"Don't Let Me Down" is a song by the English rock band

the Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developm ...

, recorded in 1969 during the ''

Let It Be Let It Be most commonly refers to: * ''Let It Be'' (Beatles album), the Beatles' final studio album, released in 1970 * "Let It Be" (Beatles song), the title song from the album It may also refer to: Film and television * ''Let It Be'' (1970 ...

'' sessions. It was written by

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

and credited to the

Lennon–McCartney Lennon–McCartney was the songwriting partnership between English musicians John Lennon (1940–1980) and Paul McCartney (born 1942) of the Beatles. It is the best-known and most successful musical collaboration ever by records sold, with the ...

songwriting partnership. The band recorded the song with keyboardist

Billy Preston William Everett Preston (September 2, 1946 – June 6, 2006) was an American keyboardist, singer and songwriter whose work encompassed R&B, rock, soul, funk, and gospel. Preston was a top session keyboardist in the 1960s, during which he b ...

; the single release with "

Get Back "Get Back" is a song recorded by the British rock band the Beatles and Billy Preston, and written by Paul McCartney though credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. It was originally released as a single on 11 April 1969 and credited to ...

" was credited to "the Beatles with Billy Preston". Originally released as a

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

, producer

Phil Spector Harvey Phillip Spector (born Harvey Philip Spector; December 26, 1939January 16, 2021) was an American record producer and songwriter, best known for his innovative recording practices and entrepreneurship in the 1960s, followed decades later by ...

excluded the song from ''

''. However, it was eventually included on an alternate mix of the album, '' Let It Be... Naked''.

Composition

Written by John Lennon as an anguished love song to

Yoko Ono Yoko Ono ( ; ja, 小野洋子, Ono Yōko, usually spelled in katakana ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking. Ono grew up i ...

, it was interpreted by

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. On ...

as a "genuine plea", with Lennon saying to Ono, "I'm really stepping out of line on this one. I'm really just letting my vulnerability be seen, so you must not let me down." The song is in the key of

E major E major (or the key of E) is a major scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has four sharps. Its relative minor is C-sharp minor and its parallel minor is E minor. Its enharmonic equiv ...

and is in time during the verse, chorus and bridge, but changes to in the pick-up to the verse. It grew (like "

Sun King , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Versa ...

") from the Fm⁷–E changes from

Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac are a British-American rock band, formed in London in 1967. Fleetwood Mac were founded by guitarist Peter Green (musician), Peter Green, drummer Mick Fleetwood and guitarist Jeremy Spencer, before bassist John McVie joined the li ...

's "

Albatross Albatrosses, of the biological family Diomedeidae, are large seabirds related to the procellariids, storm petrels, and diving petrels in the order Procellariiformes (the tubenoses). They range widely in the Southern Ocean and the North P ...

" with McCartney arranging instrumental and vocal parts and George Harrison adding a descending two-part lead guitar accompaniment to the verse and a countermelody in the bridge.

Alan W. Pollack Alan W. Pollack is a musicologist. He is best known for having musically analysed every song released by the English rock band the Beatles. He started the task in 1989 and finished in 2000, with 187 original songs and 25 cover songs. The analyses h ...

states that "the counterpoint melody played in octaves during the Alternate Verse by the bass and lead guitars is one of the more novel, unusual instrumental touches you'll find anywhere in the Beatles catalogue."

Recording and release

Multiple versions of "Don't Let Me Down" were recorded by the Beatles during the ''Get Back (Let It Be)'' recording sessions. The version recorded on 28 January 1969, with vocal overdubs in late February, was released as a

to the single "

", recorded the same day. "Get Back" reached number one and "Don't Let Me Down" reached number 35 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. When the "Get Back" project was revisited,

dropped "Don't Let Me Down" from the ''

'' (1970) album. The Beatles performed "Don't Let Me Down" twice during their

rooftop concert On 30 January 1969, the Beatles performed an impromptu concert from the rooftop of their Apple Corps headquarters at 3 Savile Row, in central London's office and fashion district. Joined by guest keyboardist Billy Preston, the band played a 42 ...

of 30 January 1969, and the first performance was included in the ''

'' (1970) film, directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg. In November 2003, a composite edit of the two rooftop versions was released on '' Let It Be... Naked''. Both versions were seen in the 2022 film ''The Beatles: Get Back - The Rooftop Concert''. The B-side version of the song was included on the Beatles' compilations ''

Hey Jude "Hey Jude" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released as a non-album single in August 1968. It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. The single was the Beatles' first relea ...

'', '' 1967–1970'' and ''

Past Masters ''Past Masters'' is a two-disc compilation album set by the English rock band the Beatles. It was originally released as two separate volumes on 7 March 1988, as part of the first issue of the band's catalogue on compact disc. The set compile ...

Volume 2'' and '' Mono Masters''. The same recording also appears on the soundtrack to the 1988 documentary, '' Imagine: John Lennon''.

Reception

Richie Unterberger Richie Unterberger (born January 19, 1962) is an American author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing. Life and writing Unterberger attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he wrote for the university newspaper '' ...

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

called it "one of the Beatles' most powerful love songs",

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, oc ...

described the song as "heart-wrenching soul" and

Roy Carr Roy Carr (1945 – 1 July 2018) was an English music journalist, covering pop, rock and jazz. He joined the ''New Musical Express (NME)'' in the late 1960s, and edited ''NME'', '' Vox'' and ''Melody Maker'' magazines. Biography Born in Blackpo ...

and Tony Tyler called it "a superb sobber from misery-expert J. W. O. Lennon, MBE. And still one of the most highly underrated Beatle underbellies." Author

Ian MacDonald Ian MacCormick (known by the pseudonym Ian MacDonald; 3 October 1948 – 20 August 2003) was a British music critic and author, best known for both '' Revolution in the Head'', his critical history of the Beatles which borrowed techniques from ...

praised "Don't Let Me Down" and declared that "this track vies with '

Come Together "Come Together" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The song is the opening track on their 1969 album ''Abbey Road'' and was also released as a single coupled with " Someth ...

' for consideration as the best of Lennon's late-style Beatles records". “Don’t Let Me Down” is the most viewed video on the Beatles’ YouTube channel, with over 400 million views.

Cover versions

* In 1992,

Annie Lennox Ann Lennox (born 25 December 1954) is a Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and philanthropist. After achieving moderate success in the late 1970s as part of the New wave music, new wave band the Tourists, she and fellow musician D ...

covered the song. A studio recording appeared as a b-side to the single

Walking on Broken Glass "Walking on Broken Glass" is a song written and performed by Scottish singer Annie Lennox, included on her debut solo studio album, ''Diva'' (1992). Released on 10 August 1992, the single peaked at number one in Canada, number eight in the Unite ...

(released in August 1992), a live version from the

Montreux Jazz Festival The Montreux Jazz Festival (formerly Festival de Jazz Montreux and Festival International de Jazz Montreux) is a music festival in Switzerland, held annually in early July in Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline. It is the second-largest annual ...

for

MTV Unplugged ''MTV Unplugged'' is an American television series on MTV showcasing musical artists usually playing acoustic instruments. The show aired regularly from 1989 to 1999 and less frequently from 2000 to 2009, when it was usually billed as ''MTV Un ...

has been released as a b-side to the single

Cold Cold is the presence of low temperature, especially in the atmosphere. In common usage, cold is often a subjective perception. A lower bound to temperature is absolute zero, defined as 0.00K on the Kelvin scale, an absolute thermodynamic ...

(pt. 3 "Coldest") in October 1992. * In 1999,

Garbage Garbage, trash, rubbish, or refuse is waste material that is discarded by humans, usually due to a perceived lack of utility. The term generally does not encompass bodily waste products, purely liquid or gaseous wastes, or toxic waste prod ...

performed a live cover at the opening of the Scottish Parliament.

Personnel

– lead vocal, rhythm guitars *

– bass guitar, harmony vocal * George Harrison – lead guitar, backing vocal *

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...

– drums *

–

electric piano An electric piano is a musical instrument which produces sounds when a performer presses the keys of a piano-style musical keyboard. Pressing keys causes mechanical hammers to strike metal strings, metal reeds or wire tines, leading to vibrations ...

:Personnel per

No official producer's credit was included for the single release owing to "the confused roles of

George Martin Sir George Henry Martin (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. He was commonly referred to as the " Fifth Beatle" because of his extensive involvement in each of the B ...

and

Glyn Johns Glyn Thomas Johns (born 15 February 1942) is an English musician, recording engineer and record producer. Biography Early history Johns was born in Epsom, Surrey, England. He had three siblings, two older sisters and a younger brother, Andy ...

". However the '' 1967-1970'' compilation liner notes credited Martin as the song's producer.

Charts

Notes

References

* * * * * * * * * * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Don't Let Me Down (The Beatles Song) The Beatles songs 1969 singles Songs written by Lennon–McCartney Annie Lennox songs Apple Records singles Song recordings produced by Glyn Johns Song recordings produced by George Martin Songs published by Northern Songs 1969 songs Songs about Yoko Ono British soul songs Blue-eyed soul songs