Note: iRoofing does not own the images in this post. Credit to UMG on behalf of Universal Music Catalogue, Disney+, and The Beatles. From the Documentary The Beatles: Get Back.
What Paul, John, George, and Ringo Can Teach Us About Roofing
Recently, Disney+ made available to subscribers an 8-hour film that reveals the chemistry among the Fab Four during 21 days in a production studio, as they created the historic 1970 album— Let it Be. The film, entitled The Beatles: Get Back, was directed by Peter Jackson, the man behind the Lord of The Rings trilogy, The Hobbit trilogy, and many other films.
The film inexhaustibly documents a rich, creative eruption of the rock quartet which took place at Apple Corps, the Beatles’ executive office, and at Twickenham Film Studios in London. By then, the band was already world famous. While the Beatles had been prodigious as a musical group since their days in Liverpool as The Quarrymen, by 1968 fissures had begun to form in their relationships with one another, which is apparent during the filming of The Beatles: Get Back. During one brief period of the project, George Harrison left the band with no intention of ever going back, but Paul McCartney, John Lennon, and Ringo Star convinced him to return to complete the album.
The Beatles Legendary Rooftop Concert of 1969
As they wrote and composed new songs for the album (Let It Be, The Long and Winding Road, Don’t Let Me Down, Across the Universe, Get Back, and other immortal tunes), they contemplated where to stage a live concert to introduce the visionary new material. Many venues were considered for the climactic event – the final public performance by The Beatles. Among the sites they deliberated over were London venues like the Palladium and the Roundhouse, but more exotic destinations were seriously proffered, including the Sahara desert, the pyramids of Giza in Egypt, aboard the QE2 ocean liner, and in an ancient Roman amphitheater in Tunisia.
Ultimately, they decided not to stray far from the place where their rock masterpieces were created. In fact, they simply “headed upstairs” and set up their gear on the rooftop of their Apple Corps headquarters at 3 Savile Row in central London. Without any fanfare, nor any public announcement that the bizarre, live concert was going to happen, the Beatles broke into song in the open air high above the streets of Mayfair in broad daylight on January 30, 1969. Slowly people began to gather below, gazing up in disbelief. Were their eyes deceiving them? Could those four mop tops really be their own, beloved Fab Four? Obviously, it was true and word-of-mouth, about the only immediate form of communications at the time, spread quickly.
The constables fretted about complaints of “noise” among some of the clueless neighborhood residents. In their encounters with concert organizers, including filmmaker Michael Lindsay-Hogg, the metropolitan police cordially demanded that the performance cease, a pipedream that went nowhere, perhaps because they and everyone else realized that the flat roof phenomenon was an event for The Ages. By the time the lofty concert was in full swing, the streets were packed with uplookers and, on surrounding rooftops, many fans could be seen precariously enjoying the seminal moment.
Teamwork Over All Things - That’s the Lesson to Roofers
Besides choosing a roof for their profitable endeavor, what can a contractor learn from the Beatles’ creative collaboration? “Teamwork” is the best word to describe the lesson here, especially since the Let It Be album was made during a time in the band’s life when many distractions threatened to impact the quality of their work, adversely. Yoko Ono had entered the picture, children had been born, solo career potential attracted each of the band members, and years of adulation, money, and pride worked to combat their beautiful chemistry. But, just like a great roofing contractor, the Beatles were determined to give their “customers” the production quality and craftsmanship that defined them and made them both admired and successful.
When the Beatles came to work each day during that 21-day period in the studio to create memorable music, they generally left their personal trials, tribulations, and pride at the door. They came together as a team in a brainstorm, just like a roofing crew rallies to do great work after a hailstorm. What matters is the process and the final product it produces, and the Beatles accomplished that in Let It Be, as roofing pros do when they look up at a perfect job just completed.
If Only There Had Been a Hi-Tech App to Capture the Beatles’ Rooftop Concert
In 1969, there were no drones and there was no Satellite imagery, but if those had existed at the time, you can bet there would be thousands of fantastic digital, overhead images of the rooftop of Apple Studios on that indelible January afternoon. And, if Hi-Tech Contractors™ were there, they’d be ready to go more than anyone else on the ground. Today’s roofing pros who use iRoofing, the world’s #1 DIY roofing software, could have launched their drone (local and FAA restrictions notwithstanding) with iRoofing’s drone-integrated roofing app, to capture images of the musical event of the century! In fact, they could kill two birds with one stone by using those images to create a complete, accurate, and instant Roof Report for whenever the building on 3 Savile Row needed a roof replacement…parapet walls included!
