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> you do need to have a natural talent for "coming up with stuff" Where do you see that? Watching the documentary I see people who have been, for years, putti

> you do need to have a natural talent for "coming up with stuff" Where do you see that? Watching the documentary I see people who have been, for years, putting in the work. This is them going to work. Most people I know who have not met their songwriting goals do not put in the time, day after day, year after year.

nickelcitymario 5y ago
Perhaps it's a little of both? But my takeaway from this scene was also more on the side of "this is how they did it: relentless hard work." ...but plenty of people put in the work and never come up with anything close to what the Beatles could. Including, it's worth considering, any of the fab 4 in their solo careers. Sure, there were a few hits. But nothing comparable to the insane productivity from when they were a band. So it looks to me like the formula is: hard work + talent + band chemistry = hit making machine. And only the hard work portion of that is within anyone's control.
- greedo 5y ago
  I think some of this is just that anything done in their solo careers was continually measured against the best of the Beatles output. If you look at the number of hits and records sold by McCartney and Wings, it's amazing. And John Lennon's solo stuff is legendary. I still think that "Imagine" is as good as any of the Beatles stuff. And the Beatles had what I consider a lot of poor songs as well. It's just that their sheer volume of outstanding songs made it easy to ignore the lesser ones.
- foobarian 5y ago
  > hard work + talent + band chemistry There is an important component I think is necessary somewhere in there, maybe lumped under "talent:" and that is a link to the zeitgeist that would let them come up with popular content. What if this band worked hard, was talented, worked great together, but had no idea of current events or what the currently popular music was to rebel against; and instead ended up cranking out baroque Bach-like classical pieces? I bet they would remain in obscurity.
jaypeg25 5y ago
There were a few points in the doc where some of the Beatles would come in saying "I was thinking about this song last night while watching TV" and they'd hum it out or play some of the notes in their head on the piano. We saw Paul mess around with the guitar in real time as he slowly put together the chords for Get Back. Moments like this, to me, feel like times where that natural talent is necessary.
- tekstar 5y ago
  Not to say that I'm particularly good at it, but this too is a muscle that gets better with time. I recently started playing music again with my highschool band. The guitarist worked at songwriting for the past 15 years and can now write out a song on demand, many of which are (in my opinion) great.

nickelcitymario 5y ago

Perhaps it's a little of both? But my takeaway from this scene was also more on the side of "this is how they did it: relentless hard work." ...but plenty of people put in the work and never come up with anything close to what the Beatles could. Including, it's worth considering, any of the fab 4 in their solo careers. Sure, there were a few hits. But nothing comparable to the insane productivity from when they were a band. So it looks to me like the formula is: hard work + talent + band chemistry = hit making machine. And only the hard work portion of that is within anyone's control.

greedo 5y ago
I think some of this is just that anything done in their solo careers was continually measured against the best of the Beatles output. If you look at the number of hits and records sold by McCartney and Wings, it's amazing. And John Lennon's solo stuff is legendary. I still think that "Imagine" is as good as any of the Beatles stuff. And the Beatles had what I consider a lot of poor songs as well. It's just that their sheer volume of outstanding songs made it easy to ignore the lesser ones.
foobarian 5y ago
> hard work + talent + band chemistry There is an important component I think is necessary somewhere in there, maybe lumped under "talent:" and that is a link to the zeitgeist that would let them come up with popular content. What if this band worked hard, was talented, worked great together, but had no idea of current events or what the currently popular music was to rebel against; and instead ended up cranking out baroque Bach-like classical pieces? I bet they would remain in obscurity.

jaypeg25 5y ago

There were a few points in the doc where some of the Beatles would come in saying "I was thinking about this song last night while watching TV" and they'd hum it out or play some of the notes in their head on the piano. We saw Paul mess around with the guitar in real time as he slowly put together the chords for Get Back. Moments like this, to me, feel like times where that natural talent is necessary.

tekstar 5y ago
Not to say that I'm particularly good at it, but this too is a muscle that gets better with time. I recently started playing music again with my highschool band. The guitarist worked at songwriting for the past 15 years and can now write out a song on demand, many of which are (in my opinion) great.