This week on #askNat I’m addressing a few questions that arrived together from Lucio in Mexico. Lucio’s first goes like this:

Is there an authentic version on any bootleg of the “Threetles” backing track for the “Now and Then” demo”?

The “Now And Then” demo by John Lennon was supposedly one of four demos of John Lennon’s given by Yoko Ono to the three surviving Beatles in the nineties for use on The Beatles Anthology project. The two of these completed by Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and Jeff Lynne and released on singles and The Beatles Anthology 1 & 2 CD sets were “Free As A Bird” and “Real Love” (more details here). The fourth was likely “Grow Old With Me,” which is included in it’s rawest form on John and Yoko’s 1984-released Milk And Honey album. Of course “Threetles” is a nineties term referring to Paul, George and Ringo when they reunited to work on the Anthology project.

John Lennon, 1979

Paul has confirmed that they received additional material from Yoko outside of the “Free As A Bird” and “Real Love” demos but has not mentioned if any actual work was done to them by the “Threetles.” When “Now And Then” appeared in a polished up form on You Tube in January 2008 labeled as being by The Beatles, it has been surmised that this was work done on the track by the surviving Beatles but this has not been confirmed. The track is still on You Tube as of this writing and you can also hear it below. Unfortunately since there is no other known source for the recording, the audio quality (or lack thereof) is what it is. But is this really The Beatles or just a clever “out-fake?” It sounds like Ringo’s drumming to me with some quite “Paul-ish” harmonies. I invite you to give your own opinion and help answer Lucio by commenting below.

Note: Be sure to hit the play/pause button AFTER you listen once or twice – otherwise this may play again simultaneously if you click to play the next audio player later in the post.

And now on with Lucio’s next question:

I’ve just listened to a 2010 broadcast of Beatles at the Beeb about songs The Beatles gave away, and they played a “Sour Milk Sea” demo with a higher quality than the “Esher demo.” Has this demo has surfaced on a bootleg yet?

Good one, Lucio! Love this song! Originally a contender for the “White Album,” George Harrison wrote “Sour Milk Sea” in India and later decided he’d contribute it to Jackie Lomax to help get his solo career going. This track when finished included George (acoustic guitar) along with Paul McCartney (bass), Ringo Starr (drums) and Eric Clapton (electric guitar along with Jackie). Under production by George it became one of the first singles on the new Apple label and Jackie also included it on his first solo album with Apple titled Is This What You Want? George’s original “Esher demo” as well as the finalized version by Jackie can be heard here.

Is This What You Want? Jackie Lomax’s debut Apple LP, 1969

The demo Lucio is referring to was recorded at George’s Kinfauns home in Esher with George singing and playing acoustic guitar and Jackie playing bass to just get an initial feel for the song. It was recorded sometime between late May and June 26, 1968. The recording of it was supplied by George’s wife Olivia sometime around 2009 for use on the Beeb (BBC 2 radio) program The Songs The Beatles Gave Away which was broadcast on November 28, 2009. As far as whether or not it has been bootlegged, I would be surprised if it wasn’t out there somewhere but I do not know of a specific title. I don’t know that any more of the demo is available anywhere other than what is heard here:

Note: If the audio player above this one (for “Now And Then”) begins to play simultaneously with this, simply hit the play/pause button on the other player to stop it.

If anyone has further info, be sure to let us all know by commenting below.

I’m on a roll here so I’m going to quickly knock out Lucio’s final question which goes like this:

Is there a version of “Here Comes The Sun” with the complete “lost solo” other than the DVD?

The DVD (or BluRay) Lucio is talking about is the recent 2011(UK)/2012(US) release of Martin Scorsese’s George Harrison: Living In The Material World. In the bonus material we see George’s son Dhani, Beatles producer George Martin and his son Giles sitting at a mixing console listening to the multi-tracks of George Harrison’s Abbey Road classic “Here Comes The Sun.” They come across a guitar track that was left off of the final mix and apparently replaced with the vocal track in the middle section where sun-sun-sun, here it comes is sung. There is talking between the three of them as the track plays and it is not a complete account of the recording. Lucio is inquiring if it is around somewhere in an intact form.

Martin Scorsese’s George Harrison: Living In The Material World

There is more to this story though but for now the quick answer is “yes.” I’ll save the rest including a chance for everyone to listen to this recording yourself on the Beatles Rarity of the Week sometime in the next few weeks. Stay tuned…

Thanks everyone for reading and especially to Lucio for sending in his great questions. Again, if anyone has anything to add please do so in the comments section below.

Thank you to everyone who has sent in their questions! Keep #askNat going by sending your questions to me in any of the following ways:

1) There is a designated form that you fill out right on the website where you can give your name, location, email address and submit your question. The form is right here and is the same form used to submit requests for BROWs (Beatles Rarity Of The Weeks), but modfied to do both BROW requests and #askNat questions.

2) If you are a Facebook user, you can submit your question right on TheBeatlesRarity FB wall at www.facebook.com/beatlesrarity. If you think about it, try to remember to flag your question with “#askNat”.

3) Similarly, if you are a Google+ user, you can submit your question on TheBeatlesRarity Google+ page at www.gplus.to/beatlesrarity. Google+ supports hashtag searchability so it will be helpful if you preface your question with “#askNat” here too.

4) For you Twitter users, www.twitter.com/beatlesrarity gets you to the right place. Post your question and be sure to add “#askNat” somewhere in the tweet.

Here are some links to Amazon to read more or purchase some of the music related to this post:

1) Beatles Anthology 1- 1995 2-CD compilation of Beatles out-takes and extras recorded between the early pre-fame days and 1965. Includes finalized Beatles version of “Free A A Bird.”

2) Beatles Anthology 2 – 1996 2-CD compilation of Beatles out-takes and extras recorded between 1965 and 1968. Includes finalized Beatles version of “Real Love.”

3) Milk and Honey – 2010 CD remaster of original 1984 CD/LP by John Lennon and Yoko Ono – includes home demo of “Grow Old With Me.”

4) Is This What You Want? – Jackie Lomax’s 1969 2010 remastered CD release of his highly acclaimed debut LP for Apple Records. Includes finalized version of George Harrison composed/produced track “Sour Milk Sea” with Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison. Preview the track here.

5) George Harrison: Living In The Material World 2012-released DVD (BluRay also available) set with startling documentary on the career of George Harrison. Includes within bonus material the discovery of the lost guitar track on “Here Comes The Sun” by Sir George Martin, Giles Martin and Dhani Harrison.

6) Abbey Road (Remastered) 2009 CD remaster of original 1969 LP. Features finalized version of “Here Comes The Sun.”

7) More of your favorite Beatles-related music: The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.
Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

Welcome to The Beatles Rarity of the Week. The Beatles had a very busy day on March 31st, 1964. The first order of the day was to get over to the Scala Theatre in London to record the footage of the band performing the concert that was to be the culmination of their upcoming movie A Hard Day’s Night. The Beatles performed “If I Fell,” “Tell Me Why,” “I Should Have Known Better” and “She Loves You” – all four of which were used in the film. “You Can’t Do That” was also lip-synced but that didn’t make the film. This performance of “You Can’t Do That” ended up given to the Ed Sullivan Show for the May 24th, 1964 broadcast in America and it is also seen at the conclusion of a home video called The Making of A Hard Day’s Night (but with some minor visual editing changes from the original broadcast). The audience of 350 fans were actually paid to react hysterically, not that most wouldn’t have done that for free. A 13-year old future drummer for Genesis named Phil Collins was among the crowd of screaming kids.

After a quick dinner, The Beatles headed immediately over to the Playhouse Theatre to rehearse and record their ninth appearance on the BBC radio program Saturday Club. If this wasn’t enough to keep them busy, John Lennon was also nabbed during a couple session breaks to give interviews. Both were for usage with the BBC Home Service radio network and the second was given by the Saturday Club host himself, Brian Matthew for a series called A Slice Of Life. John was to talk about his hobbies but he also used the interviews as a grand opportunity to do some plugging for his upcoming book of hilariously ridiculous poems and wordplay called In His Own Write which was to be released in just under four weeks.

The Beatles with Saturday Club host Brian Matthew in 1964

The Saturday Club performances recorded included both sides of their latest single “Can’t Buy Me Love” and “You Can’t Do That” which had only been out in the U.K. for 11 days. Two songs recently recorded for the upcoming Long Tall Sally EP, specifically “Long Tall Sally” and “I Call Your Name” were also in the line up. These four were rounded out with a few oldies including two Carl Perkins songs – “Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby” and “Sure To Fall (In Love With You)” along with a cover of the Elvis Presley version of Ray Charles’ “I Got A Woman.”

Although all but one of these songs were featured on Apples’ 2-CD set Live At The BBC, none of those were the performances recorded at this particular session. For BROW I’m featuring the evening’s double-tracked vocal performance of “I Call Your Name” where lead vocalist John has a lyrical blunder at the end of the song when he mixes up the words with an earlier verse. The recording begins with Brian Matthews’ original introduction that gives a response to some earlier ridiculous suggestion that John was losing his voice.

Extra info:

1. “I Call Your Name” was first released in the U.S. on the second Capitol album by The Beatles appropriately named The Beatles Second Album and released on April 10, 1964. In the U.K. it was not released for another month appearing on the Long Tall Sally 4-track Parlophone EP that came out on May 11, 1964. Besides the title track the EP also included “Slow Down” and “Matchbox.”
2. Ringo Starr recorded his own version of the song for a 1990 Liverpool-based tribute to John Lennon. That performance can be heard here.

Here are some Amazon links to read more on, or purchase, some music related to this post:

1) Past Masters 2009 remastered 2-CD set of original 1988 compilation of non-album tracks by The Beatles including the stereo version of “I Call Your Name.”

2) Live at the BBC 1994 2-CD Apple compilation of BBC performances by The Beatles from 1963-1965.

3) The Capitol Albums Vol. 2 (Brick) 2006 4-CD box set including 4 Capitol albums in both stereo and mono that The Beatles released in 1964. One disc contains The Beatles Second ALbum with mono and stereo versions of “I Call Your Name.” The other albums are Meet The Beatles!, Something New and Beatles ’65.

4) A Hard Day’s Night – 2002 DVD set with bonus features disc of original 1964 debut film by The Beatles, A Hard Day’s Night.

5) The Beatles – The Making of A Hard Day’s Night – 1998 DVD special on the making of A Hard Day’s Night that is hosted by Phil Collins and includes the mentioned performance of”You Can’t Do That.”

6) More Amazon links for any of your favorite Beatles-related music: The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.

Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

This time around on #askNat it looks like I have a couple questions from Brian Cornish. Brian did not give me his location but I don’t think that will keep me from getting his two questions answered. Brian’s first message goes like this:

Nat,  

I’m curious about the back cover of the Abbey Road album. Is there any background you can share about why the shot includes a ‘walk-by’ and where exactly is this block lettering located?  

Thanks

Okay Brian – fair enough. If I didn’t know better I’d say you were fishing for a discussion concerning the Paul McCartney “death clues.” I can almost smell these things ahead of time. I’ve heard and read of hundreds of these and many are quite a stretch. In fact it seems to me that nine times out of ten – if it is a discussion about the Abbey Road cover, this “death clue” topic is going to come out. In any event, I’ll start out here by just telling you what I know about the photo session, including a few details about the front cover.

Abbey Road front cover, 1969

The photographs used for both the front and back shots were taken by Scottish photographer Iain Macmillan on August 8, 1969. Prior to the shoot, Paul McCartney had sketched his ideas for the front cover on paper and explained his idea to the photographer. For the front cover shot the image chosen shows the four Beatles walking across the crosswalk just outside Abbey Road Studios. One bit of symbolism that has nothing to do with any sort of “clues” about Paul’s death is that the specific image used for the front cover shows The Beatles walking away from the studio where they had spent most of the past seven years. You may say it’s appropriate since this album’s sessions would be the last time the four of them would record together.

As for the back, Iain Macmillan took a photo of a tiled street sign that was located at the corner of Abbey Road and Alexandra Road. The sign has since been replaced and, in fact, the junction no longer exists since the road was removed as part of the development of the Abbey Road housing estate between Boundary Road and Belsize Road.

Back cover of Abbey Road album, 1969

Brian also asks why a woman in a blue mini-skirt is walking by in the photo. Could it be that this is Jane Asher, Paul’s one-time fiancée, running from the scene of the alleged car crash that killed him in 1966? I’m just kidding there and couldn’t resist. The reason that someone is passing by in the photo is simply because they happened to be there when the photo was taken. The only further info would have to come from Iain Macmillan himself, but he died in 2006.

Okay now…on to Brian’s second question:

Hi Nat,

In all the “clues” about Paul’s death, I have never hear this one that I’ve always been curious about. In the song “Magical Mystery Tour,” when the chorus is sung for the second time and the car zooms by, if you listen closely, you can hear that it skids and crashes. No one seems to mention that one. What can you tell me about that “clue?”  

Thanks.

Okay, that does it Brian. Now I KNOW you want to start up a “death clue” discussion. Well… What can I say here?

The funny thing is that Brian is not just imagining this. If you listen to the original stereo mix of “Magical Mystery Tour” at 0:47 seconds in you’ll hear what Brian is calling the car zooming by (actually that IS imagination, it’s really just a drum roll) and immediately afterwards, at 0:50 seconds, you hear a skidding/screeching type noise. The drum roll is apparent in the mono mix but not the screeching sound. Curiously, in the recently remastered BluRay/DVD Magical Mystery Tour film the drum roll and screeching sound are both completely mixed out. Using headphones, this screeching sound could very well pass for the sound of a car’s tires on pavement after a sudden slamming of the brakes. Something to think about…

Magical Mystery Tour cover art, 1967

The thing about these “death clues” on The Beatles albums and within the music is this – they are there if you are looking for them. Do I think the real Paul is dead and that he was replaced by an impostor? Of course not. Did The Beatles put little messages in their music and cover art from time to time to get people thinking crazy thoughts? Yes, I think so. Beatles will be Beatles.

A real discussion about the “death clues” is really beyond the scope of this post. Knowing what I already know about it, I realize that to do it justice would take an entire book, so I really don’t want to get into it here. For further info though I can recommend a book on the subject that has already been written. I read it myself a few years back and it is quite interesting in its own way, with literally hundreds of “death clues” listed and discussed in detail. If you are into this kind of thing, I’d say it’s well worth the $10 or so to get it. It’s by R. Gary Patterson and is called The Walrus Was Paul. I have a link below for reading more about it and ordering a copy for yourself if you like.

Thanks for two interesting questions Brian, wherever you happen to be. If anyone has anything to add – or if you want to have a “death clue” listing party – I invite you to do just that in the comments section below.

Thank you to everyone who has sent in their questions! Keep #askNat going by sending your questions to me in any of the following ways:

1) There is a designated form that you fill out right on the website where you can give your name, location, email address and submit your question. The form is right here and is the same form used to submit requests for BROWs (Beatles Rarity Of The Weeks), but modfied to do both BROW requests and #askNat questions.

2) If you are a Facebook user, you can submit your question right on TheBeatlesRarity FB wall at www.facebook.com/beatlesrarity. If you think about it, try to remember to flag your question with “#askNat”.

3) Similarly, if you are a Google+ user, you can submit your question on TheBeatlesRarity Google+ page at www.gplus.to/beatlesrarity. Google+ supports hashtag searchability so it will be helpful if you preface your question with “#askNat” here too.

4) For you Twitter users, www.twitter.com/beatlesrarity gets you to the right place. Post your question and be sure to add “#askNat” somewhere in the tweet.

Here are some links to Amazon to read more or purchase some of the music related to this post:

1) The Walrus Was Paul: The Great Beatle Death Clues – More than you’d ever want to know about the “Paul McCartney death clues” in the cover art and music of The Beatles.

2) Abbey Road (Remastered) 2009 stereo CD remaster of original 1969 album by The Beatles. Contains booklet with additional photos from August 8. 1969 photo shoot by Iain Macmillan.

3) Magical Mystery Tour – 2009 stereo remastered CD of original 1967 album. Contains the title track “Magical Mystery Tour” mentioned above.

4) Magical Mystery Tour [Blu-ray] 2012 stereo/5.1 remaster/remix of original 1967 film Magical Mystery Tour by The Beatles (DVD also available). Contains added scenes and lots of bonus material.

5) More of your favorite Beatles-related music: The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.
Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

Welcome back to the Beatles Rarity of the Week. For our first BROW in the merry month of May I’m turning my attention to MTV’s Unplugged series which began in the 1989/90 television season. The idea, of course, was to feature performances by musical guests that would give acoustic versions of what would normally be done with amplified instruments. Microphones were okay, but electronic backing or amplification was discouraged. This kind of thing was right up Paul McCartney’s alley and he agreed to do a show early in it’s heyday. To be more specific, the show was filmed on January 25th, 1991 in the Wembley district of London’s Limehouse Studios, which was a place Paul had actually recorded television shows with The Beatles. The show premiered on MTV on April 3rd, 1991.

Paul was one of the first big names to appear on the show and was intrigued at the challenge of performing completely “unplugged.” While the rules were bent slightly for many of the guests as far as the use of electronic pick-ups or occasional amplified instruments, Robbie McIntosh, who played in Paul’s band at the time stated that “Paul decided this was cheating and we would do it absolutely ‘straight,’ which was very challenging. There were no pick-ups – meaning everything was done simply with microphones.”

Paul McCartney at Unplugged concert of Jan. 25, 1991

Paul’s band at the time of the show included Hamish Stuart (acoustic bass, guitar, vocals and harmonies), Robbie McIntosh (lead guitar, 6 & 12-string acoustic guitars, steel guitar, bass guitar, dobro, piano and vocals), Paul ‘Wix’ Wickens (stand up piano, accordion, vocal harmonies, acoustic bass), Blair Cunningham (drums, triangle, percussion) and Linda McCartney (Indian harmonium, percussion, vocal harmonies). Paul played 6-string acoustic guitar, drums (on one track) and lead vocals.

Realizing that many of his songs would not be suitable for this type of show, Paul chose a few of his favorites by other artists, adding in just a few appropriate selections from his own compositions with The Beatles, as well as after and in the case of one song called “I Lost My Little Girl” – before The Beatles. Paul explains that this one was the first song he ever wrote.

Including a few repeat performances due to camera problems or a couple instances where Paul kept forgetting some lyrics on “We Can Work it Out” and starting over, there were 27 performances in all. The television broadcast only included 14 of these and a subsequent CD release covering the event simply titled Unplugged included 17 tracks (a track listing for the CD can be found here).

For this week’s BROW, I’m naturally offering up one of the “unchosen” performances that was excluded from both the television broadcast and CD. “Mean Woman Blues” is a 12-bar blues song recorded by Elvis Presley for the 1957 soundtrack to his movie Loving You. It’s possible that the reason this song was excluded was that it was considered a “warm-up” number – since it was actually the show opener. It did actually get a release though as a b-side on a 1993 promo-only CD single released in the U.K. for Paul’s “Biker Like An Icon” track hailing from his Off The Ground album. It’s never been released in the U.S. or commercially anywhere, but you can hear it now on BROW.

Extra info: Paul has a few other known performances of “Mean Woman Blues” from the early nineties. He included it in a show on May 10th, 1991 at “The Mean Fiddler” in Harlesden (a district of London), U.K. and also as part of his soundcheck for a gig in Winnipeg, Canada on May 21, 1993.

Here are some Amazon links to read more on, or purchase, some music related to this post:

1) Paul McCartney Unplugged – 1991 17-track CD account of Paul McCartney’s MTV Unplugged show.

2) More Amazon links for any of your favorite Beatles-related music: The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.

Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

Just a quick post to let whomever is interested know that the “Search Nat’s Collection” section of the website (regularly accessible in the upper navigation bar) now has a new “front-end” making it easier than ever to look up releases by The Beatles, tracks and other info. This is a list of everything I have by The Beatles as a group and individually and serves also as a comprehensive, searchable and multi-sortable, discography resource. Nearly 10,000 tracks are currently listed that include official releases, bootlegs, television appearance performances. concerts performances and much more. More is continuously added as I acquire it. Cover art is included for most releases along with release dates, recorded dates, composer credits, lead vocalist credit and explanatory remarks for each listing. It’s a wealth of information at your fingertips and checking it out may give you some ideas for a Beatles Rarity of the Week to request (which you can do right here). A super extra-special thanks goes out to Heather Lackey for developing this upgrade to the site.

Happy Nat

I have to say that I can’t believe that #askNat is already one year old! I have to admit I wasn’t too sure about the idea when I started it up back in May 2012. Despite how many various questions about “all-things-Beatle” I was getting beforehand, I just wasn’t sure if I’d get enough to actually do a regularly scheduled thing and I made up my mind at the start that if not enough questions come in, I’ll just stop. Well since then they have been coming in like crazy! Those of you that have sent one (or more) in know that there is usually a bit of a wait before your question shows up and I feel bad about that, but it can’t be helped. With everything else I have going on, one a week is all I can handle and I have to do ‘em as I get ‘em. So as long as people keep sending them in, I’ll keep cranking them back out. And a big THANK YOU to everyone who has sent them in and patiently waited for my on-site response. It not only gets your question answered for you and everyone who ends up being interested, but it adds a lot to the knowledge base here at TheBeatlesRarity.com which means there is always something to show for it.

Okay, so on with this week’s question. After reading it the somewhat ambiguous nature of the title of the post should become more clear. The question comes from no stranger to the site. Elliott Marx has sent a good deal of interesting questions in to #askNat over the last year. Here is his latest message:

Dear Nat,

As I was drifting to sleep last night, an #askNat topic crossed my mind. Unfortunately, there isn’t much asking, as I am finding it difficult to tease out an actual question. I dig the topic in any case.

The idea is hidden in plain sight. There are several instances of songs on official releases which do not receive track listing. Three and a half examples come readily to mind – John Lennon’s partial phrasing of “Danny Boy” on the original Let It Be, the “Sgt. Pepper Inner Groove,” “Can You Take Me Back” and the original pressings of Abbey Road did not include “Her Majesty” on the track listing. I believe it does now, so “Her Majesty” is no longer hidden in plain sight.

I think that there must be others. An example could include the various quotes in the orchestral arrangement of “All You Need Is Love,” plus Paul McCartney’s cheeky “She Love’s You” quote.

Do others jump to mind? Do you have other information about these fun bits?

Hmmm… Interesting Elliott! I think it was John Lennon singing “She Loves You” at the end of “All You Need Is Love” wasn’t it? Anyway, in thinking about this, I came up with a few “Beatles” examples most of which you have already mentioned and a few after the break up too (mostly by Paul). I certainly don’t claim to have them all listed here as this is only off of the top of my head, so feel free to add more in the comments below. Here’s my list…

The Beatles

1. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967):

   “Inner Groove” – unlisted untitled track that appeared in the vinyl inner groove of side 2 of the album. The track is actually only a couple of seconds of gibberish designed to repeat as the needle is held in place by the edge of the label when played on manual turntables unequipped with an automatic tone arm return. The sound effect is also preceded by a dog whistle undetectable by human ears but a possible cause of amusement for any canine listeners that happen to be enjoying the album with you. The CD of the album makes the couple of seconds repeat in a loop to simulate how it was on manual turntables back in the day.

2. Magical Mystery Tour (US LP version, 1967):

   “She Loves You” sung during the last of the fade-out of “All You Need Is Love” but naturally not listed as a separate track. An unlisted rendition of “Greensleeves” is also heard as part of the orchestration during the fade-out.

3. The Beatles (White Album) (1968):

   “Can You Take Me Back” – unlisted linking track between “Cry Baby Cry” and “Revolution 9″ on side 4. Hear the unedited version of the track, actually recorded during the sessions for “I Will” here.

4. Abbey Road (1969):

   “You Never Give Me Your Money” – an unlisted reprise of “You Never Give Me Your Money” occurs in the middle of the track “Carry That Weight” in the Abbey Road side 2 medley.

   “Her Majesty” – early issues of Abbey Road did not include the very short final track “Her Majesty” in the track listening. Since the last listed track was “The End” the idea was that most would assume it really was “the end” of the record, hence “Her Majesty” was to be a surprise track.

5. Let It Be (1970):

   “Ooh! My Soul” – John Lennon sings the title of this Little Richard song at the conclusion of “I’ve Got A Feeling.” Unlisted with tracks.

   “Danny Boy” – John Lennon sings a line of this at the conclusion of “One After 909.” Unlisted with tracks.

Paul McCartney

1. McCartney (1970):

   “Suicide” – A short excerpt of Paul’s composition “Suicide” appears at the end of “Hot As Sun/Glasses” on Paul’s debut solo LP. The complete recording appears as a bonus track on the 2011 (Archive Collection) remaster of the McCartney album on CD.

2. Ram (1971):

   “Big Barn Bed” – at the conclusion of “Ram On (version 2)” there is a about 16 seconds or so of an interesting arrangement of “Big Barn Bed” which was given to us in complete form but with a very different feel, later on the 1973 Red Rose Speedway album.

3. Wild Life (1971):

   “Bip Bop Link” – In between “I Am Your Singer” and “Tomorrow” there is a 52-second acoustic instrumental version of “Bip Bop” heard earlier in the record. When released to CD the track was listed but the original albums did not list the track.

   “Mumbo Link” – At the conclusion of the album there is a 44-second instrumental “jam” version of the album opener “Mumbo.” Like the previous mention, when released to CD the track was listed but the original albums did not list the track.

4. Band On The Run (1973):

   “Jet/Mrs. Vandebilt” – Orchestrated arrangements of parts of “Jet” and “Mrs. Vandebilt” (heard earlier in the album) are revisited within the track “Picasso’s Last Words” but not listed.

   “Band On The Run (reprise)” – An unlisted reprise of the title track occurs at the end of the album that is segued from “Nineteen Hundred Eighty Five.”

5. Back To The Egg (1979):

   We’re Open Tonight” – The track “So Glad To See You Here” concludes with a reprise of “We’re Open Tonight” heard earlier in the album and unlisted as a separate track.

6. Off The Ground (1993):

   “Cosmically Conscious” – a shortened version of this track appears within the closer track “C’mon People” on the Off The Ground CD. The CD lists it by saying “and remember to be…Cosmically Conscious” but since it’s not banded as a separate track it is not listed as if it were a title. The complete version of “Cosmically Conscious” appears as a b-side to the “Off The Ground” commercial CD single.

George Harrison

1. Brainwashed (2002):

   The title track to Brainwashed ends the album and includes an unlisted concluding prayer known as the “Namah Parvati,” a mantra dedicated to the Hindu goddess Parvati. It is chanted by George and his son Dhani Harrison in unison.

Like I said, there are probably others so feel free to chime in an add them to the comments section below. Thanks again Elliott for a strange but interesting topic and, of course, to everyone for reading.

Thank you to everyone who has sent in their questions! Keep #askNat going by sending your questions to me in any of the following ways:

1) There is a designated form that you fill out right on the website where you can give your name, location, email address and submit your question. The form is right here and is the same form used to submit requests for BROWs (Beatles Rarity Of The Weeks), but modfied to do both BROW requests and #askNat questions.

2) If you are a Facebook user, you can submit your question right on TheBeatlesRarity FB wall at www.facebook.com/beatlesrarity. If you think about it, try to remember to flag your question with “#askNat”.

3) Similarly, if you are a Google+ user, you can submit your question on TheBeatlesRarity Google+ page at www.gplus.to/beatlesrarity. Google+ supports hashtag searchability so it will be helpful if you preface your question with “#askNat” here too.

4) For you Twitter users, www.twitter.com/beatlesrarity gets you to the right place. Post your question and be sure to add “#askNat” somewhere in the tweet.

Here are some links to Amazon to read more or purchase some of the music related to this post:

ANY of your favorite Beatles-related music: The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.
Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

Welcome to The Beatles Rarity of the Week. It was in the afternoon on January 28th, 1969 when this weeks feature was recorded and only one more full day left before The Beatles would culminate the Get Back Sessions with their legendary unexpected lunch hour performance on the roof of Apple Headquarters in downtown London.

In the past half hour the band had successfully recorded the take of “Don’t Let Me Down” that would ultimately be out on a single in two and a half months as the b-side to “Get Back.” Now some wine was being passed around and the band was in high spirits and trying to figure out what to rehearse next.

John Lennon at the Get Back sessions, January 1969

As you hit the play button below you’ll hear some tuning and fooling around as the band and Billy Preston (on the keys) grasp for an idea on a song to do. As it starts to turn into “One After 909″ John Lennon, always a Chuck Berry Berry fan, decides to introduce a variation by instead singing a few misremembered lines from Chuck’s 1958 song “Jo Jo Gunne.”

As this winds down, Paul McCartney suggests they run through a proper take of “One After 909.” After a false start Paul vocalizes the guitar intro before they count it in. The tempo is a little slow, but the wine is flowing so John and Paul seem to be having a great time. When John forgets the lyrics during the second middle eight, he doesn’t let that stop him but presses on, making fun of his own error the rest of the way through.

Extra info:

1. The version of “One After 909″ used on the Let It Be album was actually recorded from the rooftop show two days later, as was “I’ve Got A Feeling” and “Dig A Pony.”
2. “One After 909″ was written by John and Paul when they first started writing together in the late fifties. The Beatles used the song in their early repertoire at the Cavern Club in Liverpool and originally recorded it in an EMI studio session on March 5, 1963 which was the same day they recorded their third single “From Me To You” and it’s b-side “Thank You Girl.” An early account of the song from this session appears on the CD set The Beatles Anthology 1. The very first release of the song was not until 1970 with the Let It Be album.
3. A thorough run-down of the officially released music from the Get Back Sessions is available here.

Here are some Amazon links to read more on, or purchase, some music related to this post:

1) Let It Be – 2009 remastered CD version of original 1970 L including rooftop performance of “One After 909.”

2) Let It Be… Naked – 2003 stripped down mixes of tracks from the Let It Be album. Includes a special mix of “One After 909.”

3) The Beatles Anthology 1 – 1995 2-CD compilation of out-takes and extras by The Beatles from the earliest recordings through early 1965. Includes 1963 session material of The Beatles recording “One After 909″ in the studio.

4) More Amazon links for any of your favorite Beatles-related music: The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.

Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

This time around on #askNat I want to address a very interesting question I received on #askNat from one of our avid readers in Augusta Georgia named Roger Tomlin. Roger says this (note he calls me “Happy” instead of “Nat” here – which is okay because I was very happy that day):

Hello Happy….I have a friend who is like minded with us when it comes to the lads. He’s been telling me a story for years I can’t verify.  As you know, Pauley has always had a penchant for making records using pseudonyms (Country Hams, Suzy and The Red Stripes, etc.) and appearing on other artist’s recordings incognito.  Knowing this, it seems plausible that my friend’s story could be true. I just have never seen or heard anything on it. He says that for several years in the 1970′s, Paul sat in and played bass for Hugh Hefner’s Playboy house band (just as Paul Shaffer has celebrity artists occasionally sit in on the Letterman show). You’d think it would be a common, well known part of the Macca universe of historical data. Can you shed any light on this? Oh BTW, I only subscribed to it for the articles…great bunch of writers Hugh had!

Only the articles! Right Roger! But anyway, I quickly replied to Roger after he sent me his inquiry and explained that I’d have his question up on #askNat in a few weeks but in the interim he stumbled upon his own answer and wrote me back to let me know. And I’m very glad he did that. So rather than steal all the credit for myself, I’m going to share with you what Roger sent me a week or so later (note he calls me “Nat” instead of “Happy” here – which is always good whether I’m “happy” or Nat not):

Hello Nat,
 
You’ll recall that I inquired last week about Pauley sitting in with the Playboy house band. As I said, my friend has been telling me that story for years. However, I never investigated it because I wasn’t focused on Beatle history as much as I am now since I’ve become so fixed on The BeatlesRarity.com. A helluva site! I dig it so much I’m thinking of applying for a job at a cemetery……..sorry, that was uncalled for.
 
The thing is this: I’ve solved my own question, I believe. While surfing all over the Internet, as you know, sometimes you swerve into sites that give you info and data you never expected. Without going into a laundry list of all the places I looked, I can tell you the answer was found on Ebay. That’s right, Ebay.
 
From the early 1960′s until about the 1990′s or so, Playboy would have an annual reader’s poll to pick the “Playboy All-Star Jazz Band”. Each year they would reveal the results in an issue of Playboy. It was usually a cartoon drawing which showed each winner sitting in a band stand. Sir Paul won several years in the 1970′s for best “Bass Player.” One year, the reader’s actually picked our lads from Liverpool as the best “Vocal Group.”  I feel very confident this is the origin of the story my friend first related to me all those years ago. I’ve attached those pictures that features Paul and The Beatles as winners of the “Playboy All-Star Jazz Band”. They’re pages from Playboy being sold on Ebay.

As you can see from his message, Roger also sent me a few images of some pages from Playboy (NO! not those middle pages!) and I added a couple to those he sent to show The Beatles and Paul McCartney’s place in the reader’s poll. After 1967 the Playboy All-Star Jazz Band omitted the word “Jazz” from their name and after 1975 the pages only said “Poll Winners” instead of naming them the Playboy All-Star Band. The 1970 image is immediately below. Feel free to check out the others in the linked images that follow.

The Playboy All-Star Band (formerly Playboy All-Starr Jazz Band), 1970. Hmm— it seems like John is naked. Click to enlarge.

1. 1968 – The Beatles
2. 1969 – The Beatles
3. 1970 – The Beatles
4. 1974 – Paul McCartney
5. 1975 – Paul McCartney
6. 1976 – Paul McCartney
7. 1977 – Paul McCartney
8. 1978 – Paul McCartney

Thank you Roger for a great question and also for answering it yourself! That was fun! And I bet if you head over to Ebay right now and search for the Playboy All-Star Jazz Band you’ll find more of these pages for sale now. If anyone has anything to add I invite you to do so in the comments section below. Thanks for reading!

Thank you to everyone who has sent in their questions! Keep #askNat going by sending your questions to me in any of the following ways:

1) There is a designated form that you fill out right on the website where you can give your name, location, email address and submit your question. The form is right here and is the same form used to submit requests for BROWs (Beatles Rarity Of The Weeks), but modfied to do both BROW requests and #askNat questions.

2) If you are a Facebook user, you can submit your question right on TheBeatlesRarity FB wall at www.facebook.com/beatlesrarity. If you think about it, try to remember to flag your question with “#askNat”.

3) Similarly, if you are a Google+ user, you can submit your question on TheBeatlesRarity Google+ page at www.gplus.to/beatlesrarity. Google+ supports hashtag searchability so it will be helpful if you preface your question with “#askNat” here too.

4) For you Twitter users, www.twitter.com/beatlesrarity gets you to the right place. Post your question and be sure to add “#askNat” somewhere in the tweet.

Here are some links to Amazon to read more or purchase some of the music related to this post:

1) Rockshow [Blu-ray] – Wings LIVE in ’76! Fully restored/remastered in 5.1 HD with additional content (pre-order only till June 11, 2013).

2) ANY of your favorite Beatles-related music: The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.
Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

Welcome to The Beatles Rarity Of The Week. The rarity featured this week might be something you own if you happened to buy a copy of the New York Daily News back on February 3rd or 10th, 2008. EMI and the metro-New York based newspaper struck up a deal allowing readers the opportunity to download three free songs of their choice from a selection of over 120,000 tracks. Each copy of the paper issued on Super Bowl Sunday (Feb. 3rd) or Grammy Sunday (Feb. 10th) came with an insert that gave a website and a unique printed access code allowing readers to search and download the music.

One of the songs offered was Ringo Starr’s “It’s Love,” a good little mid-tempo tune with a nice reference to The Beatles’ “All You Need Is Love” in the chorus. Although this song was recorded way back in 2002 during the mixing of Ringo’s Ringo Rama album, it was considered later as a contender for his Liverpool 8 album, released in January 2008. In the end it was held back in case any future promotional exclusives were needed such as this download offer I’m referring to.

Ringo Starr

The EMI/NY Daily News promotional download offer was gone after only a few weeks and since then there is no longer any means of obtaining this track in the U.S. It is available in the U.K., and possibly other markets outside of America but only via selected music download outlets and no physical media. This is really the same situation I wrote about back in February with Paul McCartney’s acoustic version of “Dance Tonight” (see that post here). You can argue that it’s just an extra, but this happens all the time. Is it really fair for the U.S. to be so discriminated against when it comes to the availability of music?

Ah well… Thankfully, regardless of where you happen to be, you can still listen to this track on TheBeatlesRarity. Take it away Ringo…

Extra info:
I was unable to find an official source for composition credit on this track but it is most likely written by Ringo with Mark Hudson and possibly other members of The Roundheads such as Steve Dudas and/or Gary Burr and/or Dean Grakal as were most numbers recorded during the Ringo Rama sessions.

Here are some Amazon links to read more on, or purchase, some music related to this post:

1) Liverpool 8 – Jan. 2008 CD release by Ringo Starr.

2) Ringo Rama – 2003 CD release by Ringo Starr (does not include “It’s Love”)

3) More Amazon links for any of your favorite Beatles-related music: The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.

Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

Hello and welcome to this week’s #askNat. I’ve got a couple of questions picked out to address this week and the first one is from Frank Cavaliere in Florida who’s message is right here:

Hi Happy Nat,  

Who performs the instrumental version of “All My Loving” in the Magical Mystery Tour movie?  

Thanks again.

Very good question Frank, because it is not credited anywhere. If you look in any of the information packaged with the recently re-issued Magical Mystery Tour BluRay or DVD you won’t find it. In fact, at the time of this writing you won’t even find it on the IMDB website or Wikipedia.

This orchestrated version of “All My Loving” is heard in the film at the time when Mr. Buster Bloodvessel (played by Ivor Cutler) proclaims his love for Ringo Starr’s Aunt Jessie (played by Jessie Robins) and the two take a romantic walk down to the beach where they kiss and Buster even draws a heart in the sand around Jessie.

Aunt Jessie and Buster Bloodvessel happily in love in the Magical Mystery Tour film, 1967

The track was actually performed by Arthur Wilkinson and his Orchestra and released on a vinyl 7-inch EP in 1965 as part of The Beatle Cracker Suite – an arrangement of 7 Beatles songs into movements of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker Suite. A pretty innovative idea, wouldn’t you say? Specifically side 1 of the EP contained “From Me To You,” “Can’t Buy Me Love,” “She Loves You” and “Help!” On side 2 there’s “It’s For You” (a Lennon/McCartney composed song given to Cilla Black to record in 1964), “Ticket To Ride” and “All My Loving.”

Arthur was a British orchestral composer and arranger who began composing while serving in the Royal Air Force during World War II. He was born in 1919 and made many contributions to film, stage shows and television before his death in 1968. Besides The Beatle Cracker Suite he also arranged the original London production of the 1965 musical comedy Charlie Girl.

Although Arthur’s entire account of “All My Loving” is not included in the film, I have it here directly from the original vinyl EP (so please excuse the occasional pop or click from this nearly 50 year old record) in case you want to check it out.

Original cover art for 1965 Beatle Cracker Suite by Arther Wilkinson and His Orchestra

Now for that second question I mentioned. It comes from Lucio in Mexico who says:

Dear Nat,

Here’s a short one: Did Ringo sing in the Caveman main theme? I know that Lalo Schifrin scored the whole soundtrack but I kinda hear Ringo’s voice.

Thanks Nat

Yes I can knock this one out quickly Lucio.

Ringo Starr is singing (and sort of grunting) in his leading roll as Atouk the caveman in a scene from the Caveman film that depicts the invention of music. This segment from the film is used in the final 3 minutes of the “Caveman Main Theme.” This part of the song begins when one of Ringo’s/Atouk’s tribesmen blows into a gourd and gets inspired by the sound. This leads to banging on sticks and chanting to a new-found type of rhythm. Although Ringo does not actually play drums on the recording, he can be seen in the film banging sticks as he sings. Lalo Schifrin used this material from Ringo and other actors in the song. I’ve included the entire theme below but the “invention of music” sequence begins at 7:33 in case you want to skip the earlier music – and be sure to cut off the player above so that the other track does not play simultaneously.

Caveman Soundtrack cover art, 1981

 
Extra info:
Barbara Bach and Ringo Starr first met on the set of Caveman and married just over a year later.

Lalo Schifrin has done countless film and television scores over the years to include the well-known Mission: Impossible theme from the sixties and 1974′s Planet Of The Apes.

Thank you Lucio and Frank for two very good questions about two very weird films! If anyone has anything to add I invite you to do so in the comments section below. Thanks for reading!

Thank you to everyone who has sent in their questions! Keep #askNat going by sending your questions to me in any of the following ways:

1) There is a designated form that you fill out right on the website where you can give your name, location, email address and submit your question. The form is right here and is the same form used to submit requests for BROWs (Beatles Rarity Of The Weeks), but modfied to do both BROW requests and #askNat questions.

2) If you are a Facebook user, you can submit your question right on TheBeatlesRarity FB wall at www.facebook.com/beatlesrarity. If you think about it, try to remember to flag your question with “#askNat”.

3) Similarly, if you are a Google+ user, you can submit your question on TheBeatlesRarity Google+ page at www.gplus.to/beatlesrarity. Google+ supports hashtag searchability so it will be helpful if you preface your question with “#askNat” here too.

4) For you Twitter users, www.twitter.com/beatlesrarity gets you to the right place. Post your question and be sure to add “#askNat” somewhere in the tweet.

Here are some links to Amazon to read more or purchase some of the music related to this post:

1) Magical Mystery Tour [Blu-ray] – 2012 restored BluRay (DVD also available) of Magical Mystery Tour 1967 film by The Beatles featuring orchestrations by Arthur Wilkinson for “All My Loving.”

2) Caveman [Original MGM Motion Picture Soundtrack] – Original soundtrack by Lalo Schifrin including the same “Caveman Main Title” featured here (including the “Invention of Music” segment w/Ringo Starr).

3) British By Arrangement – audio CD release of tracks from original EP The Beatle Cracker Suite by Arthur Wilkinson & His Orchestra and additional music by other artists.

4) Any of your favorite Beatles-related music: The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.
Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!