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- Album This song officially appears on the Let It Be (Limited Edition) LP.
Related sessions
This song has been recorded during the following studio sessions
Get Back sessions - January 2, 1969 - Day 1
Jan 02, 1969
Get Back sessions - January 3, 1969 - Day 2
Jan 03, 1969
Get Back sessions - January 6, 1969 - Day 3
Jan 06, 1969
Get Back sessions - January 8, 1969 - Day 5
Jan 08, 1969
Get Back sessions - January 9, 1969 - Day 6
Jan 09, 1969
Get Back sessions - January 10, 1969 - Day 7
Jan 10, 1969
Get Back sessions - January 23, 1969 - Day 12
Jan 23, 1969
Mixing the "Get Back" album (1st compilation)
January 24 & January 26, 1969
Get Back sessions - January 24, 1969 - Day 13
Jan 24, 1969
Get Back sessions - January 26, 1969 - Day 15
Jan 26, 1969
Get Back sessions - January 28, 1969 - Day 17
Jan 28, 1969
Get Back sessions - January 29, 1969 - Day 18
Jan 29, 1969
Get Back sessions - January 31, 1969 - Day 20
Jan 31, 1969
Mixing the Get Back album (2nd & 3rd compilations)
March - May 1969
Late April 1969
Apr 25, 1969
Mar 25, 1970
2021 ?
Related interviews
2022 • From paulmccartney.com
November 2001 • From paulmccartney.com
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Song facts
From Wikipedia:
“Two of Us” is a 1969 song written by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. The song was recorded by the Beatles on 31 January 1969.
“Two of Us” was originally released as the opening track on Let It Be (1970) and a remix of that recording was later included on Let It Be… Naked (2003). An outtake of the song, recorded on 24 January 1969, was released on Anthology 3 (1996).
The song’s title was used for the 2000 TV movie Two of Us, which depicts a fictionalized version of a 1976 reunion between McCartney and Lennon.
History
The song was originally titled “On Our Way Home”. Ian MacDonald claimed the lyrics (e.g.: “you and I have memories/longer than the road that stretches out ahead” or “you and me chasing paper/getting nowhere”) sounded like McCartney was probably addressing Lennon and contractual troubles. “You Never Give Me Your Money“, a different composition by McCartney from the previously released album, but recorded after Let It Be, Abbey Road, also refers to The Beatles’ contract with Allen Klein as “funny paper”.
An early performance of the song, in a guitar-driven rock style, can be seen in the Let It Be film. Unsatisfied with this style, which McCartney described as “chunky”, the band reworked the song around acoustic guitars. The Beatles performed a finished version of the song live at Apple Studios on 31 January 1969; this performance was included in both the Let It Be film and album. The clip was also broadcast on The Ed Sullivan Show on 1 March 1970 as the final appearance by the Beatles on the program.
In between several takes of the song on 24 January 1969, the band spontaneously started playing a hammed-up version of traditional Liverpudlian song “Maggie Mae“. The 38-second song would also end up on the Let It Be album, but is omitted in Let It Be… Naked. A version of Two of Us on the same day is released on Anthology 3.
In May 1969, McCartney produced a recording of the song using this title by the group Mortimer, a New York City trio that briefly recorded for Apple, but this recording was never released.
On the Let It Be album, producer Phil Spector added, as a spoken introduction to the song, a remark by Lennon, who says: “‘I Dig A Pygmy’ by Charles Hawtrey and the Deaf-Aids! Phase one, in which Doris gets her oats!” This intro was removed in the Let It Be… Naked version. […]
Paul McCartney in "Conversations With McCartney", by Paul Du Noyer:
All my songs, I often do that, so they can be taken more than one way. Even though I was married and in love with Linda, I’ve never written a song, [improvises] ‘Me and Linda, going out driving…’ It’s awkward, I don’t think it works. So I’d be happier to go ‘two of us,’ and it becomes a bit of a mystery: ‘Which two did you mean?’Linda used to drive out of London and liked to try and get lost. I remember we went out west one day until we hit countryside, the buildings went away, we’d park up and go into the woods and fields. I’ve got photos that Linda took of me sitting on the car with my guitar, doing that song. So it was that idea of two of us going nowhere. I don’t know what ‘spending someone’s hard-earned pay’ is, it’s just a line, doesn’t particularly mean anything to me. Or ‘burning matches, lifting latches’, there weren’t any matches or latches. It was just, ‘two of us doing stuff’, you could call that song.
Because John and I sang it, obviously then the interpretation would be, ‘Oh, those are the two of us’. It was basically about me and Linda. But when I sang it with John, it becomes about me and John.
I like that. […] I love that reinterpretation that songs do. It’s magical.
As a kid, I loved getting lost. I would say to my father, ‘Let’s get lost.’ But you could never seem to be able to get really lost. All signs would eventually lead back to New York or wherever we were staying. When I moved to England to be with Paul, we would put Martha, Paul’s sheepdog, in the back of the car and drive out of London. And as soon as we were on the open road, I’d say, ‘Let’s get lost,’ and we’d keep driving without looking at any signs. Hence the line in the song, ‘Two of us going nowhere’. Paul wrote that on one of those days out.
Linda McCartney – From “The Beatles: Off the Record” by Keith Badman
From The Usenet Guide to Beatles Recording Variations:
[a] stereo 25 Mar 1970 (intro, 27 Mar 1970).
UK: Apple PXS 1 and PCS 7096 Let It Be 1970.
US: Apple AR 34001 Let It Be 1970.
CD: EMI CDP 7 46447 2 Let It Be 1987.“I dig a pygmy. . .Doris gets her oats”, recorded Jan 22 [21?], was edited onto the start on Jan 27.
Last updated on January 4, 2022
The book "The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present", published in 2021, covers Paul McCartney's early Liverpool days, the Beatles, Wings, and solo careers, by pairing the lyrics of 154 of his songs with first-person commentaries of the circumstances in which they were written, the people and places that inspired them, and what he thinks of them now.
"Two Of Us" is one of the 154 songs covered.
Lyrics
Two of us riding nowhere
Spending someone's
Hard earned pay
You and me Sunday driving
Not arriving
On our way back home
We're on our way home
We're on our way home
We're going home
Two of us sending postcards
Writing letters
On my wall
You and me burning matches
Lifting latches
On our way back home
We're on our way home
We're on our way home
We're going home
You and I have memories
Longer than the road that stretches out ahead
Two of us wearing raincoats
Standing so low
In the sun
You and me chasing paper
Getting nowhere
On our way back home
We're on our way home
We're on our way home
We're going home
You and I have memories
Longer than the road that stretches out ahead
Two of us wearing raincoats
Standing so low
In the sun
You and me chasing paper
Getting nowhere
On our way back home
We're on our way home
We're on our way home
We're going home
Officially appears on
LP • Released in 1970
3:37 • Studio version • A • Stereo
- Paul McCartney :
- Acoustic guitar, Vocals, Whistling
- Ringo Starr :
- Drums
- John Lennon :
- Acoustic guitar, Vocals, Whistling
- George Harrison :
- Lead guitar
- George Martin :
- Producer
- Phil Spector :
- Producer
- Glyn Johns :
- Recording engineer
- Session Recording:
- Jan 31, 1969
- Studio :
- Apple Studios, 3 Savile Row, London
- Session Overdubs:
- Jan 21, 1969
- Studio :
- Apple Studios, 3 Savile Row, London
- Session Mixing:
- Mar 25, 1970
- Studio :
- EMI Studios, Room 4, Abbey Road
- Session Mixing:
- Mar 27, 1970
- Studio :
- EMI Studios, Room 4, Abbey Road
LP • Released in 1970
3:37 • Studio version • A • Stereo
- Paul McCartney :
- Acoustic guitar, Vocals, Whistling
- Ringo Starr :
- Drums
- John Lennon :
- Acoustic guitar, Vocals, Whistling
- George Harrison :
- Lead guitar
- George Martin :
- Producer
- Phil Spector :
- Producer
- Glyn Johns :
- Recording engineer
- Session Recording:
- Jan 31, 1969
- Studio :
- Apple Studios, 3 Savile Row, London
- Session Overdubs:
- Jan 21, 1969
- Studio :
- Apple Studios, 3 Savile Row, London
- Session Mixing:
- Mar 25, 1970
- Studio :
- EMI Studios, Room 4, Abbey Road
- Session Mixing:
- Mar 27, 1970
- Studio :
- EMI Studios, Room 4, Abbey Road
Official album • Released in 1996
3:27 • Outtake • B • Stereo • Written by Paul and sung as a duet with John, Two Of Us captures the essence of the Get Back sessions: performed live - and carrying on despite intermittent feedback - the Beatles were both routining and recording at the same time, honing each song with constant re-playing. Here, the proximity of the two men at the microphone prompted Paul's "Take it, Phil" encouragement to John, a reference to the Everly Brothers who performed in a similar manner.
- Glyn Johns :
- Recording engineer
- Session Recording:
- Jan 24, 1969
- Studio :
- Apple Studios, 3 Savile Row, London
Official album • Released in 2003
3:21 • Studio version • C • A remix of the original album version recorded on 31 January 1969; framing dialogue removed; minor error in Lennon's acoustic guitar performance digitally corrected.
Official album • Released in 2003
0:22 • Studio version • D • From the "Fly On The Wall" bonus disc
Let It Be (Stereo - 2009 remaster)
Official album • Released in 2009
3:37 • Studio version • A2009 • Stereo • 2009 remaster
- Paul McCartney :
- Acoustic guitar, Vocals, Whistling
- Ringo Starr :
- Drums
- John Lennon :
- Acoustic guitar, Vocals, Whistling
- George Harrison :
- Lead guitar
- George Martin :
- Producer
- Phil Spector :
- Producer
- Glyn Johns :
- Recording engineer
- Guy Massey :
- Remastering
- Steve Rooke :
- Remastering
- Sam Okell :
- Remastering
- Allan Rouse :
- Project co-ordinator
- Session Recording:
- Jan 31, 1969
- Studio :
- Apple Studios, 3 Savile Row, London
- Session Overdubs:
- Jan 21, 1969
- Studio :
- Apple Studios, 3 Savile Row, London
- Session Mixing:
- Mar 25, 1970
- Studio :
- EMI Studios, Room 4, Abbey Road
- Session Mixing:
- Mar 27, 1970
- Studio :
- EMI Studios, Room 4, Abbey Road
Official album • Released in 2016
3:27 • Outtake • B2016 • Stereo • Written by Paul and sung as a duet with John, Two Of Us captures the essence of the Get Back sessions: performed live - and carrying on despite intermittent feedback - the Beatles were both routining and recording at the same time, honing each song with constant re-playing. Here, the proximity of the two men at the microphone prompted Paul's "Take it, Phil" encouragement to John, a reference to the Everly Brothers who performed in a similar manner.
- Glyn Johns :
- Recording engineer
- Session Recording:
- Jan 24, 1969
- Studio :
- Apple Studios, 3 Savile Row, London
Official album • Released in 2017
3:06 • Studio version • E • This song was given to Mortimer by Paul McCartney, and was recorded by The Beatles as "Two Of Us".
- Peter Asher :
- Producer
- Barry Sheffield :
- Recording engineer
- Tom Smith :
- Guitar, Vocals
- Tony Van Benschoten :
- Bass, Guitar, Vocals
- Guy Masson :
- Drums, Percussion, Vocals
- Session Recording:
- Late April 1969
- Studio :
- Trident Studios, London, UK
Good As Gold (Artefacts Of The Apple Era 1967-1975)
Official album • Released in 2021
3:06 • Studio version • E
- Peter Asher :
- Producer
- Barry Sheffield :
- Recording engineer
- Tom Smith :
- Guitar, Vocals
- Tony Van Benschoten :
- Bass, Guitar, Vocals
- Guy Masson :
- Drums, Percussion, Vocals
- Session Recording:
- Late April 1969
- Studio :
- Trident Studios, London, UK
Let It Be (50th anniversary boxset)
Official album • Released in 2021
3:37 • Studio version • A • Stereo • 2021 mix
- Paul McCartney :
- Acoustic guitar, Vocals, Whistling
- Ringo Starr :
- Drums
- John Lennon :
- Acoustic guitar, Vocals, Whistling
- George Harrison :
- Lead guitar
- George Martin :
- Producer
- Phil Spector :
- Producer
- Glyn Johns :
- Recording engineer
- Session Recording:
- Jan 31, 1969
- Studio :
- Apple Studios, 3 Savile Row, London
- Session Overdubs:
- Jan 21, 1969
- Studio :
- Apple Studios, 3 Savile Row, London
- Session Mixing:
- Mar 25, 1970
- Studio :
- EMI Studios, Room 4, Abbey Road
- Session Mixing:
- Mar 27, 1970
- Studio :
- EMI Studios, Room 4, Abbey Road
Bootlegs
Unofficial album • Released in 1969
4:11 • Studio version • From Glyn Johns' 2nd "Get Back" compilation
- Session Recording:
- Jan 24, 1969
- Studio :
- Apple Studios, 3 Savile Row, London
- Session Mixing:
- March - May 1969
- Studio :
- Olympic Sound Studios, London
- Session Mixing:
- May 09, 1969
- Studio :
- Olympic Sound Studios, London
Stockholm Globe Arena, May 4, 2003
Unofficial live
4:58 • Live
Concert From the concert in Stockholm, Sweden on May 04, 2003
Unofficial live
3:54 • Live
Concert From the concert in Moscow, Russia on May 24, 2003
Live performances
“Two Of Us” has been played in 23 concerts and 11 soundchecks.
Latest concerts where Two Of Us has been played
Montevideo • Estadio Centenario • Uruguay
Apr 15, 2012 • Part of On The Run Tour
Sao Paulo • Morumbi Stadium • Brazil
Nov 22, 2010 • Part of Up And Coming Tour
Buenos Aires • Riverplate Stadium • Argentina
Nov 10, 2010 • Part of Up And Coming Tour
Pittsburgh • CONSOL Energy Center • USA
Aug 18, 2010 • Part of Up And Coming Tour
Philadelphia • Wachovia Center • USA
Aug 14, 2010 • Part of Up And Coming Tour
Going further
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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'“I dig a pygmy. . .Doris gets her oats”, recorded Jan 22 [21?], was edited onto the start on Jan 27'. I was under the impression that Lennon's intro was edited onto the start on Mar 27, during the mixing session.