Earth, Wind & Fire’s “Got To Get You Into My Life” From Their 2002 Album Live In Rio

From Earth, Wind & Fire’s 2002 release Live In Rio, here’s the group performing “Got To Get You Into My Life” live in 1980.

“Got To Get You Into My Life”
Written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon

Maurice:
… (Robert) Stigwood seemed to have a golden touch.  When he approached me about having the band appear as a guest in a movie musical based on the Beatles album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, I said OK.  But with the tight scheduling that I put upon myself, I had completely forgotten about it.

“Hey, did you cut that Beatles song yet for Stigwood?” Bob reminded me.

“Oh, man, I spaced – totally forgot about it.”

“It’s due in three weeks.”

Since I’d waited until the very last minute, many of the songs they had given me to choose from had already been taken by the other artists.  But “Got to Get You into My Life” was available, and Verdine and I settled on that.  We walked to Sam Goody in NYC to buy the record…

…We had one day off before we had to play on December 1 in Denver at McNichols Arena.  We flew in immediately after the gig and arrived at the hotel, got a few hours of rest, and Larry Dunn and I found an old upright piano in the hotel ballroom to musically work out “Got to Get You into My Life.”

“Man, give me some crazy sh** for the intro,” I said, “like bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop.”  I always thought in rhythm, and Larry figured out the notes in five minutes flat.  I tapped on the piano and sang, and Larry played.  I went back and forth, discussing the basic feel, and in about forty-five minutes we were done.  We loosely rehearsed it in the ballroom with the rhythm section guys.  George Massenburg flew up from LA and brought his usual bag of tricks of microphones, preamps, and everything else he would need to make things happen right.  We chose a relatively new studio called Northstar in Boulder, Colorado.  Our version of “Got to Get You into My Life” was all recorded very quickly – the whole thing, top to bottom, was done in probably a forty-eight-hour period…

– Maurice White. My Life With Earth, Wind & Fire, by Maurice White with Herb Powell, 2016.

Message from Maurice (‘Live In Rio’ CD);

There are many mountains to climb while fulfilling your dreams. Our goal has been to be the baddest band in the land, so we played around the world with that thought in mind. One of the highlights of our travels was Rio De Janeiro, Brazil – We connected instantly with the culture and their music. We feel good about this piece of work, – so we share it with you. Peace, Maurice White

Musicians on the live album –
Maurice: Lead and Background Vocals, Percussion, Kalimba
Philip Bailey: Lead and Background Vocals, Percussion
Verdine White: Bass
Larry Dunn: Keyboards
Ralph Johnson: Background Vocals, Percussion
Fred White: Drums
Al McKay: Guitars, Background Vocals
Johnny Graham: Guitars
Andrew Woolfolk: Saxophones
Carla Vaughn: Background Vocals
Sylvia Cox: Background Vocals
Judy Jones: Background Vocals

The Phenix Horns –
Don Myrick: Saxophones
Louis Satterfield: Trombone
Michael Harris: Trumpet, Flugelhorn
Rahmlee Michael Davis: Trumpet, Flugelhorn