Beatles documentary: “All Together Now”
Over the weekend, I stayed up late watching the documentary All Together Now (2008):
The story behind the partnership between The Beatles and Cirque du Soleil that resulted in the Las Vegas stage production of “LOVE.”
Here’s the first part of the documentary:
As I was watching the doc, I thought how fortunate I’ve been to grow up with The Beatles. But then toward the end of the film, Sir George Martin, who produced all but one of The Beatles’ records, said [paraphrased], “The thing about The Beatles is, every generation discovers them. Every generation that comes along can find inspiration in The Beatles.”
And that’s right, isn’t it? I’ll bet if you went to your workplace or out into public, and asked people of all ages if they know The Beatles, the response would be almost universally yes.
As the credits rolled on the documentary, I asked myself which is the greatest Beatles’ song of all. Crazy question, true, because there are so many great songs. Since I was a John Lennon guy, I can narrow it down to these three: “A Day in the Life,” “Strawberry Fields Forever,” and “I am the Walrus.” Not include “Revolution,” “Julia,” “Come Together,” “All You Need is Love”? All great songs, but the other three are special in my view.
“A Day in the Life” is considered by many to be the best song on The Beatles’ most important album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
“Strawberry Fields Forever” is the very first song The Beatles recorded after they decided to quit touring and become a studio-only band. Arguably it set the tone for everything they recorded in the future.
“I am the Walrus” appears on Magical Mystery Tour, a mixed bag of an album. I guess it’s in my top three because nobody but John Lennon could have ever written a song as imaginative as this.
It’s ironic that John Lennon was so self-critical. He was arguably one of the greatest rock vocalists ever, and yet he was always having George Martin lay on effects for his vocal tracks. In the documentary, Martin recalls one of the last conversations he had with Lennon before John was assassinated in 1980. Lennon confessed to Martin that if there was one thing he wished he could do, it was to re-record every Beatles song because he thought they could be done better.
By the way, The Beatles still continue to live on in the movie business as this was announced last month:
Disney and director Robert Zemeckis are negotiating to remake “Yellow Submarine,” the 1968 psychedelic animated film based on the music of The Beatles.
The studio has been quietly brokering a complicated rights deal that would give Zemeckis access to 16 original Beatles songs for a movie he will direct in the performance-capture 3-D digital production format he employed for “A Christmas Carol.” Disney opens that film November 6, with Jim Carrey playing Scrooge as well as the three ghosts who haunt him in the Charles Dickens tale.
The hope is to have “Yellow Submarine” ready to premiere around the 2012 Summer Olympics, which begins July 27 in London.
And here is the animated John Lennon from the original Yellow Submarine movie, leading the film’s last song “All You Need is Love”:
How about you? Could you name your favorite Beatles song?