The Long and Winding Road - Recording Session

Recording Session

The Beatles recorded "The Long and Winding Road" on 26 and 31 January 1969, the day after the group's legendary final performance on the roof of their Apple headquarters, with McCartney on piano, John Lennon on bass guitar, George Harrison on guitar, Ringo Starr on drums, and Billy Preston on Hammond organ. This was during a series of sessions for an album project then known as Get Back. Lennon, who played bass only occasionally, made several mistakes on the recording. Some writers, such as Ian MacDonald, have postulated that the disenchanted Lennon's ragged bass playing was purposeful.

In May 1969, Glyn Johns, who had been asked to mix the Get Back album by the Beatles, selected the 26 January recording as the best version of the song. The Beatles had recorded a master version as part of the 'Apple studio performance' on 31 January, which contained a different lyrical and musical structure, but this version was not chosen for release. Bootlegs of the recording sessions of that day, and the film, show the band recording numerous takes of the song in a concerted effort to create a master. For both the 1969 and 1970 versions of the Get Back album, Glyn Johns used the 26 January mix as released on the Anthology 3 album in 1996. When the project was handed over to Phil Spector he also chose the 26 January recording. In the spring of 1970, Lennon and the Beatles' manager, Allen Klein, turned over the recordings to Phil Spector with the hope of salvaging an album, which was then titled Let It Be.

Spector made various changes to the songs, but his most dramatic embellishments would occur on 1 April 1970, when he turned his attention to "The Long and Winding Road". At Abbey Road Studios, he recorded the orchestral and choir accompaniment for the song. The only member of the Beatles present was Starr, who was busy recording drum overdubs for "Across the Universe" and "I Me Mine" before being called back in later by Spector once he'd got his arrangement down. Already known for his eccentric behaviour in the studio, Spector was in a peculiar mood that day, as balance engineer Pete Bown recalled: "He wanted tape echo on everything, he had to take a different pill every half hour and had his bodyguard with him constantly. He was on the point of throwing a wobbly, saying 'I want to hear this, I want to hear that. I must have this, I must have that.'" Bown and the orchestra eventually became so annoyed by Spector's behaviour that the orchestra refused to play any further, and at one point, Bown left for home, forcing Spector to telephone him and persuade him into coming back after Starr had told Spector to calm down.

Finally, Spector succeeded in remixing "The Long and Winding Road", using 18 violins, four violas, four cellos, three trumpets, three trombones, two guitars, and a choir of 14 women. The orchestra was scored and conducted by Richard Hewson, who would later work with McCartney on his album, Thrillington. This lush orchestral treatment was in direct contrast to the Beatles' stated intentions for a "real" recording when they began work on Get Back.