US single release: Get Back

Nearly a month after its release in the United Kingdom, The Beatles’ first single of 1969 was issued in the United States.

‘Get Back’, with ‘Don’t Let Me Down’, as its b-side, was issued as Apple 2490. As in the UK, it was credited to The Beatles with Billy Preston. It was the only time such a credit featured on a Beatles release.

The delay in the US release may have been due to a last-minute remix ordered by Paul McCartney on 7 April 1969, four days before the official UK release date. Copies were late in arriving in British record stores, and Apple, and the distributors Capitol, may have wished to avoid such a fate in America.

Get Back began its 12-week chart run on 10 May 1969. Two weeks later it reached number one, where it remained for five weeks.

The single was The Beatles’ first in the US to be released in true stereo rather than mono. By 1969 there was a strong move towards releasing music in stereo only, which The Beatles wholly adopted for all their releases by the end of the year.