Let It Be And Its Incredible Recording Process Revealed

The first appearance of the newly written “Let It Be” in the recording studio was on September 5th, 1968, as mentioned above. While perfecting George's “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” in EMI Studio Two with Eric Clapton present as lead guitarist, Paul took advantage of some downtime in-between takes to fool around with “Let It Be.” Engineer John Smith, not knowing how to identify this amusing new ad-lib, simply wrote “Ad Lib” on the tape box.

Paul wasn't bothering to teach them the chords or officially run them through a true rehearsal of the song at this time since the focus of that session was to give George's composition the attention it deserved. George specifically invited Eric Clapton on that day because he felt his bandmates weren't focused enough to record his song properly. If Paul started taking over the session by seriously leading The Beatles through a new song he had just written in the last few days, George possibly would have been even more perturbed.

In fact, when George witnessed Eric joining in on guitar for this ad-lib of Paul's new song, he reels everyone back in for the task at hand. George breaks up the ad-lib of “Let It Be” by saying, “Should we do one just a slight slower? OK, roll it Ken (Scott), roll it. Make a note of this one 'cause this is the one. Cans on, Eric!” Shortly after Clapton proceeded to put his headphones back on, they recorded the final rhythm track for “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” as we've come to know it.

The instrumentation on this early rehearsal of “Let It Be” had Paul on piano and lead vocals, John on organ and backing vocals (humorously repeating the phrase “let it be” in imitation of Paul), Ringo on drums and Eric Clapton fumbling through some lead guitar lines. Paul's lyrics went as far as including the lines “When I find myself in times of trouble / Mother Malcolm comes to me / whispering words of wisdom / let it be.” As detailed above, this is a reference to Beatles associate Mal Evans, this lyrical insertion being remembered by the other Beatles in later months when they were officially working on the song.

Then, two weeks later, on September 19th, 1968, The Beatles were in EMI Studio One recording George's song “Piggies” when “Let It Be” was heard for the second time. “There were a couple of other songs around at the time,” producer Chris Thomas recounts in the book “The Beatles Recording Sessions.” “Paul was running through 'Let It Be' between takes.” McCartney had fleshed out a little more of the lyrics in the past two weeks and thought to play through it on the piano during a lull in the session. He apparently didn't feel comfortable enough with the song for inclusion on the “White Album,” unlike “Martha My Dear,” which was written and quickly recorded in October of 1968 for inclusion on the LP.

Three-and-a-half months went by before Paul considered “Let It Be,” ready for proper consideration to be recorded by The Beatles. He corralled his bandmates together in January of 1969 for a month of filmed rehearsals and recording sessions, eventually released under the title “Let It Be.” The rehearsals commenced at Twickenham Film Studios in London each of the band members could bring forward newly written material for a future live appearance, wherever they decided that would be.

The second day of these rehearsals was on January 3rd, 1969, Paul being the first to arrive. While waiting for the others to get there, he ran through a few of his newly written compositions on piano, such as “The Long And Winding Road,” “Oh! Darling” and “Maxwell's Silver Hammer.” After some other piano exercises, including a McCartney song titled “Torchy, The Battery Boy,” Paul resurrected “Let It Be” as a recently written song that could possibly have a go at this time.

He made it through the first verse and chorus of the song with the recently arriving Ringo watching on. Paul had by this time given “Let It Be” its gospel feel and its “Mother Mary” line, one slight difference in the lyric being “and in my darkest hour” instead of “in my hour of darkness” as on the released version. After this minute-long rendition, attention was then given to two newly written songs by Ringo, “Taking A Trip To Carolina” and “Picasso,” neither of these ever being worked out by the band. Once George and John arrived on that day, they gave detailed attention to George's “All Things Must Pass” and John's “Don't Let Me Down,” along with running through old Beatles material and impromptu cover songs.

While The Beatles worked extensively on other new material, Paul finally decided to officially introduce “Let It Be” to his bandmates five days later, January 8th, 1969, this being the fifth day of rehearsals at Twickenham Studios. After a lot of attention had been heaped upon George's “I Me Mine,” this being the only day they actually worked on the song, as well as other new compositions, Paul played “Let It Be” on piano during an equipment set up in the earlier part of the day. Ringo joined in on drums for a bit, as did an uninterested John on guitar. Recognizing Paul's changing the lyrics from “Mother Malcolm” to “Mother Mary,” John suggested changing it back to reference their loyal assistant and former roadie. Paul complied with this during the two renditions of the song they went through at this time, but only when it became evident they botched the performance.

After a lunch break, they returned to “Let It Be” again, Paul calling out the chords to George during the performance. Ringo also began working out his drum part while John occasionally sang during the choruses. A lot of the lyrics formed at this point, except the final verse. The Beatles had only scratched the surface in becoming acquainted with the song.

The next day, January 9th, 1969, which was the sixth day of Twickenham rehearsals, they go through “Let It Be” a total of sixteen times. One of the earlier rough run-throughs has Ringo playing a shuffle beat on drums per Paul's request, with John on acoustic guitar, George on lead electric guitar, and Paul on piano and lead vocal with clear demonstrations of what he envisioned for the guitar solo. John moves to bass guitar shortly thereafter to keep with the no-overdubs policy they wanted to maintain throughout this project. In a later rendition that day with John on bass, Paul instructs John to sing backing “aaah”s during the choruses, the song sounding a little more cohesive at that point.

By the end of the day’s rehearsals, the arrangement became much more refined and similar to what we recognize as the final mix. Paul plays and sings the first verse by himself, John and George supplies backing vocals during the first chorus, Ringo joins in on kick drum and tambourine during the next verse and rolls into the following chorus, which has him play a steady rock beat while riding on his hi-hat. That second chorus also has John join in on bass, the instrumental break that follows, including a guitar solo from George and backing vocals by Paul, John, and George. Paul still hasn't completed the lyrics in the last set of verses, so ad-libs such as “read the Record Mirror, let it be” are heard during these rehearsals.

Paul was the first to arrive at Twickenham the following day, January 10th, 1969, so he ran through a few recent compositions on piano for music publisher Dick James, including “Let It Be.” Tensions ran quite high after the other Beatles arrived, resulting in George actually quitting the band during their lunch break. With the future of the project, as well as The Beatles as a whole, in question, the following two rehearsals without George proved unproductive and didn't include any attempts at running through the song “Let It Be.”

Upon George's return to The Beatles, all agreed they move the rehearsals to their basement studio at the Apple Building on Savile Row in London. Their January 23rd, 1969 session at this new location, which was day 12 of their rehearsals, witnessed Paul sneaking in two piano renditions of “Let It Be” for guest keyboardist Billy Preston to hear and get acquainted. No band rehearsals of the song occurred on this day, however.

Even though Billy Preston was not present at their January 25th, 1969 session at Apple Studios, this being day 14 of rehearsals, Paul thought to run through “Let It Be” again to reacquaint his bandmates with the arrangement they came up with a little over two weeks prior. Everybody believed that Billy could easily pick up on how to better the song. The four of them rehearsed it a total of 18 times, although it wasn't all fun and games!

The earlier run-throughs of “Let It Be” on this day showed they had either forgotten their parts or just weren't into it, John, in particular, showing his contempt for the song. His bass playing was full of flubs, Ringo hadn't had his drum part perfected yet, and John and George's backing vocals were erratic and too loud. Recognizing their disinterest in the song, Paul encouraged, “OK, you watch us, we're gonna do this now. OK boy, now, come on. Pull yourselves together!” John replies, “You talkin' to me?” George then responds by beginning an impromptu rendition of Chuck Berry's “I'm Talking About You,” which is then squashed by Paul, who wants to get back to the business at hand. “Come on now,” he interjects, “back to the drudgery.” John angrily responds, “It's you that's bloody making it like this!” Paul sarcastically comes back with “The real meaning of Christmas” before beginning another rendition of “Let It Be,” the next few rehearsals of the song sounding very mediocre.

Paul then decides to think positive and instructs producer Glyn Johns to record the next take properly. “This here's gonna knock you out,” he states, leading the group through the version included on the 1996 released “Anthology 3.” This excellent rendition features great piano and vocal work from Paul, although the lyrics in the final verses were yet written. Paul begins the song with the descending piano figure used after the second chorus and the conclusion of the song but replaced by the instrumental verse chord pattern within the next week. Ringo stopped playing during these final verses but otherwise put in an adequate subdued performance. John and George's backing “aaah”s ranked well as was George's lead guitar solo, which was goaded on by Paul with an appropriate “yeah” during its opening measure. The composer adds in a couple of exclamations of “let it be” during the final chords, indicating that he was well pleased with the outcome of this take. They did go through the song a few more times after this but, because of lack of interest and low energy, these were half-hearted at best.

Billy Preston was present for the next day's rehearsal, January 26th, 1969 (day 15) at Apple Studios. Paul was enthusiastic about seeing how Billy's Hammond organ contributions to “Let It Be” would work with The Beatles' performance, so he led everyone through a total of 28 rehearsals of the song. They still began each rendition with the descending piano figure heard after the second chorus, deciding to repeat it twice on this day. Things were coming along very nicely, except for the fact that Paul still hadn't written the lyrics to the final set of verses. This led to amusing vocal ad-libs, such as “You will be a good girl, let it be /, and though you may be told off, you will still be able to see / that there must be an answer, let it be” On one version, Paul sings, “Now somewhere out in Weybridge is a cat whose name is Banagy / there will be the answer, let it be / and in my darkest hour, she is...,” George then interrupting with “...sitting on the lavatory,” causing John to repeat the phrase while laughing. Many of these takes were officially recorded by producer Glyn Johns, one of which, as we'll see later, made available to the public illegally.

Twelve more versions of “Let It Be” were performed with Billy Preston the following day, January 27th, 1969 (day 16) at Apple Studios. The final arrangement was pretty set by this time, although they did some experimentation on this day. On some versions, George and John played guitar and bass riffs during the early part of the song, while Billy experimented with different organ parts, even substituting electric piano instead of organ. George also took some time to work through a lead guitar part during the song's final chorus. Since Paul still didn't have the lyrics to the final set of verses written, he would sometimes sing scat vocals, John even adding what Bruce Spizer describes in his book “The Beatles On Apple Records” as “inappropriate vocal ad-libs, perhaps out of boredom.” At any rate, with the time frame to complete the project nearing its end, all that was left was for Paul to complete the lyrics. Otherwise, everyone had their parts perfected.

It was on day 18 of rehearsals, January 29th, 1969, that The Beatles decided their live performance would take place on the Apple Headquarters roof the following day. The five songs deemed appropriate played live were rehearsed on this day, the remainder of the session being used to work out all of the bugs on the other selections they felt were complete, “Let It Be” being among them. They only needed to go through the song once on this day, this lackluster performance being evidence that they were simply going through the motions on something they basically knew like the back of their hand.

Their rooftop performance the following day, January 30th, 1969, went quite well, despite the cold weather and the threat from police to shut them down. With the filming of Ringo and Peter Sellers' movie “The Magic Christian” beginning in February, The Beatles had one remaining day to officially record and film the other three songs that they had perfected for this project, these being “The Long And Winding Road,” “Two Of Us” and “Let It Be.”

Therefore, on January 31st, 1969, The Beatles assembled with George Martin and engineers Glyn Johns and Alan Parsons to record the “Apple Studio Performance.” Various other songs were performed in between takes, such as “Lady Madonna,” “Run For Your Life,” and even “Build Me Up Buttercup,” but the primary focus was the three compositions mentioned above deemed unsuitable for the rooftop performance. Since cameras would also capture the proceedings in what eventually became the “Let It Be” movie, the four Beatles and Billy Preston arranged themselves into stage formation around a platform, John insisting on sitting on the floor in front of the piano next to Yoko throughout the ordeal.

After The Beatles nailed down an acceptable performance of “Two Of Us,” as well as messed around with various other selections, Paul moved from acoustic guitar to piano to set their attention to “Let It Be.” They performed many takes of this song numbered 20 through 27 to coincide with the take numbers from the film's clapper board. Since there were a few breakdowns and false starts, some of these numbered takes included these incomplete versions along with full renditions of the song. Paul had finally written the lyrics to the final set of verses by this day. He had decided to introduce the song by playing an instrumental version of the verse on piano instead of the descending chord pattern as he had been.

A rehearsal of the song before the official takes started included a version played with a skiffle-style beat and Lennon singing the words to a different melody. It was obvious that John was becoming irritated and/or bored of the whole process by this point, making fun of the lyrics on occasion to relieve some stress. “And in my hour of darkness, she is standing left in front of me,” he sings at one point, continuing, “squeaking turds of whiskey over me.”

'Take 20' started well but was called to a stop by Glyn Johns midway through the first chorus because Paul's vocals were popping, especially on the word “be.” John begins whistling when the signal to stop occurs and then mutters, “What the f*ck is going on?” and mentions the popping. “This isn't very loud, Glyn,” Paul complains, John interjecting, “Poppin's in, man. I'll never get 'Maggie Mae' done if it goes on like this!” After another false start, they deliver their first complete performance, flawed only by John flubbing his bass part during the descending chords just before the guitar solo, John announcing “F*cked it!" directly after his mistake. After the song concludes, John asks, “Let it be, eh?” After Paul answers, “Yeah,” John adds, “I know what you mean.”

'Take 21' started off fine but kept slowing in tempo, this prompting Paul to call the performance to a halt after the guitar solo. He then sang the line “When all the broken hearted people” as a slurring drunk, which causes John to call out, “Get off, you bum!” in imitation of a heckler in a nightclub. Paul then states, “It just, I don't know, it got so, sort of...I don't know.”

'Take 22' was a complete performance but also marred by a slowing tempo. When Paul realized this wasn't going to be the final take, he sang the last verse as “When I find myself in times of heartache, Brother Malcolm comes to me,” and then finishes the take in a less-than-serious vocal tone. After it concludes, John sings, “There once was a woman / that loved a Moondog.” “Moondog,” of course, was a reference to an old name for The Beatles and was also included in the lyrics to John's “Dig A Pony” from these January 1969 sessions.

Before 'take 23' begins, John states, “Daddy wants to wee-wee,” which triggers Paul to announce, “Daddy wants wee-wee, Glyn!” After 'take 23' is announced, Paul says, “Keep it going, leave it up a bit or something.” John then states, “Don't say that word,” which Paul answers with “a-a-a-a-awful sorry!” John then asks with mock sincerity, “Are we supposed to giggle in the solo?” to which Paul replies, “yeah,” followed by John's “OK.” This take went quite well, although after it was over, John stated in a British royalty accent, “I lost a bass note somewhere!” After Paul relies “Oh!” in a similar accent, John continues, “I don't think it mattered if that was it.”

'Take 24' was going quite well right into the guitar solo section where George ad-libs impressively, Paul singing encouragingly “Let it be, yeah, whoah.” Paul then accidentally leads the band through two choruses instead of just one, a mistake he would typically make. Since there are two choruses at the end of the song, John mistook this to be the conclusion and started playing the descending bass pattern heard at the song's end. As Paul notices this when he begins the final set of verses, he reacts vocally with, “When I find myself in, whoah!” Billy Preston reacts to this flub with some soulful swirling organ playing, knowing McCartney ruined this take. Paul continues, nonetheless, singing in an exaggerated style until John stops the take by exclaiming, “OK, OK,” Paul continues with, “OK, she stands right in...” until everybody stops playing. “I thought it was 'end,' you know,” John apologetically states regarding his bass flub.

'Take 25' just makes it through to the first chorus where Paul starts singing in a high falsetto harmony on top of John and George's “aaah”s. This prompts Paul to exclaim, “What the sh*t and hell is going on here?” John and Paul then engage in some pseudo-German banter before Paul continues into a second attempt at 'take 25' by counting it off in a mock German accent. This next rendition makes it to the end but was determined mid-way through to be spurious, resulting in Paul once again, including “Brother Malcolm” in the lyrics. After it concludes, the following conversation takes place:

John (sarcastically): “I think that was rather grand. I'd take one home with me.”

Glyn: “No, that was fine.”

John (mimicking the computer HAL9000 from the movie “2001: A Space Odyssey”): Don't kid us, Glyn. Give it to us straight.”

Glyn: "That was straight."

Paul: “Ah, what do you think, Glyn?”

Glyn: “I don't think it's yet.”

Paul: “C'mon.”

John: “OK, let's track it. (Sharply intakes breath creating a sound of shock.) You bounder, you cheat!” (and then reprising “2001: A Space Odyssey”) “Get Me Off This Base! Get Me Off...”

The Beatles had been more than used to editing and overdubbing practices throughout their career, especially during the extensive “Sgt. Pepper” sessions. However, they were determined to make this new project different. “We would learn the tunes and record them without loads of overdubs; do a live album,” George related in the book “Beatles Anthology.” Therefore, this performance of “Let It Be,” like all of the other songs for this project, was intended to be performed perfectly from beginning to end and become the finished product. They usually would “track it” even though it wasn't a perfect performance, but they didn't want to take advantage of that luxury here. If they did, they would be considered a “bounder” or “cheat.” As we will see below, they ended up doing a good share of 'cheating' at future sessions to get the song to the releasable state.

Meanwhile, as 'take 26' just gets passed the first measure, Paul proceeds to play the introductory notes to the “Twelfth Street Rag,” prompting John to sing, “Oh, Everybody's got a little bit about the bo...” They move directly into another attempt at "Let It Be," this falling apart when Paul messes up the lyrics in the final set of verses. Since they appeared to lose their enthusiasm for the song at this point, they decided to move on to “The Long And Winding Road” and then come back to “Let It Be” a little later in the day.

After “The Long And Winding Road” was wrapped up, they came back with renewed drive to finish up “Let It Be.” During the commotion before 'take 27' began, John exclaims in a funny British accent, “Uh, no, I've lost me little paper,” undoubtedly referring to a cheat sheet he was using for the song. “Don't talk like that,” he then said to himself as a film crew member announced, “Take 27, sync to second clap.” Paul follows this with “Sync to second clap, please” before beginning what then became the basic master recording of the released single and album track as we know it. Apart from a few sour lead guitar notes on George's solo (which would be improved upon twice in later months), passed inspection to be a perfect take.

Paul, always being the one to try to top himself just in case it could be done even better, quickly announced, “One more time, very fair, one more.” He started another rendition immediately, which was stopped by George by saying, “Oh, just let me get this...” so that he could quickly tune a guitar string. After George says “OK,” Paul reprises his statement from the beginning of the last version, saying “Second clap” and then claps his hands, causing George to laugh during the introduction of their next rendition.

This second version of “Let It Be,” commonly identified as 'take 27b,' stood near perfect, Paul replacing “there will be an answer” with “there will be no sorrow” twice in the final moments of the song. George's guitar solo came out better on this take, remembered decades later when the “Let It Be...Naked” album came along. This version, used as the primary performance for the "Let It Be" movie, slightly alters the structure of the song. As the last performance of the month-long project, John emphatically exclaims, “OH, YES!” once the final sounds of the instruments fade out. His intentions of including "Maggie Mae" on this day were either forgotten or deemed less important than his desire to go home for the evening.

One of the more suitable takes of “Let It Be” recorded with Billy Preston on January 26th, 1969, as mentioned above, was initially mixed by Glyn Johns (and possibly George Martin) at Olympic Sound Studios in London on March 10th, 1969. This became part of what Glyn Johns submitted to be a “Get Back” album, at The Beatles' request, for release in the summer of 1969. The proposed album was compiled and cut as acetate discs for The Beatles to hear, which they eventually rejected. John's copy of this acetate disc got into the hands of a disc jockey in Buffalo, New York, in September of 1969. He proceeded to play the entire album on the air and then handed it off to WBCN in Boston, who also aired it on September 22nd, announcing it as the “Get Back” album. These broadcasts were recorded and then re-broadcast in various other American cities, resulting in a variety of bootleg albums distributed later that year.

One complaint Paul had about the proposed “Get Back” album was that the January 26th, 1969 version of “Let It Be” sounded inferior to what they had recorded on January 31st. He apparently wasn't happy with the chosen take of “The Long And Winding Road” either, so two days later, on March 12th, 1969, Glyn Johns (and possibly George Martin) re-entered Olympic Studios to create new stereo mixes of these two songs as recorded on January 31st. They chose 'take 27a,' the next-to-last rendition they recorded on that day, which eventually won space on the released single and album.

One thing George wasn't happy about on the chosen take of “Let It Be” was his inferior guitar solo. While other takes of the song recorded on that day included better solos, the overall performances by The Beatles weren't as good as 'take 27a.' Therefore, even though they swore not to add any overdubs to the project, they decided to make an exception here. After all, there were some edits and studio manipulation done on the “Get Back / Don't Let Me Down” single that was recently released.

The Beatles entered EMI Studio Three on April 30th, 1969, at 7:15 pm, the first order of business required George to overdub a more suitable lead guitar solo onto the eight-track tape of “Let It Be” with Chris Thomas as producer. With this done to everyone's satisfaction, John and Paul used the remainder of the session to add vocal and sound effects overdubs to a recording they started in 1967 entitled “You Know My Name (Look Up The Number),” a mono mix of this song took place at the end of the session. They probably didn't realize it at the time, but both of the songs they worked on at this session ended up as the A- and B-side of their 1970 single, which was released just before the announcement of the band's breakup. In any event, this overdub session concluded at 2 am the following morning.

On May 28th, 1969, George Martin, Glyn Johns, engineer Steve Vaughan and George Harrison (the only Beatle in town at the time) entered Olympic Sound Studios in London to create a stereo mix of “Let It Be” that included George's newly recorded guitar solo. Also included in this mix, at the song's beginning, was a member of the film crew announcing “Take 27 (the sound of a clapperboard)...Take 27, sync to second clap (the sound of the second clap)” and Paul responding, “Sync to second clap, please.”

After this stereo mix satisfied all, the above engineering team, with George Harrison looking on, accomplished the master tape banding and compilation of the proposed “Get Back” album, “Let It Be,” slated as the sixth track on side two. The Beatles remained keen to release this album in the summer of 1969, even having photographer Angus McBean take pictures of them in the same pose as he had taken for the front cover of their 1963 “Please Please Me” album. However, upon listening to the album's mix created on this day, they decided to postpone it for the time being.

By the beginning of 1970, with the decision to release the footage of January 1969 as a full-length motion picture in fulfillment of their contract with United Artists, The Beatles felt they needed to work a little further to get those songs into a releasable state. With John on vacation in Denmark, Paul, George, and Ringo first got together on January 3rd to record “I Me Mine,” since slated to be in the film. With that accomplished, a decision to add more overdubs onto “Let It Be” surfaced as well.

George Martin was commissioned to write a score for brass and cello overdubs for the song, hiring approximately eight studio musicians for the next day, January 4th, 1970, for a recording session at EMI Studio Two. Before the studio musicians arrived, George, Paul and Linda McCartney added some beautiful harmonized backing vocals to the song. This filled up all eight tracks of the tape so, while a reduction mix occurred to open up more tracks, the newly-arrived brass musicians played George Martin's score simultaneously. As it turned out, however, it took three attempts to get the best possible tape reduction (labeled takes 28 through 30), so the brass players performed the score on each of the three reductions, 'take 30' scored the best.

This having been accomplished, George added yet another lead guitar overdub, a more stinging distorted one as opposed to the more subdued April 30th, 1969 overdub played through a rotating Leslie speaker. Since this new guitar solo was added to its own track on the new tape, both overdubbed solos were isolated onto different tracks. Further overdubs on this day were Ringo adding some additional drums, Paul on electric piano during both codas as well as maracas, and a concluding score for cellos to finish off the arrangement.

With all of the overdubs complete, George Martin and engineers Phil McDonald and Richard Langham took to creating a stereo mix of the song, their second attempt used for the released single. One should note, however, that George Martin here decided that he preferred George's first overdubbed solo from April 30th, 1969, for the record, the producer muting the guitarist's newly created stinging solo from the master tape when the stereo mix took place. This energetic rocking solo may have just been recorded that day, but a decision emerged that the earlier solo fit the arrangement better. Tape bleedthrough from George's latest guitar solo, however, allows it faintly heard during the final chorus. By 4 am the following morning, the session closed, bringing to an end the final Beatles recording session of their career (apart from the “Free As A Bird / Real Love” sessions from the mid-1990s).

It's interesting to note that, given Glyn John's attempt at putting together another “Get Back” album the following day at Olympic Sound Studios, these new “Let It Be” overdubs from January 4th, 1970 were overlooked. It undoubtedly was thought that, given The Beatles' original plan to avoid all overdubs, the presence of brass and cellos on “Let It Be” wouldn't fit with these plans. Johns instead submitted his previous mix of the song, repositioning it as the last song of side one this time around. This configuration of the album, of course, never saw the light of day either.

With George Martin's production of “Let It Be” released as a single in early March of 1970, Phil Spector decided to provide a somewhat different mix of the song for the soundtrack album once he was hired as its producer. He undoubtedly wanted to present the song in a different light to give the illusion as an entirely different performance. However, he used the same exact January 31st, 1969 rendition ('take 27a') used on the released single.

On March 26th, 1970, Phil Spector and engineers Peter Bown and Roger Ferris entered Room 4 of EMI Studios to work on creating stereo mixes of four of the songs to be featured on the soundtrack album, including “Let It Be.” He made four attempts at getting a new mix of the song, the fourth deemed best. Crowned the master of the famous “Wall Of Sound” as heard on his American productions, Spector added a good amount of tape echo to Paul's maracas in the third set of verses and Ringo's hi-hat in the second set of verses, punching up the drummer's contribution to be a stand-out feature of the recording (parodied by the group Klaatu on their classic song “Sub Rosa Subway”). He also elevated George Martin's brass performance much higher in the mix, choosing Harrison's searing new guitar work from January 4th, 1970, to give the song a more jarring presence.

One other trick that Phil Spector had up his sleeve was to extend the song from 3:50 to 4:01 by editing in a repeat of one of the final choruses, providing three choruses instead of two. It took him four attempts to get this edit done satisfactorily, the best attempt identified as 'remix stereo 1.' Since this song was now going to be featured as the title track of the movie, as well as the newly released hit Beatles single, Spector obviously felt “Let It Be” needed to be the album's true focal point. Opinions vary as to which released version of the song is better. John Lennon, who has gone on record to compliment Spector on his production of the soundtrack album, had to admit, however, that his treatment of “Let It Be” was “a little fruity.”

Sometime in 1996, George Martin and engineer Geoff Emerick returned to the January 25th, 1969 master tape of “Let It Be” to create a mix of the unfinished song for inclusion on the compilation album “Anthology 3.” They included Paul's introductory remark “This here's gonna knock you out” that was uttered before that take was originally recorded, but also edited in a couple Lennon utterances from their January 31st sessions just for fun, such as, “Are we supposed to giggle in the solo?” and, “I think that was rather grand. I'd take one home with me...OK, let's track it...You bounder, you cheat!”

Then, sometime in 2003, the engineering team of Paul Hicks, Guy Massey, and Allan Rouse returned to the January 31st, 1969 master tape of 'take 27a' to create a new mix of “Let It Be” for inclusion on the album “Let It Be...Naked.” Since George's guitar solo was considered subpar on this take, his solo from 'take 27b' was edited in to create the perfect rendition as originally intended, without any overdubs. Also corrected was a piano flub from Paul during the final chorus behind the lyric "Mother Mary," by his performance from 'take 27b'. With the versions of "Let It Be" featured on the single, the album, and on "Anthology 3," "Let It Be...Naked" features the fourth version of the song's guitar solo to be released thus far.

“Let It Be” was returned to once again sometime in between 2004 and 2006 by George Martin and his son Giles Martin to add a bit of the song's elements within a mash-up version of “All You Need Is Love” for the album “Love.” Then, sometime in 2018, Giles discovered The Beatles' first ad-lib recording of “Let It Be” from September 5th, 1968, in-between takes of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” for inclusion in the “Super Deluxe” 50th Anniversary “White Album” box set.

Various live McCartney performances of “Let It Be” have been recorded and released on albums, the first being “Concerts For The People Of Kampuchea.” Paul's December 26th, 1979 performance of the song at the Hammersmith Odeon in London with the celebrity band “Rockestra,” featuring the current members of Wings, Pete Townshend, John Bonham, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, Kenny Jones, Dave Edmunds, and many others, was featured on the album.

“Let It Be” was also recorded on April 14th, 1990 in Miami, Florida, the results being a feature on both his albums “Tripping The Live Fantastic” and “Tripping The Live Fantastic: Highlights!” Paul also performed the song at a benefit show he organized in response to the September 11th US attacks, the show taking place on October 20th, 2001 at Madison Square Garden. This concert was recorded and released on a double-album entitled “The Concert For New York City.” “Let It Be” was also recorded on May 13th, 2002, in Atlanta, Georgia, included on both his “Back In The US” and “Back In The World” albums.

On June 27th, 2007, Paul and his band played a secret show at Amoeba Music in Hollywood, California, this version of “Let It Be,” eventually released on the album “Amoeba Gig” in 2019. On July 16th, 2008, Paul made a guest appearance at a Billy Joel concert at Shea Stadium and performed “Let It Be” as a duet, this being recorded and featured on the Billy Joel album “Live At Shea Stadium: The Concert.” When Paul was performing at CitiField in New York City between July 17th and 21st, 2009, a recording of “Let It Be” was made that appeared on his “Good Evening New York City” album.

Song Structure And Style: The gospel-tinged “Let It Be” can be parsed out to the following structure: 'verse (instrumental)/ verse/ verse/ chorus/ verse/ verse/ chorus/ chorus/ coda/ coda/ verse (solo)/ verse (solo)/ chorus/ verse/ verse/ chorus/ chorus/ coda' (or aaabaabbccaabaabbc).

While this appears complex, it's actually quite simple. Because each verse section copies a twice-repeated eight-measure pattern, they've been counted here as separate verses instead of just one. The same applies to the coda, which is a four-measure pattern twice-repeated in the middle of the song but only played once at the song's conclusion. Since Paul's solo introduction is an instrumental version of the verse, it has been counted as such also. One change to this structure differs, however, when we consider the original album version of the song. Phil Spector edited in a repeat on the final choruses, which would add another “b” toward the end of the structure indicated above.

As mentioned, Paul's introductory piano verse appears first, this being eight measures in length as all of the verses of the song are. The next two verses are identical, the only addition being Paul's vocal. The chorus that follows, which is also eight measures long, adds John, Paul, George, and Linda's hushed “oooh” backing vocals, along with soft chords played by Billy Preston.

The next set of verses continues the above verse's instrumentation with the addition of Ringo's hi-hat taps (with additional echo on the album) and John's bass in the latter verse that is accentuated by some subtle organ from Billy. The energy kicks in on the following twice-repeated chorus, by Ringo’s drum fill in the latter verse's final measure. Ringo plays through both of these choruses with a steady swinging drum beat while riding on the hi-hats, punctuating the last measure of the first chorus with another drum fill. Paul sings with more gusto in these choruses while the presence of the backing “oooh”s and Billy's organ appear more felt than heard. The latter chorus reveals the brass for the first time, which is substantially higher in the mix on the album.

Next comes the twice-repeated coda, both of which are four measures in length. Each coda consists of a descending chord pattern, the first one being played more vibrantly with Paul's acoustic piano, his electric piano overdub, Billy's organ, John's bass, George's lead guitar (appearing here for the first time in the song) and Ringo's drums all following each other down the scale. The second coda is primarily played by Billy on organ, adding a church-like religiosity to the song, Paul playing softly on piano and John on bass to fill out the sound subtly. Note that Phil Spector chose to put Paul's electric piano overdub quite high in the mix during the first coda, presumably to differentiate his mix from the single version, which rose high on the charts while he was preparing his album version.

Two instrumental verses follow next, the primary focus on George's guitar solo. The more unobtrusive guitar part George overdubbed on April 30th, 1969, placed on the single version, played through a rotating Leslie speaker. The brash distorted solo George played on January 4th, 1970, appears on the album version, Phil Spector obviously wanting to make the listener take notice of the rock 'n' roll sensibilities The Beatles were capable of, even on an otherwise tender but meaningful ballad. The personalities of both producers are apparent in their choices; George Martin wanting to convey the tenderness of the message within the instrumentation, and Phil Spector aiming to jolt the audience with an “in your face” approach. Consensus may reveal George Martin's version as the winner, but many can also applaud Phil Spector's tenacity.

Otherwise, these instrumental verses bring the song to a high crescendo, all instrumentalists playing at full bore along with the brass overdub until George tastefully concludes his guitar solo (in both cases). Next comes a repeat of the chorus, which slowly brings the tension down to prepare us for the concluding inspirational thoughts of the final two verses that follow afterward. Ringo rides on the cymbal for this chorus as the brass accentuates the process of tying things together for what follows, Paul touching on a falsetto exclamation as this section ends.

These final two verses feature percussive elements meant to differentiate from all previous verses and help us decipher the meaning of the final lyrical message Paul has for the listener. Paul's maracas come to the fore as do Ringo's added drum fills played throughout both verses, both elements added on January 4th, 1970. Paul's lyric “and when the night is cloudy...” within this atmosphere makes for us all to lean in to be inspired as he also accompanies himself quietly on piano.

George Martin may not have wanted Harrison's brash guitar solo featured in his mix, but it does make some brief appearances only because of tape bleed-through, the final measure of the second of this set of verses triggers the first occasion. Ringo returns to riding on his hi-hat here while John and Billy put in a more subdued performance as a backdrop to Paul's message. As Ringo pounds out a double-tracked drum fill to usher in the choruses that complete the message, Paul excitedly mutters, “Ee, yeah, let it be!” to bring in the song's climax.

Ringo goes back to riding on his cymbal during the final set of choruses, while Paul loudly emphasizes his mother's comforting message (or was it Mal Evans' message?) so all can be inspired. Billy's organ and the brass musicians bring up the excitement as does George's vibrant lead guitar passage on Phil Spector's mix (another guitar bleed-through appearing in George Martin's mix at the end of the fourth measure of the last chorus). Phil Spector masterfully omits Harrison's lead guitar during the first of this final set of two choruses, but when the producer spools back to repeat this chorus a second time, he brings in George's 1970 solo as if the guitarist was waiting patiently in the wings for a few measures.

After one last falsetto offering from Paul in the final two measures of the last chorus, the concluding coda slightly slows in tempo at the end to great effect. Once again, Paul's overdubbed electric piano takes center stage as all instruments, including a quiet cello overdub, follow him down the scale to a final cymbal crash and a higher octave shift from John's bass to get in the final word.

Please feel free to leave any comments or corrections and share these articles plus this blog's website with your friends, especially Beatles’ fans. You and they might also enjoy knowing more about my Love Songs CD and my novel, BEATLEMANIAC. Just click on the “My Shop” tab near the top of this page for full details.