it work.
And this meant choosing
the artists and--
Oh, yeah, heavily.
--and repertoire
right from the start.
I wasn't paid much.
But I was given a free run.
SPIKE MILLIGAN: Do you have any
preference for whom you hit?
JOHN ANTROBUS: Well, no, sir.
I'm not a snob.
I mean, uh, rich or poor alike.
I thinks I--
I hit any, any of them.
SPIKE MILLIGAN:
But wait a minute,
don't you ever get hit back?
JOHN ANTROBUS: Well, nor sir.
It's not-- it's against
the rules, that.
[MUSIC - FLANDERS AND SWANN, "A
TRANSPORT OF DELIGHT"]
FLANDERS AND SWANN: (SINGING)
When you are lost in London.
And you don't know
where you are.
You'll hear my voice a calling,
pass further down the car.
And very soon you'll find
yourself inside the Terminus
In a London Transport, diesel
engine, 97 horsepower omnibus.
MAN 1: Good evening.
Have a picture of
Queen Victoria.
MAN 2: No, thanks, I'm
trying to give them up.
[laughing]
MAN 1: I don't think
you'll ever do it.
I've tried and failed.
MAN 2: May I come in?
MAN 1: But I'm outside.
MAN 2: Well, you come in then.
[MUSIC - PETER SELLERS & SOPHIA
LOREN, "GOODNESS GRACIOUS ME"]
(SINGING) Boom boody-boom,
boody-boom, boody-boom.
Goodness gracious.
How audacious.
Goodness gracious.
How flirtatious.
Goodness gracious.
It is me.
It is you?
Ha, I'm sorry.
It is us.
Ah.
MICHAEL PALIN: That was the
comedy soundtrack of my youth.
And I was going to
ask you, you know,
how it was that you who are
best known for your music
became a comedy producer
in the first place.
Desperation, really.
Oh, OK.
Well, how desperate
were you then?
Tell us, confess.
Well, now, at EMI
that time, there
were four labels, actually
only three active ones,
HMV, Colombia, and Parlophone.
And Parlophone was
the poor relation.
HMV and Colombia
were the big boys.
They had people
like Elvis Presley.
Columbia had Doris
Day and all sorts
of great American artists.
Did you know Parlophone had
Humphrey Lyttelton when he was
a young man, John Dankworth
when he was a young man,
and the Scottish Country
Dance Association.
Oh, [laughing]
There's a quote
here by Degas where
he says "drawing is
not what one sees,
but what one must
make others see."
And in a way, that's
what we do in sound.
The recording is
not what one hears,
but what one must
make others hear.
They were designed to
not be a photograph,
but to be an impression of
what life was really about.
So that actually it would give
more depth in their paintings
than a photograph could ever do.
And when I came to working as
a producer, up to that time,
people had been making records
as faithfully as they could,
reproducing the original sound.
And what they were doing
was making photographs.
And I said, well, you
don't need to do that.
Let's paint instead
of having photographs.
IRENE HANDL: Hello.
I've been watching you.
I said I've been watching
you feeding the birds.
I think you're marvelous.
Aren't they sweet?
I don't how anyone can be
cruel to dumb animals, do you?
MICHAEL PALIN: Irene Handl
is absolutely wonderful.
I mean, perfect with Sellers.
GEORGE MARTIN: Well,
it was her idea.
MICHAEL PALIN: Oh, really?
GEORGE MARTIN: She said,
well, I've got something
I might suggest to Peter.
And I said, have you written it?
She said no, it's all here.
I had quite forgotten.
It's virtually a
monologue on her part.
MICHAEL PALIN: Yes.
I was going to say,
Sellers' very unselfish
performance, really, isn't it?
It still holds up.
Yes, it holds up
very well, I think.
IRENE HANDL: You come
here often, do you?
PETER SELLERS: Well, I
come here quite often,
as I said, to feed these birds.
IRENE HANDL: Yes.
PETER SELLERS: Because
I love the open air.
IRENE HANDL: Well, it's
very nice, isn't it?
I mean, it's private
without being insulated,
if you know what I mean.
I can see you're like me, I
will not go into a public park
and mingle with the [inaudible].
PETER SELLERS: I quite agree.
I like to keep myself to myself.
GEORGE MARTIN: It was
such a different time.
I mean, it was a time
before television.
You only had radio.
And you had records.
MICHAEL PALIN: Sure.
So you dealt
purely with the ears.
So you had to build up
little sound pictures
and make people imagine
that they were there.
IRENE HANDL: Do you
know Dawson at all?
PETER SELLERS: Uh,
no, no, I don't.
IRENE HANDL: Oh, well, they call
it the fringe of the east aid.
So that will give you some idea.
I was just gonna ask you
back to din-dins with me.
PETER SELLERS: Well,
I would love to come.
Please ask me.
IRENE HANDL: I keep a smashing
table at the Royalson,
you know.
We nearly always have
a certain vegetable
and always croutons
with the soup.
And if you ever feel like having
half a bottle of Borgialli,
they practically
fall over themselves
backwards bringing in for you.
GEORGE MARTIN: I love
doing that kind of work
because you can
lose yourself in it.
And you don't follow any
rules except your own hunch,
what you think is right.
MICHAEL PALIN: An album
that I remember very well
was "Milligan Preserved."
I remember playing
that at Oxford.
And it was about a year later,
I started doing cabaret.
It was the first
time I'd ever done
any performing of any kind.
And that was a sort of
inspirational album.
Because it was so
free and different.
And I didn't know what
it felt like to make it,
whether it was a
complicated business,
with Spike's good or bad days.
But it had some wonderful
things in, very different
from Sellers, I mean.
Well, it was--
it was really New
York kind of style.
[MUSIC - SPIKE MILLIGAN, "FUN,
FUN, FUN"]
(SINGING) From
gentle December,
the love I remember
there's fun, fun, fun.
Oh, a song divine sung by
a beautiful, tall willowy
creature called Ms.
Patricia Ridgeway.
Despite her fair face, fair
figure, and fair voice,
she only had one small piece
of toast for breakfast.
But when you consider what
this young girl has eaten
in her lifetime, 43 whole
bollocks, 81 prime Haverford
cows, 1000 acres
of potatoes, 207
sacks of Spanish onions, eight
warehouses of brown bread.
GEORGE MARTIN: I
don't know if you ever
looked at the back of that LP.
All of the sleeve
notes were in Arabic.
[laughing] I
don't remember that.
You couldn't get
away with it now.
That's very Python.
Very Python.
Let me put the microphone to
her tum tum so you can hear.
[vocalizing]
[MUSIC - BERNARD CRIBBINS,
"RIGHT SAID FRED"]
BERNARD CRIBBINS: (SINGING)
Tried to shift it.
Couldn't even lift it.
We was getting nowhere.
And so we had a cuppa tea.
Right, said Fred.
Give a shout to Charlie.
Up comes, Charlie
from the floor below.
He was very tall.
Yes, I thought he was
a very tall person.
He had a great air of serenity
and authority about him.
Excuse me.
It's not emotion,
it's hay fever.
BERNARD CRIBBINS: (SINGING)
We was getting nowhere and so
we had a cup of tea.
And Charlie had to think
and he thought we ought
to take off all the handles.
And the things wot
held the candles.
It was almost a
musical record, you know?
It's a sketch with
music, isn't it?
You know, you just
imagine all this going on.
You were sort
of born a cockney.
Yeah.
Pinch the matter
all right, governor.
And you're now?
[laughing]
True, true.
I don't think I
spoke quite like that.
All right, gor blimey,
[inaudible] at best.
And you went from that
to being, you know,
the gentleman of
the music industry.
GEORGE MARTIN: That's a
bit of an exaggeration.
GILES MARTIN: But
your voice changed.
GEORGE MARTIN:
Actually, I was very
conscious of the voice change.
Because when I was
about 16, I decided
that I spoke appallingly.
And because I was in
the dramatic society,
I consciously tried to speak
like the BBC people did.
And I think I pulled it off.
I think you have done.
[MUSIC - PETER SELLERS, "ANY OLD
IRON"]
PETER SELLERS: (SINGING) Oh,
any old iron, any old iron,
any, any, any old iron.
You look neat.
Talk about a treat.
[inaudible] on your feet.
Well, this Drayton Park.
And my house was
actually over there.
But it's long since
been demolished.
And these are new buildings.
But my house looked
very similar to these.
They were-- they
look pretty good now.
But I can assure you that
when we lived in them,
they were very rundown.
And you can see,
they're on four floors.
And there was a
family on each floor.
I remember standing
up being dressed.
I'm looking down and a little
ice cream van came past.
And I said, mommy,
I'd love an ice cream.
And I turned around
and she was crying.
And I said, what's the matter?
She said darling, I haven't
got tuppence for ice cream.
And that minute, I gathered
that we weren't very well off.
PETER SELLERS: (SINGING)
You look nice, dressed nice.
Your father's old green tie on.
I wouldn't give a tup
for your old watch chain
Old iron, old iron.
GEORGE MARTIN: I also
have a vivid memory
of a very, very cold winter.
And my feet were freezing.
And he knew this.
And we didn't have
a hot water bottle.
So he got an old can which
used to hold petrol or oil
and cleaned it out and
filled it with hot water,
wrapped it in towels,
and put it by my feet
at the bottom of my bed
to give me warm feet.
That's one of the
memories I have of my dad.
(SINGING) You look neat.
Talk about a treat.
You look dapper from
your napper to your feet.
You got an old green tie.
[inaudible]
GILES MARTIN: Were you driven to
get away from that background?
GEORGE MARTIN: I don't think so.
I mean, I didn't say
to myself, my god,
I've got to get out
of this hell hole.
Because it was a
very loving family.
My mother and father
were super people.
And it just that my father
couldn't earn very much money.
And there was a big depression
on when I was a small child,
you know, the 1930s.
MAN 1: I say, you down there.
MAN 2: Hello?
MAN 1: You want some old iron?
MAN 2: Yeah.
We moved to Muswell
Hill, a great improvement
on what we had before.
We were obviously not too
badly off by this time.
I liked the idea of moving here
because the house looked much
better than we lived in before.
But, you know, when
you're 11 or 12,
you don't think too much about,
you know, status and things.
I never thought we were
moving up in the world.
[music playing]
GEORGE MARTIN: I had a
grandstand view of the dog
fights that went on overhead.
And it was quite exciting
for a 14-year-old boy.
We heard that a [inaudible]
had been downed quite near us.
GILES MARTIN: Right.
GEORGE MARTIN: So being
bloodthirsty boys,
we went and raided the place.
I got a bit of a German
officer's uniform,
blood-stained, you know.
Really--
No.
Really charming stuff.
RINGO STARR: As a
kid, we would leave
our house after the bombings.
And, you know, a big portion of
the street had gone, just flat.
That's right.
But we were kids.
It was another
playground for us.
We didn't really think,
oh, somebody's dead
or whatever, you know?
We were kids.
GEORGE MARTIN: Well, we
lived in Bromley in Kent,
which was on the path in.
And I remember one day a
house about five doors down
wasn't there anymore.
Yeah.
And the house next door to it,
on the first floor there was--
the bathroom was exposed.
And the bath was dangling,
holding on from its pipes.
Yeah.
And I thought, oh, gosh,
that could have been us.
Yeah.
But, you know, you
accepted it, didn't you.
You did.
It was part of life.
And also, it must have been a
very posh area, it had a bath.
Well, I was posh.
Well, we never
had a bath, you see.
No, we never did, never did.
You must have
been filthy then.
No, we used to go to Stabel
Street just to take a bath.
OFFICER: I want you to lay
down your life, Perkins.
Yes, we need a futile
gesture at this stage.
[laughing]
It'll raise the whole
tone of the war.
Get over the creek, Perkins.
PERKINS: Huh?
OFFICER: Pop over to Bremen.
PERKINS: Huh?
OFFICER: Take a short day.
PERKINS: Huh?
OFFICER: Then come back.
PERKINS: Oh.
OFFICER: Goodbye, Perkins.
God, I wish I was going, too.
[crowd laughing]
PERKINS: Goodbye, sir.
Or is it, au revoir?
OFFICER: No, Perkins.
NARRATOR (ON FILM): Britain
has dealt the Italian fleet
a blow which its remains will
remember for a long long time.
At one fell swoop,
three battleships,
two cruisers and auxiliaries
were put out of action.
Thus Mussolini is
forced to realize
that his much-wanted Navy
isn't safe even in port.
This splendid job was executed,
executed is the right word,
by the Fleet Air Arm.
Such men as these went
right in, or rather over,
the heel of Italy to Taranto
and kicked the pants of the WOP
good and hard.
When you heard the news on
the radio about the success
of the Fleet Air Arm at
the Battle of Taranto,
was that instrumental
in your decision to want
to join the Fleet Air Arm?
Absolutely.
I said I don't want
to go into the army.
I want to go into
the Fleet Air Arm.
So one day, I walked into a
recruiting office and said,
I want to be a pilot.
I want to have flying
duties in the Fleet Air Arm.
So I signed on.
And my mother
broke down in tears
and said, you stupid boy,
you'll get yourself killed.
And the stupid boy replied,
equally stupidly, mother,
I promise you, I
won't get killed.
I promised you that.
PAUL MCCARTNEY: Well,
you look about 30.
But, mind you, wartime
might do that to you.
GEORGE MARTIN: Yeah, well, it
was a tough business, you know?
Where were you
during the war, daddy?
You are rotten.
Come on, I want to--
I know.
Come on.
[interposing voices]
I'm not gonna talk
about my experiences.
OK, well, all right, OK.
I'll tell you what then
interests me about this.
You would tell us
stories because we'd ask.
You know, what did you do?
What have you done?
Came out that you were
in the Fleet Air Arm.
And you were an observer.
Well, this is where
the observer would be,
which is where I
would have been.
That's the observer's position.
And you can see, there's
a wire at the bottom
there which you could
attach to yourself in case
you went inverted
and you wouldn't
get thrown out of the aircraft.
And we have instruments
here, which he could see.
And he would communicate
with the pilot who
is in a separate cockpit, purely
and simply through a Gosport
tube, which was a kind of tube
that, you know, you'd say,
hello there.
And you'd listen.
There was no
electronics involved.
We'd say, well,
what do you do?
He said, well, sort of observe.
Right.
But you were in charge.
So it was a very important role,
in fact, even above the pilot,
which kind of amazed us.
But years later, I thought,
that's the producer.
Yes, it is.
It's the same job.
I went up.
And I don't know if
it was this plane.
I think it might have been
another one, when I was
70 years old as a
kind of anniversary
50 years after I'd flown before.
And I'm now much
older than that.
I still would like
to go up in one.
We can't do it because
the engine's not working.
But one day, I will come back.
[MUSIC - LONDON
PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA,
"THE LARK ASCENDING"]
It's very
disappointing because I
don't hear music as I used to.
And I don't enjoy
music now, much.
I mean, if you take
a piece like Vaughan
Williams' "Lark Ascending,"
I might as well go home.
Because the violin--
Very high tones.
--is all in the upper region.
And I see this fella doing all
this, and I'm not hearing it.
Yeah.
Thank you very much.
I'm not used to
microphones, you know.
I first became aware of
something wrong in the '70s.
And I was approaching my 50s.
And I was in my control
room at my studio in London.
And one of the
engineers came in, said,
do you mind if I just
check these tape machines?
Now, to do that, they would
put in different tones
of different frequencies
and adjust them
so that the machines
were really accurate.
I heard all the
tones going through.
And I took no notice.
And then I looked up.
And I saw that all
the needles are going.
And I said, Bill,
what's that frequency
you're putting through?
He said 12 kilohertz.
And I said, oh, shit.
Every time you speak to someone,
particularly in a cocktail
environment, you are doing
mental calculation rather
like filling in a crossword.
You're getting only the vowels.
And you're putting
in all the consonants
as quickly as you can
so as not to be stupid.
And hoping you get them right.
And get them right, exactly.
Yeah.
Well, that's one of
the issues with hearing
loss is the respect
of social isolation.
People feel socially
isolated when they
start losing their hearing.
Because the cocktail
party hearing that you had
starts to degrade.
Is that something
that's impacted on you?
Yeah, that's quite true.
Because if you can't join in
the conversation of everybody
going around, you get isolated.
You become invisible.
They talk past you.
You get to the point,
as I have now, where
age has taken over as well.
And when that happens, my
hearing has taken a nose
dive in the past few years.
Now, I think what she is doing,
what this lady is doing here
is fantastic.
And I think she's so
accurate and so good.
Will you come home with me?
[crowd laughing]
NARRATOR: There's been so many
stories about Major Ralph,
the colorful horse
dealer who had
gone into the business of
managing rock and roll stars.
I mean, he personally discovered
such disk names as Lenny
Barnes, Clint Thigh, Matt Lust.
INTERVIEWER: Have
you ever seen a rock
and roll singer, Ms. Lisbon?
I mean, uh, have you
ever seen one up close?
Well, no, I'm mostly
on book reviewing.
INTERVIEWER: Well,
a good specimen,
he's about 17 or 18 years old,
about 5 foot 10 fully extended.
Sagging to about 5 foot 4
in the singing position.
So would you like to see one?
I'll get one for you.
Ah.
Uh, Major, some rotten
hands pinched the strings
off my guitar, look.
You've got the guitar
on back to front.
How many times must I tell you,
the hole points away from you.
So much to learn,
so little time.
(SINGING) Now, me and
my wife went to town.
Sail away, lady, sail away.
And we went to buy a $10 gown.
Sail away, lady, sail away.
Oh, don't you rock me, daddio.
Oh, don't you rock me, daddio.
Don't you rock me, daddio.
Don't you rock me, daddio.
Oh, don't you rock me, daddio.
Oh, don't you rock me, daddio.
Don't you rock me, daddio.
I did envy Norrie
Paramor enormously.
Because he had a young
man who was originally
called Harry Webb, I think.
Cliff Richards, this is.
It didn't matter
what he recorded.
It could have been
"God Save the Queen."
It became number one,
it was just automatic.
And I envied that.
And I wanted to
have something that
would be easy to make
instead of the difficulty
of making comedy records.
Comedy records are hard work.
You had to get the right
material, right script,
right artist, and so on.
GILES MARTIN: Did you want
to beat Norrie Paramor?
Yes.
You've said it now.
GEORGE MARTIN: Well,
he drove an E-Type Jag.
GILES MARTIN: See, there we are.
I think the Paul
McCartney record
made you the most
successful producer
of all time, 36 number ones.
It was in the papers
and you said to me,
I've had more number
ones than anyone else.
I said, that's amazing, dad.
Who did you beat?
Norrie Paramor is what you said.
That's true
because he did have
the largest amount of number
ones in Britain at that time.
And I managed to
get in front of him.
I remember you saying
to me, I don't think
he's going to beat me now.
Because I think he'd been
dead a couple of years.
- Exactly.
- [inaudible].
Anyway.
Yes, it was the 21st
when i met Brian Epstein.
Yes.
And I put down Bernard.
I know.
You silly girl.
Yes.
I didn't know him at all.
GEORGE MARTIN: What
I said to Brian was,
if you want me to judge them
on what you're playing me,
I'm sorry, I have
to turn you down.
And he was so disappointed.
I felt really sorry
for him, actually.
Because he [inaudible]
this young man.
GILES MARTIN: And you
must have liked him then.
Yeah, I did like him.
And I said, but I tell you
what, I gave him a life line.
I said, if you want to bring
them down from Liverpool,
I'll give them an hour
in the studio, OK?
Begin as soon as you
like please, would you?
Uh, I beg your pardon?
Would you start as
soon as you can, please?
We're in a hurry.
- Should I [inaudible] now?
We have a lot
of people to see.
Right, I have prepared--
Can you hear me?
Yes.
I prepared a short--
a short extract--
[MUSIC - THE BEATLES, "BESAME
MUCHO"]
THE BEATLES: (SINGING) Each
time I bring you a kiss,
I hear music divine.
So besame, besame mucho.
I love you forever.
Say that you'll always be mine.
GEORGE MARTIN: And they had
this wonderful charisma.
They made you feel
good to be with them.
Mm-hm.
And I thought their
music was rubbish.
THE BEATLES: (SINGING)
B same, b same mucho.
And I'll love you forever.
Make all my dreams come true.
Ooh, I love you forever.
Make all dreams come true.
Ooh, I love you forever.
Make all my dreams come true.
That first occasion with
him, it was all really Brian's
fault. Because nobody told me.
You know, when they walked in.
This fellow came in,
this little chap.
And they said,
you're our drummer.
And I said, no he's not.
That's your drummer.
We're paying good
money for that fellow.
And, you know, we
had the best drummer
you could get in the session.
- Andy White.
Yeah.
Who will never live it down.
I didn't realize until
quite later on how much
I hurt him about that.
And I didn't mean to.
Well, he's a
sensitive soul, Ringo.
He is a sensitive
kind of guy, you know.
And I don't think we realized
how much that hurt him.
But he got over it.
No, no, you know,
he was not precise.
And so, you, I think you were
used to working with session
drummers who were--
- Yeah.
--on the ball.
And what happened
in the Beatles,
you know, when we played live,
if Ringo sped up a tiny bit,
we all just, do, do,
do, do, went with him.
So nobody really noticed it.
GEORGE MARTIN: One thing about
your drumming is that it cannot
be mistaken for anybody else.
Yeah.
GEORGE MARTIN: You
have a signature.
Yeah.
And as soon as you hear
it, why, that's Ringo.
Oh, yeah.
No doubt about it at all.
I think it's an
emotional thing
where I actually put,
you know, we only
have that much room to hit.
And I hit on the back of that.
Where a lot of other
drummer hit on the front.
But we still only have that.
It's where you put it.
[MUSIC - THE BEATLES, "DRIVE MY
CAR"]
THE BEATLES: (SINGING)
I told a girl
that my prospects were good.
And she said, baby,
it's understood.
Working for peanuts
is all very fine.
But I can show
you a better time.
Baby, you can drive my car.
Yes, I'm gonna be a star.
Baby, you can drive my car.
And maybe I'll love you.
Beep, beep.
Beep, beep, yeah.
[MUSIC - THE BEATLES, "PLEASE
PLEASE ME"]
THE BEATLES:
(SINGING) Last night
I said these words to my girl.
We took the harmonica
that we'd used on "Love
Me Do," Put that on as well.
And I was thrilled immediately.
I thought it was wonderful.
And I told them.
I said, I think you
might have a number one.
In fact, I think
I actually said,
gentlemen, you have
your first number one,
which was bravado, really.
THE BEATLES: (SINGING)
Come on, come on.
Come on, come on.
Come on, come on.
Come on, come on.
It's amazing, really,
how creative we could
be in those circumstances.
I say to people now,
10:30 till 1:30, two songs.
You know, and you would just
sort of remind us about halfway
through the three-hour period.
Well, it's just about
enough on that one, chaps.
Let's wrap it up.
We got five minutes.
Yeah, OK.
[vocalizing]
And you would, and so you
learned to be brilliant,
he said modestly,
in 1 and 1/2 hours.
But I was under
pressure because I
got such little time with you.
And you were so running
all over the world.
Yeah.
And I would say
to Brian, you know,
I need more time in the studio.
And he said, well, I can
give you Friday afternoon.
You know, or Saturday
evening, whatever it is.
And he would dole out time to me
like giving scraps to a mouse.
[MUSIC - THE BEATLES, "CAN'T BUY
ME LOVE"]
THE BEATLES: (SINGING) I'll buy
you a diamond ring, my friend,
if it makes you feel all right.
I'll get you
anything, my friend,
if it makes you feel all right.
When did "Can't Buy
Me Love," Paul started
off the whole record with
[vocalizing]
And that was the
beginning of the record.
And I said, Paul, we need to
have a hit tag to start this,
kick it off.
He said, well,
what do you think?
And I said, take a
bit of the chorus.
THE BEATLES: (SINGING)
Can't buy me love.
GEORGE MARTIN: So that
was the contributions
I made in those days.
As I say, kind of
streamlining their work.
But it was their genius
that made the songs work.
THE BEATLES: (SINGING) I'll
get you anything my friend
if it makes you feel all right.
'Cause I don't care
too much for money.
Money can't buy me love.
[MUSIC - MILLICENT MARTIN, "THE
WEEK THAT WAS"]
MILLICENT MARTIN: (SINGING)
That was the week that was.
It's over, let it go.
That was the week that was.
It started way above
par, finished way below.
You had to wait for a studio.
I mean, it was like one
of the top restaurants.
You know, we can see you
in a month, type of thing.
And I lived right next
door in Abbey Road
right next door to the studio.
And it was like the red carpet
people going in and out,
which was fun.
Every now and then, you would
hear his voice very calmly
say, that was nice.
I'd like to maybe change
the tempo a little.
I thought it was
a little rushed.
Or could you do this?
I think he got the
best out of people
because he didn't frighten them.
(SINGING) That was
the week that was.
It's over, let it go.
Oh, what a week that was.
That was the week that was.
[MUSIC - BILLY J KRAMER &
THE DAKOTAS, "BAD TO ME"]
BILLY J. KRAMER: (SINGING)
The birds in the sky
would be sad and lonely if
they knew that I lost my one
and only.
They'd be sad if you're bad--
GEORGE MARTIN: Of course, Brian,
flush with all their success,
kept bringing me more artists.
This was the year in
which I had 37 weeks
at number one, which has
never been done, not even
by [inaudible].
So would you say you were
the Simon Cowell of the '60s?
[laughing] I do hope not.
[laughing]
[MUSIC - GERRY AND
THE PACEMAKERS,
"HOW DO YOU DO IT?"]
GERRY MARSDEN: (SINGING) How
do you do what you do to me.
I wish I knew.
If I knew how you do it
to me, I'd do it to you.
Gerry and the Pacemakers,
Billy J. Kramer.
And Cilla.
And Cilla.
It was a busy day, wasn't it?
[MUSIC - CILLA BLACK, "ANYONE
WHO EVER LOVED"]
CILLA BLACK: (SINGING) Anyone
who ever loved could look at me
and know that I love you.
I just remember him being
so suave and sophisticated.
Little did I know, he
turned out to be a cockney
that talked dead posh.
(SINGING) Knowing I love you so.
The way he dressed.
You know, he wore
a tie and a shirt.
The only concession
to relaxation
was that he took his suit jacket
off, but the tie stayed on.
The tie was always there.
[MUSIC - GERRY & THE
PACEMAKERS, "DON'T LE THE SUN CATCH YOU CRYING"]
GERRY MARSDEN: (SINGING) Don't
let the sun catch you crying.
GEORGE MARTIN: My
workload was enormous.
So that I was spending
more time in the studio
than I was anywhere else.
And I found myself completely
and utterly wrapped up
in my work.
GERRY MARSDEN: (SINGING) Your
heart may be broken tonight.
Patience and being
really, very honest
as well, but in a nice way.
He could be really
honest in a nice way.
[music - cilla black, "alfie"]
CILLA BLACK: (SINGING)
What's it all about, Alfie?
Is it just for the
moment we live.
What's it all about?
When you thought it out, Alfie?
Are we meant to take
more than we give?
Or are we meant to be kind?
And if only fools
are kind, Alfie--
I used to say to him, you
know, I'm a little bit
flat there at the end, George.
I he would say it's so.
PAUL MCCARTNEY: Oh, I
remember that, yeah.
GEORGE MARTIN: There's Brian.
PAUL MCCARTNEY: I was
just talking about that.
GEORGE MARTIN: Chamber
pot on his head.
PAUL MCCARTNEY: Yeah.
GEORGE MARTIN: Judy's there.
PAUL MCCARTNEY: Uh-huh.
GEORGE MARTIN: And
if you remember,
and it was very naughty.
It was all-- all the
food was in phallic or--
Yeah, the brows were
a particular shape.
It was a hoot.
It was great, you know.
We'd never seen
anything like that.
I suspect Brian might have.
Yes, oh, well, he
chose it, all right.
Yeah, that's
what I mean, yeah.
But they also got Judy
standing on the table putting
a garter around her leg.
You remember that?
Yeah.
She didn't need much persuading.
The Beatles loved her.
Even though she was
dead posh, she had
an incredible sense of humor.
And so I think a
few of the Beatles
fancied her as
well on the quiet.
We don't really want
to hang out with him.
It's Mrs. Martin we all love.
[laughing]
The great Judy, who we thought,
when we started, was the queen.
She was so posh.
Oh, hello.
He was a bit posh.
But she was over the top.
Do you remember Judy
reciting John's poems.
Deaf Ted, Danoota, and me.
Oh, deaf Ted, Danoota, and me.
With faithful frog beside
us, big mighty club are we.
The battle scab and frisky dyke.
Deaf Ted, Danoota, and me.
We figh the baddy baddies
for color, race, and cree.
For Negro, Jew, and Bernie,
Deaf Ted, Danoota, and me.
Thorg Billy grows and Burnley
ten and Aston Villa three.
We cloober ever gallop.
Deaf Ted, Danoota, and me.
So if you hear a wondrous
sight, am blutter or at sea.
Remember whom the mighty say.
Deaf Ted, Danoota, and me.
You see, she didn't have to
work on her accent like I did.
I didn't think I
had a different accent
to anybody else.
GEORGE MARTIN: But
the boys accepted you
as part of the team.
JUDY MARTIN: Yes.
GEORGE MARTIN: You was
their first major groupie.
JUDY MARTIN: Yes, quite.
PRESENTER: Ladies
and gentlemen, I'd
like to just now
have a few words
from our recording manager.
- Mr. George--
- George Martin.
George Martin.
Martin.
George Madison Martin.
Here he is.
George Madison,
come out, George.
Say a few swinging new fab
words for the Christmas market.
It's been a switched
on year for George,
too, fab Beatle people, and
we all hope you appreciate it.
Here he is.
He won't talk, Beatle people.
He won't.
Gone independent.
THE BEATLES: One, two, three,
should old acquaintance be
forgot and never thought upon.
Where on earth
did that come from?
That's a load of
lunatics if you ask me.
That's a Beatles
fan club record.
It's got to be.
Oh.
- Remember the fan club records?
- Right.
Well done, you.
Every year we'd take 10
minutes of the session time
and do nonsense like this.
Well, I'm blessed.
I'd quite forgotten about that.
But we couldn't get you
to speak, so professional.
EMI was such a sort of
funny place in those days.
We thought of it in the
same terms as the BBC,
some huge monolithic
corporation, but groovy with it
kind of thing, you know.
And I always remember, when
we went to the toilets,
there was this
old-fashioned bog roll.
On on every sheet it
had "property of EMI."
--limited Hayes.
PAUL MCCARTNEY: What?
They think someone's
gonna nick it?
Well, it was worth nicking.
Actually, I wish I had
one of those rolls now.
You gotta remember when
you are in there using
the thing who it belongs to.
It was a treadmill, but
it was a very nice one,
a golden treadmill
they might say.
10 number ones in a row.
Which is extraordinary.
And you weren't getting any
extra money for this from EMI.
No, no.
Did that make you feel bitter?
Yes.
That's the right answer.
It didn't make me feel
better, it made me feel bitter.
Bitter or better.
The appalling thing
was that in 1963
after working my
butt off all year,
and I was on a very
quite a low salary, 2000
a year at the most,
I should think.
And I didn't get my Christmas
bonus, if you remember.
You got yours.
Well, I was on--
Well, I was on 10
pounds a week, yes.
Well, and I rang
through and asked why.
And they said, well,
you're now an executive
getting over 2000 a year.
And we don't give bonuses
to people like that.
So I got nothing for the
work I've done in that year.
And yet all the sales
staff got huge bonuses
for the amounts of records
they sold to the dealers.
So I naturally had a chip
on my shoulder, which
hasn't fallen off even now.
Uh, what's all this, John.
It's Peter Sellers.
[music playing]
[applause]
It has been a
hard day's night.
And I have been
working like a dog.
It's been a hard day's night.
I should be sleeping like a log.
But when I get home to you,
I find the things that you
do will make me feel all right.
PAUL MCCARTNEY: The
thing about this record
for me is we had this in
Liverpool before we knew you.
And I wore this record out.
You knew, yes?
GEORGE MARTIN: Did you really?
PAUL MCCARTNEY: Yeah.
And we played it forever.
When Brian told you you'd got
a deal with George Martin who
made all the comedy
records, didn't you
feel you were scraping
the bottom of the barrel?
No, not really.
I think-- I think
we probably wondered
why we'd got the comedy
guy and not the music guy.
But I think we
loved this so much.
And, you know, the
other thing about this
is it wasn't just comedy.
There was quite-- there
was good music in it.
And you know things
like "Right Said
Fred," "Goodness Gracious Me."
It was a groovy--
you know, you did good
music at those times.
Those recordings with Peter
and Spike and Irene Handl
helped me in two ways
with the Beatles.
First of all, I didn't
know them from Adam.
But they knew me.
Because they were goon fans.
And they knew all
the stuff I'd made,
Peter Sellers stuff and so on.
That was the first help.
Once the boys decided they
would not perform anymore,
they wanted just to
work in the studio,
building up Sergeant Pepper
became a bit like working
on a Peter Sellers record.
Because you were building
a picture in sound.
[MUSIC - THE BEATLES,
"STRAWBERRY FIELDS FOREVER"]
THE BEATLES: (SINGING) Let
me take you down 'cause
I'm going to Strawberry Fields.
Nothing is real.
And nothing to get hung about.
Strawberry fields forever.
Living is easy with eyes closed.
Misunderstanding all you see.
It's getting hard to be
someone, but it all works out.
It doesn't matter much to me.
Were you to some extent,
tickled by the fact
that they were playing
with music in a way
that perhaps other rock and
roll bands didn't dare do?
Oh, yeah, they were
becoming quite original.
The thing is that they
were eternally curious.
They wanted to find new ways
of doing what they were doing
and new harmonies,
new endings of songs
and that kind of thing.
They always wanted to
look beyond the horizon,
not just at it.
[music - the beatles, "rain"]
THE BEATLES: (SINGING)
If the rain comes,
they run and hide their heads.
There was one time on
"Rain," where I decided
to play around with tapes.
Yeah.
And I took John's voice
off as a separate item
and put it on a
quarter inch tape
and turned it back to front.
So I slid it around
a bit and then put
it in on the end of the song.
And I played it to
John when he came back.
And he said, that's gear.
What is it?
And I said, it's you.
And I explained to
him what I'd done.
From that moment, he wanted
everything backwards.
Yes.
You know, they all did.
Yeah.
[MUSIC - THE BEATLES, "TOMORROW
NEVER KNOWS"]
THE BEATLES: (SINGING)
Turn off your mind,
relax, and float down stream.
This place,
Abbey Road Studios,
was a wonderful
musical toy shop.
And I never got much money.
But I did get the ability
to play in that toy shop.
That's where I was
able to experiment.
And I treated pianos, putting
newspapers through the strings,
all that kind of thing.
And backwards music I was doing
and different speed music.
And I found it interesting.
THE BEATLES: (SINGING) Yet you
may see the meaning of within.
It is being.
It is being.
GEORGE MARTIN: We got
all these tape loops.
RINGO STARR: Yeah.
GEORGE MARTIN: We got the sitar.
RINGO STARR: I know.
GEORGE MARTIN: And tambura.
And the cymbal.
Yeah.
It's just [vocalizing]
all the way through.
It was far out then.
You know, because everything was
so pulled back and a bit neat.
This is when we
started to change.
This is the good reason
we stopped touring
and came into the studio.
It was funny, actually,
you know, that time,
if you remember, we all
came in rose-colored
or funny-colored specks.
And where I was living,
there was a little optician
around the corner.
And I sort of popped
in and said do
you do different colored
lenses and everything?
He said, yeah, I do anything.
So I ordered up like half
a dozen different colors,
you know, rose, green, blue.
And took them to the sessions.
GEORGE MARTIN: That
was to give you a bit
of atmosphere in the studio.
I remember all of you saying
this is a sterile place.
It's just white walls
and bloody awful.
You were trying to do
something to liven it up.
And so they put in
three fluorescent stands
with red, blue, and white.
No, it was red and green.
Was it green?
I know because I've got them.
Oh, right.
They're in my studio.
Yeah, fluorescent bulbs.
That was to give
you inspiration.
And boy, did it ever.
We grooved after that.
[music playing]
THE BEATLES: (SINGING)
Of the beginning.
GEORGE MARTIN: Well, one
of the reasons I'm deaf
is that I used to sit-in
front of the desk.
Because I would then get
right inside the triangle.
And I could hear in stereo.
I used to shut my eyes
and hear this arc of sound
I could hear everything
from right to left.
And it seemed to
go up as well, not
just straight in front of me.
That's 'cause
you were on drugs.
Well, it was in
a way, wasn't it?
Yeah.
It was a kind of drug.
You'd do an experiment in the
studio and take an oscillator.
So you'd go-- [whistling]
can you hear it?
And us with young
ears at the time,
we would go, yeah, yeah,
I can still hear it.
And you'd take it up and up.
And then we'd go,
no, we just lost it.
And you'd say,
pretty good hearing.
You know, you just
went up to mm decibels.
And then you said, now,
let's do it the other way.
[vocalizing] Take
it down and we go.
Yeah, I can hear it.
Oh, I got a funny
feeling though.
Do you know when you
take it down low.
And you told the
story that Hitler--
Hitler's people, his media
people knew this effect
and before a rally they
would play a low frequency
that nobody could hear.
They'd put that
out and everybody
would be sitting there going,
I'm not feeling too great.
And the minute before Hitler
got there, they'd switch it off.
And everybody would go, yeah!
Yeah!
And you know, loving all.
I love those little stories that
would be mixed in with our sort
of recording career.
[MUSIC - THE BEATLES, "ELEANOR
RIGBY (STRINGS ONLY)"]
You must have known given
your background and the context
that you knew of
music, you must have
known what an
extraordinarily different
song it was for a pop song.
Oh, yeah.
Terrific.
Wonderful.
The syncopation of it.
- Yes.
--was marvelous.
You know the [vocalizing]
That was Paul's work.
All I had to do was
just do the strings.
But you're being very modest.
Because guitar and
vocals, that song
is a pretty remarkable song.
It's unusual modally.
It has an English
folk song feel to it.
It's lyrics are unusual.
Everything about it is unusual.
But the decision to use
strings in that particular way
and with the rhythmic
energy of those strings
is what turned it, I think, from
like a singer-songwriter song
into something
quite extraordinary.
Paul did want to use
the strings by this time.
And when I heard
the song, I thought
of Bernard Hermann
and all of the stuff
they did for the
Hitchcock films.
Yeah.
[music playing]
GEORGE MARTIN: And I
thought of the strings being
very short playing and very
spiky and very hitting,
hitting like a piano.
Yes.
Which would emphasize the
syncopated nature of the song.
So it's half Paul McCartney,
half Bernard Hermann.
Nil, score to George Martin.
Paul was always much more
interested in music per se.
Whereas John was always more
interested in words per se.
And I think this relationship
benefited from the ping pong
of those things.
I mean, I think Paul always
wanted to be able to write
lyrics like John could do.
And John really envied
Paul's gift for melody.
John once said to me,
let's face it, George, I
don't expect to walk
into a bar in Spain
and hear people whistling
"I Am the Walrus."
[MUSIC - THE BEATLES, "I AM THE
WALRUS"]
THE BEATLES: (SINGING) I am here
as you are here, as you are me.
And we are all together.
GEORGE MARTIN: And I
knew what he meant,
but it was that difference
between them which
also spurred each other on.
Did they both
trust you equally?
Yeah, I think they
trusted me, yes.
I think Paul probably wanted
me more because of the ideas
he would have to use orchestras
or orchestral instruments.
And John would not
need me as much.
But he did need me sometimes.
[MUSIC - THE BEATLES,
"SOMETHING"]
THE BEATLES: (SINGING)
Something in the way she moves.
GEORGE MARTIN: It must
have been very daunting
for George in the beginning.
Because he wanted
to be a song writer.
And the other two, because they
worked so closely together,
they wrote better songs.
Well, I was encouraging.
Because I always insisted
that we had one of his songs
on the album.
So he came through by
writing some fantastic stuff.
THE BEATLES: (SINGING) Somewhere
in her smile, she knows.
GEORGE MARTIN: Something
in the way she moves,
"Something" is one of
the best love songs ever.
THE BEATLES: (SINGING) Something
in her style that shows me.
I don't want to leave her now.
You know I believe and how.
There's you doing your mixing.
There's me producing all
the Beatle records, as I did.
Not really.
GEORGE MARTIN: Wry
smile on his face.
PAUL MCCARTNEY: Not
really, just kidding.
Wry smile, as he sees me
do it completely wrong.
He said, I'll leave him.
He's screwing it up.
I'll leave him.
But this is interesting.
Because in the very
first sessions,
I always say we came in
the tradesmen's entrance,
if you'd remember.
We didn't come in
through the control room.
That's right.
PAUL MCCARTNEY:
But by this time,
we'd got in that control room.
I know how to do that.
PAUL MCCARTNEY: We're
getting up there.
Never mind, taking
over the asylum.
Look at us, working it.
Oh, you fool.
Easy shot.
You had it all.
I hate you.
Do you mean that?
During the "Let It Be" stuff,
John came to me and said,
we don't want your
crap on this record.
I said, what do you mean?
He said, we don't want
all this production
crap where you overdub
voices and you edit
and you manipulate.
I said, OK, what
do you want to do?
We're gonna make
honest record of this.
We're gonna perform
and you record us.
That's what it's gonna be.
And "Let It Be" became
torture because John's
premise was to take a song,
rehearse it, get it right,
and record it.
But they never got it right.
And when I heard that John and
George had taken the tapes out
of Abbey Road and given them to
Phil Spector to make them work,
I felt a betrayal really.
When the record
came to be issued,
EMI rang me up and
said they don't
want your name on the record.
It will be produced
by Phil Spector.
I said, but I produced
all the original stuff
that they worked on.
Yes, well, that--
I said I'm not having that.
Why don't you put on it
produced by George Martin,
over-produced by Phil Spector.
But they didn't
seem to go for that.
I didn't think we'd work
again after "Let It Be."
And I didn't really want to.
And when Paul rang
me up and said,
we want you to come in and
produce another record,
I said, I've been there, Paul.
I don't like it.
I don't think I want to do this.
And he said, uh, yes, you do.
We all want to get together.
I said what about John?
John wants to, too.
And we all got back
into the studio again
and John was honey pie.
[MUSIC - THE BEATLES, "MEAN MR.
MUSTARD"]
THE BEATLES: (SINGING) Mean
Mr. Mustard sleeps in the park.
Shaves in the dark
trying to save paper.
I knew it was the end.
And they knew it was the end.
And they were coming
back for one final stab
at doing something really
worthwhile together
before they went
off into the sunset
in their own particular ways.
THE BEATLES: (SINGING)
Such a mean old man.
Such a mean old man.
As people, we
weren't that close.
But musically, we
were still very close.
We were just having
our argy-bargy.
You know?
[music - the beatles, "the end"]
It was like an eight
year gig for me.
And I still feel that any band,
eight years, it's got to end.
GEORGE MARTIN: Yeah.
It was tough for
everyone when you parted.
You'd been together for so long.
Everybody had to find
their own thing to do.
RINGO STARR: Yeah.
I, on the other hand,
was kind of liberated.
Thank God that's over.
THE BEATLES: (SINGING) And
in the end the love you take
is equal to the love you make.
GEORGE MARTIN: For first time in
my life, well, in eight years,
anyway.
I was a free man.
I wasn't bound by worrying
whether the next record
would be in the charts or not.
And I was in demand.
And for the first time,
I got paid well enough.
Because I never got paid
well on a Beatles song.
So I was quite happy.
We weren't looking
for number ones.
Right.
I didn't need number ones.
Yeah.
I had had them.
Right.
I just wanted to do
stuff that I enjoyed doing.
[MUSIC - JOHN MCLAUGHLIN &
THE MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA,
"THE SMILE OF BEYOND"]
(SINGING) I follow your smile.
And try as I might,
I can't get it--
JOHN MCLAUGHLIN: I wanted to
try to get George in on this
because it was clear to
me that the experience
and work that he'd
done with the Beatles
with symphonic musicians,
classical musicians,
he was really the clear
leader in this world.
I wanted the leader.
Oh, gosh.
One of my favorite
tracks of all.
"Smile of Beyond"
from "Apocalypse"
with the Mahavishnu orchestra.
And every time I hear it, it
still sends my hair stand up
at the back of my neck.
I think it's fantastic.
[music - america, "tin man"]
(SINGING) Oh, Oz, never did
give nothing to the Tin man
that he didn't,
didn't already have.
And cause never was a
reason for the evening--
DEWEY BUNNELL: It always
was comfortable with George.
He didn't just sit
behind the glass.
You know, he was down
there in the studio
with us playing piano.
He plays piano on "Tin Man."
That's actually George playing,
dee, dee, dee, dee, dee,
dee, dee, dee, dee, dee, dee.
[MUSIC - JIMMY WEBB, "THE
HIGHWAYMAN"]
JIMMY WEBB: (SINGING)
I was a sailor
and I was born upon the tide.
And with the sea I did abide.
You had this
infallible choosing
of the right instruments
for the right song.
And I knew that my
songs were very musical.
And I thought that there
would be good chemistry there.
Great song writer.
And this is the reason
I worked with him.
Because I always
admired what he'd done,
ever since he became well-known
for "Up, Up and Away."
It's almost pervasive.
It's hard to get
away from the idea
that George is
arranging and producing
affected almost everything
that came afterwards.
[MUSIC - JEFF BECK, "DIAMOND
DUST"]
JEFF BECK: He's letting me
make stuff up on the hoof.
And that's where I
saw him get excited.
And he'd go OK, we've
burnt that one out.
Let's start and
do something else.
And we go, no, George, we really
love you're going with this.
He said, no, I know
you're gonna overdo it
and you're gonna get sick of it.
We're gonna move on now.
I gave the title
"Blow by Blow"
because when you do an extempore
bit, you are giving it a blow.
Combine that with the
effect of punting.
You know, ba ba ba.
And everybody sees this,
and great, great title.
And I'm sure it had something
to do with the success.
Because, of course, it
also meant something else.
He could have been a
very suave actor, I think,
and a fantastic--
um, almost a James Bond.
[MUSIC - PAUL MCCARTNEY &
WINGS, "LIVE AND LET DIE"]
PAUL MCCARTNEY: (SINGING)
When you were young
and your heart was an open book.
You used to say
live and let live.
You know you did.
You know you did.
You know you did.
But if this ever-changing world
in which we live in makes you
give in and cry.
GEORGE MARTIN: I suppose most
people think of a martini
when they see a Bond film.
PAUL MCCARTNEY: (SINGING)
Say live and let die.
GEORGE MARTIN: When
in fact, the Martini
was the most elegant cocktail
ever devised, I reckon.
And it was the favorite
drink of the [french]
in New York in the '30s.
So all we need is a
decent bottle of gin.
I happen to like this particular
one, which is a Tanqueray
[inaudible] gin, plenty
of ice, and a bit
dry Martini, a vermouth.
And that's it really.
The purists will say
you shouldn't shake
it because it bruises the gin.
Nonsense.
It makes it colder.
And voila, your martini is made.
And there we are,
couldn't be simpler.
Of course, it's a
pretty strong drink.
Like Dorothy Parker
said, "I like to have
a Martini, two at the very most.
After three, I'm
under the table.
After four, I'll
be under my host.
Cheers.
PAUL MCCARTNEY: (SINGING)
Live and let die.
Live and let die.
Live and let die.
GEORGE MARTIN: Do you
remember where that was taken
and who took it?
PAUL MCCARTNEY:
It could be Linda.
- It is Linda.
- Taking it.
Is it?
Good.
It looks like her work.
Now, it could be Montserrat.
- It is Montserrat.
- It is Montserrat.
Well done.
PAUL MCCARTNEY: Yeah.
GEORGE MARTIN: Monserrat
is still alive and kicking.
PAUL MCCARTNEY: Gorgeous, well,
that's a beautiful picture.
GEORGE MARTIN: My
favorite shot, that is.
I saw an in-flight
magazine which
talked about the Emerald
Isle of the Caribbean,
an island called Montserrat.
The thing that struck
me about Montserrat
was that everybody
was so friendly.
And it's still like that.
I think that was the
chief reason why I decided
to buy that property and
start a high-tech studio
on a remote island.
Went back to England and
everyone said how crazy I was.
And of course, I was crazy.
It's painful because
it used to be
such a fantastic place, so full
of activity, with great people.
We used to work in the studio.
In the evening, we would
sit down to dinner.
And as many as 24
people would be sitting
down and having a nice meal.
And we worked hard.
And we played hard.
We made some great records here.
[MUSIC - THE POLICE,
"EVERY LITTLE
THING SHE DOES IS MAGIC"]
THE POLICE: (SINGING) Every
little thing she does is magic.
Everything she do
just turns me on.
Even though my life
before was tragic,
now I know my love
for her goes on.
Do I have to tell the story
of a thousand rainy days
since we first met?
It's a big enough umbrella.
But it's always me that
ends up getting wet.
Every little thing
she does is magic.
Everything she do
just turns me on.
Even though my life
before was tragic.
Now I know my love
for her goes on.
[thundering]
I wasn't able to get to
Montserrat after the hurricane
until after about six weeks.
So I got a flash lamp and
I went into the studio
to see how that had
fared, whether there
had been any leaks or anything.
I went over to the piano
and I opened the keyboard.
And all the ivory keys
were covered in green mold.
It looked like the [inaudible]
of a snooker table.
And I realized
then we were done.
You know, because I knew
if the piano is like that,
what's the inside of all
our electronics like?
It's like seeing
something you've
created falling disrepair.
But it's like everything
in life, isn't it?
Everything has a
period where you
bring something out of nothing.
But it always goes back to
nothing again, whenever.
[music playing]
THE POLICE:
(SINGING) Though I've
tried before to tell
her of the feelings
I have for her in my heart.
The old place
hasn't changed a bit.
It's very good.
They've got the names
on the seats now.
GEORGE MARTIN: Yeah.
It all looks in pretty
good nick, really.
And how long has it
been running now?
Two years?
Maybe not.
Yeah, three years.
Three years?
Must be, yeah.
It's been a godsend.
Really and truly.
Where would we have gone?
All those weddings, the
plays, the performances.
It has been used
for church services.
It's been used for funerals.
It's used for dinners.
In fact, I heard one
person refer to it
as the national dining room.
Cultural Center is very
important to the Montserrat
community.
It's used practically
for everything.
All in all, it becomes a
central focus for cultural life
in Montserrat.
Are you very proud of it?
I am proud of it, aren't you?
Yeah, very proud of it.
We did it.
Yeah, it's been successful.
And they've kept it very well.
Yeah.
It looks really nice.
[MUSIC - PETER GABRIEL,
"SUMMERTIME"]
PETER GABRIEL:
(SINGING) Summertime,
and the living is easy.
Fish are jumping and
the cotton is high.
Your daddy is rich.
And your mother is good looking.
So hush little
baby, don't you cry.
I've worked with
so many great people.
I've been given all sorts
of awards and accolades.
And I say, well, is this really
me that's getting it, you know?
Who are you to get
all this stuff?
[MUSIC - THE BEATLES, "WHILE MY
GUITAR GENTLY WEEPS"]
THE BEATLES: (SINGING)
I look from the wings
at the play you are staging
while my guitar gently weeps.
As I'm sitting here
doing nothing but aging.
Still, my guitar--
I was worried about
working with Giles.
He'd been working
as my assistant
on and off on various
projects I'd done.
But when he came to the
Cirque du Soleil show,
I knew that I needed him.
Mainly because of my hearing.
But also because of the
magnitude of the task.
And so I said, look, do you
want to work with me on this?
He said, yes, I'd love to, dad.
I said, if you do,
we'll do it as partners.
You won't be my assistant.
We'll be equal 50/50.
How did you settle
any differences you had?
Oh, I generally hit him
over the head with a hammer.
THE BEATLES: (SINGING) While
my guitar gently weeps.
As I'm sitting here doing
nothing but aging still
my guitar gently weeps.
As we speak, it's
just a few months away
from the fifth anniversary
of the Cirque du Soleil show.
And I promised I'd go along
and join in the celebrations.
And with a great
deal of bravado,
I said, well, I'll come
to the 10th one as well.
Whether the show will
last for 10 years,
whether I will last for
ten years, let's see.
Thank you.
And thus can't take my money.
I've had a wonderful life.
I can't complain.
I've got a fantastic family.
And I had a great deal
of love in my life.
Do you have many mulberries?
That's not a
mulberry, that one.
Oh, I thought it was.
No, that's a [inaudible].
[inaudible]
[inaudible] yes.
Getting old is not fun,
it's not for sissies.
Dylan Thomas raged
against the dying light.
But the truth of the matter is,
you can do damn all about it,
you know.
If you're lucky,
you get to be old.
I do live each day as
though I won't see tomorrow.
Because, you know, that's
the way to look at it.
So what the hell
am I doing wasting
time talking to you now?
MALE VOICE 1: I'll get
you anything, my friend.
If it makes you feel all right.
MALE VOICE 2: Oh, but I don't
care too much for money.
Money can't buy me love.
MALE VOICE 1: Yeah, well, I'll
give you all I've got to give.
If you say you love me true.
I may not have a lot to give.
MALE VOICE 2: Oh.
MALE VOICE 1: But what
I've got I'll give to you.
MALE VOICE 2: But I don't
care too much for money.
Money cannot buy me love.
MALE VOICE 1: Can't buy me love?
MALE VOICE 2: No.
MALE VOICE 1:
Everybody tells me so.
MALE VOICE 2: Not here.
MALE VOICE 1: Can't buy me love?
MALE VOICE 2: No.
MALE VOICE 1: [laughing]
MALE VOICE 2: No, no, no, no.
Oh, stop it.
MALE VOICE 1: Well, you say
you don't need no diamond ring.
I'll be satisfied.
Tell me that you want
the kind of thing
that money just can't buy.
MALE VOICE 2: But
you see, I just
don't care too much for money.
Money cannot buy me love.
MALE VOICE 1: I see.
Well, good night.
MALE VOICE 2: Pauls.