Shhh. The Beatles are talking.

Itrsquos hard to believe that the four men in the room were in their twenties during those four weeks in 1969They are sometimes referred to by their initials in Get Back the eighthour threepart teleseries that Peter Jackson crafted painstakingly from 60 hours of video and 150 hours of audio footage that had been shot in various studios over three weeks JL was 29 PM was 27 GH was 26 and only RS had hit 30 In Get Back John Paul George and Ringo are just boys with their toys goofy cranky and brilliant by turnsThe Beatles had already been rock royalty for almost eight years electrifying and enchanting the world with their timeless songs But in 1969 the band was on its last legs and relationships were stressedLennon was distracted by his love for Yoko Ono George felt bossed around by Paul Ringo felt ignored Paul felt burdened by having to lead At one point George leaves the Beatles saying quietly ldquoIrsquom leaving the band nowrdquoThey knew the Beatles were ending but nevertheless agreed to spend three weeks in studios composing two albums worth of new songs and then playing them live in one grand farewell concert Get Back shows the world how they did it Watching it is a masterclass in creativity and handson musical genius Here are five lessons I learned1 Donrsquot confuse creativity with originality People who change the world understand that everything is inspired by something that nothing comes from nothing McCartneyrsquos eternal classic Yesterday sounds so much like Nat King Colersquos Answer Me My Love George Harrisonrsquos My Sweet Lord is shockingly like Hersquos So Fine by The Chiffons the opening lead riff of the Beatlesrsquo I Feel Fine is uncannily like the lead of Bobby Parkerrsquos Watch Your StepWatching Get Back is a reminder that creativity is the unexpected juxtaposition of familiar things when something new emerges from something old McCartney sums it up perfectly when he sings ldquoTake a sad song and make it betterrdquo in Hey JudeOne of the most irreverent moments in Get Back is when the boys inspired by a news item break into a rockrsquonrsquoroll jig about the antiimmigration politician Enoch Powell singing ldquoCommonwealth Commonwealthrdquo as the refrain It was spontaneous composition unrehearsed unplanned and born whole with lyrics chords and arrangementsmdashbut put aside and forgotten forever once they got back to the real work of composing songs with real deadlines2 Itrsquos okay to goof off sometimes Get Back demonstrates the value of goofing off and doing crazy things that make no sense Sometimes the Beatles are just making a racket screeching creating pandemonium with whateverrsquos handy singing through clenched teeth for fun putting on voices or piping corny remarks into each otherrsquos songs They had just three weeks to get a catalogue of songs done but they also understood better than most that it is when you monkey around that you set your mind free to play with the unexplored3 Pay attention to details In Get Back you see the Beatles toiling over the trivia of every song changing their minds even well after the wrapup A song might start out as a mere beat or a strummed rhythm with gobbledygook and words mumbled for lyrics and spaceholders where there would later be riffs For the longest time the first two lines of Harrisonrsquos hit song Something were ldquoSomething in the way she moves reminds me of a pomegranaterdquo The girl who thought she was a woman but was another man in Get Back was first called Loretta Marsh Lennon cheekily suggested Loretta Meatball rejected It wavered between Marsh and Marvin for weeks before suddenly becoming MartinEndless iterations for weeks dozens of times a day and tweaks upon tweaks later it was the song that became an instant 1 with Ringorsquos galloping snare drum Georgersquos chopping lead and Paulrsquos oldstyle rockrsquonrsquoroll crooning4 Donrsquot throw it out because it doesnrsquot make sense Paul was singing the words ldquoGet backrdquo in the refrain long before he knew why Was it a song about Enoch Powell telling Pakistani immigrants to go back Was it about racism in America Why did ldquosweet Loretta Marshrdquo think she was a woman when she wasnrsquot Was the song about transgenders The Beatles just plugged in words that fit in without worrying about meaning They understood that diamonds start as coal Itrsquos the long slow polishing which makes them brilliant and priceless5 Welcome chaos and noise This is the most luminous lesson in Get Back Worldchanging songs words ideas are not orderly and neat when they come They emerge from messy chaotic frustrating processes and are born covered with slime wrinkled and formless like newborn babiesBut then you play with them till they grow upHere viewed from there C Y Gopinath in Bangkok throws unique light and shadows on Mumbai the city that raised him You can reach him at cygopigmailcomSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper