RECORDING their 12th and last studio album was nothing short of "torture" for The Beatles, said John Lennon in a tape-recorded interview coming up for auction this month.
"We were going through hell. We often do. It's torture every time we produce anything,'' Lennon revealed.
"The Beatles haven't got any magic you haven't got. We suffer like hell anytime we make anything, and we got each other to contend with. Imagine working with the Beatles, it's tough,'' he said.
"There's just tension. It's tense every time the red light (in the recording studio) goes on.''
Released in May 1970, and ranked by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the 500 greatest albums of all time, Let It Be was largely recorded in London in 1969 to complement a film of the same name.
Its title track and 'The Long and Winding Road' endure as two of the Beatles' most memorable songs.
But for Lennon, who was murdered in New York in 1980, Let It Be was a "strange album'' that reflected the friction that had grown between himself and band mates Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.
"We never really finished it. We didn't really want to do it. Paul was hustling for us to do it. It's the Beatles with their suits off,'' he said.
New Hampshire auction house RR Auction said the hour-long interview over two audio tape reels had lain forgotten for nearly four decades in a crate at the rear of Smith's loft in New York.
"It's a frank and honest interview from one of the most revered musicians and activists of all time,'' RR Auction vice president Bobby Livingston said on Thursday.
The recording is among more than 100 Beatles-related items folded into a larger 'Marvels of Modern Music' memorabilia auction that runs from September 19 through September 26 online at www.rrauction.com.
It has an initial minimum bid listed at $US300 ($330), but Livingston estimated it could sell for between $US5000 and $US10,000.
Picture and story with thanks to the Herald Sun
More on The Beatles in no particular
order:
Paul McCartney: Destiny Game Song "Hope For The Future"
Glyn Johns: Defining That Classic-Rock Sound
George Harrison and The Bee Gees To Receive Recording Academy Honors
John Lennon or Paul McCartney? Matt Schichter Documentary Offers 550 Answers
Sir Paul McCartney To Induct Ringo Starr Into Hall Of Fame
Penny Lane: Original On The Block, Minus The Fanfare
Lost Beatles US Concert Movie Blocked From Release
The Three Lennon-McCartney Hits That Went to No. 1 Without Lennon or McCartney
The Who Release First Song In 8 Years: Be Lucky
Beatles’ First Recording Contract to Be Auctioned For An Estimated $150,000
The Beatles 1 To Be Reissued With 50 Videos
George Harrison's Catalogue Is Now Streaming
John Lennon's Long-Lost Gibson J-160E Guitar Sells for Record $2.4 Million
Ringo Starr Reflects On His 35 Year Marriage
George Harrison: Tribute GeorgeFest Is Coming
John Lennon's Rock 'n' Roll Album - Update: Vale Sir George Martin
The Beatles Anthology: Streaming Now.
Unseen Beatles Footage Released
George Harrison - This is Love
The Beatles: Eight Days A Week - The Touring Years
The Beatles 'Love' And Cirque du Soleil
Long Lost Live Beatles Exhumed!
Sgt. Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles; It was 50 years ago today ...
Glyn Johns: Defining That Classic-Rock Sound
George Harrison and The Bee Gees To Receive Recording Academy Honors
John Lennon or Paul McCartney? Matt Schichter Documentary Offers 550 Answers
Sir Paul McCartney To Induct Ringo Starr Into Hall Of Fame
Penny Lane: Original On The Block, Minus The Fanfare
Lost Beatles US Concert Movie Blocked From Release
The Three Lennon-McCartney Hits That Went to No. 1 Without Lennon or McCartney
The Who Release First Song In 8 Years: Be Lucky
Beatles’ First Recording Contract to Be Auctioned For An Estimated $150,000
The Beatles 1 To Be Reissued With 50 Videos
George Harrison's Catalogue Is Now Streaming
John Lennon's Long-Lost Gibson J-160E Guitar Sells for Record $2.4 Million
Ringo Starr Reflects On His 35 Year Marriage
George Harrison: Tribute GeorgeFest Is Coming
The Beatles Anthology: Streaming Now.
Unseen Beatles Footage Released
The Beatles 'Love' And Cirque du Soleil
Long Lost Live Beatles Exhumed!
Sgt. Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles; It was 50 years ago today ...
