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Beatles fans are waiting for Peter Jackson’s Disney+ docuseries The Beatles: Get Back. The three part series will show never before seen footage from the band’s Let It Be sessions. Jackson promises fans will see the Fab Four writing some of their most famous songs, but surprisingly, it will also include one of John Lennon’s solo songs. Even Paul McCartney was surprised by this. 

'The Beatles: Get Back' - John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Star play on the roof
L-R: Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, John Lennon and George Harrison | Apple Corps Ltd.

Jackson spoke about The Beatles: Get Back at a Zoom press conference. We’ll have more with Jackson and with McCartney here on Showbiz Cheat Sheet. The Beatles: Get Back episodes premiere Nov. 25, 26 and 27 on Disney+.

Paul McCartney never knew he helped John Lennon write this post-Beatles song

Jackson kept in touch with surviving Beatles McCartney and Ringo Starr as he pored over the footage for The Beatles: Get Back. When he came to a section in which Lennon was noodling with “Gimme Some Truth,” Jackson shared it with McCartney. The song would eventually appear on a Lennon solo album.

“I was meeting with Paul and I said to him, ‘You know that John Lennon song ‘Gimme Some Truth’?’” Jackson said. “He says, ‘Uh, the one on the Imagine album? Yeah, I know that one.’ He said, ‘Did you know that you actually co-wrote that with John?’ He says, ‘What are you talking about?’”

Paul McCartney wrote a key lyric in John Lennon’s song ‘Gimme Some Truth’

To be fair to McCartney, Let It Be was over 50 years ago. He’s written a lot of songs since. So it was a pleasant surprise to learn he was involved in another Lennon song.

“I showed him this footage from the Get Back sessions where Paul and John are working on ‘Gimme Some Truth,’” Jackson said. “Paul’s come up with that ‘money for rope’ thing which John loves. Paul looked at me and said, ‘I have no memory of that. I had no idea I was involved with that song.’”

Credit was always a fluid thing with The Beatles. Each band member co-wrote songs and had their own credits. 

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“Then he says, ‘It’s a great song. I’ve always loved that song so if I get some credit for it, great,’” Jackson said. “He had no idea he’d written some of ‘Gimme Some Truth’. I don’t want to take anything away from John but ‘Gimme Some Truth’ is clearly a Lennon/McCartney song. There was other songs that Paul took credit on on his albums that they’d worked on together too so it’s not a credit thing but it’s interesting to see.”

‘The Beatles: Get Back’ shows the band figuring out classic lyrics

Jackson said that even for the famous Beatles tracks on the Let It Be album, The Beatles: Get Back will stimulate Beatlemaniacs. Even the title track is now so famous, it’s hard to imagine a time when the Beatles struggled with lyrics.

If you’re a Beatles fan you start shouting at them. Like ‘Jojo’s something Arizona, something Arizona, da da da.’ It’s Tucson, guys, it’s Tucson. It’s only about the fourth day Paul says, ‘Well, if you say Tucson, Arizona.’ and John says, ‘Is Tucson in Arizona?’ He says, ‘Yeah.’ You can see them slowly crawling towards very famous [lyrics]. You know what the final goal is because they’re some of the most famous songs in the world, but their process of getting there, you want to shout at them. You want to shout the lyrics at them. It’s a strangely interactive experience because you want to help them. They’re struggling and we can help because we actually know the words. 

Peter Jackson, The Beatles: Get Back press conference, 11/16/21
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