Let It Be

“Let It Be” was a track from English group The Beatles and their twelfth and final album of the same name. Released in May 1970, the album was released a month after the band’s break up. The song was written and sung by lead singer and member Paul McCartney, however on the song it is credited to Lennon-McCartney (the song writing partnership between Paul McCartney and John Lennon” and was produced by Phil Spector. The single version was later released and was produced by Sir George Martin, who was often referred to as “the fifth beatle”, due to his extensive involvement in all of the band’s albums.

“Let It Be” originated from a dream that McCartney had about his late mother (Mary McCartney, sadly died of cancer in 1956 when Paul was fourteen) during the production of the sessions for “The Beatles (the White Album)” in 1968, which was apparently a very tense period. McCartney had later publicly stated “It was great to visit with her again. I felt very blessed to have that dream. So that got me writing ‘Let It Be’.”

There is no music video for “Let It Be”, but the audio upload on the official Beatles YouTube channel has 52.3 million views and 452 thousand likes since it was uploaded in June 2018.

Release Date: 6th March 1970

Songwriter/s: Lennon-McCartney

Producer/s: George Martin (single version) & Phil Spector (album version)

Label: Apple

Chart Rankings, Certifications & Accolades: “Let It Be” charted highly in its year of release, reaching #1 in Australia and Austria, #3 in Belgium, #1 in Canada and Hungary, #3 in Ireland, #1 in the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, #2 in the UK, #1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and on the US Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. “Let It Be” is certified Gold in both Italy and the UK and 2x Platinum in the US. “Let It Be” was ranked #50 on Mojo magazine’s 2006 list of “The 101 Greatest Beatles Songs”. In 2010, Rolling Stone magazine had a similar list and placed the track at #8, as well as ranking the track at #20 on its “500 Greatest Songs of All Time”.

The lyrics to “Let It Be” can be viewed here: LINK