Abbey Road by Brian Southall

Author:Brian Southall [Brian Southall, Peter Vince & Allan Rouse]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-85712-676-4
Publisher: Music Sales Limited
Published: 2011-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

‘We’d always look for somewhere to get out of the way of everyone,’ and this was one of Paul’s hiding places in Abbey Road. The air conditioning chamber was also the place where he chose to do an interview about the studios with the author.

McCartney remembers the strict formality which was a trademark of Abbey Road until he and his three colleagues changed things in the mid-Sixties. “We were not allowed to touch the desk or anything in the early days. It was all very formal and in our early photos we’ve all got suits and ties on and so have George [Martin] and Geoff [Emerick]. There were strict three-hour sessions which was great and I’ve kinda gone back to working that way. It gives you time for life and makes a lot of sense; there’s time for lunch and everything else.”

During the hectic days of the early Sixties, life for The Beatles became one round of live dates, press and radio interviews, television appearances and recording sessions; and in Abbey Road the most famous group in the history of pop music began to seek some respite from the pressures of the outside world.

“I think to some degree it was a refuge for us,” admits Paul, “but to be honest it was the place where we recorded; we had to come here anyway whether it was a refuge or not. It was a nice place to come to; the reason wasn’t that it was such a great place to be in that we stayed here through the night, it was actually just the workers taking over the tools of their trade. All that kind of thing was being mooted anyway and we would be working on a thing quite late and we would kinda say, ‘What time can we go to tonight?’, and we eventually started to sort of stretch it, you know.”

The Beatles’ ability to work long hours undisturbed is a legend in Abbey Road. Endless cups of tea, fish and chips and Chinese take-aways were ordered as they worked night and day to finish the records that brought them more and more success, increased pressures and, ultimately, greater control of their destiny. “With the touring and everything else we had to do, we got used to kinda rock’n’roll hours whereas now I’m kinda back on a normal kind of schedule. Now you’ve gotta get up for the kids and then, of course, we didn’t have any kids and we could all lie in till midday and come round here for the two o’clock session and then you’d work until midnight and stuff and it got to be quite nice being here on your own; the only people in the building. You forgot about time and kinda got so much into the music that you just went on and on, but after three or four weeks of that you are finished.”

As the success story of The Beatles unfolded, a new chapter was being written with every new release, so

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