The Long and Winding Road

The Long and Winding Road ( dt [ mutatis mutandis ]: The long and rocky road ') is a song by British band The Beatles in 1969, it appeared on their last studio album Let It Be. . The song by Paul McCartney and copyright Lennon / McCartney was written published.

Background

Paul McCartney had The Long and Winding Road 1968 written in Scotland. A first demo was recorded during the sessions for the White Album; However, the text remained unpublished.

Recording

Beginning in January 1969 were rehearsing the Beatles The Long and Winding Road during the filming for the film Let It Be. On January 26, 1969, the Beatles The Long and Winding Road took in her own studio in the basement of the Apple offices in London's Savile Row. Producer was George Martin, assisted by Glyn Johns. John Lennon, who plays bass on the recording, playful permanently on the recordings of 26 January 1969. On January 31, 1969 Around seven takes, record a better recording of the piece while trying.

Glyn Johns was twice commissioned to put together from the footage from January 1969, a music album. To this end, he grabbed each back to the version of The Long and Winding Road from 26 January 1969. His versions remained unpublished until 1996.

Ultimately, Phil Spector was charged with the revision of the recordings. This was by Richard Anthony Hewson strings, brass, harp and choir arrange for The Long and Winding Road that have been recorded at Abbey Road Studios on April 1, 1970. On this day, Ringo Starr played his drums also new. The author of the song, Paul McCartney, had not been asked for consent to these recordings and reacted very negatively to it. He demanded that the Beatles manager Allen Klein in a letter that these admissions are to be removed from the song. He ended the letter with the phrase " Do not ever do it again. " ( " Mach " never again. " ) George Martin also expressed his dissatisfaction with the recording.

Publication

Despite the protests of Paul McCartney appeared The Long and Winding Road on 8 May 1970 on the album Let It Be. In the UK it was not released as a single, but a published in the U.S. single reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 It was the last number -one hit in the United States. In Germany the song reached number 26

The version of 26 January 1969, 1996 - published in the Anthology series - without chorus and orchestra. Also without chorus and orchestra, the song appeared on the 2003 album Let It Be ... Naked. Here, however, the re-recording of 31 January 1969 was used, which can also be seen in the feature film Let It Be.

In 2002, reached a cover of Will Young and Gareth Gates topped the British charts.