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Released in 1970

Two Of Us

Written by Lennon - McCartney

Last updated on January 4, 2022

Album This song officially appears on the Let It Be (Limited Edition) LP.

Timeline This song was officially released in 1970

Master album

Related sessions

This song was recorded during the following studio sessions:

Related interviews

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.

Conversations with McCartney • Paul du Noyer

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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.

From beatlesebooks.com
From Twitter – PaulMcCartneyTheLyrics #Beatles 1968 “There’s a photograph of me in the Aston Martin, sitting with the driver’s door open and my feet out. I’ve got my guitar. That’s me writing ‘Two of Us’.”

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

See all official recordings containing “Two Of Us”

Bootlegs

See all bootlegs containing “Two Of Us”

Videos

Concert Mar 30, 2010 in Los Angeles

Concert Aug 18, 2010 in Pittsburgh

Live performances

“Two Of Us” has been played in 23 concerts and 11 soundchecks.

Latest concerts where “Two Of Us” has been played

See all concerts where “Two Of Us” has been played

Going further

The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present

"Two Of Us" is one of the songs featured in the book "The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present," published in 2021. The book explores Paul McCartney's early Liverpool days, his time with the Beatles, Wings, and his solo career. It pairs the lyrics of 154 of his songs with his first-person commentary on the circumstances of their creation, the inspirations behind them, and his current thoughts on them.

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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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Paul McCartney writing

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William • 2 years ago

'“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.

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