Thanks for the e-mails about the post on the Beatles’ song Let It Be, including the following:

From Lyle:

I always assumed it somehow came from Just A Closer Walk With Thee:

JUST A CLOSER WALK WITH THEE,
GRANT IT JESUS HEAR MY PLEA.
DAILY WALKING CLOSE TO THEE,
LET IT BE, DEAR LORD, LET IT BE.

That’s interesting, and the songs don’t seem so dissimilar musically either. Had to be in Paul’s subconscious in any case.

From Hugh:

It is coincidental, but about a month ago I was wondering the same thing about
“Let It Be” and looked up what I could. The Gospel of Luke connection leapt out
at me. My thoughts are that the song started with a dream, and persons and
things can be transposed. Here, for example. On the Cross, Jesus said to John
(not his relative) about Mary “Behold your mother”, and to Mary about John
“Behold your son”. If it was a matter of taking care of family members, surely
James would have been called upon, since he was a cousin. The early Church,
then, really had a special place for Mary. So, maybe Paul McCartney did not a
conscious reference to the biblical Mary, but nevertheless it is there.

I want to look at some other songs in the same way: Hendrix, “The Wind Cries
Mary”; Led Zeppelin “Stairway to Heaven”. The references to traditional
religious imagery are strong. E.g., Hendrix, “The traffic lights turn
blue…somewhere a queen is weeping”
E.g. Led Zeppelin “The May Queen” (May is the traditional month of Mary), “a
Lady we all know…” (who else could that be?).
Neither of those artists I would think had gone out of their way to write a song
to the Heavenly Mother (then again, who am I to say?), but the songs may write
themselves. And you probably have read my interpretations of “Shelter from the
Storm” in this respect. (See here -ED)

Maybe sometimes the writer really is not the one who creates the songs. As a
line from a song (Waltz of the Angels) says:

“There must be a power much higher than I
A writer of love songs way up in the sky
The maker of roses of love sweet and true”

I do think that songs write themselves sometimes, and that maybe the very best songs always write themselves. As for potential references to the Blessed Virgin Mary in Hendrix and Led Zeppelin, I’ll leave that to Hugh’s gracious commentary. I will say that when it comes to the Beatles’ Let It Be, the thing that struck me was that while “Mother Mary” constitutes the cue, what then comes out of it (based on the how my pastor’s father heard the song) is a simple devotional prayer to God: “Let it be to me according to thy word” (Luke 1:38). In other words, the focus isn’t on Mary, per se, but on God. But lest I stir up some Catholic/Protestant controversy here, let’s just say let it be.

And finally Jagon e-mails this:

I just wanted to write to give you another perspective on the song “Let It Be” that isn’t quite so specific. The way I’ve always heard the song, and I think, judging by what he’s said, the way Paul McCartney intended for it to be heard, certainly was “Everything will be alright”, but I don’t think quite in the deceitful way you’ve heard it. The message of the song, to me, has always been, yes, things are going to go awry – there will be many problems in the world, things will never be perfect, and the world is just a generally messed up place. But, the song tells us, just let it be – you can’t change everything. You’re going to get angry, but just be at peace, and let it be. Because, yes, everything will be alright – not necessarily on this earth, but someday. Someday everything will be set right, so just let it be. And yeah, that’s something I do believe deeply, and I think is integral to the Christian faith, that everything will be set right. Now, obviously, Paul himself wasn’t particularly a man of faith, so maybe I’m attributing a meaning that’s too specific on it too, but, well, I think it’s fairly close to the mark.

Thanks for all the words of wisdom.

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