THEGarcia+Lennon IndexEVERY SONG IS SOMEWHERE.

Songs › The Beatles › Don't Let Me Down

The Beatles

Don't Let Me Down

Get Back / Don't Let Me Down · 1969 · Lennon–McCartney

GLI47
Dead Center
Confidence 78% · evidence quality, not position
The BeatlesPhotograph loading from archive
The Beatles performing at the Hollywood Bowl, 1965.
Robert W. Young · Public domain

Two different recordings have been released as this song.

GARCIAPerformance creates the music
DEAD CENTERNeither wins
LENNONComposition creates the music

Hollow marks: the other 49 scored songs · Hatched band: the Crossover Zone

The case

The strongest honest argument for each side, then the ruling.

The Garcia argument

The single is a live-in-the-studio take from 28 January 1969, with five players in a room. Two days later the band played it twice on the roof. A later official release replaced the single version with a composite of those rooftop performances, so the catalogue itself treats more than one performance as the song.

The Lennon argument

The song is a written verse, chorus and bridge with a fixed lyric, and it was rehearsed across seven sessions before the keeper. The three documented versions follow the same plan. What varies is delivery.

The verdict: GLI 47

A written song whose record is a performance. That is the same balance as Wharf Rat, reached from the other band. Dead Center, slightly to the Garcia side because the record is close to a plain document.

What is fixed

  • Lyric
  • Verse, chorus and bridge
  • The arrangement

What is open

  • Vocal delivery
  • The electric piano lines
  • Which performance is the reference

Evidence dimensions

Each runs from 0, Garcia, to 100, Lennon. Their weighted composite is 47. The published GLI is 47, the same.

Structural FixityHow much of sequence, form and duration is settled beforehand?
60
ElasticFixed

Verse, chorus and bridge in a fixed order.

Performance ConsistencyHow far can two performances differ and still be the same work?
44
TransformativeReproducible

A studio version and two rooftop versions, close in shape and different in delivery.

PredeterminationHow much of what matters exists before the performance begins?
52
EmergentPredetermined

The song was written. The performance of it was not planned.

Development MethodHow does the music move forward?
38
ExploratoryComposed

A band playing live together, with a guest on electric piano answering the voice.

Recording SpecificityDoes the recording document an occurrence, or define the object?
40
Documents eventDefines work

Two recordings have been issued as the song: a studio take and a rooftop composite.

Transformational tolerance

Good. Its official releases already include two different performances.

Confidence: 78%

A studio master and two rooftop performances exist. Sources differ on whether the master was overdubbed.

Keep arguing

Every placement is relative. These are the songs this one was measured against.

GLI neighbours

Numerically closest

Morning DewGrateful Dead · The Grateful Dead, 1967GLI 46Estimated ProphetGrateful Dead · Terrapin Station, 1977GLI 48China Cat SunflowerGrateful Dead · Aoxomoxoa, 1969GLI 45

Cross-band twin

Closest song from the other band

Morning DewGrateful Dead · The Grateful Dead, 1967GLI 46Somebody else wrote it. What the Dead added was the ending.Compare the two

Editorial counterpart

Chosen because it argues back

Wharf RatGrateful Dead · Grateful Dead (Skull & Roses), 1971GLI 50

Two written songs whose records are performances.

Compare the two

The record

  • The single is a studio recording made on 28 January 1969.Source ↗
  • It was played twice at the rooftop concert two days later.Source ↗
  • The 2003 release Let It Be... Naked uses a different recording, a composite of the two rooftop performances.Source ↗
  • The song was worked on across seven January sessions, with Billy Preston on electric piano.Source ↗

Where the sources disagree

  • Wikipedia mentions vocal overdubs in early February; the Beatles Bible page mentions none.

Catalog facts

Catalog no.
GLI·TB·022
Artist
The Beatles
Writers
Lennon–McCartney
Release
Get Back / Don't Let Me Down (1969)
Released
11 April 1969
Duration
3:35

Sources

Classified 5 October 2026