Paul McCartney has opened up about the creation of The Beatles classic ‘Let It Be’, which he says was influenced on a subconscious level by the works of William Shakespeare.
The Fab Four track was derived from a dream where McCartney was met by his late mother who reassured him. At the time, the singer-songwriter was undergoing a great level of stress as The Beatles began to reach their inevitable conclusion, and he found himself lost within the harsh trappings of the music industry.
Now, in a new episode of his podcast, Paul McCartney: A Life in Lyrics, McCartney has explained how the title of the track was etched on his mind thanks to Shakespeare. Reflecting on his younger years, McCartney said: “In those days [at school], I had to learn speeches off by heart. So I could still do a bit of ‘to be or not to be’, or ‘O that this too too solid flesh’.”
McCartney continued: “And it had been pointed out to me recently that Hamlet, when he has been poisoned, he actually says, ‘Let it be’ – act five, scene two. He says ‘Let be’ the first time, then the second time he says, ‘Had I but time — as this fell sergeant, Death, Is strict in his arrest — oh, I could tell you. But let it be Horatio.’”
The Beatle concluded: “I was interested that I was exposed to those words during a time when I was studying Shakespeare so that years later the phrase appears to me in a dream with my mother saying it.”
McCartney’s mother, Mary McCartney, died in 1956 following a battle with pancreatic cancer when he was aged 14. John Lennon also lost his mother in tragic circumstances as a teenager, which led to the duo being bonded by grief.
Listen to the full episode on ‘Let It Be’ below.
