“I soon saw how the music came naturally. It wasn’t like they’d built in time to compose - they had to do it on the fly. There was a piano in Paul’s room. At one point John pulled up a chair and started tinkering. Paul joined in. John started humming what I would later recognize as the tune to,“Baby’s good to me you know / She’s happy as can be you know / She said so…..” But they got stuck. Where should it go after the melody?
George wandered over with his guitar and played a catchy rhythm - and -blues riff, plucking away. He seemed to be improvising, although John was later credited with writing the riff-influenced by Bobby Parker’s song “Watch Your Step” - the way I heard it that day it was George coming up with it. They appeared to be writing a song right in front of me. And as John and Paul kept at it on the piano, Ringo, in a black turtle-neck came over and stood next to George, and I had my shot: The Beatles composing “I Feel Fine”.
~ Harry Benson
ENQUIRE ABOUT THIS WORK
Harry gives us a unique window into the creative process of one of the most influential groups in music history whose music had such a strong impact on our adolescent years. It is so good to know that Paul and Ringo are still going strong and performing all these years later. Rock on!
For any questions or inquiries, please email peter@peterfetterman.com
