Studio two, EMI Studios, Abbey Road
Producer: George Martin
Engineer: Phil McDonald
Although there were two further recording sessions for the Let It Be album involving just one member of The Beatles, this was their last time recording as a group – albeit without John Lennon.
Having completed ‘I Me Mine’ the previous day, The Beatles turned their attentions to Paul McCartney’s song ‘Let It Be’.
They taped a series of overdubs onto take 27, the basic track which had been laid down on 31 January 1969. First to be recorded on this day was a bass guitar part, with McCartney replacing Lennon’s original effort on track four.
Two trumpets, two trombones and a tenor saxophone were recorded onto track five by session musicians, as was McCartney’s descending piano motifs in between chorus and verses.
Three reduction mixes were then made to free up space on the multitrack tape. These mixes were labelled takes 28-30; as they were being made, a simultaneous overdub on track five of brass and woodwind double-tracked the previous recording. Cellos, again played by session musicians, were also added during the reduction mixes to track two.
McCartney, his wife Linda and George Harrison triple-tracked some high harmony vocals. These were initially recorded onto track seven; an unnumbered mix bounced this onto track four, and while it was made they recorded the second set of harmonies. A final mix saw the third lot of vocals added once again to track seven, along with the previous sets. This track also contained the guitar solo recorded on 30 April 1969, which was used on the ‘Let It Be’ single.
The final recording saw Harrison add lead guitar, including a new solo, onto track four, along with maracas by McCartney and extra drums by Ringo Starr. This solo can be heard on the Let It Be album.
Two stereo mixes of the song were then made. Glyn Johns, who produced many of the Let It Be recordings, was present at the session. To compile his latest version of the Get Back album, he took away the new Let It Be mixes, along with the multitrack tape of ‘I Me Mine’ from the previous day.
Also on this day...
- 1967: Recording: Penny Lane
- 1965: Live: Another Beatles Christmas Show
- 1964: Live: The Beatles’ Christmas Show
- 1964: Radio: various interviews
- 1963: Live: Town Hall, Dingwall, Scotland
Want more? Visit the Beatles history section.
minus John Lennon 🙁
So if paul really re-recorded the bass and he, george and linda re-recorded the harmony vocals, john isn’t on the song let it be, is he?
I’m pretty sure that Paul, George and Linda merely overdubbed vocal harmonies onto the prerecorded basic track and I don’t think Paul would’ve disrespected John by removing his vocal harmonies from the final mix.
Paul did, however, overdub the final bass part, as stated here, and it definitely made sense, since he was The Beatles’ bassist.
I believe Glyn Johns took these tapes and added them to his second incarnation of “Get Back”… Spector, in April, was given control, and reverted to the original tapes with some additions. This allowed him full manipulation of where he felt things should be, or where it recording abilities allowed. John does, indeed, play the ‘bass’ on “Let It Be”. It was a poor choice, as John bass playing sounds like crap.
Actually, the bass sounds too well-played to be John, and according to https://www.guitarworld.com/blogs/song-facts-beatles-let-it-be-both-versions, it was George Martin’s idea to have Paul replace John’s poorly played bass part with his own and it was absolutely right for Paul to retrack John’s bass part, because a) he was the Beatles’ usual bassist and b) John absolutely did not like playing bass at all.
“albeit without John Lennon” means that they were not recording as a group. The last time they were together in the studio was 8/20/69. It’s funny that they list I, me, mine as the last track that they recorded before the break up but the song was recorded in January 1969 and finished in April of 1970 without Lennon present. I’m of the consensus that Here comes the sun, which was recorded on 8/19/1969 was the last recording that they did as a band in their entirety.
But did all four not record on the track I want You on 20 August 1969 ?
As long as any group member was working on a Beatles release in the studio they were there, de facto, representing the entire group. It might be splitting hairs but I say Apr. ’70. Regards
Especially in the group’s later years, the Beatles often did not record their songs “as a band in their entirety.” Even for songs on which they all participated it was not unusual for them to lay their tracks down separately. And there were many songs that all four didn’t play on. As long as a song is attributed to “the Beatles” it carries the spirit of the group, and whenever a Beatle was working on it in the studio, that was a Beatles recording session.
The solo George laid down that day is among my favorites. I always prefer the album track of Let It Be over the single specifically for that reason.
I think there must be some photos from this session. Linda was there.
Now I can answer myself. Such absolutely gorgeous photos from January 3 and 4, 1970 are finally available in the book added to Let It Be 50th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition (pages 49, 54 and 55). Great shots!
George’s finest guitar solo.