Recording & mixing "For You Blue" for the Get Back album (4th compilation), Mixing "Let It Be"

On this day, at Olympic Studios, George Harrison re-recorded portions of his lead vocals for “For You Blue” (DDSI 25.47) during a session with engineer/producer Glyn Johns.

He also added a few playful ad-libbed lines over the instrumental solos. Over John Lennon’s guitar parts, George inserted lines like “Bop, cat, hop” and “Go, Johnny, go” — a nod to Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode“. Over Paul McCartney’s piano solo, he quipped, “Elmore James got nothin’ on this, baby, heh,” referencing Elmore James, the celebrated blues guitarist often hailed as the “King of the Slide Guitar.”

A new stereo mix of the track was then created and included in Glyn Johns’ 4th compilation of the “Get Back” LP. However, there remains a small mystery timing-wise:

Also, probably sometime during early January 1970, George recorded a new vocal for “For You Blue”. Mark Lewisohn indicates that this was probably 8 January (and subsequently, John Winn does, too). However, a mix including both vocals is featured on this fourth compilation (see details below). The tape box for this compilation clearly dates it as 5 January. Either, Glyn spliced an 8 January mix onto the 5 January reel or, since the new vocal was recorded at Olympic Studios (for which documentation is more sketchy than E.M.I.), perhaps the vocal was recorded prior to 5 January.

From beatlesource.com

The accompanying book of the “Let It Be (50th anniversary boxset)“, released in 2021, includes a page from Paul McCartney’s diary dated January 8, noting his attendance at the mixing session at Olympic Studios for “Let It Be,” with the comment “great mix.” The same entry also includes the remark “with stomach flu” —apparently the result of a dinner the night before with model Twiggy and her manager and boyfriend, Justin de Villeneuve.

This suggests that the version of “Let It Be“ released as a single in March 1970 was likely mixed on this day by Glyn Johns, rather than on January 4 as previously assumed.

However, Glyn Johns chose not to include this version in his “Get Back” LP, likely because the overdubs added on January 4 clashed with the unembellished, live-in-the-studio aesthetic he envisioned for the project.

This January 8 session marked Glyn Johns’ final day working on the “Get Back” LP. Despite the considerable time and effort he had invested in compiling several versions of the album throughout 1969, The Beatles — or more likely Allen Klein — remained dissatisfied with the results.

In late January or early February 1970, American producer Phil Spector was brought in by Klein to take over the project with the approval of John Lennon. On March 23, 1970, Spector began reworking the tapes, ultimately shaping the version of the album released as “Let It Be” in May 1970.

We walked away from that LP. We didn’t really want to know. The best version of the album was before anyone got hold of it. Glyn Johns’s early mixes were great but they were very bare, very Spartan. It would be one of the hippest records going if they brought it out. That was one of the best Beatles albums because it was a bit avant-garde. I loved it. It was purely as we recorded it, down there in Apple or up on the roof. It had a good sound on it, from Glyn Johns, just a couple of mikes over the drums, it was very basic and I loved it.

Paul McCartney – From “The Beatles: Off the Record” by Keith Badman, 2008

Session activities

1. For You Blue

   Written by George Harrison

   Recording • DDSI.25.47 • Vocal overdubs

2. Let It Be

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Mixing

3. For You Blue

   Written by George Harrison

   Mixing

Staff

Musicians on "For You Blue"

Production staff

Going further

The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions • Mark Lewisohn

The definitive guide for every Beatles recording sessions from 1962 to 1970. We owe a lot to Mark Lewisohn for the creation of those session pages, but you really have to buy this book to get all the details - the number of takes for each song, who contributed what, a description of the context and how each session went, various photographies... And an introductory interview with Paul McCartney!

Buy on Amazon

The Beatles Recording Reference Manual: Volume 5: Let It Be through Abbey Road (1969 - 1970)

The fifth and final book of this critically acclaimed series, "The Beatles Recording Reference Manual: Volume 5: Let It Be through Abbey Road (1969 - 1970)" follows The Beatles as they "get back to where they once belonged...". Not once, but twice. With "Let It Be", they attempted to recapture the spontaneity of their early years and recordings, while "Abbey Road" was a different kind of return - to the complexity, finish and polish that they had applied to their work beginning with "Revolver" and through to "The Beatles".

Buy on Amazon