"The Letter" is a song written by Wayne Carson that was first recorded by the American rock band the Box Tops in 1967.

The Box Tops lead vocalist Alex Chilton sang "The Letter" in a gruff blue-eyed soul style.

[3] Wayne Carson wrote "The Letter", built on an opening line suggested by his father: "Give me a ticket for an aeroplane".

[4] Carson included the song on a demo tape he gave to Chips Moman, owner of American Sound Studio in Memphis, Tennessee.

When studio associate Dan Penn was looking for an opportunity to produce more, Moman suggested a local group, the DeVilles, who had a new lead singer, sixteen-year-old Alex Chilton.

[5] Chilton recalled: We set up and started running the tune down ... [Dan] adjusted a few things on the organ sound, told the drummer not to do anything at all except the basic rhythm that was called for.

[4] Leech recalled: "My very first string arrangement was 'The Letter', and the only reason I did that was because I knew how to write music notation ... Nobody else in the group did or I'm sure someone else would have gotten the call.

"[4] Penn also overdubbed the sound of an airplane taking off to the track from a special effects record that had been checked out from the local library.

"[5]Edwin Pouncey of The Wire described the "sampling" of the overhead jet plane as one of the more notable "pop and rock musique concrète flirtations" of the period.

English singer Joe Cocker recorded "The Letter" during the rehearsals for his upcoming American tour on March 17, 1970.

[27] Recordings of both songs are included on the live Mad Dogs & Englishmen album, which was released in August 1970 and was a best seller.