Get Back to Where You Once Were Wronged
Peter Jackson’s new documentary Get Back, which is now available to stream on Disney+, chronicles the Beatles through never-before-seen footage during the band’s waning days as they struggle to write, produce, and perform a new album across just a few short weeks. The three-part series is a brilliant case study of professional relationships and shines a light on the (dysfunctional) inner workings of the greatest selling rock band of all time as its members reach the ends of their collaborative ropes.
The footage is remarkable for several reasons, one being that it captures the birth of music we now consider to be amidst the pantheon of popular song; pieces like Let It Be, The Long and Winding Road, and, of course, Get Back. Still, the sessions are fraught with tension. By January 1969, when the footage was recorded, the band hadn’t performed a live show together in over two years.
John, Paul, George, and Ringo each had their respective reasons for the acrimony and conducting an analysis of the validity or source of that acrimony is well beyond the scope of this post — there are 1,000-page books that have yet to fully capture the group’s vitriolic yet at times miraculous creative process.
At one point during the film, we see Paul sitting with his iconic Hofner bass guitar repeatedly strumming the chords, still slightly out of sequence, for what would become their hit single, Get Back. It’s early in the day, and George and Ringo have both arrived to work. Noticeably absent, however, is John. As McCartney plays and hums in places where lyrics will soon go, George comments on the song’s musical merit while Ringo offers his opinion on where to insert percussion, clapping the now familiar beat with his bare hands. John eventually enters, and tardily picks up a guitar to sit with the band.
There was no direct statement made by either Paul or John towards one another in that moment, just exhales that can only be described as grief, as each likely knew the inevitable long and winding road on which they were heading.
Perhaps due to the unspoken tension of the morning, later sessions that day quickly become argumentative and hostile. Paul tries to rally the group, which is only interpreted by the others as chastisement, ego, and bossiness. George laments that he feels controlled by Paul’s directives, which then drives Paul to share that he feels little support from the others. It’s ironic to see one of the world’s greatest songwriters struggle with verbal communication.
We’re taught, especially at work, to lets things go, to assume no negative intent, and to not confront colleagues who may have slighted us in some way. We bury meaningful dialogue under the impression that doing so is somehow better for the company at-large. Even though things may be running off track and headed in the wrong direction, we don’t want to be the thorn. Only then when it becomes too late do we see tempers flare, as they did with George.
The truth is that Paul, being a composer, saw the bigger picture, not just individual notes but the broader composition of the group’s melody. His needling the band could certainly have been delivered with more constructive language, but his motivation is not one of ego and control.
When George abruptly quits the band in protest, John remarks they’ll hire Eric Clapton to sit in and finish the recordings. Paul immediately disagrees, without George they are no longer the Beatles. Paul doesn’t chastise the group because he is superior to them, but because his whole identity is dependent upon those three “fellas,” as he affectionately refers to them.
The others mistakenly think Paul is saying, “I don’t need you, just play what you’re told,” but he’s trying to say the exact opposite. “I need you, and we need one another. If we can’t preserve this, we no longer exist.” Their phenomenal success was equally dependent upon one another. It didn’t matter if Clapton was a superior guitarist, he’s not George Harrison. John, Paul, George, and Ringo, working together, was their recipe.
When things degrade at work, it’s often because previous wrongs went unaddressed. But that decision to stifle our feelings is far more detrimental to the organization than you might think. The company, like the Beatles, is dependent upon you… uniquely you. Otherwise, why did they hire you?
The key takeaway from those recording sessions is this: it’s important to address a wrong before it’s too late to get back to where you once were wronged.
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Co-authored by David Brendel and Ryan Stelzer, Think Talk Create: Building Workplaces Fit for Humans was published by the Hachette Book Group under the PublicAffairs imprint on September 21, 2021. Now available to order!
