“Such a putdown”: The only Beatles recording Brian Epstein interfered with
For any rock and roll student, The Beatles’ recording sessions might as well be considered sacred ground. As much as the Fab Four didn’t know that they were creating magic whenever they walked into Abbey Road Studios, the kind of electricity in the room whenever they played put them on a completely different level than anyone else. While the touring could be hectic, this was their moment to be themselves as artists, George Martin remembered one time when manager Brian Epstein overstepped his bounds.
In the grand scheme of their story, though, Epstein has earned the mantle of ‘Fifth Beatle’ if there ever was one. While Martin was the one responsible for turning their strange musical dreams into a reality whenever they played in the studio, Epstein was the one who got them their audition back in the day and carefully choreographed their image whenever they gave press conferences or took to the stage.
But Epstein never seemed all that concerned with what they were doing musically. It was all about how he could sell the image of these lovable moptops to the world, and since they had a firm handle on the musical front, he could use his business expertise to package the music for the best result.
That’s not to say that he didn’t have any musical talent. Prior to meeting them, he worked in a music store the lads frequented, but even then, his parents were lovers of classical music, so there was a slim chance that he would be well-versed in anything close to standard rock and roll like Chuck Berry.
Although Epstein was more touch and go in the studio, he normally showed up to make sure that things were going alright. When someone gets a bit of liquid courage in their system, though, it leads to them getting a bit too overeager to share their opinions, and Epstein’s booming voice over the studio intercom is one of the more cringy moments in their history.
As Martin recalls, Epstein was out of order for trying to tell John Lennon had to sing one of his songs, remembering, “He came in one night with a friend of his. He leaned over my shoulder and pressed the intercom button, and said, ‘John, I think you’re singing a little flat on the second phrase’. It had never happened before. John looked over his spectacles and said, ‘Brian, you look after the money, and we’ll look after the music’. It was such a putdown.”
While that remark sounds absolutely scathing coming from Lennon, you must remember the pressure the group was under at all times. Nothing would kill their momentum, so having to deal with four different egos in the group and suddenly getting the manager to add in his input is bound to wear on someone.
Martin was capable of overstepping as well, though, with Epstein later talking him down when he suggested that Paul McCartney release ‘Yesterday’ as a solo track on his apart from The Beatles. Epstein may have been in a prime position as the group’s manager, but this kind of embarrassing moment is the reason why the phrase “know your lane” exists.
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