Get Back

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Overview

Background

Pattern analysis

Recording

Mix variants & recording techniques

Documented mix variants

• The 1969 single (11 April 1969, Apple/Parlophone R 5777) — A-side from the 28 January 1969 Apple Studios recording. Mono remix 5 + stereo remix 1 made at Olympic Sound Studios on 7 April 1969 (P: George Martin?; E: Glyn Johns; 2E: Jerry Boys) after Paul McCartney rejected the earlier 26 March 1969 Abbey Road mono remixes 1–4 (Lewisohn 1988, p. 172). The track’s long “ho-ho-hos” tail from Paul was faded for the single but later preserved as the closing 37″ on the unreleased Get Back LP and over the end titles of the Let It Be film (Lewisohn p. 168). Single label uniquely credited “The Beatles with Billy Preston” — the only Beatles single to carry a guest player’s name on the label — with no producer’s credit on either side, “hardly surprising considering the confused roles of George Martin and Glyn Johns” (Lewisohn p. 172). Number one in the UK and US.
• The Glyn Johns first Get Back compile (May 1969, unreleased) — The side-A line-up Lewisohn reconstructs from the rejected first compile lists “Get Back [28 January, the single release version]” (Lewisohn 1988, p. 176). The compile additionally placed the faded-up “ho-ho-hos” tail of the same 28 January studio take as its closing 37″ item (Lewisohn p. 168). The Beatles rejected this compile.
• The Glyn Johns second Get Back compile (5 January 1970, unreleased) — Same 28 January 1969 studio version of Get Back per the side-A line-up Lewisohn reconstructs (Lewisohn 1988, p. 196: “Get Back [28 January, the single release version]”). The Beatles rejected this compile too; in March 1970 Phil Spector was brought in.
• The Let It Be LP (8 May 1970, Apple/Parlophone PCS 7096, stereo only) — Phil Spector’s stereo remixes 1–5 of the 27 January 1969 recording, with stereo remixes 3 and 5 edited into remix stereo 3, made on 26 March 1970 in Abbey Road Room 4 (P: Phil Spector; E: Peter Bown; 2E: Roger Ferris) (Lewisohn 1988, p. 198). This is a different take from the one on the single, not a different mix of the same take: Lewisohn p. 198 explicitly records that “Get Back was remixed from the 27 January 1969 recording, with John Lennon’s joky introduction ‘Sweet Loretta Fart…’”. Spector crossfaded the 30 January rooftop ad-libs (“Thanks, Mo!” and “I hope we passed the audition”) onto the close of the studio mix, “implying that the song was a rooftop recording though, at the same time, placing the comments, logically, at the close of the album” (Lewisohn p. 198).
• Anthology 3 (28 October 1996, Apple) — Post-Lewisohn release. Per the site’s less-specific-when-uncertain principle (Lewisohn’s 1988 text predates Anthology 3 by eight years), this entry flags the variant’s existence without making claims beyond what the compilation’s own liner notes establish.
• Let It Be... Naked (17 November 2003, Apple/Parlophone) — The Allan Rouse / Paul Hicks treatment that strips Phil Spector’s LP-only edits and crossfades and returns the Get Back mix closer in feel to the pre-Spector single. Post-Lewisohn (1988); documented in the album’s official liner notes rather than in the primary-source canon.
• 2009 stereo remaster — Let It Be (9 September 2009, Apple/EMI) — a 24-bit remaster of the 1970 album master (Allan Rouse / Guy Massey / Steve Rooke / Sean Magee); Let It Be was not part of the 2009 mono box (it has no 1960s mono mix). Per §1 less-specific-when-uncertain, this reissue post-dates the Lewisohn 1988 / Kehew & Ryan 2006 primary-source canon and is documented in official Apple/EMI release metadata.
• 2021 — Let It Be Special Edition (15 October 2021, Apple/UMe) — a new stereo remix by Giles Martin and Sam Okell, the Super Deluxe edition restoring Glyn Johns’s 1969 Get Back compiles and additional session takes. Same §1 caveat (post-2006 official release; documented in the box’s liner notes).

Recording techniques

• 23 January 1969 — the song’s Apple debut — Apple Studios, 3 Savile Row. P: George Martin. E: Glyn Johns. 2E: Alan Parsons. Approximately ten takes of Get Back were recorded on this day, the tenth marked “best” but never released (Lewisohn 1988, p. 166). The earlier Twickenham (2–15 January) rehearsal versions had carried Paul’s original political lyric “don’t dig no Pakistanis taking all the people’s jobs, get back to where you once belonged”; by the time sessions reached Apple the lyric had been rewritten (Lewisohn p. 166). George Martin over the talkback: “What are you calling this, Paul?”; Paul: “‘Shit’. ‘Shit’, take one” (Lewisohn p. 166, quoted directly). Alan Parsons made his Beatles tape-operator debut on this day; the 22 January control room had been handled by Glyn Johns alone (Lewisohn p. 166).
• 27 January 1969 — the “Sweet Loretta Fart” take — Apple Studios, 3 Savile Row. P: George Martin. E: Glyn Johns. 2E: Alan Parsons. “The Beatles had at least 14 different attempts at perfecting Get Back during this session. After what was loosely called take nine (though it was more like the 18th) John and Paul could be heard to agree on its definite progress: ‘nearly’ (meaning ‘nearly there’)” (Lewisohn 1988, p. 168, quoted directly). The take that became the album closer was preceded on tape by “John’s inimitable parody line ‘Sweet Loretta Fart she thought she was a cleaner but she was a frying pan’” (Lewisohn p. 168). Lewisohn is explicit on the take divergence: “This differed from the version — not yet recorded — chosen for the single” (p. 168).
• 28 January 1969 — the single take — Apple Studios, 3 Savile Row. P: George Martin. E: Glyn Johns. 2E: Alan Parsons. “Both sides of the Beatles’ next single — Get Back and Don’t Let Me Down — were recorded… Both were excellent recordings, worthy of the single release. Get Back was faded-out for disc as it continued for some considerable time, ending with forced ‘ho-ho-hos’ from Paul McCartney” (Lewisohn 1988, p. 168, quoted directly). The faded-out tail was preserved as the 37-second closing item on the unreleased Glyn Johns Get Back compiles and was used over the end titles of the Let It Be film (Lewisohn p. 168).
• 30 January 1969 — the rooftop concert (three Get Backs on the roof) — Apple Studios rooftop, 3 Savile Row. P: George Martin. E: Glyn Johns (engineering “down below in the basement”, “sadly unable to be an eye-witness”). 2E: Alan Parsons (on the roof). The 42-minute set was captured to two eight-track audio tapes (Lewisohn 1988, p. 169). The rehearsal opener was a rough Get Back (Lewisohn’s rooftop chronology item 1); a second Get Back followed (item 2, used as a well-matched edit in the Let It Be film); and a third Get Back closed the show, “somewhat distracted owing to police presence” (Lewisohn p. 169, item 10). Paul’s “Thanks, Mo!” (to Maureen Starkey) and John’s “I hope we passed the audition!” followed the third Get Back; “Paul’s and John’s comments, but not this Get Back song, were included on the unreleased Get Back LP” (Lewisohn p. 169). The Let It Be LP later employs “a skilful crossfade from the 27 January studio version of Get Back to the closing ad-lib comments from the rooftop” (Lewisohn p. 169) — the editorial sleight that the Spector LP remix completes (see below).
• Eight-track tape layout on the rooftop — Lewisohn p. 169 records the rooftop tracks as: T1 Paul vocal; T2 John (and George) vocal; T3 Organ (Billy Preston); T4 Bass (Paul); T5 sync track for film crew; T6 Drums (Ringo); T7 Guitar (John); T8 Guitar (George). The 30 January rooftop versions of Get Back therefore had seven music tracks plus one film-sync track — the same Apple Studios 8-track tape constraint Peter Bown later describes for the 31 January Apple Studio Performance (“seven tracks of music and one sync pulse track for the film camera”, Lewisohn p. 197).
• 5 February 1969 — first rooftop remixing — Apple Studios, 3 Savile Row. P: George Martin?. E: Glyn Johns. 2E: Alan Parsons. Stereo mixes “ending with a tape compilation, of the 30 January rooftop recordings” (Lewisohn 1988, p. 170). Two stereo Get Back remixes were among them.
• 26 March 1969 — the rejected mono single remixes — Abbey Road, studio unknown. P: George Martin?. E: Jeff Jarratt. Mono mixing: Get Back remixes 1–4 (Lewisohn 1988, p. 172). “Seeking to rush-release a single, the Beatles asked EMI Studios to remix Get Back for mono. This was done by Jeff Jarratt, it was met with approval and acetates were cut. It was not, however, the final mix” (Lewisohn p. 172, quoted directly). On Sunday 6 April 1969 John Peel and Alan Freeman broadcast acetates of Get Back on British radio (Lewisohn p. 172).
• 7 April 1969 — the final single remix at Olympic — Olympic Sound Studios. P: George Martin?. E: Glyn Johns. 2E: Jerry Boys. Mono remix 5 and stereo remix 1 of Get Back; mono remix 1 and stereo remix 1 of Don’t Let Me Down (Lewisohn 1988, p. 172). Paul McCartney “still wasn’t entirely happy with the mixing, so he quickly booked studio time with Glyn Johns at Olympic for the Monday — Easter Monday — to try again” (Lewisohn p. 172). Jerry Boys’ recollection (preserved verbatim in Lewisohn p. 172): a cheap record player in the back of his car — brought along that day for repair — was used to A/B the new mix against the rejected 26 March acetate, since Paul did not have a tape of the earlier mix on hand. “The very first playing of the Get Back single, which sold millions, was on my little player!” (Jerry Boys, Lewisohn p. 172, quoted directly). The stereo remix was completed in the same session for issue, initially, in the USA (Lewisohn p. 172).
• 11 April 1969 — single release — Get Back/Don’t Let Me Down, Apple [Parlophone] R 5777. “Owing to the late remixing, copies of the single did not reach the stores until several days after this rather optimistic release date” (Lewisohn 1988, p. 172). “Neither the A- nor B-side carried a producer’s credit, hardly surprising considering the confused roles of George Martin and Glyn Johns. But the record label for both sides did bear one new name, the two songs being officially accredited to ‘The Beatles with Billy Preston’. ‘A great honour,’ said Preston” (Lewisohn p. 172, quoted directly).
• 26 March 1970 — Spector’s LP take swap — Abbey Road, Room 4. P: Phil Spector. E: Peter Bown. 2E: Roger Ferris. Five stereo remixes of the 27 January 1969 take (remixes 1–5), with stereo remixes 3 and 5 edited into remix stereo 3 (Lewisohn 1988, p. 198). Lewisohn is explicit on the take swap: “Get Back was remixed from the 27 January 1969 recording, with John Lennon’s joky introduction ‘Sweet Loretta Fart…’” (p. 198). Spector then took the 30 January rooftop “Thanks Mo…”/“…hope we passed the audition” ad-libs from the same 27 March 1970 dialogue-snippets session and crossfaded them onto the close of his studio Get Back remix, “implying that the song was a rooftop recording though, at the same time, placing the comments, logically, at the close of the album” (Lewisohn p. 198, quoted directly). The result on the LP sounds like a single live performance but is in fact spliced from two different January 1969 sessions held three days apart.

Legacy & release history

Mono & stereo

• Stereo only on UK release — the band's last three LPs were mixed for stereo; no UK mono LPs were issued.

Documented alternate versions

• Anthology 3 (1996) — alternate take or demo
• Let It Be… Naked (2003) — Spector overdubs removed
• 2009 Stereo Remasters — Allan Rouse / Guy Massey remaster
• Let It Be 50th Anniversary (2021) — Giles Martin stereo remix

Released on

• Let It Be — LP, 8 May 1970
• Get Back / Don't Let Me Down — Single, 11 April 1969

Cross-references

Other songs sharing themes (billy-preston-credit, rooftop, closer-of-rooftop-set, no1)

Other songs led by the same vocalist

Other songs from this era

billy-preston-creditrooftopcloser-of-rooftop-setno1

Notable covers

Cultural appearances

Related songs