“I just sat down at my piano in Scotland, started playing and came up with that song. It's a sad song because it's all about the unattainable”: The story of the ballad that sparked the breakup of The Beatles

Paul McCartney.

Picture this scenario: one day in the summer of 1968 you sit down and write an achingly heartfelt song inspired by the beauty of the Scottish Highlands and six months later you record a version whose stripped-down instrumentation only elevates the emotive sentiment of the song.

Four months later, the song is released but what you hear when the stylus drops on the acetate is radically different from the version that you remember.