A South African group called the Strangers with Mike Shannon released a faster and inferior version the same year Paul recorded this demo.ġ1.
John at his acerbic best: “The Maharishi Song” is a talking blues about the strange and ultimately disappointing experience of hanging out with meditation guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Consider it a companion to Lennon’s tweak of born-again Bob Dylan on the song “Serve Yourself.”Īround 1964, Paul McCartney was apparently as liable to churn out a catchy folk-rock song like “One and One Is Two” as he was to breathe. Paul recorded it alone on acoustic guitar as a demo for Hopkins in 1969.Ĭut as part of an audition for Decca records (which infamously passed on signing the band), here’s a brisk and moody tune sung by Paul - with a nice jittery guitar tag - that one could imagine having really soared in the hands of Roy Orbison or Elvis. Originally written by Paul McCartney for Welsh pop singer Mary Hopkin, this is a gentle, bittersweet ditty in the “Mother Nature’s Son”/“I Will” vein. This song, the demo of which sees the quiet Beatle singing while accompanied only by his own organ, is a close cousin to the likes of “Long, Long, Long.” The lyrical subject is reincarnation, which was heavy on Harrison’s metaphysically inclined mind back in those days. George had a knack for haunting, spiritual melodies. Presented here in a stripped-down voice-and-acoustic-guitar version, the song is more cosmic than its later angsty incarnation, with lyrical references to the Beatles’ 1968 trip to visit Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in Rishikesh, India. Lennon later redeployed this song’s lilting melody for “Jealous Guy” from 1971’s Imagine. The sly, sighing melody might remind you of the bleary Lennon classics “I’m So Tired” and “Cry Baby Cry” - songs that folks such as Kurt Cobain and Daniel Johnston listened to closely. “ Because I Know You Love Me So” (1969)Īlso sometimes referred to as “Wake Me Up in the Morning,” this song was recorded during the Let It Be era, and it’s a groovy, laid-back performance, with the shaggy charm of officially released recordings like “Why Don’t We Do It in the Road?” and “For You Blue.”Ī mostly acoustic blues number, sung by John with affecting world-weariness during the Let It Be sessions.Ī vocal-and-acoustic performance by John, recorded as a demo in late 1968. Kramer and the Dakotas, who released their own version, also in 1963.Ģ. Here are 15 of them, ranging from the Fab Four’s earliest days to their final months as a group.Ī puppyish mid-tempo number written for Billy J. Yet amazingly, there are still great Beatles songs that haven’t been officially released.
In the decades since the band’s demise, Beatlemaniacs have been given three Anthology sets, two BBC albums, Let It Be alternate versions, and a Hollywood Bowl live album. There are books - thick ones - devoted to tracking each day in the band’s brief existence, and the band’s recording archives have been almost as exhaustively picked over. What no one could reasonably argue, however, is that any other rock band has had its existence more closely dissected and analyzed. This week, Vulture is taking a look at great unproduced, unreleased, or unheralded entertainment.Ī convicted debater could plausibly make the case that the Beatles aren’t the best rock band ever.
Illustration: Maya Robinson/Vulture and Photos by Getty Images
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