from the album Let It Be

"Let It Be" is a song by The Beatles, released in March 1970 as a single, and (in an alternate mix) as the title track of their album Let It Be. It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon/McCartney.

The single reached number one in the U.S., Germany, Australia, Italy, Norway and Switzerland and number two in the UK. It was the final single released by the Beatles while the band was officially considered an active group. Both the Let It Bealbum and the single, "The Long and Winding Road", were released after McCartney's announced departure from and subsequent break-up of the group.

McCartney said he had the idea of "Let It Be" after a dream he had about his mother during the tense period surrounding the sessions for The Beatles(the "White Album"). McCartney explained that his mother—who died of cancer when McCartney was fourteen—was the inspiration for the "Mother Mary" lyric. McCartney later said, "It was great to visit with her again. I felt very blessed to have that dream. So that got me writing 'Let It Be'." He also said in a later interview about the dream that his mother had told him, "It will be all right, just let it be."

The first recording of "Let It Be" took place at Twickenham Film Studios on 3 January 1969, where The Beatles had the previous day begun what would become the Let It Befilm. During this stage of the film the group was only recording on the mono decks used for syncing to the film cameras, and were not making multi-track recordings for release. A single take was recorded, with just McCartney on piano and vocals. The first group attempt was made on 8 January. Work continued on the song throughout the month. Multi-track recordings commenced on 23 January at Apple Studios.

The master take was recorded on 31 January 1969, as part of the 'Apple studio performance' for the project Get Back. McCartney played piano (a Blüthner Flügel from Leipzig), Lennon played bass, Billy Preston played organ and George Harrison and Ringo Starr assumed their conventional roles on guitar and drums. This was one of two performances of the song that day. The first version, designated take 27-A, would serve as the basis for all officially released versions of the song. The other version, take 27-B, was performed as part of the 'live studio performance', along with "Two of Us" and "The Long and Winding Road". This performance, in which Lennon and Harrison harmonised with McCartney's lead vocal and Harrison contributed a subdued guitar solo, can be seen in the film Let It Be.

On 30 April 1969, Harrison overdubbed a new guitar solo on the best take from 31 January that year. He overdubbed another solo on 4 January 1970. The first overdub solo was used for the original single release, and the second overdub solo was used for the original album release. Some fans mistakenly believe that there were two versions of the basic track—based mostly on the different guitar solos, but also on some other differences in overdubs and mixes.

The single used the same cover photograph as the Let It Bealbum, and was originally released on 6 March 1970, backed by "You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)", with a production credit for George Martin. This version includes orchestration and backing vocals overdubbed on 4 January 1970—under the supervision of Martin and McCartney—with backing vocals that included the only known contribution by Linda McCartney to a Beatles song. It was during this same session that Harrison recorded the second overdubbed guitar solo. The intention at one point was to have the two overdub solos playing together. This idea was dropped for the final mix of the single, and only the 30 April solo was used, although in practice the 4 January overdub can he heard faintly during the final verse. Martin mixed the orchestration very low in this version.

The single mix was included on the 1967–1970compilation album. Original pressings erroneously show the running time of 4:01 (from the Let It Bealbum), and not the single version's running time of 3:52. This version was also included on 20 Greatest Hits, Past Masters Volume 2, and 1.

On 26 March 1970, Phil Spector remixed the song for the Let It Bealbum. This version features the "more stinging" 4 January 1970 guitar solo, no backing vocals (except during the first chorus), an echo effect on Ringo's cymbals, and more prominent orchestration. The other guitar solo can be heard faintly through the right speaker, as the original was planned. The final chorus has three "let it be..." lines, as the "there will be an answer" line is repeated twice (instead of once as on the single) before the "whisper words of wisdom" line to close the song. On the album, as the preceding song "Dig It" ends, Lennon is heard saying in a falsetto voice, mimicking Gracie Fields: "That was 'Can You Dig It' by Georgie Wood, and now we'd like to do 'Hark, The Angels Come'," and then giggles. Allen Klein brought in Spector to mix the album without telling McCartney or asking for his agreement, because McCartney had not signed Klein's management contract. McCartney has complained many times that that he was not happy with Spector's production of the recording.

Another version appears in the Let It Befilm. The film poster also used the same photos on the single cover, and was titled "an intimate bioscopic experience with THE BEATLES". In this version, McCartney makes several improvisations on piano, placing fill-in notes and sometimes substituting long notes for several short notes. As with the album version, McCartney repeats the "there will be in an answer" line in the chorus. Unlike the album version, however, he does this during the second chorus, not the final chorus. During the final verse and final chorus, McCartney also substitutes the lines "speaking words of wisdom" and "there will be an answer," replacing them with "there will be no sorrow." This version also uses Ringo's more simplified drumming, but has a more sophisticated guitar solo played by Harrison. The film version, which has never been officially released on record, has a running time of 4:01.

An early version of the song also appears on Anthology 3(Volume 3) which was released on 28 October 1996. This version, Take 1, was recorded on 25 January 1969. It is a much more simplified version, as McCartney had still not written the final verse yet ("And when the night is cloudy...I wake up to the sound of music..."). Instead, the first verse is simply repeated. The song also features studio talk between Lennon and McCartney prior to another take:

Paul: Yeah., John: OK., Paul: This'll-this is gonna knock you out, boy.

Also, following the end of the recording, John can be heard saying, "I think that was rather grand. I'd take one home with me. OK let's track it. (Gasps) You bounder, you cheat!" The running time of the "Anthology" version is 4:05.

Still another version of the song appeared on the Let It Be… Nakedalbum in 2003. Starr disliked Spector's version where his drumming was augmented by Spector's "tape-delay-effect" to his hi-hats during the song's second verse and added shakers, so Let It Be… Nakedfeatures his original "stripped-down-approach" drumming. Also departed were the tom-tom overdub rolls, heard after the guitar solo during the third verse. The guitar solo used in this version—similar to the single version—was taken from the subsequent take as seen in the film "Let It Be". Starr also commented that after the release of Naked, he would now have to listen to McCartney saying, "I told you so", when talking about Spector's production. The song's running time on Let It Be… Nakedis 3:52.

McCartney released live performances of the song in 1990, on Tripping the Live Fantastic(as well as its abridged Tripping the Live Fantastic: Highlights!version), and in 2002, on Back in the U.S.The former was performed in Miami, and the latter in New York City. On Tripping the Live Fantastic, following the second verse, McCartney sings the chorus line only once, rather than twice, as he had done in most previous versions. On Back in the US, he sings the chorus line twice again. Both versions also feature heavier guitar solos and a shorter singing rhythm.

Glyn Johns mixed the song on 28 May 1969 as he finished the mixing for the Get Backalbum. This version was never released. He used the same mix in a 5 January 1970, which was an attempt to compile an acceptable version of the LP. Again, this version of the LP was never officially released. Both versions, however, have made their way onto bootlegs over the years usually along with bootlegged versions of Johns' two attempts at mixing the Get Back Sessions into a cohesive whole.

The piano introduces the song, through a series of chords in the right hand over single notes in the left hand.

Critical reception for "Let It Be" has been positive. In 2004, it was ranked number 20 on Rolling Stonemagazine's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. Allmusic said it was one of "The Beatles' most popular and finest ballads". Ian MacDonald had a dissenting opinion, writing that the song "achieved a popularity well out of proportion to its artistic weight" and that it was "'Hey Jude', without the musical and emotional release."

John Lennon also commented on "Let It Be". Prior to a take during the 31 January 1969 recording session, he asked, "Are we supposed to giggle in the solo?" (This is a similar quote to Lewisohn's "The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions" (p170) but Lennon says "during the solo" not "in the solo" as quoted here). In Lennon's Playboy interview in 1980, he disavowed any involvement with composing the song. He said,

As MacDonald explained, Lennon is wrong about "Bridge over Troubled Water" being McCartney's inspiration: "Let It Be" was recorded approximately a year before 'Bridge over Troubled Water' was released, and half a year before the latter was written.

Interestingly, "Let It Be" knocked "Bridge over Troubled Water" out of the top spot as the Billboard Hot 100 number-one single in the United States on 11 April 1970.

Although the song is performed regularly during McCartney's performances, there are a few notable performances.

"Let It Be" has been covered numerous times by various artists, but this is just a short selection:

Kris Allen did a version of this song on the ninth season of American Idol, on February 25, 2010, during eliminations. This song was later made available on iTunes for download, with all proceeds going toward disaster relief for the Haiti Earthquake. On the chart week of March 6, 2010, "Let It Be" made a debut at #63 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart based on sales of the digital single.

United States: 86,000