Beatles. - Come Together: Lennon and McCartney in the Seventies

Copyright 2016 Omnibus Press

This edition 2016 Omnibus Press

(A Division of Music Sales Limited, 14-15 Berners Street, London W1T 3LJ)

Source ISBN: 9781785582189

Ebook Edition JULY 2016 ISBN: 9781783238590

Version: 2016-07-13

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Picture research by Sara Datblygu

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CONTENTS

Come Together has been completed following detailed planning, research and writing work during the last three years. After 15 years spent enjoying and studying The Beatles classic body of work, my book also draws on contemporary sources and new interviews with both musicians and producers.

In December 2011 I met Olivia Harrison, Georges widow, who was in Liverpool to promote Martin Scorseses lauded biopic of her late husbands life, and discussed with her my plans for a Beatles-themed book which subsequently evolved into Come Together. Having wished me well with my work, Olivia read an early extract, and offered comments on the interpretation of Georges music.

In September 2013 I conducted a lengthy and wide-ranging interview with vastly experienced and well-respected session drummer Jim Keltner, a close friend and long-time studio colleague of Lennon and Harrison who worked with both men on their finest seventies material in London, New York and Los Angeles. Keltner also generously discussed his enduring friendship with Lennon and, in particular, with Harrison, and we co-operated closely on early draft material during four months of subsequent discussions.

Jim and Olivia were also due to discuss my project during their attendance at the Grammy Awards ceremony dinner in Los Angeles in February 2014, where Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr performed after receiving Lifetime Achievement Awards. Keltner also met with John Lennons former partner, May Pang, in New York shortly before Christmas 2013, where they discussed my project. Pang and her secretary, Pat Jennings, also read early extracts from the book. Pangs relationship with Lennon facilitated a gradual change in his outlook on The Beatles legacy (and an encouraging rapprochement with McCartney) as both men broached thoughts of a musical reconciliation.

Come Together also benefits from the memories of maestro American arranger and producer Allen Toussaint, specifically his work on McCartneys Venus And Mars album, and recollections of New Orleans rich musical heritage. Paul treated everybody with a wonderful respect, enthused Toussaint from his Deep South office during our mid-summer interview. It had a lasting effect on everyone here. You couldnt have picked a better subject to write about. Toussaints sudden passing, in November 2015, came during the final stages of the books preparation, and the writer is indebted to Allen for his enthusiasm about McCartneys work and his contribution to this project. I have also revisited the period of the Venus And Mars recording experience in the Crescent City with studio engineer Alan ODuffy, veteran musician Tom Scott, private McCartney photographer Sidney Smith and then-fledgling photographer Sylvia de Swaan.

Former Melody Maker writer Chris Charlesworth, who during his term as their US Editor based in New York became acquainted with Lennon, has also contributed personal insights and unpublished diary recollections of his social and professional experiences with Lennon during the mid-seventies. Chris was an interviewee for the critically acclaimed The US v John Lennon documentary, and the films co-director, John Scheinfeld, was interviewed for my book in February 2014 about Lennons music and politics, his love of New York, his American dream and his battle to become a US citizen.

Gary Van Scyoc, Lennons bassist in his New York band, Elephants Memory, has discussed his time onstage, in the studio and in the city with Lennon, even performing a few bars of Imagine on Lennons Wurlitzer piano down the phone line for me from his New Jersey home. I have also explored Lennons affinity with New York with radio broadcast DJ Dennis Elsas, who interviewed Lennon in September 1974. A huge Beatles fan, Elsas provided recollections of the occasion and his own insights into the man he met shortly before Lennon became an American Billboard chart-topper, the celebrated artist that his contemporaries sought to collaborate with in 197475.

Elsas appears in the Michael Epstein-directed LENNONYC documentary alongside world-renowned rock photographer Bob Gruen, who also appeared as an interviewee in Scheinfeld and David Leafs documentary film. Gruen has shared memories of his close friendship with John, and of Lennons musical and cultural experiences of New York City. I have also interviewed Walls And Bridges and Rock N Roll engineer Greg Calbi about working with Johns music during the mid-seventies in New York. Musician, engineer and former roadie Ed Freeman, present on The Beatles controversial 1966 US tour and the rumoured bassist during Lennon and McCartneys Burbank reunion session in 1974, has also shared his thoughts on the group.

The book includes either opinion or interview-based contributions from a number of respected Beatles authors including McCartney biographer Chris Welch, Alan Clayson, Peter Doggett, Keith Badman, Paul Du Noyer and Steve Turner. Lennons Liverpool art college contemporary, Beatles friend and author Bill Harry has graciously discussed his time with The Beatles during their nascent years in Liverpool and beyond. Thatll Be The Day screenwriter and Beatles biographer Ray Connolly proved an entertaining and insightful interviewee, full of anecdotes and enthusiasm for the subject. I was also interviewed by BBC Radio Merseyside DJ Spencer Leigh in order to discuss my Beatles book project.

Aside from his earlier contributions, I extend special gratitude to Omnibus editor Chris Charlesworth for his diligent manuscript work, his skill and expertise in toning some of the books weighty or overly-enthusiastic passages of musical analysis, his knowledgeable suggestions and his prompt, reliable professionalism in bringing the book to fruition during the summer.

Special thanks to Annabelle Curran for her help, encouragement and devotion during the course of writing this book: for her tea-making, her crucial printing assistance, for our journeys to The Beatles home city and the visits to John and Pauls family homes, for her belief in me... and for her love. Without her, this book would not have been possible.

Richard White

September 2015

T HE journey begins at Heathrow Airport, where American session drummer Jim Keltner is a recent arrival from the United States. Keltner awaits the appearance of his famous friend, a former Fab and his temporary chauffeur for the day. With the motorway lights stretching out before them into the distance, Keltners camera begins to roll in order to capture the unfolding journey. Ive got something to play you, George Harrison tells his passenger, a keen Beatles fan.