Across Abbey Road: Scene 20, The chair

The Scene

Scene 20 · Abbey Road · 27 seconds · five shotsHe sings “I don’t feel so old” once more, and his face opens into a smile at something up ahead. It is the chair from the first minute of the film, alone on the stripes in a pool of lamp light, with a man in a white suit crossing behind it. He walks to it and rests a hand on the rail. He sits, and plays, as he began. The street comes together around him to listen: an old couple, a young man in a cream suit, a girl in a long dress, a child with a small radio, a man with a ladder. And then the chair is empty, with a blackbird on its rail. Mike walks on up the road with the guitar. The bird takes wing, and the picture fades.

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The Story

The film opened with a man sitting down on a chair in the middle of Abbey Road and playing one note. It ends by keeping that promise. The song’s last twenty seconds have no words, so the film gives them to the street: the people who have been passing him for four minutes finally stop and gather round. The last thing on screen is a bird leaving.

Shot by Shot

1 · Once more · 3:35–3:38Close, walking, singing “I don’t feel so old”, and a broad smile as he sees what is ahead.
2 · Back to the chair · 3:38–3:42The chair alone on the crossing under a full Moon. He walks the last steps to it with the guitar and rests a hand on its rail, as a man in a white suit crosses behind.
3 · He sits and plays · 3:42–3:47His hand on the strings of the black guitar, close, and then the whole of him, seated, head bowed over it.
4 · Come together · 3:47–3:54The view widens as people drift in from both pavements and stand in a loose ring around him, listening.
5 · The empty chair · 3:54–4:02The chair with a blackbird on its rail. Mike walks away up the road, the bird flies, and the film fades.

What to Look For

You can’t miss itThe chair. It is the same one, and you have not seen it since the song began.

Look closerThe people who gather round him. The white suit and the decorator’s overalls both walked in from the album cover. The child is holding a small radio, like the one that changed hands in 1965. And the street has come together, which is how that album begins.

HiddenThe blackbird. It belongs to a different album, and it was saved for the last shot on purpose: it has only been waiting for this moment to arise.