10. Let It Be (Beatles)
Paul McCartney wrote this song. It was inspired by his
mother, Mary, who died when he was 14. Many people thought "Mother
Mary" was a biblical reference when they heard it.
Since Let It Be was The Beatles last album, it made
an appropriate statement about leaving problems behind and moving on in life.
The album was supposed to convey an entirely different message. It was going to
be called "Get Back," and they were going to record it in front of an
audience on live TV, with another TV special showing them practicing the songs
in the studio. It was going to be The Beatles getting back to their roots and
playing unadorned live music instead of struggling in the studio like they did
for The White Album. When they started putting the album together, it
became clear the project wouldn't work and George Harrison left the sessions.
When he returned, they abandoned the live idea and decided to use the TV
footage as their last movie. While the movie was being edited, The Beatles
recorded and released Abbey Road, then broke up. Eventually, Phil
Spector was given the tapes and asked to produce the album, which was released
months after The Beatles broke up. By then, it was clear "Let It Be"
would be a better name than "Get Back."
McCartney had a dream one night when he was paranoid and
anxious. He saw his mom who had been dead for ten years or so; she came to him
in his time of trouble, speaking words of wisdom. This brought him much peace
when he needed it. It was this sweet dream that got him to begin writing the
song.
John Lennon hated this song because of it's apparent
Christian overtones. He made the comment before recording it, "And now
we'd like to do Hark The Angels Come." Lennon saw to it that "Maggie
Mae," a song about a Liverpool prostitute, followed it on the album.
It was John Lennon who wanted Phil Spector to produce the
album. Spector worked on Lennon's "Instant Karma" and was known for
his bombastic "Wall Of Sound" style. McCartney hated Spector's
production, and in 2003 he pushed to have the album remixed and released
without Spector's influence. The result was Let It Be... Naked, which
eliminated most of Spector's work and is much closer to what The Beatles
intended for the album. "Maggie Mae" and "Dig It" were
removed, and an entirely different guitar solo was used for this song.
You'll hear different guitar parts on different versions on
this song, as there were several overdubs of the solo. On April 30, 1969,
George Harrison overdubbed a new guitar solo over the best take from the
January 31, 1969 session. Harrison overdubbed another one on January 4, 1970,
but there's a possibility that it was actually McCartney on that overdub. The
first overdub solo was used for the original single release, and the second
overdub solo was used for the original album release. The Let It Be... Naked
version is the one from the movie.
Aretha Franklin covered this on her album This Girl's In
Love With You, which was released before The Beatles version came out. She
also covered The Beatles "Eleanor Rigby" on that album.
In April 1987, this was released as a charity single in aid
of the The Sun newspaper's Zeebrugge ferry disaster fund. Featuring Paul
McCartney, Mark Knopfler, Kate Bush, Boy George and many others, it was called
"Ferry Aid" and spent 3 weeks at #1 in the UK.
Sesame Street used this with the title changed
to "Letter B." The lyrics were changed to list words that begin with
B.
This was the first Beatles song released in The Soviet
Union. The single made it there in 1972.
In 2001, McCartney helped organize the "Concert For New
York," to benefit victims of The World Trade Center disaster. He closed
the show with this, inviting the other acts and some New York cops and
firefighters on stage to sing with him.
The album had the largest initial sales in US record history
up to that time: 3.7 million advance orders.
This song was played at Linda McCartney's funeral.
On July 18, 2008, Paul McCartney joined Billy Joel onstage
at Shea Stadium in New York and played this as the final song of the final
concert at Shea. As a member of The Beatles, McCartney played the first stadium
Rock concert when they performed at Shea on August 15, 1965.
According to Ian Macdonald's book Revolution in the Head,
McCartney wrote "Let It Be" and "The Long and Winding Road"
on the same day.
Until 1994 and the recordings for "Free As A
Bird," the session for this song on January 4, 1970 was the last Beatles
recording session. Lennon wasn't present that day, as he was on holiday.