The Beatles: Single By Single

'Let It Be'/'You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)':

Gospel funeral-hymn city. And gone bonkers on the flip side. Always good to hear. Like their more famous songs, 'Let It Be' has been heard too many/not enough times; the song has a stature that is not going away. Quite a somber song for a single, like the black writing on a black wall, signaling the death of the band, though sung at a time before they or anyone even knew it.

The song debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 chart at #6, the week ending March 21, 1970. 'Instant Karma' was already there at #4 (an early Feb. release), and 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' at #1 (a six-weeks #1) meant that the world could embrace the laying down of a weary tune like 'Let It Be'. Surrogates Badfinger are at #23 with 'Come And Get It', which would go on to peak at #7. The top 20 at the time looked like this:

1 BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER –•– Simon and Garfunkel (Columbia) (4 weeks at #1)
2 THE RAPPER –•– The Jaggerz (Kama Sutra)
3 GIVE ME JUST A LITTLE MORE TIME –•– The Chairmen Of the Board (Invictus)
4 INSTANT KARMA (We All Shine On) –•– John Ono Lennon (Apple)
5 RAINY NIGHT IN GEORGIA –•– Brook Benton (Cotillion)
6 — LET IT BE –•– The Beatles (Apple)
7 HE AIN’T HEAVY, HE’S MY BROTHER –•– The Hollies (Epic)
8 LOVE GROWS (Where My Rosemary Goes) –•– Edison Lighthouse (Bell)
9 EVIL WAYS –•– Santana (Columbia)
10 DIDN’T I (Blow Your Mind This Time) –•– The Delfonics (Philly Groove)
11 TRAVELIN’ BAND / WHO’LL STOP THE RAIN –•– Creedence Clearwater Revival (Fantasy)
12 MA BELLE AMIE –•– The Tee Set (Colossus)
13 SPIRIT IN THE SKY –•– Norman Greenbaum (Reprise)
14 ABC –•– Jackson 5 (Motown)
15 HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN –•– Frijid Pink (Parrot)
16 KENTUCKY RAIN –•– Elvis Presley (RCA)
17 CELEBRATE –•– Three Dog Night (Dunhill)
18 EASY COME, EASY GO –•– Bobby Sherman (Metromedia)
19 CALL ME / SON OF A PREACHER MAN –•– Aretha Franklin (Atlantic)
20 PSYCHEDELIC SHACK –•– The Temptations (Gordy)

'Let It Be' would would rise to #2 the following week, and hold there for two weeks with 'Instant Karma' peaking at #3 (for three weeks), 'Let It Be' finally moving into the #1 spot (for two weeks) for the week ending April 11, as 'Bridge...' fell to #5.

The Billboard Hot 100 from May 23, 1970, shows 'Let It Be' and 'Instant Karma' having fallen to #6 and #27 (the first solo Beatle single to sell 1 million copies). There is a third Beatle single on the chart at #35 - 'The Long And Winding Road/For You Blue' - debuting on the chart after its May 11th release date:





From the same May 23, 1970 Billboard issue:

 

The last two singles released before the breakup of the Beatles were Let It Be and The Long And Winding Road. I can't help but think like they sound like breakup singles.

In times of trouble he tries to let it be.

He pleads for the long and winding road not to leave him standing and waiting here.

Paul was clearly not feeling well anchored in life.

 

Those two are indeed mournful, a pretty stark contrast to the joyful, energetic pop/rock we'd come to know, love and expect. The band was imploding, the 60s were over and a new decade loomed.

 

Which is why I said we can do it after Real Love.

 

Both were released after the breakup.

 

I get the song wasn't released as a single in the UK but other songs only released in other countries were presented in the appropriate time-line so it feels dismissive of the song to me.

 

Oh , the hell with them..

 

Is it just me or is this a particularly cracking good Top 20?

 

No, the timeline is this :

March 1970 release of the single Let It Be.

April 1970 Paul announces the break-up of the Beatles in the press.

May 1970 The Long And Windng Road released in the US.

December 1995 release of Free As A Bird.

Putting Free As A Bird before The Long And Windng Road is some kind of revisionism. To me it's inexplicable.

 

Free As A Bird is an odd one. But it does have some of those wonderful elements that create some Beatle magic. I like George's slide guitar, but he didn't play slide until ATMP, so it's not really a Beatle sound. The tempo is a bit 1970's slow (John did some really slow tempo stuff) and would have benefitted from a slightly more lively tempo. There are a bunch of nice little bits of ear candy, some guitar phrases, the vocal harmonies - especially during the bridge (thrilling). Most of all it's great to hear the three primary vocalists get their moment. Nice, understated, tasteful solo by George as well.

As a song it's pretty good but nothing exceptional. It sounds like the Beatles to my ears - but it's not a throwback sound. It's not When We Was Fab. It's John, Paul, George & Ringo together. So it sounds like the Beatles in the 90's, if that makes sense.

I much prefer the Beatles 1 Giles Martin mix to the original Jeff Lynne mix. Perhaps it was the intervening nearly twenty years of technology, but it is a much smoother sound. The original mix sounded like what it was - new instrumentation over a cheap cassette recording. On the original you can clearly hear the cassette dropping in and out of the mix. On the new mix that change of "environment" isn't anywhere near as pronounced.

I know that some do not consider this canon - but that is missing the point, IMO. It's a worthy track and I am happy to have it.

 

Yeah I wouldn’t want to be without it and the video of course is stellar. I’m still trying to pick out all the references. Shame it hasn’t been upgraded to HD

 

I like the slow tempo very Beatleesque. Love everything about Free As A Bird, beautiful song and the production is flawless. George's extra lyrics fit the song perfectly. And of course the video is amazing.

 

Beatleesque?!

Well a lot of Beatle songs were pretty uptempo. And to me this doesn't sound very Beatles at all. It's nice of course but the main thing is that it signalled the start of the Anthology series both on disc and on TV.

They shouldn't have release it as a single though, just kept it for the album. Now THAT would be very Beatles in their heyday.

The video is great. Is there a list somewhere of all the Beatle references in there? The last time I watched I noticed a kite in the corner of the living room right at the beginning which I'd never notived before.

 

Real Love


B-side: Baby's in Black
Single Released: 4 March 1996

According to Beatles biographer John T. Marck, "Real Love" originated as part of an unfinished stage play that Lennon was working on at the time, titled The Ballad of John and Yoko. The song was first recorded in 1977 with a handheld tape recorder on his piano at home. Eventually the work evolved under the title "Real Life", a song which Lennon would record at least six times in 1979 and 1980, and was then abandoned. The song was eventually combined with elements of another Lennon demo, "Baby Make Love to You".[1] In June 1978, Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono told the press that they were working on a musical, The Ballad of John and Yoko, which had been planned during the previous year.[2] Songs proposed to be included up to this point were "Real Love" and "Every Man Has a Woman Who Loves Him".[2]

In later versions, Lennon altered portions of the song; for example, "no need to be alone / it's real love / yes, it's real love" became "why must it be alone / it's real / well it's real life." Some takes included an acoustic guitar, while the eventual Beatles release features Lennon on piano, with rudimentary double-tracked vocals, and a tambourine. The version released in 1996 most closely reflected the lyrical structure of the early demo takes of the song.[3]

Lennon appears to have considered recording "Real Love" for his and Ono's 1980 album Double Fantasy. A handwritten draft of the album's running order places it as the possible opening track on side two.[4] The song remained largely forgotten until 1988, when the take 6 of "Real Love" appeared on the Imagine: John Lennon soundtrack album. The song was also released on the Acoustic album in 2004. The demo with just Lennon on piano was issued in 1998 on John Lennon Anthology and then later on Working Class Hero: The Definitive Lennon.

References: Wikipedia

 

As much as I love The Beatles version I also love the idea of it being on Double Fantasy. The intro on The Beatles remixed version is sublime

 

Real Love

Nice, but not single material and a bit chipmunkey on the speed side.

At least Free As A Bird was number one in Scotland. Real Love wasn't number one anywhere. Only number eleven on Billboard. Number fifty in Belgium.

Cheapening the Beatles chart legacy imho.

 

Beat me to the punch.

Any day I hear the Delfonics Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time) is a great day.

Even the Bobby Sherman song is almost listenable.

The number 1 song above. Here's a Simon & Garfunkel story for ya. Somewhere in time in 1970 me mama needed a date for a concert at Carnegie Hall to see S and G - NYC's favorite sons - and chose 14 yr old me, again. At some point, Paul says he just finished a new song and is not sure how it will be received. The song brought the house down. Actually, up. As in our seats for a standing O. Bridge Over Troubled Water, of course. Amazing the things you remember as we sit on a blue marble moving through the universe.

 

The Long And Winding Road was a perfect choice as a followup single to Let It Be. Well done USA!

Free As A Bird was cool because you got solo verses from John, Paul, and George. The video was fantastic as well!

Real Love is a great song. One time I heard the beginning come on the radio and I hadn't yet placed in my head what song it was and I was thinking, "Man, this is a great song". Then I realized it was "Real Love", which I found really cool. At the time it came out I didn't think it was as good as "Free Bird", but I think that I was influenced by the video for "Free As A Bird". When listening to just the song, "Real Love" is really stronger and the more viewings I have of the video for that song makes me like it even more as well.

 

Well, we've done it! A Long and Winding Road it's been. Thanks to everyone for participating. I absolutely 100% mean it when I say I never this this would get this popular.

However, we're not quite done yet. Over the past few weeks, I've noticed we've skipped over a lot of singles. This is particularly on me, and I take full responsibility in knowing that.

In saying that, I've decided on a solution. From this point onwards, you lovely people may communicate about the singles that didn't get shown here. I'll still be reading messages (and occasionally commenting) but not as much here.

 

Congrats on a great discussion. My favorite on the site so far.

OT warning.

I see you're from Australia. R u a tennis fan? Was heading to the Socal desert this week for my annual tennis trip. But, Indian Wells cancelled this year.

 

I am from Australia indeed, but I'm not a Tennis fan.

 

Real Love is probably a better song than Free As A Bird, but it doesn't have Paul & George taking lead vocal turns, which I find thrilling on FAAB. Otherwise it is presented much like FAAB. Very detailed and intricate backing. Good George guitar inserts. Great vocal harmonies. This one sounds less like a Beatles track and more like a John track to my ears. But it's a good song and I am, again, happy to have it.

Just as with FAAB, I prefer the Giles Martin Beatles 1 remix to the Jeff Lynne original. On the remix the overdubs are more naturally integrated with the original cassette track. It's really a beautiful mix.

 

I liked "Real Love" more than "Free as a Bird" as a teen who got into the Beatles via Anthology. I also had the single, and loved the other tracks on it!

 

There'a quote and a half

 

FFAB and Real Love remixes on 1+ were not made by Giles Martin, but Jeff Lynne himself.

And talking about those remixes, did they use a better source for John's vocals? It sounds like that, specially FAAB.