The "Let It Be" sessions

In November 1969, it was agreed that a film would be released based on the January 1969 “Get Back” sessions, under the new title “Let It Be.” A soundtrack album would accompany the film. Although Glyn Johns — who had engineered and produced multiple versions of a potential album throughout the year — had been closely involved with the project, the Beatles’ new manager, Allen Klein, suggested bringing in Phil Spector to oversee the final production.

However, in December 1969, Glyn Johns was asked to revisit his “Get Back” LP, by ensuring the album aligned with Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s forthcoming documentary, which was then nearing completion.

To align the record with the film’s musical content, Johns removed “Teddy Boy,” which no longer appeared in the latest cut of the documentary, and added “Across The Universe” and “I Me Mine.”

For “Across The Universe,” Glyn Johns restarted from the 1968 tapes, rather than taking any of the few versions recorded in January 1969.

On January 8, 1969, during the “Get Back” sessions at Twickenham Film Studios, George was filmed playing “I Me Mine” on acoustic guitar for Ringo. The song was not revisited during the later sessions at Apple Studios. It was agreed that the song should be featured on the accompanying album — and therefore needed to be properly recorded.

On January 3, 1970, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr returned to Abbey Road Studios to record George’s song, “I Me Mine.” John was absent, vacationing in Denmark with Yoko Ono.

The following day, the three Beatles spent time adding overdubs onto “Let It Be.” the final recording session attended by The Beatles as a band. Glyn Johns finalized its final version of the “Get Back” LP on January 8.

Later that month, Klein succeeded in bringing Spector to London.

On January 27, 1970, John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band recorded the single “Instant Karma!” with Phil Spector producing. Depending on the source, it was either John or George Harrison who suggested involving Spector.

The success and efficiency of the “Instant Karma!” session gave John and George confidence in Spector’s abilities — enough to entrust him with the challenge of finally turning the January 1969 tapes into a finished album.

Allen Klein decided that the [Get Back] album was too bare, [that] it wasn’t commercial enough, so we ought to gloss it up a bit. None of us wanted to work on it, we’d had it with the whole project. So he brought Phil [Spector] in.

Paul McCartney – Audio interview with Johnny Black for Mojo magazine, March 6, 2003 – From “The McCartney Legacy: Volume 1: 1969 – 73” by Allan Kozinn and Adrian Sinclair, 2022

[Phil Spector and us] were quite good friends in the beginning. We used to talk a lot, and we admired him because of his work, and his productions. And we did hang a little bit when he came to London. We thought he was one of the greats because of the records he’d made. He told us to not bother with B sides but to put ‘Singalong with She Loves You’ on the B side; put [out] the backing track. So, we said, ‘No, Phil,’ ’cos we remembered how much these records cost us when we were in Liverpool. And we went the other way—‘Strawberry Fields’ and ‘Penny Lane’—we always tried to have really good value.

Paul McCartney – Audio interview with Johnny Black for Mojo magazine, March 6, 2003 – From “The McCartney Legacy: Volume 1: 1969 – 73” by Allan Kozinn and Adrian Sinclair, 2022

In March 1970, as Martin conducted his orchestra while Starr filmed a promotional video for his new album at London’s Talk of the Town nightclub, the erstwhile Beatles producer received an urgent phone call from McCartney, who was livid. He later recalled: “Paul rang me up one day and said, ‘Do you know what’s happened? John’s taken all of the tapes.’” McCartney told Martin that John had given the Get Back tapes to Spector, who had never met with McCartney to discuss working for the Beatles.

From “Solid State: The Story of Abbey Road and the End of the Beatles” by Kenneth Womack, 2019

Through Allen Klein, John had engaged Phil Spector and done everything that he told me I couldn’t do: he overdubbed voices, he added choirs and orchestras. I could have done that job easily, but he decided to do it that way, and I was very offended by that.

George Martin – From “Solid State: The Story of Abbey Road and the End of the Beatles” by Kenneth Womack, 2019

The album credit reads ‘Produced by Phil Spector,’ but I wanted it changed to ‘Produced by George Martin. Overproduced by Phil Spector.’

George Martin – From “Solid State: The Story of Abbey Road and the End of the Beatles” by Kenneth Womack, 2019

After the group broke up, John gave the tapes to Phil Spector, who puked all over them, turning the album into the most syrupy load of bullshit I have ever heard. My master tape, perhaps quite rightly, ended up on a shelf in the tape store at EMI. At least my version of the single of “Get Back”/“Don’t Let Me Down” had been released in April 1969.

Glyn Johns – From “Sound Man: A Life Recording Hits with The Rolling Stones, The Who, Led Zeppelin, The Eagles, Eric Clapton, The Faces…“, 2014

They don’t know that it was no favor to me to give me George Martin’s job, because I don’t consider myself in the same situation or league… I don’t consider him with me. He’s somewhere else. He’s an arranger, that’s all. As far as Let It Be, he had left it in a deplorable condition, and it was not satisfactory to any of them, they did not want it out as it was. So John said, ‘Let Phil do it,’ and I said, ‘Fine.’ Then I said, ‘Would anybody like to get involved in it, work on it with me?’ ‘No.’ George came down a couple of times to listen, Ringo came down and overdubbed drums, John said, ‘Send me an acetate when it’s finished,’ Paul the same thing, and that was it. They didn’t care. But they did have the right to say ‘We don’t want it out’, and they didn’t say that. In five years from now, maybe people will understand how good the material was.

But at that time everyone was saying, ‘Oh Beatles, don’t break up, give us something else to remember you by,’ and you give it to them and then the critics just knock the shit out of it. ‘It’s awful, it’s this, it’s that’ … but it’s your Beatles, your great Beatles! Forget my name… if my name hadn’t been on the album, there wouldn’t have been all that. George told me that, John, everyone… that’s the dues you have to pay. It was nothing to me… I had my reputation before the Beatles were around. I’m not over-cocky or anything, but they know that and I certainly knew that. I knew who I was and what I was before I met the Beatles.

Phil Spector – From “Phil Spector: Out Of His Head” by Richard Williams, 2009

I was disappointed that Lennon got away with giving it to Spector, and even more disappointed with what Spector did to it. It has nothing to do with The Beatles at all. Let It Be is a bunch of garbage… he puked all over it… It was ridiculously, disgustingly syrupy.

Glyn Johns – Quoted in Classic Rock, May 2020

To me it was tawdry. It was bringing The Beatles’ records down a peg. Making them sound like other people’s records.

George Martin – Quoted in Classic Rock, May 2020

He worked like a pig on it. He’d always wanted to work with The Beatles, and he was given the shittiest load of badly recorded shit – and with a lousy feeling to it – ever. And he made something out of it. It wasn’t fantastic, but I heard it, I didn’t puke. I was so relieved after six months of this black cloud hanging over, this was going to go out.

John Lennon – Quoted in Classic Rock, May 2020

I like what Phil did, actually. He put the music somewhere else and he was king of the ‘Wall Of Sound’. There’s no point bringing him in if you’re not going to like the way he does it, because that’s what he does.

Ringo Starr – Quoted in Classic Rock, May 2020

Related sessions

Session activities

1. I Me Mine

   Jan 03, 1970 • Recording "I Me Mine"

2. Instrumental jam

   Jan 03, 1970 • Recording "I Me Mine"

3. Peggy Sue Got Married

   Jan 03, 1970 • Recording "I Me Mine"

4. Wake Up Little Susie

   Jan 03, 1970 • Recording "I Me Mine"

5. Let It Be

   Jan 04, 1970 • Recording and mixing "Let It Be"

6. Across The Universe

   Jan 05, 1970 • Mixing "I Me Mine", "Across The Universe" for the "Get Back" album (4th compilation)

7. I Me Mine

   Jan 05, 1970 • Mixing "I Me Mine", "Across The Universe" for the "Get Back" album (4th compilation)

8. Master tape banding and compilation for GetBack LP

   Jan 05, 1970 • Mixing "I Me Mine", "Across The Universe" for the "Get Back" album (4th compilation)

9. For You Blue

   Jan 08, 1970 • Recording & mixing "For You Blue" for the Get Back album (4th compilation), Mixing "Let It Be"

10. Let It Be

    Jan 08, 1970 • Recording & mixing "For You Blue" for the Get Back album (4th compilation), Mixing "Let It Be"

11. The Inner Light

    Jan 27, 1970 • Mixing "The Inner Light"

12. For You Blue

    Feb 28, 1970 • Mixing "For You Blue"

13. Across The Universe

    Mar 23, 1970 • Mixing "Let It Be" album #1

14. Dig A Pony

    Mar 23, 1970 • Mixing "Let It Be" album #1

15. I Me Mine

    Mar 23, 1970 • Mixing "Let It Be" album #1

16. I've Got A Feeling

    Mar 23, 1970 • Mixing "Let It Be" album #1

17. One After 909

    Mar 23, 1970 • Mixing "Let It Be" album #1

18. For You Blue

    Mar 25, 1970 • Mixing "Let It Be" album #2

19. Teddy Boy

    Mar 25, 1970 • Mixing "Let It Be" album #2

20. Two Of Us

    Mar 25, 1970 • Mixing "Let It Be" album #2

21. Get Back

    Mar 26, 1970 • Mixing "Let It Be" album #3

22. Let It Be

    Mar 26, 1970 • Mixing "Let It Be" album #3

23. Maggie Mae

    Mar 26, 1970 • Mixing "Let It Be" album #3

24. The Long And Winding Road

    Mar 26, 1970 • Mixing "Let It Be" album #3

25. Dialogue and miscelleneous pieces

    Mar 27, 1970 • Mixing "Let It Be" album #4

26. Dig It

    Mar 27, 1970 • Mixing "Let It Be" album #4

27. For You Blue

    Mar 30, 1970 • Mixing "Let It Be" album #5

28. Across The Universe

    Apr 01, 1970 • Overdubs for "Let It Be" album

29. I Me Mine

    Apr 01, 1970 • Overdubs for "Let It Be" album

30. The Long And Winding Road

    Apr 01, 1970 • Overdubs for "Let It Be" album

31. Across The Universe

    Apr 02, 1970 • Mixing "Let It Be" album #6

32. I Me Mine

    Apr 02, 1970 • Mixing "Let It Be" album #6

33. The Long And Winding Road

    Apr 02, 1970 • Mixing "Let It Be" album #6

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

Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs (Vol. 1) 1970-1989

With 25 albums of pop music, 5 of classical – a total of around 500 songs – released over the course of more than half a century, Paul McCartney's career, on his own and with Wings, boasts an incredible catalogue that's always striving to free itself from the shadow of The Beatles. The stories behind the songs, demos and studio recordings, unreleased tracks, recording dates, musicians, live performances and tours, covers, events: Music Is Ideas Volume 1 traces McCartney's post-Beatles output from 1970 to 1989 in the form of 346 song sheets, filled with details of the recordings and stories behind the sessions. Accompanied by photos, and drawing on interviews and contemporary reviews, this reference book draws the portrait of a musical craftsman who has elevated popular song to an art-form.

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Eight Arms to Hold You: The Solo Beatles Compendium

We owe a lot to Chip Madinger and Mark Easter for the creation of those session pages, but you really have to buy this book to get all the details!

Eight Arms To Hold You: The Solo Beatles Compendium is the ultimate look at the careers of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr beyond the Beatles. Every aspect of their professional careers as solo artists is explored, from recording sessions, record releases and tours, to television, film and music videos, including everything in between. From their early film soundtrack work to the officially released retrospectives, all solo efforts by the four men are exhaustively examined.

As the paperback version is out of print, you can buy a PDF version on the authors' website

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