The Long And Winding Road Lyrics



Lennon/McCartney


The long and winding road that leads to your door,
Will never disappear,
I've seen that road before It always leads me here,
leads me to your door.

The wild and windy night the rain washed away,
Has left a pool of tears crying for the day.
Why leave me standing here, let me know the way
Many times I've been alone and many times I've cried
Anyway you'll never know the many ways I've tried, but
Still they lead me back to the long and winding road
You left me standing here a long, long time ago
Don't leave me waiting here, lead me to you door
Da, da, da, da--

 
Lead Singer: Paul

Recording: 1/26/69, 1/31/69, 4/1/70
Mixing: [4/69 and/or 5/69] 3/26/70, 4/2/70
Length: 3:40
Take: 18

Anomalies

0:19
Microphone thump after "disappear" - through a short echo/delay
0:28
Wrong notes in bass line, sounds very hesitant
1:32
Click near word "times" (microphone hit again?)
1:53
Click in vocal track
1:59
Paul talks about John's playing ... (Can't hear this on CD?)
2:10
Bass note too quiet.
2:39
Mis-struck bass note
2:52 * NEW *
Another bass note out of time
2:59
Dropped out bass note (either not played or mixed out!)
3:07
Further wrong bass notes
3:14
More dropped out bass notes
3:15
Sort-of-anomaly: Paul is heard to faintly sing "keep me waiting" a second time. Whether this is just Paul "getting into" the song, or whether it was mixed out, I don't know. Apparently this repeat line is included in concerts and Give My Regards To Broadstreet.
The Beatles recorded this in January, 1969 as a fairly simple ballad. By 1970, The Beatles were breaking up and and Phil Spector was brought in to go through the tapes and produce the album. Spector was known for his "Wall Of Sound" recording technique, where he added many instruments and layered the tracks to create a very full sound. On this, he took out most of The Beatles instruments and added a string section and choir. The result was very different from what the group originally had in mind.
Paul McCartney wrote this, but he didn't go to the sessions where Spector produced it. When McCartney heard the results, he made it clear that he hated what Spector did to his song, and tried to get the original version, which was mixed by engineer Glyn Johns, on the album. The band was already falling apart, and this caused further turmoil within the group, as Harrison and Lennon both supported Spector. Paul has not changed his stance over the years, and still believes Spector butchered it.
The Beatles performed this in the movie Let It Be. Both the movie and album were the last The Beatles released. Abbey Road was the last album they recorded.
This was offered to Tom Jones in 1968 on the condition it be his next single. He had "Delilah" set for release so he turned down the offer, something he would later regret.
This was the only Beatles song where John Lennon played bass. He was ordinarily their rhythm guitarist. Harrison and Ringo had their parts removed by Phil Spector, so they don't appear on this at all.
This was one of 5 Beatles songs McCartney played on his 1976 Wings Over America tour.
In the UK, this wasn't released as a single.
A 2002 cover version by Will Young and Gareth Gates was a #1 hit in the UK, but mostly ignored in the US.
In 2003, Apple Records released a new version of the album called Let It Be... Naked, with Spector's production removed. For this song, a previously unreleased take was used when it was remixed. This version is what McCartney had in mind when he wrote the song.
Ringo's drums can be heard both on the Anthology 3 version and Spector's version (Spector's version just has the strings on top of the Anthology 3 version). (thanks, Adrian - Wilmington, DE)


Let It Be Lyrics