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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. (thanks, Mike - Mountlake Terrace, WA. U.S.A, for above 2)
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.
The Beatles weren't the first to release this song, Aretha Franklin was. The Queen of Soul recorded it in December, 1969, and it was released on her album
This Girl's In Love With You in January, 1970, two months before The Beatles released the song (she also covered The Beatles "
Eleanor Rigby" on that album). Aretha recorded it with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, who were a group of musicians that owned their own studio in Alabama, but would travel to New York to record with Aretha. David Hood, who was their bass player, told us that Paul McCartney sent demos of the song to Atlantic Records (Franklin's label) and to the Muscle Shoals musicians. Said Hood, "I kick myself for not grabbing that demo. Because I think they probably dropped it in the garbage. Our version was different. We changed it a little bit from his demo, where their version is different from that demo and from Aretha's version, as well. Just slightly, but little things."
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. (thanks, Vishal - Delhi, India)
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. (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France)
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.
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.
A cover by American R&B artist Jennifer Hudson featuring the Roots, who are the house band on NBC's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, debuted at #98 on the Hot 100 in February 2010. She recorded it for the Hope For Haiti Now charity telecast after the earthquake that devastated the country. It was the third time the song had entered the US singles chart as Joan Baez's version peaked at #49 in 1971.
A month after Jennifer Hudson's version reached the Hot 100, Kris Allen took the song to the chart for a fourth time when his cover debuted at #63. Allen's cut charted after he performed the song on American Idol, with proceeds from its digital sales benefiting Haiti earthquake relief efforts through the Idol Gives Back Foundation.
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And then - I´m sorry to say - in the year 1968, they let McCartney dominate ther singles. And now the tens, the fire, the innovative wildness are gone. It´s not bad, but boring, sounds like all the popular music from 1930s to 1950s.
What is Let It Be comparing with Please Please Me? What happened with Lennon?
Exactly why I can't stand John Lennon.
tracy7-human9
Eric, San Francisco
look it up on youtube
but definitly one of the beatles worst albums together as a band
I'm Catholic. What do you expect?
Then towards the end George says "Shut up John" Or I think he does.
I think it could be probably George saying, "Stop it, John," or "Shut up, John."
Because John didnt like this song much did he?
I think he could of done something while they were recording the song.
What do you's think?
Of this take we have 4 mixes available, 3 officially: Glyn John's mix; the single mix; the album mix; and the 2003 mix. I prefer the single mix.
You are *SO* right about how sad and cruelly ironic it is that Paul lost his wonderful mother Mary McCartney who was a nurse and a midwife from breast cancer when Paul was only 14 years old and his brother Michael only 12,and then Linda McCartney who was a kind, pretty,intelligent talented rock photographer died also from the same terrible disease and left Paul and her children without a mother!
Paul says in his authorized biography by Barry Miles that he had a very realistic dream 12 years after his mother was dead, and he saw her alive and she seemed so real and she told him to just accept things as they are. He said when he woke up he thought about how wonderful it was to see her again and wrote Let it Be soon after. Paul and his brother's last visit with their mother was in the hospital and she was bleeding and nobody told Paul and his brother that she had breast cancer and had an operation and thats why she was bleeding,and nobody told Paul and his brother why she died,and they wouldn't let them go to the funeral or tell them where she was burried! I really wonder when and by who Paul found out the truth about how his mother died and where she was burried. Paul says that his earliest memories of his mother are many people coming to their door to bring her presents as a thank you for being so kind and delivering their babies. And Paul also says he remembers his mother riding her bike in the snow at 2 in the morning to help deliver people's babies!
- emily, asdf, IA
Your right,creepy.
Hoping someone goes on a Journey South anarchy raid for the god awful cover they did of it. :(
(P.S. I also hear the whisper, it sounds like a name to me)
Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound" makes the difference, it's just great.
Great Song
Beautiful. Yet, tranquil and genius.
You give any song to Phil Spector and he'll make a masterpeace of it. I think that Phil Spector had already talent the day he was born.
Wake up to the sound of music
Mother Mary somes to me
There will be no sorrow
Let it be
instead of "Speaking words of wisdom".