Maggie Mae
By:
The Beatles
Lyrics:
Maggie Mae Lyrics
Lead vocals:
John Lennon
Songwriter(s):
George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr (Richard Starkey)
First released on:
Let It Be
U.S. release date:
May 18, 1970
U.K. release date:
May 8, 1970
Length (≈):
0:40
Label:
Apple
Produced by:
Phil Spector
Recording date(s):
January 24, 1969
Recorded at:
Apple Studios (Savile Row)
Musicians :
- John Lennon – vocal, acoustic guitar
- Paul McCartney – vocal, acoustic guitar
- George Harrison – electric guitar bass-line
- Ringo Starr – drums
Album(s):
Let It Be Maggie Mae (often spelled "Maggie May") is a sea shanty (more specifically, a "forecastle song") with its origins in Liverpool, where it has been widely sung for almost two centuries. It was a favorite of the sea-faring world before the advent of steam power. Maggie Mae deals with a rough but pleasant prostitute who robs a sailor (similar to the stories in Nellie Gray and New York Girls in US sailing tradition).
The Beatles wound up recording their own version of Maggie Mae during the third Get Back recording session on January 24, 1969. It is a tiny jam session, an ad-libbed fragment of musical fun, sandwiched in between takes of Two of Us. Presumably the group was moved to play the song as a spontaneous celebration of their Liverpool roots. The track came out to be only 40 seconds long. Producer Phil Spector included it in the Let It Be album, placing it immediately after Let It Be. In the Beatles' catalog, only the 23-second-long Her Majesty is a shorter track. Maggie Mae was omitted from the album Let It Be . . . Naked (as was Dig It). John Lennon's 1979 home recording of Maggie Mae, accompanying himself on acoustic guitar, was released in 1998 on the Lennon Anthology. Critics refer to the genre of this song as "folk rock."
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