Australian singles charts:
The Long and Winding Road entered the Kent charts on 22 June 1970 and peaked at #7. The song was #45 on the Top 100 of 1970.
Album:
The song is on Let it Be which entered the Kent album charts on 8 June 1970 and reached #1 the following week. It remained on top for 4 weeks.
Songwriter:
Paul McCartney; credited to Lennon-McCartney
Producer:
Phil Spector
Record label of Australian release:
Apple
Wikipedia:
Paul McCartney said he came up with the title The Long and Winding Road during one of his first visits to his property High Park Farm in Scotland, which he purchased in 1966. The phrase was inspired by the sight of a road “stretching up into the hills” in the remote Highlands surroundings of lochs and distant mountains. He wrote the song at his farm in 1968, inspired by the growing tension among the Beatles. Author Howard Sounes wrote that the lyrics can be seen as McCartney expressing his anguish at the direction of his personal life, as well as a nostalgic look back at the Beatles’ history.
Read more: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Long_and_Winding_Road
Songfacts:
The Beatles recorded The Long and Winding Road in 1969 as a fairly simple ballad. By 1970, The Beatles were breaking up and Phil Spector was brought in to go through the tapes and produce the Let it Be album. Spector took out most of The Beatles instruments and added a string section and choir (The Mike Sammes Singers). The result was very different from what the group originally had in mind.
Paul McCartney wrote the song and when he heard the results, he made it clear that he hated what Spector did to it and tried to get the original version on the album. The band was already falling apart, and this caused further turmoil within the group, as Harrison and Lennon both supported Spector. Paul has not changed his stance over the years, and still believes Spector butchered it. Lennon and Harrison felt otherwise.
Read more: www.songfacts.com/facts/the-beatles/the-long-and-winding-road
This song is also on our Spotify playlist Bang a Gong – the 70s
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