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Get Back / Don't Let Me Down

Single by The Beatles • 11 April 1969 • Parlophone R 5777

Get Back / Rooftop (Jan 1969) — London winter sky over Savile Row. Live, raw.

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About this release

Get Back / Don't Let Me Down is a single on Parlophone (catalogue R 5777), released 11 April 1969. 'The Beatles with Billy Preston' — the only artist ever co-credited on a Beatles A-side.

Recorded during the band's Get Back / Rooftop (Jan 1969) period, produced by George Martin with Glyn Johns, Alan Parsons (2nd) engineering. The tracks were committed at Apple Studios rooftop, 3 Savile Row, London on Apple's mobile 8-track to studio downstairs via the Hand-built Apple desk.

Release context

Get Back / Don't Let Me Down is a Beatles single issued in the United Kingdom on 11 April 1969 by Parlophone under catalogue number R 5777. It sits in the band's Get Back / Rooftop (Jan 1969) period. The release arrived 84 days after the parent LP Yellow Submarine, placing it firmly within that album's commercial window.

Sessions were produced by George Martin with Glyn Johns, Alan Parsons (2nd) engineering, working at Apple Studios rooftop, 3 Savile Row, London. The signal chain ran through the Apple's mobile 8-track to studio downstairs • Hand-built Apple desk, with vocals captured on AKG D19 (Ringo kick), STC 4038, U47 (vocals). This combination of room, tape format and outboard chain is the same one heard across the band's other releases from the era — meaning the release shares its sonic identity with its parent LP rather than departing from it.

The release features Get Back.

Documented alternate masters and remaster passes can be found via the linked entries above; the editorial position throughout Beatles Answers is that the original UK mono master is the canonical point of reference for any single from this era, with the 2009 and 50th-anniversary stereo remasters treated as documented variations rather than replacements. Catalogue numbers, label copy and matrix data are taken from EMI/Parlophone primary documentation and cross-checked against Mark Lewisohn's The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions (1988).

Track-by-track context

Each track on this single carries its own session history on the dedicated entry. The summary below pulls the most distinctive editorial detail from each:

  • Get Back — Recorded across multiple sessions in late January 1969 with substantial studio development and refinement. The Beatles pursued innovative live recording approaches, dispensing with overdubbing and electronic processing wherever possible.

What's distinctive

2 tracks; average length 3:21. Lennon dominates the lead vocals (1/2). Lead writing credit: Lennon–McCartney (1 of 2). Estimated total takes across the release: 44.

Tracklist

Side A

Side B

Pattern analysis

Lead vocalists across Get Back / Don't Let Me Down
2
Lennon 1
McCartney 1
Songwriters credited on Get Back / Don't Let Me Down
Lennon–McCartney1Lennon1
Track lengths (seconds)
Don't Let Me Down214Get Back189
Estimated takes per track (top 10)
Get Back35Don't Let Me Down9

Era technical context

MicrophonesAKG D19 (Ringo kick), STC 4038, U47 (vocals)
OutboardLive to tape — minimal
GuitarsFender Rosewood Telecaster (Harrison), Epiphone Casino (Lennon), Hofner 500/1 (McCartney), Fender Rhodes electric piano (Billy Preston)
AmplifiersFender Twin Reverb

References & external databases