Speaker 1: Pushkin. Hi, everyone, it's Paul muldoon. Before we get to
Speaker 1: this episode, I wanted to let you know that you
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Speaker 2: The conditions for our tours had deteriorated as the success
Speaker 2: had come along. The crowds had got louder, the venues
Speaker 2: had got bigger, and so now we were getting a
Speaker 2: little bit fed up with him. The guys variously had said,
Speaker 2: oh God, this is terrible. This is terrible. George had
Speaker 2: said that, John had said that. I think even Ringo
Speaker 2: had sort of expressed displeasure of the whole thing. I
Speaker 2: generally just sort of soldiered on, but after this candlestick
Speaker 2: Park I just finally said, oh fucking he, this is
Speaker 2: like just so bad. I agree with all you guys,
Speaker 2: we should just give up touring. These circumstances were at
Speaker 2: the time that I'd been doing too much of everything.
Speaker 2: Sleep had a dream where my mom, who died ten
Speaker 2: years previously came to me and she said, let it be.
Speaker 2: Seeing her beautiful, kind face, I immediately felt at ease
Speaker 2: and loved. And she said words, she said words. I loved.
Speaker 3: Yes, let it be, Let it be, Let it be,
Speaker 3: Let it be.
Speaker 2: Oh, I could tell you and let it be.
Speaker 1: And I've been forty to spend time with one of
Speaker 1: the greatest songwriters of our era.
Speaker 2: And will you look at me, I'm going on to
Speaker 2: I'm actually a performer.
Speaker 1: That is, Sir Paul McCartney. We worked together on a
Speaker 1: book looking at the lyrics of more than one hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty of his songs, and we recorded many hours
Speaker 1: of our conversations.
Speaker 2: Ah, she'm a songwriter. My god, Well have crypto, homie.
Speaker 1: This is McCartney, a life in lyrics, a masterclass, a memoir,
Speaker 1: and an improvised journey with one of the most iconic
Speaker 1: figures in popular music. In this episode Let It Be.
Speaker 1: It was nineteen sixty eight and the Beatles were recording
Speaker 1: the White Album. Tensions were high in and out of
Speaker 1: the studio. The band's members were beginning to pursue to
Speaker 1: individual interests and songwriting styles. Lennon and McCartney's friendship was
Speaker 1: becoming increasingly strained. The group was still mourning the nineteen
Speaker 1: sixty seven death of their manager Brian Epstein. The Beatles
Speaker 1: were barreling toward their eventual breakup.
Speaker 2: We were heading towards the breakover the Beetles, and it
Speaker 2: was a period of change because John and Yoko had
Speaker 2: got together and that was bound to have an effect
Speaker 2: on the dynamics of the group.
Speaker 1: As the love between John Lennon and the artist Yoko
Speaker 1: Ono was intensifying, the two became utterly inseparable. John insisted
Speaker 1: Yoko be present in the studio, So things.
Speaker 2: Like Yoko being in the in the middle, literally in
Speaker 2: the middle of the recording session was you know, something
Speaker 2: you had to deal with. And the idea was that
Speaker 2: if John wanted this to happen, then it should happen.
Speaker 2: And there's no reason why not.
Speaker 4: Well except that there is a reason why not. You know,
Speaker 4: you're there to do some work.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and anything that disturbed us is disturbing. At a
Speaker 2: deference to John, we will allow this and not make
Speaker 2: a fuss. And yet at the same time, I don't
Speaker 2: think any of us particularly liked it. It was an
Speaker 2: interference in the workplace. We had a way we worked
Speaker 2: that four of us, we worked with George Martin and
Speaker 2: an engineer. That was basically it, and we'd always done
Speaker 2: it like that, so not being very confrontational, I think
Speaker 2: we just bottled it up and just got on with it.
Speaker 4: And you had to make it work because the idea
Speaker 4: of the Beatles, it was something that you wanted to
Speaker 4: continue with. I suppose it's hundred five. I mean it
Speaker 4: was such a great thing.
Speaker 2: I mean it was the idea of the Beatles was
Speaker 2: also just a straight practical thing of this was our job.
Speaker 2: This is what we did in life. We were the Beatles.
Speaker 2: That meant if we didn't tour, we recorded, and that
Speaker 2: meant if we recorded, we wrote it.
Speaker 5: When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary
Speaker 5: comes to me speaking words of wisdom, Let it be,
Speaker 5: And in my redondness, she is standing right in front
Speaker 5: of me speaking.
Speaker 2: Words of wisdom. Let it be, Let it be.
Speaker 1: Paul McCartney says this impulse to avoid confrontation, to be
Speaker 1: accommodating may have been passed done from his parents, who
Speaker 1: valued kindness and good manners and taught such values to
Speaker 1: their children.
Speaker 2: We were encouraged to be good guys. In our family,
Speaker 2: so that you know, if we were at a bus
Speaker 2: stop and there were women in the queue, my dad
Speaker 2: would raise his trophy to them good morning, and he
Speaker 2: encouraged us to raise our schoolcaps good morning. He was
Speaker 2: that kind of polite, gentlemanly guy, even though they were
Speaker 2: working class. Oh my family, I think we're like that.
Speaker 3: And when the broken, hated people living in the world agree.
Speaker 2: There will be an answer.
Speaker 6: Let it be.
Speaker 2: I like that, it's nice to be nice. I like courtesy.
Speaker 2: I value politeness, courtesy, and don't particularly like confrontation. If
Speaker 2: it's absolutely necessary, then then you do it. But I mean,
Speaker 2: generally speaking, we would try, all of us, I think,
Speaker 2: would try not to do that.
Speaker 3: There is still a chest and they will see there
Speaker 3: will be an answer. Let it be.
Speaker 1: Let it be as a refrain is a moral message,
Speaker 1: echoing other hits that were popular when Paul McCartney was
Speaker 1: growing up, Like k Sarah Sarah.
Speaker 5: When I was just a little hugirl, I asked my
Speaker 5: mother what will I be?
Speaker 6: Will I be pretty?
Speaker 3: Will I be rich?
Speaker 6: Here's what she said to me.
Speaker 2: Kay, sir, I've always known that people in listening to
Speaker 2: your song may take a message away. So that if
Speaker 2: your song is a good message love is all you need,
Speaker 2: then that's a good message to put out rather than
Speaker 2: sympathy for the devil.
Speaker 3: Please to meet you?
Speaker 1: Would you get my today?
Speaker 3: But what book you with the nature of making?
Speaker 2: You know, mix not a bad boy at all, It's
Speaker 2: exactly opposite. But he's images to show is of that.
Speaker 2: Whereas we just didn't really have a bothered with that.
Speaker 1: Whereas the Rolling Stones wrote songs about sex, drugs, and
Speaker 1: rock and roll, the Beatles wrote lyrics that were more
Speaker 1: likely to be parent approved or that would at least
Speaker 1: sound familiar to parents who are listening to other classics
Speaker 1: of the time.
Speaker 3: Kas whatever will be, will be?
Speaker 2: The future is not ours to.
Speaker 3: See, okay, Seta, what will be will be?
Speaker 2: Whatever will be will be? Yeah?
Speaker 4: Do you think in any way it might be feeding
Speaker 4: into this a little bit?
Speaker 2: I don't know. I mean, there were loads of songs
Speaker 2: that were about that were encouraging you to be good,
Speaker 2: and I think Casea is one of them. When I
Speaker 2: was a little girl, I asked my mother what would
Speaker 2: I be? And the mother said, who knows?
Speaker 5: You know?
Speaker 2: Case Rah, what will be will be? But that's not
Speaker 2: let it pick.
Speaker 1: Paul McCartney's mother had passed away when he was only fourteen,
Speaker 1: and both her death and her absence strongly influenced the
Speaker 1: young songwriter. So it's not a surprise that in such
Speaker 1: a time of stress, it would be his mother who
Speaker 1: would come to comfort him in a dream, his mother,
Speaker 1: whose name was in fact Mary, and I.
Speaker 2: Sort of fell into the dream feeling great, and woke
Speaker 2: up feeling still feeling great, and they got oh. I
Speaker 2: remembering the dream and remembering she looked, and how it felt,
Speaker 2: and what she said. And I remembered particularly that she
Speaker 2: said the words let it be. Because of this dream,
Speaker 2: I woke up and thought, that is that's a great
Speaker 2: subject for a song, and I will start it with
Speaker 2: my present circumstances. When I find myself in time to trouble.
Speaker 2: Mother Mary comes to me. It's just exactly what has
Speaker 2: just happened, speaking words of wisdom, Let it be.
Speaker 3: Let it be, let it be, and let it be,
Speaker 3: Let it be for all.
Speaker 1: Paul McCartney knew the words let it be had come
Speaker 1: from his subconscious or as a message from beyond the grave,
Speaker 1: but after the song was released, he realized that he
Speaker 1: may have encountered these words long before he wrote the lyrics.
Speaker 1: Back when he was a schoolboy at the Pool Institute
Speaker 1: for Boys. There, in the English class of Paul's favorite
Speaker 1: and most formative teacher, Alan Durband, the students read Shakespeare's
Speaker 1: Hamlet for the first time.
Speaker 2: So in those I had to learn speeches off by heart,
Speaker 2: so I could still do a bit of a bill.
Speaker 2: Not to be all over this two two solid flash.
Speaker 2: And it's been pointed out to me recently that Hamlet,
Speaker 2: when he's poisoned, he actually says let it be. Back
Speaker 2: five scene two. It just happened to abort, so we
Speaker 2: can give you the exact quote. He says let be
Speaker 2: the first time, but then the second time he says,
Speaker 2: had I put time as this fell? Sergeant death is
Speaker 2: strict in his arrest. Oh, I could tell you, but
Speaker 2: let it be, Horatio, let it be, and let it be.
Speaker 1: Let it be with these words the Prince of Denmark
Speaker 1: clutching his fatal wound, except that his death is eminent,
Speaker 1: that he will not live to tell his tragic story.
Speaker 2: But I was interested that I was exposed to those
Speaker 2: words during her time when I was studying Shakespeare. So
Speaker 2: did years later the phrase appears to me in a
Speaker 2: dream with my mother saying, now, of course I must
Speaker 2: realize that it's me saying it through her. It's kind of,
Speaker 2: I think, very interesting.
Speaker 1: The phrase let it be seems simple enough when we
Speaker 1: first hear it, but we might each take it to
Speaker 1: mean something different.
Speaker 2: Please God, let it, let it be. I want brand
Speaker 2: new car. Let it be, you know, knock it off,
Speaker 2: pack it in, let it be. Just don't don't bother,
Speaker 2: you know, just let it be.
Speaker 4: And there's let's leave things as they are. It's okay.
Speaker 2: Which is pointed out to me, is the answer to
Speaker 2: to be or not to be? Mm hmmm, let it.
Speaker 1: Be with to be or not to be Hamlet's famous question.
Speaker 1: It was also, in a sense the question that was
Speaker 1: beginning to haunt the Beatles as a group. Their future
Speaker 1: existence as a band was entirely uncertain. In that way,
Speaker 1: both meanings of the phrase let it be are fitting.
Speaker 1: Let it be as hopeful plea, let it be as
Speaker 1: stoic resignation, nity.
Speaker 2: A bed.
Speaker 1: In this song with a title that has multiple meanings,
Speaker 1: there's another lyric Paul McCartney left open to interpretation.
Speaker 3: To the sound of music.
Speaker 5: Mother Mary, it comes to me singing word of wisdom edity.
Speaker 1: By calling his mother by her first name, Mary McCartney,
Speaker 1: opens the door to a more sacred aspect of the song.
Speaker 2: As I called her mother Mary rather than my mom Mary.
Speaker 2: I think you know, I knew enough to know that. Okay,
Speaker 2: we've got a sort of double meaning going here. I
Speaker 2: think you're aware of that when you write these things.
Speaker 2: But it was kind of good because it opens the
Speaker 2: song to a religious crowd who want to take it
Speaker 2: like that, so it guests performed my gospel. Yes.
Speaker 1: Paul McCartney's father was Protestant and his mother Catholic, though
Speaker 1: when it came to their children's schooling, the priority was
Speaker 1: a good education.
Speaker 2: The fact that she was a nurse had meant that
Speaker 2: she'd been called to a lot of schools, and she
Speaker 2: thought the Protestant school's education was better. So she wanted
Speaker 2: the best education for her kids, and no doubt my dad,
Speaker 2: being Protestant, would say, yeah, they're better and agree with them.
Speaker 2: The Catholic aspect it was. It really only one thing
Speaker 2: was that we'd been christened to save our immortal souls,
Speaker 2: which I was always rather pleased with. I'm glad my
Speaker 2: immortal soul is safe. And you know so, I thank
Speaker 2: you for doing that.
Speaker 1: Why Let it Be wasn't written with a particular religious angle,
Speaker 1: it certainly contains a spiritual dimension. The words of wisdom
Speaker 1: delivered by Mother Mary are repeated throughout the song as
Speaker 1: the music swells, and they take on the quality of
Speaker 1: a chant, a prayer, or another type of holy incantation.
Speaker 6: Mother Mother Mary.
Speaker 2: You know someone said what your religion? I wanted to
Speaker 2: sort of say Christian, but I take Christian, Buddhist, Jewish.
Speaker 2: There are many great teachings in all the religion, in
Speaker 2: its spiritual ambiguity.
Speaker 1: Let it Be offers a sort of common right, a
Speaker 1: necessary break from the conflicts of different belief systems. And
Speaker 1: at a time when the divisions within the Beatles were
Speaker 1: becoming only more pronounced, the song called for and made
Speaker 1: possible a few moments of togetherness because it is.
Speaker 2: A song of hope. Sure, you know about all people
Speaker 2: are going to sort of come together. You do think,
Speaker 2: is there ever going to be a time when people agree?
Speaker 2: And you know, realist you have to think, well, probably not, No,
Speaker 2: probably not. But it's a great dream. It's a beautiful dream.
Speaker 2: And the more you push towards it, the more it
Speaker 2: May Happen.
Speaker 1: Let It be released in nineteen seventy as the title
Speaker 1: song from the Beatles' last album. In the next episode,
Speaker 1: we go to the rolling Hills of Scotland, where Paul's wife,
Speaker 1: Lynda McCartney helped him to discover his love of nature
Speaker 1: and the joys of fixing up their form. McCartney A
Speaker 1: Life in Lyrics is a co production between iHeartMedia NPL
Speaker 1: and Pushkin Industries.