Beatles A Day in the Life Blog posts of '1969' 'January'

The Beatles resumed work the Get Back/Let It Be sessions with the film crew present. This was the first formal day of work following George Harrison's temporary departure from the group, and saw them relocate from Twickenham Film Studios to the group's own Apple Studios, in the basement of their headquarters in Savile Row, London.

Harrison had agreed to rejoin The Beatles on January 15th, though not without certain conditions being met. He insisted that they work at Apple Studios, and made it clear that he would leave for good unless the notion of a live show before an audience was abandoned. He did, however, agree to be filmed making an album, and for a potential live performance in some form.

The Beatles had met the day before at Apple Studios to test the equipment installed by Alexis 'Magic Alex' Mardas. It was found to be unsatisfactory, and new kit was borrowed from EMI. This day's session didn't start until the afternoon, perhaps due to installation issues.

The Beatles had barely moved on following their week off. They still spent much time working on Dig A Pony, I've Got A Feeling and Don't Let Me Down, but their playing was often sloppy and aimless.

One of the takes of Dig A Pony was introduced by Lennon as "I Dig A Pigmy by Charles Hawtrey and the Deaf Aids. Phase one, in which Doris gets her oats." This was later used as the opening for the Let It Be, immediately before Two Of Us.

Paul McCartney brought a new song, Every Night, to the session. This was performed again on 24 January, but was eventually held over until his debut solo album McCartney. A song by Harrison, titled Window, Window, was introduced on this day and took shape on 24, 25 and 26 January. However, despite recording a solo demo over a year later, it was never released in his lifetime.

John Lennon played a new song idea, All I Want Is You, which was unrelated to Dig A Pony. He also revived Madman, a song previously played on 14 January, but it, too, was taken no further.

The only song from this day to have been officially released was a version of She Came In Through The Bathroom Window, which appeared on 1996's Anthology 3 (the date was incorrectly listed as 22 January in the album booklet), featuring Lennon on Fender Rhodes electric piano.

Source: The Complete Beatles Chronicle - Mark Lewisohn

The Beatles are in the new studio in the basement of their Apple headquarters on Savile Row, London recording "Don't Let Me Down".

The Beatles are taking a short break. Too much stress in the studio.

-Pete Best wins his defamation suit against The Beatles. He had sought eight million dollars, but won considerably less.

UK release of The Beatles' LP Yellow Submarine (Apple). The Beatles' tenth album. Songs: Yellow Submarine, Only a Northern Song, All Together Now, Hey Bulldog, It's All Too Much, All You Need Is Love, and one side of George Martin instrumental music from the film. Highest chart position: #3.

In today’s edition of Disc and Music Echo, John Lennon is quoted as saying that Apple is losing vast quantities of money, and that The Beatles are in danger of going bankrupt unless the situation is reversed.

The Beatles held a meeting today, and agreed to Harrison's demands to move the sessions from Twickenham to Apple's headquarters in Savile Row, London. These began a week later, on the 21st, in higher spirits and willing to continue with the Let It Be project.

The Get Back/Let It Be sessions on day nine was the second full one without George, who had walked out of Twickenham Film Studios 4 days before.

It was clear by this stage that The Beatles were unable to function in any meaningful way as a trio, and motivation and inspiration hit a low mark on this day. As with other Twickenham rehearsals, it began with Paul McCartney working alone at a piano, although there is little of the energetic enthusiasm which he brought to the earlier days.

Once John Lennon and Ringo Starr had arrived, they performed a mix of improvised songs, golden oldies and original compositions, as had become customary in these sessions. One of the songs was Woman, the McCartney song given in 1966 to Peter & Gordon, which had the only known Beatles performance on this day. Another was The Back Seat Of My Car, later to be one of the highlights of McCartney's 1971 album Ram.

The day ended with McCartney alone at the piano, performing Oh! Darling and a brief version of Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, for Glyn Johns to test the audio equipment. On this day Lennon and Ono were also interviewed by a reporter from Canada's CBC-TV. It took place around midday and lasted for 30 minutes, and has since become known as the Two Junkies interview.

Lennon was clearly high on heroin during the interview, growing paler and more restless as it progressed. Eventually he said "Excuse me, I feel a bit sick" and the camera was turned off. The second half of the conversation was noticeably livelier, and Lennon discussed live performances, inspiration, and the couple's future plans.

Source: The Complete Beatles Chronicles

The soundtrack LP for The Beatles' animated film Yellow Submarine was released in the United States on this day, with six songs by the group and seven orchestral pieces by George Martin.

There was no mono version of Yellow Submarine released.

Originally, the four new Beatles songs on the album – Only A Northern Song, All Together Now, Hey Bulldog and It's All Too Much – were to have been issued as an EP. This was deemed unsuitable for the US market, however, and so the full-length album was created.

Yellow Submarine peaked at number two in the US charts. It was prevented from reaching the top by the White Album, which had been issued two months previously. Sales were lower than normal, however, and The Beatles came under criticism for not giving their usual value for money.

The artwork of the US and UK albums were slightly different. In the UK the words 'Nothing is real' appeared in green below the title on the cover. This was removed from the US version.

The tracklisting for the US LP listed six tracks on side two: Sea Of Time and Sea Of Holes were combined into one track, listed as Medley: Sea of Time & Sea of Holes.

The back cover of the UK edition featured a review of the White Album written by The Observer newspaper journalist Tony Palmer, along with introductory notes by Derek Taylor. The US version, meanwhile, contained a fictional account of Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band credited to Dan Davis.

The feud between Harrison and John Lennon remained unresolved, so a meeting was scheduled, but not a success and George Harrison left early without agreeing to rejoin The Beatles.-

Meanwhile, the London premiere of the motion picture "Wonderwall," happened this night which featured George Harrison's musical score.