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TL;DR:

  • Kenny Loggins criticized the lyrics of The Beatles’ “Get Back.”
  • He contrasted the lyrics of the song with the lyrics of “Let It Be” and “Hey Jude.”
  • “Get Back” became a hit twice in two different decades in the United Kingdom.
The Beatles' Paul McCartney with a magazine
The Beatles’ Paul McCartney | Michael Ochs Archives / Stringer

Kenny Loggins was a big fan of Paul McCartney’s ballads but he dislikes The Beatles‘ “Get Back.” He said the song has “disposable lyrics.” Subsequently, he said “Get Back” is not the sort of song that would get someone to leave their wife.

Kenny Loggin’s ‘main hero’ was Bob Dylan until he watched 1 famous performance by The Beatles

During a 2022 interview with Stereogum, Loggins discussed his relationship with The Beatles’ music. “I graduated from high school in ’66,” he recalled. “I was right there on the back edge of The Beatles. I was a folk guy, Bob Dylan was my main hero — up until I saw The Beatles on Ed Sullivan. When Lennon and McCartney showed up, it was a whole different atmosphere.” 

Loggins revealed why he watched the Ed Sullivan Show performance. “My mother told me about The Beatles on Ed Sullivan that night,” he remembered. He said that performance changed every musician from that era. 

Kenny Loggins contrasted The Beatles’ ‘Get Back’ with ‘Let It Be’ and ‘Hey Jude’

Loggins discussed the difference between Paul’s ballads and his songs. “I think the ballads were his more special tunes to me,” he said. “With ‘Let It Be‘ and ‘Hey Jude,’ he wrote lyrics that mattered. 

“If you look at something like ‘Get Back,’ they’re doing all these disposable lyrics,” he continued. “They’re using a lot of double entendre, oblique images, stream-of-consciousness imagery that really doesn’t do much. It’s not like, ‘Oh my God, that meant so much to me I left my wife.’ It’s not that kind of tune! But with ‘Hey Jude,’ it’s clear to me this stuff mattered to him.”

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How ‘Get Back’ and its parent album performed on the pop charts in the United States and the United Kingdom

“Get Back” topped the Billboard Hot 100 for five weeks, staying on the chart for a total of 12 weeks. The tune appeared on The Beatles’ Let It Be. The album topped the Billboard 200 for four weeks and stayed on the chart for 79 weeks.

According to The Official Charts Company, “Get Back” was No. 1 for two weeks during its initial run in the 1960s, which lasted 13 weeks. The song was rereleased in 1989 and peaked at No. 74, lasting two weeks on the chart. Meanwhile, Let It Be was No. 1 for three of its 53 weeks on the chart.

“Get Back” wasn’t one of Loggins’ favorite songs but it was still a huge international hit.

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