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About

Genius Annotation

A lighthearted, fairly meaningless blues jam by Paul McCartney.

“Get Back” went through numerous iterations, many of which are publicly available. The two most noteworthy versions are the single version and the album version. In one of its earlier forms, “Get Back” was a satirical political tune, with lyrics including “too many Pakistanis living in a council flat”. McCartney later explained these lyrics by saying:

When we were doing Let It Be, there were a couple of verses to “Get Back” which were actually not racist at all — they were anti-racist. There were a lot of stories in the newspapers then about Pakistanis crowding out flats — you know, living 16 to a room or whatever. So in one of the verses of “Get Back,” which we were making up on the set of Let It Be, one of the outtakes has something about ‘too many Pakistanis living in a council flat’ – that’s the line. Which to me was actually talking out against overcrowding for Pakistanis… If there was any group that was not racist, it was the Beatles.

John Lennon believed that “Get Back” was aimed at his lover, Yoko Ono, who had begun accompanying him to many of the Beatles' recording sessions. Paul adamantly denies that this song was about Ono, but he’s admitted that her presence during recording sessions was slightly upsetting to him at the time.

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

What did The Beatles say about "Get Back"?
Genius Answer

Get Back is Paul. That’s a better version of Lady Madonna. You know, a potboiler rewrite.

—John Lennon (All We Are Saying by David Sheff)

The only one I didn’t see [as being potentially successful] was “Get Back.” Yeah, because I just thought it was kinda' a little jam and […] I’d play it, and people would go, “Wow! I love that!”

—Paul McCartney (The Howard Stern Show 2013)

Credits
Featuring
Produced By
Mixing Engineer
Background Vocals
Lead guitar
Electric Piano
Rhythm Guitar
Recorded At
Apple Studios, Mayfair, City of Westminster, Greater London, England
Release Date
May 8, 1970
Get Back Interpolations
View Get Back samples
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