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.”
Jones asked his record label, which was “gearing up” towards the release of “Without Love,” if he could “stop everything” so he could record this new song. “They said it would take a lot of time, and it was impractical, so I ended up not doing it,” said Jones.
“I was kicking myself,” he said. “I knew it was a strong song and of course it subsequently appeared on[Let It Be].”
“The Long and Winding Road” was a source of contention within the Beatles. McCartney—who already resented the band’s manager, Allen Klein—was furious that Klein, apparently without consulting anyone in the band, had producer Phil Spector record the orchestral and choral overdubs to the song.
McCartney wrote a letter to Klein and Spector, demanding that “in the future, no one will be allowed to add to or subtract from a recording of one of my songs without my permission.” He also demanded changes to the version, ending his note with “Don’t ever do it again.”
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Why a ’70s Singer Missed Out on Recording What Became the Beatles’ Final Hit Song first appeared on Parade on Aug 11, 2025
This story was originally reported by Parade on Aug 11, 2025, where it first appeared.
