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At the end of "Let It Be"... "Let It Be" was such an unhappy record really, even though it has some great songs on it...
I really thought that was the end of the Beatles, and I thought I would never work with them again...
I thought, what a shame to go out like this...
So I was quite surprised when Paul rang me up and said, "We're gonna make another record. Would you like to produce it?"
And my immediate answer was "Only if you let me produce it the way we used to".
And he said "We do want to do that". I said "John included?" He said "Yes, honestly".
So I said "Well, if you really wana do that, let's do that, let's get together again".
And it was a very happy record. I guess it was happy because everybody knew it was gonna be the last.
Well, I think the deal was that, you know, through "Let It Be", it was like we...
I left, we got back on the basis that we've got to just finish it up and make it tidy...
So I got back on that basis, then everybody decided we ought to do one better album.
I think, before the "Abbey Road" sessions, it was like...
we should put down the boxing gloves, and try and just get it together
and really make a very special album.
I think it shows on the record
that when we were excited, the track's exciting, you know...
It's really...
All comes together, it doesn't matter what we're going through as individuals, on the *** level...
When it gets to the music, you know...
You can see that it's really cool, we'd all put in 1000%.
You tended to think "Well, if there's gonna be a single, it would be John or me, or John and me that would write it".
And then suddenly George just came up with this song...
Nobody knew for sure that it was gonna be the last one, but everybody felt it was, you know...
I think, the Beatles had gone through so much, and it was a long time...
They'd been incarcerated with each other for nearly a decade.
And it was a very very happy album. Everybody worked frightfully well,
and that's why I'm very fond of it.
There was always a possibility that, you know, we could have carried on...
We weren't sitting in the studio saying "OK, this is it".
"Last record, last track, last take".
But I think at the point we'd finished "Abbey Road", it was really... The game was up, you know. I think we all accepted that.
The last section of "Abbey Road", you know, I still think as, for me, one of the finest pieces we put together.
We had lots and lots of bits of things. John had a bit of a song called 'Polythene Pam'.
And we hit upon the idea of medleying them all,
which gave the second side of "Abbey Road" a kind of sort of...
Like an operatic kind of structure,
which was quite nice, because it got rid of all these songs in a good way.
This song is sort of... vaguely gospelly in a way.
You know... "Sleep little darling, don't you cry", all that bit is a bit gospelly.
I think it was, in a way, the feeling that it might be our last,
so let's just show them what we can do.
Let's show each other what we can do, and let's try and have a good time doing it.
It was magical.
Some really loving, caring moments between four people.
A hotel room here and there...
A really amazing closeness, just...
Four guys who really loved each other. It was pretty sensational...
You know, they gave their money and they gave their screams,
but the Beatles kinda gave their nervous systems,
which is a much more difficult thing to give.
I'm really glad that most of the songs
dealt with love, peace, understanding... You know, they really did.
If you look back, there's hardly anyone saying "Go on kids, tell them to sod off, leave your parents".
It's all very 'All You Need Is Love', or John's 'Give Peace A Chance'.
There's a very good spirit behind it all.
It's just natural. It's not a great disaster...
People keep talking about it as if it's the end of the earth. It's only a rock group that split up.
It's nothing important. You know, you have all the old records there, if you want to reminisce...