Creative collaboration isn’t easy, especially on a professional level. There’s a lot more to it than compatibility or friendship. There are deadlines and conflicting opinions. It’s rarely as simple as a mutual agreement to make a great album. One of the most iconic collaborations in music history is that of George Martin and the Beatles. While the band members credited Martin with complementing their wild ideas with his vast knowledge of music theory, their relationship wasn’t smooth sailing all the time.
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There was one song in particular that hurt Martin in the process. Though it was ultimately due to a time constraint, this snub from the Beatles broke Martin’s heart.
[RELATED: Out of Thousands of Performances, This One Is Paul McCartney’s Most Memorable]
The Beatles Song That Hurt George Martin
The Beatles have been more than complimentary of Martin over the years. They have repeatedly acknowledged his influence on their careers and have mourned him in the years since his passing.
“He had a very great musical knowledge and background,” John Lennon once said of Martin. “He taught us a lot, and I’m sure we taught him a lot through our sort of primitive musical ability.”
“She’s Leaving Home”
Despite their love for Martin, their relationship wasn’t flawless. During the making of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, the Beatles were becoming far more self-sufficient and thus made some decisions that didn’t keep Martin at the helm. One song on the album, “She’s Leaving Home”, was a particularly sore spot for Martin.
“At that time, I was still having to record all my other artists,” Martin once said. “One day, Paul rang me to say: ‘I’ve got a song I want you to work with me on. Can you come round tomorrow afternoon? I want to get it done quickly. We’ll book an orchestra, and you can score it.’ ‘I can’t tomorrow, Paul. I’m recording Cilla at two-thirty.’ […] ‘All right, then,’ he said, and that ended the conversation.”
“I couldn’t do it at that short notice,” Martin added. “In the end, he found Mike Leander, who could. The following day, Paul presented me with it and said, ‘Here we are. I’ve got a score. We can record it now.’ I recorded it, with a few alterations to make it work better, but I was hurt.”
Scheduling conflicts are par for the course in music making, but given the tight relationship he had with the Beatles, it’s easy to see why this slight got under Martin’s skin.
Revisit “She’s Leaving Home”, below.
(Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
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