CIRCA5 #3: The Beatles – 6 More From The Vault
Fifteen years ago, back when I was co-editing and writing for Rebel Route magazine, there were reports that after the huge success of The Beatles Anthology collections (the multi-disc sets of outtakes released as companions to the massively popular documentary TV series, The Beatles: Anthology), even more unreleased material was going to see the light of day. So, I came up with six songs I wanted included on the next compilation, and we published the article in RR. Unfortunately, no such set ever materialized (ok, I’ll face it—these reports were nothing more than rumors). Still, I would love to see those recordings on an upcoming collection of Beatles outtakes—if such a thing were to actually appear again.
“The Beatles – 6 More From The Vault” was included in the third issue of Rebel Route, dated Summer, 1998. Four of the songs had been bootlegged at the time of writing, but the other two still haven’t slipped through the cracks. Here’s the article:
During 1994 and 1995, EMI-Capital Records released six CDs (nine LPs) worth of unreleased Beatles’ recordings to coincide with the British-produced documentary television special, The Beatles: Anthology. While this more than satisfied the average Beatles fan, it left collectors and diehards wanting more. The audio series, Anthology, did included a horde of previously unavailable outtakes, many of which had, in some circles, grown to legendary status, yet many intriguing tracks have remained in the can. In 1999, The Beatles are expected to relinquish more of this material, so we have compiled a wish list of six tracks we would like to hear in the coming year.
1. “She’s A Woman” (Take 7, EMI Studios, London, October 8, 1964): On this day, The Beatles recorded seven takes of the McCartney rocker “She’s A Woman” (take six was used for release). What at first sounds like a standard run-through, ends with a bit of jamming—Lennon scales his fingers up and down the fret-board, while Harrison squawks it up on slide—and some extremely odd yelling/screeching from McCartney that is truly beyond words (when else has he made those sounds?).
2. “I’m Down” (Shea Stadium, New York, August 15, 1965): The Beatles began their only 1965 U.S. tour by playing, at the time, to the largest crowd ever assembled for a rock concert (attendance exceeded 55,000). In an interview segment for Anthology, a stone-faced Ringo Starr stated that during this show Lennon “Just went mad. Not mentally ill, I mean, just got crazy.” In the clip, John is seen playing the electric piano with his elbows, hitting wrong notes (instrumentally and vocally), and whooping it up in typical Lennon fashion—albeit atypical for the concert stage. John later defended himself by saying that he had never played the piano before during a performance and that “I really didn’t know what to do ‘cause I felt naked without the guitar. You know, I was doing it for a laugh.”
This version of “I’m Down” documents what may be the only time one of The Beatles improvised on stage (their concerts lasted, at most, thirty minutes, and were often lip-synced due to the fact that neither they, nor the crowd, could hear them above the screams) during the hectic and often stressful days of Beatlemania.
3. “Untitled” a/k/a “Carnival Of Light” (Take 1, EMI Studios, London, January 5, 1967): The Beatles were commissioned to record a piece of music for an event christened “Carnival Of Light,” which would take place at the Roadhouse Theater in London later in the month. After recording a vocal for “Penny Lane,” McCartney took charge of the session and The Beatles laid down the basic track—which at thirteen minutes and forty-eight seconds was their longest unbroken track to date.
The recording of many overdubs followed, including distorted guitar, drums and organ, as well as various sound effects and tape echo. John and Paul added vocals, screaming various random phrases. Producer George Martin reportedly called this session “ridiculous,” but the tape for “Carnival Of Light” was The Beatles’ first taste of the avant-garde, and a hint of things to come in the strange, experimental tracks—“Revolution 9,” “What’s The New Mary Jane,” “You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)”—they would produce in the future.
4. “Helter Skelter” (Take 3, EMI Studios, London, July 18, 1968): The holy grail of the unreleased, this twenty-seven minute take of McCartney’s bruising “Helter Skelter” is the longest unbroken Beatles recording. The first three takes—basically rehearsals—of “Helter Skelter” were recorded on this day, and all three were extended workouts. No overdubs were ever recorded. Take two was, unfortunately, edited down from over twelve minutes to under five for Anthology 3, but it is take three we are waiting for anyway. On October 9th of that year, Paul raided EMI’s library for his own copy, but otherwise, take three has remained in the vault.
5. “Stand By Me” (Twickenham Film Studios, London, January 8, 1969): During the filming of Let It Be, The Beatles got nostalgic and ended up embracing songs from their youth. Ben E. King’s signature tune “Stand By Me” was one of many oldies The Beatles played during those sessions. What makes this one special is not the band’s performance—which is characteristically sloppy, as they were playing these songs on the spur of the moment—but McCartney’s operatic interpretation. What begins with a few rounds of “Figaro, figaro, figaro” at the end of the first verse, eventually develops into a full-fledged Pavarotti-esque vocal. Hysterical.
6. “I Lost My Little Girl” (Apple Studios, London, January 24, 1969): After two weeks at Twickenham, The Beatles moved to Apple Studios and began recording material that would eventually make up the Let It Be album. “I Lost My Little Girl” is the first song Paul McCartney ever wrote (at age fourteen), but the lead vocal on this version is handled by John Lennon (The Beatles had previously recorded this song in 1962 for their Decca Records audition tape). You can hear McCartney, off-mike, feeding long-forgotten lines to Lennon (“Her hair didn’t always curl,” being one), and later singing a nice harmony vocal. “I Lost My Little Girl” remained unreleased in any form, until McCartney recorded a version of this Buddy Holly-inspired number for MTV’s Unplugged in 1991, nearly thirty-five years after it was written.
And here’s a bonus track of sorts, one that would’ve made the cut, had I been aware of it at the time of the original article.
7. “Bad To Me” (Demo, c. May 1963): With a melody that is simply irresistible, this stands as one of the finest tunes Lennon and McCartney gave away to another artist. “Bad To Me” was made to order for Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas, and their version was released in July 1963 (and made it to #1 in the UK), not long after this intimate John Lennon home demo of the song was recorded.
