By Michael Patrick O’Brien–
Paul McCartney and I agree—no matter how rich or famous you are, you still need your mother.
I’m neither rich nor famous. When I finally published my first book—Monastery Mornings (Paraclete Press 2021)—it was about the extraordinary love and devotion of my mother.
McCartney is known all over the world. And yet, his most popular song and best known lyrics are about his mother: “When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me, Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.”
The Beatles released “Let it Be” in March 1970 as their last single and the title track of their final studio album. Paul McCartney wrote and sang it, but the song is credited to the magical Lennon–McCartney partnership.
McCartney explained the song’s origins during a 2011interview with The Salt Lake Tribune:
“‘Let It Be’ happened during a time when there was kind of a lot going on…I think people were overdoing the use of substances. We certainly were.”
“It was kind of common. It was the fashion. And anyone who remembers that time will know that. And I think I was getting, like, a little bit over the top with the whole thing—getting pretty tired and pretty wasted. And I went to bed one night and had a kind of restless night.”
“But I had a dream where my mother, who had been dead at that point for about 10 years, came to me in the dream and it was as if she could see that I was troubled. And she sort of said to me, she said, ‘Let it be.’ And I remember quite clearly her saying, ‘Let it be,’ and ‘It’s going to be OK. Don’t worry.’”
“I woke up and I remembered the dream, and I thought, ‘Well, that’s a great idea.’ And I then sat down and wrote the song using the feeling from that dream and of my mum coming to me in the dream.”
It’s heartwarming that another Irish Catholic boy chose to write about his mother.
McCartney was baptized Catholic, but raised non-denominationally. His Irish mother—Mary Mahon—died of cancer when Paul was only 14 and is buried in a Catholic cemetery near their Liverpool hometown.
Situated as it is on the Irish Sea, Liverpool sometimes is called “East Dublin” and arguably is the most Irish-Catholic city in England. Mary the mother of Jesus has played a prominent role in Liverpool’s religious and cultural history.
Shortly after King John chartered the city in 1207, locals built a small stone chapel overlooking the water and called it St. Mary del Quay. After the Reformation, it became an Anglican worship site. Even today Liverpool’s Anglican cathedral—the largest religious building in Great Britain—has a chapel dedicated to Mary.
In the mid-1800s, the Catholic population of Liverpool swelled with Irish fleeing from the Potato Famine and starvation. The local bishop decided to build a new Catholic cathedral. By 1856, he had completed a side chapel dedicated to Mary and called Our Lady Immaculate.
The bishop then diverted money intended for the new building, however, to meet more pressing needs, including the education of the immigrant Irish children. The rest of the planned cathedral was never built and Immaculate Mary’s chapel served the local Catholic parish until about the 1980s.
If you’ve read Monastery Mornings, you understand why I believe that Mary played a pivotal role in rescuing me from a dangerous situation I encountered as a child. It sure seemed that “in my hour of darkness” she was “standing right in front of me.”
Sometimes I wonder if the Catholicism of his mother and his youth left an imprint on McCartney. McCartney tells reporters he is an agnostic. In 2012 he elaborated, “I have a kind of personal faith in something good, but it really doesn’t go much further than that.”
Fans often ask McCartney if the phrase “Mother Mary” in “Let it Be” refers to Mary the mother of Jesus. While asking, many point particularly to these climactic lyrics:
“And when the night is cloudy there is still a light that shines on me,
Shinin’ until tomorrow, let it be.
I wake up to the sound of music, Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.”
McCartney always says listeners can interpret the lyrics however they’d like.
No matter which mother they hear—Mary or their own—most folks recognize an enduring and universal message of hope, resilience, comfort, and acceptance in the 55 year old song.
In many ways, it’s hard to imagine a better Mother’s Day anthem than “Let it Be.” Or a better description of the vital role mothers play in the lives of their children.
*Mike O’Brien (author website here) is a writer and attorney living in Salt Lake City, Utah. Paraclete Press published his book Monastery Mornings, about growing up with the monks at the old Trappist monastery in Huntsville, Utah, in August 2021. The League of Utah Writers chose it as the best non-fiction book of 2022.
