The Number Ones: The Beatles' “Let It Be”
Mary Patricia McCartney, a Liverpool midwife, died of an embolism in October 1956, when her son Paul was 14. More than a decade later, Paul, who was going through a rough period and trying to keep his band going, had a dream where his mother came and spoke to him. To hear McCartney tell it, his mother told him to “let it be” — to rest easy, knowing that everything would be OK. McCartney took that to heart, and he wrote a song about it.
McCartney wrote “Let It Be” when the Beatles were working on their White Album, and it took a while to get the song out into the world. The album that became Let It Be was originally supposed to be Get Back, an LP of songs that the band had rehearsed in-studio and then performed, for the first time, in front of a live audience. But the rehearsals were hard on the band, and they ended up giving up the idea. The band recorded those songs, but then they went off and made Abbey Road. And then they broke up. And then they finished putting the album, retitled Let It Be, together.
Source: Tom Breihan/stereogum.com
