The song's title was inspired by a quote from George Harrison's "I'd Have You Anytime", the opening track from his critically acclaimed All Things Must Pass.

[1] According to Ultimate Classic Rock contributor Nick DeRiso, John Lennon incorporated the riff from "Let Me Roll It" into his 1974 song "Beef Jerky".

[2] Alternatively, Rolling Stone's critic Jon Landau,[3] saw the song as a pastiche of John Lennon's sound, particularly the riff and the use of tape echo on the vocals.

[5] However, Philip Norman's authorized biography Paul McCartney: The Life, recounts that in 1972 – after the release of Imagine and before the release of Band on the Run — McCartney and Lennon met and "agreed that slagging one another off, on albums or through the music press, was stupid and childish."

Norman quotes Lennon as saying that Band on the Run was "a great album".