Let It Down

From Wikipedia:

“Let It Down” is a song by English musician George Harrison, released on his 1970 triple album All Things Must Pass. The recording was co-produced by Phil Spector and employs the latter’s Wall of Sound production technique to lavish effect. Its brash opening and choruses contrast with the ethereal quality of the verses – a loud/soft approach that has been credited with influencing indie bands during the 1980s and 1990s.

Harrison wrote the song in 1968 and offered it to the Beatles in January 1969 for inclusion on what became their Let It Be album (1970), also produced by Spector. It is one of several Harrison compositions that were turned down by the band and subsequently found acclaim on his first solo release following their break-up. Harrison biographers recognise “Let It Down” as an erotic love song, perhaps written to a woman other than Pattie Boyd, his wife at the time. Separated by 18 months, the song’s conception and recording marked two periods of romantic intrigue involving Harrison, Boyd and their friend Eric Clapton. Author Ian Inglis describes “Let It Down” as “a dynamic and passionate depiction of lust and desire”.

Harrison recorded the song in London, backed by a large cast of musicians, including the whole of Clapton’s newly formed band Derek and the Dominos, Gary Brooker, Gary Wright, Bobby Keys and the group Badfinger. With its dense mix of horns, orchestral strings and heavy rock instrumentation, commentators identify “Let It Down” as an extreme example of Spector’s influence on All Things Must Pass, an influence that also provided a disruptive element during the album’s creation. An acoustic version of “Let It Down”, also taped in 1970 but with overdubs recorded in 2000, appeared as a bonus track on the 30th anniversary edition of All Things Must Pass. […]

George Harrison put forward “Let It Down”, along with as many as nine other compositions, during the Get Back sessions. On January 2, before the arrival of bandmates Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr for the first day of filming, he debuted the song to John Lennon at Twickenham Film Studios, in south-west London. Tapes from this session reveal Lennon struggling with the song’s chord changes, during a run-through that authors Doug Sulpy and Ray Schweighardt describe as an “excellent performance by George … seriously marred by John’s distracting accompaniment on guitar”. Once the film project was under way, a combination of Lennon’s barbed criticism of Harrison’s songwriting and McCartney’s attempts to “dominate” him musically, as Starr later put it, resulted in Harrison walking out on 10 January, apparently having quit the band for good. Doggett observes that, for Harrison, there had been “no relief from the tension” that week, since an upset Boyd had recently left Kinfauns to stay with friends in London.

Following Harrison’s return to the Beatles, and the film project’s relocation to their familiar Apple Studio, the band rehearsed “Let It Down” briefly on 25 and 29 January. Author Bruce Spizer writes of the song being embellished with “gospel-style organ runs”, played by future Apple Records artist Billy Preston, during these late January sessions. Although the Beatles dedicated more time to it than to Harrison songs such as “Isn’t It a Pity” and “Hear Me Lord”, the track was dropped without being recorded, due to a lack of interest from Lennon and McCartney.

Bootlegs

Live performances

Paul McCartney has never played this song in concert.

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