Isn't there a story that it was originally quite a simple, unembellished recording but then Phil Spector came along and added orchestras and heavenly choirs - to McCartney's dismay? I never understood why he couldn't just refuse to have that version released.... unless Phil pulled a gun on him. 
No, it was John Lennon...
and Phil Spector. The latter just did what he was asked to do.
McCartney regarded it as a song to farm out to another artist perhaps - he and Lennon originally intended to be song-writers rather than what they turned into, and McCartney could see the "end" coming, and this song might be something for the future. The recording of Long and Winding was actually a demo with a good lead vocal and a passable piano on it - and was part of what was left over from the "live" project they aborted before they got George Martin back to do Abbey Road.
If the song had been regarded as a "Beatles track", even a few months earlier - they might have used the take, but he would certainly have replaced the utterly atrocious bass-line played by Lennon (McCartney played piano and sang the vocal live). It's hesitant and not even the right chords in places. I don't know why Spector didn't remove it further than he did - maybe it wasn't possible to cover it any further in strings without another bass-part. But why didn't they get a session man, or even the Beatles bassist in to record another bass part?? Perhaps Lennon/Spector didn't even notice it was bad. There are also theories that Lennon was scr@pping around for enough material, as fast as possible, to cobble together a Beatles album.
Anyway, after the last album Abbey Road, Mr Lennon went off and took things into his own hands, apparently without consulting anyone else. After previously telling George M to his face that "we don't want none of your f***ing trickery" on the "live" project (If I was Mr Martin, I might have been tempted to tell them to shove it when they came to him for Abbey Road after that :lol:), he then proceeded to draft in Phil Spector to "produce" a Beatles album by covering the live demos with, er, icky stuff.
When McCartney heard the recordings, particularly Long and Winding, I understand, which he was already regarding as non-beatles, and then he discovered that he couldn't stop the release of what we all know and love/hate as "Let it Be", he walked straight out of the studio to the waiting press, announced "I've left the Beatles", and walked away.
I don't know why he couldn't stop the issue of Let it Be, maybe he could have done, but I think it was more the straw that broke the camel's back. All sorts of weird and non-business like sh1t had been going down for months leading up to it.
Have you ever seen footage of the "live" project rehearsals? There's open animosity/hatred from Harrison while McCartney seems to be trying to get everyone to play together. I suspect that, regardless of the sense of it, Harrison at that time would have been voting "what does that c*nt want? I'll vote the opposite..." on everything.
McCartney wanted the Eastman family to manage them and their money (which was well out of hand by then) - I understand he was out-voted on that because they were his in-laws. Fair point, I reckon, but I believe he was utterly horrified that the rest of them couldn't even see that they needed actual business folk to take charge of the business.
And, er, around that time, John Lennon called an emergency band meeting... just to announce to them all that he was the Messiah!! :lol:
I haven't heard the "stripped down" Let it Be that was released a few years back now, I'm not even sure I want to, but it would be interesting to hear it.
