The Beatles – The Long and Winding Road (Audio, Lyrics)

Listen to the 2021 mix for The Beatles’ “The Long and Winding Road” produced by Phil Spector, off the Let It Be album from 1970. Read the lyrics, stream, buy, mp3 download.

The Beatles The Long And Winding Road

The Long and Winding Road; released in June 1970 it was The Beatles 20th and final number-one single in the US. Written by Paul McCartney, the song is a reflection on the journey of The Beatles. McCartney was extremely dissatisfied with the original version mixed by Phil Spector who included a string arrangement over the original ballad. In 2003, an entirely different take free of Spector’s overdubs was released on Let It Be… Naked, a stripped back version of the original 1970 Let It Be album.

Unusually, it’s Lennon playing bass on the original recording (instead of McCartney) – possibly because it was only meant to be a quick run-through with Paul on piano, with McCartney planning to overdub the bass afterwards.

Throughout the track, Lennon makes some amateurish mistakes (e.g. a weird-sounding slide up the fretboard at 1:03), leading some critics to accuse him of deliberately sabotaging McCartney’s song (since relations between the two were pretty abysmal at this point).

The Beatles – The Long and Winding Road (prod. Phil Spector)

Lyrics

[Verse 1]
The long and winding road that leads to your door
Will never disappear, I’ve seen that road before
It always leads me here
Lead me to your door

[Verse 2]
The wild and windy night that the rain washed away
Has left a pool of tears, crying for the day
Why leave me standing here?
Let me know the way

[Bridge]
Many times I’ve been alone, and many times I’ve cried
Anyway, you’ll never know the many ways I’ve tried

[Verse 3]
And still they lead me back to the long and winding road
You left me standing here a long, long time ago
Don’t leave me waiting here
Lead me to your door

[Orchestral Solo]

[Verse 4]
But still they lead me back to the long and winding road
You left me standing here a long, long time ago
Don’t keep me waiting here (Don’t keep me waiting)
Lead me to your door

[Outro]
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah