The Beatles’ final single prior to the 1990s Anthology releases, ‘Let It Be’ was also the title track of the last album of their career.
The song was written during the sessions for the White Album, at a time when Paul McCartney felt isolated as the only member of The Beatles still keen to keep the group together. His enthusiasm and belief had kept them going after the death of Brian Epstein, but increasingly he found the others at odds with his attempts to motivate them.
Although his public persona remained upbeat, privately McCartney was feeling insecure and wounded by the gradual disintegration of The Beatles. During this period, his mother Mary – who had passed away in 1956 when McCartney was 14 – appeared to him in a dream.
One night during this tense time I had a dream I saw my mum, who’d been dead 10 years or so. And it was so great to see her because that’s a wonderful thing about dreams: you actually are reunited with that person for a second; there they are and you appear to both be physically together again. It was so wonderful for me and she was very reassuring. In the dream she said, ‘It’ll be all right.’ I’m not sure if she used the words ‘Let it be’ but that was the gist of her advice, it was, ‘Don’t worry too much, it will turn out OK.’ It was such a sweet dream I woke up thinking, Oh, it was really great to visit with her again. I felt very blessed to have that dream. So that got me writing the song ‘Let It Be’. I literally started off ‘Mother Mary’, which was her name, ‘When I find myself in times of trouble’, which I certainly found myself in. The song was based on that dream.
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles
It was perhaps inevitable – even fortuitous for the group – that ‘Let It Be’ took on religious overtones, with many listeners interpreting it as referring to the Virgin Mary.
Mother Mary makes it a quasi-religious thing, so you can take it that way. I don’t mind. I’m quite happy if people want to use it to shore up their faith. I have no problem with that. I think it’s a great thing to have faith of any sort, particularly in the world we live in.
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles
John Lennon felt little affection for the song, and was partly responsible for sandwiching it between the throwaway ‘Dig It’ and ‘Maggie Mae’ on the Let It Be album, which effectively sent up any perceived portentousness.
That’s Paul. What can you say? Nothing to do with The Beatles. It could’ve been Wings. I don’t know what he’s thinking when he writes ‘Let It Be’. I think it was inspired by ‘Bridge Over Troubled Waters’. That’s my feeling, although I have nothing to go on. I know he wanted to write a ‘Bridge Over Troubled Waters’.
All We Are Saying, David Sheff
Chart success
‘Let It Be’ was the last single to be released by The Beatles before their split was announced to the press. A final US single, ‘The Long And Winding Road’, was issued two months later, and a month after Paul McCartney revealed to the press that the band were no more.
‘Let It Be’ was released in the UK on 6 March 1970, billed as “an intimate bioscopic experience with THE BEATLES”. Its b-side was ‘You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)’.
The single reached number two in the charts. It fared better elsewhere, charting at number one in the US, Australia, Italy, Norway and Switzerland.
Good Lawd! This is quite well-researched and instructive. Thanks a heap. I did a bit of writing on the biblical Mary today, and how the Beatles’ disparate spiritual experiences can be linked to this song. This piece about Paul’s dream was new information, though. The Great Spirit works in so many mysterious ways…
Nothing to do with Christian mythology tough, the song let it be. But like Christianity, based on nothing more than one if Paul’s visions.
Preston played a Lowrey Heritage Deluxe, not a hammond on “Let it Be”. The instrument is clearly visable in the move at Twinkingham, where Preston wasn’t and at Apple, where he was. The instrument was also used in earlier sessions at Abbey Road.
To futher clarify, Naked is a different recording than the album or 45. It is slower, and the piano pedal phrasing is different than the other two, aside from the techno tricks.
It should be noted that Lennon was full of crap when he said Paul was trying to write “Bridge Over Troubled Water” … “Let It Be” was written and recorded before “Bridge…” was released.
John Lennon’s mistake in his placement of songs in the wrong chronological order doesn’t merit this kind of derogatory remark.
“doesn’t merit this kind of derogatory remark”
Why not? Lennon was making derogatory remarks about McCartney’s song.
I think we all make comments like that. If John is taken to be commenting about a temporal sequence, then clearly, he was mistaken.
If he was, rather, looking back and saying that Paul was aiming for a certain type of song, say like Paul Simon achieved with Bridge Over Troubled Water, then there is nothing inconsistent with his statement.
Beyond dealing with the merely logical, who is so say that Paul had no knowledge of what other groups were working on? To me, Let it Be is a great, great song, especially on the version with George’s extended lead. Let’s not sully it with pettiness….
You know how it goes Lennon at times was a hater especially on his comments on “Let It Be” and songs not written by him… Hey it still bares the Lennon/McCartney name… Why can’t we just get along.
Well, he called a lot of his own songs “a piece of garbage” too. He basically didn’t like much after he started his Plastic Ono Band thing.
Bridge Over Troubled Waters was recorded in 1969 – don’t know when, perhaps it was before Let It Be.
Let It Be was originally recorded in January 1969, so it is highly unlikely that Bridge Over Troubled Waters was recorded before LIB.
It’s also not impossible that Lennon’s meaning was something like “That was Paul’s attempt to write a kind of gospel-influenced song, as Paul Simon later did so, with his own ‘Bridge Over Troubled Waters'”
Correct. The two songs were very distinctive in mood and tone. At the time I saw them both as a product of a wish to pull back from confrontation toward peace. I saw them as a reaction to big societal dysfunction but maybe in both cases it was equally a reaction to intragroup strife.
I enjoy both songs, but don’t see them as very similar in mood or intent (maybe in harmony or octave or cadence). LIB is an Earthly plea, while Bridge is a goodbye song. . clearly a gate to heaven. Further, it matters not when a song was first published by the industry, some songs are written years or even decades before they are first recorded. Both are noteworthy efforts by musicians I love.
Bridge over Trouble Waters wasn’t released until 1970, it was played at a live concert in 69 but wasn’t released until 70.
Catholickid is right. Two of my high school buds saw S&G at Cobo Hall Winter 1969 and said, “They did this beautiful song on piano about a bridge”. It came out as a single January 1970. The Beatles’ “Let It Be” single came out March 1970. Of course Paul was jealous and had to beat it. That’s the normal ego of a genius songwriter. George admitted he wrote “If I Needed Someone” as a response/Tip of the hat to the Byrds’ sound. Paul admits Brian Wilson’s “God Only Knows” is better than anything he wrote, and that the Beach Boys’ “Pet Sounds” inspired “Sgt Pepper”.
Let it Be was a finished product in January 1969.Not released as a single until 1 yr later. A song conceived in late 1968. If there was a jealousy then is would have to be on Paul Simons part. Not Paul McCartney.
Its ‘water’ folks not ‘waters’.
I also believe Lennon said something akin to ‘ I’m Not sure but that’s my guess’ at the end
I would have to agree Jonny. It always seemed to me that there was competition between the two. I don’t think John liked it that a song wrote by Paul would become the name of their last album and their last hit single not to mention “Let It Be” is considered by many to be the best song put out by the band. That is not to say Paul was a better writer or singer then Lennon, I think that argument needs to be left alone, because the two were clearly at their best when they worked together in the band.
“Bridge” was released January 26 1970, and hit #1 February 28 1970. “LIB” was released as a single March 1970. Was there competition back then between the Beatles, Dylan, the Byrds, Simon & Garfunkel, etc? Did they feed and encourage and challenge each other? Having lived through it all, I can reply unequivocally: yes.
Daniel Lawton
Take a look at the new “Get Back” that was released on Disney Plus on Thanksgiving in 2021. It clearly shows that the song “Let it Be” was work on in January of 1969. And Recorded on January 31, 1969. BUT the Album “Let It Be” was shelf and did not come out until May 8, 1970. The single “Let It Be” on released on March 6, 1970 and was #1 in the USA and #2 in United Kingdom. So, why would Paul McCartney have been jealous of Paul Simon song “A Bridge Over Trouble Water’? Knowing that the song “let It Be” was Recorded First.
Doesn’t matter. He’s still right. Let it be is Paul. He liked to do his own thing. So if anyone if full of crap here, it ain’t john Lennon.
Each of them liked to do their own thing at that point. Let it Be is, to some extent, Paul, but it is Paul at his best. A beautiful, powerful and moving song… and one of their best.
cried when i heard what the origional sounded like with just Paul playing piano. sorry Phil Spector you really messed that one up on the Let It Be Lp
Who? Lennon never mentioned BOTW:
https://www.beatlesbible.com/1969/01/02/get-back-let-it-be-sessions-day-one/
Paul was trying to write a song with the gravitas of Bridge Over Troubled Water, not in response to it as has been noted that particular song was yet to be released. Lennon used Bridge as an example of the type of song Paul wanted, and Let It Be turned out to be that song. The “full of crap” comment is untoward and over the top. The English language is filled with wonderful words, yet somehow we find ourselves using derogatory insults to make a point. Lennon and McCartney’s genius would still be apparent had either or both of them been Stark raving mad or full of crap.
Why can’t I believe that the solo on LET IT BE, from the LET IT BE album, was done by a Beatle member? It seems like the same person who did the solo on LET IT BE is the same person who performed the solo on DIG A PONY. It sounds outside of the range of any Beatle member because no Beatle album prior to the LET IT BE album had a solo in that style and no post Beatle member ever had any solo remotely close the those two solos.
I think it was George Harrison on both of those songs. Hey, nobody could believe that the Beatles were the same group in 1963 that went off to Hamburg at the end of the 50’s either….
The rooftop session clearly shows George playing the “Dig A Pony” solo. Those Beatle guys were pretty good.
No Sr., the camera pans away form the rooftop during the exact solo part.
I think the Eric Clapton or Jeff Beck Played those parts.
Neither Jeff Beck nor Eric Clapton had that kind of style. If Clapton had played on “Let It Be” he would have used heavy vibrato rather than so many string bends and he would have played much higher in the neck. And why would Beck play on a Beatles record? He wasn’t close friends with any of them.
Just to be fair, please let me know of a Beatles song with solos remotely close to Let It Be or Dig A Pony. I bet you can’t. Jeff Beck not being a friend wouldn’t mean that he wouldn’t play. I’m not trying to prove that it was Clapton nor Beck, I’m just saying that he was damn good and he wasn’t a Beatle but we can agree that it was the same guy who played on both songs.
I bought the remastered Let It Be album for the LIB lead break alone.
Outside the range? Most discerning listeners who compare the leads in, say, I Me Mine and Let It Be would have no doubt that both are by the same player—George.
No Beatle or post-Beatle solo is remotely similar? Even allowing for the difference in techniques of slide-style and finger-style leads, many of GH’s lead breaks share the same melodic approach and similar note-bending. Compare, for instance, the leads of Isn’t It a Pity and Free as a Bird and the aforementioned IMM and LIB. Listen also to George’s last mini-lead in The End.
I’d say that the lead breaks of Something and the album version of Let It Be are (a) two of the finest lead breaks in rock and (b) demonstrably and indisputably, by George Harrison.
On Let It Be I’ve read that there were two different lead guitars both played by George. The second one is my favorite. It’s been called a STINGING LEAD, and I just love that one, the one on the album. George had the respect of people like Clapton and Alvin Lee, two great lead guitar players. His lead on the end of The End is classic! I’ve never heard playing like that by anyone else.
I also love his lead work on the song Basketball Jones which he played for Cheech and Chong. Some of the licks are similiar to the lead on The End.
I guess you can see who my favorite Beatle was. Thank you for the great insight you showed on George.
On the album GH played a straight lead while on the file and 45 version it was through a Leslie (sp?).
Dig A Pony and Let It Be guitar solos were performed by the same person–a Beatle by the name of George Harrison.
Maybe you can’t believe a Beatle played that well because they never studied at a conservatorium like real musicians. Surely, trained studio musicians must have recorded all the Beatles’ music which real, properly trained composers must have composed.
Similarly, I can’t believe that Shakespeare, who never studied at university, could have written such fine plays; an Oxford or Cambridge scholar must have written them. Agatha Christie, a woman who never went to school apart from a year or so at a finishing school, obviously never wrote all those popular novels; a man must have written them. The Egyptians could not have designed and built the pyramids: it must have been done by aliens.
He makes a great point. And besides, look at how much George improved over the years. Listen to his stuff from 1963, then 1966, then 1969, and you’ll see what I’m talking about.
Not only did George improve his guitar playing, John and Paul did also. They were all very good guitar players and could all play lead.
In the early years George knew more chords and played better than Paul or John so he became the lead guitar player. He loved Carl Perkins and played like Carl on quite a few of the Beatle songs. These early recordings are so pure and beautiful. I’ts easy to see why he was the lead guitar player. He also taught John how to really play.It’s my guess that George and Paul were truly guitar players while John became better later. Of course they all became better later, John later than the other two.
All three played lead, bass, and rhythm on the records. GH was also surpressed (sp?). His only 4 songs on White album?
It was amazing he got three on Revolver, but Paul sounds somewhat like him when he played lead on Taxman.
Really? How about George’s solo on ‘Til There Was You? It’s pretty jazzy and very nice.
This is true. Malcolm Gladwell points it out in his book Outliers that it takes 10,000 hours to become masters. All those hours working in Hamburg paid off by the time you get to the studio years.
In my opinion the album version was much better than the single version. The guitar solo changes the entire makeup of the song; I feel a much greater emotional connection to the album version.
Non one recognized untill today, that on the LP/single-Version there’s a bass-overdub. So it’s not John playing. It must have been from 4th January 1970. So I think Paul played a new bass track. An the naked-version, John’s bass and the overdub bass are combined.
You are right: Lennon bass and vocals were wiped. Paul overdub his bass and sang back-up vocals with George.
I don’t know is these takes were combined for “Naked”.
In this album, at least on rock songs like “Don’t let me down”, “Dig a Pony”, “I’ve got a feeling”, “Get back” and “one after 909”, John was lead guitarist. “Get back” for sure, so it´s muck likely that he plays lead on his own songs.
Some say (not me) it’s because Paul felt guilty about taking control over the group, so he encouraged John to play lead guitar.
I don’t believe John played lead on the first three songs you mentioned but of course he did on Get Back (and For You Blue) as well on LIB.
You haven’t seen the let it be film, have you? John played lead guitar on get back only (and slide guitar on for you blue). Watch the video of the rooftop concert, it’s george playing lead on every song, except Get Back
Yes I saw the movie when it came out. Otherwise your comment about John’s studio work on Get Back and For You Blue is the same as mine.
I meant gustavo didn’t see the film
I am pretty sure John is NOT lead guitar on Dig A Pony or One After 909 it’s George. Get Back yes – and I don’t recall a lead guitar solo on Don’t Let Me Down.
There is a Don’t Let Me Down version with a Billy Preston keyboard solo (“Hit it Bill!” Lennon yells). It’s on the bootlegs.
All known versions of Don’t Let Me Down have a Rhodes piano solo by Billy Preston, right by the end of the song.
I’m pretty sure there are three different guitar solo versions of LIB – all by George of course.
By the time the album came out my friends and I had had the single and the bootlegs for quite some time.
Hearing George’s new solo on the album was a shocker.
On October 1 2009 I wrote that I didn’t believe that any Beatle did the solo on Let It Be (album version). I did receive a lot of disappointed fan reply because of saying this and please believe me, I am a die hard Beatle fan myself but no one has come remotely close in convincing me that I’m wrong. I went out and got the Naked album and yes, it’s a Beatle doing the solo and I like it but, come on guys, that solo on Let It Be (album version) is one of the all time best solos ever and there is no video, interview or witness talking about it and no other Beatle member did anything close to it during and after they went solo??? I’m not hating on my favorite rock band but some say it was Paul, some say George, and some say John. I’ll take a very long shot and say it was Eric Clapton or Jeff Beck because it sounds like a Stratocaster Master.
Don’t whine and hate me, let’s get to the truth and team up to ask Paul himself.
If you’re talking about the album version, it’s definitely George. It does sound powerful, because of the fuzzbox, which George put his guitar into. It’s his very characteristic melodic style of playing, so it’s only him. Here’s an article for you to check out about it:
https://www.beatlesbible.com/1970/01/04/recording-let-it-be-beatles-last-session-as-a-group/
It was a no-Frills album and George has stated he Played the solo. At Least for me, that means HE Played It
Long shot indeed!
Clapton wasn’t quite in his stratocaster phase yet, and I believe its either George or Paul. George because of the melodic nature, and Paul because the it was played (it sounds like the player is hitting the strings a little hard, something I found Paul always did on solos, possibly bc of playing so much bass) besides, George played both Telecasters and stratocasters.
Interesting observations, I heard and read somewhere it was George on everything except the initial Let It Be album, which was John. It is certainly a different style use Penatonic scale. I doubt very much it was Paul doing any of the solos on this song. Does The Beatles Sessions book say anything?
Agreed, the lead guitar on the album version must be George. Other songs on the album such as “One After 909” and “Dig a Pony” feature George, and sound similar to the lead guitar on “Let It Be.” I’ve never heard any Beatle mention Beck or Clapton being at the Let It Be sessions, so I think that at least narrows it down to John, Paul or George.
The solo on the album is for certain by George Harrison. Perhaps the biggest advancement in George’s playing around the time of LIB was he was starting to use the Major Penatonic scale in his playing (it is also featured on Abbey Road a lot).
All the LIB solos are penatonic based – included the stronger album version
No doubt this was influenced by his friendship with Clapton who used the scale a lot (as well as Dwayne Allman).
Remember LIB is after George had been spending time with Delaney and Bonnie in the US where the major penatonic scale was becoming the back bone of emerging Southern rock.
So yes it’s George on the album version of Let It Be.
one more thing on this George solo bit – one big difference between the single version and Naked versions of LIB and the Spector album version is the sound of George’s guitar.
In the movie sessions George was using a Telecaster – usually a thin sounding guitar.
In the studio for the LIB Spector solo I am assuming George used most probably his Les Paul – maybe his Strat – but I doubt it was his Tele – although it could have been – if really amped up.
That sound of the guitar more than the actual playing is what’s so striking to me.
However it’s the same tone he got on I, Me, Mine – also finished in the studio.
Thanks Dartos and Robert, I’ll do more research based on the info you gave me, although I’m sill not convinced about this issue, I do respect your opinion and I won’t stop till I a non biased witness speaks up…
It’s not just the song Let It Be on the Let It Be Album, It’s most of the overdriven guitar parts(with Overdrive or Fuzz) like Dig A Pony lead etc…
I’ll be back after I get proof or better reasons to feel this way. I’ll love to also find real solid proof that it really was George, I love the Beatles.
This is my all time favorite song; it gives me chills every time I hear it. I want it played at my funeral, seriously. One thing I like is that there are different versions. My favorite version is the telecasted one where Paul sings the words… ‘there will be no sorrow” I just love that! I like all the solos except the one on the Let It Be bootleg.
“A new mix was made for 2003’s Let It Be… Naked. […] The guitar solo was Harrison’s from 30 April 1969.”
Are you sure about that?
Listen carefully to the solo from the single version and the one from the Naked version, they are different; though I admit they sound quite similar. I’ve read on various other pages that the solo on Naked is from take 27b, the take that appeared in the film, and not the single solo from April 1969.
You’re right, thanks for that. I’ve amended the end of the article to say the solo was from a different 31 January take. I think this is correct – let me know if not.
Easily the Best Beatles guitar solo!
Good thing for George the Let it Be sessions were recorded live, otherwise Macca might have tried to claim this one as well!
That’s a joke, right? When has Paul ever falsely claimed someone else’s instrumental contribution as his own? Never, as far as I know.
George Martin scored and recorded the brass on this one? And not Phil Spector?
I had no idea! So it was the Beatles themselves who broke their own rules with extraneous arrangements being overdubbed, before Phil Spector even got there!?
Phil Spector was a producer, not an arranger. He had no clasical music training like George Martin did.
The Beatles were breaking their ‘ no overdubs’rule as early as April 1969, for this track. In truth, it was never realistic to think that they were to record a song Iike this with no overdubs. But yes, the orchestration for this track predates Spector’s involvement.
Although Let It Be was recorded before Bridge Over Troubled Water, it was released a month after Bridge in March 1970. Perhaps that’s why the comparisons were drawn. Bridge was written in the summer of 69 and released in Feb 1970. It’s unlikely Paul would have heard Bridge until its release and therefore would not have been influenced by it.
Cchight, “Let It Be” the Song was RECORDED on January 31, 1969, the “Get Back” sessions. It was RELEASED on March 6, 1970. “Let It Be” was recorded by the time the Song “A Bridge Over Trouble Water” came out.
GH’s awesome stinging solo is the best Beatles guitar solo – hands down!
I enjoyed the article and comments. I don’t think ‘Paul’ wrote the song. My best guess is Billy Preston wrote it and sold it (and was compensated with ‘billing- “THE BEATLES WITH BILLY PRESTON” instead of a performance credit). It’s a typical church style song, and Billy was a church guy, the Beatles at this point were chemical guys, not church guys. This is just my gut feeling.
Read the lyrics to Billy’s song
‘I Wrote a Simple Song’ . The last album by the Beatles was Revolver, after that nothing was real
Ha, of COURSE Paul didn’t write it – he was dead already, remember?
Seriously, this song is all Paul, no offence to your guts.
No offense taken. Compare “Let It Be” to Billy’s “That’s The Way God Planned It”, compare chords, melody and general style.
@eddy Let It Be was recorded in January of 1969 while Preston’s song was recorded in May 1969. Also Billy wrote a song called Hey Bro which is similar to Hey Jude.
I should have added in the comment above that Preston’s Hey Bro followed Paul’s Hey Jude almost a year later.
Eddy,
Watch the new “Get Back” on Disney Plus. That came out in November of 2021. The Song “Let It Be” was already thought up by Paul at Twickenham by the time Billy Preston had shown up at Apple. So, Billy Preston DID NOT write “Let It Be”.
I prefer the single version solo and i think i think so because it fits better to let it be (don’t hate me for this comment). I don’t know anything about the bass thing but if johns bass and his vocals were not included that would mean that john has no contribution to let it be!! The most famous song of the beatles (at least one of the most famous) without john! I can’t beleave this but of course it’s possible.
I just listened to the glyn johns mix of let it be and the backing vocals are completly different to the single/album version, so i think only the january 1970 backing vocals by paul, george and linda were used. In the let it be article in the rolling stone list of the greatest beatles songs i alo read that paul recorded a new bass so if that’s all right, john isn’t included on let it be. Of course this might be wrong
Everybody listen to my mix of let it be, it’s the single version with the solo of the album version and the final mother mary piano chord from naked.
I am watching the movie as I type this and the cops are coming. I am nervous. The Beatles appear to be in big trouble.
Maybe singing on the roof was not such a great idea….
Actually singing on the roof is not a Beatles idea. It was done earlier by the Jefferson Airplane in NYC and it was filmed.
Why does this site says john played bass, it was paul he rerecorded the bass in january 1970 it’s even on the beatlesbible site of that day. If you listen to the glyn johns mix of let it be and the single/album mix you hear that it’s a different (and better) bass line
That’s because the LIB song page was written (like the other song features) well before I wrote the day-by-day guides to the sessions, which contain more detailed and accurate information. Thanks for pointing out the discrepancy – it’s been corrected.
It’s also mccartny on electric piano, the electric piano is audible before the little organ break and the guitar solo and also in the end of the song. It’s not audible on the glyn johns mix, so I must have been overdubbed later, and you wrote that it was paul on 4th January
I still think it´s John on bass, because the basic track was live, if it were re-recorded, shades of the orignal bass woul remain on the other tracks of the master.
Such an interesting story on the origins of Let it be. What a coincidense that in Luke 1:38 Mary says Let it be! Or is it? Perhaps there is a more spiritual purpose and application here that is bigger than even The Beatles!
Very interesting point. Didn’t notice it.
Not in my copy (KJV).
On LIB single version,I can cleary hear someone whisper “shut up John” on the right channel after Paul sings “though they may be parted”. Anyone has a clue?
…and just a side note – on the single version, the one with the leslie lead, the producer is noted as George Martin. The album version, with the “stinging” lead is by Phil Spector. I personally like the single version better (and this is the one on Past Masters) since it more reflects what I see as the “reverential” tone of the song. The album version is just too jarring for me and too much of a contrast to the rest of the song. Of course it could be argued that after Spector layered on more loud prchestra on his version that a louder lead was called for.
Who’s talking at 1:06 and what are they saying?
While it is true that many great songwriters hear other great songs and try to top them, I doubt from the information provided that this is the case here. LIB was, as indicated in the above article, first brought to the group on January 3, 1969. Unless it sprung from his mind while he slept the night before (not wholly unreasonable, as he had done that before), Paul had been working on it probably towards the tail end of 1968. I fail to see how he could have been propelled by BOTW to write LIB, given these time frames.
On the roof session George is playing a rosewood Tele. That is not your ordinary Tele, which are indeed light and can be thin sounding. The rosewood version of the Telecaster is about as heavy as a LP Custom and can sound as fat and full (considering the Tele’s single coil pickups). It’s a pretty rare guitar which has later been reissued as a Japanese built version.
I recently did the house tour of Paul’s Forthlin Road home thru the National Trust. The caretaker/tour guide explained that she ran into a 90+ neighbor who remembered Mother Mary. According to the neighbor, Let It Be was a regular expression of Mary McCartney to smooth out conflict. I have not seen this piece of trivia written anywhere else. This is something. that only Paul or someone who knew the family back then would know.
A great song and one of Paul McCartneys greatest compositions. I love the opening piano work on this. This will always be a favorite of mine. The song is a great ode to his late mother and to forgiveness.
So when John writes ‘Julia,’ a song about his dead mother, Paul compliments him on it in front of everyone in the studio, telling him how beautiful it is. When Paul writes a song about his dead mother, John ensures that its placed on the album in a way that lessens its emotional resonance and declares its not a Beatles song. John’s lack of empathy here is not very surprising, but its still disappointing.
I had heard a long time ago that Donavan knew a great spiritual woman from Mt. Shasta in northern California who held gatherings up on the mountain. When the children would race around, she would say to the frustrated parents “Let the children be natural” or “Let it be”. She was well known for those sayings. She was affectionately called Mother Mary of Mt. Shasta. She was Mary Mae Maier but not sure of the spelling. Don’t remember if Donovan brought the Beatles to her at Shasta or when they were all in India. I think it was in India and that’s where they got the lyrics about her. Anyone else know about what I heard in the 70’s?
My friends and I heard that the Beatles visited Mother Mary in Mount Shasta during one of their trips to the San Francisco Bay Area. In any case, during July 1969 we made a pilgrimage north to see her, as she owned the Mt. Shasta Hotel situated on the town’s main street. The hotel employees there told us she had been ill, however a very old woman eventually came down the stairs and sat with us in the Mt. Shasta Hotel dining room. She told us about the Brothers on the Mountain, and described having been saved by them when she was very young after being caught in a blizzard near the summit of Mount Shasta. They took her inside the mountain and kept here safe; they promised that whenever she was in need they were at her disposal – all she had to do was ask, This was the beginning of Mary Mae Maier’s (“Mother Mary’s) spiritual journey, just as her meeting with us became the beginning of our spiritual awakening. We learned later that she died just a few months after our visit, and we had been the last visitors she entertained, which made the meeting with her all the more special. Then, in March 1970 “Let It Be” was released as the Beatles’ last hit single. Though Paul wrote that the song was inspired by his late mother, whose name also was Mary, we came to believe it had a secondary, and secret, genesis in the Beatle’s earlier visit to see Mother Mary in Mount Shasta.
Neil’s and Walter’s comments are the only references on the Internet that contain either “Beatles Mary Maier” or “Beatles Mt. Shasta,” unless you count newspaper articles published in Mt. Shasta that mention them. No indication that they were ever there nor that they met Maier anywhere. It’s possible that they heard of her in India, as she is reported to have been there in the early 50’s, but that would appear to be as far as it goes.
I can’t pretend to know the reality of any interaction between the Beatles and Mother Mary Maier, either in Mount Shasta CA or in India. I DO know that prior to our July 1969 voyage, we heard they had visited Mother Mary; this story was the basis of our own trip. At the time I knew several people who had hosted the Beatles during their several visits to the San Francisco Bay Area; the story may have originated with them.
If there are indeed no remnants of John’s bass part on the single and album versions, then I’m certain John is completely absent from the final versions of the song. He definitely doesn’t sing a backing vocal, as he didn’t partake in the January 1970 overdubbing in which Paul, George, and Linda recorded new chorus backing vocals. The differences between this vocal arrangement and that which appears in the performances in the film and Glyn Johns mixes are pretty significant – the melodies are altered slightly, and they begin singing ‘aahs’ rather than ‘oohs’ after the instrumental in the revised version. I cannot hear John’s vocal line from the older arrangement on the final versions of the track whatsoever, nor can I hear the sound of his voice. I think it’s almost unequivocal that John just isn’t present on Let It Be.
Let It Be is boring. MCartney´s music cannot age, opposed to Lennon´s that always is growing.
When The Beatles became famaous 1963 with the Lennon composition Please Please Me, it meant a new expressionistic tension! Lennon composed – nobody knew – most of their hits 1963-1965, or before Yesterday. Lennon composed “the three big singles from 1967”, Srawberry Fields Forever, All You Need Is Love and I Am the Walrus. After 1967 the singles were dominated by McCartney and the new tension disappeared, the development went back to the 1930s, and we got boring things like Hey Jude and Let It Be.
Based on your many posts, Mr. Cavalli, I surmise that you have yet to join Paul’s fan club.
Holy crap this is getting pathetic! What the hell is wrong with people who need to tear down in order to make themselves feel better about “their guy”? I will repeat what I’ve said many times previously – There is no Beatles without John and Paul. Neither you, nor I, nor anyone else, in all likelihood, would have ever heard of John Lennon or Paul McCartney if they hadn’t met. This constant need to attack Paul, in comment sections of his songs, is childish and pathetic (yes, I repeat myself).
Lennon composed most of their hits from 63-65? Really? John and Paul wrote, together (this is undisputed), From Me to You, She Loves You and I Wanna Hold Your Hand. These three singles, more than almost anything else, created the force that was Beatlemania, in the public’s eye. Paul also wrote Can’t Buy Me Love, a hit single as well in 1964. So that’s at least 4 huge singles in their early days that he was a major contributor as a writer (not an arranger).
To constantly have to defend the guy from these ridiculous slurs by the likes of you is maddening. We get it. You prefer John. We get it. You not only hate Paul, but feel he brought nothing but bad to the group and it would have been so much better had he never gotten involved. He is stealing your idol’s legacy, day by day, month by month. To quote Elsa, “Let it go”!
And LIB is a monumental song. Try to be objective and listen to it as a person who is going through a torturous time, someone who is losing the thing he loved and fought for most of his adult life. He is depressed and anguished over it. He feels alone. Then, his mother appears to him in a dream and tells him, essentially, that it’s ok to let go, what will be will be. Put yourself in that frame of mind, and listen again. It is a remarkable ode to letting go and starting anew. Of hope. Try and forget who wrote it, and listen to it for what it is trying to say to you. Let yourself understand the depth of the emotions. Let go of the hate.
Oh, and anyone who thinks Hey Jude is boring has some serious issues. Please listen again, and pay attention to how each verse builds upon the previous one.
The Beatles were signed on the back of one of Pauls Songs ‘Like Dreamers do’ and their BIGGEST hit of 1967 was the number one smash ‘Hello Goodbye’. But nice try.
Agree with Johan….LIB is certainly among if not the most boring songs ever recorded by the Beatles.
to DarrenS
Yes I may be “pathetic”. The Beatles is music history, and people will always discuss who did what, and McCartney is aware of that. And Beatles music history is wrong written. You have on another place written that it is unnecessary to keep John´s genius alive. That is good. I hope you are right. But when you deny that Lennon was the dominant composer 1963-1965, I have to react. This is the list of the composers of the hits, (not about the lyric writer):
1963 Please Please Me, Lennon, B-side Ask Me Why Lennon.
1963 From Me To You, main melody Lennon, the middle part McCartney.
1963 She Loves You, half Lennon,
1963 I Want To Hold Your Hand, half Lennon, B-side This Boy mainly Lennon,
1964 Can´t Buy Me Love McCartney,
1964 A Hard Day´s Night Lennon,
1964 I Feel Fine Lennon,
1965 Ticket To Ride mainly Lennon, B-side Yes It Is Lennon,
1965 Help, Lennon,
1965 We Can Work It Out, half Lennon, B-side Day Tripper mainly Lennon.
Didn´t you know that? That is/was not so common known. Why? But most people knows exact what McCartney composed, and more.
I could go on with the albums, where Lennon dominated.
I am not critical to McCartney´s composing. Yesterday – For No One –Penny Lane—Your Mother Should Know are masterpieces. But Lennon´s masterpieces are much more numerous, according to my point of view.
OK, I’m going to have to call time on this discussion. Please keep future comments to Let It Be, rather than yet another John vs Paul debate. Thanks.
toJohan C
Please check your glowing comments about “Yesterday” and “For No One.” Darren S is right.
Johan, that again! On every song you write this, Give it a rest.
I didn’t know Paul re-recorded the bass part. I always thought that was John because obviously Paul was playing piano and John was playing the Fender VI bass on both the take used in the film and the take used on all album/single releases. I don’t remember reading that he redid the bass on this song in Mark Lewisohn’s Beatles Recording Sessions book, but maybe this was discovered later on and added to revised editions (last time I read the book was in 1998) or I just missed that detail?
Regardless of who played what, this is one of my all-time favorite Paul tunes, counting his Beatles AND solo stuff. So uplifting, and in heavy rotation on my stereo now; it was so great to see him play this in Minneapolis two years ago–in the ballpark which now pays loving tribute to my home state’s fallen musical hero.
One of Paul McCartney’s greatest. Beautiful story about his mother appearing in a dream. Brilliant lead guitar solo by George.
I have many favorite Beatles songs but this is probably my all time, number 1 favorite. That’s all I will add to this discussion.
I have always been interested in what got the Beatles back into the studio on Jan 3 or 4, in 1970. Lennon had told the other band members he was leaving in Sept 1969. So, the other three get together to record: I, my, mine and add another guitar solo to Let it Be. There had been back and forth communications between John and Paul since Sept 1969– and John was emphatic about being done with the Beatles. Its funny that the other three felt invested in the unfinished work and unreleased Let it Be film enough to return to the studio. Nice guitar solo by George in January 1970 fot Let it Be.
Wonder when Paul heard the Long and Winding Road production by Phil Spector, and if George and Paul had already started their solo work before the Jan. 1970 session?
Anything on the possibility that ‘Be’ might have stood for Brian Epstein. Didn’t he put his name on things with ‘B.E.’?
So, “Let It, BE?” Was Brian a slum lord?
On the Let It Be recording on The Anthology John says what sounds like “Are we supposed to “giggle” on the solo?” Does anybody know what he’s really saying and what it might really mean?