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Reassured that he was loved and valued, Ringo rejoined The Beatles in time to pretend to play drums in promotional films for “Hey Jude” and “Revolution” at Twickenham Studios, later the site of some of their most miserable days together during the “Get Back” sessions. But it seems like they had a good time today, or least faked it quite convincingly.
Because British union rules prohibited musicians from simply lip-syncing to an existing recording, The Beatles recorded new vocals over otherwise prerecorded backing tracks. Thus these are technically alternate versions of the songs; for instance “Revolution,” unlike the studio version, has John adding “in” after “count me out” at 0:42.
For “Hey Jude” the band is introduced by David Frost, on whose program the clip would appear. But The Beatles did not risk their ever-tenuous security by traveling to a live TV studio; Frost came to them.
The director of these films was Sir Michael Lindsay-Hogg, 5th Baronet of Rotherfield Hall, who inherited both his title and his cinematic skills — though his mother was married to a British nobleman, he was in fact the illegitimate son of Orson Welles. He had previously directed the promos for “Paperback Writer” and “Rain,” and his other credits include Simon and Garfunkel’s Concert in Central Park, The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus, and something called “Ivana Trump’s for Love Alone” — about which, the less known the better, I should think.
Now 78, MLH continues to direct, most recently on a TV series called Tinsel’s Town — in which, says IMDB,
Tinsel Townsend, a struggling LA actress, makes a bid for fame and attention via her own YouTube channel.
And though this appears to be fairly well-regarded, I haven’t the courage to go any further down that rabbit hole. If you do, please let me know what you think.
Here you go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JggYAV0ZnMY
But it seems to have ended after about eight episodes in 2015.
George, Ringo, and John harmonized the hell out of those background vocals on “Hey Jude.”