Graham Reid | | 1 min read
But its official release is welcome.
And while it reminds us what a great little live band they were (as well as elevating keyboard player Billy Preston into the public consciousness) what is also remarkable is to consider this: their farewell came just six years after their first British number one single Please Please Me.
And what an astonishing six years they were.
I Saw Her Standing There, the Royal Command performance (rattle your jewelry”), Beatlemania, She Loves You, I Want to Hold Your Hand, With the Beatles, The Ed Sullivan Show, Can't Buy Me Love, A Hard Day's Night, I Feel Fine, Beatles For Sale, Ticket to Ride, Help!, Yesterday. Shea Stadium, Rubber Soul, sitar, Daytripper, MBEs, Paperback Writer, marijuana, Revolver, LSD, Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever, Sgt Pepper, Maharishi and India, All You Need is Love, Magical Mystery Tour, Lady Madonna, Hey Jude, the White Album, drug busts, John and Yoko, Apple, John and Yoko naked, the Yellow Submarine movie . . .
That is quite some six years, and they are just the bullet points.
Then came Give Peace a Chance, The Ballad of John and Yoko, Abbey Road, Cold Turkey, bed-ins, Plastic Ono Band's Live Peace in Toronto, Instant Karma, Sentimental Journey, McCartney's first solo album and then, belatedly, the release of the Let It Be film and album.
Back in 1963 John Lennon was asked how long he thought the Beatles would last.
“About five years”.
.
You can hear the Beatles' rooftop performance here.
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