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"Let It Be" is a song written by Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon/McCartney) and recorded by The Beatles for their 1970 album Let It Be. It was the final single released by The Beatles while the band was still active.
Origins
McCartney said he had the idea of "Let It Be" after he had a dream about his mother during the tense period surrounding the sessions for The Beatles ("the White Album") in 1968. Mary Patricia McCartney died of cancer in 1956, when he was fourteen.In rehearsing the song with the Beatles in January 1969, in place of the "Mother Mary" lyric, McCartney occasionally sang "Brother Malcolm", a reference to the Beatles' assistant Mal Evans. McCartney later said: "It was great to visit with her again. I felt very blessed to have that dream. So that got me writing 'Let It Be'." In a later interview he said about the dream that his mother had told him, "It will be all right, just let it be." When asked if the phrase "Mother Mary" in the song referred to Mary, mother of Jesus, McCartney has typically replied that listeners can interpret the song however they like.
Recording
McCartney first began to play around with "Let It Be" in the recording studio in between takes of "Piggies" on 19 September 1968. Some months later, the song would be rehearsed at Twickenham Film Studios on 3 January 1969, where the group had, the previous day, begun what would become the Let It Be film. During this stage of the film they were only recording on the mono decks used for syncing to the film cameras, and were not making multi-track recordings for release. A single take was recorded, with just McCartney on piano and vocals. The first attempt with the other Beatles was made on 8 January. Work continued on the song throughout the month. Multi-track recordings commenced on 23 January at Apple Studios.
The master take was recorded on 31 January 1969, as part of the "Apple studio performance" for the project. McCartney played a Blüthner piano, John Lennon played six-string electric bass (replaced by McCartney's own bass part on the final version at the behest of George Martin), George Harrison and Ringo Starr assumed their conventional roles, on guitar and drums respectively, and Billy Preston contributed on Hammond organ.
Retrospection
Lennon commented disparagingly on "Let It Be". In his 1980 Playboy interview, he disavowed any involvement with composing the song, saying: "That's Paul. What can you say? Nothing to do with the Beatles. It could've been Wings. I don't know what he's thinking when he writes 'Let It Be'."
"Let It Be" was ranked number 2 on CILQ-FM's 2000 list of the "Top 500 Pure Rock Songs Of The Century".
In 2004, the song was included on Grammy Hall of Fame.
Mojo magazine ranked "Let It Be" at number 50 in its 2006 list of "The 101 Greatest Beatles Songs".
In a similar list compiled in 2010, Rolling Stone placed it at number 8. The magazine also ranked the track at number 20 on its 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list.
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