TODAY IN MUSIC HISTORY – THE BEATLES – “THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD” GOES #1 ON BILLBOARD

On June 13TH, 1920 “The Long And Winding Road” had finally made its way to the #1 spot on Billboard Hot 100.

This song was a track from the “Let It Be” Album & entered the Hot 100 at Number 35 on May 23RD, 1970 while The Beatles other single “Let It Be” was already Number 6. “The Long And Winding Road” was not released as a single in Britain though.

Little did anyone know, this song would be the 20TH & final #1 single for The Beatles with only two other chart acts in the entire rock era to even come close! Within The Beatles career, they had a total of 20 Billboard Number 1 Hits, the only other artists to come close were Diana Ross and The Supremes with 12, & Elvis Presley having 17. Ironically, Elvis, The Beatles, & The Supremes all had their final #1 Singles in an eight month period between November, 1969 and June, 1970.

Only 2 of The Beatles were present during the recording of this final #1 Single as John Lennon played the bass guitar & Paul McCartney played the piano & sung a solo vocal. The only way to hear the original version of this song as it was recorded is if you get your hands on one of these old bootleg Beatles albums. Paul Specter produced the album track & was also the mastermind of overdubbing an orchestra, complete with strings and a backing choir of female singers.

Once The Beatles had specters production work, an acetate was sent to each of The Beatles accompanied by a letter from specter assuring that they could make what ever changes they wished. Paul McCartney’s balled “The Long And Winding Road” had been remixed by specter, then dubbed with a horn section, Violin, & topped with a sickly celestial choir.

Paul McCartney had sent a letter to the Beatles manager Allen Klein demanding the restoration of his original song, but did not get that response. At the time the break up of the group had already been announced, with “The Long And Winding Road” summing up the state of The Beatles in 1970.

Many believed that the break up would only be temporary & that The Beatles would come back together after experimenting with solo careers. As time would pass, it became obvious that the dream was over, & only 10 years later on December 8TH, 1980, the world tragically realized that The Beatles would never play together again…