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NEW YORK, USA – Recording “Let It Be,” their 12th and second-to-the-last studio album, was nothing short of “torture” for the Beatles, said John Lennon in a tape-recorded interview coming up for auction in September.
“Let It Be” is not the last album of the Beatles, as it is often widely assumed.
After “Let It Be,” the band recorded one more album, “Abbey Road” – with its now-iconic cover of Lennon crossing Abbey Road’s pedestrian lane, trailed by Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison.
Both albums were recorded in 1969 but it was “Abbey Road” that was released that year. “Let It Be” was released in 1970, the end of the now-lapidary 1960s and the year of the band’s breakup.
“Abbey Road” has long been celebrated for its more solid production and songwriting – a triumphant finale for a band that was already determined to dissolve itself.
Here’s one of ‘Abbey Road’s’ famous medleys, this clip featuring Lennon’s ‘Sun King,’ ‘Mean Mr. Mustard,’ and ‘Polythene Pam,’ and McCartney’s “She Came in through the Bathroom Window’:
The looser assembly of songs that became “Let It Be” evidently showed the Beatles’ divided focus by this time.
When Lennon and his second wife, Yoko Ono, sat down in Toronto with radio DJ and Village Voice critic Howard Smith for an hour-long interview, he said, “We were going through hell. We often do. It’s torture every time we produce anything.”
“The Beatles haven’t got any magic you haven’t got. We suffer like hell anytime we make anything, and we got each other to contend with. Imagine working with the Beatles, it’s tough.
“There’s just tension. It’s tense every time the red light [in the recording studio] goes on.”
READ: The Beatles hit Broadway with ‘Let It Be’
“Let It Be” was largely recorded in London to complement a film of the same name.
Its title track and “The Long and Winding Road” endure as two of the Beatles’ most memorable songs.
But there are other gems in this album as well, notably “Two of Us,” a surprisingly poignant duet between Lennon and McCartney – the songwriting team that had become a bitter partnership at this point – and the rocker, “I’ve Got a Feeling,” with Lennon’s playful lines, “Everybody had a wet dream/Everybody saw the sunshine.”
Here’s Lennon and McCartney’s duet, ‘Two of Us’:
For Lennon, “Let It Be” was a “strange album” that reflected the friction that had grown between himself and the band members, especially McCartney.
“We never really finished it. We didn’t really want to do it. Paul was hustling for us to do it. It’s the Beatles with their suits off,” he said.
But years after the Beatles’ dissolution, Lennon and McCartney were known to ring up each other and pay each other visits.
In 1980, Lennon was gunned down outside his New York apartment by a stalking fan. He had just released his comeback album, “Double Fantasy,” after 5 years of keeping away from the public eye.
In 1995, Harrison, McCartney, and Starr reunited to record two song demos by Lennon.
Harrison died of cancer in 2001. McCartney and Starr (real name Richard Starkey) are the surviving Beatles.
RR Auction of New Hampshire said Lennon’s hour-long interview over two audio-tape reels had lain forgotten for nearly 4 decades in a crate at the rear of Smith’s loft in New York.
“It’s a frank and honest interview from one of the most revered musicians and activists of all time,” said Bobby Livingston, vice president of the auction house.
The recording is among more than 100 Beatles-related items folded into a larger “Marvels of Modern Music” memorabilia auction that runs from September 19 through September 26 online at www.rrauction.com.
It has an initial minimum bid listed at $300, but Livingston estimated it could sell for between $5,000 and $10,000. – Rappler.com
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