Ladies and gentlemen, The Beatles!

I'm a year late, but I finally watched all eight hours (ish) of Peter Jackson's Get Back on Disney+. And wow.

It could’ve been tighter, sure, but there's a relentlessness to it that anyone who’s ever been in a band will immediately recognize. That circle jerk of playing songs over and over again, repeating and repeating, until notes turn into reflexes, or an idea finally comes together (pun intended). And the sheer length of the documentary, with its endless mundanities, made me feel as if I was in those sessions along with them.

Before watching the series I thought its title lacked originality—the album's first single? Really? One of The Beatle's best known recordings? Seemed a bit obvious. But I now realize Jackson had no choice. Not only do we get to witness the birth of that song—from McCartney furiously strumming a guitar as they wait for Lennon to arrive (because they don't have enough material yet and he's panicking), to the riff's "apparition" a few moments later, along with the chorus—but it also offers a narrative thread throughout the entire month-long journey. And it's the perfect metaphor: these guys do, eventually, get back. To their musical roots, but also to themselves, as a group and as friends.

There's this one moment, as everyone's leaving after a day's work in the studio, where George Martin says to Paul "You're working so well together... it's really happening isn't it?". And you can tell he's both surprised and almost touched by what he sees—the unexpected return of a certain magic he thought was lost forever.

Our knowledge of what would soon follow makes those words bitter-sweet as hell though. We're watching a dying star go supernova.

But what a ride.

…

Going forward I’ve decided to simply use numbers instead of titles for these emails. It’s what I do internally, and I’ve always struggled to find the proper description: should it be based on the opening text, the links? One specific link?

Anyway, this makes it easier and purely objective to boot—you may now interpret the newsletter’s content as you desire :)

On to the links.