Album: Let it Be
Year: 1969
So first off, of course I’m aware that Let it Be didn’t come out until 1970, but this performance of this song was from 1969, and I’m trying to go with performance dates over release dates if things were shelved for any time.
Anyways, I first saw the film of Let it Be way back in either the late 1970s or early 1980s on HBO at my grandparents house in Bakersfield. It was weird and depressing – at that time, I was still trying to sort out The Beatles as a story with a beginning, middle and end as opposed to the overwhelming cultural presence with which I’d grown up – but two things stuck out in the middle of all of the fighting and anger: the snippet of “Dig it” and the entire rooftop performance of this song.
“I’ve Got a Feeling” is majestic and melancholy at the same time, and it has always struck me as more honest and real than anything else going on in their “Get Back” project. After all, in a weird way, Paul & John are formally showing just how much their paths have diverged by singing completely different songs at the same time.
BTW, it’s goddamn shame that the film of Let it Be isn’t commercially available in any way, shape and form 45 years after it was filmed. It might not be as uplifting as A Hard Day’s Night, but it’s equally as important as a way to understand The Beatles. Maybe more so.
It’s almost as if the gatekeepers of The Beatles legend would prefer to keep them as overwhelming cultural presence as opposed to a story with a beginning, middle and end. Which is a shame, and extends – of course – to not being able to embed a proper clip of this song.
Fan-made video for “I’ve Got a Feeling”
My Certain Songs Playlist on Spotify