| "The Long and Winding Road" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 US picture sleeve | ||||
| Single by the Beatles | ||||
| from the album Let It Be | ||||
| B-side | "For You Blue" | |||
| Released | 11 May 1970 | |||
| Recorded | 26 January 1969; 1 April 1970 | |||
| Studio | Apple and EMI, London | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 3:40 | |||
| Label | Apple | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Lennon–McCartney | |||
| Producer(s) | Phil Spector | |||
| The Beatles US singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"The Long and Winding Road" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1970 album Let It Be. It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. When issued as a single in May 1970, a month after the Beatles' break-up, it became the group's 20th and final number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States.
The main recording of the song took place in January 1969 and featured a sparse musical arrangement of piano, bass, guitar and percussion. When preparing the tapes from these sessions for release in April 1970, producer Phil Spector added orchestral and choral overdubs. Spector's modifications angered McCartney to the point that when he made his case in the English High Court for the dissolution of the Beatles' legal partnership, McCartney cited the treatment of the song as one of six reasons justifying the split. Later versions of the recording with simpler instrumentation were subsequently released by the Beatles.
- ^ Wright, Carole Ann (11 November 2009). "The Records, Day Four: 1968–1969" > "Let It Be". PopMatters. Archived from the original on 9 October 2019. Retrieved 30 September 2022.
- ^ Wyman, Bill (7 June 2017). "All 213 Beatles Songs, Ranked from Worst to Best". Vulture. Archived from the original on 18 July 2020. Retrieved 31 December 2018.