"Recurring wrong notes at 0:28, 2:10 and 3:07; mis-strikes at 2:39 and 2:52; drop outs at 2:59 and 3:14; a fumble at 0:19; a vague glissando at 1:03; a missed final push at 3:26. (One can hear McCartney grin at his partner's incompetence at 1:59)"
The above is a footnote in Ian MacDonald's extraordinary book Revolution in the Head. It is probably my favourite passage from it. The fact that MacDonald took the time out to listen for all of John Lennon's mistakes made as a bassist is remarkable enough but for him also to note the presence of an audible smile is a whole other thing indeed. Can anyone say for sure if Paul McCartney was in fact grinning at Lennon's clumsy playing? No, probably not, especially considering that he had gone a few bars without fucking up at that point. While there's no mistaking Paul's grin, it's more likely he had been prompted by John pulling a face.
McDonald took the time to point out all these errors because he wished to put Phil Spector's work on "The Long and Winding Road" in context. Recordings of the song were rough even without Lennon's awful bass playing factored in and the eccentric producer "had no choice" but to cover it up with layers of orchestrated Wall of Sound nonsense. And you know something? Some of it even belongs.
Now, for sure there's too much of it and it drowns out George Harrison's guitar part and Billy Preston's organ (and, mercifully, Lennon's bass). If I had been in Spector's position, I would have (a) not murdered anyone, (b) not acted like being a producer was an "artiste" and (c) not bothered with the tasteless choir. He also expressed his disappointment with the harp which closes the song out and on this he is one hundred percent justified.The orchestra, on the other hand, isn't bad all things considered. McCartney requested that it be "reduced in volume" but, notably, he never explicitly called for it to be removed completely. Even as is it isn't a total distraction. The real saving grace of the Spector mix though is the lonely trumpet solo which yearningly accompanies the singer's anguish.
As I have already discussed, many of McCartney's compositions during the last year or so of The Beatles seem to be either consciously or unconsciously bidding his old life farewell. "Hey Jude" has him and Lennon beginning to live their lives apart from one another with the loves of their lives replacing each other. "Two of Us" looks back at a burgeoning friendship from the vantage point of a pair of individuals who are growing apart. "Let It Be" has him learning to accept that the future might be different that what he had had in mind. While "The Long and Winding Road" seems to be cut from the same cloth, its narrative is vague. Lennon's shadow hangs over the others but his presence here is as non-committal as his bass playing.
As MacDonald states, McCartney was a "hurt and worried man" during this time. His other major works balance out the potential loss of his friend and chief collaborator with the promise of a future with soon-to-be-wife Linda but she doesn't seem to play much of a part here either. Having been the de facto leader of the Fab Four since the autumn of 1967, it seems a little out of character for him to be seeking to "know the way" from someone else — but I guess it just goes to show you that even the biggest control freaks on Earth sometimes lose control. The lyrics to "The Long and Winding Road" don't read particularly well but McCartney does such a convincing job that it couldn't matter less. Very few in pop have ever been able to sell what they're offering as consistently as Macca and this is a particular credit to him given that he hasn't always made much sense with the words he puts to paper.
All that said, "The Long and Winding Road" is far from perfect: a flawed if misunderstood Spector remix covering up for a very flawed performance of what sounds like a not-quite-finished work. While MacDonald (and Spector himself who may have had Revolution in the Head in mind when he explained in a 2009 documentary that his use of orchestration was to mask the shoddy bass playing) can go after Lennon's inability on an instrument he had very little interest in, it's likely that his biggest affront to the present single is his lack of participation in the writing. The eyeball-to-eyeball approach from the Beatlemania period was long gone but even the regular consultations between Lennon and McCartney seemed to be disappearing by 1969. (Their final 50-50 collaboration was "I've Got a Feeling" and even it is more like two separate songs stitched together rather than a genuine co-write) Even if the two were no longer best mates it must've bothered McCartney that they couldn't even operate as a fully functioning songwriting two-headed monster anymore. If he had been kept waiting on that road for the restless Lennon to rejoin him then it's no wonder he never got back to his door.
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