Let It Be

Story

Recording

Equipment

Recording Timeline

• 31 January 1969 — the “Apple Studio Performance” — Apple Studios, 3 Savile Row. P: George Martin. E: Glyn Johns. 2E: Alan Parsons. Recorded the day after the rooftop concert as the final recording of those numbers unsuitable for the rooftop show: two piano songs (Let It Be and The Long and Winding Road) and one acoustic number (Two of Us). Take numbers came from the film clapperboard rather than the tape box. Nine takes of Let It Be were recorded (numbered 20–27, with take 27 consisting of two audio takes). The Beatles and Billy Preston arranged themselves into stage formation on and around a platform; Paul was the focus of attention throughout, as can be seen in the Let It Be film.¹
• 30 April 1969 — the first lead-guitar overdub (the “single” solo) — Studio Three, 7.15pm–2.00am. P: Chris Thomas. E: Jeff Jarratt. 2E: Nick Webb. George Harrison overdubbed lead guitar onto take 27 (still called take 27 because that was the film slate take number). This is the solo Glyn Johns used for both Get Back compiles and the solo that appears on the 6 March 1970 single. Per Lewisohn this was the only deviation from the original live premise that Johns made.¹
• 4 January 1970 — the second overdub stage (Lennon in Denmark) — Studio Two, 2.30pm–4.00am. P: George Martin. E: Phil McDonald. 2E: Richard Langham. With John Lennon in Denmark on holiday, Paul, George and Ringo gathered at Abbey Road for the last Beatles-as-a-band recording session. The session structure: SI onto take 27 (Harrison/McCartney harmonised backing vocals first), then three tape reductions of take 27 into takes 28–30 with simultaneous SI of brass scored by George Martin (two trumpets, two trombones, tenor saxophone), then a final SI onto take 30 of a second — “more stinging” — Harrison lead guitar solo, Ringo drums, Paul maracas, and cellos at the end (also scored by George Martin). George Martin and Phil McDonald then made remix stereo 1–2 from take 30; remix stereo 2 is the version released as the 6 March 1970 single.¹
• 26 March 1970 — Spector at Abbey Road Room 4 — P: Phil Spector. E: Peter Bown. 2E: Roger Ferris. Four stereo remixes of take 30 (remixes 1–4) edited into remix stereo 1. Lewisohn: “Phil Spector’s sharpening of the Beatles’ percussion sound came to a head with his remixes of Let It Be, adding such a degree of tape echo to Ringo’s hi-hat that this instrument becomes virtually the sole focus of attention.” Spector also edited a repeat verse into the end of the song to extend the duration, and chose the 4 January 1970 overdubbed lead guitar solo (omitting the 30 April 1969 recording).¹

Studio Notes

• Take 27 — the film-slate “best” — Glyn Johns used take 27 for his first Get Back compile; every released version of Let It Be derives from this same take (first compile completed at Olympic, 28 May 1969). After an excellent take of Let It Be (take 25), John announced “OK, let’s track it,” then sharply drew in his breath and added, in a sarcastic, slap-my-wrist fashion, “You bounder, you cheat!”¹
• The two-solo 8-track master — one tape, two singles’ worth of solo — By the end of the 4 January 1970 session the 8-track tape carried both guitar solos sitting side-by-side: the 30 April 1969 overdub and the 4 January 1970 overdub. Lewisohn is explicit that the single and LP are “one and the same version” — derived from the same tape — with the difference resolved in mixing: remix stereo 2 (single) mixes out the 4 January 1970 solo, leaving the 30 April 1969 solo audible; Spector’s 26 March 1970 LP remix does the opposite, mixing out the 30 April 1969 solo and leaving the 4 January 1970 solo audible. No commercially released version carries both solos playing simultaneously.¹
• Glyn Johns’ refusal to use the 4 January overdubs — Glyn Johns attended the 4 January 1970 session and took away all of the tapes, but for the 5 January 1970 second Get Back compile he refused to use the revamped Let It Be — remaining as faithful as possible to the no-overdub Get Back principle. The compile that ultimately reached the public as the Let It Be LP was not Johns’ work; it was Phil Spector’s.¹
• Apple Studios 8-track tape — seven music tracks plus one film-sync pulse — Peter Bown on the original Apple session tapes: “The tapes had seven tracks of music and one sync pulse track for the film camera.” This 7-music-track ceiling constrained both the 4 January 1970 reduction-with-simultaneous-SI sequence (multiple tape reductions needed to free up space for the brass and second guitar solo) and Spector’s subsequent remix choices.¹
• Spector wanted to hear everything wet — Brian Gibson on Spector’s working method during the Easter 1970 remix sessions: “On Let It Be, Spector worked in the completely opposite way [to other producers]. He wanted to hear it, while it was being recorded, exactly the way it would sound when finished: with all the tape echo, plate echo, chamber echo, all the effects.” This is consistent with Peter Bown’s recollection that Spector wanted tape echo on everything in Room 4.¹

Releases

• The 1970 single (6 March 1970, Apple/Parlophone R 5833) — Remix stereo 2 made on 4 January 1970 by George Martin / Phil McDonald, before Phil Spector entered the project. Carries George’s 30 April 1969 lead-guitar solo in the middle eight; the 4 January 1970 solo (also on the 8-track tape) is mixed out. Brass and cellos from the same 4 January overdub stage are present but mixed very low. A #1 in the US and #2 in Britain.¹
• The Glyn Johns second Get Back compile (5 January 1970, unreleased) — Johns deliberately did not tamper further with the 4 January 1970 tape and refused to use the 4 January overdubs; the second Get Back master kept the 30 April 1969 guitar solo and moved Let It Be from side B to the end of side A. The album was rejected by the Beatles, like the first Johns compile from May 1969; both remain officially unreleased.¹
• The Let It Be LP (8 May 1970, Apple/Parlophone PCS 7096, stereo only) — Phil Spector’s stereo remixes 1–4 of take 30, edited together as remix stereo 1, made on 26 March 1970 in Abbey Road Room 4 with Peter Bown engineering. Spector’s mix uses the 4 January 1970 guitar solo (mixing out the 30 April 1969 solo, the opposite of the single’s choice); adds “such a degree of tape echo to Ringo’s hi-hat that this instrument becomes virtually the sole focus of attention”; and edits a repeat verse into the end of the song to extend the duration. The brass (two trumpets, two trombones, tenor sax) and cellos overdubbed on 4 January are given prominence rather than being buried as on the single.¹
• Anthology 3 (28 October 1996, Apple) — Post-Lewisohn release. The Anthology 3 inclusion of Let It Be is documented in the official compilation’s liner notes rather than in the Lewisohn (1988) primary-source canon. Lewisohn’s 1988 text predates the Anthology series by eight years; per the site’s less-specific-when-uncertain principle, this entry flags the variant’s existence without making claims beyond what Anthology 3’s own documentation establishes.
• Let It Be... Naked (17 November 2003, Apple/Parlophone) — The Allan Rouse / Paul Hicks treatment that strips Phil Spector’s 26 March 1970 album-only overdubs (the tape-echo hi-hat sharpening, the repeat-verse edit extending the song) and returns the released 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).