Today on the Fab 4 at 4, it's all about 1969!

1969 was quite the year for The Beatles. In January they began recording for what would eventually end up as the Let It Be album. The band nearly broke up during those disastrous sessions and the tapes were shelved.

Paul and John were both married in march, to Linda Eastman and Yoko Ono, respectively. The Fab 4 were back in the studio in the summer, this time working on new material for the Abbey Road album.

Released on September 26, Abbey Road sold four million copies within three months and topped the UK charts for a total of seventeen weeks. It's widely regarded as one of The Beatles' most tightly constructed albums, although the band was barely operating as a functioning unit at the time. The double A-side single "Come together"/"Something" was the only single from the album.

Lennon was inspired to write "Come Together" by Timothy Leary's campaign for governor of California titled "Come together, join the party". It has been speculated that each verse refers cryptically to each of The Beatles, however it's also suggested that Lennon was "painting another sardonic self-portrait". Rolling Stone ranked "Come Together" at #202 on their list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" and #9 on their list of The Beatles' 100 Greatest Songs.

"Something" was the only Harrison composition ever to appear as a Beatles A-side. It was also Lennon's favorite song on the album, and McCartney considered it the best song Harrison had written. Frank Sinatra once commented that "Something" was his favourite Lennon-McCartney song [sic] and "the greatest love song ever written", obviously incorrectly attributing the song.

The Beatles talk about the Let It Be and Abbey Road sessions in The Compleat Beatles:

Listen to The Beatles on iHeartRadio.