Fact #171207
When:
Short story:
George Martin's assistant Chris Thomas takes over as producer of The Beatles at Abbey Road studios in London, England, UK, Europe, while Martin is on holiday. The band is engaged in a re-make of Helter Skelter.Full article:
Chris Thomas : I came back from my holiday and there was note on my desk from George which said, 'Dear Chris, hope you had a nice holiday - I'm off on mine now. Make yourself available to The Beatles - Neil and Mal (Beatles' aides) know you're coming down.' They'd been in there for three months by that time, and they'd done ten songs, starting in May and now it was September.
So I went down there and it was very strange. I was sitting in the corner, ready to throw up, so nervous with my suit and tie on, and Paul was the first one who came in. He obviously knew why I was there, but he said, 'What are you doing here then?' I thought, 'What the hell can I say to him?' I felt such an idiot sitting there, and I said, 'Didn't George tell you anything about this?' And he said, 'No,' which made me feel even worse.
I said, 'Well, George asked me to come down and see if I can help you out,' and it seemed as though Paul was virtually questioning what I was saying, but he said, 'Oh well, if you want to produce us, you can produce us, but if You're No Good, we'll just tell you to fuck off.' And he walked out. That was the encouragement, but it just destroyed me,and I couldn't speak after that.
We started a track that day and, first of all I just sat there and froze because I didn't know what to do. Then, at one point, they had a meeting. They used to have these sort of Apple meetings, either at the beginning of a session, or half-way through, when they'd just be sitting on the floor for an hour and a half, talking about how they were running Apple and all the rest of it, so everybody else would turn the mikes off and go away and let them get on with it.
At one point, I walked downstairs and heard John say something about, 'He's not really doing his job is he?' Now, he could have been talking about an Apple employee, but I thought he was talking about me because I'd been sitting there doing absolutely nothing all day. I thought, 'Right, that's it. I've got the sack, fine, that's all I wanted to know.'
So I went back upstairs and, when they started recording again, I interrupted them halfway through a take. I pressed this buzzer that was like a klaxon in number two studio at Abbey Road, and said, 'Start again.' 'What do you mean, start again?' 'There was a mistake, start again.'
And they'd been doing this number for hours and hours and they went trooping up the stairs saying that there hadn't been a mistake. They listened to it, heard the mistake, went back to the studio and carried on. I did take over a bit, simply because I thought I had nothing to lose, and I had about three hours left working there, so I'd do what I could.
At the end of the day I asked Paul if he wanted me to come back the next day,and he said, 'If you want.' I was so glad it wasn't 'No.' And it started from there. I just got involved in a strange sort of way.
(Source : not known)
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So I went down there and it was very strange. I was sitting in the corner, ready to throw up, so nervous with my suit and tie on, and Paul was the first one who came in. He obviously knew why I was there, but he said, 'What are you doing here then?' I thought, 'What the hell can I say to him?' I felt such an idiot sitting there, and I said, 'Didn't George tell you anything about this?' And he said, 'No,' which made me feel even worse.
I said, 'Well, George asked me to come down and see if I can help you out,' and it seemed as though Paul was virtually questioning what I was saying, but he said, 'Oh well, if you want to produce us, you can produce us, but if You're No Good, we'll just tell you to fuck off.' And he walked out. That was the encouragement, but it just destroyed me,and I couldn't speak after that.
We started a track that day and, first of all I just sat there and froze because I didn't know what to do. Then, at one point, they had a meeting. They used to have these sort of Apple meetings, either at the beginning of a session, or half-way through, when they'd just be sitting on the floor for an hour and a half, talking about how they were running Apple and all the rest of it, so everybody else would turn the mikes off and go away and let them get on with it.
At one point, I walked downstairs and heard John say something about, 'He's not really doing his job is he?' Now, he could have been talking about an Apple employee, but I thought he was talking about me because I'd been sitting there doing absolutely nothing all day. I thought, 'Right, that's it. I've got the sack, fine, that's all I wanted to know.'
So I went back upstairs and, when they started recording again, I interrupted them halfway through a take. I pressed this buzzer that was like a klaxon in number two studio at Abbey Road, and said, 'Start again.' 'What do you mean, start again?' 'There was a mistake, start again.'
And they'd been doing this number for hours and hours and they went trooping up the stairs saying that there hadn't been a mistake. They listened to it, heard the mistake, went back to the studio and carried on. I did take over a bit, simply because I thought I had nothing to lose, and I had about three hours left working there, so I'd do what I could.
At the end of the day I asked Paul if he wanted me to come back the next day,and he said, 'If you want.' I was so glad it wasn't 'No.' And it started from there. I just got involved in a strange sort of way.
(Source : not known)