Let it Be, the classic song written by Paul McCartney which featured on The Beatles‘ album of the same name, was inspired by a “dream about his mother”.
The legendary songwriter, who went on to have a successful solo career as well as Wings’ frontman confirmed the “mother Mary” mentioned in the song is his own mother. Confirming the link between Let it Be and his mother during an appearance for the Anthology documentary, McCartney says he has no problem with the religious read on the song, but that the “Mother Mary” in question is his birth mother. He said: “My mother was Mary Patricia Mohin McCartney and was a good Catholic girl from Ireland, came over when she was eleven.”
McCartney was just fourteen-years-old when his mother died. He added: “She died when I was quite young still, and much later when The Beatles were having success, around the time of Let it Be, we’re all getting a little crazy and I’d gone to bed one night and had a dream.
“She’d been in the dream, and it’s always lovely, you know, when people who’ve been long gone come in dreams because you actually meet them again, even if it’s just within the confines of your own head, still lovely. You’re actually chatting to them. Just a big plus.”
This dreamlike encounter with his mother is the influence behind Let it Be, a song McCartney still plays live to this day. Fans of The Beatles consider the song one of McCartney’s best compositions, as well as one of the band’s very best pieces of work.
McCartney added: “And she was in the dream and she said, ‘It’ll be alright, it’ll be alright,’ she was very calming and I woke up thinking, ‘I feel better now, I feel better about things.’ As I usually did I started writing a song based on feeling better, based on the incident.
“Because she was my mother and her name was Mary, I said ‘Mother Mary comes to me,’ realising also that there would be a lot of people who would naturally just change that to their own uses and use it as the Virgin Mary, doesn’t matter for me. Great, yeah. In my case, it actually was my own mother.
“Now people kind of use it almost as a hymn, and I know some people who are very religious, and they love that song. I’m sure they’re taking it as the Virgin Mary, but I say good luck to them, where’s the harm in that.” Let it Be would mark the final single from The Beatles before McCartney announced his departure from the band on April 10, 1970.
