Get Back

Did You Know?

• Rod Stewart covered the song for the 1976 film All This and World War II; it reached No. 11 on the UK chart.
• Billy Preston covered the song for the 1978 film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band; it peaked at No. 86 on the Billboard Hot 100.
• The 2007 film Across the Universe features a character named Jojo, after a lyric in the song.

Composition

The song's melody emerged from unstructured jamming on 7 January 1969 during rehearsal sessions at Twickenham Studios. McCartney, working out the rhythm and harmony on his Höfner bass, introduced lyrics that reworked George Harrison's "Sour Milk Sea" into "Get back to where you once belonged". McCartney had played bass on Jackie Lomax's recording of "Sour Milk Sea" months earlier. On 9 January, McCartney brought a more developed version with the "Sweet Loretta" verse near its final form. In a press release, McCartney wrote that the group made the song up out of thin air in the studio and recorded it at Apple Studios. The Let It Be album version opens with Lennon jokingly saying "Sweet Loretta Fart" (often misheard as "fat") and ends with Lennon's quip from the rooftop concert: "I'd like to say thank you on behalf of the group and ourselves, and I hope we passed the audition." In a 1980 Playboy interview, Lennon described the song as a potboiler rewrite of "Lady Madonna" and suggested McCartney looked at Yoko Ono when singing "Get back to where you once belonged."

Recordings and post-production work

Billy Preston, an old friend of the Beatles, joined the group on keyboards on 22 January. The band recorded about ten takes on 23 January with Preston on Fender Rhodes electric piano. On 27 January, they recorded about 14 takes, adding a false ending and reprise coda. Take 11 from that day was musically tight and punchy but lacked the restart; George Harrison commented "[W]e missed that end." This take appears on Let It Be... Naked. On 28 January, the group recorded several new takes including the coda, but none matched the quality of the previous day's best take. The line-up for the released versions was Paul McCartney on lead vocal and bass, John Lennon on lead guitar and backing vocal, George Harrison on rhythm guitar, Ringo Starr on drums, and Billy Preston on electric piano. Lennon played lead guitar because Harrison had temporarily quit the group on 10 January. On 4 April, George Martin and Jeff Jarratt created a mono mix; McCartney was unhappy, so on 7 April he and Glyn Johns produced new remixes at Olympic Studios. They edited together Take 11's main part with the best coda from 28 January, creating a seamless continuous take.

Releases

Apple Records released "Get Back" as a single in the UK on 11 April 1969, with "Don't Let Me Down" as the B-side. It entered the UK chart on 23 April at number one, a position it held for six weeks, becoming the first Beatles single to debut at the top. In the US, it entered the Billboard Hot 100 on 10 May and reached number one after two weeks, staying for five weeks; it was the band's 17th number one, matching Elvis Presley's record. The single was credited to "The Beatles with Billy Preston", the only Beatles single to include an accompanying artist's name. Neither Apple nor Capitol created a picture sleeve; it came in a black sleeve with cursive text. The print ad campaign used the slogan "The Beatles as Nature Intended." The single version features a chamber reverb effect and a coda with lyrics about Loretta; this version first appeared on LP on the 1967–1970 compilation and later on 20 Greatest Hits, Past Masters, and 1. The single was also released in the experimental PocketDisc format.

McCartney live performances

McCartney performed "Get Back" on the Late Show with David Letterman on 15 July 2009, playing atop the Ed Sullivan Theater's marquee overlooking Broadway. During the interview, Letterman asked if he had ever played on a marquee; McCartney replied "I've done a roof," referencing the Beatles' 1969 rooftop concert. On 11 December 2010, McCartney performed the song as an encore on Saturday Night Live, after having already played three songs; the broadcast was partially cut off due to time constraints. The song was part of his 1989/1990 World Tour and appears on the live album Tripping the Live Fantastic. A 2009 performance was included on Good Evening New York City. In 2005, the song was part of his Super Bowl halftime show. McCartney and the Foo Fighters performed it at the 2021 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony.