Request: Get Back Session Transcripts

[Mccmark]

I'm speechless, thank you! 842 pages, amazing. Back down the rabbit hole for me....
Mark

[beatlesondvd]

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1idx ... ue&sd=true

Thank you so much for this! It'll help fill in lots of holes in the master transcript!

[enriquelu]

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1idx ... ue&sd=true

Thanks a lot

Wonderfull file.

[bobzilla]

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1idx ... ue&sd=true

Wow! This is GREAT! Thank you!

[Pink Pajamas]

I'm also surprised no one has transcribed the Nagra tapes, not that I would want that job. You'd think one of us would have married a court reporter that would do it. Anyway, someone performed optical character recognition on the 1970 book from the box set for what it's worth:
https://archive.org/stream/TheBeatlesGe ... B_djvu.txt
Example: the word "trumpeters" appears in the book, but doesn't appear in the "Get Back transcripts tdgrnwld" text files from mega.
I've never figured out where this text fits in chronologically (ok, I haven't listened to any of the raw Nagra tapes).
The OCR of the book has one or two references to film roll numbers, etc. (example below). I don't know what 13/50 or 50/246 refers to.
I admit I am not up to speed on this; years ago I went down the rabbit hole and became too obsessed with it. I tried to cross reference the old book with this guy's database ( http://www.bekkoame.ne.jp/~garp/69jan09.htm) but I didn't make any progress. Like they say, there is no substitute for hard work; I wasn't the guy to do it back then. Around 1993, I got into a brief letter writing argument with Sulpy because I couldn't imagine someone taking the time to make up that dialog transcribed in the book, but he insisted a lot of it was. So I wrote I wrote MLH a letter with many questions including the accuracy of text in the book and where are the Nagra recorders, did he keep them, crazy stuff like that (his assistant responded with something like "thank you for your interest in Michael's films, he always enjoys hearing from admirers").
Mark

Transcript Poem no. I
ROLL 101 Slate 190 CAMERA A
Date : 9.1.69.
MUSIC 13/50
SONG '. . . come on home ..
50/246
BEATLE Who's gonna play
sax...
SONG/SPEECH INAUDIBLE
OVER MUSIC 270/288 ’. . . let
MUSIC 270/288
.. let it be, let it be'
288/326
SONG cont’d . . . 328/
BEATLE C to F. You'll get it,
it's dead easy. I, 2, 3, 4 ...

MccMark, I just did a text search on my document and found the trumpeters comment.

Are you saying that Sulpy said some of the transcriptions in the Get Back book were fabricated ?

Can you please compare the 1969 Get Back book with my document and see if there is any text that appears in the 1969 book that isn’t in my file

[beatlepaul]

I thought the new Get Back book had all the conversation in it?

[Mccmark]

Pink Pajamas/BeatlePaul:
Yes, the Amazon description indicates:
"The Beatles: Get Back tells the story of those sessions through transcripts of the band’s candid conversations. Drawing on over 120 hours of sound recordings, leading music writer John Harris edits the richly captivating text to give us a fly-on-the-wall experience of being there in the studios."
One review on Amazon is accompanied by a photo of a full page of text which has the footer "Act One [page] 53".
Here is a comparison of the amazon screen shot vs. the PinkPajama transcript. I hope this isn't a board violation; it is clearly fair use, but I defer to the moderators.

Amazon screen shot of page 53 begins with:
Start quote -
"Paul: If we cancel the show now, it'll still be throwing it away...but that's the way we tend to do it. Get halfway through a thing...
George: And call it a day.
Paul: And that's where all the money goes.
Michael: But I think that the worst we could have is a documentary. Which is a commercial enterprise. There's no reason we shouldn't also get a show. Although none of us yet are happy with anything you've done in here.
Paul: I am.
Michael: I don't ... I don't agree with you.
Paul: It's fine. Come on - it's fine, you know. It's alright. The thing is, it's not as good as it could be yet, but you know, here we are, we'll do it. We'll sing songs, you know, I mean, really, what you mean is that you haven't thought of the great idea yet. The great idea is leave us to it; just don't do the show. "
- End quote

The corresponding PinkPajama transcript at page 68:
Start quote -
"Roll: 53A 16:12
PM: ...film an audience straight, and then don't use it. Don't use it if it's no good. But see, that's where that'll be throwing it away. If we cancel the show now, it'll still be throwing it away. I don't know. That's the way we tend to do it.
MLH: I think the worst we could have is a documentary. Which is a commercial enterprise. There's no reason we shouldn't get a show. I don't agree with you.
PM: C'mon, it's fine. It's alright. The thing is, it's not as good as it could be. 'Cause here we are and we'll do it. The great idea was to...don't do a show."
-End quote

Once we get into the entire new transcript, it may be easier to determine how badly John Harris "edits the ....text"; to me that means something other than a true transcript. Other questions for later: 1) do these new transcripts include audio that did not make it into the PJ film ? I've looked at the subtitle files, but I haven't figured out how to reformat them so they are closer to the PinkPanther format; 2) how much of the audio from the MLH film is in the new transcripts? Once the new book it is converted to text it should be easy to make comparisons (I''m not volunteering yet; someone will need to sacrifice a book to remove the binding to get a good scan.
Mark

[beatlesondvd]

I thought the new Get Back book had all the conversation in it?

No, only a selection of what they deemed the most relevant/interesting discussions.

[Pink Pajamas]

Pink Pajamas/BeatlePaul:
Yes, the Amazon description indicates:
"The Beatles: Get Back tells the story of those sessions through transcripts of the band’s candid conversations. Drawing on over 120 hours of sound recordings, leading music writer John Harris edits the richly captivating text to give us a fly-on-the-wall experience of being there in the studios."
One review on Amazon is accompanied by a photo of a full page of text which has the footer "Act One [page] 53".
Here is a comparison of the amazon screen shot vs. the PinkPajama transcript. I hope this isn't a board violation; it is clearly fair use, but I defer to the moderators.

Amazon screen shot of page 53 begins with:
Start quote -
"Paul: If we cancel the show now, it'll still be throwing it away...but that's the way we tend to do it. Get halfway through a thing...
George: And call it a day.
Paul: And that's where all the money goes.
Michael: But I think that the worst we could have is a documentary. Which is a commercial enterprise. There's no reason we shouldn't also get a show. Although none of us yet are happy with anything you've done in here.
Paul: I am.
Michael: I don't ... I don't agree with you.
Paul: It's fine. Come on - it's fine, you know. It's alright. The thing is, it's not as good as it could be yet, but you know, here we are, we'll do it. We'll sing songs, you know, I mean, really, what you mean is that you haven't thought of the great idea yet. The great idea is leave us to it; just don't do the show. "
- End quote

The corresponding PinkPajama transcript at page 68:
Start quote -
"Roll: 53A 16:12
PM: ...film an audience straight, and then don't use it. Don't use it if it's no good. But see, that's where that'll be throwing it away. If we cancel the show now, it'll still be throwing it away. I don't know. That's the way we tend to do it.
MLH: I think the worst we could have is a documentary. Which is a commercial enterprise. There's no reason we shouldn't get a show. I don't agree with you.
PM: C'mon, it's fine. It's alright. The thing is, it's not as good as it could be. 'Cause here we are and we'll do it. The great idea was to...don't do a show."
-End quote

Once we get into the entire new transcript, it may be easier to determine how badly John Harris "edits the ....text"; to me that means something other than a true transcript. Other questions for later: 1) do these new transcripts include audio that did not make it into the PJ film ? I've looked at the subtitle files, but I haven't figured out how to reformat them so they are closer to the PinkPanther format; 2) how much of the audio from the MLH film is in the new transcripts? Once the new book it is converted to text it should be easy to make comparisons (I''m not volunteering yet; someone will need to sacrifice a book to remove the binding to get a good scan.
Mark

Mark,
I am glad you are comparing all the dialogue used in Peter Jackson’s get back and the new book to my doc. It’s a shame that it looks like the new get back book isn’t a straight transcription.
What I wish you would also do is compare the text from the original get back book from 1970 and see if all the dialogue from that is in my document. Because that original book was working with some tapes that are now lost.

[beatlepaul]

I have just received my Get Back book, if you want any comparisons let me know.