Across Abbey Road · Scene 18 of 21 · Album 12 of 13

18 2:48–3:17 Era 12Let It Be rec. 1969

“Because time stands still for the Walrus and the Fool on the Hill”

A cold afternoon in January 1969: the street stops, looks up, and there is a man with a guitar on the roof.

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The Scene

Scene 18 · Let It Be · 29 seconds · eight shotsThe cartoon snaps back to a bitter January afternoon. Mike crosses singing “time stands still”, his breath showing, and behind him a black taxi has stopped dead with its driver standing on the door sill, looking up. The whole street is looking up: a news board at the kerb says MUSIC STOPS TRAFFIC, and on the roofline there is one small figure with a guitar. Then we are up there with him as he sings “let the legend finally unfold”, a red raincoat and some office workers in shirtsleeves watching from the next roof. At the parapet, “I don’t feel so old”. The title picture returns at dusk. And then the guitar solo: his silhouette against the setting sun while two policemen step out of the roof door and simply watch; the street lamps come on pink; a candle burns in a window with a piano behind it; and he walks home in the blue evening with his hands in his pockets.

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The Story

Let It Be was recorded in January 1969, and it ended on a roof. On Thursday 30 January, at lunch time, in a bitter wind, the band played for forty-two minutes on top of their own building. The traffic stopped in the streets below, office workers came to the windows and climbed onto neighbouring roofs, and two young constables arrived to ask them to turn it down. It was the last time they played in public. This scene is that afternoon from the street’s side: one man with a guitar on a roof, and a city looking up. The song gives it the solo, so the film gives the solo to the sunset.

Shot by Shot

  1. 1 · Time stands still · 2:48–2:51Mike crosses in the low winter sun, singing, breath in the air. Behind him a taxi driver stands on his door sill looking up, and a row of people in overcoats do the same.
  2. 2 · The street looks up · 2:51–2:54A crowd in winter coats shading their eyes, a board reading MUSIC STOPS TRAFFIC, and the camera tilting up the brick fronts to a lone figure with a guitar on the roof.
  3. 3 · On the roof · 2:54–2:58Close on Mike singing “let the legend finally unfold”, then wider: the Les Paul, the slates, and the watchers on the next roof.
  4. 4 · At the parapet · 2:58–3:01He leans on the brick with the sun going down behind him and sings “I don’t feel so old”.
  5. 5 · The title picture at dusk · 3:01–3:06The still camera again: bare trees, a long white terrace with its lamps coming on, and Mike walking the crossing with the Les Paul.
  6. 6 · The solo · 3:06–3:09His silhouette on the roof against an orange sun, the guitar raised, and two policemen in the doorway, watching.
  7. 7 · The lamps come on · 3:09–3:13Blue dusk, the street lamps glowing pink as they warm up, and a single candle on a windowsill with a piano in the room behind.
  8. 8 · Down from the roof · 3:13–3:17He walks along the railings in the blue hour, hands in his jacket pockets, until a red bus crosses the lens.

What to Look For

You can’t miss itThe street stopped and staring upward, the news board, and the two policemen who come out onto the roof and let him finish.

Look closerThe red raincoat on the next roof. A red raincoat was the most famous coat on the real roof that day; here it has moved to a bystander, with office workers in shirtsleeves hugging themselves in the cold beside it. The candle in the window with the piano behind it is the album’s title song. And this is the second time you have seen the still camera and the white house: the title picture, now in winter.

HiddenThe ladder against the wall in the street. On the day, a man in a hat with a pipe really did climb up for a better look.
All 21 scenes