Remembering When The Beatles Went Back to Their Early Days for a Song on Their Last Album in 1970
The Beatles revived “One After 909”, a song dating from their early years, for Let It Be, their final album released in 1970. Its inclusion linked the group’s turbulent final period with their formative rock-and-roll sound, and the article argues that the performance captured a rare sense of shared enthusiasm.
Paul McCartney described the song as a collaboration inspired by bluesy freight-train songs, while John Lennon later suggested he had written it alone at 17. The band unsuccessfully attempted to record it in March 1963 for possible use around With The Beatles, before returning to it six years later; the released version drew heavily on their rooftop performance and featured George Harrison’s guitar, Billy Preston’s keyboards and Lennon–McCartney harmonies.
In short
- The Beatles revived an early song for Let It Be.
- “One After 909” was first attempted in 1963.
- Its rooftop performance conveyed renewed energy.
Explained simply
The Beatles were a British rock group whose early songs drew on American rock and roll and blues. John Lennon and Paul McCartney became the band’s main songwriting partnership, though they sometimes disagreed about who had written particular songs.
“One After 909” was an early song about a freight train, first tried in the studio in 1963. The band returned to it in 1969, when they were working on what became Let It Be, their final album, released in 1970.
The song connects the Beatles’ beginnings with their later years, when the group was nearing its end. Its recording also involved guitarist George Harrison and keyboard player Billy Preston, alongside Lennon and McCartney’s vocals.
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