The Beatles’ conclusion unfolds like a musical Greek tragedy. Once “The Fab Four” gradually drifted apart, each member began to resent their position in the group, which resulted in one of the most public breakups in rock music history. Even while it would seem obvious that these guys were always at each other’s throats, they continued to write at that period, and some of their upcoming solo ventures made their way out.
Harrison’s rant about leaving the band was among the most private moments between the band members that Peter Jackson recorded for The Beatles: Get Back. The infamous incident doesn’t appear on video, but fans can hear Harrison voice his annoyance and storm out in a rage. The band then plays as a trio and lets all of their fury and creative energy out in whichever manner they can.
Harrison was quickly developing as a songwriter, producing future masterpieces that would be saved for his solo album All Things Must Pass, as opposed to John Lennon and Paul McCartney moving apart as a creative duo. The band works diligently on additional songs that would come on their individual albums while experimenting with various concepts at Twickenham Film Studios. At the beginning of the sessions, John Lennon is toying with the song ‘Child of Nature’, which would turn into ‘Jealous Guy’ on Imagine, while Paul McCartney is messing around with songs like ‘Another Day’ and ‘Back Seat of My Car’.
John Lennon is hard at work on another song that has lengthy, meandering lyric portions in the middle of the sessions working on songs like “I’ve Got a Feeling” and “Dig a Pony” and other songs. A song is rapidly taking shape as the woodshedding is going on, but McCartney gives some direction on some of the lightning-fast verses by suggesting “short-haired yellow-bellied” as some of the placeholder words.
The band opted to focus on other songs and leave the song alone for the documentary, but Lennon had different ideas for the song. Lennon revived the song and added more pointed lyrics to it, transforming it into the song “Gimme Some Truth,” as the political unrest in the US continued at the start of the 1970s.
“Gimme Some Truth” contains various political references emerging from when it was written, during the latter years of the Vietnam War. According to Songfacts, John Lennon referred to President Richard Nixon in this song as “trick-dicky,” a nickname that became popular during the Watergate hearings. There are many lyrical references to politicians as deceiving, slick, and cowardly characters. Cover-ups such as the My Lai massacre in Vietnam frustrated Lennon into writing this song, demanding simple truth.
Even in the early days, the Beatles frequently made allusions to other songs. Harrison was in charge of the famous guitar line in the song “And I Love Her,” even if McCartney may have received credit for authoring the tune. Lennon’s “Come Together” may have been credited to him as well, but it wasn’t until McCartney contributed his distinctive bass line to the finished song that it truly came to life. The Beatles may have developed a more unique personality over time, but if a song was proposed, it was up to the four of them to record something remarkable.
