On This Day in 1970, the Beatles Released Their Swan Song–a Project the Fab Four Originally Gave up On

There is a debate amongst Beatles fans as to which album should be considered the band’s last. It’s like the Star Wars fans and their omnipresent “chronological or release date” debate. Is Let It Be their final album or is it Abbey Road? Whatever camp you fall in, we’d like to take a trip back to 1970 and the release of the frustratingly recorded Let It Be. Learn more below about the album the Beatles gave up on.

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On This Day in 1970, The Beatles Released Their Swan Song, ‘Let It Be’

When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be
And in my hour of darkness she is standing right in front of me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be

Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be

After the release of “The White Album”, the Beatles took some time off to get their creativity up and running again. They came back together with the expressed goal of making another album. Only the album was painstaking, leading to the band rejecting it twice.

Let It Be was once Get Back. The band originally named this collection of songs after “Get Back”, a driving rock anthem that went No. 1 on the charts in 1969. The project was documented in a film, which was later restored by director Peter Jackson. The accompanying visual provided a never-before-seen look into the creative process of one of the most beloved bands of all time. It also revealed some of the struggles the band was going through behind closed doors.

Glyn Johns was the original producer of Get Back. On top of their in-fighting making song selection more difficult than it needed to be, the band felt Johns’ production was sub-par. It ultimately moved them to scrap the project altogether.

Second Time Around

To help celebrate the release of the accompanying Get Back film, Johns reworked the album. The band, once again, found the album to be sub-par, leading them to reject the album for a second time.

Ultimately, the band left the project on the studio floor. It wasn’t until after the band decided to call it quits that the album was finalized, making it the Beatles’ official swan song–despite being recorded second to last.

Revisit Let It Be, below.

And when the broken hearted people living in the world agree
There will be an answer, let it be
For though they may be parted, there is still a chance that they will see
There will be an answer, let it be

Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be
There will be an answer, let it be

(Photo by John Downing/Getty Images)