TheBeatlesOnline

Don't Let Me Down

John Lennon: Vocals, rythm guitar
Paul McCartney: Vocals, bass guitar
George Harrison: Lead guitar
Ringo Starr: Drums, tambourine

Billy Preston: Electric piano

Recorded January 22, 28, 30 1969.

Available on:
Let It Be
Hey Jude
The Beatles 1967-1970(The Blue Album)
Past Masters Volume Two
Let It Be Naked

The Beatles entered a tense and difficult period with the recording of The Beatles (AKA The White Album) in 1968, and the disharmony continued throughout the so-called "get back" sessions. Paul was now the driving force in the group, while Lennon seemed, at least at times, disillusioned with the whole thing. Paul, on the other hand, wanted the band to "get back" to the early days of their career by
performing live again (the Beatles had stopped touring in 1966.) The group eventually agreed on recording a live performance for a television show, which was planned to be broadcast worlwide.

In Janurary 1969, the Beatles met at Twickenham Film Studios in London to start the rehearsals for the planned TV show. The band also arranged for the rehearsals to be filmed. Sadly, after only a few days, the tense atmosphere in the studio intensified. George Harrison stormed out after a row with Paul, and although he returned a few days later, the plans for the live TV performance were scrapped (despite this, on January 30, the Beatles performed an unnnounced live concert at the roof top of Apple Studios in London, which was recorded by the film crew.)

Instead, the Beatles decided to go ahead with the recording of a new album, and they let the film crew film the recoding sessions. On Monday January 20, the Beatles and the film crew moved into Beatles' new recording studio in the basement of their Apple headqurters at 3 Savile Row, near Piccadelly Circus in London.

On the new album, which was planned to be titled "Get Back" (this was later changed to Let It Be), the Beatles wanted to abandon all forms of technical trickery, and instead record every song "live." The group had on previous records sometimes pushed studio equipment and engineers to their limits in order to create new and exciting sounds. They had experimented with tape loops, sound effects, varyspeed and multitrack recording, big orchestrations, exotic instruments, Artificial Double Tracking (ADT), overdubs and various distortion effects to get the sound they wanted. But on the new album, they wanted to "get back" to their roots and to return to a basic rock and roll sound.

Sadly, the "get back" idea was eventullaly abandoned by the group and the album never finished. Instead, in 1970, John Lennon gave Phil Spector the daunting task of putting together an album based on the bits and pieces of the "get back" recordings. In the end, the abum was released under the perhaps appropriate title Let It Be.

Billy Preston was an American orgnanist whom the Beatles had known since the group stayed in Hamburg in 1962. Preston was then a teenage member of Little Richard's backing group, which had shared a two-week bill with the Beatles at the Star-Club. Preston participated on many of the recording sessions for the Let It Be album, however this was purely circumstancial.

When George Harrison spotted Preston in the reception area of their new recording studio (Apple Records), he immediately invited him to join the band in the studio. There were probably two resons for this. Firstly, the presence of an outside musician would help to ease the growing tension between the four band members. Secondly, Preston's organ playing would be an asset now that the Beatles wanted to record every song "live" and without overdubs.

Lennon's Don't Let Me Down is one of the songs on Let It Be where Preston's presence makes an impression, and his electric piano plying fits nicely in with the song's bluesy feel.

Don't Let Me Down may have been inspired by Bob Dylan's I Shall Be Released. The lyrics are most likely to be about Yoko Ono.

Don't Let Me Down

Nobody ever loved me like she does
Oo she does, yes she does
And if somebody loved me like she do me
Oo she do me, you she does

Don't let me down
Hey, don't let me down
Don't let me down
Don't let me down

I'm in love for the first time
Don't you know it's gonna last
It's a love that lasts forever
It's a love that had no past

Don't let me down
Hey, don't let me down
Don't let me down
Don't let me down

And from the first time that she really done me
Oo she done me, she done me good
I guess nobody ever really done me
Oo she done me, she done me good

Don't let me down
Hey, don't let me down
Don't let me down
Don't let me down

I'm in love for the first time
Don't you know it's gonna last
It's a love that lasts forever
It's a love that had no past

Don't let me down
Hey, don't let me down
Don't let me down
Don't let me down
Hey hey ah
Don't let me down