You know that feeling when a song starts and the first few bars just hit? That chugging rhythm, Billy Preston’s soulful keys, and Paul McCartney’s voice cracking just a bit? It's iconic. But honestly, if you sit down and look at the get back jojo lyrics, things get weird pretty fast. Most people just hum along to the "Get back to where you once belonged" part, but the verses tell this strange, disjointed story about a guy named Jojo and someone named Loretta Martin.
It sounds like a simple rock-and-roll story. It isn't.
The track was a massive hit in 1969, but the lyrics we know today were actually the result of a very messy, very public rehearsal process. If you’ve watched Peter Jackson’s Get Back documentary, you saw it happen in real-time. Paul wasn't just writing a song; he was trying to save a band that was literally falling apart at the seams. The lyrics were a plea, a joke, and a political risk all wrapped into one.
Who Was the Real Jojo?
"Jojo was a man who thought he was a loner / But he knew it couldn't last."
That's the opening. Short. Punchy. It sets the stage for a character study that never quite finishes. Fans have spent decades arguing over whether Jojo was a real person. Some say he was a reference to Joseph Melville See Jr., the first husband of Linda McCartney. See was an American who lived in Tucson, Arizona—exactly where Jojo was headed for that "California grass."
It makes sense, right? Paul had just started his life with Linda. Her past was part of his present.
But then you have the other camp. They argue Jojo was just a placeholder name, a bit of rhythmic slang that Paul used because it sounded good against the beat. McCartney himself has been a bit cagey about it over the years. In some interviews, he implies it's a character; in others, he suggests it was just the vibe of the moment.
The "California grass" line is another sticking point. In 1969, everyone assumed it was a drug reference. Honestly, it probably was. The Beatles weren't exactly strangers to the counterculture at that point. But in the context of the song, it also represents this "back to nature" movement that was huge in the late sixties. The idea of leaving the city, leaving the stress, and getting back to something simpler.
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The Loretta Martin Controversy
Then the song shifts. We move from Jojo to Loretta Martin.
"Loretta Martin thought she was a woman / But she was another man."
This line has sparked endless debate. In the late 60s, the language around gender was nowhere near as nuanced as it is today. To a modern ear, it sounds like a commentary on trans identity or drag culture. To a 1969 listener, it was seen as a "freak flag" lyric—something meant to be provocative and a little bit confusing.
Some Beatles historians, like Mark Lewisohn, point out that the sessions for "Get Back" were incredibly tense. The band was arguing. Yoko Ono was always there. John was drifting. Paul was trying to be the boss. In that environment, the lyrics became a playground for inside jokes.
But there’s a darker side to the get back jojo lyrics that most people forget.
The "No Pakistanis" Version
This is the part that usually gets left off the radio.
Before the song became the polished version we hear on Let It Be, it was a satirical protest song. Paul was reading the newspapers, and they were full of "Paki-bashing" and the anti-immigrant rhetoric of British politician Enoch Powell. Powell had given his infamous "Rivers of Blood" speech just a year earlier.
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The early drafts of the song featured lyrics about "don't dig no Pakistanis taking all the people's jobs."
If you heard that today without context, you'd think Paul McCartney had lost his mind. But the bootlegs tell a different story. He was mocking the bigots. He was taking the words of the angry, nationalist "Little Englanders" and throwing them back in their faces. He was saying, "Get back to where you once belonged" to the immigrants, but in a way that highlighted how ridiculous the demand was.
Ultimately, he realized the satire was too thick. It was too easy to misunderstand. He didn't want a racist anthem on his hands because people missed the joke. So, he pivoted. He kept the "Get Back" hook—which was too catchy to kill—and replaced the politics with the story of Jojo and Loretta.
It was a smart move. It turned a potentially toxic political track into a timeless anthem about returning to your roots.
Recording on a Rooftop
The lyrics gained their legendary status on January 30, 1969. The Beatles climbed onto the roof of the Apple Corps building in London. It was freezing. John Lennon had to borrow Yoko’s fur coat. Ringo was wearing his wife’s red raincoat.
When Paul sang the get back jojo lyrics on that roof, he wasn't just singing to a microphone. He was singing to the police who were trying to shut the show down.
If you watch the footage, you can see Paul improvising as the cops arrive. He starts ad-libbing: "You've been playing on the roofs again, and you know your Momma doesn't like it, she's gonna have you arrested!"
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That moment transformed the song. It wasn't just about a guy from Tucson anymore. It was about the Beatles themselves. They were trying to "get back" to being a live band, to being the four guys from Liverpool who just wanted to play rock and roll.
The irony? It was their last performance. They tried to get back, but they couldn't.
Why the Lyrics Still Hit
There is something universal about the urge to reset. We all feel like Jojo sometimes. We all feel like we've wandered too far from who we are supposed to be.
The song works because it’s vague enough to be about anyone. Are you Jojo leaving your home for a dream that didn't work out? Are you Loretta trying to find your identity in a world that doesn't understand you? Or are you just someone who’s tired of the noise and wants to go home?
Musically, the song is a masterclass in simplicity. It stays on a G chord for what feels like forever. The tension builds and builds, and the lyrics provide the release.
Actionable Insights for Music Fans and Historians
If you want to truly appreciate this song, don't just listen to the album version. The "Get Back" project was designed to show the process, warts and all.
- Listen to the Glyn Johns Mixes: Before Phil Spector added his "Wall of Sound" to the Let It Be album, Glyn Johns did several mixes that are much rawer. You can hear the interplay between the lyrics and the instruments much more clearly.
- Watch the Documentary: Seeing Paul "discover" the melody and the first few words of the lyrics while John and George look on is one of the most incredible pieces of film in music history. It proves that great art is often just a result of showing up and working through the bad ideas.
- Compare the "Single" vs. the "Album" versions: The version released as a single has a different coda than the one on the album. The single version ends with a joke; the album version ends with the rooftop "audition" comment.
- Study the 1960s UK Political Climate: To understand why Paul even considered the "No Pakistanis" lyrics, look into the 1968 Commonwealth Immigrants Act. It provides the necessary context for his satire.
The get back jojo lyrics aren't just a poem or a story. They are a snapshot of a moment in time when the biggest band in the world was trying to remember how to be a band. It’s messy, it’s slightly confusing, and it’s a little bit magical. That’s why we’re still talking about it sixty years later.
Next time you hear it, listen past the beat. Think about Jojo in Tucson. Think about the cops on the roof. And think about how hard it is to actually get back to where you once belonged.