Get Back/Let It Be sessions: day four

11.00am, Tuesday 7 January 1969 (44 years ago)

The fourth day of the Get Back/Let It Be sessions was a somewhat typical blend of original song rehearsals, unstructured jamming and randomly-chosen cover versions.

The day saw the first appearance of Get Back, which would soon become the focus of much of The Beatles' attentions. At this stage, however, it was lacking most of its final lyrics in the verses.

Although it was later held over for the Abbey Road album, Maxwell's Silver Hammer also made an appearance on this day. It had first been put forward on 3 January, and again on 10 January, but The Beatles' lack of enthusiasm towards it was clear.

They also performed early versions of Golden Slumbers and She Came In Through The Bathroom Window, and Lennon led the group through three versions of Gimme Some Truth, a song which he'd later record for 1971's Imagine album.

In the previous day's session, John Lennon had once again attempted to interest the group in Across The Universe, which they had recorded in February 1968. Nearly a year on, and Lennon struggled to remember the words, and the performance lacked the elegantly light touch that the earlier recording had.

Much of 7 January was spent on I've Got A Feeling and Don't Let Me Down, which had been earmarked early on during the Twickenham sessions as contenders for the mooted live performance. At this stage the songs weren't developing significantly, but were instead being rehearsed multiple times until The Beatles were happy they were familiar with the structure.

Other notable performances included a spirited rendition of Chuck Berry's Rock And Roll Music, first recorded by The Beatles in 1964, and an almost-complete version of Carl Perkins' Gone, Gone, Gone. Little Richard's Lucille and Ray Charles' What'd I Say were also tackled with conviction, but were both abandoned before being seen through to completion.

More successful was a revisit of the Lennon-McCartney composition One After 909. This latter song had been recorded at EMI way back on 5 March 1963, and had been performed again on the 3 and 6 January 1969 sessions, with The Beatles evidently thinking it a possible live contender. Here it was close to its final Let It Be incarnation, although without Billy Preston's electric piano.

The full list of songs recorded on this day, including fragments and off-the-cuff, unpublished songs with presumed titles (plus primary composer/best-known performer):

* presumed title.
View the complete list of songs played during the January 1969 Get Back/Let It Be sessions.

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