Sir Paul McCartney appeared via Satellite at the TCA 2011 Summer Press Tour to talk about his film The Love We Make for Showtime. During the questions and answer session with the journalists McCartney revealed how he came up with the song “Yesterday” and “Let it Be.” Beatles fans may or may not know the geneses of the two songs. Here is how they came to be, from the man himself.
Let it Be
“’Let It Be’ happened during a time when there was kind of a lot going on. I think people were overdoing the use of substances. We certainly were.
“It was kind of common. It was the fashion. And anyone who remembers that time will know that. And I think I was getting, like, a little bit over the top with the whole thing, getting pretty tired and pretty wasted." McCartney described how his life was so busy with the Beatles, their hectic schedule, and, of course, their well documented use of illegal substances.
"And I went to bed one night [I] had a kind of restless night. But I had a dream where my mother, who had been dead at that point for about 10 years, came to me in the dream and it was as if she could see that I was troubled. And she sort of said to me, ‘Let it be.’ And I remember quite clearly her saying ‘Let it be,’ and ‘It's going to be okay, don't worry.’ You know, ‘Let it be.’" The phrase, "Let it be" was meant to calm him down and was kind of a mantra to just let his life slow down a bit.
“And I woke up and I remembered the dream, and I thought, well, that's a great idea. And I then sat down and wrote the song using the feeling from that dream and of my mum coming to me in the dream. I think, then, when I said mother Mary, meaning my mother - I had mother Mary, father James - she was a good Catholic girl. When I put that in the song, I think a lot of people then thought that - it's become kind of quasi religious with Mother Mary, Virgin Mary, which is fine by me, if that's how you want to take it." As McCartney explained, his mother's name was Mary so the song was meant as a statement from his mother, not anything religious, as many people have taken it to be.
"The actual reason was my mom came to me in a dream and actually said ‘Let it be,’ which turned out to be great advice. Thanks, mom.
Yesterday
“One of my most famous songs is 'Yesterday.'" McCartney told the journalists, “"Yesterday' came to me in a dream, but at this time it wasn't just my mom saying a phrase, [as it had been with 'Let it Be.'] This was a whole tune that was in my head. I had no idea where it came from. Best I can think is that my [mind's] computer through the years loaded all these things and finally printed out this song in a dream. But I certainly had this song that was to become very famous in the world and I just dreamed it. So there's no way out of it for me. I have to believe that that's magical. I have no other rational explanation for it.” As the former Beatle spoke, it was clear he remembered the dream just like it was yesterday, no pun intended. He simply woke up one morning and had the entire song in his head.
McCartney also spoke about the early days of the Beatles. A fun and somewhat whimsical side of Paul McCartney came through during this session, along with his brilliance in music. He is definitely one of a kind.
The Love We Make, the film about McCartney and The Concert for New York, premieres September 10, 2011 on Showtime.
