Paul and Linda McCartney attend the 1971 GRAMMYs
Photo: William R. Eastabrook
GRAMMY Rewind: Watch Paul McCartney Accept The GRAMMY For Best Original Score At The 1971 GRAMMYs
While The Beatles are beloved around the world for their eternal music and forever-classic songs, the English rock icons are also celebrated for their visuals. Their early work in concert and promotional films surrounding their singles and albums are largely credited with birthing the concept of music videos, which would eventually give rise to TV networks like MTV. Their groundbreaking approach to curating music to image, and vice versa, has secured their stance as pioneers in both music and film. It's why, in addition to winning eight career GRAMMYs, with 24 nominations overall, The Beatles also count an Academy Award, the film industry's GRAMMY equivalent, on their wide-spanning résumés.
In May 1970, The Beatles released Let It Be, an all-time favorite within the group's discography. To accompany the project, the band released a documentary of the same name, which chronicles the making and recording of Let It Be and also includes the act's iconic unannounced rooftop concert, their final public performance as The Beatles.
Let It Be, both the film and the album, would become a bittersweet entry in the Beatles' saga. As the group's final album, with the film counterpart marking their last original release as The Beatles, Let It Be would go on to make major waves, going multiplatinum in and topping several charts around the world.
Let It Be also had a huge presence at the 13th GRAMMY Awards, held in 1971. Let It Be notched four GRAMMY nominations that year, including Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year and Best Contemporary Song for the title track, as well as Best Contemporary Vocal Performance By A Duo, Group Or Chorus for the album itself.
Read: Peter Jackson To Assemble New Beatles 'Let It Be' Film From Archival Footage
While Let It Be, the album, did not win any GRAMMYs that year, the film's soundtrack took home the golden gramophone for Best Original Score Written For A Motion Picture Or A Television Special. (One month later, in April 1971, the film's soundtrack won the Oscar for Best Original Song Score.)
Accepting the award at the 1971 GRAMMYs, held at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, a smiling, stylish Paul McCartney—alongside his then-wife Linda McCartney, who died 22 years ago today (April 17)—kept his speech short and sweet: "Thank you, goodnight."
In 2004, 34 years after its original release, "Let It Be," the song, was inducted into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame, forever solidifying the accompanying track, album, film and soundtrack in GRAMMY and Beatles history.
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