THE END OF THE (LONG AND WINDING) ROAD
Let It Be might not rank high among all-time favourite Beatles albums, but the bizarre story of its making, riven with internal strife, drug-induced apathy, the public disintegration of what had been the world’s greatest pop/rock band, and a fistful of great songs makes it one of rock’s most fascinating artefacts.
The Beatles had been coming apart since the White Album sessions in 1968, but their warts-’n’-all documentary Let It Be and its soundtrack exposed the yawning chasms that had now consumed the formerly cuddly mop-tops.
Recalling the making of The Beatles/the White Album, Tony Bramwell, their roadie from the Liverpool days and later an Apple director, has stated: “Everything changed then. It became that Paul was doing lots and the others weren’t doing much more than being session men.”
According to John Lennon, by the time Let It Be got under way in January 1969, “we got fed up being sidemen for Paul. And the camera work was set up to show Paul and not show anybody else. That’s how I felt about it.”
From George Harrison’s perspective: “I thought, okay, it’s a new year and a new approach. But it soon became apparent that it wasn’t anything new, it was just gonna be painful again. For me to come back into the winter of discontent with The Beatles… it was very unhealthy and unhappy.”
With the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, it seems glaringly obvious that they should never have even attempted to make Let It Be, but McCartney’s supremely optimistic confidence carried them all forwards into a misadventure that proved not only unrelentingly miserable for all of them, but also just barely avoided destroying them forever.
Complicating the already vexatious situation, Lennon’s heroin addiction was at its worst during the Let It Be sessions, and the others had no idea how to deal with it. As McCartney outlined to Barry Miles in his book Many Years From Now: “We were disappointed that he was getting into heroin because we didn’t really know how we could help him. We just hoped it wouldn’t go too far.”
Despite the dice being so heavily weighted against them, as 1969 began The Beatles started recording sessions, and also filming with director Michael Lindsay-Hogg, who had worked with them previously on promotional films for Paperback Writer, Hey Jude and other tracks.
Jan 2, 1969: At 10am The Beatles arrive at Twickenham Film Studios to begin rehearsals for a proposed TV show, Get Back. The project will eventually morph into the Let It Be album and film.
“Let It Be was the worst time of all, really disruptive.”
Producer George Martin
The idea was that you’d see The Beatles rehearsing, jamming, getting their act together, and then