A Day in the Life Blog

Allen Klein was appointed The Beatles' business manager today after having a meeting with the Beatles and John Eastman.

His immediate task was to examine the group's finances, and find a way to stop Brian Epstein's former company NEMS, now run by his brother Clive, from taking a quarter of their earnings.

The decision to appoint Klein was seen as a fait accompli by Paul McCartney, who had wanted his future father-in-law John Eastman to represent the group. He was, however, outvoted 3-1 by the other Beatles.

In London's High Court in early 1971, during the hearing of McCartney's lawsuit to dissolve The Beatles' partnership, the following was read out as part of Allen Klein's affidavit:

"On the morning of 3rd February 1969, I went to 3 Saville Row and saw the four Beatles, John Eastman and a few principal staff members of Apple, who were informed that my company (then still called Cameo-Parkway) had been appointed to look into the affairs of The Beatles and all their Companies. At this meeting John Eastman agreed that he would, after all, act as legal adviser to The Beatles and all their companies.

Apple issued two press announcements, one relating to my Company's appointment and a separate one relating to the appointment as lawyers of John Eastman's firm, Eastman & Eastman. Cameo-Parkway also issued a press announcement of its own, a copy of which is now produced and shown to me marked "A.K.4".

On the evening of the same day, 3rd February 1969, I met Clive Epstein and Mr Pinsker at the Dorchester Hotel to discuss with them the possible purchase by Apple of the share capital of NEMS. Clive Epstein was then Managing Director of NEMS and Mr Pinsker's firm, Bryce Hammer & Co, acted as accountants for both NEMS and The Beatles. I asked Clive Epstein if he would be willing to wait and defer a decision with regard to his disposal of NEMS for about three weeks until I had had an opportunity to assess the financial position of The Beatles and their companies. Clive Epstein agreed to defer a decision for at least three weeks. The following day I left for New York to begin an investigation into the three main sources of The Beatles' income as a verification of their financial position. The three sources were United Artists Corporation, the Company which handled The Beatles' films ("United Artists"), General Artists Corporation, which handled their American tours ("G.A.C.") and EMI and its United States subsidiary, Capitol Records Inc. Formal letters of direction were issued by The Beatles to enable me to obtain the requisite information. There is now produced and shown to me marked "A.K.5" a bundle comprising copies of these letters and other letters referred to below."

Source: The Complete Beatles Chronicles - Mark Lewisohn

Yoko Ono is divorced from Anthony Cox in the Virgin Islands. Cox receives a divorce settlement of 6,700 pounds, and Yoko is given custody of their daughter, Kyoko.

A meeting was held today at Apple's headquarters in London, where Allen Klein outlined his assessment of The Beatles' finances.

John Eastman, (Linda's Dad) soon to be Paul McCartney's father-in-law, had advised The Beatles to buy Brian Epstein's former company NEMS for £1 million.

Today was the final day of the Get Back/Let It Be sessions. The Beatles performed the songs which had been judged unsuitable for the previous day's rooftop concert.

The main purpose was to allow the film crew to capture satisfactory versions of the songs. Primary among them were Let It Be, The Long And Winding Road and Two Of Us.

Various other songs were also performed during the day, including a version of Lady Madonna featuring the lines "Lord and lady docker, in your private yacht/All the people wonder why you have such a lot". McCartney also sang on I Want You (She's So Heavy), which The Beatles had played earlier in week and were clearly keen to work on further.

Most of the takes of The Long And Winding Road were recorded after a lunchtime break. Among them was the version included on the 2003 album Let It Be... Naked. The song Let It Be proved slightly more troublesome, with The Beatles recording a total of 22 takes, beginning with a skiffle-style one with John Lennon on lead vocals, singing the words to a different melody.

Lennon was visibly bored and interjecting mischievous lines such as "And in my hour of darkness she is standing left in front of me, squeaking turds of whisky over me". McCartney, too, changed some of the lyrics, including a reference to "Brother Malcolm" (presumably Mal Evans), and changing "times of trouble" to "times of heartache".

The group did eventually record a take which – with overdubs recorded at a later date – was used on both the single and album. This was the penultimate take of the day; an edit of this and the final take was used in the Let It Be film.

The Beatles perform on the rooftop of the Apple offices at Savile Row, London. The Beatles played tracks including "Don't Let Me Down", "I've Got a Feeling", "Dig A Pony" and "Get Back". The police arrived to halt the proceedings, but the band continued to play. Despite their protest, no arrests were made, and the performance continued for 42 minutes.

Ringo said "It was a memorable day for me - we were doin' what we did best - making music. But I am still disappointed the policemen didn't drag me off me drums!".

The Beatles are still working on the Get Back/Let It Be sessions. They also finally decide to perform a concert the following day on the roof of their Apple headquarters.

They spent much of the day working on versions of Two Of Us, The Long And Winding Road and Let It Be, plus others which didn't make it to the Let It Be album.

The Beatles tackled a number of George Harrison's songs, perhaps hoping that one would be suitable for inclusion in the film. The album version of For You Blue had been taped on 25 January, but three more takes were performed on this day. Also played were Something, All Things Must Pass, Let It Down and Old Brown Shoe, although none sounded like polished versions ready for release.

The final part of the session was mostly devoted to cover versions. Among them was Buddy Holly's Mailman, Bring Me No More Blues, which was heavily edited and included on Anthology 3. The Beatles also played Besame Mucho, as seen in the Let It Be film.

The session ended with a return to Teddy Boy and Two Of Us. Paul McCartney aside, the group's enthusiasm for playing the songs was noticeably waning by this stage.

Source: Mark Lewisohn - The Complete Beatles Chronicles

The Beatles rehearsed most of the songs which would end up on the Let It Be album.

The first song to receive significant attention was I've Got A Feeling, one take of which featured a three-chord coda lasting a full 15 minutes, and others which had John Lennon on lead vocals.

The single version of Don't Let Me Down was recorded as well as seven versions of Get Back, the coda from one of which was used on the single.

George Harrison had introduced Old Brown Shoe during the previous day's session. It had further work on this day, and after one of the takes The Beatles and Preston began experimenting with a stylophone. This is The Beatles' only known use of the instrument popularised by Rolf Harris.

Something, made its debut during this session. Five versions were taped of the song, which still lacked some lyrics and final chords, and Harrison can be heard on the tapes asking for help finishing it off. "Just say what comes into your head each time," Lennon tells him. "'Attracts me like a cauliflower'. Until you get the word."

Although Lennon and Paul McCartney seemed willing to help Harrison with the song, there is less enthusiasm for All Things Must Pass, which had last been played on 8 January. The Beatles performed it one more time the following day, before giving up on it completely.John Lennon introduced a new song, I Want You (She's So Heavy), which would eventually be recorded for Abbey Road. The first of four versions from this day was instrumental, and featured the main guitar riffs that made it to the final recording, although it was little more than a jam at this stage.

Source: Mark Lewisohn - The Complete Beatles Chronicle

The sessions today continued with Get Back/Let It Be. Although the group still hadn't decided whether to perform live at the end of the sessions, they knew a resolution was needed for the project as Ringo Starr was due to start filming The Magic Christian in early February 1969. The Beatles recorded a total of 32 takes of Get Back on this day, experimenting with different tempos and styles.

One of John Lennon's ad-libs – "Sweet Loretta Fart, she thought she was a cleaner, but she was a frying pan" – was included in the warm-up to the song on the Let It Be album.

Let It Be, The Long And Winding Road, Don't Let Me Down and I've Got A Feeling were all performed numerous times. Apart from Don't Let Me Down, they were included on the Let It Be album, although not recordings made on this day. All the arrangements were mostly in place, although some takes involved slight lyrical or musical variations.

Oh! Darling was also performed four times, one of which lasted nearly seven minutes and featured Lennon and Paul McCartney bantering in high spirits. An edited version of this take was included on Anthology 3, complete with Lennon's announcement that Yoko Ono's divorce had been finalised.

One new song to be introduced on this day was George Harrison's Old Brown Shoe, which would become the b-side to The Ballad Of John And Yoko later in 1969. The first version on this day featured just vocals and piano, but a second saw the rest of the band join in. Work on Old Brown Shoe continued the following day, although the released version was recorded at Abbey Road.

Other original songs included McCartney singing a version of Strawberry Fields Forever, and more performances of I Told You Before, a Beatles jam first played the previous day, featuring Billy Preston to the fore.

Source: Mark Lewisohn - The Complete Beatles Chronicles

The Get Back/Let It Be sessions continued on this day with the Beatles focus mainly on two songs: Let It Be and The Long And Winding Road.

Today was Sunday and Linda McCartney and her daughter Heather came to the recording studio.

George Harrison and Ringo Starr arrived, and the session began with Harrison performing some of his own songs alone on an acoustic guitar: Isn't It A Pity, Let It Down and the unreleased Window, Window.

Billy Preston was also back in the studio, helping with the arrangement. For example, Let It Be, in particular, benefited from Preston's organ playing, and by the end of the day they almost had a version suitable for release.

The session ended with The Long And Winding Road, with Paul McCartney on piano and John Lennon playing bass guitar.

The sale of John and Yoko's Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins is banned in Union County, New Jersey, and in the city of Cleveland, Ohio (due to the pictures of John and Yoko naked on the front and the back of the album cover). Police in Mountainside, New Jersey, confiscate 20,000 copies of the album.