ewe2 said
I think I prefer the song in mono, the parts blend better, they’re way too separated in the stereo for me. I’ve wondered whether Paul was influenced at this time by the recordings of Simon & Garfunkel, and it may be that this was a reciprocal process as Simon admitted later that Bridge Over Troubled Water was at least influenced by the production of Let It Be the song.   

‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ was recorded on the 9th November 1969 and released in January 1970 so couldn’t have been influenced by ‘Let It Be ‘.

I don’t care too much for ‘Mother Nature’s Son ‘. It’s a nice breather between the rockers of side 3 but aside from that it’s pretty forgetful. It’s also a mystery why take 2 is on ‘Anthology 3’ when it’s very similar to the released version sans the brass overdub whilst far more interesting material remained in the vaults.

I’m sure I’ve read that the brass suggestion was from John but according to ‘Recording The Beatles‘ John’s suggestion was for ‘Blackbird ‘ and Paul took it for ‘Mother Nature’s Son ‘, so maybe that’s where that came from.

I was going by the “production” of ‘Let It Be ‘ not the recording or song itsef. A good few artists had access to Beatles songs before they were officially released.

Here is Paul Simon speaking about the two in a Rolling Stone interview back in May 1970.

Many people have noticed a great similarity between “Bridge Over Troubled Water” and the Beatles’ “Let It Be .” Did you notice this?

That was interesting to me that we both wrote these songs that were very similar. The first time I heard “Let It Be ” I couldn’t believe that he did that. They are very similar songs, certainly in instrumentation, sort of in their general musical feel, and lyrically. They’re sort of both hopeful songs and resting peaceful songs. He must’ve written it about the same time that I wrote mine and he gave it to Aretha Franklin which is funny because when I first wrote “Bridge,” I said boy, I bet Aretha could do a good job on this song. It’s one of those weird things and it happened simultaneously.

Apparently Paul sent a demo of ‘Let It Be ‘ to Aretha.

Aretha Franklin recorded “Let It Be ” in December 1969, and it was released on her album This Girl’s In Love With You in January 1970, two months before The Beatles released their version. Aretha recorded it with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. David Hood, their bass player, said that Paul McCartney sent demos of the song to Atlantic Records (Franklin’s label) and to the Muscle Shoals musicians. Said Hood, “I kick myself for not grabbing that demo. Because I think they probably dropped it in the garbage. Our version was different. We changed it a little bit from his demo, where their version is different from that demo and from Aretha’s version, as well. Just slightly, but little things.” (

source – post 11 (scroll down the page)).

Joe Cocker was given ‘Something ‘ and ‘She Came In Through The Bathroom Window ‘ before they were released on ‘Abbey Road ‘ as both were on ‘Joe Cocker!’ released a month later so certainly had direct access.

I have been to Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland. I can only find one of my pictures from there right now. It was very peaceful and majestic. We were there in May 2006. Spring was just coming to the valley.