Let It Be (album)

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"Let It Be" redirects here. For other uses, see Let It Be (disambiguation).
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Let It Be is the twelfth and final original album by The Beatles. It was released on May 8, 1970 by the band's own Apple Records label, shortly after the group's announced breakup.

Most of Let It Be was recorded in January 1969, before the recording and release of the album Abbey Road. The Beatles were unhappy with the album and it was temporarily shelved. Let It Be was later 're-produced' by Phil Spector in 1970.

The "Get Back"/"Let It Be" sessions

By late 1968 Paul McCartney was eager for the Beatles to perform in public again, two years after they stopped touring. The group announced plans for three shows in December 1968 at the Roundhouse in north London. This did not come about, and the idea evolved for a single concert at an undecided location in January 1969.

The group began rehearsals at Twickenham Studios on 2 January 1969. No multi-track recordings were made of these sessions, as the Beatles were rehearsing for the live show rather than attempting to record an album. (Despite this, there are widely available bootlegs taken from the mono recordings that were synchronized to the film cameras.) A number of possible locations for the live show were discussed during the Twickenham rehearsals, with the leading candidates being a Roman amphitheatre in North Africa or a cruise ship. At one point, Lennon sarcastically suggested that they perform in "an insane asylum".[1]

Everyone involved in the Twickenham rehearsals considered them to be disastrous. By the third day of rehearsal the group openly discussed whether they should break up. Lennon had all but withdrawn creatively from the Beatles, seldom contributing even to the arrangements of his own songs. Harrison was increasingly resentful; while he was treated respectfully by musical colleagues such as Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton, when working within the Beatles his songs usually were either derided or ignored. McCartney's attempts to hold the band together and rally spirits came across as controlling. The constant presence of Lennon's companion and artistic partner Yoko Ono -- who often spoke on Lennon's behalf as he sat silently by -- was a major source of tension. The intrusive film cameras and the cold, unfamiliar settings of Twickenham Studios also contributed to ill feelings. Finally, Harrison became fed up with Lennon's creative and communicative disengagement from the band, and on 10 January announced that he was "leaving the band now".[2] Within a few days Harrison was persuaded to return to the group, who moved to their own Apple Studios.

Multi-track recording began when the group moved to Apple Studios on 22 January,[3] continuing until 31 January.[4] Harrison brought in keyboardist Billy Preston to ease tensions and supplement the band for the live performances. Preston worked with the Beatles from 22-31 January.

The live concert idea culminated with the Beatles and Preston performing 30 January on the rooftop of the Beatles' Apple Building at 3 Savile Row before a small audience of friends and employees. The performance was cut short by the police after complaints about noise. Several of the songs recorded during the rooftop concert made it onto the final album, and the complete concert has circulated amongst bootleg collectors for many years.

The band played hundreds of songs during the Get Back/Let It Be sessions. Aside from original songs ultimately released on the Let It Be album were early versions of almost all of the songs that appeared on Abbey Road, including "Mean Mr. Mustard", "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window", "Sun King", "Polythene Pam", "Golden Slumbers", "Carry That Weight", "Something", "Maxwell's Silver Hammer", "Oh! Darling", "Octopus's Garden", and "I Want You (She's So Heavy)". Still others would eventually end up on Beatles solo albums, including John Lennon's "Jealous Guy" (called "Child of Nature" at the time and originally written and rehearsed for the White Album) and "Gimme Some Truth", George Harrison's "All Things Must Pass" and "Hear Me Lord", and Paul McCartney's "Teddy Boy" and "Junk" (originally written for the White Album). Much of the band's attention was focused on extended jams on 12-bar blues as well as a broad range of covers. These included classical pieces such as Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings", jazz standards such as "Ain't She Sweet", and an encyclopedic array of songs from the early rock and roll era such as "Stand By Me", "Words of Love", "Bésame Mucho" by Mexican composer Consuelo Velázquez (a song that was part of The Beatles repertoire in the early days) and "Blue Suede Shoes". The rehearsals and recording sessions were filmed and formed the basis of the Beatles' film of same name.

The Get Back albums

After increasing use of overdubs and multi-layered recordings on recent albums, there was at first a consensus to record the new album live. In keeping with the back-to-roots concept, the cover artwork was planned to be an update of the cover of their first album, Please Please Me, with the band looking down the stairwell of EMI's headquarters office block in Manchester Square, London. The photograph was later used on the compilation album 1967–1970 (aka The Blue Album).

The Acetate

Engineer Glyn Johns put together a rough version of Get Back in March 1969, which included many of the same songs that made the final cut, plus McCartney's "Teddy Boy". The track listing for the acetate is:[5] [6]

Side one

  1. "Get Back"
  2. "Teddy Boy"
  3. "Two of Us"
  4. "Dig a Pony"
  5. "I've Got a Feeling"

Side two

  1. "The Long and Winding Road"
  2. "Let It Be"
  3. "For You Blue"
  4. "Don't Let Me Down"
  5. "Get Back (Reprise)"
  6. "The Walk"

Johns played the acetate for the Beatles, who were not really interested in the project any longer. At least one copy of the acetate made its way to America and was aired on local radio stations in Buffalo, New York, and Boston in September.

The first Get Back album

In March 1969 John and Paul called Glyn Johns to EMI and offered him free rein to produce an album from the 'Get Back recordings.[7] Glyn booked time at Olympic Sound Studios between 3 April and 28 May to mix the album and presented the final banded master tape to the group on 28 May. The track listing[5]was:

File:Getback-1.jpg
Cover of the aborted Get Back album. Mirroring the cover of the band’s first album, Please Please Me, was John Lennon’s idea.
File:Getback-3.jpg
The Get Back album photo was later used for the 1973 greatest hits release 1967–1970.

Side one

  1. "One After 909"
  2. "Rocker (Instrumental)"
  3. "Save the Last Dance for Me"
  4. "Don't Let Me Down"
  5. "Dig a Pony"
  6. "I've Got a Feeling"
  7. "Get Back"

Side two

  1. "For You Blue"
  2. "Teddy Boy"
  3. ""Two of Us"
  4. "Maggie Mae"
  5. "Dig It"
  6. "Let It Be"
  7. "The Long and Winding Road"
  8. "Get Back (Reprise)"

The Get Back album was intended for release in July 1969, but its release was pushed back to September to coincide with the planned television special and theatrical film about the making of the album. In September the album's release was pushed back to December because the Beatles had just recorded Abbey Road and wanted to release that album instead. By December the album had been shelved.

  • "Rocker (Instrumental)", sometimes listed as "Link Track", was written by Lennon and McCartney.
  • "Save the Last Dance for Me" is the only cover song on the album; the song was written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, and made famous by The Drifters in 1960.

The second Get Back album

On 15 December the Beatles again approached Glyn Johns to produce an album from the 'Get Back' tapes but this time with the instruction that the songs must match those included in the as yet unreleased Get Back film. Between 15 December 1969 and 8 January 1970, new mixes were prepared. Johns' new mix omitted "Teddy Boy" as the song did not appear in the film (and also likely because McCartney had indicated to Johns that he had re-recorded the song for his upcoming McCartney album). It also added "Across the Universe" (a remix of the 1968 studio version) and "I Me Mine," on which only McCartney, Harrison and Starr performed (Lennon had privately quit the group in September 1969). "I Me Mine" was newly recorded, as it appeared in the film and no multitrack recording had yet been made. The track listing[5] is:

Side one

  1. "One After 909"
  2. "Rocker (Instrumental)"
  3. "Save the Last Dance for Me"
  4. "Don't Let Me Down"
  5. "Dig a Pony"
  6. "I've Got a Feeling"
  7. "Get Back"
  8. "Let It Be"

Side two

  1. "For You Blue"
  2. "Two of Us"
  3. "Maggie Mae"
  4. "Dig It"
  5. "The Long and Winding Road"
  6. "I Me Mine"
  7. "Across the Universe"
  8. "Get Back (Reprise)"

The Beatles once again rejected the album.

The released album

In March 1970 the session tapes were given to American producer Phil Spector, with McCartney's reluctant agreement. Spector worked on the tracks and compiled the eventually released album - by now entitled Let It Be. The album and the film with the same name were released on May 8, 1970; the Beatles had already broken up by that time. The movie captured on film the critical tensions within the band, and also included footage from the rooftop concert. The rooftop performance closed with the song "Get Back", and afterwards Lennon remarked, "I'd like to say 'thank you' on behalf of the group and ourselves, and I hope we passed the audition." The joke was added to the studio version of the song that appeared on the album.

Several songs from the recording sessions have been released officially in versions different to those on the Let It Be album. "Get Back"/"Don't Let Me Down" and "Let It Be" were released as singles in 1969 and 1970, respectively. "Across the Universe", a Lennon composition recorded in February 1968, was added to pad out his sparse contributions to the album, having previously been released as part of the World Wildlife Fund charity album No One's Gonna Change Our World. Interestingly neither version was at the originally recorded speed (the No One's Gonna Change Our World version being sped up and the Let It Be version being slowed down). The track appeared for the first time at its original speed on the Let It Be… Naked album in 2003. The Glyn Johns version of "The Long and Winding Road" was released in 1996 on The Beatles Anthology 3.

Six tracks were live performances, in accordance with the original album concept: "I've Got a Feeling", "One After 909", and "Dig a Pony" from the rooftop performance, and "Two of Us", "Dig It" and "Maggie Mae" from studio sessions. However, the album versions of "For You Blue", "I Me Mine", "Let It Be", "The Long and Winding Road" and "Get Back" featured editing, splicing, and overdubs. The twelfth track on the album was a slowed-down version of the original 1968 recording of "Across the Universe", which was deemed superior to any of the January 1969 performances of the song.

McCartney was deeply dissatisfied with Spector's treatment of some songs, particularly "The Long and Winding Road". McCartney had conceived of the song as a simple piano ballad, but Spector dubbed in orchestral and choral accompaniment. McCartney unsuccessfully attempted to halt release of Spector's version of the song. His bitterness over this was a contributing factor to his public announcement that he was leaving the Beatles shortly thereafter. Despite the criticisms leveled at Spector over the years for his handling of the material, Lennon defended him in his famous Playboy magazine interview ten years later, saying, "He was given the shittiest load of badly-recorded shit with a lousy feeling to it ever, and he made something of it."

The original box set packaging of Let It Be. It contained a 160 page booket with photos and quotes from the film.

In the UK, the album was originally issued by Apple (and distributed by EMI) in a lavish boxed set that also included a book featuring stills from the Let It Be film. Several months later, the album was reissued in Great Britain in a standard LP jacket, sans book. In America, the Let It Be album was issued in a standard jacket, without the book. The American release was also originally issued by Apple Records, but because United Artists distributed the film of the same name, United Artists also held the rights to distribute the record in America. (EMI subsidiary Capitol, which held the Beatles' US contract, had simultaneous rights to the music on the album, and could distribute the songs on various singles and compilation albums. Capitol, however, did not have the rights to release or distribute the actual album.) To indicate that Let It Be was not distributed by Capitol Records, the original record label in America sported a red apple, rather than the Beatles' usual green granny smith apple. In early 1976, when the Beatles' Apple Record contract expired, most of the group's catalogue in the United States transferred from Apple to Capitol; Let It Be, however, went out-of-print in America for 3 years. Then in 1979, Capitol/EMI purchased United Artists Records. With this acquisition, Capitol acquired the rights to two Beatles albums previously distributed in the United States by United Artists, Let It Be and the soundtrack album A Hard Day's Night. (As A Hard Day's Night had never been issued by Apple in the United States, it remained in print in America under the United Artists label when the Apple contract expired in 1976.) Shortly after acquiring United Artists Records, Capitol re-issued both Beatles albums under the Capitol imprint.

The album's cover was parodied by many other bands, such as their other album covers had. Album covers that parodied Let It Be's cover include Gorillaz' Demon Days, Poison's Look What the Cat Dragged In, Mötley Crüe's Shout at the Devil, and Death Breath's EP Let It Stink.

Track listing

All songs by Lennon/McCartney, except where noted.

Side one

  1. "Two of Us" – 3:33
  2. "Dig a Pony" – 3:52
  3. "Across the Universe" – 3:47
  4. "I Me Mine" (George Harrison) – 2:25
  5. "Dig It" (John Lennon-Paul McCartney-Richard Starkey-George Harrison) – 0:49
  6. "Let It Be" - 4:01
  7. "Maggie Mae" (Traditional arr. John Lennon-Paul McCartney-George Harrison-Richard Starkey) - 0:40

Side two

  1. "I've Got a Feeling" – 3:37
  2. "One After 909" – 2:52
  3. "The Long and Winding Road" – 3:37
  4. "For You Blue" (George Harrison) – 2:32
  5. "Get Back" – 3:07

Cover versions

  • Bill Withers covered "Let It Be" for his Just As I Am LP in 1971.
  • Dana covered "Let It Be" and "The Long and Winding Road" on her 1980 album, Everything is Beautiful.
  • David Bowie included a cover of "Across the Universe" on his 1975 album, Young Americans. Lennon played guitar on Bowie's version of the song.
  • In 1988 Slovenian band Laibach released their own Let It Be album - covering all the original tracks except the title track.
  • In 1998 Singer-songwriter Fiona Apple had a hit with her version (and accompanying video) for "Across the Universe" (this version also appears in the 1998 film Pleasantville).
  • For the soundtrack of the movie I Am Sam, Rufus Wainwright covered "Across the Universe"; with Aimee Mann & Michael Penn duetted on a cover of "Two of Us"; and Nick Cave covered "Let It Be." "Don't Let Me Down," also recorded during the Get Back sessions, is covered by the Stereophonics on the album. "Two Of Us" was also on some releases of the original soundtrack in a version of Neil Finn, in a duet with his son Liam Finn.
  • S Club 7 covered "The Long and Winding Road" for their tour S Club Carnival 2002. Jon Lee sang it in solo in piano vocal.
  • In 2004, the Australian band the John Butler Trio covered "Across the Universe" on their release What You Want EP.
  • Live bootlegs from singer/songwriter Elliott Smith playing "I Me Mine".
  • The band Maroon 5 covered the song "Don't Let Me Down" during the Hurricane Katrina benefit concert.
  • With his 2005 band, 70 Volt Parade, Trey Anastasio routinely covered "Dig a Pony". He also recorded a version of "Dig It", which appeared on The Lucius Beebe EP.
  • R&B group B5 covered the song on their self-titled debut album, B5.
  • Sean Lennon, Moby, and Rufus Wainwright did a live cover of "Across the Universe" for a John Lennon Tribute.
  • Pearl Jam recorded a cover version of "I've Got a Feeling" in 1990 which saw limited promotional distribution. The band also played it live several times in their early days.
  • In the 70s, "Los Vikings", a Salvadorean rock group covered "Don't Let Me Down" as an homage to the Beatles. It is a popular sing-along among the Salvadoran-American community. Their version was titled "Porque Llorar"
  • For the Beatles inspired musical, 'Across The Universe', "Let It Be", "Don't Let Me Down", and "Across The Universe" were covered.

Let It Be... Naked

Main article: Let It Be… Naked

At the same time the film's re-release was announced, McCartney announced plans to release a new version of the album that is closer to what the band had originally intended for the project. McCartney was particularly upset about the "Wall of Sound" treatment Spector had given to "The Long and Winding Road", and had previously rerecorded it on the solo album Give My Regards to Broad Street.

The new collection, entitled Let It Be... Naked was released on November 17, 2003 in a two-disc format - the second disc contained fly-on-the-wall recordings of the band chit-chatting during the Get Back Sessions.

Track listing

All songs by Lennon-McCartney, except where noted.

Disc one

  1. "Get Back"
  2. "Dig a Pony"
  3. "For You Blue" (George Harrison)
  4. "The Long and Winding Road"
  5. "Two of Us"
  6. "I've Got a Feeling"
  7. "One After 909"
  8. "Don't Let Me Down"
  9. "I Me Mine" (George Harrison)
  10. "Across the Universe"
  11. "Let It Be"

Disc two

  1. "Fly on the Wall" - An insight into the Beatles at work in rehearsal and in the studio during January 1969.

Release history

Country Date Label Format Catalog
United Kingdom May 8 1970 Apple Records LP box set PXS 1
United States May 18 1970 Apple (Distributed by United Artists Records.) LP (Discontinued in the U.S. in early 1976, with expiration of the Apple Records contract.) AR 34001
United Kingdom November 6 1970 Apple Records LP PCS 7096
United States March 1979 Capitol Records LP (Reissued in the U.S. after Capitol Records bought United Artists Records.) SW-11922
Worldwide reissue October 10 1987 Apple, Parlophone, EMI CD CDP 7 46447 2
Japan March 11 1998 Toshiba-EMI CD TOCP 51123
Japan January 21 2004 Toshiba-EMI Remastered LP TOJP 60143

Trivia

  • In one scene of Apollo 13, Jim Lovell's daughter Barbara complains about the Beatles breaking up, and slams a Let It Be LP into her record rack. Curiously, that scene takes place about a month before the album was released.

See also

References and notes

  1. ^ Suply and Schweighardt 136-138.
  2. ^ Sulpy and Schweighardt 169
  3. ^ Sulpy and Schweighardt 205.
  4. ^ Sulpy and Schweighardt 305.
  5. ^ a b c Lewisohn, Mark (1988). The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions. Hamlyn Publishing Group. ISBN 0-600-55784-7.
  6. ^ [1]
  7. ^ Lewisohn, Mark (1996). The Complete Beatles Chronicle. Chancellor Press. ISBN 0-7607-0327-2.

Further reading

  • Get Back: The Unauthorized Chronicle of the Beatles "Let it Be" Disaster, by Doug Sulpy and Ray Schweighardt. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 1999. ISBN 0-312-19981-3. An exhaustive analysis of all the surviving session tapes.

External links

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