1969, February

-Ringo Starr privately settles a lawsuit brought against him by Bryman Estates, Ltd. Ringo was renting an apartment from Bryman and had sublet it to John Lennon and Yoko Ono. After John and Yoko were arrested at the apartment on October 18, 1968, for possession of cannabis resin and for obstructing the execution of a search warrant, Bryman sued Ringo. Ringo's lease had forbade him to sublet the apartment and contained prohibitions against using the apartment in an "illegal or immoral manner."

The Beatles taking a break today from recording.

The Beatles might have been recording today.

EMI Studios, London

George went in to EMI Studios today with only Ken Scott in the control room, recorded elaborate vocal, guitar and piano demos of theree of his latest compositions, two takes of "Old Brown Shoe", one take of "Something" and two takes of "All Things Must Pass" (never recorded by the Beatles other than in Get Back rehearsal form at Twickenham, the title track of George's triple album issued on November 30, 1970.

Source: The Complete Beatles Chronicle - Mark Lewisohn

Nemperor Holdings is sold to Triumph Investment Trust. Triumph will now collect Brian Epstein's 25 percent of The Beatles' performance royalties. The Beatles, claiming that they are no longer represented by NEMS, instruct EMI to pay all royalties directly to Apple Corps, not to Triumph. Triumph files suit, freezing 1.3 million pounds in royalties due to be paid by EMI to The Beatles. The money cannot be disbursed until the lawsuit is resolved.

Trident Studios - London

An evening session editing "I Want You" making an eight track copy of this and preparing a rough mono mix for John to take away.

Source: The Complete Beatles Chronicle - Mark Lewisohn

There was a fine line dividing between the end of sessions for Get Back and the beginning of sessions for Abbey Road. Although work on Abbey Road did not begin until July - a number of the album's songs were well under way by then. One song was John's "I Want You" (She's so heavy) first rehearsed at Apple on January 29th and now recorded properly at Trident with 35 takes of the basic track plus guide vocal.

The best takes of the day were nine, 20 and 32, and an edit of the three was made on the following day. Work would continue on I Want You (She's So Heavy) until August 1969.

The Beatles are in-between recording sessions.

The Beatles were not recording today. It has been reported that the Beatles were recording I Want You (She's So Heavy) on this date, but no docmentation can be found to support this.

The Beatles taking a break today.

The Beatles are taking a break today.

On the song Carolina In My Mind, Paul McCartney plays bass and George Harrison sings harmony vocals. Highest US chart position: #62

The original recording of the song was done at London's Trident Studios during the July to October 1968 period, and was produced by Asher. The song's lyric "holy host of others standing around me" makes reference to the Beatles, who were recording The Beatles in the same studio where Taylor was recording his album.

Indeed, the recording of "Carolina in My Mind" includes a credited appearance by Paul McCartney on bass guitar and an uncredited one by George Harrison on backing vocals.The other players were Freddie Redd on organ, Joel "Bishop" O'Brien on drums, and Mick Wayne providing a second guitar alongside Taylor's.Taylor and Asher also did backing vocals and Asher added a tambourine.

Richard Hewson arranged and conducted a string part; an even more ambitious 30-piece orchestra part was recorded but not used. The song itself earned critical praise, with Jon Landau's April 1969 review for Rolling Stone calling it "beautiful" and one of the "two most deeply affecting cuts" on the album and praising McCartney's bass playing as "extraordinary". Taylor biographer Timothy White calls the song "the album's quiet masterpiece.

The Beatles are taking a break today.

It was a year ago today when the Beatles arrived in India. So much has changed. Brian Epstein had just passed away. John left Cynthia. Yoko Ono is in the studio while the Beatles are recording. Paul is now with Linda Eastman and The Beatles' rooftop concert made their final public performance on January 30, 1969.

The Beatles took a break from recording today.

The first song by George Harrison recorded for Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was Only A Northern Song. Today the Beatles started recording in a session that started at 7pm and finished at 3.30am. The next day the song had the working title Not Known, but by the following day it had been named Only A Northern Song.

The session began, however, with the creation of four mono mixes of A Day In The Life. Then nine takes of Only A Northern Song were recorded. The rhythm track had Harrison on organ, John Lennon on tambourine, Paul McCartney playing bass guitar and Ringo Starr on drums.

Also, occuring today was the launch party for Mary Hopkins's album Postcard. The party was organized by Apple Records, and took place at the restaurant at the top of the Post Office Tower in central London. Guests included Paul McCartney, his new girlfriend Linda Eastman, Donovan, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and a number of other music stars, as well as members of Hopkin's family.

The Beatles took a break from recording today.

Room 53, EMI Studios, London

Stereo mixes, ending with a tape compilation, of the January 30th rooftop recordings: "I've Got A Feeling", (two versions) "Don't Let Me Down, "Get Back" (two versions) "The One After 909" and "Dig A Pony".

Source: Mark Lewisohn/The Complete Beatles Chronicle

The Beatles are taking a break today.

Another break in the recording studio for The Beatles

The Beatles are in-between recording the Get Back sessions.

Ringo Starr attends the premiere of "Candy," the film adaptation of Terry Southern's satirical novel, starring Ewa Aulin, Richard Burton, Marlon Brando, and himself. The Monthly Film Bulletin sneers, "Hippy psychedelics are laid on with the self-destroying effect of an overdose of garlic."

-The Beatles Yellow Submarine album, the soundtrack to the animated film of that name, is awarded a gold record. The album contains only four previously unreleased Beatles songs: George Harrison's It's All Too Much and Only a Northern Song and the Lennon-McCartney songs, Hey Bulldog and All Together Now.

Five songs were in this session today:  I've Got A Feeling (two versions), Don't Let Me Down, Get Back (two versions), One After 909 and Dig A Pony.

At the end of the day, the mixes were assembled onto a tape compilation, although just one of them – a version of One After 909 – was selected for Johns' unreleased Get Back album.

Paul McCartney hires the law firm of Eastman & Eastman, Linda Eastman's father's law firm, as general legal counsel for Apple. This was Paul's response to the hiring of Allen Klein the day before and the beginning of the end for the Fab Four.

Allen Klein was appointed The Beatles' business manager today after having a meeting with the Beatles and John Eastman.

His immediate task was to examine the group's finances, and find a way to stop Brian Epstein's former company NEMS, now run by his brother Clive, from taking a quarter of their earnings.

The decision to appoint Klein was seen as a fait accompli by Paul McCartney, who had wanted his future father-in-law John Eastman to represent the group. He was, however, outvoted 3-1 by the other Beatles.

In London's High Court in early 1971, during the hearing of McCartney's lawsuit to dissolve The Beatles' partnership, the following was read out as part of Allen Klein's affidavit:

"On the morning of 3rd February 1969, I went to 3 Saville Row and saw the four Beatles, John Eastman and a few principal staff members of Apple, who were informed that my company (then still called Cameo-Parkway) had been appointed to look into the affairs of The Beatles and all their Companies. At this meeting John Eastman agreed that he would, after all, act as legal adviser to The Beatles and all their companies.

Apple issued two press announcements, one relating to my Company's appointment and a separate one relating to the appointment as lawyers of John Eastman's firm, Eastman & Eastman. Cameo-Parkway also issued a press announcement of its own, a copy of which is now produced and shown to me marked "A.K.4".

On the evening of the same day, 3rd February 1969, I met Clive Epstein and Mr Pinsker at the Dorchester Hotel to discuss with them the possible purchase by Apple of the share capital of NEMS. Clive Epstein was then Managing Director of NEMS and Mr Pinsker's firm, Bryce Hammer & Co, acted as accountants for both NEMS and The Beatles. I asked Clive Epstein if he would be willing to wait and defer a decision with regard to his disposal of NEMS for about three weeks until I had had an opportunity to assess the financial position of The Beatles and their companies. Clive Epstein agreed to defer a decision for at least three weeks. The following day I left for New York to begin an investigation into the three main sources of The Beatles' income as a verification of their financial position. The three sources were United Artists Corporation, the Company which handled The Beatles' films ("United Artists"), General Artists Corporation, which handled their American tours ("G.A.C.") and EMI and its United States subsidiary, Capitol Records Inc. Formal letters of direction were issued by The Beatles to enable me to obtain the requisite information. There is now produced and shown to me marked "A.K.5" a bundle comprising copies of these letters and other letters referred to below."

Source: The Complete Beatles Chronicles - Mark Lewisohn

Yoko Ono is divorced from Anthony Cox in the Virgin Islands. Cox receives a divorce settlement of 6,700 pounds, and Yoko is given custody of their daughter, Kyoko.

A meeting was held today at Apple's headquarters in London, where Allen Klein outlined his assessment of The Beatles' finances.

John Eastman, (Linda's Dad) soon to be Paul McCartney's father-in-law, had advised The Beatles to buy Brian Epstein's former company NEMS for £1 million.