Let It Be
by The Beatles
- 72
- BPM
- C major
- Key
- 8B
- Camelot
- 45
- Danceability
- 64
- Acousticness
On January 3, 1969, the Beatles were at Twickenham Film Studios on the second day of what became the Let It Be film. That is where "Let It Be" was properly rehearsed. Only mono decks were running. The first take, with Paul McCartney on piano and vocals alone, was not a multi-track recording. The first attempt with the rest of the band came on January 8. The master take was recorded on January 31 at Apple Studios, with Billy Preston on Hammond organ and John Lennon on six-string bass, a part George Martin later had McCartney replace.
McCartney said the song came from a dream about his mother, Mary, who died of cancer when he was 14. She told him, "It will be all right, just let it be." Road manager Mal Evans offered another account, saying McCartney had a vision of him during meditation in India. In September 1968, between takes of "Piggies", McCartney sang "Brother Malcolm" where the finished song has "Mother Mary".
George Harrison overdubbed one guitar solo on April 30, 1969 and another on January 4, 1970. The first went on the single, released March 6, 1970, and the second on the album. The single started at number six on the Billboard Hot 100, the highest debut up to then, and reached number one for two weeks in April.
Let It Be runs at 72 BPM, the tempo of soul, trip-hop and half-time hip-hop. In classical terms it sits in largo territory. A bar of 4/4 lasts 3.33 seconds, and a quarter-note delay is 833 ms. It is in C major, Camelot 8B, which shares its notes with A minor and mixes cleanly with F major and G major.
We use multiple sources as part of our online research for the song story including Wikipedia.