The Beatles “Let It Be” has been played so much that even Paul McCartney wishes he heard it less. John Lennon made similar comments decades earlier. Regardless of their feelings, the tune became popular for several good reasons.
Paul McCartney called The Beatles’ ‘Let It Be’ their most ‘ubiquitous’ song
During a 2020 interview posted on Paul’s YouTube channel, the singer was asked to name which of The Beatles songs he heard the most. “It’s the most ubiquitous,” he said. “It sort of got everywhere. Ubiquitous from the Latin, ubi quo, meaning ‘everywhere.’ Come on, give it up.”
Interestingly, Paul’s favorite Beatles song was “You Know My Name (Look Up the Number),” the B-side of “Let It Be.” “[It’s] a zany, zany little B-side that nobody knows, but we had so much fun making it,” Paul said. “But there’s a lot of songs that I love of The Beatles. I think ‘Strawberry Fields’ is a great song, I think, ‘Hey Jude’ worked out great. I’ve got a lot of favorite songs. ‘Blackbird’ I love. ‘Eleanor Rigby’ I love.”
John Lennon said only a few Beatles songs got airplay by 1980
The book All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono features a 1980 interview. In it, John expressed surprise over hearing The Beatles’ “Glass Onion” on the radio. He asserted that certain Fab Four songs received too much attention.
“When a radio station has a Beatles weekend, they usually play the same 10 songs — ‘A Hard Day’s Night,’ ‘Help!’ ‘Yesterday,’ ‘Something,’ ‘Let It Be’ — you know, there’s all that wealth of material, but we hear only 10 songs,” he said. “So the deejay says, ‘I want to thank John, Paul, George, and Ringo for not getting back together and spoiling a good thing.’ I thought it was a good sign. Maybe people are catching on.” It’s fascinating that “Let It Be” was ubiquitous even back in 1980!
The many reasons why ‘Let It Be’ became a cultural juggernaut
The ubiquity of “Let It Be” makes a lot of sense. It’s a perfect song, but more than that, it has broad appeal for a lot of people. It combines several popular genres, including pop, soft-rock, gospel music, and soul music. Fans of multiple musical styles can find a reason to love “Let It Be.”
In addition, the “Mother Mary” in the lyrics can be interpreted as the Virgin Mary. For millions of Christians, “Let It Be” can function as a hymn. There are numerous covers of the song on YouTube produced by church groups.
On the other hand, it’s easy to understand “Let It Be” as a sexual song of empowerment. Self-empowerment anthems are a huge part of popular music, but The Beatles only produced a few, such as “Let It Be,” “Hey Jude,” and “Here Comes the Sun.” The fact that “Let It Be” is still prominent shows that self-empowerment anthems stick around even as popular tastes change.
“Let It Be” is a classic even if Paul and John felt it got too much attention.
