One of the Best Experiences in My Life

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

I have to burn my Bob Woodward's non- fiction thick covered book collections mostly about the stints of U.S Presidents and government top honchos. I just found last night termites infesting, impregnating, and gnawing the covers and pages of these hardbound.

Without doing that ultimate solution, these pests will be consuming the hundreds of my mostly political books in my library and eventually gnawing the valuable wood parts of my abode.

If I was not wrong, I have 20 collection of Woodward's hardcovers. He was the Washington Post’s correspondent in the early 1970s who exposed President Richard Nixon's corruption in the Watergate Scandal.

A friend in the United States sent me this year a copy of Woodward’s blockbuster's Peril. It was a collaboration with Robert Costa.

One of the contents of PERIL – and the authors’ prologue that perked up the excitement if not curiosity of readers -  was about a U.S General who during the last days of President Donald Trump called his Chinese counterpart to warn China incase "Nutcase Donald Duck" ordered the Generals to nuke out to smithereens, Jezz, the Chinks.

Acclaimed filmmaker Peter Jackson has released an exclusive sneak peek of his upcoming documentary “The Beatles: Get Back” for fans everywhere to enjoy. The film showcases the warmth, camaraderie and creative genius that defined the legacy of the iconic foursome. “The Beatles: Get Back” is the story of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr as they plan their first live show in over two years and charts the writing and rehearsing of 14 new songs, originally intended for release on an accompanying live album. (Photo Credit: Beatles Magazine)

Glued on my laptop last night watching the first two hours of the eight hours’ documentary of the Beatles how they rehearsed, jammed, and composed new songs with urgency for a concert to be held on the roof top of a building dubbed as Get Back. It was relishing - as if seeing up close and personal- their demeanours. I saw John Lennon belted "Jealous Guy" with different lyrics and Paul McCartney sang as warm up “Another Day”. Those two songs did not become part of their second to last album's Let It Be. They became their single after the Fabulous Four parted ways in 1969.

Here’s the introduction of the docu: But when director Peter Jackson was asked a few years ago by the surviving Beatles to revisit the footage shot for Let It Be, and cut it into an all-new documentary, he combed through more than 60 hours of video and 150 hours of audio, and found an altogether different story. This was not the Beatles in misery, he told reporters—this was the Fab Four laughing, reconnecting, rehearsing not just the songs for Let It Be but half of Abbey Road and many numbers that would go on to dot John, Paul, and George’s solo records".

***

This how the Beatles especially Lennon and McCarthy composed a song. In their session they saw a newspaper banner story about a member of the Parliament who wanted to stop the migration in Great Britain of Pakistanis, Indians, and people from the Commonwealth.

The salient features of that phenomenon:

- Recorded January 9, 1969 during the Get Back/Let It Be sessions;

- Enoch Powell was a conservative member of Parliament and gave a fear baiting speech about if they allow immigration from the British Empire Commonwealth countries, the whites would soon be in the minority. This was obviously on the Beatles minds at the time when they did this mocking song about him and the people who believe these things;

Political writer Mortz C. Ortigoza - the writer of this article - who hailed from the Philippines belts in this video "A Day in the Life". It is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released as the final track of their 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Credited to Lennon–McCartney, the verses were mainly written by John Lennon, with Paul McCartney primarily contributing the song's middle section. (Wikipidea)

- Many long-time Beatles fans are already familiar with this, but for anyone having a negative misunderstanding of this song, watch this video to understand what was going on with late 60's;

***

My answer will be "Disagreed" too!

When the two hosts and a male guest of CNN's New Year Special were asked: If you watched the eight hours new TV documentary about the 60 hours’ video footage of the Beatles composing, rehearsing, and preparing their rock songs mostly seen in the albums Let It Be and Abbey Road, was John Lennon's then GF Yoko Ono the main factor that saw the Fabulous Four broke out?

The three showed their "Disagree Cards".

With my link on that flicks where I saw the spirited demeanors of the four while doing antics and play their stuffs, I saw there too in that 16 session days that the presence of Yoko, Linda McCartney and five-year-old daughter Heather goofing around and Ringo Star's wife were welcome sight. John and Yoko sometimes dances while the Beatles and other players like keyboard genius Billy Preston play.

Damn, going to watch again the three series films since I felt I'm a kibitzer while they play their old rock classics that made them the undisputed No. 1 Rock Band in the world.

The discontent of George Harrison who said his songs and guitar styles have been disputed by Paul McCarthy - who had a commanding presence in that docu - caused -as one of the major factors - the dismemberment of the group. He even left the session for three days prejudicing the rooftop video and audio recording of the various songs dubbed as Get Back.

 Japanese Yoko Ono (left) in a huddle with American magazine photographer Linda Eastman - the wife of the "second boss" of the Beatles British Paul McCartney  - while the band in the background rehearsed in a studio for their impending recording of new rock songs).

This newly found 60 hours’ video footages of the unguarded Beatles in sessions have been the best experiences of my five decades of life on this earth. My first encounter with the Fab Four was in the early 1980s when I bought their bootleg cassette tape’s Hard Days Night sold at the Barter Trade in Zamboanga City in the Southern Philippines during the furlough of my military father.

I later discovered that they have more scintillating albums like the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band, White Album, Let it Be, and Abbey Road- their last album before they broke out in 1969.

The last song their The End in Abbey Road was heart wrenching as the melody and the lyrics primordially done by McCartney epitomized the classics composed by these four British teenagers in their almost one-decade collaboration that had to be ended at the disappointment of their fanatics.

"The End" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1969 album Abbey Road. It was composed by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was the last song recorded collectively by all four Beatles, and is the final song of the medley that constitutes the majority of side two of the album. The song features one of the few drum solos recorded by Ringo Starr. (Wikipidea)

READ MY OTHER BLOG/COLUMN

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(You can read my selected columns at http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com and articles at Pangasinan News Aro. You can send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com)

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MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

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I am a twenty years seasoned Op-Ed Political Writer in various newspapers and Blogger exposing government corruptions, public officials's idiocy and hypocrisies, and analyzing local and international issues. I have a master’s degree in Public Administration and professional government eligibility. I taught for a decade Political Science and Economics in universities in Metro Manila and cities of Urdaneta, Pangasinan and Dagupan. Follow me on Twitter @totoMortz or email me at totomortz@yahoo.com.