"Get Back" is a song recorded by the English rock band the Beatles and Billy Preston, written by Paul McCartney, and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership.
The album version of this song contains a different mix that features a studio chat between Paul McCartney and John Lennon at the beginning, which lasts for 20 seconds before the song begins, also omitting the coda featured in the single version, and with a final dialogue taken from the Beatles' rooftop concert.
"Get Back" is unusual in the Beatles' canon in that almost every moment of the song's evolution has been documented, from its beginning as an offhand riff to its final mixing in several versions.
The song's melody grew out of some unstructured jamming on 7 January 1969 during rehearsal sessions on the sound stage at Twickenham Studios.
[6] McCartney had played bass on Jackie Lomax's recording of "Sour Milk Sea" a few months earlier.
The album version of the song also ends with Lennon famously quipping, "I'd like to say thank you on behalf of the group and ourselves, and I hope we passed the audition.
[11] The lyrics addressed attitudes toward immigrants in the United States and the United Kingdom: "... don't need no Puerto Ricans living in the USA"; and "don't dig no Pakistanis taking all the people's jobs", though these lyrics were meant to be a parody and a criticism of those prejudiced against immigrants.
The group, with Preston playing Fender Rhodes electric piano, recorded about ten takes on 23 January.
The line-up for the released versions of "Get Back" was Paul McCartney, lead vocal and bass; John Lennon, lead guitar and backing vocal; George Harrison, rhythm guitar; Ringo Starr, drums; and Billy Preston, electric piano.
The Beatles were unhappy with the mix, and on 7 April, McCartney and Glyn Johns worked at Olympic Studios to produce new remixes for the single release.
This was a divergence from the concept of a straight live performance without studio trickery, but a relatively minor one, and avoids the somewhat abrupt ending of the version used on the Let It Be... Naked album.
During the third, which marked the end of the rooftop performance, the Beatles were interrupted by the police, who had received complaints from office workers nearby.
At the end of the last rooftop performance of "Get Back", the audience applauds, and McCartney says, "Thanks, Mo", in reply to Maureen Starkey's cheering.
[9] Spector used some of the talk preceding the master take of 27 January and edited on these comments to make the album version sound different from the single.
[16] Apple launched a print ad campaign for the song concurrent with its release showing a photo of the band with the slogan The Beatles as Nature Intended, indicating that the sound of "Get Back" harked to the group's earlier days.
The unreleased Get Back albums included elements of studio chatter to add to the live feel of the recordings.
In 2003, "Get Back" was re-released on the Let It Be... Naked album, remixed by independent producers with the sanction of surviving Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, with John Lennon's and George Harrison's widows.
In 2006, a newly mixed version of "Get Back" produced by George Martin and his son Giles was included on the album Love.
Universal Music released take 8 from the recording sessions to promote the 50th-anniversary edition of Let It Be and the 2021 Get Back documentary miniseries.
"I've done a roof", McCartney replied, referring to the Beatles' 1969 performance atop the Apple Corps building in London.
At the normal conclusion of the show, when host Paul Rudd thanked the cast, McCartney retook the stage for "Get Back", the broadcast of which was partially cut off due to time constraints.
McCartney and the Foo Fighters performed the song at the 2021 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony.