Why a '70s Singer Missed Out on Recording What Became the Beatles' Final Hit Song
Why a ’70s Singer Missed Out on Recording What Became the Beatles' Final Hit Song originally appeared on Parade.
Can you imagine anyone but Paul McCartney singing “The Long and Winding Road”? Released in May 1970, a month after The Beatles broke up, the song stood as a makeshift eulogy for the band. Fans found solace and sympathy in McCartney’s voice as he sang, “The wild and windy night that the rain washed away / Has left a pool of tears, crying for the day / Why leave me standing here? / Let me know the way.”
Released as a single in the U.S. (and oddly, not in the U.K.), “The Long and Winding Road” went to the top of the charts. As of today, it’s the band’s last No. 1 song on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100—but, as Beatles lore goes, it was meant for someone else: Tom Jones.
Recently, Tim David Kelly, aka Tim From Kicking Harold, highlighted how McCartney and Tom Jones “were having a great time” while out on the town. After a few drinks, Jones asked McCartney to write him a song. “Paul, who very much enjoyed doing this type of thing, told his friend he’d be happy to write a song for him.”
McCartney soon had the song ready and sent it over to Jones. But McCartney included a catch.
“The condition was that I could do it, but it had to be my next single,” Jones told Wales Onlinein 2013. “Paul wanted it out straight away. At that time, I had a song called ‘Without Love’ that I was going to be releasing.”
Source: Jason Brow
