I Me Mine – the Last Song the Beatles Recorded Before their Break-up.

On January 3rd 1970, the Beatles returned to Abbey Road Studios for the first time since August 1969 to record ‘I Me Mine’ for the ‘Let it Be’ album. It was to become the last Beatles song to be recorded (well, at least until ‘Free as a Bird’ and ‘Real Love’ for the ‘Beatles Anthology’)I Me Mine actually dated back to the ‘Get Back’ sessions in January 1969, almost exactly a year earlier. He wrote the song on the evening of January 7th, after a particular trying day of rehearsals at Twickenham Film Studios. I Me Mine could have been meant for a proposed musical about Apple that George was planning to write with Derek Taylor. It had been announced by Apple a couple of days before.George played it to the other Beatles the next day, and it was rehearsed by them. John Lennon played hardly any part in the arrangement of the song, and instead a waltz to it with Yoko. According to author Jonathan Gould, Harrison was particularly upset that his bandmates griped about the time spent learning “I Me Mine” yet then indulged in “a laborious rehearsal of a song like ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer’ which struck George as a paragon of pop inanity” ‘I Me Mine was not rehearsed again. By January 10th, George decided he had had enough of the Beatles and walked out at lunchtime – saying to the others ‘See you around the clubs.’ George finally returned a week later, when it was decided to relocate to the Beatles new ‘Apple’ Studios in Savile Row, and to film themselves recording, rather than rehearsing for a concert. Although many of the songs rehearsed at Twickenham were recorded during the sessions at Apple, I Me Mine wasn’t one of them.However, a year or so later,the charming clip of John and Yoko waltzing to I Me Mine was chosen to be in the ‘Let it Be Film’. As it hadn’t been properly recorded, George, Paul and Ringo, along with George Martin, went to EMI Studios a year and a day since the first ‘Get Back’ rehearsals to record their last song before the Beatles broke up. The official reason that John wasn’t there was that he was on holiday in Denmark, but actually he had left the Beatles some months earlier, but it hadn’t been officially announced. However, as John hardly had any role in the song during the rehearsals, or many of George’s other songs he wrote for the Beatles, his presence wasn’t missed that much. However, during the recording session, George was heard to say. ‘You will all have read that Dave Dee is no longer with us, but Mickey and Titch and I would just like to carry on the good work that’s always gone down in number two’.After a take of I Me Mine, George, Paul and Ringo jammed on a version of Buddy Holly’s ‘Peggie Sue Got Married’ – playing homage to The Beatles’ routes and how they got their name.The original version of I Me Mine was only just over 1.5 minutes long. It was the last song they recorded.But not the last recording session. The next day, Paul, George and Ringo returned to Abbey Road to record overdubs onto the January 1969 recording of ‘Let it Be’ So much for ‘Get Back’ – or ‘Let it Be’ as it became, being recorded ‘as nature intended’ – without overdubs!However, that still not the end of the story! In March 1970, Phil Spector was brought in by John, George, and Ringo to ‘reproduce’ the ‘Get Back’ tapes to make a new album, which had its title changed to ‘Let it Be’. Phil Spector ‘reproduced’ it to a longer 2 minutes 25 seconds.I Me Mine was finally released on the ‘Let it Be’ album on 8th May 1970.In 2020 the Harrison family released a great photo of George and Paul at the I Me Mine sessions.

Blogger Richard Porter is a professional Beatles Tour Guide in London. For details of Richard’s tours, please see http://www.beatlesinlondon.com