Recording and mixing "Let It Be", "You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)"

Engineer Glyn Johns originally selected Take 27A (DDSI.31.64) of Paul McCartney’s “Let It Be“, recorded on January 31, 1969, for inclusion on his “Get Back” LP. However, George Harrison wasn’t happy with his guitar solo on that take. As a result, on this day, The Beatles returned to EMI Studios to record a new guitar overdub performed by George — breaking the “no overdubs” philosophy that had guided the “Get Back” project.

This revised guitar solo appeared on Glyn Johns’ unreleased “Get Back” album and was also featured on the “Let It Be” single released in March 1970. However, it was replaced on the version included in the “Let It Be” album released in May 1970.

With work on “Let It Be” over, John Lennon and Paul McCartney turned their attention back to “You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)” — a quirky track they had begun in May 1967 and last worked on on June 9 of that year. During this session, they added eccentric vocals and surreal sound effects, including the noise of their assistant Mal Evans dragging a spade through a pile of gravel.

The session, which began at 7:15 p.m., wrapped up around 2 a.m. with the creation of three mono mixes of “You Know My Name (Look Up The Number).“

John and Paul weren’t always getting on that well at this time. But for that song they went onto the studio floor and sang together around one microphone. Even at that time I was thinking, ‘What are they doing with this old four-track tape, recording these funny bits onto this quaint song?’ But it was a fun track to do.

Nick Webb – Second engineer – From “The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions” by Mark Lewisohn, 1988

John and Paul dubbed on all manner of loony sound effects and sang and harrumphed in their full repertoire of comic Goon-like voices.

Geoff Emerick – Quoted in beatlesebooks.com

In my view you’d have to be stupid to say they’re not good…even silly little things – ‘You Know My Name (Look Up The Number).’ Silly little song. Took years to record, piercing it together, finally thinking we’d better finish it up. Didn’t it come out on the B-side of ‘Let It Be? Great, what a place for it.

Paul McCartney – Interview for The Times Of London, December 1985

Eventually we pulled it all together, and I sang (sings in jazzy style) ‘you know my name…’ and we just did a skit, Mal and his gravel. I can still see Mal digging the gravel. And it was just so hilarious to put the record together.

Paul McCartney – 1987 interview – Quoted in beatlesebooks.com

There was another song I wrote around Pepper time that’s still in the can, called ‘You Know My Name and Cut [sic] the Number.’ That’s the only words to it. It just goes on all the way like that, and we did all these mad backings. But I never did finish it. And I must.

John Lennon – From 1969 interview for New Musical Express – Quoted in “Solid State: The Story of “Abbey Road” and the End of the Beatles” by Kenneth Womack, 2019

Session activities

1. Let It Be

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Recording • DDSI.31.64 • SI onto take 27

2. You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Recording • SI onto take 30

3. You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 1 from take 30

4. You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 2 from take 30

5. You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 3 from take 30

Staff

Musicians on "Let It Be"

Musicians on "You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)"

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