Chrissie Hynde's version of the Beatles classic "Let It Be" is simple, understated and a lovely tribute to its writer and original singer, Paul McCartney.
Hynde is one of many artists who will be included on the tribute compilation The Art of McCartney, which is out Nov. 18. The Pretenders frontwoman doesn't try to out-perform the iconic song, but rather just lets the music do its work. There's some faint acoustic guitar and the cymbals are a little splashier than Ringo Starr's, but other than that, it's just another respective cover for McCartney. Take a listen below.
In a behind-the-scenes clip, Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn talks about the song. "'Let It Be' sounds like a hymn, and because it says 'mother Mary,' people assume it's a religious song, but it isn't," he says in the video, which The Wall Street Journal premiered today (Nov.3). "'Mother Mary' is Paul's mother Mary - his mother was Mary McCartney - and Paul was 26 when he wrote this. He was 14 when his mother died, so only 12 years earlier that she had died..... [In the song] he's in trouble, he's having a troubled moment, and his mother comes to him and says, 'Don't worry, son, everything will be all right. The answer will come. Let it be, let the answer be.'"
Lewisohn also says that originally, McCartney gave the song to Aretha Franklin to record, but the Fab Four's version came out first.
The Art of McCartney will be out in a 34-song and 42-song edition. Artists like Alice Cooper, KISS, Sammy Hagar, Bob Dylan B.B. King and Perry Farrell all appear on the album.
