The Jakarta Post
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsMcCartney daughter gives intimate tour of Abbey Road
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Down memory lane: British filmmaker Mary McCartney arrives for the premiere of If These Walls Could Sing, at the Metrograph in New York, the United States, on Dec. 7. (AFP/Angela Weiss)
T
he daughter of pop-megastar Paul McCartney has given an intimate peek into the hallowed halls of Abbey Road, the studio where he, and many other music stars, recorded masterpieces.
Mary McCartney directed the new documentary, If These Walls Could Sing, which gets a worldwide release on Disney+ on Jan. 6 after premiering in North America in December.
The London studio gave its name to arguably The Beatles' most beloved record, 1969's Abbey Road, and it was on the nearby zebra crossing that the Fab Four shot their legendary cover photo.
"I have a personal connection with the studio," Mary McCartney told AFP.
"I grew up coming here; we lived nearby. I have a very funny picture that I love: My mum [Linda McCartney] leading a pony across the zebra crossing."
Inevitably, The Beatles occupy a major part of the 90-minute documentary, since they recorded no less than 190 of their 210 songs there.
But Abbey Road has a long history, established in 1931 by record-company EMI.
Initially dedicated to classical music, it had cutting-edge technology for the time, and was used by composer and conductor Edward Elgar shortly before his death in 1934.
"So many people come to Abbey Road to the zebra crossing but don't come inside because it's a busy working studio, so I wanted to bring the viewer inside," said McCartney.
The studio became "the bunker" for The Beatles after the hysteria surrounding the group led them to quit touring in 1966, recalls Giles Martin, son of their producer George Martin, in the film.
Many stars have since sought to tap into the magic of the place, from Elton John and Pink Floyd to Led Zeppelin and Oasis, all of whom feature in the new film.
"Each person tells a different story, different aspects of what makes Abbey Road a whole," said Mary McCartney.
Beatles fans have been spoiled recently, with the new documentary coming little over a year after Get Back, in which director Peter Jackson painstakingly reworked footage of the band writing and rehearsing the album Let it Be, including their famous performance on the roof of Abbey Road.
More from The Weekender
Siapa Anda? Mengapa Anda?
What begins as a small grammatical curiosity becomes a larger question about language, culture and the way we understand ourselves in relation to others - and, ultimately, about what we risk losing in a world increasingly impatient with reflection, ambiguity and the humanities.
A passport to the kingdom of the sick
A breast cancer diagnosis, a journey to the kingdom of the sick and a determination to describe what lies there without metaphor, euphemism or the word “fight.”
The weight of time
Richard Mille’s newest ultralight timepiece pares down haute horlogerie to its mechanical necessities, proving that sophistication often comes from knowing what to leave out.
