The Beatles release 'Let It Be' official music video with never-before-seen footage

10 May 2024, 16:14

'Let It Be' lives on.

After the ecstatic reception to Peter Jackson's 2021 documentary Get Back, the original feature from where he restored the footage from has also been given a re-release.

Director Michael Lindsay-Hogg's 1970 film Let It Be has been offered a reappraisal of sorts, given that Get Back shifted the perspective of The Beatles' final chapter.

Paul McCartney's timeless ode to moving on 'Let It Be' - which was inspired by his late mother visiting him in a dream - has forever been a fan favourite.

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But the documentary of the same name certainly wasn't embraced as warmly, given the time of its release, just a month after The Beatles had officially called it day.

Time is a healer as we all know, and we can now watch Let It Be in a different light, as Lindsay-Hogg's unique perception of the world's greatest band, rather than the definitive truth of that era.

To celebrate the revival of the rare footage, The Beatles have now released an official music video for 'Let It Be', almost fifty five years after its original release.

The new music video uses never-before-seen footage from 1970's Let It Be - now streaming on Disney+ - featuring unseen outtakes from the rushes.

Apple Corps offered Jackson's Park Road Production team to "dive into the meticulous restoration of the film from the original 16mm negative", using the same technology as he did for the Get Back limited series.

Now some of that restored footage has been reappropriated for an official music video for 'Let It Be', for the very first time.

Watch the brand music video for 'Let It Be' in full below:

The Beatles - Let It Be

Whilst Get Back emphasised the camaraderie and spirited The Beatles still shared, despite the folklore of the period preceding the truth, Let It Be took a darker look at the beginning of their end.

In light of Get Back, Let It Be has now been offered its rightful place in The Beatles' mythology, with Jackson stating it is now "one epic story, finally completed after five decades."

Lindsay-Hogg has shed his opinion on the re-release of his 1970 documentary, which was almost completely ignored by The Beatles themselves upon its original release.

"Let It Be was ready to go in October/November 1969, but it didn’t come out until April 1970. One month before its release, The Beatles officially broke up," he sighed.

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"And so the people went to see Let It Be with sadness in their hearts, thinking, 'I’ll never see The Beatles together again. I will never have that joy again,' and it very much darkened the perception of the film."

"But in fact, there’s a great deal of joy and happiness and creation going on, and Let It Be is - especially when you get to the roof, and you see the exchange and the way that they look at each other - essentially a happy and 'up' movie."

"I was knocked out by what Peter was able to do with Get Back, using all the footage I’d shot 50 years previously."