A) I can guarantee that when a nervous
Beatles trotted into Abbey Road Studios to bash out the ten songs they needed
to complete 'Please Please Me' in one shift in February 1963 they had no idea
that, less than a year later, they'd be ushered into a studio in Paris to
re-record German-language versions of two number one records as their first
recording job of the year. Back in 1964 this was common practice and every band
did it (we did a whole piece on our website about the AAA foreign-language
recordings around - The Searchers, then The Hollies, then The Monkees did the
most if you're wondering) in order to squeeze a little more money out of a
non-English speaking country. Apparently the project was inspired by a bright
spark from the German branch of EMI who rang up George Martin personally to
request some Beatle hits in German; George had agreed without really thinking
and the band weren't very keen on the idea. In actual fact, 'German' was a daft
choice - Germany was one of the first places to catch on to the Merseybeat sound and to this day 1960s
music has a bigger following there than nearly anywhere else (Germany is
currently third in our AAA stat-counter behind the UK and US!) What's more,
nobody needed a translation of 'My Bonnie' for that song to be a (minor) hit
there - EMI people are daft sometimes (The Beatles should have recorded in
French - The Hollies did lots of new recordings for the French market and, they
were the last Western European market to 'get' The Beatles - the band could
even be heard on a 1964 tour there below the screams, which was then they first
came to be shocked at how badly they were playing; the fact that the band were
actually physically in Paris where they could get a translation made in minutes
must also, surely, have been a better idea). The wonder, in retrospect is that
The Beatles held out for as long as they did without resorting to the common
practice every band went through - although equally the speed of The Beatles'
trajectory meant that asking them to record any other songs in a foreign
language when they'd already scored #1s almost everywhere was ludicrous.
Thankfully, these two songs - which once used to be among the rarest of Beatle
official releases - have been treated officially as part of the 'family' since
1988 and make for a nice addition to the 'Past Masters Volume One' compilation,
a reminder of just what international superstars The Beatles were.
[135]
'Komm Gib Mer Deine Hand'
is, for anyone who didn't get there first, 'I Want To Hold Your Hand'. This one was quite straight forward: all The
Beatles had to do for this one was stand in front of a microphone and sing (as
well as add a few handclaps that weren't there on the original), which was just
as well because the band had spent a tired few hours trying to get to grips
with 'Can't Buy Me Love' the same day. The translation of this song is,
apparently (my German's a bit rusty), awful - instead of 'I'll tell you
something, I think you'll understand' the 'German' lyrics translate as 'Oh come
to me - you drive me out of my mind!' (which is pretty much the message of the
song but far less clever or subtle!) The second verse goes 'you're so pretty,
as pretty as a diamond...' - seriously, no wonder the English version of this
song sold better than the German one despite all the struggle. The person EMI
used, Jean Nicholas, was actually a pseudonym for Camillo Felgen, who wasn't
even German (he was from Luxemborg). Worse, he used a couple of 'extra
pseudonyms' when submitting his work to the music publishers - reportedly a tax
dodge that made him more money from these songs than The Beatles ever saw,
which rather sums up this sorry state of affairs. Find
it on: 'Past Masters Volume One' (1988, Re-issued 2009)
[136] B) 'Sie Liebt Dich' - 'She Loves You' to you and me and
no, it doesn't translate as what you're thinking, stop it at once! - was harder
to manage. The way that the English version of the single had been recorded
meant that the vocals and instruments couldn't be separated so, after a lot of
sighing, The Beatles re-recorded the whole thing from scratch. Luckily 'She
Loves You' was still part of their setlist back then so they knew it well -
even so it took 13 takes to get it right (bootlegs reveal an awful lot of
laughter going on when overdubbing the vocals!) The lyrics on this one are
closer to the record but still lack a vital something. For instance: 'You think
she loves only me? Yesterday I saw her. She only thinks of you - you should go
to her'. My favourite verse, though is the now incomprehensible middle one:
'You have hurt her, she didn't know why, it wasn't your fault - you didn't turn
around...' Find it on: 'Past Masters Volume One'
(1988, Re-issued 2009)
C) The Beatles were onto slightly firmer
ground with[112b] 'Can't Buy Me Love', a new McCartney
original intended from the first as a Beatles single. As you'll know if you've
come to this article after our review of 'A Hard Day's Night', I'm not really a
fan of this song. What other people see as a Beatles single that breaks the
mould (the first one not to be about 'me' or 'I' or 'you') I see as a backward
step: the jazzy shuffle rhythm was a very retro sound for 1964 and the whole
song sounds to me as if it's Paul 'playing' at writing in an old style rhythm
rather than believing in the song (it might be significant that is one of the
few early McCartney songs Lennon didn't have much of a hand in). However the
first version, as heard per 'Anthology',
I do like - it's a more comfortable fit for The Beatles sound and the
roughness here is a lot more appealing than the slick and artificial feel of
the final version. The main arranging differences is the addition of some
roughshod John and George harmony and a rather more country-and-western guitar
sound, with George going completely off the boil in the solo. However even this
shows signs of the 'meddling' that ruined the Anthology project for many fans:
the main backing is from 'take two' but George's guitar solo added from 'take
one' - why? Did he not play one on take two (and if he did surely it couldn't
be worse than this one?!) Still, hearing
The Beatles forming a song in a 'midway' state is always fascinating and as
with the finished product, much fun can be had guessing whether Lennon really
was ripping this song off for 'All You Need Is Love' as well...Find it on: 'Anthology One' (1995)
D) Similarly, the loose raw take of [117b]
'You Can't Do That' has
an extra spice missing from the almost too calculated finished product. This is
take six of a song The Beatles are clearly finding it hard to get to grips with
and there are many changes here: no cowbell, for one, while only George plays a
12-string Rickenbacker (the final version features John and George playing
together). Considering that the sleevenotes list as just a 'guide vocal', Lennon
is right on the money here, opening with an energetic '1-2-3-4' count in and
sounding just as mad but slightly less intense than the finished version. You
can tell there's a few rough edges to knock into places, but the song is very
nearly there and in many ways sounds better in the outtake. Find it on: 'Anthology One' (1995)
E) The early take of [110b] 'And I Love Her', however, is
almost laughably wrong - one of the few times The Beatles ever got an
arrangement for a song quite this wrong! On 'A Hard Day's Night' The Beatles
will show great sensitivity and new abilities, playing without bass or drums.
This version of the song is played by the band as usual and sounds like a mess
- so much so that McCartney gets the giggles during his lines about 'the stars
that shine'. If this was the narrator's real idea of a romantic night out, he
deserves a slap what with Ringo clod-hopping everywhere at full power. Recorded
two days before the version we know and love, the difference is remarkable. Find it on: 'Anthology One' (1995)
F) We take a break from our 'Hard Day's
Night' next for a real Beatles one-off. Worn out from filming 'A Hard Day's
Night', The Beatles found themselves ushered into a TV studio for a 'special'
that must have struck the band as uncomfortably like the one they'd been
spoofing at the end of the film. The director was Jack Good (best known for the
1950s music series 'Oh Boy!') who won their respect, though and his
professionalism must have made a change from Dick Lester's looser style. As
part of the show (discussed in our 'TV Clips' section near the end of the book)
the fab four get to spoof some Shakespeare and close with a mini-concert. Keen
to give their fans value for money, they play a one-off, never-repeated version
of one of their favourite songs of the year:[ 137] 'Shout', a hit for a 14-year old Scottish singer
named Lulu (and a fellow alumni of the AAA) and the second surprise 'hit' for
The Isley Brothers who were enjoying a new wave of popularity after The Beatles
covered 'Twist and Shout' the year before. Reduced to 90 seconds of screaming
and dynamics all the band take it in turns to sing: Paul gets to tell the
audience to 'kick your heels back', John pleads us to 'take it easy', George
asks for the song to go 'a little bit softer now' and Ringo yells 'a little bit
louder now' before Paul riffs on the famous 'he-e-e-y' in the middle of the
song (sadly no one gets to sing that famous opening word
'we-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-ell' that Lulu does so well). The result isn't a
long lost Beatles classic and most of us Beatleologists would have preferred to
hear the full song, but it's a nice bit of Beatle ephemera and deserves it's
place on 'Anthology'. Find it on: 'Anthology One'
(1995)
G) With a film title for [106b] 'A Hard Day's Night' decided
upon late in the day (from Ringo's ad libbed witticism, famously, although
Lennon had used the phrase as part of 'In His Own Write' first), all that was
left was to write and record a title song in quick order. The songwriting went
easily - the recording less so, as Anthology One revealed to the world. As take
one this version is almost unbearably rough, harmony parts come and go,
George's guitar stutters almost to a halt and
Lennon gets the giggles as his new song falls apart around his ears near
the end. For all that, though, this version of the song is joyous: the band
know they're onto something and that they'll get their eventually and the song
already sounds remarkable and quite unlike anything else around in 1964. The
biggest difference, though, is that famous opening Rickenbacker chord, only
added to the arrangement much later (the guitar solo is quite different too -
how much warning and rehearsal time did George get to learn this song?) Find it on: 'Anthology One' (1995)
H) More outtakes seem to exist for 'A
Hard Day's Night' than any album until 'Sgt Peppers'. Next up is two separate
attempts at impressively dramatic closing ballad [118b] 'I'll Be Back' - both ridiculously early in conception and still being treated by its author as a
bit of a joke. The 'demo' version sounds like a warm-up for 'Baby's In Black'
later in the year, a waltz that sounds vaguely sinister, one which breaks down
as, in Lennon's words, it gets hard to play 'when I start going 'oh oh oh'
about eight times' (it's six on the finished version - did this arrangement
have two more we didn't hear or is Lennon exaggerating for comic effect?) The
second version, meanwhile, treats the song as a rocker - in fact 'I'll Be Back'
doesn't sound too bad treated this way and Lennon has at last mastered the
tricky section he's written for himself. However neither of these early
versions come anywhere close to matching the beauty and sophistication of the
finished product - one of the most striking songs and performances from the
first half of The Beatles' career. Find it on:
'Anthology One' (1995)
I) George's second ever song, [138] 'You'll Know What To Do' had
been forgotten about by everybody (author included) until being discovered in
EMI's tape vaults in the early 1990s, stuck on a tape labelled 'June 3rd' (the
day after recording for 'A Hard Day's Night' officially ended and the day when
The Beatles are officially meant to be breaking new drummer Jimmy Nichol in -
poor Ringo fell poorly with tonsillitis the night after recording 'When I Get
Home', which is an ironic title given that he spent a week in hospital). Only
George, thanks to the wonder of overdubs, appears on the track - as the Beatle
most in favour of cancelling an Australian tour and wait for Ringo to recover,
he may have slinked off to another room somewhere during the session. While not
the greatest song Harrison will ever write, 'You'll Know What To Do' is
significant as being (probably) his first song for new love interest Patti Boyd
(the pair had met just weeks before on the set of 'A Hard Day's Night') and for
being the first 'happy' Harrisong (to follow 'Don't Bother Me'). It's certainly
more deserving space on the 'A Hard Day's Night' album that Lennon's song for
the guitarist 'I'm Happy Just To dance With You' and - with a full Beatles
accompaniment - could have turned into something really nice. Find it on: 'Anthology One' (1995)
J) Also just missing the 'A Hard Day's
Night' deadline was the 'Beatles For Sale' song [119b] 'No Reply', which was demoed the same day (a third song, Paul's
'It's For You', was later given to Cilla Black to sing). The sleevenotes in
Anthology raise the idea of whose playing drums on this song given that Jimmy
has gone home - so here's my guess: it's Paul 9with George on bass maybe?) A
competent drummer with a natural swing beat quite different to Ringo's, this
sounds like a simple part that's right up Paul's street (compare to the similar
part on 'Back In The USSR', a recording we know features the bassist on drums).
Legend has it Lennon was planning this song as a 'gift' for Brian Epstein
signing Tommy Quickly - certainly he's not treating it too sensibly here (did
he only 'get' the sadness of this song later; the lyrics about a boy who is
told by a girl's friends that she's out' but who looks up and sees her
silhouette could, at this stage, have gone either way). In truth, this version
is a mess: John messes up the line 'your door' and sings 'your face' again
(like the end of the first verse) and the famous middle eight ('If I were
you...') isn't yet the striking change of pace that makes the finished version
so memorable - instead it just sounds like the rest of the song. Still, if
nothing else it's fascinating to hear how much the song changes between here
and the version tapes on September 30th. Find it on:
'Anthology One' (1995)
K) The first version of [124b] 'Mr Moonlight', meanwhile
(amazingly the awful version on 'Beatles For Sale' is a re-make) sounds even
worse than the finished product. There's no Hammond organ )instead George stabs
at his guitar to make a 'Hawaiian' noise while the others yelp behind him -
otherwise version is just like the finished product, but rougher. The Beatles
shouldn't have wasted one day of their precious time on this nonsense, never
mind two! Remember, 'Leave My Kitten Alone' was taped at this same session (on
August 14th 1964) and could have been on the album - *sob* how did that one get
away?! Find it on: 'Anthology One' (1995)
L)...Because [139] 'Leave My Kitten Alone' is
the single greatest completely unreleased Beatles song from the entire
three-album, six CD set of Anthologies and very nearly the greatest Beatles
cover song to boot ('Twist and Shout' and 'Money' are the other two that might
give it sleepless nights - it really is that good!) Few people know the
original by Little Willie John - it's a slightly jazzy affair, with backing
singers intoning in every few bars, a cute saxophone solo and a dum-dum-dum-duhh-duhh
shuffle beat that makes it less of a tiger and more of a pussy-cat (the one big
lyric change, by the way, is that a 'bulldog' in Lennon's hands is a
'hound-dog', like the one Elvis had). Another lifelong favourite of Lennon's
(so much so you wonder why The Beatles hadn't recorded it any earlier,
particularly for 'Pop Go The Beatles'), 'Kitten' is a natural for both Lennon's
smoking tonsils (Ringo's back from hospital now by the way!) artfully
double-tracked for double the menace, and a 'Chuck Berry' style 4/4 riff that
makes this 'dog' sound more like a wolf. The moment when the band briefly leave
their usual riff to play some choppy chords as Lennon warns a 'big bad bulldog'
off his girlfriend is another of the greatest moments in the Beatles' canon.
Even George's solo, often the weak links across Anthology, is perfect: full of
menace but also the hint that this huffing and puffing narrator's dog's bark is
worse than his bite. Like the oddly similar Lennon original 'Hey Bulldog' to
come, this is The Beatles at their basic rock and roll best. The fact that the
world (or at least the parts of it who hadn't bought this recording on bootleg)
had to wait 30-odd years to hear it is a travesty. Find
it on: 'Anthology One' (1995)
M) Finally, we're back to the singles. [140]
'I Feel Fine' isn't the
greatest song Lennon ever wrote and briefly returns the Beatles to their 'I'
'Me' 'You' formula, but this song has an awful lot of things going for it. For
a kick-off, Lennon's tricky guitar riff (stolen wholesale from Bobby Parker's
'Watch Your Step') is tremendously ear-catching and - oblivious of who came up
with it first - introduced the music world to 'riffs' as the central idea in a
pop song: the rest of 1964 will be full of many copies and variations, hardly any
of them up to the one in 'I Feel Fine'. Secondly, The Beatles' performance is
tight and taught, as thrilling as nay they've done till now: Lennon's
double-tracked vocal is a delight, Paul and George's harmonies perfectly
placed, Ringo's hi-hat work exuberant, Paul's bass an early template for the
'rule-breaking' of the band's psychedelic years and the guitarwork (mostly by
Lenno for once) is spot-on. Best of all, the song starts with a wild
five-second drone of feedback: revolutionary for 1964 and almost certainly the
first use of feedback on a properly released piece of music. What's more, this
isn't just an arbitrary bit of gimmickry to sell a song: it fits brilliantly,
the narrator's muddled life suddenly coming into focus for the first time now
that he's in love. Funnily enough, many Beatles commentators have pointed out
that the song's changes (ie how it gets from chord to chord) is derived from
blues recordings - it follows the same leaps forward, back and sideways as most
blues compositions (compare with B-side 'She's A Woman', which more obviously
does the same thing and these two may have been deliberately conceived as 'a
pair') although the mood is defiantly upbeat. Could this be Lennon as a
thinking songwriter re-acting to the music press' opinions that The Beatles
could never write an unhappy tune? Or is it a more scathing artificial attack
on the need to come up with a 'jolly' Beatle single just at the time when
Lennon has got in touch with his inner angst? Either way, jolly, happy, sunny
and hopeful, 'I Feel Fine' can't hope to match The Beatles' later, deeper
singles or even the crunch of the singles that have come before it; but then
again it doesn't have to. 'I Feel Fine' is more than happy to play by its own
rules and on its own terms is an unqualified success. A much under-rated song
(in as much as a number one hit single can be an under-rated song). First released as a single on November 23rd 1964. Find it
on: 'Past Masters Volume One' (1988, Re-issued 2009)
N) If 'I Feel Fine' is a cleverly contrived
pop single, then B-side [141] 'She's
A Woman' is a real attempt to see what The Beatles can get away with.
Reduced to a 'power trio' by George's
temporary absence, John (on guitar) Paul (on bass) and Ringo (on drums) busk
their way through a song that McCartney had started the morning of the session
but hadn't had time to finish (debate still rages about whether the overdubbed
solo was done by George at a later date or - more likely to my ears - done
later that same day by Paul). A rough blues based around Lennon's grungy
slashed chords and a McCartney bass line that just won't sit still, the
performance is littered with mistakes that were kept in (John always has
problems with his timings and misses a few cues here and there) and the lyric
all too clearly shows signs of being made up on the spot ('My love don't give
me presents, let me tell you she's no peasant'). However 'She's A Woman' just
about gets away with it thanks to the fact that it's an absolute one off (even
the most basic of Beatle rockers to come sport more of a tune than this song)
and the sheer excitement in the room: even The Beatles don't know if they'll
'get away' with a step this radical and after two years of having to play the
'music game' the way the 'suits' wanted them to this is a bold statement to
make. Note too an early reference to 'turn me on when I get lonely' in the
lyric - an early appearance of a phrase the band will use more knowingly and
dramatically at the end of 'A Day In The Life'. Sadly 'Anthology' missed out on
the chance to show to the world one of the greatest of Beatle outtakes, as
'take 7' of 'She's A Woman' gradually descends into a jamming session
punctuated by Paul's screams. Now that would really have tested a world of
Beatle fans! First released as the B-side of 'I Feel
Fine' on November 23rd 1964. Find it on: 'Past Masters Volume One' (1988,
Re-issued 2009)
O) After the slight sojourn to record
the single, it's all back to Abbey Road to work on 'Beatles For Sale'. There
are noticeably less outtakes from this album than there were for 'A Hard Day's
Night' - not just on 'Anthology' either, as even the bootlegs don't have that
many more. By now The Beatles have a tiny bit more time to spend on their songs
before bringing them into the studio and don't need to spend quite as long
rehearsing and adapting. However one song that changed considerably from the
early takes to the finished product was [126b] 'Eight Days A Week', planned as the band's new
single before they decided to run with 'I Feel Fine'. The first take, as heard
on Anthology One, starts with a vocal passage instead of the album's sly
fade-in (put there mainly to confuse disc-jockeys back when it was still
planned as a single), a single held 'ooh' that causes many mistakes and a fair
bit of laughing. The rest of the song is there, but sounds distinctly raw
compared to the rather sleek finished project - apart from the ending, which
ends with another long held 'ooh' instead
George's ringing guitars. The band were probably right to drop this idea
- it's not as ear-catching as the song's hook played on a Harrison Rickenbacker
- but it's fascinating to hear (particularly Paul's jokingly defensive about
missing a cue: 'Well I'll try to remember John but if I don't then it's just
too bad int it?', which tells you much about the slightly more relaxed
atmosphere in the studio in late 1964 - well until the deadline looms
anyhow...) Find it on: 'Anthology One' (1995)
P) [125 b] 'Kansas City-Hey!Hey!Hey!Hey!', for instance, was
knocked out during a heavy session that saw five other songs recorded the same
day (the re-make of 'Eight Days A Week' 'I'll Follow The Sun' 'Everybody's
Trying To Be My Baby' 'Rock and Roll Music' and 'Words Of Love'). Still not
quite happy with the take of this Little Richard song that appeared on the
album - and probably a little surprised that the band have captured a song they
haven't played in years in a single take - Paul opts to have another go.
Strangely, this version of the song isn't anywhere near as tight as the one the
band would have played only a matter of hours, perhaps minutes before, with
George badly messing up the solo and busking on the spot and Paul trying to add
a few 'whoops' to cover for him. It's a surprise that the song doesn't simply
breakdown there but instead the band push on to the end and do come up with a
spirited version of the song's famous call-and-answer section. To be honest,
though, you wonder why the band bothered - they'd already captured the definitive
version of the song and apart from being ever so slightly slower and having a
full ending (well, not so much an ending as a crash if I'm honest) there isn't
really any big difference in the arrangement. One of Anthology One's odder
choices and a rather limp end to the first set - or, for that matter, this
rather lengthy section of the book! Find it on:
'Anthology One' (1995)
Non-Album Recordings Part #8: 1965 (EMI)
A) There are some real gems hidden away
on B-sides across this series of books -heartfelt songs of beauty and
experimentation hidden away safely where bands know only true fans will ever
hear them. 'Yes It Is', the B-side to 'Ticket To Ride', is one of the very
best. using the same harmonic blend as 'This Boy' but wrapped around a much
more interesting chord structure and a vastly more intelligent lyric, [170a] 'Yes It Is' sounds like the
first stirrings of Lennon's real feelings in song. The slightly later 'Help!'
is always given as the first song - but there's definitely something 'real'
hidden away in all the hurt and guilt in this song. The narrator is with a new
girlfriend but is being reminding all the time about an old love thanks to the
red dress his new girl wears. This song could have easily become just another
'I've lost the love of my life song' and even ads the 'comedy' and very Lennon
line that a red dress will make him blue, but 'Yes It Is' digs deeper than
that: the mood, the chords, the stately harmonies, even some of the lyrics
suggest that the old girlfriend has died ('I remember all the things we
planned'). The title too, repeated over and over, is an old songwriter's trick
to suggest that the narrator doth protest too much: no one ever says 'it's
true' that many times and means it. So where did this come from? This song is
so close to the lyrics of 'Baby's In Black' (another paranoid song about
another, differently coloured dress) that we ask again - was this song inspired
by the brief snatched 'hello' to Astrid Kirccherr during a Beatles tour in
1964? And if so, is it about Lennon's grief at his best friend Stuart not being
by her side the way he should be? (although not a Beatle when he died in April
1962 he would surely have still been a part of the band's big success somewhere
- Lennon did many things to many friends but he rarely deserted them without
just cause). Is the 'old lover' his new
flame reminds him of actually Astrid reminding him of Stuart? We'll never know,
but one thing's for sure - 'Yes It Is' simply has to be about someone; even by
comparison with Lennon's later works this is an emotional web of a song with
some form of truth in it somewhere. The end result is a song that's telling us
many different things, laced through with an almost icily detached leads from
John and some pristine harmonies from Paul and George, as well as the latter's
new purchase of a pedal steel (which is going to be on everything from the
first half of the 1965 but is particularly suited to this mournful song). The
end result is one of the most gorgeous Beatles recordings of them all, a song
that managed to be both a great single in its own right and a good match for
the A-side, another experimental song using new textures that's about
bewildered abandonment. First released as the B-side
of 'Ticket To Ride' on April 09th 1965. Find it on: 'Past Masters Volume One'
(1988, Re-issued 2009)
B) McCartney, meanwhile, is keen to try
a quite different experiment for the B-side of next single, 'Help!' The song [171a]
'I'm Down' is a
demented rocker in the Little Richard bracket but you can hear that it started
out life as a pastiche of a 'soul' song before being revved up by the band.
Paul uses the song as an excuse to have a bit of a laugh at a paranoid narrator
whose girlfriend laughs rather than sympathises with him, with some goofy
harmony vocals ('I'm down, down on the ground, I'm really down!') and an organ
solo best described as 'eccentric' (and most famously played even more
outrageously by Lennon at the 'Shea Stadium' gig). The trouble is, the end
product has had most of its teeth removed: many 'soul' songs are 'down' songs
and a spoof of one of those (which would automatically beg comparison with what
Mick Jagger was then doing on Rolling Stones records) might have been quite
fun. Here, though, Paul sings 'I'm Down' to the backdrop of a genre that hardly
ever made songs about being 'down'. Ironically, the only really 'down' rock and
roll song before this that most people can name is...'Ticket To Ride' (and 'Yes
It Is' if you're a real fan). Was Paul, famous for his happy-go-lucky
personality, having a bit of a 'dig' at his colleague here as his depressed
state across much of 1965 threatened to bring the others 'down'? If so, then
he's in for a rude awakening of his own as from here on in Paul's songs will
get more and more 'down' without the need for parody, mainly thanks to his
on-off relationship with Jane Asher. First released
as the B-side of 'Help!' on July 19th
1965 Find it on: 'Past Masters Volume One' (1988, Re-issued 2009)
C) Anthology also provides a couple of
alternate versions of these B-sides. The early take of [170b] 'Yes It Is' is actually not
that interesting (and a strange choice to put second on 'Anthology Two, after
'new' single 'Real Love' - before you ask chronology isn't one of Anthology's
better features!) Lennon sings a guide vocal to go along with his original
arrangement of an acoustic guitar and drums (the first of which will be
redundant once George gets his pedal-steel out of the case). Not knowing that
his vocal is going to be kept for fans to hear 30 years later, Lennon is barely
noticing that he's sing at all - it's simply there to give the rest of the band
an idea of where they are in the song. That's fair enough - but why do we have
to hear Lennon not as his best? And why bother segueing the song into the
'master' take of the B-side which all good Beatles fans own already? The one
interesting thing we learn from this version is that Lennon hadn't written the
middle eight yet ('I could be happy with you by my side...') Find it on: 'Anthology Two' (1996)
D) By contrast, the earlier looser take
of [171b] 'I'm Down' is a revelation: shorn of all the extras:
the organ solo, the masses of harmonies and the overdubs, 'I'm Down' loses the
slight archness of the finished product to become one of the band's better
simpler rockers. The band are having great fun on the fade, which instead of
fading just keeps on going with Ringo having a go at whacking the cymbals
rather than the bass-drum and Paul bringing out every yelp and chirp he can
think of (including his famous dog impression, which will prove handy on 'Hey
Bulldog' in a few years). The atmosphere in the room is electric and the band
are all buzzing even after the song has ended (Ringo busking some jazz phrases
while Paul intones 'plastic soul', his take on the 'parody' he's just
delivered which - with a fairly major
tweak - becomes the title of the next Beatles album 'Rubber Soul'). Paul says
at the start that he hopes 'this one turns out pretty darn good' - he needn't
worry, it does. Find it on: 'Anthology Two' (1996)
E) The early take of [144b]'You've Got To Hide Your Love Away'
isn't quite an improvement on the version from 'Help!' we all know and love,
but is still a fascinating find. Without as many overdubs and without the
double-tracked vocal, Lennon's song of pain and denial sounds even more naked
and honest and his vocal is even more 'in the moment' than the final version.
The sparser accompaniment suits the song too, with the acoustic guitars back
centre stage even if you do miss the flute solo in the middle. This fine
performance from all concerned is even more astonishing given the goonish
humour just before the take: John moves his guitar, Paul accidentally breaks a
glass, John makes up a song about it and then has to halt when Paul isn't ready
(the one time on tape one of the rest of the band calls him 'Macca'!) Find it on: 'Anthology Two' (1996)
F) John and Paul were really struggling
to find a song for Ringo to sing in 1965. 'I Wanna Be Your Man' had just kind
of happened and, disliked by the authors, was handed to Ringo as being inside
his 'range', while till now the band have been able to use all their drummer's
showpieces from his Rory Storm and the Hurricane days (many of them sung by
Pete Best with The Beatles any case). By now, though, the well has run dry.
Inspiration running dry, John and Paul come up with what is generally regarded
as their weakest song, [172] 'If
You've Got Trouble'. A rather unsubtle, pounding song that Ringo could
play and sing at the same time and a lyric that plays on Ringo' 'jinxed'
persona (especially in America - see The Beatles cartoons and their
increasingly un-Ringo like Ringo as the series wears on) that seems to be
tailor made for the 'Help!' film (I don't know for certain but Dick Lester
would almost certainly have asked for a 'Ringo' song given that the drummer was
the film's main focus and the song was recorded in February, at the same time
as the 'soundtrack' half of the album; note also the mention of 'rings', a
major sub-plot of the film). However despite being such a simple song the band
are clearly struggling with it inside Abbey Road: George's improvised guitar
solo is a mess, no one is quite sure what to do behind it and Ringo is cross
enough to wisecrack 'Rock on...anybody!' in sheer desperation. However, while
the recording is sloppy (the band only ever made one take of it) and the lyrics
definitely need a tweak ('You think I'm soft in the head - well try someone
softer pretty thing!'), there's a good song in there somewhere. The Beatles'
Rickenbacker guitars ring out really well on a classic driving riff and the
main verse's melody (almost certainly by Paul, perhaps with a middle eight by
John) is pleasingly rounded and catchy. Perhaps if the band had tried to write
a 'proper' song with these ingredients rather than a 'Ringo' song this
composition might be more fondly regarded. In the end The Beatles admitted
defeat and - a full four months later recorded Ringo's Buck Owens cover 'Act
Naturally' as a last minute replacement. Find it on:
'Anthology Two' (1996)
G) There really aren't that many
completely abandoned Lennon-McCartney songs recorded at Beatle sessions.
Funnily enough the only other one played by a full band (ignoring the 'jam
sessions' on Let It Be and the songs that will creep out later on solo albums)
was taped just two days later. The mainly McCartney-led [173] 'That Means A Lot' is another outtake much laughed at by the
Beatles fanbase, mainly for the rather clunky lines which Paul tends to churn
out when in need of inspiration ('A touch can mean so much when it's all you've
got - but when she says she loves you, that means a lot!') Paul was probably
given a clue about how badly the song was going when, in the early and still
unissued takes, The Beatles simply trip over their big feet and leave Paul
having to croon to stay in rhythm, like a demented lounge singer. By the take
on 'Anthology Two', though (a re-make cut at the end of March) they've ever so
nearly got it. Someone (Lennon?) has been listening to Phil Spector and worked
out how he creates 'big' textures so - after a session trying to make this song
sound 'big' simply by playing the way
'Ticket To Ride' did - the band turn on the echo chambers and make the whole
song sound cavernous. This vastly improves the song, giving McCartney a
production that masks the slight failings in the words and he turns in a
blistering vocal, amongst the best in his career. Ringo, meanwhile, has mastered
the funny drum track Paul was trying to get him to play. While far from the
best McCartney song ever written, the strong group performance rescues it more
than enough to make the second side of 'Help!' and it deserved a better fate
than to be issued, once, as an obscure non-charting single by P J Proby the
year before he ripped his trousers on stage and spent a lifetime trying to live
the fact down. Find it on: 'Anthology Two' (1996)
H) [174] 'Bad Boy' is another song dismissed by The Beatles
at the time and smuggled away to the back of EMI's vaults, a frenetic cover of
a Larry Williams song cut the same day as the 'other' Williams cover song
'Dizzy Miss Lizzy' (the date was Williams' birthday, which might explain why,
but then The Beatles never did this sort of thing for Chuck Berry's or Little
Richard's birthday - perhaps, knowing they needed a song in a hurry, they
happened to hear on a radio that the songwriter was having many happy returns?)
A fun last hurrah for the rocking Beatles and that familiar Lennon scream, it's
another song that sounds close to Lennon's heart (you can just imagine Aunt
Mimi nodding along with 'Junior's 'Dennis the Menace' antics when her nephew
brought this song back to play here). John is on great form and Ringo's on the
money too, but Paul and George sound a little out of it - Paul's bass seems to
be caught unawares at the start and never quite catches up while George's
double-tracked guitar parts is an experiment too far, making the song sound
like being lost in a house of mirrors. 'Bad Boy' is crying for a crisp, clean
performance, like the one on 'I'm Down' rather than what it gets here and The
Beatles might have been better off covering Larry Williams' B-side, the now
even more famous 'She Said Yeah!' (thanks to cover versions by The Rolling
Stones and Hollies). Still, there are worse Beatles covers and America in
particular took this song to its hearts - it was the only song in The Beatles'
lifetime they got 'first', appearing on the 'Beatles VI' album in late 1965; Europe
first heard it as the one exclusive track on Christmas 1966 compilation 'A
Collection Of Oldies But Mouldies' (alright, 'Goldies'!) Ringo later recorded
an album titled 'Bad Boy' in 1978, although sadly he didn't cover this song! Find it on: 'Past Masters Volume One' (1988, Re-issued
2009)
I) After two comparative failures (in
the eyes of most fans anyway), McCartney bounces back with [154b] 'Yesterday' - a song that's been around at least a year in some
form by now, which makes the opening of the 'take one' version heard on
'Anthology' rather odd. Paul is teaching George the chords, despite the fact
that people around The Beatles in 1965 say McCartney played little else (not
quite realising what a boost it would be to the film soundtrack, Dick Lester
once told Paul playing an instrumental version in-between takes 'either finish
that ruddy song or I'll have that piano removed!') What's more George doesn't
play on this bare-bones version which for now features just Paul and acoustic
guitar. Something's badly missing without the string part to go with it and
Paul's vocal is a long way from the warm and tender one he'll deliver on the
final record. However, it's nice for us fans to hear 'Yesterday' the way it was
originally meant to be heard, a snapshot in time that, yes, does indeed make us
yearn for 'yesterday'. Find it on: 'Anthology Two'
(1996)
J) [150b] 'It's Only Love' is generally considered to be one
of Lennon's weaker songs (although I stuck up for in the review of 'Help!') The
finished version just about gets away with its teenage romance lyrics thanks to
a committed vocal and a strong production that makes the most out of
double-tracking, George's exquisite guitar purrs and Ringo's clashing drums. By
contrast this early version without all three of those things (Ringo plays a
much simpler part) just sounds silly, even though - unlike the finished version
- John doesn't get the giggles. The song's working title at this stage, by the
way, was 'That's A Nice Hat'! One of Anthology's lesser moments. Find it on: 'Anthology Two' (1996)
J) Onto 'Rubber Soul', now, and [157b] 'Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)',
a track The Beatles spent an awful long time on - there are thought to be four
very different arrangements, two of which have been released and a third which
is something of a bootlegger's favourite. This 'Anthology' version is the very
first of these, take one in fact, with more emphasis on George's sitar (which
mimics every line, parrot fashion) and interesting constant cymbal tapping from
Ringo. For now 'Norwegian Wood' sounds a little too self-aware, with Lennon's
voice not yet dripping with delicious irony as the tables are turned on
himself, and ends with a 'comedic' sitar strum that makes the track sounds like
a music hall routine. To be fair this arrangement could have worked had the
band spent a few more takes on it - although I prefer the finished version,
with all its folk touches, rather better. Find it
on: 'Anthology Two' (1996)
K) I am, however, rather fond of the
early 'Anthology' version of [165b] 'I'm Looking Through You', which along with most fans I now rate
as high as the finished version. The finished version is more subtle, but the
sudden extreme switches between peace and quiet and ferocious screams really
suits this folkier version, tied together with an interesting 'tapping' rhythm
(probably Ringo playing the same 'packing case' he used on 'Words Of Love').
The guitar solo, played by George against a thumped Hammond organ part from
apparently overdubbed by Ringo, is delightful - finally unleashing the anger
hinted at in the rest of the song. This version does, however, lack the delightful
middle eight ('Why tell me why did you not treat me right?', sung twice on the
'Rubber Soul' version) and once again I rather like the folky acoustic flavour
of the finished version. A tie! A second version, with a more
country-and-western sound (and pitched somewhere between the two versions) also
exists and it's surprising that it wasn't considered for Anthology (once again
it's a tie!) Find it on: 'Anthology Two' (1996)
L) One idea for 'Rubber Soul',
ultimately abandoned, was to end the record with a Beatles 12 bar blues of the
sort that was by late 1965 back in fashion again (thanks partly to the
brilliance of fellow AAA member Otis Redding). With time to finish the album
running out, the band 'busked' a simple and repetitive instrumental titled, rather
unimaginatively, [175] '12 Bar Original' at the end
of a session that produced 'What Goes On' and kept it on hand 'just in case'
nothing better came along. To be honest The Beatles don't seem to have their
heart in this. John and Paul find a nice groove, George wails quite happily
over the top and George Martin plays some unobtrusive organ trills, but nobody
really sounds as if they're enjoying what they're doing and the choice of such
a short riff to build a song on doesn't leave the band much room for manoeuvre
(although, typically Beatles, they find a way anyway, with some surging guitar
'gulps' downwards near the end of the song). The Anthology version is heavily
edited by the way (it lasts 2:56): the original, at some six-and-a-half-minutes
makes more sense, especially the way that the riff finally spins out of control
near the end. The sketchy state this song is in has made many fans wonder - was
this a 'rehearsal' for a later version that was never made? (Did this song even
have lyrics to be overdubbed at one stage?!) In the end The Beatles were
probably right not to return to this ('Girl' became the last minute song if you
were wondering, taped at the end of a rushed final day and that's a much better
choice) and the final result probably wouldn't have given Booker T and the MGs
too many sleepless nights, but it's an interesting clue as to what The Beatles
were listening to while making 'Rubber Soul' (was this song, in fact, written
around the title to give the album its own 'soul' song?) Find it on: 'Anthology Two' (1996)
M) The Beatles were on such a role
during the end of 1966 that they just couldn't decide which song to release as
a single: McCartney's moody ballad that he'd been working on for a while or the
song John and Paul built around a riff the latter came up with suddenly one
inspired day. Being The Beatles, they didn't do the sensible thing and hold one
of them back for the 'next' single - they put them out as a 'double A' side
instead (the first time anyone had done this deliberately, although disc
jockeys were forever turning singles over in the early 1960s: that's how the
Beach Boys' car songs like '409' 'Shut Down' and 'Don't Worry Baby' became
hits). The result is one of the finest value-for-money singles in the Beatles
canon (matched only by 'Ticket To Ride' /'Yes It Is'), that despite not being
planned that way features two sides that make great foils for each other: one
song celebrating a one-off romance and the other trying to make a long-term
relationship last.
Fans were at
long last 'free' to play whichever song they chose, with both sides having 'A'
stamped across them. However the compilers of 'Past Masters Volume Two' put
[176] 'Day Tripper' first and so shall we. An almost
defiantly contemporary song, as if determined to take back The Beatles' crown
from the 'heavier' groups like The Kinks and The Who who'd been big in 1965,
the song is built on a catchy riff that's relentless and - like many of the
recordings on 'Rubber Soul' - may have had its origins in the 'soul' sound
(Otis Redding's one and only Beatles cover version was a manic 'Day Tripper',
which oddly works less well than a more laidback cover of The Rolling Stones'
'Satisfaction'). The lyrics are fascinating and can be read in several ways: is
the narrator merely taking a one-day holiday - a romance he doesn't expect to
last? Is this a confessional about hi-jinks with a groupie a la 'Norwegian
Wood'? Are the band laughing at what, in today's parlance, would be a
'part-time hippie' - someone who only joins the counter-culture at weekends
(because he's working 9-5 in the week wearing a nice suit?) Is it the first
Beatles songs about drugs? ('Trip' will become the 'in-word' of 1966!) Note the
line 'it took me so long to find out - but I found out!' (similar to what Paul
will go on to write in 'Got To Get You Into My Life' a song we know now is
'about' drugs). Or is the song written
around the smuggled smut of 'she's a prick teaser' - the line John and Paul are
'really' singing on the one and only mimed TV appearance of this song we
have? The true message of the song
perhaps doesn't matter: cleverly written, well executed and with a marvellous
piece of Grateful Dead-style tension going into the final verse as each
musician gradually gets higher and higher (is getting 'higher' a clue?) is
extraordinary - the backing track, leaked on bootleg, shows just what a great
'band' performance this is. One of the
band's better 'A' sides. First released as a
double-sided 'A' single with 'We Can Work It Out' on December 3rd 1965. Find it
on: 'Past Masters Volume Two' (1988, Re-issued 2009)
N) The other
side is, of course, [177] 'We
Can Work It Out', a pained song from McCartney and clearly written after
disagreements with Jane Asher. Being Paul, he's not ready to give up until the
relationship is well and truly over, so he writes a plea to start again that's
highly effective. Not many McCartney songs up to this point have been quite so
emotionally charged and Paul turns in another of his career best vocals, one
that's heart-broken and realistic but still determined to fight on.
Interestingly, though, the music sounds quite tough and hints that the narrator
isn't quite as good a listener as he makes out ('Try to see it my way!' he
sings at the start of each verse, interrupting whatever's come before). Paul
doesn't mince his words either: 'Run the risk of knowing that our love may soon
be gone'. The year 1965 is still about the last time that pop stars can sing
teenagery songs about breaking up and getting back together the next day, but
as this Christmas number one hints music is about to become much more adult in
1966. Lennon's middle eight, meanwhile, shows what a great songwriting team the
pair made: it says everything Paul's just said from a slightly removed, less
personal take and in the slightly sadder minor key not the hustle bustle of
Paul's major key optimism: 'Life is very short and there's no time for fussing
and fighting my friend...' (which, incidentally, is almost the entire theme of
'Revolver' the following year). Taped four days later than 'Day Tripper' (in
between the sessions for 'In My Life' and 'Nowhere Man' - what a week that
was!), this song broke the record for the longest single Beatles session at
that time (eleven hours - only one less than was spent on 10 tracks for 'Please
Please Me'!) It was time - and money - well spent: 'We Can Work It Out' is one
of the band's most thoughtful, considered songs and, despite being less
immediate as a single, in point of fact 'out-sold' 'Day Tripper' in terms of
the fans who requested the song by name in shops or through radio requests. First released as a double-sided single with 'Day Tripper' in
December 3rd 1965. Find it on: 'Past Masters Volume Two' (1988, Re-issued 2009)
Non-Album Recordings Part #9: 1966 (EMI)
A) [192] 'Paperback Writer' is, in many ways, a backwards
step. There's certainly nothing wrong with the music: this is another of the
Beatles' tightest backing tracks (as bootlegs will attest), with a fun guitar
riff that growls its way throughout the song, impatiently pushing the narrator
on to one more success, one last piece of his legacy. It's unusually bass
heavy, too, this single, which adds to the claustrophobia of the song. However,
the lyrics aren't McCartney's best: having already poured out his emotions on
'Rubber Soul' and 'Revolver', this is Paul catching on to the first thing that
came to hand. As it happened, he'd spent the Beatles' quieter year (by their
standards of 1966) helping to found an independent bookshop, the Indica (the
sister art gallery was where John later financed an art exhibition of Yoko's,
the point where many say they fell in love) and - being Paul - mucked in with
moving books and setting out displays (his co-owner was Barry Miles, later his
'ghost-writer' on Paul's book 'Many Years From Now'). His intelligence already
pricked by years of being surrounded by the Ashers' extensive library,
McCartney found himself in heaven surrounded not just by new books but
contemporary books. Naturally his thoughts turned to being a writer himself but
fell into a 'song lyric' instead of a novel, taking the form of a letter from a
wannabe writer to a big-name publisher (even starting 'sir or madam' at the
start). The 'joke' is that we know the narrator isn't going to succeed: he
comes across as too needy, too desperate to secure a big time deal - which is a
bit of a shame given the 'free love' vibes of this single (and especially the
B-side). I've always wondered: The Beatles were always being given things fans
had created (they were amongst the most generous bands with their time - Paul
especially) and helping to run a 'hip' bookshop in swinging London must have
resulted in all kinds of weird manuscripts landing through the door. Is the
song a 'spoof' of one of these (perhaps with a dig at Lennon for getting his
best-selling book deal simply because he was a 'Beatle'?) Or is this Paul,
knowing that his days as a touring Beatle are coming to an end, imagining a new
life for himself as an anonymous author? Either way, 'Paperback Writer' is
clever, funny, cute song with a great riff - but it's not a Beatles 'A' side.
It doesn't help that John and George mockingly sing 'Frere Jacques' behind his
lead vocal, like naughty schoolboys (they wouldn't have dared do that to any
other Beatles single, which were all far too 'important'!) The public thought
so too - yes this song still went to #1 but in both the UK and US it took a
long time to get there and sold less copies along the way. Perhaps the band
should have saved one of those classic single from late 1965 instead? First released as a single on May 30th 1966. Find it on:
'Past Masters Volume Two' (1988, Re-issued 2009)
B) B-side [193] 'Rain', though, is one of my all-time favourite Beatles songs. Like
'Paperback Writer' it sounds hard and tough, quite unlike anything else around
at the time (which in this case is achieved by slowing the track down to get a
slightly unreal, ethereal air and makes Ringo sound like superman, defying
gravity to keep his drum-rolls poised in mid-air). However unlike the 'A' side,
there's a fine song to go with the exotic sounds. The theme of 'Rain' is
perception, using the metaphor of everyone else staying indoors when it rains
and only coming out when the sun is shining (don't worry the rest of the world,
it's an English thing). Lennon's take on this is that everyone else is missing
out, 'that they might as well be dead' when they stay indoors. But he knows
better: he 'tried' staying out in the rain one day and you know what? He loved
it. The Whole of Oasis' future sound is built on Lennon's fabulous sneer
throughout this song, as he leers into the mike first 'I can show you' and then
a snarling 'can you hear me????', Lennon's voice raised in indignation at a
Britain too slow to change the way he wants. The song then ends on a 'perfect'
accident. reports differ as to whether it was a stoned Lennon lining up his
reel-to-reel tape or an effect George Martin showed him in the studio (possibly
both), but the decision to have the fade-out sung backwards - a gimmick on any
other Beatles song - is so 'right' on this song about altering perceptions and
seeing the world from a new angle. John, surely, is singing about drugs
(listening to this song is a hallucinogenic experience in itself, even before
you get to the backwards part, taking part in slow-motion) but 'Rain' works
better than most of Lennon's more OTT drug songs ('Dr Robert' 'Lucy in the
Sky') because it's not all that specific: John sings about the fact that he
experiences the world differently, not how he experiences it differently. His hypnotic
vocal is deeply enticing, though (was this a song aimed at Paul, the one Beatle
holding out on his drug experience? It was taped just three songs after
McCartney's ode to being desperate to join the party, 'Got To Get You Into My
Life'). However this isn't just a tour de force for Lennon - all the Beatles
excel on one of their very best backing tracks. George's guitar-part is just
the right side of alien, Ringo's drumming is arguably the best in his entire
career (it's between this and 'She Said She Said') and best of all Paul's
bass-line does exactly what the lyrics demand of it: defying all conventional
rules to work the way a guitar line should, weaving in and out of the recording
and pretty much ignoring what the drums are up to (the whole point of a bass on
a record circa the 1950s). The Beatles at their boldest, daring best and
somehow every single experiment they try on this recording works, a real
highpoint for the band, shockingly tucked away on the flipside of a lesser
single. sdrawkcab retteb dnuos gnihtyreve swonk ydobyreve dna. First released as the B-side of 'Paperback Writer' on May
30th 1966. Find it on: 'Past Masters Volume Two' (1988, Re-issued 2009)
C) As if that wasn't enough, The Beatles
went further on 'Tomorrow Never Knows', another Beatle highlight that rounded
off 'revolver' in fine style. The first thing tried out for the album (in April
1966, just five months after 'Girl' the last song taped for 'Rubber Soul') the
band were truly at the peak of their powers in this period. However you can't
get a song that great and that different to sound perfect overnight, so what
the Beatles started with isn't quite the same arrangement as the one we know
and love from the album. Titled [191b] 'The Void', Anthology Two
revealed 'take one' of this song to the world - and the world scratched their
head a little. Lennon's original idea had been to hire a bunch of Tibetan monks
so we knew other ideas had been discussed - but not this, three minutes of
fierce drumming, a loopy mellotron part (probably played by Paul) and lots of
ADT on everything. The result is curious to modern ears used to the end product
(which this take barely resembles) but it would have made a lot of sense in
1966, a sort of 'hybrid' of the band's usual fare and Lennon's awkward new song
which uses the same chord for three full minutes. Many fans quite like it,
though they are more that don't - for me it's not a patch on the finished
version with all the tape-loops and a sense of urgency this version lacks, but
it's still a powerful reading of a tremendous song. The wonder is that The
Beatles didn't just leave it at that but returned - just 16 days later - to cut
the version we know and love. Tomorrow Never Knows how recordings will be
remembered, but I have a feeling that this version would still have created
lots of waves back when 'Revolver' came out - if not, perhaps, as many as the
final version which is still fairly mind-blowing today. Find it on: 'Anthology Two' (1996)
D) The Anthology version of [190b] 'Got To Get You Into My Life'
is almost as different to the finished 'Revolver' version. Instead of the horns
and a driving riff we get folk-rock and a muted, almost pleading tone that
comes in several parts all joined up with Ringo's distinctive drumming and a
held organ note. The result gives quite a different 'feel' to the song, which
is more like The Byrds than the Stax sound of the finished version - less
together, more desperate and needy (there's even a brief middle eight, cut from
the 'Revolver' master, with John and
George chanting 'I need your love!' and progressing chord by chord till they
reach a sky high fever pitch just to hammer the point home). I rather like it -
perhaps not quite as much as the finished version but more than enough to make
the cut of the final album. Once again The Beatles have tinkered with a great
recording in 1966 - and ended up with a masterpiece.
Find it on: 'Anthology Two' (1996)
E) The version of [186b] 'And Your Bird Can Sing'
heard on 'Revolver' is also a remake of an even more Byrds-like folk-rocker
with chiming Rickenbacker guitars. Far from the urgent sneer of the finished
version ('You don't get me!') this version is gentler, bouncier - dare I say
it, a little sillier (this cryptic piece only sounds serious thanks to Lennon's
towering vocal on the final product). The Beatles were big gigglers (especially
in their 'stoned' period 1965-66) and, inevitably, fall apart laughing here.
With so much time gone no one (including Paul) can remember what they were
laughing at, but it's a proper run of the giggles that runs for half the song
and then ends in out-of-tune whistling. Fun as it is to hear (Lennon jokingly
says to a probably horrified George Martin 'Take another one? That was it,
wasn't it?' at the end, one of the funniest Beatle moments not in a film) I
wish Anthology had used the 'straight' version though, available on bootleg, so
fans could get a flavour of how this song was supposed to sound - again it's
not quite up to the finished version but it's more than good enough to have
been passed fit for purpose. Find it on: 'Anthology
Two' (1996)
F) Certainly it makes more sense than
the 'Anthology' version of [178b] 'Taxman', which out of its' 2:32 running time features just two
separate five brief seconds' difference to the finished product. Where the
finished version points the finger at politicians ('Ha ha Mr Wilson, Ha ha Mr
Heath - respectively the Prime Minister and opposition in charge of the UK in
1966), this version simply has a garbled 'anybodygotabitofmoney?' in falsetto,
sounding oddly like The Who as they do so. The other difference comes right at
the end, the song simply closing on a 'dum dum Tax Man!' finale instead of the
repeated McCartney guitar solo used earlier in the song. George (probably with
Paul's input given how many parts he plays on this record) was probably right
to make both changes although neither difference is that great. Find it on: 'Anthology Two' (1996)
G)
Like its future bedfellows, [180b] 'I'm Only Sleeping' started off a much simpler,
folkier song before effects were added to make the song more 'psychedelic'.
There are actually two early versions of the song on 'Anthology'. One is a rare
40 second snippet (sadly all that survives' of a 'rehearsal' for the song,
never intended to be a 'take' (the band recorded them sometimes to hear how
they sounded but - alas - always wiped them straight away; this is to date the
only 'rehearsal' tape to slip out). What's fascinating is how different it
sounds: someone (Lennon?) plays the main theme on a vibraphone part while George
strums away and Ringo taps awkwardly along. Did The Beatles mean to record
'Sleeping' like this? Was it :Lennon's original idea? Or did The Beatles always
rehearse using vibraphones? Certainly the instrument is long gone by take one,
which is simply John on guitar, Ringo on lightly slapped tom-toms and someone
else on tambourine. This version of the song is much jollier and 'normal' than
the finished version, but a little empty: if any song cried out for effects and
backwards guitar it's this one but the band seem unsure what to do with this
song for now. Amazingly the difference between this rough demo-like version and
the 'album' version is just nine days and four sessions. Find it on: 'Anthology Two' (1996)
H) A
lovely 'Anthology' take of [182b] Here There and Everywhere was also included, not on 'Anthology
Two' where it should have been, but as a throwaway extra on the back of the
'Real Love' single in 1996. By and large the other B-sides on this and 'Free As
A Bird' are nice titbits for collectors to swoon over but not really made for
essential listening, being made up mainly of live recordings and the 'full'
version of the band's 1967 festive fanclub song 'Christmas Time Is Here Again'.
However this is the one exception that's well worth tracking down: a delightful
early take of McCartney's ballad before the pieces of the puzzle have fully
locked together. The harmonies aren't there yet (well, they are at the very end
of the song but only thanks to some more unnecessary Anthology-style
re-editing) and like the first version of 'And I Love Her' everyone is still
playing this song as a noisy electric one despite the fact that's its clearly
an intimate acoustic one. Paul's vocal is charming, though, with George
navigating the tricky chord changes with ease. One of the better 'mid 60s'
Beatle outtakes. Find it on: the single
'Real Love' (1996)
[183b]
Yellow Submarine is
taken from the same single but apart from a slight re-mix on the sound effects
(which now run throughout instead of just the middle) this take is really here
to show off a new Anthology find: an opening 15 second speech that The Beatles
spent many hours on before discarding. Commemorating Barbara Moore's
astonishing 1960 charity walk across the entire United Kingdom (which in
typical wordplay, most likely by Lennon, turns into 'From Land O'Groats to John
O'Green' - 'Lands End' being the furthest Southern point and John O'Groats the
furthest Northern point). The Beatles,
meanwhile, stamp on peas to provide the effects of marching. Did they nick this
idea from The Hollies, who were at this very point in time working on their
song 'Crusader' from the 'For Certain, Because' album in the studio next door
and tried that very effect before discarding it for a rummage through the Abbey
Road sound effects library? Find it on: the
single 'Real Love' (1996)
H) Following 'Revolver' the band went on
hiatus until the end of the year, re-entering Abbey Road in late November. The
first version of [194b] 'Strawberry
Fields Forever' is what Lennon got up to in his spare time - a hesitant
acoustic demo, probably recorded at the house he was renting while filming 'How
I Won The War' in Spain with Dick Lester. The demo stops and starts ('I cannae
do it') and shows more than ever before how Lennon used to work - feeling his
way through a song, line by line (in contrast to Paul, who had a whole song
worked out from the first chord). Note the main lyric change: 'Take me back,
'cause I'm going to', which changes the song from one of depression (the
original word is 'down') to one of memory. I'm not the biggest fan of
'Strawberry Fields', Lennon's silliest most pretentious song, but it is
interesting hearing the whole come together. Take One is, in fact, a big
improvement on the finished version: without the switching time signatures this
recording almost has a folky feel to it. It's even, dare I say it, rather Moody
Blues-ish, which is apt given that the mellotron part Paul plays here was on an
instrument on loan from that band's Mike Pinder. Take 7 meanwhile is the one we
half-know and love - the first half, anyway, which rapidly turns into a monster
drum solo from Ringo (much better than the one from 'The Abbey Road Medley')
and Lennon's sarcastic rejoinders ('Alright, calm down Ringo!') George Martin
famously changed the speeds of two separate takes of the song so that Lennon
could have the 'two halves' he liked best for both songs. Long admired as an
editing tour de force, I've never much liked the effect: it just makes Lennon
sound drunk, not other-worldly - I actually like this version more, although
it's the full take 23 (the 'other half' of the one we all know and love) which
is 'Strawberry Fields' at its best - annoyingly it still hasn't been officially
released yet! Find it on: 'Anthology Two' (1996)
I) Lennon's song, typically, got put
together bit by bit, while Paul's early take of [195b] 'Penny Lane' - recorded at the same time - is
almost complete. The main difference here is that instead of a trumpet solo we
get a treated violin answered by some horns and that the backing vocals aren't
quite as complete yet. However, the 'Anthology' version is a 'cheat', with the
'best' parts from multiple takes stuck together to make up a whole that never
really existed. I don't know about you but I'd much rather hear a basic version
of the song with bits missing than I would a version that sounds similar enough
to the finished product to most ears? At least the ending is fun though: more
Syd Barrett-style vocal 'noises' and McCartney's goonish comment 'that's a
suitable ending I think!' Find it on: 'Anthology
Two' (1996)
Non-Album Recordings Part #10: 1967 (EMI)
A) Despite the release of three
double-CD outtakes sets, there is still one totally unreleased Beatles song in
the archives that has never appeared. [218] 'Carnival Of Light', an avant garde McCartney
collage with contributions from the others, was 'commissioned' from Paul by his
friend (and bookshop co-owner) Barry Miles for a 'multi-media event' at
London's 'hip' Roundhouse Theatre (now owned by the BBC and a second home for
Jools Holland's gurning face). The song was taped, in a single five hour
session, on January 5th 1967 during 'time off' fro, the early sessions for 'Sgt
Peppers'. Like 'Tomorrow Never Knows' and 'Revolution no 9, this piece features
random tape loops, splices and shouted comments from all four Beatles and is
said to run for nearly 14 minutes (that's six longer than 'Revolution no 9' to
put that in context!) The song was never intended for a Beatles album and was
left to collect dust until it was re-discovered in McCartney's collection and
all set to appear on 'Anthology Two' - partly as a defensive gesture from
McCartney that he, not Lennon, was the original 'avant garde Beatle'. George
Harrison, however, was embarrassed by it and asked for it to be taken out (to
pacify him an instrumental version of his song 'Within You Without You' was hastily
added in its place). Paul still threatens to release it from time to time and
many bootleggers claim to have 'found' access to it (there are at least half a
dozen versions on Youtube', none of them the same). In truth, one of them might
be 'real' - without much Beatle participation or anything familiar to music
convention, it would be hard to tell. The only thing we can say is that if
George allowed 'What's The New Mary Jane' through without comment then
'Carnival Of Light' must be very strange indeed! Find
it - nowhere! (For the time being!)
B) Meanwhile, 'real' Beatle work was
taking place. The spooky 'Anthology' version of [208b] 'A Day In The Life' is slightly slower and
rather more vulnerable sounding, with almost everything where it should be but
slightly in the wrong place. The biggest difference is the famous orchestral
passage, which isn't here yet - instead Paul stabs away at the piano while good
ol' Mal Evans reads out the bar numbers in an increasingly hysterical 'posh'
voice. This is clearly a run through (Paul messes up the last line of 'his'
section and curses - the first time we hear any of The Beatles swear on tape) -
or rather, run throughs, as Anthology have messed about with the sequence of
takes yet again, trust me the original is interesting enough without having the
'finished orchestral' part added on -
but it's already surprisingly close to the finished version. The song
then ends not with the chord but a chat between Paul and some unspecified other
(it sounds to me as if he's being interviewed about the shooting of the
orchestral sequence, planned as a music video but abandoned when the track got
banned by the BBC). ('The worst thing about doing something like this is that,
you know, people get a bit suspicious...') You'd hardly take this rehearsal
version over the finished product but it's fun to be a fly-on-the-wall for such
a key Beatles moment. Find it on: 'Anthology Two'
(1996)
C) [206b] 'Good Morning, Good Morning', however sounds even
better. A song that was screaming out to be recorded raw and simple, this early
version is missing the horns and the sound effects, which is a shame, but heard
as a primitive rocker 'Good Morning' has even more 'life' about it. Lennon is
snarling his vocal a la 'I Am The Walrus', George's guitar is grungy and Paul
and Ringo lock grooves to great effect (especially on a lengthy ending where
the animal noises should be). The result is, perhaps, the most punk Beatles
recording, reduced to a few simple chords and not much else. There are even
more terrific versions of this song in the vaults however, included a fabulous
one where the horns have been added but Lennon's vocal haven't! Find it on: 'Anthology Two' (1996)
D) [219b] 'Only A Northern Song', however, isn't all that
different to the version that popped up on the 'Yellow Submarine' soundtrack.
George's first song for the 'Sgt Pepper' album, this caustic comment on how
nobody is treating his songs seriously (George's publishing company was called
Northern Songs') was taped in between 'Fixing A Hole' and 'Mr Kite' before
being left to rust for 18 months or so. This is effectively the state the song
was in before George added a new vocal, Paul added a trumpet part (!) and the
whole thing was remixed. Although less hallucinatory than the finished recording
this basic version still sounds pretty fine to me, although where it might have
fitted onto 'Sgt Peppers' is anyone's guess. Find it
on: 'Anthology Two' (1996)
E) As we said in our review of
'Peppers', [202b] 'Being For
The Benefit of Mr Kite' is a slight song rescued - partly - by a
towering production. The Anthology Version (featuring takes 1,2 and 7) is
effectively a slight song without much production, just the usual bass, drums
and organ and a Lennon vocal treated with lots of echo. Your best bet is to
forget the song and listen to how the Beatles re-act to each other: Lennon is
full of pride (he corrects Geoff Emerick when he shortens the title to 'The
Benefit of Mr Kite'), McCartney is full of ideas ('what we could do is...') and
George Martin, desperate for the band's attention, resorts to a funny accent. Again,
this early sequence of takes would have been far better without so much
retrospective editing going on! Find it on:
'Anthology Two' (1996)
F) [198b] 'Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds', meanwhile, is ever
so nearly complete. Only a heavy-handed (guide?) vocal from Lennon (who shouts
rather than sings) and a few of the effects aren't here yet but otherwise Lucy
already sounds in rude health. Paul gets more of a part to play in the harmonies,
which is nice - perhaps they should have kept this arrangement for the final
version? Find it on: 'Anthology Two' (1996)
G) [207b] 'Sgt Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band' (Reprise) was a real
last-minute rush-job (Paul had a plane booked that night and the song was only
hastily written when the band were trying to put together a running order for
the album). As a result, I wasn't expecting much from this version - and yet
the 'Anthology' take of this slight and simple song is a revelation. Reduced to
the bare core, this is a funky rocker rather than the heavily overdubbed
theatrical piece on the album driven by hard Ringo drums and guitars that stab
rather than float. Paul's vocal is clearly a guide one again - he's barely on
the right notes in fact - but even this is full of the excitement and adrenalin
of creativity. A lot of fun - maybe Pepper's might have been better if they'd
left songs like this and 'Good Morning' alone? Find
it on: 'Anthology Two' (1996)
H) [220] 'You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)' - released
in 1969 as the B-side to final single 'Let It Be' but actually recorded in the
middle of 'Magical Mystery Tour' - is one of The Beatles' surrealist moments. A
fake nightclub singer (Paul as 'Dennis O' Dell' - it's not actually Ringo as introduced,
that's just a sly put down from Lennon), Rolling Stones BRian Jones playing a
saxophone solo, Mal Evans shovelling gravel, the title phrase repeated over and
over like a mantra - this is either The Beatles' most maddening song or their
funniest depending on your sense of humour. The original tape (sadly not yet
bootlegged!) apparently run for some brain-crushing 20 minutes. The B-side
version runs for 4:19 with the Anthology take extended to 5:43 courtesy of a
fun 'ska' section led by Paul which Lennon decided to cut when mixing the song
in 1969 (the reason Lennon was doing it was because he wanted the song to be
the B-side of a 'Plastic Ono Band' single of 'Mary Jane' - in the end even
Apple decided the single was too eccentric for release! EMI simply copied
Lennon's mix when they needed a B-side ready to go at the last minute). The
result is a fun but rather odd end to The Beatles recorded legacy (at least
until 1977 and 'Hollywood Bowl') that shows how much fun you could have if you
were a Beatle in 1967 - as well as how many drugs you had to take to get there! Find it on: 'Anthology Two' (1996) with the shorter
version on 'Past Masters Volume Two' (1988, Re-issued 2009)
I) [214b] 'I Am The Walrus' sounds powerful in any version,
but the crunching early take on 'Anthology Two' is really something special.
With the sound effects, radio play shenanigans, eerie strings and Mike Sammes
Singers removed you can hear just how angry and deranged Lennon sounds. The
Beatle backing is simply brutal - Ringo's drumheads must have had holes in them
by the end of this session, while the combined effect of drums, organ, bass and
guitars all with the treble turned low and distortion turned high is more
frightening than any Hammer Horror film. Hearing this version really brings the
song back to what it originally was - a rant about how Lennon has always been
denied his creativity, how his inner world is less messed up and makes more
sense than the real one and how everyone in authority who ever tried to keep
him in a box is wrong. This is clearly an early take - Lennon comes in on the
wrong line for 'Yellow matter custard' and had to correct himself with a quick
thinking 'wah-hoo' to get himself back
on track - but even so it's amazing how quickly all four Beatles are on the
money on a song that breaks every rule in the book. Find
it on: 'Anthology Two' (1996)
J) This final quarter of 'Anthology Two'
is my favourite of the entire series with so many of my favourite songs stuck
together in great versions. There are two versions of [210b] 'The Fool On The Hill' (split
by the version of 'Your Mother Should Know' below): a sweet and simple piano
demo featuring just Paul and take 4, a band version featuring a very rough
attempt by the other Beatles to join in on their usual instruments (all these
years on from 'And I Love Her' and they still haven't learnt!) The demo is the
better, a golden three minutes that sounds amazingly complete without all the
whirring flutes of the finished version. McCartney does the song this way a lot
in concert nowadays yet he's never quite matched the seriousness and sincerity
of the version here. Paul hasn't quite got all the words yet (the last verse is
entirely missing and he even busks where the flutes will go in the solo!) but
'The Fool On The Hill' already sounds like a beautiful song. Take 4, meanwhile,
does feature flutes as well as a rather more out-of-tune McCartney vocal to go
with Ringo's ridiculously strict 4/4 rhythm. The lyrics are even closer to the
finished version but the first version features a few differences: The man
talking perfectly loud has an 'empty mind' rather than 'a thousand voices' and
'no one will go quite near him' instead of 'he never seems to notice'. Find it on: 'Anthology Two' (1996)
K) [213b] 'Your Mother Should Know' is very rough, however as
Paul - 'with ciggie in mouth' as he tells us - sounds even more like a carnival
barker than on the finished version. Ringo's military drumming is truly awful
(he does hardly anything on the final version) and Paul's heavy handed chords
lack the free-flowing movement of the 'MM Tour' version. Paul starts the song
with a cheeky spoof of early Beatles patter ('would you like us to do it again,
George?') and a different opening: singing the 'let's all get up and...' line
twice. All in all 'your mother' sounds in very poor health - perhaps she ought
to have a lie down? Find it on: 'Anthology Two'
(1996)
L) By contrast [215b] 'Hello Goodbye' is only a
smidgeon away from the finished version. All that's missing is the guitar
overdubs, a few tweaks in the vocal lines for both Paul and the harmonies and a
subtly different part for both George (who plays a fiery
duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh' part like machine gun fire) and Ringo (who adds a
couple of extra cymbal chinks in his drum roll). Even the coda is heard intact,
suggesting that it really was here from the beginning. Sadly Anthology missed
out on the chance to release another bootleg favourite: a driving
piano-and-drums backing track which is better than it sounds and more like Fats
Domino than the 'music hall' of the finished version. Find
it on: 'Anthology Two' (1996)
A now complete list of Beatles links
available at this website:
'Yellow Submarine' (1969) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-beatles-yellow-submarine-1969.html
The Best Unreleased Beatles Recordings http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/what-we-want-to-see-on-beatles.html
A Complete AAA Guide To The Beatles Cartoons http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/an-aaa-guide-to-beatles-cartoons.html
The Beatles: Surviving TV Appearances http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/the-beatles-surviving-tv-appearances.html
A 'Bite' Of Beatles Label 'Apple' http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/a-bite-of-apple.html
The Beatles: Non-Album Songs Part One: 1958-63 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/the-beatles-non-album-songs-part-one.html
The Beatles:
Non-Album Songs Part Two: 1964-67 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/the-beatles-non-album-songs-part-2-1964.html
The Beatles: Non-Album Songs Part Three: 1968-96 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/the-beatles-non-album-songs-part-three.html
The Beatles: Compilations/Live Albums/Rarities Sets
Part One: 1962-74 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/the-beatles-compilations-live-sets-and.html
The Beatles: Compilations/Live Albums/Rarities Sets
Part Two: 1976-2013 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/the-beatles-compilations-live-albums.html
Beatles Bonuses: The Songs
John and Paul Gave Away To The World/To Ringo! http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/beatle-bonuses-songs-given-awayringos.html
Essay: The Ways In Which The Beatles Changed The World For The Better https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2017/11/the-beatles-essay-ways-fab-four-changed.html
Five Landmark Concerts and
Three Key Cover Versions https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/the-beatles-five-landmark-concerts-and.html
