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TL;DR:

  • Phil Spector said critics hated his work on The Beatles’ “The Long and Winding Road.”
  • He said it was fun to read critics say he “took all the guts out of” The Beatles.
  • Spector gave fans insight into Paul McCartney’s role in recording the album Let It Be.
Phil Spector, John Lennon, and Cynthia Lennon in black-and-white during The Beatles' "The Long and Winding Road" era
Phil Spector, John Lennon, and Cynthia Lennon | Daily Mirror/Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix via Getty Images

Phil Spector produced The Beatles‘ “The Long and Winding Road.” Subsequently, critics “destroyed” him for his contributions to the song. Critics took issue with one specific element of the ballad’s production.

Critics hated the string section from The Beatles’ ‘The Long and Winding Road’

The 2003 book Phil Spector: Out of His Head says The Beatles’ “The Long and Winding Road” received negative reviews from critics. Reviewers disliked the string section Spector added to the track, claiming it made the song sound too sentimental.

“Critically, I was destroyed,” Spector recalled. “They just panned the s*** out of me. It was fun to see people getting into it … ‘how Spector ruined The Beatles’ and how I took all the guts out of them.” 

Spector discussed how people should think about “The Long and Winding Road” in retrospect. “Now that it’s sold 3 million, and it’s all over and done with, they should listen to what was there beforehand, I mean really listen to it,” he said.

“The Beatles didn’t want it out. That was never brought up in the reviews. If The Beatles had wanted it out, they would never have asked me to do it.” Spector appears to be talking about the song’s string section. 

The Beatles didn’t like the album ‘Let It Be’ and Phil Spector said Paul McCartney could’ve been more involved with it

Regardless, The Beatles didn’t like the song’s parent album, Let It Be. “But they were ashamed of the album, they hated the album, and there was a lot of work in editing and putting things together,” he said. “We spent weeks on that album, really, just putting it together and overdubbing strings. And then, in the end, they said, ‘You can be the final judge of it, if you like, because we’re really not involved in it and we don’t like it anymore.'”

Spector repeatedly asked if Paul wanted to be more involved in the production of Let It Be. Paul refused. Spector hated dealing with so much criticism for the album even though The Beatles could have taken it in a different direction. 

Related

Paul McCartney Felt Writing The Beatles’ ‘Please Please Me’ Was the Same as Writing ‘The Long and Winding Road’

The Fab Four announced their breakup before releasing ‘The Long and Winding Road’ as a single

According to The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits, The Beatles announced their breakup before putting out “The Long and Winding Road” as a single. “The Long and Winding Road” was a double A-side single with “For You Blue.” The tunes served as the group’s final No. 1 hit.

Some fans felt the group would rejoin after spending some time working on solo projects. Alas, “The Long and Winding Road” served as a “goodbye” from the Fab Four. 

Critics weren’t in love with “The Long and Winding Road” but Spector felt he wasn’t to blame.

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