<P> The main recording of the song took place in January 1969 and featured a sparse musical arrangement . When preparing the tapes from these sessions for release in April 1970, producer Phil Spector added orchestral and choral overdubs . Spector's modifications angered McCartney to the point that when the latter made his case in the British High Court for the Beatles' dissolution, he cited the treatment of "The Long and Winding Road" as one of six reasons for doing so . New versions of the song with simpler instrumentation were subsequently released by McCartney and by the Beatles . </P> <P> In 2011, Rolling Stone ranked "The Long and Winding Road" at number 90 on their list of 100 greatest Beatles songs . </P> <P> Paul McCartney said he came up with the title "The Long and Winding Road" during one of his first visits to his property High Park Farm, near Campbeltown in Scotland, which he purchased in June 1966 . The phrase was inspired by the sight of a road "stretching up into the hills" in the remote Highlands surroundings of lochs and distant mountains . He wrote the song at his farm in 1968, inspired by the growing tension among the Beatles . Based on other comments McCartney has made, author Howard Sounes writes, the lyrics can be seen as McCartney expressing his anguish at the direction his personal life was taking in the autumn of 1968, after he had separated from his fiancée Jane Asher, as well as a nostalgic look back at the Beatles' history . McCartney recalled: "I just sat down at my piano in Scotland, started playing and came up with that song, imagining it was going to be done by someone like Ray Charles . I have always found inspiration in the calm beauty of Scotland and again it proved the place where I found inspiration ." </P> <P> Once back in London, McCartney recorded a demo version of "The Long and Winding Road" during one of the recording sessions for The Beatles . Later, he offered the song to Tom Jones on the condition that the singer release it as his next single . In Jones' recollection, he was forced to turn it down since his record company were about to issue "Without Love" as a single . </P>

When was the long and winding road written