from the album Let It Be

"Get Back" is a song by The Beatles, written primarily by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon/McCartney. The song was originally released as a single on 11 April 1969 and credited to "The Beatles with Billy Preston." An alternate mix of the song later became the closing track of Let It Be(1970), which was The Beatles' last album released before the group formally split. The single version was later issued on CD on the second disc of the Past Masters compilation. The single reached number one in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, France, West Germany, and Mexico. It was The Beatles' only single that credited another artist (Preston), although Tony Sheridan had shared billing with The Beatles on his own single "My Bonnie" when issued in the UK in 1962 (and again in 1964).

"Get Back" was The Beatles' first single release in true stereo in the U.S. In the UK, Beatles singles remained monaural until the following release, "The Ballad of John and Yoko."

"Get Back" is unusual in The Beatles' canon in that almost every moment of the song's evolution has been extensively documented, from its beginning as an offhand riff to its final mixing. Much of this documentation is in the form of illegal (but widely available) bootleg recordings, and is recounted in the book Get Back: The Unauthorized Chronicle of The Beatles' Let It Be Disasterby Doug Sulpy and Ray Schweighardt.

The song's melody grew out of some unstructured jamming on 7 January 1969 during rehearsal sessions on the sound stage at Twickenham Studios. Over the next few minutes McCartney introduced some of the lyrics, reworking "Get back to the place you should be" from fellow Beatle George Harrison's "Sour Milk Sea" into "Get back to where you once belonged." McCartney had played bass on Jackie Lomax's recording of the song a few months earlier. For the press release to promote the "Get Back" single McCartney wrote, "We were sitting in the studio and we made it up out of thin air... we started to write words there and then...when we finished it, we recorded it at Apple Studios and made it into a song to roller-coast by."

The released version of the song is composed of two verses, with an intro, outro, and several refrains. The first verse tells the story of a man named Jojo, who leaves his home in Tucson, Arizona, for some 'California grass'. (Paul's soon-to-be wife Linda had attended the University of Arizona in Tucson, where the couple later owned a spacious ranch.) The second verse is about a sexually ambiguous character "Loretta Martin" who "thought she was a woman, but she was another man." The single version includes a coda urging Loretta to "get back" where she belongs, as well.

The Beatles often played around with their lyrics during recording sessions, as evidenced by Lennon's introduction on the Let It Bealbum: "Sweet Loretta Fart, she thought she was a cleaner, but she was a frying pan". The album version of the song famously ends with John Lennon quipping "I'd like to say thank you on behalf of the group and ourselves, and I hope we passed the audition". (Originally John said that on the rooftop concert, but Phil Spector edited it into the "Get Back" song on the Let It Bealbum.)

Around the time he was developing the lyrics to "Get Back", McCartney satirised the "Rivers of Blood speech" by former British Cabinet minister Enoch Powell in a brief jam that has become known as the "Commonwealth Song". The lyrics included a line "You'd better get back to your Commonwealth homes". The "Commonwealth Song" had no musical resemblance to "Get Back", but gives insight into McCartney's interests at the time. On 9 January Paul introduced "Get Back" to the group, with the "Sweet Loretta" verse very near to its finished version. Improvising various temporary lyrics led to what has become known in Beatles folklore as the "No Pakistanis" version. This version is more racially charged, satirising right wing attitudes toward immigrants in America and the UK: "...don't need no Puerto Ricans living in the USA" and "don't dig no Pakistanis taking all the people's jobs". In an interview in Playboymagazine in 1980, Lennon described it as "...a better version of 'Lady Madonna'. You know, a potboiler rewrite."

On 23 January, the group (now in Apple Studios) tried to record the song properly; bootleg recordings preserve a conversation between McCartney and Harrison between takes discussing the song, and McCartney explaining the original "protest song" concept. The recording captures the group deciding to drop the third verse largely because McCartney doesn't feel the verse is of high enough quality, although he likes the scanningof the word "Pakistani". Here the song solidifies in its two-verse, three-solo format.

Billy Preston joined The Beatles on keyboards from 22 January, having been recruited by Harrison partly with a view to deter bickering among The Beatles. The group with Preston playing Fender Rhodes electric piano recorded about ten takes on 23 January. On 27 January, they made a concerted effort to perfect "Get Back" , recording about 14 takes. By this time the song had the addition of a false ending and reprise coda, as heard on the bootlegs of the session which are widely available. After numerous takes the band jammed some old numbers and then returned to "Get Back" one last time in an attempt to record the master take. This performance (Take 11) was considered to be the best yet - it was musically tight and punchy without mistakes, though the song finishes without the restart. On the session tape, George Harrison comments "we missed that end"; this is the version heard on the Let It Be... Nakedalbum. On 28 January the group attempted to recapture the previous day's performance and recorded several new takes each including the coda. Whilst these takes were good, they didn't quite achieve the quality of the best take from the previous day.

The Beatles had EMI produce a mono remix of the track on 4 April (completed by Jeff Jarrett). When The Beatles heard it, they were unhappy with the mix; therefore on 7 April McCartney and Glyn Johns booked time at Olympic Studios to produce new remixes for the single release. They made an edited version using the best take—take eleven—from 27 January and the 'best coda' ending from 28 January. The edit is so precise that it appears to be a continuous take, achieving the desired ending the Beatles had wanted all along. This was a divergence from the concept of straight live performance without studio trickery, but a relatively minor one, and avoids the somewhat abrupt ending of the version that is used on the Let It Be... Nakedalbum.

The Beatles performed "Get Back" (along with other songs from the album) as part of the "Beatles Rooftop Performance" which took place on the roof of Apple Studios in Savile Row, London on 30 January 1969. "Get Back" was performed in full three times; on the third and final time, The Beatles' performance was interrupted by the police, who had received complaints from office workers nearby. After the police spoke to Mal Evans, he turned off Lennon and Harrison's amplifiers only for Harrison to switch them back on, insisting that they finish the song. It was during this period that McCartney ad-libbed, "You've been playing on the roofs again, and that's no good, and you know your Mummy doesn't like that...she gets angry...she's gonna have you arrested! Get back!" None of the rooftop versions appear on record in their entirety although in the Let It Befilm an edited version of the rooftop performance was included, and is available on Anthology 3.

At the end of the last rooftop performance of "Get Back", the audience applauds and McCartney says "Thanks, Mo" in reply to Maureen Starkey's cheering. Lennon adds: "I'd like to say thank you on behalf of the group and ourselves and I hope we've passed the audition". Spector used some of the talk preceding the master take of 27 January and edited on these comments to make the album version sound different from the single.

The stereo single version was the first Beatles recording to feature Starr's drum kit in truestereo, mixed across the left and right channels. This utilised the then fairly new 8-track recording technology and was a result of the growing popularity of stereo over mono. The only other Beatles track to employ this recording method was "The End" on Abbey Road.

On 11 April 1969, Apple Records released "Get Back" as a single in the United Kingdom, paired with "Don't Let Me Down" on the B-Side. The single began its seventeen-week stay in the charts on 26 April at number one, a position it held for six weeks. It was the only Beatles single to enter the UK charts at the top. "Get Back"/"Don't Let Me Down" was released in the United States on 5 May. Five days later, "Get Back" began its first of twelve weeks on the chart. Two weeks after the song's chart debut it hit number one, a position it held for five weeks.

In both the United Kingdom and the United States, the single was released by Apple, although EMI retained the rights to the song as part of their contract. It was the only Beatles single to include an accompanying artist's name, crediting "Get Back/Don't Let Me Down" to "The Beatles with Billy Preston".

Apple launched a print ad campaign for the song concurrent with its release showing a photo of the band with the slogan The Beatles as Nature Intended, indicating that the sound of "Get Back" harked to the group's earlier days.

The single version of the song contains a tape echo effect throughout and a coda after a false ending, with the lyrics "Get back Loretta / Your mommy's waiting for you / Wearing her high-heel shoes / And her low-neck sweater / Get back home, Loretta." This does not appear on the album version; the single version's first LP appearance would come three years later on the 1967–1970compilation. This version also appeared in the albums 20 Greatest Hits, Past Mastersand The Beatles 1. This single version was also included in the original line-up of the proposed Get Backalbum that was scheduled to be released during the fall of 1969.

In Britain and Europe "Get Back/Don't Let Me Down" was the Beatles' last single to be released in mono, but in the US the single was released in stereo. It was The Beatles' first single to be released in true stereo instead of mono as part of the "stereo only" movement gaining force in 1969. In both versions the lead guitar played by John Lennon is in the left channel and the rhythm guitar played by George Harrison is in the right channel. Normally George Harrison was the lead guitarist, but on "Get Back" John Lennon played the lead (Harrison had temporarily quit the group on 10 January and was absent when Lennon worked out the lead guitar). The single was also released in the experimental PocketDisc format by Americom in conjunction with Apple and Capitol in the late 1960s.

When Phil Spector came to remix "Get Back" he decided to make it seem different from the version released as the single. Both of the previous unreleased Get Backalbums included elements of studio chatter to add to the live feel of the recordings. In this spirit, Spector included part of the studio chatter recorded immediately before the master take (recorded on 27 January) and added the close of the rooftop performance. This made the album version appear to be a live version, creating the impression that the single and album versions are different takes. The studio echo effect was also removed.

In 1996, a different version of "Get Back" from the Rooftop Concert was released. It was the last song from the concert. The police had arrived and warned the Beatles to end their concert. After some bargaining, the group was given the chance to play one more song. During the last verse McCartney ad-libs, "Get back Loretta / You've been singing on the roof again! / ... Your mommy doesn't like that... / Oh no... she gets angry / She's gonna have you arrested!"

In 2003 "Get Back" was re-released on the Let It Be... Nakedalbum, remixed by independent producers with the sanction of surviving Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, with John Lennon's and George Harrison's widows. The "naked" version of "Get Back" is ostensibly a cleaned up version of the single version albeit much shorter as there is a fade immediately before the final "whoo" and coda. Apple also prepared a specially-created music video of the Let It Be... Nakedrelease of the song to promote that album in 2003. This video is edited together using stock footage of the band, along with Billy Preston, George Martin and others.

In 2006 a newly mixed version of "Get Back" produced by George Martin and his son Giles was included on the album Love. This version incorporates elements of "A Hard Day's Night" (the intro chord), "A Day in the Life" (the improvised orchestral crescendo), "The End" (Ringo Starr's drum solo and John Lennon and Paul McCartney's first two guitar solos), and "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)" (Take 1's drum count-off intro). However, there are several edits in this piece, including an extended intro, and the second verse is removed completely.