Adagio for Strings

On January 3, 1969, the second day of the “Get Back” sessions, Paul McCartney noodled on the piano and played Samuel Barber’s “Adagio For Strings“, waiting for John Lennon and George Harrison to arrive in the studio. He would briefly played the track again on January 8 and January 10.

Snippets of the January 3 and January 8 performances were released on “Fly On The Wall,” the companion CD to “Let It Be… Naked,” released in 2003.

From Wikipedia:

Adagio for Strings is a work by Samuel Barber, arguably his best known, arranged for string orchestra from the second movement of his String Quartet, Op. 11.

Barber finished the arrangement in 1936, the same year that he wrote the quartet. It was performed for the first time on November 5, 1938, by Arturo Toscanini conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra in a radio broadcast from NBC Studio 8H. Toscanini also played the piece on his South American tour with the NBC Symphony in 1940.

Its reception was generally positive, with Alexander J. Morin writing that Adagio for Strings is “full of pathos and cathartic passion” and that it “rarely leaves a dry eye”. The music is the setting for Barber’s 1967 choral arrangement of Agnus Dei. Adagio for Strings has been featured in many TV shows and movies.

Officially appears on

Bootlegs

Cover versions played during the "Get Back" sessions

"Adagio for Strings" was covered during The Beatles' "Get Back" sessions in January 1969. Here is the complete list of covers recorded by Paul McCartney, either alone or with other Beatles, during these sessions:

Going further

Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs (Vol. 2) 1990-2012

This new book by Luca Perasi traces Paul McCartney's post-Beatles output from 1990 to 2012 in the form of 250 song entries, filled with details about the recordings, stories behind the sessions and musical analysis. His pop albums, his forays into classical and avant-garde music, his penchant for covering old standards: a complete book to discover how these languages cross-pollinate and influence each other.The second volume in a series that has established itself as a unique guide to take the reader on a journey into the astonishing creativity of Paul McCartney.Read our exclusive interview with Luca Perasi

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